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the-letter-horror-lover · 2 years

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Point of no return by lllBluebirdlll

Anime » Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Rated: T, English, Hurt/Comfort & Adventure, Boruto U., Naruto U., Sarada U., Sasuke U., Words: 32k+, Favs: 6, Follows: 6, Published: Apr 21 Updated: Sep 23

2Chapter 1

Hey everyone, this story is meant to be my take on how the story could've gone after chapter the events of chapter 66 of Boruto manga so if you don't want spoilers or are not caught up to it I'd recommend you don't read any further.

Well with that warning out of the way I would like to clarify that I planned out this story shortly after the release of chapter 66 with no knowledge of what the future chapter (that being 67 - 69 as of me writing this) would be about. I thought about re-planning the story around the knowledge brought on by chapter 67 but in the end decided against it so just keep in mind that when you read. Disclaimers out of the way I'll be attempting to keep these updates weekly, this is intended to be a short 3 - 4 chapter story showcasing what could've happened after the end of chapter 66 so I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter One

Aftershock

Everything was moving in slow motion, as soon as he regained himself from Boruto pushing him away his first instinct was to reach him again as dread settled in the pit of his stomach. Whatever scenario he could come up with would still be far from the scene he now saw before his eyes as Kawaki all but pierced a hole straight through his son's chest.

His mind froze in shock and he stopped entirely as his vision narrowed in on Boruto's body as it fell limply to the ground.

Silence was the only thing between everyone at the scene for the few seconds that followed until Naruto finally kicked himself into gear and ran towards Boruto as he screamed his name, falling to his knees when he finally reached him while taking everything in. He wanted to believe that this was some sort of trick, there was no way this could be happening right?

He held onto his son's shoulders and shook him lightly as he called for him, begging him to wake up as the blood from the wound on the child's chest stained him.

Kawaki stood a short distance away watching the scene unfold as Naruto leaned down and lightly cradled Boruto's body, hugging it tightly against his chest. He looked down as he raised his hand that had now returned to normal, stained with Boruto's own blood.

He closed his fist in anger and suddenly felt his legs unable to support him, falling to his knees he closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath before turning his eyes to where Code stood, this would not be over as long as he was still around.

For his part Code simply watched the scene unfold, clicking his tongue in displeasure, this was certainly not the scenario he was hoping or expecting from this situation he had created. Boruto was the sole vessel for Momoshiki so if he was dead then there was no other Otsutsuki required for the ritual. Kawaki might still be a viable option seeing as he had enough Otsutsuki data in him but he was not the ideal candidate.

"Code"

Snapping out of his thoughts he paid attention to Eida's voice in his ear "Yeah?"

"Uchiha Sasuke is getting close, He might've felt the disturbance and is coming to check. You might want to think about your plan of action now"

Letting out a breath he turned back to the scene in front of him "Things have gotten somewhat complicated hm" he removed his hand from Shikamaru's neck, reaching behind him to create a new set of claw marks on the ground "I need to think, so you just stay put for a while won't you?"

Shikamaru half turned to try and look at Code just as his hand came down on the back of his neck and all he saw was the fading ground as he fell down.

Code brushed the dirt off his clothes before looking back in Kawaki's direction "And we'll be seeing again soon, Kawaki"

Before Kawaki himself could even respond, Code sank back into his claw marks, disappearing from the area entirely.

"Why…Kawaki"

Standing back up from where he was, Kawaki turned to look at Naruto where he was half looking at him while still cradling Boruto's body. He looked away,keeping his head down "I was our agreement. We agreed that this had to be done and he knew you wouldn't be able to"

Naruto turned back on Boruto, he knew Kawaki was right, he would never be able to kill his own son but…as he saw himself like this now he wondered if maybe he could've done more to prevent this outcome.

His eyes were glued to Boruto, attempting to bring back some of the life he knew, half waiting on him to just open his eyes again but the hole in his chest begged to tell another story.

He placed a shaking hand over his wound as it faintly began to glow green. He had learned the very basics of medical ninjutsu many years ago from Sakura, he'd been able to heal tiny cuts but was never able to get past that. Still, he felt like he had to at least try, he refused to simply stay there uselessly with the quickly cooling body of his son in his arms.

He didn't want to believe this was happening, he was supposed to be the one protecting him, and yet he found himself in a situation where Boruto had decided to sacrifice himself to keep him and the village safe by extinguishing the possibility of Momoshiki's reincarnation.

Naruto closed his eyes as he felt the sting of tears, he had promised that he would protect him, that he would do everything in his power to keep him safe…yet here he was.

Who was he kidding? As much as he tried his attempt at healing would never be good enough to heal such a wound, probably even someone as skilled as Sakura would have trouble with it.

His jaw tightened in anger as tears began to flow down his face, tightly hugging his son's body against him in impotence "I'm sorry…Boruto"

~ o ~

He was jumping from branch to branch as fast as his legs would take him, Ino had contacted him while he was home and explained the situation, he was halfway out the village before she even finished explaining everything. Long and short of it was that Code had appeared, Kawaki had ran away and Boruto had gone after him. She mentioned Naruto and Shikamaru going after them but with an enemy of unknown power that was only rumored to be stronger than Jigen he could not just sit and wait everything out.

Once some distance outside the village he finally sensed Naruto's chakra, jumping from tree to tree he got mentally ready for another hard fight.

Nothing could've prepared him for the scene that was in front of him when he finally reached the clearing. Landing down from the trees to where everyone was, he noted that the terrain itself was scarred with the signs of a large-scale battle, Shikamaru was knocked out on the ground and Kawaki was standing off to the side some distance away.

Despite the destruction and the apparent lack of an enemy on sight, what called his attention the most was Naruto where he was on the ground cradling Boruto's body against him, a hole through his chest.

Was this Code? Ino had said he was here but it would make no sense that his goal would be to kill Boruto since from the intel they had he would need him if he were to continue Isshiki's plans.

Quickly taking another glance and taking in his surroundings he noted how Kawaki was simply standing some distance away, his hand stained with blood. Could he have…?

A part deep inside of him began to fill with anger, confused as to why he would kill Boruto until something in him finally clicked.

He remembered the last conversation he had with Boruto before the last fight with Isshiki, his resolve to do what was right and what was necessary. Another scene flashed in his mind to the moment Boruto held a kunai to his throat with the threat of killing himself to save him and Naruto.

If he was reading the situation properly then Boruto had probably spoken to Kawaki beforehand and they made a plan in case things went out of control again.

"Sasuke!"

Turning back to look at Naruto he mentally shook himself, taking a few steps closer to his lifelong friend "What happened here?"

"I'll explain later, call Sakura or anyone from the medical corps please!"

"I can't"

"What do you mean you can't?!"

"We're out of range of the village's sensory net, we can't contact them unless someone from the barrier corps manages to reach us"

"There has to be a way, something we can do, anything!"

Sasuke took a deep breath, he had more experience with handling the death of loved ones first hand, not that it made it any easier with time and the loss of one's child was a pain he would rather never experience. Even still losing Boruto was still painful even to him, he was his only student, son to his best friend and teammate to his own daughter. To say that this scene wasn't hurting him would be a lie but he knew that it was still nothing compared to what Naruto was feeling, the gods knew that if he were in Naruto's place he could easily slip back to his older self in a spiral of never ending darkness.

Both said nothing for a few seconds, Naruto could read the pain and sorrow in Sasuke's own eyes as they shared a look, knowing that as much as he wanted to call for help there was no way to do it.

His attention snapped when Sasuke's eyes broke contact with him suddenly and looked down at Boruto, following his gaze his breath caught in his throat as he saw that the previously gaping hole in his son's chest was mending itself.

The previously gaping hole was starting to close with a dark pattern, as if an extension of the Karma itself was expanding and regenerating over his wound, the blood had stopped and the hole was being healed right before their disbelieving eyes as everyone stared in stunned silence at the scene unfolding before them.

~ o ~

Everything was covered in darkness, he wasn't sure where he was or what had happened. The last thing he remembered was chasing after Kawaki and fighting Code. He somehow grasped control of Momoshiki's power until an acute pain in his chest stopped him and everything went dark again but…there was something else, he knew he was forgetting something…

Oh, that's right, Momoshiki took over once again and he stopped him long enough for Kawaki to kill him.

He stood up and looked around, there was a dull ache in his chest which didn't really come as a surprise all things considered. Still, he had no idea where he was…was this the afterlife?

The previously dull pain grew stronger then and he clutched his chest as a voice echoed in the darkness of his surroundings. "No, not yet you little brat. You can't die when you are trapped by a fate as strong as yours"

The voice laughed and the sound echoed more as he fell to the ground, the pain in his chest still intensifying until he struggled for breath.

One second he was on his back in the darkness gasping for air, the next he suddenly felt his body's weight once more as air filled his lungs.

There was a muffled voice, the sensation of a cold breeze suddenly brought him to his senses as he felt his eyelids lessen their weight. Blinking several times to clear his vision he found himself looking up at his dad, blue eyes that mimicked his own stared back wide with shock and disbelief "B-Boruto…?"

Taking a few seconds to analyze his surroundings he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace as his father's relief was clearly tangible after believing him to be dead. He couldn't help but ask himself just why was he still alive, how was he alive?

The voice he had heard before waking up…had that been Momoshiki? Was he the one that brought him back?

His eyes scanned his surroundings until they finally landed on Sasuke standing next to them, a little farther away was Kawaki, also staring back at him in disbelief. His eyes travelled down and noticed the blood on his hand which meant that he had indeed gone through with their plan, he had killed him…and still he was brought back for some unknown purpose.

He feels his dad's hands on his shoulders as he pulls him away from him, his eyes were glassy which were a clear sign that he'd been crying at some point earlier, after the relief came the scolding for being reckless but he couldn't find it in him to argue back or answer at all. He had made up his mind for death, found his resolve and laid everything down to protect those he loved and everyone in the village from the imminent threat that was Momoshiki's revival through his Karma.

Taking his eyes away from his father he lands on Sasuke, there was a knowing look in his eyes that he recognized, he had probably guessed what had happened and he understood his motives and reasoning but Boruto himself knew that if it came down to it again his sensei would not be able to bring himself to kill him, this was also why he could only ask this of Kawaki.

Sasuke understood his intentions well, he knew how Boruto felt about his Karma and the extraction progress, the fears he harbored about hurting the people he cared for. The intended sacrifice had been meant as a last resort plan to tie up the loose ends and keep the village and everyone safe from what he could do.

After all of this he didn't know if Boruto would even want to return to the village considering that Momoshiki had taken over yet again even after he had been taking the pills that supposedly would prevent these sort of things from happening again.

And it was with that thought in mind and a sigh of defeat that he turned serious eyes on Boruto as he stretched his hand down and hapled both father and son to their feet. "Boruto" the boy slowly turned in his direction "Are you sure about what you wanted to do?"

It took him a couple seconds as he processed the question, finally catching up on the fact that Sasuke had quickly caught up to what he had wanted to achieve.

With a sigh he simply nodded before speaking "As long as Momoshiki is inside of me and these kinds of situations are a threat then it's dangerous to everyone. If it hadn't been for Kawaki's intervention then I…I would've probably killed dad"

Sasuke nodded, understanding "Are you really willing to go through with the choice you made?"

While this conversation was going on Naruto kept switching between both of them, attempting to decipher what was going on and why they were being so cryptic. Eventually he understood and his face immediately turned to Sasuke "Oi Sasuke, what are you planning to do?"

Sasuke didn't answer as he closed his eyes with a sigh, the next time he turned to face Naruto the blond had less than a second to react as his blue eyes met a pool of crimson. Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious, Kawaki began to make his way towards them in alarm until he too fell to the ground the instant the Uchiha turned his eye on him.

Boruto exchanged glances between the two of them before turning to Sasuke "What did you do?"

"When they wake up the most recent memory they'll have is of your death, they'll have no recollection of your revival which…we need to discuss"

Boruto looked down at his chest, where there had once been a hole now remained a permanent extension of the Karma like the one on his hand "I…I don't know what happened, or why…"

Sasuke looked down at Naruto "They will most likely believe that Code took your body after they passed out. They'll want to go after him immediately no doubt"

"Well…what now?"

"I'll take you somewhere where you'll be able to remain hidden until the dust settles, after that I'll personally train you to control this power of yours"

"What about my pills? I had been taking them since they were slowing down the Karma extraction and I still need them"

"I'll take care of that, don't worry about it" with that said Sasuke turned away and began to walk off "Come, we need to start moving before reinforcements arrive and find us, more importantly you"

"Will it be fine to leave them here though? We're in the middle of the forest"

"They'll be fine, it won't be long before the team that was following me arrives and takes them back to the village"

With apprehension still clutching his chest Boruto turned to follow Sasuke, muttering an apology under his breath "Mom, Hima…dad…I'm sorry"

Point of no return by lllBluebirdlll

Anime » Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Rated: T, English, Hurt/Comfort & Adventure, Boruto U., Naruto U., Sarada U., Sasuke U., Words: 32k+, Favs: 6, Follows: 6, Published: Apr 21 Updated: Sep 23

2Chapter 2: Ch 2: Mourning

Chapter Two

Mourning

They walked for a short time before Sasuke picked up the pace to a run and shortly after they were both jumping from branch to branch. They traveled in silence for a little over an hour into a part of the forest Boruto couldn't recognize, he didn't remember ever going through this area where the trees were clumped closer together and the vegetation on the ground was ticker.

Eventually they both dropped from the trees, walking for a little while longer on the ground before reaching a seemingly dead end. Sasuke pushed part of the brush aside as he walked through the foliage, Boruto followed him closely as both ended up facing a small old looking cabin covered by more vegetation.

"What is this place? Who lives here?"

"I stumbled across this place some years ago, I have never seen anyone near here so it must be abandoned. I've stopped by here a few times while I was traveling, you'll be safe here for now"

"When was the last time you were here?"

"About three years ago"

Without further questions the pair entered the cabin, the interior was sparsely furnished and a layer of dust covered most surfaces but it looked otherwise in good shape. Sasuke checked around the area and inside the cabin itself to check that everything was in order,as he finished up he stood at the door and his eyes fell on Bourto where he stood outside the cabin still, a breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees above as he absentmindedly looked up at the clouds forming in the dark sky.

"Boruto"

He blinked, Sasuke's voice dragging him out of his train of thought as he turned to look back at him "I'm going to head back to the village, you will have to stay here and lay low until the dust settles back home"

"What are you going to tell everyone? They'll want to hear a report right?"

"I'll simply tell them that I went after code and that he got away. Tracking him will be my cover when I come back and we set out"

"So…I'll just wait here?"

"There are some provisions inside that should last you a couple days should it come to that, this place is remote and no one knows about it so you should be fine as long as you don't leave the area. Try to stay inside and lay low just in case"

He simply nodded back, watching as Sasuke walked off and disappeared back through the foliage where they had come from earlier.

Heading back inside the cabin he sat on a lone couch by the window. His mind flashed back to the moment he asked Kawaki to go through with their plan, from the day they had decided on it Kawaki had been partially against it but after making things clear he finally agreed to follow through should the time come.

Well, he had done it, only neither of them had expected Momoshiki to take the bullet for him, so to speak. He raised his hand, looking at the black diamond etched on his palm "Tch…Why'd you have to go and mess everything up…"

After taking a deep breath he stood up, planning to try and clear his head of the anxiety induced thoughts that plagued him with infinite 'what ifs'

Walking past a small standing mirror he finally took a look at his appearance. There was a large tear in his shirt, naturally, and the stains of his own blood were dying the white material with a dark red around that same area; he supposed that his back probably looked similar in that regard.

Looking down at himself he also noticed that his necklace was missing, it had probably been torn off at the impact when Kawaki had killed him or at some point just before that while Momoshiki was in control of his body. His clothes he didn't mind too much but losing his necklace was a bit different, he had always had it and felt like it contributed to who he was…maybe losing it was also just another reminder that he was no longer himself, not entirely anyways…

Removing his jacket he ran a hand over the Uzumaki crest on the back, just above another large tear that broke through the dark fabric. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, putting his jacket back on to get some cover from the chill of the night. His mind wandered again; what was he going to do now? Where would this situation lead him? And most importantly how was he going to get this problem fixed?

~ o ~

After a couple hours Naruto finally began to stir, blinking his eyes open. It took him a few seconds to get adjusted to the lights that immediately told him that he was back at the leaf hospital.

Another second later and he registered the worried looks of his wife and daughter as they stood next to the bed he had been lying on. Himawari's bright blue eyes brightened at the sight "Papa! You're awake!"

Leaning further towards him Hinata lightly placed her hand over his, worry etched into her eyes "Are you okay? You were out for a while"

As things began to catch up to him once more and he recalled the events that had transpired no more than a few hours ago a dull pain settled in his chest along with a throbbing headache, managing to control his expression he turned on Hinata "Where are Shikamaru and Kawaki?"

"Oh, they both left a while ago for the Hokage tower, I think Shikamaru mentioned meeting Sasuke there"

Nodding back he moved to stand, swinging his legs over the bed and making sure there were no lingering effects from the fight earlier when-

"Papa, where is Boruto?"

He froze, his mind had completely brushed over the fact that he would have to be the one to break the news to his family, for a split second the only thing that filled his vision was the image of Boruto lying unconscious on the ground with a hole through his chest.

"Papa?"

His daughter's voice pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts, closing his eyes and clenching his fist he pushed himself to keep his emotions under control.

Hinata felt the sudden dread in the pit of her stomach as she watched her husband's expression that, albeit subtle, showed hints of anger and sadness. She leaned in closer to him to look straight into cerulean eyes that seemed somehow darker.

Himawari looked between her parents as the silence stretched, searching for an answer to her question. Her dad had said that he would bring Boruto and Kawaki back and she heard her mom say that Kawaki was away with uncle Shikamaru so…where was her brother?

Naruto took a deep breath to steady himself, opening his eyes and looking back to his wife and daughter. They needed to know, he couldn't put this off any longer and he'd rather have them know this now rather than waiting more and prolonging their anxiety.

With a heavy heart he told them both most of what happened when he caught up to everyone with Shikamaru, the fight that ensued and the manifestation of Boruto's power once more. He stopped before being able to tell how everything ended, unable to bring himself to put it into words out loud in hopes that this was some sort of mistake and saying it out loud would make it a reality.

He didn't seem to need to finish, however, as one look at Hinata told him that she understood the situation and the events that had transpired while tears welled in her eyes. Himawari still seemed confused, not entirely following after her dad had stopped talking. "Papa? What happened?"

Leaning forwards towards them both Naruto pulled them into a tight embrace, feeling his own tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes as he fought them back "I'm sorry Hima, Boruto won't be coming back…" He felt the light trembling from Hinata as he kept her close to him, knowing that she too was fighting back emotions for the sake of their daughter "I'm sorry…I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise…"

~ o ~

Back at the Hokage tower Shikamaru was standing watch over Kawaki in the main office, he hadn't let him out of his sight ever since waking up at the hospital after witnessing the fight he had with Boruto. He understood what he had done and why he had done it, by how the conversation had gone between the two it was easy to see that Boruto had planned this out in case things went south.

This very solution had been discussed the last time all the Kage had a meeting, he vividly remembered Gaara asking Naruto if he would have the strength to do what needed to be done which he knew that, as much as Naruto reassured them and himself, that he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger on his own son.

That being said he still couldn't help but be weary, dreading the moment Naruto came through those doors after what had happened. He leaned against the wall with a sigh, eyes landing on Kawaki where he sat on the floor with his back against the wall and his head down, there was also the issue that Kawaki had recovered his Karma somehow.

A flare of anger boiled deep within him as the only person that could've done it sprung to mind. He never fully trusted Amado from the very beginning but this now only reinforced his suspicions.

The door began to crack open and he turned his full attention to it, a part of him glad to see Sasuke walking through instead of Naruto. "You're back already?"

"I couldn't find much, when I reached you in the forest everyone was knocked out and Code was taking Boruto's body. Moving through those claw marks leaves no trace to be followed but I did sense a faint signature that felt similar deeper into the forest. I followed in hopes of finding something, perhaps another set of claw marks or another clue but there was nothing around."

"He really took Boruto?"

"Is that so surprising? He was a perfect vessel and from the Karma itself he was already over eighty percent Otsutsuki while Code himself was a failed vessel from what Amado told us"

Well put like that it made sense "You think he's planning something with Boruto?"

"Hard to tell, the only person that could maybe know something could be Amado"

"Yeah don't trust that guy too much, he re-implanted a Karma on Kawaki without us knowing and who knows what else he's been doing"

For a fraction of a second his eyes widened Kawaki had his Karma back? It made sense, from what little he saw when he arrived at the end of everything there seemed to have been a large scale battle, he knew neither Naruto or Shikamaru would be able to create such scars in the terrain and if Momoshiki had resurfaced then it was only logical that him and Kawaki had been the ones fighting.

The door began to open once more and this time all three people in the room turned their eyes towards it. Naruto walked in, his posture firm and eyes focused as he scanned the room before his gaze finally landed on Kawaki.

He headed straight for him, stopping directly in front of him as he bent down to be at his level before speaking in a collected voice "Why…Kawaki? What were you even thinking?"

Tearing his eyes away from Naruto's he lowered his gaze "It was the only way"

"No it wasn't, we could've-"

"There was no choice, Boruto knew it and that's why he asked this of me. I knew you wouldn't be able to do it so I took care of it…that's all there is to it"

The anger and impotence began to grow deep within him as he forced them back to keep himself composed like he had since leaving the hospital. A hand on his shoulder snaps his attention up to Shikamaru as he slowly shaked his head to dissuade him.

Standing back up Naaruto took in a shaky breath, fighting back his emotional side that wanted to scream and tear everything on sight apart to let out his frustration and impotence, looking back up his eyes landed on Sasuke as his brain shifted to the next most important matter.

"Where is he, Sasuke?"

"Gone, Code took him. I attempted to track him but there isn't much to go by when he moves through those claw marks and we have no idea or reference of where he might be settled down for the time being"

"In what direction did you last sense him?"

"After he disappeared I followed a faint signature east from where we were until it disappeared as well"

Without another word Naruto turned around and began heading for the door, the moment his hand held onto the door handle he was stopped by a hand firmly grasping his arm.

"You can't go after him, don't start acting irrational"

Cerulean eyes met obsidian as Sasuke kept a firm hold of him, the Uchiha clearly saw the spiraling emotions inside his friend's eyes and he understood just a little too well what he was going through after he himself lost so many loved ones in the past.

"Irrational? I'm not being irrational, I'm going out there and finding Code to get my son back"

"You can't track him, did you not hear a thing of what I just said?"

"I can still try, maybe I can find something in Sage mode that you couldn't get"

"And then what? You're going to fight Code?"

"If I have to then-"

"You can't fight him, you…we don't have the power to take him down right now, you should know that after this encounter you had with him"

That made him stop, Sasuke was right…he had been mostly powerless in front of him even in Sage mode, if Kawaki hadn't stepped in to buffer that massive Rasengan from Momoshiki who knows how things would've gone down.

Sasuke kept a firm grip, he needed to keep Naruto from doing any reckless things for his own sake as well as for his plan. If he were to go out in Sage mode there was a chance that he would pick up Boruto's chakra, He needed time to move him further away. I'm sorry Naruto.

After a minute of silence Naruto looked down with closed eyes, he let out a shaky breath as his hold on the door slightly loosened, he stayed there for a few more seconds before his grip became more firm once more which caused Sasuke to tighten his grip on him.

Naruto turned his eyes towards him as his posture loosened, cerulean eyes taking a darker shade as he suddenly appeared tired and worn out from how he looked mere minutes ago "I'm just going to head back home"

Sasuke let him go, identifying the sorrow that was consuming him, even if he had more experience dealing with the loss of loved ones than Naruto he knew that the pain of losing his son must be immense. He tried putting himself in his position but he didn't need to think too much to know that if something like that were to happen to Sarada he would tear through earth and sky to get back to whoever was responsible, It was an easy switch to flip him back to his previous self before the end of the war.

A few minutes after Naruto left Shikamaru turned his attention to Kawaki, he also seemed drained which made him think that maybe this had also taken somewhat of an impact on him. Since his arrival Kawaki had been living with Naruto but considering the circumstances he doubted that sending him home would be a good idea "Kawaki"

At the mention of his name he looked up "what do you want?"

"Head to the underground floors, there is a lab there where you can spend the night for now at least until the he settles down"

He gave back a light nod before standing up and leaving without another word.

Shikamaru took a deep breath as he ran a hand over his face, everything was a mess and he didn't know where to benign to start sorting things out, turning his gaze on the Uchiha he fiddled with the box of cigarettes in his pocket to burn the anxious energy building up inside of him "What are you going to do?"

"I'll take care of tracking Code, will be leaving on longer missions again while I do this and start by gathering as much information as I can from the list of outers from Kara and the remains of the two hideouts that we have confirmed locations of"

Shikamaru nodded "We can't let this information out to the public, it'll create unnecessary chaos"

"Agreed. Boruto's close friends might need to know, we have to make sure that in any case this information doesn't go beyond that"

"Yeah, I'll look into that. We might also need to tell the other Kages about Boruto's death, all things considered"

At that mention Sasuke detected an imperceptible shuffle just outside the windows, reaching out with his chakra he picked up on two familiar signals. Closing his eyes he let a sigh escape him "I have to go now, keep this information classified between just us for now"

As he walked down the corridors of the building he half cursed himself, this was not how he wanted his daughter to find out about this…

Leaving the building he focused on Sarada's chakra signal, it was faint as if she was still trying to hide herself but the irregularities of her signal made him think that she might've been too distressed to do it properly.

His tracking eventually led him to one of the farther training grounds where it was less likely for anyone to be at this time of the night

Jumping down from the treeline he landed on the clearing, his gaze falling on the small figure that was curled up against a tree at the edge of the training ground. He took careful steps, making them noticeable to make sure that he wouldn't startle his daughter, eventually he stopped completely right in front of her as he thought of how to possibly approach this situation.

"What are you doing here?..."

He noted the shakiness of her voice and the way she spoke softly. She had overheard his conversation with Shikamaru and was not taking the loss of her teammate and childhood friend with much grace. "I'm sorry, Sarada"

She's quiet, internally attempting to control her shaky breaths enough to utter the one question she was dreading "Is…is it true?"

He stayed quiet, a light breeze ruffling the leaves above as the midnight sky painted the landscape. He didn't know what to say, how could he tell her the truth without hurting her more than she already was?

Before he could bring himself to speak she cut him off, looking up at him with tear-filled red eyes, her sharingan on display with the three tomoe around her iris.

Sasuke suddenly froze, he hadn't stopped to consider the possible repercussions that the news could have on those closer to Boruto, namely both of his teammates. Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat he simply confirmed it, taking another step closer to her as he leaned down to be at eye level with her.

"What happened to him?"

He remained silent, watching the flow of tears run down his daughter's face as a pang of guilt ran through his core.

Taking a deep breath he answered "The one remaining Kara member appeared and Boruto and Kawaki fought him, at some point Momoshiki took control over Boruto again and began attacking until after a while Boruto held him at bay. From the looks of it him and Kawaki had a plan that if something like that were to happen again Kawaki would kill him…so it happened"

Sarada blankly stared at her dad, thinking back to the missions they had done with Kawaki in their team. She pictured what happened at the fight against Boro when she witnessed firsthand how strong and terrifying Boruto became when he was taken over, her mind drifting as she conjured an image of Kawaki going for the kill as Boruto simply took the hit with no struggle.

It was as if she couldn't bring her mind to wrap around that fact. She thought back of the conversation she had with her dad before the Chunin exams about Boruto, when he asked her if she would have the strength to do the very thing Kawaki had done should worse come to pass. And now it had happened, the worst case scenario played out and Boruto was dead…he was gone and there had been nothing for her to do to help or prevent it.

Sasuke kneeled down in front of her, noting how her breaths became more jagged and shallow before she tightly shut her eyes and fell forwards, clutching her head. Reacting in the split second that it all happened, Sasuke caught her before she hit the ground "Sarada!"

Sasuke's heart raced as he held his daughter, her uneven breaths broken by the occasional sob as she continued to let the emotions she had been trying to bottle run free.

Positioning himself to sit on the floor Sasuke held his daughter, wrapping his arm around her and keeping her close in hopes of calming her down and providing comfort. This was the first time he found himself in such a position but he found it easy to fall into this reaction as what he assumed were his paternal instincts took over.

Sarada clutched onto him like a lifeline, burying herself in his chest as sobs shook her frame. For a few minutes she allowed herself to simply let her emotions out, not caring about the fact that she had always wanted to appear strong and composed in front of her dad, the only thing that now ran through her mind was the dull ache in her chest and the pounding throb in her head.

The relative calmness that had fallen over them was broken when Sarada brought herself to voice a single question in between her breaths "Why does it hurt so much?...Why is losing someone so painful?"

He had no answer to that, he himself wasn't sure, he empathized with her as he thought back to the night he lost everything and how it had gone through so much pain himself.

Sarada stirred as she brought her face out from where she had been buried in his chest to wipe the tears away with her hand, Sasuke looked down at her as she held onto his arm and his heart stopped. On her hand that she had wiped her face with was a trail of crimson blood.

His heart beat faster as he unwrapped his arm from around her "Sarada, look at me"

Her sobs had started to die out as she wiped her eyes once more before turning to look at her dad. Sasuke's gaze was locked on the marks from trails of blood that had ran from his daughter's eyes which now reflected a unique pattern characteristic of the Mangekyo.

He was stunned into silence as a thousand thoughts ran through his head before pulling her against him once more, tightening his hold on her as he cursed all of the events that had led to this situation, the one thing he wanted to prevent from happening to his daughter. He wanted to spare her the pain and sorrow at least to an extent and preferably not have her go through such emotional trauma strong enough to awaken her eyes into the final stage of the Sharingan.

Closing his eyes he clenched his jaw, cursing himself and his lack of foresight to see this very thing happening. Turning his eyes up he stared at the sky that by now was starting to get clouded, asking to the heavens for answers, asking if putting his daughter through this pain was truly the only choice…

~ o ~

Naruto didn't recall any moment of his walk from the Hokage tower to his house, his mind completely dissociated from his body as he moved on auto pilot until he reached the front gate to his house. Walking to the front door he held the doorknob for a few seconds before he finally moved himself to open it.

The house was silent, a couple lights were still on in the living room and kitchen but no one was there. Shutting the door he sat down to remove his sandals before making his way around the house.

A short walk around the first floor confirmed that there truly was no one there and so he moved to climb the stairs, keeping noise to a minimum in case Hima or Hinata were to be asleep already.

The first place he passed once upstairs was the half open door to Himawari's room, slowly approaching he walked inside and headed for the bed where his daughter lay with her back turned towards the door.

Entering the room he walked towards her. Half smiling he ran a hand on her cheek to clear some of her hair away from her face. He noticed the light moisture that lingered on his hand, she had probably cried herself to sleep after the news really sank in for her.

He closed his eyes as he straightened himself and walked out of the room, closing the door softly to not disturb her further.

Turning towards the remainder of the hallway he noted the door to Boruto's room was open. Walking towards it he stopped at the door when he saw that inside was Hinata, standing inside the dark room as she kept her arms around herself.

Letting out a breath Naruto approached, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Hinata turned to him with wide eyes that were struggling to hold back tears, simply looking at him for a few seconds before throwing her arms around him as tears ran down her face now that all her grief and emotions had caught up to her and she didn't need to put on a strong face for their daughter.

Naruto pulled his own arms tightly around her, his eyes danced over the dark room that had once belonged to his firstborn son. He observed the ordered mess of books and scrolls, a jacket thrown over the computer chair and the small chest in the corner where Boruto kept his ninja gear.

His eyes drifted back to the desk after roaming the room, a small wooden crate caught his attention as it rested half open by the computer. Inside he barely made out the shape of a long double sided kunai, the very one that he had given him less than a year ago on parent and child day.

Tearing away his eyes from the gift he had given him he turned his head down, resting it on his wife's shoulder, tears formed in his own eyes as he finally reached the end of his ability to hold back the grief any longer. He'd been fighting these emotions back from the moment he had been cradling Boruto's body back in the forest before he passed out and now that he was in the confines of his home while holding onto his wife he felt like he could finally break free.

Tears streamed freely down his face as he thought back to that evening where he had promised Boruto that he would do anything to protect him after they returned from fighting Isshiki. That day he promised his son that he would protect him no matter what, that he wouldn't let anything happen to him, Boruto trusted him then as he fell asleep in his arms but now…It seemed like he had broken yet another promise.

I'm sorry…Boruto…For not being able to protect you.

Point of no return by lllBluebirdlll

Anime » Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Rated: T, English, Hurt/Comfort & Adventure, Boruto U., Naruto U., Sarada U., Sasuke U., Words: 32k+, Favs: 6, Follows: 6, Published: Apr 21 Updated: Sep 23

2Chapter 3: Ch 3: Determination

Hey guys, this will be the final chapter in this story at least for now, this is as far as I planned this and I am not sure where it could go from here but if any of you guys have any ideas or have something you'll like to see be sure to drop it and maybe if I find some more inspiration I might continue this and make it into a full AU timeline of sorts.

That being said thanks to the people that followed and found interest in the story, I really appreciate you guys and I hoe you enjoy this last chapter.

Chapter Three

Determination

Sasuke was walking back home, he was carefully carrying his daughter in his arm as she slept, keeping her arms around his neck. She had collapsed in exhaustion and he believed that her body was also physically tired after taking the toll from the manifestation of her Mangekyo.

He walked silently through the shadows around the less traveled areas of the village as he headed home, preferring to avoid any prying eyes since he was not in the best of moods or mental state himself.

The feeling of a familiar presence made him stop in his tracks, said presence showed itself a second later in the shape of a familiar pale boy with blue hair and yellow eyes that seemed considerably less vibrant than the last time he had seen him.

Thinking back Sauske remembered feeling two chakra signatures bolting away from the Hokage tower when he left to chase Sarada, he guessed that this had been that second signal he had detected.

With a sigh Sasuke closed his eyes for a few seconds, opening them again as he faced Mitsuki "So, you know too"

The boy gave him a wordless nod, eyes still downcast "Sarada and I wanted to check on Boruto after we got word that he had left to chase Kawaki…we overheard your conversation with lord Shikamaru after lord seventh left"

"You need to keep this information under wraps, we are still working on how to go about this situation"

Mitsuki understood, it would cause general chaos if the village were to get word that the Hokage's son had been killed by an enemy. Nodding at the older Uchiha he turned his face up at the moon where it hung high in the sky "How did you do it?"

How? Done what? He wasn't sure what he meant by that until yellow eyes met with his deep obsidian

"You lost people important to you before, did you not? How did you do it? How do you find purpose when your light has been extinguished?"

At this time Sasuke remembered the infatuation Mitsuki had with Boruto, to him the Uzumaki was more than a teammate or a friend, he had been more like a role model, an example to follow. He started to understand more now that he was probably also taking this blow quite hard.

"This…doesn't mean that everything is over. You can find a new purpose, a new drive, forge your own path and be there for your comrades that still need you" his gaze unconsciously drifted to a side as he looked at Sarada "Especially now…"

The silence between the two stretched for a minute until Mitsuki simply bowed down, understanding the meaning behind his words. muttering a quiet "Thank you" he disappeared as he jumped up onto the roof of the nearby buildings. Sasuke took another deep breath, shaking his head as a thousand thoughts ran through his head

I'm sorry…

A little while later Sasuke finally got back home, he lightly tapped on the door with his foot, sensing Sakura was inside and waiting for her to open the door considering that his one hand was currently occupied.

Worried green eyes scanned him quickly as soon as the door opened, she seemed worried but her expression relaxed somewhat upon seeing both her husband and daughter were okay.

Sakura's eyes fell on Sarada "What happened to her?"

"Don't worry, she's only sleeping"

Walking in Sakura shut the door behind them, looking up at her daughter's face where it rested on Sasuke's shoulder she noted the faint trails of blood that lingered there "Sasuke-kun…what happened?"

The man didn't meet her gaze "I'll explain everything, let me get her to her bedroom"

After settling Sarada down Sasuke returned to the living room where Saukra was waiting pacing by the couch, a cup of tea nervously held between her hands. Sitting down Sasuke motioned for her to do the same as he took a deep breath before he began to explain the entire situation about what had happened.

"-Sarada overheard when I spoke to Shikamaru, I found her in one of the training grounds. She didn't take the news too well"

Sakura's brain was running a million miles an hour, first the news of Boruto's death and now the way Sasuke was speaking, the look of dread and guilt in his eyes as well as the trails of blood that she had seen on Sarada's face.

Sasuke watched as reality dawned on his wife and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, he knew he didn't need to say more for her to understand. The last time they touched up on the topic of Sarada's Sharingan getting stronger was several months ago during her training and now those fears could very well become a reality.

Sasuke looked away "She awakened her it, Sakura"

She didn't know what to do, what to think or how to move on from this point on. How would they go about explaining things to her once she woke up? The topic of Sasuke's Mangekyou would inevitably be brought up and he would have to tell her the story of everything but…she didn't know if it was time for her to be able to take that knowledge in and accept things calmly; especially not at a time where her emotions and mental state were already fragile with the recent events.

Sasuke kept his eyes on Sakura as the reality of everything dawned on her, another thought crossed his mind then as he remembered the pills that Boruto had been taking and how he mentioned that he would need to keep doing so to keep the Karma from extracting.

Against his better judgment and due to the circumstances he really saw no way around things. I have to tell her…

Sakura was brought back from her thoughts as Sasuke placed his hand atop hers, turning her gaze to him she noticed the tightness of his jaw "We need to talk, there is…something else"

Confused, she wiped the tears from her eyes "Something more? About what?"

"Not here" he looked around, probably sensing to see if there was anyone nearby "Come with me"

The pair left for the Uchiha grounds, an area of the forest where part of the old Uchiha compound once stood and was now a place where only members of his clan or people he himself chose were allowed to enter, in here he was sure that their conversation would not be overheard.

Sasuke stopped walking once they were deep between the trees as he made sure that no one was around, behind him Sakura waited.

"What is so important that we had to come all the way out here for you to tell me?"

He took a deep breath "Boruto isn't dead"

She froze "...what"

"He's not dead…but only I know, and now you do too, and we need to keep it that way"

"What? Sasuke-kun, do you realize what you're doing? To Naruto and Hinata? To Boruto's friends and…Sarada-"

"I do, and I wish there was another way, especially after I failed to see the consequences this could have on Sarada…it's too late for that now"

"W-what happened then?"

And so he explained to her what he had seen, Boruto being brought back to life by Momoshiki using the power of the Karma; How he understood Boruto's resolve and followed his wishes.

"Well…what now? If it's supposed to be secret then why did you tell me?"

"Because of this" Sasuke pulled out a small bottle with three dark round pills, holding it for Sakura to take

"What is this?"

"These are the pills that Boruto was taking to suppress the Karma's extraction, I took a couple from the bottle he carries with him, we'll eventually need more but I can't go back to Amado or the science division for them. Do you think you can replicate them?"

She looked at the bottle "Well…I can't tell, I would need time to analyze them and figure out if I can gather all the components or substitutes for them that would fulfill the purpose"

He nodded "If anyone can it's you, you're not the head of the medical division for nothing"

Taken back by the sudden compliment she froze in place. She would need time but if anything she could at least attempt to replicate them, for Boruto "So…how long do you plan on keeping this hidden?"

"I don't know…that depends on Boruto himself. He wants to train to hold back Momoshiki,however long that takes that's as long as we'll need to keep this up"

~ o ~

Boruto opened his eyes to a dark void, there was not a light or sound around him as he looked around until- "Did you really think you could end this so easily, foolish lad?"

At the sound of the voice Boruto turned around in its direction, still seeing nothing but darkness. That voice, however, he had no trouble recognizing "Momoshiki…"

Fog began to roll around him from the darkness, in front of him the fog rolled and condensed into the shape of the one remaining Otsutsuki. "Hello again, brat. You should think better if you thought killing yourself would put an end to all this"

"What did you do…?"

"Simply put, I revived you using some of the power of your Karma. Its nature is compressed genetic data after all. Those meddlesome pills of yours were troublesome but they are only a stopgap measure, they won't block the Karma completely or the data that has already decompressed into your body"

He clenched his fists, looking up at the Otsutsuki in front of him"Why?...why did you save me?""

Silence spread for a couple seconds until Momoshiki's laugh echoed in the cavernous space "You are my vessel, I can't let you throw away your life that easily. Besides, your future seems quite interesting, I want to have a look as it all unfolds"

Boruto was silent as he thought back to the first conversation he had with the alien after defeating him, snapping his attention back to him "You said before…that I would lose everything"

"Oh? So you do remember. I couldn't peer into your destiny completely so even I don't know what'll happen in the future…What I do know, however, is that this is nothing compared to when you'll truly lose everything" He approached Boruto, leaving no distance between them as a knowing smile crossed his features "And that…that is one spectacle I do not want to miss"

Without warning the fog around Boruto spiraled and vanished as Momoshiki's laugh echoed in the darkness, leaving the void empty once more, the ground started to crumble and he fell deeper into the abyss as he screamed.

With a jolt he sat up from the couch where he'd fallen asleep on, gasping for air as he looked around to grasp onto anything familiar.

He brought his hand to his chest as a dull pain grew from there, through the hole in his shirt he saw the scar left by the Karma there had a low blue glow, looking at his palm he found something similar with the diamond etched there.

He clenched his jaw, his mind fully occupied processing the words Momoshiki had told him now as well as the warning he gave him after the fight where he defeated him over a year ago. Nothing made sense, the way he spoke just now was almost as if he was amused by all of this, the fact that he had said that basically dying and having to lie to his friends and family about that very thing was not at all what he meant by him 'losing it all' made him wonder truly what those words meant.

He stayed in that train of thought for a while, thinking of possibilities, scenarios, ways to prevent things that could lead to that eventually happening. He couldn't do anything, if Momoshiki had said that it was already a predestined fate then…he really couldn't do anything other than brace and take the punch, hoping that he would be able to recover from it.

His head felt light and he realized then that his breaths were coming in short and shallow, not nearly delivering enough oxygen into his lungs. His heart was pounding in his chest as a cold sweat covered him.

He stopped completely, rolling off the couch he was sitting on and laying flat on the ground as he took deep breaths to attempt to regulate his breathing once more. Closing his eyes he forced his mind to clear and focus only on breathing, the pounding of his heart in his ears began to subside and after some minutes he was able to sit back up.

Opening his eyes he noted that there was close to no light coming from the windows which meant that it was still night. Rising his hand he stared at the mark on his palm, cursing the Karma, his situation and just the world in general for good measure. He let his slightly shaking hand fall, leaning his back against the couch as he stayed sitting on the floor.

He closed his eyes for what he felt were barely a couple seconds but the moment he opened them again he was received by the rays of sun filtering through the curtains.

Blinking the tiredness from his eyes he stood up, feeling his back ache in protest to falling into a restless sleep while sitting up in a deep breath he headed for the door, it creaked open as the morning breeze hit his face and threw him into wakefulness.

The blond filled his lungs with fresh air as he closed his eyes, for a few seconds he simply remained there until finally he turned and went back inside the cabin. Walking by the mirror again he noted his tattered clothes, the Karma mark on his chest visible through the hole in his shirt Guess I should find some better clothes for now.

Releasing a breath he walked over to the one bedroom in the small cabin, there was a closet with several clothing articles of which he assumed had been there for quite some time judging by their looks, that and they didn't look like they belonged to Sasuke from previous times he'd been here.

Browsing through he managed to find a dark gray shirt that despite being a bit big on him he found that it would do a better job than his current torn shirt.

He decided to keep his current pants seeing as they were still in good shape. Deciding that there was nothing more in the closet he moved over to a chest on the opposite side of the room where he managed to find a black Jacket that fit him.

Putting on his replacement clothes he went back to the mirror, it felt weird to see himself wearing nothing but dark clothes. His hand instinctively reached for where his necklace would normally hang and once again he felt sad that he had lost it, for a fraction of a second the thought of going back to look for it crossed his mind but his situation was rather delicate and he couldn't let anyone see him.

Turning to where he had thrown his own clothes he folded them before settling them in the bottom of the chest to keep them out of sight in case anyone happened to stumble across the cabin, burning them was another thing that crossed his mind but the smoke would attract attention and so simply storing them out of sight was his next best choice.

With nothing more to do he headed back for the couch, laying down across it he closed his eyes to attempt and get some better rest but after what seemed like hours of unsuccessful attempts he gave up. Opening his eyes he turned towards the table that rested in front of the couch, a small bottle of dark round pills sitting there innocently.

His expression hardened as he sat up, picking up the bottle and examining it.

Do these things even work?

He knew they did, but the fact that Momoshiki had taken over yet again and forced him to get in this mess made him feel somewhat bitter and distrustful about them. With a sigh he opened the bottle and took one of the pills. As unsure as he was about their effectiveness at the very least he would believe that they slowed down Momoshiki's takeover, that was at least the one positive thing he could hold onto.

He absentmindedly turned towards the window, tuning out the chirping of birds and trees moving in the wind outside as Momoshiki's words echoed in his head, a pang of fear hit the pit of his stomach for the uncertain future that he at least knew held rough times ahead. Whatever the Otsutsuki meant he at least hoped that when the time came that his loved ones would be safe, or at the very least that he would be around and able to protect them.

Taking a deep breath he let his back fall back on the couch, laying his arm across his eyes to block the light he cleared his head, eventually managing to drift off and let sleep take him.

~o~

That morning Sasuke prepared to leave, gathering essentials as well as his usual travel gear in a bag that he swung over his shoulder. After everything that had happened the previous night he had only managed to get a couple hours of sleep but that would have to be enough for the time being.

Standing at the door of his room he glanced back into the still dark interior where Sakura still slept, wording a silent apology for the trouble he was going to put her through with his previous request. Silently closing the door he walked down the hallway, stopping where the door to Sarada's room was cracked open.

Pushing the door further he peeked inside, the young Uchiha was still deeply immersed in her sleep, something he could understand after the emotional ordeal that she had gone through the previous night.

He noted how despite her sleeping state her brows were tightly knit together, her expression anything but peaceful as she laid curled in her bed and clutching a pillow against her chest. With a sigh he retreated and closed the door as he made his way towards the entrance of the house.

As his mind remained filled with troubled thoughts he failed to notice the silhouette that had now appeared behind him.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He flinched, looking back to see Sakura in the hallway "You shouldn't be awake"

"It's not like I could sleep much anyway…" the silence stretches between them for a few tense seconds until finally "I'm worried…about Sarada"

He sighs "So am I…don't worry, I won't be gone for long, at least not until I'm sure she'll be fine"

"What if she asks about her eyes?"

"For now just ease her troubles, I will explain everything to her when I return"

"How long will you be gone?"

"Not long, a couple weeks at most for this first step"

Sakura nodded, understanding what he meant as she recalled what he had told her about Boruto "Be careful"

He turned around, facing the way to the door as he got ready to depart "Ah"

As this was happening Naruto slowly began to break free from the clutches of a restless sleep. He stared absentmindedly at the roof of his room as if it held an answer or a way to somehow bring his son back.

His mind drifted to the previous night and the conversation he had with Hinata, he had told her to keep this information out of the general public to avoid unrest but he knew he also couldn't ask her to keep this kind of emotional baggage to herself and act normal whenever she saw any of their friends. He remembered how heartbroken Hinata had been when he told her that they couldn't even get Boruto's body the previous night, a memory that made him clench his fists in anger and helplessness.

For a while his mind simply thought about this situation, how would they go about this and who could and couldn't know. At the very least Temari might already know from Shikamaru, maybe Shikadai too, he wondered if Sasuke had told Sarada. At some point they would have to let this be known to at least Boruto's closest friends, if nothing was said and he went missing it could bring even more unrest among them.

Taking a deep breath he sat up, swinging his legs over the bed as he prepared to get up, fighting the heaviness of his own body.

Rubbing his eyes he stared down at his hands on his lap, his mind flashing back to the previous night as his hands were stained with his son's blood. Taking a deep shaky breath he closed his eyes to will the memory away, he had to find strength somehow and push forward, he would find the willpower to stand back up and make the bastard Code pay for what he had pushed them to do.

The house was still dark when he managed to get out of his room, it was still early and the first rays of the sun, despite being close, were still at least half an hour away.

He stopped to check on his daughter as he walked through the hallway on his way downstairs, he found her laying in her bed curled up under the blankets, awake and with glistening eyes that gave away her recent crying.

Slowly and bearing the pain in his heart Naruto walked in, earning the young girl's attention as she turned her gaze on him without a word.

"Hey Hima, isn't it too early to be awake still?"

She sniffled, averting her gaze from him "I…couldn't sleep too much"

Approaching he sat down on the bed next to her, placing a hand softly atop her head in an attempt to comfort her "Yeah neither could I" he took a breath "I'm…sorry Hima, I told you that I would protect your brother and I couldn't keep that promise"

Another sniffle "I miss him"

Naruto had to push back his own emotions, still not fully into terms with the situation himself while hearing the deep sadness from his daughter's voice "I miss him too" he removed his hand from her head, taking her hand as she clutched the blanket close to her chest "I know it's hard, but you have your mother and I here for you, we'll get through this. We have to be strong for your brother okay?"

She nodded weakly as another tear rolled from her eyes and Naruto squeezed her hand.

Leaning down, Naruto placed a gentle kiss on his daughter's head "We'll get answers to all of this and work through, I promise you that. But I need your help"

At this she looked up at him again "Mine?"

"Yes, I need you to promise me that you'll be strong for Boruto and for your mother. Be strong for both of them and for yourself, we'll get through this together okay?"

She nodded and Naruto noticed that her tears had stopped as he brought his hands around her and wrapped her in a hug before sitting back up again "You should sleep some more, it's still early"

After that Naruto went to stand but a small hand grabbing onto his shirt stopped him in his tracks "Stay"

Looking down he found it impossible to summon the strength to deny her the request and instead he simply rested his hand on her back "Okay, I'll stay with you until you can fall asleep"

Eventually his daughter's even breaths told him that she finally managed to fall asleep, he removed his hand from her back where it had been rubbing comforting circles and slowly stood up to keep her from waking up.

Reaching the end of the stairs he found Hinata sitting at the table with a cup of tea between her hands, her gaze pointed at the window where the first rays of the sun were already out, she must've gotten up at some point while he was with Himawari and came down here.

Walking towards her he noted the trails of tears on her face, with a breath he decided against his original plan to sit with her and instead walked around her chair to wrap his arms around her, a gesture she welcomed as she let go of her cup and held his arms around her.

After a few moments of silence she finally spoke

"How is Himawari?"

"You saw that huh?"

"Not entirely, I just heard the end of it" she looked up to meet his eyes "Thank you"

He closed his eyes as he stood back up, shaking his head "Don't thank me…we wouldn't even be in this situation if I had been strong enough to save him. This is all my fault"

Standing up from her place she closed the distance between them and took a hold of his hand "It's not your fault, there was nothing you could've done, blaming yourself won't do anyone any good"

He met her eyes, transmitting through their shared look how thankful he was to her, she smiled in return before something in her eyes changed, her expression returning to one of worry "Where is Kawaki?"

He swallowed, he had yet to tell her exactly what had happened and he really did not want to break the news to her right now, he would tell her once everything calmed down a bit more "He's back at the Hokage tower, Amado was going to run a checkup over him after the fight but he's…fine"

She nodded back at him before pulling away but Naruto knew that she had felt like something was off regardless of his answer.

As she sat back down with a sigh her eyes drifted over to the pictures on the wall, stopping at a particular picture of Boruto and Naruto, the former was still just a few years old and was sitting on his father's lap.

Naruto felt something tugging at his chest as he too watched the picture before steeling his resolve and heading for the door. Hinata turned a questioning look on him to which he simply answered with determined eyes "We'll get to the bottom of this, we'll get our answers and find Code…I promise"

And with that he left the house and started to make his way back to the Hokage tower as the sky began to change into the warmer colors of the approaching sunrise.

The walk went by fast as he remained lost in thought, upon entering his office he found Shikamaru and Sasuke already there. After quick greetings Naruto called them to order "Okay, what's all the information that we know up to this point?"

Shikamaru pulled out a folder he'd been holding under his arm, flipping it open to a specific page before he began "Our main enemy is the sole remaining member of Kara, Code, he possess a white Karma that gives him all the abilities we already know about plus another technique that allows him to transport through the claw marks he creates; that aside he also has a similar morphing ability to Kawki's that enables him to change the shape of his arms and hands into extremely durable claws" he closed the folder "And as long as we keep Amado away from his reach we should be safe from him becoming a higher level threat"

He nodded "What do we have on his plan?"

"Not much, Originally we had thought he needed Boruto for his plan of replanting the divine tree but…after all of this"

And that was where their issue lied. "Do we really have nothing?" he turned to Sasuke "No clue as to where he's hiding or what he could be doing?"

"Nothing, as long as he moves using his transportation ability it's going to be very hard to track, especially since I can't try and follow him directly without the Rinnegan"

A knock on the door made the three turn, Naruto called in whoever had knocked and the doors opened to reveal a squad of 4 shinobi, The head of the squad stepping forwards "Hokage-sama, we came with our report after inspecting the place of the fight thoroughly"

A spark of hope lit inside Naruto, maybe they had found something that they missed? "What do you have?"

"A specialized team inspected the claw marks that were still in the area, we tried pinpointing possible locations or contact points but not even our best sensory ninja were able to get much out of them. We are also unable to remove them, however a couple of them did disappear while we were investigating, our guess is that only the person that created them can make them disappear. Perhaps with some more investigating we could find a way to make the remaining marks activate since at the moment they won't allow anything or anyone through them"

The man stayed quiet then, Naruto wanted more, that couldn't be all right? "What else?"

The man shifted uneasily as he turned to glance at his comrades who simply turned their heads away.

"We…we also found this at the site" the man reached into his pocket and then extended his hand, a familiar silver necklace hanging from his grip

Naruto extended his hand to take it, the silver string had snapped at some point but the bolt emblem that hung from it had not been damaged, it seemed the man had taken the time to clean it as well since there was not even a speck of dirt on it but he didn't dare think what reason he could've had to really clean it before giving it back.

Clenching his hand around it his mind could only focus on the feeling of the small thing as he tightly clenched it as if holding it for dear life.

Shikamaru saw this and took the liberty to thank the group before dismissing them "Speak nothing about this to anyone" with a bow the four walked out and left the three higher ranks in the office once more.

Shikamaru closed the distance between him and Naruto, laying a hand on his shoulder cautiously. The blond blinked as if the touch had dragged him out into the world before taking a breath and regaining himself, his hand drifted into his pocket where he safely stored the necklace.

Looking back up to meet his two aides Naruto pushed back his emotions and spoke calmly "What are we going to do about Code?"

At this Sasuke stepped forward "I will go search for him, I have more experience tracking and because of who we're dealing with here we can't just send any random jounin or anbu"

Naruto nodded, as he looked into his friend's eyes he noted the darker features, his eyes were filled with worry and dread and somehow he had a feeling it wasn't all because of their present situation.

Deciding against his better judgment he decided to address him "Is something wrong?"

Sasuke remained quiet, averting his eyes from his

"Sasuke?"

Still no response. A thought crossed Naruto's mind and suddenly he feelt like he might know why Sasuke seemed so conflicted

"Does…Sarada know?"

At that he closed his eyes and turne his back to Naruto, another moment of silence goes by before "She overheard Shikamaru and I speaking last night"

Worry settled in the pit of the Hokage's stomach at what implications this could've had, the Uchiha's silence only fueling his unrest.

Half turning back a dark eye came into contact with a pair of blues and Naruto could feel the worry that was etched deep within the obsidian pool.

"She unlocked it…"

Silence filled the room, both Naruto and Shikamaru were smart enough to connect the dots and give meaning to his words which brought to the light another layer of mental tax that Sasuke was now dealing with.

Sasuke broke the silence again as he turned his back to the pair once more "I won't take long leaves to investigate until I am sure that she'll be fine"

Naruto and Shikamaru exchanged a look, fully understanding the situation. Naruto looked back towards Sasuke "I'll help you search"

"No, I can take care of this alone and you need to be here for the village and your family" Sasuke turned around, facing Naruto fully "Don't leave them on their own, not after what just happened"

Naruto stayed quiet as he stared straight into Sasuke's eye, he left no room for argument and deep down he knew that he was right. He just couldn't leave his family right now.

With a sigh he simply nodded back. Sasuke let out a breath himself, glad that the argument was over now. "What are you going to do about Kawaki?"

Naruto unconsciously flinched, flashbacks of the recent events concerning the boy flashing before his eyes "He's downstairs at the labs"

Now it was Shikamaru who spoke as he crossed his arms "You do remember that even though he was the one to carry it out this was Boruto's plan all along right?"

"I know"

Shikamaru sighed "I checked on him last night before leaving, seems even he himself is taking this whole situation pretty hard"

Hearing that made a pang of sympathy grow deep down in Naruto's chest, he had witnessed the relationship between the two boys grow and evolve, how they went from barely tolerating each other to calling themselves brothers.

"I'll go talk to him…still I don't know where to go from there. I haven't told Hinata everything and I don't know if I even should to be honest"

"She needs to know, just take your time but don't let it wait too long. If anything happens it'll be better if she knows the truth"

The blond nodded at this. Off to the side he noticed Sasuke picking up a bag that he flung over his shoulder "You're leaving now?"

"Ah, the sooner the better"

"How long will you be away?"

"Two weeks at the most, I don't want to be away too long this first time"

"Yeah. Be careful, and send word back if you find anything"

With nothing more than a nod Sasuke took off, leaving the Hokage and his advisor to their thoughts.

Deep down a part of Sasuke was drowning in guilt, especially after seeing how desperate his friend was for information and how he had reacted to receiving Boruto's necklace.

When this all ended he felt like maybe Naruto would never want to speak to him again, he was effectively betraying his trust even if it was for the greater good or if this was something that Boruto himself had chosen to do.

Still, it didn't matter, he was prepared to harbor that hatred, he had been filled with nothing but in his younger years after all.

~o~

That evening Sasuke arrived back at the cabin, immediately his eyes landed on Boruto where he sat at the small kitchen table absentmindedly toying with a kunai while keeping his gaze on the window next to him.

The moment Boruto heard the door creak open fully he gripped the kunai and turned alert eyes on Sasuke, dropping his instinctive reaction a second later when he realized it was just him

"Sasuke-san, you're back already?"

"Ah, I needed to get some things settled back home before I could start moving without suspicion" closing the door behind him he dropped his bag on the couch

Boruto shifted uncomfortably as he leaned back on the chair he was sitting on "How…how are they?"

Sasuke sighed, asking himself if he should answer while questioning why the boy wanted to put such emotional and mental strain on himself "It's hard, they're fine…but a loss like this one will be taking a toll on them for a while"

"I see.." looking down he closed his eyes for a few seconds before standing up, approaching the Uchiha "So…what is the plan right now?"

"The plan is that I need to find clues that'll lead us to Code while also hiding and training you" he turned a more serious gaze on the boy "That eye of yours…have you used it ever since?"

Eye? The question alone startled him "How do you know about it?"

"You used it once against Momoshiki back then, the sharingan can distinguish chakra by color and back then I saw your eye had a different aura to it. So, have you used since?"

"Uhh…I did by accident years ago when we travelled to the hidden mist in the academy and when Shinki and I fought Urashiki. I don't even know how to activate it willingly"

"Do you know what it is?"

"I don't…" he was going to end it there but suddenly a memory came to mind "Wait, I remember something. Back then when Momoshiki spoke to me he had said that I'd inherited the power of the Otsutsuki…Urashiki also mentioned something about a 'Troublesome eye' when we fought him the second time"

This had Sasuke thinking "An Otsutsuki eye that even they fear…if you learn to use it and control it that might be a good asset on your side"

"Well yeah but how am I supposed to learn to use it when I don't even know how to activate it?"

"That's where training will come into play. We'll be leaving now and start investigating so make sure you have everything you might need"

Minutes later the pair were making last minute checkups before taking off, as the time to leave neared Boruto couldn't help but ask "where will we go?"

"For now we'll follow Code's tracks that he left, once I have some more info I'll return to the village to report and you'll wait out wherever we might stay" after this Sasuke reached inside his bag, pulling out a dark cloak similar to his own "Put this on, keep the hood on whenever we're out, we can't have anyone recognize you"

Taking the cloak Boruto nodded, throwing it on himself another question escaped his mouth before he could stop it as his gaze grew more serious "Do my friends know?"

At this Sasuke stayed silent, he couldn't tell him about his teammates, especially Sarada. When the silence stretched he asked again and the Uchiha decided to try and both shut down the subject as well as help the boy "Don't burden yourself with things you can do nothing about, it won't do you any good, knowing or not knowing makes no difference.

After that Sasuke noted how his expression fell, probably troubled by the thoughts that he was being a burden to his friends and family. Taking a few steps towards him he placed a hand on his shoulder to snap him from his thoughts. "We'll figure this out, you'll train and learn to control this power and after that you'll be able to return to the village. You won't be a threat to anyone else and you'll go back to your family"

Really taking in Sasuke's words an ember that had been previously burnt off sparked in his chest, determination, resolve and a promise to fix everything were his drive. For his loved ones he would put everything on the line and work towards a future where he could stop being afraid of hurting them.

A few minutes later the pair were leaving the hidden clearing, Boruto looked back at the small house and then up at the blue sky with a promise in his heart. Deep down an apology rang out to his friends and family, for the pain that he was probably putting him through.

Determination filled his blue eyes as he set his gaze forwards under the darkness of the hood of his cloak.

He would conquer this destiny that Momoshiki liked to flaunt so much, he would defeat him and once he had everything under control he would return.

Clenching his fist he vowed to protect his loved ones, from himself or from any other threat.

He would overcome this and return to his home, even if that was the last thing he did, he would go through with it and eagerly await the moment when he would be able to return.

Point of no return by lllBluebirdlll

Anime » Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Rated: T, English, Hurt/Comfort & Adventure, Boruto U., Naruto U., Sarada U., Sasuke U., Words: 32k+, Favs: 6, Follows: 6, Published: Apr 21 Updated: Sep 23

2Chapter 4: Ch 4 The Path Ahead

After much thought and consideration I decided to continue this story and develop it further as a sort of AU follwing the events of the first three chapters. I've actually been working on developing the storyline for a little over a month now and I've written several chapters ahead already but I don't know how often will updates be, there are a few reasons for this and I will explain how this story is planned to progress.

First of all I will be taking inspiration and possibly even using some of the situations presented in later chapters of the manga (chapter 72 as of posting this chapter) so there will be spoilers for some things there I just won't be specifying what said things would be, if you read the manga then you'll easily spot moments when I use it for direct reference.

Second point is that because of this first part I do need to wait for the manga to some extent and plan around some of those events to be included in this story as well which could mean rewriting some of the chapters that I've already done or modify them so that everything makes sense. For this reason I cannot say how often updates will be posted but I will say that at least as of right now I have the story fully planned to it's end and I just need to write and develop each chapter further so at the very least even if updates aren't that regular rest assured that this story will be completed and not left unfinished unles something major happens that doesn't allow me to keep writing in which case I will post an update explaining and possibly simply post the plot points I have written down undeveloped so that at least you guys know what my plan was with this story.

This was one hell of a long note but I had to clear up some things that are important for you guys to know so this will be the only chapter with such a long note more than likely.I feel like I'm forgetting something else but I can't think of it right now so if I do remember I'll post it as another note in a later chapter but for now I hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter Four

The Path Ahead

The grasp of sleep had a firm hold on her, not like she was trying very hard to fight it anyway, her head was still pounding and it wasn't until a minute later that the fog cleared from her memories and she remembered exactly what had happened that left her in this state.

Boruto was dead, he'd been taken over by Momoshiki again and in the small window where he snatched control back he let himself be killed by Kawaki to protect the village and those dear to him from another danger like Isshiki had been.

She kept her eyes closed in an attempt to lessen the pain in her head as she curled deeper into herself to fight off the deep sadness that clutched her chest. She didn't want to get up, she didn't want to do anything anymore, what was the use anyway? One of the most important people in her life was gone and there was nothing she could do to bring him back.

After a minute of silence she took a deep breath, what was she even doing? That was no way for her to think, what would Boruto say if he saw her wallowing in self pity like this and having these kinds of thoughts? She still had people she cared for and wanted to protect, she still had a purpose and a goal to achieve.

Almost instantly she regretted that last thought as it brought back the memory of her, Boruto and Mitsuki standing atop the Hokage monument when Boruto had declared that his goal was not to become Hokage. Trusting that role to her he declared instead that he would take the role of a supporting shinobi who would protect her.

Something that was now an impossible reality, a promise that was lost to the changing winds of fate.

After a little while longer she dragged herself to sit up, her head throbbed again and she closed her eyes tightly in the relative darkness of her room, she wondered why she was in so much discomfort considering that she hadn't done anything strenuous in the last few days and attributing it to what happened the previous night seemed like a stretch.

Swinging her legs off her bed she stands up slowly, testing her balance, she wavers for a second as her legs take a bit to accommodate her weight but otherwise has no trouble staying up. With a deep breath and slowly opening her eyes somewhat in order to see where she was going she headed to the bathroom, noticing that the room was much less darker than she anticipated which led her to believe that maybe it wasn't as early as she had thought when she first woke up.

Reaching the bathroom she flips the lights on, shutting her eyes immediately at the blinding light that seemed considerably brighter than usual, reaching out she opened the faucet and began to gather cool water on her cupped hands before splashing it on her face.

She feels the drowsiness wash away as the coolness of the water wakes her senses but the discomfort from before still remains.

Reaching for the small towel hanging on the wall next to her she pads off the remaining water, keeping her face covered a few extra seconds to shield herself from the bright light awaiting her. Slowly she brings the towel down and blinks a few times to test the brightness, her vision is blurry for a few seconds as she adapts to the light before it clears and she stares at her reflection in the mirror.

The instant she registers what she's looking at she stumbles backwards, knocking a few things over in the process as she keeps her eyes fixed on her own reflection staring back with crimson eyes that displayed a unique pattern that she'd never seen before; around her pupil was another dark ring framed by eight triangular-shaped markings that almost made her eyes look like a simple depiction of a sun.

~ o ~

Sakura had been making some tea in the kitchen when the sound coming from the bathroom snapped her attention, she immediately headed for her daughter as worry crawled at the back of her mind. Reaching the door she knocked a few times "Sarada? Are you okay?"

There was no answer to her call, the silence remained even after calling another two times and so she decided to simply go in fearing that something had happened to Sarada.

Inside she was received by the young Uchiha as she leaned heavily against the wall while her eyes were fixated on her reflection in the mirror, the trails left by dry tears still marking her face. It was then that Sakura noticed her eyes and she had to push down the surprise that wanted to make its way out.

She knew she had awakened it from the talk she'd had with Sasuke the previous night but seeing it there first hand was a whole other story.

Sarada turned to her mom, the fear clearly evident as tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes "Mama…"

Sakura closed the distance between them and embraced her daughter in a hug, rubbing slow circles on her back "You're okay, just take deep breaths and it'll be fine"

Slowly Sakura guided Sarada out and into the living room where she sat down with her on the couch. Sitting in front of her daughter she finally had a good look at her eyes, they were truly beautiful but at the same time a deep apprehension clutched at her chest at the knowledge of what those eyes meant and what their price could be for her daughter.

Softly keeping a hold on her hands Sakura looked into crimson eyes with calming emeralds "Just breath, close your eyes and retract your chakra the way you normally would with your sharingan"

She wordlessly nodded and closed her eyes, pushing back the fear in her chest as she focused on the chakra that had built up in her eyes.

It took her a few calming breaths until she regained her composure and she managed to get control over herself, controlling her flow of chakra she felt the throbbing pain in her head subside and when she opened her eyes again the world had lost the sharp detailed edges that she gained with the Sharingan.

Sakura let out a relieved breath when she met her daughter's midnight eyes once more, showing her a gentle smile as she brought a hand up to cup her face while channeling some of her own calming chakra to relieve the physical discomfort that she knew she was going through.

"Easy now, you'll probably still feel drained for a day or two so take it easy"

Gathering courage Sarada brought forth the one confirmation she needed "Mama…that was the Mangekyo Sharingan wasn't it?"

Sakura closed her eyes, of course she knew, they might not have told her much themselves but Sakura knew that she had done deep research on her clan from what little information she could find that wasn't restricted which…wasn't really much in all honesty "Yes, yes it was. It is the most powerful and ultimate evolution of the Sharingan and only a very select few members of the clan ever managed to awaken it"

"But how did I get it? Why?"

Sakura took a deep breath "From what your father told me once the Mangekyo manifests itself after the loss of a loved one or someone very close to you, I'm guessing that for you it was…because of Boruto"

The young Uchiha's face fell at that, she recalled what had happened with her dad at the training grounds the previous night, how when she had been crying there was acute pain in her head and a burning sensation in her eyes. She looked up to meet her mother's eyes again. "So…you know too?"

Sakura nodded, bringing in her daughter for a hug in hopes of providing some comfort.

After a minute Sarada pulled back "So papa also lost someone close to him when he got his eyes?"

A pang of fear threatened to claw at the back of her mind but she pushed it back before it gave her away "Your dad had a very difficult and complicated childhood, even from a young age he lost some of the people he held most dear"

"What happened? Back when I was first trying to know more about our clan the only thing the books said was that it almost lost its entire lineage to a grave misfortune"

"I…I think it's better if you hear it from your father, it's a very sensitive topic and I think that it's not my place to tell you his story since back then I was not there and I didn't understand anything until many many years later"

Sarada thought about this for a bit, wondering if she should try and get more information but eventually decided against it "Where is papa?"

"He left early this morning to try and track Code down, from what he told me that's become their first priority"

"Did he tell you when he'll be back?"

"Not exactly but he did say that he'll try to be back in less than two weeks, he was very concerned about you but…he also wanted to start getting ahead on trying to find Code after all that happened"

"I see…"

Sarada stood up from the couch then and started heading back in the direction of her room, trying to think of a way to distract her mind from last night's news and today's discovery. Slightly worried Sakura sood up as well "Sarada, there is one more thing"

At this she stopped and looked back at her mom, staying quiet but showing she was paying attention to prompt her to continue "Don't show anyone your eyes, and more importantly don't use them, they are a powerful asset but their price is just as big"

Any other time she would've probably asked what she meant exactly but at the moment all she wanted was to get out so instead she simply nodded "I'll be careful. I'm going to go out for a walk"

"Just take things easy, you'll need some time until your body gets used to the change in your eyes and the change itself takes a big toll on your chakra"

"I'll be fine…thanks"

Sarada simply changed into some of her sparse civilian clothes, a simple gray shirt and black shorts were the first thing she saw and she didn't feel like giving it much thought either so this would do for today. A little while later she was leaving their apartment, with no set destination in mind she simply let her feet carry her wherever while her mind tried to process everything that had happened in the span of less than twenty four hours.

Sakura couldn't keep the worry she was feeling for her daughter from bugging the back of her mind. For a second she considered trying to convince her from leaving but another part of her knew that maybe some fresh air and a walk could help her get her thoughts sorted out.

Sitting in silence she remembered what she and Sasuke had talked about the previous night, with a sigh she headed for her room and picked up the small bottle containing a few of Boruto's pills that Sasuke had taken.

She didn't like to keep this knowledge from Naruto and Hinata or Sarada for that matter, but after Sasuke's explanation she could understand why Boruto had chosen this and why Sasuke had decided to help him. With new determination to do whatever she could to help Boruto in the slight hope of getting him back sooner she grabbed her white coat from her closet and headed straight for the Hospital.

~ o ~

She walked the streets of the village aimlessly, not really having a destination in mind since the reason she left her house in the first place was just because she felt like she needed to get out. It confused her how when waking up she wanted nothing but to stay in the relative darkness of her room all day but now she found herself needing to leave.

The sky was clear and the sun shone golden rays that bathed the village as people walked around taking care of their business, people heading to and from work, families walking together, kids running around. A bitter thought came to mind as she thought about these people and how happy they were considering what had happened the previous night.

She shook her head. They didn't know…they weren't at fault here, why was she suddenly feeling bitter at them for something they didn't and probably wouldn't know?

The village officials would probably want to keep under wraps what had happened and they could just make an excuse about him being on a long term mission or something if people started asking questions and no one would be the wiser.

She turned her head down and simply looked at her feet as she walked, looking away from the bright glare of the sun that almost felt as it it were mocking her miserable mood, a thousand thoughts and emotions ran through her and she didn't know how to process half of them; from the fear and uncertainty surrounding her new eyes to the deep sadness that she still made her chest feel heavy.

A stray tear ran down her face as her mind drifted to cherished memories without her permission and she quickly wiped it away before quickening the pace of her walk. 'Stupid Boruto, why'd you have to go and play the sacrificial role again?'

She wandered for about an hour but in her mind she didn't really register the passage of time, retreating from her inner turmoil back to the outside world only once she found herself standing atop the Hokage monument.

#Boruto #Point of no return fanfiction

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