Insight

Chapter 3: Age Regression Jutsu

 The process of infiltrating the Hokage Building was easier than Shikadai had expected, and he wasn't completely sure how to feel about that. On one hand, this was supposed to be a location with some of the tightest security in all of Konoha, the fact that a couple of mere genin managed to break into the Hokage's office without alerting any of the highly trained professional ninjas was concerning. Only our best shinobi are allowed to guard this place, dammit! It shouldn't be this freaking easy! But on the other hand, Shikadai felt slightly proud of himself. Not only had he managed to infiltrate the Hokage Building without getting caught, he managed to do it with Boruto of all people, and that's saying something.

Although he will admit that this feat might have only been accomplished thanks to his extensive knowledge of the Hokage Building, being the son of the Hokage's Chief Aide. Not to mention that Boruto is the son of the Hokage himself, which also facilitated matters.

But it still shouldn't have been this easy! Either the quality of Konoha's ninja force has decreased and we need some new guards or Boruto and I are truthfully some highly skilled ninja. Shikadai could only hope it was the latter for the sake of Konoha's safety, otherwise, they were all doomed. I'll have to look into this later with my father...

"We made it! I knew we could do this, Shikadai!", the young blond exclaimed in a volume much too loud for their current situation, causing Shikadai to cringe and effectively break him out of his spiraling thoughts.

"Lower your voice Boruto! Just because we managed to enter the Hokage office, doesn't mean we're out of danger yet. We better make this fast before we get caught," the boy said in a strained whisper.

"Oh yeah sorry... I suppose the excitement got the better of me..." Boruto stated, having the decency to look slightly ashamed after committing a rookie mistake for a trained ninja. However, he quickly regained his cheery demeanor, "But you got to admit Shikadai, it feels pretty good to know we just infiltrated the Hokage building, a place with some of the tightest security!"

Well at least he watched his volume this time, the young Nara thought with a small smile.

Witnessing the slight upturn of lips, Boruto couldn't help the sudden burst of confidence surging through him, knowing that the young Nara was feeling just as proud about this accomplishment as he was. And thus he began his search for any useful information with the keys, making sure to remain as quiet and cautious as possible throughout the process.

However, after a while of searching the only things the two genin had managed to find were series of codes that surely opened passages and vaults with precious information, but made no sense without the proper context or locations. Scrolls with retellings of incidents throughout the village's history that remained hidden from civilians were also abundant amongst the different vaults and compartments Boruto had managed to open with the key. Still, they weren't what he was looking for. It wasn't until 25 minutes into the search that the blond found a particular scroll that caught his eye.

Age Regression Jutsu

Hmmm, now that's a title!

Scanning through the contents of the scroll, Boruto's satisfaction with his discovery continued to grow. This was a jutsu meant to turn the individual it was used on, back to their younger selves. The infinite amount of possibilities, the things he could do by performing this jutsu, maybe even humiliate a certain Hokage...

And according to the scroll, the effects were only temporary so that's a plus!

Shikadai upon seeing what his friend was looking at, realized that maybe helping his friend break into the Hokage's office was a huge mistake. If his assumptions were correct, perhaps Boruto planned to use this age regression jutsu on Lord Seventh, which was definitely not okay considering that this was a forbidden jutsu for a reason.

"No way Boruto! Performing a forbidden jutsu is going too far, we are only here to see what information we can find, nothing more. I refuse to help you smuggle knowledge on a forbidden jutsu, especially knowing you will most likely use it on Lord Seventh!"

Understanding that Shikadai would never let him leave with the scroll, Boruto knew he could only do one of two things. Option number one: Listen to Shikadai and leave the scroll behind in hopes of finding something better, if there even was something better... Or number two: Pretend to listen to Shikadai and leave the scroll behind, when in reality he would actually smuggle it. It was pretty clear what option Boruto found the best, the young Nara wouldn't even have to know.

"I guess you're right, besides using a forbidden jutsu would be too obvious. Let's open that other vault."

Boruto's lack of retaliation before leaving the scroll back where it belonged, raised suspicion from Shikadai, but he figured that perhaps the young blond finally entered reason. Not to mention the scroll was actually returned, so as long as that scroll never left the Hokage office Shikadai didn't think there should be anything to worry about. (Besides getting caught in the Hokage's office of course.) If only he knew how wrong he was...

.....

By the time the duo decided to leave, they still had an hour left before the day shift began. No other interesting information or useful artifacts had been found, much to the boys' dismay. Although it made sense to Shikadai that most of those important artifacts wouldn't necessarily be located at the Hokage's office, since that would be way too obvious and his father was smarter than that. He'd like to think Lord Seventh was too. I suppose in that sense it's understandable that the security wouldn't be as tight... but it could still benefit from improvements.

Nonetheless, there was still precious historical information that could be found, which Shikadai deemed intriguing, but he knew Boruto didn't share the same sentiments. After managing to convince his friend that he wouldn't find anything particularly interesting, and Boruto felt satisfied with his thorough examination of documents/codes, both genin made their way out.

It did pique his interest, however, that Boruto was so easily convinced to leave the vaults of secret archives without having found what he was looking for. Looking back on it Shikadai really should have known something was wrong, but it was 6 in the morning and the sleep deprivation was getting to him. Perhaps that was why he didn't think much of letting Boruto exit the office last and close the doors. Perhaps that was why he didn't take notice of the slight bulge in Boruto's jacket before they parted ways. In any case, he'd only think about the events that took place overnight the following morning, after getting some very well-deserved rest.