Chapter 1: The Prince

Authors Note:

I wouldn't expect frequent updates for this story. I will be busy, but aim for once a week or so.

As an aside, I've been wondering where I want the focus of this fic to be. I've decided it will primarily focus on the characters and building the world and its politics on the side. Most likely, I'll dedicate a few chapters here and there to it.

This story will include fuinjutsu, but I'll aim to keep it as canon friendly as possible. I want it to be something that requires a lot of creativity and planning to use in combat and lots of study to get to that point. Otherwise, its rarity wouldn't make sense.

To say Boruto was excited would be the understatement of the year. When Naruto returned home, especially late last night, he thought nothing of it. His old man had been so wrapped up in his work that since being named Hokage, his absence had become the norm. Usually, this was an even worse sign for Boruto, warning that his father would spend whole nights in that office instead of being home, playing with Himawari, or even so much as joining them for dinner.

His heart dipped seeing his father still at home in the morning, looking sheepish at the table.

Maybe I could get the old man to teach me something,

Resigning himself to disappointment, Boruto glumly shuffled himself to sit diagonally from his father in his usual place. Naruto gave him an odd look but did not otherwise engage with his son. Their bond had been like this ever since Naruto took up the hat, Boruto skulking around, throwing tantrums, whining, and sighing at his father's increased absence. Naruto would always perk up initially upon seeing his firstborn but shied away when it came time to connect with him.

Hinata was busy preparing the family breakfast, and Himawari sat contentedly in front of Boruto, watching their mother cook. Boruto loved his mom dearly, but Himawari was the most precious thing to six-year-old Boruto. She was so sweet and innocent. She always had a smile on her face, sharing his sky-blue eyes and twin cheek marks.

Snapping back to the world around him, Boruto looked at his father. Naruto was right there, and now he can convince his old man to train him!

Maybe I'll even get him to teach me the shadow clone! Or wind jutsu!

Before Boruto could even ask, though, Naruto cleared his throat.

"So, I wanted to stick around a bit this morning to talk with you, son!"

"W-what about, old man?" Boruto was a little put off by the sudden enthusiasm this early in the morning.

"I talked with your mom about it last night, but we'll be having a… well, a sort of guest living with us in a couple of months. His name is Mitsuki, and he's about the same age as you!"

Boruto tried (and failed) not to let this upset him. He could hardly even get his dad to spend time with him ever since he's become Hokage, so his old man goes out and finds another kid to ignore. Just great.

Naruto continued, "I want you to try getting along with him. He's not from Konoha, so he'll have no friends yet. You could be his first friend here, isn't that cool!"

Boruto did not respond. "Look, I know I'm asking a lot of you, son." Naruto raised his arms onto the table, forming a ball with his hands. "Please, just give it a chance. Maybe he could help you become a stronger shinobi if you get along. He's supposed to be pretty talented!"

Boruto didn't want to get training from some random kid! That is so embarrassing!

If that kid gets here and sees I have no shinobi skills, he's gonna think I'm some weak loser! I have gotta convince Dad to train me!

Boruto mustered up his courage, put on a severe face, and fired off-

"PleasewouldyouteachmeDad!"

So lame…

"I just wanna be able to keep up when he gets here, y'know! Maybe we could even become friends over it." It wasn't a lie. Sure, he's not happy that his old man didn't even consider how he might feel about this "Mitsuki" coming to live with them, but it could be cool to have someone else around…

Naruto's face took on a blank look before adopting a slight grin. "Sure, I'd be happy to help you out." Boruto could sense his father was more excited than he showed. "It'll have to be this weekend. I promise I'll take a day off, and we can train together all you'd like, dattebayo!"

A big smile appeared on Boruto's face. Finally, he could have his Dad back after months! Even if only for a day…

"Thanks, old man, so what'll you teach me? Will it be the shadow clone?" So exciting! He'll impress that new kid and then everyone at the academy in a few months! Even Sarada will have to admit he's stronger than her!

"You'll see soon, and stop calling me old man. It's disrespectful." Naruto frowned at his child's new favorite nickname for him. Who knew kids were such a handful? Other than literally everyone he talked to about it. What did Kakashi know about families anyway?

Hinata joined the table soon after, placing the food in the center of the table.

"I'm glad you're taking this so well, Boruto. I think it will be great for you to have another friend since you and Sarada are at odds these days. You two remind me so much of Naruto and Sasuke back in the day." A smile graced her soft features then, lavender eyes clouded with fond memories of their youth.

Naruto groaned, leaning back in his chair and looking up a bit. "That's not really a good thing, you know."

Boruto raised an eyebrow at that,

What's that supposed to mean?

Before the question could be raised, a look passed between Hinata and Naruto, quickly diverting the conversation.

"So, since I'll be helping you out with some ninjutsu and chakra techniques, Hinata will be teaching you her taijutsu style!" Hinata jumped in then like she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment, "That's right, we don't know if you will awaken the byakugan, but I can still teach you to fight like a Hyuga!"

Boruto was a little put out at the mention of this fact. Even his little sister had awakened her byakugan. He couldn't help feeling… inadequate. According to the Hyuga clan medical examiners, he should have no issue awakening the dojutsu should he have it.

His sister and he were the first half-Hyuga children in a while. The record shows that when the blood gets too diluted, it's pretty uncommon to manifest the byakugan. Still, he held out his hopes that someday he'd get them.

"That sounds great, Mom."

==_—_==

The day had come when his father would teach him about jutsu! Just like he'd promised, Naruto had taken time off and was… dragging him out to the training grounds at six AM. Boruto could scarcely remember his father more ecstatic, though. Maybe he had something really cool to show him? Maybe he really would teach him the shadow clone jutsu!

The run out to the grounds was hard for Boruto. He'd never really had to push himself this hard. Why not just take the train? How was his dad able to go so long so far?

They arrived at the training ground by seven a.m. Since Boruto needed several stops between the house and the training grounds, his father decided to use the newest training ground, Training Ground Seventeen. Dense forests dominate this two-square-kilometer area. The borders were marked with stones, which Boruto noticed were covered in a strange black pattern, like flames crawling up the sides of the post, reaching towards its flat square top, which had a black spiral pattern not dissimilar to the sides.

His curiosity got the better of him. Not to mention, he really wanted to catch his breath. "Hey, Dad, what's up with the design on that?"

Naruto looked back at his son, then to the stone post. "It's a seal, Boruto. Sealing jutsu is powerful stuff. In fact, sealing jutsu is what made Uzumakis of the past so strong. However, this seal is just a security measure."

His father got an odd look on his face then—a mix between pride and something else. "If you're interested, I've got some old journals of seal masters you might find interesting! I'm not very advanced with it, and we don't have many seal masters these days. You'd have to learn through written material."

Something is up. He's never been this happy about any other jutsu I wanted to learn. Why sealing?

"Where'd you get the journals? Is there any chance the writers could train me?" Ninjutsu had been forgotten. He was mesmerized. What made his old man so happy about him learning sealing jutsu? How did it make the Uzumaki so strong in the past… and there were more Uzumaki?

"Well, in a way, they could train you. I'll give you some of their simpler stuff soon, and we'll see if you can figure them out. Sound good?" He didn't miss that he dodged just who these writers were, but he couldn't help liking the idea. Something even his old man wasn't good at? He could impress that new kid even better than with a shadow clone!

"Just you wait. I'll get through those notes so fast!" Naruto grins as if to say, 'We'll see.'

"Anyways, let's get to it, Boruto." His dad led him further into the training ground. It really was a beautiful morning. Cool, but gradually warming by now. His throat hurt slightly from gulping down the morning air. They arrived at a small, unnaturally circular clearing pockmarked with dips in the terrain. Despite being new, it was clearly tested.

"Alright son, drink some water and listen up. I'm gonna explain what you'll be learning today!" Boruto got his water bottle off his belt. (Another part of his father's training is apparently carrying all your shinobi gear around.) Boruto sat down on a slight rise on the surface of the clearing. Naruto stood directly in front of him.

"Don't be too disappointed, but you're not learning the shadow clone jutsu today. Actually, you aren't learning any jutsu today!"

…What?

"Then why did you drag me out here at the asscrack of dawn, OLD man!"

"Watch your mouth, Boruto! I told you not to repeat those words!"

Boruto was a bit shocked, to be honest. Naruto had never used that voice with him before. He called it his angry Hokage voice, which he'd named after hearing Naruto chastise an ANBU member nearly a year ago.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, Boruto. I shouldn't be so harsh with you. But that doesn't excuse those words. Keep it up, and I won't train you, alright?"

Boruto swallowed, a sinking feeling taking over him. "I'm sorry, Dad. I just don't know why you'd bring me out here not to teach me anything big like that?"

"Because you don't know anything about using your chakra. Do you even know how to describe chakra?"

"Yeah. It's combining spiritual and physical energy."

"Great, how do you do that?"

"Well, I…"

"Don't know?"

"Yeah."

"That's okay, it's why we're here. That was technically a trick question. Your body does that naturally. We all have a certain amount of chakra, but we can increase this in two ways. First is training your body. Becoming physically stronger." His father began to walk in front of him, pacing back and forth as he talked. "Second, spiritual energy. This can be increased by emotional changes, study, meditation, and experience."

"So that's why you had me run here?"

"Yes, train your body often, and you'll see much better results than just a warm-up."

JUST A WARM-UP!?

"Okay, and my spiritual energy is just my mental strength?"

"In a way, but there is more to it than that. Something for your academy teachers to explain. Now, how do you mould your chakra?"

Easy

"You can do that from hand seals!"

"That's right! Can you name all the basic hand seals?"

"Umm, monkey, dragon, rat, boar, ram, hare, tiger, ox, snake, dog… horse… and bird?"

"That's good. You've got them all down pat! A lot better than I was at your age. Yes, these seals help you mould your chakra. Some people, however, become so accustomed to using techniques that they don't need these seals. Others need only one hand."

Amazing… I can't even use hand seals quickly, and some people use one or no hands for jutsu… I've really gotta get to work, I guess.

"Now that we've gotten the theory out of the way, it's time we get you training for real! It's only seven-thirty, so I should be able to teach you some good training techniques! To start with, take this leaf."

Boruto took the leaf and looked at it with some apprehension. What's so special about it? "So what am I gonna do with it?"

Naruto grinned lopsidedly and picked up a second leaf. He put it on his pointer finger and turned his hand upside down, but the leaf remained stuck.

Mom told me about this kind of stuff. It's a chakra control exercise!

"Hey, Dad, why would you be the one to teach me about this stuff? Doesn't Mom have better chakra control than you?" Boruto was curious, but at the same time, getting to take the wind out of the Hokage's sails was too good to pass up!

Naruto frowned deeply, and his eyebrow began to twitch. Trying to sound unoffended, Naruto finally responded a few seconds later.

"Well, I've got a lot more experience trying to gain control over large reserves of chakra than your mother. The Hyuga naturally have a lot of control and smaller reserves than us Uzumaki. Your mother is much stronger than most Hyuga and has a bigger reserve than most, but she might not understand why you can't just get what she tells you. I understand working for it."

"I get it. At first, I thought it was just because you know more jutsu."

"I do, but never count your mother out. Even if she was never officially promoted to Jonin, she easily has enough skills should she go into active service again. Now, give the training a try."

Forming the ram seal, Boruto focused a tiny amount of chakra into his pointer finger. Thinking he'd gotten it on the first try, he set the leaf on his finger, turned over his hand…

Then, he watched the leaf slowly float to the ground. Disappointing.

==_—_==

Boruto would remember today. He swore it. On the way home, his old man and he joked, walking down paved roads and through alleys. His training started easily enough, but by the end, he was running laps around the clearing, holding a leaf stuck to each pointer finger. His father stood there, rooting for him and teaching him.

It felt like they would be okay for the first time in a long time. Like his father was there.

He had learned no jutsu yet, but Naruto would give him some of the journals when they got back! He would start right away. There was no reason to avoid it. He'd spent all day getting used to moulding his chakra and applying it.

If the leader of the entire Hidden Leaf Village thought he was talented after day one, seals would be no challenge at all!

==_—_==

It was very much a challenge to learn sealing jutsu, as luck would have it. When Naruto brought him a thick, red leather book filled with notes about the basics, he was astounded. It was as if the author and he were learning a whole new language as they went. The technical language was so thick he began writing his own notes about the notes. It went into so much detail, and It was all starting to overwhelm him.

I've just gotta know what it's all about, though!

All of this was for a simple storage seal with a lock. Thats it. The only thing he's been studying for nearly two weeks. Strings of kanji, shapes, and patterns imbued with chakra molded a dozen ways.

The worst part was that not only did he start to understand it, he actually started to like doing it. When he marched up to the shinobi outfitter closest to their home, Hinata and Himawari in tow, and used up all his saved extra chore and birthday money to buy those blank scrolls, chakra-absorbent ink, and brushes, he felt like a genius about to have his first big breakthrough—an adventurer who'd found a lost city.

On the fourth try, finalizing the seal, putting a kunai in, locking and unlocking it with the hand seals, a pinprick worth of blood, and pulling the kunai back out, he felt like he really had done something worthwhile. Then, disappointment began to pool in him. All that for secure storage? What a joke! Two weeks of agonizing over theory and calligraphy, all for that?

The old man is getting it this time. Making me learn something so lame has got to be punished. Unluckily for him, he gave me just the skills I needed. Now I just need to rethink the basic storage seal…

==_—_==

It had been two days since the end of his rush to learn his first seal, and he began feeling burnt out. He'd made significant progress but began to stall out when it came time for the propellant in this plan. He could not seal compressed air that would launch out when unsealed, and his dad's punishment wouldn't work without it.

Mom offered to teach me taijutsu, and it might be a good time to begin lessons with her. I'll bet with a bit of refreshing exercise, I can come back to the seal and fix it up quick!

Pushing off from his desk, he took a look around his room. Totally wrecked is an understatement… Papers all over, his bed unmade, and clothes piled high in the corner.

She'll never teach me anything if she sees this! It's still early. I've got time to clean this and get a lesson in with Mom!

At 7:30 AM, he walked downstairs, rounding into the kitchen and dining room. His mother had just set out the breakfast, and Himawari greeted him with a big smile and bright blue eyes.

"Big brother!" Himawari was more excited than usual to see him…

A sense of shame crawled down his back; here he was, wasting time on some stupid plot to get back at his father or even learning the seal when he could've been spending this time with Hima! Not to mention that new guy coming to town soon, and he'd learned nothing cool!

"Good morning, Hima! How are you this morning?"

"Good!"

He'd never understand how his father could stay away from this, every day, all day. Home-cooked meals, Himawari and Mom. Clearly, he did care. Why would he bother helping him train, giving him those journals, even having children if he didn't care?

Sitting down, he began to plan to ask his mother for taijutsu training. He knew a little of the basics just from watching. Quick, precise strikes on vulnerable points, moving with finesse.

Hinata moved to the table with a breakfast of steamed white rice, tsukemono, and miso soup on the side. Maybe that's a kind of training he'd enjoy, too, learning to cook.

"Boruto, how are you this morning?" she asked with a slight smile. His mother was always an understated personality. Sometimes, Boruto struggled to understand her because of it. These little looks she'd give, her mannerisms, often they confused him.

"I'm good. Actually, Mom, I was wondering if you'd have time today to start training me with the gentle fist?"

This was not an instance of Hinata being hard to read. She was beaming out her happiness, clear and bright on her face. "Of course! We'll have Himawari join us to observe, would you like that HIma?"

"Yes please! I wanna see!" Boruto bit back the worry. Himawari, with her byakugan had already been watching their mother train gentle fist techniques. He'd embarrass himself in front of her for sure! She'd never respect him again!

No, I can't think like that. I've got to be on top of this, and watch Moms move carefully. Then, I'll impress them both with how fast I pick it up!

The breakfast was a quick one. All parties were excited, but Hima was too enthusiastic since she spilled her rice twice. Quickly helping their mother clean up after, they shuffled to the backyard. It was well kept, with a raised garden laden with tomatoes, beans, and other vegetables in the back. Typically, his father would send a clone to tend to it early in the morning before he left. With Fall just around the corner, the plants budded with vegetables. Hinata's garden beds dominated the edges, wrapping around the back of the house, the guest home entrance to the left of the backdoor, and the fences until his father's raised beds. In the center, a raised, circular, wooden platform was where the family would typically exercise.

Hinata ran him through some basic warmups, stretching, then running back and forth across the yard, then some push-ups and sit-ups.

After this, Hinata ascended the steps of the raised platform with Boruto while Himawari stood under the porch shade, watching intently.

"To begin, let's see you get into your stance. I want your feet at shoulder-width apart. No, it's slightly wider than that. Now, move your leading foot forward and keep an even balance with your weight. Bend your knees a bit more. Next, duck your chin to protect your throat. Good, now put your hands up further. You need to protect your face. Tuck your elbows, too. Good, Boruto."

This feels so uncomfortable. How am I supposed to fight like this? The whole thing feels unnatural.

"I know this position feels uncomfortable now, but this should become second nature to you when using your taijutsu. To begin, I want you to move around in this stance. Move forward, backward, and laterally. I will tell you how to adjust as you go."

Boruto began moving in all directions, then noticed his mother activate her byakugan. Distracted by this, he let his form slack.

"Boruto! Bend your knees more, and keep your feet further apart."

"Y-yes, sorry I got distracted!"

"You've got to keep focus up, Boruto. If you want to be a shinobi, you can not let yourself be so easily distracted."

"I know, Mom-"

"Do you? Then act like it."

So it continued, Boruto moving around the platform and Hinata critiquing his stance. It was odd to see her so… commanding. Was this what his dad meant when he said she could be a Jonin?

I'm beginning to think Mom and Dad will never teach me anything fun. Why are they always so excited to teach me the most boring moves possible?

"Alright, Boruto, that will be good enough for now. But in the future, keep practicing this. Remember, it's the base for the rest of the technique." FINALLY.

"Now, We'll begin working on your hits. Usually, we Hyuga focus on quick, surgical strikes, pushing chakra into tenketsu and closing them off. The damage to the enemy chakra coils is temporary, but if we close them off too much, it will kill them. Something to keep in mind if you awaken the byakugan. Since you cannot yet detect the enemy's tenketsu, we'll focus on learning how to strike properly and defend against enemy strikes."

As they continued to train, Himawari began to play with some of Borutos old ninja tool toys. They'd offered to buy her new toys, but she wanted Borutos. He hoped her fondness of them came from all the memories they'd shared over the toys and not a desire to be a shinobi. After all, Uncle Neji died in the war, and he saw just how his parents clammed up when talking about him. Like the memory choked them.

He didn't know how he'd react if he lost someone like that.

That's all for this chapter. Wanted to expand on Boruto's relationship with his family. I feel like I'm missing on his relationship with Hinata, so I'll probably try expanding on that in the future, not to mention Hinata as a character in her own right.

The next chapter will focus on the new team 7 and another of that generation, as well as Boruto's revenge on Naruto.