Naruto approached the small clearing near the trees. Upon arriving, he spotted Boruto leaning on a tree, thoughtfully staring in an oddly specific direction. The younger blonde seemed to be unaware of the older approaching, too focused on a certain point on the horizon. Throwing Boruto a questioning glance, Naruto gently tapped his shoulder.
Boruto startled, turning to meet Naruto's gaze. Spotting a pair of ocean blue eyes identical to his own, Boruto visibly relaxed. "Hey Naruto." Openly curious, Naruto grinned. "What were you looking at?"
"Oh…" Boruto turned back to the direction Sakura and Sasuke had wandered off to. "Well, Sakura and Sasuke wanted to talk about something, so they left. I was just wondering what they were talking about."
Naruto inhaled sharply. Sasuke and Sakura are talking? Alone? Forcing himself to calm down, the blonde took a deep breath. "Ah. Well I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, Kakashi-sensei should be here soon."
No sooner than he had finished his sentence, a familiar head of silver hair poofed into existence in front of the two. "Maa, maa, sorry I'm late. I got lost-"
"Lost on the road of life. Yea yea Kakashi, I know. We've heard it a million times." Naruto huffed. Not one to be one upped, the Copy-Nin gave his student a closed eye smile. "Actually, I was going to say I got lost chasing a certain stubborn dolphin."
That got Naruto's attention. Suspicious, he glared at Kakashi, eyes narrowed. "That better not mean what you implied it to mean." Not responding, Kakashi held his smile, lazily glancing around. Noticing this, Naruto let out a huff of annoyance. "Sasuke and Sakura snuck off to have some alone time."
On cue, the remaining two team members emerged from out of the trees, Sakura frantically wiping away at her red eyes. Concerned, Naruto asked her what was wrong, but she waved him off with a laugh. "Sorry we're late, Sasuke and I had a little talk. We can get going now."
Not convinced, Naruto shot a glare at Sasuke. Furiously whispering, he hissed at Sasuke. "What did you say to her?" Annoyed at Naruto's accusing tone, Sasuke scoffed. "I didn't say anything dobe. She did most of the talking. Besides, I hardly see how it's any of your business."
The blonde was ticked off. Sure Sasuke may be the boy he's loved for who knows how long, but he was still a bastard and Naruto would absolutely destroy him if he hurt Sakura again. But Sakura didn't seem sad, or upset. Naruto noted, glancing over in Sakura's direction.
The pinkette was scolding their sensei for being late, and she didn't seem upset at all. Rather, she seemed relieved, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. ANd that observation was the only thing keeping Naruto from kicking the bastard's ass.
During all the commotion, Boruto just stood there, looking uncomfortable. In an attempt to break the tense silence between the two boys, he cleared his throat and spoke up. "Um, shouldn't we be heading out about now?" All four heads whipped towards him, seemingly forgotten that he was assigned to the mission as well.
"Oh! Right! We should get going. Thanks for reminding me Boruto!" Sakura grinned, flicking the younger blonde on the head. With a determined glint in her eye, she yelled out, voice carrying through the small clearing they were in. "Alright, is everyone ready? Let's head out!"
The four others nodded, and Sakura beamed. After the pinkette made sure they had all their necessities, and after Naruto got yelled at for bringing only cup ramen again, the team was off. Within moments all five of them were exiting the village entrance and entering the outside world.
Team 7 was trudging through the forest surrounding Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura were walking in front of the group, with Naruto following behind them in the shape of a triangle. Near the back, Kakashi and Boruto were standing next to each other, about a yard apart.
The journey was long, and quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft thudding of feet on the rocky dirt path and the soft whistling of the wind as it blew through the trees. Boruto was walking pretty slowly, slightly lagging behind the rest of the group.
The blonde was nervous. It was his first mission outside of the leaf, since his dad had been overly protective of him back in his timeline. What if he messed up? What if he slowed the rest of the group down? Boruto's nerves were graining down on him, and he became fidgety as he grew more and more anxious.
The erratic movements did not go unnoticed by Kakashi, who had his nose buried in his book. A quick glance told him the boy was nervous, likely not used to these sort of missions. Either that or the lack of talking that made him nervous. He seemed to be similar to Naruto in that aspect.
Pretending to be uninterested in the young teen, Kakashi flipped a page, not even glancing at its contents. Out of the side of his eye, he watched the younger blonde, doubtingly studying him. So this is the newbie Tsunade wanted me to keep an eye on. Boruto, huh?
The silver haired shinobi looked him up and down, analyzing his chakra and appearance. Interesting, though he doesn't look like much, he has nearly as much chakra capacity as Naruto, much more than the average shinobi. However, he doesn't seem like he could control it if needed.
Finishing his examination of this stranger nin, Kakashi returned his attention to his book, flipping forward a few pages. Well, he doesn't look like a threat. He seems to be at about the average level of a chunin. Skimming over the paragraphs on the page, the Copy-Nin came to a conclusion.
Whoever this Boruto kid is, he's not strong enough to be a threat. However, only time will uncover his true intentions. Satisfied, Kakashi gave his full attention to the novel in his hands. Ooo, this is my favorite part.
Alright, so the journey to the Oko Cats has officially begun! The Oko Cat mission is more or less the last part of the book, and so once the mission is finished, you can count on the book wrapping up fairly quickly!
And you're welcome for updating twice! I just had too many ideas in my mind to be satisfied with just one chapter this week. Alright, bye my pups! Hope you enjoy the journey to the end!
PS. If I upload again tomorrow, do me a favor and not mention my strange increase of time. All my friends have been ignoring me due to the pandemic and my workload has been suspiciously decreased. I'm scared the apocalypse is coming.