The Chronicles of Boruto

CHAPTER 43: The mystery of his desertion.

Five days later, in Kumogakure.

The Five Kage Summit

Naruto sighed as he sat across from Darui. The anguish of his son's abduction had clearly left its effect on him, but he refused to believe Boruto had betrayed the leaf in any way; his son would never do such a thing.

There were only two Kage and their advisors in the conference room, Naruto and Shikamaru, as well as their hosts, Darui and Omoi.

As the stillness grew longer, with both Kage buried in thought, the door opened to display Gaara, the Fourth Kazekage, and Kankuro. "Welcome Kazekage-sama," Durui muttered sluggishly, his voice bored.

Gaara waved to everyone before drawing his seat behind him and settling in. "I see I'm not the first... or the last."

"Kurotsuchi and Chojuro are yet to arrive, dattebayo," Naruto said. "How is Shinki?"

"He's recovered now, not quite back to his best, but it'll do for the time being," Gaara murmured, closing his eyes.

"That's great to hear," Naruto responded with a smile. And just as he finished, the door opened again, this time having four shinobi walking in, Kurotsuchi accompanied Akatsuchi and Chojuro with Misuno.

"Finally," Darui nodded at Omoi, making him walk to the centre to begin. "Shall we begin?"

"Wait, won't you?" Kurotsuchi scowled in annoyance, "I just arrived, let me breathe a little"

Chojuro chuckled awkwardly, "but—"

"Shut up, Mizukage-sama" Kurotsuchi snapped her finger, "I need water. Yes, you can begin now"

Omoi pulled out a file and opened it, "Kumogakure reports, latest disturbance; puppets raiding the village, thirteen shinobi confirmed dead, and seven civilians severely injured, after examining a sample of the puppet thoroughly, we believe it's from Kara." He returned to stand behind Darui, meaning he had completed their statement.

Kurotsuchi raised her hand, "Iwagakure reports the same" meaning her record was similar to that of the Cloud village.

Misuno stepped into Omoi's shoes and began reading, "Kirigakure reports, identical to Kumogakure and Iwagakure, scientifically advanced ninja puppets from Kara assaulting the village, confirmed dead, seventeen shinobi and three civilians. Furthermore, the thievery of three of the seven mist swords, evidence provided" she handed all five Kage a paper with a photograph of the three missing blades on it. Misuno returned to her seat after bowing, "Thank you."

"Three hidden mist swords are lost?" Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow, "what's the meaning of this"

Chojuro stood up, "I believe the puppet play was all a distraction to acquire the seven mist swords, I had one of my extremely capable Jounin, Kagura, protect them, but by the time he arrived three had already been stolen"

Gaara sighed, "let us finish relaying our reports first" Chojuro sat back down and nodded.

"Sunagakure reports; one of our elite Jounin was battered to a near-death state by Kawaki—" Naruto's gaze remained locked to the desk before him, "—who has been labelled a Rogue for his prior crimes in Konohagakure, including the murder of Hako Kuroi and Renga Kokubo, but Shinki has already recovered. Aside from that, there was a puppet attack from Kara, which resulted in the deaths of two shinobi and the horrific injury of a single civilian. Furthermore, there had been an attempt to recover the previous Kazekage's cells, but Gaara— er, Kazekage-sama— had arrived in time to stop them. That's all there is to it from us." Kankuro finished.

"Great" Darui said, sarcastically before turning to Naruto, "I bet you can surprise us even more?"

Naruto laughed nervously, sure he could... "Shikamaru" he nodded at his advisor and Shikamaru walked to the centre of attention before coughing.

"—such a drag... Uhm, Konohagakure reports; to begin with, the puppet attack, which is from Kara, you have the details, so I'll skip them out, but I'll mention this, some of which invaded Konoha were provided with chakra, and after observing it, we can tell it's from a Karma user—"

"A karma user!?" Kurotsuchi turned to Naruto, "the only Karma user in your village is—"

"Tsuchikage-sama, please don't interrupt," Shikamaru said, frowning. "It means we have a spy in the village. That aside, Otsutsuki Momoshiki remerged with Boruto and murdered seven adult civilians, three children, who were Genin, and injured two Jounin before Lord Seventh took him out. The latest report, Uzumaki Boruto has deserted the village without any traces"

"What!?" Darui leaned forward in shock along with the other three Kage, "Uzumaki Boruto you say? That's impossible!"

"It's not" Sasuke strode into the room silently and everyone's attention shifted to him. "He was in great distress and confusion the last time I met him, he seemed to be questioning his own thoughts, I could tell because I had once been in the same position at one point in my life. However, he was confident about never deserting the village when I was with him, and as per Shikamaru's predictions, we placed capable shinobi everywhere to watch out for his leave. The only one who reported seeing him was my daughter, Uchiha Sarada. They fought, and Boruto emerged victoriously, she says he never denied the fact that he was betraying the village—"

"But he would never—" Naruto began before his voice cracked. "Boruto would never betray the village! He knows—"

"Naruto, calm down" Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulder and he sat down again. "We can only rely on evidence, and according to Sarada, he was abandoning the village, so we'll have to administer him and add him in the bingo book, because, if, by any chance, he turned Rogue, he possesses much threat to all five villages than the whole Kara combined—"

Gaara frowned, "I vouch against it. Uzumaki Boruto has proved on several occasions to be a calm thinker and a logical decision-maker, I don't believe he did this meaninglessly"

"I don't either" Sasuke responded, "I suggest we ignore his movements for the time being and focus on the immediate threats. If Boruto makes a move under the radar, we'll immediately take action, but until then, let's move on"

"Sasuke-kun's right," Chojuro began, "Boruto can be left for discussing later, for now, let's focus on Kara" 

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Thank you all for being with me throughout the book!

But it's over now!
A sequel will be coming... probably...

How was the story!?