Chapter Twenty-Five
"All right everyone, I hope you've enjoyed your long break," Kakashi spoke to the crowd in the Hokage's office. While sitting behind the desk and holding the seal, he did not wear the jacket or headdress just yet. That time will come soon; no rushing it! As he spoke to the group, rain pelted the windows, banishing the last of the snow on the ground. It was now March first, and serious decisions had to be made. "We need to come to a conclusion about assignments."
"For sure Akemi and I are going to the Land of Whirlpool, ya know," Kushina pumped her fist.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me go?" Kakashi asked, "this will be a black op due to the sensitive nature of entering the Land of the Whirlpools; I'd hate to have to disavow a seated Hokage."
"If we get disavowed, we wouldn't be coming home, anyhow," Kushina said. "I'm coming back with that scroll or not at all!"
"Mom, are you sure any of you should go at all?" Konohamaru asked from his wheelchair. Hanabi stood beside him, dressed in White Kitsune robes. "I don't want anyone getting hurt or killed because of me."
"Konohamaru, aside from helping put you back together," Kakashi spoke, "there are looters and grave robbers entering a restricted area. We have no idea what they might be making off with, and they also might be putting all of us at risk if any of the rumors about the Land of Whirlpools being boobytrapped are true."
"Mother," Hanabi spoke with reluctance, measuring her syllables like bitter medication, "I know Lord Fifth and you wanted me to go along…"
"Yes?" Akemi asked.
"I don't think I should go," Hanabi sounded older and more serious than Kakashi had ever heard her. Trauma will do that to you. "I have too many responsibilities here, and I don't think I'm yet fit to go back in the field."
"I see," Kakashi said, then turned to Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata, "Sakura, is Team Seven ready to go?"
"Naruto and Hinata are both physically and mentally ready," Sakura nodded, "yes."
"If it is not too much trouble, can we take Sai with?" Kushina asked, "His beast summons might prove useful in our situation."
"Sai, you up for it?" Kakashi asked.
"Always," he nodded.
"That does leave another matter," Kakashi turned to the rest of the group: Sasuke, Hiashi, Ino, Temari, and Shikamaru. "The investigation of Ichika Hyūga's death." A silent pall fell over the room. Due to the moon crisis, the investigation had been shelved. "Shikamaru, are you up for taking over as lead on it until Naruto and the others return?"
"What a pain," the young man leaned back into his chair, "You realize the team already did a pretty thorough review," he hooked his hands behind his head, "I'll have a crack at it, but I want everyone to acknowledge we might have to leave this one unsolved."
"Shikamaru," Naruto spoke, "the evidence is there; I think a fresh set of eyes might do the trick."
Kakashi nodded, "Are you all right coordinating with everyone else here?"
"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded, somber.
"All right," Kakashi tended his hands, "that is all for now. The team leaves in two days; everyone is dismissed." Everyone filed out except Kushina, "Got something on your mind, Lord Fifth?"
"Plenty," Kushina stood opposite him. "Got a minute?"
"Yeah, just so you know, Shizune is on her way," Kakashi nodded.
"Nothing confidential, ya know," Kushina sighed leaning back against the chair. "Kakashi, I'm sorry to be foisting this off on you. I know you don't want the job."
"Fate rarely calls on us in a moment of our choosing," Kakashi replied. "I didn't want to be a jonin sensei, but I ended up training three of the best shinobi in the world."
"Still, I've asked a lot of you over the years," Kushina's eyes closed, after a pause they reopened, "Training Naruto, keeping us safe."
"I asked a lot of you," he replied, "your forgiveness for getting Rin and Obito killed, for not stopping the attack at Naruto's birth, and for shirking this responsibility for a long time."
"Had I listened to you about your concerns about Naruto's birth…"
"Obito would have found a way, maybe even caused more loss of life," he cut her off. "You had legitimate concerns about the safety of the village if something went wrong and you did everything you could to mitigate them."
"Not everything," Kushina shook her head, "We ignored Biwako's concerns; hell, we would have…"
"Kushina, you granddaughter changed all that, and we can stop pretending like it happened. According to her, a lot of things went right as a result of that change; do you know what that means?"
"Tell me."
"It means we learned, we grew, as a result of that change." He shook his head, summoning the horrible thoughts of what was and what wouldn't have been, "The White Kitsune would be extinct entirely, the Konoha Investigation Bureau would never have existed, Danzo and his Root army would have been running around unmitigated, and…"
"And?"
"I don't think Jiraiya would have made it this far. He wasn't in the original photo Hima left behind, and Tsunade became the Fifth Hokage in her time – no kids. Mito, Hiruzen, hell, Sato Uchiha, all exist because of the decisions we made because you survived. Himawari was surprised so many things went right because of so many things that still could have gone wrong had we not been prudent."
"Wow, I never thought of it that way," Kushina laughed with a nervous tickle.
"There is," Kakashi leaned back in the chair, still her chair for another year, "another thing I never told you about."
"Oh, what could that be?" she smiled.
"The council actually offered me the job when Minato got injured. I was the one who told them to offer you the job, instead."
Kushina nodded, "I see. I thought you said the council passed you over?"
"They did, after I'd pointed out my status as an expectant father and my recent brush with death at that time." Kakashi shrugged, "I was pretty damn shaken up at that time. Plus, I had just spoken with my dead father and was trying to sort that."
"I suppose that would be a problem," Kushina nodded. "Are you sure you're up for it now?"
"I'm not," Kakashi laughed, "but you've also earned your retirement."
"Daddy!" a small boy with his mom's black hair ran toward Kakashi.
"Sakumo!" Kakashi got out of the chair and hugged his boy.
"Sorry, he got away from me," a visibly pregnant Shizune waddled through the door.
"It's all right," Kushina laughed, "How are you and the baby?"
"I thought the second time would be easier," Shizune said as she found a chair and planted herself.
"Every time is unique, I'm told," Kushina replied. "Anyhow, I actually have to go home so Minato can do rehab with Konohamaru." She stood and bowed, "I'll see you around."
As Kushina left, Kakashi picked up his son and turned to his wife. "So, looks like we'll be staying here a few days or weeks."
"Works for me, shorter walk to the hospital…"
Kakashi caught a flash of concern in Shizune's obsidian eyes. "Dear, is something wrong?"
"I may be taking early maternity leave," she looked visibly upset, "Kakashi…"
"Is something wrong with the baby?" Kakashi's heart jumped.
"No, but my blood pressure and blood sugar were both high when I was tested earlier today," she sighed. "Akemi is suggesting that I not work from here forward."
"Whatever is best for you and the baby," Kakashi said.
"Kakashi, are you sure?"
"As special advisor to the Hokage, I make more than enough to cover us for the foreseeable future," he said, "Besides, taking care of this little runt," he playfully bounced Sakumo, "is a full-time job in its own right!"
"I just," she sighed, "hate being sidelined."
"You're looking after our son, and you're carrying our baby." Kakashi smiled, "By the way, did Akemi tell you the gender?"
Shizune pursed her lips, coy and cute. "She did."
"And?" Kakashi asked.
"All right, son, you ready?" Minato asked as he tightened the floatation vest Konohamaru was wearing.
"I feel really weird doing this," the boy groaned.
"Think of how weird it was getting you into that swimsuit," Hanabi quipped. Minato silently chuckled. I've been in diapers twice, and already had two kids in them. By now, I'm an expert! "I'm all set, Lord Fourth," Hanabi spoke as she fasted a safety strap at Konohamaru's waist as he sat in the lift chair.
"Minato, just Minato, Hanabi," he said. He turned and looked down to Reo and Sara, both already in the Academy's indoor pool, both carrying floatation tubes in the event that their son foundered once in the water. "You two ready down there?"
"Send him in!" Reo exclaimed.
"Here we go," Minato said.
"You sure the vest will hold me upright?" Konohamaru asked, clearly nervous. He can barely use his arms and can't use his legs at all. He has a right to be nervous about going in the water.
"Yes, and your parents are already in there with rescue floats, and Hanabi and I will be in right after you," he gave a thumbs up, "What could go wrong?" Minato smirked.
"I said the same thing when I volunteered to imitate Naruto," Konohamaru stared down at the water and his parents already swimming. The streak of sullenness passed. "All right, let's just do this!"
"Okay, here goes," Minato rotated the chair lift fixed to the poolside and lowered his boy into the water. While an expensive bit of equipment, Minato agreed it would be made open to anyone else needed aquatic rehab in the future. He lowered Konohamaru until the water was up to his chest. His legs floated haphazardly, but the vest did appear to give him positive buoyancy. "Unclip him," Minato instructed, and Sara unfastened the seatbelt holding Konohamaru in the chair.
As hoped, the vest did lift him from the chair as the strap released. "All right son, here we go," Sara began guiding her son free of the chair, and Minato began pulling the chair out of the water as Konohamaru floated clear. So far, so good!
There was a minor splash as Hanabi jumped in. She wore an unrevealing black one-piece with a pair of black swim shorts – taking after the usually modest Hinata. Minato took off his tank top and entered as well. He swam beside Konohamaru, "How does it feel?"
"Weird, but when you have as little sensory input as I have, I suppose it's something. Remind me, what is the point of this?"
"You suffered cerebellar injury in addition to the injury to your neck and back, Konohamaru," Hanabi explained. "We need to retrain your balance and coordination as much as we can; now, try swimming toward me – use your arms."
The boy clumsily flopped with his right, then his left. Even when Kushina and Akemi bring back a miracle, we have a long way to go. Aside from his loss of coordination, the muscles in Konohamaru's legs had almost completely atrophied since his injury. Even if his spinal cord was healed to preinjury status, Konohamaru was looking at months of learning how to use his body from chest down again just to function, let alone be a shinobi again.
Konohamaru rapidly flailed his arms, as much from incoordination as from frustration. "Stop," Minato commanded firm but calm. "Like this," he stroked in the water with one arm, "Slow," he consciously took his time to move the arm before trying his other arm, "Just like with Taijutsu, practice the basic motion until your body remembers. Speed comes with time!"
Konohamaru reached out with one arm, still clumsy as he raked it through the water. "Now try the other," Minato commanded. The left arm reached out stiff and shaky, but Konohamaru was able to stroke it through the water. "Right side, again!" Konohamaru did as commanded; Minato waited until the boy had finished the movement before calling out, "Now left side!"
As Konohamaru paddled with the still weaker arm, he finally vented, "I feel like an idiot! I could do this no problem before getting hurt!"
"Son," Sara spoke up, "you weren't born walking or running. You had to learn to crawl first. This is no different! Like getting through ANBU selection, it's one boot in front of the other, one painful step at a time. Every splash you make is a step towards getting back to who you were, but you have to be the one to make it!"
Konohamaru curled his lower lip in a familiar visage of anger and bitter frustration, but his face soon washed out to acceptance. His right arm reached again, then his left. Konohamaru repeated for almost an hour before they stopped. "All right, I think that's enough for today," Minato called.
"Ten more minutes?" Konohamaru pleaded. "Just ten more minutes!" his face was chiseled with determination.
"All right, ten more minutes," butterflies swirled in Minato's stomach. This is the most enthused he's been since before the injury!
The cool damp and early darkness made the already gloomy trek down the largely deserted road sit heavy in Kushina's stomach. Despite only having seen it once, the memory of this trail of tears maliciously tickled the back of her neck. The road to being a shinobi, the road to being a mother, the road to being Hokage; all of it started on this hellish road. At one time, the road had been a well-traveled trail with vendors and inns stretching from Konoha to the south coast. All the way home.
When Uzushiogakure was attacked by the other villages after the Second Shinobi War, the road was already falling into disuse – many Uzumaki had served and died in the Second War. Kumo, Iwa, and several villages now lost to time saw the opportunity to deal a final blow to a powerful, but wounded, opponent.
"We're almost there," Kushina spoke, "we might want to go into battle mode." The disparate group moved off the roadside and began stripping out of their civilian clothing and replacing it with field uniforms colored green, grey, brown, and black in a tiger-stripe configuration. Hinata, Akemi, and Kushina tied their long hair up with olive-drab green bandanas. Sakura and Naruto wore floppy brim hats in the same pattern as the tiger pattern of her outfit over their comparatively short hair. Sai left his raven-black hair uncovered.
Soon, compacts and small tubes of grease paint were passed around. Kushina started with a base layer of light green and gradually added black on her chin, her cheeks, ears, and forehead. "Everyone, remember, this is a black op; if we are discovered we are disavowed. Crossing into the Land of Whirlpools is in violation of several treaties."
"Tell it to the assholes that have apparently been slipping in for some time now," Naruto quipped. "What if we run into them?"
"Eliminate them," Kushina replied, short and to the point, "Quickly, efficiently, and without trace or mercy." There was a general pause among the group, and she was obliged to fill the air, "They are desecrating a war memorial and they are potentially endangering us all. If you encounter anything from the village, do not touch it!"
"Lord Kushina," Sakura spoke
"Just Kushina," she corrected, "we have no rank on this mission."
"For those of us not familiar with the Land of the Whirlpools and its destruction, what kind of threat at we talking? Lingering poison, biologic agents, radiologic contamination?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Kushina sighed, "All I can tell you, during his last stand the village Kage sent an open-air radio warning never to enter Land of Whirlpools; there was something hazardous that would be left behind that no one should disturb."
"What could be so dangerous?" Sai asked.
"I don't know," Kushina shook her head, "but the Uzumaki were known to be skilled in a series of chakra techniques. When it was clear the village was going to fall, the Kage activated some massive Chakra release – even stronger than Tailed-Beast attacks."
"Stronger than Tail-Beast attacks?" Hinata's amethyst eyes grew bright in the fading evening.
"Like something Toneri could do?" Naruto asked.
"Maybe," Kushina shook her head, "The incredible intensity of chakra released an explosion and a tidal surge that essentially wiped out the entire Land of Whirlpools and several rival villages on the mainland. Almost six million people died as a result.
"Six million?" Sai balked, "That's more than died in the Third Shinobi War."
Kushina nodded in grim acknowledgement, "There is a reason this section of coast was largely abandoned. Afterwards, there was no cause to rebuild," she shrugged, "Plus, the last warning made a lot of people too scared to be close to the Land of Whirlpools in the event someone was stupid enough to risk it!"
The group resumed their march with Naruto taking point. "Mom, there is one thing," he spoke hushed.
"What is it, son?"
"What exactly could these grave robbers be looking for? If the village was so completely leveled, what could be there that is so important, other than the scroll we're looking for?"
The question chilled Kushina, "I don't know; I guess we'll have to discover that as we search."
"We have problems," Hinata spoke and the group halted. Naruto activated his Byakugan and nodded. Like Naruto's altered Byakugan, Hinata's Byakugan now glowed more a pale blue than purple when active – a possible side-effect of being infused with Uzumaki Chakra. "There is a half-dozen looters up ahead near the shoreline… and… Naruto, are you seeing this?!"
"Seeing what?" Kushina asked.
"Cosmic energy," Naruto answered, "just like what we saw on the moon." So, there really might be a direct link with the ancient Moon Kingdom and the Uzumaki Clan.
"That might explain why the chakra release was so violent," Kushina chewed her bottom lip. "They must have been using something from the ancient Moon Kingdom."
"Or the ancient Ōtsutsuki," Sai spoke, "Remember, the Uzumaki are descendants of them as well."
"Neither is particularly comforting, but we need to deal with the baddies up ahead before we worry about that." She turned to Hinata and Naruto, "You said half-dozen?" They nodded in response. Kushina drew a kunai, "We will have to take the stealth approach."
Itachi sat at the head of the conference table, the contents of Ichika Hyūga's case file spread out over the table. The stacks or witness statements, crime scene photos, coroner reports, and physical evidence collected mocked him the same way it had mocked his father over thirty years ago.
There was a knocking at the door, "Come in," he commanded. A young woman with obsidian eyes and raven hair common in the Uchiha Clan entered. "Yes, Sango?"
"Director, they're here," the young woman nodded her head.
"Send them in." Shikamaru, Temari, Ino, and Sasuke entered. "Do you all need a recap of things?"
"Naruto and Sasuke gave me the short version," Shikamaru spoke, "I take it this is everything?"
"Pretty much," Itachi answered.
"Itachi, why are you on this case all of the sudden?" Sasuke asked.
"I hate leaving loose ends, especially with the transition in power in a few months. If I can let our father end his career with an unblemished legacy, I'd prefer to do so."
"That might be a tall order," Ino answered. "While we have motive and opportunity, means has been lacking."
"Has anyone actually examined the murder weapon?" Temari asked.
"Temari, the murder weapon is a bug," Shikamaru sighed.
"All the same, we keep looking at old reports looking for inconsistency; has anyone actually looked at it?"
There was an awkward pause. "I'm guessing that Naruto and the others were as perplexed as we are?" Itachi picked up a plastic vial with the preserved remains of the wasp found beside Ichika's body.
"Let me see that!" Temari reached out excited. Itachi handed it over. She scrutinized the contents, and her face lit up, "It's murder, all right, and this was the weapon if the coroner's report is correct"
"How the hell do you know that?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.
"Care to make a bet?" she held out a hand.
"For what?" Shikamaru continued to stare incredulous. Temari came to his ear and whispered something that caused Shikamaru to balk and turn red, "You want me to what?!"
"If I'm proven right, it seals the case," she smirked and held out the hand. "Shake on it?"
"Troublesome woman, this better be good!" Shikamaru extended his hand.
"I promise to return the favor if I'm wrong," she sassed.
"Children, care to include the rest of the class?"
Temari eyed the vial with the deceased insect, "Do you have an expert in entomology?"
"Entomology?" Itachi asked.
"Shino!" Sasuke blurted. "He's a recognized expert in the field!"
"Get him in here," Temari set the vial on the table. "We need a sworn deposition."
Sakura trudged slow and low along the dune grass. As she skulked along, she prayed her thundering heart didn't give her away to her target as she approached. As she waited on the signal, her heart tried climbing up her throat at the prospect of what she was about to do – take all her training to heal and turn it lethal.
She eyed the target, a gruff, built man with short cropped hair. By his mannerisms and the amount of noise he and the others were making as they loaded up a wagon, she could guess he wasn't a shinobi – none of them were. At least they suck at it if they are!
"Key, key, key, key, key, key, key, key!" the screeching turkey call split the night as Naruto described. Without hesitation, Sakura sprang up, grabbed her target by the head and neck, and drove the point of her kunai in between the base of the skull and the top of the neck. The sickening feel of metal moving between bones was followed by a sudden spasm of the body, followed by the body going flaccid as the spinal cord was severed.
The body dropped, kunai and all. Sakura drew another kunai in the event she needed to help drop another target. "Clear!" Naruto gave a harsh whisper. All six men were dead at the team's feet. A chill crossed Sakura's spine. She had killed in self-defense before and during the war. As she stared down at what had been a man until recently, her hand shook. Killing in cold blood is never easy, even for experienced shinobi.
"Definitely not shinobi," Akemi spot.
"I wouldn't be too sure," Sai spoke up as he eyed a large inflatable raft at the shoreline. "The raft is definitely military-grade."
"What the hell is this?" Naruto examined a metal object attached to his target's forearm.
"Not from the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools" Kushina said.
Naruto detached it from the man, "Careful, Naruto," Sakura ordered as he did so.
Naruto, heedless, attached the gauntlet to his right forearm and pointed it away from the group. He stared at the device, curious, and he made a hand seal he'd made hundreds of times. As he did, a torrent for fire shot from the end of the gauntlet. "HOLY SHIT!" Sakura yelped as Naruto charred a sizable section of sand.
As quick as it started, it ended. "N-Naruto!" Hinata ran up to him, "Are you all right?"
"What the hell is that thing!" Akemi exclaimed.
"A goddamned scientific ninja tool!" Kushina spoke aloud and everyone turned to her.
"What exactly is that, mom?" Naruto asked as he frantically disconnected the gauntlet, fearful of setting it off again.
"Several villages have been studying the ability to generate chakra-based weapons using preloaded scrolls; the implications being that literally anyone could use a chakra technique regardless of skill or ability to actually use chakra."
"You… knew about this?" Sakura asked, not believing what her Hokage was saying.
"I knew they existed, in a lab setting," Kushina raised a pointer finger, "I had no idea anyone had developed them this far…"
"What aren't you telling us, Lord Fifth?" Sai asked, impassive and non-judging.
"Minato and I detest the damn things!" Kushina shook her head. Imagine armies of untrained, unskilled civilians equipped with things like that!" she pointed to the gauntlet Naruto was holding. "The only purpose they serve would be to make wars larger and more destructive." She stared out toward the sea, "Could they have found something in the Land of Whirlpools that made this possible?"
Sakura's father told her stories about the Third Shinobi War, in the rare occasions he drank. Far from being an alcoholic, her father rarely drank, and even more rarely got drunk. When he did; however, the stories he told of walking through burned out villages and fields of dead bodies chilled Sakura to places she didn't know could feel cold. That had been with shinobi; imagine millions more armed with shit like what you just saw!
Sakura looked down at her now expired target, noticing a piece of paper protruding from a cargo pocket on the side of the man's pants. "What do we have here?" Sakura asked as she slipped the piece of paper from the man's pocket and unfolded it.
"Check the others for intelligence as well," Sai suggested.
Sakura examined the paper, find a unusual illustration scribbled on each half of it. On the top was a crude outline of a temple of some kind, adorned with the characteristic swirl of the Uzumaki clan. Interesting…
Sakura's heart jumped at what was scrawled across the lower half of the paper. The rendering of the seal was crude, but she recognized the design style – similar to the seal Naruto and Hinata wore. Except, this seal would have thirty-two trigrams! What in the hell would need a seal that strong to hold it! Unlike the seal on Naruto, the center of the seal enclosed a slender rendering that was roughly humanoid. Protruding from what she assumed was a head was a set of jagged horns. "Lord Hokage!" Sakura didn't know why she screeched, but something about the likeness chilled her to her core.
"Sakura?" Kushina ran to her side, eying the paper. The woman's violet eyes shot wide open as she took in the crude, but haunting, rendering.
Naruto ran up, clutching a similar piece of paper, holding it beside Sakura's. It contained the same art. "Mom, what the hell is this?!"
Kushina faintly shook her head; clearly unnerved by what she was seeing. "I don't know, but it must be what the head of my clan was so damn desperate to keep people away from." She stared out into the gloom that was the swirling mist.
"Kushina," Akemi spoke, balking at the illustration, "what in the hell would require thirty-two trigrams to seal it; I never heard of anything stronger than eight!"
"Four would hold something demonic or an evil spirit, easily," Kushina stared at the paper she and Sakura clutched. "Eight would hold any of the Tailed-Beasts, even Nine-Tails." She stared at the group, "I can't ask any of you come any further!"
"Lady Kushina," Sakura protested, if there are more of these bozos you'll need backup.
"Sakura, you and the others here are the future; if I get any of you killed…"
"Mom, the future is still being written," Naruto interjected, "And I'm not going to protect my own ass in detriment to Konohamaru, either!"
"The art rendering," Hinata spoke with a shaky voice, "I saw similar figures in both Toneri's castle and the ruins of the Moon Kingdom." Hinata paused, "Queen Serenity said she sealed away the great evil imperfectly; what if the Uzumaki Clan were guarding a piece of that evil – keeping it sealed?"
"And that would explain why the Ōtsutsuki orchestrated the destruction of Uzushiogakure, trying to get their hands on whatever this is!" Sakura slapped the paper.
"But that happened before Hima went back in time?" Akemi said.
Sakura shook her head, "The Otsutsuki know that time has been altered." She raised an index finger, "They figure if they can unleash whatever this is" she held up the paper, "and finish whatever the hell they started in the future Himawari left from!"
"It's possible," Naruto said, "also possible things are happening as historic; except, we're here to stop it." He turned up his palms, "Think, clearly Hima came back and risked rewriting history for something deeper than giving me a happy childhood. There has to be something deeper to take such a risk. Maybe she came back because the time she came from was that badly screwed up!" He took a deep pause, "Think of it, in the photo she left behind, none of the Hyūga, other than Hinata, are in it!"
"Neither were Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Izumi, Itachi, nor any of their children," Kushina murmured.
"And that is why we're going with you," Sakura insisted. "The very future Himawari is returning to depends on the outcome of this! If you'd been dead, we would have never come to this place!"
"All right," Kushina stared at the large inflatable raft. "Search the bodies for anything else useful, then we'll drag them into the nearby woods for disposal. She held up the paper, "I know where this temple is; we have to get out in front of this before it's too late – if it isn't already!"
Author's Notes: Hi everyone; thank you for reading as always. I hope you are well, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I do have a couple of things to bring up.
First and foremost, we are now thoroughly outside the events that are canon in the Narutoverse. I will be making some reference to events that happen in the Boruto stories, and that does pose a problem. As that Boruto is still in production, I am running the risk of directly contradicting canon of events not yet released. I will do everything I can to keep this at least roughly compliant with canon (some of you can probably guess what it being dug up in the Land of Whirlpools). That said, know that pretty much all of the Boruto Canon as written is gone or will be overwritten by the actions of the Hidden Leaf Teams.
Second, I do have a poll posted to my FFN profile, and I greatly appreciate your feedback in determining if Shizune is carrying a son or daughter for Kakashi. I'll keep it posted through next chapter posting.
Third, there may be future delays in this story (there is a god awful lot of it i still have to write). At the time of this writing, I have discovered that I'm an expectant father. While I'll make every effort to produce this story on schedule, I must apologize in advance for any delays.
With that in mind, stay healthy, stay safe, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will join me next chapter!