Only Time Can Tell

ANOTHER ADVENTURE

Here ya go! The last chapter of OTCT! I hope you like it! :) I've loved all the support and comments that you've given me, and really, it's a celebration to see this book come to an end so nicely. None of it would have been possible without you. Thanks so much you guys. 

CHAPTER 49

ANOTHER ADVENTURE

BORUTO UZUMAKI

We returned using the scroll. I vaguely remember seeing Inojin looking expectantly at me but then we were gone. I was surrounded by friends, overwhelmed with hugs. I looked to my right to try and find Neji, but found that he wasn't there. He had disappeared. Then I remembered. We left him behind in the past, where he belonged. He had smiled at me, touching my shoulder, promising that he would see me on the other side.

I remember his last words to me, he looked out into the distance, his Byakugan sharp against the wind. "I've learned something from you Boruto, from everyone here. That life is precious, and that I've wasted a lot of my time." He turned to look at me. "I've been silly, throwing around my words recklessly, I've done and said things that I didn't realize could enforce an impact. I've made mistakes. Daichi taught me that. I've made promises that I intend to keep. And... you've reminded me of what's really important. I'm going to tell her."

Who "she" is I don't know. He waved to me as he disappeared into the distance. I was shocked back into the present by someone's hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Ino. Her face was concerned, she had been looking to the crowd for a long time, and now a very scared look was in her eyes. She was looking to me for answers.

The fire crackled between Neji and I. "Would Sai have wanted you to do that? Would he want you to take away his last words? Sai chose to say goodbye." Neji turned away from me, looking back into the flames. "I didn't tell anyone, but before we got to the temple, Sai pulled me aside. He talked to me..." Neji closed his eyes. "It was weird, I didn't know what to make of it at the time. But he reminded me that he was the captain, and that every decision that he made he will think fully through. That he wouldn't change any of his choices, and that he won't regret any part of this mission. I had no idea what he meant...That was when he told me that in the future that I'm...gone. I was shocked...I couldn't think of anything to say...but Boruto...he made that decision, and he knew what would happen. He was fully aware of that fact and he chose to anyway. It would have happened despite what you could or would have done."

"He...said that?"

"Yeah." Neji said, tossing a stick into the fire. "He did."

"What are we going to do? His wife...his son?" I said into my knees. "Inojin's my friend..." Neji rested his hand on my shoulder.

"And Sai knew that. He knew that his son could go on because you are his friend. It would be much better if you told him. Would you want someone else to break the news to him? For him to find out in a worse way? Because there are worse ways..." Neji shook his head. "No...it has to be you."

I knew that now. I took Ino's hand and looked her in the eye. "During the battle, to save everyone, your husband, he chose to be brave. He told me that. He told me that I needed to be brave, and no matter how much looking at you makes me want to look away in shame, I will be brave...for this. While we were in the past, your husband..." I took a deep breath. "He took the path of a true hero." Ino's eyes widened in confusion and then horror, and then sadness, and then hysterics as tears filled her eyes. "I'm so, so, so, sorry." I looked away.

I knew that it was coming, and then I heard it. The sound of Ino's scream, the sound of her knees hitting the ground as she sobbed, her screams carried for miles. Her screams hurt me to hear, the sound of her sadness silenced the crowds. People left, and the procession ended. Carefully her friends gathered around her, they stood around her, gently placing a hand on her shoulders. Before I knew it, everyone was there. My dad, my mom, Sakura, Rock Lee, Tenten, Temari, Shikamaru, Choji, her mother, and myself. We all laid a hand over her, giving her our strength, not in chakra form, but something even more spiritual than that, we gave her our love, and we watched not only as her heart was ripped from her chest and torn to shred, but also as we began to mend it for her.