When Shikamaru came to the Anbu office the previous night, he said he’d explain everything later and shoved a map into Sai’s hand. Get to this place before ten p.m. tomorrow night, he said. And the map was just a direction and a distance scribbled onto a piece of straw paper.
This distance by ten tomorrow?
This was a bit much, even for an urgent mission. He got the details of the situation while he prepared for the trip. He was surprised to learn that Naruto was seriously ill, and he was also angry that Shikamaru had hidden this from him. But before he had the chance to complain about it, Shikamaru was practically kicking him out the door and on his way. He’d been flying without sleep or a break ever since, with nothing but his compass for guidance.
Even with the yadonaki’s flying abilities, it was a gamble whether he’d make it within the specified time. And then when he got there, he had to receive a message from his wife using Mind Transmission and weave some signs. He’d gotten messages from her via Mind Transmission before, things like, “Please stop by the store on your way home,” but this was the first time they’d have such a great distance between them.
Haah. Sai exhaled a shallow breath.
It was harder to breathe because they’d gained altitude so rapidly.
They’d long since passed the countries within his familiar cultural sphere, and there was nothing but desolate mountains below them now.
“It’s really there, right? An actual country with people in a place like this …”
Naruto couldn’t relax. He looked over the proposal before his eyes for the hundredth time. “The cost of equipment accompanying the adoption of the new curriculum of kunai throwing increased five hundred thousand ryo over last year,” “adoption of a preferential selection system for the classics lesson and separate collection for teaching material costs”—Shino had apparently poured her heart into this academy budget proposal for the next fiscal year, but the words scattered in all directions on the page when Naruto set his eyes on them.
Aah, this is pointless. I’m not getting anything from this.
The hands of the clock showed five thirty. Sakura was supposed to come pick him up from the house at eight.
“I’m heading out!” He leaped to his feet. He hadn’t met his quota for the day, but he could make it all up with however much overtime was necessary tomorrow once all of this was taken care of.
There was no one home when he got there. He belatedly recalled Hinata saying something about taking Himawari over to say hi to her father.
Naruto wandered around the empty house. It was all fine and good to have come home, but he still couldn’t relax. It had been ages since he’d even been in the house at this hour on a weekday. He had no idea what to do with himself; he had way too much time on his hands. With no other ideas, he sat down on the sofa and was staring through the TV when Boruto came home.
“Dad.” Boruto’s eyes grew wide when he popped his head into the living room. “You’re early today, huh?”
“Yeah. Well,” Naruto said. “But sorry, I can’t train with you today.”
“It’s fine. No big,” Boruto said curtly and ran up the stairs to his own room.
He seems weird somehow. Is he actually angry I can’t train with him? Or did something happen on a mission?
His thoughts whirled around in his head. It was hard to figure out his son’s feelings.
“Okay, so!” For some reason, Boruto was back in the living room.
“Huh? Problem? What’s up?” Naruto craned his neck back.
“Okay! Listen!” Boruto stamped his feet in frustration. “I know I said all that stuff to you before about you being home more … But I don’t care about that anymore! And I’ll take care of Mom and Himawari. I’m gonna work real hard, so you can just work hard for the village, Dad.”
Ohh. Naruto finally got it.
Boruto was worried that it was his fault that Naruto had been coming home earlier lately. He was apparently embarrassed to be saying all of this to Naruto because the tip of his small nose was colored the slightest bit red.
“You’re a good kid.” Naruto let the words that popped into his head slip out of his mouth, and Boruto turned completely red.
“I’m not good or whatever!” he half-yelled, kicked Naruto’s shin, and then stomped away to his own room.
Listening to the loud footfalls, Naruto started laughing. “That kid … Always gotta take the hard way.”
Eight p.m.
As promised, Sakura pulled up in front of the Uzumaki house on the system bike.
Boruto was surprised by the sound of the engine and ran outside to see what was going on. His eyes flew open when he saw the bike. “Whoa! You’re riding some serious mecha, Sarada’s mom! So cool!”
“It’s called a bike, a vehicle for individual mobility,” Sakura told him. “You don’t have to check the schedule and head to the station like when you take the train. You can just go whenever you want.”
“Wow. Does it shoot lasers?” Boruto asked, eyes glittering.
“Hmm. There might be a model like that in the future,” Sakura replied noncommittally.