Summary: A particularly eerie night causes Naruto to recall the time his friends were turned into vampires and tells the tale to his children who aren't sure if this really happened.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Boruto or its characters. This is a fan fiction written by me for fun. No profit is being made. Naruto, Boruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto.
Chapter 1:
On the television screen, a newscaster spoke in front of an image of thick fog that lay over the Leaf Village, rattling on about the weather everyone was very much aware of. The vision outside the Uzumaki residence looked as if their home were floating among the clouds. It was dark, despite the hour, giving the entire village an eerie air about it.
Boruto hadn't seen the village in such a way to his recollection and pressed his forehead to the sliding glass door to soak it all in. It was oddly thrilling, seeing the backyard like this, making Boruto feel like he was a character in a horror movie.
His younger sister watched from the safety of the couch with her knees to her chest, finding the scene outside a little off-putting. She hadn't wanted her mother to venture outside to fetch the laundry drying on the line earlier that day. Though she knew there was nothing to worry about, she found the whole state of the village ominous and wanted everyone to remain inside where they were safe.
"It's just a little fog," Boruto assured her. "Although, it is thicker than any fog I've ever seen. Aside from jutsu, that is. You think someone cast a jutsu over the village or something?"
Hinata turned off the weather report. "No. All the conditions are right for fog. I wouldn't worry. But it is probably a good idea to stay inside. Fog this thick, it'd be hard to see where you're going."
"Which is reason number two why I declared it a state of caution and ordered everyone to remain inside as much as possible until it clears," said Naruto from the kitchen, putting his empty plate in the sink. Since he had made the call early that morning, he and the majority of other people in the village hadn't left their homes.
"What's the difference between a state of emergency and a state of caution?" Boruto asked, turning away from the window with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it's not really an emergency, but rather one of caution, so… yeah," Naruto answered. "It'd be a pain for people to try getting around in this. It's more of a hinderance than anything."
"So, it's just to avoid people bumping into each other or tripping and stuff?" Himawari asked from the couch. "There's nothing really dangerous about it aside from that and you're just trying to prevent an emergency situation?"
"Pretty much."
Boruto frowned. "You said that was reason number two why you declared it a state of caution. What was number one?"
"So Daddy could stay home with us," said Himawari.
Naruto glanced away nervously. "Well, there's that. But actually… Um… I'm not sure I should tell you."
"Tell us what?" asked Boruto, facing away from the window altogether.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's just that this weather reminded me of something that happened before you two were born. Before I married your mom. A mission I had been on that… Uh, I don't know if I should tell you. It might scare you."
"No way," said Boruto, determined to show off his bravery. "With the missions I've been on, a stupid story won't scare me."
Himawari wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the story or not. While she was curious and wanted to be brave like her brother, she was worried her father was right and would be frightened.
"Don't worry," Boruto said to comfort her. "It's just a story that happened a long time ago and a mission Dad went on. He obviously won and things are fine now."
Himawari cheered up a little. "Yeah. And we can hear the story of how Daddy did it."
"Yeah," Boruto agreed, encouraging her to persuade Naruto to tell the tale. He, at least, wanted to know what his father was talking about.
Naruto sighed and sat down next to his daughter on the couch. "Alright. This takes place when Kakashi was the Hokage and right before I married your mom. My team and I went on a mission to recover and guard a storage box."
"Sounds boring," Boruto grumbled.
"I thought so, too. Until I found out what it was we were guarding and how it started a chain of events that led to me having to save my friends and the whole village."
"Really?" Boruto sounded skeptical. Not because he didn't believe his father, but because he thought this was another way for Naruto to brag about how heroic he was.
Naruto set the scene, turning sideways in his seat to face both children and gestured with his arm. "We had just collected the storage box and loaded it onto the train. Cargo had to be placed in the last car but that made it easy for us to guard. Only one door, so-"
"You're just going to skip to that part?" asked Boruto. "How'd you get the box in the first place? Did you have to fight a bunch of guys to do it or did you just have to pick it up?"
"I'm skipping over the boring part to get to the main story," Naruto said.
Boruto frowned. "You just picked it up. Might as well be a mail carrier job."
"Can I get back to the story?" Naruto asked, getting annoyed.
"Fine," said Boruto. He sat on the floor and listened.
"Anyway…" Naruto said, returning to his tale. "It was Sai, Sakura and I who were on this mission. We had to take turns guarding the box in the cargo train car. I had just gotten off the day shift and Sakura took over at night. That was when things got really interesting."