"Damn it kid, are you happy now?! Look at what you've done!" Kiba yelled as he ran towards Hinata's unconscious body. "Now I've gotta deal with it!"
"Wh-what happened to her?!" a distraught Boruto asked as he neared the two cautiously.
"You've damn near killed her, that's what happened! It's bad enough you look so much like the twerp, but to then mention the twerp's name and insinuate that they get together and have you? Do you want her to fall into a coma or something?" Kiba gripped onto her wrists, jolting slightly at the sweat and heat they were emitting. "Now grab a hold of her legs damn it and help me get her onto Akamaru's back. It's the least you can do right now."
Boruto did as told and wrapped his fingers around her ankles and on a count of 3, the two lifted her off the ground and gently rested her onto Akamaru, who lowered himself slightly as they approached.
"I-I didn't mean to… will she be alright?" Boruto asked almost whispering, his demeanor no longer that of a bold and confident boy, fear and worry instead taking priority.
Kiba eyed him carefully, then let a small sigh escape his mouth. "She'll be fine. She'll be out for a little while, but fine." This change of tone however hadn't lasted very long.
"I knew it. You are just a giant Naruto fanboy! I'll give it to ya kid, you almost got me there for a second, but you completely blew it with that last one," Kiba said, now seemingly more frustrated than amused. "You mean to tell me there's a future where I'm still around and he's the Hokage over me? Pssh, yeah right."
"There's a clear explanation for that, Kiba. You see, in this future, Naruto must clearly be a Hokage caliber ninja, whereas you Kiba, are not," Shino said, not having moved from his position or stance in quite a while.
"S-shut your mouth, Shino! Don't tell me you're actually falling for this kid's crap!" Kiba pouted and crossed his arms. "B-besides, no doubt I was at least in the running. Yeah, in fact, I was probably robbed of the title!"
"You seem to be convinced yourself now that the boy is telling the truth, Kiba."
"Convinced? More like pointing out the flaws in his little stunt. Naruto actually becoming Hokage? He's tough, I'll give the twerp that much, but that's a whole load of responsibility I frankly can't see him handling." Boruto's jaw tightened as Kiba continued, "What I am convinced of is that the twerp can't even read a scroll, nor can he sit still long enough in a meeting without passing out or start daydreaming about ramen, or something."
"Alright, that's enough," Boruto said with captivating finality, drawing everyone's attention. "Listen very carefully dog breath. I honestly couldn't give less of a damn whether or not you believe me anymore. If you think I'm just trying to pull some sort of stunt to cause a scene or something, by all means go ahead, have at it. But you're crossing the line with the way you're running your mouth about my dad. I might not know a whole lot about the Naruto of the past, but what I do know is that the future Naruto is very respected and very reliable; he's someone not just the Leaf, but all five nations can depend on. He's an excellent representative of our village and of a ninja. Don't you ever talk about him like that again, you hear?"
Kiba stood without moving a muscle, staring into narrowed eyes fueled with fury and revulsion. Though incredibly subtle, so subtle that all it'd take is a mistimed blink and you'd miss it, Boruto was just able to make out a slight nod from him.
"Good." The fire within his eyes extinguished almost immediately. His brows relaxed and the creases on his forehead were no longer present. "Now that we got that out of the way, let's figure out how I'll get back to my time."
"And... what exactly does this have to do with me?"
"You're gonna help me. I can fill you in on everything I remember happening before I ended up here, and you can help, I don't know, sniff for clues nearby or something."
"Sniff for clues? Sniff for clues? Do you hear yourself, brat? You think I'm just some sort of animal you can bark orders to whenever you want?" Kiba clenched his fists, desperately trying to repress his thriving anger.
"No, but he is," Boruto responded, pointing at the now offended Akamaru beside him. Growling could be heard, though it wasn't coming from the dog himself.
Kiba abruptly turned around and stormed towards the entry gate of the training field. Akamaru—with an unconscious Hinata still on his back—was now trailing behind.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" Boruto asked, desperation laced in every word.
"We're gonna go look for daddy."
Temari's footsteps had sped up noticeably compared to before. What were once steady strides were now at a pace that demonstrated eagerness. Though she appeared content with being distracted by her thoughts, the silence between the two proved to be a little too uncomfortable for Shikadai.
He heaved a nervous cough. "So... how did you... meet this Shikamaru guy?"
Now it was Shikadai's voice that had interrupted her train of thought. She was stunned for a brief moment, almost as if she'd just remembered that she was being accompanied by someone. She looked back behind her, then quirked the corners of her lips.
"He was my opponent in the Chūnin Exams."
Okay, hold on a minute. This was new. He knew that his dad participated in the Chūnin Exams just once and managed to become a chūnin anyway—something he still had slight resentment against Boruto over, for cheating in their match and forever costing him the opportunity to duplicate such a feat. But to have also defeated a woman of Mom's caliber while doing so? Not to say that his dad was an easy opponent, certainly not. After all, a ninja who'd won the tournament in his first shot had to be pretty strong himself, right?
It's just that, having trained with his mom a lot in preparation for his Chūnin Exams, Shikadai recognized how difficult of an opponent she was, not once managing to capture her shadow with his clan's Shadow Possession Jutsu, even with the support of his teammates. She was stylistically a nightmare match-up for him, as if she had some sort of oath to herself to never be caught by it in battle.
This time it was Temari who'd taken the initiative. "I saw him perform in a preliminary match prior to ours. He did okay; nothing spectacular, and frankly it wasn't even nearly as impressive as my performance against some Leaf kunoichi. I was confident that I'd wipe the floor with him, so much so that I did little training in preparation for our match. First mistake on my part: underestimating my opponent."
He hadn't missed the slight twitch of her left eye, or the way her jaw tightened briefly.
"Soon enough it was time for our match. He'd landed hard and unceremoniously into the arena. Hell, I think he may have even been pushed in, actually." She chuckled briefly. "He didn't even bother getting up. Didn't even try. Knowing him, he probably found it comfortable laying there like that. Fine by me, if he wanted to just lie around on the ground all day, then he could do it unconscious. I charged at him, intending to finish the match as soon as possible. That was my second mistake: rushing in carelessly and not taking the time to assess the situation like he did."
She started chewing on her bottom lip. One of her tics for when she was agitated, he'd recognized. "Even with the limited range of his jutsu, he used all sorts of creative methods to make up for it, like using the lowering sun to extend his range and a parachute formed from his jacket to create an extra shadow. It was all in vain though despite everything; he just couldn't reach me. I was convinced that I was in the clear, and then boom. Just like that. Not a single muscle in my body was in my control. The only movements I could make were the ones that imitated his. He got me."
As subtle as it was, Shikadai still noticed the pained look that swept across her face and left the moment it was there. Something told him if she could go back in time, she would do things a little differently.
"How did he do it?" he asked. "Didn't you say it couldn't reach you?"
"Hah, worst part of it was, I still didn't even know how until he turned his head—that stupid god damn grin still plastered on his face might I add—and saw that he used the hole behind me, which was connected to the hole in front of me," she gestured with her hands, "and within his jutsu's range, both created from the fight just before ours. I just stood there, frozen. Both literally and figuratively. I'd never lost in a one-on-one fight up until that point, and yet here I was, slowly being dragged towards the center of the arena until we were just a couple meters apart, awaiting my punishment. He then slowly raised his hand..."
Shikadai was now completely immersed into the story. He was intrigued to find out how the match had ended, wondering what kind of powerful jutsu his dad finished her off with, hopefully one that he could teach him someday. Well, after he sorts out this future mess, that is.
"And then he quit the match."
"Eh?"
"He quit," she repeated.
"He... quit?" His face now mirrored those in the stance after Shikamaru had muttered those exact words. Temari almost burst into a fit of laughter after a brief glance at Shikadai's facial expression, though her anger at the memories of the event had successfully managed to suppress it.
"He quit! The bastard quit the match right then and there!"
"Y-you're serious?! Why the heck would he do that?!" Shikadai was now livid. Furious. He had the match won! What could possibly be the reason as to why he'd decided that right then and there was an appropriate time to call it quits? Seriously, Dad?
"He said he was almost entirely out of chakra and had nothing left."
Well, that isn't so bad, Shikadai reasoned to himself.
"Bullshit."
If only she knew what a terrible influence she was being right now.
"He was probably almost at his limit, sure, but he still had more than enough time to finish me off, and if he didn't, then he should've figured something else out with that giant brain of his. Quite frankly, he took the coward's way out. Always running away from his responsibilities, he is."
An awkward silence settled between the two. Shikadai wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to follow that with or even how to respond, and concluded that it was probably best to just wait it out instead.
Temari exhaled and allowed a long, relieving sigh to escape her, carrying away with it the tension and stress that fortified within her. "He has so much potential. It's just so infuriating seeing him waste it all away like this. He's a chūnin who should be a jōnin, but isn't, because he's lazy and complacent. He shouldn't be wasting his time escorting me around or helping me prepare for the Chūnin Exams, he could and should be doing so much more."
Shikadai assessed that a diversion in topic was in order; he really didn't want his dad to sustain verbal assault from his mom so soon after such a lengthy break from each other. "Is... that why you're here? To work on the Chūnin Exams with him?"
"Hm? Oh, no no. That isn't what I'm here for. It's nothing related to that. I just need to deliver some important documents to the Hokage."
Shikadai waited patiently for her to follow up with something, though it became progressively clear that she had no intention of doing so. "…That's it?"
"Mm-hm, that's it."
"You… walked all the way just to do that? Couldn't they send somebody else to do it?"
For once, she appeared to be caught off guard, as if she had to ponder on how to respond, much unlike her usual responses that were returned almost immediately. Nobody had ever really questioned why she so frequently attended Konoha, even though her involvement never really was necessary given the level of difficulty of the tasks. Any opportunity there was to make the journey to the village she'd take. Though she would never request for a mission situated in Konoha personally herself, her brother Gaara, the Kazekage, would always offer them to her first, knowing very well that she'd accept with little hesitation.
"I… thought it'd be best if I were the one to deliver them myself, to make sure these get to the Hokage safely. No use in sending an incapable chūnin who might end up losing these documents to the enemy in an ambush, or something." Temari appeared content with her response, though Shikadai had a feeling she wasn't being entirely honest.
Her interest in pursuing the conversation however wavered by the second, as the gate—now in sight—was fast approaching.
Aided by the slight squint of his eyes, Shikadai just about managed to make out a figure leaning against the gate; a young man, whose jet black hair was tied back into a ponytail, very much like his own. He wore the standard Konoha ninja gear, and his headband plate was stitched on at the side of his left sleeve, just below the deltoid. He was a near spitting image of Shikadai himself, though his face appeared far more mature, and his eyes lacked the pronounced teal pupils. His arms were crossed with minimal effort and his gaze on the earth beneath his footwear. He eventually looked up at the two approaching figures, slight bags under his eyes as if he'd just woken up from a nap. He stared at the four pig-tailed blond, then adjusted his lips into a "stupid" grin.
"Oi, about time you got here, woman."
And there's the dumb comment.
He then locked eyes with Shikadai.
"Weird. I was sure he'd be here by now."
Kiba eyed every region of the area carefully, subtly inhaling through his nose at irregular intervals. Shino stood in usual stance, hands within the confines of his pockets. Hinata was still very much unconscious on Akamaru's back. They all stood outside Ichiraku Ramen, a ramen restaurant, and the one spot the person they sought after so regularly visited.
The store was a lot smaller than Boruto remembered it. Business clearly hadn't taken off—yet.
"Hmph. How about that, guess not. Welp, I tried, later kid." Kiba turned his back to the boy and took a few eager steps forward.
"W-wait! Where are you going?!"
"Didn't you hear me before, kid? I'm not some animal you can bark orders to." Boruto raised a hand and opened his mouth to respond, but Kiba immediately jabbed a finger at Akamaru. "And neither is he!" Boruto retracted his hand and closed his mouth. "I tried and couldn't find him. You're on your own now, kid. See if you can convince someone else of your crap." Kiba waved his hand once half-heartedly as he continued setting off, his companions eventually following closely behind.
Boruto was at a complete and utter loss. He had no idea what he was going to do now.
He'd just been sent to a time period he was practically unfamiliar with, and there was no clear path to getting back. Despite his pleas and attempts, not one person had he managed to convince that he was in fact from the future. Shikadai was probably dead. The mysterious man was nowhere to be seen. His mom was passed out on a dog and would likely pass out at the sight of him again. His dad was—
"Aw come on Sakura! Let me take you out on a date just this once!"
Everyone froze in place and stood with stiff postures and straight backs.
"You know we're just destined to be together!"
That voice. It sounded far more high-pitched to what he was familiar with, but it was undeniably his voice.
"Pleeeeeeeeaaaaasssse, Sakura!"
He looked back behind him, and a wave of relief flooded him like never before. Boruto recognized this person.
Distinct, bright blue eyes. Three equally-sized whiskers on each cheek. Blond hair that could be seen from almost a mile away. A blazing orange jumpsuit that should look ridiculous on someone his age, yet complimented him nicely. And on his face was a large, wide-mouthed, goofy smile he was all too familiar with, and could somehow always encourage him to imitate with a smile of his own. Oh, he recognized this person. Very much so.
"Dad!"
A/N: Chapter 3! I was hoping for this chapter to be the father/son interaction chapter, but it turns out I wrote quite a bit up already (longest chapter so far!), so it'll have to be pushed to the next chapter. Also, once again, thank you to everyone who took the time to write up a review, it always puts a smile on my face knowing that you guys enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoy writing it. Hope you like this chapter!