The Fourth Wall

Chapter 4: The Second Author Appears

"You're late."

"Sorry," Boruto sheepishly said, jogging to their meetup spot. "I overslept."

"It's our first mission in a while, and you oversleep?"

"I had to go to the hospital yesterday! Cut me some slack. Where are we going again?"

Sarada sighed. "We're on a guard mission. A famous artist is going around to take pictures of different landscapes in Konoha. We've been tasked with showing him those spots and guiding him around."

"Right. And where are we supposed to meet up with this guy?"

"I think we're meeting in the Hokage's office," replied Mitsuki, jumping off of his perch on the side wall.

"I can't wait to be a tour guide..." Boruto said glumly with his hands behind his head. "Wouldn't a mission like this be more suited to Ino-Shika-Cho?"

"I thought you learned your lesson about the importance of missions," grumbled Sarada. "Just when I was finally starting to think you had some decency... Ino-Shika-Cho are out right now. Be grateful we even get to go anywhere after your mess-up."

Boruto narrowed his eyes. Why does she always have to complain?

"She has a point," Mitsuki smiled.

Point shmoint, Boruto thought, cheeks pinkening as he dragged his heels against the stone. Bugs, frogs, rashes, so be it. I don't want to do this dumb mission anyways... either of them. "Let's go already."

With that, the three made their way to the Hokage's office. Inside was a boy about their height, a camera loosely dangling from his neck.

"Oh good, you're here," said Naruto, standing up behind his desk. "This is Misaki Suzuno. Your mission is to show him all the spots in Konoha that he wants to visit. Konohamaru is out running a bit of an errand for me right now, so you'll be taking this mission on alone. No one is targeting his life, so think of it as showing a tourist around town and have fun. Oh, and by the way, you're all the same age. Do your best to get along!"

The author stood, their shrunken body atop the edge of a potted plant, glaring at Misaki Suzuno suspiciously. He wasn't part of the anime... They aren't supposed to get another quest until next week's episode. Someone else is definitely here. But maybe our goals align... if that's the case, I suppose it won't hurt to watch for a while.

Sarada stepped forward. "Nice to meet you Suzuno. I hope you enjoy your stay in Konoha."

The boy took her hand without looking up, shook it weakly, and dropped it to his side. "Nice to meet you."

"Come on, Suzuno!" Boruto slapped his back, feeling a bit better about the mission now that Konohamaru wasn't going to be babysitting them. "We'll show you all the good spots. What kinds of places do you like?"

Suzuno winced, shielding himself from Boruto with a sketchbook.

The confusion on the sometimes overly friendly Boruto's face was evident. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"He's just shy," Sarada retorted. "Suzuno-kun, where do you want to go first?"

"T-The stone faces..."

"The hokage? If that's the case, I know a great spot to see them from!" Boruto circled around Suzuno and began walking backwards. "There's this spot up on top of the roof that overlooks Konoha too, I'm sure you'll—"

"Boruto." Sarada's commanding tone cut him off. "You're scaring him."

Boruto turned, immediately eyeing Suzuno's hand that loosely held the fabric of Sarada's zip-up vest. He stuck out his bottom lip. "Fine. I guess we can just go to the usual overlook spot."