Chapter 37: Parallel

"Wind Release: Galeforce Palm!"

Boruto rushed at Gaara with a wind infused palm. Before he could hit Gaara, a wall of sand rose around Gaara, blocking his attack and pushing him back.

"Try as you might but my sand will stop any attacks you throw at me." Gaara said as Boruto continued to throw attacks only to be stopped by his sand, "Sand Coffin."

Boruto stumbled as sand began to crawl up around him.

"Tch. Eight Trigams."

"Spear."

The sand suddenly formed into blades and lunged towards Boruto before he could begin the technique.

"Rasengan!"

Boruto's kote released a rasengan into his hand that Boruto immediately threw into the ground.

"Revolving Screen!"

The rasengan blew apart the sand as it expanded into a protective dome around Boruto.

"I've faced the Rotating Heaven before." Gaara scowled, "I've learned the timing for when your technique falls and your body begins to become exposed again."

Blades of sand readied around the dome.

"I'll kill you the moment you leave your technique."

"Shadow Clone...Fireworks!"

To Gaara's shock, the moment the dome fell, a legion of Boruto leaped out and into the air surrounding Gaara.

"Your turn!" Boruto cried, "See if you can attack when you're defending from all directions!"

With a scowl, Gaara rose the sand around him in time to form a dome to stop all the clones from reaching him.

"Sand Hedgehog!"

The shield of sand suddenly spike out and pierced all the clones, dispelling them. Boruto stood in front of the dome, unsure of how to approach the situation.

"This thing's probably even denser than the wave." Boruto bit his lip, "Gear Rasengan won't cut it even if there was enough room to use it."

"Sand...Maiden."

The shield of sand suddenly jumped out and encircled Boruto, trapping him with their spikes pointed inward.

"Crush." Gaara said as he clenched his fist to push the sand inward to crush Boruto.

"Revolving Heaven!"

The sand was blown apart again as Boruto use his technique to crush the spikes inside and break the shell.

"I told you." Gaara sneered, "I've learned the timing to kill you during the interval where Revolving Heaven is resolved. You may have been able to move with Revolving Screen active but the Revolving Heaven is different. This time, you'll die..."

A tense second followed as everyone waited for Boruto to stop his technique. And before a breath could even be taken, the technique began to unravel as Boruto stopped spinning.

"Now! Sand Spear!" Gaara cried as he formed a spear of sand in front of him and sent it flying through a gap in the dispelling dome.

"Chakra Shift: Base."

The chakra from the dispelling Revolving Heaven stopped and reformed, forming into Boruto's hand. Boruto shifted his rotation, swinging his body back in the opposite direction and thrusting his palm forward, breaking through the spear and lunging forward to smash into Gaara's gut before his sand could react.

"Parallel Heaven!"

Gaara cried out in pain as he was sent flying backward.

"That madman did it." Mentaiyo said, shocked.

"He landed a hit!" Sarada cried, jumping up and down, "He landed a hit! He landed a hit!"

"He landed a hit! He landed a hit!" Musuna celebrated with Sarada.

"Parallel Heaven?" Konohamaru turned to Mitsuki.

"The Revolving Heaven combines physical spinning with the release of an immense amount of chakra." Mitsuki smiled, "Normally that chakra forms the shell and dissipates but using his advanced control over chakra, Boruto managed to control the released chakra even after the technique ends to return to his hand. It's not as powerful as Sarada's chakra infused punches but it's still a staggering amount given the amount of chakra released during a Revolving Heaven."

"Looks like even with half of the chakra for Revolving Heaven leaking, I can still manage a decent attack." Boruto smiled, "But..."

Boruto watched a Gaara stood back up, a good distance away from him. The point at which he struck Gaara was cracked and flaking with sand.

"You armored yourself with sand." Boruto frowned, "All my attacks up till now...and I can only barely crack that armor."

"Impressive." Gaara said as he closed the crack in his sand armor, "Not many genins can crack my armor."

"Try fighting Sarada sometime." Boruto smiled nervously, "She's really good at punching things."

"But for all your efforts, you failed to do any damage and now you've made distance between us."

"..."

"You won't be able to get closer anymore." Gaara said as he stood up, "I'll bury you now. Sand Chasers."

The sand spiked up and began to travel towards Boruto, as if a swift animal was running towards him.

"...Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Boruto summoned a clone for each of the attacks around him. As the sand dove up and lunged towards the real Boruto, his clones followed the attacks and caught them. Boruto stood there, removing the chakra bank from his kote.

"Oh?" Gaara noted, "Is your kote out of chakra?"

"No." Boruto sighed as he checked the tank, "But if I need a big attack, I'll need every bit of chakra I can get...Right now..."

Boruto closed his fist over the chakra bank.

"I'll buy time until my friend is ready."

"Friend? The kote?" Gaara frowned, "What nonsense are you spewing?"

The sand pushed harder, cutting into the clones bodies and threatening to pierce through and into Boruto. Jumping into the air, the sand crashed into the spot where Boruto stood, going through the clones bodies.

"Chakra Shift. Base."

The clones turned into chakra again before they could dissipate, jumping into Boruto's hand and infusing itself into the bank.

"Zenith."

The sand burst up from the ground, rising right underneath Boruto. Boruto reached into his bag and pulled out a kunai, blocking the sand with the blade. Pouring what chakra he could into the weapon, Boruto broke apart the sand with his swing.

"Ha!"

Gaara's eyes turned as Boruto threw the kunai at the side, lodging it into a nearby rock.

"He threw away his weapon?" Gaara frowned, "Wait."

Dangling from the kunai's loop was the chakra bank.

"...I see." Gaara scowled, "By infusing the kunai with chakra and attaching the bank to it, the flow of chakra will move from the kunai to the bank, refilling it without his aid. Then I'll destroy-"

"Rasenshuriken!"

Gaara's eyes widened as a Rasenshuriken flew right towards his face. Quickly ducking down, the rasenshuriken flew above his head harmlessly. Until Gaara realized. Boruto doesn't know the rasenshuriken.

As the rasenshuriken missed him, it transformed back into a clone of Boruto, holding a kunai. The clone pointed the kunai at Gaara but did not throw it, drawing Gaara's attention back to Boruto.

"Lightning Release: Magnet Lightning."

Boruto released a bolt of lightning that burst forth and dove towards Gaara, towards the kunai.

"Sand Wall!"

Quickly piling the sand up, the bolt blasted against the packed earth and dissipated.

"Shift Base!"

The clone dropped the kunai as he lost his form and clumped together into a rasengan. Barely able to turn in time, Gaara raised his arms to block what was coming.

"Revolving Screen!"

The rasengan expanded outward, it's shell pushing against Gaara and pinning him against the wall he had created. Behind the wall, Gaara could hear the sound of lightning crackling.

"Sand Zenith!"

The sand burst upward, pushing Gaara up as the lightning burst through the wall. The lightning and rasengan broke apart the tower of sand, quickly toppling Gaara from his cover.

"Desert Suspension."

The sand underneath Gaara broke off and began to float, carrying Gaara into the air.

"So you can fly huh?" Boruto scowled as he watched Gaara float in the air.

"Sand Spear."

Sand gathered in front of Gaara into the shape of a spear.

"Didn't you try this already?" Boruto said as he prepared to spin.

"I told you. I've fought Byakugan users before." Gaara said, "Go!"

The sand spear flew towards Boruto, too large to dodge.

"Eight Trigram. Revolving Heaven!"

Boruto spun around, the protective dome grinding the tip of the spear apart.

"You depend on that technique too much." Gaara sighed as he stood above the attacks, "When you're inexperienced you're enamored by the strongest. When you chase that, following someone else's shadow, you forget yourself. You become blind to the imperfections of others and lose yourself in the belief that you, like your hero, is invincible."

As the rotating heaven began to stop, Gaara opened a hole in the middle of his spear.

"Strength is accumulated. When you try to take shortcuts, you risk being drunk on power."

Behind Gaara, he formed another spear.

"Kotes are a drink that blinds people to their true power. Look at yourself now without your kote."

Through the hole, Gaara watched as the dome disappeared and he could see Boruto spinning.

"Those drunk on power will die quickly. Wind Funnel. Sand Pick!"

Gaara threw forth his second spear, sending it through the hole in his first spear, and towards the recovering Boruto.

"Chakra Shift. Base."

As the second spear neared the hole, something else flew out towards Gaara.

"Parallel Earth!"

Gaara cried out as the rasengan smashed into his sand platform, destroying it and sending Gaara falling to the ground.

"When you're experienced..." Boruto gasped, "You think you know everything. The more you know, the more you become comfortable in your knowledge you become. With age comes stubbornness. Your knowledge becomes a tool to dismantle new ideas because you fear that you cannot keep up with new ideas. You destroy the future. All while drunk in your own knowledge."

"Parallel Earth." Mitsuki said.

"He shifts the chakra dispelled in rotating heaven and forms it into a rasengan." Sarada said.

"Oh? You figured it out did you?" Mitsuki smiled, "He adds the rotational force of the rotating heaven into the rasengan's trajectory as well. It's not nearly as powerful as a properly formed rasengan but it's a great move to catch opponents off guard. Especially in conjunction with the close-range Parallel Heaven."

"...Hey."

The two genins turned towards Musuna.

"Why is Boruto so strong?" Musuna asked, "Is it the kote? Why does he fight so hard, even against the Kazekage?"

…

"In the past..." Sarada explained, "Boruto always wanted to prove himself as an adult so...no...it wasn't just that."

"Boruto wanted power to prove himself to the village. He wanted to be recognized as an adult for his father. "

"So which is he fighting for now?" Musuna tilted her head.

"..Neither?" Sarada looked towards Mitsuki who nodded.

"Neither? So why bring this up?" Musuna frowned.

"It's important for you to understand where Boruto's power came from in the first place." Mitsuki explained, "And how he lost both of that when he was removed as a ninja."

"..."

"It's not that Boruto cannot fight for those things again." Sarada added, "But I think...he tied those things too closely to his past that he felt like he had no choice but to leave them behind when he moved on."

"Moved on...so now he fights for kotes?" Musuna guessed.

"Well...it's certainly easy to just say he's fighting for kotes." Mitsuki chuckled, "But Boruto was always strongest when he's fighting for someone else."

"Someone else?" Musuna blinked.

"That's right." Sarada smiled, "He was always hard on his father for Himawari's sake right?"

"I don't get it." Musuna frowned.

"I think to anyone else, it's easy to see Boruto as simply fighting for kotes. But I think to Boruto he's fighting for someone who right now needs more help than he does."

"..."