The Caves

The next day when Naruto was appointed Hokage, everyone was focused on the event. Naruto entered with the frog bosses and Kurama in glory and everyone was watching with amazement. No one noticed Boruto slip away suddenly. No one except Kawaki, that is.

He snuck to a corner and wore a cape over his head. Then he started towards the Hokage faces. His brother who had been watching him closely noted a cold determined look on his face. His eyes under the cape also seemed to be glowing red and he looked paler than ever.

"Boruto," Kawaki called out to him but he didn't seem to hear him. He was walking very quickly towards the mountain of the Hokage faces. Kawaki followed.

What was he up to?

Following his brother's path, they both sneaked past many guards until Boruto came to a secluded place in the Hokage faces. He threw the cloak off him and started writing some characters on the stone floor. Kawaki came upon him and then withdrew into the shadows to watch. He was writing very quickly forming a circle around where he knelt. It seemed he was creating a seal. When he was done writing he weaved a sign.

"Nimpo. Portal Formation Jutsu."

A large portal with black clouds wafting inside appeared behind him and he stood up to view it. He was making his move to enter when Kawaki screamed. 

"Boruto," Kawaki called him.

He turned to look at his brother then laughed harshly. His eyes were glowing brighter than ever like red hot embers and he looked very different.

"You can't stop him," Boruto said. "It's his destiny."

As he entered the portal Kawaki lunged towards him and grabbed his hand but the portal expanded and sucked them both in. 

They fell from a great height and crashed on the stone floor.

"Ow," Kawaki winced as pain riddled through his slim frame. He stood up carefully, rubbing his grazed knees and elbows. It had been a hard fall. Kawaki heard his brother getting up as well and brushing down his clothes. They both looked around. They seemed to be in a pitch-black cave made of stone. The air was bad and full of dust. Kawaki put his hand in front of him. He felt cobwebs.

Coughing he asked, "Where are we?"

"I – I don't know," Boruto wavered.

Kawaki ignored that. "We have to get back," he said and made to feel around the stone walls. "It seemed we came from above or something. Can you create your portal so we can go back? It's dad's coronation today, remember? The big event?"

Boruto was strangely silent. Kawaki pulled a scroll from behind him and weaved a sign to perform a jutsu that would light up the place but he found he couldn't make it work.

"This is strange. it seems we can't use jutsu here."

He concentrated. 

"Kekkei Genkai seems to be working. Although I've never had that much to begin with. What's this place?"

Boruto was quiet.

"Boruto," Kawaki's voice boomed at him. "We have to get out of here. Stop messing around and open that portal."

"I don't – I don't – What portal?"

"This is not a joke!"

"If you'll only calm down –"

"Calm down, are you serious? Get us out of here. It's cold and dark and... creepy."

"Kawaki listen to me. I don't know how we got here."

"What?"

"I don't know how we got here. You have to tell me because I don't remember anything. One moment I was going to bed and the next, I'm… wait… Is this a dream?"

Finding and grabbing his shoulders Kawaki shook him firmly. "Does that feel like a dream? Argh!" He let go of him in exasperation and they were silent for a while. It was at that moment Kawaki remembered the look Boruto had had on his face and the words he'd told him.

"You can't stop him. It's his destiny."

"You were acting strange earlier. Your eyes – they were glowing red. You seemed up to something sinister. I followed you to find you performing a secret Jutsu. It opened the portal that brought us here. What was that abaout?"

Boruto shook his head in the darkness.

"Come on," he said suddenly, and walking determinedly he started moving pushing away the webs as he did. "We'll need light."

"Wait. I have a few paper bombs in my pocket." Kawaki was a collector of several odds and ends. He kept these little things in his pocket. "Oh, they may not work. Let's see, I should have a lighter."

Boruto scoffed. "Do you also have the map of the grand line?"

"Well, it's coming in handy now, isn't it? my collector habit."

He found the lighter and tried it. It lasted for a moment and in the short time, the cave lit up. Boruto drew a sudden intake of breath as he saw where they were.

"This place…" he left his words hanging.

 "What a weird cave," Kawaki said wonderingly. "I wonder if it's part of the Hokage faces…"

The light died away and Kawaki tried again. the lighter making a metallic scratching noise as he did.

"Follow me," Boruto told his brother. He started hurriedly towards one of the walls and feeling around confidently he soon got a hold of a torch. Light this up, he told Kawaki and went to get another torch from the other side of the wall.

Soon they were both armed with torches shooting flames and lighting up the dingy cave.

"Let's go."

The cave was man-made, and though it had a few ruins here and there, it was a massive architecture with several doorways on the walls and many turns and corners. Boruto started around these corners and Kawaki followed him. They turned and twisted and twisted and turned. There seemed to switching routes very rapidly.

"Strange. It's like a maze, isn't it?" Kawaki bothered. "I hope we don't get lost."

"We won't," Boruto said. 

They came into a large hall with seven doorways in front of them. Boruto moved quickly into the fifth one and they started moving through a narrow hall. Then he stopped short suddenly and pulled Kawaki and himself against the wall so their backs rested on it. The ground in the middle of the hall fell in suddenly. If they had been on it when it collapsed, it would have been fatal.

Kawaka gasped trying to catch his breath as he looked into the large hole but Boruto was on the move again shifting gently on the small ground space left between his foot and the hole until they were out of danger. Kawaki followed.

"Come on," Buruto urged him. We have to hurry.

They came upon another set of doorways and without thinking Boruto went straight ahead through the middle one. He was running now.

"Run, Kawaki," he cried. "Run!!!"

Kawaki was aghast at how suddenly his brother had taken off and wavered for a moment watching him.

Boruto turned and screamed at him. "Come on!! Come on!!!"

His voice geared Kawaki into action and he started after him.

The ground started rumbling at that moment and suddenly tall sharp piercing knives sprang through the stone floor scattering rocks and chips of rocks. The knives were bursting off behind them and approaching very fast.

"What the – Boruto!!!" kawaka cried. He ran faster than his legs had ever run before. The smashing sounds of knives against the stone behind him made a horrible deadly noise.

"Ahhhhh"

Kawaki did not hear his scream. He could feel the small pebbles knocking against his legs as the danger drew closer.

"Run Kawaki. The roof!"

The roof above them groaned and creaked. Then it outright crumbled. Boruto made it out of the hall just in time. Reaching out he grabbed his twin and pulled his twin onto him just as the stone roof collapsed to the ground closing up the hall with an explosion of dust and stone.

They lay there trying to catch their breath for a long time.

"Thank you and no thank you," Kawaki said breathlessly. "Maybe we should make up our minds on which doors to enter next time. We've almost died twice!"

"Trust me, these are the safest doors. Come on."

As Boruto got up to start moving Kawaki asked. "What does that mean?"

"What?"

His brother rose and rushed at him quickly grabbing him by the collar. He pushed him against the wall and stared into his face. He was fuming by now.

"What's going on, huh, What's this place?"

They had lost their lanterns rushing through the hall as they did and Kawaki could not see how tired his brother was. He heard it.

Boruto was breathing harshly now. "I don't know Kawaki. In my dreams, I've been searching through this cave for as long as I can remember."

"What?"

"Every night when I close my eyes to sleep. I come here. And I begin running around looking for a way out."

"How long?"

"About three years. I start in the same spot and if I don't make it out in time, I die. When I die, I wake up."

Kawaki said nothing as he stared into the darkness where his brother's face was.

"We don't have time to chat. This place is dangerous and you must follow my every step."

Kawaki let go of him, breathing deeply as he thought.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? I mean… Every night?"

"It was just a dream. Now? I don't know. Come one."

They entered another long hall with twelve lion head statues fixed on the walls above, six on each side.

"These statues are equipped with poisoned darts. Take one step forward and two steps back."

Kawaki followed his brother's move. They took one step forward and two steps back hastily. The statues closest to them on each side of the wall released two darts simultaneously, the second following the first and directed to where they would have been if they had only taken one step back.

Kawaki gulped.

"However do we make it out then?"

"We have to keep doing this until they're all out of arrows. They each have three rounds before they are empty."

Kawaki looked at his brother and thought about how long he must have tried before he learned that little fact.

As they moved forward, he said: "It must have been hard. Seems like some sort of training. Why do you suppose you have been having these dreams?"

Boruto's eyes shifted. He said instead.

"Two nights ago. I found the exit. A hole in the cave that led to fresh air and open lands."

"That's great. Let's get out of here quickly in time for Father's coronation."

Boruto moved ahead as his mind wandered. He had indeed found the exit. And filled with unimaginable relief he'd rushed to thick stone doors carved into the wall. They had opened on their own accord immediately he touched it as his touch seemed to release a blue luminescent light that cut through the stone. He had laughed with joy at seeing the sunlight and feeling the breeze against his skin. His legs moved to take the step outside when he heard a voice behind him.

"This door would open once for you. And once alone."

He turned around quickly. There was a wounded man sprawled against the wall behind him. He was half bent unusually and was breathing with difficulty. Boruto had not noticed him earlier. He had a red cape over his head pulled down to cover his eyes. His mouth which was hardly visible under the cape was hidden with beards the color of ripe cherries.

Boruto made towards him asking "Are you okay?" as he drew closer, the door closed a bit. He turned back towards it but it remained half shut.

"Every step you take now, whether forward or backward, will trigger the door to close. When it closes, you can never open it again."

Boruto swallowed. "I must go. I will get help. I will trace my way back here with my father. He is the greatest ninja in the world. He will help you."

The man raised his head to take a long look at the boy standing at the door. Slightly facing him, the boy was bathed by the sunlight.

"You are Uzumaki Boruto," he said.

"Yes. How do you know?"

The man shook slightly as he chuckled then throwing his head back he laughed outright; Loud guffaws that shook his entire being and ended in a sudden coughing spell. His injury seemed to erupt more blood and he slid down further on the wall, his head falling again.

"In a short while," he said. "I will be dead. When I die, these caves will cease to exist. If you must leave, now is the time. When the caves disappear, so will everything in it."

"No!" Boruto cried. "There must be a way." He looked around for something rock with which to lodge the doors together. But the floors of the cave were smooth and empty. As he looked around he made two hasty steps and the door creaked further shut. There was now left about two inches, just enough for him to pass through.

He rushed towards the door and stood in front screaming for someone. The place as far as his eyes could see was deserted. A tattered ghost town without a living being stirring.

"Sir, come closer," he said moving closer to the caped man. "Come on. I'll drag you out."

The man lay still. His breathing increased. "Kid, there's nothing anyone can do for me now. But before you go. Don't you want to know why you have been brought here?"