6 #5

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A SAGE ADRIFT

#5

Back in the Elemental Nations, just as Boruto and Sasuke noticed the attack on Naruto too late, a portal had opened up behind Naruto and he had been sucked right into it but not before doing something that none of the other people present had expected.

It had seemed that Naruto had fallen unconscious because of the attack but right as he was about to get sucked in the portal, his entire body flickered as he was once again bathed in the Six Paths Golden chakra.

Hope bloomed inside the minds of both Boruto and Sasuke as they thought that Naruto had regained Senjutsu chakra and was now in Sage Mode. They were right in assuming so but only partially so.

Naruto was still stuck inside the seal mindscape with Kurama. Kurama was the one who had sensed the attack on them and as a last-ditch effort to save Naruto, he had forcefully ignited Naruto's latent Six Paths potential using his phenomenal control over Naruto's body that he had gained over the years, with Naruto's permission of course. Borrowing the enhanced senses that came with the Six Paths Sage Mode, Kurama realised, in a split second, that there was no way Naruto was going to get away from the suction force of the portal attack, and with him being on the verge of withering away, he did the only thing he could think of, at that moment, that would help the idiot's village.

So, at the last moment, from Sasuke's perspective, he saw Narutoo's arm aim directly toward his face and the moment he blinked, he was stuck with a fist-sized orb of golden energy.

He didn't have time to dodge before he could feel as if millions of tiny ants were biting his eye socket. He fell down to his knees, screaming as his hands were coated red due to all the blood that was coming from his socket.

"Uncle Sasuke!" The concerned voice of Boruto could be heard as he tried to help Sasuke sit down on the ground.

As Sasuke continued to scream with Boruto looking around helplessly, Isshiki saw that and began laughing in his last moments.

His laughter was abruptly cut short though as he sensed something from Sasuke's eye. The resonance of a Dojutsu.

A Doujutsu as strong if not even stronger than his own. He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but that was the last thing he was able to do since his body soon crumbled away due to the strain of the battle wearing down his weak mortal body.

Neither Sasuke nor Boruto noticed the irregularity in Isshiki's last expressions but soon, the golden energy that remained on Sasuke's eye socket faded away, leaving behind a completely new Doujutsu that Boruto had never seen before.

Almost immediately after that, Sasuke sighed in relief and fainted, his chakra reserves being completely exhausted as it was used to facilitate the healing of his eyes.

After going home, under the medical supervision of one Tsunade Senju, they were able to figure out the exact condition of their village's now strongest ninja and once Tsunade confirmed that Sasuke would make a full recovery, the entire village heaved a sigh of relief.

That was the level of trust they had in their Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki and since Sasuke Uchiha was the only one who could consistently match Naruto in battle, his being in a combat-ready state was a huge relief, not only for Konoha but for the other villages as well.

They had seen the aftermath of Naruto and Sasuke's battle with the Outsutsukis and they were pretty sure that the next time it happened, the only ones who could help the Shinobi World would be Sasuke and if they grow up to their full potential, Boruto and Kawaki.

Upon Sasuke's awakening, the entirety of the higher-ups, Tsunade and Kakashi included, blinked in surprise as Sasuke woke up smiling of all things. Seeing something so bizarre, it was understandable that Boruto and Kawaki, in particular, were openly gawking at Sasuke as he sat up and started laughing like a possessed madman.

"Has he gone crazy?" Kawaki whispered towards Sarada even though everyone in the room, being seasoned war veterans, heard them fine.

"No, I think he was already a little crazy before," Tsunade answered Kawaki's question. Everybody in the room, the higher-ups of Konoha, nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"Um, Uncle Sasuke, what's wrong?" Boruto was the only one courageous enough to approach the clearly mad uber-powerful Uchiha.

"Huh?" Sasuke's body abruptly froze as he stopped laughing and looked at Boruto. From the beginning, Sasuke's bangs and hand had covered his left eye and even from Tsunade's report, they had come to the same conclusion that even though Sasuke's left eye had been healed, it was nothing more than a normal eye.

Not the all-powerful Rinnegan eye that Sasuke was previously blessed with.

But now?

As Sasuke looked at Boruto with his new red-coloured eye, everybody in the room began feeling an unconscious pressure that was emanating from Sasuke. Even Tsunade and Orochimaru, arguably the people with the most war experience could not help but have their bodies freeze for a split second and then assume a combat-ready stance. 

Everybody else was much worse. Aside from Boruto and Kawaki, nobody else had managed to stay on their feet, such was the pressure of that single eye.

"Tsunade-hime, what is this?" Orochimaru asked Tsunade with a faux casual tone that was fooling no one since even a complete rookie could point out the shaking hands and sweat that had appeared on Orochimaru's face.

Tsunade smirked, "Hoh, what's this? Orochimaru, are you perhaps.. scared?" She asked him, fully aware of the extended horrible history that existed between the Strongest Uchiha in front of them and the Snake Sannin.

Their by-play was stopped as Sasuke shut off the chakra flow to his left eye and closed his left eye, reducing the pressure in the room to near zero.

All the higher-ups in the room, including the Clan heads and the council members started catching their breaths now that they were finally free from the overwhelming pressure. All of them looked at the now-standing Sasuke Uchiha with overwhelming fear. 

'He can do all that without even moving, what has Naruto done?' Tsunade thought as she looked at the corners of the room where the hidden ANBU had fallen down, unconscious. Battle-honed, fierce warriors who wouldn't even flinch at taking a life or even giving their own, had fallen unconscious with a mere flex of Sasuke's chakra.

The councilmen slowly stood up from the ground and looked at the now combat-dressed Sasuke with fear. Now that Naruto was no longer around, they had literally nobody who could stop the Uchiha from doing whatever he wanted to. 

"Where do you think you are going?" Tsunade asked Sasuke as he was about to leave.

Sasuke looked back at her, confused. Even the other people in the room were looking at Tsunade in confusion. The might Sasuke had displayed previously was something that had left a deep impression in all their hearts. Naruto also had the same level of might but he was easily controllable due to being inexperienced in the matters of politics. Sasuke, on the other hand, would probably slaughter them before even opening a dialogue on something that he did not believe in.

So, they were rightfully confused when Tsunade stopped Sasuke who was going to leave the village of his volition.

As Sasuke remained silent, Tsunade stepped forward, passing Boruto and Kawaki,

"Where do you think you are going? He trusted you with the village," Tsunade then glanced at Boruto and Kawaki, "-including his family and I don't think he would have wanted you to be alone, especially at such a time."

Sasuke's eyes softened but soon became sharp as he looked at Tsunade with an intense look in his eyes, "I..will be leaving for some time. Do not worry for I will return. I have some teammates to look for and-" he looked at Boruto and Kawaki as he continued, "-I have to train the next generation of Shinobis as well."

Saying so, he stretched his remaining right arm towards his side and flexed. All of them watched with bated breaths as the overwhelming chakra returned as a literal portal opened up in front of Sasuke's arm, through which he left the room.

"We are gonna need to talk about your shiny new eye at some point," Tsunade found her voice and yelled at Sasuke at the last moment as Sasuke left the room they were in, the portal closing right behind him.

There were multiple sighs of relief in the room as the literal Strongest Shinobi of the Elemental Nations left.

"Well little Boruto-kun, you better have some answers because this has literally been the closest I have been to death in a long time and I am not happy," Orochimaru hissed at Boruto who backed up from the clearly irate Sannin.

"Stop scaring him but he is right, Boruto. We need answers and we need them yesterday. Exactly what happened to your father out there? And what was up with Sasuke?" Tsunade asked Boruto as she signalled for everybody else other than herself, Orochimaru, and Shikamaru to leave the room.

Everybody left with clear reluctance showing on their faces. On the other hand, Shikamaru was staying with reluctance written all over his face.

"..Troublesome…"

"Uh, Father was in his weird mode where he easily overpowered Isshiki and even managed to severely injure him. Then, all of us went after Isshiki together and managed to wear his body down to such a level that his body simply stopped functioning. In the end, with Isshiki's demise certain, we were going towards Father as he suddenly collapsed without any warning. Fearing the worst, all of our attention was on Father when Isshiki, he…*sniff*"

"Get on with it, brat," Orochimaru demanded rather impatiently.

"Orochimaru!"

"Isshiki attacked Father with something. It opened a portal behind him such that his body and everything around us was getting sucked in. At the last moment, Father's body flashed golden as he regained his Sage Mode but something went wrong or maybe it was what Father wanted but at the last moment, Father sent something towards Uncle Sasuke's face."

Tsunade and Orochimaru looked at each other, clearly realising the reason for the anomalous presence of Sasuke Uchiha was due to whatever Naruto had done at that moment.

"I thought it was an attack because Uncle Sasuke started screaming as soon as it hit him but when the glow covering his face had gone out, Uncle Sasuke's eye that had been destroyed was now healed. After that, you know what happened."

"I see. You and Kawaki should go check on Hinata and Himawari. They have both been worried sick about you."

"Okay"

"Hmm"

After Boruto and Kawaki left, the only ones left in the room were Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Shikamaru who was clearly in deep thought.

"What do you think happened, Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked.

"Hmm, clearly it was due to whatever Naruto did that healed Sasuke's eyes and even managed to upgrade it. That last part is what's bugging me. I have seen Naruto use the Yang Release to perform near miracles that even Tsunade-sama would not have been able to perform. Even assuming that Naruto could do the same for an eye as powerful as the Rinnegan, we all saw that Sasuke's eye was no longer the Rinnegan. It was something more and that was certainly not in Naruto's list of abilities the last time we had talked."

"Hmm but then again, Naruto also did not possess this "Baryon Mode" that he pulled out of nowhere for his last fight, dramatically increasing all his abilities, allowing him to overpower Isshiki easily. Something that the Naruto we know would not have been able to do anyway." Orochimaru commented.

"Maybe the arm I made for him using my grandfather's cells allowed him to do it?" Tsunade commented, similarly deep in thought.

"No, if that was true, I too would have received an entirely new powerset," Orochimaru commented, unaware or rather ignoring the now fuming Senju in the room.

Elsewhere, Naruto, in a humorous twist of fate, was working on a farm, using just the natural strength granted to him by virtue of being a Uzumaki and a Kage-level shinobi. 

Word Count - 2087

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Toodles!

Author Note - Hello everyone! I am excited to hear of your opinions regarding the fanfic.

In this chapter, we see the effects Naruto's or rather Kurama's last actions have on the Elemental Nations.

Sasuke, in particular, seems to have gained a power up that could be more than enough for him to "hold the fort", if you will. Atleast until Naruto returns.

For more, stay tuned for the next installation in the series.