I do not own Naruto Uzumaki or any of the characters.
Exams
"Good luck Big Brother!" Himawari said before covering her mouth and coughing, eyes screwing shut as she did.
"You okay?" Boruto asked.
"I'm alright," Himawari smiled. "Do your best!"
"I will," Boruto nodded.
He walked away, meeting up with the others and going to where the genin were waiting for the test. It was a weird one. There were two areas, one marked true and one marked false, and a large screen with a question about some book or other and a quote.
"Sarada, do you know that book?" Boruto asked.
"Sort of," Sarada said. "Except, I've only read to the fourth volume. I didn't even know the fifth one existed."
"Well then, we should just give up," Mitsuki said.
"At least try Mitsuki," Boruto said.
"Boruto, what answer do you think my dad would choose?" Sarada asked.
"Probably false," Boruto said. "Why?"
"I'll become Hokage by choosing a different path than my father did," Sarada said.
"Then, we should go with true," Mitsuki said, Boruto and Sarada nodding.
They walked over and looked around. It was split mostly down the middle. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Boruto. How did knowing a quote from a book determine if you were a good shinobi?
"Remember," Sai was saying. "Those who turn black answered incorrectly."
Then, the screen displayed both the true and false symbols and the ground below them burst apart. They began to fall and Boruto looked down, seeing a pool of ink. He spun, hurling one of his new kunai which stabbed deep into the rock, the wire attached to it catching him and he grabbed Sarada, landing on the wall beside Mitsuki, who was holding the edge above them with his extended left arm.
"So that's what he meant by turn black," Boruto said. "Tricky."
Mitsuki nodded in agreement and they began to head back up the wall of the pit, Boruto carrying Sarada. Once they were out, they waited as others who had made it, as well as those that hadn't, made their way out, gathering in groups according to who failed and who passed. Sai confirmed that the failures were the ones who fell in the ink, and Shikamaru announced that the test would continue in three days. Boruto went home, laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, he got an alert on his computer and walked over, opening it and staring at the email.
"Congratulations on winning the first round! Good luck on the next one! ! Dad."
"An email," Boruto said, deleting it. "That's all I'm worth? I should have guessed. It was probably Shikamaru anyway."
He lay back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling again. He wanted to see Sumire, but she and her team were out on a mission. She wouldn't be back until the day of the second exam. After a few hours, Boruto left to train with Sasuke, spending the next couple days alternating between shuriken training and kenjutsu. He was improving in shuriken training far faster than kenjutsu, but he was improving.
"Sarada's the one that specializes in shuriken," Boruto complained. "Everyone knows that. She's an Uchiha."
"Well, by your logic, this should be your specialty," Sasuke said, forming eight clones.
"Yeah, I guess," Boruto said. "It was Dad's specialty."
"No more excuses," Sasuke said. "Your father can create over a thousand clones. He was able to create nearly a hundred at your age."
"I know that," Boruto said. "I just can't get the proportions right when I try to make more than three."
Sasuke pointed at the target and Boruto sighed, turning back to it and continuing his training.
Boruto closed his eyes, forming the clone hand seal and hearing the sound of clones popping into existence. He opened his eyes and stared at the four clones before him. He grinned. One more than usual. The clones spread out to guard their team's flag. A massive game of combat capture-the-flag was a great idea. Though, to be safe, Boruto had brought the kote, not that he expected to need it, but it didn't hurt to be safe.
"No sign of the enemy," Mitsuki said over their communicators. "Are we good?"
"We're fine," Boruto said. "Leave this to me."
"Boruto, we're counting on you," Sarada said.
"Relax," Boruto smirked. "I've got it covered."
He spun, hurling a shuriken in opposite directions, forcing the Hidden Mist genin around him to stop their charge and land on the opposite side of the roof from the flag, all three of them.
"Nice try," Boruto smirked, his clones coming on-line with him. "Five against three, you know who has the advantage here."
The genin grinned, each forming two clones. Boruto's grin faded.
"Who has the advantage?" the center genin asked.
Boruto stomped his foot and water exploded outward at the genin, all of them leaping over the water, sliding down the back of the wave like it was ice. Boruto and his clones charged, one clone managing to destroy two of the enemy clones with water bullets before they all met, the overwhelming number of Hidden Mist clones quickly destroying Boruto's. Although, Boruto was able to take down two of the enemy's clones, that left five Hidden Mist genin to sprint at his flag from all sides.
Boruto sprinted after them but it was obvious he wouldn't catch them. his eyes widened. He only had one chance. He held his arm behind him, ejecting a Water Style scroll and swinging his arm, a massive tsunami cascading over the rooftop, flooding everything. Then, Boruto leapt into the air, ejecting a lightning style scroll as he fell, sending the bolt at the water, electrocuting all of the remaining genin and evaporating the water before landing on top of the flag, grinning.
"I'm okay here guys," Boruto said. "Sarada, get that flag."
"I'm on it," Sarada replied.
A few moments later, they had the flag and were allowed to leave the rooftops. Boruto headed home, Himawari and Hinata greeting him at the door.
"Hey congratulations big brother!" Himawari cheered before coughing.
"I just passed the second exam, nothing major," Boruto grinned. "How do you feel?"
"I feel okay," Himawari smiled. "It's just a cough."
"Yeah but it's been a few days since it started," Boruto said.
"It might just be allergies," Hinata said. "We're going to have Sakura take a look after the Chunin Exams are finished."
Boruto nodded before turning to the stairs.
"Me and Sumire are going out, so I gotta go get ready," Boruto said. "I'll be back later, okay?"
"Do you want me to make you dinner?" Hinata asked.
"No thanks!" Boruto replied, reaching his room and dropping his harness beside his sword, quickly changing into something clean. He put the kote away just as there was a knock on the door. "What is it?"
The door swung open and Naruto walked in, smiling at him before walking over to the pictures on Boruto's desk. "So...uh...I heard that you passed the second round."
"Y-Yeah," Boruto nodded.
"I...uh..." Naruto trailed off, picking up a picture of Naruto and Boruto.
"Dad?" Boruto asked, receiving no response. "If it's nothing can you just go?"
"You..." Naruto trailed off again. "You did great." He set the picture down, Boruto staring at him in shock. "Well see you later."
"Wait, you came just to tell me that?" Boruto asked.
"It's important, you know?" Naruto said. "It's...the most important thing. One more thing."
"Yeah what's that?" Boruto asked as Naruto walked back over.
"Do not lose to Shikadai," Naruto said, holding out his fist.
Boruto stared at him before grinning.
"Like I'd lose," Boruto said, holding his right arm where the kote had been before.
Naruto smiled and stepped forward, pressing his fist to Boruto's chest, since Boruto was going to leave him hanging. "I'll be watching."
And with that, he turned and walked out of the room. Boruto smiled, joy welling up in his chest as tears leaked out of his eyes. Then, he stood and walked downstairs, slipping on his sandals and going to meet Sumire.
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