Boruto winced as he leaped backwards, landing hastily in the courtyard center before jumping forwards again, dodging Tobi's chains just as they slashed across where he had just been standing not a nanosecond before.

Then Hiashi was suddenly there, lashing out at the masked man's chakra points as he himself recovered from his failed attack on Boruto. But Tobi was already transparent, body dipping downwards into the earth as Hiashi spun on his heel.

They were being worked to death, it seemed - but Boruto felt slightly better now than he did before. Hoheto was no longer a liability; as much as Boruto had grown to actually enjoy the other boy's presence, even he had to admit that he simply wasn't skilled enough. Not in a battle where one's attention had to be focused on one thing and one thing only.

Boruto swiveled in place as he felt the whisper of a kunai jetting through the air prickle at the hairs on the back of his neck. Sure enough, the blade passed through the air just above his head as he ducked, falling forwards onto his stomach only to push himself into the air with one massive burst of chakra.

He was not, however, prepared for the explosive blast when the kunai detonated, sending shards of rock and sand towards him faster than he could have ever hoped to dodge.

"Augh!" he hissed as he felt his back rip open, a few sharp husks of stone slicing across his skin underneath his clothing.

He stumbled to his feet, moving back toward Hiashi as quickly as he could, the man turning and raising an eyebrow at his bloodied back.

"Are you alright?"

Boruto just nodded, moving beside Hiashi and pulling his last kunai from his pouch.

"Madara is playing with us," Hiashi said coolly, as he looked out over the suddenly deathly quiet courtyard with his Byakugan active.

"Yeah," Boruto said, wincing as he rolled his shoulders and returned to his previous stance. "Dad should be here soon, I don't know what's taking him so long..."

"The rumbling has stopped," Hiashi noted quietly, and Boruto suddenly realized that he was right. The ground was quiet, and the water that had been rushing past the crumbling barrier was now being held back by a strange black substance that coated the wall like some sort of omnipresent shadow.

The sun was beginning to peek its way through the black clouds, and the low hum of the ocean returning to homeostasis behind the levy began to overpower the wailing of the dying wind.

A fog began to creep in.

"We are, after all, in the Hidden Mist village," Boruto heard Tobi chuckle from nowhere in particular, as the mist grew denser and denser - like a thick soup. "It is only fitting that this be the way that I kill you."

"Kill us?!" Boruto blurted, his heart accelerating to unmanageable speeds. "I-I thought you were going to take us hostage or something, y'know! What happened to wanting information?"

"I grow tired of playing with my toys," Tobi said simply. "Besides... if the Nine-Tails truly believes he can stop me, then let him try."

Silence.

Boruto could feel something moving behind him, but when he swiveled around in terror to defend himself, he saw nothing.

That's when he heard what sounded like a mild explosion go off behind him, only to find his father standing inside of Tobi, who had his hand outstretched towards him - dangerously close.

"You alright?" Naruto said quietly, before narrowing his eyes at the ground where Tobi had returned. "Am I too late?"

His eyes widened when he spotted Hiashi, but no one else. "Oh... oh no..."

"Grandpa Minato took him," Boruto quickly blurted out when he realized what - or, rather, who his father was talking about. "Hoheto's back in the Leaf."

Boruto watched his father's black-cloaked shoulders sag forward slightly in relief. It wasn't hard for him to tell that his father was fatigued - whether it was physically or mentally, Boruto was unsure.

Naruto looked up and into the fog, his eyes morphed into a strange four pointed star pattern. "Come out, Tobi. We just want to talk."

No response.

"He's been doing this to us since you left," Boruto murmured to his father, as he moved to Naruto's side. "I don't know what-"

"ROTATION!"

Boruto jumped when he spotted Tobi's masked form attempt to grab Hiashi's arm, just before the man erupted into a sphere of swirling blue chakra. The fog within their field of view began to churn and spin along with Hiashi's jutsu, the air clearing up once more.

Once the fog disappeared, Boruto blinked when he saw Tobi sitting amicably atop an overturned stone in the center of the courtyard, watching them with a bored demeanor about him.

"You wanted to talk?" he asked simply, not bothering to move.

Naruto took a step forward, his chakra-infused cloak billowing behind him as he walked. "Tobi..."

"My plans didn't originally call for any of this, you know," he said evenly, his arm dangling over his raised knee. "I was simply going to manipulate the Three-Tails, and subsequently this village, until they had outgrown their usefulness. The fact it happened so quickly is a shame, of course, but it couldn't be avoided."

Naruto sighed, taking another step forward, his chakra cloak slipping from his body in a whisper of light. The black coating on the walls around the village evaporated into the air like they were never there, leaving behind the battered and pitted stone surface underneath. The setting sun peaked through one hole in particular, casting dark shadows across the town square, and sunlight everywhere else.

"I take it Kisame is dead, then?" Tobi began again. "Shame. Although I can't say he outlived his usefulness."

"Why are you so quick to destroy this place?" Naruto hissed, eyes fiery. "Thousands of people are undoubtedly injured now, all because you wanted to put on a show and get me to play my hand. So tell me - why? What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Boruto couldn't see it, but he was certain that the man was grinning underneath that mask of his.

He leapt up from the rock. "I want you, Nine-Tails jinchuuriki."

He chuckled. Boruto heard a rustling of movement from behind him, and tore himself away from Tobi's ominous showdown with his father to see what was happening.

"And the easiest way to do that is to go through the hearts of your friends." He laughed, then - an outright, evil, maniacal laugh.

Then, he disappeared in a puff of smoke...

...just as a sickening squelch echoed through the courtyard.