"A virtual world? A game?" Shinki frowned. This explanation was stranger than anything he had imagined.
"Right. And the protagonist of this 'game' is Boruto," Child Emperor said with a nod. "I don't know why, but that's what the information my master left behind suggests."
"Our job is to find Boruto in this world and help him complete the 'main quest.' Specifically, we have to find and defeat this world's 'final boss.'"
"Only then can everyone's consciousness leave this place and return to their bodies in the real world. Otherwise..." He spread his hands. "Our bodies will gradually fail. Game over."
Shikadai tried to process it all. It was more mind-bending than the most complicated game of shogi the Nara Clan had ever devised.
"So we're in a world that follows some kind of 'game rules'? Boruto is the 'player,' and we're his 'teammates' or 'NPCs'?"
"More or less." Child Emperor patted his bulging backpack. "It's thanks to this virtual world, where the rules are unclear but things seem to work like data, that I can project and use so many Scientific Ninja Tools I've designed."
"Like these guns and chainsaws. Carrying this many Scientific Ninja Tools in the real world wouldn't be easy."
Yeto had been listening in silence. Now she spoke, her voice as cold as ever but edged with curiosity.
"You said that if you believe strongly enough, you can gain power? Like your Scientific Ninja Tools?"
"In theory." Child Emperor looked at Yeto and Shinki. "The underlying rules of this world may combine mental power with a simulation of real-world data."
"In theory, if you believe with absolute certainty that you possess a certain power, and that belief is firm and specific enough, this world might make part of it real. But..."
His tone shifted as