Busted

Kairi used her Byakugan to take in everything about her father. His short blonde hair, his blue eyes, whisker birthmarks. The cape he wore over his orange clothes. It was really him! After all those years Kairi finally saw him again. Kairi didn't think her intense emotions could get any stronger, until she saw her mother sitting in the stand a few seats below him.

"Mom…" She cut her hair shorter, but it was her. She was still as beautiful as Kairi remembered. Sitting next to her Mom was a little girl. The little girl had short black hair, blue eyes, and had whisker birthmarks. She looked so much like her mother.

Could it be? Was it…? "My sister… Himawari?"

Kairi felt so overwhelmed at the sight of her family. She knew she was smiling, but she could also feel tears running down her eyes. She wanted to run to them, she wanted to run away. She wanted to do both things at once.

"Where?" Kairi looked to see Riku had pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked towards where Kairi's family was.

"Since when did you have binoculars?" Kairi asked.

"Not all of us have magic eyes Kairi," Riku said. Kairi rolled her 'magic' eyes.

"They're sitting a few seats down from the Kage's. The woman with black hair and… my eyes."

After a few minutes Riku finally spoke, "I see them… Wow, your sister looks like you."

"No, she doesn't."

"I mean when you were a kid," Riku explained, "If we dye her hair red you could have been twins. You're Mom looks good. I mean that in a friend way, not a 'I think you're Mom is hot way.'"

"Yeah that would be weird," Kairi laughed as she wiped the tears away.

Riku looked at her, "Are you ready to talk to them?"

"No," Kairi said honestly, "Um… But if I'm going to talk to anyone… I think I should talk to my Mom first," Kairi looked to where the Five Kage sat, "Dad is surrounded by the most powerful Ninja, and his security. They're not going to let me talk to him because we ask nicely."

"Alright, let's go," Riku led Kairi towards the stand her family were. Kairi's anxiety came back even stronger. She felt like she was going to throw up and she hadn't even eaten anything that day!

"Am I still in one piece?" Kairi asked as they got closer, "I think I'm breaking in pieces as we walk."

"You're fine," Riku encouraged, "You're still in one piece. I'm going to be right here if…" Riku trailed off and they stopped.

"Riku?" Kairi asked, Riku tend to sense things.

"Somethings… off…"

"You mean besides my inevitable panic attack?" Kairi asked.

"No, something's in the air, the atmosphere," Riku tried to pinpoint it but couldn't, "Sorry, Kairi I'll be right back." Riku then turned around and ran.

"What, Riku wait!" But Riku had already left. Kairi then realized, she was about to talk to her Mom, meet her sister, and Riku her back up ran off. Someone help me!

Kairi looked back towards the entrance of where her family was. Kairi swallowed the lump in her throat, she came this far. She forced her feet to walk forward.

I can do this, she told herself, Riku's right. I survived worse. I can do this.

Kairi finally reached the entrance. She stepped through into the sunlight. So far so good… she didn't burst into flames. Stiffly she turned her head down the steps, where she spotted to heads of black hair. Her mother and sister.

Mom, Himawari.

Kairi looked towards the direction of the Kage. There the Hokage was sitting, talking to the other Kage.

Dad… I'm right here.

The words wanted to say. She wanted to shout, so he could see her. But her mouth remained closed.

She took in a deep breath. Soon, she'll talk to him soon. She needed to talk to her Mom first, then she can bring her to her Dad.

Kairi looked towards her mom and sister. They were talking. What were they talking about?

Go ask them. A voice in her head said. Kairi felt stiff as a board. She needed to move, she wanted to move. But her feet were glued to the floor.

Okay, on the count of 3, I'll go down there, and… talk to… tell them… show them… I'm alive… Okay… 1… 2…

"The final match will begin soon," the announcer called, "A three way battle between, the Hidden Sand's Shinki, the Hidden Leaf's Sarada Uchiha, and the Hidden Leaf's Boruto Uzumaki."

Kairi looked up at the screen. Boruto was taking the Chunin Exams? Boruto was in the finals? Now that Kairi noticed, he wasn't with their family. The last time Kairi saw Boruto he was taking the exams to become a ninja. That wasn't that long ago. He was already trying to become a Chunin?

Then again, Kairi hadn't been home for a while, maybe this was normal. Becoming a Chunin so soon. Kairi smiled, if it wasn't, Boruto must had been really good. Kairi couldn't help but feel proud. She bet her parents were also…

Kairi looked towards her Mom. She wanted to talk to her, but this was Boruto's moment. If their long-lost daughter just showed up, that would overshadow Boruto's match. Kairi didn't want to do that.

Coward.

Kairi ignored the angry voice in the back of her mind. She was still going to talk to her parents… just after the match was over. If Boruto won, it would be a good surprise. If he lost, it would be a nice consolation prize. Although, Kairi couldn't relax if she was sitting in the same stand as her parents, so she started walking towards the stand next them. It had open seats.

Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward!

Kairi walked down the stand that had a large open spot. She was amazed to find some good seats. She quickly sat down and waited. Boruto was going to be in a three way match. That was going to be hard. Kairi didn't know the name Shinki, but the name Sarada sounded familiar. Why was that?

Kairi decided to focus on her inevitable meeting with her parents. First impression was the only impression. Kairi wanted to make a good one. What should she say?

Hello Family? No too stiff.

Hi? No too informal.

What's up I'm back in the Hiz-ouse… What was wrong with her?

"Excuse me?" Kairi looked up. In that moment, Kairi thought she was about to have a heart attack as her eyes widened, "Can we sit here?"

Three women had approached Kairi for the seats next to her. One had pink, wore a red top, and had a green diamond on her forehead. Aunt Sakura?

The other had light blond hair, that was pulled into a long ponytail, wearing purple. Aunt Ino?

The last one had darker blonde hair. That was pulled into four smaller ponytails. Aunt Temari?

All three women, were friends of her parents, among them, was her Godmother. Kairi couldn't help but stare, it was like her brain had hit pause. How, why, did they decide to sit in this section?

"Hey," Aunt Temari snapped, "Can we sit here or not?"

Kairi flinched, she had been staring for too long.

"Temari, come on," Aunt Ino reprimanded.

"Yes," Kairi squeaked, "You… you can sit here…"

What no! I can barely relax with my parents being in the stand next to me, how am I supposed to relax and build up my nerve with my Godmother and other aunties sitting next to me?!

"Oh, thank you," Sakura said taking the seat next to Kairi. Kairi immediately stiffened.

Why me? Riku where did you go?

Finally, the contestants entered the arena. The first was a boy wearing a long, black furred cap. Kairi raised an eyebrow. The Hidden Sand was in the desert, that looked way to hot. The next was a girl with black hair, with red glasses.

"Come on Sarada, you can do this," Aunt Sakura suddenly yelled. Kairi looked at her and then Sarada. Like a switch it clicked.

Sarada, of course! Sarada was Aunt Sakura's daughter. Every time she came to visit, she brought her baby daughter with her.

Little Kairi was drawing a picture when she heard her front door open and close. Kairi smiled and got up and ran to the front. Already at the entrance was mommy, greeting Aunt Sakura, who pushed in a stroller with baby Sarada.

"Aunt Sakura," Kairi ran up to the pink haired lady, who quickly squatted down to catch Kairi in a hug. Kairi looked up, "Did you bring Sarada?"

"I did," Sakura motioned her to look into the stroller, that had a sleeping baby.

Kairi activated her Byakugan to look at Sarada closer. She got so much bigger! Kairi could barely believe the little baby, that went on playdates with her baby brother was about to become a Chunin. She had glasses now, when did that happen?

Last, but not least, Boruto entered the field. Kairi zoomed in on him. Her hands tightened into fists. It really was him. The boy in her dreams, was her little brother. The spitting image of their father, but in a black jacket with a touch of magenta.

Kairi frowned, how lonely does someone have to be, to reach out to a sister he couldn't remember. Kairi then remembered. They were at the Chunin exams. Boruto was taking the Chunin exams. Her little, baby brother was taking the Chunin exams… Suddenly it weighed on her. She missed so much of his life. She missed his birthdays; she missed his first steps and first words. She missed walking him to school. She missed the fights siblings got over. She missed him making friends. She missed so much of his life. Not to mention she missed all of Himawari's life, she wasn't even there when she was born. The grip on her skirt tightened.

I'm the worst Big Sister in all the worlds.

When this was over. Kairi was going to treat her family to ice cream… If they wanted that.

The crowd cheered now that all contestants were present.

"Boruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf, Sarada Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf, Shinki of the Hidden Sand! The final match is in battle royale format. The last of the three standing will be declared, the winner. And now," the referee (who looked familiar) rose his hand, "Begin!"

Shinki's cape began to shoot out. With her Byakugan activated Kairi could now see. His cape wasn't fur, or even a real cape! It was iron sand.

The iron sand shot out to attack Boruto and Sarada in a barrage of sand bullets.

"Come on Boruto," Kairi called out, "You got this far!"

Kairi started to think of ways to fight against someone who could clearly control iron sand at will.

Boruta and Sarada were dodging the sand. So far so good, but couldn't evade forever. Sarada got to Boruto, but didn't fight him, it looked like they were talking.

"He's really strong," Sarada observed, "You wanna join forces?"

"And we'll get some payback for Mitsuki," Mitsuki forfeited his match to Shinki, Boruto liked the idea of joining up with Sarada to avenge their teammate.

"There's that too."

They had to jump out of the way of another barrage.

"But it's also personal. This is our turf, it would be disgraceful if two Leaf Shinobi lost here. We can't let the Five Kage see that."

"I couldn't really care less about that," Boruto dodged, "but yeah I'm with you." Boruto glanced up to his Dad. Because Boruto had been winning, his Dad was starting to acknowledge him. If he won… "I can't lose either."

Boruto managed to reach Sarada when the current barrage ended, "But if we attack at the same time we might not be sure who took him down."

"If there's an opening, just go ahead and take it," Sarada smirked, "So, I guess we have a united front."

Kairi smiled, good. Now Boruto's chances were better. If the spread out further. Shinki would have to divide their attention between them. If only Kairi could tell them that, but this was their test. Kairi was pretty sure it would be cheating giving her brother advice at this point.

"Shadow clone jutsu," Boruto created four clones that surrounded Shinki. They pulled out some kunai that had paper bombs tied to them.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu," Sarada breathed fire towards Shinki as Boruto and his clones through the explosives.

The impact caused and explosion. A big one.

"Yes," Kairi whispered. However, her excitement died down, when the smoke cleared. The iron sand formed two giant hands that guarded Shinki. Kairi quickly noticed the electricity dancing across the sand.

So, it's electromagnetism. Kairi thought of ways to beat someone who controlled iron sand with magnetism. Manets lose their polarity if they were heated, but they had to stay heated for that to work, and if Kairi's Byakugan was showing her correctly, they didn't have enough chakra to pull off fire jutsu for that long. She also noticed that Sarada's chakra began to focus in her eyes. She also saw that her eyes went from black to red.

Wait, didn't Dad say something about another visual jutsu that turned people's eyes red?

Kairi forgot about that when Sarada and Boruto attacked again. Boruto summoned his clones, and Sarada conjured balls of lightning. Boruto and his clones charged their shuriken with lightning style.

"I'll call this…" One Boruto began.

"Improvised secret technique…" Another continued.

"Lightning Ball Shuriken: Jutsu!"

That's a mouthful, Kairi thought.

Boruto threw the shuriken into the lightning balls. That made them stronger and faster. They lanced towards Shinki.

But Shinki stopped it with just one of the iron sand hands. When the attack died down, the two giant hands grabbed Boruto and Sarada.

"Sarada," Aunt Sakura said worried.

"Boruto," Kairi frowned. She hated seeing Boruto like this, but this was his test. If he couldn't beat this guy, he wouldn't make it as a Chunin. Maybe she could help train him. Tell what he did wrong for the next time.

Boruto got an arm free and summoned a clone.

"Yeah, alright, go Boruto," Kairi cheered.

"You seem to like Boruto," Kairi flinched as she glanced at Sakura.

Kairi completely forgot she was sitting next to her, "Um… I'm a… fan of the Hokage…" Kairi lied. She couldn't tell her the truth.

No, I'm Kairi, Boruto's long lost sister. Hi Aunt Sakura.

Kairi was going to reveal herself to her family first. That was the promise she made herself!

"Oh, I see."

The clone jumped to hand that held Sarada and loosened its grip enough for Sarada to pull her hands free. She caste another Fireball Jutsu. Shinki had to release them and pull his hands back for a block.

"We're free."

"But what do we do?" Sarada asked, "My chakra is…"

"Don't be such a wimp," Boruto snapped, "He's in the exact same position too. One more time. Like before-…" Boruto stopped when he saw that Shinki took to the air. His sand turned into wings.

From the air, the feather of iron sand shot down towards Sarada. Sarada ran and dodged, but she failed to notice the patch of iron sand that was stuck to her back. The feathers she dodged pulled free from the ground and followed her. Sarada jumped towards Shinki to punch him.

In that moment. The feathers reached Sarada, attacking her mercilessly. Kairi cringed at Sarada's scream, before Shinki used one of his wings to knock her into a wall.

"Oh no," Sakura whispered. Kairi used her Byakugan to look her over. Sarada was hurt, but it didn't look like it was anything permanent. She could recover.

Kairi looked at her Godmother who looked worried, "She'll…" Kairi began, "She'll be fine."

Sakura looked at her confused.

"She's a… good ninja… she can learn from this… and get stronger…" Kairi meant it. Sarada held her own and was a good strategist. If she learned from this, she'd get better.

"Thank you," Sakura smiled.

Kairi looked back towards Boruto. What was he going to do now?

Boruto couldn't believe it. Sarada lost. She was strong and smart. She was one of the best Shinobi he knew, and she lost! How could he win against this guy?

You have that tool. You can win. A voice inside Boruto reminded.

Kairi flinched. She knew felt something just now. It was small, but there was no mistaking it.

Naruto heard Kurama growl.

Kuruma, what's the matter?

I just felt something, the demon growled, I think it has something to do with your kid.

That made Naruto worried, What did you feel?

It's small, not to bad, but… Kuruma sounded hesitant. That didn't make Naruto feel better.

It's darkness, pure darkness.

Pure darkness. That's all it could had been. It was small, but that kind off darkness was dangerous. Kairi knew. She looked towards Boruto worried.

Boruto summoned two clones. Wind gathered in their hands and Boruto's hand filled with electricity. He jumped onto their palms. Kairi's eyes furrowed, what was he doing.

"Boruto stream!"

"Black Iron wings."

Kairi watched in shock as Boruto launched himself at Shinki. From what she saw, Boruto could not muscle his way through a wall of iron sand. Especially when said sand formed into a giant spike.

The spike and the electricity clashed, but neither side budged. Boruto had to win. His friends lost, they trusted him, he couldn't let them down. A brief memory of Shikadai passed his mind. How Shikadai, lost to him. But he forced it down.

He needed to win. He needed to show his Dad he was strong and that he could find Kairi. He could already imagine his Dad, walking away from him… from his reach.

"I gotta show my Dad right now, I can do this now," Boruto used the scientific ninja tool. The jutsu he used belonged to Old Man Kakashi. Boruto gripped the tiny scroll, and purple light enveloped him, "Purple Lightning."

Kairi stood up at the display.

With a battle cry Boruto broke through the iron sand. He reached Shinki, and with his hand still charged with purple lightning, he punched him. Sending him slamming into the wall. The dust cleared to reveal Shinki was unconscious.

"It is over! The winner… um, champion, is Boruto Uzumaki!"

The stadium was filled with applause. Everyone cheered, except for Kairi.

"You must be happy that…" Kairi walked away from Aunt Sakura. She wanted to get closer to the edge to see Boruto.

Something was off. That last attack, used a lot of chakra. Too much chakra. More chakra than what Boruto had at that moment. Even if he did muster up more chakra, he wouldn't had been conscious after that. That observation combined with Kairi sensing darkness, was causing Kairi's heart to sink to her stomach.

She reached the fence that divided the audience from Boruto as he smiled. A few minutes later, their dad appeared.

"Dad," Boruto looked up to him with a smile, "I actually won." Boruto held up his fist, they could do a fist bump! Dad was finally acknowledging him.

Kairi watched as their Dad raised his bandaged hand towards Boruto's fist. Then the grabbed his son's wrist and raised it. Boruto's sleave fell, revealing a gauntlet wrapped around his wrist. Kairi noticed it before but didn't know what it was. What she did know, her father had a look of disappointment on his face. And Boruto, had the look of someone who was caught.

"Well, explain yourself, go on," Naruto demanded.

Boruto was silent for a moment. Looking at his Dad, the ninja tool, then down, then back to his Dad, "This is…" Whatever excuse he was trying to think of, died on his tongue.

His Dad released his wrist, and looked up at the crowds, "Boruto Uzumaki, used a scientific ninja tool, which is prohibited in the Chunin Exams. With this Shinobi gauntlet, you can use jutsu without using your own chakra and you can use other people's jutsu, it defeats the exams purpose of showing your true strength. Lee," he looked towards the referee, "Boruto Uzumaki is disqualified, we'll have to figure out how to revise the results."

Kairi looked at Boruto, feeling hallow. He cheated. This was an important test to prove himself… and he cheated.

"Boruto Uzumaki has been disqualified for using an illegal ninja tool."

The crowd that applaud, minutes ago started to boo and jeer. Kairi's hands tightened into fists.

"Boruto!" Someone shouted. Boruto looked to see Shikadai. Boruto felt his heart stop when he saw the betrayal on his best friends face, "Why'd you do it. I mean, you didn't when we fought did you?"

"It's not… Like that…" Boruto couldn't deny it.

Kairi's fist tightened even more. He cheated against his best friend. This wasn't the first time he used it.

Boruto looked at Sarada who had woken up. She heard everything. She looked just as betrayed.

Boruto couldn't look at anyone. He turned to face his father then looked down as the booing continued. He felt like he just fell into trap hole. A deep dark hole.

Then he felt his father take off his headband, "You're no longer a ninja either."

When Kairi saw that, some of her anger and disappointment diminished. Wasn't that too far?

"Kairi wouldn't have wanted this," his Dad said placing his hand on his shoulder, "Now come with me, we'll talk later."

Kairi wouldn't want this? They'll talk later? Boruto slapped his father's hand away and glared. He trembled as he spoke, "Don't talk to me about Kairi! And if you had only talked to me before this, then I wouldn't have ended up in this damn mess."

Kairi trembled when they brought her up. Was this somehow her fault. Kairi tried to open her mouth to call out to them.

I'm here! I'm right here!

"He's right you know," someone new came onto the arena, stopping Kairi. The man was wearing a lab coat and he brought someone who was holding a camera, "Boruto wasn't able to win and we're all very disappointed about that Lord Seventh."

Kairi narrowed her eyes, who was this guy?

"To be honest I really wanted to make announcement after he won," the man began to speak to everyone, "Listen everyone, yes it's true that he used a scientific ninja tool. I know such things are prohibited here, but there's no denying that this tool made it possible for him to reach this point," Kairi's eyes widened. Was he serious? "So all of you from the Hidden Leaf and beyond; please consider using this scientific ninja tool."

"Enough Kataske!" Naruto demanded

"Hey what are you doing old man?" Boruto asked. Kataske always helped him, why was he acting like this?

"This is simply the optimum stage for the optimum tester. Please don't take this personally, young lord."

It took everything Kairi had to not jump out and punch that man!

Something entered area. Like a bolt of electricity Kairi felt it. She looked up, to see two people hovering in the air.