-RESEARCH-

SUMIRE WATCHED YOU FROM HER MONITOR SCREEN, her eyes fixated on the gradual intakes of air you took from the oxygen pump. Your breaths were fragile; clearly showing your struggle with being unconscious— something that you should have awakened from long ago if it wasn't for your dire state.

You were... unique, that's the best way Sumire could describe you. Unique in the way that your body was so, so delicate yet seeping with chakra. From the way your chakra points swelled with untamed energy, to the way your body looked too malnourished to even house that much power; It was odd. And Sumire dealt with oddities almost every day. That was her job— she was a student training to be a researcher in all things technological. That's as odd and wacky as things can get, right?

The girl tapped a finger on her metallic desk. The tense silence of her office was broken by the soft rumbling of machinery, and she hummed in fascination along with it. The monitor to her computer was split into two, with one side showing Kawaki— the boy they recently managed to capture— and you, the mysterious girl who accompanied him.

Both of you were marvellous works of science. Kawaki was a living, breathing scientific ninja tool with a karma mark etched into his palm. (Well, that's what Konohamaru senseis report said they were called.) Her and her team weren't sure what the marks were exactly, but they made slow progress to understand them better. All Sumire knew so far was that Boruto shared the same mark, and that the power hinged on that thing was unstable.

You on the other hand, were proven to be a complete revelation. An almost infinite supply of chakra pumped through your veins—chakra men would kill to have. Granted, infinite was quite the exaggeration but for someone as frail and malnourished as you, it seemed almost impossible for you to house that much power. But you did, even if the concept seemed too illogical in her mind. So the purple haired girl let out a sigh.

Something told Sumire that things were about to get reaaal messy. With every advancement in science, peace was slowly but surely being threatened. It was only a matter of time her team found out a ground-breaking discovery about the Karma mark which sent the world into panic.

But before she could delve into the endless possibilities of Earth falling apart, the sound of footsteps snapped the girl out of her thoughts. Voices accompanied them, and soon she was met with the door to her office sliding open.

"Yo! How's things going Sumire?" Boruto emerged from the doorway with his hands behind his head, relaxed. Beside him were his two teammates, Mitsuki and Sarada who both shared their greetings to the girl. It had been a while since they all got together; ever since Sumire decided to leave the academy to peruse her studies in ninja technology, the genins lost touch. But thanks to this incident, the group were reunited once more. They all had a common mission; to find out what was up with these two mystery people.

"Boruto, Mitsuki, Sarada, thank you all for coming" Sumire leaned against the counter of her desk, her fingers gripping the edge of the surface. She wanted to see the three because she needed their help. "I was hoping you guys would be able to help me today with one of the patients."

"How are they? Lord seventh is keeping us in the dark about the whole situation. He says it's for the best but...you know what happened" Sarada said with a sort of eagerness to it. After watching the fight between the boy with the mark and the Kara member, it was clear to her that they were a threat. And as future Hokage, Sarada needed to know more about the situation— if her childish curiosity wasn't enough.

Boruto was interested for reasons other than curiosity or being the future Hokage however, he wanted to know about the Karma mark. And as for Mitsuki, being the analytical type he was, he simply wanted to have a better understanding. So it was safe to say that all three genins were vying for the girls attention.

Sumire, bombarded with questions, raised her hands "Everything is going smoothly so far— my team have managed to run tests on the two, and we've learnt quite a bit." The girl looked at Boruto "Unfortunately I can't say much about the mark on his palm...sorry, Boruto. The Hokage wants to leave matters like these to the other Kages"

Boruto kissed his teeth in annoyance "Tch, of course he'd keep something like this from us. It's not like we were there or anything" The blonde had a hunch with this whole situation. It was so weird to be fixated on like this, but kept in the dark at the same time. Boruto just wanted to understand what the hell was going on and his father, as much as their relationship was being rekindled, was getting on his nerves. He was making this difficult for him.

"Lord seventh is doing the right thing, we don't have any solid conclusions about the mark so to start spreading information about it would be far from logical. You know how the media is nowadays..." Sumire tried to reason with the disappointed team and it seemed to be working on Mitsuki and Sarada atleast. But Boruto wasn't having it

"So he thinks we're going to run our mouths? We're not stupid, Sumire" he snapped back

Sarada elbowed the blonde in response. "Leave it to the adults, Boruto! Atleast we get to see the two Kara members."

Sumire used the opportunity to butt-in "-Speaking of which!" She stood up straight and gestured towards the monitor. On one side showed you still sleeping peacefully, and on the other showed Kawaki sitting upright, his hand to his pounding head. "The boy has managed to wake up"

All three genins shared an equal look of shock. "He's awake!? Finally, we can ask him questions!" Boruto was brash with his decision and was about to make his way out of the office, but was caught by Sarada who pulled him back.

"Let her finish, idiot" she snarled.

"Ah, right" Boruto pulled a shy grin and returned to the group.

Sumire sighed in relief "Thank you, Sarada. But now that I've shown you guys this, I need your help with taking care of him." Sumire tapped the 'enter' button on her keyboard and suddenly the monitor was taken up completely by Kawakis side. He was the main focus now, and to their dismay, he was smashing his handcuffs against the metal door. He was being...difficult.

It didn't surprise Sumire in the slightest, but she still held her distaste towards his behaviour. The boy was in a completely new environment, taken in by strangers to which he had no idea of their intentions— him being complaint would have worried the girl more to be honest. But that meant she had to punish him in some way, so she empathised with the boy as much as she could.

"We will need to sedate him so he calms down. But once we do, I'd like the three of you to help me with monitoring him. He's more familiar with your faces than mine" Sumire pointed at Borutos palm "And with that mark of yours, Boruto, he'll be inclined to trust you more. You two are basically in the same boat."

Boruto spared a glance at his palm. The familiar black diamond was etched in the centre— a constant reminder of the battle he won against Momoshiki. Soon he'll know everything about this cursed mark, including how to be rid of it. The blonde closed his hand and balled it into a fist. "Count me in, I'm sick of doing nothing but moping around"

Sarada and Mitsuki both agreed with the boy; they too had their own motivations. And with the group now on her side, Sumire felt confident in herself. The task Lord seventh trusted her and the research lab with is in good hands; she was sure of it.

"Thank you once again, everyone!" Sumire was about to comment on what they needed to do next now that everyone was on the same page, but was suddenly interrupted by the sound of her computer blaring to life. It was a notification from one of the machines— and it came from the oxygen pump in the girls room.

With wide eyes, Sumire pulled up the second monitor and observed the room. The girl was no longer facing the ceiling, asleep. She was now sitting upright and staring at her handcuffs with confusion.

She was awake.