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Chapter Text

The sun was burning down onto the earth unforgivingly, so when team seven finally reached the cool shades the trees of a forest were gifting them Sarada stopped in her track to take in the change of temperature with a relived sigh. The heat had caused her entire clothing to stick to her body, making her feel uncomfortable even when she was just walking, after this mission was done she really needed to take a long cold shower, and after that? Maybe Chocho had some time to spare to relax nearby a cool lake? The thought of even more shade and some swimming after the torture she had been through made her sigh just wishing for this mission to be over already.
Boruto, who had been walking in the front turned around, his gaze filled with annoyance. “You said yourself that we shouldn’t waste time, the sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we can return to the village again.” His voice was irritated, Boruto himself was also drenched in sweat beneath the jacket he refused to take off, even despite the weather conditions the trio had found itself in. Punishing rays of sunlight had caused both Boruto and Sarada to be agitated even more than they usually were. As soon as those words left his mouth Sarada had an insult to throw at Boruto’s head which the boy obviously returned. And just like that, both of them were caught in another worthless fight.

“What did you say you Dimwit!”
“Dimwit? I’m going to show you a dimwit!”

Mitsuki, who had not involved himself in his teammates argument moved to one of the many trees at his disposal, leaning against it while waiting for his teammates to make up, or at the very least end their argument. The shade was a welcome contrast to the warmth that had engulfed the group just moments earlier. Konohamaru had taken the lead, he was here to retrieve some herbs while they were in the forest. Their sensei had told them to meet up right where they had entered the forest from after they were done with their respective missions.
While waiting for his friend to come to their senses, Mitsuki let his eyes wander. The trio had been assigned a mission in the forest of death, a place whose name had sent shivers down Sarada’s and Boruto’s spine when they had heard it during the report. Their mission however was of minor importance, they had to retrieve a book that a scientist had dropped while exploring the forest. Their client had described the forest as a place of no return, where death loomed around every corner, but now being here it did not seem any more dangerous than any other forest Mitsuki had been too. A warm gust was rustling through the leaves of a large tree, somewhere in the distance Mitsuki was able to hear the flow of a water stream and the green grass beneath him was soft, perfect for taking a little nap. This place appeared more like a comforting forest to take a relaxing walk in, rather than a death trap.

“You are the one who is slowing us down!” The voices of Sarada and Boruto returned Mitsuki’s focus back to their current situation. They were still at it. Without making any sound the pale boy smoothly pushed himself off of the tree that he had been leaning against with the goal of ending this exasperating dispute. The close Mitsuki came however, the more heated their words became. The atmosphere was almost boiling now, paired with the heat, that couldn’t be held of by the shade, it felt like Mitsuki was entering a sauna.

“I am the one slowing us down? I am not stopping at every shade we come across!” Boruto’s voice was loud, emotions running high. Mitsuki knew he had to step in before their mission would be soured by either of the two angry children saying something they may regret later. So he reached out his two hands to grasp both of their shoulders. His hands were close to making contact with the two of them, but before he could fully touch either Boruto’s eye started to light up. His jougan. Before Sarada or Mitsuki could react, everything turned white, the last thing the pale boy felt was the soft grass beneath him that he had earlier thought of as a great mattress to lie down on, he was proven right.

Chapter Text

The first thing Mitsuki felt was the ground beneath him, the hard and dry ground that made his back hurt. The pale boy opened his eyes, first his vision was blurry. He blinked once, still blurry, but better than before. A leave was slowly making its way down from where it had just been hanging on one of the many branches. Blinking a few more times he was met by the green leaves of the trees above him, just when his vision was back to being as sharp as usual, the leave had made its way onto his cheek, tickling him wherever it touched. Mitsuki reached for it, picking it up and watching the uneven patterns on it, fascinated by the few fragile lines. He could hear the water stream nearby, though it appeared louder, maybe that was just his imagination though?
Finally able to tear his gaze away from the sole leave in his hand, the boy pushed himself into a sitting position, holding his head as he did so. His gaze wandered across the floor, trampled grass giving way to the dirt beneath. Amidst the blades of grass, he could spot his two teammates, Sarada, who was already sitting up, meeting Mitsuki’s gaze with an analysing look in her eyes, and Boruto, who appeared to just wake up.

“My head…what just happened?” Boruto groaned while pushing his body into a sitting position. Sarada’s attention snapped back to the boy who had just woken up. “Your eye there was light coming from it, that’s all I know.” Sarada’s words made Mitsuki nod in agreement, he had felt nothing but the soft ground beneath him after that. Soft? But he could have sworn the floor beneath them was as hard as a rock. Boruto let out a thinking sound as he tried to stand up, having had enough of being on the ground. As soon as he tried to push himself up with his arms however they gave in, making Boruto crash down face first into the hard ground.

“Boruto!” Mitsuki and Sarada exclaimed at the same time, rushing over in an instant, neither facing the same problem the blond-haired boy had. The pale boy reached his teammate moments earlier than Sarada had, helping him back into a sitting position with a worried gaze. The air around them wasn’t oppressive anymore. The calmed atmosphere between Sarada and Boruto certainly played a part in that, but that wasn’t the only change. The air was colder, as if the weather was completely different than before.
“What the- “Boruto groaned, looking at his shaking hands, a sign of exhaustion. He clenched those shaking hands into fists. “You used too much of your chakra.” Mitsuki deduced after taking a quick look at his friend. His teammates words made Boruto’s head perk up. “That can’t be, I haven’t used any jutsu today.” Sarada, who had been quietly watching the exchange spoke up at this statement. “Your eye, it must have something to do with why we were knocked out.”
“And why our surroundings are so different to before.” Mitsuki mused, eyeing their surroundings once more. A teleportation jutsu? Wouldn’t they have noticed that? A Genjutsu? Sarada would have already looked through that by now.

Boruto let out a loud annoyed sigh. “That doesn’t explain anything, nothing like this has ever happened before!” The complaint was disrupting the calm of the forest, but none of them were worried about anybody listening in on them, after all, nobody could listen in, if there wasn’t anybody around. People avoided the forest of death like the plague.
“Mitsuki, you gave Konohamaru one of your snakes at the beginning of the mission, just in case anything important happened, can you contact him? We can’t continue our mission with Boruto this exhausted, he should take a look at him.” The small Uchiha had now turned to look at the boy she was addressing. The answer she received was a nod, a simple yet effective gesture.
With his back now turned towards his friends Mitsuki focused on his surroundings, searching for the snake he had sent out by sending out his chakra in the ground. Beneath him he felt the roots of large trees, he felt the water stream more clearly. The sun above the leaves was only half as harsh as it had been before, but no matter where he looked, he just could not find what he was looking for. It was almost as though his target had been erased from existence. Giving up this fruitless endeavour; Mitsuki opened his previously closed eyes and turned around to meet Sarada’s and Boruto’s expecting faces.

“I cannot sense it.” He spoke plainly, not bothering to hide the truth. The black-haired girl’s hand moved up to her mouth, as she thought. “How is that possible?!” Boruto leaned forward so that his left arm was now supporting his head, instantly regretting his decision to change posture and moving back to his straight posture with a suppressed hiss. Noticing Boruto’s pain, Mitsuki rushed back to his side, however just before he could reach his side a kunai was thrown into his direction, just barely missing his face. A next one came almost instantaneously, forcing the pale boy to grab Boruto, who was still to exhausted to move, by the collar to move him behind his back to shield the exhausted boy from any harm. With Boruto now behind him Mitsuki assessed the situation.
“Hey, Mitsuki! I can defend myself! You don’t have to- “Boruto’s voice perked up from behind Mitsuki’s back, they both knew this was a lie. Boruto could hardly move, much less fight another shinobi in this state.
“Boruto.” One word from Sarada and the boy quieted down. The Uchiha’s voice was serious. Out of the corner of his eyes Mitsuki could see Sarada standing by his side, kunai in hand and ready to battle. Rustling could be heard in the bushes, indicating where the two of them had to attack. The pale boy caught Sarada’s gaze and nodded at her with the black-haired girl returning his nod. With his teammates approval Mitsuki dashed forward, leaving Sarada and Boruto behind him. A new Kunai flew in his direction, this time flying directly into Mitsuki’s direction. With a single flick of his wrist, a kunai appeared in his hand, blocking the one of his attackers with ease.

The focus of their assailant, or perhaps even assailants was now on him, leaving them vulnerable to the fireball appearing right behind them. Using the attention Mitsuki had drawn on himself by dashing towards their attackers she had been able to merge into the background, approaching their enemies from behind and catching them off guard with her attack, finally pushing all three of them out of their hiding spot and in front of Mitsuki’s feet. Three genin, their headband revealed their origin to be from Iwagakure. One of the three ninja, Sat up wearily, body littered with scratched.
“We surrender, just take our scrolls!” Out of a bag that the boy carried around his waist, he pulled out two scrolls, one bright one, and the other dark. Sarada appeared out of the bushes with a calculating look in her eyes, sharingan not activated, even though it would have aided her in seeing through her enemies’ motions more easily if they decided to attack once more. “What are these scrolls?” She asked, arms crossed and mustering the trio. They were all wearing rather dull coloured clothing, conventional for the people of Iwagakure as they tended to blend in more with their environment with this type of clothing, making it easier to merge with their surroundings. One of the boys that hadn’t spoken up, his hair was of white colour turned to meet her gaze. “For the exam- “His voice trailed off when he took a closer look at Boruto, who currently was unguarded. Sarada, who was unsatisfied with the others half-baked answer moved closer to him, eyeing him suspiciously but the defeated ninja didn’t speak for another moment. His eyes instead travelled to his teammates, who all appeared to be realising something yet refused to let the ones that had defeated them in on their revelation.
“What are you guys talking about. What exam?” Her eyes mustered the three genin, she had deduced from their lack of skill, from top to bottom. They had scratches and bruises all over them, not to mention the dirt that accompanied most of their injuries, all serving to make them look almost deplorable.
Her questions were followed by silence until one guy spoke up again, presumably their leader. “You aren’t who we thought you were.” His words were accompanied by a scoff, followed by him pointing directly at Boruto.

“We saw him, that blondie looked like someone that pissed us off earlier during the exams, the chunin exams, and we decided to teach him a lesson.” The other two, who weren’t speaking contributed to their leaders’ words by shrugging their shoulders.
Mitsuki was listening quietly, his left hand touching his chin while his right hand was stemmed into his side. “Chunin exams…but they just took place a few weeks ago…” He finally mused. Sarada nodded at Mitsuki’s words, Boruto following her lead.
“If that’s all.” Suddenly, one of the two boys who had not uttered a single word pulled something out of his pocket, a smoke bomb. Before anyone could react, he had already thrown it on the ground. “That’s all! See you!” Sarada could only hear the leader’s words and footsteps leaving, yet when the smoke cleared the only thing left were the two scrolls on the ground.

Chapter Text

Silence followed the bravado of the Iwa-nins departure. Both Sarada and Mitsuki stunned by the events that just transpired. Birds were heard chirping in the distance where Mitsuki assumed no fighting was going on. Nobody dared to break the quietness around them for a few moments until finally, Boruto sighed.

“What was that just about?” Disbelieve still present in his tone. Being a ninja he of course had his fair share of fights against ninja from other villages, as well as the occasional alien from outer space if he was unlucky but those weren’t part of this conflict, at least Boruto hoped that they weren’t.
Usually however fights against ninja from other villages had strictly only been practice battles. This fight just now, even if he hadn’t participated in it, had felt real. These ninja had intended on taking them out for good.

“This exam they were talking about.” Mitsuki started while approaching the two scrolls. Each movement being slower than the one that preceded it before finally coming to a halt in front of his goal. In one swift motion Mitsuki knelt down to pick up his objects of interest. “These scrolls appear to be important in them. They wanted to give them to us after they lost after all.”
Both scrolls were lighter than Mitsuki had expected. The paper was of robust material and the wooden stick it was wrapped around had looked heavier than it actually was. In the middle of both scrolls words were written down with blank ink.

It was Sarada’s turn to move now. With quick and short steps, she reached her teammate, who was still holding the two scrolls. The ground beneath her was dry, causing some dirt to swirl up as she moved. “They seemed confused when we asked them about this test. So, this forest is most likely the examination place and they thought we were participants.”
Sarada’s words gathered Boruto’s attention, who was now putting his right hand to his chin. “But we never left the forest of death, my dad would have said something if there were exams going on that involved other countries. If not to me personally, then at the very least a public announcement.” His words were muffled by the collar of his jacket which had slid up and now covered part of his mouth due to him moving his arm up.

All that Sarada could muster in response was a tired sigh, already sick off these confusing circumstances. It was true that they hadn’t left the forest, at least she believed that they hadn’t, though she couldn’t deny that their surroundings felt different now compared to when they had entered the forest.
It wasn’t a genjutsu, Sarada had made sure to check for one the moment she had woken up and noticed some small pieces which weren’t adding up with her memory. Back then she had decided to brush it off as her just misremembering it due to exhaustion, now however she couldn’t deny that more and more weird events were adding up.

Mitsuki on the other hand was still focused on the scrolls in front of him. “Heaven.” He read out loud the word that had been carefully written in the middle of the light-coloured scroll. The pale boy let his eyes wander to the other scroll in his hand. “Earth” He read the words that were written on the second scroll as well.
“Heaven and earth?” Sarada mumbled, her eyes closed as a gust of wind brushed through her hair, making it linger in motion for a few moments before returning to the calmness it had been in before.
“Two scrolls, exams, forest of death, ninja from other villages.” Sarada repeated all the keywords they had been able to figure out until this point. “This sound similar to what mama told me-“She stopped herself, shaking her head as if trying to get rid of a stupid thought that just crossed her mind.

“Maybe opening the scroll will give us a hint?” Boruto spoke up once more, having pushed down the jacket to make his words come out clearly. The pale boy turned to meet his teammates gaze, both scrolls in hand. “That appears to be the best course of action.” He concluded, now moving closer to the boy on the ground so that he could also examine the contents once they were opened.
“I don’t think that we should open them.” Sarada suddenly spoke up, now watching the scrolls with a scowl in her eyes. Boruto’s response was an annoyed sigh before questioning her.

“And why not? These scrolls seem important, so they must have some information about what is happening?” His words were back to the annoyed tone he had when the two had been fighting earlier, their little dispute not having been forgotten yet. Sarada however didn’t let herself get provoked this time, instead she hummed while trying to think of the right words to say. “I can’t really explain it, but I have a bad feeling about opening them.” She finally spoke up.
Mitsuki, who had stayed quiet during their conversation turned his gaze, which had previously been set on Boruto towards the scroll in his hands. “This situation is strange to all of us.” He let his eyes wander towards Sarada now. “But if Sarada believes that it is dangerous to open them, I believe we should take that into consideration.” Now it stood two in favour of not opening the scrolls, clearly outweighing Boruto’s vote.

Thoughtfully, the boy dropped his gaze again, his energy was slowly returning, he was able to move his arms without them feeling completely sluggish now. Still, when had he used up this much chakra? Was it even just a lack of chakra that made him feel this exhausted? Whatever it was that was weakening him, it was the most annoying thing in the world to him at this moment.
“If you two believe we shouldn’t open it then we should think about how to contact Konohamaru. Mitsuki, can you still not sense your snake?” The question directed at the pale boy was only answered by a simple shake of his head. This response made Boruto let out an annoyed noise, it was clear that the Uzumaki was becoming annoyed.

“Maybe opening it is the only way we can-“Boruto’s plead to make his teammates reconsider was interrupted by a scream which made his blood freeze. It was a girl’s voice. Sarada’s eyes went wide, she knew that voice. It was a lot higher, and she had never heard her scream this way, but it was obviously the voice of a person she knew well.
“That voice?” Her heartbeat was going in rapid speed. What was going on? Boruto was the first person to react, pushing up his still exhausted body with extraordinary effort, just to be caught by Mitsuki before crashing into the ground face first. The pale boy didn’t say anything, but Boruto could feel his worried gaze on him.

“We have to see what is happening, what if it is a konoha villager in danger?” Of course, Boruto knew that this scream sounded painfully familiar to someone that they all knew well, yet at this moment, he couldn’t place a name to it, he only knew that it was familiar. Sarada on the other hand would recognize that voice anywhere. It was the voice of a person dear to her heart, hearing it so painfilled made her heart clench and her rational side shut off.
Not saying another word, the Uchiha turned her back towards her teammates and followed the scream. Before Sarada turned around, Boruto had been able to catch her worried gaze. Not only him, but Mitsuki saw the look in her eyes as well.

“We have to follow her-“Boruto uttered, yet when he tried to take another step his legs gave in beneath him, forcing Mitsuki to catch him once more. “Careful, you won’t be of any help in a battle right now.” His tone was cool and calculating, stating only the truth and nothing more, but of course, the truth wasn’t what Boruto wanted to hear now.
“We can’t let Sarada wander on her own, this mission has become more dangerous than it was intended to be!” Boruto was shouting at Mitsuki, something that almost never happened. Being this weak was something the Uzumaki wasn’t used to, especially having to rely on someone else so that he wouldn’t collapse was something that agitated him further.

Mitsuki watched his friend without replying, his face seemed calm, the perfect poker face. Taking one step forward he almost caused Boruto to tumble down, but the other boy managed to keep himself upright on Mitsuki’s shoulder just in time.
“What are you doing?” His words were still filled with anger, but Mitsuki didn’t give in, instead he squatted down slightly, making his back accessible for the exhausted boy. “I’ll carry you; we can catch up to Sarada more quickly this way.” Realising that Boruto had been too agitated too quickly a faint blush formed on his cheeks, he’d have to apologize to Mitsuki. With one swift motion Boruto pushed himself onto Mitsuki’s back, surprised by how soft it was.

His ride didn’t waste another second. As soon as Boruto was secured on his back Mitsuki dashed into the direction Sarada had disappeared into. The speed of Mitsuki’s movements caused Boruto’s hair to fly with the wind and some of Mitsuki’s hair to land in his face. He didn’t have the energy to complain, however.
It felt like an eternity as Mitsuki jumped from tree to tree, neither said a word, and Boruto couldn’t tell whether his friend was mad at him for lashing out or not. Only when Sarada came into vision in front of them did Boruto make a sound to call out for her.

“Sarada, wait up!” Her teammates voice caused the Uchiha to abruptly halt in her movement, turning to meet the other two members of team seven. Her breathing was shaky and uneven, it was clear that being out of breath wasn’t the only reason for her current state.

“I-“Sarada was only able to bring out one word before Boruto interrupted her.
“No time for long conversations, you were worried about the person who screamed, so we have to find and help her, now.” Boruto's words were no longer filled with the same annyoance he had carried earlier, and they were just what Sarada needed. Sarada’s shaking to subdued slightly. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath she was able to clear her mind. She wouldn't be able to protect her if she couldn't even keep a clear mind at the thought of her in danger.

“You are right. Let’s go.”
To herself she added "Thank you" in her mind.

Chapter Text

With quick steps the now reunited trio advanced from tree to tree until finally Mitsuki saw a light coming from a clearing in front of them. This clearing was also where the scream had come from, and where the sound an ongoing fight predominated any other noise in the area. Even the birds that Mitsuki had heard before had become fewer and fewer, now there was not a single chirp to be heard.
“We’re close.” He mused in a quiet tone, his eyes fixated on Sarada’s back as she was in front of him, leading the way, the Uchiha symbol on her back was easily visible for him, accentuated by the red that surrounded it. Sarada was proud to be an Uchiha, there was no doubt about it.

Not even second after he finished his words Sarada reached the last tree before the opening, halting in her motions. Stopping next to her Mitsuki let his eyes wander to the opening in front of them. A huge tree was on the opposite side of where they were standing. The lower half of it, where roots had found their way onto the overground, was hollow, the perfect place to wait out the night. This little cave however wasn’t what they had been chasing. Switching his focus to the centre of the clearing Mitsuki could see a group of ninjas from who he presumed were all genin locked into a battle a team from Otogakure. However, that wasn’t what made Sarada’s breath hitch. It was the pink haired girl who was currently being protected by a blond-haired girl.

Boruto noticed his teammate’s reaction and leaned his head onto Mitsuki’s shoulder to catch a glance towards the action. As soon as he saw the genin in front of him he reacted by widening his eyes. “Is this some kind of joke?” He whispered only loud enough for Mitsuki and Sarada to hear him.

“I thought that I heard my mother screaming, even if her voice was somewhat different than what I am used to, that was why I was so…” Sarada trailed off before finishing her statement, her eyes glued to the scene in front of them. “But why is my mother the same age as me? At least I think that is her?” The Uchiha closed her eyes while pulling down her glasses slightly to rub the bridge between her eyes.
“It’s not just Sakura, isn’t that blond haired girl Ino? And this boy over there- “Mitsuki pointed towards a black-haired boy who was focused on keeping his kage mane no jutsu active. “He looks a lot like Shikamaru.” Letting his gaze wander with his finger he then pointed to a boy who looked like he was getting ready to attack. “This boy right here looks like Choji. Finally, Mitsuki looked to a boy in green who was lying on the floor in pain, he looked almost like a carbon copy of Metal Lee. “This must be Metal Lee’s father, at least he looks a lot like him?” Concluding his elaboration Mitsuki didn’t speak up again however he kept his gaze on the clearing. Not on the battle, however. There was something weird coming from the grand tree that the five genin seemed to be protecting.

It felt familiar to something he had felt thousands of times before, yet he couldn’t quite put a name to it. It felt familiar but at the same time strange. The feeling it reminded him off wasn’t as aggressive as this feeling was.
Noticing that Mitsuki wouldn’t speak up again Boruto used the opportunity to voice out his own thoughts. “If Sakura is here during an exam where people from other villages partake in as well, then this could be.”
“Their first chunin exam.” Sarada finished Boruto’s sentence before he was able to.

“That can’t be real.” Boruto cursed underneath his breath. Their conversation was cut short by a scream coming from Ino, she had just been smashed into one of the trees, slumping down to her knees. Witnessing this, the trio’s conversation died down. Sarada’s and Boruto’s expressions turning even more serious,
No longer being able to just watch Boruto attempted to push himself off of Mitsuki’S back. Mitsuki however reached out for Boruto’s hand before the Uzumaki could fully free himself. “Don’t push yourself” He whispered quietly, his yellow piercing eyes no longer focused on the tree in front of them, but rather the boy who attempted to stand up. Boruto stared back into Mitsuki’s eyes and opened his mouth to speak up, but before he could, Sarada once again took the words right out of his mouth.

“We have to help them.” Her voice was serious, and her gaze wasn’t focused on either of her teammates but rather Sakura, who was hardly able to stand now but was attempting to cover Lee. Boruto immediately agreed with her statement by nodding. Mitsuki however wasn’t convinced, the Uchiha symbol on Sarada’s back finding it’s way back into his mind. The strange feeling was still bothering him as well. On the other hand, Sarada and Boruto seemed dead set on aiding the five genin and it would be hard to convince them not to.

Boruto was already pushing Mitsuki to the side to stand next to Sarada, though you could hardly call what he was doing standing. The Uzumaki was still swaying from one side to the other due to his exhaustion. Mitsuki extended his arm to keep him balanced. “You cannot fight like this Boruto.” He stated plainly towards his teammate. When he met Boruto’s gaze, he could see the frustration inside of his eyes caused by his helplessness and need for Mitsuki’s aid to even stand at the moment.

While they had been speaking the battle beneath them had been going on. It seemed unwinnable for the Konoha ninja, and the Otogakure ninja appeared to be out for blood. The situation was getting worse by the second. Mitsuki knew that Sarada wouldn’t just stand by idly, but he also sensed that the energy from the tree was increasingly taking over his senses. Turning towards Sarada to discuss what they should do, or how they should approach this battle, he saw her already taking off to protect her mother, or at least future mother without a plan.
Just when Sarada’s feet left the wood beneath her Mitsuki felt it again. It was suffocatingly strong and violent. In an instant Mitsuki’s hand was wrapped around Sarada’s stomach and forcefully pulled her back to their hideout.

“What are you doing?” Sarada’s anger was obvious not only from her voice but also her eyes and her entire body. It was shaking, a clear indication of how she was fuming on the inside. Boruto next to him seemed too angry as well, though not quite as much as the Uchiha was.
“Something is coming.” Was all he could say. He didn’t know what, he just knew that it was familiar, and dangerous. The seriousness in Mitsuki’s voice made Sarada halt in her anger and instead turn her eyes back to the battlefield in front of them. It still seemed to be the same situation and yet, Sarada could sense something new that she hadn’t sensed before. It felt weak to her, unlike how it had been to Mitsuki, but she felt a menacing aura coming from the tree.

Boruto followed Sarada’s gaze towards the tree and just like her was now also able to feel it. And they weren’t the only ones. The ninja who had been locked into battle all seemed to freeze, it was as though the entire forest was holding its breath.
Then a footstep was heard, followed by another. It was the only sound which was disrupting the newfound quiet. Boruto found himself holding his breath in anticipation.
Out of the hollowed root cave came a boy with black hair. Sarada swallowed, her heart was pounding. This chakra was one she knew well. This hair was one she knew well. Those eyes she knew well, but these marks, which seemed to cover his body, she had never seen those before. There was no doubt about it however, especially not when the sharingan was so present in the boy’s eyes. This was her father, Sasuke Uchiha, but he was different. He was even scarier than when she had met him on her search for him.

Mitsuki’s eyes narrowed as soon as he saw the marks on Sasuke’s body. He knew them, he hadn’t seen them in person, but he had certainly seen them in pictures and drawings. And he also knew that he carried a similar mark as the one that was causing this appearance on his heart.
Sensing that Sarada wouldn’t dash into the battle anymore he released her from her hold, he had however not anticipated her to drop to her knees as soon as Mitsuki’s support was gone.
Boruto couldn’t believe his eyes. This person in front of them was Sasuke, yet he seemed so different from the Sasuke that he knew, the Sasuke that had trained him for his chunin exam. His hands clenched into fists as his breathing quickened.

Sasuke’s aura was menacing, breathtaking, cold and oppressive. Mitsuki knew where this power came from, he had heard his parent talk about it once or twice. He had heard Suigetsu joke about it from time to time, but he had never imagined it to feel so cold.
With batted breath Sarada’s eyes followed Sasuke’s every move. When the boy asked who had hurt Sakura a shiver went down her spine. His voice was so devoid of warmth that it caused goosebumps just by listening to it. One of the Otogakure ninja bragged about hurting Sakura, Sasuke’s reaction made Sarada’s eyes grow even wider. Sasuke was pulling the genins arms. It looked like he wanted to rip them off. The scream that ninja made caused her to squeeze her eyes shut and look away. It didn’t make the sound of bones cracking go away, it didn’t make the screaming disappear, but like this she could imagine that it wasn’t Sasuke who was doing these things.
Boruto couldn’t move; he was paralysed in place. In their village ninja who fought like this were a rarity. Most likely because fighting like this was no longer needed to survive a war, but even for a time of war Sasuke seemed too cruel.

Mitsuki saw that his two teammates were frozen in place. The violence didn’t face him as much as it affected the other two, but the chakra was what made Mitsuki shiver slightly. He knew that Sarada couldn’t continue watching what was happening anymore. He knew that Boruto was too stunned to do anything. Without another word Mitsuki extended his arm again, wrapping softly around Sarada’s stomach again. The Uchiha didn’t say anything, she didn’t react or make any sound, stubbornly keeping her eyes closed.
Boruto was already in Mitsuki’s arms and without another word the pale boy took off into the forest, far away from the fight and Sasuke.
The forest around them was still silent, as if the entire world was standing still to watch what was happening now. It was only Mitsuki who was keeping his head forward. Sarada still had her eyes closed and Boruto was still staring back into the direction they had come from.

Only when Mitsuki saw the entrance to a small cave he deemed far enough away from the action and easy to protect did he stop. With gentle movements he placed down both Sarada and Boruto on the hard floor of the cave. Sarada was on her knees, the shaking had subdued slightly. Now that she was back on the ground her eyes opened again.
Boruto, who was sitting next to her seemed to finally have thawed out of his shook, eyeing Sarada with concern. Of course, Sasuke had taught him a lot, but he was Sarada’s father, seeing him like this must have taken a toll onto her.

Sarada’s eyes stayed on the ground for a few more moments, their surroundings were still quiet, and nobody dared to speak up. It was as though all living things had left the forest.
“I heard small stories from my mother, but I didn’t expect reality to be so.” Sarada’s voice trailed off. Seeing as both of his teammates were sitting, Mitsuki also moved into a sitting position, keeping his eyes onto the Uchiha.
“What matters is who he is now, not who he was in the past.” Sarada had expected Boruto to speak up, so when it was Mitsuki who was speaking she moved her head up in surprise, being met by the usual empty smile that the boy wore on his face like a mask to hide what he was truly thinking. Stunned by Mitsuki’s words it took Boruto a few moments to compose himself before nodding.
“The Sasuke we know is different from the Sasuke we just saw. Your father loves you and your mother deeply and he would never use chakra this suffocating” He added onto Mitsuki’s statement, watching his friend with concern in his eyes while trying to keep his words in a comforting tone.

Sarada stayed quiet until a huge sigh left her mouth, followed by a smile finding it’s way back on her face. It was small and weak, but not Mitsuki’s usual pleasant smile, it was a real smile. “Thank you.” Her voice was weak, clearly fighting against the rising emotions inside of her.
Boruto answered with his signature smile but didn’t speak up. The silence between the three stretched out, doubled by the complete lack of any animal noises. It was Sarada who broke it again.

“I believe we should think about how to get back.” She had obviously addressed her two teammates, but it wasn’t them who replied. Instead, the voice of a third person could be heard, one that caused Mitsuki’s eyes to grow wide.

“How interesting you three seem to be.” The person whom this voice belonged to was chuckling, that much was obvious from the way their voice sounded.

Mitsuki knew that voice, Sarada knew that voice, Boruto knew that voice, even though they all knew that voice it was Mitsuki who was affected the most.
His head turned around with extreme speed to be face to face with the person who had just spoken. He was mustering all of them, but the one he was mustering the most was Mitsuki.

“You truly are an interesting specimen.”

Chapter Text

There he was, right in front of him the sleek, snakelike figure of Orochimaru stood, staring at the trio, a smile plastered on his face. A smile so unlike anything Mitsuki had seen on his parents face before. Not to mention his face. Orochimaru’s features were sharper, more defined, so completely unlike the soft cheeks and chin Mitsuki was used to. His eyes, they were following him as though he was Orochimaru’s prey, it sent shivers down his spine, and he couldn’t force his body to calm down once it started to shake. He had never encountered a reaction like this. Of course, he has felt worried for Boruto and Sarada before, a feeling he had thought of as foreign when he had first encountered it. But this wasn’t worry, Boruto’s and Sarada’s safety of course made him feel anxious at this moment, but the feeling of worry paled in comparison to the emotion that was currently taking over every nerve in his body. Fear.

The sanin was still eyeing the three genin in front of him with the same sick smile he had carried on his face ever since he had made his presence known. He didn’t appear to be in a hurry, as though he had simply approached the three children in front of him because he was bored, but inside of his eyes there was curiosity. He sensed that there was something special about this group of Konoha ninja. The most obvious oddity about this group was the fact that there was an Uchiha with them, but even without the black-haired girl the trio wasn’t one to go unnoticed. The blond-haired boy looked a lot like a certain Uzumaki boy and the pale boy, that was the one he was interested in the most out of all of them. His eyes were like the ones of a snake, that wasn’t the only thing that had caught his attention. The chakra that Orochimaru could sense coming from him was much like his own, in a way it felt almost like his own chakra with a twist that he couldn’t identify yet. One half of him compelled him to take out his scalpel and take a closer look for himself, the other half of him wanted to see what this boy was capable of without taking him apart.

A thought came to Orochimaru’s mind which led to the grin on his face to almost double in size, he had made up his mind on what he was going to do with the boy.
Sarada couldn’t tell what Orochimaru was thinking about, but his expression alone was enough to cause her to have goosebumps covering her arms. It wasn’t just the man’s face; his chakra was menacing as well. Chakra that Sarada had never felt before filled all of her senses, it was similar to the one that had been emitting from Sasuke earlier, though it had felt much weaker and slightly different to this one. Orochimaru’s chakra was suffocating, even to her. Her eyes wandered to Mitsuki who was shaking. A reaction she had never seen coming from her teammate.
Seeing the state Mitsuki was in Sarada felt like she had to stand up. Pushing her hesitation aside she moved closer to Mitsuki, who was closest to Orochimaru up until this point.
“What do you mean by that?” She attempted to keep her voice steady, not wanting to betray the fear she harboured deep inside of her, caused by those piercing yellow eyes. They felt like snake poison that would leave even experienced ninja paralyzed. Boruto fought against the paralyze which was threatening to overtake him to join Mitsuki on the side, which was not occupied by Sarada, sensing Mitsuki’s uneasiness. One of his hands he placed on Mitsuki’s shoulder, it was warm despite the shade having cooled down their surroundings significantly. Mitsuki’s shaking decreased slightly at the feeling of warmth, yet it wasn’t fully subsided.

A laugh was the first response the Uchiha received to her question, then Orochimaru spoke again. Boruto felt his heart rate picking up as soon as he heard the other’s voice once more. It was calm, yet at the same time carrying a hint of authority and unspoken threats.

“You are interesting to me, you all are unlike most genin in this exam, which leaves me wondering, who exactly are you?” His words seemed directed at all of them, but Orochimaru’s eyes were solely on Mitsuki. The pale boy felt his gaze as their eyes met. His lighter eyes and Orochimaru’s darker ones.

Noone in team 7 had the intention of answering this question, while they hadn’t had the time to talk about it, the unspoken rule of not revealing who you are during time travelling was present in all of their minds. And even if they weren’t time travellers, this man was not someone they could trust.
Orochimaru sensed that he wasn’t going to receive a response any time soon, so he finally took the first step ever since making himself known to the three genin. He could always take them down and investigate their bodies all he wanted back in his laboratory. He would get what he wanted, one way or the other. His paralyzing gaze was working wonders, just how it had worked on those two genin he had fought some time ago.

Orochimaru was getting closer and closer, one step at a time. They had to move, but they couldn’t. The movements they had been able to force before now seemed almost impossible to either Boruto or Sarada.

He was close, having already crossed the clearing he had been in before, now approaching the entrance to the cave.
Sarada mustered up all of the strength she had inside of her body to reach into her pocket.

Orochimaru had left behind the entrance to the cave, his eyes were shining in the dark, making his appearance seem all the more menacing. The cave was a dead end, they were trapped.

She felt what she was looking for with the tip of her fingers. With all of her remaining strength she gripped a kunai and pulled it out.

Orochimaru was now almost right in front of the trio, so close he could almost reach out and touch Mitsuki, the one who was the closest to him.
“If you want to know who we are- “Sarada’s voice cut through the silence of the forest which had only been interrupted by Orochimaru’s footsteps.

“You need to be a lot faster than you are now.” With these last words she pierced the kunai in her hand into her thigh. It drew blood, it hurt, it made her wince, but it also made her ignore her fear. Forming hand signs her hands she quickly summoned a fire ball right into the snakelike man’s direction. Using the momentum of her action she gripped Boruto’s and Mitsuki’s hands, pulling them out of the cave, out of the dead end they had been trapped in and into the fresh air.

She ran and ran, at first it was only her force alone that pulled the other two forward but soon Boruto and Mitsuki weren’t stumbling behind her and instead rushed along with her, she didn’t let go of their arms however, too focused on getting as far away from the danger as possible. Only when Boruto’s legs didn’t cooperate with what he wanted them to do causing him to trip over nothing did she realise how far they had run. Boruto still wasn’t in the best condition, they needed to take a break, whether they wanted to or not.
Seeing as they weren’t moving anymore Boruto immediately let himself drop to the ground with an exhausted exhale, his legs shaky from overexertion. The silence that had accompanied them throughout their entire escape was immediately broken by Boruto.

“That was amazing Sarada, you were able to free yourself from Orochimaru’s paralysis like it was nothing!” His voice was filled with admiration, clearly amazed by the feat the Uchiha had achieved.
Instead of soaking up the praise however Sarada just dropped to her knees out of breath. Her eyes were on the thigh she had stabbed; blood was flowing out of the wound in a steady pace, she could feel herself growing lightheaded.

Mitsuki, who had stayed quiet until now shook his head, as if trying to get rid of nasty thoughts before turning to meet Sarada, his eyes studying her entire body before stopping at the wound.
“Let me take a look, Sarada.” Despite looking calmer than earlier his voice was strained.
The black-haired girl turned to meet her teammate with a meek smile before nodding, shifting her position so that Mitsuki had better access to her thigh. Without any hesitation the pale boy’s hands hovered over the wound, not touching but close enough that Sarada could feel the coolness emitting from them.
Boruto watched the two of them quietly, noticing how Mitsuki’s gaze was solely set on Sarada’s wound, as if trying to completely avoid looking at either of them, or anyone for that matter. His reaction was reasonable, but it left a sour taste in his mouth. He wanted to alleviate some of Mitsuki’s worries or at least distract him from the situation they were in, but smart as he was, he lacked the words to express this desire.

Wordlessly Mitsuki let chakra flow out of hands, a very basic and simple form of a healing jutsu, one his parent had taught him years ago. It wasn’t an advanced one like the one kunoichi like Tsunade or even Sakura were able to perfume, but it was enough to heal non-lethal wounds quicker than they usually would. The coolness of his hands disappeared and gave way to the warmth that usually came with healing jutsu.

The injury beneath his hands grew smaller and smaller until it finally vanished completely, leaving only a small bruise in its place, a reminder of how the jutsu Mitsuki used wasn’t perfect.
“You have gotten better.” Boruto noted, seeing the result of Mitsuki’s jutsu. A while ago the pale boy had used his healing jutsu on Boruto during a mission, but it didn’t have the expected results, only healing a few of his bruises and nothing more, since then his friend had improved it majorly.
“Boruto is right for once, thank you Mitsuki. I feel better already.” Sarada joined in.

Mitsuki’s head was lowered, but a weak smile found it’s way onto his face at the praise. Not feeling as lightheaded as before Sarada moved into a position that was more comfortable for her. Nobody spoke up for a moment, all three of them thinking about what to say next. It was Boruto who spoke up first, pulling off his jacket, holding it out into Sarada’s direction.
“Since we are in the past it’s best not to garner anymore unwanted attention. Orochimaru being interested in us is already one problem too much. It’s best if you cover up your symbol.” He pushed it closer until the black jacket landed in her hand.

At first the girl was stunned, staring at the piece of cloth in her hands before sighing.
“You always wear that thing; I hope that you at least washed it.” Her words sounded dismissively, causing Boruto to instantly regret his decision.
“I take it back! Give it back to me!” Boruto exclaimed loudly which caused Sarada to chuckle. Instead of pushing the jacket back into his hands, Sarada moved her arms through each sleeve before then zipping it close, the jacket now serving as a way of concealing Sarada’s clan heritage. At least for now.

“What are you doing? I said give it back!” Boruto demanded and was only met by Sarada playfully showing him her tongue.
The peaceful moment between his two teammates caused Mitsuki’s expression to relax, allowing himself to take a few deep breaths before finally speaking up for himself. “Thank you, both of you. And I am sorry.” The pale boy was facing both of them directly, no longer keeping his eyes sternly on the ground to avoid looking at them.
Their friend’s words caused the small scramble to die down and instead focus their attention on him.

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. We were all scared.” The Uzumaki replied quickly, giving him a bright smile.
“Orochimaru was a menace back in the day, I have heard a few stories here and there but seeing it myself he is even scarier than my mother made him appear. It must be even harder for you Mitsuki.” The Uchiha offered her own piece of mind reaching out her arm to place her hand on Mitsuki’s shoulder.

The smile that formed on the pale boy’s face wasn’t the usual pleasantly fake smile he used on a day to day basis, it was a small, meek smile, but it was real. At least Sarada told herself that it was. This moment of respite, to be able to talk and joke with freely was what they had needed after the last few hours. It gave all three of them a chance to take a deep breath and process these events.
It however also made them careless. His chakra was the first thing Mitsuki noticed. The second thing he noticed was a snake charging right at the trio, an attack. Reacting as fast as he could this time it was Mitsuki who grabbed both of his teammate’s hands, pulling them along with him until they were on a large branch, just barely dodging the attack.
“That quickly?” Boruto whispered with wide eyes as the snake returned to its owner. There he was, Orochimaru. Walking on the ground in slow steps and not out of breath. Like this the snake-man almost looked like a simple villager on a walk.

“Found you.” That voice wasn’t coming from the figure on the ground, but from right behind them. Mitsuki reacted fast, jumping away from the trunk of the tree where the body of Orochimaru appeared from.
In one swift motion a kunai was in his hand, ready for what Orochimaru would throw at him, he couldn’t afford to be caught in his own fear again. Next to him he felt Sarada also readying up for battle. Boruto once again being the only one who couldn’t fight.
“You are very similar to someone else I have been watching for quite some time. Distant relatives?” Orochimaru’s words were directed towards Sarada, he had already figured out that there was a connection between Sasuke and Sarada, which admittedly wasn’t that hard as he had seen the Uchiha symbol on her back before.

“Think of me what you want.” She replied curtly before forming the hand signs for the fire ball jutsu. Mitsuki next to her saw what she was doing and an idea popped into his mind.
Throwing the kunai it landed right above Orochimaru’s head, he didn’t flinch, but a chuckle escaped his throat.
“Do ninja in Konoha not learn how to aim their kunai?” It was a taunt, but Mitsuki didn’t react to it, instead he whispered towards Sarada.
“Aim towards the kunai.” He gave no further instructions and Sarada didn’t ask for an elaboration. Mitsuki knew a lot about fighting. She trusted him

Doing as she was told a stream of fire escaped from her, aiming towards the kunai. Now it was Mitsuki’s turn. Forming hand signs with impressive speed lightning escaped from him, engulfing Sarada’s fire. The two elements reacted, causing the fire to speed up rapidly and expand into every single direction. Without having any time to react the fire already surrounded Orochimaru.
“Sarada, can you see anything?” Mitsuki’s question came right after he assumed Orochimaru had to be burnt to a crisp, at least this shell of him.
Without hesitation Sarada activated her sharingan, there was no point in attempting to hide it from Orochimaru anyway. With narrowed eyes she analysed the entire field of impact but couldn’t see anything. The smoke obstructed her vision slightly but even then, there wasn’t anything where their attacks had hit.
Immediately she let her eyes wander, desperately attempting to find their enemy.

“I’m here.” His voice was playful. He was playing with them. Orochimaru was right above them, his feet securely placed onto one of the upper branches and a nasty smirk on his face.
“That wasn’t everything, yet I hope?” He continued his taunts, causing Boruto’s anger to grow, they were completely outmatched by a single person.
“Sarada.” Mitsuki’s voice was serious, despite the shaking already returning to his legs.
“Leave this to me.” Sarada knew what Mitsuki wanted to do, it was too dangerous. If Mitsuki used up too much of his power here there would be no way of healing him, but when she reached out for Mitsuki’s shoulder he just shook his head.

“If we cannot escape him now, we are in even bigger trouble, please let me protect you, both of you.” Mitsuki was shaking, his voice was quivering, but his eyes were filled with determination. Deactivating her sharingan Sarada took a step back, now standing next to Boruto.

Not even a moment later a large amount of chakra surrounded Mitsuki, one that caused even Orochimaru’s eyes to grow wide. Sage mode. A child was using sage mode.
“He is even more interesting than I initially assumed.” He said more to himself than to anyone else.

He didn’t have much time to admire this chakra, however. The moment it was activated Mitsuki was already charging towards Orochimaru, much faster than he had been before. It took a quick reaction to even be able to block his attack in time and despite that he was still thrown right into one of the trees. A normal ninja would have screamed out in pain, but Orochimaru wasn’t a normal ninja.
Attacks came flying and Orochimaru blocked all of them, though he was growing exhausted. He needed to find a way to make the boy lose focus. Letting his eyes wander as much as he could while still blocking, he saw it. His window of opportunity, Mitsuki’s weakness.

Turning into a snake Orochimaru slithered past his assailant with incredible speed causing Mitsuki’s next attack to hit the tree where Orochimaru had been pressed against earlier.
The trunk snapped in half instantly, falling over and crashing into the ground.
Turning around as fast as he possible could Mitsuki saw Orochimaru charging at both Boruto and Sarada. They were unprepared, having been absorbed into the fight in front of them.
His heart was pounding, he needed to protect them. Moving as fast as he could he leaped from tree to tree. The man in front of him just seemed to be getting faster and faster, or was he getting slower? Mitsuki wasn’t able to tell at this point. His mind was filled with the most horrible outcomes.

His feint had worked, Mitsuki was distracted, this was his chance. Stopping dead in his track it was as though the boy was delivering himself on a silver platter.
His neck extended and before Mitsuki even knew what was happening Orochimaru’s teeth had found it’s way into his neck. The shock caused his sage mode to disperse the only sensation on his mind being the pain he was experiencing.

Both Sarada and Boruto gasped. Activating her sharingan she saw it. Signs were forming on Mitsuki’s neck. Three separate symbols which were placed in a circle. She needed her sharingan to see these symbols, she didn’t however need it to hear Mitsuki’s scream. It sent shivers down her spine.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Orochimaru separated his teeth from Mitsuki’s neck, a sick smirk on his face as the boy was leaning against the trunk of a tree, his pain obvious. One of his hands wandered to his neck instinctively.

“What have you done to Mitsuki?” Boruto’s voice was filled with anger, anger which only fuelled Orochimaru’s amusement.
“I left him a little gift.”
There was a pause, as if the man didn’t know what to say next, but it was quickly broken by the last things Boruto was able to hear before passing out.

“Sleep now.”

Chapter Text

Rays of sun hitting his face was the first feeling he was able to register fully. Their light causing him to squeeze his eyelids shut more tightly in an attempt to get rid of it. Quickly he realised that his struggles were futile and so his eyes opened. The first thing he saw was the sky above him. It was clear, free of any clouds. Next, he noticed the trees which obstructed the remaining sky. It was quiet, save for the sounds of birds chirping and some rustling in the bushes which betrayed the presence of more animals. He took a deep breath; his surroundings could be described in only one word. Peaceful.
The illusion of tranquillity was interrupted by his memories returning to him. The mission, the forest, Sasuke’s chakra, their encounter with Orochimaru, Mitsuki’s fight against him and, oh gods Mitsuki. The boy sat up, almost instantly a stinging pain in his head threatening to overwhelm him. Quickly his right hand shoot up to support his head.

“You’re awake.” Sarada’s voice caught his interest, turning to where the voice had come from, he saw Sarada, on the ground next to her was Mitsuki, still unconscious. Despite his state the pale boy let out a few pained noises. Boruto’s eyes turned wide as he saw his teammates shoulder. Orochimaru’s mark was still placed just where he had left it, occupying parts of Mitsuki’s skin as if it belonged there.
Despite his own exhaustion, which by now had lessened quite significantly, Boruto crawled towards Mitsuki, only stopping his movements once he reached the pale boy. Sarada’s eyes followed his every move, not expecting an answer to her observation.

“Mitsuki hasn’t woken up yet.” She stated, already anticipating Boruto’s inevitable question about their teammates state. The blue eyes of Boruto were focused on the boy beneath him, worry etched into his expression. It was only when Sarada poked his side that Boruto’s eyes returned to meet her black eyes. However, his eyes didn’t stare into hers for too long, instead they wandered up to her forehead, where her Konoha headband was supposed to be. Rather than being met by the symbol of Konoha, his eyes were met with a symbol that looked like an hourglass symbol. The symbol of Sunagakure.
“When I woke up I noticed that your headband was different, Mitsuki’s was different as well, and when I checked, even mine had been switched.”

She answered curtly, pointing to Mitsuki’s headband. Taking a second glance the Uzumaki noticed the switched-out headband only now. Earlier he had been too distracted by worry to even consider that somebody might switch their headbands. With quick movements Boruto untied his own headband and truthfully to Sarada’s words, his headband had also been swapped for a Sunagakure headband.
“Orochimaru.” Boruto pushed out his name between clenched teeth while his grip on the headband tightened, causing the cloth to gain a few wrinkles.

“I also believe that it was him who switched our headbands. I just can’t figure out why he would do that.” Sarada’s tone was thoughtful, one hand pushed under her chin while her eyes were returning to Mitsuki, who let out another pained noise, causing her to shudder. That cursed mark had to be causing Mitsuki immeasurable pain. Sarada had overheard her parents talk about it once, she only knew that it had gifted her father power beyond what he had thought to be achievable at the time, but that was more or less what she knew about it.
Boruto had also heard Mitsuki, in an instant the headband in his hand was forgotten and his focus returned to the boy on the ground.

“There has to be a way we can help him.” The urgency in his tone wasn’t lost on Sarada who could only sigh in return. “You are right Boruto, but who are we supposed to ask?”
These words made Boruto’s eyes fall to the headband in his hands. If they went to the hospital in Konoha they would surely be questioned about their identity, and the medic’s most likely wouldn’t be able to deal with a cursed mark. If they had been back in their own timeline Boruto would just need to ask his father and they would have figured out a way to take care of Mitsuki, but currently his father was the same age as himself and he didn’t have the same connections as he does in the future.

The boy couldn’t suppress the groan that had been building itself up inside of his throat. Once again, he couldn’t think of a way to help Mitsuki who had done nothing but protect him ever since they had been brought into the past.
“Orochimaru could help Mitsuki.” Sarada’s suggestion caused Boruto’s attention to shift back to the Uchiha in front of him, looking at her as though she had lost her mind, but Sarada’s expression was filled with sincerity before it once again turned thoughtful.

“At least the Orochimaru of our time would be able to help.” Her words only made Boruto scoff. How were they supposed to get back home when they didn’t even know how they got here in the first place. He let his attention wander back to Mitsuki, the Sunagakure headband looking out of place on his forehead.
“Orochimaru wouldn’t help Mitsuki, he is the one who gave him this mark after all.” He stated bluntly. Sarada tilted her head in contemplation. “Most other ninja could only seal it, and even then, they do not know us.” Her argument made sense, but on the other hand asking Orochimaru was irrational.

Suddenly an idea crossed his mind. Loosening his grip on the headband in his hand he started to speak up. “These are the chunin exams.” He left these words uncommented for a moment, letting Sarada feel the weight of his words. “If Orochimaru is the one who gave us these headbands and took away our headbands while still keeping us in this forest then he might…” His words trailed off, already moving to fix the headband on his forehead once again.

“Orochimaru might want us to partake as Sunagakure ninja.” Sarada concluded Boruto’s thought, though some things weren’t adding up. If what they both thought was true then there most likely was someone to check over Mitsuki before the exams who worked for Mitsuki, after all if Mitsuki couldn’t participate then they most likely also wouldn’t be able to participate which would make giving them this headband a useless decision. But why Sunagakure specifically? And wouldn’t others notice if three genin that hadn’t participated before suddenly partook in the exam.
“Many things aren’t adding up.” Boruto muttered, biting the nail on his thumb a show of how deep in thought he was. “We should at least give it at shot.” Sarada finally concluded, being sick of just standing around and hoping for an answer to just fly to them. They would have to work for it. The Uchiha moved up from her sitting position into a standing one. Boruto followed the Uchiha’s lead, only Mitsuki was left on the ground.

“I don’t like the thought of Orochimaru using us for some kind of experiment or even just for his own entertainment but if there is a way to help Mitsuki we should take it, then we can figure out a way home more easily.” Sarada mumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Boruto could only nod. Being Orochimaru’s lab rats seemed like a small price to pay for Mitsuki’s health. “I just hope we don’t influence the future too much with this.” The Uchiha muttered under her breath.

Their decision on what to do next still didn’t solve another problem the two conscious teammates were facing. Mitsuki was unable to move on his own, somebody had to carry him.
“I’ll carry him.” The Uzumaki declared boldly, already moving to grab the boy, but was stopped by Sarada who had a stern look on her face. “You can barely stand on your own. Let me do that.” As much as he hated to admit that Sarada was right, one look at his shaky legs was enough to confirm what she had said was true.

“Help me with putting Mitsuki on my back, if I recall correctly my mother once told me that they had to reach a tower to be accepted into the next round. We should look for any structures from the top of a tree” The Uzumaki nodded at her words, pushing through his exhaustion to grab the pale boy’s body. As soon as Boruto’s hands reached him to move his body Mitsuki let out a few noises of protest, most likely due to the increased pain the sudden motion was causing him. Undeterred by them he finally picked up his body with both hands, the boy was lighter than Boruto initially expected to after picking him up it was easy to place Mitsuki on Sarada’s back. Not being finished yet the Uzumaki pulled out a thin rope from one of his pockets to secure the unconscious boy onto Sarada’s back.
“I’ll go up to check which direction we have to take.” Sarada explained her plan, without waiting for Boruto’s response she started to move, looking for the tree which appeared to be the highest. With one graceful motion she landed on the highest branch she could reach. Due to the increased weight on her back, she lost her balance and swayed back and forth, causing Boruto to suck in a breath and rushing beneath where she stood, just in case she fell. Luckily Sarada caught herself just in time, managing to balance herself. Once her body wasn’t threatening to slip of, she let out a sigh of relieve, directing her glance to the nearest branch. Acing the landings which followed the first one she managed to advance up slowly, jumping from branch to branch until they became sparse and the few that were left were too thin to carry both her and Mitsuki. Concentrating the chakra in her feet she walked the remaining trunk vertically until finally she reached the peak.

She had been right about her assumption; the tree she had been climbing was the grandest around them. Focusing on her surroundings she saw a few birds which were flying completely unbothered, there also wasn’t a cloud in sight and being unprotected from the sun caused her to start sweating, solidifying her desire to find the tower as quickly as possible.
Through the green see that the trees formed nothing caught her eye at first, after taking a second glance however she was finally able to see a grey building in the distance. The one they had to reach. With her chakra still focused this time Sarada took a quicker way down by just walking along the trunk.
“Did you see it?” Boruto asked with anticipation in his voice. When Sarada nodded Boruto clasped her shoulder in a friendly manner. “Lead the way.” Were the only words leaving Boruto’s mouth. With these words set the two genin started to move into the direction where Sarada had seen this temple.

They took long, longer than Boruto liked, especially with how his condition still held Sarada and him back from moving as fast as possible but neither of them complained. After all, they could complain all they wanted once they were back home again.
It took the duo roughly two hours of continuous running, interrupted only by a few breaks due to Boruto’s condition and Sarada getting out of breath from carrying twice her weigt until they finally reached a structure which resembled exactly what they were looking for. It seemed abandoned yet still in good shapes despite the roots which had already started to cover the walls.
“This has to be it.” Boruto finally broke the silence which had formed between them, taking a step on the smooth stone beneath him. Now that they were at their destination Boruto took on the role of the leader.

Following behind Boruto Sarada checked their surroundings for any traps, even if she couldn’t feel the chakra of anyone else, she wanted to be sure that they were alone, or at the very least with an ally which, considering the situation they were in, was not as likely as she wanted it to be.
It was Boruto who entered the building through an old wooden door, holding it open for Sarada, who hadn’t even broken a sweat, even with Mitsuki still placed onto her back. The floor beneath them was no longer made out of stone but rather wood. No natural light found it’s way into the room, the only source of light being candles which were placed on the stone walls. All in all their surroundings weren’t inviting.
“Nobody is here.” Sarada commented, still letting her eyes wander over every single part of their surroundings. Naturally her Sharingan was no longer activated out of fear to somebody might see it.
“Are we at the wrong place?” Boruto wondered out loud, touching one of the stone walls. It was cold and smooth to the touch, making it obvious that light only entered this room scarcely.
“I was certain that this was the tower…” Sarada mumbled underneath her breath, placing one of her hands into the pockets of Boruto’s jacket, expecting it to be empty. When she felt something that felt like paper meet her hands however her eyes widened.

“The scrolls.” Sarada almost shouted out, quickly realising the volume of her voice, a blush forming on her cheeks which didn’t stop her from pulling the paper like object out of the pocket however. And there they were. An earth and a heaven scroll, the one they had received from the Iwagakure ninja earlier.
“Right, those guys said something about needing them for the exam, I am sure that we have to open them!” His voice matched the loud shout of Sarada, already reaching out for one of the scrolls.
“We most likely have to.” Sarada said in a calm tone, handing Boruto the heaven scrolls while keeping the earth scroll to herself, studying it carefully.
“Do you think we have to open it at the same time or separately?” Her eyes turned towards Boruto who was also eyeing his as if looking for any kind of instruction. “I think we should open them at the same time.” She responded, already fiddling with the little glue that kept the scroll closed.

“On the count of three?” Was his response, and a nod was hers.

“One.” Boruto now also scratched away the glue, which was sealing the scroll, following Sarada’s lead.

“Two.” The seals were now broken on both scrolls, all that was left to do was pull the paper apart.

“Three.” With this word said the two genin pulled in brisk pace causing the scrolls to flow open. As soon as both of them were opened smoke appeared, out of instinct a kunai found its way into Sarada’s hand. Was it a trap? Next to her Boruto had also pulled out a kunai, ready to jump into action at any moment.

When the smoke subsided the figure of a man that looked familiar but not familiar enough to be considered someone close to either of the two genin appeared. The man’s head was wrapped in bandages, and he was wearing the vest of a Sunagakure chunin. Accompanied by his vest the headband on his head showed the symbol of Sunagakure, confirming that this was in fact a ninja of the desert.
“So, you three are the ones the Kazekage entered last minute? Honestly, I expected something more.” The man didn’t finish his words, but even unfinished his words were enough to create millions of questions. “The Kazekage wanted them in the exams? It wasn’t Orochimaru who changed their headbands? But why, and how? It made even less sense than before. Orochimaru at least had a reason to want them in these exams.

“You must have a lot of questions.” The man started once more, his eyes falling on their unconscious teammate. “Do not worry about your teammate, the Kazekage ordered me to take care of him until the battles start.” His tone was calm and despite his rough demeanour he didn’t seem that threatening, at least for now.
“But, well first of all, who are you, and isn’t it against the rules to just add someone completely random into the exams during a test?” Sarada raised an eyebrow, the entire situation was too weird to ignore, especially how they were just able to enter without any trouble.

“My name is Baki.” Boruto’s eyes went wide, Gaara’s sensei was standing right in front of them, but he didn’t have much time to process this information.
“And rest assured, Lord Kazekage made sure that you can participate, just do not try to stand out too much and you should be fine.” With the way Baki spoke it was obvious that he wouldn’t elaborate on the method used to let them be accepted into the exams, but they certainly didn’t sound morally.

“Hand me your teammate now, you two may rest with the others who have made it this far.” An outstretched hand accompanied Baki’s demand and Sarada knew that there was no use to argue against him, she didn’t feel good about taking him off her back with Boruto’s back and handing his unconscious body into Baki’s hands, however.
“Can we not go with him? I am worried about him.” Boruto asked while handing him over, being careful to not cause Mitsuki any more pain than was necessary. Baki answered with a shake of his head. “From what I have heard he was attacked by one of the three sanin, to take care of an injury like that I need privacy.”
His response was curt and without another word he turned his back to them, only turning around his head to say a few last words. “Do not cause any more problems than needed.” They sounded like a warning. What was he warning them off.

Neither Sarada and Boruto knew what they had to do or how to react. This Baki was so different from the one they had seen in the few pictures that did exist of him in their time. He hadn’t even smiled once during their entire exchange. And even if Baki had acted completely normal their worries about Mitsuki were still present. How did the Kazekage know all of these things? What is Baki going to do with Mitsuki? None of the facts were adding up, their situation felt like an unsolvable riddle which they were trapped in without any escape.

“We probably should head to where Baki said.” Sarada’s voice sounded tired, so completely unlike anything Boruto had ever heard coming from her, she wasn’t exhausted from a fight, but rather from the situation around them. The same applied to Boruto, never before had his head felt this heavy before as it had now.
“Even if I don’t like it.” Sarada finally added, a statement Boruto could only wholeheartedly agree to.

Chapter Text

The room the two genin entered was different from the one they had been in before. The main difference was that it was brighter, having more than a few torches as a source of light. Another difference was the flooring. While the room before had a sturdy stone floor, the floor of this one was made out of old wood which creaked beneath their feet, alerting the already present ninja of their arrival. As expected, the glares they received were as unwelcoming as possible, something that Boruto still had to get used to. To their surprise however, most of the genin didn’t bother to stare at them for too long, soon moving their eyes back to what they had been doing before their arrival. Nobody appeared to be questioning their presence either, despite the two of them clearly not having been present at the earlier parts of the exam.

Sarada, who was walking next to Boruto, matching his pace with precision, eyed the few genin which had already gathered here before them. Out of all the ninja present a trio from Sunagakure caught her interest the most. Though despite clearly being a team the trio was split between one with red hair, who reminded her of the future Kazekage, a man she had heard mostly good things about and a little father away from the red-haired boy a girl with blond hair and a boy with markings on her face. The girl felt suspiciously familiar, so she nudged Boruto’s side in a conspiratory manner. “Doesn’t that girl over there look like Shikadai’s mother?” She didn’t point in her direction, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to them but she did guide Boruto’s eyes towards her with her own eyes. In response Boruto nodded subtly.

He had seen Temari many times, after all she was the mother of his best friend. The fact that the girl was most likely Temari meant that the two boys near her, who were also from Sunagakure were most likely her teammates, who also happened to be her siblings. “I didn’t know that my father and the Kazekage took their chunin exams at the same time.” Boruto muttered underneath his breath, having averted his gaze as soon as the red-haired boy had caught the two genin staring at them. Something about Gaara’s gaze had caused a shiver to run down his spine.

Sarada had also averted her gaze at the same time Boruto had, attempting to keep their conversation alive despite the goosebumps forming on her arms from Gaara’s gaze alone. “My parents didn’t talk a lot about their first chunin exams, I am starting to realise why that isn’t a memory they want to relive that desperately.” Her hands had moved to her arms, rubbing them to get rid of her goosebumps.
Continuing to let her eyes wander around the room she noticed a trio from Konoha, a girl with blue hair, a boy who looked more like a dog than boy with a small dog on his lap, and a boy with sunglasses. The team had situated themselves as far away from the Sunagakure ninja as possible and from the few glances the dog boy and the boy with glasses had shot their way earlier they didn’t want them any closer either.

The three children seemed to be locked into a conversation now, the contents of which Boruto was unable to decipher from their distance. Seeing the girl however caused Boruto to stop dead in his tracks. Sarada next to him could immediately tell why.

“Let’s move somewhere else.” She mumbled, already grabbing Boruto’s hand and dragging him towards a secluded corner, far away from most prying eyes.
“My mother.” Boruto finally whispered into his hand once they had stopped. Boruto didn’t get much time to process what he had just seen before the door opened again. This time it was a team from Iwagakure. Watching the trio more closely Sarada immediately recognized the trio as the one who had attacked them when they had only just been sent into the past. The boy who had naturally taken the lead had a few fresh bruises on his cheeks, which hadn’t been there before while the two boys who seemed more like followers rather than independent ninja didn’t look much better either. The three had to have been through hell and back just to regain two scrolls after they had given up their own to escape.

One of the boys who followed after their leader, admittedly the smallest one was watching the room closer than his other two teammates, when his eyes met Sarada’s he immediately nudged the boy in the front, whispering something into his ear. What those words were she wasn’t able to figure out, but she did see how they peaked the leader’s interest. Turning his head to meet the two genin who were now wearing Sunagakure headbands he narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that they had made an enemy out of the three of them.

Next to her Boruto let out an annoyed noise. “It was them who attacked us in the first place, why are they acting like we are at fault they had to get new scrolls?” The reaction of their newfound enemy had subsided his emotions about meeting his mother, at least for now.

Time passed and more teams made their way into the room, every time the door opened both Sarada and Boruto held their breath against their own volition, after all, behind every open door there was the chance for their parents to appear. The more time passed the more restless they both became. Conversations became shorter and more apart from each other until they died down completely while worry overtook them. Not much time was left from what Sarada had been able to pick up, soon the next round of the exams would commence and team seven still hadn’t made their appearance.
Besides their worry for their parents the absence of Mitsuki also made them anxious. They hadn’t received a single word from Baki ever since they had entered this room. What if Orochimaru had attacked Baki and taken Mitsuki with him?

Despite their worries they were rapidly approaching the limit. The room was now filled with many more genin, familiar and unfamiliar faces but three genin were still missing.
“What if they don’t make it? Would that be our fault? Have we already changed the future beyond repair? I mean, from my mother I heard that they all made it through the second round.” Sarada muttered anxiously, no longer able to keep these thoughts to herself. Boruto didn’t even want to entertain these thoughts but what if Sarada was right? After all, because of them there were now two less scrolls around, what if those were exactly the scroll his father needed?

The door opened again for what felt like the millionth time by this point, their pounding hearts were however able to slow down once they saw who had opened the door. In the middle of said door stood a blond-haired boy with whiskers and the biggest smile Boruto had ever seen.

There he was, his chakra felt different, that much was obvious the moment Boruto first laid eyes on him but aside from that he would recognise this type of blond hair and blue eyes anywhere. This boy was his father. Sarada also caught herself staring at Naruto longer than she wanted to. He was her idol after all. Next, she let her eyes wander towards the two people that surrounded him. Her parents. To her relieve the markings that had covered her father earlier were gone. Though she also noticed how he wasn’t in the best condition yet clearly trying to hide it. Next to Sasuke stood Sakura, who was watching him with concern etched into her expression, it pained Sarada to see her parents like this, but it would also be weird of her to just approach them to check up on them.

What Boruto didn’t see coming however was how Naruto announced his presence. “We made it, nobody beats team seven” The volume of his father’s words causing Boruto to cringe internally, he had never seen his father act so…Boruto wasn’t able to find the right words to describe the action. Most of the other present genin were throwing menacing glances towards the newly arrived trio though Naruto didn’t seem to mind, His other two teammates did however seem to mind, with Sakura rubbing her forehead and Sasuke exhaling loudly.

Just behind team seven another team arrived, a Konoha team, yet none of their faces seemed familiar to Boruto or Sarada. Maybe they moved somewhere else, or they died somewhere down the line, Boruto couldn’t tell, but they didn’t catch his interest all too much, instead his eyes wandered back to his father’s team, who still was the loudest out of the present ones.
Sarada however kept her eyes fixated on the trio. The boy with silver hair especially catching her interest. Once the door closed behind that trio Sarada got the feeling that it wouldn’t open again any time soon.

“All genin, please gather in the hall, the next round will be explained shortly.” A voice coming from another entrance spoke up. Turning around to identify the voice Boruto was met with a Konoha ninja he had once again never seen before. He had short brown hair and dark rings under his eyes. His words were accompanied by a cough and without another word the ninja turned around as if to lead the way.
“Mitsuki still isn’t here.” Boruto mumbled, turning his head around to the entrance door as if willing the door to open and reveal Mitsuki behind it just how it had revealed countless other genin before, but no matter how angrily he stared at it, it wouldn’t budge. Sarada took his hand once again, squeezing it for a moment before letting go again.

“Mitsuki will be okay, even if our position is less than ideal, we need to trust Baki now and once Mitsuki is okay we can just quit these exams and look for a way home.” Her words were able to calm the Uzumaki down enough for him to realise that they were the last ones present in the room with everyone else having already made their way towards the hall.
“Sounds like a plan.” Boruto said in a quieter voice than usual before pausing for a moment, closing his eyes to take a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, he flashed Sarada a big smile, not as big as the one Naruto had shown earlier but bigger than any smile he had managed over the past few days.

Sarada nodded in response and with quick steps the two made their way into the hall, wooden floor once again replaced for smooth stone. The hall they were in was even brighter than the room earlier with lights at the top illuminating the room. It also seemed more like an arena rather than a hall for discussion, making Boruto wonder whether the fights of the third round would take place immediately.
Without another word the two formed a line by themselves, being the last ones to arrive all eyes were on them. In front of them stood an arrangement of every single sensei that was responsible for one of the teams as well as the hokage. An old man who seemed well past the age to be ruling a whole village and yet Sarada could feel an immense power coming from him. She had only been able to see pictures of the third hokage, being able to see him alive and well caused a feeling of admiration to rise within her. Boruto, who only watched the hokage for a moment let his eyes wander over the other ninja who were present.

The sensei of the otogakure ninja caught his interest for only a moment before he let his eyes wander further. Many of these ninjas he knew like Kurenai and Iruka, others didn’t seem familiar to him. One of the ninjas made him halt once more, he had seen him on a few pictures but nothing more. Asuma, Shikamaru’s sensei. He knew that the jonin died long before he was born but he had heard of his philosophy many times. As a child when he visited Shikadai, his father would sometimes join them for a game of Shogi. During these games he would sometimes talk about his old sensei. Focusing back onto the present, or well, the past in this case, Boruto continued to let his eyes wander.

He was looking for Baki, maybe the jonin would approach them after the speech was over to inform them of Mitsuki’s state but the ninja was nowhere to be seen. “Do you see Baki?” Boruto whispered towards Sarada which finally broke her out of her trance that seeing the hokage had caused her to be in.

“No.” She simply replied, now looking around as well, seeing her parents who seemed to be whispering with each other about something important.
The voice of the ninja which had led them out into the hall in the first place forced the two to point their attention towards him. With a slow tone that caused Boruto to yawn internally the ninja, Hayate Gekko, explained how there were too many genin that had advanced into the next round and how they would have to hold pre-eliminations to decide who could advance into the next round. He also explained how the fights would happen immediately so there would be no time to rest for teams that just arrived.

Some protests could be heard among the group of ninjas, but neither Boruto nor Sarada cared about this fact, instead they felt like they had been betrayed. The anxiety which Sarada had calmed down earlier now returning in full force.
“What if something happened to Baki and Mitsuki? We need to get out of the tournament and look for Mitsuki immediately!” This time Sarada wasn’t there to calm Boruto down at all, she also was in favour of looking for their missing teammate. Mitsuki was more important than whatever they were able to achieve through this. They only joined the exams for Mitsuki’s sake in the first place. The two genin agreed to give up and leave so both moved to raise their hands at the same time, before however their hands were fully lifted smoke appeared, signs of a teleportation jutsu. Confusion filled the room as all attention was drawn to the two ninja who stood in the middle of the smoke.
As soon as the smoke subsided the two figures were revealed. Seeing the smaller figure filled both Sarada and Boruto with relieve. There, next to Baki stood Mitsuki, Sunagakure headband fixed on top of his head, the sleeve of his kimono shirt covering his mouth. He looked much better than the last time they had seen him. The pained expression no longer visible, replaced by his usual pleasant smile. Baki was the one who spoke up.

“We apologize for our delay, Mitsuki was attacked by someone who wasn’t part of the exam in the forest so as his sensei I wanted to make sure that this attack didn’t cause any damage that would hinder his performance.” With those words Baki pushed Mitsuki towards Boruto and Sarada. Whispers could be heard from both the genin but also the jonin. The hokage watched Baki with narrowed eyes, it was obvious that he was suspicious of his words, but this wasn’t the place for an integration. The hokage wasn’t the only one with suspicions, Gaara and the others of his team watched the Sunagakure ninja, which they had never seen before join two other genin from Sunagakure which they had never seen before. This certainly was cause for suspicion.

The whispers of the genin included questions about the mysterious attacker but also complaints about how Mitsuki was allowed to rest, and they weren’t. Mitsuki didn’t seem bothered by them and instead approached his teammates, choosing to form the end of the line which happened to be right behind Boruto.

“Mitsuki!” Both Sarada and Boruto exclaimed in quiet excitement, but neither was able to let go of their worry yet. The pale boy acted like he was completely fine when he hadn’t even been conscious a few hours ago. They both had thousands of questions which Mitsuki seemed to sense. “I’ll explain what happened later. We just have to win these exams.” His eyes were filled with a strange sense of determination Boruto hadn’t seen often, only when he or Sarada were in danger. What did Mitsuki and Baki talk about? Well, not that it mattered, Boruto and Sarada had already decided that they were going to give up this round, with Mitsuki now here they were able to leave without a problem, all they had to do was raise their hands.

Having recovered from the surprise interruption Hirzuen spoke up which caused the hall to turn quiet to listen to his words. “We appreciate that you were able to make it in time for the pre-eliminations. I as the hokage however ask of you to please report such events to the jonin of Konoha in the future. If there is a dangerous person interrupting our exams, then it is our priority to deal with them accordingly.” He coughed into his fist once, symbolising that he was finished.

Boruto noticed some stirring that happened in the crowd, especially between Sakura and Sasuke. Mitsuki had followed Boruto’s gaze and even Sarada’s attention had wandered towards the two. “It’s the chakra from earlier she is worried about.” Mitsuki concluded in a hushed tone, his hands instinctively wandering to where Orochimaru had bit him. “Sasuke’s body must be at wits end, even I feel exhausted despite having someone look at it.” He furthered his explanation. Sarada turned her attention from her parents to Mitsuki, about to ask him about anything else the pale boy knew about the mark when suddenly a hand flung to the air.

Naruto was the one who seemed to be the most affected by this decision, rather than the silver-haired boy’s teammates speaking up and asking why it was Naruto. “Why Kabuto?” The boy in question, Kabuto, a name that caused Sarada to hold her breath for a moment just smiled apologetic. “I am sorry Naruto, my body hurts too much, I won’t be able to continue on like this.” With those words he turned around, but he didn’t leave before exchanging some whispered words with his teammate. As soon as he left, closing the large door behind him the room fell silent once more.

“We should also leave, Mitsuki is well again, we don’t have a reason to stay anymore.” Boruto was the one who broke the silence which had formed by speaking up only loud enough so that his two teammates could hear him. Sarada was immediately on board with the idea, already about to raise her hand as Boruto followed her example, but both of their hands were gripped by Mitsuki who looked at them with a serious expression. “We need to stay.” His expression was filled with desperation and determination. His expression left both Sarada and Boruto surprised.

“Mitsuki, we can find a way home more easily if we aren’t forced to take part in these exams.” Sarda tried to explain their plan to the pale boy once more, but Mitsuki just shook his head. “You have to trust me. We need to continue.” Mitsuki’s expression had taken on a more neutral tone now, but it was still obvious that this topic was important to him. Boruto could only sigh at those words. “Alright Mitsuki, we’ll continue, but you will have to explain to us what happened to you.” Sarada turned to Boruto with an expression that screamed. ‘Oh really, are we now?’ But she didn’t voice out her complaint seeing how Mitsuki was set on staying in the exams.

Hayate, who seemed to wait for a few more moments to give others the chance to join the silver-haired by noticed how nobody else seemed willing to leave and as such concluded his speech with the words. “Good luck.” Ushering the remaining genin to make their way up to the spectator stands.

Chapter Text

“Mitsuki, are you sure that you are fine enough to fight already?” Boruto asked once the trio had finally reached a spot that didn’t draw too much attention to them and where they could discuss what they needed to.

“I am Boruto, I am more worried about you.” Was the simple reply which seemed so like Mitsuki and yet, something in Mitsuki’s gaze caused worry for the Uzumaki. Mitsuki was still smiling, his voice was still the same smooth tone, and his eyes were still the same piercing yellow colour but something was off, and Boruto couldn’t tell what it was.

Sarada still didn’t seem too onboard with continuing the exams, two of her teammates had been in no condition for a battle just hours ago and now they had to lead their own battle without any help? She couldn’t help but be worried. Especially with the way Mitsuki was acting, Boruto wasn’t the only one who had noticed how off Mitsuki had been acting.
As always, ever since they had been sent to the past, their conversation was interrupted by something else. This time it was Hayate announcing the first contestants. All three of them held their breath, hoping that they wouldn’t have to be facing off against one another or their parents.

“Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha against Yoroi of Konoha .” Came the announcement.

Sarada’s eyes wandered to her father, watching him closely as the boy appeared to be talking to a man Sarada identified as Kakashi. To her surprise the future sixth hokage still appeared to look as young as looked now. She had never given his appearance much young but the jonin did age quite well. After giving a nod Sasuke separated from Kakashi and moved into the centre of the arena with his opponent joining just a few moments later.

“Yoroi? From Konoha?” Boruto asked, a hand underneath his chin while he tried to remember who this person was that Sasuke was facing. “Have you ever heard of him before?” He turned to Sarada. The Uchiha only shook her head before shrugging.

“Not all ninja survived the war; it isn’t surprising that there are ninjas present we don’t know.” As she said those words, she noticed a brown-haired boy with white eyes who was studying the approach of the two combatants below with keen interest. He was standing right on the opposite side to their team, next to his own team. Since the battle hadn’t truly started yet she nudged Boruto’s side.
“That must be your uncle.” She whispered into his ear. “Who?” Was the first response, however when his eyes landed on the boy, he couldn’t hide the hint of surprise that crossed his face. His mother had told Boruto quite a few stories about his uncle Neji. He was a prodigy; he was smart in many areas and the first one out of their group to be promoted into the rank of a jonin and so on and so forth. From her words Boruto had always been able to tell how much she had admired him and how much she missed him. On the anniversary of his death Boruto had caught Hinata cry in his father’s arms more than once.

“Begin!” Boruto was snapped out his trance when the voice of Hayate announced the beginning of the first battle. Both Sasuke and Yoroi readied themselves into a fighting stance. Some words were exchanged before the first kunai was thrown into Sasuke’s direction, who blocked the attack without any trouble.
At least it appeared to be no trouble, but Mitsuki felt it. The curse mark was trying to take over control. Unconsciously his hand wandered to where Orochimaru had bitten him. It wasn’t sealed, just like Sasuke’s. Luckily for him, until now Mitsuki had been able to control his mark, but he didn’t know whether he would be able to hold it back during his battle.
Sarada clenched her hands into her fists. Seeing her father fight without the abilities he would grow to have felt weird. It wasn’t just his abilities that had changed, his entire fighting style was so different from the one she was used to.

More blows were exchanged, but something felt off. Sasuke was too exhausted. Even if he was still only a genin, no ninja got fatigued this quickly into a battle.
“You feel it too? I have been sucking out your chakra while we were fighting.” Yoroi said with a chuckle. Sarada’s eyes grew wide, her gaze wandering to where the mark was, praying that her father wouldn’t use it again despite the situation he was in. To her horror the mark was growing, Sasuke was struggling to just contain the mark. It seemed as though Sasuke stood no chance without this cursed power. The mark grew bigger and bigger and so did Sarada’s fear. She was afraid, afraid for her father, but also afraid of him.

“Sasuke!” The loud voice that had previously caused Boruto to cringe echoed throughout the entire arena, drawing everyone’s attention back to the loudest person in the room.
“You call yourself an Uchiha with that? Stop acting like an idiot and get serious!” The insults seemed to do the trick, or maybe it was someone else that had reminded the Uchiha of something, but confidence filled him once more and with his growing confidence the mark shrunk.

Charging towards Yoroi Sasuke now tried something other than Shuriken and Ninjutsu, instead he attacked using only Taijutsu. Sarada knew this kind of Taijutsu, it seemed similar to something Metal Lee knew so that meant, letting her eyes wander to the person next to Naruto she recognised Rock Lee, Metal Lees father. She didn’t appear to be the only one who was surprised, Lee himself had wide eyes at the blatant new spin done on his jutsu.

Unlike Boruto and Sarada, who were closely following the battle happening in front of them and the reactions of the people around them, Mitsuki was only focused on one thing.
More than once had Sasuke’s mark threatened to take over now, it’s chakra had felt so menacingly. Ever since his hand had wandered to his own mark it hadn’t left it’s position, almost as if he was able to keep his mark under control as long as he pressed onto it tightly enough.

Sasuke had now managed to bring Yoroi into the air, but Mitsuki felt it. The mark was about to gain control over the boy. The chakra was filling all of his senses. Just when he thought that Sasuke was completely overtaken however it just disappeared. The breath Mitsuki had been holding subconsciously released as soon as he felt it disappear and as if Sasuke had been timing it, Yoroi was smashed into the ground beneath him with his exhale, deciding the battle for himself.

“That was- “Sarada started, her voice filled with acknowledgement, freeing the hold she had on the railing which had turned her knuckles white.
“Amazing.” The Uzumaki of their trio breathed, eyes wide with excitement. Even as a child, Sasuke had known how to make a fight interesting.
While Sarada and Boruto were busy raving about the fight Kakashi appeared in the arena, he was joined by Naruto and Sakura who all celebrated his victory. Kakashi was the one who had to cut celebrations short with words only the three people with him could make out.

As soon as team 7 had cleared the battle ground Hayate placed himself in the middle, ready to announce the next battle.
“Boruto of Sunagakure against Yuto of Iwagakure.” His voice came out muffled and was interrupted by one or two coughs, but the instruction was clear.
“They know our names.” Sarada noted with narrowed eyes, watching as Boruto’s opponent already made his way into the arena. Mitsuki, who had calmed down after Sasuke has left, nodded at her words.
“I have informed Baki of our names, only our first names however.” The last part was added as soon as he saw Sarada’s worried gaze.

Boruto didn’t appear to be stressed at all, his hands resting behind his head and a smirk on his face. “That Yuto, he is one of the guys you two already beat, he won’t be a problem at all.” The confidence was obvious in his tone, he wasn’t taking the upcoming battle serious at all.

“Are you sure you feel well enough to fight again?” The worry in Sarada’s question directed towards him caught Boruto off guard for a moment his wide smile dropping into an open mouth that looked similar to the one of a gaping fish, when he caught himself again, he smiled again. “Of course, it’s time that I got some action as well, I can’t let you two do all of the heavy lifting.”
“Good luck Boruto.” Mitsuki said, his pleasant smile once again having found it’s face onto his face. The blond only waved his hand dismissively while yawning. “I don’t need luck.” The pale boy shook his head slightly at these words.

“You should never underestimate an opponent.” Was all he said but once again the boy brushed his words aside. Sarada shook her head, rubbing the bridge between her eyes. “Let him figure it out the hard way.” The Uchiha groaned at Boruto’s attitude. She knew how Boruto had felt about not being able to fight in the past few days, and the prospect of a new battle excited him, but she also knew that Boruto’s body was still slightly exhausted. Boruto’s eagerness to get some action made him ignore his needs.

Since all words between the teammates were exchanged Boruto also found his way into the arena, now on the opposite side as Yuto was. Earlier Boruto hadn’t had the time to study the trio of Iwagakure ninja, Yuto certainly was the smallest one of them. Like his other teammates, his skin was also tanned. His long blond hair was tied into a low ponytail so that it wouldn’t get into the way of his movement. This was usual for ninja, what wasn’t usual however was the fact that instead of bandages being wrapped around his wrist there were threads of different colours wrapped around his arms, legs, even his throat wasn’t spared, and from the fact that most of these threads seemed to connect Boruto could only assume that the remaining part of Yuto’s body was also wrapped into threads. His clothing on the other hand was simple again, including a white shirt which was covered by a black jacket with a clan symbol at it’s back, one Boruto didn’t recognise, and some darker pants.

Yuto stared Boruto up and down, as if trying to figure out what abilities the other possessed. “I won’t go easy on you.” Yuto finally said once he concluded his scan, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.
Yuto’s words caused Boruto to scoff, even if Yuto went all out, he would never be able to keep up with him. “Sure, you won’t, I’ll get this over with before you even realised what happened.” After saying this he let his eyes wander among the crowd. Sakura standing next to Naruto, his father, who was mustering him and his opponent equally. He wasn’t however able to see Sasuke next to them, and Kakashi had also magically disappeared. Well, not like it mattered. Next his eyes wandered to his mother, Hinata. Her gaze was set on him, it felt as though she was trying to burn a hole through him with the amount of staring she did.

“Ready? Go.” Hayate gave the go ahead and with that the battle had officially started, neither of the two charged at each other however. Instead, Yuto pulled out knitting needles in the most relaxed manner possible. What? Did he want to make him a warm sweater or what? Sure, he was only wearing a shirt, but he wasn’t cold.
“What, are you a little grandma?” Boruto asked, now being completely sure of his victory. Yuto didn’t react to his opponent’s taunts, instead he wrapped one of the threads wrapped around his body onto his needle.

“Well, if that’s all you have, I’ll take you out of your misery.” Announcing his attack Boruto started to charge towards the boy who was still carelessly moving around his needles. It almost seemed as though Yuto was completely ignoring Boruto’s presence. As if his opponent was less important than the thread and needle in front of him.

Boruto couldn’t believe it; he was finally able to do something again and then his opponent was just a boy with some little threads. This felt like an insult. Now being withing striking distance Boruto pulled his arm to the back. If he couldn’t have a long fight, then he would at least want check how strong his Taijutsu was. Being this close to Yuto Boruto could hear his opponent whispering a jutsu name. “Living thread technique, cage.”

When he moved his pulled back arm in the direction of his opponent to punch him into the nearest wall however his arms became slower and slower instead of faster until it stopped moving all together. Confusion filled his mind but when he turned to look at his arm all he saw were colourful threads which wrapped around his arm that he had used to attack. He hadn’t even felt them wrap around him, much less seen them move around the arena. It did creep him out for a moment, but those were just threads, his mother used them all the time for knitting, they weren’t sturdy and easy to slice through.
“Is that all? That’s just a thread. If you think that this is enough to hold me back, you are sorely mistaken.” Moving his arm which wasn’t wrapped in threads to his pocket he pulled out a kunai, he did wonder for a moment why Yuto wasn’t stopping his arm from moving, causing a small voice in the back of Boruto’s mind to voice suspicion, but he decided to push it down, perhaps Yuto didn’t have anything else to fight with?

When his blade made contact with the thread, he knew he shouldn’t have ignored it. The blade broke into two as soon as it hit the thread, as if it had just been sliced by a blade much sharper than the one Boruto was using. For the first time since the match had started Boruto’s eyes widened.

Yuto on the other hand smiled, it was the first smile Boruto had seen on the boy’s face. “Caught you.” He stated the obvious, his hands moving constantly while his face appeared perfectly serene.
“Now I believe it is time I get to show off?” His question sounded almost innocent, but Boruto knew that they were anything but that. Around him he noticed more and more threads that he hadn’t noticed before, covering almost all of the surrounding ground.

“They are filled with chakra.” Mitsuki muttered, eyes narrowed. Sarada could see Mitsuki’s concern, and she couldn’t lie, worry had also started to fill her own mind. The Uchiha’s eyes wandered to the other genin who were watching the match happening in front of them. Naruto didn’t seem focused on the battle, rather he was looking at Boruto, their similar appearance most likely having surprised the boy. Near him Hinata’s hands were on her chest as if the violence of the battle was worrying her. The three ninja of Baki were watching the battle intently, even though Gaara seemed bored out of his mind, disappointed by Boruto’s display.

“Damn it, I need to think.” Boruto thought to himself as the threads were approaching him faster, he wasn’t too keen on figuring out what those threads could do once he was trapped inside of them. Was this the cage technique Yuto had been talking about? The Uzumaki didn’t know any fire jutsu, if he did, he could have tried burning through his binds. His mind was rushing through as many jutsu as he knew. The rasengan crossed his mind more than once but using a jutsu known only by few people and one of those people being the hokage of the fourth generation would draw unnecessary suspicions to him and his team.

The threads had almost reached him now, parts of the strings had moved up into the air and like this Boruto noticed that there were even more than he had initially anticipated. They were forming walls which made escape impossible, unless someone brute forced their way through them, but he didn’t know their weakness.

Running out of time Boruto decided that thinking wasn’t going to be what would save him in this situation. Once again, his hands moved into his pocket, pulling out four shuriken. He held them in his hand for a moment, filling them up with chakra that flowed through the metal like lightning, then he threw his weapons into the direction of the wall in front of him. The direction he had last seen Yuto in.
Where his kunai failed before his shuriken were able to cut through, aided by the lightning energy surrounding them. Next Boruto formed closed his eyes, when he opened his eyes again his positions were switched with one of the kunai who had cut through the walls, freeing him of his prison. Yuto however wasn’t where he had been before Boruto was trapped, instead the boy was now on the opposite side of the cage of threads.

“Interesting.” Yuto’s praise dripped with sarcasm, hands continuously moving in motions Boruto’s eyes had trouble keeping up with. The threads which had previously attempted to trap Boruto still moved together, but now they seemed to almost merge as if forming a new creator right in front of their eyes. “But it would have been boring if you went down that quickly.”

Yuto added with a smirk. “Living thread technique, beast.” And with his words the uneven structure that had formed connected into a figure. The colours were of and making it almost look like a piece of art, but it was giant, almost reaching the top of the arena. It looked like a bear. Each claw almost as big as Boruto was, and there were four of them on each paw.

“That’s- “Sarada’s breath got caught in her throat, of course one should never underestimate their opponents, but even she hadn’t expected the blond-haired boy to create something of this magnitude.
Boruto could feel his hands starting to shake. That monster was giant. He couldn’t even check out the creature in front of him for long, before he could react Yuto had already commanded it to attack Boruto. The feeling of claws wasn’t what registered first, not even the crash landing his body took against one of the stone walls. What he first registered were Sarada and Mitsuki. Sarada looked worried, it looked almost off on her face, and Mitsuki looked guilty, why was he looking like that?

The pain was the next feeling filling his senses. He could hear one or two bones cracking at the impact with the wall, the pain taking away his ability to breath for more than just one moment. But the monster wasn’t done, it was already charging towards him again with full speed, and Yuto didn’t seem to bother making it slow down, instead Yuto wandered closer, now standing where Boruto had been trapped earlier which was still marked by the two ends of the shattered kunai of the other’s failed attempt at freeing himself.

Boruto saw the monster bear moving his paw into the air, just how he had done earlier while attempting to attack Yuto. This time however the paw wasn’t stopped mid attack and came down in a full blow.
Sarada sucked in a breath, next to her Mitsuki could only avert his gaze and then, silence.

Yuto on the other hand was still smirking, but his hands were still moving, as if he needed to move them to keep the monster under control. “That was faster than I expected.” He taunted.
Hayate moved forward, as if to put a stop to the match, or at the very least check whether the genin that had just been attacked survived. The death of a participant would only cause for the chunin exams to grow even more turbulent than they already were. However, when Hayate checked the paws of the monster, he wasn’t able to see any blood. Turning his eyes, he noticed it. He knew what he had to do. With one elegant jump Hayate exited the arena, much to the audience’s confusion.

As soon as Hayate’s foot left the fighting area Yuto noticed it too, but he was too slow. The kunai pieces beneath him, there were three instead of two. He tried to get away, but before he was able to escape Boruto stood behind him, kunai pressed to Yuto’s throat. Boruto was finally able to take a closer look at his opponent. The threads which had surrounded the arena and were fuelling the monster came from the boy himself. Not from a ball of wool, rather it seemed to come from Yuto’s body itself. The threads which were still slung around his body seemed to move, replacing old threads by new ones as the old ones were directed in the direction of his needles.

“You- “Yuto’s sarcasm was gone, instead his eyes were narrowed. Boruto was on high alert now; this enemy was one to be taken seriously. Yuto’s hands moved significantly faster despite the kunai at his throat and the monster came charging towards him.

Reacting quickly Boruto created an attack filled with lightning chakra, smashing one of the needles of Yuto, expecting the charging to stop, but it didn’t. “You really think it’ll be this easy?” Yuto asked sarcastically before using the moment to elbow Boruto and escape his grasp. Before Boruto could even truly react to what just happened the was once again smashed into the wall. To his horror however he wasn’t met with the stone wall, but rather a wall of threads, they wrapped around his entire body, effectively trapping him. The monster was still charging, but Boruto noticed something, it was a lot slower than it had been before, as if the loss of one needle significantly impacted the monster’s speed.

This realisation told him he needed to get the other needle, but for now he first needed to escape these threads, he had the feeling that he wouldn’t appreciate seeing his mother knitting anymore in the future after this was over.

“He knew that lightning chakra was Yuto’s weakness, but how should he hit him, when he couldn’t even move his arm at all. An idea crossed his mind, it was risky, he knew it. But this might be his only chance. In the hand, which was more covered than the other he formed a rasengan. He prayed nobody recognised it for what it was. Once it was formed, he concentrated his chakra, seeking only the lightning part of it. He heard the familiar sparks that came with electricity, but Yuto didn’t seem to notice it, instead a smirk was still on his face. The monster was now almost in front of Boruto, if it had a breath, he would have surely felt it on his face.

Using what he had learned from his practice with Sasuke Boruto used as much power as possible to throw it. The ball of wild chakra moved with speed Boruto wasn’t able to follow, and for a moment he was scared that he missed, but then he heard something shatter, and with it the piles of threads which had combined into a monster loosened until the threat was only nothing but loose threads which seemed to retreat to Yuto. Boruto’s suspicion seemed correct; they were retreating into the boy’s body.

“That can’t be!” Yuto fell to his knees, only now did the boy seem to notice how much chakra he had used up. Almost as if on cue the two other boys from his team appeared next to Yuki. The leader kneeling down next to Yuki, his face was completely pale, whether it was fear of the boy in front of him or the lack of chakra, Boruto couldn’t tell.
“Boruto of Sunagakure has won.” Hayate announced beneath some coughs. As if on cue, the threads which had been trapping Boruto also finally broke, freeing him. But he hadn’t yet been prepared for that, falling as soon as the threads weren’t providing any security anymore. Before his head hit the concrete however he felt smooth cool hands beneath him. Looking up he was met with Mitsuki’s eyes. A pleasant smile having found it’s way back onto his face.

“That was amazing.” He stated in a tone that sounded like amazement.

Boruto was stunned into silence for a moment before rubbing underneath his nose and smiling, as if the outcome had been obvious from the start and he hadn’t faced any problems.
“I told you that I would win.”

Chapter Text

Boruto was leaning against Mitsuki while walking up to the spectator stands, his exhaustion once again catching up to him. Being exhausted didn’t mean, that he wasn’t aware of the stares he was receiving from all sides of the arena. It almost felt as though he was surrounded by vultures who were stalking their next prey.

Finally, the duo had reached Sarada, who had been the only one to stay behind. Her arms were stemmed into her sides, and she looked anything but pleased, Boruto had the feeling that he was in for a scolding. Pushing away from Mitsuki Boruto now leaned against a wall, waiting for the Uchiha to speak. His suspicion was immediately proven to be true.

“What did we say about using jutsu like the rasengan or sharingan?” Despite her anger she was mindful of keeping her voice quiet as to not attract even more attention than Boruto did during his battle, only the prospect of a new battle had drawn away the eyes of the other ninja and Sarada wasn’t planning on returning the others attention back to their group anytime soon.

“We should keep a low profile, so any jutsu that may be weird for us to have should not be used.” Boruto answered her question, of course he knew that he shouldn’t have used the sharingan, but he didn’t know what else he should have used. Boruto’s answer didn’t seem to calm Sarada down completely, but she also didn’t seem to be in the mood for a fight at the moment, instead she turns towards the arena, where the next contestants had already gathered. Boruto wasn’t as interested in who the next participants were going to be, so he stayed exactly where he was, leaning against a wall with his eyes closed.

While Boruto and Sarada were talking Mitsuki had moved to stand next to Sarada, his attention focused on the two boys that had just entered the stage. “Shino-sensei.” Mitsuki pointed out as he spotted a boy with brown hair and sunglasses. Sarada nodded, leaning against the railing while pushing her head up with her hands, she didn’t truly seem invested in the battle going on below. “Why did you want us to continue these exams?” Her eyes were still watching the battle, but it was obvious now that her mind was nowhere near it. Boruto didn’t seem to be following their conversation, his eyes still closed.
Mitsuki was caught off guard by the question, but it did make sense for her to ask him now. They had time until one of them would have to fight and nobody seemed to be watching them. Carefully Mitsuki let his eyes wander, as if considering his next words. “It’s because-“suddenly Mitsuki’s breath was caught in his throat. He was looking directly at him, as if he was telling him to not forget. Mitsuki’s hands began tightening the grip he had on the railing.

“I am sorry Sarada, and you too Boruto, but I cannot tell you.” Silence, that was all followed his words. Even though Boruto had seemed uninvested until now, his eyes snapped open. Sarada, who was standing next to Mitsuki on the other hand closed her eyes as if she was collecting her thoughts. Boruto was pushing away from the wall, he wanted to convince Mitsuki to give them a more precise answer, but he was stopped by an extended arm coming from Sarada.

“I kind of already expected this answer.” A sigh escaped from the girl. She didn’t look at either of her teammates, instead she was watching a jonin who was on the opposite side of the spectator stands. A ninja of Otogakure, he was watching their group intently despite one of his own student, Zaku, fighting against Shino.

Nothing else was said, but Boruto did move to Mitsuki’s free side now, looking at the battle below them. As silence continued to stretch out among them the battle came to an end, with Shino as the winner. Sarada spared a small glance towards the Otogakure sensei again, he wasn’t looking at his student, as if he didn’t even care about his existence at all, instead he was watching them again.
“Even if you can’t talk about it, we’ll always have your back Mitsuki.” Boruto finally replied after the silence had become unbearable. The pale boy’s grip on the railing, which had only continued to tighten during it finally began to soften. He turned his head to Boruto who was still watching the empty arena which was filling up with two other genin as they were speaking.

“As much as I hate to say it, but Boruto is right. We are a team.” Sarada added on. Boruto pretended to be offended at his teammates joke which did cause a faint smirk to form on Mitsuki’s lips.
“I am lucky.” Mitsuki said. To have you as my friends. Mitsuki thought.

The silence finally dissolved, and the trio started to converse once more. Inside of the arena the fighting was continuing, but it wasn’t a cause of interest to any of the three of them. Only when Sarada heard the next contestants did she let her eyes wander back into the arena, and there she was, her mother and Ino.

The fight had her attention, and she couldn’t help herself but cheer quietly, trying to not draw attention towards their group but still express her support. Each attack had her taking in a deep breath or squeezing the railing tighter. The two girls seemed to have an unresolved fight going on between them, something she couldn’t quite wrap her head around. As adults Ino and Sakura were inseparable.
Through the bits and pieces of the conversation she was able to pick up she pieced together that their feud was about…her father. At this information she could only groan. Why throw away a perfectly fine friendship over a boy? The mere thought of something like this happening to her and Chocho just because both of them liked the same boy made her cringe internally.

Then the conclusion came, and she sighed. A draw. Her mother had fought so differently to what she was used to, almost as if she wasn’t yet used to the concept of fighting itself.
“They were evenly matched.” Mitsuki commented while shrugging, to which Boruto could only agree. Sarada watched as Sakura was carried back to where Naruto was waiting. The blond immediately checked up on her, his concern evident even from where she was standing.

The next fights happened in a flash, fighters and winners were announced but none seemed to draw their attention, that was until Boruto heard Naruto’s name being called out. His father would be fighting Kiba.

“Well, my father is obviously going to win, this matchup isn’t even fair.” Boruto grumbled uninterested as the two participants entered the arena.
“I believe they are more evenly matched by this point than you may believe.” Mitsuki commented and true to his words, the fight which Boruto hadn’t anticipated to draw his attention actually kept him at the edge of his seat. Blows were exchanged in rapid succession and at some point it even looked as though Naruto was losing. He looked utterly wrecked and exhausted, but for some reason, he wasn’t giving up.

No matter how many times Kiba attacked him over and over again, Naruto always regained his footing and returned his attacks. The fight was getting messier and it was obvious that both of the genin had used up most of their energy by this point. Boruto knew that their next move might be their last in this battle, a winner would soon be decided. So Kiba was charging at Naruto, who seemed to be plotting something.

Just before Kiba was able to reach Naruto he was stopped by something, it wasn’t a jutsu. Boruto’s left eye started to twitch as he realised what had just happened. His father had farted.
And it worked.

It distracted Kiba long enough for Naruto to attack the now defenceless Kiba and win the battle.
“What did I just watch…” Boruto groaned while rubbing his eyes.
“Lord seventh really has some…unique techniques…” Sarada was able to muster.
“That seemed to be an effective technique, perhaps we could incorporate this idea into our-“Mitsuki’s thoughts were interrupted by Boruto forming a big x with his arms.
“I think we should leave that technique to my dad.”

Much to Boruto’s relieve the next participants were announced before he had to explain to Mitsuki why they absolutely would not copy this move from his father.

“Hinata Hyuga vs Neji Hyuga.”

His mother would have to fight his uncle? Boruto had only heard stories about Neji but he had only heard Hinata speak fondly of her cousin. Surely a fight between them would just be both of them holding back? Neji would never hurt his cousin and neither would Hinata.

The two Hyuga entered the arena but from the way they looked, they didn’t appear to be close at all. Rather Neji seemed angry, even aggressive, or was it cockiness that he could see in his eyes. And Hinata looked terrified, he hated that look in his mother’s eyes.

“You were never meant to be a ninja.” Those words made Boruto’s blood boil. Where did this guy take the right to insult Hinata the way he did. More insults followed suit, he wasn’t fighting Hinata with attacks, but with words. Each and every syllable leaving the brown-haired boys mouth made Boruto hate him more and more. Hinata seemed to want to give up already, Boruto wanted to scream at her not to give up, not to listen to this jerk but he couldn’t, or he would draw unnecessary attention to himself.

“He is being unnecessarily cruel to her.” Sarada mumbled while biting her nails, Boruto wasn’t the only one angered by the Hyuga’s words.
“Who gave you the right to tell her what she can and cannot be?! Hinata, do something about this guy!” It was his father’s voice. He was saying exactly what Boruto had wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. He was defending Hinata.

He couldn’t help the rising feeling of respect for his father. He had seen his father serious and protective before, of course he had, after all, Naruto was his father, but never like this. This Naruto was a lot younger and more inexperienced; his plans didn’t always work out, he carried his heart on his sleeve, he was loud and always said what he was thinking as loud as he could. And he was ready to defend people he cared about as much as possible.

Naruto’s words seemed to fuel Hinata, her confidence rising as she finally took a battling stance.
“I hope she punches some sense into him.” Boruto mumbled through clenched teeth, not even bothering to hide his dislike for his uncle.
The battle was intense, of course Boruto had seen this fighting style before, after all he had trained with his grandfather before and sometimes his mother would teach him too when she had time for it, but this was way more intense than the few training sessions he had.

Each punch Hinata landed caused Boruto to cheer and every punch Neji landed caused Boruto’s face to twist as if he had eaten something sour.
However, Boruto could tell that at some point Hinata was barely able to land even a single punch. Neji had hit most of her chakra points and he seemed more than satisfied with himself as he continued to mercilessly attack her. Boruto wanted it to end, but Hinata wasn’t giving up, just how Naruto hadn’t given up before her. Anytime she was hit she would pull herself up again and again, even when blood was leaving her mouth, and her chances of victory were becoming slimmer and slimmer.

His grip on the railing tightened, he needed to get down there, he couldn’t take this anymore. He turned around to take a few steps back and gain momentum, Sarada seemed to figure out what Boruto was planning on doing and gripped his upper arm tightly. Her fingernails digging into the fabric of his shirt as she stared him down. No words were exchanged but her message was clear.
The blue-haired girl was lying on the ground now, she was defeated, she didn’t have to stand up, it was okay if she gave up. Boruto bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Since Hinata is no longer able to continue this match.” Hayate started but his words were interrupted by a loud “NO” from Naruto. Why would Naruto stop the end of this fight? Hinata was defeated, she shouldn't have to suffer anymore. Boruto clenched his teeth together tightly as he watched his mother. To everyone’s surprise Hinata was forcing herself to stand up again.
Hinata was hardly finding her footing again, she was swaying from one side to the other, but she wasn’t giving up. She was struggling to breath, but it was as if every single part of her was allergic to giving up.

Neji’s anger was obvious, he was charging at the barely conscious Hinata fuelled by anger. He could kill her if he wasn’t stopped, this time even the hand of Sarada, which was still clawing itself into his upper arm wasn’t able to calm Boruto down and he was ready to jump into the arena. To their luck a group of ninjas were down at the scene before him, restraining Neji to keep him away from Hinata before the other genin could harm her even further.

Boruto dropped to his knees just as Hinata collapsed to the ground, he couldn’t bear to see his mother hurt anymore. Sarada sunk down next to him. She knew what it felt like to see their parent injured and being unable to stop the attack. It had left her feeling helpless, but Boruto had been there for her, and she would be here for him as well. Seeing how both were on the ground now Mitsuki also followed, placing a cool hand onto Boruto’s shoulder while kneeling down next to him.
The trio remained in silence. They heard the door opening and medical ninja entering the premise to carry Hinata out and into the hospital, but nobody dared to look. Finally, Boruto closed his eyes and pulled in both Sarada and Mitsuki. The sudden action caught both Sarada and Mitsuki off guard and while Sarada managed to stay balanced, her teammate wasn't as lucky, falling over and ending up dragging Boruto down with him. Sarada, who had only just managed to balance herself out didn't anticipate the sudden force that came from Boruto and Mitsuki falling to the ground, now also joining them.

All three of them remained silent for just a moment, that was all it took for Boruto to start laughing. Sarada, seeing how Boruto's mood had lifted up ever so slightly also couldn't help the slight laugh escaping her. Mitsuki didn't break into laughter like his other two teammates, but that didn't mean that he wasn't amused by the entire situation, a smirk finding it's way onto his lips.

“I think mom was exaggerating when she described my uncle as a kind-hearted and trustworthy man.” He was chuckling but his voice was rough, at least he was found humour in the situation.
“Maybe she is just wearing some rose-tinted glasses?” Sarada asked with a weak smile to which Boruto chuckled.

The trio stayed silent, splayed out on the floor for a few more moments, grounding each other with their presence before finally Boruto pushed himself off of the ground, Sarada following suit and Mitsuki following their lead. The next fighters would be announced shortly, they didn't have time to be mopping around. Just as Mitsuki's eyes wandered over the empty arena did Hayate enter the space to announce the next genin.

“Mitsuki of Sunagakure vs Yuki of Iwagakure.”

Chapter Text

“It seems that it is my turn now.” Mitsuki closed his eyes for a moment, his thin lips curling up into his smile which seemed so insincere. The boy didn’t move, staying right where he was. A warm hand on his back managed to make him snap open his eyes. He came face to face with the deep blue that had captivated him all those years ago. His reason for joining Konoha in the first place. The hand on his back was warmer than his own ever had been. The sun would always be warmer than the moon could dream off being.

The expression on Boruto’s face was one Mitsuki couldn’t put a name on. Was it excitement? Worry? It seemed like a mix of both and at the same time felt like neither. “Good luck, Mitsuki.” Just like his hands, his voice was also a proof of the warmth Boruto encompassed inside of him. A warmth that inspired, soothed, gave reason.
“Show them who’s boss.” Came a voice that managed to ground Mitsuki again, taking him away from the light that had threatened to overtake his thoughts entirely and bringing him back to the battle he had to win. He couldn’t afford to lose, if he did, he would never be able to forgive himself.

“I will.” Came his short reply, followed by his smile turning slightly softer than it had been before as his eyes were now met with two black voids that stared directly at him.
The warmth that had been on his back now moved away so that Boruto could gave his teammate his signature thumbs up, accompanied by a confident smirk. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, in this moment Boruto really looked similar to his father. Even with everything happening around them he still managed to cheer on his friend with the same vigour as always.
No more words were exchanged between the trio, Mitsuki turned around and slowly walked down the stairs that lead towards his opponent. He could feel his eyes on his back, the previous feeling of warmth replaced by a paralysing cold. Were his eyes the same? Did his gaze also feel like a piercing cold?

Taking step after step, he made his way down onto the field. Sounds of conversations going on around him didn’t manage to reach his ears. The only thing he could hear were his footsteps on the cold stone floor beneath him.

Then, without even knowing how, Mitsuki stood in front of Yuki. One of the three ninja they had met during their exams and his opponent. He looked old, much older than his other two teammates. His tanned skin was covered by tattoos of white and gray colour. Some represented birds, others looked like flames while a few didn’t look like anything at all. The boy’s hair was blond and not taken care off. The same thing could be said for his black shirt, which was ripped in more than one places. Anyone that took even just one glance at him could tell that the boy was a troublemaker.
“Don’t bore me.” The boy yawned as he checked out Mitsuki from top to bottom, determining whether the boy in front of him could be considered a threat or not. Seeing how slim the pale was compared to him; he could already see himself winning this battle. Despite the difference in sizes however, he had seen what this boy’s teammate had achieved while fighting Yuto. He wasn’t cocky enough to already write his opponent off as a little warm up.

On the other side of the field Mitsuki wished that the boy in front of him was his biggest problem, but he wasn’t. Instead, it was his gaze that was still directed towards him, not granting Mitsuki even a second of respite. Despite this, he still forced a smile on his face, extending his hand towards his opponent. “Good luck” Came his calm reply, not betraying how nervous he truly felt.
Hayate spared one quick glance towards both boys. Whether it was unintentional or not, while doing so, he took a longer look at Mitsuki than was necessary before announcing the beginning of the battle and taking his retreat, handing over the stage to the two actors now.

“I have to get this over with quickly.” The left hand of Mitsuki wandered to where Orochimaru had placed his mark. It was pulsating, egging him on to unleash the power it harboured. His hand clenched down onto the mark, hard enough to be painful, but the feeling of pain was better than the traitorous temptation attempting to sway him with every breath that he took.
Yuki finally seemed to have concluded his staring, placing one foot behind the other. His opponent was about to charge at him, that’s what Mitsuki realised in this moment. In the span of just a few seconds Yuki was already on the move, barely giving Mitsuki time to react.

One hand of his opponent grazed the sleeve of his kimono shirt, even after Mitsuki had already jumped out of his range. Yuki’s attack did not stop there however, as soon as one of Mitsuki’s feet made contact with the floor he slipped. But how? The floor was made out of stone, not some slippery material. He had to balance himself out with his other foot before falling to the floor.
Only after he was stable again did he spare a glance towards the floor, solid eyes was the only thing below him. Mitsuki didn’t however have time to take in this realisation, quickly having to block off an attack from Yuki, who had tried to use his opponents surprise to his advantage. He had jumped up in the air and plunged towards Mitsuki feet first.
Blocking off the kick launched him back at least a few meters. He didn’t slow down while sliding back however, the ice beneath him expanding with his movement. Only after his back hit the wall did he stop moving.

Silence, the entire audience was holding it’s breath while Mitsuki was trying to catch his. While he had busy, trying to keep his balance the entire floor had been turned into ice beneath them, Yuki, the preparator was right in the middle, standing as relaxed as he could, his right arm stemmed into his side.

“Come on, that’s way too easy, don’t tell me that’s all you can do?” A clear insult, while Yuki had been cautious before, he wasn’t taking Mitsuki serious anymore. Biting the inside of his cheek Mitsuki analysed the arena. Seeing the above the arena a thought crossed his mind. He didn’t get a moment longer to think this plan through, as in the next moment Yuki already came swinging.
Just before Yuki’s fist made contact with Mitsuki, he expanded his snake arm, gripping one of the railings and pulling him along, out of Yuki’s attack. Gasps could be heard from the audience as the sound of Yuki’s fist meeting the stone wall echoed through the hall.

A hole now decorated the wall as Yuki slowly pulled his hand back. Nothing could be heard for a moment, until suddenly a chuckle came from him.
“Great, so won’t let yourself be beat up that easily. That’s what I wanted.” His chuckle turned into a laugh which sounded almost psychotic. Boruto couldn’t help the shiver that wandered through his body as he heard it.

To Mitsuki it wasn’t half as bad as the stare that was still following his every move, if possible, after moving his arms to dodge the attack, his gaze had become even heavier. Impossible to escape.
Still laughing Yuki charged towards Mitsuki, who once again dodged the attack with his arms, landing right at the railing that Naruto was leaning against. Their eyes met for a moment, and in this moment, it was as though his gaze was completely gone. How was it possible for someone’s eyes to feel this kind and warm?

He couldn’t however stare at them for too long, as Yuki once again charged towards Mitsuki, which meant that he had to dodge once more.
This time, after Yuki’s fist made contact with the wall the boy stopped his movement. “As much fun as this game of tag is, I think the audience is getting bored, no? How about we show them something new?” The tone of Yuki’s voice reminded Mitsuki of a maniacal person, delirious even. Yet, despite what Yuki said, he still just charged towards where Mitsuki was in the same way he had before. Without another thought Mitsuki moved to dodge his attack once more. He really needed to find an opening to retaliate, else this would go on forever, at least, that was what he thought.
When he tried to grip the railing with his hand however he found himself unable to move his fingers, causing him to crash right down onto the ice-cold floor.

“Mitsuki-“ Boruto bit his lip as he watched his friend fall. Did Mitsuki miscalculate the distance? Impossible, using his arms for swinging around was almost second nature for Mitsuki.
His hands, he couldn’t move them anymore, in fact, his whole arm felt numb, frozen almost. Mitsuki’s eyes widened as he pushed himself up, only to see Yuki already approaching him. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the boy truly had no problem with moving on ice.

“Caught you.” A wicked smile spread across Yuki’s face, the boy now stood right in front of Mitsuki, and with one swift motion he was kneeling next to him.
“Can’t move your arms?” The boy’s voice sounded the same way Iwabe sounded back in the ninja academy when he had stolen one of Boruto’s pencils and asked him if Boruto was missing something, wanting the other to notice that his pencil was gone. Yuki was enjoying playing with Mitsuki.
“It’s my Kekeigenkai you know?” He continued, uncaring about the fact that Mitsuki attempted to push himself away from Yuki, which was becoming increasingly difficult as even his legs now slowly turned numb.

“Seems you aren’t giving up…” A thoughtful hum left Yuki, as if considering what to do with Mitsuki, but from the way his eyes watched Mitsuki struggle with glee, he knew that the other was enjoying the power he held over him.
“Well, I shouldn’t play with you too much, this is only a mock battle after all.” Yuki seemed to finally conclude his train of thought, in his hand a kunai made out of ice suddenly formed. Mitsuki had no doubt that Yuki would ram that inside him without a hint of hesitation.

How could he get out of this situation? Sage mode? That was too risky, he would draw everyone’s attention on him, and what if his body couldn’t handle it, his parent wasn’t here to take care of his body afterwards. No, he had to make sure that Boruto and Sarada made it back home safely. Would the mark help?
The though crossed his mind. Power strong enough to easily take out his opponent and then some more just locked away on his neck. Just a little bit wouldn’t hurt, right? As his mind considered using this power, the marking started to spread over his body, slowly making their way up his neck and face.

Boruto could see it, those marks. Mitsuki couldn’t possibly think about using it? He had to snap him out of it.
“Snake boy!” Boruto’s eyes turned wide, that wasn’t his voice. His head snapped right to where the voice had come from. There he was, his father, Naruto, shouting towards Mitsuki.
“Are you really this pathetic?” This was all Naruto said, but his words had an instant effect, Mitsuki’s eyes widened and the marks that had previously spread around his body slowly retreated, clearing his skin of any marks. The marks being gone didn’t mean that he was out of the water yet though, as now Yuki had used Mitsuki’s obvious conflict as a chance to strike, the dagger already slashing down.
Mitsuki’s wide eyes closed and just moments before the dagger was able to pierce through his skin he disappeared. Well, not really disappeared, he dissolved into hundreds of little snakes, that moved passed Yuki and formed back into his form right behind him. The numb feeling had left Mitsuki’s limbs, and the tables had been turned, now Mitsuki was holding a kunai to Yuki’s throat.
Gasps and then silence, the audience was watching the exchange with batted breath. Hirzuen narrowed his eyes, this boy had one connection to his former student after another, it was almost impossible for him to ignore by this point. Unluckily for Mitsuki however, Yuki didn’t stay silent.

“I haven’t explained to you what my Kekeigenkai does yet, right?” The boy wasn’t the least bit concerned about the kunai pressed towards his neck.
“I can turn any water into ice, even the water in the air and-“Yuki’s left hand wandered over the veins of his right hand. “Do you know how much water the human body is made of?”
Silence, Mitsuki could feel it. His body was freezing from the inside. Was this boy planning on killing him? He was now fully losing the feeling in his arms, but not just his arms, as his kunai dropped to the floor, so did Mitsuki.
Everything around him was slowly fading out, the voices around him becoming duller, it was as if his head was filled with cotton. No, no he couldn’t lose here. He had to win, else Boruto and Sarada were in danger.

But he still couldn’t move, even his eyes felt heavy, breathing was becoming a chore, maybe he should just stop? No, he had to.
Yuki wasn’t even paying attention to the withering boy anymore, turning his back towards him and looking at Hayate with a smug smile.
“I believe a winner can be declared already.” He chuckled. His teammates cheered loudly, this match seemed decided. Hayate was already raising his arm, ready to declare a winner.
Suddenly Yuki was smashed face first into a wall. The impact was so violent that bones could be heard breaking. Nobody dared to make a noise, everyone was just silently watching Mitsuki, if that boy could still be called Mitsuki. His entire body was covered in marks, some of his skin wasn’t the usual pale Boruto was used to, but rather grey. This wasn’t however what scared Boruto the most, it was the absolute look of nonchalance on the others face. He didn’t care about what he had just done, instead he just took a step further towards Yuki, who had managed to turn around, his handsome face now covered in bruises, but his injuries hadn’t managed to wipe off that infuriating grin of his face.

“Finally, show me what you can really do. Come on, I know you want to use it all, right?”

Yuki was egging him on, why, couldn’t he see that Mitsuki wasn’t in control anymore? Mitsuki could kill him by accident.
It seemed as though Mitsuki was listening to Yuki’s provocations, already charging towards Yuki with a speed Boruto couldn’t follow. This wasn’t good. Mitsuki’s next punch hit right into Yuki’s stomach, making him spit out blood.

Another punch followed, then another, and Mitsuki was already taking another swing. Completely unaware of the fact that Yuki had grown unresponsive by the second punch. And yet, that smile was still on his face.

“Mitsuki.” Sarada couldn’t watch anymore. “Mitsuki!” She screamed out again, already moving to jump down, but she wasn’t faster than the person that actually stopped Mitsuki’s next attack. An old wrinkly hand firmly held the marked hand, not letting it budge another centimetre. Hiruzen’s eyes watched the boy cautiously, catching Mitsuki’s other hand before this one could make contact with Yuki either. Now he was completely restrained.

The appearance of the third hokage on the battlefield didn’t scare Sarada away from helping out Mitsuki, and even Boruto made their way down into the arena, being mindful of the ice still covering the floor. Hiruzen watched the two children approach, he had the boy under control, so he let them proceed without attempting to stop them.
“Mitsuki.” Sarada’s voice was weak, one hand finding it’s way onto the boy’s cheek. It was hot, unlike the usual cool temperature of Mitsuki. Seeing Sarada the nonchalant expression finally left his eyes and was replaced by recognition.

“Sarada?” His voice was quiet, only the girl in question and Hirzuen were able to hear his words. Boruto, who hadn’t been that far away unable to hear him, but from the look in Mitsuki’s eyes he could tell that he had regained control.

“Thank the hokage.” Boruto muttered under his breath, watching with a relieved look on his face as the marks disappeared, giving way to the usual pale skin that they were used to.
Seeing this Hiruzen released Mitsuki, who immediately collapsed forward and was barely caught by Sarada before making contact with the ground.
“I…am sorry.” Mitsuki said quietly, he had lost control, the one thing he hadn’t wanted. He had let him win, even now he still felt his gaze upon him. He felt disgusted with himself. Even after Naruto had called him out, even after he had pushed back against the mark, he still lost in the end.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Those words were neither from Boruto nor Sarada, but rather the third person among them. As Yuki was already taken away by medical ninja Hiruzen must have also thought of Mitsuki.

Mitsuki stayed silent for a moment, weighing out his options. Being at the hospital meant he’d be away from him, but he couldn’t let Sarada and Boruto alone, even in his state. And he would surely be questioned there as soon as he entered. So he shook his head in reply.
Hiruzen gave an understanding nod, despite the way his eyes narrowed he slowly moved away from the trio, giving them the space they needed. Immediately as Hiruzen took a step away, Boruto moved Mitsuki onto Sarada’s back, a silent agreement that had happened while Mitsuki had thought about whether to go to the hospital or not.
“We’ll still get you checked up later though.” Boruto whispered into Mitsuki’s ears. In response Mitsuki only nodded against Sarada’s back. The way he looked he could be compared to the cat he kept in his apartment.

With that the trio moved upwards, back to where the trio had been situated before.
“Mitsuki of Sunagakure is the winner.” Hayate’s voice could be heard distantly, as Mitsuki pressed his head onto Sarada’s shoulder exhausted. Finally having made it back to their place, Mitsuki was carefully placed onto the ground, already looking forward for a slim moment of respite, but to his dismay, this was ruined by the loud voice of a certain blond boy.
“Did you not hear me? I told you not to use that power, get it!”