I usually always try to respond directly back to reviews. But you guys...Here's the thing: I get them in my email, read, get so excited, then catch GUEST there and just groan because I can't respond back directly that way! So let me tell ya now, right here that I really, really appreciate the reviews, and follows and or favs. It means so much and encourages me to step it up a bit. Again, I can't stress enough how much I love and appreciate reviews, and that they help me, especially if they contain constructive criticism. It's something no one can have too much of.
Also, I did go back to alter the first two parts and merge them into one, the Jolt and the Chancellor. Later, when I have more brain power I will probably try to rewrite them, because they're weak in execution, at least to me.
THE LAST NINJA
Friends Lost
He had been left in the interrogation room for the rest of the night and well into the next day. Foot anxiously tapping against the floor. Impatiently.
Maybe worriedly.
Uttering curses to the man who had caused all of this, but there was only so many combinations he could go through before he was forced to just sit there, glaring at the wall, trying to wish an encounter into existence. He wanted very much to hit the punk, right in the face.
He did though occasionally attempt to move his hands, slide them free from the cuffs and was never rewarded with even the slightest budge.
So he waited longer.
And longer.
Until he could have screamed if only he could muster the energy.
And finally, finally, Boruto could not help the drop of his head, as if there was some weight there. And with each thought, each question floating inside him, unanswered, that weight increased and something in him ached.
He could think of nothing more terrifying than being stuck here, alone, forever. The fates of those he cared about...So unclear.
Sarada's words which he had been trying to avoid thinking about up until now began to echo inside him:
You can't just run and, after all this time, after everything that's happened, and refuse to acknowledge it. Refuse to take responsibility.
Just what had happened, to the ninja world, and everything else? To Sarada... He got the sense that everything had changed in that blink of time and that whatever had happened, he had only made it worse by being missing. Just thinking about it, he could feel that weight in his chest increase. See that look in her eyes, before her job took over. Almost crushingly so and—
"You look like you could use a friend."
His head jerked upward, eyes widening.
A paper cup was in front of his face. A straw protruding from its lid.
This cup hovering in front of him nearly took up his entire field of vision but he could make out the fingers grasped around it as well. Pale digits, the fingers. Dirtless.
"Um," he croaked, blinking. "Mitsuki?"
Now a face appeared, from behind the cup, tilted and smiling. Definitely Mitsuki, his ghostly pale pace, shiningly yellow eyes. And that cheeky grin.
"Heya pal. It's been a while," Mitsuki said.
"Um...Hi?"
The cup lowered itself so he could better see his old friend. Mitsuki was still wearing the uniform from earlier and off to the side, Boruto could make out a mop and bucket in the darkness.
Catching his line of sight, Mitsuki shrugged. "I'm really not supposed to be in here, but after I finished up my chores, I just had to. You look like crap! Worse than crap, really, if we're honest." He, again, gave Boruto a cheeky grin, showing his teeth.
Boruto sighed, smiling weakly in return. "Thank you for that, Mitsuki. It thrills me, you gracing me with your presence solely so you can inform me of my crapage. Means a lot."
Mitsuki's mischievous grin widened earnestly. "That's what friends are here for. Right?"
"Well, sort of. Honesty is important but it doesn't hurt to try to...deliver it nicely? I dunno. But seriously, Mitsuki." Boruto took a deep breath. "What...What exactly is going on here?"
Again the cup was pushed in his face.
"Drink!"
Boruto shook his head. "I really need some answers, buddy."
"Drink first," Mitsuki insisted.
Yeah, Boruto was incredibly thirsty but he wasn't sure he could hold it down at the moment.
"Fine, but can you kinda uncuff me first?"
"Sorry, I can't."
"Figures."
He sipped through the straw as Mitsuki held the cup for him and instantly a cold drink filled his mouth.
Ah. So heavenly. What was it, some juice? He was sure he didn't want to know what was in it, just that whatever it was, it was something that would do him some good. That was just Mitsuki's way.
He had learned this truth a long time ago: Never ask what was in the food or drink that Mitsuki provided, just trust that it was healthy.
He remembered off hand, in days gone by, of missions with his friend, and even a few visits to his...parent. He regretted very much asking that snake-like man(?) anything and he always just felt uncomfortable around him. There was something just off-putting about the scientist. He wasn't sure if it was a simple fact that he couldn't discern the gender easily or the weird way of speaking he had, especially when it came to science or jutsu. His lower regard to human life in comparison to his interests especially.
His father had never talked about him either but had a clear uneasiness with him as well, there was some obvious but unspoken history, especially with Sasuke. But none of that changed the fact that Mitsuki was once you got used to him, actually a very dependable and unique friend. Team Konohamaru would not be the same without him.
Even now, after what all had changed, that vibe had never.
And Boruto was grateful. He quickly gulped the rest of the drink down so they could talk.
"Mitsuki," he began. "I think...I think I've somehow been gone a long, long time. So much has changed."
Mitsuki nodded. "Yes...Three years, one war, new world order. Heck of a lot."
"A war? How the heck did one happen! The nations were unified!"
The achievements of his father and everyone else to achieve such peace was straight up legendary. And Kawaki or not, a war had actually broken out? A war? How does a single person...
"True, the shinobi world was one. But the Daimyo, the civilians, they got it in their heads we were too powerful. And no longer needed."
"No longer needed? What are you talking about?"
"With new technology, they could keep peace without depending on our chakra. So throughout the nations, firearms were collected. Then the fighting began. It was horrible on both sides. Many of us didn't make it, and neither did they."
Boruto could only imagine. A battle between elements and guns. While jutsu could change the very landscape depending on the user and formations, the power of a gun could snuff them out before a jutsu was even cast. It must have been the most bloody, senseless war in eons.
Mitsuki continued, his face blank. "The only option after the mess of that war, was to unite. New leaders were elected. Konoha became the capital of the Land of Fire, rather than a military servant to it. It was then that they began to bleed chakra out of the equation. Besides, humans were only given the power of chakra by accident. And I guess, over time, we let it happen. Peace was on the line, and no one wanted another all-out bloody war. In this modern age...Ninja are outdated. Barbarically violent. Or so they say."
"Kawaki," Boruto growled under his breath. He had no doubt instigated the mess in the beginning, knowing the outcome. Spread the firearms around, whispering in ears. It would have been easy after he had let the world witness how apparently easy the wiping of the strongest shinobi village and ninja was...Yes.
His thoughts towards him darkened. But seeing Mitsuki sitting in front of him, on the table, shifted.
"Mitsuki," he asked quietly. "Why are you here, working in a prison of all things?"
Now for the first time, Boruto sensed a great sadness in his friend.
"Better here, where they can't touch me, with Sarada, than out there. I was always different and still am. And my...being linked to a past enemy like Orochimaru..."
A single tear threatened to spill over his friend's cheek but he wiped it away. Boruto knew better than to ask him his parent's fate. He had a feeling he knew, and it ended violently. Even Orochimaru, the one that had emerged from the war, had not deserved it.
Instead, Boruto sat there quietly, unsure how to shift from that.
Since he had failed to speak up, Mitsuki did instead.
"Listen, Boruto, about Sarada...Please don't take today personally. Of all of us, she was hit the hardest by the war. She lost so many, her entire family, Chōchō went missing...Then, you."
Boruto closed his eyes, wishing so much to turn things back. To protect her from the grief.
But he had not been there. Someone else had.
"And Kawaki, it was purely professional. I don't believe either of them intended it, but—"
"Please stop," he whispered "I get it. Alright?"
Mitsuki's lips pursed. "You're giving up? That's unlike you."
"No, I know to not fight this. She's not dumb. She would not let someone in who would hurt her. And if they did, she'd be a force to reckon with. And with everything twisted as it is right now, I...I can't focus on her."
His expression said otherwise, and even Mitsuki would not be fooled by his words.
The reality was he couldn't bear even the notion of the distance that had suddenly wedged itself between them.
'I went through hell without you, Bo.'
"Mitsuki," he finally said. "That bracelet. You have one too."
He had caught it under the young man's sleeve, wrapped around his thin arm, the small sensor on it glowing light green, like the underneath of a leaf, blazing in the sunlight.
"Yes. Once put on, they never come off."
"She didn't have one."
"That's because the use of her chakra network is authorized. Very few are, mostly people who are officials of some sort or are involved with government. You, on the other hand, had you come back and not attacked Kawaki, you could have probably been approved and been hired, although something tells me you would have rebelled if you had gotten the chance to catch up with them and were offered the chance." Mitsuki sighed.
"Getting in trouble with the new law is the first ticket to getting slapped with a chakra sensor bracelet. Of course, many of our classes managed to go with the new law without needing to be forced to. Some managed to leave and no one has a clue where they are. But very few did. Now they just work and live normal civilian lives. Been that way for like two years now. True peace...Or so they like to say. But I guess I can't argue with their results thus far."
"Why," he said. "Why would any of them, of us, agree to villainizing chakra in the process?"
"Time and a lot of bloodshed, I guess. Humankind has always been violent, but the possession of jutsu and all manner of kekkei genkai has not helped at all. That's the argument."
"But chakra can be used for more than just fighting! I mean, what about medical jutsu, and say a fire broke out, and there happened to be a water style user nearby! You're telling me...Ugh. Forget it. I'm going to fix this and everything will go back to the way it was!"
Mitsuki smiled. "I knew you would say that. Orochimaru...he used to say you were the sun or something like that. So I've been waiting for you, all this time, for your return. I don't know what happened, but I won't hold it against you."
"Thank you."
Mitsuki nodded, smiling again. "It's kinda exciting, we're going to do something big. Change the world, just like your father and sensei. Right?" He laughed. "Of course."
Even now, after all that had happened. Boruto had no clue he had gone through so much, losing Orochimaru, his comrades, forced to hide in a prison because of the past. Yet he smiled. The utter faith he had in him...
"There's still something important I need to ask. About chakra being outlawed."
"Yeah?"
"How do they achieve such a thing? And why am I the only blue one here?"
A serious expression came over Mitsuki.
"I'll tell you, but while I'm doing so, you really need to drink more. You're going to need as much strength as possible."
Boruto nodded, sensing there would be some fights ahead.
"I'll be right back, just going to get you more of that placenta drink." *
"Wait, what?! Nevermind, please, I think I'm good!"
_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_
Just as Mitsuki had said, guards came in to get him. He went along, playing like he was still tired and hungry and unable to put up a fight.
Mitsuki's warning about the events that were about to transpire hovered in the air heavily, like condensation on a window.
Mitsuki's tone was grave. "Listen, Boruto. Everyone else has practically given up and accepted things, but deep down, they know it's wrong. They just won't admit it, and neither will I. You're the first real hope we've had since the war to restoring the Elemental Nations back to the way they should be. You are our hope, the sun, just like Orochimaru used to tell me, but you will cease to be if you don't escape from here. Here, you'll be snuffed out."
"I know that. So how do I do it?"
"Those shackles will never come off until the surgery."
"What surgery?"
"The one that destroys your chakra network completely."
All life sucked out of the room, the air, even the slightest hint of movement. All sound. It was dead quiet, Boruto's eyelids had widened and stayed there, unblinking at the horrific statement Mitsuki had just made. It made his skin prickle with goosebumps.
"They...they can do that?"
"Listen carefully. The doctor will be in tomorrow. They will take you to a special room, and they will strap you down and surgically go through different points of your chakra network, starting with the center along your spine and destroy it. There will be no recovering from that. Chakra will always be a part of you, but like a civilian, you will not be able to mold it. You'll be useless as a shinobi and unable to fight back. There are others who still have theirs, yes, but not like you. You're the key, I just know it."
Boruto has sat there quietly. "Is that why your bracelet is green?"
Mitsuki looked down sadly. "Yes. Green is safe for them. Blue is a sign of chakra. It was right after the People took over that my chakra was broken."
Sadness threatened to engulf him. "How do I stop them?"
"They will take you to the room, up to the table, and then, only then will they uncuff you so you can be strapped in. At that time, you must fight back, and run, for all your worth. If you fail..."
He was in a clinical-looking room now, with a big cumbersome t-shaped table in the middle. It had various straps on it and other equipment attached, including a table with surgical cutting tools. Seeing it, the drink threatened to come up again. Again because soon after Mitsuki's talk, Boruto had thrown up. He couldn't now, or they would see more than stomach acid and know he had had been given food and drink to consume before this point. He didn't want to get Mitsuki in trouble.
A doctor was standing beside the surgery table, trying to smile politely at him. The man had no personal grudge against Boruto, he was just doing his job.
"Hello..." He glanced to a clipboard. "Boruto...Uzumaki. Oh, an Uzumaki, hm? Interesting. Anyway, I was called in specially, as I have the highest success rate so please don't fret about anything going wrong. I have yet to lose a patient during this operation and when this is all said and done, you'll be a back to normal life in no time."
He smiled and it took everything in Boruto to not spit at him. The man truly believed he was doing something good, removing chakra from the equation.
Brainwashed lamo, Boruto couldn't help think.
The doctor nodded to the guards. "Get him ready."
They grabbed hold of his handcuffs and only when the tick of the tumblers as the key unlocked them was heard, did Boruto make his move.
Smiling triumphantly he jerked forward, rolling from them, right eye blazing to white.
He spun to his feet, hands clasped together, already preparing a jutsu. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
Air shot forward, hitting a guard, knocking into the wall from the sheer built up force. The guard he had aimed for still had chakra. His Byakugan-like eye could see it, his intact chakra network. The other didn't, so he wasn't going to bother wasting chakra on him. He would be easy enough to knock down with simple Taijutsu.
The chakra-owner crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath. Boruto skidded to the table, grabbing hold of the surgery tools between his fingers, and thrust them at the man like he was a dartboard. The various tools pierced him in different parts of his body painfully.
"Stay back!"
It wouldn't kill him of course, but certainly hurt and take up time trying to pull from his skin without causing more damage.
Easy peasy.
The doctor took a step back, eyes wide in fright and Boruto twisted around to slug him. He crashed to the floor, crying out, blood gushing from his nose.
Now just the chakra-less dwee—
Suddenly, something bit him, and electricity ran through him. He let out a scream, his muscles seizing up, and he crumbled to the floor, his vision flashing, the room crackling.
"Agh!"
No, no, no! I took out the chakra user!
He fought to stay conscious, trying to move, his howls caught in his throat, his muscles rebelling against his commands...
Of course, I underestimated what the other could do, could use. A freaking taser or something.
He swore but it was already too late, his body was giving out.
Mitsuki's words, echoing:
"At that time, you must fight back, and run, for all your worth. If you fail..."
If you fail, you'll be useless. It'll be over...
Over...
He snapped back, fully alert now, ready to spring into action once more.
But he found he was lying horizontally and could not move.
No!
His sight was hazy and distorted but he could see shapes hovering over him. Feel something tighten around his limbs...
Finally, his voice obeyed him because his limbs would—could not.
"You don't know what you're doing!" he rasped out.
He struggled uselessly, but they had enclosed his wrists and ankles with buckled straps, tightly so he was tautly outstretched.
"Listen, you think you're right, but you're not!"
He could make out the doctor now, hunched over, holding a cloth to his bloody face. Wiping it once more, he stood up, looking down on Boruto and he shook his head.
"I know this isn't easy to accept, but your life will not be over. You will be safe and have a happy lifestyle, just like everyone else. Free from violence."
Now he attempted to spit at him but was blocked by a mask, coming down on his face...
"No! Stop!" He shook, straining to break free with all his might, the right side of his body beginning to glow with dark markings though it was already too late to resort to that power, and useless, he had to instead focus on holding his breath from the gas that would knock him out.
No, no, NO!
It was over him now, and he could no longer hold his breath, he had to take air in!
And he could feel it taking him, on the cusps of sending him over the edge of a deep darkness.
And suddenly it was dead silent. The mask was gone and in its place a black circle, hovering over his eyes. He strained to understand what it was. The dark tube?
Then he saw the doctor, standing beside him, a look of terror on his face. Then he realized why. A dark figure, it stood between them, holding a gun, first pointed at the doctor, now at him. He could only see its back and just that alone had a terrifying presence about it. Their head was covered by a hood.
No one dared move.
Finally, it spoke. The voice was extremely distorted, as if through a computer.
"Undo the straps. Slowly," it said, pointing the gun at the doctor now. It because their gender was indistinguishable with the distorted voice.
The doctor obeyed, the gun still very much pointed at his head. The guards had already been taken care of and rather been made examples of for the doctor.
Then the figure looked at Boruto, sensing his tensing muscles.
"You will stand and keep your hands to the back of your head. Make any sudden movements and you will be shot."
He swore under his breath.
It looked to the doctor now. "And you, the Chancellor would not like to know that his prisoner has died because you did not comply with my demands. Do I make myself clear?"
He nodded frightfully, undoing the last strap.
Boruto carefully sat up.
"What do you want—"
The gun clicked. He shut his mouth, putting his hands up. "Alright, I get it."
"Good. Now you will come with me. Make the slightest sound or outside movement and you die."
He was led out the room, the gun pressed into his back. Any attempt to ask questions was quickly stifled with harsh commands to shut up. So he obeyed for now, as they traversed through the halls of the prison. They were oddly pitch black, and devoid of any sign of a single guard.
Whoever this person was, they had known what they were doing and had obviously gone through a lot of trouble to get him.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
They deftly ignored him and pushed the gun harder into his back.
His eyes narrowed. They seemed to be heading for an exit. He stopped short, turning around now.
"I'm not leaving without my friend!"
His newest "captor" was wearing a dark hood and under it a mask resembling one the Anbu would use. Except instead of being white porcelain with usually red patterns painted on it, this one was all black, with purple markings on it. Around where the mouth should be, were some slits, with dotted gray steel under it. The voice distorter, no doubt.
"You," they said, "will leave now."
"Not without him! He comes with me!"
"It is already too late for him."
They pushed him impatiently, pressing the gun hard into his temple. He glared rebelliously back, starting to form the seals for a clone jutsu.
Huffing, the figure suddenly had a second gun out, pointed at his hands and shot it, missing Boruto's by mere millimeters. His hair stood up on end, the air hot.
A warning shot.
"I will shot those fingers right off."
Two guns. Nice.
He threw up his hands. "Fine. But once we're out of here," his eyes narrowed, "I expect some answers."
"..."
"Creep."
They continued through the dark halls and something about this just bothered Boruto.
He couldn't quite place it, yes roaming dark hallways in general with two guns pointed at you by a mystery assailant with an unknown agenda should be off-putting but still...Something more was wrong.
Something...
"Oof!"
He had walked into a door, so lost in thought. Backing away, he rubbed his forehead. The exit. To the side, a mechanism that looked like it needed a keycard to unlock. But apparently not this one anymore, not in this blackout. It opened wide easily, no resistance. Not another soul in sight.
Yes, something was very wrong with this picture.
It couldn't be this easy.
Just who was this person?
They shoved him and he fell outside, landing on a patch of grass. The door clicked shut behind them, locking back into place.
Again, he let out an "Oof!" then, recovering, thrust his fist up. "Freaking ease up, will you! And who the heck are you?!"
The hooded person stood at the door, still keeping a gun pointed at him. The second one had been put in a holster attached to their hip.
"You will find the Taka," it spoke.
"The Taka? They disbanded decades ago!" he cried frustratedly.
Then it hit him. Right before he had attacked Kawaki, he remembered the man had brought up the Taka in his phone chat. What was it, something like,'the incident, was it them?'
"They're a resistance force in need of a game changer. Scattered throughout the United Lands. Join them."
Ah, this sounded promising. But still, he didn't like being told what to do.
"Yeah, but only if you take the mask off first, then I might trust ya!"
He ran forward, leg arching upward in a high kick aimed straight for the gun in their hand. The thing flew from their hand. They let out a hiss, sweeping to the side to evade the next strike aimed for the mask.
"I'm really sick," he spat, swinging for it once more, "of being pushed around!"
They evaded him once more. He gritted his teeth and swiped his leg to trip them before they could pull the second firearm out. They landed on the ground and he pounced on them, locking his knees between their torso.
Time was locked like this for a moment, as he tried to catch his breath, sweat dripping down the sides of his face.
From under him, the figure remained still. Then suddenly twisted violently, knee crashing upward and catching him in the thigh. He groaned and was thrown backward and toppled this time. They latched onto his limbs and he squirmed from underneath them.
"Ugh!"
He bucked and they only remained firm, although struggling to do so.
There was a familiar sensation about this. "Have we wrestled before?" he hissed. "Though, I find it highly unlikely—Ugn!"
"Uzumaki, you will find the Taka, and take this device with you. You will push the button on it, and help will come. Do I make myself clear?"
It looked like a radio, one the figure thrust into the pocket of the prison pants.
"No, not until you tell me who you are and what you want and why you don't just do it yourself!"
He was rewarded with a jab to the side, painfully pointed fingers, the jab. He groaned, throwing his chin up.
No! Again, he reached for his sage-like jutsu, and the dark shapes began to glow along the right side of his body, strengthening him. He twisted violently now, strength and chakra enhanced, flipping their position.
He had their second gun, somehow automatically having grabbed it from the holster on their hip and now held it pointed at them this time.
"Listen, you, I control my own fate from here on, not the chakra-stealing monsters, not Kawaki, not you, and not whoever ripped me from this world!"
He was shaking. His fingers tightening around the black firearm.
"Now let's see who you are."
"Hmph."
Their hand swiped through the air, crashing downward and suddenly smoke was bellowing out, blanketing everything in a thick cloud of darkness.
He clumsily tripped backward, coughing like a sick man with lung issues.
It must have been a solid minute after this when the smoke cleared and he could actually breathe again.
When it did clear, he was alone. All traces of the figure gone. The fallen gun too.
But clutched in his hand still, was the one he had managed to capture from them.
Evening his breathing, he clutched the firearm.
"Oh, I'm so keeping this."
Why didn't they take it from them while he had been overwhelmed by the smoke?
Perhaps...
Could they be trusted? They did just free him after all, and let him keep their weapon. And they mentioned help...It could be they were just a jerk about it.
He didn't know. Didn't know anything, just the sudden need to go to sleep.
So he stumbled through the surrounding forest by the prison for awhile, trying to put some distance between him and it. After awhile, his knees gave out and he was slumping to the cold dark earth. Exhaustion reigning every molecule of his body. And he crumbled completely, cheek now resting against the crisp earth under him, and he slept, undisturbed, but distraught, until day broke. Fingers just grazing the surface of the gun. His gun.
His father sat at the desk, looking defeated with his head bowed, clasped fingers the only thing holding it up as he buried his face in them.
"I had no idea," he whispered.
"..."
"Well, I did to some extent, but...It never hit me like this."
"What? That after the Tree incident the rate of suicides in poorer regions drastically went up?"
To be given heaven then suddenly be dropped back in hell...Reality must have been too much to bear after that. Had been.
Sasuke was a little too cold.
Naruto raised his head, looking at his old friend.
"What is it?"
"I understand where he is coming from, but I still don't trust him."
"Sasuke..."
"Hear me out, Naruto." His sensei glanced to the Hokage, his expression stern.
"Why now, after all this time, and here? Something is off about him."
"Still..."
Naruto glanced out the window. "My son has really taken a liking to him. He's finally got a rival, someone who pushes his limits. Kinda reminds me of us back then. Is that really a bad thing?"
"You're too trusting."
Naruto swallowed dryly, shaking his head.
"No. Even I don't trust him. But until we find more out, I want to see how this plays out."
"You're playing a dangerous game, Naruto" Sasuke said. "A very dangerous game."
_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_
*The placenta drink:
So I started Persona 5 and happened to notice the ingredients to a drink in a vending machine, in this game where the set and a lot of it is based off real Japan. I was totally unaware until that point that for some reason this was a thing. I find it disgusting. I find the whole birth process in general disgusting, but actually consuming placenta...Wow, does that just top the cake for me. I can see Orochimaru and his son bottoms upping it though, but not Boruto. So I wrote it like that XD
Forgive me if you were unaware as well and were grossed out like I was.
My sister works in a hospital or something, was chatting with my brother about it. He was for trying it out (then again he eats his boogers, saying it helps build immunity) and she was saying that whatever people are consuming it for, can be found in raspberries or something and she'd rather chug that down than consume placenta. But yeah, it's a real thing.
Let's talk Kawaki:
Throughout these flashback segments that will continue from here on out, my Kawaki's personality will continue to make itself known. BUT know this, that when I do write him, it is from my deductions of him based on the opening of the Boruto anime and manga. Firstly, Boruto had said "did things really have to turn out this way?" making me think he was regretting it. Had they been friends of some sort before? The similar fight stance of the two mirroring Naruto and Sasuke also gave me that idea. In fact, I'm taking a lot of inspiration for the friendship from Naruto and Sasuke's post-war relationship with some outside inspirations as well, with Riku from Kingdom Hearts.
Furthermore, the sage-like jutsu. Both of them exhibited it, making me think that both of them had learned it together. So thus, this is how I started with Kawaki. Then while writing these early pieces of the story, I had given him motivations, but after more reflection on everything that has happened along TLN's timeline, added a whole new layer, also giving Kawaki a bit more depth in the process. Thus the smoking.
All in all, I did not want him to be a generic villain. He had done evil things, but there is very much a noble cause to his deeds, a background story. So please bare with my atrocious writing as I delve into a fight that has already been lost.
Also...Yes Sarada and Kawaki are a thing now. How that came about will be explored later on just like everything else.
Fun Fact:
I am trying so hard to avoid mistakes of the past that Boruto's attitude in the beginning of this is completely different from when I had first started this chapter in the first draft. It starts with him impatiently tapping his foot. XD Still keeping it cool...He won't forever but we'll get there ;)
