Boruto: Naruto the Movie - Volume 1 - Chapter 1

Chapter one: a Hero’s Child 
There was a young boy who was always gazing at the sight of his father’s large back. 
 
His father was a hero. 
He wasn’t an ordinary hero. 
He was a hero who’d saved the world. 
Even inside the successive Hokage who’d spanned seven generations, his father’s name was the kind that would be written in gold, a hero among heroes. 
The Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. 
That was his father’s name. 
It was an incredibly dazzling name...and a heavy one as well. 
His father wasn’t only responsible with looking after their own family. 
The boy wasn’t so much of a child that he couldn’t understand that fact. 
“But, that’s why I keep telling you...that isn’t a good excuse to not look my way y’know...” 
But, because it was unavoidable that the boy would end up feeling like that, nobody scolded or reprimanded him for those feelings. 
1/19 
Most of the village of Konohagakure was configured by residential buildings surrounded by large amounts of nature. 
There were places within that nature where people who worked in agricultural manufacturing lived, or places where people supplied some of the many provisions of nature, lumber not being the last. 
Those people’s residences were no more than small islands inside the huge ocean that went by the name of a forest. 
The young boy, Uzumaki Boruto, was now running through that huge forest. 
He was a boy who had inherited his father’s golden hair and blue eyes, and resembled his mother with his gentle facial features. 
On his forehead his hiatai-ate, which was proof of being a ninja, shone radiantly. 
Had he become a genin -the lowest rank of shinobi- because he wanted to chase after his father, or because he wanted to part ways with his father? 
Boruto wasn’t sure yet. 
Neither his mother or father had ever told him to become a ninja, but there was no mistake that his surroundings had expected it. 
No- he himself, when he’d been far younger, had definitely thought that he naturally wanted to be a ninja like his father. 
But now, I’m... 
“Boruto, don’t space out!” 
“I wasn’t!” 
The one who was running next to him was a genin who was in his three-man-cell, his classmate, Uchiha Sarada. Characteristic thick glasses and black hair, a gloomy young girl. Lately, she’d become quite popular among their male ninja classmates, but if you asked her childhood playmate Boruto, then- 
“She’s just gotten a bit taller lately, she’s the same Sarada as always, isn’t she?” 
-is what he would say. 
“Boruto, you lead ahead.” 
The one who spoke now was Mitsuki, the other member of their three-man-cell. 
His surname was unknown. 
He wasn’t someone from Konoha. 
He’d unexpectedly showed up at the Academy, and then somewhere along the line become a face that felt like he’d always belonged to the class, someone who felt like a protective spirit from a fairytale. 
Well, ninja organisations had lots of secrets, and communication with the other side wasn’t thick, so it wasn’t surprising to have a shinobi whose lineage wasn’t known. That was what their teacher, Konohamaru had said. 
It was probable that something like that was the case in reality. 

As Boruto ran, he made a seal with his hands. 
Shadow Clone Technique! 
In an instant, the numbers of running Boruto’s had changed to three. 
The Shadow Clone Technique, which allowed a person to use their chakra to make three copies of themselves who held their consciousness, was Naruto, Boruto’s father’s speciality. The fact that Boruto could master this technique that had once been banned in the past was a sign of his rare talent. 
But, the reason nobody caused a stir about it was because Boruto was ‘ Uzumaki Naruto’s son’. 
Naruto’s son learning the Shadow Clone was as natural as a falcon’s chick flying through the sky, and didn’t merit showing surprise over. 
It was something that irritated Boruto to a great extent. 
He leapt up. 
He passed out of the green forest, and found the blue sky spreading out before his eyes. 
In the vegetable plots close to the woodlands, a black and white animal was munching as he ate the produce there. There was no greenery left in the ridges around the panel. 
It was a carefree scene, but from the farmer’s point of view there was no joke about it. If he couldn’t get any compensation from the village of Konoha, then he wouldn’t be able to get past the winter. 
It was a natural situation for the D-rank missions ninja were requested to do. 
“You’ve sure laid waste to the place, haven’t you...? I’m your opponent, you shitty panda!” 

Boruto’s three alighted selves made a proud image display. 
He got his kunai ready in his hand. 
“This is a bear*, so-” Sarada said. 
“Wha?” 
His childhood friend was always bothered by small details. 
“It’s really a bear that just looks like an atrocious panda!!” Sarada said* 
“It’ll be easy, easy.” Boruto said “It’s just a lame panda, yknow!” 
“I’m telling you it’s a bear!! It’ll be bad to take it lightly, bone-head Boruto!!” 

Strictly speaking, the panda-bear is an independent strain belonging to the panda-bear genus, ursinae family, arctoidea infraorder, caniformia suborder of carnivores. In the same way that the bear belongs to the ursus genus, ursinae family of carnivores, the panda belongs to the giant panda genus, giant panda suborder, ursinae family of carnivores. In that sense, you could call them related species. 

But, as Mitsuki put it: “It doesn’t really matter which one it is, does it?” 
That was the current case. 
“Right now,” Mitsuki said, “Our three man cell’s first priority is to bring this...panda bear to Konohamaru-sensei!” However, the panda bear acted first. 
“GUAAAAAAAH H H H H H H!” 
With a roar, the panda bear turned towards them and started sprinting, 
It looked like it wasn’t afraid of people. 
Which meant that if it was left alone, there was no telling what kind of injuries it could give villagers. 
A panda bear’s body weight is close to one tonne. 
Having one run towards you was no different from a boulder rushing towards you. 
Next to Boruto, Mitsuki had extended his arms as if they were made of rope. 

It wasn’t that he intended to bring down the panda bear by himself. 
Rather, like a lasso, Mitsuki’s arms surrounded the panda bear’s legs to impede its charge. “SHANNA-WHA?!” 
Sarada, who had been about to strike with the superhuman strength she’d inherited from her mother, found herself blocked by one Boruto. 
“Oraaa!” Boruto’s two Kage Bunshin struck the panda bear in the face. 
He didn’t intend to bring down the animal with that blow- though it’s possible that it might have gone down with Sarada’s punch, bringing the animal down wasn’t the objective of their mission. 
The panda bear who’d been hit in the face, right in a place where sensitive nerves were gathered in his eyes and snout, let out a taken aback shriek, and started to run away with the speed of lightning. 
Piercing a blow through the panda bear’s bulky layers of fat was impossible for humans without increasing their strength with chakra, but when it came to just letting them experience pain, that was certainly possible. 
Wild animals don’t want to die, after all. 
Humans were the only ones who walked towards certain death even though they didn’t want to die. 
“See!” Boruto’s face burst into a grin at him outwitting Sarada, “It was easy, taking care of that panda!” 

It wasn’t that he hated Sarada. 
That wasn’t it at all. 
It wasn’t that, but, to put it simply, Sarada’s eyes were always watching him, so he wanted to look good in front of her. 
‘Rivalry’ is what it was. 
Probably. 
Boruto ran after the panda. 
“As expected of the Seventh Hokage’s son, and the Fourth’s grandson...I wonder if Boruto will one day become Hokage too...?” Mitsuki commented. 
He wasn’t being sarcastic. 
Sarada knew that, too. 
The elusive young Mitsuki always said whatever passed through his mind. He was the type of person that was called ‘someone who can’t read the atmosphere’. 
“Someone who can’t read the atmosphere is valuable.” Konohamaru-sensei had once said, in the past. “If everyone limited what they said to suit the atmosphere, then their whole organisation could fall to ruin without anyone noticing that it was happening, because they were all going with the flow of the mood. Organisations need people who give fair arguments unaffected by the atmosphere. Especially those with ninja. The Seventh Hokage’s like that, too. No matter what the situation, he never tries to fit the mood, and always speaks the truth. ” 
Well, there was certainly a bad side to never reading the atmosphere too, but it wasn’t that Mitsuki was incapable of being considerate with his words. It was just that most of the time, he chose not to be. He always choose the most sound solution, and got a baffled look on his face when other people didn’t. 
That was why the words that had just left Mitsuki’s mouth were an objective observation. 
Boruto had blocked Sarada’s movement, simultaneously controlled his two kage bushin, and landed a hit on the nimble panda. 
Over all, it wasn’t the technique of a genin. 
His actions were chuunin...no, maybe even jounin class. 
But. 
While Uzumaki Boruto was the son of the famed Naruto, Uchiha Sarada was the daughter of the famed Sasuke and Sakura. 
She couldn’t lose to him over something like that. 
No, it wasn’t even a question of blood. 

It was a question of a shinobi’s will. 
“The one who’s going to become Hokage is me!!” Sarada ran after Boruto as well. 
60 km/h. 
That’s the speed of a running bear. 
That was why it was useless for normal people to run away from a bear. And naturally, since the panda bear was a close relative, it’s speed was equal, or rather, even more than that of a bear’s. 
Boruto and the others could still keep up with the panda bear because while they were young, they were ninja. Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki, the three of them were half-surrounding the panda as they herded it forwards. Konohamaru-sensei was standing a little ways ahead of them. 
Konohamaru was a jounin who was the grandson of the third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was a veteran shinobi who gave off the impression of a sharp blade. 
Since he was Boruto and the others’ mentor, you could understand the expectations attached to the three of them. There was a weapon wrapped around his arm, something like a gauntlet, that Boruto had never seen before. Konohamaru turned the pointed end of the gauntlet towards the panda. 
“GUOOOH...!?” 
It was a shadow. 
A shadow had restrained the panda’s shadow and stopped it from moving. 
There wasn’t any need to use the usual strong wire used for restraining dangerous animals to bind the shadow- bound panda. 
“Thank you very much, thank you very much.” The villagers repeated, praising them over and over again. 
It wasn’t unreasonable. 
If they’d come a few days later, the village might’ve disappeared. No, more tha that, it was definitely fortunate that they’d caught the panda bear before it could find out what human meat tasted like. 
“The retrieval team will come and handle the rest,” Said Konohamaru. 
“Uhm...Konohamaru-sensei...” Sarada was looking at Konohamaru with a mystified expression. 
Mm? 

“The technique you used to stop the bear... that was the Nara Clan’s hiden technique, the Kageshibari, wasn’t it....?” 
“Yeah.” Konohamaru checked that the villagers were out of range, and then pulled out the weapon from earlier. “It’s a ninja tool of a model gauntlet that shoots out jutsu.” 
In his left hand, he held a scroll that looked like the size of a small bullet. They didn’t look unlike the bullets that the ninja weapon called Dankyuu shot out with string. 
“...So cool!” Boruto couldn’t control the excited shaking of his heart as he looked at the weapon. He was a kid who liked mechanics. He also liked weapons. There was no way he could say ‘no’ to a machine that was a weapon. 
“Is that the rumoured new ninja tool?” 
“You’ve got sharp ears, Mitsuki.” Konohamaru said, “Yeah, this is a prototype from the Scientific Ninja Tool Division. The worth of the data inside this was really shown inside this time’s mission.” 
“Those are really small scrolls...are you saying that jutsu’s inside them?” 
“You can seal jutsu inside these lil’ guys. Right now, they’ve got Shikamaru-san’s Kageshibari sealed in them.” 
I see, Sarada though to herself with a silent nod. If that jutsu belonged to the young Head of the Nara Clan, Shikamaru, then it wasn’t odd for it to be used. 
Konohamaru took out one of the leftover scrolls. 
“If it’s my rasengan then...” 
Arasengan emerged in Konohamaru’s right hand. 
In the past, Boruto’s father Naruto had learned the technique from the ninjutsu master Jiraiya, and then Naruto ahd taught it to Konohamaru. It was a technique that could destroy things by producing a swirl of highly dense chakra. 
Boruto couldn’t do the rasengan. 
He’d tried it once or twice, but he wasn’t able to grasp how to start forming it. He couldn’t understand the finer details of chakra management. 
Konohamaru brought out that same rasengan, and sealed it inside the scroll in his left hand. 
“You do this...” Konohamaru pulled out the gauntlet. He loaded the scroll into the mechanical part of the gauntlet. “And then you can fire it!” 
As soon as the words left Konohamaru’s mouth, the rasengan was fired out of the pointed edge of the gauntlet. It felled countless trees, soaring like a strong gale. 
“WOOOOOOOOAH H H!” 
Boruto was incredibly impressed. 
To fire a rasengan from your hand, even Naruto needed substantial training and a combination of wind release. But if you used this ninja tool, you could pull it off in a single second. 
Even the cool-headed Sarada couldn’t hide her surprise. “That’s...that’s amazing.” She said. “Can anyone use it?’ 

“Yeah...” Konohamaru replied. “It doesn’t matter if you have the chakra necessary or not...to go to further extremes, it wouldn’t even matter if you weren’t a ninja.” 
“Konohamaru-sensei.” Mitsuki tugged at Konohamaru’s sleeve. 
The teacher didn’t notice, and continued with his explanation. “The trajectory of the jutsu isn’t controlled by your chakra, so there’s the problem of it veering off target a little bit, though...” 
‘A little bit’ wasn’t the phrase to use. 
It looked like Konohamaru’s rasengan had gone way off target. The trees that the rasengan destroyed had collapsed onto the closest thing next to them: the farmer’s house. 
Konohamaru saw the villagers who’d surrounded the panda bear now turning to face them with flaming, angry eyes. 
A familiar voice was echoing from the LCD TV. 
When had all the TVs turned into flat LCDs? Boruto tried to shift through his memories. 
In the farthest back memory he could recall, he thought that Ichiraku’s television used to be a CRT display. Was it still a CRT? But then it couldn’t receive digital signals, right? So that had to mean it had already changed to being an LCD. No, had it maybe been an LCD from the start? 
One thing that’s precious for ninja are their memories. Konohamaru’s lecture crossed Boruto’s mind. 
‘...It wouldn’t do if we couldn’t continue to protect the peace and prosperity that has brought about our highly information-advanced society. And now, about the approaching Chuunin Exams which’re held jointly with the Five Villages.. .do you have any comments to give to all the Genin candidates? Naruto-san. ’The neatly dressed, prettyfaced and popular-looking news caster on the screen reached out her microphone with a smile on her face. 
Boruto knew who she was reaching the microphone towards without needing to look. 
It was his dad. 
‘There are three important things! Teamwork, and willpower...’ Naruto’s eyes wondered left and right. 
He probably couldn’t think of the third one. 
Dad was always like that. 
He wasn’t an eloquent speaker like Gaara or Shikamaru. 
Boruto thought his dad should be more self-aware. 
Stuff like Boruto getting up in the morning and forgetting to put on his socks and getting scolded by his mother, those would be solved if Boruto was a bit less forgetful, too. 
“Willpower!” Naruto said on the screen. “Everyone do your best!” 

...Turns out they were two things, weren’t they?” The newscaster continued speaking. She had the skill of a pro. Thank you for your wonderful comment. We Ve sent everyone off with this live broadcast today. ” 
The Naruto on the LCD screen disappeared with a poof! 
It had been one of his shadow clones. 
It wasn’t very surprising. 
Being aware of the parallel consciousness’ of your Kage Bunshin as they started doing work was pretty hard, but it created the possibility for “the same one person” to do several things at once. 
Even at this very moment, Naruto was probably in various places like construction sites or training grounds, carrying out daily tasks. 
Naruto could make so many Kage Bunshin’s because he had a very large chakra reserve. 
His dad had that reserve because a spirit called a“Bijuu” was inside his body. 
Boruto had heard thoroughly about how his father had suffered from birth because of his circumstances, from his mother as well as other adults. 
But that... 
“Oi, are you listening to me, Boruto?!” Naruto snapped. 
“Yeah, I’m listening.” 
Next to the TV that had been showing the news, there was a mountain of overflowing piles of empty coffee cans and nutrition drink packets. 
That was the compensation for carrying out the superhuman feat of integrating the consciousness of countless numbers of kage bunshin and making decisions for each one of them. 
“Dad who’s here now is probably a Kage Bunshin too, huh?” Boruto said. 
“This is the Hokage’s office! As if I could be possibly be one! And in this situation, you’re not supposed to call me Dad, but either Hokage or Seventh!” 
Naruto had been angry for a while now. 
Well, Boruto thought it was natural that he’d be pissed. 
They’d caused so much damage earlier that it would be fair to call their mission a failure. 
It hadn’t been good to use Konohamaru sensei’s Sexy Jutsu to trick everyone and run away either. 
That’s why every member of Team Konohamaru was in trouble. 
Every now and then, our sensei acts like a kid and gets carried away... 

Boruto was aware that if his dad didn’t scold him thoroughly here, it would be showing favouritism to his son. He also understood the reasoning behind going to the trouble of calling the down to the Hokage’s office too. 
If he’d been in his dad’s standpoint, he’d probably be angry too. 
And that was exactly why Boruto felt irritated. 
His father wasn’t seeing the whole picture. 
Was Uzumaki Naruto really someone who prioritised an adult’s reasoning over everything else? 
“Oh, well...” Boruto drawled, “It was a very simple mission, sir! I could’ve pulled off a mission like this all by myself, yknow!” 
“Teamwork and will-power are precious things for a shinobi!” Naruto said, “Cooperating as three people in training as well is...” 
“Even if I don’t do any training, I can already make three Kage Bunshin, and Wind Release and Lightning Release, and lately Water Release too!” 
These were facts. 
Uzumaki Boruto was a prodigy. 
If he tried something, he could do it. 
A lot of people said that while there were the large chakra reserves he’d inherited from his father, it was probably the Hyuuga blood he’d inherited from his mother Hinata. The Hyuuga were Konoha’s most renowned clan. It wasn’t strange for that kind of genius to manifest from the blood of the Hyuuga’s lady Hinata. 
That talent wasn’t surprising. 
That was why, it had no worth in evaluations either. 
Was that how things were? 
“Konohamaru!” Naruto snapped. His angry voice could be heard even from a distance. “What have you been teaching him this whole time...?!” 
“Uh, no, I, ahaha.” Konohamaru laughed nervously. 
“This doesn’t have anything to do with sensei, does it?!!” Boruto raised his voice. 
This wasn’t it. 

This wasn’t what Boruto wanted to see. 
Stuff like the politics between a superior and subordinate in ninja ranks...this wasn’t the whole picture. 
“As a shinobi,” Naruto continued, ’’The important thing is...!” 
...well, he hadn’t thought his dad would understand. 
“More importantly,” Boruto cut in, “As a dad, today’s an important day...you do know what I mean, right?” 
10/19 
Boruto slammed a hand against his father’s desk, trying to make his face as severe as possible. It wasn’t that he thought his veteran father would be afraid of something like that, but fighting spirit was important for young boys. 
“If you even forget about my little sister’s birthday, then I’m not going to forgive you.” 
When Naruto let Boruto’s own birthday pass while caught up with work, it was unforgivable, but Boruto forgave it. But his little sister Himawari, she was still so much younger than he was. 
She wouldn’t be able to understand the difference between a parent and a Hokage. 
Naruto’s face finally looked pained. 
If Boruto hadn’t been able to see that pained expression, he would’ve been troubled. 
Right now, seeing that face was the most important thing for Boruto. 
That was why Boruto wasn’t able to notice how, next to him, Sarada was glancing at the side of his profile with a somewhat sad expression. 
The strained atmosphere was broken by the arrival of Katasuke, the leader of the Scientific Ninja Tool Division. 
He was the sort of man who wore clothes that wore ‘egg head’ written all over them, and to make matters worse, a bow necktie. He was someone who stood out amongst the Seventh’s Era. 
“I have come to appeal to the you, Seventh, as the leader of the Scientific Ninja Tool Division.” Katasuke began speaking without paying any mind to the presence of Boruto and the rest of Team Konohamaru. “We want you to give permission for our scientific ninja tool to be used in this year’s Chuunin Exams.” 
With an extremely exaggerated pose, Katasuke pulled out that same gauntlet from before. It had a chrome plating, and looked solid and stylish. It made the scratched and worn shuriken that hung on the walls look old-fashioned and lame. 
“If we standardize and mass produce this gauntlet that can shoot out the ninjutsu of superior shinobi, then there will be no need for Genin to go through severe training, and the range of each person’s individual jutsu will increase exponentially! It’ll be extremely pleasing to the eye during performance as well-” 
Naruto’s reply was point-blank. 
“It won’t do.” 
“Why, Hokage-sama?” 
“The Chuunin Exams aren’t a performance...They’re for raising shinobi. ” Naruto said. “I acknowledge that your tool is useful, but if we use something like that in the Chuunin Exams, there won’t be an examination on its use, will there? After all, at present, that device isn’t used continuously in platoons.” 
Naruto’s reasoning was sound. 

The Chuunin Exams evaluated the ability to take command as a platoon leader. 
People often misunderstood this, but the difference between a genin and a chuunin wasn’t fighting ability or strength in battle. 
The quality that was desired in a shinobi who would undergo secret missions was the ability to bring back their subordinates alive and carry out their mission successfully. Ninja higher than the rank of Chuunin were excellent in their individual battles as a plus, and nothing more. 
So if the gauntlet became a standard ninja weapon used amongst genin, it was only then that there would come a day when there would be questions in the Chuunin Exam covering gauntlet technique and knowledge, because at that time the weapon would be in continual use in platoons. However, that wasn’t the case right now. 
However, Boruto couldn’t grasp Naruto’s reasoning. 
He thought that if it was a useful tool, then it was best to use it. 
The arrival of peace had allowed secret military technology to be released to the public consumers all of a sudden, and the feedback to that military technology had given birth to the world of technological innovation. 
For Boruto, who had grown up in the middle of all that, his father’s current caution looked like the devious actions of the older generation trying to control the new one. 
It felt like his father wasn’t properly facing the new era straight on. 
“Our era is different from your lame one.” Boruto snapped. Not wanting to look at his father’s face any longer, he shook off Konohamaru’s grasp, and exited the room. 
Naruto’s voice called out after him, but nothing more than that. 
The one who came down the corridor after Boruto wasn’t Naruto or Konohamaru, but Katasuke. 
It wasn’t as if they didn’t know each other. 
They had an acquittance of mutual assistance. 
Being the son of the Hokage wasn’t all bad. There were side-benefits. 
“The data for the new work.” Katasuke said, holding out a business-like, boorish looking memory card. Boruto casually pocketed. 
“Thanks as always! I’ll be counting on you for the data for the next software too.” 
“Of course...by the way, young master, are you intending to enter the Chuunin Exams as well?” 
The moment Boruto heard the words ‘Chuunin Exams’, his mood turned terribly sour. 
Nothing had changed since he’d become a genin. 
What would happen if he became a chuunin? 

“...I’m not entering.” 
“Aw well, that’s a shame...” Katasuke was used to this. He wore a charming smile as he accepted the flash of Boruto’s ill temper. 
Engineers weren’t frequently self-righteous people. They were skilful at presentations, had excellent sociability and strong communication skills. Even among younger engineers, acting flashy wasn’t something that got praised. 
“I’m sure everyone would have liked to see the young master’s true abilities.” Katasuke continued, “Especially...your father.” 
Boruto’s ears twitched a little at the word ‘father’. 
“Does the Hokage...watch the Chuunin Exams?” 
“Of course he does.” Katasuke cheerfully smiled. 
Crimson blood splattered over the marble fortress. 
With a loud shriek like a wild boar or pig, the neck of a hideously green-skinned giant flew off. 
“Inojin! Two ores went in that direction!” 
“I’ll take care of them!” 
The pretty young boy clothed in a pure white robe, Yamanaka Inojin, lifted the evergreen oak cane in his hand, and as he did, a fleeting lance of lightning flew through the corridor, penetrating the two ores up ahead. 
“With this, most of this level should be complete....” 
The young swordsman covered in shining silver armour, Nara Shikadai, looked attentively around the corridor. “Nn...!?” 
Shikadai’s trained perception managed to hear the faint trembling that came from the supposedly clear corridor. 
A sound I can barely register even with my skills...! Four legs., .and the speed...this is bad! 
A giant head that was over 10 metres long sluggishly appeared. It was a giant, four-legged skink lizard with bat wings and obsidian scales. 
It was a black dragon. 
And an elder dragon, on top of that! Shit, there’s a rare 1% chance of running into one of these, but speed aptitude is 20...! 
If its acid spilled over them, then there was no doubt that lightly armoured Inojin and even heavily armoured Shikadai would both evaporate. 
It was a shame, but Shikadai began considering calling off the mission and retreating with the minimum level experience they’d gained. And at that moment- 

“You shouldn’t just refuse a gift that’s dropped in, yknow!” Boruto, who had been clearing up the ores in another corridor, had appeared at Shikadai’s flank. 
“O-oi.” Shikadai stammered. 
“I’m saying I’ll handle him.” 
“No, you’re a Light Warrior aren’t you?!” Shikadai protested, “Your fighting diagram against that guy is the worst!” “Just leave it to me!” 
“Boruto!” Inojin yelled. 
Despite Inojin and Shikadai’s warnings, Boruto rushed towards the giant dragon’s eyes. “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!” 
The dragon’s giant jaw opened. 
A stream of acid burst out, enough to fill the entire corridor. 
Is he dead... ? 
Shikadai, who had slipped behind the safety of another wall, carefully peered out, but didn’t see Boruto’s tragically killed body. 
“Let’s go!” Boruto yelled. Sometime before Shikadai had noticed, he’d leapt up onto the dragon’s snout. Boruto gauged out the dragon’s eyes with the two swords in his hands. 
“Wh-wha?!” Shikadai exclaimed, “This is a synergy of Lightweight Armour level 3 and Two Sword Mastery 5, and on top of that, Ambidexterity and One Hand Mastery!” 
“The swords in his hands are ‘Shadow Weaver’ and ‘Law Bringer’, aren’t they.” Inojin noted. “He’d be unable to wield both without at least level 75 skill in Two Hand Swordmanship.” 
“They’re the latest expansion’s equipment, aren’t they?!” 
In front of the stunned pair, Boruto swung a cursed sword in one hand, and a sword of light in the other, and bisected the huge black dragon. 
Fanfare rang out, and the words ‘Quest Complete’ appeared on the fictional fight scene. 
“Alright!” Boruto whooped with his portable game console in hand. “Take a look at that rare monster suppression!” “It was amazing, amazing.” Inojin said, “Thanks, Boruto.” 
“You did good, levelling up to that point.” Shikadai said. 
“Nah, nah, nah, it’s just ability.” Boruto replied. 

Yamanaka Inojin and Nara Shikadai were amiable friends of Boruto’s. After their missions ended, they’d have some modest entertainment playing on their hand-held game consoles in a corner of the Burger Shop.
 
The rapid advance of computer technology had given birth to electronic games that brought never-before- considered fun. The delight of becoming someone else in a virtual world and going on adventures within had firmly captured the hearts of the children. 
“Alright, next up, let’s try the enhanced Monster Quest that was handed out last week! There’s the armour that Ichiraku collaborated with!” 
“Sounds good.” Inojin said. 
“...Boruto.” 
Boruto, who had been trying to pick the next stage, suddenly found his vision obscured by a bunch of official documents. He looked up to see Mitsuki’s calm smile. 
“Looks like you actively participate in games too, huh.” Mitsuki commented. 
“What’s up with you, Mitsuki...I told you I didn’t want to enter it!” Boruto had a frankly ill-tempered look on his face. 
It was partly because he’d taken Mitsuki’s words sarcastically, but also because Sarada was next to his teammate, and for some reason that made him unamused. 
“We got asked by Konohamaru-sensei.” Sarada said. 
“Three man cells are the general principle for the Chuunin Selection Exams.” Mitsuki explained, “If you aren’t listed down, we won’t be able to enter.” 
It was sound reasoning. 
It was more than just not being able to volunteer without a team of three. Boruto not participating in the exams closed the door in the face of Mitsuki and Sarada getting promoted too. 
Someone who couldn’t even work in a single platoon would have no chance of earning the right to be a captain. “As if I care.” Boruto snapped. 
Boruto, at this moment in time, wasn’t aware of the value of the thing in question. 
That was something that greatly irritated the spectacled young girl. 
“You listen here.” Sarada’s right hand grabbed Boruto’s collar, lifting him off the Burger Shop’s cheap plastic chair. “Becoming Hokage is my dream...and you’re getting in the way of it...!” 
Sarada’s serious eyes were glaring into Boruto’s with barely a breath’s width between them. 
It was because she had turned to face her dream that he fury was so deep. 
“For me, becoming Hokage is...!” Boruto shook off Sarada’s thin hand. 
The word ‘Hokage’ made Boruto want to explode. He couldn’t understand anyone who said they wanted to be the Hokage. 
“...something that I don’t want at all!” Boruto finished. 

Those words enraged Sarada all over again. 
Thud\ She struck a hand against the table, partially destroying it. Shikadai and Inojin hurriedly moved to saved the game consoles. 
“Hokage isn’t an inherited post!” She snapped. 
“Ohh, you don’t say!” Boruto retorted, “It’s your call if you want to be Hokage, but you better stay alone your whole life! Because it’s gonna cause a lot of problems for anyone around you!” 
(C JJ 
Their conversation wasn’t getting anyway, but Sarada had begun to consider why Boruto was so angry, and fallen silent. 
However, the meaning behind that silence didn’t reach Boruto, who was still wrapped up in fury. 
“Boruto...” Inojin spoke up, game console in hand, fed up with his two childhood friends fighting. “We can’t keep going without a team of three either, you know...? We probably won’t be able to beat the next Boss without you.” 
“Ah...” 
Boruto had lost his mood to play games. 
“I’ll give you guys my data then...” Boruto said. “It shortens things and makes stuff easier.” 
“No...” Inojin protested, “It wouldn’t be appropriate to take something like that.” 
“It’s fine. Someone else gave it to me anyway.” 
“Eh?” 
For one moment, Inojin and Shikadai’s looked confused, and then eventually disappointed. 
“...What the.” Shikadai muttered, “You were using a shitty cheat.” 
Both boys got up with incredibly cold looks in their eyes. 
“Eh...you guys heading home?” Boruto asked. 
“Yeah...” Shikadai replied. “It’s because I laboriously level up behind mom’s back that it’s fun, yknow...” 
Shikadai’s eyes held frank scorn towards Boruto. 
It was a righteously critical look given to someone who had gained the results of others’ hard work through unfair methods. 
But, at that moment of time, Boruto didn’t understand he significance behind it. 
The old man at the Hamburger Shop forgave the destruction of the table because Boruto was the Hokage’s son. 

The incident had made him feel embarrassed, so Boruto was now looking up at the sky, drinking some black coffee from the coffee machine in front of his favourite convenience store. 

It was pretty, no, very bitter, and didn’t taste all that good, but Boruto thought that drinking this kind of stuff was something an adult did, so he drank it. 
“We need to at least hand in the applications...some teamwork would be good, Boruto.” Mitsuki said as he drank an espresso. The look on his face said he could keep talking like this all day. 
“Hey,” Sarada spoke, looking intently at Boruto. 
He didn’t know why she’d tagged along. No, rather he knew, but he was pretending not to. 
She wasn’t mad like she’d been a while ago. She was worried about Boruto, and he knew it. 
Even Boruto wasn’t insensitive enough to snub someone who was showing that kind of kindness. 
“Hey, Boruto...” Sarada was watching him through her lenses, “Let’s show Hokage-sama our amazing sides! In the exams!! 
He would see him. 
His dad would see him. 
Something had happened, a while back. 
He’d done some flashy graffiti on the Hokage Mountain, and gotten scolded by his dad. 
This was before he’d even become a genin. 
“There are times when I can’t be only your dad.” 
Those were his father’s words. 
He understood them. 
Boruto didn’t think that he wanted to blatantly attract his father’s attention the way he had back then. 
But, at the same time, he thought that he wanted to surprise his dad, to grab him by the neck and make him look his way. 
Amazing sides. 
Boruto didn’t know what his amazing side was, but he was a genius, after all. 
He should have something like that. 
“Now that you mention it,” Boruto brought up the subject because his mood had improved a bit, “Is your dad gonna come watch?’
 
However, Sarada’s reaction was visibly indifferent. She gave a scoff with a ‘hmph’ and polished her glasses. 
“As if that person who couldn’t become Hokage would come.” 
“No, my dad mentioned something before...” Boruto said. “That Sasuke-ojichan was the other Hokage.” 
“The Seventh is just being humble!” Sarada snapped. 
The positions of offence and defence in their conversation had completely switched around. 
One child exited the convenience store and stared intently at the two of them. A woman who looked like their parent hurriedly pulled the child aside. Overall, wasn’t a conversation of the two children of legendary heroes. 
“He wasn’t being humble, though.” Boruto said. 
Boruto didn’t care about Hokages, but there was something different about poking fun at Sarada. His dad had said that Sasuke was someone who could take on the world as an opponent in a fight. Boruto wondered why that kind of shinobi couldn’t become Hokage...and why the other kind of man was Hokage. 
But then, Boruto thought, Dad probably got up the political ladder, and Sasuke-san probably had nothing to do with stuff like that. 
Mitsuki gave a small sigh and forced himself between the glaring pair. 
“I’ve been told that Sasuke-san is the only shinobi who can fight equally with the Seventh.” h said. 
“Who told you that?” Boruto and Sarada asked at the same time. 
Mitsuki gave a small ‘hmph’, his usually expressionless face showing a rare glimpse of pride. 
Well, that’s....” 
“That’s?” 
“My parent, who’s more amazing than both of yours, is the one who told me...” 
For one moment, neither Boruto nor Sarada grasped the meaning behind that. 
Mitsuki was an extraordinary person, but he wasn’t the kind of person who had anything to do with childish, bald- faced bluffs. 
Which meant that Mitsuki held conviction that his parent really did surpass Naruto and Sasuke. 
It wasn’t the same as some young brat going ‘my dad’s stronger than yours!’. 
“What is it?” Their pale-skinned teammate tilted his head to the side in puzzlement, maybe because Sarada and Boruto were staring at him strangely. 
“No- that’s-” 
urpn 
“Your parent...” Boruto said, “Sorry, but I’ve never heard who he is.” 
“I haven’t heard of him either.” Sarada added. 

“Ohh!” Mitsuki clapped his hands together. He was as carefree as if he’d forgotten to mention a minor detail. “My parent is-” 
Right at this moment, something happened with perfect timing. 
Boruto’s ears heard a voice as warm as the sun. 
“Big brother!” 
“Himawari!” 
Across the road from them, his young little sister, Uzumaki Himawari, was excitedly waving her hand. 
Behind her was his mother, Hinata. 
Boruto no longer cared about the story of Mitsuki’s parent. 
Boruto’s entire face lit up with a grin. 
Sarada who had been next to him was caught off-guard, and felt her chest unintentionally throb at the sight of such unrestrained affection. It was the materialization of the vivid goodness that Boruto held inside. It was definitely something he’d inherited from his father Naruto, a kindness that could melt anyone’s heart. 
“Sorry, I’m heading home first!” Boruto said, and ran off. 
Sarada watched the sight of his back the whole time. 
“To think that Boruto could make that kind of a face too.” Mitsuki murmured in full seriousness, but it wasn’t clear if Sarada heard him. 
That was how fascinating the sight of Boruto’s back was. 
It was doubtless that it looked similar to the sight of the Seventh’s back. 

Extra Translator’s Notes: 
* You might think Sarada’s splitting hairs here, but genetics aside, bears really are far more aggressive than pandas, who’re so lazy they’re rarely aggressive. That’s why she’s warning Boruto it’s not a panda they’re facing but a bear who just looks like a panda.