Call my name and save me from the dark

Blank Space

A/N: The other kids find out Boruto's missing.

Naruto checks the jacket.

Boruto takes his chances.

POV Naruto, Sarada, Shikadai, Boruto

Sarada was leaning against the wall, spinning a shuriken over her finger. She watched the points turn, round and round, until she was interrupted.

"Sarada?"

She yelped, clasping her hand around the shuriken and inadvertently cutting herself. She hissed out a curse under her breath, and jammed the shuriken into her pocket, plastering a smile at her visitor. She let it drop almost instantly. Just Mitsuki. No need to pretend.

"What's up?" She said, aware of how awkward she sounded. She knew Mitsuki wasn't particularly interested in her. Boruto was probably the only person he cared about, and without him here, well...

"It's our briefing. Konohamaru-sensei is already up there." Mitsuki said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Sarada winced, and glanced at the clock. Crap. She'd gotten distracted. She gave Mitsuki an apologetic look, and he gave her a small smile before turning back towards the stairs.

When Sarada found herself in the Hokage's office, she was a little shocked. Lord Seventh looked... awful, to put it mildly. He looked exhausted, with twice as many reports stacked up on his desk. But he still gave them a tired smile as they entered.

"You guys are gonna be on a group mission. Teams 5, 7, 10 and 15. It's pretty simple, but it's guarding a big shipment so they want eyes and ears everywhere. It's a C-Rank. Should only take a couple days, and you'll be leaving immediately."

Once Konohamaru had taken the mission files, they left. But Sarada was well aware, in the corner of her vision, of Lord Seventh tiredly thumbing through the stacks of paper on his desk, seemingly none bearing good news.

...

"His jacket?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Yeah," Naruto muttered, eyes locked on the evidence room door in front of them. "Found it in the woods. That's gotta be something, right?"

"Don't get your hopes up Naruto. It could be something, but there are a lot of somethings it could be." Shikamaru murmured.

Naruto pursed his lips. He rapped three sharp times on the door, and it was quickly pulled open by an ANBU member with a Monkey mask. He bowed quickly to them both, then led them over to a table where the jacket had been laid out. It had clearly been examined and scrutinised, and Naruto looked to the ANBU operative for an explanation.

Monkey cleared his throat. "We've had some of the people from Forensics check it over, but it's ah... it's clean. Completely. Barely even a trace of Boruto's DNA on it, just some skin cells and hair follicles. It's been wiped down, there's nothing that shouldn't be there."

"Where was it found?" Shikamaru asked, nudging at one of the scuffed sleeves with a latex-gloved hand.