Sarada swore she almost broke her leg when they landed, key word being almost. Boruto, on the other hand, experienced an ear-splitting crack and, squirming, cast his eyes on the macabre distortion that was his left leg.
"Shit, Sarada! Go on without me! Find him!" He yelled, no, implored with desperation. They had not a second to waste.
Naruto was here. No, not her Hokage, not the man she had long admired from afar, but the boy in this world, who had died when he was barely five years older than her. His chakra was detectable.
A coffin. It was the very same coffin that she encountered back at the cave in the mountains and monasteries. She made her way towards it, wincing at the pain that was nowhere closer to fading. She could tell she wasn't permanently or severely injured in any way – but the pain is pervasive nonetheless. All she could do was ignore it, tuck it away at the back of her head for less pressing and dangerous situations. Remembering the procedures at the cave, she placed a palm on the lid of the sarcophagus.
And then the room was engulfed in a ray of warm, brilliant orange light.
Mitsuki sped through the streets in a frantic aim to reach his friends in time. He arrived there at perhaps the most opportune moment possible, leaping into battle, stretching his limbs and pulling Kakashi out of harm's way. Momoshiki, he realised, had just fired a particularly destructive fire jutsu that threatened to roast the man alive.
"Thank you, Mitsuki," Kakashi remarked gratefully before hurling another kunai towards Momoshiki again. It was a futile effort; the kunai graced off Momoshiki's skin without even making a meagre dent. More than that, Momoshiki seemed stronger, more terrible. His appearance had changed from consuming the chakra fruit. Long horns, black at their tips, sprouted from his hair and his skin was laced with ominous black tattoos. His eyes were now a searing pit of amber, his pale aristocratic hands now nefarious black claws, his delicate feet now grotesque webs.
Kakashi wasn't trying to win, Mitsuki hypothesized, he was merely trying to buy time for Boruto and Sarada.
There was only one option as things stand. Kakashi could do with some extra help.
Konohamaru stood dumbstruck in the middle of the deserted street, now filled with debris and destructive black flames. Kinshiki had vanished, simply vanished.
Sasuke, catching eye of him and his companions, frowned and made his way towards them and then past them, brushing by Konohamaru with not so much as rudeness but a lack of concern. Then the man increased his speed and was soon out of sight.
"Check out the surroundings for any survivors! Scout everything you can!" Konohamaru ordered everyone again. Anything they could save, they will, they had to.
Chocho was still running for her life, chakra reserves utterly depleted and her pudginess had withered until her arms and lean were reduced to a lean – what she would, under less dire circumstances, consider desirable – frame, her face became thinner, round cheeks burnt off in desperation, and her waist shrunk by a gobsmacking magnitude. Still, she didn't dare stop. Her father - her dearest father, the man who she knew would always be there for her, in spirit if not in person – was gone. He had sacrificed his life for her and, in the only possible way she could reciprocate him, she swore that she would survive this so that he would not have died in vain.
It had been days since their failed mission and the town containing the gateway to Mount Myoboku was within sight. She had barely rested on the way, taking naps of scarcely an hour and stopping only for water here and there. Genetics ensured that whatever deficiencies from lack of food were covered comprehensively.
Briefly, she wondered how everyone else was doing. Did any of her comrades succeed? How is Sarada – that strange and wonderful girl from the other dimension – faring? Did she reunite with her friend Boruto? So many things unanswered, so many things she wanted to know, so many things she wanted to fill her mind with instead of her father's death
[Don't think about it, Chocho. He wouldn't want you to mourn – he would have wanted you to live your life to its fullest. Honour the dead by living, by carrying on their dreams. Dad will be with mum now, in heaven. Pity the living instead, who currently inhabit this utter clusterfuck of a world. Damn Chocho, don't deviate. Think about other things. Anything.]
Mother. Bright red hair, chocolate skin (her skin too), fiery temper and the light of Chouji's life. Karui had left this world [She died, Chocho. She died. She didn't leave you, she died. She died for a cause she believed in] when Chocho was only seven. It was a mission to the Land of Lightning – that was all the detail Chocho had received from her father. Further inquiries yielded nothing new. She had cried for nights, insomnia overtook her and everywhere she went, she thought she would see and hear Karin's laugh. In spite of his occupied schedule, for rebellion is a time-consuming business, Chouji tried to spend as much time as conceivably possible with his daughter. It wasn't until a few years later when the cruel realities of the world finally peeled away her childish innocence and ignorance [Weren't they two sides of the same coin anyway? Now, now Chocho, don't get too unhappy and cynical. Dad wouldn't like it at all, no, no. What did he say? Be happy and persevere no matter what], that Chocho realised just how much the man was mourning too, just how much his cheerful demeanour was a façade, just how much he needed her comfort too.
And now he was gone too.
[What happened to thinking about other things?]
Smoke was rising from the distance. The town was flattened. Debris was everywhere – screams and shouts too. Evacuees left in droves, directed and protected by familiar faces.
She found them. She found Hi no Ishi. Relief washed over her as she heard Konohamaru's voice: "Chocho! My God Chocho – is that you?"
She soon realised just how short-lived her relief would be.
Sasuke Uchiha. The man's chilling chakra was palpable in the air and it made her blood curdle. She had encountered that chakra before, potent and powerful and the very essence of darkness. "Did the Hokage do all of this?" She asked Konohamaru, agitated. Had he finally discovered Hi no Ishi's hiding place and retaliated in fury?
Konohamaru sighed. "Chocho, you will soon find out that Sasuke Uchiha is the least of our problems…"
Naruto Uzumaki stared at them, dazed and confused. Sarada let out a gasp and Boruto felt a slight relief enveloping him. Judging from the man – no teenager's confounded expressions, which was an encouraging sign of independent thought, he was not under the thrall or control of anyone. Not yet. It was strange seeing his father's younger self. Naruto was wearing godawful orange and black clothing and a Konoha headband. He was certainly taller than Boruto but still had much to grow before reaching dad-Naruto's height. Internally, Boruto mused about whether this was how he would look like when he had reached 17 years old.
If.
He cleared his throat, preparing for a concise briefing. "Hi, my name's Boruto Uzumaki. I'm from another dimension and I am your son. I know this may sound confusing to you but I promise you I'll offer a much better explanation once we get out of this mess. At present, the planet is being invaded by two extremely powerful beings on par with Kaguya Ootsusuki in terms of destructive abilities. They are after the Kyuubi and we all need your help." The words were fired rapidly, like kunais from a kunai launcher. Naruto seemed more confused.
"What… what happened? The last thing I remembered was Sasuke and we were… we were fighting and – and – oh man!" Naruto frowned and then pouted and then pursued to rub his head in a manner that Boruto would have deemed comical had they not been in such a dire situation. He suppressed the urge to scream at not-dad Naruto to hurry up. "I lost, didn't I?" Naruto's voice quieted suddenly, hollowing out. There were lingering traces of disappointment as he registered the reality of his failure.
Boruto nodded grimly. "And this world kind of went to shit. A semi-totalitarian dictatorship stretched across the five elemental nations, to be precise. And it's about to get, well, worse. Way worse. We don't have much time to lose!"
"Okay, okay geez," Naruto complained. "Who are you anyway?"
"I told you, your son from another dimension," Boruto said, sighing. Was his own father this impossible at the age of 17? "I got here accidentally via a dimension travelling scroll and got entangled in this whole mess-"
"Who is she?" Naruto asked softly, pointing towards Sarada.
"Sarada Uchiha, Sasuke and Sakura's child – from my dimension," Boruto explained, still squirming with discomfort as she sat on the ground and desperately tried to patch up his distorted leg with the meagre first aid tools Sarada carried with her."They were happily married there after you won and brought Sasuke back to the village. Here, in this world, they're mortal enemies."
Sadness flickered across Naruto's features as he bent down and examined Boruto's leg gently. "I might be able to do something about this." And all of a sudden, he was engulfed in bright orange chakra. His hands glowed, emanating brilliant white light.
Crack. The sound of bones rearranging. He felt numb and he was sure it would have hurt otherwise. Quite disturbing, now that Boruto properly thought about it – he didn't want to delve into the anatomical mechanics about the process of the healing. Within seconds, he was all good.
"Amazing…" Sarada's mouth was wide open and she stared at Naruto with an expression that can only be described as admiration. Boruto found himself sharing her looks too: his father was impressive, even as a teenager. And his own days of resentment and jealousy were long gone.
"Heh." Naruto scratched his head again; Boruto suppressed a snicker. "Glad it worked for you. Now, let's go and kick some butt dattebayo!"
And there goes the same verbal tic too. Not-dad-Naruto was, in some respects, remarkably similar to dad-Naruto.
"Insolent human beings!" Momoshiki bellowed as he swept Mitsuki aside and hurled a giant cloud of fire at the boy, which quickly took shape of a blazing phoenix. Mitsuki leapt out of the way just in time and, to be safe, conjured a water shield.
Kakashi Hatake lay in the rubbles. Alive, but certainly incapacitated - injured, not fatally, but enough to render him useless in combat for the moment. The man groaned and tried to get up, failed and collapsed again.
Despair overtook Mitsuki. His friends were in there. He could not fail them. He will not allow himself to fail them. He will buy more time; he will do this for Sarada, for Boruto. Taking a deep breath, he activated his sage mode, a surge of raw natural power coursing through his veins. He knew that he was still no match for the deity before him. He didn't care.
"You will never win!" He muttered through gritted teeth and flung a long-stretched arm into Momoshiki's face. The man merely stepped aside with playful nonchalance and proceeded to unleash a torrent of carnivorous insects, which gathered themselves around Mitsuki's arm, latching themselves onto it and began biting it.
Insects. Momoshiki specialized in absorbing jutsu, especially that of his enemies. Insects. This could only have originated from a member of the Aburame clan. Mitsuki privately wondered whether Shino [not Shino-sensei] was a casualty of the Ootsusukis. It stung, the knowledge of even the possibility of Shino being harmed. That man had been Mitsuki's academy instructor for several years in another world.
Mitsuki pulled back his arm to avoid further damage.
"How tedious. Begone!" Momoshiki announced as he fired a paralyzing ray of lightning at Mitsuki and before Mitsuki could dodge it, Kakashi leapt in front of him and cancelled out the electricity with a jutsu of his own.
And then –
"Get away from Kakashi-sensei you bastard!"
A voice, familiar and yet unfamiliar. It was younger, certainly less sagely than the one Mitsuki had grown accustomed to, but it was unmistakable.
Naruto Uzumaki.
Sakura rushed back to the scene of destruction, having disseminated the messages to members of Hi no Ishi scattered all over the continent. What greeted her made her feel uneasy: death and destruction everywhere and barely a soul in sight. If it weren't for Konohamaru's explanation and reassurance that the vast majority of civilians had been evacuated to safety, she would have considered this one of the bleakest conflicts of her life.
Chocho Akimichi was there too, haggard, skinny and thoroughly depleted of chakra but nevertheless alive. Yet that could only mean one thing - she had failed. Judging from her red eyes, the casualties of her mission were high, perhaps even consisting her own father.
Chouji.
And another one bites to dust.
Sakura bit her lip bitterly. So many lives sacrificed – and all for what?
[Overthrowing Sasuke? Remember? You took a vow, the day he murdered Naruto. You took a vow that you would carry on Naruto's dream.]
Naruto's dream of a better world…
[Dead bodies. All the dead bodies. All the people that died, that died because of you and your dream. All the people that died for freedom. How will he think?]
So many friends dead and gone and – and if Momoshiki and Kinshiki destroyed this world, it would be all for nothing. In order to retain even a semblance of hope in overthrowing Sasuke, she would have to tolerate the man and, heavens forgive her, work with him temporarily.
She approached Chocho, byakugou seal activated, and endowed the girl with parts of chakra. She then handed Chocho a granola bar, a far cry from the bags and bags of potato chips the girl loved but adequate for the current situation. As Chocho munched on the food, Sakura slit her left hand with her kunai and, after swiping her thumb over the gushing blood, weaved the correct handsigns and whispered the words: "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
Katsuyuu split into a thousand parts and distributed herself over the area, latching onto relieved Hi no Ishi members and wounded civilians.
Then, she turned towards Konohamaru. "Where did Sasuke go?" Her words were cold, curt and clinical. There was no need to engage in impassioned rants. He gave her the directions and she nodded in response.
She would go after Momoshiki too. Everything else be damned.
A/N: Are we about to witness a terse Team 7 reunion? You'll see by next chapter!
Thank you all so much for reviewing, favouriting and following this story! It has 6 more chapters left - I plan on making this a 30 chapter story - so get your predictions coming in!
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