Suzu: quick updates are a form of happiness.
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To make their way to the gates of the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, so to speak, there are several obstacles to overcome.
Boruto, avid (read: addict) gamer that he is, looks around the perimeter for the last boss' villainous lackeys, or something like that. There are a ton of people, so this is a difficult exercise, and he says as much to his compatriot.
"Look at all these people, Sarada!"
"That's because Kakashi-sama just passed by, idiot! Now stop shouting inane things!" Sarada hisses.
But Boruto has a point. The Rokudaime is elusive, at best; a folksy legend that arrives shamelessly late and leaves promptly early—yes, even at his Hokage duties. There is a growing mob of people who want either to steal a picture or to air their past grievances at having to wait for five hours whenever there was an official proclamation of any kind during the Rokudaime's reign—because it meant carving out an entire day just to wait around for him on that blasted Hokage tower balcony, and when he did show up, he had near-criminally ill-prepared excuses.
"I'm going first to do your rotation," Sarada reminds him. "But be here on my bathroom break, because you're gonna go in with a henge to look like you, and then dispel it, and start my rotation." She raps him on the head. "Oy. Quit that dopey expression with my face."
Unfortunately, Sarada's plan to casually infiltrate the Hokage camp to start Boruto's ANBU patrol doesn't go off without a hitch.
It's not the paparazzi hoisting polaroid stands from Trendy Kunoichi nor the sound system crew carting loudspeakers from I Heart ShuriKen-san FM that jostle her out of the way.
Rather, the first mishap occurs when a set up volunteer brings in a single lovely sunflower, but one dangling in a precipitously very tall, very full bucket of water.
It topples and drenches Sarada.
Sopping wet, she's straining the excess liquid from her now shorter and blonder locks, seeing if she can worm her way back out the line of people into the unenclosed area, when a familiar voice gasps.
"… Oh my."
She greets the Rokudaime standing at attention, like any good soldier. A second too late, she realizes Boruto is probably not a good soldier (seeing how much respect he gave the current, coolest Hokage), so she slouches her spine awkwardly and stutters a half-hearted "Dattebas-s-sorry" as compensation.
Kakashi's eye-smile is still the creepiest. "Oh, at ease, Boruto. They're taking the passwords over there. I forgot mine wandering through the road of life, so Sai sent me off to be interrogated and then compared to my Hokage Registration Photo. Something about not aging properly."
For someone going to the interrogation chambers, the silver-haired Rokudaime has neither the right attitude nor any sort of escort. Sarada idly wonders how the volunteers would check, when enemy and friend alike have no clue? No one she knows of in Konoha is well-informed enough to pull down the face mask and actually check.
Sarada nods. "Yessir. I'm going now, Rokudaime, sir."
She swivels and starts to soldier-march over to the gate where Sai is waiting.
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Inojin's father is humming a little ditty. It sounds like the theme song of a soap opera that's been popular recently, which Chouchou (Sarada's EX-best friend) so liked for the truly fantabulous set of abs on every male costar vying for the female lead.
"Okay, password?"
"Ramen."
Sai pauses.
"Password?"
Sarada mind-screams a little. Considers a hernia. Decides it's not worth it.
"…Ramen," she says, her face scrunching.
Sai chuckles a little. "Not to worry, Boruto. Remember, I told you that password wasn't strong enough, so we switched it to your third favorite ramen. So, password?"
Nonononononononono. Sarada simultaneously curses Sai's little serene smile, Boruto's dumb ramen preference list, and the fact that she never bothered to check the sequence of Boruto's ramen orders, whatever clue it may offer.
Breathe in. Out.
Sarada says the first flavor of ramen she can think of (which happens to be the little fun fact in the interview Trendy Kunoichi did on the Nanadaime, but whatever, food addictions run in the family, right?).
"Miso ramen!" she says steadily.
Sai's eyebrows raise. "With…?"
Oh. She's gonna murder that Boruto.
Just roll with it.
"W-with extra barbeque pork!"
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The interrogation chair is high. Not just high, it's super high, so it's kind of unfair that Kakashi is next to her, slouching happily in his therapeutic, rocket-powered wheelchair with extra padding (paid with taxpayer money).
Sarada gulps
"Don't worry, Boruto-san, Rokudaime-sama, this is just normal protocol. I'm sure you'll be back to prepare for the festivities once we have a quick conversation, ne?"
The man's voice is like a chirpy bird's, rising and falling in melodic chorus. His beard is twirled into a little curl at the end, something that makes Sarada suspicious of his credentials instantly, even if there are at least seven certificates hanging from the makeshift tent wall behind him.
Come to think of it (she squints hard) one of them looks like some sort of "Time-Space Sect" membership certificate.
"Rokudaime-sama, what is your father's alias?"
"White Fang," drawls Kakashi, who looks around the tent wonderingly, like he;s enjoying himself famously under that mask.
"What is your favorite series of books?"
"Ah." The Rokudaime has the gall to blush, like a schoolgirl. "Icha Icha Paradise."
Scandalized, Sarada looks from one man to the other from her high chair, as the interrogator coughs, smiles, and says: "Okay, this last question is veeeery hard, so only the real Rokudaime could answer it: what was the number of your genin students' team?"
Sarada hands attach themselves over her face. Well… at least she'll be fine answering Boruto's.
As with most things readily apparent from this set up, though, life is unfair.
As the Rokudaime sits happily eye-smiling up at her, Sarada fudges way through the most traumatizing set of questions she's been privy to.
"I happen to be an expert on the matters of the Nanadaime," the interrogator discloses in an unnecessarily hushed but equally chirpy voice. "So, here's an easy one for starters, Boruto: what's the name of the second cousin twice-removed on the Hyuuga side?"
Shoot me, Sarada nearly blurts.
To Kakashi's three, she receives a total of thirty questions, increasing in difficulty from there. Some of them were about the Nanadaime or the Nanadaime's childhood, which she has memorized from all the books and interviews she's read—so at least the odds were good there.
Unexpectedly, the interrogator is quivering by the time he pronounces they're done.
Sarada is admittedly a little worried—she thinks she may sound a bit off from Boruto's normal self, and she wonders when the behavioral aspect is going to come. And when they'll check the ID photos and worry she's aged strangely, like Kakashi mentioned earlier.
But instead, the interrogators eyes are puddly and sparkling like a sea of shining water. He sniffs a bit as he pulls out an old genin application, far too old and yellowed to be Boruto's, and peers at her with tears trickling down his round face.
"O-oh! I never thought this day would come…" he quivers.
"Pardon?" Sarada squeaks, as the man wraps his arms around her.
"N-Naruto-samaaa! You've finally time-traveled to us!"
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tbc
