Swimming in the Pool of Time

by Straight Path

"What you need to know now isn't the current Naruto, but the Naruto who made it this far." Boruto had wondered what his master had meant by that, but he never intended for any of this to happen. Honest! Sarada had wondered what her parents were like when they were younger, but this - is just ridiculous! This was going to be a real drag, Shikadai just knew it.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Shock

I forgot to do this in the last chapter so,

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, Masashi Kishimoto does. Neither do I own Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Ukyo Kodachi and Mikio Ikemoto.

The events that occur in this chapter happen just after the joint mission between Team Seven and Gaara's team. That's just before Team Seven went off to the Land of Tea to help Idate out with his big race. I strongly recommend watching Naruto Shippuden Episode 182 before reading this chapter.

Whack!

Naruto received his thirteenth slap that day.

"Ow! Sakura that hurt. And why do I get to be the only one that's always hit? Sasuke started it this time," the young orange clad, thirteen year old blonde complained, rubbing his head.

"If you tried not to act so immature half of the time, maybe I wouldn't hit you so much," his green eyed, pinkette teammate answered, hands on her hips. "And there's no way it was Sasuke's fault. "

"Hn!" his other teammate muttered, with a smirk.

The green eyed girl immediately turned to the dark haired boy with a sweet smile on her face.

"That's right, Sasuke. I know you're never one to...," she began.

"What's with that smirk, you mocking me Sasuke?" Naruto demanded, pointing a finger at his rival.

"Naruto!" Sakura said with an irritated tone, eyebrow twitching.

Kakashi looked up lazily from his book and considered his three charges, who were currently walking a few paces ahead of him. He didn't know exactly what Naruto had done but, deeming his intervention unnecessary, he returned his attention back to his book.

Or at least he tried to.

His mind was too distracted, running over how to report the details of their mission, to pay any real attention to the book.

Their joint mission with the Sand, by the border, had been a success. But there had been some unexpected development.

The Sand's ANBU had been ordered by the village elders to assassinate Gaara, and his - Kakashi's - squad had helped Gaara defeat them. Sure, it turned out he didn't even need their assistance, but that was beside the point, wasn't it? The original purpose of the mission was to strengthen ties between the two villages, and attacking covert operatives sent by the top brass of the other village - partly to supervise the mission - was, sorta, kinda missing the point.

Kakashi sighed.

That's what you get for letting Naruto take the lead, I guess.

Of course, Kakashi was aware that the Sand's leaders knew better than to start up too much of a commotion over the incident - not after they were pardoned for joining forces with Orochimaru and attacking the Leaf just recently. Still, there was bound to be some diplomatic drama.

He looked at his blonde student - who was currently having his ear pulled by Sakura for some reason - and smiled.

Not that I regret making that decision.

He was going to leave all the diplomacy to newly appointed fifth Hokage anyway. Poor Lady Tsunade. She really had her work cut out for her, didn't she. Kakashi did NOT envy those who wore the hat. Sometimes he wonders what makes people so infatuated with becoming Hokage. It wasn't such a glorious job as some might imagine. The job came with enough stress to cause lesser men a mental breakdown! Yet everyone seems to be so attracted to the title. Not Kakashi. You wouldn't catch him wearing that hat. No, he was content to simply stay as the Hokage's surbodinate forever.

"N-Naruto. What's happening to you?"

He was brought out of his musing by Sakura's panicked voice, just as they entered the shade of some trees. Kakashi quickly looked up to see what was wrong with his whiskered student and his eyes widened.

The boy's body was emitting a dim orange light.

"Woah! My skin is... glowing," Naruto said as he examined both his hands. "AWESOME!"

"What do you mean 'awesome'? Do you feel alright?" Sakura asked him with a tone of genuine concern.

Naruto nodded, beaming.

"Yup, never been... hey Sakura, you're glowing too."

It was true. Sakura's body was also radiating a faint bluish light.

By this point, Kakashi had closed the distance between himself and his two students in a single leap. Sasuke too, who had walked ahead of the two 'nuisances', had turned and was running back to see what was going on.

Sakura gave a little gasp. "What? Sasuke too?"

At that, Sasuke checked his arm. Yes, the part of his arm that wasn't covered by an arm warmer truly was glowing a faint purple.

Just what is going on here?

"Ha ha! You look like a lightning bug," Naruto mocked, pointing a finger at his approaching friend. Sasuke simply glowered.

Sakura turned to face her teacher.

"K-Kakashi sensei, w-what's happening to us? Are we gonna be okay?"

Kakashi regarded the three genin. They were each giving off a faint light, each of a different colour - orange, bluish and purplish. It was radiating off their skin, hair and even from their eyes. It didn't seem to be penetrating their clothes though. It wasn't very bright too; had they not been under the shade of trees just then, he would have had a hard time differentiating which colour of light each of his students was currently emitting, and he could still manage to make out their skin tone.

"I don't know," he answered.

None of them seemed to be sick and Kakashi had never heard of any disease that made you glow like a firefly. He uncovered his sharingan to check if there was anything wrong with their chakra.

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long day?

続け

"-AI!"

What was that?

"-KADAI!"

That was a voice, wasn't it?

"SHIKADAI!"

It sounded like it was calling calling him. What a drag. Can't a guy have a nice, peaceful little snooze once in a while.

"WAKE UP!"

His eyes shot open and immediately he was overcome with a sense of vertigo.

"Where am I?" he wondered out loud. He was moving - drifting, in fact - through what seemed like the interior of a vortex. Only, it wasn't a current of swirling air that surrounded him, it was a swirly current of some sort of green matter - he couldn't tell for sure what it was as he couldn't reach out to touch it. And he was drifting horizontally through the middle, and not vertically.

"I... don't know... but...," a voice tried to answer. "It looks like we're being pulled to that light in the distance.

It was Sarada speaking, right in front of him. She was apparently travelling at the same speed as him because it looked as though she was floating, within arm's reach of him. And a little farther away was Boruto who was desperately trying to resist the force pulling him and reach them by moving his arms in a breast stroke like motion. He looked almost comical.

His efforts had little effect though; in fact, he seemed to be slowly moving even further away from them.

Shikadai's eyes widened.

"Sarada! Hold my hand," he said urgently, reaching out.

But Sarada wasn't paying him any attention now. She was too distracted by the fact that her childhood friend was slowly drifting farther and farther away from them.

She brought out a kunai attached to a wire and made to throw it in Boruto's direction, but her body did a three sixty just then and she ended up throwing it in a totally different direction and even then it moved so slowly that a fly might have outraced it. As expected, it was impossible to throw a projectile accurately in this space.

Oh man, what happened to gravity? Shikadai wondered.

"BORUTO!," Sarada yelled as she helplessly watched her teammate drifting away.

"SHIKADAI," Boruto yelled too, "HOLD ON TO SARADA. DON'T LET GO OF HER NO MATTER WHAT."

"I know," Shikadai silently replied through gritted teeth. He again reached out and this time he caught Sarada by the wrist. Whatever they were going to meet at the end of this - portal? - they might as well face it together.

He seemed to have caught her in the nick of time too, because two heartbeats later he felt the magnitude of the force pulling him increase. It made him drift a little faster than her. He refused to let go of her arm though, so he pulled her with him and they switched positions, with him now drifting ahead of her while still holding her arm tightly and hence, pulling her with him.

Boruto had already passed through the light at the end of the 'gravity lacking, whirlwind interior resembling, brightly glowing tunnel-like portal' - for lack of a better term - and now Shikadai and Sarada were also approaching it, pulled in by some invisible force.

Shikadai gulped.

Into the hands of fate.

続け

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your chakra," Kakashi informed his students as he covered his left eye. "Then again, checking chakra pathways isn't really the Sharingan's specialty. We should hurry back to the village and have Lady Tsunade examine you - and while were at it, we'll get a Hyuga to have a look at you."

Having said that, he turned towards the direction of Konoha and made to break into a sprint when Sasuke spoke up.

"Wait!" he said, stopping him.

"What is it Sasuke?"

"Hasn't it crossed your mind that maybe those Sand ANBU from yesterday are the ones responsible for this. Wouldn't it be better if we turn back now, find them and interrogate them. If they have anything to do with whatever it is that's happening to us, getting an answer from them would be far better than running several miles to the Leaf with the risk of dropping dead before we get there."

"I did think about that. But I find it really odd that all three of you would be affected and I'm not. After all, I had direct contact with one of them - their leader in fact. Sakura didn't fight them, and you barely had any contact with them. By all rights, I should have been the one affected - along with Naruto - and not you and Sakura. And besides, I don't think they'd linger about that place we left them yesterday. They are sure to be long gone by now," Kakashi explained.

"And there's no way just the four of us could capture an entire battalion of ANBU by ourselves - much less get them to talk - even I know that, idiot," Naruto added with a sneer, hands behind his head and with an air of superiority.

Sasuke looked like he was about to flare up, but Sakura quickly intervened before a fight could break out.

"We could go and ask Gaara's team though," She suggested. "It has only been about an hour since we parted. If the Sand's ANBU are responsible for what's happening to us, then they might at least know what it is that they did to us and maybe, hopefully know how to undo it."

"Hey!" Naruto said, looking at his hands and making them turn their attention towards him. "I've stopped glowing!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura quickly inspected themselves. Sakura gave a sigh of relief.

"He's right, me too" she said.

"Hn," uttered Sasuke.

Kakashi was also relieved.

"Well, that's a relief," he said. "But I don't think we should be celebrating just yet. We don't know if it'll happen again."

"So what do we do now?" Sakura asked.

"Well lets see. You're right about the possibility that Gaara's team might know something about what just happened to you guys, but we really ought to return to the village quickly and have you all thoroughly checked by Lady Tsunade to make sure you'll be alright so... here's what we'll do; Sasuke and Naruto, you two start running towards the village and once you get there, fill the Hokage in on what just happened. Don't mind the mission details. I'll take care of that when I get there.'

"And what will you and Sakura be doing in the meantime?" Sasuke asked.

We'll head back and try to catch up with Gaara and his team and see what they know about all this."

"Why take Sakura with you then?" Sasuke pressed. The '...and not me?' part went unsaid.

"Well... " Kakashi began as Sakura hung her head, bangs covering her eyes. She clenched her fists.

"'If I leave them alone, there's a chance the perpetrators might try to attack them on their way back to the village. Naruto and Sasuke can manage by themselves somehow, but it'll be safer if Sakura stays with me. She's too weak.' That's what you were thinking, right," she said as she slowly raised her head. She then turned her face to look her sensei in the eye with an obstinate look.

"Tell me I'm wrong," she dared him. Her expression then changed into a hurt one.

"Sakura... " Kakashi attempted to speak again but she cut him off.

"Not that I blame you though," she continued, rubbing her left arm with her right hand. "After all, ever since this team was formed, I've been nothing but a burden. I don't even have any special or useful technique. I'm basically useless."

"That's not true Sakura."

Of course, Naruto was the one that immediately tried to comfort her.

"You're not useless. You're the smartest member of this team and, and... if you hadn't taken care of me and Sasuke when we were unconscious that time at the Chunin Exams, who knows what wild beast's gut we would have ended up in."

Sakura turned to face him.

"Book smarts don't really matter that much to a ninja, and last time I checked, the two of you were both unconscious because you were trying to protect me. If only I had been stronger that time... ."

Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Hn. You're right," he said, looking slightly irked. "You have been nothing but dead weight to us ever since we graduated."

Sakura's heart sank and she hung her head again.

"You jerk! What do you think you're... " Naruto attempted to reprimand, but Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and gestured for him to keep quiet.

"But..." Sasuke continued," ...standing there and whining isn't going to get you anywhere. If you're not satisfied with the way you are now, then change yourself, with your own strength."

His expression now became neutral as he turned his back on the others, arms still crossed.

"What's holding you back is your lack of self-confidence. If the loser could do it..."

Naruto gave a 'hmph!'

'...then so can you.'

Sakura's eyes widened and for a moment all she could hear was the sound of the wind whistling and blowing her hair and clothes southward, as she stared at the Uchiha's back.

"Sasuke," she managed to utter.

"He's right Sakura," Naruto said, flashing his trademark goofy grin. "You can get much stronger if you put in some effort and believe in yourself. After all, we all believe in you."

Sakura felt like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach. She gave her teammates a heartfelt smile.

"And besides," Naruto added. " You guys are the only family I have, ya know. So no matter how strong you get, or how much more annoying Sasuke becomes..."

Sasuke snickered.

"...or how much tardier Kakashi sensei gets, I'll always jump in to save you whenever you're in danger. Believe it!"

He then gave Sasuke a light punch on the shoulder. "I'm sure this guy feels the same way too, though he's too much of a jerk to admit it."

Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away but otherwise remained silent.

"You guys," Sakura muttered, wiping away the lone tear in her left eye that was threatening to fall. She had already resolved to change herself, to get stronger and stand by her teammates - instead of behind them - since the Chunin Exams. But hearing that they believed in her, believed that she could do it, made her so happy that she couldn't even begin to describe it.

"Thank you," she said, barely audible.

Naruto placed his hands behind his head and his grin widened. Even Sasuke gave a small smirk that was barely visible.

Kakashi looked at his cute genin and smiled under his mask as, once again, he was reminded why he loved the little monsters so much.

The camaraderie they shared, the will to always protect each other and the way they supported each other despite their occasional fights and disagreements could make anyone warm up to them.

Although...

He looked at Sasuke from the corner of his eye.

He has been acting a bit more distant and aggressive ever since his encounter with Itachi. He thought. An image of his dark-haired student savagely pounding that earth style user, Sadai - who, along with his associates, had once kidnapped Naruto, Sakura and the daimyo's young relative, Naho - flashed through his mind.

I hope it dosen't affect his interactions with his team-mates. I might have to have a heart to heart chat with him soon.

He cleared his throat.

"Anyway Sakura, you were misinterpreting me. I wanted you to come with me because..."

続け

"Hey wake up!"

Boruto stirred a little, before sleepily murmuring 'five more minutes, mom."

Something wet ran across his cheek and he could feel something breathing down his neck.

"Stop that, Hima. What are you doing." he said, eyes still closed.

When 'Hima' didn't stop, he snapped his eyes open, ready to shoo her away when -

He saw a dog staring down at him.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, sitting up with a start.

"You okay young'un? Wha' are you doin' sleepin' by the roadside? It might still be mornin' but'cha might catch ya death of cold if ya keep lyin' there on the wet grass," an old man who was looking down at him said. He looked like a farmer, judging by the hoe he was holding and his manner of dress.

"The roadside?" Boruto asked looking around. "How did I..."

Then he remembered.

"SARADA! SHIKADAI!" he said as he quickly stood up and inspected his surrounding. Just as the old fellow had said, he really had been sleeping by the roadside, or rather, he landed there after he had exited that - whatever it was - and lost consciousness.

That means that Sarada and Shikadai should be around here somewhere. They were right behind me.

"Old man, did you happen to see a dark haired girl with glasses wearing red and a boy with a ponytail and a green jacket around here?" he enquired.

The old farmer shook his head.

"Sorry! Haven't seen no lad or lassie like that."

"Oh," Boruto said disappointed.

"Say, where does this road lead to anyway?" he asked a moment later.

The old man gave him a surprised look.

"Ya don't know? Aren't ya from Konoha?" he enquired, pointing at Boruto's forehead protector.

Boruto nodded sheepishly.

"This is the road that links Shukuba Town to the Leaf village." the old man told him and his dog gave a "Woof! Woof!" while wagging its tail madly and staring at Boruto as if you say ' Yeah, what he said.'

"Wait, this road leads to Konoha?" Boruto said, with a hint of surprise in his tone.

"Yup," the old man said, pointing in the direction he was facing, "Jus' go straight as the crow flies and you'll in the Leaf village in no time."

"But why don'cha come with me to Shukuba and get some tea at one of the resturants and a nice hot bath. My treat!" he offered, this time, pointing behind him with a thumb. "The town's quite close and ya look like you could use some rest and relaxation. I have to pass through the town to get to my village anyway, so it's no bother."

Shukuba Town, he said. I feel like I've heard of it somewhere before, but where?

Boruto thought to himself. Ah! I remember. Wasabi once mentioned it. She said it was a pleasure district a short distance from Konoha that had a lot of arcades, restaurants and inns. I've never been there though.

As much as he'd love to take the old man up his offer though, this was not the time.

"Sorry old timer, but I really need to go find my friends, ya know."

So he thanked the old man - Tanuki, he said his name was -, patted the dog - 'Shiro', even though he was brown - and made his way down the path, towards the direction that, according to the old man, the Leaf village lied.

When he reached a bridge after walking a short distance, he stopped and crossed his arm.

What am I gonna do? he wondered.

"Ah well! Four heads are better than one," he said as he formed a hand seal.

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Three Boruto lookalikes appeared with a poof and clouds of smoke.

"Alright guys," said Boruto as he sat down on one of the bridge's railings. "Let's discuss this matter, shall we."

Three blonde heads nodded, and thus the discussion began.

"Let's go over everything that's happened so far," one clone suggested. "It was that masked man from yesterday that attacked us, so let's start from when we first encountered him.

"First, the masked dude attacked me in the alley - well, he didn't actually attack me until I started chasing him but... " another clone said.

"Now that you mention it... looking back I think he revealed himself to me on purpose. I mean, even when he landed on my head..."

The third Boruto lookalike poked the little bump that had formed on his (on the original's actually) head.

"...he didn't make a sound. And I didn't even see where he came from. So if he had wanted to hide from me, it would have been a piece of cake."

"That means he definitely wanted me to notice him," Boruto said, crossing his hands and donning a contemplative look." Why though?"

"Maybe he wanted me to follow him so that he could lead me to some sort of trap, but he failed, and that's why he came after me again today," another doppelganger supplied.

"Why me though? What could he possibly want from me?"

"Maybe he was targeting me because I'm the Hokage's son."

"That doesn't make much sense though. If he was targeting the Hokage's children the easier target would have been..."

He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, all three Borutos mirroring his action.

"Himawari!"

"Actually, she isn't."

Three Borutos looked at the fourth questioningly.

"If you think of it, Hima is always under the watchful eye of someone. It's either Mom, Gramps, Big Sis Hanabi or one of the other Hyuga clan members," he explained. He folded his arms before adding ,"Or even Dad sometimes."

"Yeah, you're right. So then, his target was me after all. What I don't get though, is why he didn't capture me or try to kill me when he attacked the second time. He had caught me by surprise when he appeared and I was within arms reach of him," another Boruto said.

"Yeah, instead, he paralyzed my feet in that weird sealing circle and transported me here."

"And the others got caught up in it too. I wonder if it was just Shikadai and Sarada. I hope they're okay. That masked jerk! Next time we cross paths, I'm gonna pummel him real bad."

The others nodded in agreement.

"So why did the masked man go through all the trouble of bringing me here, instead of killing me when he had the chance, or capturing me when I was paralyzed."

"Why indeed," one clone said, holding his chin.

"Why?" another clone repeated, frowning.

"Why?" the original chorused.

"Why?" the third clone wondered out loud.

There was a moment of silence as each Boruto thought.

Then one of them groaned.

"Oh maan! This is so frustrating. Nothing's coming to mind," he growled, as he ruffled up his hair and stomp his foot.

"Hey, was that a portal he used to teleport us here?" one of them asked.

"Come to think of it, it does seem similar to the portal that lead to Nue's dimension, albeit of a different hue," another Boruto said, holding his chin.

"Wait! Does that mean were in a different dimension!" Boruto exclaimed, looking around, startled.

"Nah! That's doubtful. Everything seems normal here," another clone said.

"So what do we do now? Split up and each search for miles in different directions for Sarada and Shikadai?"

"What! I'm not Dad you know. There's no way we could move too far from each other without you guys dispelling. You must be crazy," the original snapped.

The clone shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Says the guy that's having a discussion with himself," he retorted, coolly.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me."

Both Borutos glared at each other, before another clone intervened.

"Would you two knock it off? Let's get back to the matter at hand."

"Fine," both blonde said.

"I think the best course of action now - just like he said - is to search the surrounding vicinity for any signs of the others. We're not going to put too much of a distance between us though, else we'll all be dispelled. If we don't find anything, then there's no choice but to return to the Leaf and tell Dad all that's happened. As much as I hate having to depend on him, my friends might be in danger and there's not much I can do on my own."

The other three nodded in agreement.

"Alrighty then," the original said.

"Let's go."

続け

Numerous red eyes glared at her. All of them belonging to a single man. A pale skinned, bald, shirtless man who was brandishing a sword - her father's, she realized - and was now pointing it at her, a toothless grin on his face.

She realized she couldn't move, her feet felt rooted to the ground even as the man charged, pointing the business end of the sword at her.

Just then, something - someone - landed right in-between her and the charging man. There was a sound of tearing flesh as that someone was impaled by the sword.

Sarada's eyes widened. She stared at the Uchiha symbol on her saviour's back as droplets of the person's blood were splattered on her face.

Her pink haired saviour turned and gave her a weak smile, blood running down from her mouth.

"Goodbye Sarada."

続け

"MAMA, NOOOO!" Sarada yelled as she woke up with a start. She panted heavily as she sat up and took in her surrounding.

"Only... a dream," she panted, beads of sweat running down her face and body. She was in a little clearing in what she assumed was a forest.

Then she heard a groan as someone sat up, a few meters away from her, no doubt woken by her yell.

"Shikadai!" she said as she scrambled over to him. "You okay?"

"Sarada?"

At first he looked surprised to see her, but then his eyes widened in realisation.

"Where's Boruto?" he asked as he quickly stood up. Then he looked around. "And where are we, anyway?"

"Some sort of forest it seems," she answered him as she also stood. "And I just woke up too. I haven't seen any sign of Boruto."

Shikadai nodded.

"Okay," he said, "We'd better..."

"Someone's coming..." Sarada interrupted, urgently.

Sure enough, there was a sound of rustling leaves as someone made their way through the bushes at the far end of the clearing.

They both got into a fighting stance. Both pulled out a kunai and Sarada subconsciously poured a little bit of chakra into her eyes, ready to activate her sharingan at a moment's notice. Shikadai formed the seal for the shadow possession jutsu as they both waited. They were both ready for anything - well, almost anything.

Three people entered the clearing. Two adults with brown flak jackets and a boy who looked about their age.

"Do you think they're with that masked man," Sarada whispered to Shikadai. When he didn't answer, she turned to look at him.

His eyes were wide and he was opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish.

She turned her attention back to the newcomers, and as they moved closer, she saw the reason for Shikadai's sudden stunned behaviour.

The boy in the middle of the small group had short auburn hair, green eyes with no distinct pupils and was wearing a long sleeved reddish brown body suit.

Oh, and he had a huge gourd on his back and had the kanji for 'love' carved on his forehead.

"No way," Shikadai said, still stunned. He couldn't believe his eyes. "This can't be."

He was truly shocked.

休止

AN - And that was chapter two guys. How was it? Please review and tell me what you think.

And on that note, I'd like to thank DLazyMan, NaruHinaF, pja2, Uchiha Sarada, alcya, MikiLovesShikaTema and that one Guest for reviewing chapter one. They were my main motivation for writing this chapter. And regarding alcya's observation; I went back and corrected the one typo that may have caused the confusion. Hopefully it clears things up a little for you.

And in case some of you don't know, Shukuba Town is where Sasuke reunited with Itachi when he and Kisame tried to kidnap Naruto. Oh, and just in case someone misunderstands that part with Naruto and the others glowing, I'm going to make it clear now; Naruto is NOT glowing due to Nine Tails Mode (he doesn't have that yet, remember).

Also, that man that was in Sarada's dream. I purposely kept his description as vague as possible. Let's see who amongst you guys recognised him.

Did you know (Boruto Databook Spoiler):

That Moegi's surname is Kazamatsuri and that she now possesses WOOD RELEASE.

Well, that's all from me. Again, please don't forget to review and favourite this story and please forgive any errors or typos.

Bye!

Straight Path.

Word Count: 4770

Chapter completed: 5th December, 2017

Chapter uploaded: 6th December, 2017