We'll Get Home, I Promise

by Takeshi1225

A lot can change in the little moments creating a vastly different future. A lot more can happen when two worlds collide. Shinachiku, the son of Naruto and Sakura, and Arata, the son of Sasuke and Hinata, are transported to the world of Boruto where the problems of their own world is now shared. This isn't the same Konoha, but they will defend it all the same. That they promise.

19. All Leaves Sprout From the Same Tree – 2

We'll Get Home, I Promise

Chapter 19: All Leaves Sprout From the Same Tree – Part 2

It was the next morning and Shinachiku was so darn happy. As he and Arata were walking down the streets, he was enjoying his favorite snack.

"Oh sweet ramen bar! It has been way too long, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a huge smile and teary anime eyes as he held onto the ramen-based food bar in his hands.

"You're gonna waste so much money on those now." Arata pointed out.

"Shut up, let me enjoy my treat!" Shinachiku retorted as he ate more of his favorite bar.

Arata sighed as he started recalling the night before.

.

.

"Woo~, that was good! Arigato gozaimasu!" Shinachiku said with a satisfied grin as he patted his stomach.

The genin, minus Arata, stared at the massive number of empty bowls in front of Shinachiku with widened eyes, with Iruka and Ayame, and even nearby customers having the same looks of shock.

"When you said you wanted thirty bowls, you weren't exaggerating." Ayame said, surprised to meet someone, who wasn't an Akimichi or Hinata, who could eat so much.

"Well, he went for thirty-three, but that's no surprise to me." Arata said, comfortably content with his single bowl of finished ramen, which he pushed to the side.

"No wonder you train a lot. You'd be fatter than Chocho if you didn't." Inojin said with a frown.

"Must… finish… ramen…" Chocho said with a sick expression as she tried finishing her twenty-ninth bowl.

"Don't push yourself, Chocho." Namida said with a worried frown.

"I never thought I'd see the day." Wasabi said, surprised that Chocho was bested at eating.

"At least we don't have to pay as much as we thought for her." Iwabe said, earning him a smack in the arm from Wasabi. "What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking." Iwabe said, rubbing his arm.

"You sure you want to pay for all those bowls, Iruka-sensei?" Shikadai asked the academy principal.

"It's fine. Believe me, I've been through this before. Just not with as many bowls, but still pretty close. Sort of." Iruka said with an uneasy smirk and eye smiles.

"To be honest, I could eat more, but I want to take it easy on your wallet, ojisan." Shinachiku said with an embarrassed smile and rubbing the back of his head.

"You can eat more?!" The others exclaimed in shock.

"This Won't Stop Me!" Chocho screamed out as she shot up with an intensely determined anime expression and her fists clenched tightly, only to then cover her mouth as she felt sick again. "Shinachiku-kun, I swear I'm going to eat more than you one day." Chocho said with a determined glare, but still had a sick expression.

"Um… okay." Shinachiku said, blinking his eyes in surprise. "I'd hate to see how intense she'd get if she finds out that Tsukia can eat several times more than me." Shinachiku whispered to Arata.

"Nani?!" Sarada gained a flabbergasted expression, managing to hear Shinachiku's words.

"Maybe keep that under wraps… by staying completely silent." Arata said in response to the blonde.

"I have to say, I'm amazed. You might be able to even outdo Choza-san if you tried." Ayame said with a smile.

"Outdo ojichan?!" Chocho looked to the owner in shock.

"Please don't encourage him." Sarada said with a frown.

"You know, there's this new thing we're trying out." Ayame mentioned, catching everyone's attention.

"Something new?" Shinachiku questioned with curiosity.

"The Hokage told us about it and gave us a sample. He said it came from some far-off land. We tried it out, and after some trial and error, we think we got it just right. Would you like to try it?" Ayame offered.

"I'd be honored." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Give me a moment." Ayame headed back into the kitchen to retrieve it.

"I wonder what it could be?" Shinachiku wondered with pleasant excitement and a smile.

"The Hokage gave it to them… and he said it was from a far-off land… and now they're profiting from the same idea…" It took Arata a moment to deduce what it was, causing his eyes to widen. "Wait, Shina, by any chance did you give the Hokage one of those treats you love so much in the past few weeks?" Arata asked, catching everyone's attention, not just Shinachiku's.

"Treats?" Shinachiku questioned, before his eyes widened in realization. "Wait a minute, you don't mean-!"

"Here you go." Ayame came back, extended a food bar to Shinachiku, who gasped at the mere sight of it.

"No way… A Ramen Bar!" Shinachiku shouted out with excitement as he saw the classic Ichiraku Ramen food bar in Ayame's hand.

"I figured you'd like to try it." Ayame said with a slightly amused smile.

"Awesome!" Shinachiku said with joy as he had a huge grin and started getting teary eyed. Once taking it from Ayame, he ripped open the wrapper, took a whiff and then bit into it, moaning in delight as he savored the delectable taste. "Hello, old friend. It's been too long." Shinachiku said as he was actually shedding tears of joy.

"There goes his allowance." Arata commented with a stoic yet dull expression.

"Awesome! Actual Ichiraku Ramen food bars?!" Chocho said with new excitement and a huge enthusiastic smile.

"I kind of want to try one out." Namida said with a smile.

"Me too." Denki said with a smile as well.

"Please tell me they have less calories than actual ramen, because he might go overboard here again." Sarada said to Ayame, who giggled in response.

"Hey, Iruka-ojisan, you weren't kidding about paying for my ramen, right?" Shinachiku asked with a bit of hope.

"Uh, of course." Iruka said, still a bit worried about the dent that might appear in his wallet after tonight.

"In that case…" Shinachiku then pulled out all the ryo from his pocket, which was a lot, and it shocked the others. "I'll take ten cases, dattebaro!" Shinachiku said with excitement and a super big grin, extending the cash to Ayame.

"One case! Save up your money!" Sarada reprimanded her maternal half-brother.

"Is he always this excited for the stuff?" Shikadai asked Arata.

"Unfortunately." Arata said.

"I'll just bring the one case for you. Don't want you to spend all your money, after all." Ayame said with a bit of a tense but genuinely happy smile as she took some of the ryo and went to grab a whole case worth of ramen bars.

"Awesome~. Yummy, yummy, ramen bars." Shinachiku said with a blissful smile and eye smiles as he had a blush adorning his cheeks.

"If you spend all your share of our money, I am not lending you a single coin's worth as a loan." Arata said to Shinachiku.

"Oh, come on, it won't get that bad." Shinachiku said with a nonchalant grin and waving it off.

"And if it does?" Arata 'asked' with a raised eyebrow.

"… I promise I'll pay you back." Shinachiku said with a bit of a nervous smile.

"I doubt that." Arata retorted.

"Oh, come on. When I make a promise, I mean it. You know that." Shinachiku said but had a nervous grin and his hands up in defense.

"You're always on Iwabe's case about borrowing money, but you're no better in situations like this." Arata stated.

"Hey, that's low! I'm not as bad as Iwabe!" Shinachiku argued.

"Hey!" Iwabe shouted out with annoyance at the two, mainly Shinachiku.

"Ah, to be young again." Iruka said with an amused smile.

"Here you go. A case of thirty." Ayame said as she placed a case of Ichiraku Ramen food bars in front of Shinachiku, causing him to squeal in excitement.

"Hello, dear friends!" Shinachiku said with a joyous smile as he hugged the case close to himself.

"They'll be gone by the end of this week. Not even." Arata stated.

"Hey, Shina, mind if I try one?" Chocho asked, very eager and hungry again.

"Same?" Boruto asked, curious to try one.

"No way!" Shinachiku exclaimed, being very possessive of his favorite food pals.

.

.

Shinachiku moaned with delight as he finished off his ramen bar, before pulling out another.

"Slow your roll." Arata said as he placed a hand over the ramen bar before Shinachiku could unwrap.

"Yeah, you might be right. This would have been my tenth bar already and I just got that case yesterday." Shinachiku said as he put away the food bar.

"Like I said, not even a week." Arata said with his eyes closed. "We've made it." Arata said, gesturing to Tenten's weapon shop, Ningu Tententen A.K.A. Ninja Tools Roll Roll Roll.

The pair went in to see Tenten restocking her supplies.

"Welcome!" Tenten greeted her new customers, only to see it was Shinachiku and Arata. "Oh, hello boys!" Tenten greeted the pair with a bright smile.

"Hi, Tenten-san. We were wondering if those weights are ready yet." Shinachiku said with a smile and greeting the woman with a wave.

"Yup. Got them right here." Tenten said as she walked over to the back of her counter. She took out several cases and opened them up to reveal wrist and ankle weights, all lined up and organized. "I'm surprised you requested so much." Tenten said.

"Well, they're not really for us." Arata said.

"Yeah. They're for the gang. We're training all our friends now and we need to boost them up as quickly as we can." Shinachiku explained.

"Without killing them, I hope." Tenten said, causing Shinachiku to chuckle nervously and rub the back of his head.

"We try." Shinachiku said with a nervous smirk.

"Mostly me. Shina keeps forgetting to put more restraint in his lessons." Arata shared, causing the blonde to flinch.

"Is that so? Guess Lee trained you way too well." Tenten said, looking to the now nervous blonde with a dull expression.

"Well, um… I mean, he wouldn't be Lee-sensei if he didn't, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku responded.

"Yeah, that's true." Tenten said with a sigh. "Things are really changing with you both around."

"Yeah… we're sorry." Shinachiku said with a remorseful frown.

"No, not in a bad way. Honestly. Without you both… I don't like to think what kind of state we would be in." Tenten admitted, genuinely grateful for the two. "In fact, as an act of gratitude, these are on the house."

"No way. With all the help you've given Arata and I so far thanks to your shop, there's no way I wouldn't pay you back for it. Lee-sensei says that if you have the means, never hesitate to return the favor, especially to those you respect, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a stern expression as he pulled out his little Katsuyu-shaped wallet.

"Hn." Arata agreed with a nod as he took out his money.

"Good grief, you both sure are stubborn." Tenten said with a soft smile. 'Guess Lee isn't just a great father but can also be a great sensei as well.' Tenten thought to herself as her smile had widened a smidge.

.

.

"We're putting these on?" Shikadai questioned with a worried frown as he and the others stared at the wrist and ankle weights that Shinachiku and Arata brought.

"That is correct." Shinachiku said with a nod.

"Man, you guys are gonna be so strong after this, 'ttebasa!" Boruto said with a grin.

"If we don't keel over first." Inojin said with an unnerved frown.

"And just so we're clear, you guys are gonna increase their weight and lock off portions of our chakra once we put these on?" Wasabi asked, with a small sense of worry.

"Well, not at first." Shinachiku admitted.

"We're going to see how well you all can train with just these weights alone. Upon inspection, we'll determine what level would be best for you all to start with." Arata elaborated more.

"But remember, it'll be taxing. Whatever we deem as your proper starting point isn't going to be easy, but getting stronger never is, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a grin.

"Wipe that grin off your face." Inojin said with a deep frown and half-lidded eyes.

"Everyone, suit up." Shinachiku ordered.

"So, first this, then increase weight and reserves locking?" Iwabe asked as she grabbed a pair of ankle weights.

"Yeah, and if you guys do well enough, we might even give you some diver weights." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Diver weights?" Namida questioned, not liking the sound of that.

Shinachiku's response was lifting up his shirt to reveal his six-pack abs.

"Goddamn..." Wasabi said in shock as she and the other girls blushed at the sight of his abdomen, before he then made a ram seal as a sealing formula appeared around, followed by a large strap wrapped around with sizeable weights attack to them. "Goddamn! You've been carrying that this whole time?!" Wasabi questioned as she and the others were in shock.

"Yup. And they're heavier than the ones wrapped around my limbs." Shinachiku shared proudly with a grin.

"No way… you're a monster." Shikadai said, very much shell-shocked by Shinachiku's lengths of personal training.

"I'm just… passionate." Shinachiku said as he sealed the weights away again and pulled down his shirt.

'That's one way of putting it.' Arata mentally commented while looking towards the side.

"Anyway, finish putting on those weights and we'll see where we can really start from here. I want you guys to kick major ass right before we get back out there on missions!" Shinachiku said with new enthusiasm but keeping a strong demeanor in the process.

"Well… no use stalling the inevitable." Chocho said.

"Yes! We will do this superbly and get even stronger!" Metal declared with new fortitude as he put on the weights.

"I'm gonna hate this." Shikadai said with a frown.

"No surprise there." Boruto said with a dull expression.

"Uh, Shinachiku-onii-chan, just going to ask… you are going to take it easy on us, right?" Sarada asked more for the others than herself.

"… Why would I do that?" Shinachiku wondered, causing everyone's eyes to widen, except Sarada and Arata.

"Thought so." Sarada said with a dull expression.

"I'm really gonna hate this." Shikadai said, frowning again.

.

.

"I truly… hate this." Shikadai said as he managed to crawl out of the nearby river.

"You okay there, Shikadai?" Shinachiku asked, kneeling beside the Nara.

"You had me running up and down a river with this crap on! What do you think?!" Shikadai shouted with annoyance.

Wasabi then popped out of the water, taking a huge gulp of air as she crawled out as well.

"Could have been worse. We could be Iwabe or Metal." Wasabi said, gesturing towards the two, who were currently holding boulders over their heads.

"This… is nothing!" Iwabe groaned out through his gritted teeth.

"My Youth Will Carry Me Through This!" Metal declared with a stressed anime look upon his face.

"My legs… they're going to give out!" Chocho screamed out as she was running the best she could, and she was in her slim form.

"At least… it's just running." Inojin said with a nearly exhausted expression.

"I hate running!" Chocho screamed out.

Off to the side, Denki and Namida were focusing on climbing up trees, but only with their fingers using chakra to hang onto them. It was much harder than you think.

"Oh no!" Namida cried out as she was skidding down the tree until she fell off completely. "Owie~."

"Are you okay?" Denki asked with concern.

"No." Namida said with a frown and rivers of anime tears.

Towards another area, pillars of earth each of varying size were sticking out of the ground, with Boruto, Sarada and Tsubaki leaping between all of them in different patterns. They were keeping their own pace, never faltering or else they would have a meeting with the ground below.

"I can't believe you managed to make all those pillars, and with only just a third of your chakra still useable." Wasabi said to Shinachiku, panting.

"You guys can too one day. That's what this training is all about, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku replied with a smile.

"I just hope these results come up faster than I fear they will." Wasabi said as she rolled onto her back.

"Yeah… I'd hate to have to go through all of this and not even make a dent in my progress." Shikadai said with a tired frown.

"Oh, you'll make more than a dent. You're gonna burst through several walls worth once we're done with you guys." Shinachiku said to Arata.

"Oh… joy." Shikadai said, not feeling any better from the analogy.

"I think we pushed them all enough physically for today." Arata said, walking over.

"Yeah. Guess we should move onto meditation." Shinachiku said as he stood up straight.

"Meditation?" Wasabi questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Remember, chakra isn't all physical. There are spiritual elements to it as well. Meditation helps with that aspect pretty well." Shinachiku elaborated.

"Is there any way we can do them without the weights?" Shikadai asked.

"No." Shinachiku answered.

"What a drag." Shikadai said with a deep frown.

"Maybe we were a bit too early in doubling their weights and sealing away a third of their chakra." Arata said.

"I don't think so." Shinachiku said with his hands on his hips.

"Of course you would say that!" Shikadai and Wasabi shouted with annoyance.

"They are learning well." Arata commented.

"Just trust me. They'll thank us when the week is over, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with his hands up a bit.

"If we live 'til then." Wasabi said with a frown.

They then heard a pair of crashes, making them turn to see Iwabe and Metal crushed under the boulders.

"We're good." Iwabe said, managing to bring a thumbs up.

"Just a little pain… and broken bones." Metal said, raising a thumbs up as well.

.

.

Shikadai groaned as he managed to trudge his way back after a long day's training. And by heavens, did it feel long. Way too long!

And he thought his mother could be merciless. He always hated being proven wrong, and this was no exception.

"Tadaima~…" Shikadai said as he managed to walk through the door, only to fall face first onto the floor. "I can't move any longer…"

"Shikadai?" Temari noticed her son on the floor as she hurried over to his side. "What happened?" Temari wanted answers as she knelt beside him.

"Training. Lots and lots of troublesome training." Shikadai answered. "You mind taking these things off for me?" Shikadai gestured to the weights around his limbs.

"Weights? You're doing weight training?" Temari asked in shock as she grasped the wrist weight around Shikadai's right arm.

"Well, this is a surprise." Shikamaru said as he made his way over. "Let me guess. Shinachiku?"

"That guy has no concept on the word restraint." Shikadai complained as his mother undid the weights on her son's wrists, only for her eyes to widen upon discovering how heavy they really were.

"How much do these things weigh?" Temari asked, in shock at the heaviness of the weights her son had been carrying.

"That overzealous baka doubled their original weight and they now lock away a third of my chakra altogether." Shikadai said with an annoyed frown.

"He can do that?!" Temari asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately." Shikadai said as he managed to sit up and started undoing his ankle weights.

"Well, at least you'll be progressing at substantial rate." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, but did it have to be such a pain in the ass? The guy kept pushing us with these damn exercises! I thought I knew what it was like when things get troublesome, but now I've seen a whole new realm that I never wanted to explore! That baka has no self-control whatsoever!" Shikadai vented with much annoyance.

"Well, just goes to show how much like Naruto he truly is." Shikamaru said with an amused smile.

"Was Nanadaime-sama really like this?" Shikadai questioned, looking towards his father.

"If he had the same means as Shinachiku does, then I assure you, he would." Shikamaru answered.

"The kid must truly be strong if he's able to do stuff like this, and no doubt push himself even harder than what he's doing to you." Temari said as she examined the weights, noticing sealing formulas written on them.

"More than you know. Did I ever mention to you guys that he carries weights around his arms and legs that weigh a hundred and twenty pounds each, and he triples their weight? And that's not even mentioning the two hundred pound one wrapped around his stomach, and that he cuts off two thirds of his chakra!" Shikadai shared.

"He is human, right?" Temari asked, not believing that this was someone around her son's age.

"Mostly." Muttered Shikamaru, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Mostly?" Temari and Shikadai looked up at the Nara head for a moment.

"I'll tell you later. Anyway, it's close to dinner time, so why don't you go rest for a bit, Shikadai?" Shikamaru said, looking down towards his son.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Shikadai said as he took off his sandals and then struggled to stand on his own two feet again. "Hey, kaa-chan, is my fan ready?" Shikadai asked, looking towards his mother.

"You're sounding pretty eager." Temari remarked with a smirk.

"I just want to get it so I can do my own training. A lot of what the other Shikadai can do is based around using a fan of his own. The sooner I get one, the sooner I don't have to solely focus on the regime Shinachiku is giving me." Shikadai said while having an embarrassed and annoyed frown.

"It'll be ready by tomorrow. I promise." Temari said with a smile.

"Good." Shikadai said with relief as he started walking away, only to go 'ow' with each step. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Damn that Shinachiku." Shikadai complained, causing his parents to laugh.

Unknown to them, at the end of the hall, hiding in the corner, Shinki was listening in.

'So… he regularly carries a little over a ton of weight and locks off his chakra, huh?' Shinki thought with new interest.

.

.

"I cannot believe that baka!" Sakura screamed out in fury within her home, causing nearby dogs to bark in response. Sakura growled in frustration as she paced back and forth. "No self-control! None at all upon himself is one thing, but now on Sarada?! Unacceptable!" Sakura screamed out in anger as her fists shook and raised up in front of her.

Sarada groaned as she laid upon the ground of her apartment. Her muscles were very sore from all the intense exercise she did today.

Sakura sighed as she knelt beside her daughter, taking off the weights and gently placing them to the side before starting to apply medical ninjutsu upon the younger kunoichi.

"Honestly, what was he thinking?" Sakura spoke with a frown.

"He wants me to be stronger." Sarada answered, surprising her mother. "I want the same as well."

"Sarada…" Sakura looked down at her daughter with a small, worried frown.

"I know how uninhibited he can be when it comes to training, but it comes from a genuine belief that he wants to see me succeed. That he wants to see us all succeed. When I stare into onii-chan's eyes, I can see it as clear as day. He doesn't just believe I'll be strong enough to become Hokage one day… he knows it. he believes in me… way more than I ever could believe in myself." Sarada said as she stared up at the ceiling, thinking about all the support her maternal half-brother was giving her.

Sakura blinked her eyes in surprise, before sighing.

"Those eyes, huh?" Sakura said with a soft smile. "You know… Naruto had those same eyes when he looked at me when we were younger." Sakura shared, surprising her daughter. "Sometimes, I don't know what that baka saw in me back then… but it was nice to know he always saw something that I could never see. Something worth much more than I could have ever believed in."

"Nanadaime-sama really supported you, didn't he?" Sarada asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Sakura said with a bright smile. "Although sometimes I think he believe in me too much."

"Maybe the same is with Shinachiku-onii-chan too." Sarada said with a humorous smile.

"That boy…" Sakura said, still smiling as she shook her head. There was a knock at the door, catching both their attention, with the elder of the two getting up to answer it. Upon answering it, she was surprised to see her husband. "Sasuke-kun? You're back!" Sakura greeted her husband with a smile.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded as he walked in, only to see his daughter on the floor. "Intensive training?"

"Yup. Courtesy of Shinachiku-onii-chan." Sarada said.

"Is Arata teaching you anything?" Sasuke asked.

"He is. Some techniques and skills here and there, but he thinks the training I'm getting from Shinachiku will help me in achieving the form he's teaching me as well. The Raiton Chakura Mōdo." Sarada shared.

"He's teaching you that?" Sasuke asked, pleasantly surprised.

"And Shinachiku is teaching her the Hachimon." (Eight Gates) Sakura added with a bit of a frown, still not liking the idea of Sarada using that jutsu, despite giving her blessing.

"You realize how overwhelming that will be." Sasuke stated.

"I'm well aware, but I want to achieve it. I want to get stronger. I want to match them. I want to… I want to stand beside them. As equals. Only then will I know for a fact that I can truly become Hokage one day." Sarada said with a seriously determined gaze.

"Hn. You sound like your mother. If she had the same dream as Naruto as well." Sasuke said with a smirk, causing Sakura to blush with a sense of embarrassment. "Can you move?" Sasuke asked, kneeling beside his daughter.

"Just give me a second." Sarada said as she started to give it her all just to sit up. "Chanara." Sarada said as she managed to sit up by herself. "Oof. I'm going to be really sore in the morning." Sarada said as she rubbed her tailbone.

"Maybe skip training tomorrow then." Sakura suggested.

"I can't. Everyone else is going to keep training and so will I. I practically don't have the luxury not to at this point." Sarada said, looking towards her parents.

"Hn. It is getting a little too dangerous out there." Sasuke said.

"Well, I'll just have to be even more dangerous." Sarada said with a steely resolve as she flexed her biceps.

"I'm sure you will, but until then, have dinner with us and then rest up for the night." Sasuke ordered.

"Hai, papa." Sarada agreed with a nod.

"Dinner?" Sakura then flinched as she remembered something vital. "Oh no! I forgot to check on the oven!" Sakura exclaimed as she hurried her way back into the kitchen.

"Don't go burning it again, mama." Sarada joked with a smile.

"That's not funny!" Sakura shouted out, causing Sarada to chuckle while her father smirked humorously.

"Oh, hey, papa." Sarada spoke up, earning her father's attention. "Um, Arata-onii-chan handed me these, and, um… I was hoping that since you're back… maybe you can help me to use them properly." Sarada said as she took out several pellets from her pocket that had the kanji for storm (嵐) written on them.

"He wants you to learn this as well?" Sasuke asked in surprise, knowing full well what those pellets were for.

"I guess he believes in me just as much as Shinachiku-onii-chan. Just in a calmer way." Sarada said with a smile.

"This is calmer?" Sasuke questioned as he took one of the pellets in hand and examined it. "Well, if Arata truly believes you're ready for this as well, then I don't mind lending some aid. So long as you're not too tired when you get home."

"Thanks, papa." Sarada thanked her father with genuine joy and enthusiasm.

.

.

Boruto was currently practicing a simple kata within his backyard with his new bokken in hand. He kept his weights on as he practiced swinging his bokken downward with both hands. He panted a bit, but still managed to fight on. While the others were resting, he was determined to keep on going.

He wanted to not only get as strong as Arata and Shinachiku but get even stronger than them. Nothing matters more than surpassing the two. To him, it was the most important goal to reach.

Never had he been more motivated in anything. The only one that matched that motivation was when he wanted his father to notice him.

He achieved that goal, and now he was going to achieve this one.

That was a promise. A promise to himself, and no way in hell was he going to break it.

"Dinner's almost ready." Naruto said to Boruto, walking out into the backyard to see him.

"Okay. Just let me finish up with this." Boruto said as he kept on practicing his sword swings.

"You're still going at it?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"I have to! If I want to surpass Arata-onii-chan and Shinachiku-onii-chan then I have to take advantage of every opportunity I have, dattebasa." Boruto said as he continued practicing.

Naruto smiled proudly as he watched his son keep going at it. He had never seen Boruto more motivated before, and this time for all the right reasons. To think that months prior his own son would take jabs at him and took the easy way to succeed his goals. Now, it was a complete metamorphosis. The boy was training harder than he ever had before and was sticking to it the right way.

The gutsy way!

Even though they're essentially trapped in this reality, Naruto was genuinely thankful that Shinachiku and Arata had arrived in their world. They had not only changed Boruto, but the rest of his friends, all for the better. Despite the dangers outside the walls, Naruto was feeling more at ease, knowing that the ones who would come after him and his generation are going to do far better than they ever could.

Those two were having quite the effect on their generation, and when the time comes for them to return home, those that they have inspired will have that same effect on others.

This generation is going to evolve into an unstoppable force that comes once in a lifetime.

He was that confident in all of them.

"I wonder…" Boruto said as he then closed his eyes and started sending chakra into his bokken, causing a layer of chakra to surround it. "Oh yes!" Boruto cheered with a grin as he then brought his bokken up, then released a battle cry as he swung it down, only to send a blade of chakra that hit one of the walls surrounding the backyard, leaving a scar. "Uh…" Boruto blinked his eyes, now widened, surprised and a little worried about what he just did.

"Maybe call it a night." Naruto said with a dull expression, but still retaining a smile.

"Uh, yeah! Sounds good! I think I did enough, 'ttebasa!" Boruto said with a nervous grin as he quickly ran back inside.

Naruto blinked his eyes as he had noticed that his son still had his weights on, no doubt heavier than they normally are and cutting off the younger blonde's chakra. He then looked to the scar on the wall that Boruto made, which was a sizeable one and ran deep into the concrete.

'Not a bad for someone who's got a handicap at the moment.' Naruto thought with a smirk.

.

.

Mitsuki panted with his whole body drenched in sweat and body covered in wounds with clothes in tatters. He was standing in the forest, fighting against another Oni Zetsu. No normal one though. Or at least, not one would normally face.

Before him was a very large Oni Zetsu. It was none other than an Oni.

However, unlike the one that Boruto and the others faced, this one had blue veins running around its body, and it had a slimmer yet fit body type than the red Oni, which was surrounded by overwhelming muscles. This one's body type was comparable to a swimmer's body, in contrast to the red Oni's bodybuilder like physique. It also had a more pronounced jawline with its chin sticking out forward with a sharp tip at the end. Its limbs were also a tad longer as well.

The creature growled at Mitsuki, narrowing its eyes towards the pale boy.

Mitsuki struggled to stay on his feet. He couldn't afford to fall now. Not when he needed to overcome his limitations, for the sake of his friends. For the sake of Boruto.

His Sun.

Mitsuki let out a grunt as he immediately transformed into his Senninka (Sage Transformation) state, activating his Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode).

The blue Oni slammed its hand into the ground and swiped it away, sending chunks of debris towards Mitsuki, forcing the green auraed genin to leap away, only to notice it slam its other and into the ground.

Mitsuki quickly forced his ethereal snakes to grab onto the nearest tree branch to pull him away in time from being pierced by a pair of coiling roots. However, once Mitsuki landed upon the tree, he noticed that the blue Oni didn't move but kept its gaze on him. He suddenly felt a new force of energy traveling beneath him, more specifically the tree.

The tree gained cracks all over in an instant, alerting Mitsuki, who leaped away before it not only shattered to pieces but was unleashing countless needle-like splinters all over.

Mitsuki gritted his teeth as he was forced to summon up a lightning jutsu around himself to help defend against the wooden debris.

"Raiton: Hebikoiru!" (Lightning Release: Snake Coil) Mitsuki's ethereal snakes coursed with lighting and surrounded Mitsuki, forming a cocoon that defended him against the wooden needles.

However, after they passed, a large claw connected to a stretchy, elongated arm came up from below him, grabbing him by his lower body and at a breakneck speed brought him down towards the ground, slamming him straight through the ground.

Mitsuki was being pulled right into the ground, travelling through a tunnel and feeling all the pain of being buried and pulling through the ground at a fast rate, until he was pulled out by none other than the blue Oni.

The blue Oni raised the pained and groaning Mitsuki up high with its other claw ready to strike him.

Mitsuki gritted his teeth as his ethereal snakes then bit into the blue Oni's arm and started absorbing a portion of its vast pool of natural energy. His eyes widened upon feeling the spike of new power as he then let out a battle cry.

"Senpō: Orochi Ikazuchi!" (Sage Art: Great Snake Lightning) Mitsuki shouted out as very large ethereal snakes coursing with green natural energy enhanced lightning shot from all over Mitsuki's body, wrapping around and biting the blue Oni.

The creature growled, gritting its fangs as it glared at the boy who glared back, but it was not finished.

In an instant, thorny roots fired from all over its body, stabbing right through the snakes, and even Mitsuki.

However, the snake sage dispersed into a cloud of smoke with a log taking his place.

The real Mitsuki was hiding behind a tree, panting as he tried coming up with his next move.

Unfortunately, time was not on his side as he noticed a new elongated arm stretching far, ricocheting off of a nearby tree and rocketing towards him.

Mitsuki managed to duck under the attack, which punched right through the tree with ease. He quickly moved away to get some distance but noticed the blue Oni spinning a very large club in hand, building up wind that molded together with natural energy and then tossing it towards Mitsuki.

The club, now a projectile, rushed towards Mitsuki like a shuriken, giving off harsh winds like a cyclone as it flew through the air.

Mitsuki tried jumping away, but the current was too strong as he was sent spiraling away. He gritted his teeth as he focused his heightened senses on the blue Oni, only to see it slamming both hands back into the ground as large spikes of wood came flying towards him. Mitsuki growled as his sage chakra flared with even larger ethereal snakes surrounding his form.

"Senpō: Orochi Ikazuchi Kyōran!" (Sage Art: Great Snake Lightning Frenzy) Mitsuki roared as the enlarged green lightning snakes started thrashing around at blinding speeds, destroying any wooden spikes coming near their progenitor.

However, Mitsuki noticed too late that the blue Oni planned ahead and had actually used the wooden spikes as ricocheting points for its stretchy arms. Before he could properly retaliate, the arms managed to bypass his lightning encased ethereal snakes and delivered a dual blow to each of his sides, breaking his ribs in the process.

Mitsuki's eyes widened in pain with his mouth agape as his jutsu was halted and fading away. He started falling down towards the floor, feeling the immense pain of not just being struck on both his sides, but with natural energy enhanced blows no less. He tried to summon his sage energy once more, but once the blue Oni's arms returned to their normal shape, it gave an immense roar fueled by natural energy that struck Mitsuki in midair and sent him flying.

Mitsuki coughed up some blood that he unintentionally swallowed as he was sent flying away. He hit the ground after a bit, skidding against it like a stone over water until he came to a halt. He let out a pained and agonizing breath that he apparently was holding, as he then panted in fatigue and agony. Mitsuki gritted his teeth as he fought to get back to his feet with his Senninka diminishing a bit with the ethereal snakes vanishing, only leaving him with a thin green aura around his mutated body.

Mitsuki managed to fight his way back onto his feet, only to then suddenly be charged into by the blue Oni, who slammed its fist right into Mitsuki's gut and smashed him into a tree. Mitsuki's eyes widened again in immense pain with his mouth openly wide as well. His eyes were all white as his sage transformation vanished completely, before he was sent flying through the tree and several others, until his body struck and skidded to a halt against the ground.

Mitsuki now lay defeated and barely alive, completely unable to defend himself.

The blue Oni was already on him. Towering over his defeated body, staring at the barely alive boy. It raised its foot, ready to crush what little life was left, when suddenly a sealing formula appeared on its forehead, causing it to halt.

Several snakes shot forward and coiled around Mitsuki's prone body. They pulled him away, causing the blue Oni to look to see a much taller pale man with dark hair pulling the boy away with snakes coming out of his sleeve and laying him by his feet.

The blue Oni growled before it started to move again. It charged towards Orochimaru, only for him to make a ram seal, as the creature halted in place, as if it were stopped by something. The sealing formula on its forehead grew as it started to petrify and spready throughout the monster. The Oni Zetsu roared as it brought both its claws up hovering over its forehead before its entire body became petrified. Now there it stood, like a statue made of petrified wood.

Orochimaru brought his hand down as he then looked down at Mitsuki's barely alive body.

"Not bad. You lasted longer this time, and against an Oni that actually thinks strategically instead of act aggressively. You are improving, along with your Sage Arts and transformation. Very admirable. Given the short time we've had together, you are coming along tremendously." Orochimaru complimented his unconscious son. "Let us return so we can fix you up. I'm sure after this, you will have grown considerably stronger." Orochimaru then made several hand seals before slamming his hand into the ground as a sealing formula expanded to surround the ground around him, Mitsuki and the petrified blue Oni. "Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu." (Reverse Summoning Technique)

The three vanished from sight, only leaving the destruction in their wake.

Not unlike any yōkai in history.

.

.

The next morning, Boruto was making his way through the village with his destination being the training ground everyone had been occupying.

Tied to his belt was his new bokken, ready to be used at any time. He gently placed a hand on the pommel of the wooden sword. He couldn't contain the smile he had on his face. Sure, he damaged a wall within the backyard pretty badly, and his mother scolded him since she had a rule about not jutsu of any kind in the house, at least any that could cause collateral damage of any kind, but he managed to pull a move off that only Arata and Tsubaki are able to do.

The best part was that he was drained and only tried it once!

Boruto couldn't help but gain a huge shit-eating grin. He knows he should be more modest, but… come on~! He did great! And on the first try no less!

I think he has the right to feel very, very good about himself right now.

Well, that's how he feels right now.

So focused on the achievement of power that he's overlooking the fact that he did cause some damage that would cost a pretty penny and he needed better control over his own strength.

But let's let him have his moment for now.

"Boruto!" A female voice called out, making the whiskered blonde turn to see it was Sarada, who was jogging her way over to him.

"Yo, Sarada." Boruto greeted the Uchiha with a wave as she ran up right next to him.

"I see you're bring your bokken today." Sarada said, noticing the wooden sword tied to Boruto's belt. "How's your sword training coming along?" Sarada asked.

"I already kickass!" Boruto said with a cocky smile and rubbing the underside of his nose with pride.

"Of course that would be your response." Sarada said with dull smirk and half-lidded eyes.

"This time, I'm not just boasting with no real evidence. I left a scar on one of the walls at my house, and I didn't even take off the weights when I did." Boruto informed with his head held high, still smiling with pride.

"Seriously?" Sarada asked in shock and awe. "Wait a minute, you practice that inside your house?!"

"No~. I was in the backyard when this happened. That didn't keep kaa-chan from scolding me though." Boruto said with a pout as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're just lucky that your mother is very sweet. If you had a mother like mine… honestly, I shouldn't say, but… you probably wouldn't be the same person afterwards." Sarada said, looking to the side as she thought about the kind of punishment her mother would give in that same situation.

"W-W-What's that supposed to mean?!" Boruto questioned with a scared tone and wide anime eye.

"It just means… you're very lucky." Sarada said, giving a nonchalant smile with a pair of eye smiles.

Boruto groaned with a pout and half-lidded eyes.

"I'm glad I'm not you or Shinachiku-onii-chan then." Boruto grumbled as he started walking away.

"True… although I think it says a lot." Sarada said as she followed with her hands behind her back.

"What do you mean?" Boruto asked with narrowed eyes, not liking Sarada's tone or words.

"Just saying is all." Sarada said, acting innocent with her head held high.

"Saying what?" Boruto questioned with a frown.

"Oh… nothing." Sarada said with a teasing smile.

"It's clearly something!" Boruto shouted, causing Sarada to laugh.

"Is it just me or have you two been getting along better recently?" A new voice spoke up, causing the pair to turn to see Team 10. "Honestly, I almost confused you both for siblings." Inojin said with a smirk.

"Ew, gross Inojin!" Boruto whined.

"Last thing I need is to be related to this knucklehead in any way, shape or form!" Sarada said with a frown.

"Yeah, and I don't need another sister who likes to get on my case every now and again." Boruto added with his own frown.

The two stayed silent for a moment before a gloomy aura surrounded them.

"I miss Mitsuki." Sarada said, hanging her head in melancholy.

"Yeah, me too. I can already hear him say how well we get along just now." Boruto complained, hanging his head in depression as well.

"C-Calm down you two. I'm sure he's fine." Shikadai said with an uneasy smile and sweat drop.

"I wonder… you think Mitsuki's training as hard as we are right now?" Chocho asked as she enjoyed some Consommé potato chips.

"I doubt he'd be gone away this long without that in mind." Shikadai said.

"Which means we just have to keep getting stronger, so he won't leave us in the dust!" Boruto said, reinvigorated with a fist pump and look of determination.

"That's right! No way are we going to be left behind. Team 7 has to remain strong and we're going to make sure of that!" Sarada agreed, mirroring Boruto's actions.

"Hey, now that it's been brought up, Arata-kun and Shinachiku-kun are part of the same team where they come from, right?" Chocho asked.

"Yeah." Sarada nodded in response.

"Who's the third member?" Chocho asked, eating another potato chip.

"Let me guess… it's that Tsukia girl they mentioned the other day, wasn't it?" Shikadai 'guessed'.

"Yeah. That's right." Sarada nodded in confirmation.

"You know… I could have sworn I've heard that name before from Arata-kun. She's important to him in some way… what was it?" Chocho said, trying to remember who Tsukia was. "She's not someone after Arata-kun's heart, right?"

"Ew! Gross, Chocho! She's his sister!" Boruto said in disgust.

"Sister?" Inojin questioned as he and his team were surprised.

"That's right! That's the one! Now I remember." Chocho said with a relieved smile, brushing off the awkwardness she just brought into the conversation and enjoyed more of her potato chips.

"Twin sister to be precise." Sarada said.

"Wait, then that means she's your sister as well." Shikadai pointed out.

"Yup." Boruto said with his hands behind his back.

"So, you have three half-siblings." Inojin said.

"Actually, we have ten." Sarada answered.

"Ten?!" Team 10 exclaimed in utter shock.

"Yup. Most of them are Arata's siblings. He and Tsukia are two of seven total." Boruto answered.

"Holy crap!" Inojin said with utter shock.

"That's incredible!" Chocho said with amazement.

"Huh?" Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, clearly that says a lot about Arata-kun. If he has that many siblings, then he is no doubt the nurturing and reliable elder brother type, and there is nothing more eye catching than a handsome man who dependable and great with kids." Chocho said with her head held high.

"Well… he is the eldest of the bunch so… I guess you're right." Boruto said as he and Sarada had dull expressions with sweat drops. "Well, anyway, I'm done with this conversation. I'm heading out to do some training. I want to put in some kenjutsu practice with Arata-onii-chan." Boruto said as he turned and headed off.

"Wait for us." Sarada said as she and team 10 followed.

"So… ten siblings… and Arata's father had seven of them…" Inojin said.

"What are you leading into?" Sarada questioned, noticing Inojin's mentioning her and Arata's 'shared father'.

"Well, just… if Shina's mom had three and Arata's father had seven… then why did your parents stop at one?" Inojin asked, only to cause Sarada to flinch with many tick marks around her head with a blazing aura surrounding her as she slowly started bringing up her fist.

"Maybe we should stay silent until we get to the training grounds." Shikadai suggested with an unnerved look.

.

.

On their way towards the training ground, Team 7 and 10 met up with Team 5 and 15, with them as a whole collective now heading towards the training ground.

"He's got six siblings?! That's crazy!" Iwabe shouted out in shock.

"Not that crazy when you take into account that the Uchiha are a dying breed. Such a number is a necessary amount." Tsubaki pointed out, causing Sarada to frown and blush red. "Although, it does beg the questioned why the head of the clan settled for having just one."

"That's what I said." Inojin spoke up.

"Will you all SHUT UP!" Sarada screamed out in anger and annoyance.

She didn't like to admit it, but she kind of agrees with their point as well. But as said before, She Will Not Admit It!

They all made it to the training grounds, only to see their trainers, Arata and Shinachiku, doing their own training there.

Arata stood away from them with his jacket off, barefoot and blindfolded, as twelve Shinachiku clones surrounded him in a ring.

Six of the clones leaped up high as all twelve then took out kunais and tossed them towards Arata.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Kunai Shadow Clone Technique) All the clones shouted as the twelve kunai multiplied into a total of one-hundred twenty.

"Arata-kun!" Chocho called out the blunette's name as she and the others looked on in shock and a sense of fear.

Arata focused on the task at hand as he suddenly moved his head to the side, dodging one kunai, before he started moving in a swift, fluid like motion all around, dodging more, before lightning sparked around his hands for a moment as he suddenly brought his arms out as the flat end of a kunai slid against the back of his hand and down both his arms with his other hand aimed towards a Shinachiku clone, causing the kunai to be directed towards and striking the clone in the chest, dispelling it.

Everyone watched as Arata dodged and redirected the kunais with his hands and arms. The kunai he redirected just slid against his arms like droplets of water, if they were sharp and hit people fatally dead on. He even redirected some with just his hands and even feet.

After a moment, the barrage was over with all the clones dispersed from being hit.

Everyone stared in awe at what they just witnessed, before clapping was then heard making them all turn to see that Kakashi was there as well.

"Not bad, Arata." Kakashi complimented the Uchiha-Hyūga with a pair of eye smiles.

"I still think I'm off a bit." Arata said as he took off his blindfold.

"Kakkoii~!" (So cool) Chocho called out.

"Oh boy." Arata muttered with a stoic frown, knowing what comes next as Chocho came glomping into a tight embrace. "Ow."

"You are just so cool, Arata-kun!" Chocho said with a gushing smile.

"I see you've made." Arata said.

"Uh… that was cool and all, but… where's the real Shinachiku-onii-chan?" Sarada asked.

"Right over there, along with his other clones." Kakashi said, jabbing his thumb towards the direction of the Uzumaki in question.

Everyone turned to see Shinachiku, and his clones were in lotus position, sitting upside down under tree branches, with them all being shirtless and now having three diver weights strapped around their torso, as they all were making a ram hand sign with their eyes closed.

"Whoa." Boruto, Shikadai, Wasabi and Iwabe said in unison as they all were surprised and impressed.

"I know." Kakashi said, staring at the Shinachikus.

"Wait a second, why is he doing this with his clones? I thought that shadow clones only transferred their experience back to their user on a mental basis, not physically." Sarada pointed out.

"That is true, and to put it simply, this exercise is mainly for Shinachiku to get an even stronger grasp on his chakra control. Shinachiku, like his father, was born with higher reserves than most, but with that comes the problem of having difficulty with chakra control, meaning that they needed to work twice as hard to master it. By adding those extra weights to himself, he's forced to fine tune his chakra control even greater than before. Honestly, I'm rather impressed." Kakashi explained with his arms crossed.

"And the clones?" Tsubaki asked.

"With the clones doing the same exercise, it'll have him be more familiar with the technique at hand. He might not gain even more muscle than he would by doing it alone, but he'll be more accustomed to it as if he had been doing it for months or even a year, when really, it's been a day." Kakashi elaborated.

"That's cheap!" Iwabe shouted with annoyance.

"Maybe… but in actuality there really isn't any fairness in the shinobi world. To be honest, at times it's more of a foreign concept." Kakashi said.

"Then how do you explain Boruto in the Chunin Exams?" Inojin questioned.

"Can we please move past that!" Boruto shouted with annoyance, more for himself for doing that action than it being brought up.

He already learned his lesson. Why keep repeating it?

"Well, that was a different situation considering it was a planned event with rules in mind, but outside these walls is a different story." Kakashi answered.

"So, you're here teaching us again, Rokudaime-sama?" Namida asked, still surprised by the masked-nin's appearance.

"Yup. Looks like it." Kakashi said with his hands on his hips.

"But… you're here early." Boruto pointed out.

"I, uh… had an alarm clock." Kakashi said, looking to the side with a sweat drop.

.

.

Kakashi was outside in front of a dango shop, sitting on the nearby bench with a plate beside him that had sticks on it, no doubt his finished dango. He was currently rereading Icha Icha Tactics, when a three-pronged kunai was suddenly stabbed into the ground in front of him.

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked down at the kunai, which looked eerily familiar to his old sensei's own.

Suddenly, Shinachiku appeared in a flash and grabbed Kakashi by the arm.

"We need you." Shinachiku said to a surprised Kakashi before they flashed out of sight.

.

.

"A very thorough and quite annoying alarm clock." Kakashi added with his half-lidded gaze directed at Shinachiku.

Said blonde stood up from underneath the surface of the branch, then flipped off of it and landed upon the ground.

"Kai." Shinachiku said as he released all his clones.

Shinachiku stumbled forward a bit as he held onto his head but managed to stay on his feet.

"You okay?" Iwabe asked.

"Yeah. Dispersing a good number of shadow clones at the same time can bring about some mental discomfort. Almost lost focus there, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said as he managed to stand up straight. He made a ram seal as the diver weights were sealed away within him, revealing his bare torso. He then noticed the girls staring at his fit physique with blushes on their cheeks. "Oi! D-Don't stare!" Shinachiku shouted as he turned and tried to cover himself with his arms.

"Then put a shirt on!" Sarada shouted back upon instinct as her cheeks flared red in embarrassment.

'Your blood runs deep in them both, Sakura.' Kakashi thought with eye smiles as he silently chuckled with amusement.

Shinachiku had quickly run over to the tree he had been using where he laid his shirt and jacket, and quickly put them on as he then cleared his throat.

"A-Anyway, since you're here, let's get this training under way." Shinachiku said, trying to brush off his embarrassment, but his blush remained. "First, how is everyone's progress?" Shinachiku asked with his hands on his hips, now feeling more comfortable as he was in 'professional mode'.

"Check this out!" Boruto quickly said with an excited grin as he pulled out his bokken and started pouring his chakra into it.

Chakra burst around the wooden sword as Boruto reeled it back and let out a battle cry as he swung it, delivering a blade of chakra that cleaved right through a tree and exploded upon contact, sending the top half flying away in the air while the lower part was reduced to splinters with a crater now where it was a moment ago.

Everyone stared at the spot with surprised expressions and widened eyes.

"Well… that's an improvement." Shinachiku said, causing Boruto to chuckle with a cocky smirk as he rubbed the bottom of his nose.

"Not much though." Arata stated.

"Say what?" Boruto looked at his maternal half-brother with a raised eyebrow.

"You're just forcing the chakra out. You're not letting it flow properly." Arata elaborated as he pulled away from Chocho before unsheathing his chokuto. "Watch." Arata surrounded his blade in chakra, then swung it to the side, sending his own blade of chakra, only for this one to cut right through several trees before bursting, which unleashed a shockwave that sent several surrounding trees flying away.

Everyone's jaws dropped, except Shinachiku, Kakashi and Tsubaki, with the blonde of the three giving out an impressed whistle.

"Nice." Shinachiku complimented his teammate.

"By putting in the proper amount and letting it flow properly, you create a blade that gains equal parts power and stability that it travels a farther distance and does more damage before dispersing, and that's not counting the shockwave from its expulsion. The blade of chakra you made in comparison is still that of a novice." Arata explained as he sheathed his chokuto away.

"NANI~?!" Boruto exclaimed with a flabbergasted anime expression as he then fell onto his hands and knees. "Aw man~, and I thought I did something so super cool." Boruto whined with anime tears.

"Well… technically, you did." Shinachiku said, trying to comfort his paternal half-brother.

"If it makes you feel any better, Boruto, I had the same problem at first. Luckily, it can be easily fixed with proper training." Tsubaki shared with the golden blonde.

Boruto just groaned with a pout in response. He then noticed a hand offered to him, making him look up to see it was from Arata.

"You came here to be strong enough to do that to begin with, didn't you?" Arata asked, rhetorically.

Boruto's eyes widened a bit before he gained a new look of determination as he took Arata's hand.

"You guys already know one or two jutsu from last time, so we're going to teach you a few more. Ones that could cover certain weaknesses." Shinachiku said.

"Weakness, like what?" Iwabe questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Like, how your niche is close quarters combat, so you need a mid to long range jutsu to cover that before any enemy takes advantage of it, dattebaro." Shinachiku pointed out.

"What kind of jutsu?" Iwabe asked.

Kakashi decided to showcase it through example by going through several hand seals.

"Doton: Dosekidake!" (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot) Kakashi exclaimed as four long spikes shot out and extended form the ground with their tips meeting in the center.

"This kind good enough for you?" Kakashi 'asked'.

"Hell yeah! Let's get started!" Iwabe exclaimed with a grin.

.

.

"Doton: Dosekidake!" Iwabe shouted out, finishing his hand seals as four spikes sprouted out from the ground, but they were at the length or meeting in the center like Kakashi's was earlier. "Well… it's something. I'm close." Iwabe said.

"Not as close as you were hoping for, I bet." Wasabi said with a smirk, causing Iwabe to gain a tick mark.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not spending my time trying to grow whiskers!" Iwabe shot back.

"They're 'Chakra Whiskers', genius." Wasabi retorted, pointing to the six strands made of blue chakra sticking out the sides of her face. "And they are way more useful than any of your jutsu." She added while furrowing her brow.

"Oh yeah?! You wanna bet?" Iwabe exclaimed, ready to make new hand seals.

"Try it." Wasabi said with a cat-like smile.

"Doton: Dosekidake!" Iwabe shouted as he quickly made the hand seals.

Wasabi smirked as her chakra whiskers twitched a bit. She leaped towards the side, dodging a spike of earth, and then now on all fours, managed to dodge several more before they could shoot out from the ground.

"Satisfied?" Wasabi asked with a cat-like smile as she sat like a cat.

"What the-? How the hell did you know where each one would shoot from?!" Iwabe asked with shock and confusion.

"A little fun fact for you. Cat whiskers are loaded with nerves, and at the tip is a special sensory organ called the 'Proprioceptor'. This makes a cat super sensitive to vibrations and changes to the environment, and my chakra whiskers can not only do the same but depending on how much more chakra I pump into them, I can extend their range and sense things from far away." Wasabi explained, never losing her cat-like smiles.

"But… but they're whiskers! How the hell can they be so effective?!" Iwabe questioned in a bit of a whiny manner with a deflated demeanor.

"Never underestimate the skills of a cat, or a member of the Izuno clan." Wasabi proclaimed with a proud smirk.

"What does your clan have to do with this? It's not a family jutsu! Shinachiku told you about it." Iwabe pointed out.

However, this had a more negative effect on Wasabi than he initially intended as her mind went to the idea of clan and family as the jutsu she had just learned was originally made by a version of her that, in a way, technically didn't even come from that same clan and family.

"You're a jerk, Iwabe." Wasabi said before walking away.

"I'm a jerk?! The hell's that supposed to mean?!" Iwabe called out to her, but she ignored him and continued walking. "Calling me a jerk. She's the smug one here." Iwabe muttered to himself with a pout as he made the hand seals again. "Doton: Dosekidake!" He shouted out as four long spikes shot out from the earth and were only inches apart from meeting the center. "Hell yeah! I'll get this jutsu down in no time!" Iwabe psyched himself up with a grin and fist pump.

A bit away, Namida finished making a sealing formula on a tag. She then made a few hand seals, brought it to her lips and blew onto it. She then walked over towards a nearby tree and placed it upon it. She hurried away and then made a ram seal.

"Namida Sanjō no Jutsu." (Calling on Tears Technique) Namida said with an excited smile as the sealing tag shined and then a soundwave erupted from it, completely destroying the tree it was attached to.

"Way to go, Namida." Shinachiku said with a smile as he made his way over towards her.

"I never knew I could transfer my own jutsus into sealing formulas!" Namida said with joy and excitement.

"Fūinjutsu really is a wonder, 'ttebaro. I figured since I was able to seal in a portion of my medical ninjutsu chakra and Mamoru's chakra into tags, it would have worked for the Namida that I knew too. I figured she could use it for traps. Heck, I even taught her the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as well. The number of shinobi she took down by using a clone covered with those Oto-satsu (Sound Tags) is super impressive, dattebaro." Shinachiku said with a grin.

"The way you talk about her so highly… and with everyone… you two sound so close to our other selves." Namida said with a soft yet touched smile.

"Well yeah. They're our friends. We're always together. Whenever we're not on missions together, we always take the opportunity to hang out whenever we see one another. It makes us happy when we're with each other, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a smile and his eyes softening as he remembered all the things he and the others do together. "I mean, sure Wasabi and Iwabe argue like an old married couple, Inojin is always an ass and Mitsuki tends to be, well, Mitsuki, and Chocho is Chocho, but it's always fun regardless, dattebaro." Shinachiku added with a bit of an embarrassed, but still happy grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

Namida couldn't help but widen her smile.

"I envy you guys." Namida confessed.

"Huh?" Shinachiku looked at her in surprise, causing her to flinch with a look of worry.

"Oh, no, no! Not that I mean it's bad over here, it's just-"

"Don't worry, I get ya, Namida-chan." Shinachiku said with an understanding grin and a dismissive wave, causing Namida to relax with a smile and blush.

"Check This Out!" The pair heard Chocho shouted out, causing the two to turn to her as she instantly shrunk in mass with a pair of pink butterfly wings made of chakra. "And now~… Spark!" Chocho shouted as electricity sparked all around her with her chakra wings expanding in size and turning electric blue as they sparked with lightning, as if they were made and molded with it. "Here I am! The new and improves Super Chocho Butterfly Mode! Raiton ChōMōdo!" (Lightning Release Butterfly Mode) Chocho proclaimed with a proud smile as she showed off her electric wings as lightning coursed around her body.

"Sugoi~." Namida said in awe as she and Shinachiku clapped for their friend's success.

Chocho smirked as then shot up into the air faster than the eye could see.

Namida gasped as she shot her head up to look, while Shinachiku was already looking up, easily keeping up with her speed. The two watched as Chocho started zipping around everywhere at a lightning pace before diving down into the ground and slamming her fist into it, shattering it apart and leaving a crater as debris surrounded her in midair.

Chocho's lightning wings snapped out as she stood up straight, sending the floating debris away and breaking them apart into oblivion.

"Amazing!" Namida said with awe and stars for eyes.

"Nice work, Chocho." Shinachiku said with a smile and gave her a thumbs up.

"See that? When you're someone as passionate as me, anything is possible when you stick it out and give it your all. I even still look good while doing it." Chocho said with pride as she flipped her hair with her hand.

"Oh, I hear ya." Shinachiku said with a smile. "Hmm?" He then looked up to notice clouds starting to form above.

Chocho and Namida noticed this and looked up, seeing the forming storm clouds as well.

"Chocho… is that a side effect of your jutsu?" Namida asked.

"Uh, no." Chocho answered.

"Yeah, that's coming from her." Shinachiku said, pointing to Sarada.

Sarada's arm was raised high with her hand coated in lightning. A bolt of lightning fired up from her hand and struck the clouds above.

"Now that you've introduced your chakra into it, you can now connect to the storm clouds and manipulate the form of the newly created lightning that they generate on their own. Using your Chidori as a lightning rod, you can guide the lightning and mold it to your whim. Concentrate on connecting to the lightning and bringing it together to give it form." Arata explained to his half-sister. Using your Chidori as a lightning rod, you can take hold and mold the lightning into any form you desire and guide it with simple hand movements, and of course with your thoughts transmitted through the minimal chakra you are using." Arata explained.

"Okay… I think I'm getting the hang of it." Sarada said as she focused, trying to will the lightning to take the form of a dragon or something.

"If you wish, I can assist a bit." Arata suggested.

"I want to do this on my own though." Sarada said.

"I understand. I actually planned on just demonstrating and have you follow along with me." Arata explained his suggestion with more clarity.

"Oh, yeah. That'll be fine with me." Sarada said, thinking that was more beneficial for her.

"Chidori." (One Thousand Birds) Arata said as he brought up his left hand as it was then engulfed by lightning and sent bolts upwards towards the clouds like Sarada's. "Pay close attention." Arata said.

"Hai." Sarada said with a new look of resolve as she activated her Sharingan.

A bit away, Denki was sitting cross-legged with his laptop in hand and looking up towards the clouds.

"Sugoi~." Denki said breathlessly.

"Oh, here's a good one." Shinachiku, most likely a clone, said as he showed off a sealing formula to Denki within a booklet he was holding. "This one is really useful, especially in your hands. See, the sealing formula used here transforms its writings into restraints once it meets a chakra source that isn't the user's. This is one of our Denki's favorite ones, 'ttebaro." The Shinachiku said with a smile.

"I see. That's very useful." Denki said as he used the camera on his laptop to take a picture and document it into his files. "So, the Denki of your universe actually made a scientific ninja tool that allowed him to use sealing formulas as ammunition and launch them at their target?" Denki asked, wanting to make sure of such knowledge.

"That's right. It was a smart idea. Normally, I'd rather do things the old fashion way than use ninja tools, but that one he made is super useful, especially against Oni Zetsu. I can't tell you how many of those things our Denki managed to handle thanks to it." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Your Denki sounds incredible." Denki said with amazement. "So, in your world, Scientific Ninja Tools are allowed to be used when those creatures are involved, correct?"

"Yeah. Those devil creatures are super dangerous and annoying. While building up your own strength is highly encouraged, when the Oni Zetsu are involved, that kind of ideal is usually thrown out the window in favor of protecting your life or the lives of others. When Dr. Katasuke brought the idea of using them in the Chunin Exams, my tou-chan and Shikamaru-ojisan suggested using them to defend the people against those things. They helped, but the second you made the prototype of the Fūin Ite (Seal Archer), it became the be all, end all to be used against those things, dattebaro." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"I-I see." Denki said with a bit of a bashful yet giddy smile and blush on his cheeks. "From what you explained about it, I think I could maybe recreate it, or at least make a version for myself. I can't gain access to the exact blueprints since those are in another world, but I will do my best to make it on my own!" Denki said with gusto and a bit of pride.

"I'm sure you'll make it down to the letter, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a smile. "Speaking of making something with fūinjutsu… yo~! Inojin! How's your own progress going? Need any help?" Shinachiku called out to the pale-skinned blonde.

"Not from you!" Inojin called back.

"Yeah, he's fine." The Shinachiku said as he went back to helping Denki.

Inojin was currently focusing on making something through his Chōjū Giga (Super Beast Imitation Drawing). It looked to be sealing formulas in the design of snakes. Once finishing it up, he went through several hand seals.

"Fūinjutsu: Yamata no Hebi!" (Sealing Technique: Eight Branched Snake) Inojin exclaimed as he placed a hand onto the scroll as the sealing formulas shot out from the scroll, elongating out and moving like serpents that then gripped the nearby tree and started pulling it in, until it was torn right out from the ground and was absorbed into the scroll. "Success!" Inojin proclaimed with a proud smile and fist pump.

"Not bad. Now try the one with the chains." The Shinachiku from earlier said with a smile.

"I'm not taking orders from you!" Inojin shouted out before going back to making new jutsu through his scrolls. "I'm doing this next one because I feel like it. No other reason." Inojin added with a pout as he started painting designs of chains.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu!" (Shadow Sewing Technique) Shikadai called out nearby as his shadow extended towards a tree before unleashing several appendages made of shadows, looking similar to threads, as they then stabbed into the tree in several places. "Now let's try this! Kage Tsutsumu no Jutsu!" (Shadow Wrapping Technique) Shikadai shouted as several more thread-like shadows came out and wrapped tightly around the same tree. Shikadai focused as the grip of his shadows got tighter, until the tree started to crack and then soon enough, broke apart. "Damn. That took some effort… but I guess it's worth it with these results." Shikadai said with a hidden smirk as he wiped away some sweat from his forehead.

Nearby, Metal and another Shinachiku were standing across from one another, both in their Gōken (Strong Fist) stance. The two stared at one another with fierce gazes. They both tightened their fists then charged at one another.

"Chanaro!" Shinachiku shouted out as he and Metal let out battle cries with their fists cocked back, before thrusting them forward. The two moved their heads to the side, managing to avoid being hit in the face, but a moment later, an invisible force struck Shinachiku at the side of his face, sending him off to the side. He skidded a bit to the side on one leg with the other raised up a bit before halting and slamming it back onto the floor. "Not bad." Shinachiku said with a smirk as he rubbed his now bruised cheek.

"It still doesn't feel right though. It doesn't go far enough." Metal said as he raised his fist, looking at it as he clenched it tight.

"Hey, that's alright. You just started, but to be honest, you got a better grasp than I do on it. I've been training for a year and I' m still an amateur compared to Lee-sensei whenever I try it, but you're taking it like a fish to water, dattebaro. I'm confident that you'll be able to master this style faster than I will." Shinachiku said with a smile, encouraging Metal.

"Arigato, Shinachiku-kun." Metal thanked his fellow taijutsu disciple with a gracious smile.

"You ready to go again?" Shinachiku asked, getting back into his Gōken stance.

"Hai!" Metal agreed as he also got into a Gōken stance.

A distance away, Boruto let out a battle cry as he focused his chakra on his bokken with wind picking up and spiraling around it. He gritted his teeth as he focused on controlling the spiraling wind. He held the hilt with both hands tightly as he struggled to keep the wind chakra in check. He gritted his teeth as he focused to condense the wind nature. Bit by bit, he was managing it, but Boruto's arms started to tremble.

'Can't hold it any longer… got to let it fly, 'ttebasa!' Boruto thought to himself as he then unleashed a battle cry and delivered a slash that sent out a blade of wind release.

It cut through one tree and cut into another behind it before bursting, creating a shockwave of wind that sent the first tree flying away and the second one it cut into burst into pieces.

Boruto fell to his knees, panting with his face drenched in sweat.

"It's exhausting, I know." Tsubaki said as she stood beside the blonde.

"Arata-onii-chan makes it look easy. I mean, I've infused my chakra and chakra nature into my weapons before, but not on this level." Boruto said as he continued to pant.

"I know what you mean. This is a more advanced practice to what we are used to." Tsubaki said in response.

"I don't even know how he does it. He makes things look so easy when they're actually not." Boruto said with a frown.

"One of his many talents." Tsubaki said as a moment later she stepped away and got into an iaijutsu stance.

She took a deep breath through her nose and closed her eyes. Wind started to pick up around her as suddenly streams of chakra started to pour from her sheathed sword. Streams of chakra surrounded her as she let out a deep moan radiating with concentration. She gripped her hilt tightly as she focused all her strength into it but was also letting it flow naturally. She focused not only on the strength of the 'stream' she was emitting, but also on guiding the natural flow proper.

Tsubaki let out an exhale before taking a deep breath through her mouth. A moment later, her eyes snapped open as she unsheathed her katana and delivered a slash that formed a blade of chakra and wind.

The blade of chakra and wind raced forward, slicing through several trees before bursting into a dome of wind that sent trees flying and breaking them apart as they did.

Boruto stared in awe at the display of power, now rendered speechless as in just around two days, Tsubaki had managed to reach a new height in strength. Such a feat was astounding and truly belonged in the hands of a prodigy.

"Sugoi…" Boruto said breathlessly.

"I'm still not up to par myself, but I can feel myself getting closer." Tsubaki said as she turned to Boruto. "If you need assistance, I will gladly help." Tsubaki offered.

"Seriously?" Boruto asked with surprise.

"I'm sure there will be things you'll be able to catch up on that I will have difficulty in myself. After all, you managed to form chakra around your bokken instinctively and created an attack through it. This is something that takes years of practice where I come from." Tsubaki shared, surprising Boruto even further.

"Oh, really? Thanks, Tsubaki. And here I thought what I did was nothing special." Boruto said with a relieved and appreciative smile as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Only when comparing it to Arata's, but by our world's standards, that's a different story." Tsubaki said as she then extended her hand to him. "So, are we in agreement? I help you and you help me when needed?"

"Hell yeah!" Boruto said with a grin as he shook Tsubaki hand in earnest.

"Good. First thing you should know. You shouldn't just force it like you did before. You have to let it flow naturally as well. Like water." Tsubaki said as she released Boruto's hand.

"Like water?" Boruto questioned.

"Allow me to demonstrate. You just follow along the best that you can." Tsubaki said as she got into her iaijutsu stance.

"Okay." Boruto said as he mirrored the samurai's actions.

Arata noticed their interaction and development, which brought a smile to his face. Happy that they were both getting along and progressing very nicely. More or less.

"Onii-chan, am I doing this right?" Sarada asked, earning Arata's attention as he looked up into the artificial storm clouds to see something moving within and roaring a bit.

"Hn. I'd say so. You're picking this up rather quickly." Arata complimented.

"Only thanks to you." Sarada said with an appreciative smile and blush.

Kakashi watched with a hidden smile beneath this mask. He was so joyful and proud at the sight before them. Of them all.

"The more things change and the more they stay the same. The new generation will always surpass the previous. So on and so forth." Kakashi said to himself before gaining a pair of eye smiles.

.

.

Half the day had gone by, and everyone was feeling a bit winded. They weren't feeling as tired as they had been days ago, which was a clear improvement, but they still had to put in a lot of work today.

Safe to say, Shinachiku, Arata and Kakashi were proud.

The young group of eleven before them really were making strides and it's clear that they will be even stronger than thought possible. Perhaps even stronger than those ranked above them.

Time will tell, but for now, there is one more thing that needs to be tested.

"Alright everybody, line up!" Shinachiku called out, catching everyone's attention. "We're going to be doing a new little exercise. A game, if you will." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Game?" Wasabi questioned with a confused frown.

"Not to sound rude, Shinachiku-kun, but perhaps now isn't the time for a game." Denki said.

"Well, this game is different. It's one based around decisive planning, forethought and is a good simulation for the battlefield, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku retorted, still smiling.

"What kind of game is that?" Iwabe asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shinachiku turned to Arata and nodded, earning a nod back as then faster than the eye could see, Arata had sped around and delivered slashes along the ground, creating a large, checkered pattern all around the area between them all.

"Shogi." Shinachiku answered.

"Shogi?!" Boruto questioned with shock.

"This isn't going to play out like any shogi game I've ever taken part in, that's for sure." Shikadai said with a knowing frown.

"Right as ever, Shikadai. This game is going to have us as the chess pieces, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said, shocking everyone, before making a cross hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Shinachiku exclaimed as he made ten clones that occupied their own space on the checkered ground.

"Na-Na-Na-Nani?!" Inojin exclaimed in shock and a sense of worry. "Y-You mean-"

"That's right. You guys and my clones will be the pieces for this game." Shinachiku answered with a grin.

"This is interesting." Kakashi said, rubbing his chin, very intrigued by this development.

"Hold up, hold up, how the hell is this supposed to work?!" Iwabe questioned with a raised voice, not seeing the concept of real-life shogi.

"It's simple, really." A different male voice spoke from one of Shinachiku's clones, catching everyone's attention. "You just got to take out the king… and that's gonna be me!" The clone said, looking at them with a grin and red slit eyes.

"Uh, what's going on?" Namida asked with worry as she and the others were on their guard now.

"Mamoru?! Why are you taking control of my clone!?" Shinachiku questioned, shocked that his tailed beast had taken possession of one of his clones.

"Chang of pace. Now shut it. I'm gonna explain it to them." The Mamoru possessed Shinachiku, or to as he's called like this, Shina-Moru, stated.

"You could have given me a head up, dattebaro." Shinachiku said with a pout and his arms crossed.

"It goes like this. Me and these other clones are on this side, you guys are on that side. Designate who's the king, and they call the shots. Which moves to make and who goes. They can even place which positions the others will be." Shina-Moru stated with a nonchalant attitude.

"Okay~, that makes it clear enough." Boruto said with a dull expression. "Guess that means Shikadai's the King since he plays this all the time, dattebasa."

"Agreed." Sarada said as the rest nodded.

"Good, you got that much figured out, but there's another little tidbit." Shina-Moru said with a smirk, catching everyone's attention again. "Seeing as this is no ordinary game of shogi, that means that to conquer the other side isn't going to be as simple as, I'm a higher rank and I take your life instantly kind of deal. You guys gotta work for the space that's being occupied."

"What's that now?" Wasabi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"In order to determine who gets the space and takes out the piece, you got to engage in a little throwdown where whoever lands the first blow, takes the space and takes that 'piece' out of the game! Simple as that." Shina-Moru said with a toothy grin.

"That's not fair!" Shikadai protested.

"Yeah! We all know Shinachiku can kick all our asses, so how is any of this doable!" Inojin pointed out with annoyance.

"Well, at least they know pecking order." Shina-Moru said to the original Shinachiku, ignoring the deep frowns and half-lidded glares from the genin in question.

"Don't worry, none of my clones are gonna pull a Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere) or any type of ninjutsu. They won't even be using the Hachimon (Eight Gates) or Bijū Chakura Mōdo (Tailed Beast Chakra Mode). Just pure taijutsu. Nothing more, nothing less." Shinachiku explained with an assuring yet nervous smile and his hand up a bit.

"Given your strength, that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better." Chocho retorted with a frown and half-lidded eyes.

"Yeah, last thing I want is to be struck down by your monstrous strength, 'ttebasa." Boruto said with a frown and shrug.

"Don't call it that. Especially in front of my mother, or she'll make you regret it." Shinachiku said with a frown and half-lidded glare.

"Same goes for my mom too, Boruto." Sarada said to the golden-haired blonde, who now gained a nervous, even fearful, look on his face.

"So, all of you will just be using the Gōken then." Metal stated more than asked.

"That's right." Shinachiku answered with a wink and thumbs up.

"Well, what about him? I doubt that fox ghost thing or whatever will do anything other than use that form of his." Iwabe interjected, pointing at Shina-Moru.

"That's where you're wrong. I know the Gōken too." Shina-Moru said with a grin.

"Huh?" Everyone looked at the possessed clone with confusion.

"Hmm?" Kakashi blinked his eyes, now being more intrigued.

"Everything Shina knows, I know. Although we're both separate, we're connected as well. Anything either one of us experiences, the other shares as if it were their own. That includes any sort of training one has experienced." Shina-Moru explained, surprising the rest.

"Wait, for real?" Chocho questioned.

"For real indeed! I recall back on our mission that when in their giant fox state that they were still using the Gōken! It was incredible!" Metal recounted with amazement as his eyes shined.

"Yup. My strength is his, and his strength is mine. Always has been, always will be." Shinachiku said with a smile as he rested his arm on a grinning Shina-Moru's shoulder.

Kakashi blinked his eyes once more in surprise at this.

'Come to think of it… the few times that I have seen Naruto use his Kurama state, they never really used any actual taijutsu with it. Just Rasengans, Rasenshurikens with a little Sennin Mōdo here and there, but never actual katas from any taijutsu practices Naruto had learned. Just swings from a claw or their tails.' Kakashi recounted as he looked to Shinachiku and Mamoru. 'Guess this is an added benefit now, being much closer to each other than their own fathers are. However, if they're both connected so tightly, could that also lead to some disadvantages as well?'

"Alright, who's ready to get this started? Because I feel like we've wasted enough time!" Shina-Moru said with an excited grin and slamming his fist into the palm of his hand, well, the clone's hand.

"Sorry about his behavior. Mamoru can get a little too excited sometimes." Shinachiku said with an apologetic smile and sweat drop.

"Oi, don't apologize for me, bakayaro!" Shina-Moru exclaimed with gritted teeth.

"So… this is Shinachiku's tailed beast, eh?" Wasabi said with a frown and squinted eyes.

"His personality is very different from Shina-kun's usual politeness." Namida mentioned with a frown and squinted eyes.

"I know. So night and day." Chocho added with a frown and squinted eyes.

"Honestly, he's reminded me more of Boruto, if he had a more vulgar attitude." Sarada shared her opinion with a frown and squinted.

"Oi, Nani?!" Boruto shouted out, feeling insulted.

"No more wasting time! Let's get started, dammit!" Shina-Moru shouted, gritting his teeth with a sneer and intense glare.

'So night and day.' Everyone thought in unison.

"So weird." Inojin muttered.

"Well, we're in your hands now, Shikadai." Denki said to the Nara.

"I'll do my best. Although, to be honest, I don't see the point in putting labels on you guys since this is also going to depend on your skills as well." Shikadai said.

"Eh. It was optional." Shina-Moru said with a shrug.

"I call the front lines!" Iwabe called out as he hurried over to a spot.

"Classic Iwabe." Shinachiku said with a nostalgic smile.

"I'll hang back." Inojin said.

"I shall be in the front lines with Iwabe!" Metal declared as he hurried over towards the spot beside Iwabe.

Everyone got into position with the lineup being Iwabe, Metal, Wasabi, Chocho, Boruto in the front lines, while Sarada, Denki, Tsubaki, Namida and Boruto were in the back row with Shikadai standing behind them all with his hands in his pockets.

"Alright. Looks like we're set up." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Everyone, I'll do my best." Shikadai said to his friends.

"And we'll do the same!" Chocho said with a smile.

"We will give it everything we have and then more!" Metal shouted with a fist pump and fire in his eyes.

"That's what I'm hoping." Shina-Moru said with a wide grin, revealing his canines. "Don't disappoint me." Shina-Moru said as his eyes flashed red, making the others a bit nervous.

"Ano yaro~." (Bastard) Iwabe said with gritted teeth and an angered glare. "Make the move Shikadai. I'm just rearing to teach this fox or whatever he is a lesson."

"Aw, Iwabe, it's so nice to see you never change. Although, you better hold the fox comment while I'm like this. No need for others to get the wrong idea." Shina-Moru teased with a grin, causing Iwabe to growl in rage while the others had their eyes widened with the girls blushing red.

"Just start the damn fight!" Shinachiku shouted out in embarrassment with an annoyed expression and reddened cheeks.

"R-Right." Shikadai agreed as he cleared his throat. "Iwabe, go-"

"Right!" Iwabe shouted as he sped forward.

"Hold on! I didn't tell you where to go!" Shikadai called out to the taller genin.

"Doton: Gagankon!" (Earth Release: Rock Brick Cane) Iwabe shouted as he slammed his jō into the ground, forming a large mallet head made of stone and brought it down upon the nearest clone, only for it to simply move the side, but Iwabe anticipated this. "Doton: Dosekidake!" Iwabe exclaimed as he finished the hand seals at a fast pace as large spikes shot from the ground and tried stabbing through the clone.

The Shinachiku clone vanished from sight, surprising Iwabe.

"Overhead!" Boruto called out, causing Iwabe to look up to see the clone was high above him.

"Not done yet!" Iwabe shouted as he focused more, causing more stone spikes to shoot up and tried to stab the clone in the air.

The clone moved his body and pushed off of the first spike that tried to stab through him. He started dodging and using the earth spikes to elevate himself further upward by pushing off of them.

"Jihibukai Tsūtenkyaku!" (Merciful Heavenly Foot of Pain) The Shinachiku clone said as he came down upon Iwabe with his leg raised high.

"Doton: Domu!" (Earth Release: Earth Spear) Iwabe surrounded his arms in earth release, causing them to earn a darker pigment as he blocked the leg with his arms.

Despite holding the super strength back, the clone's kick was still strong enough to cause cracks beneath Iwabe's feet and delivering intense vibrations in his armored arms from the force of the kick.

The clone pushed off of the arms, flipping back onto the ground and dashing forward, delivering a punch to Iwabe's solar plexus, causing his eyes to bulge and cheeks to puff up as he was then sent rolling back.

Everyone watched as Iwabe rolled past them and came to a halt, now lying on his back in defeat.

"… You sure you were holding back the super strength?" Inojin asked the clone.

"Trust me, he was." Shina-Moru answered himself.

"Goddammit." Wasabi said with a frown.

.

.

It was later in the day and everyone on Shikadai's side was already on the ground, groaning in pain and panting in fatigue, while on Shina-Moru's side, he and four other clones remained.

"Honestly… I'm shocked at how impressed I am. You guys actually managed to take down four of our own." Shina-Moru admitted, pleasantly surprised by this development.

"Yeah, but those clones were taken down by Boruto, Sarada and Tsubaki." Chocho complained with a frown.

"Hey, don't count me out! I managed to take one down too!" Wasabi called out.

"Yeah. Those whiskers helped with your increased range of perception. You knew what moves my clone was about to make before it did so." Shinachiku mentioned, recalling the memory of the clone that Wasabi had defeated.

"Yeah, but she barely defeated it." Iwabe pointed out with a pout.

"Still one more than you!" Wasabi shouted at the taller teen.

"All you did was graze it! You're just lucky clones are sensitive to hits!" Iwabe retorted.

"Okay, okay, no need for fighting amongst yourselves. You did good. I'd say better than we had expected. I mean, to be honest, you guys were more at a disadvantage because I already knew what to expect since I've seen these moves from my own friends. Taking out four of the clones is a huge milestone, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with an encouraging smile.

"He is right. We have seen your counterparts in action, so we knew what to expect in terms of abilities." Arata backed up Shinachiku's claim.

"Well, that would explain why he moved too well when I fought him. I was even enhancing my strength and speed with lightning release!" Chocho whined with a pout.

"Well, given who I spar with so often… I'm kind of used to dealing with that. Even in my base state." Shinachiku said, rubbing the back of his head as he glanced towards Arata. "You know what? Considering how well you guys fought, how about we all go to Yakiniku Q together? My treat." Shinachiku offered.

"You're playing a dangerous game." Arata whispered, causing Shinachiku to chuckle nervously as they both glanced towards Chocho.

"As much as I would love some delicious, delicious barbeque, I just… can't." Chocho said with a pout.

"Whoa, whoa, seriously?" Shinachiku questioned, now feeling bad.

"Honestly, I'm feeling the same way." Denki confessed with a frown.

"Same." Wasabi confessed.

"Yeah." Everyone else agreed.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourselves. Like Shinachiku said, this is a huge accomplishment." Kakashi spoke up.

"Well, even so, it just feels like…" Metal couldn't finish his sentence.

"We're not getting anywhere." Namida finished for him with a frown.

"That's not true." Shinachiku interjected.

"We know… but it just feels that way." Wasabi admitted with a pout.

"It's only been a few days since we all came back from that mission. You're not feeling it now, but you have come far. You'll notice the change when you least expect it." Arata said.

"Arata-kun… I always trust you word, but this time… it doesn't feel like I can. I just don't feel any different. At least, not as much as I was hoping to feel." Chocho confessed with a pout.

Boruto and Sarada frowned upon hearing these words as they knew all too well what they were talking about.

'They're starting to sound how I was.' Boruto and Sarada thought in unison.

"Man, what a pain." Shina-Moru said, sounding both nonchalant and rude as he lightly scratched his cheek.

"What was that?!" Iwabe started with gritted teeth.

"You wanna say something, Fox-Boy?!" Wasabi added, gritted her own canines.

"You guys are feeling this way because you don't see the end game. You asked for strength, but you put yourself in a race where it feels like you're on a wheel with no end, because the strength you're learning isn't even technically your own. You don't know where it'll lead you and you hate that. It's tearing you up inside because you can't even see the beautiful horizon where it will lead. All you guys are staring at is the ground. Not how close you're getting or how far you've come." Shina-Moru said, picking at his teeth nonchalantly while the others tensed up a bit with frowns, unable to respond. Even Iwabe and Wasabi, the most vocal, couldn't argue with the tailed beast's words. "Tell you what. There was this idea I gave Shinachiku on a way to help you guys a bit, but he was hesitant on it." Shina-Moru confessed, surprising everyone.

"Wait, what?" Wasabi questioned.

"There was a way to help us that you didn't talk about?" Metal asked, shocked that Shinachiku withheld such information.

"What the hell, man?! Why didn't you tell us!?" Iwabe shouted with new aggravation and felt a bit betrayed.

"Because 'help' is subjective in this situation. I mean, it can help, but… there's also some drawbacks." Shinachiku told with a bit of a worried frown.

"What drawbacks?" Tsubaki asked as she and the others were curious.

"Hmm?" Kakashi was now interested and concerned upon this new development.

"Well, you see… um…"

"Remember when I was sharing my chakra and everything back on that mission? Well, I can also transfer messages to you all mentally. Ask Boruto. I did that for him like twice or so already." Shina-Moru shared, surprising the rest.

"Is this true?" Denki asked in surprise.

"Oh. Yeah, he did." Boruto answered. "Wait, you're gonna tell them what to do mentally? How is that any different?" Boruto asked the tailed beast possessed clone.

"Not that stupid. I can also transfer more than messages. I can also transfer memories to others." Shina-Moru said, causing everyone's eyes to widen, except Shinachiku and Arata.

Kakashi remained composed, but he too was surprised by this development and now knew why Shinachiku was so hesitant.

'I see…' Kakashi thought to himself with a hidden frown.

"M-Memories?" Iwabe questioned in shock.

"Wait… a-are you saying…" Shikadai was unable to finish his sentence.

Suddenly a golden tail of chakra came from Shina-Moru's back side and curved around in front of him.

"It's simple. I can transfer all of Shina's memories about your counterparts to you and you'll know how strong you can get, and maybe even get the gist on what to do. This way, you can get a good enough picture on what to do and what your aim is." Shina-Moru explained.

"That quickly? Really?" Iwabe asked, inching over a bit.

"Don't be too hasty. This isn't something to just jump into immediately." Shinachiku tried to warn his friend.

"But we'll know-"

"Everything. You'll know… everything. At least, in perspective." Shinachiku said with a frown.

Everyone was silent as they stared at Shinachiku.

"You all should think this over for a bit." Kakashi spoke up again. "From the sounds of it, this is a path that once taken cannot be reversed. This could affect you in unfavorable ways, just as much as favorable. Perhaps even more so."

"Any road to gain strength faster always comes with more drawbacks than at first glance. It's a fact of life. So if you do take this chance, be prepared for what may come." Arata added.

Everyone looked at one another will hesitant expressions. They all then looked towards themselves, thinking about how strong they were and knowing about how strong they could become. To know how far they can go, and how much farther it'll be until then.

Wasabi looked down at her hands with a worried expression. She thought about how hard it might be to see another version of herself, one raised by the unofficial rivals of her own clan. The thought scared her, but as she stayed there thinking about it, she wondered if just knowing of it was causing more pain than even seeing it for herself. The thoughts continued to plague her since she came back from the mission.

Did she need closure more than power?

She wasn't sure, but something inside of her told her… go for it.

Gritted her teeth, Wasabi growled a bit as she got up and headed over towards Shina-Moru, surprising everyone.

"Alright, what do I do?" Wasabi asked with a frown and eyes that reflected hesitance yet intense resolve.

"Just touch my tail and I'll transfer the memories by connecting my chakra with your own." Shina-Moru explained, pointing to his chakra tail.

"W-Wasabi-chan! Are you really going to-"

"I want to get this over with!" Wasabi shouted, interrupting Namida and making her flinch from the volume. 'I… I have to get this over with… or it will keep plaguing me.' Wasabi thought with gritted teeth.

'Confliction, but also much resolution. Ah well… in the end it's still her decision.' Shina-Moru thought as he could sense the turmoil of emotions within Wasabi.

"Alright, I'll do it too!" Iwabe exclaimed as he got up and hurried over.

"Oi, hold up! Don't just rush into it like that, Iwabe!" Shikadai said.

"He's right. Think about it. While there will be things that will be helpful to know, there might also be things that will affect you personally as well." Shinachiku tried to reason with the taller teen, knowing exactly what could affect Iwabe.

"Don't underestimate me, Shina! I know what I'm doing!" Iwabe retorted.

'Same old, Iwabe.' Shinachiku thought with a frown. "Alright, alright. Just don't complain to me if something does make you feel down, dattebaro."

"Tch." Was all Iwabe responded with.

"I-I wish to see as well!" Metal said as he stood up straight and hurried over.

"Same here!" Chocho said, surprising the rest. 'No matter what bad I see, I want to know what I can be fully capable of. For my friends and for myself! And maybe for Arata-kun as well.' Chocho thought as she marched forward.

"You know what? Screw it. I'll do it too." Inojin said with a shrug as he got to his feet and walked over. "Better I know this stuff myself and work on it on my own time than keep being lectured by Ō no Gaku (King Forehead) there." He added making Shinachiku frown and glare at him with annoyance.

"How troublesome." Shikadai said with a frown, before noticing Denki getting up to move as well. "You too, Denki?"

"Well, I get that there might be some unpleasant consequences, but I feel like it's worth the risk if it helps me get a grasp on the technology that I plan on building through seeing this other Denki's own." Denki said with an expression of clear hesitance but still managed to gain enough resolve to follow through.

Namida watched as everyone was walking over, but her eyes were mainly on Wasabi, who was the only one of their team to be up there, ready to gain some life changing knowledge.

"I'll try it too." Namida spoke up as she made her way over.

"Namida?" Wasabi looked at her friend in surprise, not expecting her to join them.

"I don't want you to go through this alone, Wasabi-chan." Namida said to Wasabi, offering her a smile.

Wasabi blinked her eyes in surprise before sensing another presence on her other side, making her turn to see Tsubaki.

"I suppose I'll give it a shot as well. I don't like the idea of being left out by you guys." Tsubaki said, keeping her eyes closed.

"Tsubaki-chan…" Namida spoke the samurai's name with a small smile as she and Wasabi knew that her reasons were actually the same as Namida's.

Shikadai blinked his eyes, before sighing.

"How troublesome. Fine. I'm in." The Nara said as he walked over while rubbing the back of his head. "So, we just grab onto this thing, and we'll gain all of Shina's memories of our counterparts? Just like that?" Shikadai wanted to make sure that was indeed the whole story.

"Yup. That's the whole deal, but remember, there's no takebacks when this is done. So, you all better be absolutely sure that you want to take this route. Otherwise, you might need to look for therapy once it's over. Existentialism can be a serious bitch." Shina-Moru explained.

Everyone looked down at the golden chakra tail, all hesitant, but once they all looked to one another, they had suddenly gained resolute expressions and grabbed hold of the tail.

"Yare yare." Arata said with his eyes closed as Shinachiku frowned beside him,

Golden chakra suddenly shined from where their palms met the tail, before it started pouring into them with the golden chakra leaking into their arms and shining within as it looked like it was traveling inside through their veins. Everyone stared at the shining golden chakra flowing within them in shock, just before images suddenly started flashing through their minds.

Their eyes widened greatly as the images of their 'other selves' flashed through their consciousness.

They were seeing it all. The lives of their counterparts as shinobi and citizens of Konoha.

The flood of memories shocked them all. Some were more shocked than others.

They were all flabbergasted, amazed and speechless. They were in awe at the lives their other selves led, but then they started feeling a bit… saddened. They felt bad that their 'other selves' had managed to push themselves this far. They all felt… inferior. Some more than others.

They were starting to hate it.

Once Shina-Moru was sure he had given them all the memories of their specific 'other', or at least what Shinachiku witnessed, he stopped. His tail dispersed, causing everyone to gasp as they finally realized it was all over.

Once it was finished, everyone remained silent for what felt like a good while.

Wasabi suddenly fell to her knees, alerting her team while the rest were still in shock by their own experiences.

"Wasabi-chan…" Namida spoke her friend's name with clear concern.

"… So, that's what it looks like." Wasabi said, mainly to herself, as she stared at the ground with somber eyes.

"I…" Iwabe spoke with his teeth slightly grit as he shook a bit. "I…" He tightened his fist hard as it shook intensely. "I COULD HAVE BEEN A SENJU!?" Iwabe shouted out with shocked, widened eyes.

"Man… what an annoying sister I could have ended up with." Shikadai said with a frown and his eyes closed as he rubbed the side of his head.

"I COULD HAVE BEEN A SENJU?!" Iwabe shouted again.

"T-Tenten-san becomes my kaa-san?!" Metal asked with utter shock and feeling super anxious and embarrassed with his face turning red.

"I COULD HAVE BEEN A SENJU?! REALLY!?" Iwabe shouted as he looked towards Shinachiku and Arata, with his eyes mainly on the former.

"So… I'm a bastard child with several elder half-siblings who hate me… how upsetting." Tsubaki said, speaking with a tone that kept her disappointment hidden and hanging her head to hide her face as her eyes were shadowed.

"Yeah~, like we said. There were going to be some consequences that wouldn't have the best effect." Shinachiku said, rubbing the back of his neck, before Iwabe suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Oi! You're telling me this other Iwabe is a descendant of the same clan as the Shodaime, Nidaime and Godaime, while I'm just a regular guy!? How the hell is any of that fair?!" Iwabe shouted with anime tears pouring.

"W-Well… the multiverse works in mysterious ways, I guess." Shinachiku said with a nervous grin, eye smiles and a sweat drop.

"Is that why you're teaching me the stuff I know now?! Because they're the dollar store versions of what this other me has!? The Hell?!" Iwabe shouted in annoyance and disappointment. "Why the Hell Did I Have to Be the Unfavored One While Another Me Gets to Be Part of That Badass Clan?! Huh!? Huh?! You Tell Me!" Iwabe shouted as he started shaking Shinachiku back and forth really fast.

"I don't know, man! Take it up with whoever runs things in universe or something! Just stop shaking me!" Shinachiku said as he was getting dizzy from being shook back and forth.

"I think we should call it a day for now." Kakashi said with a worrisome pair of eye smiles.

"That… might help." Sarada said with her eyes scanning through all of her still shocked and even melancholic friends.

"Uh… yeah. That-that might help, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said as he gently pushed away Iwabe's arms.

"Tch. Whatever." Iwabe said as he turned away with his hands in his pockets.

Shinachiku frowned as he watched Iwabe starting to walk away.

As Iwabe walked by the others, Wasabi started to get back to her feet and started to walk away.

"Wasabi-chan…" Namida looked to her best friend with concern. "Are you-"

"I just want to go home, Namida." Wasabi said, without turning towards her friend, making the pigtailed girl frown.

"Yeah. Home sounds nice right about now." Chocho said with a shrug.

"Yeah, it does." Inojin said as he and Chocho started to leave.

"I-I don't know if I can go home. How can I face papa with this knowledge I have now?!" Metal exclaimed, filled with much anxiety.

"Man, this whole thing was troublesome. What the hell possessed us to go along with it?" Shikadai said with a frown as he started to walk away, with the rest following his lead, except Boruto and Sarada.

"Uh… good job everyone. I guess we can save the barbeque for another time." Shinachiku said, trying to be supportive and enthusiastic for the rest, who just promptly ignored him. "Ja ne." Shinachiku frowned with his shoulders slumped.

"Well… that could have gone better." Boruto commented.

"Dammit, Mamoru! What the Hell Were You Thinking!?" Shinachiku yelled at his tailed beast.

"What? They made their choice. We made that very clear. What they're feeling is on them. None of us should be beating ourselves up over it." Shina-Moru said with a shrug.

"He's not wrong." Arata said, seeing the same logic as the tailed beast within the clone.

"Unfortunately." Sarada agreed with a deflated frown.

"Okay… but something has to be done, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a frown.

"True. That's why I'll just do what I always do and let you handle the rest. Ja ne." Shina-Moru said before the clone he was using dispersed.

"That damn fox." Shinachiku said with a slightly annoyed frown.

"So… now what?" Sarada asked.

"I'll come up with something. I hope. You guys can just go on ahead." Shinachiku said, gesturing for his younger half-siblings to leave.

"Alright. Good luck." Boruto said as he and Sarada left frowning, worrying for their friends.

Arata watched as the Uchiha-Haruno and Uzumaki-Hyūga left until they were out of sight. He then turned his gaze to the sunshine blonde beside him, who was looking down in thought.

"You look like you need a walk." Arata suggested.

"One wouldn't hurt, I guess." Shinachiku said in response as he pulled out a ramen bar and started chowing down on it. He and Arata started to leave, walking side by side. "Oh, Kakashi-ojisan-"

"He already left." Arata informed his friend.

"Figures." Shinachiku said with a frown.

.

.

Within Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water), residing within a large spacious cave with an open roof and holes scattered around the floor that fired geysers of steam every now and again, was a circular column that had the symbol of Jashin carved into it.

"two out of five. We're practically halfway there. Sort of." Denji said as he, Kana and Danuja stood around the circular platform they were on while Ayumu and Ahmya floated around.

"Yeah, we can see as clear as day, dumbass." Kana said to the stitch riddled man with a frown.

"Urusai!" Denji shot back with his teeth grit.

The scrolls in question were lying atop two separate pedestals with three more vacant nearby.

"So, considering we're missing three of a kind, I'm guessing they're already on route to retrieve the one in Kumo?" Danuja asked, albeit rhetorically.

"Knowing them it's gonna take a while." Denji responded.

"No self-control. The bastards." Kana said with a disapproving frown.

"You're one to talk." Denji retorted, earning a growl from Kana as her chakra flared up a bit.

"Are we really just supposed to stay here until they come back? This steam is nice for a while, but it's drastically going to affect my body negatively if I stay here much longer." Danuja said with a frown and fanning himself with his hand.

"No one cares!" Kana shouted with annoyance.

"You can always just peel that awful skin of yours like you always do. At least then you'll look prettier given the change that comes with." Ahmya suggested.

"How dare you! I shed the forms I occupy by choice, and both sides of me are equally beautiful, you zombified looking wench!" Danuja shouted with gritted teeth and glaring at the floating woman.

"I'm just gonna move this along." Ayumu said, laying down front-first with his hands pressed against his cloud.

"How?" Denji questioned with a frown.

"I'm going to go ask our master." Ayumu said, causing the others to gain stoic demeanors. "I'll be back." Ayumu said as he and his cloud started to ascend upward and out through the opening above.

"Yeah, but knowing your lazy ass, that'll take longer than we know you take." Denji said with a frown.

.

.

Shinachiku was on his fifth ramen bar as he and Arata walked through the village, the sunshine blonde still in thought.

"Okay, you got to go easy with those." Arata said, subtly showing genuine concern through his tone.

"I can't help it. Ramen usually calms my nerves and opens my mind, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said, continuing to chew his delicious food bar of goodness.

"How's the 'mind opening' part?" Arata asked.

"Not… so well." Shinachiku said with a pout. "Dammit, I hate what happened! I mean, I get that they made their choice and wanted to know what they can be truly capable of, but still… I hate to see our friends like this."

"Hn." Arata agreed.

"I mean, there's got to be something we can do to make this better." Shinachiku said, looking down with a frown. "Karaoke or ramen won't help here, will it?"

"It can't fix everything." Arata said in response.

"I hate that it can't." Shinachiku said, pouting again. "Why can't the good times help like they normally do?" Shinachiku wondered with gloom.

"Mm-mmm." Arata shrugged in response.

Shinachiku blinked his eyes as he started thinking things over. Thinking his words over. It was then his eyes started to widen little by little.

"Or… maybe they can! One in particular!" Shinachiku said, grinning with new hope.

"Hn?" Arata looked at Shinachiku with mild confusion.

"Come on! We got to do some last-minute shopping at Tenten-san's shop!" Shinachiku said as he hurried off, leaving a surprised Arata, who followed after him a moment later.

.

.

"Inojin, how many times do I have to tell you, no painting at the dinner table." Ino reprimanded her son, who was currently painting on his scroll at a fast pace.

"Huh? Oh. Sorry, kaa-san. I just felt… antsy. Like I had to do this." Inojin said with a frown as he put away his scroll.

"Why? Did something happen today?" Sai asked, gaining genuine intrigue and concern from his son's demeanor.

"Yeah…" Inojin looked down with a frown and somber eyes catching his parents' attention.

"You want to talk about it?" Sai offered.

"Well… today after training, Shinachiku's tailed beast-"

"Wait, he has one?" Ino asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Long story. Anyway, he showed us his chakra tail and said that if we wanted to, we could see how far we can go by transferring Shinachiku's memories of our other selves into us." Inojin said, shocking his parents.

"Did you-"

"We did." Inojin said, hanging his head, frowning. "I just… I feel so left behind when compared to this other me. I mean, he accomplished some jutsu that I am kicking myself for not thinking of! It's not fair! How come I never-"

"Inojin. Never focus on 'what could have been', but on 'what can be'. Take it from me." Ino said to her son with a stern expression.

"Kaa-san?" Inojin looked at his mother with slight surprise and confusion.

"Do you know how often I've kicked myself feeling like what I'm doing feels less than what could have been compared to my colleagues? Enough times to know that moping about it doesn't help at all. Instead of feeling bad about yourself, take advantage of what you experienced. You said that you now know what you can be capable of, so don't waste it in favor of whining about how far behind you are. Just reach for it, or you'll end up regretting it. Understand?" Ino lectured her son, still keeping firm.

"Well… yeah… but-"

"Inojin… the last person you should feel jealous of is yourself." Ino said, remaining stern.

"You mother is right. There's no need. You may be different, but you're still Inojin. What's there to be sad of over that?" Sai said with a smile.

Inojin's eyes widened in surprise, before they softened. Thinking it over, his parents brought up some solid points. He just felt… so inferior compared to this other Inojin. Now, he realized that just because this other Inojin is stronger than him at the moment, it doesn't mean he can't get to that point as well. Just because other Inojin is so far ahead, it doesn't mean he can't catch up if he tried hard enough.

He just needs to try. Even if this other him remains so far ahead… it will not waver him. Not any longer.

"Okay… I'll give it all I got!" Inojin said with a new look of determination and a pair of fist pumps.

"That's the spirit!" Ino said with a bright smile, proud of her son's resolve being found once more.

"So, you saw this other you through Shinachiku's memories… anything special that happened compared to here?" Sai asked, deciding to change the subject since it was now resolved.

"Nothing really. Except that I could have had a younger sister." Inojin said, resuming his meal as his mother suddenly spat out some tea she was drinking while his father's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?!" Ino exclaimed in shock.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah… this other Inojin has a younger sister. Her name is Inori. She looks just like you kaa-san, but with some black hair in there she gets from tou-san. Almost like it was a paint brush with some ink on it." Inojin explained, continuing to enjoy his meal.

Sai and Ino stared at their son, before looking towards one another.

"So… another you had the time to help bring another child into this world with his loving wife, eh?" Ino 'questioned' with a deep frown and her arms crossed.

'Uh oh.'

.

.

Meanwhile, at the Nara residence, Shikadai had managed to make it in time for dinner where he sat down with his mom, dad and adoptive cousin, along with that same cousin's team. He was explaining what had happened today.

"An older sister?" Temari questioned, hiding her surprise with a calm demeanor as she grabbed a piece of gyoza with her chopsticks.

"Oh boy." Shikamaru said with a frown.

"What's she like?" Yodo asked with genuine curiosity.

"Basically like kaa-san, but with black hair and the Nara ticks here and there. Honestly, I'm lucky. She looked to have been a real pain." Shikadai said with a frown.

'Oh joy.' Shikamaru thought with a frown, glancing at his wife, who smirked.

"What was her name?" Araya asked.

"Shikako." Shikadai answered.

"Figures." Temari said as she took another bite of her dinner.

"I know this is going to sound mean but… I'm glad I'm an only child. If I had a sister like that-"

"You'd be even stronger than you are now." Temari said with a smirk, causing Shikadai to flinch in surprise. "If she really is anything like me." Temari said giving a wink.

"As troublesome as it is to admit, she's not wrong." Shikamaru admitted with a bit of an unnerved yet somewhat happy smile.

"Are… are you serious?" Shikadai wondered aloud, surprised that even his father was agreeing with his mother. 'I would be stronger with someone like that around… how?' Shikadai wondered to himself in thought.

"Hmph. Your parents are very smart and humble." Yodo said with a smirk.

"Nani? I get the smart part, but humble? What the heck are you talking about?" Shikadai questioned Yodo's logic.

"If you don't see it, then they're absolutely right. You still have a long way to go." Yodo said closing her eyes with her smirk widening.

"Say what? Now you're just being complicated! What a drag." Shikadai complained, frowning at the smirking Yodo.

'Oh boy.' Shikadai thought with a small nervous grin.

All the while Temari couldn't help but smile at this little exchange.

Shinki in the meantime was busy in thought, recalling the details Shikadai went through over his experiences in training and other things today.

'Won only through taijutsu… Shinachiku Uzumaki… I wonder… how similar are our experiences… and how different they were all at the same time.' Shinki thought to himself as memories of the final rounds of the Chunin Exams flashed through his mind.

.

.

Wasabi had managed to make it home in time for dinner. She walked in, took off her sandals and sat down for dinner. She was having a hard time looking her parents in the eye.

"Wasabi, honey… is something wrong?" Mazuma asked, showing clear concern for her daughter.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! It's just… training was, um…" Wasabi was still having a hard time looking at her parents.

"Did you get hurt?" Mazuma asked.

"Of course she didn't! Look at her! She may be scuffed up a bit, but she isn't hurt! She's an Izuno, through and through!" Daruma said with a huge grin.

Wasabi finally looked up at her parents with a surprised expression. When she looked at them, she saw her father's grinning face and her mother's soft smile. Her father's words got through to her as now all the awkward feelings that she had before had just vanished, and in its place was pride. Pride in who she is and where she came from… and who she came from.

"Thanks, papa." Wasabi thanked her father with a grateful smile, earning a thumbs up and widened grin.

"So, learn anything cool today?" Daruma asked his daughter.

"You bet! Watch this!" Wasabi then went through a pair of hand seals and focused chakra to her face, creating elongated cat whiskers made of chakra.

"Oi! Sugoi!" Both her parents exclaimed in awe.

"Are those actual cat whiskers?" Daruma asked with new excitement.

"Sort of. They're called Chakura Hige (Chakra Whiskers). I use them to extend my sensory abilities. They work just like the real deal." Wasabi explained as she then brought up her hand and sent chakra to her fingernails, causing elongated claws made of chakra to come from her digits. "And these are my Chakura Tsume (Chakra Claws). With precise chakra control, I can control not only the length, but also the density of these claws. They may not look it, but I'm pouring in enough to surround my arm up to my elbow. I can leave a nasty scar with these things." Wasabi said, lightly boasting with a smile.

"Sugoi!" Daruma exclaimed with a proud smile and clapping his hands.

"Absolutely amazing, Wasabi!" Mazuma praised her daughter and mirrored her husband's actions.

"You really have improved a lot! You got to show your O bāchan this! She'll be thrilled!" Daruma suggested.

"My O bāchan… yeah." Wasabi looked to her claws with somber eyes as her smile faltered a bit. 'This stuff… wasn't it thanks to another O bāchan?' Wasabi thought to herself as the memories she attained flooded in with the scary and prideful spiky haired head of the Inuzuka clan coming to mind.

"With skills like these, you might even be able to become Hokage in no time!" Daruma said with pride and support for his daughter.

"Eh? Hokage? Uh, isn't that a bit too soon? I'm not even a Chunin yet." Wasabi said with a nervous smile and her hands up in defense.

Wasabi then sensed something in the kitchen nearby, making her turn her head towards it.

"What's wrong, Wasabi?" Mazuma asked her daughter before turning to where she was looking as she heard some buzzing in her kitchen. "Oh, it's that darn horsefly. I haven't been able to get rid of him for a week now." Mazuma complained with a pout, before suddenly her daughter vanished and appeared midair in the kitchen, slapping her hands together. "Wa-Wasabi?" Mazuma spoke her daughter's name in shock.

The brunette girl landed on her feet and pulled her hands back to see she had caught and killed the horsefly.

"Ew… I think I can see its guts." Wasabi said with a disgusted frown.

"Wasabi!" Both her parents called out her name as she turned only to be glomped into a group hug by the pair.

"That was amazing, Wasabi!" Mazuma said with glee.

"I didn't even see you move! You just appeared! Almost as if you had teleported! You truly are amazing! There's no doubt that you can become Hokage now!" Daruma said with pure joy and pride in his daughter's new capabilities.

"I just… appeared?" Wasabi questioned in shock. 'Wait a second… I-I didn't even take off my weights when I got home! I'm still weighed down right now!' Wasabi realized with widened eyes. She then looked at her hand as her chakra claws dispersed, staring at her hand with awe. 'I am getting stronger… and I didn't even notice how much!' Wasabi's memories of her training came to her. 'It's all been worth it.' Wasabi then gained memories of her other self. 'All of it.' She thought as she clenched her hand into a fist and gained a serious look of resolve. 'This strength may not have technically started as my own… but I will make it my own! No matter where it came from, it isn't going to change where I'm going with it!' Wasabi thought with new strength burning into her heart. 'And it's thanks to you guys…' Wasabi's mind then went to Shinachiku and Arata. 'Thank you.'

.

.

The next morning had come, but not yet the sunrise.

Boruto was currently sleeping in his bed, snoring a bit as he was sprawled throughout his bed. He then heard a knock at his window, which he tried to ignore, but a loud smacking sound woke him up and forced him to cover his ears.

"Ow~, what the heck?" Boruto complained as he turned towards his window, only to notice a note left taped to it. He opened his window, grabbed the note and found out it was a hand drawn map showing him where to go and at what time, with Shinachiku's name written at the bottom of it. "Seriously? It's like…" Boruto grabbed his alarm clock to check the time. "Five in the morning!? Goddamn, onii-chan!" Boruto complained as he put the clock down and went back to bed. "I'll deal with this in like two hours." Boruto said as he went back to bed.

Unfortunately, a moment later, his father burst through his door.

"Boruto! Are you okay? I thought I heard something exploding over here!" Naruto quickly said with urgency and worry for his son.

"I'm fine. Shinachiku-onii-chan just dropped something off. He woke me up with some smacking noise or something. I dunno." Boruto said, not even opening his eyes or looking towards his father.

He just wanted to get back to sleep.

"Oh… Shinachiku was here?" Naruto questioned in surprise before noticing the state of the window. Or at least most of it. "That's a lot of cracks…"

.

.

Later on, when it was bright thanks to the sun finally making an appearance, Boruto was walking down the streets with the note in hand, following its directions. He yawned, still feeling tired thanks to the morning intrusion not too long ago.

"What the hell, Shinachiku-onii-chan~? Why did you have to wake me up so early? And why did you mess up my window?!" Boruto wondered to himself as he looked down at the map his paternal half-brother made for him. "Guess we'll be meeting here instead of the usual, but did he have to do it that way? Couldn't he just send and clone to knock on my door later on, and not mess up my window?" Boruto whined some more, but then he noticed something about the map. "Wait a sec… this meeting spot… isn't that near a more residential part of the village?" Boruto questioned as he looked over it again. "It is! What's he got planned that it needs to be this close to the village?" Boruto wondered aloud.

"Boruto!" A female voice called out, making the golden blonde turn to see Sarada making her way over. "Hey did you-"

"Get a map made by our two-ton hitting brother? Yeah… and he broke my window!" Boruto replied, still peeved.

"So, I'm not the only one." Sarada said as she looked at her own map. "Wait, broke your window?"

"Doesn't matter, for now at least. Did you notice-"

"That they want us to meet near a more residential part of the village? Yeah, I did. The question is why though." Sarada said, looking over her map again.

"Maybe he wants us to show off." Boruto suggested, scratching the side of his head.

"You know Arata-onii-chan and Shinachiku-onii-chan aren't like that." Sarada retorted.

"Well then, what do you think it is?" Boruto questioned.

"Guess we'll just have to go there to find out." Sarada said as she and Boruto continued following the path mapped out for them.

The pair soon closed in on the location, where they met the rest of their friends.

"You guys to, huh?" Shikadai said as she showed off his map.

"Yup." Boruto said as he showed off his own hand drawn map.

"What's this all about?" Wasabi wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe it's a change of pace." Inojin wondered aloud.

"Considering how yesterday ended, I wouldn't be surprised." Namida said with a frown, causing the rest to frown. "Does… anyone regret what happened yesterday?" Namida asked the rest.

"I regret putting them in that awkward situation." Chocho confessed.

"But the getting the memories part?" Namida asked.

"Not sure, to be honest." Chocho answered with a shrug.

Everyone was silent for a moment, before one of them spoke up.

"I don't regret it." Wasabi said, shocking the others.

"You don't?" Chocho questioned with surprise, earning a nod from the cat lover.

"Last night… I realized that those memories, those experiences, they aren't my own, but they aren't something to ignore or regret. They were just an open window to a whole new world that's inspiring me to go even further. Sure, my life is radically different from the other Wasabi's, but I witnessed just recently that the strength she has is something I can share with her, all while keeping it as my own experience. I was so focused on what I was comparing myself to that I overlooked how far along I've gotten now, and I wouldn't have realized if I didn't see her own experiences." Wasabi then looked at her hand like she did last night. "It's weird… I don't even know her, and we're really not even the same person, but… I feel close to her now from seeing her through Shina's eyes. I saw… a friend. A friend who is running so far ahead and… I just want to catch up to them. How can I ever regret both that sight and that feeling? I just can't." Wasabi said with a proud, joyful smile.

Everyone stared at her in surprise before their expressions softened as they thought over her words.

"Yeah, I hear you. I kind of get that feeling with Shinachiku-onii-chan." Boruto admitted, surprising the rest, but Sarada. "But I don't just want to catch up to him." He continued as he started walking past the group. "I want to run right past him. Even if it's for a second. It'll be a second worth treasuring, dattebasa." Boruto said with a smile as he continued down the map towards their new meeting place.

The others stared at him in surprise, while Sarada couldn't help but smile softly.

"Tch. Run right pass him, eh?" Iwabe questioned, developing a grin. "Yeah. That's sounds about right. I want that experience too." Iwabe said with a grinning smirk as he followed Boruto.

"Oi, Iwabe, don't start Shinachiku-onii-chan like he's someone only to surpass, got it?" Boruto warned the taller teen.

"I'm not. Trust me, I wouldn't. He's not just someone I want to run pass." Iwabe replied, managing to catch up to Boruto with his hands in his pockets.

"Hmm~… if he was like that, he wouldn't be worth anything more, would he?" Inojin said, mainly to himself, as he followed.

"Heh. Doesn't mean he's any less troublesome." Shikadai said with a smirk as he too followed.

"Oi, oi! There's no denying that Shinachiku-kun is an amazing person, but how come everyone is passing Arata-kun and how awesome he is right now?!" Chocho questioned with annoyance.

"No one is doubting him. Believe me." Tsubaki said as she started following the four boys ahead of them.

"Well, good." Chocho said as she followed as well.

"I can never doubt either of them. They are my rivals after all! There is nothing to doubt!" Metal declared with pride and anime tears as he followed the others.

"They're both pretty good guys." Wasabi said with a smile as she started to follow as well. "So, let's not keep them waiting any longer."

"Hai." The rest agreed with nods as they all followed suit.

'I guess everyone is in a better mood now, despite the life altering consequences. I'm glad.' Sarada thought with a smile as she walked with the rest. 'Now the question is: Why did onii-chan change training locations?' Sarada wondered.

Guess she'll just have to wait and see like the rest.

The group of eleven continued down the marked path until they were closing onto the area, where they were soon met by a large fence.

"This is the place, right?" Namida asked.

"Why here?" Wasabi wondered aloud.

"Yo~!" Shinachiku's voice was heard, causing the group to look down to see he and Arata were on the other side of the fence, which was on ground level as the group was standing on an elevated street with stairs nearby. "About time you all showed up." Shinachiku said with a smile as he juggled a medicine ball in hand.

The group of genin leaped over the fence and landed upon the same level as the Uzumaki-Haruno and Uchiha-Hyūga.

"What's this all about?" Denki asked.

"And why did you break my window?!" Boruto demanded an answer from his paternal half-brother.

"Ah, gomen. You weren't waking up, so I clapped my hands together. I just put a little too much strength behind it. When you're this strong, you tend to break the sound barrier from time to time, dattebaro." Shinachiku explained himself with an embarrassed grin and rubbing the back of his head.

"And you told me never to call strength like that monstrous?" Boruto rhetorically asked with a dull frown and half-lidded eyes.

"Wait a second, is this a gaming field?" Sarada asked, causing Boruto and the others to notice they were standing in front of a field with chalk lines drawn in the dirt to make a gaming court with on either side having a tall pole with a ring at the top of them.

"You're right. What's the deal?" Wasabi questioned.

"Ladies~ and Gentlemen! We've gathered here together to play an honored pastime for the past four years or so. Chakra Ball!" Shinachiku announced with a grin as he raised the medicine ball high.

"Chakra Ball?" Everyone questioned in surprise and confusion.

"Never heard of it." Boruto said.

"Well, of course not. We made it up back in our academy days." Shinachiku said with a smile as he spun the medicine ball on his fingers.

"By 'we', you mean-"

"Us guys. Me, Iwabe, Arata, Metal, Denki, Inojin and you too Shikadai. Even Mitsuki helped out. Well, your counterparts anyway, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku elaborated, interrupting the Nara.

"We made a sport?" Inojin questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"How fun." Denki said with a new enthusiastic smile.

"Whoa, whoa… you woke us up and broke my window just to get us to play a game instead?" Boruto questioned, surprised by this turn of events because it was coming from Shinachiku and Arata.

"It's no normal game." Arata said.

"Iwabe. Heads up." Shinachiku said as he threw the medicine ball towards the tanner teen.

Despite managing to catch it, Iwabe was slammed into the ground with the medicine ball resting against his stomach.

"What the hell?! How much does this damn thing weigh!?" Iwabe asked in shock as he felt like he was holding a stone as large as his torso.

"It was originally fifteen pounds, until I was done with it. Now it weighs twenty times as much." Shinachiku answered with a smile.

"That's three-hundred pounds!" Sarada exclaimed in shock.

"Get this damn thing off me!" Iwabe shouted.

"Iwabe, relax. Just do what you do with your weighs but focus it onto the medicine ball." Shinachiku instructed the older teen, catching everyone else's attention in the process.

Iwabe immediately, upon instinct, focused his chakra into the ball and with precise chakra control, it became lighter. Like, super light!

"What in the?" Iwabe questioned as he easily sat up. "This thing now feels as light as a feather." Iwabe said as he started juggling it in one hand.

"May I see?" Metal asked, holding his hands out. When Iwabe handed him the medicine ball, it immediately hit the ground with Metal hunched over with a strenuous look upon his face. "I-It's… it's like I'm carrying a whole bag of very heavy stones!" Metal exclaimed with widened eyes.

"Just do the same thing I told Iwabe." Shinachiku said.

After a moment of concentration, Metal started to pick it up as it got lighter and lighter.

"Wow. Now it weighs practically nothing." Metal said in surprise.

Sarada walked over and took it from Metal, almost falling over, but when she did the same practice of transferring and controlling her chakra into the medicine ball, it became lighter than air to her.

"You're right. This ball's density and weight is all dependent on one's reserves of chakra and control over it." Sarada said, surprised and in awe at such an idea.

"Ladies and gents, I present Chakra Ball." Shinachiku introduced the game once more with a smile on his face. "A little game my friends and I made up back in our academy days. See, when we were younger, we wanted to advance our training even further. Taking the practices we learned at the academy, but in a more advanced way. That's when we-"

"By that he means himself." Arata clarified.

"Got the idea of practicing the quintessential exercises of chakra into a game that focuses on endurance and control! The best kind of game for that is what stands before you today!" Shinachiku explained, gaining an excited grin.

"The rules are simple. The ball will not only react to one's own chakra, but how well their chakra control is. Similarly with tree walking, if there is too little, the ball will not react accordingly and will drop with its entire original weight in tow. If there is too much, it will not only go flying, but upon reaction it will unleash a burst of chakra that sends the chakra's user flying." Arata explained.

"Sounds simple enough." Boruto said.

"Sure, it sounds that way, but it's way harder when you're in game. You're constantly focusing on moving to keep the ball out of the hands of the other players, and since this is a team sport, you have to focus on passing it to your teammates. Teamwork is the name of the game, and it's another academic practice we instilled into it." Shinachiku elaborated.

"Sounds about right." Sarada said as she then looked towards the tall poles with rings at the top of them. "I'm guessing that we just need to get the ball into those goals to gain a point."

"That's correct. First to ten wins." Shinachiku said with a nod.

"Alright, then let's do this." Boruto said.

"Hold on. I haven't finished explaining all the rules yet." Arata said with a hand up, halting the rest. "First of all, ninjutsu, taijustu and fūinjutsu is allowed, but must only be used on the ball. Excluding fūinjutsu that seals the ball away." Arata said with a finger up.

"That's right. For example, Boruto's Kieru Rasengan (Vanishing Spiraling Sphere), is allowed to make contact with the ball. However, a fūinjutsu like Inojin's Fūinjutsu: Koshi Tandan (Sealing Technique: Tiger Vision Staring Bullet) is prohibited." Shinachiku simplified.

"Second: Ninjutsu that affects the area is only permitted to one fourth of the court area that you reside in. If it goes pass that limit, that is a penalty." Arata said with a second finger up.

"That's bullshit!" Iwabe shouted out with aggravation, knowing that such a rule would hinder him the most.

"Does that count-"

"Yes, that even counts the distance of how far your living paintings can go, Inojin." Shinachiku answered, making the Yamanaka pout with annoyance.

"Thirdly: Weapons are permitted as well, but only if they are used in conjunction with one's own ninjutsu or fūinjutsu. Fourth: No jutsu is allowed to be used on another player, or else it will result in a penalty. Fifth: Genjutsu is prohibited since that requires effecting a player's own senses, which as said before, any jutsu used on a player with result in a penalty. Six: No summons allowed. And seven: Techniques that provide a buff, like Shina's Hachimon or my Raiton Chakura Mōdo (Lightning Release Chakra Mode), are only allowed if the opposing team has a player who has their own buffing techniques as well. If one uses a buffing technique when there is no other player on the opposing side that has one will result in a penalty." Arata explained.

"Is that it?" Shikadai asked.

"Well, the major points at least. There is more that we wrote down." Shinachiku said as he pulled out a scroll, undid it and unsealed what was inside, revealing a hard covered book with gold at the corners of it. "Ta-dah." Shinachiku revealed the book with read "Chakra Ball: Official Guidebook".

Everyone stared at it with dull anime expressions.

"You had it notarized." Sarada pointed out.

"Yup. Check it." Shinachiku opened up to the first page and gestured to the seal of approval of Konoha's government, acknowledging and legalizing it as an official sport.

"Wait, seriously?! I was joking! You actually got it notarized!?" Sarada questioned in shock.

"Let me see that." Iwabe snatched the book from Shinachiku's hand. "Holy crap, is this real?" Iwabe asked as he then flipped the page, only to be shocked by the presence of a picture on that next page.

There in the center was a picture of himself with Shinachiku, Arata, Shikadai, Inojin, Denki, Metal and Mitsuki underneath the words "Our Founders" written in gold kanji.

His and the other boys' counterparts were dressed in similar attire to themselves back in their genin days, which made sense since they were a bit younger.

Shinachiku was dressed in a high collar jacket that had sleeves that stopped at the elbows which was green at the collar, at the end of the sleeves and at the upper chest down to the lower body, black at the shoulders, sleeves and upper back and a white line at the bottom hem of it and one that curved upward into the collar, separating the black and green colors from one another. Iwabe couldn't see it, but the jacket also had the new Uzumaki clan insignia on the back in the center of the white line across the upper torso. He also had a red shirt, pair of black pants, and black shinobi sandals.

Arata was dressed in a long sleeve, high-collared blue zip-up jacket with white lines going vertically up the sleeves. He had a pair of cream-colored pants, a pair of dark blue shinobi sandals and a pair of fingerless gloves that extended to his elbows underneath the sleeves, and tied onto his back was his chokuto attached to a belt that went diagonally over the jacket with the crests of the Uchiha, Hyūga and Konoha printed on it.

"That's… us?" Iwabe questioned in surprise with his eyes focused on his counterpart, who was grinning wide with his arm around a grinning Shinachiku's neck.

"So that's what you guys looked like back in the academy." Boruto said as he and the others got a closer look at the picture within the book.

"You looked a lot like papa in his genin days here, Arata-onii-chan." Sarada said with an amused smile and faint giggling.

"I'm aware." Arata replied in an ever-stoic manner.

Iwabe blinked his eyes as memories started flooding into his mind, all about the day this sport was made.

"Hey, I suggested this should be an official sport, didn't I?" Iwabe asked.

"Yeah. Guess those memories that was shared can't help but tell all, huh?" Shinachiku said with a grin and rubbing the back of his head. "Although, to be honest, it was the others who helped come up with the rules. Arata and Shikadai especially. You and Metal were just too eager to play to think of any."

"I can see that happening." Wasabi said with a smirk.

"Yup." Chocho agreed with a smile.

"Hmph." Iwabe just pouted and turned away as Sarada took the book and skimmed through the pages.

"Wow. You guys were really dedicated to this sport to put this much effort into the rule book." Sarada commented.

"And how can we not? It not only was a fun game, but it was perfect training for all of us. We were getting stronger and stronger every time we played it, and we didn't even notice until the fruits that had been borne showed themselves, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a proud, joyous smile.

"So… our training today is to play this game? Why?" Boruto asked.

"Why not? It's still helping you get stronger like actual training. Plus, Chakra Ball is fun. Trust me. When you play with friends, it just feels like all your troubles just go away, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a remorseful smile.

Everyone blinked their eyes as they now knew the purpose for this. It was to relax them. They all got so tense when they saw those memories of their counterparts that they kind of shut everything else out. They'd be lying if they said they still didn't feel a bit negatively affected by the repercussions of their choice. Maybe… a game with friends might help ease things more.

"Feels like all your troubles will go away, huh?" Wasabi said as she stared down at the ball, still in Sarada's hands.

"That's right." Shinachiku nodded with a softened smile. "So… anyone want to play?" Shinachiku asked.

Wasabi continued staring at the ball before grabbing it herself. It took a moment of stumbling, but she managed to find the right ratio and felt like the ball was lighter than air.

"Why not? I need to test out my new speed anyway." Wasabi said with a smirk.

Shinachiku perked up with his smile widening a bit.

"If Wasabi's gonna play, then I will too. It looks like fun anyway." Namida said with a smile.

"It would be interesting to try out this new custom game of yours. It might even assist in my training to properly wield chakra with my katana." Tsubaki said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"If it's Arata approved then I'll try it!" Chocho said with a brightened smile and her hand raised up high.

"Guess I'll give it a shot." Inojin said with a shrug.

"Same. Just hope it isn't too troublesome." Shikadai said, lightly scratching his cheek.

"I wish to try as well! It sounds like a perfect challenge!" Metal said with new excitement.

"Yeah! I would love to give this a shot." Denki said with a bright smile.

"Like you even need to ask." Iwabe said, now feeling the itch to play.

"Seems like we're all in agreement." Sarada said with a smile.

Shinachiku couldn't help but smile widely, happy to see everyone in a good mood and ready to play their game together.

"Yeah! And when I win, you got to buy me a new window, Shinachiku-onii-chan!" Boruto proclaimed, pointing towards his paternal half-brother.

"Enough with the window!" Shinachiku retorted with a pout. "Fine. Done." Shinachiku relented, deciding not to turn this into a hassle.

"Guess that means Shinachiku and Boruto will be on opposing teams for the first round." Denki pointed out.

"Alright, then Shina's on my team!" Iwabe declared.

"Who made you captain?" Wasabi questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I did, just now. Dibs!" Iwabe quickly said.

"Goddammit!" Wasabi cursed, disappointed in herself for not seeing that coming.

"It's nice to see that some things never change across this multi-verse." Shinachiku said with an amused smile.

"Hn." Arata agreed with a nod.

"I vote for Sarada to be our team captain then." Chocho suggested.

"Me?" Sarada questioned in surprise.

"Yeah, I can't think of anyone else more deserving to be captain for our first game." Chocho said, smiling to her best friend.

"I'll be on your team, Sarada. This way we can both work together to kick Shinachiku-onii-chan's ass, dattebasa." Boruto said with a toothy grin.

"Shinachiku-kun, I wish to be on your team!" Metal declared.

"Sure, Metal." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Oi! I'm the team captain! It's my team!" Iwabe interjected, feeling slighted a bit by his teammate.

"So then, are we good with Metal, Iwabe-taichou?" Shinachiku asked the team captain with a knowing smile.

"I'll allow it." Iwabe said with his arms crossed, trying to act 'captain material'.

"Do you mind if I join Sarada's team?" Denki asked with his hand up a bit.

"Yeah, go ahead." Shinachiku said to the Kaminarimon with a smile.

"Oi! What did I just say?!" Iwabe shouted with annoyance.

"I'll be on Sarada's team too. I'd rather be on the opposing side of your team any day." Wasabi said, giving Iwabe a cheeky grin, causing the taller teen to growl with annoyance.

"I'm definitely helping Sarada out." Chocho said, giving the female Uchiha another supportive smile.

"Hey, hey, they already have more members than us now! We need some more!" Iwabe pointed out.

"Yo, Shikadai, join up with us." Shinachiku said to the Nara.

"What? Why me?" Shikadai questioned with a confused frown.

"Just cause." Shinachiku replied with a shrug.

"Troublesome." Shikadai said with his eyes closed and scratching the side of his head.

"Inojin, how about you?" Iwabe asked the pale-skinned blonde.

"Hmm~, I'd rather go against Shinachiku than work with him." Inojin admitted with his arms crossed.

"Whatever. I didn't need your weak ass doodles any way on my team." Shinachiku retorted.

"Weak ass?!" Inojin exclaimed with an exaggerated annoyed expression.

"Your team?!" Iwabe looked towards the sunshine blonde with annoyance again.

"You think that little of my jutsu?! Fine! I'll work with you this once and show you how lucky you'll be with them!" Inojin shouted at his fellow blonde rival while pointing in his direction.

"If you say so." Shinachiku said with a shrug, making the pale artist groan with an annoyed pout and an anime glare. "You're joining our side too, right, Arata?" Shinachiku asked the Uchiha-Hyūga.

"Alright." Arata responded with a shrug.

"Yes!" Iwabe cheered with a grin and fist pump.

"What?! You mean I'm going to be playing against Arata-kun!? Life is so cruel!" Chocho cried with a saddened pout.

"If that's the case, then I shall fill in the final slot for Sarada's team." Tsubaki stated.

"I guess I'll just hang back onto the side. I'd rather see how this game plays first before jumping in myself anyway." Namida informed with a smile.

Shinachiku suddenly took out a tiny scroll, poured chakra into it and flicked it towards the side causing a clone to appear in a cloud of smoke.

"You know what to do." Shinachiku said with a smile.

"Alright! Chakra Ball!" Clone Shinachiku cheered with an excited grin and fist pump. It then cleared its throat as it stood up straight to speak to become more dignified. "Everyone, line up!" The clone announced.

Nearby, a young brunette heard a commotion and specific name earlier. It was none other than Ehō. The second he heard Shinachiku's name followed by his voice, he hurried over.

'There he is!' Ehō rushed over towards the fence to see not only his 'Boss' but also the rest of Shinachiku's friends, but he also noticed that they were in the middle of the court, six on each side. "What's happening over here?" Ehō wondered, now being very curious.

There standing in the court were twelve of the thirteen young shinobi, twelve on each side. On one side was team captain Iwabe with Shinachiku, Arata, Metal, Shikadai and Inojin, while on the other side was team captain Sarada with Boruto, Chocho, Denki, Wasabi and Tsubaki.

Standing in the center of the court in between both teams was the clone Shinachiku, holding the medicine ball up with one hand.

"The rules are simple. The only way to move the specially made ball is to apply the proper amount of chakra into it with decent chakra control. No use of ninjutsu on other players; only on the Chakra Ball. That includes taijutsu, ninjutsu, and fūinjutsu that do not seal the ball away. Jutsu that requires manipulation of the court is only allowed by a four of the court from where you use it. Any jutsu that goes beyond that limit will result in a penalty. Weapons are allowed, but only in conjunction with one's ninjutsu or fūinjutsu. Genjutsu is prohibited. Since both teams have players who use buffing techniques, they are allowed for this match. First to ten points wins!" The Shinachiku clone explained the rules. "Are both sides ready?"

"Hai!" Most said with a nod.

"I guess." Shikadai said with an uncertain frown and tone.

"Damn right I am!" Iwabe shouted out.

"Alright then…" Clone Shinachiku started to surround the hand holding the medicine ball with wind chakra. "Begin!" The clone shouted as it released a gust of wind from its palm, sending the Chakra Ball high into the air.

Everyone looked up in surprise, minus Arata and Shinachiku, with the sunshine blonde rocketing upward to intercept the medicine ball.

However, Boruto suddenly appeared in the air with him as light coursed around his body a bit.

Both Uzumaki half-brothers were in the air with the Chakra Ball in between them both.

Boruto grinned at Shinachiku, surprising him with his speed, before the green-eyed blonde started grinning back.

"It's mine!" Boruto shouted out as he thrust a lightning encased palm towards the medicine ball.

"Chanaro!" Shinachiku screamed out as he sent his fist surrounded by wind chakra forward.

Lightning palm and wind fist met both sides of the Chakra Ball, causing a shockwave with bolts of lightning and whips of wind to spread around on their respective sides.

Ehō stared in awe at the power struggle before him, never seeing something like this with his own eyes and so close to.

The Chakra Ball released a burst of chakra, sending both boys flying away but they were not done yet, as they both surrounded wind chakra around their feet and kicked them out, sending them flying towards the ball.

Before either blonde could reach the ball, Sarada appeared over it with lightning coursing around her, surprising the pair as she then delivered an axe kick that sent the ball rocketing below.

The medicine ball slammed and bounced off of the ground, causing a small shockwave as it now hovered over the ground.

"Doton: Gagankon!" (Earth Release: Rock Brick Cane) Iwabe formed a large mallet of stone at the end of his Jō and sped over at a high speed, slamming the stone head against the medicine ball, causing it to go flying upwards towards the goal.

"Chakura Tsume!" Wasabi shouted as she quickly formed long claws made of chakra from her fingernails and leaped up high, as she then brought her hands together, using her new claws to block the ball's trajectory. Wasabi gritted her teeth as sparks were forming between her chakra claws and the medicine ball from collision. She let out a growl as she put in much effort before letting out a roar as a burst of force occurred, bouncing the Chakra Ball off of her claws. "Now this!" Wasabi shouted out as the cat tail-like appendage sticking out of her shorts was surrounded in chakra and grew longer. "Omoi O!" (Heavy Tail) Wasabi flipped in the air and slammed her chakra tail into the Chakra Ball, sending it downward.

"When could she do that?!" Iwabe questioned in shock as the ball came rocketing towards him. "Doton: Domu!" Iwabe shouted as he surrounded his face in earth chakra, hardening it just in time as the medicine ball slammed and bounced off of his face, causing the taller teen to fall onto his back. "I'm alright." Iwabe said with a delirious smile and feeling super dizzy.

"I got it!" Inojin shouted out as he quickly made tentacles made of ink that stretched out of his scroll and grabbed the ball in midair. "And how was that not a penalty?!" Inojin questioned, looking towards the clone Shinachiku.

"She just hit the ball with her jutsu, not Iwabe, so it technically still counts. Although if it's repeated three times, then it will be a penalty." Clone Shinachiku informed, now standing right beside Namida outside of the court.

"'Technicality' my ass." Inojin muttered with a pout.

"Inojin, keep your eyes open!" Shikadai called out to the Yamanaka.

"Too late! Bubun Baika no Jutsu!" (Partial Expansion Technique) Chocho shouted out as she came rushing over with her fist growing in size before it was suddenly encased in lightning. "And now, Super Chocho's Chō Ikazuchiken!" (Super Lightning Fist) Chocho delivered an oversized uppercut to the Chakra Ball, sending it flying upwards while destroying Inojin's ink tentacles.

'Dammit!' Inojin mentally cursed his lack of awareness.

"There it goes!" Wasabi called out noticing the Chakra Ball was heading for the goal.

Suddenly, Arata appeared in front of the medicine ball and delivered a slash from his chokuto, which was covered in chakra, sending the ball flying away.

'Darn. Oh well… I can't be mad if he blocked it.' Chocho thought with a blissful smile and eye smiles as she blushed.

Thanks to the trajectory, the Chakra Ball was heading for the other goal, but Tsubaki appeared in the air with her katana ready just like Arata.

"Fūton:Hayategiri!" (Wind Release: Gale Slash) Tsubaki sent a slash that unleashed a blade of wind and chakra, striking the medicine ball, sending it flying away.

"Kage Haaku no Jutsu!" (Shadow Grasping Technique) Shikadai quickly extended out his shadow as then a hand made from it shot up and stretched over, grabbing the ball in midair. It took some struggle to hold onto it after it was struck by Tsubaki's jutsu, but he managed to keep it in place. "How troublesome." Shikadai said with a sigh and wiping away some sweat from his brow.

"Nya!" Wasabi shouted out as she appeared in front of the Chakra Ball with her chakra claws ready.

Shikadai flinched in shock as he quickly willed his shadow to curve away, moving the ball in time to spare it from Wasabi's strike, but his shadow was sliced apart by it.

'Damn. Those claws can even cut my shadows to ribbons. Wasabi's no joke now.' Shikadai thought with shock and gritted teeth.

The medicine ball fell down towards the ground, striking against it, just as Shinachiku and Boruto appeared on both sides of it, both ready to move but waiting for the other to make their own as well.

Ehō stared with utter shock and amazement with his jaw dropped in disbelief at what he had just witnessed right now. An exchange that was so bewildering and it all took place in just a minute's time.

"A… Amazing." Ehō said breathlessly.

"Ehō!" A female voice called out. It was none other than Himawari along with Yuina, who both came rushing over. "You just ran off. I thought we were training today." Himawari said as she and Yuina caught up to Ehō, only to notice where and who he was staring at. "Hey, it's onii-chan and Shinachiku-onii-chan!" Himawari said with a bright smile, seeing her elder brothers along with his friends. "They're all there. I wonder what they're doing?"

"Something amazing." Ehō said.

"It looks like they're playing a game." Yuina said, noticing the court and ball between the two blondes.

"This is no ordinary game." Ehō said, catching Himawari and Yuina's attention.

"Well, then how about we watch?" Himawari suggested with an eager smiling, wanting to see what's got Ehō so awestricken.

The genin below didn't noticed the three children present since they were all too focused on the game. Even though they all remained still, they all kept their guard up and were focused on who would make the next move and what their following one should be.

"Well, looks like everyone's gotten the hang of this already. We got a real game on our hands now, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a smirk.

"Better be prepared, onii-chan, because this isn't a situation where you can win easily anymore. You're dealing with new and improved heavy hitters, 'ttebasa!" Boruto exclaimed with a toothy grin.

They two, and by proxy everyone else, were staring down one another, ready for the real game to begin.

.

.

Sakura had been walking through the streets of Konoha with none other than Hinata, Ino and Temari.

"Really now?" Sakura asked, looking to the four spiky pigtailed blonde.

"Yup. Shikadai wanted it so bad, so I handed it to him. Now he has his own custom fan, not unlike my own." Temari said with a proud smirk and her head held high.

"I'm surprised by Shikadai's sudden drive to get stronger." Ino said with a smirk.

"I'm surprised it came sooner rather than later. It's about time he finally started to step up. Even after becoming Chunin, it didn't feel like he was truly giving it his all." Temari said with a bit of an annoyed frown.

"I know what you mean. Inojin has been the same way until recently." Ino shared. "And I got a feeling I know who is responsible for such a change in the both of them, and something tells me they aren't the only ones affected by this certain duo." She added, smirking to Sakura and Hinata.

"Guess it would be foolish to just say it aloud." Sakura said with a bit of a chuckle.

"It's still surprising though. Who knew just two children could have such an effect on their own generation." Temari said.

"It's not that surprising. After all, our generation had the same effect thanks to a certain pair within it as well." Hinata pointed out.

"Can't argue there." Ino admitted with a shrug. "I'm actually really happy that they're here if I'm being honest. A lot of good came with their presence.:

"True, but a lot of bad followed them as well." Temari pointed out.

"That's not on them. If anything, that stuff would have arrived anyway whether they were stuck here or not." Sakura immediately defended them upon instinct.

"Well, look at mamma Sakura go, defending those cute little tykes. Best be careful, Temari." Ino teased with a playful little smile.

"I'm not blaming them for anything, but what I said isn't exactly wrong either." Temari retorted.

"Fair point, but still. Leave them out of such a sentence." Sakura said with a frown.

"Really taking this to heart, huh?" Ino asked, albeit rhetorically.

"I'm honestly happy to have them with us… but considering the circumstances, is it even right to feel this way when they're still hurting?" Sakura questioned with a bit of a self-disappointed frown, causing the others to frown as well.

"I don't think they're hurting." Hinata spoke up, catching the others' attention and curiosity. "Not like before at least. They've actually grown more accustomed to our home than either side had expected them to. I know they miss their home, but the wounds they were dealt… I know that it's already healing up." Hinata then recalled memories of Boruto talking about them at the dinner table. "The way how they're being treated and talk about in such a light… I think some good is being done for them, just as much for our own. Especially the children."

"I can't deny that. Guess all we can do is take the bad with the good, it seems." Sakura said in response.

"It's really easy for you both to say that, isn't it?" Ino asked with a knowing smile, catching Sakura and Hinata a bit off guard. They all then started hearing the sounds of a ruckus followed by some boom, which caused them to now be on guard. "The heck is that?" Ino wondered aloud.

The four then hurried off towards the direction only to come across a crowd of people near a large fence, with a good number of them being children and shinobi, with some civilian adults and elderly.

"What's going on over here?" Sakura asked as she, Hinata, Ino and Temari made their way over.

"Some newfangled game the youngins made." A bald, elderly man with a goatee shared with the women.

"Look at 'em go!" A Chunin exclaimed in awe.

"Chanara!"

"That's Sarada!" Sakura pointed out as she hurried over towards the fence with Ino, Hinata and Temari in tow, arriving just in time to see Sarada had punched a medicine ball, sending it rocketing upwards towards a goal ring atop a pole.

"Not so fast!" Metal shouted as he immediately went into the third gate, Seimon (Gate of Life), and immediately appeared above in front of the ball's trajectory. "Konoha Daisenpū!" (Leaf Great Whirlwind) Metal shouted out as he delivered a flying round house kick that was alit with a blaze at the end of it, just as it then made contact with the Chakra Ball.

A shockwave was being unleashed from collision along with embers sparking around before the ball was sent rocketing away towards the ground.

"Whoa~!" Everyone, especially the kids, let out in amazement at the power behind such a blow.

"Not over yet!" Denki shouted out as he quickly made some hand seals. "Raiton:Ōbādoraibu!" (Lightning Release: Overdrive) Denki's body burst with lightning as he then sped over towards the ball and with all his might, delivered a high rising kick.

Upon collision, bolts of lightning sparked everywhere as the ground beneath cracked apart just before Denki managed to send the Chakra Ball flying upwards, along with some pieces of the ground.

"I got this one!" Wasabi said, getting on her hands and feet as she then leaped high into the air with her hand and chakra claws ready with chakra glowing around her palm. "Omoi Ashi!" (Heavy Paw) She shouted out but just as she thrust her palm, a long arm made of ink reached over and swiped it out of her range. "Hey!" Wasabi said with surprise and annoyance.

"Thank you~." Inojin, atop a living painting of a shoebill, said with a smirk as the ink arm coming from his scroll retracted back towards him with the medicine ball in hand.

"Thank you." Chocho, in her Butterfly Mode, said with her own smirk as she flew by and swiped away the medicine ball from the ink hand's grasp. Her body then sparked with electricity as she tossed the ball up and delivered a roundhouse kick that sent it rocketing towards the goal.

"Shina! Up!" Iwabe called out to the green-eyed blonde as he rushed over.

"Right!" Shinachiku bent his knees and put his hands together as Iwabe then stepped on them, allowing the Uzumaki to send him flying high upward.

Thanks to Shinachiku's immense strength, Iwabe managed to appear in front of the Chakra Ball's path.

"Doton: Domu!" Iwabe shouted out as he surrounded his body in a coating of earth release. Iwabe took the medicine ball to the stomach, but the boy was resilient. His teeth were grit as he fought against the force of the ball, before letting out a battle cry and releasing a burst of chakra from his abdomen, sending the ball flying away again.

"So Cool!" A boy screamed out in amazement as everyone was cheering with awe.

"Holy crap. What's going on here?" Ino questioned in shock and awe.

"It's called Chakra Ball." A male voice spoke, causing the four mothers/kunoichi to turn to see Kakashi right beside them. "It's a game young Shinachiku and Arata, along with their old friends had created. They decided to use it as an exercise for the others today. So far, I'd say they're doing a tremendous job." Kakashi explained with a hidden smirk.

"A game? Seriously?" Temari questioned with a raised eyebrow as she focused her gaze back onto it.

"It's actually a rather unique and effective one. It's kind of like an evolution of tree and water walking. Unless you use proper chakra control, that ball won't move an inch. That or you'll get blasted away." Kakashi said with his arms crossed.

"How'd they come up with that?" Ino asked with surprise.

"Don't ask me. Ask the blonde who looks like his mother." Kakashi replied.

Sakura couldn't help but smile with pride as her eyes were on Shinachiku.

"I got it!" Shinachiku shouted as he gathered wind release around his foot and fired forward, rocketing towards the medicine ball, which bounced off of the ground.

"Raiton: Jinraisen!" (Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow) Boruto shouted out as he launched an arrow shaped bolt of lightning that struck the medicine ball, surrounding it in a layer of lightning.

"Whoa!" Shinachiku shouted out in shock as he skidded to a halt to keep himself from making contact with the now sparking ball.

"Ha! Trying to grab it now!" Boruto said with a cocky grin.

"Way to go, Boruto!" Denki praised the golden-haired blonde as the others on their team smiled in agreement.

Suddenly, someone grabbed the ball, shocking everyone as it was none other than Arata, who speaking of being shocked, wasn't at all by the ball. Instead, Arata absorbed the lightning surrounding it to surround his own arm in lightning release.

"Uh oh." Wasabi said with widened eyes as she and the others were now worried.

"I think I just made things worse." Boruto said with a now worried and even frightened frown.

Arata looked up towards the goal ring as he then tossed the medicine ball up a bit and reared his arm back with a palm strike ready.

Sarada gasped at this as she quickly came up with a counterattack.

"Tsubaki, Wasabi, Chocho! Work together on this!" Sarada called out to the other females on her team.

"Right!" The two kunoichi and samurai nodded as their bodies were enveloped in surges of chakra as they then quickly leaped high into the air and appeared in front of their goal ring.

'Raiton:Hakke Kūshō!' (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) Arata mentally proclaimed as he thrust a palm into the Chakra Ball, sending a compressed shot of lightning chakra that struck sent the ball rocketing at high speed, surrounded by a bullet of lightning and chakra.

It may have been coming in hot, but the three girls were ready for it… hopefully.

If not, it's really gonna hurt.

Wasabi, on the left, pulled her arms back with her palms and chakra claws ready, Chocho, on the right, reared her enlarged lightning encased fist back, and Tsubaki, right in the center, readied her katana as she gathered wind chakra within her blade.

"Ryō Omoi Ashi!" (Double Heavy Paw)

"Fūton: Hayategiri!"

"Chō Ikazuchiken!"

The girls delivered their jutsu which collided with the lightning bullet encased Chakra Ball, which unleashed a powerful shockwave with bolts of lightning scattering about in the air.

The crowd was looking up in utter shock with the children being amazed and the adults were kind of worried about being near this, but they couldn't look or move away out of sheer amazement.

Wasabi, Chocho and Tsubaki gritted their teeth as they fought against the force of the ball and Arata's jutsu. They struggled and felt themselves being pushed back, which was no surprise considering whose power they were fighting against.

"Don't Give Up! You Girls Can Do It!" Namida called out in support of her friends.

"Yeah, Go!" Himawari called out, following Namida's lead.

"Push It Back!" A girl with dark-haired put into a braided ponytail called out.

"Don't give 'em an inch!" A shinobi called out.

"You can win!" A civilian woman screamed out.

Suddenly, everyone was cheering for the kunoichis and samurai, rooting for them to overcome such a hurdle.

Wasabi, Tsubaki and Chocho heard these cheers and cries of support loud and clear through the sounds of crackling lightning. These cheers gave them the boost in willpower to fight on and succeed. With a loud battle cry, their chakra burst around them as they then unleashed what they had, creating a shockwave that overpowered Arata's jutsu and sent the ball rocketing downwards.

"ChōYōkai Giga: Mini-Umibōzu!" (Super Strange Apparition Imitation Drawing: Mini-Sea Priest) Inojin shouted out as he finished his artwork and threw the scroll where it unfurled onto the ground.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall) Iwabe shouted out as he made blinding fast hand seals and slammed his hands upon the ground.

An ink blob with white beady eyes twice the size of a bear formed out of the scroll while a stone wall two and a half times its size appeared behind it, shocking everyone.

Ino was the most shocked to see her son had created a creation like this, but she was more shocked by the durability a second later as it took the hit of the bulleting ball.

The ink blob fought against the force of the Chakra Ball's momentum with its back stretching back little by little from the ball pushing forward.

Inojin had been gritting his teeth as he was making a ram seal, pouring in as much chakra as he could into his creation, focusing on fighting against the Chakra Ball's power.

After a solid ten seconds, the blob started to shake violently, alerting everyone.

Inojin's teeth gritted more and more as a trickle of blood came out his nose. He suddenly let out an exasperated gasp and fell onto his hands and knees as the blob splattered apart with the Chakra Ball striking and shattering the earth style wall apart.

However, because of the immense defenses it fought against, it lost its momentum and fell onto the floor.

"Nice, you guys!" Shinachiku said with a grin.

"Hell yeah." Iwabe said with a smirking grin.

"What do you know… I honestly didn't expect that from myself." Inojin said with a tired grin.

"Way to go, Inojin!" Ino called out to her son with utter pride in his progress.

"Kaa-chan?!" Inojin turned with wide eyes, noticing his mother.

"You see that boy there? That's my son!" Ino said proudly, pointing to her child.

"Dammit, Shikadai! Get your ass in gear already!" Temari called out with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Oh no, both our mothers are here." Shikadai said with a frown.

"Guys, the ball." Arata pointed out.

"I got it!" Shinachiku, Metal and Iwabe called out as they hurried over.

"No, I got it!" Boruto called out as he rushed over with Denki and Sarada following.

"Dammit, Shikadai! Go for the ball!" Temari called out to her son, growing more and more annoyed by his standing around.

'Dammit. Guess I'll have to pull this out since she's here, otherwise I'll be getting a real earful once this is over with.' Shikadai thought to himself with a frown as he took out a scroll, unfurled it and coming out of it from a puff of smoke was a large fan just like his mother's.

"Is that…?" Ino was pleasantly surprised to see this.

"Hmph." Temari couldn't help but smirk at this.

'This should be interesting.' Arata thought, now seeing no need to help out.

"First moon." Shikadai opened his fan to reveal a green circle on it. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Sickle Weasel Technique) Shikadai swung his giant fan as then gust picked up and formed into a tornado that surrounded the Chakra Ball and sent it flying upwards.

"What the heck?!" Boruto shouted out as he and everyone who went for the ball skidded to a halt and moved a distance away from the tornado.

"Now what? No one can get the ball!" Metal pointed out.

"I don't think that's entirely true, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a knowing smirk.

"Now! Kage Haaku no Jutsu!" Shikadai extended his shadow to reach the center of the tornado as a hand stretched out from it and spiraled upwards with the tornado until it reached the Chakra Ball and grabbed it. Once the tornado died down a bit, the shadow hand spun and threw the ball sending it directly through the goal ring.

Everyone's job dropped upon this strategic display, amazed at such quick wit.

"Wahoo! Tie Game!" Shinachiku cheered with a grin and thrusting his hands up.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, purely amazed and impressed by the Nara's sudden show of skill.

All the while, Shikadai sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, that was a drag." Shikadai said with a small, slightly tried frown.

"Way to go, Shikadai! That's my boy!" Temari called out with a proud smile, making her son blush red from it with an embarrassed pout on his face.

"Oi, Shikadai! If you had that under your belt, why didn't you use it earlier?!" Iwabe shouted at the Nara.

"How much chakra do you think I got?! Even now I'm a little winded!" Shikadai shot back with annoyance.

"A little, huh? That's a surprise." Inojin said, genuinely surprised by Shikadai's claim.

"The game is now tied! 9 by 9! Next to score, wins!" The Shinachiku clone announced as he appeared in the center with the medicine ball in hand.

Sarada panted a bit as she looked towards her team. Boruto was ready for the next round, no surprise there, but after that last play, Wasabi, Chocho and Tsubaki were exhausted as it took a lot out of them to make that earlier block. Tsubaki was faring better than the other two, but one could tell she was feeling winded, as well. The only other member still able to keep going was Denki, but Sarada could tell that he was feeling fatigued as well, especially after pulling off that kick to the ball he did from earlier.

'Dammit. I hate to say it, but unless we do something major, we're going to lose.' Sarada thought with a frown.

Sakura could sense her daughter's distress. She looked towards the spectacled kunoichi, who gained a worried frown on her face.

'Sarada…' Sakura looked to her daughter with a worried expression.

The Uchiha girl panted a bit as she looked at her hands. They sparked with some lightning as her fingers twitched some.

'It won't be enough.' Sarada thought with a disappointed frown.

Was this really her limit? Is this really as far as she can go? Not just as a kunoichi, but as a leader?

Such an idea made her lightly bite her bottom lip.

"You gotta want it!" Shinachiku's voice rang in her head, causing her to perk her head up as a new idea came to mind.

Now the question is, is she ready to implement this new tactic?

"Everyone ready? It's time for the final round!" Clone Shinachiku called out as he tossed the ball up.

Shinachiku and Boruto leaped up high and slammed their chakra covered fist and palm, respectively, creating another powerful shockwave of sound and wind before there was a burst of chakra that sent the pair flying back towards the ground.

"Would you guys quit doing that!" Shikadai reprimanded the blondes with his eyes on Shinachiku.

"Shikadai, use that wind jutsu again!" Iwabe ordered.

"Troublesome. Just don't expect me to have much chakra after this." Shikadai said as he readied his fan again, this time going up to the second moon symbol on it. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" With another swing of his fan, Shikadai created a new vortex that surrounded the ball and caused it to start rising again.

However, Tsubaki came rushing towards the tornado with her katana sheathed and ready for a powerful iaijutsu.

"Do not underestimate us! We will not fall for the same trick again!" Tsubaki announced as she closed in on the tornado, unsheathing her katana a bit to reveal streams of midnight blue chakra emanating from it, alerting the others.

"Uh oh." Shikadai said upon instinct as he knew this wasn't going to end well.

"Hiken: Fūsetsugiri!" (Secret Sword: Snowstorm Beheading) Tsubaki then unleashed an iaijutsu strike that unleashed her own tornado that clashed with Shikadai's.

Everyone watched with shock and awe as both tornados fought for supremacy, until suddenly they both were dissipated, being negated by the other, allowing the Chakra Ball to start falling towards the ground.

"I got it!" Denki called out as he surrounded his feet in lightning release, ready to hurry over, but suddenly a scroll unfurled in front of him before outshot a fence made of ink that was wide and tall. "Hey, what the-?!"

"Hijutsu: Inkufensu." (Secret Technique: Ink Fence) Inojin said with a smirk.

"Not bad, but some of us can just go over it, Inojin!" Chocho exclaimed as she sprouted wings again and flew up high over the fence. Once over, she saw the medicine ball started reaching closer towards the floor. "I got it!" Chocho announced as her body sparked with electricity before diving downward with her hand out. Just before she could grab it however, the ground beneath the ball reached up and ate it before returning to normal. "EH?!" Chocho exclaimed with widened anime eyes. "W-Where'd it go!? What happened?!" Chocho questioned as she searched her hands along the ground.

"This happened! Doton: Kaido Shōkutsu!" (Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation) Iwabe shouted out as a human size structure in the shape of a volcano rose up from the ground near Chocho and fired out the Chakra Ball into the air.

"What~?! When did you learn that?!" Chocho questioned with utter shock at Iwabe's skill.

"Metal!" Iwabe called out to his teammate.

"Right! Seimon! Kai!" Metal immediately snapped open the third gate and leaped high into the air. "Konoha Daisenpū!" Metal delivered an incredibly powerful kick to the medicine ball.

Metal's kick was so powerful that it ignited the air between his leg and the medicine ball from the intense friction, as a shockwave was then unleashed, rocketing the Chakra Ball towards the goal.

"Oh no!" Sarada looked up in surprise as she couldn't help but watch the ball fly.

Suddenly, Boruto's legs sparked with electricity as he then leaped high up with his arm cocked back as lightning surrounded his palm.

"Hn?" Arata noticed this posture and had a feeling about what Boruto was planning to do.

"Raiton:Hakke Kūshō!" Boruto thrusted his palm forward, delivering a compressed current of lightning and chakra that collided with the Chakra Ball, causing another shockwave, this time of chakra, wind and lightning.

Hinata couldn't help but silently gasp with eyes widened, watching her son pulling off a jutsu that not even Neji was able to do at the blonde's age. She was amazed by her son's progress.

The shockwave burst, sending both the Chakra Ball and Boruto flying back from one another.

'Damn. Metal got strong!' Boruto thought with gritted teeth as he headed straight for the ground.

"Incoming!" Shinachiku called out as he and his team leaped away, managing to dodge the incoming medicine ball that came in like a torpedo.

"Nya!" Wasabi shouted out as she charged over on all fours, leaped over towards the ink fence and summoned her chakra claws to slice it to pieces. "I got it!" Wasabi said as she sped over on all fours, now with chakra claws and chakra whiskers emanating from her nails and cheeks, respectively.

As Wasabi got close to it, her whiskers picked up on something. Something that was about to pop up from the ground in a second. Upon instinct, Wasabi quickly slammed her palms into the ground, creating a shockwave that sent the ball up before delivering an upward kick just in time to get it away from a spike that's tip would have struck the ball away.

"Nani?!" Iwabe looked in shock that his jutsu failed.

"Nice try, but my whiskers show me all of your little tricks! No matter where they are!" Wasabi said with a grin.

"Nice work, Wasabi-chan!" Namida called out to her best friend on the sidelines.

"Now it's my turn!" Chocho proclaimed as she rocketed upwards towards the ball.

"Shikadai!" Inojin spoke his teammate's name as he finished making some ink birds.

"Troublesome." Shikadai said with a frown as he made a hand seal.

The ink birds Inojin made had soared up and surrounded the Chakra Ball, circling around it now becoming a haze of ink birds.

"No you don't!" Chocho shouted out as she grew her hand larger and thrust it upward, sending bolts of lightning from the fingertips that struck and burst the birds, but they were clearly a diversion as Shikadai's shadow created a hand again that stretched up and smacked the ball away towards the side and away from Chocho's grasp. "Oh no!" Chocho called out with shock as she watched the ball fall towards the ground.

"I have this!" Metal declared as he quickly made an X-block. "Shōmon! (Gate of Pain) Kai!" Metal snapped open his arms as he opened the fourth gate.

"Oh no!" Denki shouted out as he and the others were in shock and worry.

"No! Not like this!" Wasabi shouted.

"Get it, Metal!" Iwabe cheered on his teammate.

"Right!" Metal exclaimed as he disappeared from sight.

"No~! It's all over!" Chocho screamed out with gritted teeth and grasping her cheeks.

Sarada, now with her Sharingan active, saw Metal rushing over towards the descending Chakra Ball in much slower motion. All she could hear was her breathing along with her heartbeat. Her pulse was rising with sparks of electricity appearing around her arms for a moment.

As her widened eyes was on the scene before her, she heard the words Shinachiku had told her not too long ago.

"There are no shortcuts to become Hokage, and even if there were, then the position wouldn't be worth it, 'ttebaro." Sarada clenched her fists as Shinachiku's words echoed within her head. "You want to be Hokage one day? Then you got to push yourself and show everyone how gutsy you can be!" Lightning crackled around Sarada's fists. "And this training here, is just another hurdle towards that goal!" The lightning, originally the color of blue, suddenly transitioned into a purple color. Sarada gritted her teeth as the veins in her forehead pulsated as she felt her chakra starting to rise in reserves and power. "Now do you want it or not?" Shinachiku's question echoed within Sarada's mind.

"I want it." Sarada said as her Sharingan shined brightly as something clicked within her, specifically the left hemisphere of her brain as purple lightning sparked around her.

"Huh?" Shinachiku and Arata sensed a powerful build up in chakra followed by a powerful release.

Chakra burst from Sarada's form as she then vanished from sight with purple spark and the picking up from where she had stood, forcing the others on her team to brace themselves.

"What the heck?!" Boruto, now on the ground and on one knee, exclaimed as he brought his arms up to block the intense air.

Metal noticed this intense force but focused his attention on the ball, but suddenly, Sarada appeared on the other end of the ball, shocking the taijutsu specialist.

Sarada's sharingan gleamed bright red as purple lightning crackled all around her form. Her muscles tightened as she skidded to a halt and delivered a high rising kick that not only sent the Chakra Ball upwards, but also unleashed a powerful shockwave upon collision that sent Metal flying away.

"What the hell?!" Iwabe shouted out in shock as intense wind picked up and purple lightning crackled about.

"What happened!?" Inojin asked in shock, not catching anything that occurred.

The crowd of people let out yells of amazement at what they just witnessed. All they saw was a powerful force of wind and lightning erupt, but the highly trained like Kakashi and the players' mothers, saw what had just occurred.

"Did Sarada just do that?" Ino asked in disbelief.

"Looks like it." Kakashi said, impressed with his arms crossed.

Sakura stared at her daughter in shock and amazement. She had never seen her daughter display such a herculean feat on par with herself like this. She couldn't help but stare at her daughter with eyes shimmering with awe.

Sarada gritted her teeth as she brought her leg back down, only to flinch a bit from the feeling of pain in her muscles.

'Damn. I… I actually managed to open the first gate… but that power output did a number on me.' Sarada thought to herself as she stared down at the leg she had just used. 'At least I can still move.'

"Sarada! The ball!" Boruto called out, causing the Uchiha to lightly gasp and noticed the ball was descending towards the ground.

"I got it!" Sarada announced as she bent her legs and disappeared from sight again. Sarada had launched herself towards the ball with her fist reared back and ready, crackling with purple lightning. However, she noticed Arata appeared above her on the other side of the ball with his own arm cocked back with a palm crackling with blue lightning ready. Sarada gasped in shock, but immediately got the message as she gained a serious expression with her blazing Sharingan glaring into Arata's composed eyes. "CHANARA!" Sarada screamed out as she thrust her fist forward with Arata thrusting his palm.

Both Uchihas delivered compressed forces surrounded by lightning courtesy of their blows. Both vacuums met each other halfway, striking both sizes of the Chakra Ball, resulting in a collision of lightning, purple and blue, so powerful that it felt like the space around it was shaking, which everyone could feel. Both forces were in a power struggle, fighting for supremacy.

Sarada gritted her teeth and Arata furrowed his brow, both putting in their all, continuing to amplify the strength of their attacks.

Sarada growled as she felt her arm being slowly pushed back. With a growl she fought back, pushing forward again, surprising Arata as he was feeling the force Sarada was exerting fighting against him and making his arm shake a bit.

"Hn." Arata couldn't help but smirk, pleasantly surprised, as he then put in more chakra, causing Sarada to be pushed back again.

'Don't give up, Sarada!' Sakura mentally spoke, praying for her child's victory.

Sarada growled again, more ferocious as she felt her chakra spiking again from a new sense of willpower. She let out an audible battle cry as she put in more force.

The resulting exertion resulted in both powers trembling as they fought against each other, until it resulted in an explosion of energy with the crackling lightning now illuminating the whole area in a flash of purple and blue lights.

Everyone was forced to cover their eyes from the light and felt the shockwave of the force behind both powers. The nearby shinobi made sure that the children in the crowd weren't sent flying, reassuring their safety.

After a few moments, the shockwave and light subsided, allowing everyone to look and gasp as they saw both Sarada and Arata now falling towards the ground.

Sarada fist was a bit red with her right arm warmer shredded to bits, while Arata's jacket was a bit ruffled.

'Dammit. It wasn't enough.' Sarada mentally berated with gritted teeth.

'Hn. Not bad.' Arata thought with a small grin, proud of Sarada's newfound strength.

"Sarada!" Sakura called out her daughter's name in worry.

"Arata-kun!" Hinata was also worried about the boy she could have called son.

Chocho came flying over and managed to grab Sarada in midair, while Metal leaped up high and caught Arata.

"I gotcha, Sarada." Chocho said to her best friend.

"Chocho…" Sarada looked at the Akimichi, showing fatigue on her expression.

"Are you okay, Arata-kun?" Metal asked with clear concern.

"Hn." Arata nodded in response.

Suddenly, Shinachiku launched up into the air, speeding pass Chocho and Sarada.

"Oh no!" Chocho noticed with shock.

"Dammit!" Sarada cursed with gritted teeth.

However, speeding over, surrounded by golden lightning, was none other than Boruto, who leaped up as well. Once in the air, he managed to get in between Shinachiku and the still airborne medicine ball.

Both brothers were now facing each other with Boruto's back facing towards the now scuffed up Chakra Ball.

The golden haired blonde grinned as he made a bird hand seal.

"Hold it. There's no way you're aiming a jutsu at me. You know that'll be a penalty." Shinachiku pointed out, looking at Boruto with suspicion.

"You're right. I'm just trying out an old family secret, straight from the Hyūga clan." Boruto said with a smirk, causing Shinachiku to gasp. "Jūkenhō Ichigekishin!" (Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body) Boruto unleashed his chakra throughout his tenkestu, specifically from his back, which struck the Chakra Ball, sending it flying right through the ring goal.

Everyone, both the players and the audience, stared in shock at what had just happened.

"Goal! That's 10 to 9! The winners are Team Sarada!" Clone Shinachiku declared, causing the crowd to cheer in amazement.

"No way!" Iwabe shouted out in shock and disappointment.

"Didn't see that coming." Arata said, using Metal as support for a moment.

"You liar! I bet you taught him that!" Iwabe shouted at the Uchiha-Hyūga.

"Iwabe, keep your voice down." Shikadai scolded his team captain.

"I doubt the crowd was able to hear that. Listen to them. They're going nuts." Inojin pointed out.

"That was amazing!" A kid shouted out in awe.

"Nicely done." A muscular man said with an impressed smile and arms crossed.

"I can't believe that these are really just kinds. Youngsters these days are going way too powerful!" An old man said, in shock by the strength of the youth.

"Is that the same Boruto?" A Chunin questioned.

"Yeah. Looks like he came a long way since the Chunin Exams, and for the best I might add." Another shinobi said with an impressed smirk and leaning against the gate.

'He sure has.' Kakashi thought to himself with a hidden smirk.

"Wow. Never knew Boruto could think that strategically." Ino said, surprised by the whiskered blonde's quick thinking.

"Ino, don't be rude." Sakura scolded her best friend with a frown.

"No, she's right. Quite the surprise coming from him." Temari said with her arms crossed.

"You guys…"

"Actually, I agree with them." Hinata said, surprising Sakura. "Boruto can be smart, but knowing how he can get in moments like these, I can't help but be surprised by this, and in a proud way." Hinata shared with a joyous smile.

"Well, so long as you're not offended." Sakura said with a slightly amused smile as Kakashi chuckled with a pair of eye smiles.

"Haha! We won! We won!" Chocho cheered as she floated down to the ground, hugging Sarada tightly.

"Yeah… we did. Ow." Sarada said, managing to muster a smile despite feeling aches around her body.

"Yes!" Wasabi cheered with her fists thrust up.

"Wasabi-chan!" Namida ran over and gave her best friend a victory hug.

"That was close." Tsubaki said with a relieved sigh, standing up straight as she waved her gripping hand to ease it of some leftover pain from her previous attacks.

"Aw man~." Iwabe whined with a disappointed frown and his shoulders slumped.

"Well, them's the breaks." Shikadai said, rubbing the top of his head.

"We shall win next time! This I swear!" Metal declared with a fist pump and new fire in his eyes.

"Hn." Arata couldn't help but smile.

Though their side lost, he could tell that his teammates weren't too disappointed. After all, they had fun and showed what they were capable of, and to a number of the village's population. That's victory enough, at least in Arata's eyes.

Shinachiku and Boruto landed upon the ground with the sunshine blonde smiling and the golden blonde grinning the cockiest smile you'd ever see.

"We win! You owe me a new window!" Boruto cheered, grinning wide from ear to ear.

"Still on about that, huh? Fine, but don't expect me to get it done so soon." Shinachiku said with a small pout as he scratched the top of his head.

He then noticed Boruto extending his hand to him.

"Good game." Boruto said with a more genuine smile that Shinachiku couldn't help but return.

"Yeah. Good one." Shinachiku said with a smile as he gripped Boruto's hand, but then he positioned it where he and Boruto were now making the sign of reconciliation, surprising his half-sibling. "I won't lose next time though." Shinachiku added with a smirk.

"Bring it on! I'll win just the same, dattebasa!" Boruto said with a grin.

"Man, we could have won if Shina and Arata weren't holding back. Remember that!" Iwabe called out, clearly annoyed by the loss.

"That would have been unfair at this point. Plus, it was your first game." Arata pointed out.

"And the first one that you lost!" Wasabi exclaimed, grinning her canines as she pointed at a growling Iwabe.

"I'm with Iwabe though. You could have pushed a little further. At least go a little faster next time." Inojin said.

"I guess I could do that, but I don't see that happening for a while." Shinachiku said with a shrug.

"Yeah, you're right. That large ass forehead of yours would slow you down by fifty percent each time, Taitanikku Jiin." (Titanic Temple) Inojin joked.

"Oi! I'm still faster thank you, Sumi Buta!" (Ink Pig) Shinachiku shouted with an annoyed anime expression.

"Well, don't that look familiar." Kakashi said, glancing at Ino and Sakura who just chuckled nervously with sweat drop expressions.

"Hmm?" Shinachiku turned his head towards the crowd who were either still cheering, clapping or laughing. "Whoa. When did we draw quite the crowd?" Shinachiku asked, genuinely surprised.

"You just noticed them now?!" Shikadai, Inojin, Iwabe and Boruto questioned in loud tones.

"Yeah, I just got way too into the zone to notice, I guess. Whoops." Shinachiku admitted with a small, embarrassed grin and rubbing the back of his head.

"Shinachiku-onii-chan!" A boy's voice called out, making the green beanie wearing blonde turn to see his 'student' hurrying his way over.

"Yo, Ehō! When did you get here?" Shinachiku greeted the brunette boy.

"He was the first one here." Arata answered.

"That was so cool! Where did you get the idea for that game?" Ehō asked, feeling super psyched after the match.

"Oh, made it up mainly for training. Although, I guess I do get carried away with it like any other game though." Shinachiku said with another embarrassed grin.

"Like you don't with training either." Arata said sarcastically, earning a pout and half-lidded glare from Shinachiku.

"Awesome!" A girl's voice called out, causing Shinachiku to look up to see more kids running over.

'Hey, I know them! Those are our kōhai!' Shinachiku thought with a smile, happy to see some more familiar faces.

"You were great out there, onii-chan." Himawari said to her paternal half-brother with a smile.

"That was amazing! You were so strong! The way you were able to make shockwaves like that with your fist! I want to be that strong one day!" Said a young girl with a narrow face, dark pupilless eyes and dark hair in a braided ponytail wearing a sleeveless red sweater, black shorts, white ninja sandals and a pair of fingerless gloves with the thumbs and bottom of her palms completely exposed.

'Same old Sōru.' Shinachiku thought with a smile. "Thanks. Honestly, I could have hit it harder, but I was holding a lot back, datte- is the truth." Shinachiku said with a bashful grin and rubbing the back of his head.

"No way!"

"For real?"

A pair of fraternal twins spoke, first the boy then the girl.

The short boy had blue eyes and equally blue short hair wearing a white suit, similar to a tunic, with a dark blue turtleneck underneath and pants that were likely part of a unitard, a blue scarf wrapped around the shoulders, and white shinobi sandals.

The short girl had merlot red eyes and long hair that was the same shade of red and stopped a bit pass her upper back, and she wore the same outfit as her brother, but with her possible unitard being dark red and scarf being pink, and she had a pair of white bells attached to her hair.

"You must be overexaggerating." A girl with brown eyes and pink permed up hair with strands framing the sides of her face and short bangs, wearing a red violet, sleeveless blouse with white lining even at the collar while there was pink at the hem which looked like part of skirt, a light pink off-the-shoulder, sleeveless shirt over it, a pair of red violet wrist bands, white puffy short, black leggings and white shinobi sandals.

"I assure you he's not." Shikadai said.

"Yeah. If Shinachiku-onii-chan wanted to, he could have sent both me and the ball flying right through the goal and over the village too, dattebasa." Boruto confessed with a grin.

"Sugoi~!" All the kids said in amazement.

"How do you play? I want to play!" Ehō said eagerly.

"It not a simple game, datte- is the truth. Well, I mean, it kind of is, but not as much as you think. It requires precise chakra control while being light on your feet with everyone coming at you as you're making split second decisions. It's definitely not something to jump into so quickly without the proper training first. I mean, it's a shinobi's game after all." Shinachiku said.

"Aw~." Ehō and the other kids whined.

"But… you are training to be a shinobi one day, aren't you?" Shinachiku asked, albeit rhetorically, with a smile, causing not only Ehō, but the other kids to perk their heads up.

"Of course I am! Being a shinobi is my dream!" Ehō proclaimed with gusto.

"Me too! I want to be a powerful shinobi, one like Might Gai-san!" Sōru shared with much vigor.

"I aim to be a great shinobi too!" Said a tall boy with amber eyes and dull gray hair that is buzzed on the bottom and parts to reach his ears on the top.

"Same here." A boy with yellow eyes and blue messy hair with strands standing about, looking similar to dreads.

"I wouldn't mind it." A short girl wearing a black, cat-eared hood, hiding her eyes, with a bell around her neck, and a tail appendage sticking out from the back not unlike Wasabi's.

"Me too. Even though I'm not big on conflict." A short girl with dark eyes, bushy orange hair that covers her ears and frames the sides of her faces with strands on the top that stick up and resemble dog ears and Inuzuka markings upon her cheeks said with a smile as her Siberian husky looking puppy agreeing with a bark.

"I want to be a shinobi!" The blue-haired boy said with excitement.

"Me too! They're so cool!" The merlot red haired girl said with the same amount of excitement.

The rest of the kids showed their enthusiasm one by one.

Shinachiku couldn't help but smile upon hearing the children's declaration and passion to become shinobi. Not only did it do his heart well, but it made him happy to see they were the same children that dreamed of being shinobi and attended the advanced course in the academy back where he came from.

'Everyone. Thank you… for having the same dreams.' Shinachiku thought with a warm smile. "You know, if you kids are that excited, I could teach you how to play this game whenever you got any free time. If you want." Shinachiku offered.

"Really? Yes! I'd love to!" Ehō said with new excitement.

"Same!" An equally excited Sōru agreed as all the kids were agreeing to the idea one by one.

"Oi, oi, will you let me take a photo of you all with the ball? This game was so exciting! I want to make it one big scoop!" Said an excited, grey-eyed girl with short red hair that is combed to the right side and short, round eyebrows wearing an oversized pink sweater with a thick white shirt collar sticking out from underneath, likely from another shirt underneath, along with light blue jeans and a pair of sandals and carrying a dark blue backpack. She held a camera in her hands, emphasizing her desire.

'Excitable as ever, eh, Sōsha?' Shinachiku thought with an amused and slightly nervous smirk while rubbing the back of his neck. "Sure. I don't mind."

"Make sure you get my good side." Boruto said with an excited grin.

Kakashi silently chuckled as he watched both groups of youth instantly bonding. From the looks of it, the youths of Konoha were on a prosperous road to life. He and the other soon to be relics have got nothing to worry about.

Shinachiku and the others lined up with the beanie wearing blonde holding the medicine ball in his hands. They all grinned and smiled as Sōsha took their picture for her scoop.

"Oi, oi! Are you guys going to play again?" The blue-haired boy asked with new excitement.

"Yeah, are you?" The merlot red haired girl asked with excitement as well.

"Hell yeah! I'm definitely for another round! I wouldn't mind winning two windows in a row, 'ttebasa." Boruto said with an Uzumaki grin.

"You're only getting the one! Deal with it!" Shinachiku retorted with an annoyed anime expression.

"How about this? If my team wins again, I go on a date with Arata-kun!" Chocho declared with a new gleam of pure motivation in her eyes.

"Okay, sure." Shinachiku said with a shrug, only to then be punched in the arm by a clearly annoyed Arata. "Ow~!" Shinachiku cried out as he rubbed his aching arm and looking to the frowning Arata who also glared at him with a furrowed brow.

When rightfully annoyed, Arata can be not-so-gentle.

"Yatta! I'm going to give it my all!" Chocho cheered with an excited grin and pair of fist pumps.

'I have got to win this next one.' Arata thought with a stoic frown.

"Alright then, places people!" The clone Shinachiku, which hadn't been dispelled, called out with everyone doing so. "You know the rules!" The clone said as he held the medicine ball in hand.

"This is going to be so cool!" Sōru said with an excited grin.

"Should we be this close?" The tall grey-haired boy asked with a clear sense of worry.

"All of you! Get back behind the fence!" Clone Shinachiku ordered.

"Hai!" All the kids said, standing up straight, as they hurried off so as not to be near the crossfire.

"I can't believe these kids are ready to go again. Even after all of that." An elderly man said, shocked that the genin before them still had energy left to spare.

"The youth keep getting scarier and scarier with each generation." A shinobi said with a smirk.

"Well… the new generation is always meant to surpass the one before every time." Kakashi said with a hidden smile.

Sakura, Hinata, Ino and Temari all smiled, happy and excited to see the kids play and right from the start this time.

Seeing them as they are now put their minds at ease with whatever the future was ready to bring.

"Alright, ready?" Clone Shinachiku asked.

"Wait!" Namida called out, gaining everyone's attention. "Uh… could I play this time?" Namida asked, twiddling her fingers.

"Sure, Namida." Wasabi said with a smile.

"Yeah. You can take my place. I wouldn't mind a break for now." Denki offered with a smile.

"Alright. Now is everybody ready?" Clone Shinachiku asked once Namida and Denki switched positions. Everyone nodded in confirmation, ready to begin. "Alright then. You know the rules! Now… Begin!" Clone Shinachiku then threw the Chakra Ball high into the air.

"Oto Awa no Jutsu!" (Sound Bubble Technique) Namida's cheeks puffed up as she then fired a bubble of condensed sound that bulleted upward and struck the Chakra Ball, resulting in an explosion of sound that sent the ball rocketing so high up that you could no longer see it.

Everyone stared up in shock, flabbergasted with their eyes widened greatly before looking towards Namida.

"S-Sorry! I guess I don't know my own strength." Namida said with a worried and embarrassed frown and her hands up in defense.

"That's always been the scariest part about you, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a nervous grin.

"Man, who knew Namida had it in her?" Boruto said to himself with a look of shock and a sense of fear.

"Is that ball ever coming back?" Inojin wondered aloud, looking back up at the sky.

"I don't know." Shinachiku said, looking back up along with the rest.

After a few moments, Wasabi noticed a tiny dot from afar.

"It's starting to fall back down!" Wasabi called out as sure enough, the Chakra Ball was coming back down to the earth, picking up speed the closer it got.

"It's coming in hot!" Shikadai noticed with a worried expression.

"It's coming in like a meteorite!" Chocho exclaimed in shock.

"We should run!" Inojin said, scared of being flattened.

"Yeah right. Like that's enough to scare me!" Boruto said with a grin as a golden aura surrounded his body and started sparking with golden lightning. "You with me, Sarada?"

"Sure. I'm not one to be easily intimated by a falling fireball." Sarada said with a smirk as her muscles tightened with purple lightning sparking around her as well.

"How reckless." Shinachiku said with a smirk as the wind started to pick up around his form. "Oh well. We shouldn't back down either. Be kind of embarrassing to be shown up by our kōhai, eh, Arata?" Shinachiku said with a grin as his pigment started turning red.

"Hn. I won't be able to have a good night's rest if we did so." Arata said as his body started sparking with lightning as well.

"Here it comes!" Shikadai shouted with urgency as the Chakra Ball, surrounded by a cone of fire, came rocketing downwards.

"Cha!" Shinachiku and Sarada screamed out as they, Boruto and Arata leaped up high to meet the ball halfway.

Both pairs were now on either side of the ball, when suddenly, Shinachiku and Arata noticed something after a split second. And that was that for a moment, Sarada's entire form was covered in a coating of lightning with her hair sticking up and Boruto's form flashed yellow with golden flames sparking around with the lightning, eyes slit and whiskers more rectangular.

They flashed their forms for only a moment, but it was enough to shock Shinachiku and Arata.

Despite being shocked, the pair of elder siblings couldn't help but smirk.

'Well, well.' Arata thought, smirking.

'I'll be damned.' Shinachiku couldn't help but grin.

"Let's go!" Shinachiku and Boruto shouted out as they and the Uchiha were ready to land the first strike upon the flaming medicine ball.

.

.

Finally closing in on the surface of the moon, Ayumu flew over on his cloud, yawning as he did so.

"I should have napped for much longer." Ayumu said with a small frown.

As he made it to the surface of the moon, Ayumu turned his head in a certain direction and started travelling that way on his cloud.

After some time, he noticed a figure in the distance. Upon reaching this figure, Ayumu stopped, hovering in front of them.

It was none other than Toneri Ōtsutsuki, who was still in his petrified form courtesy of Urashiki Ōtsutsuki, with his body looking to be made of black marble.

Ayumu blinked his eyes, watching the frozen Ōtsutsuki with indifference but hidden deep within them was also disdain. His eyes then scanned upwards to see giant floating pieces of the moon. One of them slowly shifted to take the form of a hannya face with smaller ones around them shapeshift into horrified people with some of them having missing pieces.

Ayumu stared at this with a look of indifference as well as he then floated pass Toneri's hardened form.

"Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten to that point." Ayumu said.

"I kind of figured… but it would have been nice if it did. Those people… they would have been freed." A male being said with a smirk. "Sure, it would have hurt, but then it would have been followed by bliss."

"I am well aware, Shishō." (Master) Ayumu replied.

There floating over a very vast hole within the surface of the moon was a man looking to be sixteen, looking like he was lying back onto the air with one hand behind his head while the others were kept up with his fingers moving around a bit. His only attire seemed to be a black cloak that was zipped down a bit to reveal his bare chest to reveal a necklace with a silver pendant that was a circle outline with an upside-down triangle outline inside the circle. He had wavy, mopped dark gray hair that had black streaks at the top and center of his head looking similar to a six-pointed star with a gray ahoge poking out the top. His eyes were also closed.

This man was none other than the once thought myth, now nightmare turned reality.

The Wicked God, Jashin.

"So… how have things been~? We got any scrolls? It has been, what? Almost a month? What's the update?" Jashin asked with a nonchalant smile and tone that sounded chipper and slightly playful.

"We managed to have the scrolls of Kiri and Iwa. However, Konoha was entrusted with Suna's own. They managed to get away with it thanks to them." Ayumu reported.

"Mm~. Not bad, I suppose. Two is better than none, and there is still one left that isn't in Konoha's hands. So, I say we're off to a good start." Jashin said with a smirk.

"We would have gotten Suna's as well, if those three hadn't screwed up. But I'm sure you already knew that." Ayumu pointed out.

"Well, we are linked together. Plus, I can connect to your mind at will." Jashin said nonchalantly. "By the way? How was your nap?" Jashin asked as he 'sat up' cross legged.

"Fine. No one around to bother me or make fun of my 'kitten-like' snores." Ayumu said.

"How can you be able to snore or even yawn in the vacuum of space?" Jashin asked, albeit rhetorically.

"We're immortal and practically akin to the undead. No limits exist for the lives of the lifeless." Ayumu responded.

"True, but that's still a law of science. Immortality can't muck with that. Though, I guess I make it look easy." Jashin said with a casual smile, looking up towards the large pieces of the moon's surface.

He clenched his hand as the large moon pieces then broke down into moon dust, then he moved his hands around and aimed it over towards Ayumu's direction. The moon dust moved like a current, becoming a solid stream that snaked over towards Ayumu's direction, before Jashin twirled his finger once, causing the stream to move around the one-eyed child and surround Toneri's 'statue'. The moon dust snaked around the petrified Ōtsutsuki, lifting him off the ground and back towards Jashin.

"Why are you so close to that thing anyway?" Ayumu asked out of curiosity.

"It makes me laugh." Jashin admitted with some giggles. "The fact that these leeches are so terrible, even to their own, it just makes me chortle at the mere insanity of it all. So ludicrous and stupid."

"The rest and I are crappy to one another too, you know."

"You say that, but I know how it goes." Jashin said with a teasing smile, causing Ayumu to pout. "Okay. No more sidetracking." Jashin said, causing Ayumu to gain a serious expression and actually sitting up straight. "You all are already on route to get the scroll from Kumo, that much I can guess. As for Konoha, let's save it for last."

"I figured as much." Ayumu said.

"Although… I kind of want to have fun with them." Jashin said as he rubbed his chin while twirling the other hand around, causing the levitating moon dust to start flipping Toneri's frozen body around. "The Oni Zetsu… they're a thing now here thanks to us. Same with those little boys. How do they feel about this new Konoha?"

"They're willing to protect it. Don't know why though. They don't exist in this dimension, so there's no connection whatsoever except for blood." Ayumu answered.

"Mortals will always find a reason to care and make it their own." Jashin said with a nonchalant smile. "Well then… let's see how far they're willing to protect it. If they truly value it… as much as they do their own home." Jashin's smile widened wickedly as he cracked open his eyes a smidge to reveal signs of empty eye sockets with purple orbs in the center, gleaming.

.

.

Within the home dimension of our pair of heroes and villains, Tsukia was practicing her Jūken in the backyard. Unlike her brother, who is more pinpoint and precise with a solid foundation that is only achieved with a perfected master level of skill and dedication, her own was fluid and flexible with unorthodox movements that made her rather unpredictable and an oddity for those practicing the same martial art.

The way she moved was more akin to a dancer, which made her dazzling, not unlike her mother.

Right now, she was focusing on getting stronger for what was to come.

Something discussed two nights ago between her family and the Hokage.

.

.

"Another world? You mean, like another planet?" Tsukia asked.

"No. As in another dimension rather similar to ours but also just as different." Naruto elaborated.

"You mean an alternate reality. This is far different from the usual dimensional troubles we are akin to through the Ōtsutsuki." Sasuke corrected with his arms crossed.

"An alternate reality?" Tsukia questioned in shock.

"Yeah, that. Onatsu-san explained that she is connected to her sister who is the Sekai no Gētou~ei (World's Gateway) of that reality. That also makes it our sister dimension. When the last of her power was used before she had slipped into her coma, Shinachiku and Arata were sucked into it and immediately stranded somewhere there as her jewel is automatically pinpointed to that universe." Naruto explained.

"Does she know exactly where they are?" Hinata asked with a reserved yet desperate tone.

"She could try, but she has just woken up. I don't want her to use her powers too soon, not at the risk of being back to square one." Naruto answered, causing Hinata to frown.

"So, we know they're in another universe, but we don't know exactly where they are or if they're safe?" Tsukia essentially summarized with a frown, earning a nod from Naruto.

"She was able to faintly sense their life forces, so we know they're alright for now. Hopefully, the Konoha of that universe has decided to take them in as allies, and care for them until further notice." Naruto said, trying to ease the Uchiha family's worries.

"Won't that be an inconvenience. Having two sets of Arata-onii-chans and Shina-kuns in that village." Tsukia said with a frown.

"That's the thing… they don't exist there." Naruto said, surprising Sasuke and Hinata, while Tsukia was genuinely shocked.

"What?" The eldest Uchiha daughter asked with shock.

"In that universe, you and your siblings, along with my kids, were never born within that reality." Naruto explained, shocking Tsukia even further. "As I said, things are similar but also very different. Not just on who exists and what choices were made, but also circumstances that occurred. Even the people you know live different lives in this other reality. What you know isn't everything you would know there."

'I… I don't exist there?' Tsukia thought utterly shocked with a small sense of horror.

"Figured as much." Sasuke said, not surprised at all by this development.

"Yes." Hinata agreed with a nod. "The lives they live are of no concern to us though. What matters is the safety of our son and how close we are to getting him back."

'Man, I wonder how different both Hinatas sound. She definitely got bolder and sterner since ending up with Sasuke, 'ttebayo.' Naruto wondered to himself.

"Dobe. Get to the chase. I doubt you came to just tell us that this frog-like being is awake and where Arata and your son is." Sasuke said to the Hokage, wanting to get to the point quickly.

"As perceptive as ever, teme. Onatsu-san is too weak to open a doorway for us to retrieve them, but there is a way to get in contact with them. In fact, there is a technicality on how we can interact with them face-to-face." Naruto said, catching the Uchihas' attention.

"How?" Hinata asked, rather eager while retain a composed posture.

"Apparently, with the help of fūinjutsu, we can transfer the chakra of one person into Onatsu-san. With that chakra, she will be able to make a physical clone of that person within the other universe and transfer their consciousness into the clone, allowing them a physical presence without having to leave our reality. It's called an Uchū Bunshin." (Cosmic Clone) Naruto explained, surprising the three before him.

"I see. How is this performed by the user and are there any serious repercussions?" Sasuke asked for more details.

"It's simple. Both Onatsu and the user will be in the center of a large sealing formula. The designated user will be in a meditative pose and have their chakra connected to Onatsu through the activation of the fūinjutsu. The only limit is that overtime, the user's chakra will gradually decrease. When it's all used up, the clone will cease to exist, and the consciousness of the user will return. However, we can extend this procedure by having a third-party transfer extra chakra into the user. Fortunately, they won't be pulled in by connecting their chakra with the candidate." Naruto answered in detail.

"Candidate?" Tsukia asked as a sense of hope was coming to her.

"We plan on choosing someone to go through with this procedure once Onatsu is good enough to use it without any negative effects. Likely when the month is up." Naruto shared.

"Please, ojisan! Allow me to be the one to use this jutsu!" Tsukia quickly said as she stood up from her seat.

"Tsukia…" Hinata was surprised by her daughter's sudden outburst while Naruto and Sasuke remained calm, expecting this from the young Uchiha-Hyūga.

"This is a serious decision. Even if there won't be any consequences to suffer here, it'll be different in this other world, 'ttebayo." Naruto reminded his spiritual niece.

"I am aware, and that's why I think I should go instead. I'd be an anomaly, but I would cause less chaos there as opposed to anyone whose presence already exists in that reality, like you and Otōsan." Tsukia shared her reasons.

"She does have a point. You said there are many similarities in that reality, so sending in someone who already exists in that reality would cause some confusion followed by much distress. The idea of alternate realities existing and the means to travel between them will cause serious ramifications." Hinata said, backing up her daughter's reasonings.

"It would be easier for someone like Tsukia to be there than someone like ourselves." Sasuke added.

"Yeah, it would." Naruto agreed. "Are you sure about this though? She won't really be sent out of our reality, but still, after what's happened… are you guys not feeling uneasy?" Naruto asked.

"I admit, I don't like the idea of sending another of my children off into such territory, but I'm much more uneasy with not knowing what has happened to my eldest. So long as Tsukia remains safe, I will back her up on any such opportunity to bring back her brother." Hinata said with a look of seriousness and resolution, showing clear support for her daughter.

'Hahaoya…' (Mother) Tsukia looked to her mother with a grateful smile.

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked at his old teammate.

"As if I'll be able to convince her otherwise. Not like I'm against it to be honest." Sasuke answered.

"Figured as much. Alright then. Tsukia… I'll be assigning you this mission. When the time comes, you will be tasked with finding and making contact with your siblings. Once done, inform them of the situation on how we will be bringing them back." Naruto said professionally as the Hokage.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Arigato." Tsukia responded with a respectful and gracious bow.

"With that settled, there's also something else I figured you guys would know. Mainly you both, Sasuke, Hinata." Naruto said, catching the patriarch and matriarch of the clan's attention.

.

.

Tsukia finished up her kata with a battle cry as she thrust her palms forward, unleashing a powerful vacuum that went far and blew the grass and nearby trees in her backyard from the force. She stood up straight and breathed out, lowering her hands as she finished her katas.

The young Uchiha girl looked up towards the moon with a look of pure resolve.

'Don't worry you guys. Just wait a little longer, and I'll come find you. I promise.'

.

.

Shinachiku and Arata were making their way back towards the compound, both a bit winded with their clothes messed up a bit.

"Man. What a workout today, huh?" Shinachiku said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hn." Arata agreed with a nod.

Suddenly, the wind blew, passing them by as they stopped with their eyes widened. They stood there for a moment with a look of surprise, before suddenly gaining the urge to smile with their eyes softened.

"Sure is windy today, huh?" Shinachiku said as they continued walking.

"Hn." Arata agreed with a nod.

End of Chapter 19

First off, sorry there was no post in August. I was on vacation and outside of the country, back to my mama's motherland. You don't really stay in one place on vacation, and usually you're outside away from your computer. Oh well, at least you got the one for September.

Now, I feel like I should discuss the past reviews that had been posted this past month. First, I thank those who were giving me their support and watching my back. I thank you. It really means a lot that I gained support from others through my own efforts. It kind of makes me feel like Naruto in a way, albeit in a minor manner.

As for the person who was saying that he was actually trying to help me grow… it didn't really come out that way. If you genuinely feel you want to grant me constructive criticism, then please, just list them and tell me what you think would be an improvement. Calling someone an idiot, a fool, useless and all other mean things doesn't drive home the point. To be honest, with how frequent those have been every time I post a new chapter, it's become far easier to ignore. It's just the same thing all over again.

"You foolish asshat, quit it with this trash. You're wasting everyone's time. Just stop and delete and spare us your garbage writing. I feel like I'm going to throw up bile with every word you write."

You never wrote anything like that yet, but with the impression you've given so far, it's something I can easily expect each time I put up a new chapter.

I mean, so far nothing you wrote is the worst one I've seen so far. That one guy telling me to "Go die, you virgin" still takes the glass-filled cake. Still, my point remains.

If you have constructive criticism, then please, tell it to me in a way that I can take seriously. Like you want to genuinely connect with me on a practical and artistic level. None of this "You are useless" crap. It'll get you nowhere. List your problems, address how you feel and write on what you believe would make the story better. Treat it like you would if you were a business worker who feels that things can improve in the workplace with a client if they approach them with a stern, yet patient and respectful manner.

Your usual reviews don't feel like that to me. They just sound like an angry person looking to vent. They're more akin to a toddler with a tantrum. Sure, we can hear them, but they're just practically yelling the same thing over and over again to the point where we quickly stop taking them seriously, and no one wants to not be taken seriously. I know you do, but this isn't it, and this isn't the sight for those comments.

This site is for people who put in the work to make something they enjoy and can not only have others hopefully enjoy their work but can also connect with them on an emotional level. Where the reader could have a bad day but just seeing a new chapter of a story, they have come to enjoy can brighten them up, even for a minute. Sure, there are those who don't bother putting effort into their stories and just write here to pass the time or keep themselves occupied or even blow off some steam, but there are so many more who just want to write something fun and be given support or notes on their writing.

It's not a place where people come to be angry or vent by sharing their own problems in an aggressive manner. That's more of what Twitter is known for nowadays.

If you have something to say that you feel could help improve my skills and this story, feel free to leave a review. An honest one that shows your genuine concerns in a mature manner and hopes on what to improve, like you would any adult. If it keeps being the way it's being, no such progress between us will be made. It will be the same song and dance, and no one likes repetition. Well… unless you like beat 'em ups like I do.

I've had people who not only have given me constructive criticisms, but also those who were honest enough with me to tell me that they would no longer be following a story I write. I still remember this one who quit my Ultimate Maken-ki Shinobi (which I will get back to once I complete this one), and though it hurt, I respected him for being honest when he didn't have to be. I wouldn't have noticed at all, but that person put in the effort to let me know that they would quit it and for what reasons, and because of that, I completely respect them and remember this, because they were worth so. I felt a connection with someone I do not know, yet despite how brief, I actually treasure that person, because there aren't many people like them. Their review I will remember forever, and though it still hurts, it's not something I would ever choose to forget or erase if given the choice.

Acting in such a way is what not only garners respect, but also becomes something that is treasured in the most unexpected ways.

I hope one day, you can be the same way. Someone who is honest enough that they are worth remembering, for all the right reasons.

I know I sound like I'm on a high horse, but I'm being honest with my own opinion. It may not be looked at in a fond light by some, but since it is coming from a genuine place, I do not regret doing so.

Anyway, aside from that, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was fun to write, as always, and I was happy to have not only the usual cast from the anime included in more meaningful but also progressively badass ways. And yes, I said anime because, believe it or not, I do like the Boruto anime. Mainly when it's not following the main story.

I just can't take that space aliens and cyborgs thing seriously. I still follow it, but more to keep tabs on the story instead of genuine enjoyment. I mean, that stuff can work in Dragon Ball because that series has always been odd since the beginning with dinosaurs still existing, anthropomorphic being coexisting with humans, odd and even intense drastic transformations, and have a rabbit man that can transform people into carrots and be sent to the moon where he can breathe and make mochi. The same moon that was blown up and gone for several years without screwing with the planet's climate.

In the Naruto-verse? Having them face the actual gods of Shintoism and somehow travelling to heaven is more believable for the series than what we got. At least, in my opinion.

I actually do enjoy the anime more when it does its own thing. Well, not all the time, but there have been adventures and episodes I do enjoy. Not on the same level as the original series, but still I'm fond of them. In fact, the children mentioned after the end of their crew's first game were all originally from the Boruto anime.

They were newly made academy students that appeared in the Kawaki & Himawari Academy Arc, which as an arc I enjoy and remember fondly because of these kids, their personalities and their interactions with others. My favorite is Sōsha Amino because she is easily excitable, loves gossip and getting the scoop for her school news but is a huge scaredy cat. She makes laugh all the time.

That kind of stuff is actually why I like the anime more than the manga. Sure, the manga is more stories driven, but everything just comes at you too fast. They're always putting in something crazy big in every chapter after the Kawaki Arc and at such a quick pace. It almost feels suffocating, and the chapters only come out monthly!

I just like the anime a bit more because of the new characters they introduce and put into the stories they tell. I mean, I added Teams 5 & 15 to this story, that's very telling on how much I actually appreciate the anime. Sure, it's not the best anime and not one you should rush to see, but just the idea of seeing the village and Shinobi World being just that, introducing us to these new people and how they live in this era of peace yet still has some conflicting stains here and there just feels right.

We came to Naruto to see the upcoming Hokage's story unfold, and we did. Now, it's become such a big part of my life that just seeing the lives of others who live in this world that I love so much is more than enough. It's worth far more than checking out what those damn Ōtsutsuki are up to or anything they're connected to, that's for sure.

Anyway, sorry if this felt like a rant. If you were patient enough to read through all of this, thank you and I respect your patience and attention.

Thank you all for reading my story, and an especially big thank you to those who choose to stick with it every step of the way. It truly feels like an honor to have you all give both myself and my story so much attention, support and respect.

I cannot thank you all enough. It truly brings warmth to my heart.

Arigato! So much!

From me to all of you, thank you for sticking with it and for standing by me every step of the way.

Minasan, Hontōni Arigatō!

Takeshi1225, Out!