"Stay safe Boruto." Hinata hugged her son.

"Don't worry Mom." Boruto blurted. His parents and sister had insisted on coming to see Team Konohamru off. Though Boruto guessed his father was also here for professional reason. Sending genin out of the village for their first mission even under the supervision of a jonin was rather unorthodox. Boruto looked over at Sasuke Uchiha who along with Boruto, godmother Sakura, had come to see off their daughter. This is the great Sasuke, Dad keeps talking about. The only one truly capable matching his strength. He looked like an older more masculine version of Sarada. Their resemblance was almost uncanny. He had released his daughter from a warm embrace as Boruto's father began talking. "Well, Team Konohamaru, I suppose it's time to bid you adieu. Your mission as you all know is to simply provide security for the reconstruction of a town in the aftermath of a civil war. I know this is mission of higher ranking than would normally be given to a genin squad, but this is no ordinary genin squad either." Naruto grinned at the whole team.

"You can count on us Lord Hokage." Konohamru said.

"That's right Seventh. We'll do everything to show the strength of the leaf!" Sarada exclaimed beaming at the hokage.

"I know you will Sarada." Naruto beamed back.

Those two get along too well. Boruto thought.

"Hey Boruto." His father's voice snapped Boruto out of his thoughts. "Good luck son. No matter what I'll always be proud of you." He patted Boruto's head.

"Yeah, yeah Dad. I know. You can just relax here." Boruto said. He had no desire to make his father think he couldn't handle this mission. Security. This the best the old man could come up with? Still, he relished any chance to able to prove his worth as ninja. To be better than his father.

"Hey big brother." His little sister said. "Will you be home soon?"

"I hope so Himawari. You don't need to be sad. When I come back I'll play you as much as you want." Boruto reassured his little sister.

"Alright. Be great, okay?"

"Okay." Boruto embraced his sister. That's right I have to get strong for her as well.

. . .

The fire was small but bright. Sarada had been desperate to showcase her refined control over her father's firestyle jutsu, thus Konohamaru-sensei had allowed her to start the fire while the rest of them gathered firewood. Though he didn't show it, Boruto was genuinely impressed with how precise Sarada's control of the technique was. A narrow but powerful stream of flames flew from her mouth and on to the firewood. Beautiful. He thought.

Save for the pleasant flickering sound of the flames the night was silent. The team said nothing each lost in their own thoughts.

"Let's tell ghost stories!" Konohamaru-sensei's voice brought them all back to reality.

"Ghost stories? That's for little kids." Boruto complained.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with staying young." Konohamaru-sensei complained back. Boruto simply sighed. To him, his sensei seemed to have multiple personalities. He was child in this moment, a strict authoritative figure whenever Boruto pulled a prank, and an overpowered bad-ass in a fight.

"I have an idea." Mitsuki spoke up. "Maybe we should just tell each other more about ourselves. Knowing each other's history is never a bad a thing."

"Fair enough." Konohamaru-sensei relented. He was clearly still wanting to tell ghost stories. "So how about Boruto go first?"

"Why me?" Boruto complained again.

"Because you look like the one who hates this idea the most." Konohamaru-sensei said bluntly. Boruto sunk his head down.

"Fine." Boruto agreed reluctantly. "What do you guys want to hear?"

"Who do you have a crush on?" Mitsuki surprised Boruto.

"I-I don't have a crush on anyone!" Boruto stammered. He was blushing.

"C'mon Boruto, It's only natural that a boy your age should be into women." Konohamaru-sensei laughed.

"Yeah right. You want to know what's unnatural sensei? A man your age being as perverted as you are." Boruto snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Mom told me how you were peeping on my Aunt Hanabi at the bathhouse." Boruto gave a mischievous smirk.

"Wh-What? I was never."

"I also heard how Aunt Hanabi pummeled the living crap out of you afterwards." Boruto was laughing now, While Konohamaru-sensei's face turned as red as a tomato and hung his head in shame and humiliation. Mitsuki had also joined in the laughter. I hardly ever see that guy laugh. Boruto was glad. "What about you Sarada? Anything interesting to talk about?" Boruto asked the kunoichi.

"Interesting? Like what you two talk about? As if." Sarada scoffed.

"So your Dad's back in town huh?" Boruto said. "What he like?" He was curious to learn about his Dad's friend. The man who rivaled the hokage in strength.

"Why do you want to know about my Dad?" Sarada seemed flustered.

"Just curious about the legendary last of the Uchiha." Boruto replied.

"I'm curious as well." Mitsuki put in.

"Fine." Sarada sighed. "Well first off he's not the last anymore, ever since I was born. Second. He's been away for really long time on an important mission. The first real meeting I had with him was a few weeks before the graduation exams. The seventh was going to go meet him and me and Chou-Chou snuck out following him. That was when I delivered that lunchbox to him for you."

"I remember that. So why did Chou-Chou go with you?" Boruto asked.

"She was looking for her real father."

"So Mr. Choji isn't her Dad?"

"Of course he is. She didn't think so at the time though."

"That's weird? Anyone can see the family resemblance." Boruto said.

"Actually it's pretty in common in girls of that-" Mitsuki began but was cut off by Sarada.

"Don't start that crap again." Sarada snapped.

"Alright." Mitsuki said calmly as he held up his hands. Sarada took a deep breath before beginning again.

"Well when I first met him, he held a sword to my throat, thinking I was the enemy."

"He what?! How can he not recognize his own daughter? You two look exactly the same." Boruto yelled as stood up.

"That's what I thought as well. But he was in a situation where he'd just been attacked by another sharingan user and I showed up with my sharingan activated, it must've riled him a bit." Sarada exhaled after finishing. "I still say he needs to make up for that, but after the whole fiasco with the weird sharingan users was finished, my Dad came back and stayed a few days before leaving again. In that short amount of time. I learned that he was actually very kind, soft-spoken, and protective. He treats me and my Mom with great respect and never seems to lose his temper. I learned that he loved me and my Mom more than anything." Sarada finished.

"And you're just okay with him leaving all the time?" Boruto gritted his teeth.

"Well, no, But he was away on an important mission." Sarada replied.

"So what? Is his mission more important than his family?" Boruto began raising his voice.

"The way I see it. Bonds are formed through emotions and feelings between people. So even when he's away we're still connected." Sarada was calm all the way through. Boruto guessed she understood his situation. Boruto sat back down. So he's like my old man. Well at least he's back for good. Instead of being like my Dad. Konohamaru-sensei was smiling all the way through her story. Boruto guessed that he was glad to know that despite everything Sarada and her father were as close as they were.

"Tell me Sarada." Mitsuki began. "Do you know why your father left the village?" Mitsuki asked of Sarada.

"I already said. He was away on a mission." Sarada replied.

"Ever since he was thirteen?"

"What? Of course not. What gave you that idea?"

"A recount of the veterans of the 4th great ninja war that I found in the library." Mitsuki replied.

"Where'd you find a book like that?" Konohamaru-sensei's voice was serious.

"In the restricted section of the main library." Mitsuki calmly replied.

"Is that right? Oh well, nothing we can do about it now." Konohamaru-sensei didn't seem like he wanted to let the matter go. He sounded like he actually wanted to scold Mitsuki.

"My thoughts exactly sensei." Mitsuki concurred. "Basically I found a lot regarding the histories of the veterans. Naruto Uzumaki's status as a jinchuriki and his desire to be hokage, Sasuke Uchiha being the second son of the head of the Leaf Village Police Force."

"Wait? Second son? That means he had an older brother. And I'm guessing he was killed in the massacre." Sarada sounded sad

"No he wasn't." Mitsuki replied.

"Wait he's still alive? My Uncle is still alive?"

"No he's not." Mitsuki was still calm. Boruto was surprised how Mitsuki was talking about Sarada's dead family members with such straight-face. He even would've lashed out were it not for him being interested in this story.

"But how did he die then? Why didn't my Dad tell me?" Sarada seemed like she was mostly talking to herself rather than to anyone else.

"This is going to come as shocker Sarada." Mitsuki's tone grew serious.

"Alright."

"Your Uncle, Itachi Uchiha, was slain by your father."

Everything fell silent. Boruto and Sarada's jaws dropped. Konohamaru-sensei didn't say a thing. He simply winced as if he'd been hit. So Konohamaru-sensei knew about this.

"What the hell are you talking about? What the hell is this?" Sarada's eyes began to water.

"Before anything more can be said, you need to understand that-"

"Itachi Uchiha was the one who wiped the clan. "Konohamaru-sensei interrupted. "Your father killed his brother yes. But his brother, your Uncle killed a countless number of his clansmen. Only your father was spared."

"Why?" Sarada was struggling to hold back tears.

"I don't know." Konohamaru-sensei said softly.

"Why didn't he tell me?!" Sarada yelled. "Why did he keep something like this from me?" Sarada wasn't talking to anyone in particular at this point. Boruto wished he could comfort her somehow.

"Maybe it's because he loves you so much that he didn't want to taint you with that darkness. Maybe he just wanted to allow his new family to live in the light, while he bore the darkness of his old family." Mitsuki said. Sarada wiped the tears from her eyes, as her frown began to straighten more.

"Yeah. He must've done it for a good reason. He must have." Sarada became calmer, as Konohamaru-sensei took a deep breath. He clearly had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"Well, I suppose that's probably enough for tonight. We should get to sleep. We're starting early tomorrow, so good night." At Konohamru sensei's announcement everyone crawled into their sleeping bags. Boruto still couldn't believe how much he'd learned about Sasuke Uchiha. How dark of past he's had and despite that he's still here taking care of his family. That's better than Dad. Boruto understood that Sasuke Uchiha was far from perfect as a father, but he made a real effort. As opposed to the half-assed shadow clones Dad makes. He was also surprised by how quickly Mitsuki calmed Sarada down. Boruto and Konohamaru-sensei had no idea what to say to her, but Mitsuki did. How did get so good with words? He added that to the ever-growing list of things he wanted to learn about Mitsuki. That made him realized, that all he learned about Mitsuki tonight is that he snuck into the restricted section of the main library. Which isn't much.

. . .

The town was truly a mess. Windows were shattered, walls were toppled, and there were was still the scent of blood on the air. Dad wasn't kidding. This town had everything that would be expected of a town ravaged by civil war. Boruto didn't know how to feel, only that he partly wished he hadn't come here. "What were these people fighting over?" Boruto asked to break the silence over the team.

"From what I know." Konohamaru-sensei began. "This town was a melting pot for various cultures and religions. There were two factions that managed them. They didn't agree with each other on how to handle the town's population."

"I'm assuming that the disagreement between these two factions became violent." Sarada said.

"That's certainly what it led to. But I'm assuming there's more to it. Neither of the factions have had any problem with the multicultural population itself. Rather the issue was how the running of a town with such unique population." Konohamaru-sensei replied.

"I see." Mitsuki was definitely melancholy. Boruto knew that Mitsuki was an immigrant, thus he likely a culture different from that in the leaf. Seeing people fight over how deal with people of different cultures must really hit home for him. The team eventually came out to an area scattered with tents and people bustling back and forth. This was likely with the townspeople who'd lost their homes were staying for the time being. There was one large tent standing in the middle of the area. This was the tent Konohamaru-sensei led the team to. Inside were makeshift beds with patients lying them, and doctors jumping from patient to patient. Every patient was injured, ill, or both. All this reminded Boruto of his mother's description of the 4th great ninja war. Injured people, sickness, bloody air, hopelessness. Sounds about right. "You must be the leaf ninja the chief hired." A doctor had come up to them and shook hands with Konohamaru-sensei.

"That's correct. I am Konohamaru Sarutobi and these three are my students." Konohamru gestured to Boruto and teammates. The three of them respectfully bowed. "If I may ask, could you please show us to the chief?" Konohamru asked.

"Of course. Right this way." The doctor led them outside, towards many of the smaller tents surrounding the larger one. The doctor went back to the previous tent immediately afterwards. Inside this tent there was a small table behind which sat a rather young man. This guy is the chief? He wore casual white clothing, and had a rather untidy mop of bright golden hair on his head. He turned up his head and spoke with smile on his face. "Thank you for coming. I am Haru, Haru Chinatsu. The chief of this town." He shook hands with Konohamaru-sensei.

"It's our job Chief Chinatsu." Konohamaru-sensei replied.

"Please call me Haru. Konohamaru Sarutobi."

"You know who I am?"

"Indeed. It seems your reputation proceeds you. The grandson of the third hokage is quite famous."

"It seems so." Konohamaru-sensei agreed. "But you needn't concern yourself with my reputation. It seems the priority should be to help your town." Konohamaru-sensei quickly cut to the chase.

"Yes, of course. Please sit." Haru gestured towards 4 chairs, while he himself remained standing. "As you can our little town has been through a lot, to say the least. I assume that you are aware of the general situation?"

"Yes. We are aware that this civil war began between two factions who could not agree on how best to handle this town's multicultural population."

"That's right. Unfortunately this goes deeper than that. You see, in reality the ideas between the factions wasn't so different. Both agreed that his town had become a melting pot. One faction: The Green Spear wanted to simply allow for the people to mingle amongst themselves, overcome their own differences. The other: The blue bow wanted to take a more active role in the people's lives. Such as having more police patrol the streets, in order to quell any sort of violence that could result between different cultures. As the chief, I needed both of these groups to come to an understanding. I had hoped that a compromise could be reached, both ideas seemed plausible so I proposed a mix between the two. Though both sides were reluctant they agreed, on the grounds that I take any responsibility for the failure of this system." Haru took a breath.

"So am I right to assume that this system failed?" Konohamaru-sensei asked.

"Not quite. The system worked almost flawlessly. I could see both the Spear and the Rose actually coming to terms with one another. However, one day I a member of the Green Spear came to office carrying the body of their master. He told me that he witnessed the master of Blue Rose stab him in chest directly."

"That's horrible." Sarada said.

"Yes it is. Both the masters were my friends. I could never imagine one killing the other. It was inconceivable. Needless to say I confronted the master of Blue Rose directly. He didn't deny the accusations, so I arrested him. That was the worst thing I could've done. The Green Spear you see wished to avenge their master, but his arrest had taken that chance from them. So instead they began attacking the individual members of Blue Rose, and Blue Rose fired back. Eventually the townspeople began picking sides. Both of the Spear and the Rose were popular amongst the people you see. Before long a civil war erupted."

"Hang on." Mitsuki interrupted Haru story. "How did these two groups gain the resources necessary for war?" Mitsuki asked.

"Because they were both guilds. You see ever since the end of the 4th great ninja war, various guilds began popping up all over the fire country, in response to the economic decline caused by the war. These guilds were formed by the common people who wanted nothing more than to make their homes a better place. These guilds began to gain fame for making an immediate difference, and eventually they began to gain political power. However, this resulted in guild wars. This was what happened in our town. Guild wars are usually stamped out by the official ruler of the land fairly soon, but sometimes it takes a little bit longer, that was happened here." Haru finished.

"A guild war? That's ridiculous. They wanted the same thing. Couldn't they see that?" Sarada's voice was barely a whisper.

"They saw it. But the Green Spear and Blue Rose had been rivals for years since their inceptions. They had come to our town to help rebuild it and re-establish order. Each had come with their own methods for doing so, and both methods worked effectively and we recovered from the aftermath of the 4th great ninja war thanks to them. However, since they had both gained favor amongst the townspeople, both guilds were able to remain here, I had no desire to make them leave since they were so helpful to the town." Haru paused. "The rivalry they had was personal, and they set their hate for each other aside for the sake of the town. In fact never had their rivalry grown violent in the past, they simply didn't agree with each other's tactics. I never foresaw a guild war happening in this town." Haru finished. He sounded almost regretful.

"That's is awful. To think that they would allow their anger to get to get the better of them." Konohamaru-sensei said. He almost sounded angry.

"Unfortunately, if it were something as simple as anger, I would never have called you here." Haru said.

"What do you mean?" Boruto said after finally being able to speak after hearing such a story.

"I've done some investigation of my own. I've discovered this whole thing was set-up." Haru grew serious.

"How so?" Konohamaru-sensei asked.

"It was said that the Blue Rose master murdered the Green Spear master, but a few days into the guild war. I discovered that the man I had arrested on account of the murdered had become someone different. It was transformation jutsu. This man told me that the real Blue Rose master had been dead for years and the he had taken his place as an imposter. Right after that he stabbed himself with a shiv and died. I was able to use this new information to quell the civil war along with militia forces of course." Haru took a deep breath. Boruto couldn't believe he was hearing this. A conspiracy in town such as this, but for what purpose?

"So we're not just as security for reconstruction, but to weed out the real perpetrators." Konohamaru-sensei said.

"Nope. You are indeed only here for security. I shall investigate this myself, while you keep everything quiet."

"I see. You want us to basically provide cover for your investigation. Keep the perpetrators' attention focused on us." Mitsuki said. He face had a look of what Boruto assumed was anger. Never knew he could get angry.

"I understand this is rather selfish of me to use you like this. I not going to pretend that I am doing right thing, I am simply choosing the least wrong option available to me. Which isn't saying much." Haru's voice grew solemn. Least wrong option? That's stupid. Boruto thought. This mission seemed like a sham to him, and Haru was growing less trustworthy by the minute.

"We understand Haru. I give my word that we will help you here. We will keep the townspeople safe during your investigation." Konohamaru-sensei announced. Sarada nodded in agreement. Mitsuki was expressionless as ever. Boruto didn't like this man bit. He couldn't believe they were being used like this. We're ninja. Not your lap dogs. But Boruto held his tongue.

"Thank you so much all of you." Haru said enthusiastically while sounding relieved. "Please follow me. Let find you some lodgings where you can stay. You begin your duties tomorrow. Thank you again."

Boruto relented as Haru led them out. As much as Boruto didn't enjoy being used, he was kept from voicing this opinion by the scent of blood that invaded his nostrils after they exited Haru's tent.