We're Different. | The Other Uchiha ✓ (Boruto)

Where the Sun Can't Reach

The report card sat limply in Shino's hands, its crisp edges bent from how often he had been fidgeting. He glanced up at the woman sitting across from him. Sharp red hair, square glasses pushed up with an air of impatience, and a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"She's top of her class," Shino said finally. "Exceptional. Her scores are perfect. Her practical evaluations are..." he hesitated, tapping the card once against the table, "on par with Uchiha Itachi when he was an Academy student."

Karin tilted her head slightly, lips quirking in something that wasn't quite amusement. "But?"

"She doesn't... connect. With the other students. Keeps to herself. Doesn't initiate conversation unless spoken to." Shino's voice was careful, clinical.

"She's not wired for idle chatter," Karin said smoothly. "Put her in a squad. Assign her a mission. She'll adapt to a team if she has to."

Shino hummed low in his throat, not arguing.

"When you come from a background like hers," Karin continued, almost lazily, "you learn to survive first. Friendships... come later."

Across the room, Y/n stood quietly against the wall, posture straight, eyes blank and unreadable.

Shino turned toward her, voice a little softer now,"Do you have anything you want to add, Y/n?"

She blinked once, slow and deliberate, before stepping forward.

Karin turned her head slightly, watching her.

"I want to protect the people who stayed," Y/n added after a second.

Shino's gaze lingered on her for a long moment.

He said nothing about the strange weight behind her words.

Only nodded, business-like.
"Well. Thank you for your honesty, Uzumaki-san."

Y/n bowed her head in polite formality and stepped back beside Karin.

Karin reached out, briefly squeezing her shoulder with a quiet, grounding pressure as they turned to leave.

- ☆ -

The late afternoon sunlight was turning the sky a soft orange as Y/n and Karin made their way across the training field.

The village bustled in the distance, blurred edges of buildings soft against the horizon.

"Oi," Karin said, bumping Y/n lightly with her elbow. "Want to grab something to eat? You've earned it."

Y/n gave the barest nod, the corner of her mouth twitching up in the closest thing to a smile.

But before they could move farther, a voice called out:

"Excuse me! Wait, just a second!"

Y/n turned, immediately cautious.

A man approached, messy brown hair, large camera slung over one shoulder, smiling in a way that tried too hard to seem harmless.

Sukea.

Boruto was with him, looking somewhere between smug and impatient.

"What's this about?" Y/n asked, voice guarded.

"He's a reporter," Boruto said, grinning. "Wants to ask everyone why they want to be shinobi."

Before Y/n could refuse, Karin clapped her on the back lightly, "She doesn't mind!" she said too brightly.