A/N: Enjoy this chapter!
They were gathered in Naruto's office in the afternoon, the day after the next. Boruto, Naruto and Sakura too. Boruto had, according to his mother, been as dead as a rock until then, wallowing in a dreamless slumber. When he finally woke up, he was mildly horrified.
When they had informed a distraught Sakura that her daughter was still alive, if only trapped in another dimension, she couldn't be more relieved. She insisted on a meeting immediately to discuss what was going on.
Sasuke, apparently, was still away on his travels, but Naruto had sent a message to him to summon him back to the village.
In the meantime, Boruto briefed Sakura on his encounters.
"A world where I'm the leader of the resistance and where I'm hell-bent on overthrowing Sasuke?" Sakura observed while frowning. "This almost brings back memories of times when Team 7 was separated. I'm starting to imagine what might have been had you, Naruto, lost then and there."
"Crazy, huh? That the world could have been so different," Naruto nodded in agreement.
"No Shinobi Union, no you, no Boruto, no Sarada…" Sakura's voice trailed off.
"A crap place," Boruto finished off. " 'Cuz I'm amazing and I won't be there." He then joked.
Naruto chuckled while Sakura rolled her eyes. Like father, like son.
"So," Sakura said as she took a serious turn. "What do we plan to do?"
"No idea," Boruto sighed, glancing at the two with a helpless gaze. "They have a rebel group but it hasn't been very successful in the past. It almost seems like they haven't made any progress at all, truth to be told."
"Boruto," Naruto scolded. "Don't say that – where there is hope, there is a way!"
"Dad, I'm serious. These folks are seeing their bases dwindling by the day, their spies are weeded out constantly and they didn't even have eyes and ears in the Hokage's office. On top of that, they have absolutely no way of overcoming the regime in terms of raw power, manpower and financial resources and their popular support is, at best, tepid," Boruto explained while shaking his head. "I do regret leaving, by accident, my friends there and I do think I was being a cynical jerk, but you have to know that I did have a point."
"I'll go," Naruto answered gravely, much to Boruto and Sakura's surprise. "It was my fault in that world for not beating Sasuke in our final battle. It only makes sense that I do something to remedy things… Still… maybe I'll be able to talk him out of it. I don't believe Sasuke is really gone forever…"
"No way dad," Boruto rebutted his father. "He seemed pretty set on his ways."
"I disagree," Naruto replied. "He could have killed you right there when he found out who you are, Boruto. But instead, he offered to help you leave the place. My guess is that he… he doesn't want to face you or the past. He doesn't want to know what could have happened."
"But the prophecy," Boruto argued. "He just wanted me to leave so I don't disturb the balance of that world."
"Like I said, he could have just killed you to get rid of that problem," Naruto said, certain that he was correct, ever so confident of his best friend's inner goodness.
"Okay, but so what? He's still crazy," Boruto pouted in front of his father. "How on earth are we going to get him to listen to us? He's also said he'll kill me if he found out I went back. And how are we going back?"
"Right," Naruto admitted. "That would be a problem."
In the meantime, Sarada was gathered in Sakura's office, filled with various members of Hi no Ishi.
Shikamaru was there strategizing and his wife, Temari, appeared too, having taken a journey from Sunagakure. Both of them looked older, Sarada noted, much more haggard than their selves in her world, weathered by hardships and drained by years of fighting a losing war. Wrinkles were already emerging on Temari's forehead. Shikadai, Sarada realised with a warmth rising inside her, was absolutely delighted to see both of his parents – given their normally occupied schedule, this meeting was a rarity. He snorted as his mother made an offside comment about his messy hair and tried to fix his clothes. His father simply uttered the familiar words "troublesome woman."
Kakashi was there too, reclining against the wall with an old copy of Icha Icha Paradise, waiting for Sakura's arrival. It was worn, at least ten years old. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she saw him prowl through his licentious and controversial books.
Konohamaru had a serious air about him, something that was usually absent when he was their sensei; he had always been a jovial and light-hearted person, too cheerful for his own good, to the extent of becoming rather comical.
Many other former members of the Konoha 11 were there too. Tenten sharpened her kunai as Rock Lee jumped up and down excitedly, pumped for whatever revelation was to come. Shino-sensei was withdrawn, silent and brooding in response to Kiba's enthusiastic babble about dogs. Chouji shared a bag of chips affectionately with his daughter, Chocho, as he recounted his most recent adventures in foiling an operation to uncover the Hi no Ishi base in Iwagakure.
This conglomeration of familiar peoples, of vital figures in Hi no Ishi can only mean one thing, Sarada reasoned: this had to be something important.
A revelation? A way to overthrow the regime? Sarada couldn't tell. Mitsuki looked just as confused beside her.
"We may have found a way," Sakura declared as she strode in with a scroll, the one Karin gave to Shikadai before her death. "Hope at last. Hope of defeating him."
Kakashi nodded.
"By that you mean?" Shikamaru pressed on.
"Shikadai," Sakura smiled at the boy. "Why don't you start first?"
"Me?" The boy took one glance at the scroll she was holding and understood what she meant. "Okay. It was during our retrieval missing to Konoha. We encountered someone from Orochimaru's base, Karin, in a tavern. According to her, the base had been sacked earlier that day. She knew she was going to die and she didn't seem to mind it. But before that, she gave me a scroll and asked me to give it to Hi no Ishi."
"And," Sakura continued. "What's in it could hold the key to defeating the regime: the location of the nine tailed beasts."
A hush descended upon the room.
Stunned faces.
Hopeful faces.
Perplexed faces.
Delighted faces.
Sarada saw them all.
"… That… is great news," Shikamaru was the one to break the silence.
"It is," Sakura said. "If we could locate all of them, wrench them away from the Hokage's control and harness their powers, we might just be able to oppose him, which is why I called you all here in the first place."
"Where are they?" Kiba burst out impulsively. "We'll find them immediately."
"Hang on, I'm just getting there," Sakura said. "Sasuke has sealed them in scattered locations all across the Continent. According to the scroll, each location requires an intricate knowledge of how the mechanisms of each seal works in order to retrieve each tailed beast. Fortunately, this scroll has everything covered."
"Everything?" Konohamaru sounded incredulous.
"Everything – from location to sealing procedures," Sakura affirmed. "This could be the principle reason why Sasuke chose to eliminate Orochimaru and his lackeys."
"Makes sense," Kakashi agreed.
"But how confident are you about the veracity of the scroll's information?" Shikamaru questioned cautiously. "We would all like it to be true, but what are the chances of it being not?"
"I think…" Sakura paused before continuing. "It is worth the risk. This is the best chance we've got. Plus, for Karin herself to risk her life and carry this piece of information to us in an act of vengeance, she herself had to believe it would do great harm to the regime."
Sakura took a deep breath: "Shikamaru and Temari, both of you will be tasked with retrieving the Ichibi."
"Yes," the couple nodded.
"Kiba," Sakura ordered. "I will allocated a task force to help you with extracting the Nibi."
The man flashed a canine smile: "I'm on it."
"Kakashi, you'll be focusing on the Sanbi," the woman continued. "Our agents in from the Land of Water will deal with the Yonbi. Chouji – take down the Gobi with your daughter. Konohamaru, you and Mitsuki will capture the Rokubi. Shino, the Nanabi. Rock Lee and Tenten, the Hachibi. And Sarada and I will go after the Kyuubi. Come to me separately after this and I will give you the further details."
"What do we do then?" asked Tenten. "What do we do after we get the tailed beasts?"
"They hate Sasuke's guts for imprisoning them," Sakura said. "We'll use them to our advantage."
"How?" Temari questioned. "By creating new jinchurikis?"
Sakura sighed, conceding, "That is a possibility."
Father and son were back in the house. They were still pondering about the other world, debating the merits of Naruto's claims about Sasuke and utilising knowledge from the past to back up their arguments.
"Dad," Boruto said again. "I don't – I don't think you understand. Sasuke's a different person there. He won't listen to any of your advice; he'll probably try to kill you. You don't know him there."
"As a matter of fact, I think I do," Naruto frowned. "You see, he's just like our Sasuke before – someone warped in cynicism, someone who was utterly disillusioned with the world and believed in resorting to extreme solutions. Fundamentally, he means well, even if his methods and reasoning are utterly wrong."
"But-"
"He's also lonely," Naruto added. "We were both lonely when we were young. But the Sasuke in the other world, he's the loneliest of us all – don't you see it? He's all there at the top, all-powerful, but he has severed all his bonds. And Sakura hates him. He has no one."
"He doesn't seem to care," Boruto shrugged.
"But he does," Naruto argued. "I believe he does."
"He-"
"Do you know what he told me? Way back before our final battle?" Naruto cut off his son. "He saw how the five villages united in the face of a common enemy. He said he wanted to eliminate all the bonds he formed in the world. He said he wanted to be Hokage, to establish a system where everyone feared him and concentrated their hatred on him. That way, there will be no more wars because everyone had a common enemy."
I don't harm people for the sake of harming them.
Boruto remembered these words from his conversation with Sasuke. No. It couldn't be. Was every malicious act done with a purpose, a purpose to exacerbate people's fear and hatred towards him? If that were the case then Sasuke had, in some ways, succeeded. People were united either out of fear of (like old man Ichirou, Takashi, Ayame and the sycophantic social-climbers in Konoha) or hatred against him (like members of Hi no Ishi.)
"No," Boruto muttered. "No way. Impossible."
Disrupter, Boruto remembered Sasuke calling him that. Was it because he, in some mystical way, altered the balance of power and chakra in the world and posed a threat to the regime that way? Or was it because he reminded Sasuke of a world that could have been?
"No," Boruto reaffirmed himself again. "No."
"You know, the more you say no, the less certain you sound," observed Naruto.
"But the man is also perfectly capable of cruelty," Boruto said. "He's capable of unspeakable ruthlessness."
"I know that, I know exactly what you mean."
"Then how do we-"
He was interrupted by the doorbell.
It was Sasuke.
"We're retrieving the Kyuubi together?" Sarada approached Sakura bemusedly in private.
"Correct, Sarada," Sakura said. "It's… located in an obscure cave in the Land of Fire, near a series of abandoned monasteries."
"But why me?" Sarada asked. "What help can I be?"
"The Sharingan," the woman answered. "It can be used to subdue the Kyuubi if need be."
"I see…" Sarada said, feeling a little queasy on the inside. She had gotten too close with the woman in front of her; she was sure the woman had other reasons for choosing her. She didn't know how she felt about conflating this Sakura with her mother. They were so similar and so different. Her mother was bold, brave and intelligent, but she didn't possess the same kind of steeliness one acquired by leading a resistance group for almost twenty years. Could she be letting this relationship cloud her judgment? No. No way. All she wanted was to help this world out of darkness and go back to hers and become Hokage. Yes, that was all she desired.
"We leave in the dead of night," Sakura said. "In the meantime, you can… hang out with your friends here? Get some food? Get some rest? We have important things ahead of us."
"Yes, Sakura," Sarada smiled. She consciously avoided the word 'mama.'
If Sakura noticed, she didn't show it.
"Bastard, you're finally here," Naruto joked. "What took you so long?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto and answered: "I was at the Land of Earth."
"Alright, fair enough."
"I found this…" He took out the forbidden scroll; Boruto and Naruto's eyes bulged in surprised, in pleasant surprise.
"Where on earth did you get this?" Boruto gasped. "How on earth did you know we were looking for it?"
"To answer the first question, the Land of Earth – no pun intended," Sasuke said wryly. "To answer the second question, I didn't. But I knew it was meant to be in Naruto's office – it was too risky to be anywhere else. Speaking of which, Boruto, were you the muppet who opened this scroll?"
He glared at the boy, who shirked back. Even in this world, Sasuke still had the scariest glares.
"…Yes… and in fact…I…" Boruto trailed off. Gathering himself together, he resumed, "Shishou, I snuck into dad's office at night with Sarada and Mitsuki and-"
"Oh God," Sasuke facepalmed. "I knew it. Naruto – why the hell is your office so poorly guarded?"
"Don't blame me," Naruto defended himself. "I had tons of ANBU there and I was away to a Gokage summit!"
"Let me guess, Boruto," Sasuke conjectured. "You were all transported to another dimension?"
"Yes," Boruto answered, his head hanging low.
"And you accidentally came back?" Sasuke asked again, with a slightly accusatory tone.
"Yes," Boruto said, appearing decidedly ashamed.
"Of course. Naruto, Boruto – the scroll I just gave you, according to what I deciphered from the ruins in Uzu, it has the ability to transport one into another dimension, one where the most important events of a century diverged," Sasuke explained.
"I know," Boruto said. "In that other dimension, you killed dad at the Valley of the End."
Sasuke looked taken aback by Boruto's comments.
"Crazy, huh?" Naruto remarked.
"I see," Sasuke said. He looked rather uncomfortable. "I… somewhat expected that," he continued glumly. "And that was the main reason why, Naruto, that I wanted you to keep it safe from all human contact."
"We're going back there – Dad and I," Boruto told his master. "We're going back there to make things right and bring back Sarada and Mitsuki. Don't you worry."
"You're really asking me to not worry?" The man deadpanned.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto complained. "We'll be fine! Actually, you should come too. You should go there and give your other self a good kicking."
"I wish I could," Sasuke said. "But I can't. You see, there are two main features to this scroll. One, it vanishes and reappears elsewhere in one dimension every time it is used. Two, it can't transport those whose chakra are present in both dimension. So in other words, no me, no Sakura and no anyone whose also alive around there. Believe me, I tried. It didn't work."
"Oh," Boruto said disappointedly.
"So…from what I've gathered," Sasuke analysed. "Both of you will be confronting me there?"
The two nodded.
"I see," he sighed. "I can't exactly predict how I'll act – strange huh? Back then, I was so reckless, so single-minded… so inconsiderate. I believed only I could be right. But, do remember to tell the man that there are other ways to achieve peace and that Naruto's vision isn't unrealistically utopic. Do tell him that the world deserves better. Oh and if that doesn't work, kick his ass."
Naruto laughed: "Don't worry – we will! I'll kick your ass so badly like I did back then-"
"To be fair, it was a draw," Sasuke interjected. "But good luck anyway, loser. No, losers."
Boruto thought he caught a smirk. Sasuke poked him on the forehead and said: "Make sure your dad doesn't do anything stupider than you did."
"So," Naruto stated. "Boruto, let's open the scroll?"
"Alright! Here we go!" Boruto declared triumphantly.
He was going back; he was going to right what's wrong. He was going to save Sarada and Mitsuki.
The room was enwrought with a luminescent radiation. Boruto felt his senses freeze – given that this was his third time round, this sensation felt less ludicrous and unsettling. Voices, chanting voices broke out as his vision gave way to darkness. He saw that he was being transported into a limbo dimension, where void was all there is.
Boruto's neck couldn't move, yet his eyes could. He rotated them left to right to absorb his surroundings.
His father was not there with him.
Boruto thought his vision must have gone awry, so he retraced his eyes, surveying all that surrounded him. Still no dad.
His alertness was blurring, the edges of his vision becoming more and more blunted. His mind was inundated with fuzziness. His head hurt.
His consciousness was fading, fading, fading, fading,
fading, fading, fading,
fading fading
fading
A/N: How did you all find this chapter? The last part was kind of inspired by a poem I had to memorise – take a guess as to which one?
How are you finding this story? I am aware it leans towards being one of those dialogue-heavy ones, but I'll do my best to include a few action-packed sequences in later chapters. In fact, I've got a very exciting fight planned. I am trying to learn :P
This story started off as a simple plot bunny but it has grown and grown, becoming basically my prime focus on fanfiction now that all my other stories are done (check out the Hashirama, World's Worst Matchmaker for something more light-hearted.) It was really fun using this story to explore an array of complicated ideas and relationships. I've already got an ending in mind, but we'll see whether it's the one you've had in mind :D
On another note, this story will only have between 20 and 30 chapters – no more, no less. I've already decided. I want to keep it short and not drag it for too long.
What do you think will happen next? Let me know your predictions in the reviews!
p.s. Still no beta? :(