I'm Cooked

She was mesmerized by the pretty pages and cover. Quickly learning how to read it, she starts delving into the story.

She was happy watching the family interactions and laughed at the younger siblings. Himawari felt a bit off at the strange narration at times but kept reading. Tanjiro's sense of smell was cool and eventually, the talk with Saburo made her frown a bit, but didn't really think much of it.

That was until she saw Tanjiro's family caked in blood with their vacant eyes. Her next reaction wasn't really surprising

She screamed bloody murder before throwing the book across the room and unconsciously activating her Byakugan.

Hinata was inside the room instantly, reminiscent of her previous experience as a shinobi, and saw her daughter curled up on Boruto's bed.

"HIMA-CHAN?! What's wrong?! Are you okay?!" Hinata quickly scanned the room for anything but realized there was no one before comforting her daughter and bringing her into a hug.

The young girl clung to her as if her life depended on it while sobbing.

"They died!" She struggled to bring out her words but when she did, Hinata's heart sank and fear immediately took over.

"Who died, dear?" Hinata struggled to maintain her emotions so that she wouldn't freak her daughter out and cause more distress.

"Tanjiro's family! They were all bloody! A demon did it!" She felt a bit better to the point she was struggling to speak but she was still crying.

Hinata was now confused. 

'Who's Tanjiro? Demons? Did she have a nightmare?' She shook her head at that last thought. 'No, she was just up. She couldn't have fallen asleep that fast.'

"Who's Tanjiro, sweetie?" Hinata didn't want to ask in case of making her more upset, but she had to consider that someone and their family could have suffered a tragic fate.

"...from the Demon Slayer book." She had considerably calmed down after her mother rocked her a bit and caressed her hair.

Hinata audibly sighed with relief and deactivated her Byakugan. She looked around and saw a book on the floor in front of Boruto's desk.

"It's alright, Hima-chan. It's just a story. It wasn't real." Hinata spoke softly while rubbing her back. She decided to carry her out of the room and back downstairs in front of the TV and put on her favorite cartoons to cheer her up. "How about I make you something to make you feel better? Would you like that?"

Himawari smiled a bit.

"Yes. Thanks, kaa-chan." She laid down on the couch and started watching.

Hinata went back up to Boruto's room in cold fury. Looking at the book, she could tell that it was Boruto's since it was a comic book. With her impeccable vision, she could see the small writing that had the age requirement, and her anger grew.

Figuring out how to read the strange volume, she would have appreciated the art if she weren't so angry, but kept such thoughts in the back of her mind. 

Red flags went off in her head. 

Whenever happiness is destroyed there's always the smell of blood. Come inside before the demons come. Demon Slayers, and then the tragic scene.

For a moment, her heart shattered seeing the intense display of blood and corpses, while she was angry, she still read it carefully to know exactly what Himawari saw. While sadness and pity welled inside her, all that quickly transformed into rage.

Her daughter had seen this!

Her son is in possession of it!

If it wasn't for her promise to Himawari, she would have immediately stormed off to her husband's office and practically demanded him to investigate where this book came from.

Honestly, Naruto is lucky, if he had come home right around this time and said he wanted to give this manga to Boruto as a present, she might have truly exploded on the spot. Hinata may be a spot-spoken and kind individual, but when it comes to her children, she won't hold back.

Right now, Hinata is going to bake all the cookies Himawari could ask for and spend some time with her, hoping to forget what she saw, but it was unlikely. The level of quality the book had was unlike anything Hinata had seen in Boruto's comics. 

+=[ES]=+

Present

+=[ES]=+

Unaware of the shitstorm he's about to be pulled into, Masashi is happily making more volumes. During the next hour, after Boruto's spectacle, more people came by and he gave the same old song and dance about his manga, netting him more income. He sold about 10 more volumes.

This growth was pretty insane, but he knew that it was mostly thanks to Boruto that he was able to sell so many, especially if he were to tell his friends and their parents were to find out about it. He already got Sai and Naruto, so it's just a matter of time now.

He'd probably even be able to get his store before the week is up, but he'd probably wait since he doesn't want his money to be wasted. Oh, maybe he could gain some hype around his shop?

Masashi would need to find a property and then advertise it during the rest of the week once he got the required EC

Speaking of EC…

Entertainment Coins: 5.8

Masashi smiled as he was already over halfway there. Sure, it may not really be anything compared to how much different art sections cost and the other manga, but it's a start.

Besides, if he were to convert his EC back into Ryo then he'd have 58,000ryo in the bank, which was incredible when the day wasn't even over yet.

Just as he was about to close down his stall for lunch, a group of kids came up to the stand.

"Isn't this it?" A girl asked.

"It does say Demon Slayer." A teal-eyed boy stated.

Masashi naturally recognized all of them.

Inojin, Sarada, Chocho, and Metal Lee.

"Hey Shinobi-san, was Boruto here an hour ago?" Sarada asked simply because who knew if that fool got sidetracked and drag Shikadai into his nonsense.

"Yeah, and it's Masashi, he asked about the second volume but it won't be available until tomorrow. You guys must be his friends, so you want to check it out?" He asked and they all nodded.

They all grabbed one and read a bit of the summary. Inojin failed to inform them of the dead family part to avoid spoilers but they slightly balked at the information. 

Sarada caught the age requirement.

"You have to be 12 to read this?" Sarada wondered out loud and got a little mad seeing that Boruto likely lied to the seller.

"Yup. It's pretty graphic but Boruto and his friend are of age, since he seemed to have recommended you all and are friends, it's all good. They're 1000ryo each." Masashi didn't exactly lie per se, considering from his perspective, Boruto said he and Shikadai are 12.

People live their lives by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define reality.

Thanks, Itachi! Masashi decidedly ignored the rest of the quote and Sarada fidgeted, looking like she wanted to say something along with Metal Lee.

"Well, my dad gave me a copy. So you guys get one." Inojin helpfully added seeing that it wasn't a big deal. Sure, the massacre was brutal, but surely they'd see similar things when they become shinobi. He didn't see the reason to stress about a 1-2 age difference.

"Well, there you have it." Masashi smiled.

Correct and true, my friends. This is reality!

The kids originally felt a bit apprehensive, but after hearing some encouragement, they didn't seem to mind much. If Inojin could read it and said it was fine, then why couldn't they?

After handing Masashi the money, they left, and he was 0.3EC richer.

As he was about to sit down, an ANBU shinobi appeared right in front of his stand.

"The Hokage requests your presence." a monotone voice called to him.

While the phrasing was polite, he knew it was not a request, so he might have done something questionable.

"Do you want one before I go?" He audaciously pointed to one of his volumes.

This ANBU had the same mask from earlier when he gave Naruto a volume, so he decided to test his luck.

He looked down and then disappeared.

What he saw surprised him. A stack of bills and one of the volumes missing.

Got his ass.

Masashi laughed before converting it and began to pack up his volumes, banners, and cutouts sticking up between the columns.

He then got to thinking. Perhaps he could also make some flyers and have his company logo and a company banner…or have his company name on the same banner under the artwork? 

As he was thinking, he finished packing and made his way to the Hokage Tower.

"Ah, Masashi-san?" A feminine voice called to him from the side and he turned.

It was Kiyomi.

"Oh, hey Tadeki-san. What's up?" He asked but didn't want to make the Hokage wait too long.

"Oh, well I'm on lunch, so I was about to head to your stall. Did you close up for the day?" She asked, a bit disappointed that she may have missed it. 

"Ah, I just have some business at the Hokage Tower. I can sell you one here if you want." Masashi's money-making senses were tingling.

"Yes! That would be great!" She smiled and he took out a scroll with a volume popping out.

They made the exchange and bid each other farewell.

He climbed a couple flights of stairs once he was inside the tower and was right outside the door to the Hokage's office.

Masashi knocked.

"Come in." He heard the muffled voice of Naruto and opened the door.

He saw Naruto, Boruto who looked extremely guilty and sad which surprised him, Hinata, Shikadai, Shikamaru, and Temari.

Boruto's look confused him. He already had an idea of why he was here, but to think Boruto got caught so easily.

Like…bro…how? It hasn't even been half a day yet.

Hinata looked at him and he was expecting to see anger, but she was mostly exasperated and even looked a little sorry.

Actually, Naruto, Shikamaru, Temari, and Hinata all had that same expression.

Why aren't they mad at me? Did Boruto and Shikadai admit to having lied to me about their age? I was almost guaranteed to be thrown under the bus.

What the hell happened?

+=[ES]=+

10 Minutes Ago

+=[ES]=+

Boruto was making his way home with Shikadai, while he was disappointed that there wasn't a second volume at the stand, he was glad that there would be tomorrow.

Even if he had to wake up early, he must get it before anyone else! He'll even wake Shikadai up early too so he won't miss out.

The boy in question felt a seemingly random chill down his spine. 

'Is it getting cold out?' Shikadai shook his head as Boruto opened the door.

Hinata was right there, startling the boys. Boruto actually dropped the volumes he was carrying.

"Gah?! You scared us, kaa-chan!" Boruto pouted before reaching to pick them up.

Hinata was faster, though.

"He—!" 

"Where did you get these?" Hinata gave a deceptive smile.

"Oh! This cool guy Masashi…" As Boruto was ranting about Masashi, Shikadai felt terror upon seeing her expression.

He knew that look all too well from his own mother that she used when his father was smoking or out late with Uncle Choji and Auntie Ino.

Boruto, however, was clueless.

"Uh…Boruto?" Shikadai had a bad feeling.

Hinata kept smiling through Boruto's ranting before he stopped and looked at Shikadai questioningly.

"What?"

Shikadai didn't say anything and looked back at his mother.

"You know, I couldn't help but notice that it said you have to be 12 years old to buy this. Want to explain?" Her smile faded into a frown.

Boruto finally understands Shikadai's silence.

Just before he could give an excuse or even deflect blame, he thought back to Masashi.

He was nice and didn't look at him as the Hokage's son but rather Boruto himself.

The thing he hates the most is others looking at him and seeing his father. Why couldn't everyone see Boruto? Masashi was one of the rare few outside of his friend group who looked at him like he was just like everyone else.

He wasn't going to throw him under the train to deflect his own lie.

As he was about to speak, his mother beat him to it.

"Because of how rowdy you and Shikadai were, Himawari wanted to know what you were speaking about in your room so she went in there. Do you want to know what she found?" The anger was back again.

Boruto and Shikadai looked horrified. They left their manga in there and knew the scene in which Himawari read.

They looked at each other and both thought the same thing.

'I'm cooked."