Next Time

また今度

Chapter 1: Scroll

The air hit their faces without warning. Naruto felt himself sway slightly, and planted his feet firmer into the ground. Hands covering his face, he shut his eyes against the onslaught of dust from the cave, the ends of his hitai-ate flapping in the wind.

The wind died suddenly down, leaving the place feeling strangely empty. Gingerly, Naruto took a step forward, his eyes slow to adjust to the abrupt darkness of the cave.

"Sasuke? Sakura-chan?" Naruto called.

"Daijoubu da," said Sasuke, his voice close behind the young Hokage.

"Sakura-chan wa?"

"I'm here," Sakura said, her voice unsteady as if she'd inhaled some dust. Waving his hand in front of his face in an attempt to dissipate some of the foreboding air, Naruto turned around, blinking a couple times before the silhouette of his teammates swam unsteadily into view.

Sasuke stood in the entrance of the cave, just a few steps behind Naruto. He had his arm around his wife, holding her steady as she coughed, each cough echoing rough and raspy in the hollow cave. He had one hand on her back, and Naruto's bijuu-heightened vision caught an unmistakable hint of worry in his friend's stoic Uchiha-face.

"I'm okay," Sakura said, "I'm okay…" Her voice sounded weak, but it had lost its scratchiness. "So…" she said, walking forward to where Naruto stood, scanning the cave in curiosity. "What is this place?"

"I don't know," admitted Naruto, turning to look around the cave – which, he now saw, was much more of a cavern. It reminded him eerily of the Akatsuki hideout where they'd chased Sasori and Deidara to all those years ago. He swept his gaze over the entire place. Its round walls were smooth rock, and the ceiling was some fifty feet away. Despite the giant door they'd just opened up, the cave appeared strangely dark, as if the light were shy of invading its ancient depths.

Sasuke walked up to Naruto and Sakura, his Sharingan gleaming a deep red against the black of his silhouette. "It's not on any of the maps…" he said, his hand coming to rest on the hilt of his sword, the one that had replaced the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. "Could the enemy have been leading us here…?"

"Impossible," said Naruto. "If they'd set up a hideout in the Land of Fire, we'd have known… The scouts would have noticed if they'd been staying here long enough to settle down, believe it."

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke said with characteristic contempt, walking further into the cave. "Half of them are green boys who've yet to hold a kunai, and the other half are too senile to know when to stick them in places and when to stick other things. All they know is drinking and rutting. A few whips a day might do them some good. Although," he looked at Naruto over his shoulder with a smirk, "I doubt the guillotine would go amiss either."

Naruto sighed. "You make us sound like old Ame, Sasuke. You can't drink on duty. Besides, most of them were there during the war. They're all our age. How are they senile?"

Sasuke shrugged. "They're lazy and incompetent. Though, I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, considering the Hokage they look up to," he said, rolling his head back to meet Naruto's eyes again.

"It's – "

"Enough, you know," Sakura chided. She didn't appear angry, however, merely weary. "Will you two cut it out? You're not twelve anymore, you know. You both have families. Can you act a little bit more like grown-ups?"

"Sakura-chan, but – "

"No, Naruto."

"But – "

"No, shut up," she said firmly.

"Sakura – " Sasuke began.

"You too, Sasuke-kun. Let's focus on this cave."

Naruto sighed. She's right, you know, came a certain kitsune's voice in his mind.

"Oh, not you too!" Naruto groaned.

"Is it Kurama?" Sakura said.

"Yeah…"

"What's he saying?" the pinkette said eagerly.

"Siding with you, as usual."

Sakura smirked. "Of course. Honestly, sometimes I feel like Kurama and I are the only adults in this team."

I feel you, Kurama said, and Naruto reluctantly relayed his words. I know exactly how it feels to be stuck with one of them all day.

"I know, right! And – "

"Weren't you going to focus on the cave?" came Sasuke's lazy voice from beyond her, bored and more careless than Shikamaru.

"Oh, right," said Sakura, her cheeks acquiring a sudden reddish tinge. She cleared her throat. "Anyway…"

There's a strange feel to this place, Kurama said. It's like there's some ancient jutsu at work here.

Ancient? Naruto thought. You mean like Super Sage Gramps ancient?

Not that ancient.

"What it is?" Sasuke said.

"Kurama says there's some ancient jutsu here."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking carefully around the cave.

"Miro yo, are wo…" the Sharingan user said, pausing.

Take a look at that…

"What?"

Sasuke pointed to the end of the cave. There, far away out of the dying sun's light, there lay a roundish shape, barely distinguishable from the rocks in the thick blanket of darkness. Naruto took some steps forward, but he could not discern what it was.

"No clue…"

"Naruto," Sasuke said. "Go Nine-tails mode."

"I know," the Hokage said, and his chakra began to act up in the characteristic jinchuuriki manner. Orange light spread over his body like luminous water, and in one swift move, formed a long coat, the energy from his transformation billowing outward like a ripple in a silent pond. He looked back at Sasuke, a slight smirk on his face.

"Hn," the Uchiha said, walking past him, pointedly not meeting his eyes.

"Sakura-chan, guard the door. Me and the bastard will go and check that thing out."

"Wakatta wa," Sakura said, nodding and assuming her station.

"Why are you giving orders?" said Sasuke from behind him.

Naruto turned around, his lazy smirk still in place. "I'm Hokage, bitch. Do you want me to imprison you for insubordination?"

"You wanna go, bitch?" said Sasuke, pulling his right sleeve back.

"You're on a mission," said Sakura.

"He started it!" said Naruto, glaring at Sasuke.

"You sound like a child!" said Sakura. Sasuke made to smirk, but Sakura turned to him. "And you!" she snapped.

"Tch," said Sasuke, ignoring Naruto's smug expression, and started forward. "Let's go, dead last."

Naruto fell into step beside him. The Kyuubi's cloak provided a flickering orange lamp, illuminating almost a fourth of the cave. As they walked further in, the little sunlight that managed to make its way through the nigh impenetrable canopy of the forest into the cave faded, until it was so dark your average shinobi would be completely blinded without the cloak.

They stopped before the outer wall. A black scroll, smooth as the surface of water. It appeared more liquid than solid, as if midnight had been condensed into the palm of someone's hand then fashioned into a scroll. Sasuke looked to Naruto, and the Hokage nodded.

Sasuke knelt down and picked the scroll up. "Doesn't seem to be any malicious intent in this chakra," he said, straightening.

Naruto extended a hand toward it, pausing an inch from its surface. "But yo," said Naruto, furrowing his brow, "do you feel that?"

"Aa."

There was a chakra inside, unlike anything they'd encountered before. It wasn't particularly powerful, and definitely did not feel as ancient as the Sage of Six Paths', but it was odd, almost alien in a way. It seemed to pulse outward at regular intervals, eerily like a heart pumping blood, if the blood were a dark metallic blue.

"My chakra doesn't affect it," said the Uchiha with a frown. "Yours?"

"Let's try with Sakura-chan first. I'd rather not flood it with Kurama's chakra."

"Fair enough. Sakura!" Sasuke called.

Within a second, Sakura had shunshin'd over to them. "Show," she said, holding out her hand, and Sasuke handed her the scroll. They waited as she interacted with it, but after a moment she looked up to them. "Nothing."

Naruto sighed, and took the scroll from her. He looked to his teammates in turn, who both nodded. Naruto took a breath, closing his eyes for a second. Then he opened them to look at the scroll and trickled a hint of chakra into it.

For a second nothing happened. Sakura tilted her head, and Sasuke opened his mouth to speak.

Then there was a flash of light, and anything he was going to say was swallowed as a strange, overwhelming silence seemed to press down on Naruto's ears. He shut his eyes against the light, gritting his teeth. The air rushed around him, and he felt the sensation of being lifted off his feet and thrown a long distance. The scroll thundered violently, seeming to shake the entire forest.

Then it collapsed to the ground, the light fading as quickly as it had showed up. The silence returned, but the walls of the cave seemed to ring with the echo of the strange thunder, as if a pain had been beaten into them by years of relentless and ruthless inculcation, crying out in agony. The chakra still pulsated, the heart beat stemming from it slowing to gentle ripples.

The cave was empty, the three shinobi nowhere to be seen.

I really shouldn't be starting something else while I'm working on the Flower We Saw That Day, but I'm just not happy with the way it's turning out and it's frustrating. So, in celebration of... Boruto? I decided to write this. I am so not looking forward to Boruto. I stuck up for them through years of filler and bad decisions while so many others left, but this might just be the last straw for me. Kishicunt, stop ruining my childhood anime for fucking money. Anyway, I wanted to write something that wasn't Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso for a change. Hopefully this break enables me to come back strong with the Flower We Saw That Day.

Oh, and please review!