A/N: I'm sorry, I promise you guys I'm still alive. It's been ages since the last update - but rest assured, I am committed to finishing this story. With all this in mind, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
"Lord Hokage," Mitsuki addressed Naruto before him, trying to keep calm. They had rapidly shunshinned away from the scene of battle and he was short of breath. A persistent feeling of stress nagged him from the back of his mind; it was all up to him now to buy some time for his friends. He needed to succeed in his endeavor.
He had willingly followed his friends Boruto and Sarada into this world, his teammates, people he would consider his family. Orochimaru, his father, had been a complicated man; at times, Mitsuki wondered just what was the purpose of his existence. Why had Orochimaru created him and deemed him a son? This, his parent had provided no concrete answer – he needed to search for the meaning himself.
Sometimes, Mitsuki felt that his entire life had been centered on his search for meaning, his quest to carve out his own place in the world. Boruto had been his first sign of light, the sun whose brightness his moon would reflect, his first true friend and someone Mitsuki decided he would follow to the end of time. Sarada was a close companion too, especially after being placed into the same genin team as him. She always trusted him to confide her feelings to and he had been a shoulder for her to cry on, like a brother.
Sometimes, Mitsuki saw himself as the lubricant of the Team, someone who made things easier for his two other friends, who often clashed, as evidenced by their adventure in this parallel world. Each one of them had perfectly valid opinions, yet those opinions contradicted each other and Mitsuki was left alone in the middle. There were instances when he felt rather helpless (when Sarada ran away crying as Boruto was whisked back to their world and when his team disintegrated right before his eyes), but he knew it was his job to carry on.
Loyalty. Orochimaru had remarked with amusement during one of Mitsuki's excursion's to his parent's lair that Mitsuki's defining trait had been loyalty and dependability. Perhaps that really was the case.
"There's no need to call me Lord Hokage – heh," Naruto replied with a grin, snapping Mitsuki back to reality.
"Right," Mitsuki explained, "So I'm going to try and undo Edo Tensei. It's a signature jutsu of my parent so I might have some affiliation with it – I've picked up a thing or two. Plus, you were resurrected by the hand of my parent and since I'm his son I-"
"Man Orochimaru is your dad?!" Naruto looked aghast. His eyes were bulging in surprise, his mouth wide open."
"Yes, yes. Long story short, he created me from a test tube," Mitsuki replied.
"But, why?" Naruto frowned, puzzled at the idea of Orochimaru – out of all people – becoming a parent.
"He… I think he created me to see if he was able to feel love, to see whether he was really as far gone as he thought he was," Mitsuki sighed. "Anyways, enough of this. I'm going to try and do the reverse hand signs while" – he reached for a scroll his father had insistently packed – "this scroll diminishes your ties to the temporal world. Weave the hand signs it instructs."
"Got you," Naruto said. "You know, kid, you make me think miracles can happen. Look after Boruto, will you?"
Mitsuki smiled at him with a nod and began. Naruto followed suit.
A shard of light pierced through the clouds.
"Mitsuki did it," Sarada whispered. "He undid the resurrection." Her mouth widened as she watched a ghostly figure, coated in a golden aura ascend the sky, smiling down on the earth below.
Nearby, Kakashi flashed a sign of relief, too brief and too terse to be called hope.
"Yes! Yes! Mitsuki did it!" Boruto shouted in excitement.
Good luck, Naruto seemed to say, finally at peace.
"Man, I always knew he-"
"Pay attention!" Sasuke chided as he threw Boruto out of harm's way again, his voice quivering. Sarada was surprised by the sound of it. Had he been any ordinary person, she would have deemed it a sign of severe emotional distress. "This is no child's play – your friend may have won us a moment of reprieve, but we are nowhere close to victory."
"For once, foolish human, you are right," Momoshiki snarled, trembling in rage, evidently indignant at the unfolding of recent events. He whipped out a fluid rope, made of a dark and ominous substance, and aimed it at the four: Sasuke, Boruto, Sarada and Kakashi. "I will just have to kill you all first. In time, the Kyuubi will re-appear and it will be mine. There will be no more pestilent, low-bred creatures to stop me then!"
"Careful! This is a variant of Dust Release that is more flexible than the original; it extinguishes everything in its path!" Kakashi cautioned as he jumped out of the way.
The substance was taking a tentacular form, closing in on Sarada and Boruto as they ran franticallyto escape its clutches. Sarada felt the suffocating presence surrounding her and Boruto in all directions until there was simply nowhere to go.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" She shot a ball of flames in hopes of blocking its encroachment. Her attack was vaporized in an instant.
The end was nearing.
Death.
Was it her time now? Boruto's time?
How awful must it be for Mitsuki, to send one person into the afterlife and then to come back and see his friends all gone?
And then she was swept up – Boruto too – by a purple, ethereal figure, being enveloped by its entirety. At its centre was Sasuke Uchiha, maintaining a stoic mask. But this time, it was cracking, crumbling and collapsing.
"Both of you! You could have died!" He appeared angry with both of them, though his attention was mostly directed at Boruto, which puzzled Sarada. This was the first time he had deliberately acknowledged her existence. She did not know what to make of that. He was not her father and she was not his daughter.
"And why would you care?" Boruto seemed to speak her mind.
"We need to… look, fact remains that neither of you are from this world and – and it's only fair if both of you are left unscathed by this fight."
Hardly a coherent or – in Sarada's view – honest explanation. But she did not follow up for answers and elaborations.
"Sasuke, let me do it. My plan will work," Boruto argued as he stood by Sasuke within the man's Susanoo, as it clashed fervently with Momoshiki, now armored by a lava-coated stone golem. It gave Boruto shivers; it reminded the boy of his last fight with the deity, in his own world. Only here, it was clear that Momoshiki had the upper hand, for he faced Sasuke alone and not the combined might of the famed shinobi duo, the Nanadaime Hokage and his faithful shadow.
"It's too dangerous," Sasuke rebutted bluntly.
Sarada shot a puzzled look again and then plunged into deep scrutiny.
"Didn't you say something about ninjas needing to take risks?"
"I don't ever recall saying anything of that sort to you."
"Well, your Susanoo looks like it won't last very long. If we keep going like this, we're probably going to lose."
And it was true. The edges of the purple giant were blurred, melting under the string of attacks by Momoshiki, which were of a caliber of intensity akin to Kaguya, who had dispelled Sasuke's Susanoo with ease before. Soon, they would be overwhelmed. Soon –
Its head shattered.
"Well, screw this. This is our last chance."
Sasuke took a deep sigh and finally relented. "If you really are so willing…"
Beside him, Sarada frowned. Boruto wished he could tell her what he meant to do, but she would likely disagree with his actions and try to stop him. There were times when the stakes were simply insurmountable, times when they demanded secrecy. Instead, he took her hand, squeezing it tight as her sweaty palms touched his own – and then dropped his grip resolutely, before she could make sense of his decision.
"I'm ready."
Sasuke watched gravely as Boruto seemingly propelled himself forward into doom's arms, as the boy threw a giant shuriken into Momoshiki and it was evaded with an ease that almost spoke of mockery. Yet in its shadow hid another shuriken, which struck Momoshiki and bruised him, although he seemed more irked than hurt.
In retaliation, Momoshiki viciously thrust the black, ominous substance – the same kind Obito Uchiha once used to fight him and the Shinobi Alliance all these years ago – into Boruto's heart, attempting to liquidate the boy's existence once and for all. Though the boy had revealed his plans to Sasuke beforehand, seeing Boruto's figure disappear in a puff of smoke brought a comforting sense of relief.
In a split second, the shuriken that Momoshiki originally dodged transformed into Boruto – the boy really took it after his father – and slammed into the god. Boruto took out a kunai and stabbed the Rinnegan embedded in Momoshiki's hand with all his might.
(Now, it was his turn.)
Momoshiki screamed and screeched in anger and agony, casting Boruto aside in an attack infused with malicious, destructive chakra.
Sasuke hurled a concentrated spear of lightning at Momoshiki.
(The boy collided with the ground and Sasuke winced as he heard a cracking sound. The bleeding, the broken bones, the suppressed groans – Boruto was hurting. )
Sasuke continued his assault, this time unmitigated by the inability to use ninjutsu, striking Momoshiki's gut with a sword coated with the black flames of Amaterasu.
(Boruto struggles to get back on his two feet.)
"Is this the best you can do?" A sneer, a glint of amusement in Momoshiki's eyes. "For all the things that you've done, all the distance that you've come, all the power you've acquired, you're just a human being, a mere dirty mortal."
Sasuke felt a sensation of pain pulsate through his body and looking down in horror, he realized he had been pierced through his torso by a long rod made out of bone. He cursed internally out of frustration. Momoshiki was an Otsusuki, just like Kaguya and he should have anticipated this move. Warm blood seeped through his attire, saturating it and dripping down bit by bit. [Is this how life bleeds away?]
"I… I think I'm okay with that," Sasuke replied with a smirk, fighting away feelings of fear and resignation.
Suddenly, a bright, blinding light assaults his vision and Sasuke turns around to see Boruto charging forwards, leaping into the air with a swirling blue orb, still growing in size. The Giant Rasengan. [Why, of course. Like father, like son.] Sasuke thought he could see a faint trace of Naruto's ghostly arm, helping Boruto mold the jutsu and guiding the attack.
Sasuke switched places with a stray kunai lodged on the ground as the Giant Rasengan collided with Momoshiki. Momoshiki stood ground, conjuring a dark swirling ball of his own. Boruto's face squirmed in pain as he held out tenaciously. Nonetheless, Sasuke could see that the boy was being pushed back second after second. It was a good thing that Momoshiki was sizably wounded by his own attacks before this, with it reducing the god's abilities and raw strength. Otherwise, Boruto would have been easily overwhelmed.
Out of the blue, Sarada jumped into the scene and infused her chakra with Boruto's Giant Rasengan, coating it with electricity.
"We'll do this together, Boruto," she said, determined.
Sasuke felt himself smile as he witnessed the two – no, three, for he was sure that Naruto stood beside them, lending them strength - of them struggle against Momoshiki, their movements progressing in perfect sync. With Sarada's aid, they were edging out ever so slightly, forcing Momoshiki back until, finally, he could no longer withstand their collective might.
Then they struck Momoshiki, dissolving the god's essence, sending him flying higher and higher into the sky until whatever that was left of Momoshiki's figure reached the end of Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated utterly.
Panting and bleeding, stuck in a situation even worse than Sasuke's, Boruto collapsed onto the ground. Sarada rushed forward to help him and, hands coated in green chakra, tried to heal him.
Biting his lip, Sasuke dragged him to the boy's place. He could tell that Boruto's life was fading in spite of Sarada's best efforts. The boy's breathing was growing shallower by the moment. It would not be long before –
"He's dying," Sarada croaked. "If only I had known more about medical ninjutsu – if only –"
"What's the matter?!" A familiar voice, a woman's voice, rang through the debris.
Sasuke turned around to see Sakura running towards them at full speed.
"Momoshiki's gone. Defeated," Sasuke found himself answering hoarsely as he averted eye contact with the woman.
Sakura froze and surveyed him. He didn't know what to say to her anymore, after all this time.
"You're hurt," she said tersely, frowning.
"I'll be fine," Sasuke replied brusquely, resisting an impulse to stumble. "It's the boy you need to worry about."
Sakura nodded and turned away from him, directing her attention towards Boruto's wounds.
"Even now?" Sasuke heard his old sensei chuckle with wry amusement.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he retorted. "There are clear priorities here."
"That looks like a bad injury," Kakashi remarked pointedly.
"Well, the boy is dying, if you're astute observations could tell," Sasuke snapped. He couldn't fully fathom his source of irritation. Combined with the sharp ache digging into his torso, it made him feel at lost. Indeed, his own wounds were recovering at an abysmally slow pace, yet he was not in a situation as fatal as that of Boruto's.
"You're still as stubborn as the day when I first met you," Kakashi said.
"I'm actually not so sure about that." Sasuke sighed. "Sometime… too often, I – never mind. It doesn't – it – you know what I mean." He gazed into the eyes of Kakashi with an almost pleading look. The man did not seek further elaboration, much to Sasuke's relief.
And then his heart fell with a thud.
Boruto's chakra had vanished.
Sarada's internals screeched till breaking point. Petrified, she could not process what was happening in front of her.
Boruto had stopped breathing.
Boruto's heart had stopped beating.
Even Sakura Haruno - the most famed and skilled medical ninja this world and hers - had not been able to prevent this.
"Sarada, I'm so, so, so sorry, but…"
"He's not dead is he?" Sarada interjected Sakura. "There's still some hope, right? There has to be!"
"CPR. I haven't tried CPR yet," Sakura acknowledged. "I can use it to manually preserve intact brain functions. There's no guarantee that it will be successful."
"Please… please try to save him." Tears were welling in her eyes. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her emotions. "Please…"
At first, he saw nothing.
He stretched his hand out and was greeted by darkness. It engulfed his surroundings.
Then a road emerged in front of him. Following it seemed to be the only option. Boruto shrugged and began walking.
Was this how dying felt like? It was strangely anti-climactic. Life did not end with a swell of explosions; it simply petered out. He had done what he was meant to do when, with Sarada's help, he vanquished Momoshiki. [Sarada.] Now, what greeted him was oblivion. It came slowly. Boruto remembered the precise moment when his eyelids finally gave up their struggle and crashed down. His last sight was Sakura hovering above him in concern and Sarada congealed in a silent scream.
And then what?
His thoughts turned to Sarada. Without her, he would not have succeeded. Funnily enough, had he listened to her at the very beginning, when he had so impulsively opened the forbidden scroll, he would not have been here. He would be at home, in his world, with his family, happily complaining about his father to the amused and exasperated old man himself, all while his mother chuckled and his sister bounced around, eager to share her stories about the Academy, to which he would roll his eyes and say something along the lines of 'been there, done that.'
But he was here, wandering along a seemingly aimless road to nowhere. The mélange of turbulent emotions, of loss, made him numb.
A fireplace. A man with a mane of long, white hair seated around it with sticks of toasted marshmallows. He had red marks on his face. He hummed good-naturedly to some throwback tune Boruto recalled from his father's godawful CD collections.
"Excuse me?" Boruto prodded gently as he approached the man. "Do you know… where we are?"
The man looked at him and grinned. "I'm sure you already know where we are."
"I'm dead. I know. And so are you. But is this really the afterlife? I mean, you're the only person I've seen around here and it's kind of weird, I don't mean to offend anymore. Also, who are you?" Boruto blurted out a string of thoughts.
"Well, this is only the beginning of afterlife for you. I've seen the other places, but… something seemed to beckon me here," the man explained. "And the name's Jiraiya, pleased to meet you."
"You're Ero-Sannin?!"
"Not you too!" Jiraiya sighed exasperatedly.
"Hey! It's an affectionate nickname. My dad talks about you a lot! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself: I'm Boruto, Boruto Uzumaki," Boruto said frantically, excitement pumping through his veins (if veins were still a thing in afterlife.) He reached out his hand for Jiraiya to shake it. "Also, I don't think I'm really from this world. You see, what happened was that I'm an idiot and I opened this scroll that took me to an alternate dimension and then shit happened and I died – which, by the way, was the right thing to do at that specific moment considering-" Boruto paused, realizing that he was being a little too loquacious "- I'm sorry I don't usually talk this much."
Jiraiya guffawed. "You're just like your father." The man looked at Boruto wistfully. There seemed to be a trace of melancholy in that look. Then, Boruto remembered the fate that befell Naruto Uzumaki in this world.
"If I could get one stick of dango every time someone said that, I'd be as fat as Chocho in no time," Boruto said with a cheeky glint. "Oh sorry, you've probably never met her. She's cool."
"I've met more people than you think I have; I've just met her father not too long ago."
"Right. Okay. And may I ask, why are you here?"
"To put things in uncomplicated terms, I wanted to speak to you," Jiraiya explained enigmatically as his eyes glimmered.
"Uh huh. About what?"
"The prophecy, Boruto. The one where you feature." Jiraiya's expressions turned more serious, though his demeanor remained jovial. "It… it is simply fact that sometimes, prophecies don't always go as we anticipate them. Yes, you may have heard about the Children of the Prophecy from your father. Yes, your father and Nagato, another student of mine, played seminal roles in bringing forth a revolution in the shinobi world. But it did not stop there, as you may have seen."
Boruto nodded.
"And then, another prophecy manifested itself. It was no longer about salvation or destruction. Saving or dooming. The lexical disparities, though seemingly minimal, meant something completely different. Perpetual darkness was the apocalyptical outcome, what would have happened if you had failed. And you didn't."
Suddenly, it all made sense. Everything clicked in Boruto's mind.
"Boruto, the perpetual darkness alluded to by the prophecy, it didn't mean Sasuke's tyrannical rule over the continent. It literally meant the end of the world, or this world at least, the absorption of all life, energy, chakra and the slightest signs of vitality by Momoshiki. The reason why this prophecy was given after Naruto's death was that with him gone, the odds of this world surviving the Otsusuki's were diminished. It beckoned a dramatic intervention of fate."
"And the price I paid was my life," Boruto finished the old man off. "Well… I suppose there are less glorious ways to die." He sighed.
"Now, onto something less gloomy. How are my Icha Icha Series perceived in your world after all these years?" Jiraiya's tone changed into one of childish excitement.
"They have … aged remarkably well?" Boruto suggested. "I know that Shikadai, my friend, secretly reads them. Kakashi is, as always, a devoted fan."
"Good old Kakashi."
"Indeed, he's even started a continuation series after his retirement."
"I've always liked him. Marshmallow?" Jiraiya offered Boruto toasted smores.
"Mmmmm… delicious," Boruto said, munching his way through. "Honestly, not bad for afterlife."
"Stay with me here for a while, Boruto, I'd like to know more about Kakashi's new series."
"Sure thing, Ero-Sannin."
"I'm sorry Sarada, at this point, nothing could be done," Sakura apologized, morose and remorseful.
It wasn't as if Sarada's heart suddenly sank, for it had been at rock bottom for the past two hours: ever since Boruto teetered on the edge of death and subsequently lost his life. More than anything, she was simply dead and empty on the inside. She did not blame the woman next to her for failing to save Boruto; she saw what was coming a while ago, yet refused to accept this new harsh and cruel reality.
"It's okay, you did your best. I just… he's really gone."
"I know how you feel," Sakura noted understandingly. "I've experienced this far too many times."
"It must have been hard for you."
"It will get better for you. But, by all means, mourn now, mourn for all you can and then remember him for the good friend he is."
"Boruto, Sarada!"
Mitsuki returned.
"Mitsuki!" Sarada ran into his arms and hugged him. "Thank goodness you're okay. I don't know how I'd feel if I had lost two of my closest friends."
"Wait – Boruto, he's-"
"He's gone, Mitsuki. He's gone. There's nothing we can do about it." Sarada gulped.
Tears should have come flowing down, but they didn't. Tears now seemed an inadequate expression of her grief, almost inappropriate.
"There's still something that hasn't been tried," Sasuke's heavy voice interrupted Sarada's thoughts.
She ceased her embrace of Mitsuki and faced the man who could have been her father. Calmly, he gave her a sad smile.
A/N: Only 3 chapters left till the story ends! I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for ages and this is basically the fruit of many hours of planning (maybe even the climax.) Everything that I did here (yes, even the part with Jiraiya) I planned 10 chapters ago. I know I'm not the best at writing fight-scenes, which I've already mentioned numerous times, but I actually really enjoyed doing this!
Honestly, in the midst of all my studies, your reviews kept me going and reminded me about finishing this story. So... it would be very, very, very nice if you guys could leave thoughts, comments and predictions in the reviews! What's your favourite moment in this story?
Also, if you have any questions about my choices, feel free to ask me anything!
Edit: A generous estimate for when the next chapter comes out would be one month. Can't promise anything though. I've got the details planned and all I need is to find the time, motivation and mindset to write it all down.