Library Lending Room.
Sarada, looking utterly bewildered, came here to look up information about Sasuke and the origins of the Uchiha.
From the library's second floor, Boruto leaped down to the first floor, landing right beside Sarada. The focused girl was still pondering the secrets of the Sharingan.
"Hey, Sarada, looking up information about your father?" Boruto asked quietly.
The sudden voice startled Sarada. Turning around and seeing Boruto, she immediately snapped, "Boruto, this is a library. Drop that frivolous attitude and keep it down."
"Hehe, I came to borrow a ninjutsu scroll about training in the Rasenshuriken. It's a seriously powerful S-rank ninjutsu!!" Boruto bragged arrogantly.
Sarada immediately mocked him. "Setting aside whether you can even borrow an S-rank ninjutsu, with your abilities, you think you can master something of that level? There's a limit to daydreaming. Face reality, Boruto."
"Heh." Boruto scoffed. "Someone who can't even use the basic Chidori is actually pointing fingers and judging me."
"You... Once I see my dad, I'll definitely make him teach me some incredibly powerful ninjutsu!" Sarada retorted stubbornly.
"Uncle Sasuke Uchiha? He hasn't gone home in years, right? Even Aunt Sakura has probably forgotten what he looks like by now. Oh dear, hard to say."
"What do you mean by that!!"
Sarada's emotions immediately flared up as she glared at Boruto with an unfriendly expression.
"I don't mean anything by it. I want to meet Uncle Sasuke too. I heard he's a powerful ninja who's no weaker than my father." Boruto sounded wistful.
"I'll find my father." Sarada choked up, shouting stubbornly.
Seeing that, Boruto instead looked relaxed. "Suit yourself. I hope you reunite with your father soon."
With that, Boruto left. Right in front of Sarada, he used the Transformation Technique and went to the front desk to borrow an S-rank ninjutsu.
"How shameless. I'm definitely reporting you next time!"
Watching how practiced Boruto was at this, it was clearly not his first time. She wondered what the Seventh would think if he learned the truth.
In the end, she watched Boruto leave the library with a finely sealed ninjutsu scroll in hand. Only then did she suddenly realize that, though his method of obtaining ninjutsu was shameless, his mastery of it had come from his own hard training.
Because he definitely couldn't reveal how he acquired those ninjutsu, he also couldn't ask anyone for help whenever he ran into problems with his training!
"Boruto...?" Sarada had never felt so lost.
That afternoon, unable to hold back her emotions any longer, Sarada finally gathered her courage and asked Sakura in the backyard, "Mom, why doesn't Dad come home? You should know where he is and what he's doing, right?"
Sakura, busy hanging out bedsheets, replied, "What is he doing...?"
Hearing that, Sarada clenched her fists. "You're always saying you don't know. Are you even a married couple?"
The wind suddenly rose fiercely, making the freshly hung sheets flutter in the breeze. It carried Sarada's angry voice. "Mom, are you really Dad's wife?!"
"What's gotten into you today? Why do you keep asking such strange questions?" Sakura said.
"You're the strange one, Mom. As husband and wife, your relationship always makes people suspicious, because I've never even seen Dad!"
Then Sakura lost control of her emotions. With a violent strike, she punched the ground. Under her monstrous strength, several cracks instantly spread across the earth. The clothesline pole collapsed, and the clean bedding fell to the ground, covered in dirt and dust.
Only after the obstructions were gone did Sakura notice Sarada's emotions. Her eyes were slightly red, tears streaming down her cheeks, her face full of grievance.
"I'm sorry, Sarada. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Sakura stepped forward to comfort her. "Once Dad finishes his mission, he'll come back."
"Mm."
Just as the two reconciled and mother and daughter leaned on one another, the house behind them suddenly collapsed into a pile of rubble.
This time, Sakura started crying. "My house... I haven't even finished paying off the mortgage..."
Afterward, Sarada entered the ruined house and searched desperately for something important: a family photograph.
But... inside the shattered picture frame, there was another photograph tucked away. It was an old photo of Sasuke, showing the members of Taka.
But when Sarada saw Karin in the photograph, with the same hair color as her mother and glasses like her own, standing right beside her father, she couldn't help wondering: Could she be her real mother?
At that moment, Boruto quietly arrived. Staring at the photo in the frame, he clicked his tongue in amazement. "I heard the commotion and rushed over. Didn't expect to find something even more explosive."
"Boruto!!" Sarada shouted.
"You don't look too well. What, do you think the woman in the photo is your biological mother?"
Sarada froze when he exposed her thoughts. She lowered her head in silence, not daring to answer.
"Well, it's hard to say. If you're really curious, why not confirm it yourself? Find Uncle Sasuke and confront him face-to-face." Boruto suggested, though it sounded more like he was guiding her along.
Sarada suddenly raised her head, her eyes shining as she stared at Boruto. "That's right! As long as I find Dad, everything will become clear!"
"Want to go together? I happen to want to meet one of the strongest people in the Shinobi World too," Boruto said.
"Yeah!" Sarada nodded heavily.
"Fine. Meet at the entrance to Konoha Village at seven tomorrow morning." Boruto dispersed after saying that.
Sarada stared blankly at the spot where Boruto had vanished. A Shadow Clone? Since when had he become so warmhearted?
With no answers to her string of questions, Sarada went alone to the hospital that evening to visit Sakura.
Under the gray sky, a sharp-eyed eagle swept past, flying straight toward the Hokage Building.
Somewhere outside the village, Sasuke stepped out from a space-time passage. His expression was grave as he watched his surroundings warily, as if guarding against something.
In the forest, a White Zetsu wrapped head to toe in a cloak darted forward and ambushed Sasuke with a scythe-like weapon.
Sasuke reacted instantly, drawing the Kusanagi Blade at his waist to block. Their weapons collided, freezing them in place for a moment. Within the cloak, a scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan glimmered faintly. In the instant Sasuke was distracted, it unleashed a series of slashes.
But Sasuke avoided them with a substitution, then immediately counterattacked with his blade.
After a fierce clash, the White Zetsu collapsed to the ground. A smaller figure emerged from a space-time vortex, calling himself Shin Uchiha, and took the fallen White Zetsu away.
Sasuke fell into thought before pursuing him. The Six Tomoe Sharingan glowing purple easily tracked the distorted space-time, and he sent Naruto a carrier pigeon message describing everything that had happened here.
From a great distance away, Boruto silently watched it all unfold. He thought Shin's eyes seemed rather good. Should he take them for himself?
Before you continue