What Will Be

Chapter 9

"Tou-san." Boruto called out, peeking into the room from behind the door. Sasuke shot him a glance, before returning to examining the glass in his hand. "Uh, Sarada is here." Sasuke's head shot up, his chakra doing a scan of the room.

Sure enough, on the other side of the wall, right next to her brother, was Sarada. He cursed himself for being so out of it. "Get in here. What are you doing here Sarada?" The siblings complied.

Sarada's head hung hung, blue eyes staring at the floor. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't told you as soon as I found out, but I didn't really think it was a big deal but I guess with all the kidnappings going on I should've just assumed and-"

Sasuke held up a hand, cutting her off. He sighed. Both Sarada and her dad had a tendency to ramble on. "Calm down. Deep breaths." Sarada shakily inhaled. "Right. Sorry Tou-san."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "Now. Start from the beginning." His daughter nodded, telling him the same tale she had told Boruto.

The raven cursed. "Naruto! Get in here." The man stumbled through the door, worry on his face. "What's wrong?" His eyes widened as he spotted Sarada in the room. "Wait why-"

"Sakura's gone. Most likely around the same time Hinata disappeared." Naruto blinked. "Eh?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Get Neji and Gaara. It's obvious there aren't going to be any clues here." The blonde narrowed his eyes, but reluctantly left the room.

Boruto clenched his fists as Naruto left. "Wait, Sasuke- I mean Tou-san." Sarada watched him curiously, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "There's one more thing I need to do. Before we leave."

Before Sasuke could answer, Boruto bolted out of the door, a grim look on his face. Sasuke shook his head. "Sarada, do keep him out of trouble please." The girl nodded, heading for the door. "Sarada."

Sarada turned back around questioningly. Sasuke's eyes filled with worry and fondness as he spoke, "Please be careful. Boruto isn't the same person he was yesterday."

Sarada silently opened her mouth, confused. Deciding to leave it be, she settled for a nod before swiftly leaving.

Boruto gulped. He was standing in front of a door. One that would determine... well everything. He took a shaky breath, before quietly pushing down on the handle and entering.

The room was bare, nothing but a plain bed in the corner. Boruto sucked in his breath. It looked exactly the same as it had when he first visited. Wordlessly, he stepped in, shocked when he saw a young child sitting on the bed.

The boy looked up at him curiously, wide-eyed. "Hello." But Boruto wasn't paying attention. His eyes were looking up at the boy's hair. It was dark red. Disappointed, Boruto shook his head. "Sorry. Wrong room."

The boy blinked. "But you seemed so sure of yourself when you came in." The raven smiled sadly. "It used to belong to a dear friend of mine." The boy raised his eyebrow. "Oh?"

Boruto laughed at his curiosity. "Nothing. Sorry for intruding." He exited silently, ignoring the tightness in his chest.

~*~

Mitsuki let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. With a couple of hand signs, he released the henge, returning to his usual form.

The teen quickly jumped off the bed, kneeling down to the floor. He silently pried a couple of wood planks off of the floor, revealing what seemed to be a bottomless hole.

Glancing down into the darkness, Mitsuki whistles quietly. Responding to his call, a white snake with freaky yellow eyes crawled out from under the bed. Mitsuki gazed at him with fond eyes, patting the snake on the head. "You know what to do right?"

The snake flicked it's tongue. Mitsuki smiled. He turned towards the hole, and without hesitating, jumped in. As soon as Mitsuki disappeared, the white snake got to work. By slithering among the floor, it very gently pushed the floorboards back into place.

With a hiss, the snake quickly exited the scene, blending in among the tiles in the hall.

Mitsuki grunted. He blinked his eyes, struggling to adjust to the darkness. As usual, he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. The boy grit his teeth. Good. Mitsuki silently brushed his hand against the cool stone wall, shivering a bit when the stone seemed to respond with sparks of electricity.

The white haired teen walked for what felt like forever until he finally saw light. Moving quickly, he silently pressed down on the cardboard like surface, pushing it to the side until light flooded his retinas.

Ignoring the burn, Mitsuki quickly stepped out. He turned around, sliding the whiteboard back into place. He grabbed some glue off the shelf near him, quickly gluing the whiteboard back in place to ensure his parent didn't find out.

"Where have you been?" Mitsuki jumped, whipping around. He let out a breath when he saw who it was. "Akio!" He hissed. "Don't scare me like that." With a sigh, Mitsuki placed the glue back in place.

Akio shook her head, Mitsuki watching curiously as the dark red strands flew around. "Why were you up there so long?" Mitsuki shrugged. "This kid came in. Probably the Uchiha's son. I had to henge so he wouldn't be suspicious."

Akio pouted. "What if you had gotten hurt? Or worse?" Mitsuki sighed. He patted Akio on the head. "Don't worry Akio. I can handle myself." Akio scowled. Mitsuki glanced at the clock, a slight frown on his face.

"I have to go to training. Be good." Akio scowled as Mitsuki left. "I'm always good." She muttered.

Mitsuki entered the training grounds. His parent was already there. "Father." He greeted him. Orochimaru shook his head. "I'm not your father."

Mitsuki did not relent. "Mother." Orochimaru sighed. "Haven't we been over this Mitsuki?" Mitsuki blinked. "But I don't know what to call you."

"Parent is fine."

Mitsuki wrinkled his nose. "Parent sounds weird." Orochimaru replied, "I think it sounds perfectly fine."

The boy frowned. "If you say so." Orochimaru smiled. "Are you ready?" Mitsuki nodded, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, they glowed a bright yellow. "Mitsu." He spoke firmly, biting his thumb and pressing the blood to the dirt floor.

A huge white snake emerged from the ground, spraying dirt everywhere. Yet, though the dirt sprayed into Mitsuki's eyes, he didn't so much as blink. Orochimaru smiled. Like parent, like son.

The snake's eyes glowed yellow like Mitsuki's as it settled down behind his owner. Orochimaru nodded approvingly. "Good. Now let's begin."