Chapter 222: Rising Tension

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned on Konoha's main street.

"Konohamaru. Do you need something? I am busy showing them the village."

He pointed toward Boruto and adult Sasuke.

Konohamaru examined the travelers again. The older man made it less likely they were Naruto's new followers.

Moegi and Udon compared Boruto's face with Naruto's while Konohamaru inspected the traveler's clothing for a forehead protector. Finding none reduced his concern only slightly.

Boruto recognized the child leading Moegi and Udon.

"Konohamaru-sensei is so small," he murmured.

"What did you call me?" Konohamaru asked.

"I said hello. I'm Boruto, visiting Konoha. This is my teacher, Sasuke."

Konohamaru crossed his arms. "Tourists. I thought you were Naruto's subordinates. I can help with the tour. There is nothing about Konoha I do not know."

The promise restored his position. A visitor could remain near Naruto without becoming family or disciple, and Konohamaru could demonstrate that he knew the village better than the newcomer.

Naruto resumed leading them toward his favorite place.

The streets became familiar to Boruto.

"Sensei," he whispered. "Isn't this—"

"Yes," Sasuke said.

"We did not pay."

"We have no current money."

"Then we should run."

Boruto persuaded Naruto that they had already seen the restaurant. Naruto complained that they should have said so earlier, but he abandoned the route to Ichiraku and showed them other parts of Konoha.

Sasuke offered no explanation for why they refused a second visit. Returning without money would expose the theft before Naruto, while admitting the dine-and-dash would make the scenery-shinobi cover less impressive.

When the tour ended, he demanded the promised training.

Boruto had been waiting for the chance. Konohamaru's group raised their hands and asked to watch.

Naruto led everyone to a clearing surrounded by trees.

"My secret training ground," he announced. "I am strong, so be careful."

Boruto stepped into the center opposite him. "I look forward to it."

Sasuke remained with the three Academy children.

His attention never settled entirely upon the spar. He searched the trees and sky for any disturbance that might announce Urashiki, measuring the silence against the growing probability that their enemy had reached another point in time.

"Aren't you fighting?" Konohamaru asked. "Naruto can defeat the Hokage with one move."

"There is no need."

Naruto could not defeat Boruto at this age. Sasuke's concern remained Urashiki, who had still shown no sign of entering Konoha. The absence strengthened his fear that the Ōtsutsuki had reached a different point in time.

Kunai met in the clearing.

Sparks jumped from the crossed blades. Naruto blocked Boruto's first cut and received a kick in the stomach. His face turned pale as the impact threw him backward.

Boruto moved by habits learned from future instructors. He changed the line of the kunai during contact, used Naruto's guard to hide his hips, and delivered the kick through the opening. Against a contemporary opponent the sequence would have been ordinary. Naruto had not yet learned to read it.

Boruto had already reduced the force. The brief exchange showed him that Naruto's combat experience was far below what he expected from the future Hokage.

Battlefield Simulation had not yet become Academy practice. The father Boruto knew accumulated experience through years of real battles that this boy had not lived.

Naruto held his stomach. "That hurt."

Konohamaru leaned forward. "Are you all right?"

"I can fight."

Naruto's determination only grew. A partner stronger than Sasuke could teach him something useful before the finals.

Pain mattered less than the proof that a higher level stood in front of him. Naruto had spent years pursuing people who dismissed him; Boruto's strength provided a target willing to remain in the field.

"Again."

Boruto prepared to hold back further.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

Smoke filled the field, and dozens of Narutos surrounded him.

"I will not hold back now," they said.

Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon stared at the army with shining eyes.

Boruto put away his kunai and formed seals.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave."

The stream from his mouth expanded into a turbulent current. Shadow clones tumbled through it as if trapped inside a giant washing drum, colliding and vanishing in repeated bursts of smoke.

Boruto's future training gave the simple release greater volume and control than Naruto expected. The water curved through the formation, caught clones from below, and used their collisions to destroy the next rank.

Above them, Tonbo landed upon a tree trunk without revealing a trace of his presence. Camouflage Concealment, learned from Iwagakure, hid him while he studied the adult and child below.

His brow tightened.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Boruto."

Tonbo had not followed Boruto's era closely in his previous life, but he had seen enough fragments to recognize both travelers. What he remembered did not place their journey into the past during these Chūnin Exams.

Adult Sasuke's missing arm, cloak, and altered chakra matched the future he had glimpsed. Boruto's face and name removed the remaining doubt. No transformation known to Tonbo explained both identities and their knowledge of Naruto without requiring a more complicated lie than time travel.

If Sasuke and Boruto had crossed time, an Ōtsutsuki was likely involved. Kaguya could not be the only member of the clan in the future. The travelers' attention around Naruto suggested pursuit.

They did not behave like explorers choosing a safe historical visit. Sasuke watched every approach while Boruto stayed close to the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. Someone dangerous had given them a reason to risk the past.

"An Ōtsutsuki cannot be about to attack now."

Tonbo expanded his senses.

His perception passed through the training ground and spread across Konoha: streets, shops, the Hokage's office, the main gate, rooftops, open sky, soil, and tunnels. He searched for any chakra unlike the signatures belonging to current residents and visitors.

Nothing.

He expanded farther and checked again.

Still nothing.

Tonbo could not remember the exact abilities of the Ōtsutsuki who traveled through time. He had watched only scattered scenes from Boruto's story before his reincarnation and now regretted every part he had ignored. The pursuer might suppress chakra, hide beyond his range, or possess a method Tonbo did not know to search for.

He had once dismissed later episodes and the material that would not burn when copied, assuming broad knowledge of the setting would remain enough. Now a missing detail could determine whether Konoha survived an enemy from beyond the world.

Absence gave him no reassurance.

He returned his attention to Sasuke and Boruto. The future travelers were the only source of information available, and neither knew that Tonbo had already identified them.