A Different Kind Of Journey

Author"s note: Hey there Readers!, Looks like we"ve finally entered Arc 3! I Hope you guys enjoy! I would also like to thank you guys for the Reviews. Favorites, and follows :) Thank you for also sharing your tips and thoughts for the story..

Take note 3: This chapter was quite a challenge to write but I hope I managed to blend in ideas well in this chapter.

Take note 4: For any questions about Kawaki, He"ll be in the story.

Thank you for Understanding :)

Arc 3 Phase 1 Finale

Chapter 11: Learning the Truth Part 2

I"m from a place as the "Pure Land."

The trio was silent when they heard the word "Pure land" especially, Sarada who knew that the place that the latter was referring to was none other than the aftelife, the place where everyone goes to when they pa.s.sed. There were mixed reactions from the three right now. Miyuki saw shock, surprise and disbelief, many other emotions all rolling into one package on the trio"s faces. Before they can bombard her with questions yet again, she continued to speak.

"If you want to know more, then listen carefully, our time is very short."

Miyuki explained, she knew that this was going to be telling of a long story.

"As you all know, The Pure Land or Afterlife is a place or world where everyone goes to when they pa.s.sed on. I also agree with you that it is indeed very wonderful place for everyone. However, as this point in time, things are not the same as everyone expected it to be." She paused for a little while," Apparently, there are things that had been going on right now that not everyone is aware off."

"What do you mean?" Boruto asked.

Miyuki stayed quiet for a few moments, before taking another deep breath and continuining the story." I supposed all of you heard or are familiar with the story of how the world and everything was created right?." She said, while the trio simply nodded.

"Well, what if I tell you there is a lost part of history that has been probably long forgotten? What if there"s a much more bigger conspiracy happening from behind the scenes? Have you wondered why all of these events in history seemed strangely mean"t to happened?" She paused for a little bit. There were mostly surprised reactions from the trio.

(INTERVIEW)

"To be honest, it was a bit tough to explain all these things to them. I can"t tell them everything, so I had to stick with the more basic and  important parts.

-Miyuki

She then continued." Thousands of years ago, after the dawn of creation, there was poweful malevolent winged being known as "Chaos" that ravaged the world, no one knew were it came from but it was considered to be the entire aspect of evil itself." She explained.

"Chaos?" Sarada muttered under her breath. The name sounded so familiar as if she had read that on a book somewhere.

Miyuki simply nodded." Yes, and I bet you kids are really lucky enough not to live during that time." She commented. She was personally there to witnessed the wrath of the being. She then continued." It destroyed anything that came across its path and eventually its power was so overwhelming that it almost wipe out every living thing existing. She paused yet again.

"So this "Chaos" is basically the ultimate being of evil?" Boruto clarified, in fact he finally remembered reading about that creature from the book that he photocopied back at the Suna Grand Library.

Miyuki nodded. "Yes." She simply said.

Things were pretty much getting interesting for the trio, especially Boruto himself, who wants to know everything that he can gained knowledge off, there are things that he wasn"t aware off and since he can see the truth in this person"s eyes, he knew that he can finally know everything from the beginning.

Miyuki then continued." There were many attempts to prevent its destruction from spreading across but all of them were considered failures. Eventually, only Kami has the enough power to matched the being itself and that fully cost his entire life in the end." She paused to gather her breath.

(TRUTH)

There was silence that took over inside the office, the trio were wide eye staring at the young woman. They all have the same reactions: Surprised, Shocked, and Disbelief. There was no way that Kami could be killed or gone that easily. He was the Kami-sama! the one that created everything and the powerful!

Himawari, was the one who was the most affected and shocked. All her life, she prayed every night to Kami, thanking him for the wonderful blessings, the protection, and the guidance for her family, and now she finds out that He was really gone. She didn"t expected this.

(INTERVIEW)

"I really can"t believe that Kami-sama had been long gone and everyone is believing that He"s still here." 

-Himawari

Miyuki then took another deep breath, she then continued her story once again." Kami didn"t have the grudge against anything, He knew that a clash between him and the creature would destroy and affect most of the world, so he chose the safest way possible." She said.

She would go on to explained that the only way for everything to be in one piece is to seal the being away instead of destroying him and endangering everything in the world. Kami loved his creations and it was a difficult choice that would put everything in risk but he was glad that he chose this way.

"In order for Chaos to be sealed, everyone had to be cooperative, from the ancient human alliances, deities, tailed beasts, and celestial clans such as the Otsutsuki clan, had united for the first time to stop and seal the beast and they did managed to successfully seal it." Miyuki paused for awhile.

"So what happened next? What happened to Kami?" Sarada asked.

Miyuki closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her memories brought her back to the time of his sacrifice. She then opened her eyes and continued." When the beast was successfully sealed, it also left a very huge trail of destruction which left the world in its weakest state. So, in order to restore the world back to its original state, Kami willingly gave up himself and became that new energy that would sustained life to the world." She explained.

Miyuki paused here, letting silence gather in the room as everyone digested her words with varying degrees of shock. Himawari had also used the time to open and eat her small bag of potato chip to which she brought along. The trio were quite and simply staring at her like she had just told them that she witnessed every event in history. The wide eyed, jaw dropping expressions their faces held was enough that she began snickering, a little bit to which consequently brought them out of their shock.

Boruto was the first one to speak. "So when Kami gave up his himself to bring everything back, then who took charged of everything from then on?" He asked.

"That"s a good question Boruto!" She gave a small mature smile and continued." After the sealing of Chaos and Kami"s sacrifice, a council was then immediately formed to keep his legacy alive and also to continue his works and goals."

I"m also a member of that council, for your information." She added.

Sarada widened her eyes in shocked." A council in the afterlife? Now that"s something new." She commented. This was the first time that she heard a council being formed in the otherside, she was wondering if there was a governmental system in the Pure Land itself.

Miyuki just smiled and continued." There would be peace and harmony between worlds for another thousand years, until wars and conflict would eventually resurface yet again in the human world." She paused again as she adjusted her seat and continued." By that time, every conflict and war would be traced to your home land which would be known as the Elemental Nations in centuries time." She paused.

Meanwhile, Sarada was very much in her thoughts, which took her to the countless books and history that she"d read overtime. She recalled learning about the time before the dawn of the Shin.o.bi era and realized that during those times, the majority of the land itself was plague by countless wars and violence.

(INTERVIEW)

"To learn that there"s a government-like ent.i.ty governing the Pure Land and everything was something very unexpected for me. Regarding the political side of it, it did make sense."

-Sarada

"The council was very much aware of what was happening and did the best to create a win to win solution, but although it would only end up in a number of arguments and debates that would eventually go nowhere." She said." I also tried my best to sort the problems out and think of the best solution, but it was just a useless effort because of the fact that not everybody agreed with each other"s opinions." She said.

She would also explained that the "Pure Land" wasn"t the kind of place that it used to be as just like the Human world, it was also plague with unrest. She was present in all those meetings and she had seen the lack of unity as everyone in the higher levels as they constantly argued for the future of the world and it also caused major delays to Kami"s goal of maintaning peace and progress.

"And I thought the afterlife was such a happy place." Boruto thought. The general knowledge was that everything in the next world was very much perfect.

"As time pa.s.sed by, not a single solution was created, and since everyone was very busy arguing, there were things that happened in the human world without our knowledge." She paused.

"What things?" Sarada asked.

Miyuki then continued." It all started when a member of a celestial race called the Otsutsuki clan arrived in the human world in search of a G.o.d tree, a fruit tree that their whole clan needed to survive, Kami created these trees for the clan itself, and one of them was located in the human world. The main problem in this situation was that this member, who was sent to collect the fruits, disobeyed the clan"s orders and became rogue." She said and paused.

Sarada, who was the more knowledgeable person in terms of Shin.o.bi history amongst the trio, realized on who was this clan member, it was none other than Kaguya Otsutsuki herself, the Sage of the six paths" mother.

Miyuki gave a small smile." This girl knew her history." She thought and continued." There was an unclear or vague reason on why she became rogue and betrayed her clan but in my personal opinion, someone or something attempted to talk and convinced her to do it and to continue on, she eventually settled in this world and fell in love with a human." She explained.

"So what about the G.o.d tree? What did she do with it?" Boruto asked.

"During those times, wars and conflicts still ravaged the entirety of the land, and eventually she lose her faith in humanity and had gone insane, that she decided to take matters into her own hands. By eating the fruit of the G.o.d tree, she gained power, ended all human conflicts. She also led everyone to believed that she was their saviour and by the people"s blessing, she single handedly ruled the land." She explained.

"Did the council did anything to stop it?" Sarada asked.

Miyuki simply shook her head." As I said, they were pretty much ignorant of what was happening and focused more on the other matters, so without the council"s interventions, the human world became an unofficial territory of one insane rabbit girl." She said which caused little chuckles from the trio.

"Since the council was the main governing body of everything and did nothing, This was considered as a violation, although no preventive measures were used, I decided to take matters in my own hands and headed to the Human world to handle the problem." She said.

"So what did you do?" Boruto asked.

"Well, I carefully observed the situation going on, I would soon discover that she had two sons which pretty much will be the reason that will caused her downfall in the end. and so long story short, I talked to those two sons of hers and shown them the reality and her true motives, which was to kill them and take their power and rule everything again, and of course a chain reaction events happened that led to a battle between her and her two sons that ended up destroying the original moon, and although it also ended in her defeat and she was apparently sealed inside a new moon that was formed to keep her from being freed once again in the end." She paused to catch her breath.

"So basically, the elemental nations was Otsutsukinized, then freed and goes back to being normal again?" Boruto summarized and clarified.

Miyuki simply nodded." Pretty much, after that the brothers would then part ways, one would stay on the moon as a guardian and one would remained in the human world to spread the concept the Otsutsuki clan"s chakra and the way of using it." She said.

"So that would be the Sage of the Six Paths." Sarada spoke this time.

Miyuki nodded." Yup, but I prefer to call him "Hagomoro" or maybe "Hago" for short." She smiled and continued." Eventually, the council would discover of what has happened and I was called back and scolded for what I"ve done." She added.

"Hey, but that"s wrong! at least you did something to solve the problem Datteba.s.sa!" Boruto exclaimed.

Miyuki sighed." Yes I know that, but eventually they gave me a warning that if I would do it again without their or knowledge or permission, I would be suspended or be banned from going to the human world again." She explained." So with that, I never went to your world for the next centuries but I still kept in touch of what was happening and witnessed your history unfold." She said. She mean"t the whole history of starting from the dawn of Shin.o.bi onwards to the present modern time.

There was a silence in the room yet again. Miyuki stopped for awhile to let the trio absorb some of the basic knowledge and information that she had told them. To be honest, it was a bit difficult for her to recall every specific memory from those thousand years of events and history. There were a lot, and she only picked those which are relevant and important to know.

Boruto simply nodded." So that means wars and conflicts still persisted even though Kaguya was gone?" He asked.

"Yes, despite efforts of Hagomoro to spread peace across land, the people would eventually weaponized their newfound knowledge of chakra and used it for the upcoming wars. Those wars would be known according to your history as the "Great Shin.o.bi Wars", including the recent one which was the fourth and of course the council did nothing yet again." She explained.

"So why do you always blamed the council for everything bad that happens?" Sarada asked.

Miyuki sighed." Because we are the ones responsible for maintaining the balance of the world, and simply I lost my faith in the council because of the incompetence that was growing amongst them and this is why you three came into the picture." She explained.

"During those times, I conducted several secret investigations to learn more and get to the bottom of all of these mess and I soon discovered that there was someone behind causing all of these wars and conflicts and that certain someone was also responsible for causing the Kaguya incident to happen many years ago."

Miyuki paused for a little a bit. She saw the faces of the trio, who really wanted to know on the main culprit and the reason why their home was attacked and destroyed, she then continued." When I paid a visit to the place of the Otsutsuki clan, the clan officials informed me that Kaguya was the daughter of the clan leader and the heiress as she was supposed to take the reigns by the time her father steps down, although she suddenly left one day and headed for the human world without any valid reason thus the rest is history."

"Wait so this Kaguya person is the heiress of the clan and she left just like that? But I thought she was sent to harvest the weird tree or something?" Boruto asked.

Miyuki just sighed." Well, those are the accounts from the differently sources, one is the general information of her being sent to the world then getting insane and the other one is just suddenly leaving her own family for no apparent reason or whatsoever." She explained.

"So which one is true?" Sarada asked.

"Well if you asked me, I would believed that the Otsutsuki themselves are telling the truth, although I was able to have the chance to talk to a close friend of the rabbit girl, and he told me that before she left, she was increasingly bothered and concerned about something, she also told him that she was being watched and threatened by someone, but she wouldn"t reveal on who was it until that fateful time she left her homeworld, when she went to the human world, she left a letter to him telling that the main culprit came from the high council of the Pure land." She said.

Boruto"s eyes widened in surprised." Wait a sec, so the one causing all of these mess is a member from the high council?" He asked.

Miyuki sighed." Apparently yes, I was also shocked and the results of the investigation led me to the fact that there was indeed someone causing all of these problems and by the time I found out on who it was, I was too late." She said.

"So who"s the main culprit?" Sarada asked.

Miyuki took a deep a breath to gather herself, she was about to open her mouth when she caught a glimpse of a dark figure that flew pa.s.sed by the open window. The trio also followed her direction and turned to the window just find nothing, then they turned back and gave her a confused look.

Miyuki sighed and gave a small smile "Sorry about that." She said as she the cleared her throat and continued." Well, the only problem was that she didn"t tell the specific details and the letter was written as if she was in a dire hurry." She said." So I did another investigation and connected the dots, which led me directly back to the council itself and the found out the one responsible is actually a member, but the problem is that members of the council had their own motives and goals, so it"s really hard to pinpoint which is one is the culprit." She explained.

"So have you managed to identify the main one?" Boruto asked.

Miyuki simply nodded." Yes, and I bet He"s the one that orchestrated everything that has happened." She said. She would then go on to expained that all of these events, wars, and conflicts (After Kami"s sacrifice) in history was mean"t happened because He was the one that started this all.

The trio was silent yet again, especially Boruto who was in deep thoughts, He began to looked back on what has happened since then, from Momoshiki"s attack on the village, the awakening of his Jougan, the arrival of Kawaki, the Kara organization and many more. This was all orchestrated by the main culprit himself according to the Miyuki. He also learned that Miyuki escaped the Pure Land and headed to the land of the living, to alert his dad and the rest of the village, but it was also the same day that the surprised invasion took place which was led by Kawaki himself.

"So I guess He"s the one responsible for having Kawaki corrupted by having that "b.a.s.t.a.r.d" possess him and then turned against me, the rest of everyone and destroyed the whole village." He said." I guess there"s no turning back now." He added.

"Miyuki gave small smile." Well, you don"t really need to worry about that, because of your Jougan, We are here and got a second chance to prevent all of this from happening." She said.

Boruto then widened his eyes and placed his hand on his scarred right eye. The Jougan, why did it suddenly acted wild and was this really main cause of this time travel mishap?

"As for your Jougan, I was very much aware that it has more extreme capabilities beyond, and I was right that it has the power to sent someone back in time, although it would take a lot of energy to do it, so it took me enough research to figure it all out." She explained.

The theory was that there is a way that she could possibly force a sort of reflexive action that would make Boruto unconsciously use his eye and by can throw needle fast enough and at the right time then you guys would be distracted doing so, She needed a pressure point or medical herb/poison that causes the activation of his eye. As a result, she created a needle coated in a a substance which consists a combination of herbs and chemicals that would make the theory possible.

"So when you kids were about to clash, It took all the moment so I for even a fraction of a second or maybe just a scratch could do, but eventually, the needle was able to successfully hit an area near your eye and unconsciouslly activated your Jougan." She paused yet again.

Boruto stared in disbelief, How could he not know about the Jougan"s ability to turn back time? He also realized the reason on why he felt so drained when he first arrived here in the past a few months ago.

As for Sarada and Himawari, they felt so relieved right now, because of Miyuki"s intervention and the blonde knucklehead"s special eye, they survive and were still alived. They really had to make every move, in this second opportunity, count. For Boruto, He was glad to have this second chance to save everyone.

(INTERVIEW)

"It came to us that we were supposed to die during that fateful day. I"m shock as the rest of the girls but somehow we were able to get this opportunity when everything is falling apart."

-Boruto

(MISSION DEPARTURE)

Although, there were still a lot of questions hovering around his mind, He has still yet to asked the Miyuki about the ident.i.ty of those white cloaked people and their connection to the villain. As He was about to opened his mouth, the door suddenly opened to reveal Shizune, who was apparently sent by Tsunade herself.

"Uhmmm, I apologized for the interruption but Lady Hokage just sent me to tell you guys to meet her at the gates" She said. She also explained that the blond woman was with Team 7 and they were waiting for them to catch up.

Miyuki smiled." Oh thank you for informing, We are just finishing our discussion and they"ll be right there soon." She said.

"Oh, Okay then." Shizune smiled back and left the scene.

There was quietness yet again as Miyuki observed the trio, she noticed they were all in deep thoughts and were absorbing the new information that they had just received. It may come as shocking revelation to them but it was all the truth in one bag.

Boruto was the first one to break up the silence as he then sighed and stood up." Well, I think this is enough for me, too much information might make my head explode." He gave a chuckle as he tried to lightened up the mood.

The blonde then turned to the two girls and gave them a smile." Let"s stop thinking about this for awhile and head to the gates, they might be getting impatient right now." He explained as he placed both of his hands on their shoulders.

He then turned to Miyuki and nodded at her." Thank you for telling us, It really helps a lot." Boruto said as he offered his hand to the latter.

Miyuki smiled and returned the offer as she shook hands with the blonde teenager." No problem and it was very nice to officially meet you three." She said." And I look forward to getting know you three more in this journey."

"Yes, we too, isn"t that right gir-" Boruto was about to finish his sentence when he wad suddenly cut by his little sister who suddenly stood up, pa.s.sed by him and headed to Miyuki and gave her a big hugged.

"Thank you very much for telling us! We will never forget this Ms. Miyuki!" Himawari exclaimed.

As for Miyuki, she just cringed in pain and forced a smile. Was this girl really that of a monster hugger?

Boruto and Sarada could only give themselves a chuckle. At least this conversation ended in a positive note.

(INTERVIEW)

"We were pretty much in disbelief at that point, but we had to accept what had finally happened and move on from that. We were unexpected people thrown into this big conspiracy.

--Sarada

(LATER ON)

The day continued on as the Team waited for the others at the gates. Tsunade, who was also with them, had already informed the rest that the rookie trio from the last mission was to be a.s.signed once again to the team although this time, one of the three was not coming along.

The news made Yamato feel surprised as He didn"t knew about rookies being a.s.signed as observers to teams like Team 7. However, this was his first time as a team instructor so maybe it was all part of the rules and system. On the other hand, it made the team"s newest addition, Sai, who was a member of the root division, amused. He was curious and wanted to know more about this trio. He also thought that a.s.signing them as observers might be useless in this mission unless they can contribute.

As for the two original members, they were pretty much surprised but glad to hear the news about the rookies being a.s.signed again to the team. Especially Naruto, who had already met and had gotten to know his blonde look-alike. For Sakura, she was also pleased to know that she would be guiding the rookies yet again in this mission, especially Sarada, who she was able to befriend and spend time with during the previous mission.

As for Tsunade, she folder her arms and kept tapping the ground with her feet as she waited for the time traveling trio. Apparently, she had Shizune sent to fetch them at the Hokage office whenever the meeting was finally finished. She also had to let them be at the room as it was also a very cla.s.sified meeting.

She also wondered on what did Miyuki told them, she guessed that it was probably things about the past and future. It also might be a discussion on how they would be going to prevent horrible future, although no matter what they"ve discussed there, she may never know.

She also thought of trio especially Sarada, who was the future daughter of Sasuke Uchiha himself, she wondered on how she was going to handle the situation, or how might Sasuke himself handle on seeing her if they managed to cross paths in this mission.

After awhile of waiting, the trio, accompanied by Shizune had finally arrived at the gates with them being ready and packed for this mission except for Himawari, who was true to her word, and only donned her civilian clothes with a goal of sending them off to their mission on a happy note.

"Sorry we"re a bit late Aunt Tsunade but here they are." Shizune said as she apologized and presented them.

"It"s alright." Tsunade replied as she observed the trio and noticed that a certain someone was not with them.

"Where"s Miyuki?" She asked.

"Well, she went back to the clinic to continue her work, and plus she was a really nice person." Himawari said and gave a smile.

"Oh." Tsunade blinked a couple of times before shaking her head. She then darted her eyes to the blonde and raven haired girl." I guess you two already knew the details for this mission, so I won"t be discussing this again." She said while the two simply nodded in understanding.

(INTERVIEW)

"It"s like they"ve been doing missions for a long time now. I just hope that they"ll be alright in every mission from now on, that things had just gotten to complex."

"Tsunade

(MEANWHILE)

Meanwhile, Naruto, who took noticed of Himawari, realized that in fact, she was revealed to be the person that was not coming for this mission and while Tsunade had the rest of the team gathered altogether for a final briefing, He took the remaining time to sneak out and talked to the lavender haired girl, who was a few inches away from the group.

"Hey Himawari!" Naruto called the girl.

As for Himawari, she was in her own thoughts thinking and worrying about the two, especially her big brother, did she did the right thing to not come along in this mission? It was already too late, she had made the decision and all she had to do was to pray and trust Kami but He was gone, so who"s she gonna pray to?

"Hey there!" A familiar voice then called her.

Himawari snapped from her thoughts and looked up to see Naruto or her young dad coming up to her which she took by surpised." D I mean Naruto! You jumpscared me there!" She chuckled after that while scratching her head and then grinned.

Naruto gave an amused face, for second there he thought she was her sister or a family member or maybe something else, the way she did the reaction was somehow similar to what he does all the time.

He then straightened up and cleared his throat." Well, I noticed you were bothered and been staring at the two, is everything okay?" He asked.

Himawari sighed." Well, I"m just worried about them that"s all and from what I"ve heard, this mission is really dangerous." She explained.

On the other hand, Naruto just sighed and smiled. He then placed his hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort." Hey shouldn"t worry, if you keep worrying, it might be the end of the world, Hehe." He tried to lightened up the mood which he successfully did.

"We will make sure that they"re safe in this mission alright? So never lose hope Dattebayo!" He ended his sentence with his famous catchphrase.

Himawari gave a smile as it just automatically renewed her. Of course, it was her young dad telling her not to give up and drew that inner Uzumaki spirit from the inside. She then gave her young dad a big hug, a monster hug that is to which the blond could only secretly cringed.

(INTERVIEW)

"I really wanted to join them but there was just something telling me that I should stay in the village this time.

-Himawari

(MISSION BEGINS)

As the Tsunade concluded the briefing, the team was now to officially begin the mission as they prepared for their departure.

"All the best!" The fifth gave her send off words.

As the team finally departed, they had one goal in their minds, especially for Naruto and Sakura in this mission and that main goal was to find and bring back a long lost friend in the form of Sasuke Uchiha.

As for Boruto and Sarada, they were already prepared for what"s ahead in this mission. Both knew that at some point in time, they were going to meet a person that was a huge part in their lives, Boruto looked up to him as his mentor while Sarada looked up to him as her Papa. He was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

As the sun was reaching its peak, the team finally set off their journey as the retrieval mission had officially begun. Boruto took one more chance to looked back towards the gates in order to give his little sister an a.s.suring smile that everything was going to be alright.

He also remembered Miyuki"s words of advice that He should be alert and careful of the watchful eyes and long ears of the enemy, they could be or anywhere or everywhere just simply waiting to strike.

Boruto took note of her advice and placed somewhere in an important place inside his mind. With all these newly acquired information that he had received, it just made things more interesting from now on.

The only thing that he needs is to start and end this mission with bang.

(INTERVIEW)

"Knowing what we know now, We just really had to be careful this time around, now that anything can happen in this mission.

-Boruto

CHAPTER END

AN: Thank you very much for reading the chapter :)