Chapter 224: August 15th, Dedicated as Ever
Time passed.
"Pervy Sage, have you ever met a true genius?"
By the side of a cliff where a stream cascaded into a waterfall, Naruto summoned a two-legged frog and turned to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya poked his head out of the bushes, his eyes fixed on the girls playing in the water below. He had no intention of answering.
"Hey! Pervy Sage! If you don't talk to me, I'm gonna scream!" Naruto pouted, hands on his hips.
"Geniuses? I've seen plenty. but girls as top-tier as the ones today? That's rare," Jiraiya drooled, hot steam practically huffing from his nose.
Naruto clenched his fists, veins popping on his forehead.
"PER—VERT! HELP! THERE'S A—"
He suddenly let out a deafening shout.
"Ah! Where?"
"Where are my clothes?!"
"Damn pervert, do you want to die?"
"Run, quickly!"
The girls playing below heard the sudden shout and scrambled out of the water. They hurried to where their clothes were kept, shivering as they dressed. Soaked and angry, they hurried away.
"No... my 'research material'..." Jiraiya wailed.
Caw! Caw!
He slowly turned his finger toward Naruto, trembling with rage. "You brat, Naruto! What the hell are you doing? My precious research! Waaah!"
"Phew... Fine, fine. Why are you asking about geniuses anyway?" Jiraiya sighed. They were gone; nothing could be done now. He wanted to see what was on Naruto's mind. Was it pressure from having a genius like Sasuke as a teammate? It would be normal to feel stressed next to an Uchiha.
"I met a genius. He's about my age, but... his strength is terrifying. Really terrifying," Naruto said.
"A genius?" Jiraiya frowned. "Is it Sasuke?"
"No, it's a ninja visiting Konoha for sightseeing. He said he's a 'Scenery Shinobi' who specifically collects views from around the world."
Someone is approaching Naruto? Is it because of the Nine-Tails? Jiraiya thought immediately. Who could it be? And how did the ANBU allow foreign ninjas to get close to the Jinchuriki?
"It went like this..."
"The fusion of the future and the present... how comfortable!"
After worrying about the future for several days, Tonbo Tobitake had returned to his usual self. Why overthink it? Just get stronger. At worst, he'd die—and it wasn't like he hadn't faced that possibility before.
As he delved deeper into Boruto's body to collect information, a stream of data flowed into his mind.
"Proceed according to the original plan..."
This message emerged from the neural link within Boruto. According to Tonbo's deduction, his future self had likely discovered something and wanted him to stick to his long-standing philosophy.
What was that philosophy? Be a "salaryman" (working man), let Sasuke and Naruto be the saviors, play support, save some lives, and live a good life. Since his future self knew him best, this advice was surely correct.
This temporal paradox made his "CPU" run a bit hot, but the message put him at ease. It meant that at least until the time Boruto fought Momoshiki, he was safe. His future self clearly wanted his past self to stay the course.
"It's a shame nerves are just nerves; they can't carry too much information. This bit of data was likely a code passed through Boruto's body by my future self, knowing my methods of intelligence gathering."
However, from this perspective, the third stage of his jutsu—"Forced Execution"—was clearly perfected in the future. As expected of Tonbo Tobitake; he truly was a genius.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Clang! Clang! Thud!
In the training ground, Boruto dismantled Naruto's Shadow Clones. His kunai easily parried Naruto's blade, coming to rest against Naruto's throat.
"Haha, you lost again," Boruto said with a smile.
But beneath the smile, there was worry in his eyes. Over the past few days, besides sparring with Naruto and waiting for Urashiki, he had met his young aunt (Hanabi), his uncle (Neji), and others. It had been an interesting few days. But as time passed and Urashiki failed to appear, even Uncle Sasuke's expression grew grim. Boruto followed suit, terrified that he might be "erased" before he was even born.
Naruto looked dejected. "You're way too strong. I can't imagine how strong your teacher is!" He had lost for several days straight and was finally seeing the gap. The boy in front of him had bottomless combat experience, just like Kakashi-sensei. Taijutsu, Ninjutsu—Naruto was being completely crushed in every category.
"Haha, we aren't combat-specialized ninjas, so we aren't actually that great," Boruto laughed. Uncle Sasuke is invincible; the truly scary ones are the Otsutsuki and a few hidden monsters.
Behind the training ground, Jiraiya watched Boruto and the others intently. He was particularly struck by Boruto's appearance, his chakra, and the other man who hadn't made a move yet. Boruto's combat experience was a revelation; it wasn't something a child that age should possess. Even Orochimaru at that age hadn't reached this level.
"Could this little guy be the Child of Fate I'm looking for?" Jiraiya wondered. It made him think of Nagato and the Rinnegan. Even Nagato hadn't been this refined at this age. Not even close.
Sizzle—
In a smaller training area, a thin thread of chakra shot toward a large tree. With a slight pull, Ino was yanked through the air.
Whoosh!
At that exact moment, a shuriken whistled through the space she had just occupied. Ino landed on the tree trunk and retaliated with several shuriken of her own.
"Bungee Gum!" (Extended Love)
Facing Ino's shuriken, Sakura didn't weave a single seal. Chakra instantly wove into a rubbery, sticky sheet in front of her, catching the shuriken. Sakura took a step forward and flicked the trapped weapons back.
Zip! Zip!
Thud! Thud!
The shuriken returned with even greater force, piercing through two or three trees before stopping.
"Dammit, you actually mastered it first," Ino muttered. Seeing Sakura use the move in a practical spar to counter-attack while she could only move like a spider on a thread made her competitive. She hated losing to Sakura in chakra control.
"Hahaha! Ino-pig, see how great I am?" Sakura was ecstatic. Excellent—another win over Ino.
"Hmph! What's so great about you? The great one is Uncle Tonbo for developing this No-Seal Ninjutsu. You're just a copycat," Ino retorted. But she truly admired Tonbo Tobitake. No-Seal Ninjutsu! Such an amazing technique with so many uses—mobility, defense, daily life. Most importantly, it trained chakra control; her Mind Transfer Jutsu was much easier to cast now.
"Lalala, I'm still better than you," Sakura teased, sticking her tongue out.
"You...!" Ino paused. "By the way, why has Uncle Tonbo been disappearing lately? He promised to train us properly. I've almost mastered this move; he should be teaching us something new, right?"
"Who knows? Tonbo-sensei is a Jonin; he's definitely busier than us Genin," Sakura replied.
Meanwhile, the "busy" Captain Tonbo was...
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