Boruto Light Novel 4

Part 2 (Puzzle Box)

After their rest break on the beach came to an end, the students assembled and headed over to the cafeteria.

"I wonder what's going to be on the lunch menu. It'll be mostly seafood, right? Like, grilled stuff?" Cho-Cho's mouth was practically watering, her hand in a bag of potato chips. 

Cho-Cho will always be Cho-Cho, before a meal or after, thought Sarada, walking beside her best friend. "I just had grilled squid earlier. It was really good. I think it's safe to say we can look forward to it, whatever it is."

"Oh, good. It'd be great if we got to try a new kind of fish!"

Sarada and Sumire expressed their agreement with small smiles.

"What's wrong, Inojin?"

Amidst them, Inojin was staring silently, looking at some sort of wooden box. Denki was the one who seemed interested in it and called out to him.

"Hm? Ah, I bought this because it looked cool, but I don't really know what it is," Inojin replied, holding out the small red box for him to see. There was an ornate pattern engraved into it, wrapping around the sides and top of the wood. It seemed like there was a way to open it, but Inojin wasn't sure what it was.

"I think you slide this piece to make the pattern align..."

He leaned over and watched closely as Denki twisted a panel on the box. It seemed to be some sort of puzzle. If you aligned the pattern on the front around and got the correct shape, the box would open.

"Hmm... This is interesting. But I wonder what the pattern is supposed to be?" Denki continued to stare at the box, but from the looks of it, they weren't going to figure out how to open it anytime soon.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Sarada walked up to them. "Does that thing actually open in the first place?"

"That's what the lady who sold it to me said." Inojin looked a bit troubled. He probably thought it was going to be easier to open. 

At that, Kagura walked up behind them. "Ah, a co-parquetry!"

"...Co-parquetry?"

"It's a type of puzzle native to our country. In the past, ninja would use these boxes to conceal and send secret messages, but... Didn't that box come in a set of two?"

Inojin fished the second one out of his bag. It had a similar pattern engraved on the surface, but they weren't exactly the same. And to further their differences, the second box was white.

"Can I have those for a second?"

Inojin handed both boxes to Kagura. He placed them on top of each other, and with a clicking sound, both red and white boxes slid into alignment.

"They're both moving!" Denki raised his voice in surprise.

"Ehh, so you needed both of the boxes to solve the puzzle."

"Messing around with just the one would have left us completely stumped..."

Sarada and Shikadai watched with interest as Kagura finished solving the puzzle. Right before their very eyes, the pattern from the red box slid onto the surface of the white box, and vice versa.

Just as it seemed like the colors of the box were changing completely, Kagura opened it and showed them the contents. Inside was a coral plate engraved with the crest of The Hidden Mist.

"How pretty," breathed Sumire, her eyes on the piece of coral.

Namida and Wasabi, who were watching from behind, also voiced their admiration for the interesting trinket.

"Interesting... Not only do you need both boxes to solve the puzzle, but the color changes as well..."

"This is a rather common item here, but I'm happy that you've taken a liking to it." As he spoke, Kagura had the same smile on his face as when Sarada complimented the squid.

Perhaps the box and the squid were both parts of the past that hadn't changed. Maybe that was why he seemed happy when they were complimented.

It'd be nice if Boruto's new friend could smile like this for good, thought Sarada.