Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Bloody Dinner
"I am home!" Boruto answered while opening the door of his house.
"Welcome!"
"Welcome, Brother!"
Two gentle voices welcomed Boruto's arrival. The first seemed elegant and mature, it was from his mother, Hinata Hyuga.
Then the last one was a bit playful and childish. Who else if not his sister, Himawari Uzumaki.
"Hima, is father home yet?" Boruto asked while stroking his sister's black hair.
"Not yet...." Himawari answered languidly as if deeply regretting that.
"Boruto, while waiting for your father, you better take a shower first. Mother has prepared warm water." Hinata shouted calmly.
"Good!"
After a few minutes, there was the sound of splashing water from the bathroom.
"Humph, that stinky father. He always ignores his family. It's really ridiculous, he acts very considerate to others but indifferent to his own family."
"It's fine if he wants to act like a hero. At least don't involve me. Because of you, I must always maintain a positive image in the eyes of outsiders. I must set an example in the academy. The teachers expect a lot from me."
Boruto complained to himself amidst a puff of warm water smoke. He submerged his body into the water as if that would dissolve any pressure on him.
Suddenly, in the middle of his reverie, an ancient voice sounded within his mind.
[Young man, do you want freedom?]
"Who?" Boruto was shocked. He looked around and only found himself in the bathroom.
After a moment of searching, he sighed. He thought it was just his imagination. After all, his entire body was submerged in water, if that were the case for human voices it would be blurry. Precisely because it was too obvious, he felt he was just daydreaming.
After that moment, dinner came. Hinata had already set the table neatly.
Himawari on a chair seemed funny because her cute face could only be seen up to her neck. Her height was still not enough to sit in a normal chair.
Boruto took the chair opposite Himawari. He immediately sat down without saying anything. He was used to waiting for his father, whether he would be there or not at this dinner moment.
The clock ticked by near the end of dinner time. Boruto kept daydreaming staring at the dish.
"As I thought, stinky father isn't coming home!" Boruto grumbled.
"Boruto! Don't be rude to your father!" Hinata snapped.
"Yes brother, father doesn't stink. He's just sweating." Himawari said.
"Hmm, father's sweat really stink. You don't know this because you never helped mom wash father's clothes." Boruto Refuted.
While they were arguing, the sound of the door opening sounded faintly followed by the warm voice of a grown man at his peak.
"I'm home…."
Hinata immediately rushed into the front room to welcome her husband, Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage of Konoha Village.
"Honey, you're home. Let's eat soon. The children are waiting for you." Hinata said happily.
"Father...!" Himawari rushed to hug her father's legs.
"My cute Hima has grown up now. Let Father carry you. Shuuu~" Naruto lifted Hima and flew her like a bird.
"Ah..." Hima screamed happily.
After a while, Naruto put the little girl down.
"Boruto, father's home."
Boruto stared flatly at his father, as if he didn't care whether he came home or not.
"Good, I was starving. I thought I was going to die earlier." Boruto replied coldly.
"Boruto~" Hinata snapped weakly.
"Okay, it's really my fault." Naruto tried to stop his wife from continuing this petty feud.
The family then ate the meal in a harmonious atmosphere.
Himawari became the noisiest to liven up the mood of the house. She tried to get her father's attention as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Naruto continued to respond to Himawari's insignificant ramblings with fatherly affection.
Hinata was the happiest seeing her husband and daughter so harmonious.
As for Boruto, he was mostly silent and occasionally responded when asked by his father. He just silently watched his father as if he suspected something.
"Father, can you get some minced meat over there? My hands don't reach." Boruto asked suddenly.
Hearing that, Naruto smiled kindly. "Of course."
When Naruto's hand was about to reach the other side while carrying a plate of meat, suddenly a pair of chopsticks stabbed sharply towards Naruto's palm quickly.
Naruto was shocked and unprepared. Even though he was a war hero and a powerful Hokage, he would not guard to his own family. This made him not react for a moment. He saw that his hands were firmly planted on the dining table.
However, Naruto didn't panic and just asked calmly. "What's the meaning of this, Boruto?"
"Boruto, what are you doing?" Hinata panicked and didn't know whether to be angry or not.
"Big brother!" Himawari was also surprised. She almost cried seeing her father's hand getting injured by his own brother.
"Huh, the wound is deep, but a little blood is coming out. What if it's not Kage Bunshin?"
The atmosphere at the dining table momentarily fell into an awkward silence.
After a while, Naruto was the first to ask, "How do you know this body is just a clone?"
"Of course it is clear. My father who is very generous to the villagers would spend all his energy in working all day. If this was a real body, then he would only look exhausted when he came home, not as excited as he is now." Boruto answered flatly.
"That's just your guess. What if father is really in a good mood and keeps his spirits up even when I am tired?" Naruto still asked.
"Father, ask yourself, when was the last time you came home without looking tired and exhausted? Moreover, whether my guess was wrong or right, this wound is now a proof. There isn't much blood coming out even though the wound is deep enough. Because this is just an everyday bunshin. Father doesn't need to replicate blood to make it looks as real as when fighting. Moreover, this clone is still very lively. That means you just made it shortly before dinner." Boruto explained.
Even though he sounded cynical, he was secretly amazed by his father's bunshin. He had also trained in bunshin techniques at the academy. But he knew the limits of his bunshin.
Small scratches might be imitated to look like a wound on a real body, but this wound like a stabbed hand was too big. The clone's limited chakra would not be able to reproduce the stab wound and it would make the clone disappear quickly.
What's more, he knew that his father could make many clones at once. And the bunshin's endurance was strong even if it had to do extreme activities, its existence would continue to be maintained as long as his father wanted.
Boruto couldn't do that. Even if the bunshin he made just had to stand still, at most it would disappear within a day.
If it was a fight without major injuries, a few minutes would already be considered a feat to maintain a clone.
If it's a fatal wound, in an instant his bunshin will disappear.
He was sure that his father's bunshin was more powerful than he had ever seen. Most likely, if his father was serious, injuries such as severed hands or feet would still maintain bunshin.
Except for serious crushing injuries such as head, chest, and stomach, other injuries shouldn't affect the existence of his father's bunshin.
But of course, as a person who achieved good results in academy battles, he knew the advantages and disadvantages of fighting. Maintaining a disabled clone only wasted the user's chakra, so it's better to remove it with one's own awareness. Unless it's a situation to trick the opponent, it's generally impossible for a disabled clone to be allowed to exist.
Hearing Boruto's answer, Naruto took a sip. "Huh... you're right. Forgive father for lying."
Naruto said sadly as he lifted the chopsticks stuck and pulled his hand back.
"Honey..." Hinata came closer as if she wanted to say it's okay.
"This father is just a bunshin?" Himawari asked innocently.
"Father wrong, sorry Hima!" Naruto said while stroking the little girl's head.
"It's okay. Fsther's hand must hurt. Fuu fuu~" The little girl said while blowing and paying more attention to her father's wound. Even though there was no blood dripping after the chopsticks were pulled out, there was still a red dot in the wound hole.
"Good girl. Father promised to take you out for New Years next month." Naruto said.
"Is it true?" Himawari looked at him expectantly.
"Of course it is. This is Father's compensation to you all this time."
"Yeah!" The little girl was full of joy.
Seeing his daughter's cheerful face, Naruto turned to his son.
"Boruto, since you've revealed father's secret, what do you want in return? Is it a trip too?" Naruto looked at his son full of regret.
'I want you to stop acting like a hero for other people. I want Father to use his power as Hokage a bit to make other people submit instead of serving them wholeheartedly. I want Father to be a little indifferent to others.'
Of course, those were just Boruto's unspeakable thoughts. He had self-contradictions. Part of him wished his father wasn't a perfect hero so that he would have more freedom to act as a normal teenager.
Others knew to face reality. So he must always maintain his image and meet the expectations of the village people in order to surpass his father in the future.
"If father is willing to teach your clone technique, I will forgive you. Besides, academy clone techniques are too easy to master. I heard from Uncle Shikamaru that father is the pinnacle of mastering clone techniques." Boruto insisted.
Naruto hesitated a moment. In the classification of bunshin techniques, his Kage Bunshin was a forbidden technique. Even as a child, he had to secretly steal scrolls of this technique in order to learn it.
However, the hesitation was only for a moment. After all, now he's the Hokage. Even if the technique was forbidden, he had the right to allow a certain person to become a master of the forbidden technique if it was for the benefit of the village.
His son Boruto was definitely the most talented student of the younger generation. Also he couldn't harm the village in any way, he thought.
"This… alright, I will teach you sometime soon when my free time is a little more." He said to Boruto.
"Okay, that's a promise!"
Naruto nodded firmly.
"Hinata, I'm sorry. I made the dinner atmosphere tense." Naruto apologized.
"No, it's not your fault. The children understand your situation too, honey." Hinata replied softly while letting Naruto touch her cheek.
"Huh, thank you. But I still don't feel worthy of maintaining this clone. Besides, this wound won't close. I'm leaving. Himawari, don't stay up too late. You too, Boruto!" Naruto said while stroking his daughter's head before the bunshin turned into smoke and disappeared.
Inside the village government building, to be precise in the room of the highest leader of the village, a rather long yellow-haired adult man sat alone.
He was busy analyzing important high-level proposals related to the latest developments in shinobi technology. He seemed unsure whether to pass this proposal or not.
Before he made a decision, a new memory suddenly filled his mind.
"Huh... I'm a bad father. I let the kids down again."
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