With all the adults gone, the group of children looked at one another.
More precisely, Naruto was staring at the fervent gazes across from him. It would be a lie to say he was not panicking!
The eyelid of a certain Hokage advisor left behind to babysit the children twitched relentlessly.
It was not because he feared that Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, was in danger. With a lineup as powerful as the "Fourth Shinobi World War Boss Team," he was actually much less worried.
It was just that, when he thought about all the trouble that would follow, he seriously had to consider how much overtime he would be working with Naruto afterward.
This was Konoha Year 80. Boruto figured it was finally his turn to be a proper host, so he awkwardly took the initiative to approach Naruto.
"Dad when he was a kid! And Uncle Sasuke when he was a kid! Did you travel through time too?"
Being called "Dad" left Naruto completely stunned.
Young Sasuke remained expressionless. "Our future won't necessarily be the same as yours. Just call us by our names."
It took Naruto quite a while to recover. Even then, something about Sasuke's words did not seem right to him. Hadn't he always called the Minato from another world "Dad" too?
Boruto paid little attention to Young Sasuke's response and continued asking whether Naruto and the others had traveled here from the past.
"Huh? Uh, yeah." After learning who Boruto was, Naruto suddenly grew a little shy.
Hearing the words "time travel" resolved nearly all the questions troubling Denki Kaminarimon and the other children.
Iwabee Yuino, Denki Kaminarimon, and Metal Lee immediately shoved Boruto Uzumaki aside and crowded around Naruto Uzumaki from the mission scroll world, calling him "Seventh Hokage" over and over.
Denki Kaminarimon even wanted to use the power of money to have someone deliver a high-definition video camera and an autograph board.
However, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had merely been taken into Obito's Kamui's Dimension and had not yet been confirmed defeated. Since the alert had not been lifted, no one could make the delivery.
"What's wrong, Sarada? You've been acting strange for a while," Boruto called out to her. "We're going to the burger place. Are you coming?"
Sarada looked preoccupied. She had been perfectly fine when they first arrived, which made her best friend Chōchō Akimichi worried as well. Chōchō suggested that she eat something good and even offered her the bag of potato chips in her hand to cheer her up.
Sasuke, who had been left behind along with Naruto, merely glanced at them without saying anything.
Naruto nudged him with an elbow and asked whether he was embarrassed.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. This is another parallel world, not our future."
Sasuke's tone was rigid and cold, leaving every child across from him frozen stiff.
Naruto, Sakura, and Obito had not expected him to say that, so they hurriedly tried to ease the tension.
Boruto Uzumaki alone thought Sasuke still looked unbelievably cool.
Hearing Boruto praise Sasuke so worshipfully made Naruto unhappy. He muttered under his breath, wondering whose son Boruto was supposed to be.
Completely oblivious, Boruto bluntly declared that he would rather have the cool Sasuke-san as his father. He even struck several poses that he considered stylish.
"Hey, Boruto."
As Boruto's childhood friend, Shikadai Nara advised him not to say things like that or do anything that would embarrass his father.
Iwabee Yuino complained that Boruto Uzumaki did not appreciate how fortunate he was.
Metal, Denki, and the others nodded vigorously in agreement.
Yet Boruto kept rambling, saying the opposite of what he truly felt. He insisted that his father was nowhere near as wonderful as they imagined and was incredibly clueless at home.
Naruto pursed his lips, snorted without saying anything, and turned his head away.
Sakura and Rin could tell that Boruto did not mean what he was saying. His awkward, contrary personality really was...
Rather like Shikamaru had said. It was a shame his surname was not Uchiha. "Boruto Uchiha" would have suited him perfectly.
They were all children, so no one took these jokes comparing their families seriously.
Boruto's spoiled young-master attitude certainly annoyed Naruto, but after thinking about his own father, Minato Namikaze, Naruto puffed out his chest and decided that, as a father, he should be more tolerant of his idiot son.
However, no one expected Sarada to lower her head and say with complete seriousness, "I'm the one who truly wishes the Seventh Hokage-sama were my father."
Her words were far more sincere than Boruto's earlier claim that he wished Sasuke-san were his father.
Everyone could tell that Boruto had merely been saying the opposite of what he felt.
To put it plainly, he was an attention-seeking brat who was hopelessly addicted to acting aloof.
Sarada, however, was unmistakably serious as she spoke with her head lowered. She seemed to be venting resentment that had been bottled up for a long time.
The atmosphere abruptly became awkward.
Naruto desperately tried to smooth things over between Sasuke's daughter from this parallel world and the Sasuke standing beside him. Young Obito and the others also helped separate them, loudly changing the subject by asking what a hamburger was.
Normally, that would have been enough to move past the issue.
But Boruto stubbornly argued back. In his eyes, Sasuke-san was the best, and Sarada was the one who did not appreciate how lucky she was.
The atmosphere instantly became so tense that there was no way to recover.
The Hokage advisor, temporarily serving as babysitter for these problem children, had no choice but to step in and stop them.
That only resulted in everyone falling silent.
The stifling atmosphere persisted until they reached the burger restaurant, where they finally remembered that the employees had evacuated too.
Boruto's spoiled temper flared, and he casually made several unpleasant remarks.
That left Obito, Kakashi, and Rin trapped between the two versions of Team 7, feeling unbearably awkward.
It was then that Sarada finally voiced the question troubling her.
"Why is all information about the Uchiha Clan classified as Special S-rank?"
Naturally, the person Sarada directed her question toward was the Seventh Hokage, the person she trusted most. Except the Naruto Uzumaki before her was currently only thirteen years old.
Naruto froze.
Something about Sarada's words and her current state felt incredibly familiar, but he could not remember where he had encountered it before.
"Until recently, aside from one family photograph, I didn't even know where my father was or what he was doing! Even now, whenever I ask, all I get are evasive answers!"
"I finally awakened the Sharingan, but no one will tell me how to improve it! When I investigated it myself, I discovered that aside from a tiny amount of information, everything about the Uchiha Clan is classified as S-rank! Sasuke Uchiha in particular is a top-level secret even among classified information!"
"He doesn't come home more than twice a year! Even when he reaches our doorstep, he won't come inside to see Mom and me!"
"But now I finally understand why..."
"It's because the Uchiha started the Fourth Shinobi World War! I'm right, aren't I?!!!"
"!!!!"
Shikamaru Nara felt as though his hair was about to turn as white as Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's.
A moment ago, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had carelessly revealed that Madara Uchiha was the mastermind who started the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Although the others had been shocked, they had not seriously considered whether Madara Uchiha represented the entire Uchiha Clan.
Sarada was different.
Not only did she bear the Uchiha name, she also possessed the clan's characteristic sensitivity.
She had previously searched through all kinds of records without finding much information about her own clan. Even her father, Sasuke Uchiha, was classified as a Special S-rank secret.
That made it impossible for her not to suspect that the Fourth Shinobi World War, which had devastated most of the Ninja World, had been started by the Uchiha Clan.
Perhaps even her father, Sasuke Uchiha, had been involved!
The young shinobi present were rendered speechless by Sarada's emotions and accusations.
To Konoha's genin of this era, Sarada was an unquestionable honor student. She always carried herself like one too, constantly pushing up her small, gleaming glasses and stopping the boys whenever they caused trouble. To the girls, she was a role model.
"Sarada..."
Chōchō called her name worriedly.
At this point, not even a bag of potato chips, or an entire convenience store, could save the atmosphere.
No one had expected that the strong-willed Sarada had actually been suppressing all her emotions and dissatisfaction for so long.
Sasuke remained calm in the face of her accusations.
Earlier, he had seen the bandages wrapped around the Seventh Hokage's right hand and the empty left sleeve of his counterpart in this world. They seemed to remind him of the things this world's Sasuke Uchiha had once done.
Then there were Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha, both indisputable war criminals responsible for the soaring death toll during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Sakura and Rin were not especially close to Sarada, so neither knew how to comfort her. Young Obito and Young Kakashi were even less certain what they should say.
The sight of Sarada crying finally made Naruto realize why this situation felt so familiar.
His clear blue eyes, like glass reflecting the sky, gazed at Sarada.
Few people knew how much of Konohagakure's past darkness was hidden behind those eyes.
Naruto, did you know there's an S-rank secret in this village that everyone knows except you?! Aren't you curious why the entire village shuns and isolates you even though you're an orphan?!
Because you're the Nine-Tails Fox that killed the Fourth Hokage and Iruka's parents!!
Boruto's personality might resemble Sasuke's in some ways, but Sarada's feelings resonated far more deeply with Naruto.
He had been alone since childhood.
No matter whom he asked, no one would tell him anything about his parents. Not even the smallest detail.
That sealed S-rank prohibition had followed him throughout his childhood, just like the Eight Trigrams Seal on his body, accompanied by a hellish loneliness.
"The Uchiha..."
The moment Naruto spoke, everyone focused on him.
Sasuke beside him, Sarada as she poured out the emotions she had suppressed for so long, Obito, Kakashi, and all the genin of this era turned their eyes toward him.
"The Uchiha are..."
...
Naruto Uzumaki.
A child who had once been caught in the rain, and therefore spent his entire life trying to hold an umbrella over others.