The streets were lined with vendors and decorated stalls taking advantage of this new influx of customers from all the other nations. Everyone put out their best to sell their wares and the stores that sold specialty products only found in Konoha had a steeply rising boom in sales by people buying souvenirs.
Konoha's stadium had to get some last minute expansion done to accommodate the great number of audience. The original estimate was half of what they had now.
En route to Konoha chugged along a train slowly over tracks that connected all nations all over the world. They were special, each joint made by the best chakra specific magnet conducting steel to propel the hulking carriages forward.
Three such consecutive carriages were completely empty save for one compartment in the middle carriage.
It was of course the privilege of the Kage to reserve such luxury.
"We should be reaching Konoha soon."
"The Chunin exam starts tomorrow. You guys fired up and ready to go?"
Kankuro and his brother, Gaara, the Kazekage, sat crossed legged facing three genin of their village.
The masked genin spiritedly replied with a "Yessir!"
The blond girl beside him listened to music on her stylish headphones, loud enough for everyone seated there to hear it too.
"So as to not tarnish the name of our great father, we three shall obtain victory without fail." Shinki with his painted face and a fuzzy, black cloak stared seriously at the Kazekage.
Gaara had a small wry smile on his usually expressionless face. "You don't have to be so crazy about it Shinki... I'm not the one you should be worried about, it's the rivals from other villages that you haven't even met yet..."
"The other villages... won't be a problem." Shinki stated even more seriously.
Kankuro exchanged glances with Gaara and shrugged defeated by Shinki's uptightness. He was way too serious about anything even remotely relating to Gaara.
"Well, no matter. In any case you three, make sure to rest well today."
"Yessir!"
Gaara looked forward to reaching Konoha soon.
.............
"Now! As of this moment! We will begin the Chunin selection exam!"
Shikamaru stood upon a stage and declared the start of the special event that graced the village that year.
All the candidates stood in rows at the exam site 'Venue B'. There were two cube framed structures covered in black cloth with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf on them.
"Everyone, now is the time to show of the fruits of your labour!"
He glanced at his son's team below him. Shikidai was yawning away. Chōchō was snacking away and Inojin was distracted by the packet of chips in her hand.
'Are these guys even trying?' Shikamaru worried.
Sarada, Boruto and Mitsuki were grouped together awaiting the beginning of the test. They felt the palpable pressure emitted from the shinobi standing near them. Everyone had an excitement bubbling in their bellies waiting for the time to showcase their abilities.
"We'll start with the first stage examination!" Sai said as he motioned to drop the black covers. They revealed two black backdrops with an X and an O painted in white ink.
"It will be a quiz with true or false questions. Circle for true, cross for false. If you believe it to be true, gather in a team of three and proceed to the circle stage."
"Here comes the question!" Sai raised his hand and dropped it down.
The screen behind him flickered and displayed a few words.
"In the fifth volume of 'Shinobi Strategist Detective' story, the ninja slogan introduced was- 'Speaking of the moon, the sun comes to mind; speaking of the mountains, the river comes to mind; speaking of the flowers, nectar comes to mind', is this true or false?"
Sarada tried to recall.
"I have no idea, Sarada do you know that series?"
"Yeah, pretty much. But I've only read upto volume four. I didn't know there was a fifth."
"Then I guess we're done for," said a cheeky Mitsuki.
"Oi! At least think for a bit, come on!"
"Boruto, which do you think my papa would choose?"
As for why this profound question was asked by Sarada, Sasuke's daughter, to Boruto- a person who only met Sasuke for the first time a few days prior to the exams-goes back to that day Sasuke returned to the Hidden Leaf village.
.................
Sarada sat in a tree, relaxed as she watched Boruto attempting to explode a water balloon bare handed without squeezing it.
It was a task given by Konohamaru-sensei. Boruto had begged him to teach him his Dad's signature jutsu-the Rasengan.
Day and night he practiced and practiced desperately almost making the training grounds his home. Day and night, day and night.
She watched during g her free time as he finally made the water balloon explode from the inside. And then a rubber ball. And then his final task, the Rasengan itself.
That day he rushed to show Sasuke the fruits of his efforts.
They stood in front of a shrine boulder as Boruto took his time to create the one thing that would make Sasuke accept him as his disciple.
He concentrated hard as the air between his palm vibrated at a high frequency.
Sasuke observed his efforts. And one thing he noticed was Boruto's dirty and dusty jacket. It no longer looked new.
Phweeeeee!
Boruto finally condensed his rasengan. It whirled in his palms, a floating piece of destruction. But-
"It's rather small isn't it?"
"You can hardly call that a rasengan."
Boruto gritted his teeth. An unknown rage erupted. He had tried so hard.
"However -"
"Grr. Aaaagh!" Boruto swung his palm and flung away that marble sized ball of chakra. It travelled a bit before fizzling out in mid air.
He stomped away furiously holding back the sting in his eyes.
Sasuke was left alone.
Tap.
"You're strict as ever, Daddy."
Sarada landed in front of him from the tree tops.
"I doubt you know much about Boruto so I'll fill you in. The hardworking personality is completely out of character for him, you know?"
It was the truth. Boruto never worked hard. If there was an easy way to do something, he would do it, even if he had to resort to cheats. Things came easy to him anyways. He was, after all, a prodigy. And people like him, never put their entire self into anything. Much like the author of this fanfiction which is why she's writing this instead of doing her homework.
"The fact that he's come this far is a miracle in and of itself! Do you understand? Hey!"
"You're jumping to conclusions. "
"Eh?"
"I never said it was bad. I was thinking of taking him in as my disciple. "
Sarada was overjoyed.
Sasuke glanced in the direction Boruto threw his Rasengan. Much further than the spot the rasengan had disappeared, was a tree trunk with its bark shredded to bits.
Sasuke smirked. This new disciple of his did something even his father never had done.
...........................................
Sarada knew Boruto was accepted by Sasuke. He came by a day later to tell her about it.
"Well?"
"Huh? Well, if I had to say, I think Uncle Sasuke would choose X for false. Because he's not the honest or obedient type."
"But why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
It was a very random question.
"Because I will walk a different path than my papa and become Hokage!"
"So we're going with the true, huh?" Mitsuki confirmed.
They both stated running to the frame with the O backdrop.
"Hey, wait up!"
All the contestants had made their choices.
"It appears everyone has split up. Those 'incorrect' A.K.A the 'failures' will be marked black and be eliminated," Sai said.
The screen behind him changed to an X and an O overlapping.
"The correct answer is-" He raised his hand.
And the answer flashed open.
X. And O.
Both.
"Eh?"
Pssh!
The ground beneath them opened. Everyone fell through the torn membrane.
"!?"
"Uwaaaaaaa!" Some shinobi screamed.
Splash! Splash!
A pool of ink.
Within a split second, many were eliminated. And a select few, within those few milliseconds made their decision.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Don't get marked black.
Mitsuki saved himself by stretching his arm to hold the edge of the pit.
Boruto continued to fall. 'Wrong answer? Is this where it ends?' He closed his eyes expecting to hit the surface of inky blackness.
But he didn't. His waist was pulled hard and he came to a jerking stop. "Oof!"
Sarada pulled out some wired and cast it out to catch Boruto with one hand while the other outstretched to grab onto Mitsuki's other hand.
Boruto was centimeters away from elimination.
"Graaah. It's ink!"
"Ugh!" The shinobi drenched in the pool complained.
Boruto opened his eyes and looked at them.
"Over there is... the X side?"
The two pools were connected.
"The choice between true and false probably meant nothing," Shinki said as he hovered in a casing of black particles with his teammates.
"The quiz was nonsense from the beginning," explained Sarada, "I knew it, there was no fifth volume."
Shikidai had latched onto the pit wall with a kunai and supported this two teammates from falling single handedly using his Shadow technique. Chōchō still had her hands full with chips.
"The failures will be marked black and eliminated. Basically he's saying, 'Don't turn black!' "
Inojin who was hanging by his butt attached to Shikidai's shadow sighed. "Indeed, seems like a test Dad would come up with."
Everyone regrouped back at the stage. The blackened ones sat dejected at the back and the rest stood in the front.
Sai began explaining the purpose of the test.
"Some of you, upon seeing the pool of ink, merely accepted you made a wrong choice and let yourselves plunge into the blackness,"
"Pushovers like you have no place among the Chunin. Ti's exam's true quiz was the second choice to make. The decision you make when you feel cornered. 'To give up' or 'not to give up'!"
"Those who did not fall into the pool of ink were 'correct'! And with this, the first stage of the Chunin exams is finished!"
"Yes! We did it!" The shinobi cheered.
Boruto... did not. He knew. At that moment, he had given up. If it wasn't for Sarada....He clutched his right wrist with his other arm.
A shinobi jounin with glares observed him. He spoke into a small microphone. "He managed to pass on his own..."
...................
That evening, Boruto laid on his bed thinking. Turning his head, he stared at the little device on his desk. It was the ninja apparatus.
He had accepted it. That day, when Sasuke rejected him.
.................
Boruto sulked all the way through the streets. Sasuke's unspoken rejection made him fume in anger. Even sprinting all the way to the market did nothing to calm him down.
He passed under a large billboard featuring the singer B and his new Enya concert.
Whump.
Boruto bumped into someone.
"Oh, Young master? Is there a problem?" It was Katasuke.
Boruto peered through the reinforced glass as the Jonin carried out tests with the ninja apparatus prototypes.
"Well that's just terrible," Katasuke looked empathetic, "If that's the case, then I'm sure our research would prove useful to your... predicament. "
"Both coolly, and smartly,"
"Producing exceedingly potent results while expending very little effort."
He pulled up his sleeve to reveal an apparatus. It dispensed the one Jutsu Boruto so desperately wanted to accomplish.
Katasuke, despite being a non-shinobi, held up a fully formed Rasengan enticingly in front of Boruto. It illuminated their faces with its cool blue flow as it swirled in a perfect sphere.
"Such should be the form of ninjas in the future too. Don't you think so too?" Katasuke said with a smirk. It widened as he observed Boruto's entranced reaction.
The big fish was caught.
He handed a device to Boruto and spoke like a devil's whisper, "Now shall we pick the perfect special move for you?"
Sasuke wasn't expecting Boruto to come back.
And he certainly wasn't expecting Boruto to show him a full rasengan.
"You managed to improve that much in just a day..."
He knew. Boruto was cheating. He asked just to probe.
"Heh. My talent is on a completely different level that that old man of mine!"
"..."
He stared at Boruto's smug expression. It was an arrogance cultivated for a long time deeply entrenched in his character.
Even if he had to cheat, huh?
"You are certainly different from Naruto."
"I didn't want to think so though. "
He turned his back to Boruto.
"Huh? Anyway to our talk from before, are you going to make me your disciple now?" Boruto shifted his weight to one leg and continued to maintain the Rasengan.
Sasuke paused in his steps.
"Fine."
"I'll make you my disciple."
........................
Boruto stared at that device that helped him get Sasuke's approval.
Ding!
His computer beside it dinged showing an email.
Congratulations on passing the first examination!
Do your best on the next one too.
-From Dad.
Boruto read this rare email. He had to smile. His father was paying attention to him. He knew what was happening.
Then he forcefully dropped his smile. "Through email... couldn't even be bothered to send a shadow clone... shitty Dad..."
Naruto hit send and breathed out a sigh of relief. He was nervous whole composing the email. Boruto and him were in an awkward cold war since Himawari's birthday.
Just writing those two sentences took a lot of courage. If Shikamaru hadn't encouraged him, maybe he wouldn't have sent one at all. He wouldn't have known what to do in the first place.
This email was sort of an attempt to reduce the awkwardness between them as well as to genuinely praise him for passing.
He leaned back into his office chair wiping the sweat that trickled down his forehead.
...........
It was the day for the second stage of the Chunin exams.
Boruto had practiced the Uchiha's special shuriken technique with Sasuke.
He stared at the venue determined to show himself.
All that stemmed from one thing Sasuke said.
[Clink! Clink!
'Darn it!'
'For goodness sake.'
Ugh.
'Shuriken technique is Sarada's speciality, isn't it? It's because she's your daughter and had the blood of the Uchiha clan that she's good at it!'
'Boruto, if what you're saying is correct then..."
Poof! Poof, poof! Poof! Poof, poof, poof!
'This technique should be your speciality, should it not?'
'Shadowclones? Dad's technique? So he brought that up.'
'You can't talk your way out of this one, Boruto. Naruto can make over a thousand clones.']
'Just you wait, I'm gonna be a star in this stage!'
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
Poof, poof, poof, poof!
"I guess four is my limit..."
A limit he didn't know it surpassed most other ninjas including the Sixth Hokage.
A speaker crackled as Tenten's voice came through. [The second examination is a game of capture the flag. Protect your team's flag while assaulting the enemy's base. This is the time to display your skill in teamwork!"
Multiple flashy jutsus were cast. Some snuck around to sneakily take down the enemy's flag, some simply overpowered the enemy and some clashed together in a drawn out battle.
Metal Lee was doing very well against the three Suna genin. He overpowered everyone very much like his father during his own exams.
The only reason he lost was because Shinki used his black particle cloak to grab his flag when he wasn't looking.
Shikidai's team passed too.
"Looks like only one team's left." Tenten monitored the proceedings behind multiple screens along with Arubame Shino.
It was Team 7.
[I'll protect the flag, don't worry about it, you go attack the enemy.]
"We're counting on you Boruto!" Sarada replied back through her earpiece.
"In order to show off our strength to the Seventh, we have to win and pass the exam at all costs!"
[Heh. No need to remind me!]
Boruto surrounded his white flag. Facing off with him were three identical Kirigakure nins.
"Yo! Triplets! As you can see we have a five man group going on over here. You know which side's got the upper hand, right?"
The triplets exchanged smirks with each other.
"The upped hand?"
Fshuuu.
Bon, bon!
Bon, bon!
Bon, bon!
"Yeah, we know, cuz it's nine versus five!"
The three or- rather nine- Senka brothers unsheathed their swords and changed in.
[Gaah!]
"Boruto!" Sarada stopped abruptly.
[Sarada, keep going, I'll go back!] Mitsuki changed directions midair and bounced off a wire.
Boruto was outnumbered. The Senka brothers had left their flag unattended except for casting a simple genjutsu over it and ganged up on the only protector of Team Konohamaru's flag.
One would attack from the front and the other from behind. Each clone had to defend against two nins.
All the clones were taken care of and the last brother took down Boruto with a heavy punch to the cheek.
Boruto's teeth bit into his lips and they began bleeding.
The nins bolted for the flag at last.
Oh no.
Congratulations ..........
Do your best on the next one too....
Boruto watched as they neared their goal. And he made a decision he would live to regret.
水
Mizu.
A scroll shot out and Boruto grabbed it.
"Suiton Dan! Oruka!"
A water style wave gushed out like a blooming King Lapis flower.
"Guaaaaaaaaaahhhrrghhaa!!!"
"Impossible! Releasing such a huge water style jutsu in a place with no water?"
The Senku brothers were stunned as they were washed away. They knew how hard it was, if not impossible, to conjure up water out of nowhere. Was this still genin level?
He had no time to think.
"Gah?"
Boruto had leapt into the air.
Fshuu. Click.
"Raiton Dan! Ibuki!"
A bolted of lighting shot into the water.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
The three of them were electrocuted till they steamed.
He landed atop his black flag pole.
[It's fine here now, keep going.]
"Got it."
Sarada stood amongst a hundred white flags.
Sharingan!
Her black eyes spun into red with a single tomoe in each iris.
The genjutsu dispelled and Sarada picked up the only flag left.
"Not bad, I couldn't even see the hand seals," said Tenten to Shino in the monitoring room. "I guess that's to be expected of the Seventh's son."
"Now we have four teams. All finished!" She entered their names on her writing pad.
A white coat stood at the exit and spoke into a secret receiver.
"He passed the second stage as well. It appears he used that this time,"
"Yes, yes, it's been video recorded."
........................
Naruto tapped his finger against his arm. He was restless and couldn't sit. The clock kept ticking and tocking.
Knock. Knock.
He was shocked out of his pacings.
Shikamaru came in.
Naruto pretended he was working on his laptop.
Would that go unnoticed by Shikamaru?
"They're not bad."
"What's not?"
"Don't give me that. I'm talking about Boruto and the others. They passed the second test."
"Oh really?"
Shikamaru smiled at Naruto's attempt to seem unbothered.
"See ya."
".... You came all the way here just to tell me that?"
"Well, it was important afterall." And he left.
Naruto dumbfoundedly watched him leave so casually.
"Ah, and I might as well tell you. Shikadai and the others passed too. We may very well get to see a match between our sons too."
He closed the door.
"....."
"......"
"Hell Yeah!" Naruto fist pumped the air.
.................
Naruto and Sasuke watched blocks of text flow down from Konoha's only supercomputer. It was mostly biological, provided by the fact it was run on special processed chakra. It kept matching and comparing various documents like clockwork.
This was the Server. The original Internet prototype.
"As far as deciphering this scroll, it's giving much more trouble than we anticipated."
"Yeah, it will take a good while longer. Damn, why'd we have to go and find something so troublesome?"
It was definitely trouble. Sasuke had to fight two strange white people to retrieve this scroll from Kaguya's Castle. Even if it was troublesome, they had to decipher it as soon as possible.
Those white people... looked similar to Kaguya.
"Hmph. I'll be back."
"Sasuke..."
"I heard that you are helping out and training up my boy, is that right?"
"Did you hear that from Boruto?"
"No, from Konohamaru."
He wished he heard from Boruto though.
"...."
"I see."
"Perhaps it's all just like you said. 'The essence of ninja never changes'."
"That is what I believe."
........
"Okaa-san, I'm home!"
Boruto hopped on one leg as he struggled to take of his boots.
Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat.
"Oof!"
"Onii- san, congratulations!"
Himawari ran and hung herself from Boruto's neck and wrapped her legs around him too like a monkey.
"Waaah! Hang on Hima! I only passed the second test. You're making too big of a deal out of it."
"Welcome home, Boruto."
"Was it fine, were you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Boruto placed Himawari back on her feet, "But I really am totally wiped out! I'm heading to my room."
Hinata and Himawari child only watch him go upstairs. It was strange. Wasn't this the time to celebrate?
"I'm not hungry either so don't worry about dinner."
"Boruto?"
Slam!
Boruto flomped onto his bed.
He breathed out. The apparatus on his wrist felt heavy. On his arm. On his mind. On his heart.
Maybe, this was wrong? No. It was wrong. He knew it was.
Knock. Knock.
He jerked up a d pulled his sleeve down to cover his wrist. "I- I said I wasn't hungry, didn't I?"
"....What do you want?"
Kchak.
The doorknob turned.
Boruto's eyes widened.
It was Naruto.
"Tou-san."
"Yo......"
They stared at each other in uncomfortable silence.
"Erhm...... you know......"
Naruto scratches his cheek not knowing how to proceed.
He fiddled with a photo frame on the desk.
"About that second test...... I heard you passed."
"..........Yeah...."
"......"
Naruto continued to stare intently at the photo in his hand as if it would say whatever he wanted to say for him.
"......What is it?"
"......"
"....If you dont need anything, could you please leave?"
He still didn't move his eyes from the photo in his hand.
"......"
"Good job..... You did well." He blurted out finally.
"...."
"See ya."
He wanted to escape.
"Did you come all the way here just to tell me that?"
"Well.... it's....it's important afterall....,"
"...Yeah... something really important."
"Ah and another thing..."
Naruto came closer to Boruto. He put out his fist.
"Don't go losing to Shikidai," He said with a big smile of encouragement. He waited for Boruto to respond back.
Boruto stared at the extended fist. He gripped his wrist tighter and didn't complete the fist bump.
He raised his head ro look at Naruto and put on a large, crooked smile instead. "As if I would!"
Naruto could only smile back.
He best forward and touched his fist to Boruto's chest. It didn't matter if he didn't receive a fist bump. That meant he had to work harder in his own way.
"I'll be watching."
"See ya."
Creak. Clack!
"If that's all you wanted ro say, you could have sent me a message."
Boruto slowly gripped his shirt where his heart thumped furiously.
It felt like a shot through the chest when Naruto bumped him.
Just that tiny bit of contact was enough for them to forget all his grievances.
He trembled a little.
"....."
"You- you damn geezer!"
He had to hold himself from smiling so wide. And he definitely wasn't at all tearing up.
He rolled back onto his bed and flopped around like a happy little fish.