I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Training
"He should be around here."
"Given the fact that he hasn't reported in, it's obvious he failed to stop them."
A pair of cloaked figures moved silently through the forest for a minute before stopping, staring at a shinobi that was partially merged with a tree.
"What a fool. Give me his headband."
"Aren't you going to revive him?"
"He's beyond my power. When his power faded, his body became a part of the tree. Even if I took him back, that section of him is now the tree itself. He would barely have a torso. We do not yet possess one whose power truly presides over life and death. He will come soon, but for the time being, that power is beyond us. In time, we may save Samael, but for now, give me his headband."
One of the two moved forward, taking the headband from the corpse's head and returned, handing it to the other.
"You know, he fought against the father."
"Then not only did he fail but he was fool enough to go against my order. Come. We're heading home."
"That's a long walk."
"Who said we were walking?"
A third cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows before them, instantly casting an air of danger and fear. The one that had retrieved the headband took a step back, raising his hands slightly, as though to defend himself.
"Him? He's one of us now? But why?"
"Because his power is the only one that may have saved us the last time. Now, let's go. We're returning."
The cloaked figure strode forward to the newcomer but the other hesitated. After a moment, he also walked over, though slower. He stopped beside the third and the third grinned, his teeth glinting in the otherwise complete blackness under his hood. Then, he reached out, his excessively long cloak sleeves draping over each of their shoulders. Just then, a cloud passed over the moon, darkening the world. And when it lightened, the three were gone.
Yahiko sighed as he stared at his flak jacket. He wanted to wear it, but he preferred his kimono top. It was simply more comfortable, and he had never really had to worry about injuries because of his abilities.
"With the look on your face, you would think that it was harder to decide whether or not to wear that than it was to fight Boruto," Mizuko smirked, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "Don't wear it if you don't want to. It's not like we're at war and have to be uniform or anything."
"I suppose," Yahiko sighed. "At least you don't out-rank me anymore."
"Oh I will soon enough," Mizuko smiled. "I take the Jonin Exams soon."
"Of course you do," Yahiko sighed before smiling. "Good for you. I'm proud of you."
Mizuko smiled and kissed him. He kissed her back for several seconds before pulling away.
"So, what amazing plan do you have for today?" Yahiko asked.
"I was thinking we could go out to town," Mizuko smiled. "You could treat me to a nice dinner, and buy me a few outfits of my choosing, and then maybe when we're done I could model them for you."
Yahiko felt his face heat up but nodded, grinning.
"Sounds like a plan," Yahiko smiled.
"And a good one at that," a raspy voice spoke from behind Yahiko.
He spun, but there was no one there. After a moment, the room suddenly became impossibly dark and Yahiko spun, reaching out for Mizuko, finding nothing but empty air.
"Shame plans don't always go quite the way you hope," the voice sneered, sounding as though he was directly beside Yahiko, only for Yahiko's tanto to meet nothing but air as the room lightened once again, leaving him alone.
"Mizuko!" Yahiko shouted, sprinting out of his house and looking around, extending his senses.
Nothing. He used the Body Flicker Technique to reach the wall of the village, but still there was nothing. He sank to his knees, the shinobi around him scattering just seconds before he shouted in rage, the section of wall he was on being crushed into powder by the impossible gravity suddenly around him. Yahiko floated to the ground before forming hand seals, reforming the wall and simply staring at it. Deep inside him, something snapped.
Boruto sighed as he lay in the grass, Sumire resting her head on his chest, her hand in his, fingers laced together. He had missed this. Just relaxing, allowing all of his problems to fade and just enjoying his time with Sumire.
"You okay?" Sumire asked. "You've seemed like something's been on your mind ever since the fight."
"Aside from the usual thoughts of the Land of Time Shinobi being inhuman freaks, there was something Bael said," Boruto sighed. "It was like he could see the future and knew what was going to happen. Not like he could predict my moves, more like he knew how specific things would work out. He knew I didn't have the power to kill him, he knew that I'm supposed to kill Ho eventually...he said..."
"What?" Sumire asked, pushing herself up to look him in the eye.
"He...He said that you're going to die," Boruto said. "He said that we would think we were safe and that we'd be on the verge of having everything we want, and then you would die."
"Boruto, the future's not set in stone," Sumire said. "You can choose your own path."
Boruto remained silent, staring into space. Sumire sighed, reaching down and kissing him, snapping him out of his thoughts. Boruto kissed her back, hands resting on the small of her back. After a moment, she pulled away, smiling slightly before sighing. A moment later, Mitsuki was standing beside them, his toes about an inch from Boruto's arm.
"Mitsuki, we've talked about this," Boruto said. "Personal space."
"Oh, sorry," Mitsuki said, stepping back.
"What do you need?" Boruto asked.
"Advice," Mitsuki said.
Boruto sighed, sitting up and nodding, Sumire shifting over to sit beside him. "What's up?"
"You're the only one I know of our age and in a relationship," Mitsuki said. "I was hoping you could give me some advice."
"Oh so it's about this," Sumire smiled. "So, who's the lucky girl?"
Mitsuki was silent for a moment before speaking. "Sarada."
Boruto grinned widely and nodded. "I figured as much. Well, I really can't tell you how to win her over. I suppose you could try giving her presents. And I don't mean all at once."
"They also have to be meaningful gifts," Sumire cut in. "You can't just give her a bunch of weapons. You have to give her nice things, like jewelry that you think she'll like. And you could try taking her on a date. I would suggest dinner and a movie. Make conversation with her. Nothing about fighting, your father's experiments, or about snakes."
"Maybe you could talk to Sai," Boruto suggested. "My dad said that when he first met him, he had no idea of how to socialize with other people either. Maybe he could give you pointers about how to be in a relationship starting from where you are since you're sort of the same as he used to be."
Mitsuki considered for a moment, then nodded. He thanked them both before turning and walking away from the clearing. Boruto sighed, glancing back to Sumire who grinned.
"That's going to be entertaining to watch," Sumire laughed.
"It's going to be painful to watch," Boruto chuckled. "So, what do you want to do now?"
Sumire looked at him then grinned and formed several hand seals, a massive golden rift appearing over them, both staring at it in confusion. Then, Nue dropped out of it, sitting down and panting, tongue hanging out like a dog.
"Hello Nue," Boruto smiled, reaching up and scratching his snout lightly. "You want to play don't you boy?"
Nue panted a little louder in response. Boruto chuckled before dropping into a crouch and Nue's front dropped, the back rising. Boruto took a step forward and Nue was off, bounding around the clearing happily and playing keep-away with Sumire and Boruto. Boruto and Sumire chased Nue, neither trying too hard to catch him. Finally, Nue stopped, dropping onto his side and allowing Boruto and Sumire to hop on, lying in his fur, both smiling.
"That's not a very effective way to train a summoning animal," a voice off to the side spoke up.
They both sat up, looking over, as Nue's head swung around, all three staring at Inojin.
"How's he supposed to get better at combat if all he ever does is play around?" Inojin asked. "He's a fearsome beast and yet you have him acting like some insignificant dog, running around and acting like a bed."
"Nue's not a beast!" Sumire snapped.
"And he's not acting like an insignificant dog!" Boruto added. "He's plenty strong!"
"So he could defeat a Land of Time shinobi?" Inojin asked, both falling silent. "A summoning animal is supposed to be capable of defeating a shinobi's enemies when a shinobi is incapable of fighting, whether because of the size of the foe or because the summoner is injured. He's not supposed to play tag."
"Who asked you?" Boruto demanded. "We don't need your advice on how to raise Sumire's summon. Both of us would beat you with ease in a straight fight. If anything, we should be giving you advice on how to train!"
"And I assume that your Dojutsu and Tailed Beast have nothing to do with your strength," Inojin said. "I'm sure that you definitely didn't train under one of the two previously most powerful men in the world, and that your strength is entirely yours as you taught yourself everything you know."
"Why don't you come over here and you'll see exactly what I've taught myself," Boruto snarled.
Inojin rolled his eyes before turning and walking away. Boruto sighed, laying back down on Nue, who set his head back down as well. Sumire remained sitting for a moment before also laying back down, allowing a small smile to spread over her face again.
"He may have a point," Sumire said. "If we fight a Land of Time Shinobi and I summon Nue, Nue legitimately might die."
"Then we won't put him in that situation," Boruto said. "Which means we should probably train."
Sumire nodded and they both slid to the ground, moving to stand opposite each other. Sumire moved first, sprinting forward while firing several water bullets at Boruto. Boruto flipped over the bullets, landing on his feet and sprinting forward, drawing his trench knives. Sumire spun around and around them, drawing her kunai and blocking the slashes one after another after another. Finally, Boruto jumped backward, putting his trench knives away and reaching for his sword only to stop, remembering it had been ruined.
"I definitely need to get my sword fixed," Boruto grumbled. "Fine, we'll do it this way. Water Style, Water Shuriken!"
He spat out several Water Shuriken, all of which sped through the air at Sumire. Sumire shot each with a Water Bullet just in time for Boruto to hurl several shuriken charged with Lightning Style chakra. Sumire flipped over them before hurling her own shuriken. Boruto ducked, spinning under the shuriken before standing and forming rapid hand seals.
"Water Style, Surging Sea," Boruto shouted before exhaling a massive stream at Sumire.
She leapt backward and the water began to sweep across the ground rapidly after her. At the same time, Boruto added his Lightning Style chakra to it, sending electricity flying across the water. Sumire flipped into a tree and Boruto let the lightning stop, holding his hand out, water gathering into a blade in his palm. Sumire dropped to the ground, forming one of her own before both charged, their blades crashing together and halting. After a moment, Boruto shoved her blade upward, slashing at her only for her to flip over it, slashing at him as she flipped. He spun, blocking the slash before kicking out at her. Sumire spun around the slash, stabbing at him and he knocked it aside, stabbing at her only for her to spin around it. She slashed at him again and he hurled himself to the side, standing and readying himself. When Sumire took a step forward, Boruto's sword fell away and both hands slammed into the ground. Sumire looked down just before the water now below her exploded skyward, hurling her into the air. As she fell, Boruto fired a Great Breakthrough, keeping it just strong enough to dry her before she landed on the ground, sighing.
"You win," Sumire sighed. "Round Two?"
"Definitely," Boruto grinned.
Before she could react, he pulled out a scroll, unrolling it and unsealing his second sword from it, resting the blade on the ground.
"I haven't trained much with this one, just enough to figure out what it does," Boruto said. "It's freaking heavy, though."
"It looks it," Sumire nodded.
Both charged, Sumire slashing with her own sword only for Boruto to block it with his, shoving the blade aside and slashing at her. She flipped over the blade just as Boruto spun, chakra shooting along the blade. The chakra made the three holes in the blade all whine at a different pitch. Then, he slashed at Sumire again. She flipped, moving to block the blade only for the blade to slice through hers instantly. Boruto spun toward her again, holding the blade in front of himself, chakra beginning to rage in each hole. He slashed and three chakra shuriken shot out of the holes, one was small and shot toward her in a blur, one was larger and slower, and one was a full-fledged fuma shuriken and moved slowly.
"Water Style, Water Wall Jutsu!" Sumire shouted before exhaling the jutsu.
The water cancelled the first shuriken but the next two sliced straight through. She dodged the first and the second moved after her. She threw herself into the air over the larger and flipped, landing on her feet just in time to spin, forming a Water Sword and slashing the smaller of the two shuriken still fling around to the side, the shuriken dispersing as it flew. The last one, however, she flipped over again. She looked at Boruto again in time to see him slash his sword, the shuriken swinging around at her again.
"It's not the most useful ability given its low speed," Sumire said.
She rolled under it and charged at Boruto but he stabbed the ground and she found herself airborne, flying away from an explosion. She flipped, landing on her feet as Boruto slashed again, a massive silhouette of chakra forming around his blade. Sumire rolled out of the way before the silhouette became a massive arm, shooting after her as he slashed to the side. She flipped over the arm, landing just as he slashed again, the arm dropping at her from above. She flipped aside, the crashing to the ground and cratering it. He retracted the chakra arm, the chakra focusing around the blade as Sumire stood.
"Chakra constructs," Sumire said. "Like Hiramekari of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist Village."
"That's right," Boruto nodded. "I'm not a huge fan of it, in fact I miss my other sword, even though I barely ever used it."
"I would think this one would be better if it was lighter," Sumire said.
"I'm inclined to agree," Boruto nodded. "But it's not light. In any way. And even if it was, it's large and tricky to maneuver."
Sumire nodded, glancing at the sword only to see a thin trail of chakra sticking into the ground off of it. Her eyes widened and she hurled herself to the side seconds before a massive chakra hand exploded up from the ground where she had been. She set her hand down, swinging her feet to the ground as well before skidding to a stop, watching the hand as it faded, Boruto letting the chakra around his sword fade.
"Alright, I'm calling it. I'm tired of using this thing." He resealed it and walked over to Sumire who smiled.
"You're good with it," Sumire said.
"Not nearly good enough," Boruto said. "Basically anyone we fight is going to be ridiculously powerful. The sword really isn't useful enough to make killing them any easier."
"No, but it's more useful than fighting barehanded," Sumire said.
"I can put a seal on my hand that lets me punch through boulders," Boruto said. "I think I have barehanded fighting set as probably my most deadly style."
"Fair enough," Sumire nodded.
The two of them got something else to eat before heading to the top of the Hokage Monument to rest some more.
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