What You Wish For [Complete]

In the Praise of Demons

"Dad...?" Boruto whimpered. He opened his eyes and was greeted by nothing but white. He shut his eyes with a moan and rolled over. There was no pain in his chest. He coughed and looked beneath him, but the ground was white as well. He looked around, but there was no difference between the wall and the floor. There was nothing. "Am I... dead...?"

"Yes," a voice answered. It echoed. Boruto jumped and sat up, but he didn't see the one who had spoken to him. "You have caused a lot of problems, child."

Boruto scoffed and crossed his arms. "This isn't a very funny joke."

"No, it's not. But you did die, child. You have... disrupted the balance of this world."

Boruto stood and looked around. "I can't be dead," he growled.

"Oh? And why is that? Are you too important to die?"

"I'm still talking," Boruto retorted.

"Yes, well, death has no bearings to those who are already dead. The afterlife is an odd place, child."

Boruto narrowed his eyes. "I can't be dead! I have to save Ansei! I have to see my dad again! Let me go home!"

"That is quite impossible," the voice answered sadly. An elderly man stepped out of the white background. Boruto blinked at the man. "You have died, and that is all there is to say of that matter."

"Then why am I here?" Boruto growled. "Where's the rest of the afterlife? Why do I get to see you? Are you the gatekeeper of heaven or something?"

The elder smiled warmly at the child, but Boruto glared harder. The smile was sad. "You pose an interesting challenge for the 'gatekeeper of heaven'," he admitted slowly. "You are not of this world, therefore your spirit does not belong to this afterlife... but you died in our world."

"I don't see the problem," Boruto muttered, "other than being dead!"

The man sighed and sat down on nothing, but he still remained afloat. "This would not be a problem, but you have seemed to have caused a shift in the balance. You were not part of the plan." Boruto cocked his head and the man sighed. "The world, child, is an interesting place, full of checks and balances to prevent it from staying the same."

Boruto sat down and crossed his arms. "I don't get it," he grumbled.

The man sighed. "Of course you do not, child. Think of it like a balance, with peace on one side and chaos on the other side. When the balance is in favor of peace, then most people are happy; but the world is never static. It is always changing. The scale is slowly tilted until the world reaches an equilibrium of peace and chaos. Those who live in peace are under the illusion that the world itself is at peace. It stays in this for quite some time, sometimes shifting more towards one or the other, but not enough for the people of the world to want to change their circumstances."

Boruto frowned and looked up, annoyed. He thought death would be different, but it was just like being in school again.

"In order to restore peace, there must be an event that completely throws the world in to chaos," the elder continued. "This event is meant to give the world a common enemy and then the world will work together to restore peace. Your friend, Ansei, was meant to be that event."

Boruto narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"It is merely his destiny; to be raised in hate and then to rise up to destroy the world. However, we did not plan on you showing up and changing this..."