Fractured

Exposed

Standing in a poor, darkened part of village, Boruto glanced up at the top of the village wall looming overhead. Coming this far was a bit of a detour, but he assumed there would be fewer Jonin guarding this portion of the wall. He took a quick survey of the area around him. Not seeing anyone, he decided he had no time to waste.

He formed the seal to infused chakra to the soles of his feet and quickly ran up the side of the wall.

Sorry, Dad.

Boruto clenched his jaw and leaped over the edge and into the darkness before him. He deftly maneuvered his body into position as he approached the boughs of a nearby tree. His palms landed on one of the limbs, and he flipped his body over, swinging to the next tree. His shoes landed with a tak on the limb, the chakra in his feet keeping him steady.

He continued on in this way as he schooled his senses into submission. Kawaki was deep into the forest, that much he could tell, but there seemed to be no sign that whatever was allowing Boruto to sense Kawaki was going to stop functioning. Aside from his own movements through the trees, Boruto couldn't see or hear anyone apart from himself. He was no sensory shinobi, however, apart from sensing Kawaki it seems, so he would have to keep his guard on high alert.

Boruto was glad he had the forethought to grab his ninja gear before he left the house. He reached behind him to pat the pouch at his back, as if to assure it was still there. Firmly attached. Good.

Mid-air, Boruto realized that Kawaki was moving. He hadn't been moving for some time. What was he doing? He furrowed his brow. This was beyond reckless. Boruto also knew he shouldn't be leaving the village, but maybe nobody would ever find out if he could get to Kawaki in time and bring him back.

He launched from another limb.

Boruto recalled the cool demeanor of the shadow clone at the house. He didn't think Kawaki was trying to abandon Konoha in some self-sacrificial attempt to free his Dad from the burden of protecting one of Code's targets. No, it wasn't like Kawaki was the only Kara target in Konoha now. It wasn't like Kawaki not being there would suddenly make Konoha safer. The opposite in fact.

His thoughts wandered back to the shadow clones in his dad's office and wondered how the two of them were getting along. He smirked, a small laugh escaping his lips as his open palms connected the boughs of another tree. He threw his body spread eagle into the air, his limbs moving again into position as he landed momentarily into a crouch in the next tree. He effortlessly pushed off, his body once more in the air.

His clone hadn't dispelled, that much he knew. Still, he hoped both of their clones were smart enough to realized how stupid it would be to get into a fight right now. If either of them dispelled, they'd have everyone searching for them in no time. The last thing either of them needed was tighter security if they were found out. Boruto already hated how much they were being watched these days. He hated it almost more than he hated being taken off missions. But what he hated most was being a liability to the village.

He frowned, feeling guilty. Helpless.

Thinking back to when Kawaki first came to Konoha, Boruto wondered how he dealt with being watched twenty-four seven. It was an invasion of privacy that Boruto couldn't really adjust to, but at least those ninja weren't following him around inside his own home like his dad had done to Kawaki. Boruto felt a bit sorry for Kawaki. During that time, his dad had barely ever been more than a room away from raven-haired boy. Boruto wasn't exactly sure what Kawaki's living situation had been like at Kara's base, but he imagined Kawaki was monitored pretty closely there. To have escaped that situation only to end up under the watchful eye of the Hokage, no less, must have felt like moving from one prison to another.