Lost Fledgling (3)

"Dad, are you alright?" Boruto, with Sarada, rushed back to the scene.

"Ah, I'm fine. Are you two hurt?" Naruto responded.

Boruto, holding Sarada's hand, leaped and maneuvered through the treetops, his speed no less than Naruto's from before. Sarada, following behind, was practically being pulled along like a kite.

"Yeah, I'm dizzy," Sarada said, lightheaded.

After a brief rest, the three of them paused on a patch of green grass. To Naruto's surprise, Boruto had managed to keep the bento box perfectly intact despite the earlier battle.

Boruto's thoughts: Protecting the bento was my main goal; saving Sarada was just a bonus.

After eating the bento, the three of them relaxed comfortably. The blue of the sky rippled with the wind, like the small grass on the ground undulating in waves.

"What kind of person... is my dad, really?" Sarada asked softly.

"I heard he's as strong as your dad, but you always seem so lame!" Boruto teased.

Naruto said, "Your dad is a very outstanding person. Back in the Shinobi World academy, many girls were in love with him, just like with me."

Boruto's thoughts: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"And he was very handsome, just like me. Plus, his ninjutsu scores were always the best, just like me."

Boruto questioned with a smile, "There's only one first place, right? You two tied for first? I don't remember Principal Iruka saying that!"

Naruto was a little embarrassed. "Hahaha, Iruka-sensei? Just teasing sometimes... hahaha."

Having lost some face, Naruto wasn't willing to back down. "But! He's cold, arrogant, and has a sharp tongue, the complete opposite of me!"

Boruto thought that if he had his phone, he would definitely record this.

Sarada's expression immediately darkened, a look of disappointment and melancholy on her face, as if she was carrying an extra burden. A girl's ideal father is always tall and mighty.

On the road, Naruto comforted Sarada's emotions very considerately, just like the father she imagined, gentle and attentive.

Boruto walked silently, his Jōgan constantly watching the surrounding movements, guarding against enemy attacks.

Ahead, a small tower stood tall, like a landmark, also the place Naruto had agreed to meet Sasuke.

The tower was already visible, and Sarada couldn't wait to run ahead, all the fatigue gone without a trace.

Boruto: If I remember correctly, this girl was so tired earlier that she almost collapsed.

Naruto said, "Boruto, why don't you take a break? I didn't expect you to have so much stamina. You haven't even been out of breath along the way."

"No need." Boruto shook his head. "Let's go see Sasuke-san first."

The two followed closely behind Sarada. Sarada, who had entered the tower first, was emotionally excited, appearing unusually excited and complex. Behind her glasses, her eyes were already red. Besides the tears flowing, there were only a pair of shining eyes left.

Inside the empty tower, it was dark and shadowy, with little light. As Sarada breathed lightly, her brisk footsteps tapped on the floor, approaching with a drip, drip, drip.

Sarada turned around excitedly, wanting to see her father's true face. The person who came into view had disheveled hair and one eye coldly staring at her.

She wanted to step forward and recognize her father, but she heard Sasuke suddenly say, "I didn't expect you to find this place!"

Sarada froze on the spot, facing Sasuke's stern gaze that felt like an interrogation. His eyes were like knives, harshly cutting through the girl's fantasies.

Then Sasuke really took out the Kusanagi Blade. The cold, gleaming blade could cut hair with a blow, reflecting Sarada's face, which was full of disappointment and collapse. In disbelief, she didn't expect Sasuke to actually make a move, stabbing the blade into the stone pillar behind her without hesitation.

Trembling with fear, Sarada called out in a low voice, "Dad!"

Sasuke's right hand, which was about to strike, stopped abruptly, and he asked in a daze, "Are you... Sarada?"

"I see..."

If you think this book is good, please remember to add it to your bookshelf to avoid not finding it next time.

"I recognized you as my dad at first sight..." Sarada said, her face full of grievance.

Boruto and Naruto, who arrived later, pushed open the door of the tower. Seeing this scene, Boruto roughly knew that the awakening of the Sharingan was a certainty.

But Boruto still wanted to complain: You can recognize him because you've seen his photos, but even if Sasuke has seen you, it was when you were a kid! How can you recognize someone after a nuclear fusion of female development!!! (Guess who the heroine is)

In the oppressive atmosphere, a girl who missed her father was crying loudly to the father in front of her, as if she wanted to pour out all the grievances of the past ten years.

In the end, Sarada couldn't help but ask expectantly, "Dad, where have you been all this time? What have you been doing?"

Sasuke: "It's none of your business."

"??!!!" Sarada was completely dumbfounded. She just wanted an explanation, even an excuse, as long as he was tied up with work.

Feeling annoyed, Sarada ran out of the room. In the room, Boruto said, "Isn't Sasuke-san too cold? Compared to the pain of losing a loved one, it's even more painful and sad to have a loved one who is always there but never meets."

"It is said that unattainable love is undoubtedly despairing. What's the difference between not seeing companionship and neglecting care and you not being there?"

Sasuke just glanced at him, but saw Boruto's slightly mocking face staring at him indifferently. The shallow eye contact seemed to allow Sasuke to see the shadow of the stubborn Naruto in his youth.

So the scolding that was about to come out became, "Children don't need to know the work of adults."

"Yes, yes, yes." Boruto shook his head helplessly and walked out of the room.

"Your child?" Sasuke asked.

"Just a mischievous kid. But, it's better to only tell Sarada those things! The reason you don't return to the village."

The scenery outside the window spread like the sea, as if the sky and the roof were one, and the roof was the ship on the moonlit coastline.

In his memory, Naruto had seen Sasuke off the night before he left. The village was beginning to flourish, but Sasuke had to search for certain clues. Kaguya had almost destroyed the world, and a being capable of threatening her might already have been born.

That's what Sasuke had said when he left, and he resolutely and silently carried out his mission, wandering the Shinobi World.

Naruto had sincerely sighed, "After all, we made such great sacrifices to achieve this precious peace."

"This is also my journey of atonement," Sasuke had replied.

"Remember, treat my mission as top-secret information known only to the highest levels."

Naruto had wanted to dissuade him, because, after all, it's hard when someone isn't told anything.

"At least tell Sarada."

"Knowing would only make her worry for nothing."

"Aren't you afraid she'll resent you?" Naruto had asked, but Sasuke believed that "even so, the light of the future is more important."

Outside the room, Boruto silently watched Sarada curled up in a ball, squatting with her arms wrapped around her shins, looking sad and... lost.

"Well, Sarada, wanting to endure loneliness alone, wandering around in this desolate, godforsaken place, carrying out the so-called work of protecting the village, is a kind of torment in itself!"

Sarada paused, looking back at Boruto as he slowly approached. It seemed that the smile on his face wasn't so carefree now, with a bit more concern, just like he said yesterday that he would come with her to find her dad.

"He just has some unavoidable reason. Wanting to endure loneliness and reject family isn't because he's heartless. On the contrary, it's because the burden on his shoulders is too heavy, so heavy that he has to make himself heartless."

"Boruto..." Sarada called softly, curious as to why he knew so much.

"Ah, after you left yesterday, I continued to use the Transformation Technique to gain access and searched for all the information about Uncle Sasuke."

Sarada: ...

At this moment, Naruto, who was behind Boruto, marveling at how his son had grown up and become sensible, suddenly heard him say this, and the smile on his face froze.

Naruto: Good grief, what have you been doing with my facial recognition?