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Sometimes, being the Hokage and blasting jutsu was far, far easier than running a house. He appreciated Hinata for everything she did but as the clock showed it had been an hour of her departure to the Sand village, Naruto appreciated all the more for what she endured. Which is exactly why she deserved this, a couple of days away with the mothers of Konoha Eleven.
Hima had been surprisingly brave, though she usually spent all her time with Hinata in the home rather than her father, the girl had jumped her feet at spending time with papa.
“Papa will be home with me and big brother.” The little girl smiled, holding her crayon books. “Mama can enjoy time with her friends.”
“Hima, this isn’t even a good thing,” Boruto grumbled, “The old man can’t cook. We’re going to starve.”
“Boruto,” Naruto felt a wince in his chest, awkwardly. “I’ve got some ideas on what to cook..”
It was true, Hinata’s cooking was super cook level and Naruto hardly cooked throughout the years of their marriage. He kind of just left the house stuff to her but would try to help on his days off. And she never said anything, just smiled and took it upon herself because Naruto had an entire job in looking after the village all hours of the day and night. It was a job that never stopped.
The boy just laid on the orange sofa, pulling out his video games. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The evening had settled and the night was out, Hinata would be a few hours away from the Sand – the kids had no idea what it was like in their day when they had to walk everywhere. Now as Konoha slowly modernised, there were train tracks for transport.
A track of steps came down the stairs, Kawaki had his hands in his pockets, his hair messy from sleep.
Naruto let the boy take as much naps as he wanted. It hurt his heart to realise that Kawaki could sleep for so long because, he spent years not being able to sleep at all from fear of Jigen.
The boy ignored Boruto and just slightly noticed Hima, since she didn’t annoy him the way that kid could.
“So you turn up just for food,” Boruto commented with a tone, pressing a button harder on his video game console as it blast music in the background. “Tough because there’s none.”
“I wake up and your voice just ruins it,” Kawaki retorted back. “Like I care about food. I can survive without it. Brats like you are used to getting anything they tell their mothers to serve.”
Naruto felt the build up of a headache, this is what he told Hinata “it’ll be fine, you go, I’ll handle the boys,” – but with the kids at home and Kawaki refusing to attend the academy because he simply did not want to be a shinobi and Hima still deciding what she wants to do, the clashes between the boys happened when they had to spend more time together.
“If you want to fight, let’s go outside!” Boruto jumped up from the sofa, energy fuming.
Hima paused her coloring, her eyes turning to her dad, worried.
Naruto wasn’t having any of this, he charged in front and put a shoulder on the both of them. “Stop. If you fight, you fight on training grounds. In this house, we eat or clean up. Which one do you want to do first?”
The cleaning option made both boys shut up. Neither wanted to get a brush out or hoover or tidy their rooms.
“Good,” Naruto relaxed. He took a look at the stove and felt the urge to grimace at the idea of having to write down or follow a book of ingredients.
“So, kids, what takeaway shall we get today..?”
“Burgers and chips!” Boruto decided first. Hima agreed with him with a nod.
“I don’t care either way,” was Kawaki’s response, not ever being fussed about food when he spent years being withheld from it.
“You can come with me to pick it up, then,” Naruto was immune to the boy’s moods, he just needed getting used to his new family, that’s all, and it’d take time.
“Boruto, lock the doors and look after Hima, okay?” Naruto walked towards the hallway and put his shoes on.
“I’ll use the rasengan before anyone can get through the gates, Tou-chan.”
“Papa, get me a strawberry milkshake, please?” Hima’s whiskers bright and happy as she asked.
“Sure, Hima. I’ll put some of that sprinkles on you like too!”
The village’s peace was tantamount to Naruto’s efforts.
Once a time where threats, risks and unpredictability could unleash onto the village at any day, now with the Hokage and Shadow Hokage watching over the village, the peace that every ancestor had wanted, every person that sacrificed themselves for the village, had finally settled.
It was all his purpose for being Hokage in the first place, not just for the village to see him but for peace he never got in his youth.
He looked briefly at Kawaki, the boy looking moody but sticking to Naruto’s side.
And to make sure nobody is cast out of rejected from a home, a warm meal and the love of a parent.
“Kawaki, are you sure you don’t want to spend even a lesson in the academy? You learn everything from the start there.”
“Classes with a bunch of little brats? I’m not a baby. I can fight.” The boy was confident of his karma, that’s all he needed to protect the nanadaime, sitting in a classroom and looking at a book was hardly worth his time.
The last of the sun gleamed on them as the night arrived.
“I wanted to become a genin so much, I was just a little younger than you at the time.” Naruto shared a little of his past. The boy had a keen ear on Lord Seventh’s words, even if he didn’t say anything. “I thought, I’d get strong and everyone would finally see how great I could be.”
“Yeah, I heard the story from the demon fox,” Kawaki’s words came out as a bit of a mutter.
“Eh? Kurama?!”
“When you slept, I tried to sneak out,” the boy admitted. “He’s annoying.”
Naruto laughed, “He’s given me some hard times, believe me. We weren’t always friends.” The Hokage’s voice changed, as he smiled at the boy, who reminded him so much of himself. “Things really can change, in a moment. You might not want to be a shinobi, but one day, you might find yourself liking the idea of it.”
“If you ask me now, my answer is still the same,” the boy gave him a stubborn look.
Naruto couldn’t help it, he reached out to ruffle the boys hair, who didn’t appreciate being treated like a toddler.
They got to the burger shop, called “ChipZone.” The colours of the label red, orange, a ketchup bottle image on the sign.
“Here,” Naruto gave the boy the money, “Go get whatever you want, a burger meal for Boruto and Hima, and a milkshake.”
“What about you, Nanadamine?” The boy straight away asked.
“I’m not that hungry, really, if it was my choice.. it’d be ramen,” he felt a little immature admitting that, but Kawaki just silently took the money and headed to the shop.
Naruto thought he’d wait and look around the peace of the village.
This is what he fought for, the birds flew and the butterflies flocked around his golden hair.
Naruto let one butterfly land on his finger. “You’re a bunch of fast ones!” They flew around him a little before flying past into the warm air.
“Nanadaime!”
He turned.
Sarada had a huge smile on her face as she darted towards Naruto, who represented the future she wanted - protecting the leaf! “Papa, I want to speak to Nanadaime first.”
“Hi, Sarada,” Naruto welcomed her. She smiled up at him.
Sasuke nearby, he had an air of peace around him, he was holding a bag. It looked like he went shopping for the day with Sarada and bought anything she wanted.
Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto who gave him a smile.
He really wanted to ask this. “Sasuke, how’s it going running the Uchiha house without Sakura-chan?”
Sarada giggled, “Papa cooks better than mama but… don’t tell her that.”
Sasuke didn’t deny it, he had a warm look at his daughter’s compliment.
“Don’t worry,” Naruto knew Sakura-chan had certainly calmed it with the greatest power punches across the years, but he wasn’t going to rile her up. “This all stays between us.”
He saw that the girl looked to be heading to the same shop as them.
“Not a home meal today?” Naruto questioned Sasuke. “Since you’re so good at cooking.”
Sasuke replied to him, the tone of a father who was out spoken. “Seems the kids these days like food outside their five a day.”
“Let them live a little, we never really got that!”
“You spent years gulping down processed noodles, usuratonkachi.” Sasuke’s nickname always made Naruto smile, he liked hearing it.
“Still healthy,” Naruto said a bit teasingly, “despite my old age….”
Sasuke almost smiled at that.
Kawaki came out holding a large bag in one hand and the milkshake and fizzy drink bag in another.
“Give here,” Naruto took the larger one and let the boy carry the smaller one.
“This is mine and Boruto’s favourite, papa,” Sarada mentioned about the burgers. “They add this sauce that looks so yucky, but Boruto made me try it.”
“We’ll get that one then, and go home.” Sasuke told her.
For some reason, Naruto thought of the idea. He wasn’t sure why, but when he thought about it, he hardly ever had Sasuke or even Sakura-chan around at his house for good old team seven nostalgia.
“Why don’t you eat with us? Since we’re all eating the same food..” Naruto told Sasuke, a strange nervousness pooled in his stomach though. He never had Sasuke spend a day in his house at all, nor for a meal, not unless Sasuke couldn’t find him at the Hokage tower and needed to get ahold of him.
Sarada brightened at the idea, Kawaki held the drink bag with nothing to say, he just wanted to go back to the house.
Naruto had an even stranger feeling, when Sasuke looked at him so directly, without even blinking, for over a couple of seconds. Naruto blinked back at him, and the feeling went.
Sasuke’s eyes suddenly looked less intense and back to its calmer look.
“Since you are offering, I won’t say no.” Sasuke said, noting that Sarada looked so happy, and ran her little steps into the store to get their order.
Naruto almost felt his cheeks feel weird, like it was burning up, from the look Sasuke had on his face when he looked at him.
Kawaki, who seemed to notice everything about the nanadaime’s shift in mood, chakra, emotions, almost raised an eyebrow.
Lord seventh was acting weird, in front of the Uchiha.
He was the only one who probably noticed, since Sarada came back with the bagful of food, almost skipping at the thought of spending a proper dinner with her inspiration, even if it meant enduring Boruto being annoying.
“Sasuke-san is here!” Boruto almost fell off the couch at seeing his sensei. Naruto felt Boruto saw Sasuke as his father more than he did his real one, which.. he didn’t mind but it was almost a reminder of how he has failed Boruto so much at the beginning.
And it was Sasuke who really helped heal their fractured bond.
“No training,” Sarada cut in, ready to intervene. “You’re not taking Papa’s time away when I’m here.”
“I’m ready to eat first before that, Sarada,” the boy lunged for the biggest portion of chips.
Kawaki looked and scoffed, “Brat eats like he’s starving…”
Boruto’s moody remark to that came as a muffle with chips stuck in his mouth half bitten.
Sarada sighed, she wished Mitsuki was here right now, it made tolerating Boruto easier.
Naruto was trying to get plates out, it made a loud screeching noise, as he clumsily got out too many, and had to count for six plates. He was more clumsy than usual, he heard a shout from Kawaki and Boruto.
“Shoot!” The plate was about to fall, he quickly put the rest on the table and —
Sasuke’s hand shot out to catch it. Naruto almost gasped, he didn’t even see the man appear in front of him. Stupid speedy stealthiness!
“Thanks…” Naruto moved to grab the plate, looking away from the man. He was Hokage and looked like a bumbling idiot in front of Sasuke of all people.
Why was his skin feeling warmer all of a sudden? It was warm on a Konoha night but it wasn’t exactly like they were in temperatures above thirty-five.
He only just realised how close Sasuke was to him.
Which shouldn’t be a problem, why would it. But in this kitchen, in his home, it was like a tickle on his neck, seeing the man like this, outside the debriefs they’d have in the Hokage tower, and that was most of the time, with Shikamaru there too.
“Still clumsy,” Sasuke’s voice wasn’t scolding, more observing and amused. “Things don’t really change with you, does it?”
“You don’t tell anyone about this or you’re kicked out of that Hokage tower, you know.” Naruto told him back, trying to regain some dignity. He was Hokage! He could deal with simple stuff such as plates.
“I’ll find a way to come in, anyways,” Sasuke’s deep voice said, staring at him, and the words had Naruto hold the plate in his almost frozen state.
What did he mean by that?
Before Naruto could even say a word, but he felt he wouldn’t have been able to anyways, the shouts of the kids brought him back to reality.
“Boruto, you used all the sauce!” Sarada complained.
“What - we always gets extras, not my fault tou-chan forgot!”
“It was me that got it, brat,” Kawaki took an angrier sip of the fizzy drink with the straw. “Didn’t realise you were greedier than I thought.”
“Kids, it’s just sauce!” Naruto added in, heading over to them. Only Hima was sipping her milkshake happily, ignoring the commotion.
Naruto ignored his thoughts on Sasuke, and Sasuke himself when the man went to take a seat next to his daughter.
He looked entirely normal and let her share his food with him.
“Sorry, Nanadaime,” Sarada went a bit embarassed at looking so immature in front of the seventh.
“Sarada,” Naruto told her kindly, “you’re a guest here, you can eat whatever you want.”
“And Boruto, Kawaki” Naruto sent a stern fatherly look. “It’s the dinner table, not the training grounds. Alright?”
Kawaki moodily put a few chips in his mouth, beginning his meal. Boruto even quietened down, the calmness was restored in the house.
Naruto sat down and when he began his meal, saw that Sasuke’s eyes occasionally met his when he looked up.
“Sasuke-san, now can we go and train?” Boruto asked eagerly after the meal.
Sarada looked like she wanted to throw a Sakura style punch to the boy, no way was Papa spending all these time with her to train Boruto – if she wanted to be anything like the Nanadaime in the future, she had to learn all the strongest jutsu’s that Papa knows.
“It’s late, Boruto,” Sasuke told the boy, “You can train tomorrow with me and Sarada.”
“Papa –“ Sarada was about to protest, but didn’t, since she had a respect for her parent that Boruto was able to slip by.
“Tou-chan, I bet you and Sasuke-san stayed up all night training don’t lie!” Boruto turned to his father, trying to get Naruto to convince his sensei to change his mind.
Naruto send almost a helpless look to Sasuke, who let him deal with his son.
“Well.. we had to!” Naruto tried to tell him. “Times were crazy back then, you walked out the house and someone could attack you, that doesn’t happen anymore.”
“So what was Ishiki and Momishiki then?” Boruto made a valid point, making his father look a fool.
“Why don’t we rock, paper, scissors it?” Hima said quietly, but loved the idea.
She accidently looked at Sasuke and fought a squeak. Dressed in black, the man looked intimating. She shifted closer to papa’s warmth. “Big brother’s team and Sarada-san’s team…”
“You guys need to go to bed, Hinata will kill me that you’re up this late!” Naruto protested, these children were going to kill him early.
“Fine with me,” Kawaki had enough of this child’s play, it was ridiculous, he was already making his way to upstairs.
“Nope,” Boruto whizzed through to stop him. “You’re on my team!”
“Oi,” Kawaki frowned, “It’d rather support the girl,” he mentioned Sarada who he didn’t mind in the house.
“Uchiha vs Uzumaki…” Naruto slapped a hand over his forehead.
He threw a look at Sasuke, who wasn’t saying a single thing. A bit of support would be nice! He sent that sharp look to Sasuke, who only focussed on what Sarada wanted to do next, like it wasn’t his problem the kids were playing up.
Hima giggled, “Battle of the clans! Please, please can we do it?” She almost twirled in delight. And she was such an adorable angel that Naruto could not say no.
“Papa,” Sarada’s face got serious as she addressed her dad. “We win.”
“You kids….” Naruto made a pained face. This was supposed to be a quick feed the kids and rest up, he was still kind of tired from Hokage duties this morning and the amount of paperwork he had to do.
“Me and Sarada first,” Boruto said this so confidently like he had the win in the bag, lifting up his arm sleeve slightly like he was going to start a boxing march with her.
“You’ll be late for your bedtime, Boruto,” Sarada adjusted her glasses, ready to beat the other boy in the battle.
Hima leant into Naruto’s side, this was such a fun day with papa! Naruto held her back with a supportive gesture, feeling a bit out of his depth that he could not handle all these kids..
He looked back again at Sasuke, who was still quiet, and Naruto looked quickly away the next.
Kawaki’s eyes looked at Naruto first, then the Uchiha.
Something may have happened between these two, but he was unsure of what.
And for Kawaki, any risk to the Nanadaime’s mental or physical wellbeing, was something he would have to investigate and deal with.
“Rock, Paper, Scissors…. GO!” The other kids yelled out.
“I cannot… believe…” Sarada’s voice was in mourning. They lost a game of rock, paper and scissors to Boruto. She trudged up to the green, empty training grounds, could feel the smugness coming out of Boruto already purely from the air.
It was darker now, the leaves were blowing a bit from the cooling air.
Naruto should have let Boruto go himself, but at this hour, Hinata wouldn’t have been happy, so Naruto had to drag himself and the other two kids with him. He was unable to let Kawaki stay home alone, who would be asleep at this time usually, but Naruto hated the idea of the child being alone in the dark.
Hima had all the energy in the world, she held her papa’s hand and was excited to see Boruto train with the scary looking sensei. Naruto, Kawaki and Hima all sat on a nearby bench to watch.
Sarada perched near a tree, curious to see what Boruto had been learning from her father.
Sasuke tested Boruto’s shuriken skills, his rasengan, which Naruto smiled at - even possibly better than his. Just not as large.
“This is good, Boruto. But do you know the basics?”
“Basics?” Boruto didn’t like the sound of boring stuff like that.
“Tree climbing.”
Naruto smiled further, he remembered the days with Kaka-sensei. The early team seven days. A look at Sasuke, who’s eye flicked towards him for a brief second, softer.
He remembered it too, then..
“We did that with Shino- sensei all the time,” Boruto explained.
“Show me, I can check the strength of your chakra control,” Sasuke told him.
“Not as easy as it looks, you know,” Naruto had to refer to the old days, “We all struggled - me, Sasuke. Sarada - only your mom was the best at it.”
“Really?” Sarada’s face filled with pride, like she wanted to do a little “cha,” internally. “But papa didn’t even know?” She looked shocked at that.
“Naruto’s fabricating it, he fell before his feet touched, I got there halfway,” Sasuke gave his version of the truth.
Naruto had his urge to defend himself, Sasuke always wanted to look like he was the coolest out of the bunch! “You still fell down. We spent all night training together…” Naruto’s voice almost nostalgic about that time. “So got there in the end.”
Sasuke looked just as nostalgic, Naruto noticed the wind blue his longer dark hair a bit. “We did.”
“Aunt Sakura is the hidden underdog!” Boruto complimented.
“Your aunt Sakura-chan is one of the strongest kunoichi,” Naruto described Sakura.
However, the mention of the woman suddenly made Naruto realise that the weird feelings he had of Sasuke at the kitchen suddenly felt very, very wrong.
He started to stop speaking, Sasuke noticed.
Naruto thought the other man wasn’t going to say anything and just continue with the training.
Sasuke did speak though, honest words coming out. “She learnt not just from the fifth. Her strength was also from your dad, Boruto.”
The Uchiha’s black eye then flicked to Naruto.
That was a compliment to him. A huge, compliment from Sasuke that Naruto blinked, hard. He rarely got compliments from the man, or a true acknowledgment from him.
The wind blew, luckily it blew away the small tints of red threatening to come out on Naruto’s face.
“Hurry up, it’s getting late for the kids…” Naruto only said back to the man, his words faltered slightly, it felt harder to keep looking at Sasuke.
Naruto had the look of Kawaki on him, he could tell.
He looked back. “You okay, kid? Tired?”
“No,” Kawaki responded – it all suddenly started to click in his head, what it was.
Why Nanadaime and the Shadow Hokage were unable to stop looking at each other and reminiscing about the past.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, Nanadaime.”
Because it wasn’t Nanadaime he needed to talk to first, it’d be the Uchiha.
Naruto left it at that, as long as Kawaki wasn’t upset, he wasn’t going to push for now.
Naruto snored in his sleep, so loud, lying down on a bed from across the sofa Kawaki was lying down on.
He waited for the seventh to be fully out, he had no Kurama to stop him this time, but he wasn’t going to escape – he was going to protect the person that gave him a safe home.
The boy quietly stepped out the house, he did not want to seen in the daylight where there would be Sarada hanging around, but at this time, most likely the shadow Hokage would be awake still.
He was the shadows that protected the leaf, after all, so it sounded like sleep was the lowest priority.
He made it to the Uchiha house, there was nobody around walking the streets at this time.
He simply waited, the Uchiha would surely sense his chakra, or the karma. So he raised it out of his body to fully to mark his face, a thick black line changing the colours of his eyes and covering his face.
This was the weapon he’d use to keep the Nanadaime breathing.
As he predicted, the Uchiha opened the door.
“Kawaki,” he acknowledged, but didn’t extend the door for him to enter. “My daughter is asleep.”
“I’ll get straight to the point, then.” The dark night was quiet, the boy’s chakra - even though he was no fully qualified shinobi, not even a genin, became fiercer, that Sasuke could feel it.
“I exist to protect Nanadaime. I’ve killed my own bro almost to protect him. So you, Uchiha Sasuke, shadow Hokage, the one leading by his side – if you overstep, and harm Nanadaime in any way,” Kawaki raised his karma arm in warning, “I’ll do whatever to remove any risk.”
This child was no threat to the powers Sasuke had, who merely took in the boy’s words.
Sasuke only raised his armless limb, to show the curse of atonement and repentance, and how even know, every act for the leaf, is for Naruto. “This was lost in a special battle.”
Kawaki’s karma didn’t inactivate, he just waited, until the feeling of a threat towards the nanadaime would pass, if the Uchiha would save himself or not.
Sasuke pressed a hand to the limb he couldn’t feel at all. “Naruto is my only friend.”
“A friend, a teammate, a shadow kage.” Kawaki gave out the labels, “you would not overstep that?”
This kid really had the nerve to come to his door and threaten him, but Sasuke had a daughter sleeping in the other room, and this kid was her friend.
And he was still Naruto’s son.
“I chose my path, Kawaki. I have to live with that. It’s the only path I deserve.” Sasuke finally spoke, and his eyes held a blackness that was rare.
The boy’s karma faded, his eyes went back to original color. “Then,” the boy said, calmer, slowly convinced, “we won’t speak of this again.”
The boy put his hands in his pockets, satisfied that his safe person, his father, was protected as he turned back to his home.
When Kawaki returned, his wrist was grabbed by the loud mouth, Boruto, who had been blinking tired eyes when the door had opened in the dead of the night.
“Where did you go?” He demanded at once.
“How is it your business? I went for a walk,” the older boy brushed past him without a thought.
Boruto looked suspicious, he was still kind of tired so he let it be. “Whatever, I’m thirsty. And you shouldn’t be walking so late at night by the ways.”
Kawaki settled onto the sofa, Naruto’s snores still loud in the silence.
His chest felt a little better.
The house was in balance, the Uchiha knew his boundaries.
Next morning, Naruto woke up and tried to whip up a nice breakfast for the kids. Scrambled eggs and some fried rice. He put in extra for Kawaki, who has always almost licked his plate clean at every meal, despite pretending not to.
The sun was glowing, Hinata would be due soon tomorrow.
“Kids, come down, breakfast!” He kind of felt like the mom of the house and not the seventh, the silly thought made him shake his head.
Boruto and Hima ran down, Kawaki yawned and slowly came down the steps at his own speed.
The youngest two settled down straight away, “Tou-chan.. did you order this and pretend you cooked?”
“Papa cooked!” Hima waited patiently for her papa to join the table. “I can feel it.”
“Feel.. it? Hima, what?” Boruto looked at her like she said the most bizzare thing.
“Papa’s love for us is in this meal,” the little girl said dreamily. Naruto held a hand to his heart. Such an angel!
“That’s right, Hima-chan, I really tried.. for you all,” Naruto said, almost hesitant of how the kids will react to his cooking.
Boruto tucked in, “Okay..” he ate and was shocked. “Tou-chan.. it’s actually….”
“Nanadaime, you should eat with us. It’s a better breakfast than what Boruto’s mom makes.” Kawaki grabbed chopsticks to eat.
Naruto smiled his happiest smile, “Hima?” He wanted the girls reaction too.
“It’s so tasty, papa!” Hima agreed with Kawaki.
His kids.. the total purest little things! He would have grabbed them all for a family hug, but decided to sit down at the head of the table, taking bites of what he made.
The thoughts of Sasuke, however strange, took a back seat.
He was Hokage, a husband, and more importantly out of them all, as he looked at his three kids — a father too.