Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of a Spark of Hope! Thank you for waiting hehee ^_^

Just a bit of a life update! The situation in my country is getting worse with regards to the coronavirus pandemic and the delta variant, particularly because the leader of the country is more focused on trying to destroy political opponents and make a fake beach on Manila Bay that costs hundreds of millions of pesos and most likely will not even last the decade (a vanity project) instead of improving the response to the pandemic. Cases have surged, and now my uncle has gotten the virus. Fortunately, myself and most of the family has gotten the vaccines, and we've gotten tested recently and we're in the clear. Also, he is currently with only mild symptoms since he was also vaccinated.

So again, for those who have not gotten vaccinated and can get it, please get your shots ASAP, if not for yourself then for the people around you and the people you love.

PSA aside, I hope you all love this chapter! And I hope you are all doing well in real life! Keep safe and sound and healthy! =D

Chapter 5: Dinner at the Uzumaki Home

A soft musical alarm began to play from Denki's laptop, signaling that the full render of the Gozu Tennou in PDF form had been completed, and that the supercomputer was now forming a database with searchable keywords and important topics drawn from headers and oft-repeated phrases.

"Good timing," Denki noted, since he had just finished his explanation and possible theories to Sasuke not three minutes ago. The conversation had since shifted to how Sarada and the rest of their group of friends were doing while Sasuke and Boruto were away.

"Final tally," Denki scrolled to the very last page, "1551 digital pages… for a manual of operations. This is insane…"

"It just shows how complex the Gozu Tennou mechanism is," Sasuke told him. "It even helped me figure out how to teleport without having been to the exact person, place, or dimension before. Before that, I would have needed to determine the location by extensive investigation first." He looked away. "Without reading this, we wouldn't have been able to rescue Lord Seventh back then, when he was captured by the Otsusukis…"

Denki looked him in the eye and shook his head. "With all due respect," he quipped, "I highly doubt you read this entire thing."

"Of course not!" Sasuke admitted with a slight chuckle. "I only ever read the relevant parts. Thankfully, there's a Table of Contents…" He then flipped through the pile of papers that Denki had on the side of his desk. "Physics 73, Long Exam 1. What was the exam about?"

"Thermodynamics. My classes took it two days ago."

"You're going to check all of that? By when?"

"By next week. It's Friday, so I'll get back to it after the weekend…"

Denki quickly scrolled all the way up to the top of the document, and then slowly moved a few pages down until the Table of Contents popped into view onscreen. He skimmed through the three pages of headers and page numbers. "I'll start reading this tomorrow," Denki resolved, "after the database and search engine finish tonight."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "And you're sure no one else can just go in here and download this? Or hack into your laptop and spy while you're reading this?"

"There's never been an intruder for reasons like that, and I've handled sensitive information like communications with Lord Orochimaru. And as for hacking my computers, they have encryption that will take decades with today's computers and hackers to crack. It's not getting leaked from me, don't worry."

"And what if someone attacks you and steals it?"

"There's no way they're guessing my password. And I can defend myself too. Or run and hide in plain sight, whichever's the best option."

The older shinobi, clad in a long black cloak, nodded in satisfaction. "Well then, we should leave for dinner."

Denki closed his laptop and placed it in his bag. "Sarada's really looking forward to seeing you," he told him. "You can go on ahead and see her and Aunt Sakura. No need to wait for me."

"Okay. See you there." Sasuke quickly stood and walked out of the room, the ends of his black cloak flowing behind him. The door closed shut behind him, leaving Denki alone in his laboratory room. Once again, the only sound in the room was the slight humming of the supercomputer. He glanced at his phone, whose clock read 6:37 pm. It was about twenty minutes before the dinner at the Uzumaki home was supposed to start.

"It's so long…" Denki thought to himself about the Gozu Tennou, in the PDF form that had appeared on his laptop once the supercomputer finished its full render. "When I scrolled through it, it looked like a lot of math and physics and biology… Nobody except Tanuki himself could have gone through all of this… Even Sasuke-sensei only read relevant parts…"

He brought his fingers to his chin and looked to the side of the room. "Sumire herself may not have known many of its properties… And the only one who'd probably know… would be the one born of the Gozu Tennou…"

*******XXXXXXX*******

Hinata was in the middle of placing braised beef, the last of the dishes she had cooked for the night's party, onto the heated tray when the doorbell rang twice in quick succession. From upstairs, she heard a door suddenly swing open, followed by two pairs of quick footsteps almost running through the second floor corridor towards the stairs. She felt a surge of excitement, her heart skipping a beat, as she wondered if she would finally get to see her son in person once again. After all, it had been three long years since she saw him and Sasuke off at the north gate of Konoha.

She swung closed the lids of the meals to keep them heated, hastily put down the pot she was holding, and then turned and saw Himawari and Inojin rushing down the wooden steps. "Is it them?"

"Yes!" Himawari opened the front door, revealing Sakura, Wasabi, Namida, Sarada, and Boruto standing outside.

"Welcome home, big bro!" She pulled her brother into a warm embrace. It was only then that it truly sunk into her that she was now only a couple of inches shorter than Boruto. On the other hand, Inojin, who was patting Boruto on the shoulder, stood at around the same height as Boruto, if not a tiny smidge shorter.

Hinata ran to the door and enveloped Boruto and Himawari, with Inojin stepping aside to give the Uzumaki family space for their moment. She kissed her son on the forehead and stroked his banana-like yellow hair. She couldn't help but shed tears. "You're finally home… I love you, son…"

Behind her, she felt Naruto coming down the steps and promptly joining the family hug.

"My son… Welcome back, Boruto… I love you so much, you know?"

"Yeah… I've… I've missed everyone…" Boruto smiled, "so much…"

Naruto then turned to his teammate, Sakura, who stood beside Sarada, Wasabi, and Namida. He showed them a wide grin. "Come in, make yourselves at home!"

"The food's pretty much ready," Hinata told them. "I'll open the food trays for you now. Then you can stay on one of the tables outside! We adults will stay in the dining room."

Wasabi sniffed and took in the scents of the meals in the kitchen. "It all smells so delicious! I can't wait!"

As the others headed to the kitchen area to get their food, Naruto turned to Sakura. "Sasuke should be here in a while."

"I haven't seen him yet. Where is he?"

"He went to see Professor Denki Kaminarimon. He got some pretty sensitive data…"

He then lowered his voice into a whisper, making sure no one else would hear him. "The Gozu Tennou, the one Sumire and Nue had. He's just making sure there's no data breach, no possible way it could leak to the wrong hands."

Sakura looked Naruto in the eyes and nodded. "Sarada told me a bit about Denki getting it. I think he needs it for some… research… But we trust him, right?"

"Of course," Naruto quickly nodded in turn. "We're more worried about potential hackers rather than him intentionally giving it away."

Meanwhile, Hinata opened the shiny metallic serving trays, with alcohol-lit flames underneath keeping the trays and the food inside hot. There was braised beef with sauce, salt and pepper chicken, pork tonkatsu, creamy macaroni and cheese, fried calamari, soft tofu, and rice. There were also cookies and banana pudding as desserts for later in the night, along with several pitches of cold water and softdrinks.

Boruto and Himawari went first in line, followed by Hinata, Inojin, Sarada, Wasabi, and Namida. After they all filled their plates with food and got their drinks in hand, they went back outside and sat at one of the round tables set up on the grassy lawn. Each of the four tables, all of which were close by one another, were covered by white cloth and were lit up by several LED bulbs on the nearby walls and by small candles on the table.

The lights also showed the abundance of flowers in Himawari's garden plot, which lay beside the stone pathway from the main door to the gate. It still had the three-brick-high boundary wall, just as Boruto had last seen it, but it was now expanded such that it now bounded much of the wooden fence at the side of the front lawn. The new solar-powered lamps stuck out from the edges of the ground near the top brick line, keeping the native plants and insects company with their dim, warm, yellowish glow.

The familiar sunflowers and lilacs continued to grow on the side of the garden nearest the front door. On the other side of the garden plot, there were now many more new flowers present, such as white jasmines, marigolds, tulips, bluebonnets, and daisies, which intermingled with the older bushes of red roses, bougainvillea, and peonies.

Towards the center of the garden stood some pure white selenias, their glow resonating resolutely in the darkness, bunched up in a close formation. Beside them, the lavenders that Himawari had planted in support and dedication to Wasabi and Namida were still thriving. And beside those were the brilliant violet sopherias she had planted in memory of Sumire, along with the old laminated sign staked into the fertile soil. Inside was Inojin's photo of Himawari and Sumire planting seeds in Nue's dimension, with a note on the bottom right that read, "In Loving Memory Of Sumire".

Boruto remembered that it happened during Sumire's last birthday. He knew that it was over three years ago. But as he sat down on one of the tables beside Sarada and Himawari, he found himself staring at it, and he felt as if it was just yesterday that they last went to Nue's dimension. He felt like it was just yesterday that he last saw Sumire. But then he shook his head ever so slightly, such that his mother, who was standing behind him and not letting him go from the grip of her embrace, did not ask him about it. He knew inside that the latter part was true.

He turned to Inojin and Himawari, asking them, "What ever happened to the seeds?"

The pair looked towards each other, their eyes showing obvious confusion. Himawari turned back to him, her dark blue shoulder-length hair flipping around her in turn. "What seeds, big bro?"

Boruto clarified, "The ones you were supposed to plant in Nue's dimension back then?"

It took a moment before Inojin remembered and looked back at the laminated picture in the garden behind him. "Ahh, I remember what you're talking about. The selenia seeds, right? Hmm… Hima and I split the seeds. We planted half in the garden and in other special places, and the other half went to my mom. She breeds them and sells them for a very high price, as one of the specialty flowers of our family shop!"

Himawari added, "It's like 15000 ryo per flower, right?"

"15000 ryo for a flower?" Hinata asked in disbelief. "Why? And people buy it?"

"It's that rare and valuable," Sarada remarked.

Inojin further explained, "People with the money and the free time will pay to own and take care of them."

Meanwhile, Hinata continued to hug Boruto the entire time, much to his simultaneous embarrassment and happiness, although he felt much more of the second emotion than the first.

"How were your adventures? Where did you two travel to last?"

"Since the last letter? We mostly stayed in Oto over the last few months, to rest-"

"And we observed how Lord Orochimaru ran things in his city."

Everyone turned and saw that it was Sasuke who interrupted. In an instant, Sarada stood up, bumping into the table in the process and shaking all the glasses. She ran to the gate of the house and jumped into her father's waiting arms. "Dad! You're home!" She couldn't help but shed tears, which flowed past her glasses and onto the familiar deep black cloak of her father.

"Sarada…" For the first time in a long time, Sasuke caressed his daughter's hair and held her in his embrace. "I've missed you…"

Meanwhile, Hinata and Boruto also approached Sasuke, and they waited for a long couple of seconds for the hug to end. "Welcome back Sasuke," Hinata greeted her old friend. "How were things in Oto?"

"They're going well. We were observing the science experiments at Orochimaru's labs, and how their city government works there in Oto. We wanted see if we could apply some of their laws and regulations to Konoha, to make governing here easier and more efficient."

"We also kept track of the war from Orochimaru's updates," Boruto added, "about the situation in the Land of Grass."

"Speaking of which," Hinata remembered, "Naruto is waiting for you inside. Sakura's there too. And everyone else will be here in a while. We adults will be inside at the dinner table, and the kids will be here outside."

Sasuke nodded. "I see. Thank you. And it's good to see you too, Hinata. It's been a while."

"It really has…" With a slight hand gesture, Hinata beckoned Sasuke to follow her inside the house, but not before she kissed her son on the forehead and hugged him yet another time.

"Dad!" Sarada called after him, and so Sasuke turned around. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too Sarada," Sasuke replied with a smile. "Promise, we'll get to spend more quality time together as a family, tonight and over the next few months."

Sasuke and Hinata both went inside, disappearing behind the closing front door, though everyone outside heard a sudden and lively commotion from the dining room.

"The old Team 7 having a reunion," Inojin quipped and turned to Sarada. "Your parents too, of course."

"Kakashi-sensei will be here in a bit," Sarada pointed out. "He'll round out their mini-reunion when he gets here." But just as they settled back down, Sarada's phone vibrated on the table, making a distinct rhythmic rumbling noise.

And once Sarada saw who was calling her, she quickly opened her phone and accepted the video call. "Hey guys!"

"SARADA! HIII!" The faces of Kirakira, Velvet, Eleanor, Magilou, and Mitsuki appeared on Sarada's screen. They were pixelated at first, but they quickly grew clear after a couple of seconds. Sarada recognized the dining room of Velvet's house, and she saw on the screen that the table they were seated around had plates of food and several glasses. She remembered informing them after her therapy session about Boruto's return, and she remembered Kirakira getting ready to buy drinks as their call ended.

Kirakira asked her over the phone, "Has the party started there?"

Sarada then angled her phone to include everyone else at the table in the video call. Subsequently everyone at the table began waving at her phone. "Can you see all of us?"

The five from Ame shouted and waved back in unison. "Hello guys! Long time no see!" Mitsuki then added, "I'm glad to see you all again."

"Mitsuki!" Boruto exclaimed and grinned. "I haven't seen you in forever! How is it over there!"

"Things are going well. My identity's still safe here. We're a five-person team now, we're doing missions, and we're training for the Chunin Exams in a couple of months!"

"I'm thankful that you're safe. More importantly though, are you enjoying over there?"

"Of course! It's so fun having these four around. I learn so much on human interactions from watching them."

"How could it not be," Magilou asked rhetorically, "with all the shenanigans that happen with the five of us? Especially between the two of us, if I may say so myself…"

Boruto asked in reply, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Velvet could not help but sigh. "Whenever we get in trouble for talking too much, it's usually one of these two…"

"In any case," Mitsuki continued, "it's lots of fun here, but I do miss life with you guys in Konoha. I hope I can go back one day, without my father getting wind of it. But for now, I'm excited to see you guys again. One more week, right?"

"Yeah! I'll come visit you guys for sure," Sarada assured him.

Wasabi clarified to Mitsuki, "So I'm guessing you won't be able to come to the commemoration ceremony again?"

He shook his head. "There'll be cameras all over the place to broadcast the ceremony. Lord Yahikonan isn't allowing me to go, for my own safety."

"Right," Namida thought about it, "your dad doesn't know you're still alive and in hiding…"

"Also," Kirakira mentioned, "we might have a mission scheduled that day too. We'll get more details from Lady Risha very soon. But at the very least, I'm almost sure we'll be free the night before."

"So our dinner plans are still good to go as of now?"

"Yes," Kirakira grinned and nodded. "By the way, are we really going drink for drink again tonight?"

Sarada chuckled. "Of course! Let's see which of us gets wasted first this time."

Kirakira raised an eyebrow. "Do you even remember what happened the last time we had our online drinking session?"

"Uhh… I'll be honest, not really."

The blonde girl with bright violet eyes could only giggle. "Maybe it's for the best…"

"Speaking of drinks…" Namida pulled up a blue icebox chiller, gently placed it on the table, and opened it for the camera. "Malt beer for us here!"

Wasabi added, "We were thinking of bringing our vodka, but Panga and the other girls said they'll bring some bottles later. Ivyred's going to bring her chili honey wine too, so we're going to try it out later."

"That's cool! I'm the only one going to drink over here. I have a few glass bottles of tuba chilling in the fridge."

"Ohh, palm wine?"

"Yes, tuba from Liwayway. It's quite sweet, and it's not too strong, only 3%."

"I've never tasted tuba before!"

"I'll see if I can buy more by the time you guys come over next week!"

"You girls enjoy your alcohol," Velvet sighed. "I'll stick to my milk tea. Who knows what shit might happen if I get drunk…"

"That's the smarter and safer option," Magilou replied in between sips of her coffee. "Ohh, and healthier too."

"I don't think milk tea is that healthy," Sarada and Eleanor simultaneously pointed out to her.

"It's healthier than alcohol, that's for sure!"

"You have a point," Eleanor relented. She then came closer to the camera, no doubt looking closer at the screen of their laptop. "Anyway, I thought a lot more people would be there right now."

"They haven't arrived yet," Sarada explained. "It just started."

"I would have thought that more people would be early. You know, invitations from the Hokage himself and all. And Boruto's return as well."

"Nah, Lord Seventh doesn't mind at all. And Boruto's return is still a secret…" She paused for a few seconds to drink. "At least, that's the hope. I'm hoping that it'll still a surprise for most of our friends…"

"A surprise from us?" Immediately recognizing the voice, Sarada immediately turned around and saw Chocho at the gate, followed by her parents Choji and Karui, and then by Shikadai, Moegi, Temari, and Ryogi.

"Chocho! Long time no see!"

"What's…"

Then she saw Boruto standing up beside Sarada.

"HOLY SHIT! BORUTO!"

She rushed towards and enveloped both Sarada and Boruto into her crushing bearhug, tackling them with such force that she could have knocked over the table behind them in the process, if it were not for the combined efforts of Wasabi, Namida, Inojin, and Himawari holding their table in place.

"I haven't seen you in sooo long!" Chocho finally released her two friends, held Boruto by the shoulders, and gave a genuine smile, one that looked as if she were holding back tears. "How have you been?"

"Boruto!" Shikadai approached, not even giving Boruto a chance to respond to Chocho, and hugged him as well. "You look good."

"You too. You aged a bit though. You look more like your dad now."

Shikadai cackled. "Such a drag…"

Ryogi and Temari both walked up towards Boruto as well. "I told you guys that he came back," Ryogi reminded his adoptive mother and brother. "I wasn't joking."

"And you weren't," Temari chuckled.

"WAIT WHAT?" Chocho turned to Ryogi. "How come you guys didn't tell me?"

Shikadai answered for his adopted brother, "Because then it wouldn't have been a secret at all…"

"Hey!" Chocho protested loudly. "I'm not that gossipy!"

As she did, Denki, Iwabe, Hako, Houki, and Enko arrived to the house. "Nothing about what you just said is true," a giggling Hako drove the figurative nail into the coffin, much to Chocho's annoyance.

"I mean, I have a lie detector on my phone," Denki jokingly bluffed. "We could test it out."

"No," Chocho bluntly replied, much to everyone's laughter.

Konohamaru, Hanabi, Sai, Ino, Shino, and Tenten followed, and shortly afterwards came Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, Gengania, Panga, Conwi, Ivyred, Fujibayashi, Tomoka, Yamada, and Mikawa. Most of them were so shocked to see Boruto again without any warning, with the exceptions being Gengania and Panga who had bumped into him at the University rally a few hours prior, and the rest of their group of friends whom they let in on the secret.

Every one of the new arrivals greeted Boruto and spoke to him, though there were some like Konohamaru, Hanabi, and Kakashi, who spoke to him longer than the others. In fact, Konohamaru could not help but shed tears for his close friend and former student, while Hanabi held back her tears while embracing her beloved nephew.

After a few minutes of chit and chat and catching up, all of them went inside to get their food and drinks. The adults stayed inside and sat at the dinner table with Naruto and Hinata, while the younger generation went outside and joined Boruto and the others on the white tables in the garden. The mood at the Uzumaki home was filled with nostalgia, glee, and a buzzing excitement, stirred up by Boruto's return.

*******XXXXXXX*******

"A toast," Naruto raised a glass, as everyone on the table set their finished plates of food and dirtied utensils aside. They raised glasses filled with water, softdrinks, or alcohol, to match their friend's gesture. "A toast to us all here tonight. Thank you for being here, even though most of you have been busy over the last few months. I'm sure everyone here is tired."

"Don't sweat it," Choji told him. "We're always down for hanging out and having a few drinks. Just let us know and we'll try to be there."

Ino nodded along. "Our kids and their friends feel the same way, I'm sure. We should probably have these more regularly, so they can keep in touch more easily too."

"I think they're just as connected to each other as we were," Sakura smiled. "Their friendships won't fail just because they're apart for a long time, just like us."

"You're right. Cheers?"

"Wait, before we drink," Naruto suggested, "each one of us could say some things that we've been up to since we last met up months ago. A sort of catching up, you know?"

"You start then," Sasuke smirked and crossed his arms.

"That's fine by me."

Temari jested, "I'm sure my husband, if he were here, would say that this is a major drag. At least he's not here to ruin the fun."

While waiting for the laughter to quiet down after Temari's joke, Naruto thought of his contribution to the big toast. "Hmm," he cleared his voice, "I'll start then. I think 'being Lord Hokage and running Konoha and the Land of Fire' is always happening, so I'll go with something else. I've been hosting summits for the Shinobi Union, and I've had military conferences with Shikamaru and the other Shinobi Union generals, one of which happened a few hours ago."

After Naruto finished, Hinata took the initiative, thus setting the order of toast statements as clockwise around the table. "I've been taking care of this house and of my husband and daughter. We bought more flowers for the garden as well, if you noticed when you guys walked in."

"Still one of the head doctors and directors in Konoha Hospital," Sakura followed. "Funny thing though, some doctors and their students broke an MRI scan machine last week. It turned out a donated cadaver had a bullet inside. The pull of the magnet was so hard that it tore the bullet fragments through the body, so the bullet destroyed the MRI magnets."

"Ugh, yikes," Naruto grimaced at the thought of it.

"It was gory and brutal," Shizune sighed. "And costly. It'll take another week and a million ryo to repair it."

"Hmm…" Sasuke thought more deeply about what he wanted to say. "I've been in Oto with Boruto for the past couple of months. We stayed there with Karin and her family as guests. But now, I think Boruto has sufficiently recovered, so I allowed him to return and be here to stay."

"I'm so happy to hear that he's okay now," Ino said with a smile. "I'm sure my son and the others would be thrilled that he's staying. As for me, I'm still leading the city's sensor division and selling at my flower shop. We've been getting lots of orders for selenias, the rare special flower I've been breeding, so our business is doing well."

"Still a chief advisor and head of the Intel Division," Sai gave a short and terse reply compared to his wife.

Temari spoke next. "For the last few weeks, I've been dealing more and more with the issue of the Land of Wind's occupation of the Land of Stone. My brother, the Lord Kazekage, has said that it is necessary to use its northern mountain range as a protective natural barrier against the Shogun's armies, so that our own country will be secure. But as an ambassador to the Land of Wind, I've agreed to hold a meeting with Princess Alisha of the Land of Stone in a few weeks."

"And I've been going on more missions for the city," Choji followed. "Nothing much of note, mostly intel-gathering and patrolling the roads. Meanwhile, my wife here takes care of our house and our daughter. So yeah, same old, I guess."

"Same old," Shino nodded along, "same old. Aside from teaching at the Academy, I'm still trying to find love."

Tenten cut in with a wink and a suggestion, "How about giving those online dating apps a try?"

Shino deadpanned, "How about no?"

"Hahaha, just saying that they could work for us," Tenten shrugged. She continued, "For a while, I've been looking to expand my weapons business. I'm leaning more and more into manufacturing and selling firearms and explosives. But that's only if we get the necessary permits from the Land of Fire and the mass production blueprints from Marumi City."

"We're still active jonin going on S-Rank protection services missions for high-level clients," Hanabi spoke for herself as well as her husband and Moegi, both of whom sat on opposite sides of her.

"I'm spearheading Konoha Hospital's medical research into better treatment methods of modern weaponry," Shizune summarized, "as General Shikamaru recommended."

"Enjoying retirement." Tsunade emptied her glass without waiting for anyone else, and then refilled it with more of her beloved sake, much to everyone's amusement.

"It looks like I'm the last," Kakashi said as he glanced to Naruto at his right. "Also enjoying retirement, but a month ago I visited the frontlines near Hush in the Land of Grass. I'll go back there and meet with Shikamaru and the other generals in a few months."

Naruto nodded, but then sighed. "It's sad that Rock Lee and Guy-sensei couldn't make it here."

"Guy-sensei's been down with a bad flu for the past few days," Kakashi told him.

"And Lee isn't leaving his side," Tenten added, with a roll of her eyes meant for her ex-husband. "He's so devoted to him, more than he ever was to me. But ugh, enough of them! Let's get to drinking already!"

Tsunade chortled loudly and exclaimed, "I've already had three glasses! I got tired of waiting for you all to finish!"

"Alright then! On my count." Naruto again raised his glass. "A toast to us here, to the Land of Fire, and to the Shinobi Union. Cheers!"

"CHEERS!"

*******XXXXXXX*******

The moon began to descend from its zenith in the night sky, and the tables in the front garden of the Uzumaki house were now full of glasses, plastic bottles of softdrinks, glass bottles and aluminum cans filled with alcohol, dessert plates with fruit salad and cake, and opened bags of chips. The air hung heavy with the unmistakably alcoholic scent of Panga's vodka, which was further compounded by the multiple open bottles of Ivyred's jalapeno-flavored mead.

Namida, for one, took an instant liking to the mead. It was far sweeter than it was bitter, which she preferred. And furthermore, it had a uniquely spicy aftertaste, one she had never tasted in any beer or wine before. It was no wonder then that she was now on her fourth glass of the mead, to go along with two finished cans of malt beer, which she had set aside on the rounded table.

"So Denki," she called his attention, "a while ago, Boruto said you want us to help look for Nue?"

"Yes… or at the very least, confirm if the photos I got are real."

"Count us in!" Namida enthusiastically replied. "If we find him, we'll adopt him and let him live with us."

Wasabi, who was mixing her fifth glass of spicy mead with some probiotic milk drink, turned to her girlfriend. "Do they… allow pets in our apartment complex?"

"I'm… I'm not sure… But hypothetically speaking, we could smuggle him in. Nue has his own dimension, after all."

"Ohh yeah… They don't need to know then…"

Meanwhile, Sarada was talking with Kirakira and Mitsuki and their team over the video call. Chocho, Shikadai, Inojin, and others on the surrounding tables were listening and watching the drink-off.

As promised, they were going drink for drink, and the score was tied with Sarada successfully downing her ninth glass of beer. Meanwhile, Kirakira had already gone through nine full glasses of tuba, and she could feel herself on the threshold of tipsiness. Nonetheless, she had her tenth glass of her favorite sugarcane wine, on hand and at the ready.

However, Eleanor and Velvet, who were watching Sarada and Kirakira closely as the appointed referees in this contest, both decided to step in. Eleanor put her hand on her blonde friend's shoulder.

"I think we should call it," the brunette told her.

"What? Why?"

"Look at her. And I don't think she'll listen to anyone else to stop.."

"Awww… But I'm winning…"

"If she's winning," Mitsuki wondered aloud, "why should she be the one to stop?"

"That's the spirit," Magilou giggled heartily and sipped her lemon-flavored green tea. "Don't stop until you win, hehee…"

Eleanor put her hands on hips. "You want… you know, history… to repeat itself? You remember what happened last time?"

"I remember," Magilou replied. "And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't morbidly curious to see what happens this time."

"Magilou!"

Mitsuki turned to Magilou. "Ohh, you mean when she v-"

"NOOO MITSUKI NO!" Velvet placed her hand over his mouth as quickly as she could, though even with her speed she was able to do it gently. Mitsuki then realized how close he came to inadvertently revealing a top secret of their group. "Sowwy," he mumbled against Velvet's hand, "I won't say it."

Velvet could only sigh in relief.

On the other hand, Kirakira took a good look at her friend on the other side of the call. For a long moment, Sarada's head was bowed, her eyes were forcefully squinting, and her hand was clenched tight around the base of the glass. She took in a deep breath, and then quickly exhaled it all. And when she opened her eyes, they were slightly glazed over.

It was a real risk, Kirakira thought to herself, given how the most recent drink-for-drink ended. And so she nodded to Eleanor and Velvet.

"Alright, have it your way…" Magilou relented with another giggle. "If you want to be safe, call it now."

The last thing Kirakira, or any of them, wanted was for Sarada to start vomiting all over the bathroom, especially of a house she didn't live in.

"Let's take a break from the drinks," she told Sarada.

Sarada asked, "Are you sure?"

Eleanor added, "We need to finish our cake! And afterwards gulp down more water to let it settle…"

Just then, Boruto came back to the table, having spent the last hour or so talking to his parents and the other adults inside, and telling stories of his experiences with Sasuke on their travels to other countries.

"You're back," Shikadai greeted. "What are they talking about now?"

"You mean, after I left?"

"When you were there, you were obviously talking about your travels. So yeah, after you left?"

"Well, the topic's now about how they could turn the tide in the war. Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-sensei were discussing if mounting an offensive is a good idea."

The blonde shinobi sat down beside Sarada, who was gulping down glasses of water, which Eleanor was encouraging her to do.

He smiled when he saw Shikadai and Inojin playfully riling up Chocho by tossing one of her bags of potato chips to each other. "Still a team to be reckoned with," Boruto thought to himself. That same thought turned dark very quick. "Well… they're the only team left intact in our group of friends, since everyone else who survived was honorably discharged…"

Then he glanced to Sarada, Wasabi, and Namida, who were eating the rest of their slices of banana cake whilst conversing with Team KVEMM on the video call. He also caught sight of Mitsuki on the video call. The latter was sitting beside Magilou on the table, drinking what looked to be milk. Boruto noted internally that Konoha officially considered Mitsuki as having disappeared. However, everyone in their friend group, as well as Naruto and Sai and a few other top officials, knew that he was living with Velvet in Ame, that he was attending Ame Academy, and that he was now a member of Team KVEMM with Kirakira, Velvet, Eleanor, and Magilou.

Though Boruto missed Mitsuki deadly, he was glad that he was safe with a group of friends that he could connect with, friends that he could grow up with, and friends that could call his family.

Just like the family that Team 7 used to be.

On the table next to Boruto's sat Gengania, Panga, Ivyred, Conwi, Himawari, Yuina, Eho, Hako, and Denki. Boruto overheard them discussing their various classes and fields of study, and their current interests and research. He also heard them talking about the stark differences between life in Konoha versus life in Iwa. And on the table farthest away from him, he saw Fujibayashi, Tomoka, Yamada, and Mikawa speaking with Enko, the lone survivor of Team 40.

Thus, Boruto reminisced for a while. The memory of their reunion at Thunder Burger, only three years ago, seemed a lot more like a lifetime ago. The Battle of Konoha, the wider Kara Offensive, the Land of Change's secession from the Land of Fire, the Fifth Great Shinobi War, and the Battle of Mount Tirad had all upended their lives since. Not to mention all the travels that he had gone with Sasuke, and all the places he had seen and things he had learned.

After a while, he noticed Iwabe, with two drinks in hand, walking by him to his seat beside Denki. A thought came to his mind. "Iwabe, did you know I passed by you earlier in the day?"

"No way! I didn't see you…" Iwabe tried to remember, but came up empty. "Why didn't you call my attention?"

"Because you were busy surveying? I didn't want to distract you. And it turned out to be a great surprise, you know?"

"Ohh! I was on the TS?"

"Yep." Boruto smiled. "Those Total Stations again? Those were the same things we used to survey the fortress site on Mount Tirad, right?"

"The same models, yes…"

As they delved deeper into the details of the survey and the construction projects Iwabe was part of, Sarada turned back to the video call and asked, "Kirakira, any plans for your birthday? It's coming up soon."

"It's a month and a half away… No plans for it yet. I'm not really thinking about a big celebration for it."

"We could prepare signs and balloons," Eleanor suggested. "Now that I think about it though, what'll we put on the sign? Happy 7th birthday for your biologic age or happy 18th birthday for your official age?"

"Hmmm… I don't know either. Maybe 18th, so it wouldn't look weird if we post pictures online."

"I just realized, it's been six years since we met," Sarada reminisced. "We were just kids back then."

"Goodness, how time flies… Six years since our standoff at Iwa and chase through the mesa."

"And you catching Kurotsuchi off guard with that genjutsu! We totally fooled her into thinking you jumped into the Lesser Crevasse River."

"How long was she out again? An hour?"

"Over an hour for sure!"

Concurrently, Gengania pulled her seat beside Sarada's once she heard them talking about her native Iwa and about Kurotsuchi. "You look familiar… You're one of the fabrications, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Kirakira nodded. "You lived in Iwa back then?"

"Used to. I live here now."

"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar too. I witnessed some of your rallies in the university there. You're brave to stand up to Kurotsuchi at such a young age." She smiled. "I'm Kirakira. Formerly Kirara, when I wasn't human yet."

"Nice to meet you." Gengania smiled. "Call me Geng. And yeah, my friends and I lived through the 'Fabrication Crisis', as Kurotsuchi and her police shinobi called it. In fact, I saw the chase from my house. You were running across rooftops on your way out of Iwa, carrying someone on your back, while Sarada and the others were running after you."

Mitsuki let out a sad sigh. "Siekei…"

That brought a few seconds of heavy silence among the group. Gengania gulped. "…I'm so sorry for bringing it up…"

"Sometimes I wonder," Kirakira resumed. "I wonder if I could have done anything to save him… That thought keeps me up some nights…" She then quoted her own words of reassurance to Siekei, words she uttered as they fled Iwa. "We'll live far from where they can find us… We'll live our lives in peace, as normal human beings…"

She shook her head. "I promised him that, but I couldn't deliver."

Sarada replied, "I'm really sorry about my part in that… I really thought we were doing the right thing…"

"I don't hold it against you, don't worry. It's not your fault. It's Kurotsuchi's." The fabrication-turned-girl turned her attention back to Gengania. "How was the Land of Earth after I left? I stopped being up to date after I fled to the Land of Rain. I only heard of the revolution when I met Mitsuki and Boruto and Shikadai at Ame."

"It's quite a long story," Gengania chuckled. "But in summary, those things you saw while you lived in Iwa? They kept happening after you left, and they didn't stop for as long as Kurotsuchi stayed in power. And yes, I was in the city when the revolution took place, when Shogun Du Tertae seized power. My friends here and I were in class at the time, but we all witnessed it from our rooms in NULE."

"Wait," Himawari protested. "I want to hear the full story! Please?"

"The full story? About what?"

"Yes!" Himawari further encouraged her. "You lived in Iwa when it happened, so you had an inside point of view of Du Tertae's rise to power and why more people supported him over Kurotsuchi."

"Not to mention," Panga added, "even back then you were the most politically involved and observant of all of us."

"It would be interesting," Shikadai agreed, "to listen to this."

Gengania looked around and saw more people looking back to her in anticipation. "Hmm… Okay, I'll tell the story of how Du Tertae came to power. If anyone remembers something differently, or something I forgot to say, go ahead and add to my story."

The tables quieted down, and everyone leaned in to listen closely. "Most people only know the headline," she explained, "the part about the Iwa Revolution. But not the backstory and rising action, the parts of the story that hold most of the events and the reasons why."

After a few seconds of pause, she inhaled and began, "There was this person who had a military background and already had somewhat of a leadership role. But this person wanted more power, and reached out and got financial and political backing from certain groups inside the country, particularly the rich landlords and the wealthy clans. And once this person came to power, civil liberties were slowly curtailed. For example, one of the first things to go was the ability of workers to strike and unionize. Eventually, the government was only staffed with friends, with cronies, so it turned into a kleptocracy, the rule of the corrupt. They fought with the other clans that didn't ally or align themselves fully with them. And they began to use their power to feather their own nests, so to speak, at the expense of the people."

"I remember reading about the infighting between the clans," Kirakira spoke up, her voice clear through the video call.

"Same," Ivyred commented. "My clan was one of those that stood up, so we went through some hard times."

Gengania then continued, "The economy went stagnant, and the gap between the rich and the poor increased. Income inequality grew exponentially. That's what started the calls for reform, and soon enough, a deeper revolutionary spirit, especially once they started curtailing dissidents and activists like me. I personally experienced being targeted for speaking up online and for organizing rallies in NULE. Many of us were marked as communist agitators and subversive threats. Then the death squads began the extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the name of 'national unity and security'. The high number was around 7,000, which is also my own best estimate. I've also seen figures as low as a few dozen… I'm sure those aren't right."

"You're lucky you weren't killed or physically harmed," Kirakira mentioned. "My fellow fabrications and I were deemed threats to national security, similar to you and your activist friends, but we were hunted down and picked off."

Sarada confirmed it with a nod. "Yeah, Kurotsuchi was determined to kill you guys, apparently to atone for her father's mistake."

"So yeah, that's how Shogun Du Tertae came to power," Gengania concluded, with a slight smirk but with an otherwise deadpan voice. "He overthrew the woman who did all that. Her name was Kurotsuchi, the former Lady Fourth Tsuchikage."

Around half of those listening sat there in stunned silence, while the other half nodded along.

On one hand, Panga couldn't help but applaud. "You're so good doing the bait and switch."

On the other hand, Chocho stuttered, "I… I-I thought you were talking about Du Tertae all this time. Holy shit!"

"Same here," Iwabe admitted. "We didn't know about that."

"I started getting the feeling you were talking about Kurotsuchi and not Du Tertae when you mentioned the corruption and the clans," Wasabi said, "which was still a big issue when Kirakira was there. And when you talked about how you were red-tagged as a subversive element, I knew. You've told us that story before."

"It does make more sense," Himawari spoke her mind. "And it does explain why people supported her overthrow. They probably felt better with anyone else but her."

"And yet by all accounts," Sarada sighed, "he is still worse. The forced conscriptions, the death squads, and the war crimes… "

"Definitely. Neither of them are any good for my people. It's a good thing that we found a supportive and free home here…"

"By the way Sarada," Chocho tapped her on the shoulder, "How's Yan doing? Is she going to join the video call later?"

"No, she's busy tonight."

"Ohh… will we be seeing her soon?"

"Yeah! She'll go with us to Mount Tirad, so she'll sleepover at my place that entire weekend!"

"…Can I tag along for the sleepover?"

"Of course!" She turned to Wasabi, Namida, and Hako, who were all near her. "Do you want to join us too?"

"Yes!" Hako gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll be there!"

Namida replied, "We'd love to!"

"Hehehe…" Wasabi smiled and took another swig from her can of beer. "Just like the old days!"

Sooo how did you all like this chapter? Feel free to share what you loved in a comment or review, and you can give kudos and likes and follows too! ^_^

We had a reunion that featured characters from the older generation (Tsunade, Kakashi), the old generation (Naruto and the other adults), and the new generation (Boruto and his friends)! We got to see what most of them have been up to! And we got to see a drinking contest!

As for the result of that contest (and what happened in the previous contest), when you factor in that Kirakira has *many* similarities with Yang Xiao Long from RWBY (which is in fact the basis for her and her teammates and their team name XD), she can definitely handle her alcohol ;)

That aside, we also got more backstory for the Iwa Revolution, the event that precipitated the Fifth Great Shinobi War in the first book. And we got it from Gengania, a girl who lived through those times. What did you think of how she told her story? That bait-and-switch is a homage to Beau of the Fifth Column, whose videos I often watch, because he is a master of the bait-and-switch in storytelling (see his video on his thoughts about the Cuban Revolution and Trump's "achievements" being the hallmarks of fascist authoritarianism, among others, for brilliant examples of bait and switches).

Anyway, I'm currently working on the next chapter, Chapter 6: "Always By Your Side". It'll involve a mother-child conversation, a sleepover, and spotlights on a few key characters! Don't miss out! It'll be out... umm... maybe next week? I'll try to finish it and upload it as soon as possible, I promise!

See you soon! ^_^