"Help! Karin, use your scary chains jutsu!" Suigetsu ordered in panic.
They were undergoing a full on assault. ANBU operatives fired kunais, shurikens and ninjutsu on Orochimaru's lair. They held – for the moment – but they knew they would eventually be overwhelmed. Things were just getting started.
"My chakra is running low!" Karin yelled across the commotion.
"Damn!" Suigetsu screamed.
"Both of you stop whining!" Orochimaru's raspy voice was scarcely decipherable in the midst of the mayhem.
Their time had come.
Sasuke had finally had enough with them. They simply knew too much; they were an unwanted liability from his past. He decided they were disposable.
"I'll head out with my Executioner's Blade!" Suigetsu declared as the musculature of his arms adjusted to the weight of the sword.
"No – don't go!" Karin called after him.
"We have no choice!"
"We have no chance!" She rebutted. "He's coming," she whispered, feeling the encroachment of an ominous cloud of chakra. "I can sense it."
Dawn was barely breaking when Sarada, Mitsuki and Shikadai were gathered in Sakura's office.
It was time for them to leave for Konoha.
They were given a stock of weapons and summoning scrolls for more storage.
"Good luck everyone," Sakura said in an encouraging tone.
"We will succeed," Shikadai stated determinedly in a manner rather uncharacteristic of him. He wanted to do something. He wanted to make his parents proud.
Sarada and Mitsuki nodded in agreement.
"Alright guys, I'm about to teleport you all back to Sayuri's bookstore!" Konohamaru forewarned. "Brace yourselves!"
He weaved a complicated array of hand signs, the scroll glowed and Sarada felt the room warp itself around her. Her surroundings were spinning, whirring themselves in a blur. Then all of a sudden she was propelled through a twilight dimension, where she briefly lost all sense of touch, taste, sound and smell.
Boruto chewed a piece of bread as he cheerily made his way towards the Hokage's office.
He blitzed past an old lady selling her newly grown cabbages, he strode past a hysterical cat that vaguely resembled Tora (it was rummaging its way through a merchant's collection of faraway trinkets), he said hi to an old man at a candy store and he helped a few kids cross the road.
Today was the day he'd be able to get the scroll and send him and his friends back to their own world, out of this hellhole.
They were back at the bookstore.
"Pleased to see you all," Sayuri said as she greeted them and led them out of the secret compartment.
"It's nice to meet you again," Mitsuki replied politely.
"Indeed," she smiled as she replied.
"We've got to go soon," Sarada interrupted authoritatively. "We have a friend to save."
"We'll get back to you later," she added out of courtesy.
"Good luck!" Sayuri cheered them on as they walked out into the open.
There was no one in Sasuke's office. Boruto was confused. Had the man simply been messing with him? Was yesterday night even real? Doubts sprung up within him.
"Ouch!" Boruto yelled as an unrecognisable jonin brushed past him and placed a stack of papers on the desk.
"Hokage-sama is out this morning," the man retorted gruffly.
"Oh," Boruto said blandly. That made a whole lot of sense.
He headed back to the lower offices.
A purple giant towered over the rubbles of a former experimental lair, where nothing remained remotely resembled a habitable structure. It loomed over carcases of an assortment of creatures, Orochimaru's test subjects. The man himself had been pierced and pinned by the arrow of the Susanoo, had his physical body incinerated hundreds of times by merciless black flames, had his sealing techniques repeatedly neutralised and, finally, had his soul consumed by the demons of hell.
Sasuke had come prepared for this – it is not easy to completely extinguish Orochimaru, a man who had cheated death many times. While it was certainly true that those inhabiting the lair did expect a purge, they did not expect it to come now. They managed to hold off the assault rather competently until Sasuke's arrival, but they stood ultimately stood no chance. They knew they stood no chance.
No one in this world did.
"Sasuke…" Suigetsu's hoarse voice moaned beneath the rubble. "Why? Why did you have to do this? We were your allies."
"I have no allies," was the simple, unfeeling reply.
"Heh… Guess we knew too much about you," Suigetsu mustered all his chakra to liquefy himself and escape the piling debris.
"It had to be done."
"Really? Bastard, we were there for you when no one else was! We helped you devise and collect all the information about all the shinobi. We-"
A blade of lightning impaled him. He was paralysed, solidified.
"You were all a thorn to my regime, a threat to stability," came the cold response. "I mean no ill will, but my emotions here are irrelevant."
"You-" Suigetsu coughed blood for the first time in his life as the strength of the lightening intensified and became enmeshed with black flames.
"Goodbye," Sasuke uttered as the man before him disintegrated into a puddle of blood, which was soon evaporated by the heat of the dark inferno swirling through.
The job was done - one more connection severed, one more threat extinguished.
Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment and then realised something was amiss.
Karin was missing.
"And Ayame came over to my house and slept over," Takashi winked mischievously at Boruto. "I'll spare you the details because you're still young. But we had loads of fun. She's pretty exhausted now though; she's got a lot of work to do."
"Right," Boruto nodded as he shifted his gaze to Ayame. Her eyes were underlined with thick dark circles, her hair was barely combed and she looked as if she could collapse any moment. "Tell you what, I'll make some coffee and you can deliver it to her."
"Oh Boruto, why did I not meet you earlier?" Takashi sighed, overjoyed. "Then I could've been together with Ayame way longer."
Boruto smirked as he operated the coffee machine. He went for a medium-sized mocha.
"There," he said as he handed the mug over to Takashi.
The man skidded happily off to deliver it to Ayame.
A chunin called Boruto over for a small errand and he sighed. More paperwork delivery.
They were on the same road again.
Sarada looked at her two companions and decided to start a conversation: "So… where are you guys thinking of going for lunch?"
"I don't mind," Mitsuki said, sounding indifferent.
"I'm not Chocho, I don't care either," Shikadai was relatively disinterested.
Great. What a wholesome conversation, Sarada mentally punched herself.
"Shikadai," she started talking again. "What –uh- are some of your hobbies."
"I like playing shogi and sleeping," Shikadai answered plainly. "Look, if you want to begin some deep talk, don't do it here. You don't want any witnesses picking up on stuff like that. Things are different out here."
Sarada rolled her eyes: "Fair point."
How she wished Boruto, ever so talkative, were here with them.
"Takashi, you got any clue when Hokage-sama is coming back?" Boruto inquired earnestly.
"Soon I think, according to a friend in ANBU, he had something important to do this morning," Takashi shrugged.
"What important thing?" Boruto pressed on.
"Can't tell you – it is a classified state secret. Sorry kid. I love you but I can't."
"Right."
"Don't take it the wrong way."
"I won't."
Takashi lowered his voice, mimicking a feeling of paranoia: "If I do, my soul will get pulled out and fed to the creatures of hell."
"Uh…"
"Just kidding!"
"Absolutely hilarious."
Another chunin had called an errand.
"Guess you got to get going – good luck!" Takashi remarked cheerily.
Sakura shook her head as she heard about the massacre of food demonstrators in Sunagakure from an informant. There had been a drought, which diminished the village's already meagre abilities to grow crops. Yet the appointed manager refused to release the emergency food stocks to the public. Those who were angry with the matter took it to the streets to express their disapproval.
This is the world we live in, she sighed.
"Kakashi," she turned around to greet her former sensei.
"Sakura," he nodded tiredly.
"Are you sure the three will be safe?" She asked for reassurance – she had maintained her calm exterior when she bade them goodbye but her insides were churning with uncertainty.
"Provided they don't make a scene," Kakashi said. "You've also sent an accompanying task force trailing them."
"But… that won't be enough if Sasuke-" she couldn't finish the sentence.
"No it won't," Kakashi admitted, knowing just what she wanted to say. "I can go-"
"No. I'll go," Sakura declared resolutely.
"We'll both go," Kakashi concluded.
Boruto was imparted a task to bring a mountainous pile of paperwork into the Hokage office. However, this time, it was occupied.
"Boruto," Sasuke greeted him as he entered.
"Here's all the stuff," Boruto responded.
"More pointless bureaucracy," Sasuke remarked with slight disdain. "But harmless."
Boruto thought he could smell a trace of blood.
"So, Hokage-sama I-" He began.
"I believe you're after this," Sasuke did not wait for Boruto to finish the sentence, holding out the forbidden scroll in his hand. "Correct?"
"Yes!" Boruto's eyes gleamed. "I can't believe it!" He threw an empty punch into the air.
He did it. He was going home.
"Stay," Sasuke ordered softly, leaving his chair to shut the door. "For just a short moment."
"Um… okay," Boruto was mildly surprised. "Is there something you want to know?"
"Your two companions," Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Who are they?"
"Er…" Boruto scratched his head, fumbling over words. "Do you really want to know?"
"Mild curiosity," was the short reply.
"Doesn't look like it," Boruto countered.
"Are you hiding something?" The man's suspicions heightened.
"They're Sarada and Mitsuki. They're on my genin team. End of story."
"I see…" Sasuke's voice trailed off.
"Okay, if you really want to know what happened, in my world you're my mentor and Sarada is your daughter with-"
"Enough," Sasuke interrupted him. "That's all I needed to know."
"You don't care about your daughter from another dimension?"
"Why should I? You don't care about this dimension either," Sasuke eyed him, expecting an agreement.
"You're right I suppose," Boruto sighed. "But just so you know, the you from my world was a really awesome guy. He gave me my headband after I crashed out of the chunin exams because of cheating. Speaking of which, I can't find it any-"
"Here it is," Sasuke interjected, handing over his old headband. Boruto hadn't even realised Sasuke took it last night. "I took it for some… inspection. That is all. Boruto, if there were something I wanted to know, I would have asked. You are dismissed from the job."
"Eh?"
"Go back to your world."
They arrived at the same tavern again.
"Pork cutlet bowl please," Shikadai ordered.
"Port cutlet bowl too," Sarada echoed. She wanted something filling for the rest of the journey.
"Unagi," Mitsuki uttered.
They ate in silence.
Sarada was mildly frustrated by their repeated attempts to shoot down a conversation; she didn't understand why they had to be so uptight.
"Guys," she said. "Are yo-"
She was interrupted by the appearance of a haggard woman with red hair, who burst into the tavern.
"I need water," she moaned in a croaky voice.
Karin. Sarada was sure of it. That woman was Karin.
They even had the same red-rimmed glasses.
"Mitsuki," she whispered. "That's Karin over there."
Mitsuki nodded in agreement: "What on earth do you think has happened?"
"An assault on Orochimaru's lair," Shikadai answered. "That's what must have happened."
"Should we approach her?" Sarada asked the two.
"No!" Shikadai vociferously objected. "We'd be drawing suspicions on ourselves."
Karin sat down on a table next to theirs, gulping down glass of water after glass of water.
Sarada couldn't take her eyes off the woman.
Karin stared back.
Sarada was taken aback and tore her eyes back to her food.
"What are you looking at girl?" The woman gave a rather feisty response.
"Sorry," Sarada answered apologetically.
"Hey what's your problem!" Karin asked once more.
"Nothing – I'm sorry if I bothered you," Sarada muttered.
Shikadai internally kicked himself. Of course they had to do something suspicious.
Mitsuki decided to step in and mediate.
"Sorry. My friend here likes to stare at people randomly," he said while smiling apologetically. "Please forgive her."
"Whatever," Karin waved her hand and drank even more water. Then she caught eye of Shikadai and asked, "You're… from Hi no Ishi?"
Shikadai pretended to not notice her.
"Hey, kid! I'm addressing you!" She walked up to him aggressively.
"Shhhh…." Shikadai hushed her. "What a drag."
He glanced around the place and no one seemed to notice them.
"What's the matter?" He asked with a deliberately ambiguous slant.
"I…" Karin's voice quieted. "Can you give this to Sakura?"
She handed over a small, compacted scroll.
"It has all the information we have gathered about the regime," she whispered.
"Thanks, I'll take it," Shikadai nodded and extended his hand.
"Give them hell," Karin uttered these words with a spitefulness that surprised them all.
She walked back to her table and laughed. Tears poured out, mixed and meshed with a guffaw that spoke neither solely of despair, nor sadness, nor hysteria.
"I'll go… I'll go…" She responded airily to the increasing stares and strolled towards the door.
A kunai caught her at the back of her neck. It was a lady seated in a five-person table.
The secret police. They truly are everywhere, Sarada shuddered internally.
Except Karin wasn't dead yet. Biting herself while pulling out the kunai, she turned round to face the lady with her arms open.
"Go ahead. Try and kill me," she yelled neurotically.
Two-dozen customers stood up and brandished their weapons – half of the restaurant.
"Crap," Shikadai cursed under his breath. "We have to get the hell out of this place. It's filled with the Hokage's eyes and ears."
"When they fire, we run," Mitsuki suggested.
"But Karin – are we just going to leave her there?" Sarada asked with concern.
"We've got no choice," Shikamaru countered. "Either me, you, Mitsuki and Karin all die or Karin dies. She looks extremely weakened. She won't last for long."
Sarada hesitated and then followed her companions out of the back door. Each step she took was laden with guilt.
They had no choice.
As they went further away from the tavern, Sarada thought she could hear the wailing sounds of a woman embittered by life and disillusioned by betrayal.
This will change, she declared internally.
She bit her lip and carried on.
"They're headed for Konoha, Hokage-sama," informed a member of the ANBU. "Two of them are heretofore undocumented and unrecorded on our data booklet."
"I see… They'll be in for quite a surprise," the man chuckled with amusement.
A/N: Another chapter done! Please let me know more about your thoughts on this chapter and this story in general in the reviews!
Honestly, I must admit, I did not expect this story to get past Chapter 3 (because that's when I usually run out of interest.) But, hey, this is what productive procrastination can produce!
Question: Why do you think Sasuke decided to give Boruto the forbidden scroll? (I'll have some fun time reading over this)
:)