Boruto - Lost in Time

Part 1: Control || Ch 13 || Shell

Boruto's pov:

Where... am I?

Everything around me was dark. My body felt weak as if I had been robbed of all strength I once had. As I tried to move I felt myself pulled back by red glowing chakra chains that were wrapped around my hands and ankles.

I was still a prisoner. I was never free. I would rot here forever. Nobody could ever come here and save me. Nobody would even try to save me.

Slowly it struck me: I had noone, I was alone.

My mind was racing and yet it couldn't find anything. It couldn't even find who I was. I was an empty body left to die here. I knew that much. Everything else was just gone. It felt as if flames had robbed me of everything I once had.

Who...am I? How did I get here? What happened?

But no matter how much I tried to remember there was nothing that came back to me. It was so still, so peacefully and yet filled with an eerie atmosphere. Looking down onto my body it was full of bruises, cuts and deep wounds with blood still flowing out of it. The red liquid slowly dropped down in front of me forming a pool of fresh blood.

Red. That colour. It meant something, I think. Where had I seen it again?

The moment I tried to grasp a memory fire spread around me to stop me from reaching it. The holy flames circled around me as if they were mocking my misery.

How had it come to this?

This place seemed more like a genjutsu than reality. Or maybe the afterlife.

"Am...I...dead?", my voice whispered but it sounded strange and broken.

I was only a shell, my confusion was clouding all other emotions. If I was dead then why was I still trapped? Why couldn't I move on? Where was the light that should have guided me away from this gruel world? What was still holding me inside this cage like a bird that could never be free and fly?

"Why am I..."

My voice broke as a small tear left my eye and dropped into the pool of blood. It made it move for just a second but the longer I watched the red substance the more my chest hurt as if my heart was cut repeatedly.

"Itai...."

Just why did it hurt so much? Just what in the world had happened? Who am I? Why do I need to go back?

Suddenly I heard a quiet voice from far away. It was out of reach and somehow all around me, I couldn't even tell from which direction it came from. A girly voice? Hearing it was like a magical spell making the pain in my heart slowly disappearing. It felt warm as if no harm could ever get through it. Yet it was filled with so much sadness that it made my heart ache. It felt as if her hope itself was breaking.

I struggled to get to it no matter where it was but the chains wouldn't loosen even a single bit. Tiredly I gave up and looked down again staring at the redly pool.

Was this my end?

♪────────────ＯＯ────────────♪

Sarada's pov:

Even though we were all heavily injured we ignored our physical pain and hurried back to the village. Konohamaru-sensei was carrying Boruto's motionless body in his hands even though he himself was almost out of chakra and at the edge of fainting. Behind him Mitsuki and I were jumping as fast as we could and hoped that it wasn't too late, that somehow Nanadaime or mama could help him.

He can't die. He has to live. Please.

To finish the mission Konohamaru-sensei had sent a Kage Bunshin to the village which wouldn't be in danger anymore even though the method we reached that goal had been everything else than how we had hoped to complete the mission.

My medical ninjutsu was still not as good as it should have been to provide first aid. Furthermore my chakra was almost fully used which had made it even weaker. I didn't know what miracle could happen to bring him back to life but one had to happen somehow. The black lines on his body were still there though they weren't glowing anymore. But if they didn't disappear and Momoshiki didn't come back maybe Boruto could be saved?

I bit my lip to stop myself from crying, I knew that my eyes were swollen red, my vision was blurry even though I was wearing glasses. I couldn't stop shaking from the fear of losing him. He was an idiot, but he was a friend no matter what. He couldn't give up. That baka was always doing stupid things to get attention, his pranks were annoying to everyone but exactly because of that everyone needed him. Without Boruto the world wouldn't be the same anymore.

"Konohamaru-sensei...", Mitsuki began, making me coming back to reality, "...we won't make it in time. It will still take hours for us to reach Konoha. Boruto needs help now."

My gaze followed Mitsuki's and we both looked at the blonde whose eyes were still closed, his chest wasn't moving at all and we all knew too well that he was already...

"Then what do you propose?"

"Transportation ninjutsu. You can summon the toads right? Couldn't you ask them to summon us to Konoha?", he asked making me almost facepalm myself for not thinking of that earlier.

We had already wasted time that could have been crucial for Boruto.

"I thought about that but my chakra had only  been enough for one Kage Bunshin. I'm completely out of chakra. There is no way I could use the summoning jutsu now."

"No way...", I whispered, my hope shattering even further.

"What if we combine our chakra? The three of us?", I pressed out even though the idea almost seemed absurd due to us all having no chakra left.

"We weren't using any right now. Maybe we regenerated enough to use it together.", Mitsuki agreed while I was looking at Konohamaru-sensei as he was unsure whether to follow our idea.

"You guys, it won't help if we all kill ourselves in the process."

"We won't. Boruto had been strong so we have to try our best too! Please, sensei!"

We both stopped forcing Sensei to halt as well and sigh even though I knew from his sceptical face that he wasn't fond of this idea.

"Alright you guys. But don't even think about passing out. I'm not going to explain how everyone in my team managed to die."

"Don't worry. Nobody is going to die. We will all live."

Please Boruto...just wait a little longer.