Facing Boruto's desperate plea for death, Sasuke showed no mercy.
*SLAP!*
He struck Boruto's face, sending him tumbling out of Sumire's embrace.
Boruto caught off guard, rolled to the side like a ball, his left cheek quickly swelling and reddening.
"Boruto!"
Sumire worried for him, but mindful of Sasuke's "infamous reputation," she didn't dare intervene.
A teacher disciplining their student—she had no grounds to interfere. Besides, Sasuke didn't seem to genuinely want to kill Boruto.
"Facing a little hardship and you're whining for death? Is that what Naruto taught you?"
Sasuke frowned and scolded, silently sighing at the weak mentality of the Rookie Nine generation.
In his generation, aside from Sakura early on, if others faced such a tragedy, they might not instantly become stronger, but they wouldn't immediately seek death either.
Take Shikamaru losing Asuma, Hinata losing Neji, Naruto losing Jiraiya, or himself losing all his kin… and so on. Everyone struggled through it.
"Sensei… I…" Boruto, dizzy from the blow, clutched his swollen left cheek, his gaze vacant.
"If you really want to die, I won't stop you. Kill yourself!"
"I'll pretend I never had a student like you."
"As for Naruto, he can assume he never had a useless son like you; and Himawari, she doesn't have a useless brother like you either!"
Sasuke drew his Kusanagi Sword, tossing it in front of Boruto, leaving the choice to him.
This was the difference between Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke was willing to help Boruto, but only if he helped himself first; those who gave up didn't even qualify as test subjects in Orochimaru's old lab. Sasuke wouldn't bother glancing at them, let alone helping.
The harsh blow snapped Boruto out of his daze. He stared blankly at the Kusanagi Sword before him, his despair for death slowly crumbling. Seeing this, Sasuke added fuel to the fire.
"If you don't want to die, get up now!"
"We don't have time to waste. Your father's still waiting to be saved, your mother can be revived in the future, and Himawari needs your care even more…"
"Only by defeating the enemy and changing all this can the village return to normal!"
"Do you understand?!?!"
Boruto suddenly snapped awake.
Yes! Things hadn't reached an irreversible point. His father, little sister, and so many comrades and friends were waiting for him to save them!
If he gave up now and chose suicide, who would fix all this?
Rely solely on his teacher? Let his teacher bear all the sins he caused? Boruto wasn't that foolish…
"I understand!"
"I have to save Dad, revive Mom, and make the enemy who caused all this pay dearly!"
Boruto roughly wiped the blood from his mouth, grabbed the sword in front of him, and stood up again.
His eyes lost all innocence, shedding all naivety and purity; what remained was deep hatred, firm resolve, and a burning desire to turn everything around!
Often, a boy's transformation and growth into a man happen in a mere moment, a single opportunity! For Boruto, this was that moment!
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Seeing Boruto regain his spirit, Sasuke's expression softened slightly.
As expected, Naruto's blood. Though raised spoiled, his bones were strong enough not to remain a loser forever.
"Sensei, do you know what's really going on?"
"Why did Mom and Mitsuki suddenly attack me?"
"I actually…"
Boruto, now transformed, suppressed all the grief in his heart, focusing on the tragedy itself, seeking information and answers.
"It's not your fault."
"The enemy activated some kind of ability that manipulated everyone's memories in the village."
"Now, in their eyes, you and I have become Otsutsuki enemies from the Kara Organization. That's why your mom and Mitsuki saw you as an enemy and attacked you."
Sasuke explained the key points concisely, as time was limited.
"Manipulating everyone's memories in the village?"
"Not necessarily just the village—it might even be the entire world…"
"How is that possible? The enemy has such a terrifying ability?!?!"
Boruto frowned in fear, silently marveling at how horrifying this was, but his heart also felt a slight relief. At least he knew his mom and Himawari attacked him not of their own will but because of the enemy's ability. For him, this was a form of salvation and relief.
"This ability is indeed terrifying, but it must have limits and weaknesses, or the enemy would've used it long ago…"
Sasuke was highly rational, meticulously analyzing Omnipotence's limits, though he didn't even know the name of this Divine Technique. But as his brother once said, every jutsu has its weakness! Even Divine Techniques were no exception!
"Did the enemy only manipulate Sensei's and my identities in others' memories?"
"No, four were manipulated in total. Besides you and me, there's Naruto and Kawaki."
"Dad and Kawaki? What did they become?"
"In the distorted memories, Naruto became Otsutsuki Naruto, while Kawaki became the son of Uzumaki Jigen, who replaced the Seventh Hokage, a hostage we supposedly kidnapped."
Sasuke had already deduced the enemy's target. Turning him, Naruto, and Boruto into Kara Organization enemies was to use Konoha's forces to eliminate the three of them.
With Kawaki as the son of Hokage Uzumaki Jigen, Konoha wouldn't kill him but would try their utmost to capture him alive.
With Konoha's and the world's power, the enemy could maximally weaken or even kill Sasuke and the others while securing a living Kawaki.
(What a cunning and despicable Otsutsuki Isshiki! Unable to defeat me, he resorts to such low, dirty tricks to control others to besiege me.)
(Truly, all Otsutsuki are beasts! Well, except for Old Man Hagoromo, who gave me power…)
"Damn Jigen!"
"I'll kill him!"
Rage surged in Boruto's heart; he wanted to tear apart the mastermind who took everything from him! But he quickly realized another issue:
"Wait, Sensei… why weren't Sarada and Class Rep affected? They both seemed to recognize me and tried to help me…"
Boruto approached Sumire, helping her up, puzzled by this. Even his mom and Mitsuki couldn't resist the memory manipulation—how were these two unaffected?
"Boruto, I…" Sumire was still dazed, unable to follow Sasuke's conversation, but Boruto's revival filled her with gratitude and excitement.
Everything else, for Sumire, was less important than Boruto!
"She probably doesn't know the reason herself. It's indeed an unsolved mystery, but it might also be an opportunity!"
Sasuke had noticed Sarada and Sumire's peculiarity. He knew their memories remained intact, unmanipulated. This puzzled him the most.
If only Sarada's memories were unaffected, it might've been intentional by the enemy—after all, Sarada was his daughter, worth exploiting.
But why was Sumire's memory also unaffected? Was there something special about her? Because she was close to Boruto? That theory seemed baseless.
So, rather than intentional, their immunity was more likely an unexpected accident, its cause unknown. Even Sasuke couldn't grasp the reason now. But an accident meant a flaw. This could be a crack in the enemy's Divine Technique, giving Sasuke a glimmer of hope to fight back!