Boruto released his transformation Jutsu. When he had released it he found himself on his back on the ground, the tree he had been hiding on beside him. He layed on the ground thinking about what he had just seen. Mitsuki was strong, if it had been before his training with Dad he would have seen him as unimaginably strong for someone of their age. Kazami Sensei was also strong, though not to the extent that he seemed unbeatable. For the most part Boruto could see himself design a plan to disable him, provided he had a few tools. Even without tools he could escape from a Shinobi of his caliber confidently. For Mitsuki, he was not sure if he could escape if they were in a battle, but even then he thought he could reliably estimate his strength. If when Mitsuki cleared the forest was him showing his full strength then he could catch up with that level of strength within three or four months of diligent training. He could also see Himawari having that level of strength if she had three or four tails of her Chakra unsealed. He could also see Sarada being on par with that level of strength when she gets used to her second Tomoe or just awakening her third.

He got up and dusted himself off. After thinking about it, Mitsuki’s strength was not all that intimidating. Even if he cleared a large part of the forest, Boruto had seen Sarada use her Wood Release to fill out a larger piece of land. Even Boruto himself had used Flame release empowered with Wind release Jutsu about half as big as the clearing. When he thought about it a little further, although he would not be able to match up against Mitsuki, he could not match up against Himawari too, if she used her Byakugan and two tails. He could not match up against Sarada in Ninjutsu either. He could not match up against Mizumi in anything really. Shikadai was probably smarter than him too.

There was nothing wrong with being behind his peers in stuff, but he hated that it was Mitsuki. If he had shown this strength from the start, Boruto could have had something to chase after. He could have had spars in class with him and improved alongside him. He would have been able to ask him for advice on his own Senjutsu. But Mitsuki had looked down on him, he had looked down on the whole class. When Boruto and Sarada and every one else had given their best in class he had laughed at them for being weak. Boruto walked away resolving to catch up with Mitsuki.

As he walked through the forest taking care to hide himself and his Chakra he thought about Sage mode. If he could just understand Toad Senjutsu, he could catch up with Mitsuki. Dad had told him how powerful he had become after understanding Sage mode, although Boruto didn't think he would become that powerful, he could at least be able to match Mitsuki. He could do intense training for months to catch up, but what if Mitsuki had also improved at that time, in fact Boruto knew Mitsuki would improve.

When he thought about how he could catch up quickly, he had only a few options. One was to become a Toad Sage, the other was to awaken his Byakugan. With the Byakugan he could perfect the parts of his Taijutsu he had put on the shelf for being too complex for him now. He could perfect his Eight Trigrams Yin Yang Palm Formation, he could probably even perfect his Fox Form. He would be able to match Himawari even if she used three tails. Even if Boruto knew the Byakugan wouldn't just appear if he trained hard enough, when he thought about Mom, Himawari, Aunt Hanabi, Sarada, Mizumi, Mizuchi, their Mother, and Uncle Sasuke and their Dōjutsu he felt left out. Even more so when Dad's eyes changed into his Toad Sage eyes or the slitted eyes of Kurama Sensei.

Boruto abandoned thinking about the Byakugan, as he was now, it seemed like it was a far away dream. Something that out of his reach was not something to be bitter about.

'Even if I never get the Byakugan… I am already very strong.’

'Yes… I would just need to focus on other things.’

'Maybe I could be like Dad and perfect my Sage arts.’

'Even if I can't perfect my Eight Trigrams Yin Yang Palm…’

Boruto was okay until he thought about his very own Taijutsu art. Aunt Hanabi had praised him for it, both Dad and Grandfather had been proud of him, his Grandfather who had been the strictest teacher he had, told him he was impressed. If he didn't perfect it, Aunt Hanabi or Mom would probably do it, but that was not something he wanted. He wanted to do it himself, he wanted to have his name written in the Hyuga clan records. He clenched his hand as he moved through the forest. It seemed that he was not ready to give up on getting the Byakugan afterall.

He looked at the sky which was getting dark and decided to make camp. Moving so slowly in the forest had exhausted him. He had moved to avoid any places in the forest that felt discordant. He had especially sensed multiple places with Mizumi’s Mother’s Chakra. He had avoided those places as best as he could but the battle before had made him sloppy, so he had to run away from a few birds that spotted him. Now that he could rest he figured he could come up with a solid plan to catch up with Mitsuki.

There were a couple of things he could use to make a shelter. He could dig into the ground to bury himself for the night, he could tie himself up in the branches for his sleep, he could just build a tent and sleep in there, but he thought his idea was the coolest.

This was not something he had come up with himself, but he had been the only one in class to be able to use it like this. Of course Sarada with her uncanny understanding of Ninjutsu had mastered it, though not in the direction that Boruto had mastered it. When Boruto thought about it, Sarada might have wanted to use it for her Territory Creation: Great Illusionary Swamp. He took out a scroll and unrolled it. Within the scroll were eight tags, with the scroll making up the ninth.

Typically when erecting a barrier, you would use anchors in the form of Chakra medium if you were alone. Otherwise a team of people with a certain rapport would use themselves as anchors at the corners of the barrier. The barrier would be open on the top, stretching upward in proportion to the strength of the caster or casters. Boruto also knew about closed barriers, but those were even harder to use. In this case someone wanted to create a barrier that was a little easier to use. They doubled the amount of anchors while expanding the duties of each to form an enclosed space within.

Boruto put his Chakra into the eight tags and put four on the ground, forming a square. The other four he put in the trees mirroring the ones on the ground. When he was done he put more of his Chakra into the scroll and formed a hand sign with both his hands. The tags lit up with red light as a red membrane stretched out of them and connected with others coming out of the other tags. When the process had been completed a red enclosure had been formed over Boruto forming a cube. Boruto knew it stretched into the ground even though it didn't show.

The barrier was actually not that strong. Its primary use was not actually stopping attacks, but notifying Boruto if someone had stepped into them. Better than that, the tags worked like Chakra conductors, giving Boruto the ability to use Jutsu to hide the barrier, otherwise a red, glowing barrier would be too conspicuous in the forest.

Boruto channeled Yin release to change the appearance of the barrier, making it blend with the forest. He then took out another scroll and summoned out a lunch made by Mom. At that moment, even as he missed home, he felt that it was not so bad.

After Boruto ate his lunch he sealed the container back into the scroll. The other reason he had put up a barrier was masking out his Chakra and any noise he might make. Getting up to prepare for training, Boruto stretched as he thought about the exercises he could do. He could try to complete Toad Sage Mode, but he really didn't know where to start with that, not to mention Six Paths Senjutsu. Boruto had drawn in a little bit of Nature Energy when he opened his senses, he could also establish a connection with the Nature Energy around him, he could also find stillness when he was meditating. Even when the Nature Energy flowed into him when he meditated, the moment he moved it dispersed. It never took a solid shape within him. Dad had said that it was harder for him to stay still and the shape came naturally. Dad had even seemed not to understand what Boruto was talking about when he talked about the shape of a Sage's spirit.

When taking in Nature Energy from the environment, the Nature Energy goes into your body without any form. Boruto at the time had felt like if he did not force into a certain shape, it would just disperse when coming into contact with his Chakra. His Chakra had his own imprint, and his humanity repelled the Nature Energy as it came into his body. Mitsuki’s Nature Energy took the form of a snake, Dad's Nature Energy the form of a Toad, Mizumi’s Mother was a tree sometimes. Boruto didn't know how to form Nature Energy into the shape of the Toad, so for now he decided to focus on his Taijutsu.

He decided to practice his Yin Yang Palm Formation. The principles of his Yin Yang Palm Formation were very simple in Boruto's eyes. Up was Yang, down was Yin. Outward was Yang, inward was Yin. Attacking was Yang, defending was Yin. Movement was Yang, stillness was Yin. A shout was Yang, a feint was Yin. Moving towards the opponent was Yang, moving away was Yin. With these principles he had come up with a theory of combat that had given birth to the Yin Yang Palm Formation.

In this theory maximal Yin would be crouching down, with his hands defending his head. A maximal Yang would be jumping towards a person while shouting. Both were almost useless without setup beforehand. The principles of his Yin Yang Palm Formation was to always be transitioning from Yin to Yang back to Yin. In this way the Taijutsu art was not an ultimate move to disable an opponent, but to take from the opponent bit by bit until they open up for a finish.

As he started practicing the forms he thought about the forms. Attacking from above, at a further distance was Yang, and the chances of it connecting was less than attacking at a closer distance from below, which was still Yang, but started from Yin towards Yang, as opposed to starting from Yang and further extending into Yang.

Boruto moved, imaging two opponents. His back should never face his opponent, even in retreat. His legs were useful when kicking the opponent from below, but most useful when solidifying his stance. Chakra moved toward his legs as his feet almost stuck to the ground. His hands were the most versatile, he thrust out his palm as his Chakra moved across his hand to nearly form a hole in the ground. He dragged his leg across the ground, moving his hand back to a Yin position, his leg thrust out, moving upward. When it snapped like a whip, he immediately moved it back down. Then it broke the ground as he moved it back along with his body, left leg becoming his forward leg. He then sprung up with his left leg, his right hand moving from defending his right ear into an open thrust. Chakra assisted him into a spin into facing his second imagined opponent.

Boruto trained along the principles of his Yin Yang Palm Formation for a few hours until the half moon had risen. He decided that it was enough and prepared for sleep. He took out a scroll, unsealing it to produce some bedding. He slept all throughout the night to the morning.

In the morning he cleared up his spot. Putting the tags back into their scroll, resealing the bedding, clearing his scent with wind style, removing his tracks with earth style.

He moved through the forest heading in the direction of the centre. All along the way he thought about his Yin Yang Palm Formation. The technique was not perfect. His back was not properly defended, he could not use his Chakra points to move as smoothly as he wanted. On top of that he had originally planned to use it with the Gentle Fist which would have allowed him to make snap movements without worrying about the power of his attacks. He had planned to use his legs only to force a disengagement, he had also planned to use Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven to link otherwise disparate parts of the technique. Last night he had practiced what he considers incomplete. It was almost mundane.

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As Boruto was moving through the forest he noticed too late a bird, with the Rinnegan, following him. He thought he would have sensed their Chakra, which had not been in harmony with the forest, but after spending a night in the forest they had gained a similar aura to the forest. Boruto tried to lose it by twisting and turning in the forest, crouching down, and going under the leaves, but another bird showed up in front of him. Boruto knew, in that moment, that he had been followed by the bird for a longer time than he realized. He also realized that a Chunin was probably on his way.

Boruto used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to split up, but the birds only went higher looking in the different directions him and his clones were moving in. At this point he knew the Chunin teacher was probably close. He decided to make a setup to intercept the teacher instead of running. He took out kunai and paper bombs and Shuriken. He pasted the paper bombs along the trees and held Shuriken in his hands. Just as he was weaving some Jutsu, the teacher appeared.

Boruto looked at Yakumo Sensei who had just appeared out of the bush. He immediately finished his hand signs. Yakumo Sensei, seeing them, jumped back into the trees.

“Great Fireball Jutsu”

Boruto had hoped for her to use a Water release Jutsu. That would have given him more time to fall back or even escape. Although, with the birds still high up, he would need to get rid of them before thinking about escaping.

Boruto was glad it was Yakumo Sensei, if it was anyone else, Boruto would have had to fight for a fairly long time. Yakumo Sensei was mostly a weapon specialist, Boruto on the other hand was at heart a Taijutsu specialist. A Ninjutsu specializing Chunin would have been able to keep him at a distance for a fairly long while.

Boruto followed Yakumo Sensei's Chakra through the trees. When he felt that she was taking too long to respond to battle, he ignited a paperbombs on a tree were he felt her presence.

*Booom… boom*

Boruto heard the sound of other paper bombs from his shadow clones. He had figured if something like this happened, he would have his shadow clones provide some cover for his actual location. Although he was the first one that triggered the paper bombs, that doesn't mean he was actually supposed to be first. He had wanted his clones to use the paperbombs amongst themselves while he disappeared in the forest.

When he saw a shadow coming out of the forest he intercepted it with a punch. His hand hit the metal of a kunai. Sensing danger he disengaged with a backward flip. The blade of a sword passing in front of his eyes.

“You got good senses little brother. I would have thought someone as careful as you would have made it to the base without making mistakes.” Yakumo Sensei smiled as the dust settled.

“I had hoped so too, but those birds were better at hiding than they were yesterday.”

Boruto almost felt guilty lying like that. If he hadn't been thinking about his Taijutsu, those birds would have not gotten past his senses, of course they had indeed gotten better at blending in with the aura of the forest, so in a way his words were only half true.

Yakumo Sensei had a kunai in her left and a long sword in her right. She was wearing the Chunin standard uniform, her metallic gray hair spiked in attention, in her hair was her Shinobi headband. Her black eyes stared intently at Boruto.

“You are lucky I am the most compassionate out of all the Chunin here. No one else would accept a surrender from you guys.” Yakumo Sensei said, sounding serious.

“Of course you are the most compassionate. In fact I would like to apologize for not accepting your kindness. If I am going up against you, I am happy knowing you will take it easy on me.”

Boruto almost wanted to punch Yakumo Sensei in the face. The worst thing about her was her self congratulating tendencies. She was not any different from anyone else, but she acted like she was the very best person to be close to. At least she didn't do that with her skill. She really would never take it easy on him. He got into the Yin flowing stance of his Yin Yang Palm Formation.

“Oh, how can you hurt your big sister's feelings like that… Hmm, maybe you are just a shadow clone?” Yakumo Sensei attacked with her sword.

Boruto decided to stay quiet. He infused Chakra into his hand as he intercepted the sword. As his right hand moved the sword to the right, his left moved left hitting Yakumo Sensei's hand. Yakumo Sensei, knowing that she would not be able to pull back her sword, stabbed with her kunai. Boruto stopped infusing Chakra into his legs as he used his right hand as leverage to spin his body along with his left. His hand hit Yakumo Sensei's sword hand, disarming her. Her kunai missed as Boruto spun out of the way, holding her sword.

Boruto almost wanted to gload, but he didn't want to have to tell Yakumo Sensei that he didn't mean it for the rest of the year. He infused Wind release Chakra into the sword making it shimmer as a yellow blade extended a centimetre out of the blade. The sword itself became lighter in Boruto's hand. As Yakumo Sensei attacked again he threw the sword towards the birds. Yakumo Sensei took advantage of his split attention and threw a kick. Boruto blocked with his hand as he was sent rolling across the ground.

He got up and transitioned into the Yang rising stance of the Yin Yang Palm Formation. When Yakumo Sensei attacked again, Boruto met her in the middle. His palm moved straight to Yakumo Sensei's right as she hadn't replaced her sword. When she attacked with her kunai, Boruto intercepted with his right on the inside of her elbow. Yakumo Sensei’s hand buckled as his left palm was blocked, her kunai passed right in front of his eyes because of Boruto’s interception.

Boruto transitioned into his Yang equalling stance to try and finish the battle off. Yakumo Sensei, seeming to sense the danger, clenched her right hand making a harlbert appear between them. Boruto's opening palm was blocked, giving Yakumo Sensei enough time to jump back.

“You are quite dangerous aren't you?”

“I hope I am, after all I wanna keep saying I am top of my class.”

Boruto ignored his discomfort when saying this, aware of Mitsuki's strength. He didn't want to admit he was weaker than Mitsuki. He debated if he should use Jutsu, but decided against it for now, he should use it when making his escape. He looked at the sky and saw that the birds were still there. He got into his Yang descending stance.

When Yakumo Sensei attacked again Boruto met her again in the middle. His hand attacked Yakumo Sensei’s hands, as the harlbert almost cut his blonde hair. His leg moved him inwards towards Yakumo Sensei. Yakumo Sensei removed one of her hands from the handle as she used it as a weapon. Boruto's hand missed as his other hand intercepted the handle going for his stomach. Yakumo Sensei spun the harlbert as she used an overhead chop again. Boruto spun as his body flowed into the inside of the harlbert.

“Got you little brother.”

Boruto saw Yakumo Sensei's foot pull on a wire and heard the twang of arrows leaving the string. Boruto wanted to use an Earth style Jutsu to sink into the ground, but just as he was moving for the hand signs he got memories from his clone.

His clone had just been attacked by a clearly superior Yakumo Sensei and had come to the conclusion that she was the real one. It had outlined a plan where it would blow up all the paper bombs around it, running interference on Yakumo Sensei. As that is going on, the other clones, as well as Boruto, would blow up their paper bombs too, covering Boruto's tracks. In the smoke they would use kunai to take out the birds tracking them.

Boruto knew this was his only chance, so he made a split decision to use Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven. He had never been able to use it but fighting Yakumo Sensei's shadow clone had made his Chakra flow smoother than it ever had. He had never known how much Chakra he should use or which Chakra points he should focus on. At that moment he decided to use all the Chakra he could muster at the moment and all the Chakra points he was aware of.

When Yakumo Sensei had triggered the arrows she moved to retreat but was caught up in the turbulent Chakra. When Boruto stopped her clone had already popped and Boruto's hand was pierced by an arrow. As his hand bled he ignited all the paper bombs creating a cloud of dust and smoke.

*Booom… boom…. boom…. boom*

Sounds of explosions also came from his clones. Boruto took out three kunai, infused them with Wind release Chakra and threw them in the direction he saw those birds right before the explosions. Boruto then escaped with an Earth style Jutsu digging into the ground. One of his clones' memories were of the birds being pierced.

After Boruto had moved underground for a hundred or so metres, he emerged into the forest. He slowly took out the arrow in his arm, taking care not to scream. He first broke off the arrowhead, then cleaned the broken tip before pulling it out. He tried to calm down, but this was the first time he had been pierced by an arrow. The pain was not what he was expecting. When he was moving underground, he almost couldn't feel it. When he had paid attention to it at all, it had felt like a dull ache, sometimes a burning, wet heat. His arm had just felt restricted. Now the wound felt cold and somehow still burning. Boruto felt like it was a centre of distress. When he looked at it he felt afraid.

Boruto felt like he somehow should have learnt healing Jutsu. Of course he was terrible at it. He took out a bandage and some water. He first carefully cleaned the wound over and over. Making sure that no wood shards were left in the wound. Cleaning it was both comforting and excruciating at the same time. Tears came out of his eyes. Dad would have just touched him and instantly healed him. He wiped off his tears as he finished cleaning the wound. If Dad had not told him that the Chakra he had inherited from Kurama would help him heal faster, he would have had to stitch the wound up. He tied the bandage onto his forearm as more tears came out of his eyes. He took his jacket off the ground and wore it.

After treating his wound he cleaned up the ground where he was sitting and headed into the direction of the centre of the forest. After moving for about fifteen minutes, he forgot about the pain in his arm. He felt a little embarrassed that he had been crying, but nobody had seen his so the embarrassment quickly faded.

‘Besides, I would never cry if I was being treated by someone else.’

His route meandered a little to hide his traces. When he had been moving for about two hours he noticed his arm felt lighter. He almost wanted to remove the bandage, to see the state of the wound. He moved his wrist, it indeed felt, if not lighter, then smoother in movement. The relief he felt gave him a chance to reexamine the fight with Yakumo Sensei.

Boruto realized how good his performance actually was. When he thought about it, chasing someone has the danger of falling into a trap. His paper bombs had worked to put Yakumo Sensei on the back foot. If she had completed her trap amongst the trees, Boruto would have lost, still oblivious. His detonation of that first paper bomb had cut short Yakumo Sensei's setting up of the arrows. If Yakumo Sensei's setup was completed, she could have probably been able to send the arrows at Boruto without being in the line of fire herself.

Boruto's proudest moment was his completion of the Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven. He was not expecting it to take out Yakumo Sensei's shadow Clone, that was a bonus. He had planned to use it as a stepping stone to his Yang equalling stance. He had planned to throw the clone into the exploding paper bombs after disabling it a bit. He was lucky the clone had been taken out, otherwise his arm would have not allowed him to complete the moves of the Yang equalling stance.

Boruto thought about how he completed the Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven. The way he just gave all his Chakra and worried about nothing else. It was not perfect, but with how he executed the move, he felt like he would be able to learn it faster. Instead of moving from a few Chakra points at a time towards an imagined perfect number, he would instead correct a functional, if not Chakra intensive, overuse of Chakra points.

‘Wait, if that's the case, what if I do the same in senjutsu.'

'Instead of trying to force it into a certain shape, what if I take in Nature Energy until it forms its own shape.’

'Dad also talked about how he almost transformed into a frog on Mount Myōboku. If that's the case then this could work.’

‘I can already control Nature Energy to an extent.’

‘I can take in Nature Energy, I just have to guard against the transformation.’

“Yes I can do this.”

Boruto was so excited that he didn't put up a barrier. It was daytime and he could just go up higher in the trees to be safe. Other than that he was on a relatively safe zone on the map. The Chunin teachers were further away from here than anywhere else on his Mission.

‘I’ll sense it with my sage senses.’

He found a denser part of the forest, going up a higher tree he sat down and tried to connect with Nature Energy. He sat still, slowing his heart and breath, he let the Nature Energy flow into him.

‘I can do this.’

As the Nature Energy flowed into him he felt more and more relaxed. When Boruto imagined a Sage, although his Dad, with nature energy forming that mountainous Toad, was at the forefront of his mind, his heart always drifted towards Kurama Sensei. Dad always seemed like Dad, while Kurama always seemed to have all the answers, especially with Six Paths Senjutsu.

Boruto felt like he was about to reach his limit. He also felt like the Nature Energy was going to take shape. He relaxed as more and more Nature Energy flowed into him. He sensed the energy collect pieces of himself throughout his body as it flowed toward his centre. Just as he felt like Senjutsu Chakra was forming from his own Chakra and Nature Energy he heard a roar. He didn't so much hear it as he felt it. It rattled his bones, compressed his organs and folded up his skin. The weirdest part was it felt like the roar was coming out of his mouth. Boruto felt something was wrong, he tried to disperse the nature energy.

Next thing he knew he was staring at a gigantic blood scarlet split eye. The eye was staring at him. He looked again and he felt like he was staring at himself. His red clawed hands redirecting rivers. His nine tails uprooting mountains. His roar calling storms. He was asking himself where this hatred came from. Humans and their malice. He was trying to sleep, but their hate was too loud, it burned his eyes, it scratched his skin, it was bitter in his mouth and smelled putrid. Where was it? How could he silence it? How could he let it die?

From the outside Boruto's body's changes started with black Sage shading on his eyes. But they quickly got out of control. From the wound he got earlier that day, a sampling grew. Bark crawled up his arms and legs. Leaves sprouted from his head.

Sarada had known where Boruto was. She had looked in his direction every now and then. She had seen him when he snuck up on Mitsuki and Kazumi Sensei. She had watched him for no other reason than she had been bored. Afterall forests were her territory. If she wanted she could have delivered her scroll within the hour. At one point she had wanted to team up with him, but she decided against it. She wanted to see how good Boruto was, at least from a distance.

She was not looking in his direction when she felt a deep unease. She quickly activated her Sharingan to see where her unease came from, and that was when she saw it. A gigantic Nine Tailed Fox formed from Nature energy. It loomed over the entire forest. When her Sharingan followed it to its source she saw Boruto.

'You Idiot.’

Boruto's body was already almost a tree. Sarada put her hand on the tree next to her and sank into it. When she emerged she was next to Boruto. She quickly put a hand on Boruto's arm and sent Chakra into him. Next thing she knew she was standing on water, a huge fox with Boruto's eyes in front of her.

“Are you going to come to your senses?”

She touched the Fox, scattering it into red bubbles. Where it had been, Boruto was standing in a daze.

“Hey you are turning into a wood statue and I don't know what to do. Come to your senses already.”

Sarada jolted him with her Sharingan again. She hoped that Boruto knew what to do when he came to.

Boruto quickly scattered the Nature energy from inside him. When he could move he took a deep breath. Sweat was pouring out of him. The bark on his skin transformed back into skin, but the twigs fell off, leaving wounds on his skin.

“Thanks, Sarada.”

Boruto had never been so afraid.