A certain coastal city in eastern Land of Fire…
"Snap out of it!" Neji shouted. "Tenten!"
Tenten had abruptly stopped moving in the middle of the battlefield, almost as if she had been struck by a genjutsu, but Neji could see no sign of the enemy's chakra inside her brain's pathways.
"Neji-niisan!" Hinata screamed. "Watch out!"
The sky seemed to darken as the enemy ships' siege engines rained kunai down upon them. Neji's body moved on its own, shielding Tenten's helpless body with his own… but hang on, he couldn't die here in such a stupid fashion. Didn't he know the perfect jutsu to parry such attacks?
"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation: Revolving Heaven!"
Neji enveloped the dazed Tenten in a tight hug and turned on the spot, spinning the chakra streaming from his Tenketsu into an invulnerable bubble. The chakra shield repelled the rain of kunai, sending them hurtling back towards their senders.
The storm of steel seemed interminable. But, just when he thought he could hold on no longer, it finally abated. He breathed a sigh of relief; he didn't need to look at the others to see that they were also safe.
Hinata had protected the rest of Team 8 with her own Rotation, just as he had saved Team 3, but he could plainly see that the suppressive fire had already accomplished its goal: it had pinned them down long enough for the enemy to encircle them. He could see enemy Kiri-nin jumping down from their ships and onto the water's surface, moving into position around them onto the docks…
"Well, this is it," Shino said calmly. "We're all dead. It was a pleasure knowing you all."
If it was just a matter of escaping, they would have no trouble breaking through, but the city they were supposed to protect was at their backs… the higher-ups had told them that without food imports from overseas, the Hidden Leaf would soon starve, though personally, Neji doubted the claim was entirely accurate. Unfortunately for him, his teammates seemed determined to protect this port and make their last stand here, and he was not so heartless as to abandon them to their fates…
"It is not over so long as we are still alive," said Rock Lee, her voice filled with determination despite her exhaustion. "If I open the Sixth Gate…"
Neji could plainly see that Lee-chan was on her last legs.
Although she had trained ceaselessly after being turned into a girl, her female body was far weaker than her male one. Furthermore, she had already opened the Gate of Limit to repel the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist during the first wave of attacks, just before this one, so even if she gave every last scrap of her remaining stamina, her spindly limbs simply had no strength left to give…
"Boruto, Sarada…" Tenten mumbled incoherently in Neji's arms. "It's all your fault… the world… ended…"
"Get a hold of yourself, Tenten!" Kiba shouted with a shaky voice. "You're the only one who can get us out of here, so you gotta wake up, man!"
Unlike some of the others, Kiba didn't seem too keen on dying here. He was fine with sacrificing his life for the Hidden Leaf, but this big city that assaulted his nose with every imaginable scent and reeked of rotting fish? He couldn't have cared less about it!
"Woof!"
Akamaru seemed to agree, but unfortunately for those who still wished to live, today was the day Eida, bearer of the Senrigan in Boruto's era, was born.
Although Eida's Omnipotence bore such a grand name, it was not truly capable of everything. Her Shinjutsu, her Divine Arts, could not affect things or people that predated her birth… but the moment she came into this world, her future self's unreasonable power stretched back across time, once more warping the regressor Tenten's consciousness and exchanging Boruto's place with Kawaki's in her mind… making her see him, and everyone who had ever taken his side, as enemies to be exterminated.
"How could I have forgotten… this attempt is a failure," Tenten mumbled to herself. "Karasuki Nigou, prepare to jump a second time…"
Unfortunately for Tenten, due to Sakura's own time-travelling shenanigans, this world line had been cut off at the base and become isolated from the River of Time. Time travel from this tributary was no longer possible without the ability to leap between parallel worlds, which her device lacked without a software update… in effect, she was stranded in this doomed timeline.
There would be no more do-overs.
"They're coming," Neji said calmly. "Hinata, take as many as you can carry. Fly away and save yourselves. This place isn't worth dying for."
Slowly but surely, mist began rolling out from between the trees, blanketing the forest in white.
"I'm the only one of you who can fight at full strength in the Kirigakure no Jutsu," he added firmly. "Go, I'll buy you some time."
"No, I will!" Lee said wearily, even though she could barely stand up straight. "This… this is what the Eight Inner Gates were made for… to protect one's comrades!"
Even though the Eight Gates could boost Lee-chan's strength, her base form was still too weak, so the multiplicative amplification simply hadn't been enough to decisively bring down the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist during their first encounter.
So, what determined the vast gulf between the users of the Eight Inner Gates?
Might Dai's release of the Eighth Gate had only allowed him to kill a measly few of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist's first incarnation, not even all of them. By contrast, Might Guy's Eighth Gate unleashed pushed his strength to the point where he could put a dent in Ten-Tails Jinchūriki Madara. As for Lee, she could not even open the Gate of Wonder yet, so she was hardly worth mentioning.
In the end, it all came down to the foundation upon which the Eight Inner Gates were built, the strength of the user before opening the Gates. The stronger the user, the greater the amp!
"They're here…" Neji said quietly.
He could see them all through the mist... the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were back, and no worse for wear from their little clash with Lee earlier.
Ringo Kosame, wielder of the electrifying Kiba twinblades.
Hōzuki Mangetsu, wielder of the explosive Shibuki.
Hozuki Suigetsu, wielder of the hammer-and-axe Kabutowari.
Yuki Haku, wielder of the sewing needle sword, Nuibari.
Chōjūrō, wielder of the shapeshifting Hiramekarei twinswords.
"It's no use running," Shino said quietly. "The city is right behind us. Whether we stay or leave, the situation is beyond salvaging, so we might as well stay and fight… buy some time for the civilians…"
The air grew frostier by the second, their uneasy breaths turning white as the fog rolled in at their feet. This was a bad matchup for Shino, his bugs couldn't take the cold environment created by the Yuki clan's Kekkei Genkai…
'You have no choice but to awaken your eyes and unlock one of our clan's many dōjutsu. The power spike you will experience is the only chance your untalented self has of saving your friends,' Urashiki told Hinata as the busty, horned alien woman that only she could see lazily floated before her mind's eye. 'It's do-or-die.'
"Hinata, you spin clockwise, I'll go anticlockwise," Neji's voice rang out through the mist. "We need to clear as much of this fog as we can, or the others won't be able to fight properly."
'It's no use, that technique is coming from all around you; you'll only be moving the mist around with your spinning,' Urashiki said lightly. 'You need to build up your chakra and follow your instincts… it's in your eyes, in your blood, so you should be capable of it... you've inherited my talented genes, after all.'
"But I don't know how," Hinata said miserably.
Hinata wished she could simply hand over her body to the alien lady and let her do it, but Urashiki had grown too weak to possess her. She had used too much of her Kāma to resurrect Hinata's dying body after Neji had stabbed her under Tenten's instructions three years ago.
'Just do it! Are you an Ōtsutsuki or a monkey?!' Urashiki said impatiently. 'Do you want to die here? You still haven't told that blond orangutan about your feelings! Don't you want the strength to chase away that cherry-blossom-headed girl and tell her to stay away from your chosen mate?'
"Hinata, what are you waiting for?" Neji yelled. "We need to clear the mist!"
Hinata focused on her love for Naruto; it was all she could think of.
"Naruto-kun…" she whispered as warmth blossomed in her bosom.
Hinata closed her eyes and breathed in and out, her warm breath immediately condensing into mist as the temperature continued to plummet. She could hear the blades of grass at her feet crackling as ice crystals burst from them, the footsteps of her comrades, the clinking of the enemy's swords…
"…Hinata?"
Hinata opened her eyes. Her irises had turned sky blue, and luminous patterns in the form of petals ringed her pupils…
"Tenseigan Chakra Mode."