In the Village hidden in the Leaves, a nine-year-old boy stood atop the cliffside where the Village's Hokage's heads were chiseled into. The boy's black eyes surveyed the entire village from his vantage point, taking in the sight of the bustling people below, the sound of their chatter rising to him on the breeze, and the cool wind ruffling his side-swept red hair with scissor-cut sides.
He thought of all the memories that this village had given him over the last five years and wondered momentarily about his previous home. But he knew that question would remain unanswered regardless of how many times he thought of it so he simply allowed himself to be carried away by the calm of the cliffside breeze.
After a few minutes, the boy got up and began walking away, his back to the bustling city he had just admired, for it was time for him to go about his day as well. As the boy left, he recalled that he should do some practice problems to prepare for the entrance ceremony of the ninja academy tomorrow. Though doubts of whether there was to be a test floated through his mind, there was no loss from practicing. He started with a simple physics question.
What… the boy stopped in his tracks, turning to face the cliffside once more. His eyes scanned the rugged terrain, taking in the jagged rocks and steep drop-off that lay just a few feet away… is the fastest route… the boy began jogging towards the edge, each footfall more deliberate than the last… between two points? The answer is obvious, isn't it? The fastest route between any two points…is a straight line.
The boy jumped off the cliffside.
Question number two: Bullet round! Would he survive this fall? Answer: No!
The boy looked directly at the quickly approaching floor as the wind whisked past his face, and a rush of adrenaline surged through his veins. The wind tugged at his hair and clothes, and he could feel the pressure building in his ears and chest as his body's velocity increased closer to the terminal point.
"Three." However, the boy simply smiled and began counting down, seeming towards the moment that he would decorate the sidewalk.
"Two." He had just past the height of the tallest apartment in the Leaf.
"One." As the boy finished his countdown nothing changed other than the fact that he was closer to the ground.
But then, suddenly, a few meters away from disturbing the average jogger with his antics; the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke.
? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ
Several kilometers away, a nine-year-old boy awoke with a jolt. His black eyes darted around, taking the roof that he had fallen asleep on. He ran one hand through his red hair while the other lay upon his chest, feeling his rushing heartbeat.
"To think I'd fall asleep before my clone jumped," Mahito's mind raced as he struggled to process the overwhelmingly sudden adrenaline coursing through his veins.
"I've gotten way better at it, though," he said, the anxiousness giving way to excitement as the feeling of a sense of accomplishment at being the world champion at something he made up washed over him.
With no immediate plans for the day, Mahito decided to burn off this extra energy with a run through the village and jumped from the roof he was on. Maybe I jump off things too much… nah.
Mahito darted through the streets at a breakneck pace, zigzagging between people using his small frame.
"Hey there, Mahito!" Occasionally, someone called out to him but as they had no urgent of him and were just calling to him, he simply flashed a quick smile and waved, replying with a casual 'Hey, how's it going?' before darting off again.
'Time to veer off-course from nowhere specific to nowhere specific in the other direction' Mahito took to the side alleys after realizing that there was a huge crowd further down the road. Mahito then realized that there was a lot more trash in the side alleyways than he originally expected.
After catching a pot that fell off a windowsill and flipping up to put it back, Mahito used a series of acrobatics to jump back onto the roofs of the Leaf.
'What are they doing?' Mahito thought, spotting his friends, Boruto and Shikidai, going in the opposite direction a few rooftops down. 'Oh right, that stupid spicy burger is going away today.'
Mahito had already tried the burger, obviously, and so had Boruto and Shikidai, so they must just want to taste it one last time before it went away, Mahito assumed. Mahito shared none of their sentiment, though, and decide to go to the edge of the village to see if the people there had any odd jobs that needed doing. It was a bit late in the day but maybe there was still water to be carried or something.
As he leaped across the rooftops, he passed over Old Lady Curo's quaint little house. With its little white fence, pink windowsills, and the allure of the possibility of freshly baked cookies, he decided to stop by.
"Hey! Old Lady Curo? Are you home? It's Mahito! Just came in to check on you." Mahito yelled as opened the unlocked door.
"Mahito! Is that you? Oh Mahito, come quick. Something terrible has happened!" her voice came from the living room.
Mahito hurried to the living room taking great care not to knock over anything or step on something or worse step in something. He's already learned that lesson.
Mahito entered the living room, like every room in this house, it was relatively small but had a cozy – if not slightly claustrophobic – feeling. The fireplace in the center was currently off as it wasn't cold outside and as usual, there were newspapers strewn all about the room. The furniture was so old-fashioned that it looked like it was by Old Lady Curo's grandma's hayday when they were falling in popularity, which – as Mathison knows – isn't too far from the truth. The occupant of this humble abode was sitting in a rocking chair next to a half-finished sweater she was clearly just knitting. She was herself wearing a handmade sweater along with some jeans. Her gray hair was tied into a bun and her wrinkled face did nothing to camouflage her smile lines. Unfortunately, those lines would not deepen as today her eyes were red-rimmed, puffy, and on the brink of tears.
"What's wrong, Old Lady Curo?"
"It's Mr. Mittens Madrigold Mordor. He hasn't come by in over two weeks. He's never been gone this long before. I put a quest up but the Genin that got assigned didn't find him."
"Don't worry, I'll check around town for him today."
"Oh, thank you, you're far too kind, Mahito."
Old Lady Curo rarely ever asks for anything on the principle of "Young people like you shouldn't concern yourself with my chores. I've gotten along so far just fine by myself, haven't I?" If she asked to find Mr. MMM it's because she genuinely believes he's in grave danger.
"Would you like some cookies?" she asked, seeing that Mahito was heading towards the door.
"No, thanks," Mahito reluctantly declined for he had lost his appetite in the face of his new mission.
Outside the house, Mahito put the two forefingers of his two hands against one another in a cross formation. In response to his hand signal, the charka circulating in his body performed the-
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Instantly a large puff of smoke formed around him and when it cleared, five identical copies of himself were there.
"That's the limit? Oh, well. Ok boys, you all know the plan?"
""Yes""
"What's the plan?"
""Find Mr. MMM!""
"And who is Mr. MMM?"
""…""
"Oh, wait we're supposed to answer that?" "Thought it was rhetorical, you know." "Obviously, we know everything you do, why are we even doing this? Shouldn't we just go already?"
"For clarity!" the original piped up over the scattered mumbling. "Mr. Mittens Madrigold Mordor is a stray cat that hangs around Old Lady Curo a lot. She's practically adopted that cat at this point, and it is probably the most important in the world to her besides knitting and baking. It's our job of the day to find the loveable Mr. MMM and bring him back safely! Any questions?"
"Why didn't you ask Old Lady Curo where she thinks he is?"
"Overruled. She literally was crying, almost. Next!"
"Can we go now?"
"No. I have a genius idea." The original revealed a ball of black fur.
""EEEEEWWWW!""
"No, it's not a hairball, it's just a ball of fur."
"Oh, ok but still - ew." "Yeah, still kinda gross, not gonna lie." "I'm going to remember touching that in a few hours." "Question! How does that help, like, at all?"
"Glad, you asked that, clone number something. We can show this to people if they ask us about the color of fur instead of trying to describe it."
"Just to be clear, we're asking people to help us, right?"
"Just shut up and take a furball. C'mon me's let's go."
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
No luck, at all. His clones and himself had been all over the Leaf and had talked to basically everyone they knew but they hadn't found any leads and they defiantly hadn't found Mr. MMM. The last clone had just run out of chakra and the information he learned flowed back to Mahito. Nothing, nothing, and would you look at that, it was more nothing.
With a heavy heart, Mahito decided to head towards the edge of the cliffside far to the right of the stone faces. If Mr. MMM wasn't here then he was probably deep in the forest, at which point it would take a team of shinobi to find him. Mahito knew the Old Lady Curo wouldn't want him staying late up into the night looking for Mr. MMM with the entrance ceremony tomorrow but it still left a bad taste in his mouth.
Arriving at the place about 30 minutes later, Mahito began his active search using an investigative technique with has been passed down through the generations. This foolproof plan withstood the test of time and repeatedly proves its worth.
"Mr. MMM?" "Mr. MMM, are you here?" "If you're here, give me a sign." "Mr. MMM?"
"Mmme-yoww"
"Mr. MMM!" After several minutes of catcalling, just when he was about to call it a day, he heard the call of the triple MMMs from down below.
"I'm coming, stay right there!" Mahito side down the incline of the cliff facing away from the village – not nearly as hard as his clone did earlier – and slid down the side a bit before jumping off where the sound was heard.
"There you are!" Mahito found the black cat with gray streaks in a little alcove of rocks. "Come on out, buddy. Old Lady Curo's waiting for you." Mahito reached an arm into the entrance but slid back away from him. The alcove was surprisingly deep and Mahito's hand couldn't reach the cat.
"Come on, dude. You can't keep a lady waiting. Also, I have to wake up early tomorrow and it's a 30-minute walk back to town the safe way, the cat-friendly way. That was a threat. Just come on out, already."
Suddenly, Mahito heard the noise of rock moving.
What the- Looking up he saw a huge boulder was about to be rocked loose. OH NO!
"Come dude, seriously now! There's now time for games!" Mahito reached his hand in, frantically trying to grab the cat but the frantic movements only made the cat more on edge and it slicked further back into its alcove.
Seeing that the boulder was about to fall Mahito realized that there was no time to save the cat and get out, so he abandoned his plan and ran far to the side of the alcove.
He only had one shot at this.
Mere moments after he got into position, the boulder broke free and hurtled towards the alcove. On its way there, it hit another outcropping of rocks. In a perfect world, that would've set the boulder off-course and everyone's happy. However, the boulder had picked up so much momentum that it launched into the air on a direct trajectory for the cat's alcove.
But Mahito won't let that happen.
Mahito sprinted directly towards the alcove aiming to get there just before the boulder. As the boulder fell towards the alcove threatening to squish its furry inhabitants, Mahito leapt up towards it. Energy flowed through him, circulating through his body through interconnected channels. The energy, the charka, concentrated around his hand, the sheer density making it visible to the naked eye. The energy swirled and surrounded Mahito's fist, making it faster, stronger, and harder, boosting it to new heights, - past the limits of his nine-year-old body!
"OVERBOOST!" Mahito yelled as he punched the boulder with all his strength. The impact knocked it off course and the boulder tumbled further down the incline, the sound of rocks clattering against each other was music to Mahito's ears as the boulder bounced and rolled harmlessly away, leaving a trail of dust and debris in its wake.
"Whew," Mahito sighed, mentally exhausted by that close call and physically exhausted by all of the chakra he's been using today.
"You're not going anywhere," Mahito picked up the cat who was startled by the noises and tried to run away, the energy around his fist completely gone.
"Ew, you need a bath," Mahito exclaimed, catching a whiff of the cat, "and a comb too. What is this Boruto hairstyle that you're trying to pull off with your entire body? Come on, the cat-safe road this time for coming out of the alcove. Well, it's more of a small cave but who cares? You're a good kitty, yes you are. I would nuzzle you but I don't know what kind of cat-bies or whatever you picked up. What were you even doing out here? Playing survival cat-hardcore edition? You are a house cat, stop trying to act up, you fuzzball. Ew, Fuzzball. I'll admit; not my greatest idea but only half the village knows about it so maybe it'll die out soon. No? You're probably right. Oh, remember that time…. "
Mahito spent the entire journey back talking to the cat.
What Mahito wanted most in the world right now was to just have a regular ceremony tomorrow and then he could go back to his regular schedule. Just a perfectly normal ceremony. How much could even go wrong at a ceremony?
….
The next day, Boruto drove a train into the stone faces.
