"Sandaime," Boruto looked at Hiruzen standing at his door.
"It"s been a while Naruto," Hiruzen said as he held a smoke pipe on his right hand.
"…" Boruto stared at Hiruzen silently.
("The legendary Third Hokage,")
("The one who was known as the professor,") Boruto thought back to what he had read on Hiruzen.
("He just looks like your average old man,") Boruto thought as he continued to observe Hiruzen.
"Are you going to keep me waiting at your door all day?" Hiruzen asked.
"Sorry," Boruto said as he gestured for Hiruzen to step right in.
Hiruzen walked into the middle of the room,
He then turned around to observe the condition of the room.
"When I came here, I didn"t expect to see a clean room," Hiruzen said as he placed a brown envelope on the dining table.
("I see, so he"s the one who gave money to dad when he had yet to start out as a ninja,") Boruto thought.
"I just met Iruka on my way here…" Hiruzen said.
"Iruksensei?" Boruto asked.
"Yes,"
"He said you had caused him quite the trouble today…"
"Sleeping in cla.s.s,"
"Getting into all sorts of trouble, including the incident of breaking those flower pots today," Hiruzen said.
"Sorry…" Boruto let out an awkward smile.
"Sorry isn"t going to cut it Naruto," Hiruzen suddenly interrupted.
"You"ve flunked the final exam twice already,"
"The next one is in two weeks," Hiruzen reminded.
"Two weeks…"
("Am I going to be here that long…") Boruto thought.
Hiruzen headed towards the door,
As soon as he opened it, he turned back to look at Naruto.
"Aren"t you going to ask me that question?" Hiruzen asked.
"About the fact that you won"t tell me who my parents are?" Boruto asked in a low tone, trying to sound as lonely as he could possibly be.
"…" Hiruzen stared silently at Naruto.
"I"m done asking about them, Sandaime," Boruto replied.
"I see…" Hiruzen smiled lightly.
"Pa.s.s this time Naruto," Hiruzen said as he left the house.
"Hoah," Boruto fell onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while.
He then looked around the clean room.
("Was he always in this quiet room.") Boruto thought as he looked around the room which seemed to be quite a bit bigger than what he had perceived before. Though the place that Naruto lived in was barely a bit bigger than Boruto"s bedroom, the attached bathroom and the Kitchen and Dining area within the same room only seemed much bigger at this moment due to the loneliness Boruto felt at the sight of it.
Boruto got up from his bed, walked towards the wardrobe, and opened it.
It was almost empty with few of Naruto"s Pyjamas, old clothes, and summer clothes.
Boruto then opened the drawers below.
Upon opening, there was only a bunch of scrolls and weapons.
("There"s none here,") Boruto thought following which he looked towards the other storages in the room.
Soon, after checking all the storages, Boruto sat down on the floor in defeat.
"He doesn"t have any photos of himself, nor his friends…" Boruto thought aloud as he turned around to take a look at the barren room.
A few minutes later…
Boruto looked at the paper in his hand.
"There"s about five instant cup ramens in the shelf, a 1L Milk Pack in the fridge."
"Some cereals and a couple of snacks but nothing to cook," Boruto thought aloud as he stared at the paper.
"There"s some money the old man gave me, but I doubt it"ll barely last the month,"
"Most probably he"s betting that my dad, as in I"ll pa.s.s the exam this time around,"
"From then on I"ll probably have to rely on the money from the missions," Boruto thought aloud following which he looked at the map in his hand which he had bought earlier in the day.
"I"ll probably have to carry this around for a while until I familiarise myself with the village," Boruto folded the map following which he walked towards the entrance door.
Evening at 5 pm.
Amongst the busy streets of the Hidden Leaf Village, Boruto walked around trying to familiarise himself with the hotspots of the village.
(Whoosh!)
Boruto jumped up a tall building and sat in a comfortable place that gave him an eagle eye view of most sites.
Boruto then looked down at the map he had opened in his hand and compared it to the view.
("This village is quite smaller than the one in the future,") Boruto thought as his eyes scanned around for a particular street.
("That"s the route towards the academy,") Boruto then took out a pencil and marked the best shortcuts down.
("One for Ichiraku Ramen,")
("The library,")
("The Hokage office…")
Boruto marked down important routes one by one.
"Mama, Balloon!" Boruto heard a voice cry out from below.
"Huh?" Boruto looked up (out of his map) to see a yellow balloon float right in front of him.
"Gotcha!" Boruto caught the balloon before it flew further away, following which he landed on the ground with the balloon.
"here," Boruto said as he handed over the balloon to a small boy who had cried out earlier.
"Th"
Before the little boy could thank, a young woman whisked the boy away from Boruto.
"Stay away from that boy," The woman scolded her child with an almost inaudible voice.
However, Boruto had heard it clearly.
"What"s with that look," Boruto murmured as he stared at the woman"s back.
However, he had immediately recovered himself and waved at the boy who was looking back at Boruto from the side of his eyes.
("Something strange is going on,")
("Even the man from earlier today had given me that weird look,") Boruto thought as he walked away…
Boruto had already accomplished what he wanted to do, but this new development had him curious.
(whoosh!)
Boruto landed by the playground.
("In a world that has no games, the next best place to play would be this one,") Boruto thought as he stared at the playground from its entrance.
He then entered the playground, and the first reaction that he caught sight of was a woman who walked towards her child and persuaded the little girl to get out of the see-saw.
("Why are they running away from me…") Boruto thought as he stared at two other women do the same thing.
Then it suddenly clicked in his mind.
("Is it because they fear those who possess tailed beasts?") Boruto thought.
Boruto was already familiar with the concepts of tailed beasts since the fourth ninja war was something his dad and his mentor had taken part in, on top of which they had emerged as heroes.
Upon such thoughts, Boruto no longer looked into the problem.
However, he also had a heightened sense of respect for his dad.
("To think that Dad had to face this until he graduated…") Boruto thought back to his hardworking dad who never came home until late nights.
("Yet he risks his life to protect these people…") Boruto was completely speechless.
He then took a look at the setting sun before proceeding in another direction.
Soon it was almost nine in the night, and Boruto kept wandering around.
("Man, I"m tired from wandering around,")
("I guess I"ll head back home now…") Boruto thought following which he turned around to walk towards his dad"s house.
Boruto switched on the light as he walked through the entrance.
"Is this what it feels like to have no one expecting you at home…" Boruto thought aloud as he stared at the room, devoid of any living being.
Boruto kept the map on the desk and went to take a bath…
At the shower, he was in a daze thinking back to everything that had taken place since he had arrived in this world.
He cringed at the thought of interacting with the younger versions of his dad"s friends, but this situation left him no choice.
"I know very little about their younger selves,"
"It is also not a guarantee that they are his friends at this stage," Boruto concluded upon not seeing any photos of Naruto and his friends.
Soon, Boruto finished taking his bath, drank some milk, and went to sleep.
On the bed, Boruto had his eyes wide open.
"I wonder what dad, mom, and Himawari are doing…"
"And then there"s Sarada, Mitsuki, Konohamaru-sensei, cla.s.s rep (Sumire), Shikadai, Inojin, Chocho, Moegi sensei, Hanabi no-nee-chan, Wasabi, Namida, Iwabi, Metal, Denki, Udon-sensei, and the others…" Boruto thought back to his generation of genins back in his world.
Soon, minutes pa.s.sed by with Boruto staring at the ceiling immersed in his memories.
"I"m unable to sleep!" Boruto shouted as he got up from his bed.
He then looked at the moon through the only window in the room.
*Sh*
*Sh* *Sh* *Sh*
*Sh*
Sounds of the pencil nib grinding against the paper echoed in the silent room as Boruto was busy drawing onto a piece of paper.
"It"s done," Boruto lifted the paper up to see a very shabby and disfigured drawing of him, his dad, mom, and Himawari together.
"Not as neat as I expected though…" Boruto felt guilty at his artistic skills.
He then grabbed some tape and pasted his drawing on the wall opposite to his bed.
"Good night,"
"Mama, papa, and Himawari," Boruto said with a smile following which he went to sleep.