"You wanna join us for the break?" Shikamaru asked.
"…" Boruto was silent for a second.
He felt guilty for cheating against Shikadai in the Chūnin exam matches, despite patching up later he still felt a bit guilty. The current Shikamaru bore an almost complete resemblance to the Shikadai from before which made Boruto think twice before talking.
"Yeah," Boruto responded to Shikamaru"s invitation in an awkward voice.
Soon the Chōji and Boruto were wolfing down the snacks they had just bought in front of a shop while Shikamaru was staring at the sky…
Boruto looked at Shikamaru.
"We should hang out like this every day," Boruto said.
"Yeah," Chōji supported.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru was thinking of the different Naruto he had seen today.
"Naruto," Shikamaru called out.
"Hmm?" Boruto looked at Shikamaru.
"How did you suddenly become a genius at Shuriken throwing?" Shikamaru asked.
(cough!)
(cough!)
(cough!)
Boruto instantly coughed out some of the chips he had bitten down on.
"W-where did that come from Shikamaru-no…"
"I mean, Shikamaru," Boruto asked.
"…" Shikamaru silently stared at Boruto.
("Normally I"m on the alert for people calling Chōji fatso but, did Naruto just wanted to call me by something else?") Shikamaru thought.
Boruto looked away, suddenly seeming lonely.
"The old man came to my house yesterday…" Boruto said in a low voice.
"Who?" Chōji asked.
"It"s the sandaime isn"t it?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah,"
"He came to give me some money for the next month,"
"He said that I had already failed twice before, so I had to do my best to pa.s.s this time around," Boruto sighed as he took a bite.
"I see…"
"You have it a lot tougher than us normal folks…" Shikamaru said as he stared at the sky.
"Yeah…" Boruto sighed again.
A moment of silence later…
"Doesn"t Sasuke have it tough too?" Boruto suddenly asked.
"Yeah,"
"But he always came at the top of the cla.s.s unlike you," Chōji answered.
"He"s the only survivor of his clan,"
"Probably every single pa.s.sing day is a living h.e.l.l for him…" Shikamaru said.
Boruto was shocked, ("Uncle Sasuke probably faced the worst,")
("Dad had been facing this from birth, so at some point in time he probably got used to it, but unlike dad, Uncle Sasuke"s family were recently killed…")
("Speaking of which, who killed his family?") Boruto was confused.
In the future, Sasuke did his best to do away with any information that defamed Itachi, including the incident of Itachi wiping out the clan and being a member of the Akatsuki…
Only those who had information beforehand and people who heard it from them knew that Itachi was a villain.
Itachi was an unsung hero of the war, but of course, only Naruto and Sasuke from the future were aware of Itachi"s exploits.
Boruto looked at Shikamaru.
"So, how did that incident happen?" Boruto asked.
"You"re asking the wrong guy Naruto, Only the older ones in the village know of it," Shikamaru said.
"Whom do I ask?" Boruto asked, eager to find out the information.
"Why are you interested?" Shikamaru asked.
"It"s like I said before, Sasuke and I are the only ones aware of how we feel," Boruto said in a firm voice.
This was also because the last two days Boruto knew how much he missed his family.
Even though he never felt much about missing Naruto since he spent his time in the Hokage office…
The fight against the Otsutsukis along with his father and friends got him closer to Naruto. Thus he felt even more deeply about his family, especially after being separated from them for the past two days.
Now that Boruto knew of this pain, he could only imagine what Sasuke must be going through as he continued to live.
"I don"t know what you are up to… However, they should probably have some of that information doc.u.mented in the library."
"Though there are high chances of it being in the restricted section…" Shikamaru said.
"Library, Got it!"
"Thanks, Shikamaru-n…"
"You"d better stop struggling with names Naruto,"
"You don"t want to end up p.i.s.sing off Sakura or anyone else in our cla.s.s," Shikamaru gently reminded.
"Sorry," Boruto apologized immediately upon thinking back to seeing Sakura"s scary face…
("I must apologize to her for that,") Boruto thought internally.
Soon the trio was on their way back to the academy.
"We should invite Sasuke next time," Boruto said as the three walked together, however suddenly Chōji and Shikamaru stopped.
"What is it?" Boruto asked.
"Are you out of your mind Naruto,"
"We are part of a losers group,"
"We can"t include a cool guy like him," Shikamaru said.
"Oh, you think I am a loser?" Boruto asked with a confident look.
"your previous two results beg to differ," Shikamaru replied.
"…ah" Boruto sighed dejectedly, but then immediately stood up again.
"I"ll make him join and Kiba as well," Boruto said.
("Ah s.h.i.t… Here we go again…") Shikamaru felt a whole bunch of trouble coming on as he turned to glare at Chōji.
Chōji had both his palms facing up saying he didn"t know this would bring trouble…
Wheee!!!!
Iruka blew on the whistle to have everyone pay their attention.
"Now that break is over,"
"We will have the sparring session begin,"
"First up, Aburame Shino"
"and …"
The first two combatants were called out.
Boruto, Chōji, and Shikamaru stood together at the end of the group.
The three observed as Shino, and his opponent held up a single hand sign with the index and middle finger upright.
"Say, Naruto," Shikamaru called out.
"What is it?" Boruto asked.
"You don"t suppose you might be able to defeat Sasuke in the spar?" Shikamaru asked.
Boruto"s eyes immediately scanned around the crowd only to see Sasuke staring at him.
("Wow, he looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed,") Boruto thought following which he turned towards Shikamaru.
"If he doesn"t show all his skills, I might end up being the winner dattebasa," Boruto closed one his eyes and said.
"Right…"
"Don"t be overconfident," Shikamaru reminded gently.
"Hehe…" Boruto laughed awkwardly as he turned back to observe the matches.
Chōji ended up winning his par with a sway of his fat a.s.s that sent his opponent flying.
("Being fat sure does have its perks…") Boruto thought.
A few minutes pa.s.sed with the recent battle being one between Sakura and Ino ending up in a mud fight as both of them walked out with a draw. Prior to the duo walking out, Iruka had a hard time having them reconcile with each other to perform a unison sign since the two fought over petty issues that they faced.
"Hyūga Hinata," Iruka called out after wiping out his sweat.
("Mom?") Boruto turned around to see Hinata walk towards the middle of the field with her opponent on the other side.
The two held up the spar sign against each other.
"Begin!" Iruka shouted.
"Haahh!!" The girl opposite to Hinata charged at her with full force.
"hah!" Hinata swiftly blocked her opponent"s advancement.
Suddenly Boruto"s eyes widened.
("Now that I think about it, if I use the gentle fist that"s the end of my line,") Boruto shuddered at the thought.
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
Hinata"s palms blocked one move after another.
("What the h.e.l.l are you doin mom, you had the chance to advance…") Boruto sighed.
Soon the battle ended in a draw…
Boruto was p.i.s.sed.
("She"s too darned shy…") Boruto complained.
However, what he didn"t know that it was lucky Hinata didn"t lose her concentration upon seeing Naruto observe her throughout the fight.
("Naruto-kun was looking at me…") Hinata was light headed and red-faced as she walked back to her place in the crowd like a man entering his house being drunk.
Boruto sighed in defeat as he continued to watch the other matches take place.
After five or so matches…
Iruka looked at his notebook.
("This is the last match…") Iruka looked at the two contestants and froze.
("Why these two loggerheads?") Iruka suddenly saw his student names dancing in front of his eyes, inducing a migraine like a headache.
("Let"s just get this over with,") Iruka calmed down, following which he called out the names.
"Uchiha Sasuke,"
"Uzumaki Naruto,"
"Step forward," Iruka announced.
"Kyaaaa." The girls went wild.
"Good luck, Naruto," Shikamaru said.
"Don"t need it," Boruto walked off with a confident smile.
"…" Shikamaru could only helplessly witness Naruto drowning in his overconfidence.
("Naruto…") Hinata was fidgeting her fingers in antic.i.p.ation.
Soon the two stood opposite to each other.
"Knock him down Sasuke-kun," Sakura shouted at the top of her voice.
Boruto turned towards Sakura, who was shouting from the crowd.
"What? got a problem with that?" Sakura asked.
Boruto could only watch with a poker face as he internally thought…
("Sakura Obachan, do you really have to hate me or my dad with all your life? ") Boruto asked himself internally.
On the other hand, Sasuke was frowning.
Ever since the morning"s shuriken incident, he had this nagging feeling that he had to give Naruto a beat down.
Iruka looked at the two.
"hold up your spar sign," Iruka reminded.
Boruto and Sasuke held their single hand sign against each other.
"Begin!" Iruka shouted.
"…" However, Boruto and Sasuke didn"t make any moves.
"What"s wrong, aren"t you eager to beat me?" Sasuke taunted.
Boruto, who stood opposite to him, gave a slight smile.
He then looked up at the tree behind Sasuke.
"Sasuke," Boruto called out.
("What?") The real Sasuke was shocked.
However, the next thing that happened almost scared him into jumping off the tree.
"What you did was uncool dattebasa," Boruto who sat down next to Sasuke on the same tree branch said as he stared down at the clone Sasuke along with the clone of himself.
Sasuke was shocked out of his wits.