"Oh, great, more underground," Boruto complains. "Because we didn't get enough of that before!"

Even knowing what they're getting into, it's hard to argue with Boruto's dismay at wandering into yet another subterranean lair. Sarada isn't sure about her teammates, but she's half-expecting a horde of curse marked monsters to come rushing out at them like what happened in the lab.

None materialise, though, and the only thing that overtakes them is unnatural silence.

"Well, come on," Konohamaru says. "The world won't save itself, hey."

Despite not having walked more than a few paces inside the hideaway, the glowing dawn light doesn't reach inside. Konohamaru is forced to break out a glow stick—his last one, it appears.

A long hallway stretches in front of them, columns lining the single path ahead. Glints of red shine out at her from the walls, words carved in that strange way that only she can see and whispering secrets to her that she has no time to stay behind to study.

She wonders if her father knows about this place.

The ground declines with every step they take, bringing them deeper into the...she isn't sure exactly what to call it.

Boruto appears to be of the same mind. "I feel like I'm walking through a tomb."

His eyes dart into every patch of shadow, and in the light cast by the glowstick, his face is ashen. Sarada can't help understand that. Her own eyes are sharp, aware of every minute shift in the air, but it's still nerve-wracking. Somehow, even though there aren't any twisting passages or hints of the mazelike fortress favoured by Orochimaru, she feels even more unsafe here.

And not just because at any moment a crazed experiment might realise they're here and jump out at them.

The air is warmer here, which is strange, and tastes oddly metallic. Not the metal of blood, though, but of steel and...something else. Sarada thinks it might be electricity, but she's never been close enough to a burst of lightning to know for sure.

Konohamaru suddenly stops, causing Boruto to walk right in him.

"Hey!"

"Quiet," their sensei orders, frowning in concentration. Sarada notices beads of sweat on his forehead, and knows that the poison in his system is beginning to make a resurgence. She knows better than to bring it up to him, but it doesn't make her stomach twist any less. "I think I...no, that's definitely..."

He picks up his pace, plodding ahead with intent.

"Hey! What the hell!" Boruto hisses, hurrying to catch up. He shoots a questioning look back to Sarada, who can only shrug, mystified.

"Just keep sharp," is the only reply that they get. It's the only thing that he does say for the next ten minutes, until they arrive in a towering, domed room.

No, room doesn't really do it justice. More like an amphitheater...

The walls stretch upwards, curving into one another to form a giant dome overhead. It looks as if someone hollowed out the actual mountain they have wandered into. A spindly, rickety staircase juts out of the walls, leading to the top in a spiral. Crude scaffoldings have been built upon these, like makeshift storeys and grated slats form crude floors that obscure the upper levels somewhat. Still, Sarada can make out iron doors or panels lining the cave walls through the gaps in the metal.

There is an all-too familiar banging sound coming from behind these, almost obscured by the whir of machinery and sparking of stripped wires. The smell of burning rubber and rust mixes with the dank underground air, as well as the faint lightning smell of the crude electric lighting that has been set up along the entire stairway.

This may have once been an Uchiha stronghold, but it's been turned into the lair of a madman.

The sight is impressive, no doubt, and yet somehow, it's not what draws and holds Sarada's intention.

In the direct centre of the chamber, not twenty feet in front of them, is a familiar pale figure in blue robes.

"Mitsuki!" Sarada cries, only just managing to keep herself whispering. It's a veritable feat, considering the sight before them.

Her teammate and friend lies motionless on a gurney, robes dragged down to his hips revealing skinny arms and his wounded torso. It's been stitched up—crudely but effectively—but the skin remains the same obscene green that is climbing up the side of Konohamaru's neck.

Mitsuki's arms are bruised and battered, snaked by wires and tubes that Sarada immediately identifies as IV lines, dripping mysterious viscous yellow fluid into his body. Beside the gurney, a boxy looking machine with dials and complicated levers hums. It too is connected to Mitsuki by two thick black tubes; one leads to some kind of monitor attached to his heart, the other to a bowl-shaped contraption on his head.

All the while, he stares vacantly ahead of him, as if he isn't even aware they are there.

It's not the unresponsiveness or the crude medical equipment that worries her. It's the colour of his skin. Mitsuki is pale on a normal day, but right now – even in the dim light he seems almost blue. It's as if he has been frozen, except in the temperate air that makes no sense.

Blood loss, she realises, stepping back in horror as her eyes catch something she didn't notice right away. Massive blood loss.

The floor surrounding the gurney resembles a terrible dais. It has been carved with a giant, spiraling warding sigil that stretches out a metre's radius around Mitsuki. The lines a deeply, if hastily, gouged into the stone, but clearly this was done with purpose – namely to catch blood.

Two final tabs are fastened in the crooks of Mitsuki's arms, providing a steady drip of blood into the stone groves. Sarada feels sick.

"There's no way he has enough blood to fill that whole sigil," Boruto whispers tensely.

"He's not," Konohamaru says grimly. "These meds? Blood replicators. As soon as he's drained to the point of death, they give him these and it replenishes the blood levels."

"This guy's a sicko," Boruto growls.

"Come on, let's get him out of there," Sarada says. While she and Konohamaru get closer to unhook the pale boy, Boruto keeps a wary eye out."

"Hey...hey, Mitsuki, come on...wake up, hey?"

"He's been drugged. A lot," Sarada says, carefully pulling out the IV lines. She gives it a sniff and makes a face. Sedatives should not smell like that. "It's a high-powered tranquilizer, but I don't know which one."

"Something stronger than your average genin could take, I bet," Konohamaru mutters.

Sarada nods, examining paler than usual skin. There are small nicks and wounds up and down her friend's arms, all along the location of major blood vessels.

"I think he was hooked up to something else," she says. She checks his pulse, focussing on the sluggish flow of his blood. "Before the...bloodletting down here."

"Then why keep him alive?"

"Insurance," Konohamaru says. "In case whatever Jikken has planned doesn't work the first time, he still has a ready supply down here."

"I'm going to turn this asshole's head into a paperweight," Boruto snarls, and for a moment Sarada sees something raw and animalistic in her friend's face. She has a flash of Uncle Naruto, when he gave in to the Nine Tailed Fox within him, and shivers.

Boruto might not possess the chakra of the demon fox—he might never –but she has a sudden presentment that one day, her friend is going to become a very dangerous man.

"Sa..."

She jumps, staring down at Mitsuki. His yellow eyes are dull, the pupils dilates far too much to be normal.

"Hold on, Mitsuki, we've got you," she tells him, then addresses her teammates, "We need to get him out of here. Even if he wasn't being used for Jikken's plans, if things go sour, he can't defend himself right now."

"...no..." Mitsuki murmurs, feebly shaking his head. "...just get..."

"Stop talking," Boruto tells him. "We've got this covered, okay?"

Between herself and Konohamaru, they manage to peel the heart monitor and metallic helmet off of his head; blood drips down the sides of his temples as tiny needles retract. Sarada sustains a minor electrical shock as she removes the helmet, suggesting that Jikken was using not only chemicals but electromagnetic pulses to keep her friend docile.

Forget a paperweight, I'm going to burn Jikken to ashes along with Teisōko for this!

Konohamaru helps shift the boy into a sitting position, wincing when Mitsuki recoils from the touch. He's never been one for unnecessary physical contact in the past, but from the way his arms and fingers twitch, she suspects that if he were stronger he would lash out violently even at Konohamaru.

"It's okay, Mitsuki," she whispers to him. "We're not going to hurt you. You're safe with us. We're your friends."

"Friends...?" he repeats, as if he has no idea what the word means.

"Oh, man, what'd he do to you?" Boruto asks.

He never receives an answer, though.

Mitsuki's drugged eyes go wide, training on a spot directly over Sarada's shoulder. She whips around, just in time to throw her hand upward, catching an incoming blade with her uninjured palm before it penetrates her neck.

"Sarada!

A surprised grunt punches out of her, and agony explodes from the center of her hand through every nerve-ending. Still, her attention focusses on Jikken, his mad grin inches from her face. With a wet squelch, he pulls away, the blade searing her bones and muscles as it goes, teleporting several feet away from them.

Already she feels the corrosive burn of poison, sees the greenish web spreading beneath the blood pouring from the hole in her hand.

"Sarada—!"

"I'm okay," she chokes, though her legs buckle and she finds herself falling down on one knee. Konohamaru and Boruto are by her side now, shielding her as well as possible from further attack. As her eyes begin to blur, she watches Jikken's mad smile take a cruel twist.

"Well," he says, the chilling note of amusement echoing in the cavern, "this scene looks familiar."

Sarada sways, trying to remain upright. It's of utmost importance that she remain aware of everything going on all around her. Unconsciousness means the battle's lost, it means that she can't help her team and that Jikken will win—

He can't win! We can't let him win!

Sweat breaks out on her skin and she feels chills running up her spine.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Mitsuki holding himself upright as well, sitting by unaided but leaning heavily on shaky arms. He, too, seems determined to fight despite his weakened condition.

"You're all going to die," Jikken informs them calmly. "No. More than that. They'll cease to exist. The fight is just a stall tactic, but they've already lost."

"Like hell we have, asshole," Boruto growls.

"Oh, but you have," Jikken chortles. "Lost. Years and years ago. It's far too late to change anything." His voice goes quiet, conspiratorial. "And none of them are strong enough. Half-strength or less, poisoned and beaten and not even a threat. But the girl..." His expression twists into disgusted sneer. "He will enjoy the satisfaction of finally being able to kill you. A thorn in his side since the boy allowed you to live the first time."

"You shouldn't flap your mouth like that! You still have to go through me, and Konohamaru-sensei! Even if you kill us, my dad is coming! He and Uncle Sasuke will stop you!"

Jikken smirks. "I don't fear a future that will never arrive."

"That might be true," Konohamaru allows grimly, "but then again, you've never met our Hokage."

Jikken scoffs.

A second later he is gone.

When he reappears, he is directly behind Mitsuki and Sarada, swinging his bloodstained kunai at them. Before it can connect, a wall of earth springs up between them. The rock hums with chakra, and when the edge slams into it, there is a ping noise as it snaps right off.

Before the blade can even hit the dirt, Jikken has teleported again and tries to come at the prone members of the team from another angle, hand grasping outward for Sarada's face. Again, another wall of earth shoots out of the ground, the speed of it making Sarada's hair fly into her eyes.

The dance repeats several more times. Jikken makes a move, but Konohamaru uses Earth Style to pull up a barrier. It's too strong to break through before the jōnin can catch up with him, and so Jikken has to flit away before he can make another attempt on the kids.

He finally stops trying, pausing several feet away and glowering hatefully at Konohamaru.

"So I will have to kill you first," he decides.

"Try it, you—!" Boruto begins to step forward, palm already vibrating in preparation for a Rasengan, but his sensei takes hold of him by the shoulder.

"No," he orders. "It's my responsibility to deal with this. Yours is to protect your teammates."

"But—"

"That's the shinobi way you've chosen, right?" their teacher interrupts. "To protect the people that are precious to you? The apprentice of Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't put anything in front of that."

"That's not –!"

"Go on. They need you."

"What...is he...?" Mitsuki rasps, still confused by the anaesthesia flowing through his system.

"Konohamaru-sensei...you can't!" Sarada protests. "The poison...you'll make is spread faster!"

"You kids...always with the disrespect, hey?" he snorts. "You're supposed to listen to your teacher." He is already striding forward, back straight and holding a kunai in each hand. The blades thrum with energy, and are abruptly blazing with visible blue chakra. "You two might be the children of the legendary heroes of the Fourth Great Shinobi Wars. And this guy might have gotten his abilities from a Sannin. But I am the grandson of the Third Hokage, and he was a god of shinobi!"

With a running start, Konohamaru lunges toward Jikken, blades in hand. At the same moment that the teleporter vanishes into thin air, Konohamaru abruptly explodes into a dozen exact copies of himself—each wielding a chakra blade. As Jikken rematerializes, the thirteen figures begin to attack him simultaneously, swiping and slashing at him in quick, brutal movements. Each blow would be lethal if the pale man didn't vanish milliseconds before each impact.

Every so often, Jikken appears behind a clone, dispersing it by whatever tactic he can—a ruthless twist of the neck, or crushing the face. Each clone disappears in a burst of smoke, weapon clattering dully to the ground.

Sarada's brain stutters at that, dimly thinking that something isn't right.

Wait—shadow clones don't lose their weapons. So, they shouldn't make noise—unless the weapons are real!

Just as the thought enters her mind, Konohamaru makes a hand sign. The discarded kunai that surround the melee of clones shine with chakra, and slowly lift from the ground. As they hurtle through the air, they multiply tenfold.

"He...gave all the shadow clones real weapons!" Sarada realises.

"And then he...channeled chakra into them...multiplied them," Mitsuki adds, also sounding impressed despite his breathlessness.

Boruto is gaping. "Since when can he do that?"

Before the stunned gaze of his students, Konohamaru appears to transform. It's as if they have never seen him before. The joking, upbeat man they have been training under for months now is gone, replaced with a dangerous human whirlwind. Even though they have all heard the stories of his abilities, they have never been in a situation where he has needed to show them his skills.

"I...understand now," Mitsuki says quietly.

"Understand what?"

"Why Konohamaru-sensei...is the one people say...will succeed your father one day."

And it seems Jikken finds this sudden change just as unexpected. After all, it was only by chance and the element of surprise that he rendered Konohamaru unconscious during their first meeting, but now that the jōnin knows what to expect he isn't holding back at all.

As Jikken deftly spins in midair, twisting his body to avoid the projectiles and popping into existence only to pop out again when another blade flies in his direction, he doesn't notice Konohamaru's clones have taken formation.

Four of them and the real Konohamaru surround him on all sides, equidistant from him in a bizarre pentagon shape.

With chilling synchronicity, they all attack at the same time, expelling a co-ordinated blast of energy—earth, fire, wind, water and lightening.

Sarada's knees wobble, but this time its from shock at what she's seeing. She never realised that her teacher had mastered all five nature transformations. She wonders why it never occurred to her that he would have had to if he ever does intend to be Hokage, or that he would know how to perform Lord Third's Goton Dairendan.

"Did he just get about a hundred times cooler?" Boruto asks quietly.

"I would say you have some competition," Mitsuki banters weakly.

As the debris and dust clear, the barrage of elements dissipating into the surrounding air, the only thing remaining is a brittle approximation of a skeletal human form, blackened and twisted.

"Did he...?" Sarada asks.

"It looks like it," Boruto replies.

And for a moment it seems like exactly what they expected has happened. Konohamaru has dealt with the ghostly clone at long last, tenacity finally winning over speed.

But as the ashy form disintegrates in front of them, several feet away they see Jikken pop back into existence. His skin is blackened in places, and there are shiny burns beneath ripped clothing, but it's still clear that he survived.

"No..." Sarada laments. Their enemy might have only just made it out from the attack, but it's clear his speed was still too much.

"I must admit," the pale man says darkly, teeth bared in a snarling smile. "I'm impressed. But I don't feel like playing any longer. Especially not against the last efforts of a dying man." He whispers loudly. "Your time is limited. All I must do is outlast him."

This time it's Konohamaru who smirks. "You can try."

Again, the two of them lunge at each other.

Black spots begin to overtake Sarada's vision. She presses her forearm over her eyes, trying to make the spots go away. She can practically feel the poison spreading through her veins, seeping into her cells. Even the tiny amount of self-healing ability she has built up tries to fight it off, she is being overwhelmed from the inside out.

She slumps forward.

"Sarada!"

Instead of hitting ground, though, she falls against something soft. Black and pink run together in her periphery. A strong arm wraps around her back and shoulders.

Boruto.

"We have to...hurry," Mitsuki says. "Jikken's right. It's all just...a game of time. Take my belt."

"For what?"

"A tourniquet. It's temporary...won't stop the poison, but will slow it."

"There has to be something else we can do!" Boruto cries. "Can't we—I don't know, drain the poison out somehow?"

"If you want two of us...to suffer from blood loss...instead of one."

"Don't worry about me," Sarada protests. "You should be helping Konohamaru-sensei." She pauses, takes a few steadying breaths, and then continues. "Unless he manages the perfect hit...he's going to run out of stamina soon."

"Then I have to get you out of here as soon as possible!" Boruto determines.

"What are you talking about?"

"I said I was going to protect you! And if we're all about to get killed anyway, that's what I'm going to die doing!"

Sarada's eyes widen in shock. That's the last thing she expected from him. "Boruto..."

"If you two are done...being inopportunely overdramatic," Mitsuki drawls weakly. "Arguing isn't going to change...anything. We need...a plan."

Sarada feels Boruto tighten his grip on her.

"Well...I might have one," the Uzumaki boy says cautiously. "But it's not a good one."

Sarada laughs bitterly at that. "How is that a change from usual?"

"We need you, Mitsuki," Boruto goes on. "If we're going to have a chance right now—whether it's to fight or run away."

"I'll do my best."

"You can't! He's too weak!" Sarada protests.

"Right now, yeah," Boruto concedes. "But if he takes some of my chakra, maybe..."

"What...?"

"I saw my dad and Sasuke do it. They helped Kakashi open a portal, even when his chakra was depleted. Maybe I can do the same thing! Top you up with chakra so you can fight. In the meantime, I'll get Sarada out of here—"

"The hell you will," she hisses. "You have to go after Teisōko! If you—"

"For once in your life, could you maybe not argue with me?!"

"For once in your life could you maybe not be so stubborn?"

"None of us are in the right shape...to confront that woman," Mitsuki says, such a mixture of fear and loathing dripping in his voice that Sarada wonders just what happened while he was locked away here. "But Boruto can at least follow the order given...by our superior. But...if we do this, you'll be severely weakened. Your chakra reserves...are nowhere near the Lord Seventh."

"Yeah, but I don't need a lot of chakra to get Sarada out of here," Boruto says. "If our dads are coming, I bet our moms are too. Aunt Sakura can heal Sarada if I can get her to them."

"That's a big if," Sarada says, trying one last half-hearted attempt to get them to listen. "Forget about me, there's no time!"

"It's my decision."

"Yeah, but it's one thing to watch our dads do this chakra sharing thing, you don't even know how to!"

"But I do," Mitsuki interrupts. He turns to Boruto. "Are you sure?"

Boruto considers his friend for a moment, perhaps fighting off some last-minute sense of self-preservation, and then grins.

"Hell yeah," he says, reaching out to grasp Mitsuki's hand with his own. "We're going to kick ass! Believe it!"

"If you two die, I'll never forgive either of you," Sarada informs them sourly.

With equal expressions of determination, Boruto and Mitsuki reach forward and grasp each other's hands remaining hand. As their arms press together, chakra radiates from the two of them, intense and static. Sarada forgets sometimes that while she comes from an ancient bloodline, and has been carefully training to build up her own chakra reserves, both her teammates have a genetic predisposition to it.

Boruto is an Uzumaki, and Mitsuki is—well, whatever he is. If her suspicions—and they are still only suspicions, there's no room in her head for more than that!—are correct, he has inherited certain abilities she can't even fathom.

Right now, the pale boy looks completely focussed, while Boruto grits his teeth in concentration. With ever second that passes, he becomes paler and paler. Sarada knows from experience that having chakra drawn out of you is uncomfortable, but for Boruto to be weakening so quickly, it means he is sharing a lot.

And that Mitsuki was worse off than they believed he was.

It doesn't help that all of this is temporary. Chakra replenishment is by no means a replacement for the blood he's lost. It's more like a shot of adrenaline to get him on his feet. Boruto might be sacrificing his strength right now, but it's Mitsuki that might end up dying if their stalling tactics fail.

Sarada's eyes are beginning to blur, and she blinks rapidly to try to clear them. Much as she is tempted to activate her Sharingan to keep aware of what's happening, it would just overtax her already compromised system. As it is, she's having difficulty keeping her respiration even, trying not to panic when it feels like she can't get a full breath. The less rapidly she breathes, the slower her pulse will be and the slower the poison will travel.

Damn it, if I had been faster and just dodged that stupid knife, I could be helping right now!

Well, as much as anyone with two useless arms could help.

Her attention flits back to Konohamaru, squinting as she tries to figure out what he's doing now.

Her sensei makes a hand sign, and the ground beneath Jikken becomes slick and unsound, causing him to stumble just before he can make a jump into the air. As the pale man tries to regain his balance, Konohamaru inhales deeply, before expelling a giant cloud of dust or ash.

It swirls in the air surrounding his opponent, obscuring his view of the surrounding cave.

No, wait...that's not dust, that's—

Without halting the onslaught, Konohamaru clicks his teeth together. There's a spark, and suddenly the dusty air ignites, turning the smoking cloud around Jikken into a fiery dome.

Chakra infused gunpowder?!

Inside, Jikken yells in pain, but seems incapable of moving beyond the ash pile.

I guess it clings to his opponent and ensure he actually gets him...even if he teleports away.

And then Konohamaru takes another running leap, catapulting through the air, a Big Ball Rasengan growing ever larger in his hand. With a bellow, he shoves it downward in a finishing move that illuminates the whole chamber as it hits its target.

Sarada jerks her head away, having to hide her eyes. Boruto and Mitsuki both hunch toward each other in an attempt to take cover from the aftershock, but neither release the other's hand. Giant, sprawling cracks split through the ground, shattering the bloodied seal around the gurney and machinery that Mitsuki was hooked up to earlier. Blood and water begin to stain the area around it, seeping out of the carefully drawn lines.

Is that it? Is it over?

Sarada chances a glance back to the melee, heart pounding despite her attempts to keep calm. Konohamaru stands tense as well, his back to her, as the dust settles.

A dark figure becomes visible in the cloud of dust and ash, and Sarada's stomach tightens with dismay.

No way...he survived!

Worse than that, it seems.

As Jikken becomes visible once again, she can perceive that he is covered in shiny red welts and burns. His clothing is torn and charred, beneath it showing bloody muscle and bone. But before there's any chance to celebrate that, the wounds begins to heal.

No...way...

At first she thinks he might have some kind of healing factor, but then she realises that the skin that is covering him is spreading from beneath the black marks. As every bit of pale skin gives way to gray, it takes on a damn sheen like that of a reptile or amphibian. Jikken's eyes become larger, the pupils turning yellow, and the veins in his face bulging.

He doesn't resemble the Fourth Hokage at all anymore, so much as some monster from a myth. Fingers join together, becoming three wicked, sickle shaped claws on his hands, while his feet elongate, ripping through his sandals, and form into clawed hooves.

"I guess this isn't going so well for you," Konohamaru points out cockily, "if you've had to activate your curse seal to survive."

"I admit, I've never had to," Jikken replies, his previously manic voice lowering into a baritone growl. "To think, such an insect like you would dare to challenge her guardian."

"We're beyond challenging now, last I check. Pretty sure I'm winning," Konohamaru smirks. "Seeing as how that seal you used Mitsuki for is broken now. I don't think you'll be pulling Orochimaru through after all—"

"You will not say that name!"

Jikken propels himself forward, disappearing scant inches away and reappearing behind him. Konohamaru spins in time to duck an incoming blow, but Jikken vanishes again, now coming at him from the side. It's in his blind spot, but somehow Konohamaru anticipates the move and grabs his arm, flipping him over in a move meant to dislocate both shoulder and elbow.

But within the blink of an eye, he's gone again.

A knee hits Konohamaru in the back, then an elbow cracks against his jaw. Konohamaru doesn't go down, but he is forced to skid back a few feet to recover. A fist arcs forward, sickle-shaped claws aiming to rip into his chest; Konohamaru doesn't move fast enough, sacrificing evasion for the opportunity to grab the hand and twist, earning an angry, agonized howl of pain.

"You really think this was the only seal?" he spits. "You think I wouldn't take everything into account?! The goddess sees all, and we know every probability!"

"Account for this!" Konohamaru shoots back, pulling a Rasengan together in the air and shoving it toward Jikken. The enemy dodges once more, and Sarada swears, both at his continued evasion and his words.

She knew that it seemed like Mitsuki had more blood taken from him than was collected in the blood seal. Most likely, there's another somewhere else; the most obvious place would be far above them. Many jutsu that create doorways require some kind of marker or second port of entry somewhere else. If the one Konohamaru destroyed is here, chances are the second one is far above. Maybe even carved into the domelike ceiling of this place.

Unfortunately, it's too far for her to see in her present state, and with the rest of the chamber obscured with all the scaffolding.

Maybe I can just take a peek with the Sharingan. If I know where it is, I can tell—

Boruto groans and falls forward, only just catching himself on his hands.

"Hey!" Sarada gasps, and then her eyes fly to Mitsuki. "Are you guys...?"

But her teammate remains quiet, head bowed and perfectly still as he tries to acclimate to the sudden unfamiliar chakra. Sarada reaches out to steady them both, when Boruto's head whips up and he cries out, "No!"

Sarada turns, just in time to see Konohamaru seize in midair, as if someone has stabbed him in the back. For a moment she thinks it's Jikken, but the monstrous man is dragging himself to his feet down below. As Konohamaru clutches at his chest and plummets to the ground, Sarada realises his body has finally given out.

"Konohamaru-sensei!" she cries, trying to stand, but unable to make her limbs function. A dizzy parade of spots swims in front of her eyes.

Jikken struts forward, in a way it's almost a grotesque skip, and simpers, "Time is on my side after all."

Giggling at this, he raises his knee, angling one cloven foot downward to either crush or clash Konohamaru's throat.

He never gets the chance, as the ground beneath him erupts, snakes surging out of the ground to wrap around his arms and torso. Crackling yellow electricity sparks from Sarada's left, and when she looks up she is shocked to see Mitsuki is once more on his feet.

But it's Mitsuki as she has never seen him before.

He is furious.

"You...poisoned me," Mitsuki snarls at Jikken as the snakes holding him in place tighten their grip. "Stuck needles into my veins...hooked me to machines...when I swore I would never...let...that...happen...again!"

He waves a hand and the snakes holding Jikken tighten convulsively, dragging him away from Konohamaru's motionless form.

Jikken grunts in pain, the sound of bones cracking, features narrowing in focus and then pop he is gone. When he lands staggering several yards away, out of breath and with one arm clutching his ribs, he eyes Mitsuki with a new understanding.

"So...the child is not just his blood...but one of his toys as well."

"I am not a toy," Mitsuki tells him with chilling promise. "And you'll find keeping me alive all this time was a very grave miscalculation."

What happens next is a flurry of motion Sarada thinks she would have a hard time tracking even if she could activate her Sharingan. She's never truly seen this side if Mitsuki before, and as fascinated and disturbed as she is by it, she can't allow herself to get caught up in watching it.

Slowly, heavily, she drags herself closer to Boruto.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live," her friends replies through gritted teeth, then lets out a weak laugh. "If we ever get out of this...your mom is teaching me how to heal stuff too. This is bullshit."

"No one asked you to play the hero," she shoots back tensely.

"No one asked you," he counters. "Seriously...you survive a whole day of...of broken bones and almost drowning and...whatever the hell else happened. And you get taken out by a poison knife?"

"Shut up, idiot."

"Yeah, yeah..." An enraged yell from above where Mitsuki and Jikken are throwing each other into walls, dragging their fight farther and farther up the ramparts that line the chamber. "I knew he was good...but not that good."

"He'll run out of steam soon," Sarada warns grimly.

"Which is why we need to leave...before his distraction stops working. Gimme a moment...to get back feeling in my feet. I'll get you out of here...believe it."

"No, you need to just get you out of here. You'll be faster on your own. Find our parents, if they're there. I can...I can stay with Konohamaru-sensei."

"Sarada...shut up and stop arguing something we've already decided. Besides, if you die, I die—"

Her eyes widen. "Wha...?"

"—and getting murdered by Uncle Sasuke and Aunt Sakura? Totally not on my list of things to do today," Boruto declares, forcing himself to his feet. He reaches for her, and before she can protest, has lifted her into his arms.

"I can walk—!"

"Less movement is better," Boruto cuts her off. "Let's go!"

But before he takes even one step toward the exit or she can manage one last half-hearted bit of protest, an agonised shriek fills the hair.

Boruto and Sarada both stare upward to their teammate.

Mitsuki's fingertips glow with purple flame, a technique Sarada recognises as a means of disrupting the flow of an enemy's chakra. Jikken is in the process of a downward cleave, clearly attempting to take Mitsuki's head clear off, but remains frozen at the purple chakra flaring against his stomach. A beat later, the teleporter all-but shrieks in agony, diving back and clutching at his abdomen.

Sarada can't see it tell for sure what seal Mitsuki used, but she suspects Jikken won't be teleporting again any time soon.

He knows it, too, judging from the pained expression on his face. His entire form tenses up, as if he's trying to vanish, but can't get beyond the seal anchoring him. A normal person would be on his knees by now, but Jikken remains upright. In fact, he claws at his abdomen in frustration, causing bloody welts there.

"Clever, clever," he spits at Mitsuki. Then he abruptly begins to laugh. "But far, far from over!"

Mitsuki makes a move forward, but Jikken jumps nimbly out of his way, backing farther and farther up the rickety stairwell.

"The damned serve their purpose, don't they?" Jikken giggles, the sound high and manic. "He left them, as he left me. Left you. Abandoned. But I found a use for them! And even if I die here...she will bring me back!"

"You need to shut up now," Mitsuki states flatly.

"And you need to make a decision," Jikken purrs, flourishing his bloody clawed hands as if to tick off options. "Kill me...or save your friends."

Before anyone can ruminate on that, he pivots and shoves his hand against something on the wall nearby. There's a creaking noise, like a long-unused lever being pulled downward. Seconds later, the room begins to echo with the sound of scraping metal.

The banging noises that Sarada heard earlier suddenly disappear, replaced instead with the ominous, snarling she's only heard once before. It suddenly makes perfect sense what Jikken was talking about.

"Oh, no," she whispers, staring up into the distance as dozens of shadows move across the ramparts, all along the spiralling staircase. They loom over the edge of the scaffolding, growling and snarling and swiping at each other.

She would think that the dome of the mountain were filled with very large bats, if it weren't for the familiar spread of curse marks breaking out across their skin when they are hit by the light.

It's at that moment that several of the once-human creatures notice their audience below.

Boruto's hold on her tightens and he says quietly, "This isn't gonna be good, is it?"

Sarada can only swallow convulsively in response.

つづく

_____

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