"Yay, Daddy is the best. Do you think he got the idea from the video games or was it the other way around?" Himawari spoke in a cheerful manner with a bright smile on her face as she looked at her companions.
There was a game about exploring a Tower that looked small from the outside but inside, it was bigger than a continent when combining all of the levels.
It had different quests, terrains, monsters and fighters along with difficulty. The game was more than five years old now and wasn't on the VR console but the Playstation and Xbox along with the handheld consoles.
Boruto and Hima had played this game together with the other siblings since it was an eight player game. It even had online mode so you can have more fun since the game changes a lot with everyone playing it together.
Tower Of Anarchy was still one of the best games ever made besides Ultimate Fighter and Rise of Darkness.
"The game might not be connected to it, since there are novels about this setting from old ages. Or, it could be connected and the game was based on the idea not the other way around. I doubt that Lord Seventh would need games for inspiration." Shikadai replied and everyone agreed to his words except Shun and Himawari.
"Haha, Shika you are so funny. Daddy does get inspiration from games as well. He said that inspirations come from anywhere and it depends on your perception. The Monster fighting was something daddy picked up from the fights in nature and people's interest in seeing beasts collide. The end point of this plan was the monster hunting game and monster taming games that daddy played as a child." Himawari giggled at his words and their expressions. It wasn't new as she had seen many people say such foreign things about her father that it was too funny. When they spoke it felt like they were talking about someone else.
Her father was kind and loving. He was smart and wise but it didn't mean that all of his ideas were original, as he took from others and modified them when he needed to.
Naruto had never hidden that from them so Himawari and the others would learn to search for answers elsewhere when needed.
"Hima, the old man was just saying that to make us work. I doubt that the monster coliseum idea was taken from elsewhere and not from his understanding of the people's desire for violence. You can't just take his words at face value, since he always downplays things to not make it look impressive." Boruto disagreed with her point of view. In his head Naruto was also too perfect to have such down to earth reasons for his actions. It was his inferiority complex rearing its ugly head and making him ignore his father's words for his own conclusions.
"I agree with Boruto, Himawari. Your father is a very gentle person and he doesn't like to express his superiority unless forced, so those words would have to be taken with a pinch of salt." Mitsuki backed Boruto like always, as he was Boruto's silent guardian and supporter. He had met Naruto in the lab with his big brother Log, and the man had left a strong impression on him.
Shikadai had many talks with his father about the dealings of the world and through them his impression of Naruto had also become strange especially with Boruto's words.
Denki had heard only praises from his father about Naruto and never heard anything normal about him except for the few normal things that everyone has to do.
Iwabe was a fan of Naruto, so he wasn't going to think anything less of him and only the best of him.
Juri was close to Naruto and it went for her whole family since he had taken care of them. Juri was aware of Naruto's personality and his actions.
It was surprising to hear Boruto to shoot down the thought of Naruto using games and novels as inspiration when the man had a library filled with such material from across the globe and from old to current times.
Naruto told them the importance of imagination and advised them to check far and wide when they wish to improve.
These days Boruto had been acting bipolar, sometimes he wouldn't let anyone speak less of his father even when it was the truth and sometimes he would be talking shit about his father without any proof to back it up.
She liked Boruto but those things made her slap him across the head. Naruto was like a father to Juri and her siblings, so they held great deal of respect for him.
It was the reason why she didn't find it surprising that Sarada had a crush on him. She also had a crush on him when they were young and she confessed to him but the man laughed it off.
That incident kind off broke her heart, as he didn't even consider it seriously and he was none to look at the whole picture.
She understood now why he did it but that broke that budding emotion from forming.
"Boys, are you seriously gonna act like you don't know Uncle Naruto? You have played games with him. You have read novels with him and listened to his storytelling. You loved to jump into his lap or his head and now you are speaking like its some stranger. WTF?" Juri asked in an incredulous tone, it felt like she was the only one among the group that remembered not so old past.
Her body language was clearly asking them the same thing.
"I did no such thing." Boruto clarified before continuing, "Just because he played the games and novels, doesn't mean that he didn't have those plans in his head already. You have no proof to justify your opinion."
"I am going to slap you."
"Hey, hey, no need to get violent."
"Shun, Byakuya" Hima shook her head looking at their antics. It was funny when outsiders did it but she didn't like that family also thought such things about family.
"Boruto, you need to stop. You are letting whispers of the common man affect your mindset. They don't know father but you are letting their thoughts guide you instead of what you experience at home." Shun's iconic ice and lave hands appeared to separate the duo from starting a fight.
"I am disappointed Boruto. You have fallen too far and your mind has become too weak. This goes for you to, Shikadai. You are letting Boruto's words affect your impression, knowing that he has problems. Your father would obviously not speak the same way about his leader and best friend with you, so his words are also not accurate. The only thing accurate is your own experience with him, and unlike the common man you have that experience weekly or even daily. The mind loves to relax, do not fall for the temptations of ease and utter such foolishness my friend." Byakuya added his opinion for the boys since Himawari asked.
He also didn't like that his master was being treated in such a way by his family, it was disrespectful.
Shikadai took those words appropriately and realized his flaw like the genius he was, he had acted lazily by mistake and didn't think about it seriously. Laziness of the mind can make people misinterpret questions and give foolish answers. It had nothing to do with the level of intelligence, but the mind being lazy.
Shikamaru had warned him from such a thing as it could lead to harsh consequences in some situations but he had thought that would not happen to him.
'I can't believe I acted so arrogantly.'
"Sorry, you are right. Master isn't such a perfect creature and does get inspiration from mundane things. I let my laziness get the best of me." Shikadai apologized as his mind operated at extreme speeds to analyze his memories to form a proper opinion.
He could operate on five different ideas at the same time since he was an admin type and shoot out thousands of ideas.
His memory was perfect and he could rewind it on a whim.
His analytical skills were excellent as he had been taught to focus on them from a young age.
Hearing Shika's words, the others also thought of changing their opinion since Shika was reliable source of data along with Hima, Juri, Shun and Byakuya while Boruto had become an unreliable narrator.
"I refuse to acknowledge such non sense. The Old man loves to play with people's mind. He knows how we operate and how to push people into what he wants. This is just one of his tactics and I refuse to fall for it." Boruto muttered in an annoyed tone as his friends believed others over him and he walked into the portal before anyone could stop him.
"So that's the reason why Asura beat him up." Hima muttered
"Yes" Shun replied with a shake of his head. Asura deeply respected his father and it was genetics that told him to be subservient to the leader.
Among the siblings, he was like loyal follower of their father. He had been patient with Boruto but he didn't stop talking trash like now, leading to a beating.
"Maybe the tower will help him understand the facts" Denki said as he looked towards the portal
"Or, it will make it worse. He might think this is another conspiracy of Uncle." Metal Lee added, he could understand somewhat since among the group he had the lowest confidence and was very suspicious of things.
"If he doesn't believe the facts then we will have to go hard. We have to make a poll and have people compare the new era t the old era on the same age levels. It is quite embarrassing and extreme but Boruto might need it. He is too sensitive to outside attention." Shikadai proposed
"I will talk to Daddy about it and see what he thinks." Hima nodded
"Cheer up guys, it's not that serious. He will grow up, just believe in him." Juri muttered as she had her arm around Iwabe and Shikadai.
"Juri is right, don't act like it's a funeral and let's enjoy the new experience." Hima smiled, purifying the darkness aura.
Entering the Portal with the thought of arriving at the level suitable for him, Boruto arrived in an open meadow and could see a forest and a mountain range in the distance.
There was wind and there was the blue sky along with the sun.
It looked completely normal, like he wasn't inside some tower. Even though he was feeling annoyed, Boruto put the feelings aside and checked his surroundings.
Using his powerful vision and senses, Boruto looked around before releasing a weak pulse of chakra to act as sonar along with the anti-detection jutsu.
It was the basics of being a ninja and he went through it without a hitch.
'No signals within 10 K.M' Boruto was curious what this place held for them and the starting point wasn't giving him any clues.
'What has he planned?' Boruto thought as he released his drones into the surroundings. He was a creation type so his battle style also utilized weapons of his creation.
The drones were shaped like flying saucers and invisible to sight. They had the ability to transmit data to him through the terminal connection inside his head. They had life force detection, sound detection, heat and motion detection.
The drones were equipped with powerful explosives for final stands and for normal fights they had chakra lasers, explosives, poison, smoke and even jutsu as he had added the Kote into them.
There were twelve of them and they were his support during a fight, and other tasks. They were made of exceptional materials and were properly made to resist all kinds of terrain, and situation.
Now that the situation was cleared out and his drones were on the lookout, Boruto took in what just happened.
Once again he had let his stupid head make such a mistake. He was aware that he was wrong but when he started, his heart and mind seemed to always walk the negative path.
The negativity was killing him. He just wanted to show that he was good enough, that he was worthy of being the son of the mighty Uzumaki Naruto.
But his mindset was deteriorating with time instead of improving. He was starting to think that his father was manipulative bastard that didn't trust anyone.
His father just wanted everything under his control and all his steps were calculated, nothing to do with his love for them.
All his memories were being corrupted with such an outlook, and he just couldn't deny it. Naruto Uzumaki was known for his long term planning and that could be applied to everything.
His inferiority complex was starting to ruin the image of his father inside of his head. He really didn't know, if his father lied to them or not.
"You have already surpassed me by a long shot. If you fought the younger version of me, you will be disappointed. None of us were that great, the old system was archaic and never appreciated talent like it should have been done. You were stronger than my 13 year old self at the age of six. Not just stronger, you could kill me without any resistance."
Those were the words from his father and he had explained the system of the old world many times, and the level of power. The improvement was immense but it all felt like numbers and Boruto just couldn't trust him anymore. It might be right for everyone else but it shouldn't apply to his father.
It was just impossible for anyone to change so much in a short time, not even clones can help in the complex subjects unless you have a powerful mind.
How did all these system come to be within a decade? This change was unreal and all of it was connected to his father at some level.
Everywhere he went, there were signs of his father. Nothing in this world was clear from his presence.
The shadow was too big and it was drowning him in its immensity. Boruto just couldn't see the way anymore. The heart and mind, both were starting to get tired. They were telling him to stop struggling and accept that he will never touch the feet of his father.
His siblings were going to surpass him and that was the truth. He was not even second best in his family while being the oldest.
Himawari was awakening Tensaigan and soon she will become third, taking his position or go even higher. Shuten was the strongest in the family and second was Asura.
The pressure of being the oldest and being the son of Naruto was too much, none could understand it. None of his friends were in the same position.
Sarada couldn't understand him since she was the oldest and Byakuya was weaker than her and Juri was the same age as Sarada but also weaker.
Shikadai had no threat from his little sister.
He was the only one suffering from this situation and Sasuke's children could also barely understand his dilemma as they also didn't know whether they could surpass their father.
'Why do I always think about the current version? Father is so old, like three times my age. Would I feel happy if I beat the younger version? How can I solve this problem of mine? Why couldn't I be emotionless like Cammy? Life would be so much easier.' Boruto massaged his head and brushed his hair as he started walking after taking a heavy breath to calm his nerves.
Whenever he thought about the topic too much, his body was negatively affected and he could barely muster up any energy.
"I can do this. I can do this. I can win. I can solve this. I will become strong. I will become stronger than anyone. There is always a way." Boruto muttered under his breath to motivate himself and brought the image of his father again.
"There is always a way, you are just not looking hard enough."
"Shut up old man!" Boruto screamed at the image and shook his head, and soon he received data from his drone.
Inside the forest, he saw his father.
The Tower informed him of the opponent, Sage Mode Teen Naruto pre-war.
'Is this a joke?' Boruto felt anger as he felt that he was being played like a puppet. He had just been thinking about it and here he was.
This couldn't be a coincidence. It must be his father's plan to solve his mental problem.
"You piece of shit. Fuck you, you manipulative bastard!" Boruto roared and felt that one of his drones was taken out.
It was the Sage mode frog Kata that utilized nature to attack from a distance. Nature gave the same impact to the foe as the body would have done.
The current version of his father using this art was like a nightmare and he could divide a single punch into thousands of hits.
Letting his emotions control him, Boruto rushed towards his foe that was waiting inside the forest. The old world was primitive and lacked so many things, the traps put together were so simple that his drones had already located them and destroyed them.
The opponent was fast enough to operate on his level so the drones were engaging in evasive maneuvers to avoid the attacks.
Naruto only attacked with a sweeping kick once, destroying the area around him before locking onto Boruto.
There was intelligence in his eyes but it seems he was only programmed to engage the foe.
There was smile on his face but a serious expression like he was facing Pain.
Boruto growled and commanded his drones to attack him. The drones had been put into hyper drive to keep up with the speed of movement of this foe.
Naruto had shown that he was moving minimum lightning speed when he hit the first drone and it fluctuated to a higher point with the follow up attack.
The drones shot chakra lasers at the foe but he easily moved through them but this was just a test, Boruto was having the drones analyze his foes movement to make the easiest path of attack and provide distraction.
'Lighting charge' Boruto went though the signs and lightning covered his legs and arms covering up his blade that was behind his back all the time.
It was a short blade, Tanto, for precise attacks. With the drones having Naruto move around, Boruto closed the distance and aimed for his right leg.
Naruto felt the attack coming with his danger sense and decided to attack Boruto instead of dodging. Dodging Boruto would leave him open to the drone attacks and Boruto would get the chance to hit him.
The drones were too durable and had good reactions so they were able to minimize the damage done to them, and flight gave them advantage.
Naruto jumped towards Boruto with a rasengan to hit his chest, he was confident that the blade wouldn't finish the job before the foe was taken out.
Boruto also saw the attack coming and smirked, 'Flaming Giant Rasengan attack.'
With that command, the drones stopped the chakra laser attacks and changed to jutsu mode to unleash the giant flame rasengan from Konohamaru and Jiraiya that was on the low level to be used by someone like him.
It was strong enough to make a hole though a mountain, which was nothing to the current Jiraiya who could destroy the whole country with a single rasengan of the old world. The new world was very durable and Naruto had installed devices to reinforce the world when needed to minimize damage to the lowest point or make it non-existent.
Naruto also felt the danger from the attacks and made a clone that quickly threw him out of the damage zone.
Boruto changed his course to avoid the attacks as well and threw tracking bombs that Naruto destroyed with a sweep of his hand, causing poison to cover the battlefield.
'The attack launch speed wasn't fast enough.' Boruto realized that the drones attack speed wasn't in the range of mach 280 but fell to mach 250 or less for large attacks.
Naruto was moving in the range of mach 280 and 350.
He was completely relying on his senses from the simple observation.
Just as Boruto landed, Naruto came at him with full speed. The distance was instantly covered and Boruto blocked the attack with his blade. It was an exceptional weapon with high cutting power and Naruto that didn't fear such damage felt the blade cut into his flesh.
It was shocking but he didn't stop his assault.
The impact of the punch had sent Boruto sliding backward as he jumped with the force to lower the damage while flipping the blade to cut his foe.
Following that punch, Naruto sent another one from a distance and Boruto ducked while pushing against the ground to move forward.
The drones took their position around the battlefield and shot combined lasers to increase damage while Boruto stopped Naruto's knee by stabbing it with his blade and going for his face with a lighting blade.
Naruto jerked back while gritting his teeth from the blade inside his knee cap and kicked Boruto with the other leg.
Boruto pushed against the leg with his hand and changed the lighting move to his feet, and kicked Naruto.
In that time Naruto managed to make a small rasengan and both attacks collided while the lasers hit Naruto from all sides, distracting his attack.
Boruto's lighting blade kick cut through the sage rasengan that was weakened and sent Naruto flying across the forest but the damage had been reduced completely since Naruto's attack was stronger.
'Danger!' Boruto heard the warning and saw the Rasenshuriken coming at him from the other side. Naruto had left three clones to make the attack while he personally distracted Boruto.
'Flame Rasengans' Boruto commanded with an urgent tone while covering his feet with lightning to leave the impact zone.
Boruto quickly moved from the place but Naruto came at him and stopped his escape.
Healing ability was a bitch, and it was something Naruto could take advantage of to push his foes into a dangerous attack.
Fortunately, Boruto also had his own version and it was stronger than Naruto's unless he went Kyuubi mode.
"Let's finish this." Boruto muttered and activated his full power. The armor of his creation covered his body. It was black in color with red stripes and eyes.
With the appearance of the armor, the drones went through a change and become triangular whole the power was boosted as they connected with the armors system.
The armor had boosters at the back and Boruto's sword transformed with the armor to become longer while releasing high level of energy.
The speed was boosted to double Boruto's range while the system helped him operate at this level and he easily sweeped through Naruto.
His father's younger version was cut in half without any resistance as the speed surpassed his range while the Rasenshuriken was neutralized by the rasengans and Boruto's chakra canon.
"Take that you bitch, that's what you get for messing with the Big B. Yeah!" Boruto muttered in an excited tone as he looked at the battlefield that had been completely cleared and become a mess.
Even though there was nothing in his sight, Boruto didn't let down his guard and analyzed what he had gotten from the fight.
The opponent had higher physical stat than him, the speed was on the same range, the destructive capacity of the foe was very high but the skill level was meh. The skill level was nothing impressive. The powers of the Sage mode had been wasted by the foe.
"What a worthless bastard? Was he even using his head? And, was that really twenty times your power? You are kidding me. You have to be bloody kidding me.
Old man, get out here you bastard. There is no way this was twenty times your power. How could you be so worthless? There is no way this is true. You have to be messing with me." Boruto was going through a mental crisis as he finished the analysis and the ranking he could give his foe was average academy student level.
His overpowering father was just average academy student level in skill and Chunin level in power. That was a shocking matter that he had a hard time getting his head around.
"If you fought the past version, you will find them pathetic. The expert level of the past is just basics for you. It is according to our belief that the new gen will always surpass the old gen. I did not wish to just utter words as I am a man of action, and because of that I pushed the new gen to a level where they were incomparable to the past.
It is the duty of every generation to walk forward. It is the right path. It is the path of success and victory. If we just sat down to enjoy the fruits of the past we will slowly but surely decline and disappear. It is disrespectful to our ancestors. It is the path of the common man to just sit down and enjoy the labor of the experts. Heh…well you don't have to work so hard. Since, I will always be there….though the future is unknown so maybe not. I sometime wonder how my death will be like. What do you think?"
Boruto remembered those words from his father when talking about the past. He had found it exciting that he was stronger than his father at that point of time, but then slowly he lost such thoughts as he grew up.
Naruto had never mentioned the past being stronger and he couldn't find a single statement to say that the past was stronger.
This was reality. His father was too weak and stupid at the age of 16.
His fighting style was simple that any academy student with experience could see through it.
He wasn't even smart enough to fully utilize the advantages of the sage mode. The retard was literally attacking in a straight line instead of unusual angles to make his foe slip.
"Heh…hahahaha…are you for real? Damn…" Boruto couldn't help but laugh at the preposterous scene. He suddenly felt some of the intangible weight reduce from his heart.
"Always controlling others, you are an asshole you know that. But…thanks dad." Boruto whispered as he looked at the sky.
He believed that Naruto had done this on purpose to show him the truth, where he could deny it anymore.
"Well...do you have anything else for me?" Boruto asked as this was just one problem, while the real issue was that he could not live up to his rank as big brother and son of Uzumaki Naruto.
He had the power but his father hit a growth spurt after the war.
"Don't answer, I was just kidding." Boruto said in haste as he wanted to tackle this without his father interfering.
His father had opened up many opportunities for everyone in the world. It allowed people to grow beyond their imagination and he was born with exceptional genes and into money so he should have many ways to grow stronger.
Naruto won't grow weaker, so he just needed to be stronger than his father at the same age rank.
Naruto in the war with Six Paths Sage Mode hit faster than light speed, durability and destructive capacity at moon level. This was the power of any low Kage level ninja. Boruto was currently 13 years old and chunin rank, up on graduation he should hit jounin rank and have equal power to Madara Uchiha.
There was sage mode that he will start learning at the age of 14. There was chakra compression when his chakra reaches its maximum capacity.
There was also the research on artificial enhancement of chakra and physical levels.
There was the affinity to the Otsutsuki Gene. He could have high affinity and get maximum benefits from the process.
Finally, there was the contract with an immortal along with the weapons and technologies.
Immortals, was exactly that. They were immortals and lived on a different dimension that was not accessible to anyone without permission.
Immortals represented something and held ultimate power over that thing. It could be an element or an aspect of reality.
Jashin was one of the immortals and he represented cruelty and blood. His chosen were given the power of immortality at the first level and higher levels gained other powers that related to blood and cruelty.
All the immortals had tests for their chosen, so the power was never free because it put the immortal at risk.
The immortals couldn't train to become stronger and could only increase their skill level. They were from a different world and part of a long lived species.
The Otsutsuki came for their world and forced them to search for an answer, and they made the method to gain ultimate power.
The process of ascendance and the power came from belief. They grew strong and lost their mortal vessels but they still lost, and managed to escape.
The surviving immortals found earth and formed their domain here, where people could provide them with power.
They communicated with the people and blessed them, and punished them to get the result. The belief increased and their power grew.
Kaguya came with her partner Ishiki, who terrified them and they hid away until Kaguya's sealing and Ishiki's death.
Naruto came into contact with them after Kiba came back from his journey of power. He had always been ambitious and couldn't handle being left behind, so he searched far and wide for an answer.
The answer was a contract with Hades. He had gotten the power of necromancy and dark flames. His chakra had gone through a change and his base form grew in power to a very high level.
With Hades move, Amaterasu made her move and made contact with Naruto. She seemed to be a fan of his and didn't want him making a contract with anyone else.
Boruto had heard the story from the source so he knew that Naruto was unable to make the contract because he was too strong for the Immortals to support him.
The only choice was to submit to him and that was against their pride, so Naruto didn't have a contract with anyone according to anyone's knowledge.
Boruto thought that was so cool and later thought that some of them must have submitted, but it was a secret to save face or as a surprise.
Sasuke on the other hand had a contract with Susanoo and Zeus. He was the avatar of both of them with fifty percent of their power was connected to him while they shared some with other contractors.
It was win-win situation since with the death of the contractor they would get his power. They would get his skills and abilities.
The Avatar also increased their influence.
Boruto had not just been moping about since that's not the Uzumaki way. He had been planning to up his creation game, aim for Perfect Sage Mode, go through chakra compression, learn the ultimate body art of the Akimichi and make a contract with Zeus or Gaea.
The Ultimate Body art was the art of compressing the physical prowess of the giant form into a small body. Below Naruto in physical strength was Choji, not Kaguya or Sasuke or Hinata.
Choji had grown to a level where his giant form was big enough pick up a mountain range on his hand casually. By compressing that size to a normal human level, he could retain the strength and actually increase it to a higher level.
It was this ability along with his chakra cooking skills and his expert eating skills that took in everything perfectly from what he ate, and added to his powers that Choji stood at the peak of power in the current world.
Every one of Naruto's friend had broken the records of the old world and arrived at a level where none had arrived and they had helped pave a new road for everyone else.
Choji was now physically capable of picking up the moon and throwing it like a boulder while Naruto could do the same to the planet itself.
Sasuke could do it using Susanoo.
The last way of growing stronger was to use the cursed weapons and grow through slaughter or kill the Otsutsuki and devour their power.
"All those things are for the future. I need to focus on how to beat up Asura for now. I definitely need a way to close the gap." Boruto muttered in a relaxed manner and felt the space around him change, and he arrived back in the auditorium with his friends.
