Sequel to Rogue

Awkward

Boruto woke up feeling groggy, sitting up on the bed, he stared at the wall in front of him in a daze for a few minutes before regaining his bearings. Getting up from the bed, his body felt heavy and lethargic despite having a full, dreamless sleep last night. Trudging towards the living room, he came to a halt when he heard sounds from the kitchen. Arriving at the kitchen, he saw Sakura-san cooking. Blinking in surprise, he finally caught on that he had slept in and woke up late. 

"So you're up." Sasuke-san's voice sounded,  turning to his left, Boruto found him on the sofa, reading a scroll. "Yeah," he voiced out and was again surprised at how weak he sounded; he felt tired like he had run a marathon, despite having just woken up. What's up with this early morning laziness?  "You seem tired, didn't sleep well last night?" Normally, Boruto would have immediately questioned why Sasuke was being so chatty today, but his groggy self didn't register this little detail and answered in a tired voice, "No, I did sleep well, but...I don't know, ever since I woke up, I feel tired, like bone tired."  

"Must be because of the fight yesterday. Don't think too much about it, go freshen up first, then come here and eat. We have a few more things to tell you." Sakura-san chimed in and ushered him back to his room. The moment he was out of earshot, both of their expressions turned grim. Sasuke initiated the discussion, "You think he suspects something?" Sakura shook her head, "Doubt it" 

"Then, for now, it's best to proceed with the agreed-upon plan"  

Sakura hummed in agreement, her mind flashing back to the events of the previous night. Bolt's face reveal had left them all stunned, but Naruto and Hinata took it the hardest, understandably so. Hinata had broken down crying, frantically rushing towards the unconscious boy and hugging him as if to affirm that he was real. It pained Sakura to pry her off him, for she feared that the IV might become loose and the boy would wake up. Naruto's reaction was worrying; he had pretty much collapsed on the ground, had it not been for Sasuke holding him up, and had begun to hyperventilate. Sakura feared he would have a panic attack then and there, but thankfully, Lady Tsunade handled him. After calming down, he just sat on the ward floor staring at the unconscious Bolt in a daze. 

"Well, I think the DNA test isn't needed anymore." Kakashi's voice broke the tense atmosphere. "But how do we proceed from here?" Here came the dreaded question. "As I've said before, bringing him in for questioning directly incites the risk of getting our memories wiped once again." No one spoke until Shikamaru came up with a strategy: "We have no choice but to go for a long-term plan." Everyone turned to him, waiting for him to continue, "1 month later, he departs for the mission. Till then, we can subtly grind him for information under the guise of training and teaching him some jutsus as per our previous agreement. That way, he won't be suspicious as to why so many adults are suddenly spending time with him. To be frank, I recommend that the majority of the training and interrogation part be done by Naruto, Hinata and the rest of the Hyuga clan." He turned to look at Naruto, "I know this is difficult for you, Naruto. But it must be done; there is a fair chance he'll slip up more in front of his family, either by sentiment or nostalgia. But you don't have to force-" 

"I'll do it"

Naruto cut him off, his voice quiet but steady, "I'll do it" Shikamaru just gave a nod and continued, "While that is being done, I would like for a few Inuzuka hounds to be dispatched. All rogue shinobi have their hideouts, it's where they keep their loot, hide for recovery, etc. We didn't have many clues before, but now we can have the hounds track his scent to hopefully find his hideout. You never know, we might find something in his possession that might help us solve the mystery. While we do that, I would also suggest the ANBU to investigate him once again in the villages where he had supposedly worked before. However, we can't have Bolt catching wind of these investigations; therefore, the hounds and the ANBU squad will only depart after Bolt himself is gone for the mission later next month. Both those teams must be strictly instructed not to cross paths with Bolt's team. In case Bolt's team returns first, then we'll have to keep him stalled here for longer, which should work in our favour as his contract period isn't over until the Zombie situation is completely resolved.  If the ANBU and the hounds return first, then we will have time to study and analyse the data brought back by them. No, objections till here i presume?" No one voiced any disagreements, so Shikamaru continued, "For the final part of confronting the kid............ I'm afraid we have no other way but to brute force our way on that one. Now, before you all object. There is no surefire way to avoid the memory loss jutsu; the only thing I can suggest is a locked fortress confrontation."