Chapter 221: Reconciliation

Konohamaru crossed Konoha with his long scarf streaming behind him. Moegi and Udon followed on either side.

"Won't we interrupt Naruto's training?" Moegi asked.

"Something strange happened today," Konohamaru said. "Tenyu, Maki, and Jun apologized. They called us comrades and said competition was good but they had gone too far. They want to reconcile. I do not trust it, so I am asking Naruto what he thinks."

Moegi saw less danger. "They are usually kind when they are not playing pranks. They help classmates too."

"Yes," Udon agreed.

Konohamaru glared at both members of his own corps. "They have beaten us for years. We have not taken revenge."

He suspected the older children had finally understood the value of Hiruzen's grandson and wanted his favor. An apology alone would not make him forget every humiliation. Naruto was already a genin who completed real missions and defeated Ebisu. His opinion carried more weight.

"They offered to teach us how to become stronger," Moegi reminded him.

The offer tempted Konohamaru. His own progress was real but slower than theirs, and Hiruzen was always too busy to teach him for long. Pride prevented him from admitting any of that.

Tenyu's group could already construct chakra shapes beyond anything assigned at the Academy. Training beside them might help Konohamaru close the gap that every rivalry made obvious. Accepting would also mean admitting that the same children who tormented him possessed something he needed.

They reached Naruto's apartment and knocked.

No answer came.

Konohamaru knew Naruto usually finished training by this hour. When Udon suggested returning home, he refused. The three used their Academy tracking lessons to search the nearby grounds and streets.

They checked the route toward the public fields, questioned a vendor who had seen Naruto pass, and compared sandal marks near the monument stairs. Konohamaru treated the search as a mission, assigning Moegi to remember witnesses and Udon to watch for repeated tracks.

Atop the Hokage Rock, Naruto showed Boruto his favorite view.

"Beautiful, isn't it? You can see all of Konoha."

Boruto looked across buildings older and lower than the ones he knew. The village possessed a historical beauty absent from the future's newer architecture.

This was the Konoha where his father had grown up.

The familiar streets appeared narrower from above. Several districts Boruto knew had not been built, and newer towers did not interrupt the line of roofs. Smoke rose from kitchens instead of the dense machinery of the future. The difference made every story Naruto told about childhood suddenly occupy a real place.

Young Naruto smiled at the rooftops below. He differed so completely from the exhausted Hokage Boruto knew that childhood photographs seemed like the only proof they were one person. Adult Sasuke also watched with nostalgia, seeing a village that still held people and places he had lost.

Naruto came here whenever loneliness or anger became too heavy below. From the stone faces, Konoha looked like something that could still belong to him even when its people refused to look his way. He did not explain that history. Boruto saw only the easy smile that survived it.

"I told you the view was worth it," Naruto said. "Now I will show you another place I visit all the time. One of my favorites."

His mouth watered before he named it.

"You will understand when we arrive," Naruto said. "No one visits Konoha properly without going there."

Boruto wondered what scenery could make his father drool. Sasuke knew the answer and the unpaid bowls waiting at its center.

Boruto and Sasuke exchanged a look. The destination was obvious.

Elsewhere, Tenyu, Maki, and Jun walked home from training.

"Do you think Konohamaru will accept?" Maki asked.

"He will," Tenyu said. "The Third Hokage teaches unity and comradeship through the Will of Fire. His grandson cannot reject it forever."

Jun studied him. "Why did you decide to reconcile now?"

Tenyu smiled. He had grown tired of the fighting during their second Academy year. Then another use for the rivalry occurred to him.

"I intend to become Hokage. A Hokage needs supporters. Konohamaru is the Third's grandson and has talent. His support will improve my chances."

The calculation had begun long before the apology. Tenyu watched how teachers deferred to Konohamaru's name and how classmates gathered around anyone connected to the Hokage. Winning his respect could become a relationship reaching through both talent and family.

Years of fighting had already created a bond, even when that bond took the form of bruises, pranks, and arguments. Tenyu reasoned that an apology followed by an offer to train together would place him in the generous position. Konohamaru would accept help from the rival who had remained ahead, leaving Tenyu with the initiative.

He treated the old injuries as proof that the relationship mattered instead of evidence that he had prolonged it for advantage. Once Konohamaru joined their training, every improvement could be attributed partly to Tenyu's invitation. Gratitude would make future political support feel natural.

That was why the twins prolonged the conflict into the third year before proposing peace.

Maki nodded. She had agreed to the plan.

"That is cunning," Jun said.

"It is information," Tenyu replied. "A shinobi who cannot use what he knows remains at the bottom."

Their Academy code praised intelligence, observation, and the ability to turn knowledge into action. Tenyu applied the principle to classmates as readily as to enemies. Jun's objection concerned the purpose, not the accuracy of the information.

"Calling it information makes it sound more cunning."

"Jun."

He laughed. "Konohamaru may surpass you after he starts training with us. Even on your own ground, you may not keep the advantage."

Jun had watched Konohamaru recover from each defeat with more determination. Giving him access to the same methods could erase the distance Tenyu relied upon. The possibility was exactly why Jun doubted the plan would preserve a permanent hierarchy.

"Anyone I surpass will remain behind me. The distance will only increase."

Maki recognized the line from one of their father's stories. "Do not borrow speeches you cannot guarantee."

"I can guarantee it."

Near the base of the monument, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon found the people they sought.

Their three heads appeared around a street corner, stacked from lowest to highest.

Moegi stared at Boruto. "He looks like Naruto."

The hair and cheek marks were unmistakable even from a distance. Boruto also stood beside Naruto with the ease of someone already familiar, and Naruto seemed pleased by whatever he said.

"Maybe they are twins," Udon whispered.

"Naruto has no brother," Konohamaru said. "His only younger brother is me. And both of you belong to the Konohamaru Corps."

He watched Naruto speak easily with the blond stranger.

"Could he be a new junior?" Moegi asked.

Konohamaru's suspicion flared into anger. Naruto already had their group. Taking another student without telling them felt like betrayal.

He had modeled the Konohamaru Corps after Naruto's defiance and treated Naruto as the older brother Hiruzen's schedule had never supplied. Another child occupying that position threatened a claim Konohamaru had believed secure.

The problem of Tenyu's apology vanished from his thoughts.

"We are finding out who he is."