On the outskirts of Konoha village, a lemon-blonde woman draped in a black cloak was overlooking the tapestry of the village. Despite wearing unstable-looking high-heeled boots, she was stably standing on top of a narrow branch of a tree even taller than the fifty-meter-tall wall that bordered the village. She didn't even use chakra to keep herself stable, and it seemed as if she naturally had a very good balance. The woman currently sported a scowl on her face as she clawed the trunk of the tree, ripping a chunk of its wood with her bare hand.
"Kashin Koji, you fucker …" Delta cursed her partner, who had left her outside and entered the village as if the detection barrier surrounding the village had no effect on him. "You really are a traitor, aren't you? Leaving me here while you go and prance around in Konoha… How the hell is your chakra registered as friendly in their sensory team?"
The two of them had spent the night scouting the village's perimeter, looking for viable ways to infiltrate the village without causing too much mayhem. When Kashin Koji went off the rails and directly entered the village after the sun rose without triggering any alarms, it was what sparked Delta's frustration.
"I never should've let you convince me to lay low. We should just go in and take the vessel. If that Hokage tries to interfere, we'll simply kill him. But noo … They can hide Kawaki if we show too much aggression. Bullshit."
She was seething inside but didn't have any solution other than to wait for Kashin Koji.
"It's already been more than three hours." The glowering look on her face made her look like she was about to burst a vessel in her forehead. "I'm going to slaughter him once he shows up … He isn't coming back."
"Argh!" She punched the tree she was standing on, causing the bark to split through the middle. With an annoyed look of disgust, she jumped to another tree.
"I'll look for him myself. They detect chakra, right?" She swiped her arm behind her back and raised her cloak all the way up as it fluttered in the wind. The action revealed the turquoise green dress that she wore underneath, along with black and pink striped tights and thigh-high white heeled boots. Her dress had triangular cutouts on her shoulders and a similar cutout on her chest, revealing a prominent bust and cleavage. The lower tip of the chest cutout extended into a thin line that went all the way down to her navel. On her back, there was a large heart-shaped cutout that revealed a large chunk of her skin. Suddenly, her skin cracked and formed the shape of a triangle as a hissing sound came out of her back.
A machine came out of her back with six legs— two on each of its sides and in the center, it had a thruster in the center that allowed it to float in the air.
"Go, look for that foolish vessel," she ordered. "I'm done relying on that traitor Kashin Koji."
The drone quickly flew into the village without triggering any alarms or even being noticed by anyone. Due to its size, anyone who saw it from a distance would assume it to be some kind of bird.
As Delta waited for the drone to provide her with some valuable intel, a loud explosion caught her attention.
"Hmm?" She raised her brows curiously and noticed a large dome of light appear out of nowhere in the forested part of the village. It glowed with a predominant white but also had consistent weavings of black that flashed from within.
She immediately redirected her drone in that direction to see what was going on and if the explosion had anything to do with the vessel. The moment she found anything related to her target, she would start moving without caring about any alarms.
…
Naruto was unresponsive as he stared at the empty crater.
[I told you to not speak in jinxes, did I not?] Kurama asked in his head.
"Master," Sarada called out. "Where is Boruto?"
"Daddy …" Himawari simply pulled his sleeve, prompting him to give an answer.
Naruto pressed his lips together and took a deep breath before answering, "It's complicated."
"What's going on?" Sarada asked.
"Of all the things that could happen. Why would it be this?" Naruto mumbled before speaking to Sarada. "He's perfectly fine. Rest assured. Could you bring Kawaki here? I need to examine him."
[What happened?]
[Give me a minute to analyze things, Kurama. The Dominion Mark tells me that he isn't anywhere I can process right now.]
[What does that mean?]
[It means that he isn't on this planet. He isn't even in any isolated dimension connected to our planet or reality. The only logical conclusion that I can come to is that he is in the alternate reality that Ino went to.]
[How? There is no alternate version of him to displace. No one appeared here in his place either.]
[That's the thing that baffles me. This tells me that his Jōgan somehow resonated with Kawaki's Kāma and sent him to the closest alternate reality. Do you still believe fate is no big deal? With me here, Boruto's destiny would never be fulfilled because I wouldn't ever let him grow under adversity. As a rectification measure, he was sent to the closest place that I could not interfere with. If not for the Dominion Mark, I would truly be helpless despite all of my knowledge and skills.]
[This is bullshit, you know that, right? What are you going to tell Hinata when she realizes that you triggered something that sent her son away from her permanently?]
[First, I didn't trigger it. It would happen sooner or later. It was simply expedited due to Kawaki's entanglement. Second, it's not permanent. I just need to get the Flying Raijin to work between realities. Also, that reality will collide with ours eventually. If nothing works, Boruto will be with us in a couple of years at most.]
[You sound far too unbothered by this situation.]
[You're acting like he was dropped in the middle of a warzone. Once he regains consciousness, I'll guide him to get a feel of everything and make sure that he's safe. If he's in any danger, I'll figure out a way to create a shadow clone to help him.]
[This was a dumb move.]
[You're acting like a worried mother who just lost her cub.]
[If you don't deal with the situation correctly, you can say goodbye to your already crumbling marriage.]
[Hinata will understand. I'll give her the truth straight up. I just need to figure out a way to let her talk to him directly so that she isn't too worried all the time.]
Kurama snorted, expressing a fully disappointed stance in Naruto who looked in a specific direction, noticing what seemed to be a misshapen bird hovering in the distance. He raised his brow at it while Sarada dragged Kawaki's unconscious body toward him and let him go.
"Hey, wake up!" Sarada shook him roughly. Her voice was quivering a little, expressing her worry about her teammate. "What did you do to my friend?"
"He didn't do anything, Sarada," Naruto said, calming her down with a hand on her shoulder. "He was just as surprised as Boruto when his Kāma started reacting with Boruto's eye."
[Naruto, a hostile chakra has just entered the village. It's fast and approaching your location.]
Ino transmitted her message to Naruto.
[I'll take care of it. No need to mobilize anyone. It's an Inner from Kara. I'm going to transmit another chakra signature to you. Locate it for me, will you? It's probably going to be somewhere near me but suppressed and hidden.]
[Got it.]
***
If you like the story, follow it and leave a review and whatever else, it motivates me a lot. I try not to leave any mistakes in the chapters, but if you find something glaring, let me know, and I'll try to fix it.
If you want to support me, check out my Patréon. I post advanced chapters there and do weekly polls to decide the stories that I will be posting for the week. No pressure though, I'm eventually going to post my content publicly regardless.
www.patrèon.com/addyctive
(Replace the è with e)