The Island of Solitude was a small abandoned island off the coast of Naachi, lying about forty-five kilometers (twenty-four nautical miles) from the nearest city.
It was one of the hundreds of uninhabited islands in this area of the Land of Water. The island's most notable features were its abandoned concrete structures, and the seawall surrounding it.
Because coal was first discovered on the island two centuries ago.
Which meant the island was continuously inhabited for the next hundred years or so. A wealthy group bought the island in and began extracting coal from undersea mines, building all the required structures for it.
Several mine-shafts reaching deep underwater were built, and several million tons of coal were excavated in mines with temperatures that were far too high to feel at ease in, and humidity that combined with it in the worst possible way.
Why was it named so…?
The Island of Solitude was a place where most of the rules of the world didn't really apply. Of course, at the time, it mostly meant that things such as labor laws were something to be scoffed at here.
It was a place where the only law was the law of the mines, where one could roam free and unfettered by the constraints of society. It was a place where you could be whoever you wanted to be, do whatever you wanted to do, and answer to no one but yourself.
Well… that was what the Michisō Group had tended to say. But marketing was marketing. In truth, it mostly was called Solitude because one would find themselves digging for coal in near-complete isolation, in conditions that would make most grizzled miners think twice.
In any case, Solitude had been abandoned for a while.
Chōjurō being a cheap-ass, he had the mines repurposed as the location for the Chūnin Exams to take place in.
"Konoha's Team Seven!" Someone called.
Boruto took a long breath.
"Well." The examiner said. "You guys have big shoes to fill."
Sarada glared up at the woman. Boruto winced. "What do you mean?" She asked.
The jōnin shrugged. "Have you never heard of the previous Konoha Team Sevens?"
Mitsuki opened his mouth. The examiner continued.
"In any case, if you see another candidate lying injured… drowning or dying in any way, feel free to let us know. That's the yellow stamp on your scroll, don't get it wrong. Not the red one."
"We know." Sarada gritted out.
Boruto noticed how tense she was, but he didn't dare put a hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her. She would likely bite him.
The examiner didn't care either way. "Just saying. My colleague didn't explain shit, so… Also, you're somewhat unlucky. The more capable teams are sent first, and that means you. You have a higher chance of encountering… threats."
"What do you mean?" Sarada scowled, in a very Uchiha way.
"In you go."
The great doors opened for them and led them into darkness.
"Well, I can't see shit." Sarada muttered.
"Stop swearing, you're not a sailor." Boruto said, weaving hand seals. "Lightning Release: Starlight."
Sarada made a derisive sound that made him think of her father, whenever he was talking to Boruto's dad. "…Is there some condition that makes it so that only sailors can curse…? Something worse than killing people and ruining everything?"
Boruto frowned. "Look, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but I don't think now is the best time for this sort of crusade."
Mitsuki, ever the composed one, summoned multiple small snakes. They split in every direction, and would do so at the next intersection. A few rattlesnakes would wait in the darkness for the next contestants.
Boruto thought he could remember something his dad had said about never trusting rattlesnakes, but he ignored it.
He compulsively checked his short sword again. Uncle had taught him the basics of using one, and Toru had gifted him a beautiful one. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure there was a point to making a weapon beautiful, but Boruto was never sure when his uncles were trying to impart some wisdom to him.
…Were they trying to make him a target? The sword looked a bit too valuable, now that he thought about it some more. His stomach knotted. No, they wouldn't do that. Not in anything as dangerous as the Chūnin Exams.
It was colder in here than it had been in the tunnel just before. He rubbed one of the walls of the labyrinth with his hand. Granite… or some sort of stone.
Yeah. He was not that good at that, he knew. But then again, was he a rock-nin? What Boruto knew were trees, and leaves and forests, too.
The group of three came across a branching path.
"…Left, right or middle?" Sarada asked.
"I do not believe there's a definitive answer here." Mitsuki said.
"What do your snakes say?" Boruto tried.
"That there's a half-eaten bear somewhere to the left."
"…Is that a good thing?"
"Not if you consider that someone or something decided that eating part of a bear was a logical solution to implement."
"…Middle or right, then." Sarada nodded.
"Can you use your Sharingan to divine the right path?" Boruto asked her.
"…I think we discussed this already. I can't."
"But… you can use it to read my lips, predict my movements, and determine the things people are going to do before they even do it." Boruto protested. "And Uncle Kakashi said that he used his own, back then, to complete jutsu before the enemy did, turning their most incredible techniques against them."
"Parlor trick." Sarada shook her head. "He likely knew the jutsu already."
"But… That makes no sense." Boruto shook his head. "That would mean he knew like… tons of jutsu."
"That's normal for Hokage. Have you never heard of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen? Legend has it that he knew every single jutsu in Konoha."
"But… that's also impossible." Boruto shook his head. "Half of them are bloodline-based."
"Don't overthink it. He was a Hokage."
"So is my dad."
"And I'm sure he knows plenty of techniques."
Boruto tried to remember, but as far as he knew, his dad knew about two and just made up new variations on the spot, whenever he needed them.
"My father knows plenty of them." Sarada continued. "And everyone knows that Lord Seventh is much stronger than he is."
"…I guess." Boruto said dubiously.
"Well, I'll let you two pick the direction."
"So that you can tell us how wrong we were later on?"
"No." Sarada shrugged. "I won't do that. Just keep in mind that the goal is to go toward the center, so…"
"I'll keep us oriented." Mitsuki said.
"How?"
"I can tell where the magnetic north is."
"How?"
Mitsuki tilted his head. "Can't you?"
Boruto decided not to question it.
…
Their footsteps echoed in the hallways.
"…Shouldn't we leave something behind in case we happen to be looping in circles?" Sarada asked.
Boruto realized that she really was distracted today. Because he had been leaving small cuts in specific walls with his sword.
(He had noticed she was out of it because she hadn't offered to eliminate the competition.)
"Boruto is doing it." Mitsuki simply said.
"Oh." Sarada blinked and gave him a considering look. Then she nodded to herself. "Thank you, Boruto."
Boruto grinned and waved it away. "Don't worry, I made it pretty discreet, in case anyone else notices."
Mitsuki raised a hand, motioning for them to halt.
They became silent.
'Anyone there?' Boruto asked, fingering his sword and feeling twitchy.
'Yes.' Mitsuki thougt.
They waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. There was a sound, growing steadily. Low at first, then drawing closer and closer.
'Attack first?' Sarada asked.
'We don't even know what it is.' Boruto hissed. 'It smells awful, though.'
And he wasn't entirely sure whether the smell was coming from the same direction as the sounds did. Boruto whirled around, trusting them to take care of the thing that came from ahead.
The steady hum grew louder.
Then it stopped.
There was a dragging sound. As though something was being pulled across a stone floor. Then dumped unceremoniously. Something heavy fell atop of it.
Boruto stilled. The stench was growing more and more putrid.
Mitsuki was even more silent.
It seemed as though a great beast was sniffing. Then a sharp sound. Like bones cracking, breaking in between powerful teeth. And again.
Then a mighty roar that made Sarada's legs shake.
And perhaps fear had made Boruto misjudge. The stench definitely came from the same place.
Great, lumbering steps came toward them and Boruto cursed inwardly.
Clawed fingers were the first thing he saw in the dark. They grasped the wall's corner, pulling a massive creature forward.
A hunched beast with some semblance to humans. One that bore long dark-gray fur and crooked red spikes in its back. It grunted.
Boruto felt like whimpering, but he knew that wasn't what his dad or uncles would have done here.
He pulled his sword out and roared to the steel itself, to steel himself.
Sarada threw herself back, weaving through what seemed to be a long series of hand seals. Mitsuki did the same, to Boruto's other side.
Which meant that he launched himself at the creature.
It was much faster than he had thought it would be. Dark claws swiped the air with fury, narrowly missing Boruto's head.
Kill or be killed. That was what it was all about, he knew.
Boruto's eyes sharpened, and were set firmly on the beast's body. A minute twitch could mean life or death.
It was as though time slowed down.
Boruto took another sure, strong step forward. He brought his sword down, pouring all of his raging emotions in the heavy-handed blow. Wind didn't cut it. Or rather, even enhanced by the element as the blade was, Boruto's sword didn't quite manage to penetrate the creature's thick hide.
He pressed down still for a moment, but cut his losses and leaped away when the beast roared. He summoned a point of lightning, quickly.
Boruto weaved through seals with his left hand.
"Wind Release— Guh!"
It wasn't the name of a jutsu. A backhand slammed into his ribs and he had to abort his Vacuum Serial Waves. Boruto rolled with the impact. He slid across the floor, in a very ungraceful way, and through the beast's legs.
He had been weaving another jutsu.
This time, the Vacuum Blade covering his sword proved to be enough. Or perhaps the creature's tail just wasn't that tough, in comparison.
In any case, Boruto's wind-powered sword cut right through it.
Which… turned out to make it angrier.
So did the unrefined chakra tap, a bastardized version of the Gentle Fist, that he sent up the dock of the stump. He wasn't Hyūga, not exactly. But the way he gracefully tumbled, flipped through the air in order to avoid the thrashing sweeps… it was easy to see that there was something of that clan in him, too.
All of this happened in the time it took Sarada and Mitsuki to finish weaving their jutsu. 'Go for it!' Boruto roared.
"Fire Release: Blast Wave!"
"Wind Release: Crescent Moon."
An arc of roaring flames swept the hallway and Boruto hid inside a small alcove to avoid it.
The heat of it was still enough to make his toes curl up in pain.
The great wave of fire dissipated soon enough, mostly because stone was not that great of a combustible — well, Boruto knew Toru could make it work, but he was somewhat obsessed with this sort of thing.
(And he had made a few dark jokes about rock ninja burning even better, but that was a matter Boruto didn't ask too many questions about.)
Boruto came crawling out of the hole, and hissing too.
Hissing, just like the great beast's burning body still was. And it was thrashing, too.
The smells of it made Boruto's eyes water. One thing was that it reminded him a bit too much of pork. The smell of burning hair, on the other hand… was new. And absolutely revolting.
Still, Boruto summoned another point of lightning. Then a field to connect this one to the one from earlier.
There was a humming sound. Boruto seized a kunai and let it enter the field. The kunai accelerated from one point to the other, passing through the beast's spine with incredible destructive force.
The Electromagnetic Induction Throwing, something his Uncle had taught him.
It did its job, and the beast wasn't moving at all soon enough.
Boruto breathed out in relief. His shoulders sagged.
Nacchan just shook his head, in horrified disbelief.
"This is… awful." He breathed out. "So barbaric. And they're younger than me, too."
"I think they were supposed to avoid it. Not to kill it." Kage muttered. Also he wasn't entirely sure that they were younger than Nacchan. Boruto was thirteen already.
Nacchan resumed his silence.
"…Really?" Naruto asked, frowning.
"They could have used their scroll to give up, too. If it got too much." Hinata added.
"Or maybe they were supposed to kill it. Why do you think that's not the case?" Naruto asked, and she didn't answer him.
"Because Chōjurō wouldn't pay for these creatures to be killed." Kage grumbled.
"Chōjurō?" Hanabi frowned. "What does the Akimichi clan have to do with this?"
"They would eat it." Sakura supplied. "You'd be surprised what they can fit in their big bellies."
"Not that surprised, I'd wager." Hanabi shrugged. "I got curious enough to peer into one's stomach, once. It was very impressive."
Hinata shook her head slowly.
"What?" Hanabi frowned. "Don't tell me you never used your eyes for this sort of thing." Then, as if she remembered something interesting. "Hey, did you ever use it to—"
"Hanabi." Hinata called, almost pleading.
Hanabi grinned. "That's a yes to me."
Naruto chuckled. Hinata glared at him.
"In any case…" He said. "They probably made a few contestants' lives easier with this, didn't they?"
"Yup." Kage nodded.
"…Was it really meant to just scare the examinees away?"
"Well… I think so. It's probably why it was lumbering so slow, y'know." Kage shrugged. Then again, with Chōjurō, you could never really know whether it was intended or if he was going to pretend it had been, later on.
"Slow to you." Karin said. "They're genin."
"So is Sasuke." Kage chuckled.
Then he howled in pain when a blunt shuriken found its way into the back of his prosthetic hand. He settled for glaring at Sasuke.
…
The other people in the watching arena just shivered at the feeling of terrible power building up through the air.
Was the Hokage displeased…?
Was his Shadow angry…?
Was the Hokage's apparent younger brother, that man, the one with the gleaming eyes, about to fight either of them…?
Things were just as scary as they were confusing.
Matsuyama Ai kept her eyes firmly on the screen. That man's chakra was still there, burning in its sheer quality.
Team Seven continued to make their way towards the center.
There were plenty more strange creatures in there. Most were noticeably less dangerous than the one they had tentatively dubbed Claws had been.
Some sort of rabid looking dog had been roasted alive, courtesy of Sarada. Then Boruto had the distinct pleasure of convincing her not to eat it. Eat it. A dog! Who did that?
Then some sort of snapping turtle, one that had seemed to be on its last legs. They had walked around the beast, wondering if there was anything more to it, but after ten minutes of cursory examination, they didn't find anything like it. No seals, no illusion either.
Then a flock of birds who had seemed dead set on plucking their eyes. Once more, Sarada seemed to have some decent training against it, because she made short work of them. It seemed… somewhat personal, too. Maybe her father had taught her how to protect her Sharingan.
Same thing went for the traps. They didn't fall into any of the pitfalls, they didn't get hit by any of the arrows either.
The labyrinth itself was a bit more of a challenge, though.
Mitsuki's sense of orientation was incredible. There was no other word for it. And in spite of it, they struggled with stumbling upon dead ends, walking into circles at times.
And then, there was mud.
"…For real?" Sarada muttered, lifting her pants to her ankles. Mud tended to be a bit more annoying to walk upon than water was. "…Is this even part of it?"
"I guess so." Boruto said dubiously. "What else could it be?"
"Kiri half-assing things?"
"They wouldn't do that." Boruto shook his head. "They're one of the Great Five."
"Barely."
"There are spikes under the mud." Mitsuki warned. "Don't drag too much."
"Ah."
"Also, I think someone fell through it already." Mitsuki continued. "Or perhaps that happened a while ago."
There was a whistling sound.
Boruto's sword flew out on pure instinct, and he deflected the four shuriken aimed at him. Mitsuki and Sarada simply jumped out of their path.
Two older genin came out of the darkness.
'One's missing!' Sarada called.
Mist rose.
"Oh, frick!" Boruto cursed. He thought he heard Sarada cackle, if a bit madly.
'They're moving in for the kill.' Mitsuki warned.
And just as he had said, the two genin, that were likely from Kiri if the Silent Killing technique was any indication… were not playing around. Then again, 'killing' was in the name of it.
Then there was more whistling.
Then twin thuds.
Boruto paused, holding on to his wind jutsu. He had intended to use it to lift the mist… but it was dispelling on its own.
Because the two genin were dead. Sarada's hand was still extended; a kunai was stuck in each Kiri ninja's forehead. Boruto stared at them. They had barely been older than they were. That would be the oldest they'd ever be.
Sarada shrugged.
"I could see them and predict their moves just before they brought the mist up. Maybe they should have done that earlier. Too late now, anyway."
Mitsuki gave her a satisfied nod. Boruto made a face.
Sakura clapped slowly.
"How efficient." She declared. Toru gave her a long look.
Sasuke nodded in approval. "Ruthless. As any shinobi should be." For an instant, he wondered why this woman seemed so proud of his daughter. Perhaps it was simply because she was an alternate version of his wife. He hoped so.
Hinata, on the other hand, didn't look entirely at ease. "I… think this could have been avoided." She said.
Kage put a hand on her shoulder. He sighed.
"They came at her with the intention to kill." He just said.
Sasuke nodded. "The intention to kill." He intoned.
Hanabi gave them a dubious look. "This feels somewhat familiar… Is it the standard-issue Konoha brainwashing? I can't really remember."
"That's something Kakashi used to say, according to Asuma." Ino supplied.
"Ah. That's why." She realized.
"Yeah, he also said something about looking underneath the underneath." Naruto nodded.
"Did he… mention killing him if you ever had a disagreement?" Toru asked him pointedly.
Naruto scowled. "…Yeah, I think so. You were likely sick from eating too much candy on that day."
Kage smiled uneasily.
Nacchan, on the other hand, brought his hand to his mouth. He was definitely looking green in the face.
Karin summoned a bucket. She held it out to him.
"Take it." She said gently.
"What is it…?" He muttered.
"The Vanishing Bucket. I used to have trouble with boats. This baby is self-cleaning, made from the best quality woods you can find in Umi." She said. "Both sides of it will attract and vanish whatever finds its way out of your stomach, so don't hesitate to really go for it. It also emits a soundproofing field up to two meters around itself when picked up, as well as smellproofing one."
"I'm not going to vomit." Nacchan protested.
"Take it." She insisted.
"I won't need it."
"Take it."
"My wife made it for you, Nacchan." Naruto said.
Then they all saw Sarada remove the kunai from the dead teenager's forehead, with a grunt of effort. Some other things came out and she wiped the weapon with the dead guy's shirt.
Nacchan seized the bucket.
Karin patted his back as he tried his best to fill the bucket with this morning's breakfast — an impossible endeavor.
"Why are you looking at me like this?" Sarada asked Boruto.
"I'm not looking at you like… anything." He mumbled. In all honesty, he was thinking about the third member of the dead team.
They likely had been friends, right…? Would that person stumble upon them and howl, swearing to avenge them…? Or would they just shrug and move on, like some people in Konoha said the Kiri ninja did…?
He guessed he would never get the answer, in any case.
They began walking again, slowly at first.
Boruto groaned. "Another dead-end? For real?"
"It's not one." Mitsuki shook his head. "Look closer."
There was a small hole in the wall, a hole wide enough for a man to go through.
"…Think that's the actual path…?" Boruto asked dubiously. "Someone made this hole. It's likely a trap, even."
"If they did, they did it by hand." Sarada said. "I can't see any leftover traces of chakra in there. Or it's older."
"…Are we going into it…?" Boruto asked.
"Yes." Mitsuki said easily, once his snakes confirmed there was no danger ahead.
He slid out of sight. Boruto did next, giving Sarada a hesitant glance. He was rushed down a long, dark slide. Then he barely held on to a scream. There was cold water pouring down with him. The slide leveled out and Boruto fell onto his ass in a large puddle.
He let out a disgusted moan. So did Sarada when she slammed into his back, a few moments later.
There was a large green lever next to a heavy door.
"See?" Mitsuki asked, voice strong. "I told you this was the way."
Once he was pretty convinced his teammates were ready, he pulled the lever. The great doors opened, leading to a long corridor.
"…Is the water rising?" Boruto asked. "Is the water rising?!"
"It seems like it." Mitsuki nodded. "I guess we better hurry, then. Otherwise we might actually drown in this corridor."
Boruto cursed Mitsuski's good name — inwardly, of course. Sarada just pursed her lips. In any case, the three of them began to run.
There was cold water licking at Boruto's toes and he cursed the person who came up with the great idea of open shoes. They didn't bother walking over the water yet, because the ceiling was kinda low, and it felt claustrophobic enough already.
The corridor was slightly sloped, and they climbed up, as fast as they could.
There were small amphibian creatures in there, and Boruto decided that they would ignore them entirely—
Mitsuki's arms elongated, carrying short blades and they were soon dead.
They climbed short steps in near complete darkness and there was water rushing down from openings on the walls. This whole thing had been made on purpose, there was no doubt about it.
He heard a sound like someone falling into water. "Mitsuki—"
The slope ended abruptly and soon Boruto was dropped into icy water unceremoniously, as well.
"What the hell!" Boruto sputtered angrily.
"It's on purpose." Mitsuki said, calmly swimming forward. "There's a ledge up here, so we need to wait for the water level to rise until we can reach it."
"What about using chakra to climb?" Sarada hissed.
"It's too slippery."
They waited, brought themselves up and continued to run. The corridor began to slope downward, and the only thing they could see was water.
"No way." Boruto grunted. "This corridor is flooded entirely."
"That means we need to swim through, then." Mitsuki stated, without waiting for an answer.
He did so, diving carefully into the icy waters.
Boruto decided here and there, feeling constricted by his sodden clothes that he hated the whole thing. Mitsuki led them forward, looking supremely confident. Boruto continued to swim, only briefly glancing back to see if Sarada was following.
She was. And her expression of fury, eyes wide, was a sight to behold.
Since Mitsuki cleared the way, Boruto and her used chakra to propel themselves through water, swimming after him.
They began to rise toward the light, the surface in the distance. Boruto kicked harder with his legs, starting to feel dizzy.
Boruto and Sarada broke the surface with two identical gasps. Mitsuki smiled at them again.
"See…?" He asked. "It wasn't that bad."
Boruto didn't bother answering. Mitsuki pulled them out of the water, and once they reached the ledge, the water began draining.
Once the two of them stopped shaking, they took the time to catch their breath. Since water would not be a problem anymore, Sarada used fire to messily dry them off and they went on.
And so they walked.
Through granite corridors that were lit again, with torches.
Boruto noticed a few animal carcasses littering the way. They looked particularly flat.
"…Mitsuki?" Boruto asked slowly.
"Yeah?"
"Do you hear something, too?"
"Hm." He nodded. "It's similar to something rolling."
"…And doesn't this hallway look somewhat… angled?" Boruto asked, pursing his lips.
"It is." Sarada confirmed.
The rumbling in the distance became louder.
"Run!" Boruto yelled.
The next instant, a massive, spherical boulder dropped from the ceiling. Sarada cursed and Boruto wished he didn't have ears to hear it. It was horrible, and he wondered where she had learned such things.
"I can't believe the Mizukage went for the rolling boulder." Toru shook his head in disbelief. "And right after that claustrophobic drowning thing, too…?"
"Chōjurō always seemed kinda nerdy to me." Kage nodded.
"…What do you mean?" Hinata asked him.
"I'm sure he read plenty of comics. Too many of them, in fact. He must have gotten the idea from there."
Hinata gave him an unimpressed look. "Comics…? Like the ones in your office's drawer? Why even pretend you grew out of them? If you enjoy something, you enjoy something."
Kage winced.
Naruto decided that perhaps she wasn't so bad, after all.
Sarada panted.
The boulder had stopped giving chase to them after what felt like a solid half-hour. Sweat ran down her face, down her back, down her feet. And she barely managed to catch her breath.
Mitsuki had trouble, too, but she knew he recovered much faster than she did.
Boruto… seemed winded. That was it.
"Let's go." She muttered. "The sooner we get out of here—"
Boruto held a hand up. Her first instinct was snapping at him, but she pushed down on it.
"We have been here for about four hours—" Boruto began.
"Three hours and thirty-seven minutes." Mitsuki corrected him, with an easy smile.
"…What he said." Boruto grumbled. "We have plenty of time. Rushing it is going to put us in unneeded danger."
Sarada said nothing.
"It's not nighttime yet… We can use the time to rest and set up some traps." Boruto tried. "This might help with thinning the competition out."
"…I guess." Sarada accepted wearily.
And so they began laying down tripwires, darts, warning tags, binding tags, explosive tags behind them, and in front of them. The latter, they would remove once they had gotten some rest. The former… well someone else would likely remove them, one way or the other.
They would rest in alternating shifts, for short periods of time — if sleep was even a true option.
It was for Sarada, apparently. She fell asleep after a total of three minutes sitting.
Boruto stared at her. "…What do you think happened to her, exactly?"
"She was exhausted from today." Mitsuki smiled. "Humans need rest."
"…No shit." Boruto felt like pulling at his hair. "I mean why is she so… tense, today? Wasn't she supposed to go on a short training trip or something?"
"Maybe it is that." Mitsuki nodded sagely. "Power corrupts—"
Boruto groaned. "Not this again. Please, Mitsuki."
"Oh." Mitsuki blinked and filed this with his other notes about the social interactions his teammates might or might not like. "I see. Thank you for informing me."
"There's something strange in her eyes — No, not the Sharingan. As though she has been through hell." Boruto muttered.
Mitsuki blinked. "When she looks at you, you mean?"
"No." Boruto grunted and decided to talk about something else. "How many teams went in before us?"
"Only three." Mitsuki said.
"You think they're going to wait for us?"
"I didn't get the time to establish their psychological profiles. Most of the teams that would have a more typical reason to go after us can't do so, because they were disqualified during the first phase."
Including Enko's team. Boruto pursed his lips and tried not to think too hard about it.
"Are you still thinking about the Abahina girl?" Mitsuki asked.
"Who…? The redhead…? No." Boruto shook his head. "You?"
"Never did."
…
Sarada ended up sleeping for close to three hours.
Boruto was not sleepy at all, in the end. He was too tense for that. Besides, it was a bit too cold for him to sleep without a fire. And a fire would cause many other problems. Better that one of them got some decent rest, really.
"My snakes have reported signs of activity, about one kilometer from here." Mitsuki said, pointing toward the north — not that they realized that. "Shall we kill them too?"
Sarada nodded, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Borut growled. "No. Why kill everybody…?" He shook his head. "We can simply avoid them."
"What's your sword for, again…?" Sarada asked pointedly. "Knocking people out?"
Boruto hesitated. "I…"
But they had overlooked one thing.
By the time the snakes came back to report, a lot of things could happen. And some shinobi could move fast.
Particularly the ones from Lightning. There was a flash of blue light, shrouding someone's legs. The only reason Boruto noticed was that after all of his training with people who might as well make him look as fast as a slug… he tended to pick up on such things.
"Mitsuki! Sarada!"
The corridor broke apart as explosive tags detonated in a chain reaction, following the sprinting Kumo ninja. He was coming straight at them.
Mitsuki threw himself to the side and curled up in a ball. Snakes wrapped around him—
Sarada was barely awake. She didn't react in time. Boruto wasn't entirely sure why he threw himself at her, but he did. He summoned Lightning around his legs, too. Or rather, he tried.
A tag detonated too close to him and propelled him into the air. He bounced against the wall and the only thing he could hear was ringing.
It launched Sarada into the air, too.
Sarada tumbled through the air and all she saw was Boruto's dumb expression.
Her Sharingan made sure she would remember it, too. Unsure what to think of it, she let out a sound that was halfway between a chuckle and a scream.
She was weightless, as though she were floating.
Then she fell through one of the corridor's holes.
"No!"
There was ice in Boruto's veins.
And there was no time to think. Boruto tried to leap after her. A lightning-enhanced kick slammed into his right shoulder and he bounced against the wall again.
He hacked and spat a mix of blood and saliva. That probably set some alarm in his head. Then there was a rush of adrenaline. The kick had rattled his ribs and he thrashed in fury, howling in outrage.
His chakra flared to life and pooled into his legs, his arms, his core, his eyes.
And into his sword, too. Billowing winds screeched as he pulled it out of its sheath. The blade seemed to ripple, strands of metal seemingly fading into wind and inversely. Something that was made out of his chakra.
He saw all three Kumo ninja at the same time. One was currently getting his throat ripped open by Mitsuki's snakes.
The two others were upon him. Without turning his head at all, he saw the one in front of him. Chakra was moving through thin chakra nodes through his legs in jagged, forceful patterns.
That was Lightning.
Boruto saw the one behind him reach for a dagger strapped to his thigh. He too was carrying explosive tags in his pouch.
He didn't even stop to consider how he was seeing all that, of course. If the Kumo ninja wanted to play with Lightning, he would give them Wind.
Boruto spun through the air and landed against a wall. He bounded from it, slamming into the Lightning wielder and sticking to him with chakra.
"Let go of me you motherfucker—"
Boruto's wild charge also had the effect of interrupting the Kumo ninja's dash. And it was one brutal tackle. This time, the other guy's head slammed against the wall.
He struggled still, looking disorientated. And he also managed to scratch Boruto's face with his nails. Boruto bit the offending hand back, and spat blood. 'That was pretty unsanitary,' he thought, almost automatically, in his mother's voice. A manic laugh bubbled in his throat.
The Kumo ninja gasped.
"Oh… fuck!" He cursed. "You're one of these white-eyed bastards! Come to get your revenge on Kumo?!"
Boruto blinked. What.
"That was years ago!" The Kumo ninja howled. "Let me go!"
"Give up and we'll let you go." Boruto said tightly.
"Okay — Okay!" The Kumo genin growled. "Got it."
Boruto thought he was honest. He lowered his sword slightly.
A lightning-enhanced kick slammed into his chin, and he bit his tongue.
"You mean—"
"Kumo ninja never betray their home, blondie!"
"The frick are you saying — this is just an exam—"
The Kumo nin was weaving through hand seals. Boruto thought he knew what sort of jutsu this type of sequence would lead to. Uncle had drilled chakra theory principles in his head, after all. So he reacted, on something he hoped wasn't instinct.
Boruto didn't bother with hand seals. With Wind powering his weapon, he simply gritted his teeth and sank steel into the other teenager.
It slid through his flank like a knife through hot butter.
And the Kumo nin crumpled, folding around the weapon that had nailed him to a wall. Boruto's eyes saw his heart was still beating.
Just as he saw that some of Mitsuki's larger snakes were currently devouring the two others. The pale-haired boy rubbed the snake's heads in grim satisfaction as they did.
Sarada. Where was Sarada?
Maybe his thought reached, because she answered soon after. Boruto breathed out a relieved sigh, and maybe he quickly wiped his eyes, too.
Then Boruto cut the chakra flow to his body and weapon. He went blind—
Boruto held on to a scream. Barely.
Eventually, his sight returned.
Once his regular eyes adapted to the darkness again, he realized that this was one of the things his mother had told him about, in case he ever activated the Byakugan.
Why now…?
Boruto felt a strong headache.
And hearing the noises that came from Mitsuki's snakes, Boruto thought he was about to vomit, too.
Nacchan did.
Sakura relaxed entirely as he did so. Not because of him, but because she had been monitoring Sarada's condition. Toru picked up on it.
He gave her a wry look. She noticed, and she scoffed. "…Disappointing performance from my apprentice, really." Then she thought about it. "Then again, she didn't lose an eye and an arm on her first big girl assignment, so I guess she's still doing better than I did."
Kage and his wife slowly relaxed, but one man didn't.
Sasuke was staring at Sakura, now. His hand, which had relaxed once he had noticed that his daughter and Boruto were fine… clenched again.
When he spoke, there was ice in his voice. On the other hand, his exposed eye was hot and angry and red. "What did you just say?" He hissed.
"Huh…?" Sakura frowned. "I thought you knew, by now. In any case, don't worry, I just trained her some. I'm not trying to fill any sort of parental role. If you ever decide to take responsibility, the spot's still open." She offered.
Sarada fell into water, feet first.
The fall was over earlier than she had thought, too. She had reinforced her body with chakra and had been trying to figure out whether summoning a part of Katsuyu to soften her fall was considered a dick move or not.
In any case, she slammed into the water, and it shot up her nose. Her already terrible mood soured a little bit more.
It was cold, nothing that would render her incapable to move, but enough to slow her down already.
She paddled aimlessly for a while, getting her bearings back.
'I'm alive.' She sent to the two others, and didn't really manage to listen to their answer.
She looked up and tried to get some adherence to the wall, starting with her fingers. They slipped along the oily surface. So did her feet.
Sarada made sure to get a hold on her rising panic.
There was some dim light, high up. With a summon, she might be able to reach. Maybe.
But she had the feeling this wasn't the direction she was supposed to go.
All of this was a test. And this was the way.
It had to be. Because otherwise, why would there be an actual well around here…? One with walls made to be impossible to scale…?
There was only one way to figure it out, and one way to go.
Down.
She told her boys about her intention, and shut down their protests.
It was a simple plan. Sarada would dive in, and once she felt that about half of her oxygen supply was exhausted, she would head back here. That was if she didn't actually find her way out by going down.
If worse came to worst, she was sure that Boruto or Mitsuki would activate her scroll on her behalf.
Sarada was somewhat afraid of water, she admitted so freely. Still, she took a few testing breaths, readying her lungs.
Then a big one… and she dove in the dark waters.
Deeper she went.
There was red brick all around her, shaped in a hexagonal pillar that seemed to get narrower the deeper she went.
Man-made, of course. Which meant that there was a good chance she was going in the right direction.
She paced herself, in order not to exhaust her limited supply of oxygen.
Deeper.
She almost hit the bottom of the well.
She felt around blindly with her hand, looking for… something. Anything.
There it was.
A small, even narrower cavity. Something that felt like wood. Not rotten yet, despite being underwater, so likely put there recently. She could likely go back up, think about it some more…
Instead, Sarada slipped in, headfirst.
Her shoulders got stuck and she lost a fair amount of oxygen in her knee-jerk thrashing.
'Calm down — Calm DOWN!'
A quick application of chakra, something close to the opposite of chakra-adherence, made her slippery enough to go through.
She didn't know if she would even be able to go through again. Why didn't she go for a scouting summon? Why did she have to be so damn rash…? She thought of the scroll — would it even work at all…?
But there was no time for panicking.
Sarada went through the wooden conduit. And then deeper, swimming in between wooden beams that she could barely see.
Her lungs were starting to feel a bit constrained. This would have been the halfway point. She pushed down on her first instinct, breathing, because she was pretty sure that getting a lungful of water was a terrible idea, especially right now.
Deeper she went.
And then she thought she saw light, far above her. That's where she headed to, swimming as hard as she could without compromising her air supply. Then she swam harder, because she realized she didn't have much time at all.
Terror screamed through her mind, drowning out most thoughts. Dying…? For real?
'Oh gods oh gods—'
Sarada felt like clawing at her throat, and her heart was thundering—
Then she breached the water and took a few gasping breaths. She thrashed blindly.
Then more.
Sarada blinked.
Then she howled in fury, and it was a terrible sound that probably would have made anyone close enough to hear it leave the surrounding area.
And… there was nothing here. Nothing but a wall. Sarada stared. She breathed in. Out.
Then she began punching.
The first time her knuckles connected with the granite, she screamed. That wasn't it.
But she had seen her mother punch things. She had seen Tsunade punch people. She had seen Sakura and her awful, gory Rupturing Water Dagger technique.
She was Haruno. She had the control for it.
She was Uchiha, too. She had eyes that saw things.
Right now, she was feeling her sanity was pretty frayed, too. She had two good fists, and they could break things.
And depending on how this structure was built, it either meant that all contestants would be forced to surrender… or something else.
Walls were made to be destroyed.
Walls were made to be destroyed.
Walls were made to be destroyed.
Sarada punched again. There was a crack in the stone. She smiled thinly and licked her wounds. The water was still just as cold.
Sarada punched. The crack widened.
Sarada punched. And again. And again. Until she counted it as one wall down. Stone fell into the water and Sarada climbed through the hole. This gave her an idea.
'Guys.'
'Where are you?!' Boruto screeched.
'She's a bit under us, further to the East.' Mitsuki stated.
'Stay where you are. I'll find you.' She said. Then she cut the link before Boruto could begin to whine.
…
Boruto didn't manage to turn his Byakugan back on.
Mitsuki didn't seem worried at all, so he assumed that Sarada had some other way to locate them in a maze. Then again, Mitsuki never really looked worried, so perhaps he was reading too much into it.
He heard a crashing sound.
His hand tightened around his sword. Next to them, the last of the Kumo ninja was alive and bound. They had let him cauterize his wound and would let him use his scroll to give up once Sarada joined them — if that guy was even smart enough to do so in the first place.
He looked furious, though. Boruto couldn't blame him, either. If someone had killed Mitsuki and Sarada and made summons eat their corpses… He winced.
Then there was another crashing sound. Closer this time.
And a last one, right next to them. A wall fell, and a wet, covered in dust Uchiha Sarada came through it.
"Sarada—"
"I'm done with this shit." She said. "Follow me—"
"Wrong direction." Mitsuki stated. "Try this one." He said, pointing at another wall.
Sarada nodded and turned to face it.
Boruto quickly came to see how she had moved through walls. Her bruised fist slammed into the wall and it shattered.
Boruto stared.
She repeated the same process for the wall after it.
Once her fist was too sore to go on, she used her other hand. Then her foot. Then her other foot.
Plenty of teams saw the holes Sarada left behind them, and likely assumed them to be traps.
Team Seven reached the maze's center on the first day still, just before midnight.