XX-level Hokage

Next came the birthday present part. Hinata handed Himawari a package. When she opened it, there was a fluffy teddy bear inside. Upon seeing the teddy bear, Himawari happily hugged it to her chest.

Then Mashiro handed Himawari a small yellow gift box. Inside was a hair clip decorated with a sunflower.

"Thank you, Mashiro-neechan," Himawari said happily. Mashiro took the hair clip and placed it in Himawari's hair.

In the hallway outside the living room, Naruto and Boruto were having a father-son conversation.

"You still remember our promise?" Boruto said awkwardly, leaning against the wall. "Yeah," Naruto replied.

"Barely passable," Boruto suddenly said. Naruto was taken aback.

"I can tolerate it because I'm a man, but I've thought it through. If you disappoint Himawari, I will never forgive you. She needs your company more than I do, so this is barely acceptable. I'll forgive you for now," Boruto explained.

"Thank you." Hearing Boruto's words, Naruto chuckled and nodded, "I understand." Boruto said with a touch of pride, then walked towards the living room. Soon everything was ready.

"Alright, that's all set." Boruto said with a smile. Now all that's left is for Naruto to bring the cake over.

"Okay, the cake is here." Naruto dragged the cake over. "It's huge!" Boruto exclaimed, looking at the cake in Naruto's hands. Himawari was also incredibly excited.

Hinata also looked at Naruto with a gentle expression.

Mashiro sighed inwardly and silently got up from her chair.

"Hibiscus's birthday party has begun." Naruto said, carrying a cake as he walked towards Himawari.

But just as he reached the table, Naruto suddenly vanished with a "whoosh," and the cake fell to the ground.

Immediately afterward, Mashiro, who had been prepared, reached out and caught the cake steadily, placing it on the table. "Shadow clone," Boruto muttered to himself, watching Naruto disappear.

Although the cake wasn't damaged, the birthday party atmosphere was ruined.

Sunflower lowered her head somewhat dejectedly. Tian looked at Boruto with some worry.

Boruto stared at the ground, his hands clenched tightly, his eyes filled with anger.

Himawari noticed Boruto's change in mood and said with some worry, "Brother, I..."

"That bastard, what does he think Himawari's birthday party is?" Boruto stood up, slammed his hands on the table angrily, and turned to leave. "Boruto!" Hinata quickly grabbed Boruto's arm.

"Let me go, Mom! That bastard keeps doing this, I'm going to beat him up!" Boruto said angrily. "Boruto, Dad works so hard for the people of the village," Hinata explained.

"Then aren't we considered part of the village? Does that mean the Hokage should abandon his family?" Boruto said, still as angry as ever.

“Dad didn’t neglect you,” Mayu tried to explain, but Boruto interrupted her again. “I’ve heard this so many times, I don’t want to hear this excuse anymore,” Boruto said angrily.

Himawari watched the two arguing with disappointment. At that moment, they seemed to have forgotten that it was Himawari's birthday. Seeing this, Mashiro came to Himawari's side and gently hugged her.

Sensing Mashiro's movement, Himawari hugged her. "Mashiro-neechan, brother..." Himawari whispered.

"It's not his fault this time; there was a reason." Mashiro said, gently stroking Himawari's hair.

In Mashiro's opinion, this was Naruto's fault; he only sent a shadow clone for his daughter's birthday.

When she got home today, Mashiro noticed Naruto the moment she saw him. At first, she thought she was seeing things and observed him carefully for a while.

Furthermore, as time passed, Mashiro could clearly sense that the chakra in Naruto's shadow clone was constantly weakening, and it was almost completely depleted when it brought the cake over, which is why she had prepared to catch the cake in advance.

Naruto was a good Hokage, that much is undeniable, but he failed to handle his official and personal affairs, as well as his relationship with his family and the village, very well.

Normally it would be fine, but it's his own daughter's birthday and he does it like this. Even if he can't put aside his official duties, he could send a few shadow clones to handle it in the office. Instead, he insists on doing it himself and sending a shadow clone to the birthday party. What's worse, he didn't even tell her in advance.

Not everyone is Hinata. Just like Boruto said, they are also villagers of Konoha. "Boruto..." Looking at the extremely angry Boruto, Hinata knew that she could no longer explain anything.

“When Dad was a child, his grandfather, who was the Hokage, had already passed away, so he didn’t have to understand the joy of family reunion, and that’s why he could be indifferent,” Boruto said.

Hinata remained silent in response.

"Why is my dad the Hokage, all he does is sit at his desk all day putting on airs? Anyone could do that job!" At this moment, Boruto's dissatisfaction with Naruto completely erupted.

He was unaware of Naruto's past; in his eyes, Naruto was an incompetent and irresponsible father.

"Boruto, it's understandable to feel lonely on such an important day when your father isn't here. But you're different from him when he was little. You have a father now, and that's why..." Hinata was saying when Boruto turned and left.

"Have you two had enough of arguing?" Mashiro suddenly spoke up. Mashiro's tone was calm, but it was very powerful.

This wasn't just true for Boruto, but also for Hinata, giving Hinata a strange feeling of being scolded by her older brother. "Mashiro?" Hinata turned her head and looked at Mashiro.

But Mashiro reverted to her previous gentle demeanor and said softly, "Aoi's birthday isn't over yet."

Hinata glanced at Boruto, then returned to the table. Boruto silently followed suit.

The three of them sang "Happy Birthday" together, and then the sunflower blew out the candles and made a birthday wish.

After making his wish, Boruto got up and left, going up to the second floor. Tae tried to stop him, but Mashiro stopped him.

"Let him be alone for a while, and then go and call him later."

Upon reaching the second floor, Boruto headed towards his room. As he passed Naruto's study, he noticed the door was ajar. After glancing inside, Boruto went in.

Following the photos displayed on the cabinet, Boruto noticed a piece of clothing hanging nearby. It was a piece of clothing Naruto wore as a child, now very worn and tattered.

Boruto ripped off his clothes, looked at the marks on them, and muttered to himself, "So dirty, so tattered, so lame. Dad and I are both..."

Anger surged again, and Boruto threw his clothes out the window. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Finally back, you stinky old man!" Boruto thought it was Naruto and rushed down from the second floor. He opened the door and punched him.

But the person at the door easily caught it.

Upon seeing the person's face, Boruto quickly withdrew his fist and stepped back, saying, "Excuse me, I thought it was my dad."

"Naruto's son? What's your name?" the newcomer asked, looking at Boruto's hair and eyes.

Looking at the black-haired man before him, Boruto felt an intense pressure and instinctively took a step back, saying, "Uzumaki Boruto..."

"Boruto, what's wrong?" Hinata walked over with Mashiro. "Are you... Sasuke?" Hinata looked at the newcomers and asked softly. "Is Naruto here?" Sasuke asked.

“They should still be in the Hokage's room,” Hinata said. “Is that so? Sorry to bother you,” Sasuke replied.

Just as she was about to leave, she saw Mashiro beside her, frowned inexplicably, gave Mashiro a deep look, and then turned and left.

Chapter 233: The Ruins of Kaguya

"I don't have time for that now, I'm off to that bastard dad." After Sasuke left, Boruto chased after him. "Boruto, stop right there."

Just as Boruto was about to chase after him, Sasuke grabbed him by the collar and pulled him over.

“Your mother told you to stop,” Sasuke said calmly to Boruto. “This has nothing to do with you,” Boruto struggled to say.

"The bastard dad you're talking about, are you referring to Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "Yes, that's right." Boruto stopped struggling and said somewhat dejectedly. Seeing this, Sasuke released Boruto.

"Boruto." She gently pulled Boruto into her arms. Sasuke then silently departed.

Watching Sasuke's departing figure, Mashiro muttered to himself, "It should be right, the Sharingan with tomoe." As he walked, Sasuke saw the clothes that Boruto had thrown on the ground earlier.

Recognizing that it was Naruto's clothes, Sasuke reached out and picked them up. In the Hokage's office.

Naruto was slumped on the ground, exhausted, with documents scattered all over the floor.

“I messed up…” Naruto recalled the memories from his shadow clone. At that moment, Shikamaru pushed open the door and walked in.

"Seventh Hokage, I'm coming in."

Then they saw Naruto lying on the ground.

"What's wrong?!" Shikamaru rushed to Naruto's side.

"Oh, I messed up Himawari's birthday," Naruto said, blaming himself.

"Did you send your shadow clones home?" Shikamaru immediately guessed the reason. Naruto nodded slightly.

"I told you to go home today," Shikamaru said with a hint of helplessness.

"I can't go back. The preparations for the Chunin Exams are almost over, and besides, we've discovered traces of White Zetsu." Naruto said, starting to gather the documents scattered on the ground.

"The Fourth Shinobi World War has been going on for over ten years now, it's really troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, "There are always some things lurking in the shadows that won't go away."

Just then, a scroll was suddenly thrown at Naruto, who instinctively reached out and caught it. The two turned to look, and Sasuke was standing in the doorway.

“A gift from Kaguya's Castle,” Sasuke said.

“Sass here.” Naruto said with a smile, pleased with Sasuke’s arrival. Sitting down, Naruto opened the scroll.

"I see." Naruto said somewhat seriously after reading the contents of the scroll.

"What does it say?" Shikamaru asked. "I don't know," Naruto said with a hint of helplessness.

“But I have a bad feeling,” Naruto said seriously, continuing to look at the contents of the scroll. “Even my Rinnegan can’t read it,” Sasuke said.

“Give this scroll to the deciphering team,” Naruto said to Shikamaru.

"Sasuke, you just mentioned Kaguya's Castle?" Shikamaru suddenly asked Sasuke.

"Yes, we finally found it. Kaguya Otsutsuki, who attempted to control all the women in the world with her twisted desire for control. We sealed her away at a terrible cost in that battle, but later I discovered that her actions were not out of a desire for control. I searched for clues about what she was guarding against for a long time, and finally found this scroll in an ancient ruin."

They also encountered two other people, two individuals resembling Kaguya Otsutsuki, two Otsutsuki themselves, who were searching for Kaguya's whereabouts. After a brief exchange of blows...

"I escaped," Sasuke recounted.

"Otsutsuki?" Shikamaru asked, somewhat incredulous.

"Yes, they claim to be, and you could say they are, members of the Amaterasu clan," Sasuke said calmly.

"This is a matter of utmost importance, is another war about to break out?" Shikamaru said, somewhat agitated. He knew the power of the Otsutsuki clan. "Not necessarily, but we must be vigilant. We can't let a war like that happen again," Shikamaru said. At that moment, Sasuke walked up to Naruto and pulled out the clothes he had picked up.

"My clothes? Where did you get them?" Naruto asked, somewhat puzzled. "I picked them up on the way here, near your house," Sasuke replied.

Upon hearing this, Naruto instantly understood what was going on, gave a bitter smile, and said, "I see." "I also saw your son, who looks exactly like you when you were a child," Sasuke continued.

“He’s not like me when I was a kid. If I had to say, he’s more like you when you were a kid. No, he’s not like you when you were a kid either. His clothes are always as clean and new as ever. Ours are probably outdated now,” Naruto said with some emotion.

“No, you’re wrong,” Sasuke said. Naruto looked up at Sasuke.

"The essence of a ninja will not change, no matter how times change," Sasuke continued. "Not necessarily, I'm probably the one who wins this argument," Naruto suddenly laughed and said. "You idiot," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto and chuckling softly.

"By the way, who is that hundred-eyed girl in your family?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

“You mean Shinmoku? She’s an orphan from another branch of the Hyuga clan. She came to Konoha for some reason. We took pity on Hinata, so we adopted her,” Naruto replied.

"Another branch of the Hyuga clan?" Sasuke asked, somewhat puzzled.

“According to the Hyuga clan, not all of the Hyuga clan members came to Konoha from their secluded place. Some of them remained in their secluded place. However, according to Mashiro, that branch, except for her, should have been wiped out by now,” Naruto continued.

"Since you've adopted her, then keep a close eye on her," Sasuke said softly. "What is it?" Naruto sensed the underlying meaning in Sasuke's words.

“Her eye power is very strong, so strong that even I can’t see through it. If her background is clean, with a little training, she could become one of Konoha’s core forces for the next decade,” Sasuke said.

“I understand. I’ll have the Anbu investigate the Hyuga clan’s secluded place, and also have Ino go there.” Naruto nodded, understanding Sasuke’s unspoken meaning.