Boruto left the hotel with a quiet sigh.
Outside, Mei Terumī was already waiting. When she saw him emerge, she raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
"You were that sure I'd come out?" Boruto asked.
"Even if you didn't," Mei said with a light laugh, "do you think I'd barge in and drag you out?"
Boruto pouted. "Your village, your rules."
"Hey now, don't be so gloomy. Young people should be brimming with energy—"
"Please stop," Boruto cut in flatly. "No offense, but I really don't need a lecture right now."
Then his tone shifted, sharper.
"And more importantly, why expose me? My identity as Konoha's jinchūriki was supposed to remain secret. The Five Kage agreed on that."
"Hahaha…" Mei laughed awkwardly. "Shall we talk somewhere quieter?"
Boruto lifted his gaze, looking toward the distant horizon. Even from here, the chaos at the Memorial Stele was faintly visible. Sumire's chakra signature flickered—unstable, but not gone.
He followed Mei without another word.
"…Isn't this just another inn?" Boruto glanced around skeptically.
"With fewer ears," Mei replied casually. "This one's private property."
Only then did she finally get to the point.
She looked Boruto up and down—casual clothes, confident posture, that irritatingly calm expression that didn't match his age.
"How about helping Kirigakure with its current crisis?" she asked. "Konoha's jinchūriki."
Boruto raised an eyebrow. "You mean that monster by the sea? Do you really think a kid who only recently started dealing with the Nine-Tails can control that kind of power?"
Inside his mind, Kurama snorted.
Yeah, yeah. This brat tried to bribe me with meatballs the first time we talked.
"That's only part of it," Mei continued. "The one fighting that monster claims to be from 'Moon.' But he doesn't match anything we know about them."
"So you want me to confirm whether he's one of their unseen members," Boruto said calmly.
Mei nodded. "Given that the monster once appeared in Konoha—and now 'Moon' is involved—the connections are too obvious to ignore."
Boruto hummed in acknowledgment. "How bad is it over there?"
He asked casually, like a teacher quizzing students despite already knowing the answer.
Mei hesitated. "The situation… isn't good. One of your classmates—Sumire Kakei—is on the battlefield. As a member of the school trip committee, shouldn't you be rushing to save her?"
She said it lightly, but her eyes were sharp.
Boruto stared at her. "You know everything happening there, yet you're still joking?"
Mei's expression finally turned serious.
"No. I'm asking for help. As someone who can no longer step forward herself."
Boruto fell silent.
Something clicked.
She wants to see it firsthand, he realized. Not just hear about my strength—she wants the world to see it.
"But I'm just a weak, helpless kid," Boruto said pitifully. "Sob."
Mei Terumī: "..."
Kurama sighed.
"So what are you waiting for?"
"Timing," Boruto replied inwardly. "Our goal isn't just to win. It's to force the real players out into the open."
Nue had already wiped out most of the so-called new Seven Ninja Swordsmen for Kirigakure. The rest depended on Kagura—and whether he could truly sever Shizuma.
Kurama's voice grew heavier.
"And Sumire? Her condition isn't good."
"I know," Boruto said quietly. "I can see everything. The Byakugan doesn't miss details."
"You're choosing the bigger picture over the lives right in front of you," Kurama said. "If this were Naruto, he'd already be there."
Boruto smiled faintly.
"That's why I admire him. That recklessness—it's dazzling."
Kurama fell silent.
He understood now. The pressure Boruto carried was different. He wasn't just reacting—he was enduring, calculating, holding everything together with clenched teeth.
Mei Terumī watched the battlefield through her water-based surveillance technique.
Nue was being pushed back.
Against Deepa, whose body hardened like diamond, Nue's size advantage meant nothing. It couldn't break through his defense.
Kagura's battle against Shizuma was no better. Hiramekarei consumed enormous chakra with every movement, while Samehada fed endlessly, alive and relentless.
Sumire lay collapsed in the mud, chakra nearly drained, blood soaking into the ground.
Chōjūrō's condition was even worse. His internal injuries were no longer suppressed—each breath was labored.
"Are you really that confident?" Kurama asked softly.
"Can you really watch your friends die?" Mei asked.
Boruto met her gaze evenly.
"If things were truly beyond saving, you wouldn't be standing here asking me questions, would you?"
Mei laughed bitterly.
"I've retired. The new era belongs to you. Even the Hokage said this should be your call."
Boruto looked away.
"I'm not confident," he admitted. "But sometimes, letting things break is the fastest way to make them stronger."
Sumire hadn't given up.
She was waiting—for a moment, for a chance, for something reckless enough to flip the board.
Kurama exhaled slowly.
"Naruto entrusted this to you. If you need my power… open the gate. I'll give you everything."
Boruto shook his head.
"That's exactly what they want."
Mei Terumī wanted to push him onto the stage. To let the world witness his strength. To crown him—not with words, but with results.
The new era needed a symbol.
A flag-bearer.
"And everyone's betting on you," Kurama said quietly. "Because the old generation can't move forward anymore."
Boruto's eyes sharpened.
A true king wasn't born by choice.
He was forged—
by the weight of the entire ninja world.
---
A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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