Blonding

Chapter 18 : Time Travel

"Boruto? Are you paying attention?"

He couldn't see straight. He couldn't think straight. He felt a strange calmness wash over him; as if he was content to just be, wherever it was exactly he was currently. Thousands of colors danced in front of his eyes, flickering from one to another in rapid succession, traipsing across the boundary between real and illusion.

It was beautiful. Boruto never wanted to leave.

"H-huh? Shino-sensei?"

A nagging hum began to poke away at the back of his mind, driving him out of his nirvana. He desperately sought out the warm embrace of the strange-colored land again, flailing his arms about in the quickly darkening abyss.

"You heard me, Mr. Uzumaki. Please, give the class a detailed description of the Fourth Hokage."

Strange voices began to ricochet between his eardrums, exacerbating his headache to an almost mind-shattering degree. Light became pain, and pain became a memory as time seemed to pick up speed once again, his downward spiral quickening with every throbbing heartbeat.

"Uhh..."

The voices were beginning to grow in intensity and vigor, rattling around his fragile mind as the blackness began to grow blacker, the euphoria from earlier completely sapped away by the deepening darkness.

"It was in the required reading, Mr. Uzumaki."

More sounds became clearer as the black enveloped him like a cold blanket, its embrace unwelcoming. What was previously voices became the sound of a howling tornado, followed by a raging river, followed by...

"I know! I read it! I'm just... tryin' to remember, y'know. Uhh, the Fourth Hokage was Minato Namikaze, the youngest Hokage that the Leaf has ever had."

Silence. Everlasting silence. Boruto let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in, but no sound or air came out of his mouth, much to his surprise. It was like the world was a vacuum; completely and utterly devoid.

"He was known for being a hero in the Third Great Shinobi War for destroying an entire battalion of Hidden Stone shinobi."

Suddenly, a small speck of bright white light appeared on the horizon, miles and miles away from where Boruto was currently falling. Still, without much of a second thought, he reached for it desperately, as if it was the essence of humanity itself. It called to him - beckoned him.

"Uhh... he died in the attack of the Nine-Tailed Fox almost 40 years ago."

The light began to grow in size and intensity, now the size of a small dinner plate.

"His signature technique was the Rasengan... right?"

A howling sound, like a hurricane, began to gnaw away at Boruto's thoughts as the orb of white light began to grow closer...

"Actually, Boruto, the Fourth was better known for his Hiraishin. You are correct in that he invented the Rasengan, but it was your father that properly brought it to fruition."