"Boruto, let mother take care of it." Hinata still felt responsible for this dinner incident.
Boruto was still busy wiping the table from food spills due to the previous commotion.
"No, mom. I'll do it. I'm the one who made the noise anyway."
"But..." Hinata was still not feeling well.
"It's not mom's fault. It's mine and father's fault. You don't need to worry." Boruto insisted.
"Boruto... Mother..." Hinata was still struggling as if she wanted to say something important.
"I know what mom is thinking. You also realize that, right, the father who comes home was a bunshin? But you still follow father's games as if nothing happened."
"Really, even though I'm annoyed, it's not Mom's fault but Father's." Boruto reiterated.
Hinata after all was a direct line of the Hyuga clan. Her eyes were very sensitive to the change in chakra. Even though she didn't use her Byakugan eyes actively earlier, her instincts as a woman and sharp vision as an Elite Jounin-level Shinobi were enough to tell whether her husband came home with a real body or a clone. Even so, she did not expose her husband because she knew his thoughts.
If it wasn't her own husband, maybe she needed to actively use her Byakugan Eyes to confirm the guess. Of course, the premise was that the opponent's figure was equal to or above her level. If it was just a Chunin or a Genin, without the Byakugan active, her experience as a survivor of the 4th Shinobi World War was enough to see the flaws in low level clones.
Hinata hugged Boruto from behind. "Boruto, thanks for understanding your mother. But I hope you don't hate your father. After all, he bears the responsibility of the whole village."
Boruto stopped what he was doing when Hinata hugged him. Then he said, "Mom, there is one thing I don't understand. Father is the strongest person in this village. Why should he bother helping with trivial things from ordinary villagers? Every day father's clones roam around to listen to the complaints of the villagers while the real body is working in the Hokage's office.
"I don't understand why Father has to do so many things alone. If it were me, I would have someone else settle those insignificant matters and return home to relax with the family."
Hinata who heard her son's complaints was a little surprised. Then she tried to explain, "Boruto, you know, every Hokage has their own style of leadership. Your father feels that if he goes directly into society, all problems can be resolved more quickly."
"Humph, he really cares about other people but not his family." Boruto replied sarcastically.
For Boruto, his father's actions were ridiculous. If he was in a high position, he would have someone else solve trivial matters. His job was only to supervise his subordinates to work properly. He would only jump right in if there was a problem that his subordinates couldn't solve.
No wonder the Daimyo were in power even without real strength. They were better at using human resources than the Kage who only thought about developing their small village and competing among themselves.
"Boruto, your father is not what you think. He has lived alone since he was young. Your father treated the villagers like family. Many of them helped your father in his youth." Hinata said.
Boruto narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. Even though he didn't know the details of his father's life journey, he did know one thing. His father had another identity called Jinchuriki.
From the books he had read, he made the conclusion that Jinchuriki were basically the ultimate military weapon. And most people were afraid of dangerous things. Supposedly, humans tend to stay away from things that made them threatened.
However, Boruto won't ask his mother about those matters for fear that the situation would get tense again.
"Okay, Mom. I understand. Let me continue cleaning the dinner table."
After a short session of mother and son chat, Boruto accompanied Himawari who was watching a comedy show.
Himawari laughed merrily throughout the performance. But she also ignored the television a lot and instead played with her favorite panda doll.
Occasionally Boruto teased her as if he was issuing a technique to attack the panda doll. Himawari thought the panda doll could feel pain, so she would try to keep it away from Boruto's imaginative attacks.
Because she was too carried away, Himawari cried when she saw that Boruto had strangled the panda doll. She felt sorry to see her beloved panda fall into the hands of a despicable villain.
Boruto panicked and quickly apologized to the little girl and promised not to hurt the panda. The two siblings hugged as a sign of peace.
After changing several television channels, Boruto felt sleepy. He look to his younger sister who was already sound asleep on his armrest while hugging a panda doll tightly.
"Boruto, go to sleep. Mom will take Hima to the room." Hinata said slowly. She didn't want to wake the cute girl up who was having a sweet dream.
After Hinata carried the little one and entered the room, Boruto headed to his bedroom.
The room was actually quite neat for a boy his age. Many books neatly arranged on the shelves. Starting from fairy tale books to chakra theory books.
Boruto didn't sleep right away. He looked in the mirror and frowned.
"The mustache has grown back." Boruto complained.
He really didn't like his thin mustache. It had a strange shape like a cat's whiskers and only grew in the same place again and again. Moreover, this mustache had been there since he was born. This made him hate his father even more, because he knew his father had the same mustache. That meant this was his father's genetic heritage.
"Humph, stinky father, you only inherit the weird things for your own family and leave the good things to outsiders." He said full of anger.
Boruto took a nearby razor. Just as he was about to bring the knife closer to his face, a familiar, ancient voice returned.
"Young Man, do you wish to control your own destiny?"
"Who?" Boruto's heart was pounding. He knew, this time it was no longer imagination as previously predicted. The voice was so clear and seemed to come from his mind.
Boruto searched all over his room. He turned the bed over, opened the window, entered the wardrobe, and even climbed onto the rooftop. Unfortunately, he still couldn't find whoever emitted that ancient voice.
"Who are you? If you don't come out, I will report to my father. You see, my father, Uzumaki Naruto is the strongest person in the village, no, in this country. If you dare to mess around, my father can destroy you easily." Boruto tried to scare him.
He had no choice but to take out the father he hated on an ordinary day. After all, almost everyone knew the name of his father and his achievements. Even if there were criminals who extremely confident in their strength, they shouldn't be stupid enough to offend a War Hero's close relatives.
"Young man, don't be afraid! I mean no harm." The voice shriveled up, as if seeing Boruto's panic.
Hearing that voice seemed to be afraid of his father too, Boruto's heart calmed down a bit. If this person was not afraid, how could he say that he was not evil?
"You... say what you want?!" Boruto asked hesitantly.
"Young Man, I only want to help you get stronger." The mysterious voice answered.
"Help me get stronger? What the benefits for you? I don't believe in free lunch. Tell me the truth, what do you want? Otherwise, I really will run to my father to report you!" Boruto threatened, this time more confidently.
"Young man, our talking time is limited. Right now you are still very weak. If you want to maintain our connection more, be stronger. To show my sincerity, before leaving, I will give you strength so you can grow faster."
The voice said quickly and then disappeared into the silence.
"Wait! What do you mean limited talk time? What do you mean you will give me power? Hey... hey...."
Boruto called out a mysterious voice in a hurry. He felt that voice would not speak to him again for a long time after this incident. He wanted to get as much information out as possible in case anything went wrong.
Unfortunately, Boruto's hope ran aground. The sound was completely gone as if swallowed by the earth. He couldn't help but frown, thinking hard about the intent of the mysterious voice before leaving.
In the middle of his thoughts, Boruto's gaze accidentally landed on the mirror.
"My eyes? What's wrong with my eyes?"
Boruto approached the mirror in a panic. He saw his pupils turn crystal clear white. It only happened in his right eye. While the left eye was still normal bright blue.
"This, is this Byakugan? No, why only one side? Then there are no hardened eye veins. Is this the power that the voice said before leaving?"
Boruto kept rubbing his changing eyes as if he couldn't believe this was real. However, before he could scream out in joy, the pupil of his right eye suddenly returned to normal.
"What? It's back to normal? Hey, weird sound! What's the point of this? You said you'll give me power? Did you change your mind? Hey..." Boruto snapped.
Not hearing any reply, Boruto calmed down. He tried to analyze what happened from beginning to end. Then, he made a conclusion.
"No. Even though my eye color is back to normal, this doesn't mean the power is gone. Just like how mother uses the Byakugan, when she relaxes, her eyes will also return to normal. How do I reactivate that eye?"
Boruto tried various ways. Starting from screaming, meditating, somersaulting, and even holding back the blink of an eye until shedding tears.
Without him noticing, the night time passed quickly and the morning sun was shining. He stayed up until morning doing strange things. He looked tired and the bags under his eyes were a little dark.