Boruto was at the back of the cue. It wasn't exactly his fault that he overslept in his cheap, sub-standard youth hostel: he was exhausted from a terrible night's sleep from the previous night, travelling all across Konoha, consuming huge amounts of government propaganda until midnight– okay maybe it was his fault.
Still, he arrived at 10 am spot-on. Except others had arrived much earlier than that, as evidenced by the hundreds of candidates in front of him.
The cue was filled with anxious, eager faces, dying to get a job – even a small, insignificant job – at the most important office on the continent. Many brought along with them their copies of The Evils of the Gokage or The Lies They've Told Us and were skimming through the pages for last-minute revision.
Running government-sanctioned facts through his head, Boruto shifted his feet nervously. He had to get the job if he were to stand a chance of getting near that forbidden scroll. It was a matter going home or staying in this godforsaken world.
Nothing else mattered.
"Hey, what's a squirt like you doing here?" came a rude call from a boy with bright red hair.
"Same reason why a squirt like you spends his mornings queuing for meager job auditions," Boruto responded coolly, his voice tinged with gentle sarcasm.
"My parents wanted me near the Hokage's office to curry favours with the regime," the boy declared proudly.
"I'm sure an small errand boy will do them much good in obtaining the favours of our great leader," Boruto deadpanned. He was getting good with the propaganda regurgitation. " They'd be so proud of yo-"
He dodged a punch. "Really – there's no need for all this violence man! I was just kidding."
"Annoy me one more time and I'll rip your head off," the boy threatened murderously.
"You know, people usually threaten more… unconventional body parts," Boruto observed with amusement.
"Your balls – happy now?" The murderous glare intensified.
Boruto gulped: "Warning accepted."
"Good."
"Actually, I was thinking, since we're both at the back of the cue and it's going to take at least an hour for them to get to us for the interviews, do you want to join me for a game of… chopsticks?" Boruto offered half-jokingly.
"What?" The boy was baffled. "Did you know forget how I just threatened to rip your balls off?"
"No, but as a matter-of-fact, I'm willing to look past that."
"God, what the hell is wrong with you?" The boy groaned before holding out his two index fingers.
Mitsuki shook his head as he lost another game. Shikadai was good at this, scarily good.
"I'm done!" He threw his arms in the air in mock-surrender.
"What a drag," Shikadai drawled.
"You're good," Mitsuki simply said. "And I'm bored from all the Shogi."
"Such a drag, very well," shrugged Shikadai.
That was when Chocho and Sarada approached them.
"I think we should have a collective heart to heart!"Chocho declared. "We should aim to learn more about each other! Come one guys, let's sit around this table!"
"I can't object to that," Mitsuki remarked politely.
"And, I win again!" The boy declared triumphantly as the ranks in front of them thinned again. "You really suck at this."
"I was being magnanimous, I let you win out of concern for your frail ego," Boruto refused to give him grounds for satisfaction.
"Right, it's my turn for the interview!"
"I hope you fail!" Boruto called gleefully after him.
"So who are your parents?" Chocho gazed at Mitsuki with her eyes wide open. Everyone else had finished recounting his or her personal backgrounds.
In this world, Chocho is still the child of Choji and Karui, although her mother perished when she was six. Shikadai is still the son of Shikamaru and Temari, yet they saw him rather infrequently, as they were both prominent members of Hi no Ishi and dedicated the vast majority of their time to the cause of the resistance. Inojin was orphaned three years ago and has since latched himself onto the support of his friends Chocho and Shikadai, as well as that of his unit leader Konohamaru Sarutobi.
Sarada's background brought a lot of personal uproar amongst the three, and this resulted in Mitsuki giving them a long, detailed account of how things turned out differently in their world. The sheer immensity of the difference meant every sentence drew a disproportionate amount of shock, from the fact that Naruto Uzumaki was Hokage, to the lack of a secret police, from the existence of video game arcades (this took up a long time of the explanation), to the fact that Icha Icha Paradise had reached it's sixtieth installment.
Inojin was especially moved when he heard that his parents were still alive there, running a flower shop and witnessing him grow by the day. He chuckled as Mitsuki retold a story of his father scolding his avant-garde and impressionistic drawings ("He hasn't seen my worst yet!" He laughed).
Chocho wanted to hear more about her mother. What her mother thought of her, how her mother was doing, what her mother liked to say and do.
Shikadai heard one snippet about the activities and interactions of his parents and concluded that things were not so different at all between them, only that there, they were both able to spend more time as a family with him. It was one of the few moments Mitsuki saw his lazy, lackadaisical demeanour slip and reveal a vulnerable child yearning for some simple family time.
When it came to his turn to answer, however, Mitsuki had to position himself and prepare for an onslaught of awkward questions: "Orochimaru."
"The hell?!" Chocho was the first one to yell. "Well – who's the mother then?!"
"Um… Chocho," Sarada tried to explain with discomfort. "Orochimaru is both the mother… and the father. It's complicated."
"You mean he could gender-bend?" She asked.
"Not really," Sarada shrugged. "Okay, honestly, I don't know. I really don't know any of your parent's anatomical details Mitsuki."
"Neither do I," he concurred.
"What?!" Chocho was still baffled.
"Well," Shikadai joined in. "In this world, he's, well, a prisoner in Konoha. Or at least that's what I could gather from dad's conversations with mum."
"Still kind of true in my world," remarked Mitsuki. "He's not allowed to leave any of his experimental bases. But he could get permission to see me."
"I see," Shikadai continued. "Well, according to dad's speculations, he simply knew too much to be exposed to the public. He's sort of like the Hokage's prisoner but a prisoner who does useful things. Not sure what that means exactly, but I have my guesses.
"Right," Mitsuki replied. He didn't like where this was going.
"Dad reckons he won't last for long though," Shikadai finished off his explanation. "At least according to our spies there, the Hokage is planning on getting rid of him not-so-soon."
The room was eerily empty save for one woman at a desk at the very centre – that and her quiet, somber assistant.
Boruto treaded on the floor nervously, minimizing the noise upon impact. His time had come.
"Please to meet you, Ayame," Boruto said as he smiled curtly and glanced at her nametag for confirmation. "I'm Boruto,"
"And? Your last name?" She inquired.
"I never had one," he lied. He sure did not want rumours flying around that another Uzumaki was still around, even though he did remember the existence of a Karin Uzumaki in his world, who, in this world, could very well be under Sasuke's administration.
"An orphan then?" Ayame smiled sympathetically. "How curious. Sorry, may I ask, why exactly do you want this job?"
Boruto felt his insides collapsing. He knew this lie was only the start of many lies and that things will get more and more difficult, more and more convoluted from now on. Hh collected his disorientated mind together and sharpened his planned platitudes. I have to nail this.
"I… I was raised by an old couple in a small town near the outskirts of Kumogakure," Boruto began carefully – it made sense to go for Kumogakure; blonds were common there. "Ever since I was very young, they have instilled in me the importance of-"
"You just wanted to get a job at Konoha don't you?" Ayame smirked cheekily. "Oh come on. Provincial kid goes to the capital in search for better prospects. I've heard it a million times. Don't feel the need to make up some half-baked, sensationalistic excuse. "
"You're partially correct I'm afraid!" Boruto chuckled, deciding to go along with her. "I'm pretty fast for someone my age. You know, that's why I think I'd make a decent errand boy. It won't take that long for me to familiarize myself with the streets here. I've been doing a lot of prior exploration here and there. I have a knack for direction."
He beamed enthusiastically at her. She responded with an amused nod.
"It's great that you're someone who is not all stuffy and stuck-up," Boruto added. "I'm thrilled to find someone who speaks human."
"Oh?" She was a little taken aback by his frankness. " I can't lie – I feel the same. A lot of these other interviewees, you should have seen the sycophantic way they tried to treat me and my poor assistant!"
"You know what most people did when I asked them why they really wanted this job?" Ayame's eyes twitched. "They continued with planned sound bites about their desire to serve the revolution –blah blah bah. Then they started implying how rich their parents were and how they'd take us to dinner to repay us. Ridiculous."
"Well, you want someone fun and non-sycophantic like me at the office then!" Boruto puffed confidently. "I'm the one and only Boruto!"
"Ayame," the assistant whispered, barely audible, barely looking up. "I feel I should remind you that you are obligated to conduct this interview in a professional manner, assessing his credentials first and foremost."
He resumed writing. Ayame gulped.
"Yeah Boruto, I'm afraid you'll have to pass the knowledge quiz first. Here," she said as she handed him a double-sided worksheet. "It's got questions regarding the whereabouts of important places here, the structure of the government and all that. It shouldn't take long – it's all one-worded or one-sentence answers. Your time starts now."
Boruto stared at the paper and his heart fell with a stud.
The location of the library – that should be an easy one, he mused internally as he picked up his pen and started writing.
"You know an awful lot for someone who's never lived in Konoha," she remarked as she observed how he blitzed through questions regarding important locations and local customs.
"I told you – I'm a fast learner," he replied as he continued to write. He was halfway done; he was onto the hard part, the governmental functions and the political… propaganda (for lack of a better word.) He made up some bullshit about the evils of the ideology of the Gokage prior to the revolution, finding it amusing to concoct short, snappy platitudes on how they exploited their jinchuriki and devalued human life and all that. He blanked out on the key organs of government though, not wishing to write down anything that did not belong to this world.
"That's a useful asset around here," Ayame agreed. "You're done right? I'll take it."
She snatched the paper from his hands.
"Hey!" Boruto protested.
"You've got to be quicker if you're working for the Hokage's office. We don't tolerate slackers," she explained matter-of-factly."
"But-"
"Don't worry," she added reassuringly. "Others have done far worse."
"Right," Boruto put a smile on his face again. "Anything else you want from me?"
She took one uneasy glance at her assistant, who persisted with his stream of writing, unflinching, unstopping, never looking up.
"I'd like to know more about you," Ayame finally said. "Your hobbies, your past, your dreams. Anything you feel comfortable with saying."
"As I said before, I'm Boruto, I grew up near Kumogakure, I'm a bit of a joker at times but I can be professional and hardworking if I try. I actually met your uncle on my way here!" Boruto suddenly remembered.
"Uncle Ichirou?" Ayame asked amiably.
"Yes! He told me to send his greetings," Boruto nodded enthusiastically. "He's here for business."
"Yes, we met up yesterday. He did tell me there was this very nice boy he took along," Ayame recalled. "But that means you've only been here for a day – am I correct?" She added, her voice betraying a hint of suspicion.
"Heh – yeah," Boruto scratched his head. "Anyways, back to my likes and dislikes. I love bento, my friends, games. I hate ramen – absolutely disgusting dish. Can't stand it. My dream is to – well – I haven't thought much about it yet. I do it one step at a time!"
"Ramen is disgusting, isn't it?" The assistant looked up and Boruto felt a pair eyes press uncomfortably into his, as penetrating as a kunai. They eviscerated him from the inside and Boruto felt his internals bleeding, bleeding, bleeding of secrets and of the unsaid.
His breath began to rise sharply, his heartbeat grew erratic and his pupils dilated out of some irrational fear.
No, he told himself. I've got to keep my cool.
He pulled himself together and smiled: "Absolutely terrible." Though it was a tenuous fixture, akin to how a house was erected with its foundations still shaky. He knew he could fall apart any moment.
"Well, Boruto," he got up from his chair with a letter in his hands, his face fixed in an expressionless gloom. "Congratulations, you're hired."
His voice was cold, curt and it petrified Boruto in an incomprehensible manner. His eyes were black as coal; they reminded Boruto of a night without stars. They were strangely familiar, but they were also chilly and alien.
"You start tomorrow – don't be late. Report directly to my office and then… to me." His voice was soft and sharpened like a needle.
Boruto blinked and re-focused his vision on the man in front of him.
"I like to personally inspect all potential workers," the man explained, as his features evolved into one Boruto would instantly recognize. His eyes inspected Boruto curiously, like the way a predator examines its prey.
"Good luck," he whispered.
The genjutsu was lifted. It all makes sense now.
That was when Boruto realised he just had his first meeting with Sasuke Uchiha.
A/N: I've had this scene in mind for ages and I'm so glad I've finally gotten to writing it. This chapter took a LOT of thought (and precious time) to write, so let me know how you feel about it in the reviews! :P
Was this how you envisioned Boruto and Sasuke's first meeting? What do expect will happen next?