24 Chapter 24: Flashback After Flashback

Boruto noticed that Sakura seemed out of sorts and immediately asked, "Are you okay, Sakura-san? You look a bit out of it."

Sakura sighed, looking troubled. "It's just that Sarada said I'm not her mom," she said, her voice tinged with sadness.

Boruto's mind immediately raced to the thought of his Sharingan. 'Oh, it's started. My Sharingan, I'm coming,' he thought to himself.

Sakura continued, "Did I do something to upset her? Do you know anything, Boruto? She's in the same class as you."

Boruto shook his head, "Not that I know of. I think it's better if you ask Chocho. She's Sarada's best friend, after all."

Sakura nodded, "I'll try that. So, why did you want to meet me?"

"It's about a patient. I think it's better for you to see them," Boruto replied, giving the file.

Sakura took the file from him and began to read through it, her expression becoming more serious as she went along. "This is serious. I need to see the patient right away," she said, handing the file back to Boruto.

Boruto and Sakura walked briskly towards the patient's room, their minds racing with thoughts of what could have caused the patient's malnourished state. Sakura was surprised to see the patient in such a terrible condition and immediately asked the doctor in the room, "What is his condition?"

"He's stable," the doctor replied.

Boruto chimed in, "The patient arrived here with his family carrying him. They said something about the patient losing control. I suspect he accidentally destroyed his Chakra pathway as the damage can be seen, making his Chakra depleted quickly."

Boruto handed Sakura a tablet, showing her the patient's condition. "Sakura-san, can you operate on this patient?" he asked.

"Good job, Dr. Sasaki and Boruto," Sakura said, impressed with their quick thinking. "Send the patient to the emergency room. I will handle it."

Sakura left the room, leaving Boruto and Dr. Sasaki to bump elbows with a smile.

"It's all good, but I think someone has stolen this patient's Chakra," Dr. Sasaki said.

"It's possible, but the condition of the patient's Chakra pathway makes that conclusion impossible," Boruto replied.

"Do you think someone could do this?" Dr. Sasaki asked.

"Yes, it's possible, but let's gather more evidence before making any conclusions," Boruto said. "You should take a vacation day. I'm taking one for tomorrow."

"I think I won't. My patient is still recovering, so I think I'll wait until my patient recovers," Dr. Sasaki said.

"I'm leaving first, Sasaki-san," Boruto said as he left the room.

Dr. Sasaki looked at the patient, feeling a sense of anger and frustration. "Who did this to you?" he muttered under his breath, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Boruto's mind raced with thoughts as he left the patient's room. 'If you're the one who did this, Sumire, you better be prepared,' he thought to himself.

On the following day,

Sarada and Chocho were on the ground, breathing heavily after running a short distance when they were confronted by a pale teenager with Sharingan staring down at them. Sarada was the first to speak up, "That eye, who are you?"

The teenager replied coolly, "Uchiha Shin."

Chocho stood up, trying to appear brave, as Sarada said, "The only clan member left is me and Papa."

Shin pulled out a scroll from his cloth and said, "Follow me."

Sarada corrected her glasses and bravely asked, "What if I don't want to?"

Suddenly, something fast moved past Sarada, and Shin's head flew up, blood spurting out from the headless body. Sarada and Chocho saw the gruesome scene unfold before their eyes, causing them to vomit.

Boruto appeared out of nowhere, his eyes orange and a green aura surrounding him. In his hand was an Arming Sword. He caught the head that was falling and plucked out the eyes before bringing out a scroll and opening it to reveal a jar filled with green liquid.

Boruto put the eyeball in the jar and sealed it away. He then proceeded to do a series of hand signs and launched a weak fire release, burning the dead body.

Despite the stoic look on Boruto's face, he was holding his stomach to keep from vomiting. He flicked the blood off his sword before turning to Sarada, whose eyes had turned red with confusion and shock.

"Why did you kill him?" she asked weakly. This was the first time she had ever witnessed such a gruesome scene.

Boruto smiled with his eyes closed and put his index finger on his lips, signaling for her to be quiet.

Boruto smiled as Sarada unlocked her Sharingan, impressed with her abilities. As Naruto arrived at the scene, he saw the burning body and Chocho on the ground trying to stomach what she had just seen, while Sarada stood weakly.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, concern etched on his face.

"Someone with Sharingan attacked Sarada and Chocho, so I came to save them," Boruto explained.

"But why are they like that?" Naruto asked.

"They saw me cutting the enemy's head," Boruto replied with no emotion.

Naruto was taken aback by the brutality of the situation and asked, "Why did you do that?"

"If I didn't do that, Sarada and Chocho may have ended up dying," Boruto replied matter-of-factly.

Naruto sighed, knowing that he couldn't get more information from the dead enemy. He knelt down and held Boruto's shoulder, asking, "Are you okay at least?"

"I'm fine," Boruto replied, but then he excused himself to go to a nearby tree. Naruto was confused, but then Boruto started vomiting profusely. He wiped his mouth using Water Release Jutsu.

"I'm following you on your mission," Boruto said. "That guy is targeting Sarada, and it is better that you take her with you, and I can protect her."

Naruto hesitated, knowing how dangerous the mission could be.

"Just take us with you. Oi, I know you are there, Kurama-san. Can you persuade Tou-san to let me go with him?" Boruto used his trump card, knowing that Naruto would likely not let him follow him.

"Haha, hear that Naruto. Your kid is very brave, and let him follow you. He's already good at controlling Tailed Beast Chakra. He can protect himself and his friend," Kurama said.

"You too, Kurama. Okay, I'll let you guys follow me," Naruto said, relenting. "We will continue as the two of them recover."

Boruto walked up to Sarada, concern etched on his face. "Shortly, you will see your father, okay? Hold on, Sarada-chan," he said, trying to comfort her.

Sarada nearly fell down, and Boruto quickly caught her by hugging her. He whispered to her, "I'll explain later, but get some rest okay?"

"You are a bad person, Boruto," Sarada said, but she was getting comfortable in his embrace. "Can I stay here for a while?"

"Sure, Sarada," Boruto said as she closed her eyes to rest her mind after witnessing the vivid scene.

Meanwhile, Naruto walked up to Chocho and asked, "Are you okay, Chocho?"

"Nanadaime, I'm not okay. Can I return back home? I want to see my father," Chocho asked, her voice trembling.

"Sure," Naruto created a clone and carried Chocho back to Konoha.

As Naruto turned around, he saw Boruto sitting on the hill, holding Sarada close to him. "Even your son is smoother than you. I remember at this age, didn't you kiss Sasuke?" Kurama giggled.

"Don't remind me of that," Naruto sighed, his cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.

After a few minutes, Sarada opened her eyes and saw that Boruto was carrying her in a piggyback. Naruto and Boruto were running towards the location that Sasuke had promised to meet.

"Let me down, Boruto," Sarada said, trying to get down.

"Ohh, you woke up. Nah, rest a bit, then I'll let you down," Boruto said, smiling.

Sarada tried to struggle, but Boruto didn't let her go and said, "Fine, but don't let me fall."

"Yes, madam," Boruto said with a grin. He then asked his father, "Where is the place that you guys decided to meet?"

"A tower with deserted plains," Naruto replied.

After a few minutes, Boruto asked Sarada, "Are you enjoying my piggyback, Sarada?"

"Hmm," she replied, trying to ignore him.

"Also, congratulations on unlocking your Sharingan, but I guess that was my fault," Boruto said.

"I've unlocked it?" Sarada asked, surprised.

"Try it, Sarada," Naruto said, noticing that her eyes had turned red.

Sarada closed her eyes and opened them again, and her eyes turned red.

"This is Sharingan?" Sarada said in awe.

"Yours only has one tomoe for now, but if you train harder, you can unlock two tomoe and three tomoe," Boruto said, his voice full of knowledge.

"You know a lot about Sharingan, Boruto," Naruto said, impressed.

"Yes, I studied it since I don't have any dojutsu. Supposedly, I have Byakugan, but I didn't inherit it from Kaa-san. So that's..." Boruto trailed off.

"You have one kid, the orange gorilla eyes" Kurama interjected.

Sarada was surprised to hear the voice coming out from Naruto. "Nah, it doesn't count," Boruto said, dismissing it.

As they approached the tower, Naruto exclaimed, "It's coming into view!" They could finally see the tower where Naruto and Sasuke were supposed to meet.

Upon arriving in front of the door of the tower, Boruto put Sarada down and smiled at her. "Stop looking at me," Sarada said, blushing.

Naruto pushed open the door and said, "Let's head inside."

"Where is the infamous Uchiha Sasuke?" Boruto looked around, but there was no one there.

Suddenly, Sasuke emerged from the darkness and said, "Naruto, what's going on? Why are you bringing kids here?"

"Papa!" Sarada ran up to Sasuke and hugged him tightly.

Sasuke was shocked to be hugged like that. "Sarada?" he said, finally recognizing who she was.

Boruto noticed Naruto's eyes getting teary and elbowed him in the side. "Stop crying, I can give you a hug if you want that much," he said with a chuckle.

"Boruto, That hurt!" Naruto exclaimed, hitting Boruto on the head.

Boruto laughed it off while holding his head after getting hit.

As Sarada separated from Sasuke, she asked, "Is my mom my real mom?" Naruto and Sasuke were both confused, but Sasuke didn't show it. "What does that even mean?" he asked.

"Please answer me. Is Mama my real mom?" Sarada repeated, her voice trembling.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, still confused.

"What happened?!" Sarada exclaimed, getting angry. "You're never around. Why won't you stay with mom and me? Do you even care about your family?!"

Sarada then pulled out a picture of Team Taka during Sasuke's emo phase. Boruto saw the picture and tried to hold back his laughter as he remembered how Sasuke was getting beaten by Bee and Itachi during that time.

Naruto noticed Boruto's reaction and elbowed him while whispering, "Stop laughing."

"I'm sorry, I just can't. The picture is funny," Boruto whispered back, but he took a deep breath and closed his eyes to avoid laughing again.

"Who is this woman next to you?! I can't trust either of you!" Sarada burst out in anger.

"It has nothing to do with you," Sasuke said, looking down at the floor.

Before anything else could happen, Boruto stepped forward and said, "I can explain for you, Sarada, as this emo is too cowardly to explain the truth."

Sasuke's vein popped out a bit as it had been a long time since someone had called him a coward, and that person was Naruto.

"He is out every day because he is on a journey to redeem himself after what he's done," Boruto explained.

"What do you mean by that, Boruto?" Sarada asked, her voice softening.

"Your father is a similar case to Orochimaru, but his bad deeds have been wiped clean, so no one really knows," Boruto said, his tone serious.

Naruto and Sasuke were shocked at how Boruto had obtained this information. "How do you know this, brat?" Sasuke demanded, his voice laced with anger.

"I don't know, maybe..." Boruto trailed off before changing his voice to sound like the legendary Uchiha Madara. "I am Uchiha Madara, who has come back from the dead. You have grown a lot, Uchiha Sasuke," Boruto said, trying to hold back his laughter.

Sasuke immediately pulled out his sword and tried to stab Boruto, but Naruto caught it just in time. Boruto was sweating heavily as he hadn't seen Sasuke move so quickly.

"Sasuke, don't do it," Naruto said with a serious voice.

"I was joking. You really thought I was Uchiha Madara?" Boruto laughed in Sasuke's face. "Maybe I should try this voice," he said before changing his voice to sound like Uchiha Itachi. "So this time, I want to impart this truth to you. You don't even have to forgive me, and no matter what you do from here on out, I will love you always," Boruto said, his voice filled with emotion.

Sasuke felt a surge of anger, but he decided to let it go this time. However, he and Naruto were still confused about how Boruto was able to imitate the voice so accurately.

The one who was the most confused was Sarada.