Boruto had always been asked by his teachers, friends and even by himself, if he wanted to be the Hokage. He had been told that he has the talent, it is hard to disagree with the sentiment, even though he felt all his progress is a result of his hard work, it was clear that his hard work produced greater results than average. 

The privilege of being the son of the Hokage sometimes felt like an unbearable burden, especially when your grandfather was also a Hokage. The pressure to be perfect was sometimes overwhelming. Boruto had been training for as long as he can remember, he had taken his Grandfather's words to heart when he said he couldn't shame his father's family or the Hyuga clan, but on those days he didn't perform as well as he should have, those words felt like a curse. 

Boruto has always thought that dying for the village is not so scary when it is something he sees himself growing old in. How could you not die for the only home you have ever known. The problem is he doesn't see the job of Hokage in his future.

‘It is all Dad's fault,’ was something that he sometimes thought. There was nothing appealing about the Hokage position to him. His dad didn't look happy doing it. Admittedly his dad always looks way happier when he is talking with the people of the village and always talks about how much of a joy it is to be relied upon by the village, but he is never happy when doing the actual work. Sending people on missions, doing paperwork integral to the running of the village and especially meeting with the other villages drains the joy and energy out of him. All this happened with Dad who is said to be the strongest Hokage ever, so how would he be any better. 

Dad always told him that he must look after his Mom as Sister. He always said that Boruto should cherish his Mom and Sis, that family should protect family. That the will of fire must burn in my heart.

'He thinks I don't understand.'

His words always gave Boruto an underlying sense of dread. He spoke as if every word is meant to be there in Boruto's heart when he is gone.

Boruto thought all this while running to the academy. At least there's Sarada, she always spoke about being Hokage. With her abilities that in his opinion were only slightly inferior to his, she could become the Hokage like she wants. The Sage knows it would be a relief to him.

He blushed when thinking about Sarada. At least today's teacher was Might Guy Sensei. Taijutsu was his speciality, she was not gonna upstage him in that.

Thinking about it, both his Mom and Dad were taijutsu specialists. Dad always tried to convince him he is not but if what Sarada's Mom said about him is true, the only Ninjutsu he uses consistently is Rasengan and Shadow clone jutsu. His Dad always told him that Senjutsu was more versatile, but by the demonstration with Mom Frog Kumite seemed like just an advanced form of Taijutsu. Of course the Six Paths Senjutsu Arts were way more complex but Old man Kurama was always the one that taught that.

As Boruto saw the academy he thought of Sarada's Sharingan. He can still beat her but it would be so much easier if he had a Byakugan. Mom said he might not get it but he thought otherwise. Himawari has had it for four years now but Boruto knows about her unique situation, it would be more surprising if she didn't have it. Dad always told him to believe in himself and the Byakugan is something he believed should be part of him.

He couldn't wait for the moment it awakened in his eyes. When Mom used it, it looked cool, the veins look so unique and Mom's gentle fist looks way more fluid when sparring with Dad. Even Himawari can keep up with him when she uses it.

'Right, I should stop thinking in circles.'

Boruto thought, entering the academy. Only 2 weeks to graduation.

Boruto was in the history of Shinobi class. The teacher Iruka Sensei was talking about the first Shinobi war.

"Sensei, if the Period before the establishment of the villages was already filled with war and strife, why is the first Shinobi war seen as the first Shinobi war?" Sarada asked

'Why is she asking something so obvious?' Boruto asked himself.

"That is because while we have records of wars that could have possibly been bigger, we have reason to believe this is the first war triggered by the geopolitical situation. This war was not a war of clan alliance but bigger, it was a war of borders, a war of resources, a war in which each Nation (including the land of Fire) was interested in establishing a sort of hegemony." Iruka Sensei answered.

Boruto knew that. Whenever he was at his Mom's clan, Grandfather always lectured him on the present state of the clans and Villages alike.

"Furthermore because it was preceded by a period of relative peace brought by the establishment of the village system and Dominance of the first Hokage, it had a more shocking effect on the Shinobi living at that time." Elaborated Iruka Sensei.

Boruto didn't know that but thinking about it now it's pretty obvious. People probably thought that now that the clans are not fighting but working together, the Villages would probably do the same and settle disputes Diplomatically. Grandfather said that the clan always thought war was gonna happen. That even in the peace of the village was tenuous at best. He always said that clan members were afraid of going out of their districts, not mentioning sending out kids alone out in the village. Thinking about it, it was probably the war that United the clans into the Villages of today. It would be hard to stay angry at an enemy that saved your brother last week as opposed to an enemy you never saw that is said to have killed your friend yesterday.

"All that aside, the biggest reason is because all past wars, wrongs and history can be disputed. Case and point one of only things in history that was found independently in all Villages is the Sage Of Six Paths, so much so that people debated if he wasn't born out of some shared mythology, of course that was before the fourth great ninja war. The establishment of the Village system made the recording of information way easier. We have exactly information from the start of the war right down to the end. We have records of all deaths, the units involved, their missions, we even have documentation of their day to day meals. With all this documentation in every single village, if even you only studied the records of a single village and a little geography, you could still come to the conclusion that the First Shinobi war undoubtedly happened." Sensei elaborated.

He never thought of that. Undoubtedly the Hyuga clan has very good record keeping, but the paradigm shift of large scale war and objective record keeping would have been superior to clan record keeping with their embellishments. Having read the Hyuga clan records, he felt like clans treated themselves too much like the centre of the world. Grandfather probably didn't understand, since to him the clan has always been his life.

"Of course when looking at history it is vital to teach the wrongs done by your own side first or you risk festering hatred in you students." Sensei said grimly.

"One of the greatest criticisms of the first Hokage was his capturing of 8 of the 9 tailed beasts. Today the criticism has deepened considering the Tailed beasts are children of the Sage Of Six Paths." Continued Iruka Sensei.

Boruto couldn't help but think of Sensei Kurama. At some point he had thought that he was gonna be the one to protect them but protecting Himawari and through that them, would work fine. He couldn't help but space out thinking about his sister, before he knew it was the end of the lesson.

"In the next lesson we will look into the role of the First Hokage in the first Shinobi war in depth. Other than that next week we will hold the final exams" Iruka Sensei said as the bell rang.

Next is Guy Sensei's lesson. Boruto couldn't help but be excited while getting up.

As Boruto was walking out of class he shuffled himself next to Sarada. Although she was a bit annoying she was not as bad as everyone else in class.

"Hey Sarada, do you know what the class is about today?" Boruto asked half out of curiosity and half out of pride.

" Yeah Mom was talking about the breakthrough they had in the building of the matrix of jutsu and seals. If that is in any way connected to this lesson then Guy Sensei might be presenting the eight gates as a viable path, equal to Sage arts, today. " Sarada said with a straight face, looking at him with her bright eyes.

"Heh," Boruto chuckled nervously, but undoubtedly smug. " Yeah that's right, and... Guy Sensei might be looking for students for this newest iteration of the eight gates. "

"Don't tell me you wanna be Guy Sensei's student."

"No... But if Guy Sensei thinks I have the potential, who could argue? Well Mom and Dad both said it was never going to be much of a boost for people like me and you."

"Yeah with Chakra pools like mine and yours, it would be great if we were able to use our Chakra efficiently. And for me I am already busy with the Sharingan and Strength of a Hundred Seals." Sarada said

"You know now that you put it like that I wanna open the eight gates so bad." Boruto said, jealous of the cool jutsu Sarada had access to.

"Quit with the crybaby nonsense. I know for a fact the Hokage is teaching you Six Paths Senjutsu." Sarada looked at him in boredom.

"Hey, you don't know how crazy Six Paths is. I can see myself completely learning Frog Senjutsu, but Six Paths is something else. Besides, Dad is not the best teacher. Do you know you have to understand all the Chakra transformations and complete the unification of inner Yin with Yang transformation." Although he had learnt a bit about Senjutsu and was able to improve his Ninjutsu and especially his Taijutsu, he couldn't help but think of Senjutsu as something used in contemplation not combat.

"Yeah Mom said something about that. Father always said that the only reason he could have Senjutsu was his Rinnegan." Sarada said, speeding up the pace a little.

"You think your Mom will complete the Base Transformation hand signs." That would make him learning Six Paths Senjutsu just a smidge easier.

"Of course. Mom already completed the Sealing Script and that has already been impactful in the hospital." Sarada said, speeding up even more.

"Hurry up."

"We are not going to be late, at this pace we might even be 7 minutes early." Boruto said in exasperation while speeding up.

"Yeah but what if Guy Sensei gets there 10 minutes early."

"Yeah but what if he is there 10 minutes early to set up for the lesson and we are there disturbing him."

"That would be great, we get to have a moment with him and show him the dedication of students here. Even if we disturb him it will be undoubtedly his fault."

Boruto couldn't help but find that funny. The thought of Guy Sensei blaming himself for not setting up the day before, thinking he has been beaten by his students is amazing.

"Yeah but what if he reacts the same way that Rock Sensei reacted to you last year I am going to say it was you who couldn't wait to see him."

Sarada shivered, her steps slowed down a little. Her head turned to Boruto. "He wouldn't"

"From what I've heard from my Dad Guy Sensei might be even more emotional about his students than Rock Sensei"

"The tears, the shouting..." Sarada shivered even more before coming to a stop.

"Hey are you just gonna slow down after all that." Boruto said with a hint of smugness in his voice.

"No, of course not." Sarada said, speeding up.

Boruto couldn't help but feel joy at the grimness of her face. She would never be even a little bit technically late for class just for her own comfort.

They got there and sure enough Guy Sensei was there, although he was not setting up like he thought he was sitting incredibly still in the lotus position in the middle of the class. He couldn't help but find it quite similar to the way his Dad tells him to in Senjutsu training.

He looked at Sarada and sure enough she was never going to disturb Guy Sensei's Contemplation.

He would just have to wait for Mitsuki or maybe Shikadai.

While Boruto waited he started thinking about Sage arts. The taking in of Nature Energy, melding it with your own Mental and Physical energy. It felt like your body had no borders at times. Whenever he took in the tiny amount he could it always changed his way of thinking about himself living in the world. He also felt the danger, the disappearance of a sense of self was quite scary. Frog Senjutsu was the only one Dad could explain easily, Boruto could even understand a bit of that as opposed to Six Paths Senjutsu, Dad couldn't explain that so easily. Luckily Kurama was there, they can at least explain where Dad couldn't. Although that did not make it comprehensible to Boruto. The only reason they still taught him was because even when applying a little bit of the principles of Six Paths in his Taijutsu and Ninjutsu provided tangible improvement.

When looking at Guy Sensei he couldn't help but think of Yang transformation. When looking at him it felt like he understood it, but when looking away it felt like he was turning away from that understanding. As Boruto was contemplating this a couple of students came into the class taking him out of his thoughts.

They too tried to be quite and not disturb Guy Sensei. First it was Shikadai and Inoji. Boruto felt a little annoyed. Although Shikadai was a great guy he could stand Inoji's know it all attitude, his non stop talking about how his art will shape minds and change the world feels so hollow. This is one of the reasons he tries to avoid Shikadai, at least Chocho was just a little bit violent.

He nodded at their greetings and went back to thinking about Yang transformation. The unification of the five Nature transformations seemed hard but Dad said it was easily doable. On the other hand the unification of Inner Yin and Yang was explained in depth by Kurama but does not seem possible. The explanation about his own inner unification helped too. At least the individual Transformations of Yin and Yang seemed easy to understand even if they are incredibly difficult to put into practice .

A minute or so later Mitsuki came in. To Boruto, Mitsuki was as annoying as Inoji. The worst guy in class in his opinion. How can he even think his Sage Mode is a secret when Nature Energy moves around him like a snake all day. Even though only Boruto and Sarada can sense and see it respectively among the students, that doesn't mean the teachers and everybody can't. The most annoying thing is that he doesn't use it in class exercises even when others are surpassing him.

He nodded at his greeting too. Even if someone is annoying that does not mean you should hate them. Even if they are a Perfect Sage and are hiding it for no reason.

When Dad used Frog Senjutsu he felt like an ancient Frog the size of a mountain. He felt lofty and solemn and wise. This Sage Mode felt like it would turn someone into a cruel snake that eats people. How can you be a good person if you train in Sage arts like those? He looked at Sarada trying to get her attention.

Sarada looked at him and sighed, opening her one Tomoe Sharingan. He then used the basic idea of Yin Transformation to build a mind palace. In the mind Palace she was looking at him a little annoyed.

"Hey you said you got used to your Sharingan right. Can you look at Mitsuki again and tell me what you see?" Boruto said with his hands up in apology.

"I will not. And besides, class will start any minute now." Sarada said with even more annoyance.

"Ok... Ok so did you ever look at him after your Sharingan was stable? I know you are as curious as me." Boruto said in an apologetic tone.

Sarada looked at him for a while before Nodding.

"So... Can you tell me what you saw?" Boruto said a little urgently.

"Sigh... I saw a Pale Eight Headed Snake with golden Eyes. I won't look again, it felt like those eyes were looking at me as I was looking at them." Sarada said in a bit of a shiver.

"Wow your Sharingan has advanced a lot huh... I can only sense a little bit of Nature Energy shaped like a snake. Anyway, do you know what that is." Boruto said still a bit curious

"Yes and I won't tell you. Besides, Guy Sensei looks like he is about to start the class." Sarada said while looking like she wants to deactivate her Sharingan.

 "And Boruto I hope you awaken your Byakugan." Sarada said comfortingly and disappeared from the space.

Boruto opened his eyes to a full class and Guy Sensei looking like he was about to get up.