An Inch of Gold

1

This Chapter Has Been Beta-Read By: shatteredjewels

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"This is such bull! Why does he keep giving us such lame missions?!"

Sarada does not correct her teammate, knowing it will fall on deaf ears. As usual, the blond, bewhiskered boy is complaining about something. Boruto has two settings: arrogant and obnoxious, and today he has both engaged.

It's enough to disturb the local wildlife. Several birds take flight from nearby bushes, and a few squirrels running across the forest-lined path that stretches out ahead of Team Konohamaru.

"I doubt it was only us," Mitsuki remarks, voice mild and pale face pulled into a thoughtful expression. He often accords rhetorical questions the same consideration as legitimate ones. "And besides, it was Miss Suika who gave us the mission."

"Well, yeah, but you know it came from my dad," Boruto grumbles. "I bet it's just some stupid kids playing pranks..."

"So what if it is?" Konohamaru interrupts, adopting a stern expression. "A mission's a mission, hey? Not everything you do as a ninja needs to be an excuse to use a Rasengan."

"Shows what you know! I bet it's a bunch of jerk teenagers—and if it is, I'll lay a smackdown on them, believe it! Right, Mitsuki?"

The pale boy gives a shrug of bemused agreement while Konohamaru pinches the bridge of his nose.

Sarada sighs.

Even on a good day, it's a challenge to be the only girl on her squad, surrounded by three boys that each have their own idiosyncrasies. Despite being their jōnin instructor, Konohamaru lacks basic common sense and can't keep up a serious demeanour for more than a few minutes. Boruto is loud and arrogant, an annoyance to her by mere existence, and Mitsuki...

Well, he's just weird.

"I doubt there will be any kind of smackdown," the golden-eyed boy reflects, thoughtful. "I suspect we'll discover another cat."

"He's got a point," Sarada agrees. "I doubt we'll get anything better than C-rank missions for a while. It's only been a few weeks since the attack on the village, and there's a backlog of mission work."

The other genin quads are just as bogged down with chore-like missions, since all the higher-level teams are engaged in more important work.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard all about it, I was there, remember?" Boruto complains. "But you'd think the old man would at least have something in reserve for us. We're the new Team 7, would it kill him to treat us like it? Shikadai and his squad get all kinds of training and missions from their dads. I don't see why he couldn't tell Miss Suika to save a few flashy missions for us to do."

"You aren't hoping for favouritism from your dad, are you?" Konohamaru asks. "Because you saw for yourself during the Exams, that won't happen."

He frowns at the blue-eyed youth, who has the decency to look ashamed.

Out of everyone who learned of Boruto's cheating during the Chūnin Exams, Konohamaru took it the hardest. In his eyes, he didn't impart the basic lessons of honour and tradition in his student, which he considers a major failure. Even if the boy's father weren't Hokage, he is still the man Konohamaru idolised since childhood; he feels more responsibility toward Boruto than he does for Mitsuki or Sarada.

"He's always been like it, too," the jōnin continues. "When I was a kid, everyone considered me special and spoiled me because I'm the grandson of the Third Hokage. But your father treated me like I was anyone else. And I was better for it because—"