A/N: This story is like the world's biggest meme at this point. I update it like three times a year lmao. Despite this, I'd like to refer you all to my excuse for my absence; that being, House of Glass by UrBoiPedro12. I'm sure most of you have read it at this point, but I'm very proud of my friend's accomplishment, and if you haven't given it a look for some reason, I implore you to do so immediately. Anyway, without further ado, here's Teenagers, Chapter 6. I hope you all enjoy the plot picking up.

Riku Bakutaro was a patient man. Konohagakure, or rather, all of the Great Shinobi Villages, would have said he had been a patient man, of course, since Riku Bakutaro was dead. Legally speaking. Yet, here he stood, alone in a secluded, log-built house deep in the wooded foothills spread out between Fire Country and Rice Country. Stepping out of the shower, the Smiling Devil shook his head like a dog after a bath, spraying water all over the fogged-up mirror above his sink. He then glanced upwards, looking the light-borne imitation of himself in the eye for a brief moment before grabbing a towel to properly dry off.

Besides being a patient man, Riku was also a man who enjoyed getting what he wanted. So, when his attempts to control the main source of produce for much of Fire Country, and thus, a hilariously large sum of money, had gone awry due to the interruptions of one Konohamaru Sarutobi, he had been rather unhappy. Infuriated, even. The bandits he'd spent months gathering had been cut down by the Konoha Jonin's brats, and upon fighting the man one on one, the former Iwa ninja had been defeated in spectacular fashion.

At this thought, Riku cracked his trademark grin, although nobody was in the bathroom with him to see it.

There was, alas, a benefit to such a spectacular defeat at the hands of a reputable shinobi; despite the fact that his body had been supposedly obliterated, it was easy enough to believe that the Smiling Devil had been killed. After all, the great Sarutobi clan were famed for their Fire Release techniques. Would it not have been a less credible claim of death if the Sarutobi who'd put him down hadn't incinerated him?

Yes, for such a setback, things really weren't all too bad for Riku. Yet, here he stood, red hair damp and fallen to the sides of his face in a mop, with no man to call his servant, no bandits to call his enforcers, and no money to live out his shamelessly greedy dreams. Instead, he had a log cabin, two sets of clothing, and a reputation so totally destroyed that if he told a potential customer his name, they'd probably not believe him.

So, like any man in his position would, Riku had spent the weeks since his supposed "death" plotting to recover all of that which he had once lost. It would be easy enough, but first...first he needed to make a statement. It had to be something grand, something flashy. Something fitting of an epithet like the "Smiling Devil", a murder of the highest profile. And of course, what was higher profile then coming back from the dead to haunt those who had robbed you of the life you had once led?

For such a patient man, Riku Bakutaro was ready to make his triumphant return, and he intended to do so as quickly as he could. He was tired of waiting on the world to fear his name, and if they wouldn't come by that fear themselves, he'd have to force it down their throats.

So yes, despite his circumstances, Riku was far from the life without a purpose that some Missing-Nin led. He refused to let his name vanish in the flames of an opponent so unworthy. Gritting his teeth as his grin broke, the redhead spared a glance at his rapier which lay aside his bed, and thought for a moment.

You should have let me smother your flames quickly, Sarutobi, because now, I intend to douse you with such fervor that the spark you call your life will cease to be even a memory.

To say the least, Riku had a long week ahead of him.

"So if I want to catch it, all I have to do is push that car near the ship?"

Shikadai, eyes unmoving from his handheld gaming device, kicked back in his desk chair, clearly too concentrated on whatever it was he was doing to pay attention to his friend over the video call they were on. The blonde on the other end immediately noticed this and thus asked his question again, this time with a little bit more characteristic fervor.

"Dammit Shikadai, can you look up for a second to answer my question?!"

The black-haired boy simply nodded into the camera, offering a basic affirmation alongside it, although he still didn't raise his face.

"Yep. That's what the magazine said."

Boruto, on the other end of the video call, sighed and rolled his shoulders back in his chair at the sight of his friend's lack of interest in their conversation. Sometimes, he did really wonder whether Shikadai realized that he wasn't the only human on the planet with a working brain. Better yet, how was it exactly that the blonde had ended up friends with such an unfriendly guy?

The day I answer that question is the day I can outsmart old man Nara.

Alas, the mystery remained. Thus, resigned to the fact that his friend had decided that whatever game he was playing was more important than talking to him, Boruto fetched his own console, prepared to test out the vague advice Shikadai had given him. At this point, the call between the two boys had been going on uninterrupted for about forty-five minutes, but, as with the last time they'd video-called, it was only a short time later that one of the duo was interrupted. In particular, this time, it was Shikadai who had another person looking for him; there was a knock at the boy's door.

Finally glancing up from his device, Shikadai spoke with a lazy but present intrigue, eyeing the door like it was some suspicious stranger.

"Who is it?"

This earned Boruto's attention too, as Shikadai, unless answering to his mother, was generally speaking a very quiet boy who only spoke when he felt it was necessary. That said, the answer Shikadai received was far less surprising.

"It's Inojin; are you gonna tell me I can come in, or do I have to come in through the window?"

The memory of people entering through windows immediately made Boruto red, but regardless, Inojin was a fixture of the Nara household. Not only did he share a team with Shikadai, but as far as he knew, he was the boy's closest friend, bar none, including Boruto himself. Thus, immediately, the blonde knew the conversation with his friend would soon be coming to an end, the presence of the Yamanaka boy on Shikadai's teenage priority list having bumped the Uzumaki from the number one spot. So, speaking up over the call, Boruto gracefully decided to take his leave.

"I'm gonna guess that you two are going to go over mission plans or something?"

Shikadai turned back to the camera and shrugged.

"Something like that."

Boruto chuckled slightly; leave it to Shikadai to hate anything resembling effort yet end up planning for a mission on a Saturday.

"Okay then. Talk to you later man. Thanks for the help."

This time, the Nara boy actually smiled, if subtly.

"No problem. Maybe we can get lunch tomorrow or something; I'm still in town until Wednesday I think."

Boruto offered a similar gesture, happy to accept the invitation.

"For sure. See ya'."

And at that, the blonde's face disappeared from Shikadai's screen.

Turning back to the door, the young Nara called to his friend and teammate.

"Hey Inojin; you can come in now."

As such, Inojin, slipped into the room, closing the door behind him, although curiously, he clicked the lock, something Shikadai didn't fail to notice.

"So what's up? Bring your games with you, or were we just going to hang out?"

Offering a grin, Inojin rubbed the back of his head indicating some clear embarrassment. This earned a roll of the eyes from Shikadai; every time he saw the pale boy, he swore something had to go wrong.

"...Actually, I forgot my games at home. I figured we could just relax since we don't have to worry about a mission until this Wednesday."

Internally, Shikadai pumped his fist.

Knew it was Wednesday. See mom? I don't need a calendar.

Externally however, the eye rolling from earlier only continued.

"Really? What do you consider relaxing? We could go cloud watching if you wa-"

Inojin interrupted the Nara boy with a frantic escape plan of sorts, determined to avoid the hellish pursuit that appeared to plague the Nara clan.

"Shika, I adore you, but if I go cloud watching with you one more time I think I'm going to ask Boruto-San to hit me in the head with a Rasengan."

Snorting a tad, Shikadai jokingly raised his hands in a lackadaisical show of surrender.

"Alright, alright, although I'm still not sure what it is you have against cloud watching."

Inojin's lips made a thin line before he replied in a manner which, from anybody else, would be considered hilariously rude.

"Because it's boring, and boring things are a waste of time. I swear, Shika, you should get out more."

Exhaling, Shikadai turned away from Inojin, swiveling in his chair while he replied.

"Well shit, didn't know I was so boring, Inojin."

This earned a rare laugh from the Yamanaka youth, one which admittedly left Shikadai's ears feeling strangely warm as the blonde boy crossed the room.

"I only said cloud watching was boring, Shika; why would I be here if I found you boring?"

Turning back around, Shikadai finally stood up to face Inojin, his enjoyment of the little game the two were playing as they danced around each other's words becoming more and more evident.

"I dunno. Why are you here?"

Stalwart as ever, Inojin shrugged.

"For you, obviously."

Shikadai's face now felt much like his ears had moment ago; a tad hot. Of course, he was used to this. He spent day in day out with Inojin, so the occasional blush was nothing new. Regardless, he quickly steadied himself, determined to remain composed. Inojin, however, had other plans.

"Anyway, I was going to say we should watch a movie. You've got a laptop and we can both fit on your bed, and even though I didn't bring my games, I did bring some of mom's DVDs."

Shikadai pondered this idea for a second before shrugging his shoulders and motioning to grab his laptop.

"Alright. Better than nothing."

Inojin gave the boy an inquisitive look at that statement.

"Really? I thought you'd prefer nothing, if I'm being honest."

Again, this got Shikadai to snort, although this time, the Nara couldn't hold back a proper smile from finding its way to his face. Shaking his head, the boy turned around, laptop in hand, and spoke.

"Never change, Inojin. Never change."

Needless to say, the two boys had a good afternoon.

The rest of the weekend flew by like a breeze, and come Monday, Boruto found himself called to his Sensei's house. This wasn't unusual, with Konohamaru-Sensei being the lazy bastard that he was.

I swear, he and Shikadai would be a match made in heaven... anyway, this better be good. I've got a date tonight and I swear to God if we're leaving on a mission, I'm going to be pissed.

Despite this though, when Boruto got there, he found that only his Sensei was standing outside the gates of his home. No Sarada (unfortunately), and no Mitsuki (slightly less unfortunately). Now that was unusual. Of course, within a few moments of the older shinobi's explanation of the situation, it began to make sense.

"You're going where?!"

Konohamaru rolled his neck and rubbed his temples at the sound of the blonde-haired boy in front of him. Boruto really was his father's son, wasn't he? Regardless, the Jonin answered quite quickly, no emotion about his words besides a mild, growing annoyance.

"I'm going to Rice Country on a solo mission. There's been an emergency call from the Daimyo about a potential attempt on his life, and the mission been assigned too high of a rank to bring you along."

Boruto scoffed at this notion, as expected.

"But Sensei, what about Mitsuki and Sarada? Have you told them?! What about our team?"

Konohamaru closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He may have loved his baby brother, but there was only so much Uzumaki energy a man could take, and he was reaching his limit.

"Boruto, this isn't the first time I've been on a solo mission while we've been a team, and it certainly won't be the last. Why is it exactly that you're so up in arms about it this time?"

This statement actively rendered the boy silent for a few seconds, a rather rare occurrence to say the least. Konohamaru thus sought to inquire further.

"Boruto?"

The boy soon snapped out of his silence, moving his gaze upwards with a clear hint of anxiety in his eyes.

"I-... I'm just worried after that last mission, Sensei."

Konohamaru sighed, the exaggerated reaction making a little bit more sense now. Offering a smile, the Jonin spoke with a diminished annoyance, to say the least.

"I swear, Boruto, sometimes you surprise me. You know I'll be fine; I'm fully healed!"

Boruto rolled his eyes, shooting a glare at the well-over-a-month old bandages wrapped around his Sensei's shoulder. Instead of speaking, first he chose to jab the shoulder with a finger, earning a hiss of pain from his teacher.

"Ouch! Dammit Boruto-"

Taking this as an opportunity to prove a point, the blonde interrupted his sensei.

"See! Not healed! You know I don't get worried a lot, niisan, but if the mission's too high rank for us to go on as a team, it's probably too unsafe for you to go on if you're still screaming after a poke to the shoulder!"

Konohamaru, dejected, spoke under his breath at first, before actively addressing his student's concerns.

"...Not screaming... damn brat... ANYWAY! Boruto, I'm fine, really. It's an A-Rank mission but it's primarily just a protection mission. The only reason it's ranked so high is because a Daimyo is involved. The Rice Daimyo is famous for being paranoid though, so it'll probably just be a week or two of sitting around his palace before heading home."

Standing in contemplation for a second, the younger ninja's featured softened again as he replied to his Sensei.

"...Alright. Just be careful alright? And you've told the rest of the team?"

Konohamaru nodded, patting Boruto on the shoulder as he did so.

"I appreciate the concern, otouto. Yeah, I'm meeting with them all today individually; it seemed easier since I figured at least one of you brats would take it rough."

At that, Boruto couldn't help but let out a light laugh, although it was more restrained than usual. Soon after, Konohamaru waved goodbye and flickered off, surely to go meet with one of the blonde's teammates. He knew that his oniisan was a great Shinobi; hell, he'd seen what his jutsu had done to that missing ninja last time they'd been out on a mission. But still.. the Uzumaki couldn't help but shake a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Maybe seeing Sarada would help.

Seeing Sarada always helps.

Konohamaru was only one-hundred leagues out of Konoha, the sun still a couple of hours from setting, when he was ambushed. At first, he'd assumed the rustling nearby was just the wind blowing through the leaves as he leaped from branch to branch, but as it persisted, his honed senses spoke otherwise. Thus, he kept his right hand at the side of his leg while he jumped through the trees, prepared to draw a weapon at just a moment's notice. Soon after, the sound grew more distinguished, a blur of movement accompanying him a few trees deeper into the forest. Training his eyes on the target, Konohamaru made sure to stay wary, now certain he was about to be attacked.

This guy's keeping up with me. He must be pretty damned fast.

Idiotically, it didn't occur to him to worry about a potential second assailant. The first blow of the battle took him by surprise as a fist sailed into his left cheek, knocking the Jonin out of the air and to the forest floor. Luckily for Konohamaru, he had been high enough that as he flew towards the ground, he had time to right himself so that upon landing, he skidded along the grass as opposed to landing on his body.

Shit. Where did that come from?

His kunai now drawn and held tight in his right hand, Konohamaru's eyes darted upwards, scanning the treeline around him for any signs of movement. Soon enough, he managed to lock on to a pair of black blurs, each bouncing between trees and and slowly approaching him from both sides. Desperate for a way to attack both, Konohamaru tossed his kunai in the direction of the figure approaching from the right, and prepared to strike the target on his left when, again, out of nowhere, he was struck, although this time, the blow hit him straight from behind, an elbow strike to the kidney.

Stifling his collapse forwards with his right leg to catch his weight, Konohamaru quickly turned heel and swung with a precise right straight, making contact with yet another black figure which immediately vanished in a puff of smoke. Immediately turning back to face the two previous attackers, he registered both just in time to draw another kunai. The figure on his left bounced off of a tree with a chain of some sort in his hands, and the figure on his right held a rapier, prepared to pierce the Jonin without hesitation.

Wait... a rapier?

Taking his chances and measuring the potential threat of taking on either option head on, Konohamaru opted to parry the right-hand attacker's leaping thrust with his kunai, sliding the blade alongside the man's sword until he could safely push the attack away. He then followed this up by rotation on his right leg, hitting the man with a spinning left legged back kick to his chest, knocking him several feet backwards.

On the left, the chain wielder had already closed in, a swing of his weapon well underway. Unable to counter the attack with his fire techniques since he was in a densely wooded area, the Sarutobi heir raised his left arm to receive the brunt of the chain's hit. Immediately, he grit his teeth with pain as the steel weapon wrapped itself around his arm, followed by the sensation of a strong pull from his enemy. Resisting this, Konohamaru pulled back with his left arm much harder than the man had bargained for, yanking the opponent towards him with such force that he was actually pulled through the air. This allowed the Jonin to strike the now airborne assailant with a right handed hook to the face, smashing him to the ground. That man wouldn't be getting up.

Immediately, the Konoha shinobi felt the chain loosen, but of course, this was a deceptive sense of peace which quickly found itself ruined by the briefly forgotten other attacker, who was now rushing with a thrust in mind. Turning to face his next enemy, Konohamaru moved to block the attack with his left hand, planning to form a Rasengan to put the attacker down for good, but instead, he found the chain, still wrapped around his arm, now as taut as it had been initially, the cloaked figure on the ground sporting a barely visible smile at this turn of events.

So, without the time or mobility necessary to counter, Konohamaru was pierced through his midsection, gritting his teeth in pain as it happened. Stumbling backwards, the Konoha Jonin moved his right hand to cover his stab wound, the sword at fault now withdrawn. As it turns out, blood loss makes it very hard to keep yourself on your feet, and soon enough, Konohamaru couldn't hold himself up, falling backwards to the ground and only keeping his back straight through leaning against a tree. Through those same grit teeth, the Shinobi spoke, clearly pained as he did so.

"Wh-...W-who are you?"

The only response he received from the man holding the rapier was a high pitched chuckle, and much more audible, much more recognizable, half-faced grin beneath the shadow of his hood, followed by a few words.

"Who else, Sarutobi-Kun?"

A/N: Oh shit! Stuff's heating up! Hopefully you guys didn't mind the little step away from pure BoruSara; I do find it important to remind people that this story does have an actual plot haha. Anyway, please review and tell me your thoughts, I thoroughly hope you enjoyed it, and even more importantly hope you're all safe amid this rather scary time in the real world. Have a lovely day.