Before Sasuke could ask anything else, Naruto spoke first. "Do you think your era is truly peaceful?"
"Of course it is! The Fourth Shinobi World War... that happened more than ten years before our time.
The shinobi world achieved true unity after that. Technology and ninjutsu developed rapidly, and people no longer had to fight each other like they used to."
Boruto sounded certain. This was the accepted account of history he had been taught.
Naruto did not immediately argue. He simply stared quietly at Boruto, his blue eyes seeming to see through every surface appearance. His gaze made Boruto uneasy, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on his glass of juice.
Then Naruto spoke. His tone remained steady, but his words cut like a scalpel, precisely exposing the brutal cycle beneath the appearance of peace:
"Given your age, do you know what it means that the Fourth Shinobi World War happened more than ten years ago?"
"What?"
"It means the Fourth Shinobi World War will break out before the me in your world turns twenty.
It also means that, starting with the First Shinobi World War after the death of the First, Hashirama Senju, there has been a shinobi world war less than every twenty years on average."
His gaze swept over Sasuke before returning to Boruto, his voice clear and calm:
"Every generation is destined to experience at least one devastating war that sweeps across the entire shinobi world between birth and adulthood. A ninja who lives as long as the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi..."
"Might even end up fighting in all four."
"Pfft-cough, cough!"
Sitting beside them, Sasuke was caught so off guard by those words that he choked, nearly spraying out the tea he had just drunk.
He hurriedly turned his head aside, set down his