Sasuke heard the sound of air being sliced.
The sound of a shuriken.
It was being thrown with top-knotch skill, full of intent to be a knockout blow.
It was aimed with perfect accuracy towards the artery at the back of Sasuke’s neck.
However, it was regrettable to say that the experience of the thrower was lacking. They had perfectly copied a move made by watching and learning from someone else’s technique, but nothing more. It wasn’t the kind of move you should use in a real fight against an experienced opponent.
Especially when your opponent was Uchiha Sasuke of the Mangenkyou Sharingan, no less.
“You disappeared?!” The thrower of the shuriken let out a surprised voice.
Sasuke didn’t raise his hand to hit them.
He was interpreting this as a child’s prank.
“Ho-how’s this….!” Boruto said.
The moment Boruto showed Sasuke ‘that technique’ in Konoha’s forest, the first thing Sasuke felt was surprise.
It was small and frail, like the light of a firefly, but the thing floating above Boruto’s palm was unmistakably a Rasengan.
He’d probably managed to arrive at this point despite not having a bijuu inside him because of Naruto’s blood and the Hyuuga blood he inherited from his mother, but, that wasn’t all it had been.
He’d worked hard.
The boy himself had been fired up probably more than he himself had understood, and there had been Konohamaru’s enthusiastic teaching as well.
Those were what had resulted in the floating, firefly-like Rasengan before his eyes.
“It’s pretty small, isn’t it.” Sasuke frankly stated his opinion.
He wasn’t being mocking.
Uchiha Sasuke was honest to everyone. He was always upfront when he faced people. His comment was proof he had acknowledged Boruto as a man.
“It really can’t be called much of a Rasengan, however…”
Rather, what Sasuke appreciated was how tattered Boruto’s clothes had become. There were no airs, no pretences. It was the clear result of controlling raging chakra. It was proof that he’d struggled to face the secret art of the Rasengan all by himself.
However, Boruto didn’t interpret it that way.
He interpreted Sasuke’s attitude as disappointment.
“Shit!” Frustrated tears welled in his eyes, and he threw the Rasengan in his hand.
“!”
The Rasengan disappeared into thin air [trans note: literally vanished], and as it did, Boruto ran off as well.
Sasuke didn’t chase after him. He had to make sure he confirmed what he’d just witnessed.
“Hn…you’re as severe as ever, huh, Papa…I’m just going to say one thing because I think you don’t know this about Boruto, okay!”
She looked like she was very concerned about Boruto. She was talking non-stop in his defence.
Even if he didn’t know about Boruto, he could come to the same conclusion: that hard work wasn’t something he did often.
However, before explaining that he knew, there was something Sasuke had to do first.
“Boruto really isn’t the hard-working type! It’s a miracle he kept it up this long! You understand what I mean, right? Hey?! Listen to me a little-”
Sasuke drew close to Sarada, and embraced her shoulders.
“!? Papa?!”
A sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out.
The tree that was in the place Sarada had been standing just a moment ago had been smashed up.
“What- what was that just now…?!” Sarada said.
“He really misunderstood. That usuratonkachi.”
Listen to what people are saying to the end.
“Eh?” Sarada said.
“I never said he was no good. I thought I’d take him as a disciple, and yet…”
At her father’s words, a joyful expression flooded Sarada’s face.
To think he hadn’t understood the significance of his Rasengan… Sasuke thought.
That was how frighteningly genius Boruto’s talent was.
When Sarada ran off to find Boruto, Sasuke gazed at the sight of his beloved daughter’s back for a long time.
