章 1: Grades
"...and so the war ended. The hero returned to the village and was then declared Hokage. His name... is Naruto Uzumaki, the one who brought peace to our lands!"
An old man was retelling a popular tale while a crowd of children were seated on the ground around him. They held up their hands excitedly and asked several questions with faces brimming of curiosity.
After the 4th Great Ninja War had concluded, various books and stories were made on the event, especially of Naruto and his heroics. He was portrayed as a significant part of why the world now is as peaceful as it is.
However, the more peaceful a place is, the easier it is for chaos to spread. Some time ago, an unknown presence had arrived on earth from outer-space. With an exception of three powerful beings, no one else detected this.
From the deepest depths of the sea, from the highest point in the sky, and from a forest with the tallest of trees, three legendary kings reside in each location. Usually calm in their approach, but anger was all they felt at that very moment.
Somewhere in Mount Myōboku, the old Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru, felt a disturbance in the air as he sensed how enraged the three kings were. It was immediately afterward that he was given a vision of the future, though only partially.
"What happened?! Is something wrong?" A young toad came running upon noticing Gamamaru in distress.
Within seconds, Gamamaru wrote an array of words in a scroll and passed it onto the young toad.
"Send this to Naruto, quickly! A calamity greater than ever imaginable is about to strike..!"
....
"Alright, please step forward one by one. We will be handing you the results sheet for your Academy Graduation Exam. For those who graduated, your headband has already been delivered to your place of residence."
The Headmaster, Iruka Umino, after giving a long winded speech, stepped to the side as one of the Academy teachers came forward to give further instructions.
It was the Graduation ceremony at the ninja Academy, where for their last year, all the students gathered to finally receive their results sheets after taking a series of exams.
Students, one after another went up to receive their papers, some coming back with faces beaming of pure happiness, while others with utter disappointment and sadness. Soon, it was finally turn for an individual everyone was keeping a close eye on.
A young boy with blond hair that spiked upwards stylishly, eyes as blue as the ocean, and the distinctive whiskers seen on his cheeks. Known for being the son of the strongest Shinobi in all of history, but also revered as a prodigy himself, ranking way above his peers in terms of skill and talent.
"Here you go, Boruto Uzumaki. Congratulations on graduating! We hope to see your progress in the near future." The Headmaster handed the result sheet to him.
After just slightly glancing at the paper, he walked away with a dispassionate expression. Some students were trying to sneakily peek at his results as he walked past them. Reaching back to his seat, a girl with short brown hair and cat-like hazel eyes casually approaches him.
"Hey hey, lemme see your grades! Here I'll show you mine in return."
She grabs the paper out of his hand and gives her own. Boruto glances towards her and sees a slightly shocked expression as she reads his results. Though with her paper in his hand now, he then looks down and decides to read it out loud.
"Wasabi Izuno. A in Ninjutsu. D in Gen-" he gets cut off.
"Wait!! You don't have to let others hear it!" Wasabi tries to snatch back the paper but was met with Boruto's palm on her face as he continued reading it.
"…D in Genjutsu. S in Taijutsu. B in Bukijutsu. And a D in Academics… You barely passed Wasabi… Didn't I tell you to focus more on your studies?"
Wasabi puffed her cheeks red and looked away embarrassed. Boruto was about to grab back his paper sheet when another hand reached forward to take it. This time, it was a pale-skinned boy with light blonde hair kept in a small ponytail.
"Hahaha!!! How are you prodigy kid? You probably think you're sooo cool huh?? But like I've been saying, being the son of the Hokage means nothing to me!! Here, this is my proof!"
He slams a sheet of paper onto Boruto's face. Slightly annoyed, he grabs the paper sheet, slightly crumbling it, but decides to read it anyway.
"…Right, so… Inojin Yamanaka. S in Ninjutsu. A in Genjutsu. A in Taijutsu. S in Bukijutsu. And S in Academics… Hm… Well uh, congrats dude."
"Muahaha! Take that prodigy kid!! It's not long until the village finally realize my brilliance and make me Hokage! Hahahahah!!" Inojin starts laughing crazily, as students around him stare with judgement in their eyes.
"Ha…Ha…! *Cough* *Cough* So, let's see how you compare to the great me, shall we-" Inojin froze the moment he looked at Boruto's grades.
"There's no way… How did you…?" He asks Boruto, shakened, his grip getting tighter as it crumbles the paper slightly.
Quickly reaching out his hand, Boruto finally managed to snatch back his paper. He then kept a composed look as he tells Inojin to head back to his seat.
"Oh yeah, Inojin doesn't know huh?" Wasabi speaks up.
"W-what's there to know?! Why did he get B for everything??" That's when Inojin suddenly realized. "Tsk… You're my rival. Take this more seriously jerk."
As Inojin walks away angered, Wasabi looks at Boruto who remained unbothered. The Graduating Ceremony continued for an hour or so until it finally ended. Before allowing the students to leave, the Academy Teacher told them that the squad they will be assigned to should be announced in a few days.
As the sun slowly sets, Boruto and Wasabi walked down the street of the Leaf Village, heading home after attending the Academy like they usually do.
"You told me about it… Just doing the minimum to pass… But I didn't think you were thaaaat serious!" Wasabi exclaims loudly.
"Yeah well, your Academy grades has no effect on you after graduating. The only reason to aim high is to show off to others." Boruto says nonchalantly.
"Buuut don't you wanna know how much you've learned? Hm??" she questions him, while poking his cheek with her finger.
"…If I have to guess. My grades would probably be the same as Inojin if I tried my best." he replies.
Chatting about, the two soon said their goodbyes as they went on different paths home. Arriving at his house, Boruto heard loud chatter before even opening the door. As he went inside, he was greeted with the sight of several individuals at the table.
"Boruto! You're finally here!" His mother, Hinata Hyuga, sat up from her chair. "I'll go prepare a plate for you."
"Thank you..."
Then from below, he was hugged by a smiling bubble of joy - his younger sister, Himawari Uzumaki. Boruto patted her head in return. Those two weren't the only ones home however. Also seated were Sakura Haruno and her daughter, Sarada Uchiha.
"Hey, how come you're this slow getting here?" Sarada asks Boruto, looking a bit tired of waiting.
"I was chatting with a friend." Boruto replies, as he seats himself beside Himawari.
"Oh. I see... So uh, by the way, wanna see my grade sheet?" Sarada asks.
"She's been waiting here all excited to show you!" Sakura comments, cheerfully.
"…That's because she doesn't have any friends other than me." Boruto adds.
"Urk…!" Sarada turned away and went silent with a pained expression.
Sakura let out a soft laugh to hide the awkwardness and pats her daughter's back to comfort her. Ignoring it all, Boruto went ahead and took her paper, beginning to read it.
"Okay let's see… Sarada Uchiha. B in Ninjutsu. B in Genjutsu. B in Taijutsu. S in Bukijutsu. And finally, D in Academics… Sarada… Why would you want to even show me this?" Boruto asks, confused.
"Huuuh! Can't you see how much I've improved?! Look! I don't have a single C anymore!" Sarada gave off a confused look as well, not understanding why Boruto wasn't impressed.
"Yeah, that's because your Academics went from a C to a D. At least your other grades went up, so… good job." Boruto sighs.
"She's a bit of a bubblehead… Haha… Reminds me of a certain someone back in the day." Sakura comments and looks over at Hinata as they both start snickering.
Sarada continued pouting. As the night grew darker, Himawari went off to bed, the two moms began chatting among themselves, meanwhile Boruto went up to his room along with Sarada.
Boruto was seated on his bed while Sarada was standing as she looked around his room. She noticed and examined all the medals, trophies and family pictures stationed on the shelves.
"Looks like both our dads didn't show up huh?" Sarada comments, while looking at one of the pictures.
"Yeah… They're probably busy." Boruto replies.
The room went silent for a bit. They both seemed to share a similar sadness and understanding. It was like a connection they both knew about each other without needing to say anything.
"Hey… I'm glad our parents are close friends. I wouldn't become friends with you if they weren't…" Sarada goes up and sits beside Boruto.
"Yeah, because you're a loser who can't make friends by herself." Boruto replies casually.
Sarada smiles softly and looks down for a while. She then looks up straight at Boruto and leans closer.
"Hey, wanna know my dream?" Sarada whispers shyly.
"Yeah.. sure." he answers.
"…Well you see… It's just that… I always wanted to become… uh… the Hokage one day…" Sarada's face turned red the moment she said this but continued looking at Boruto, waiting for his response.
But he didn't know what to say. It was a popular and common dream among many shinobi but a glint of determination he saw in her eyes told him that she was different. He could tell that she was really serious about achieving this dream of hers. All he could think of on how to respond was…
"Huh, good luck I guess…" Boruto scratches his head.
Sarada's face turned a bit sad, disappointed by his response or lack of care from his demeanor. She backed off and looked away, almost seeming embarrassed of revealing her dream.
A knock was then heard from the door. It was Sakura, as she opens the door and tells Sarada that it was time to head home. Sarada gets up from the bed and walks towards her mom.
"Bye…" she tells Boruto before leaving the room.
"Yeah, have a good night." Boruto waves his hand.
It was midnight when the entire house and neighborhood became utterly silent, only left with white noise and critters. Boruto was lying down on his bed as he stared at the ceiling.
"Hokage huh…" he mutters out.
It was a title he was very familiar with. Boruto was very self aware of himself, being the son of a Hokage, as well as having the talent. To him, it felt like he was born with his destiny already set in stone - to become someone great one day.
However, there was no motivation in him. He couldn't grasp the appeal of wanting to be Hokage, or standing out from others. But nevertheless, fighting against his own destiny was also a bother so he decided to just play along.
Wandering his mind around this topic and why he couldn't give Sarada a good response, his eyes after a while felt tired as he slowly fell asleep. Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, before Naruto could head home, the window creeked open as a small distressed-looking toad came through with a scroll wrapped around his tongue.
週次パワーステータス
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