Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It still hurt sometimes, the spot where the cursemark had been. Despite the fact that during the events of the war, Sasuke had gotten it removed. In a way, the pain was like losing a limb in some ways. The thing that had fueled him since the tender age of twelve when Orochimaru had inflicted the curse on him. It was this cursemark that was what cost him everything, and he couldn't forget that. Sure, Konoha had forgiven him, but he hadn't had the courage to go back.

Instead of going back to the village, he had written Kakashi and simply asked to be left alone. He would quit being a ninja. He would fade into obscurity and, like the rest of the Land of Fire, pretend that Konoha and its organization did not exist, only taking notice of it when major military events occurred. He had told Kakashi he would be fine with having a tail, as long as that tail did not interfere with his personal life.

He did return to the village once, a few years after the war, to visit his former teacher after Kakashi had tried to convince him to become a ninja again. Unlike what Naruto had told him, Sasuke knew that it would never work if he chose to live in the village, and this visit had proven that. After a few days, he had disappeared once again.

He did eventually find some hope however, in a small village near the border between the Lands of Wind and Fire. Hope in the form of a dark haired female civilian named Kiko. She was his age, but had no idea about the world of ninja, only knowing that ninja were probably the worst kept secret in the world. For the first time, Sasuke was seen as a man with no past. Just a man wanting to find a home to settle down for awhile, and Kiko provided that. They lived happily for about a year, until Kiko announced her pregnancy.

Sasuke had only ever wanted children from the perspective that they would revive his clan. Beyond that, Sasuke knew he would be a terrible father. He was worried that he would make the same mistakes his own father did. Kiko did her best to tell her lover otherwise. That was the other thing too, Sasuke and Kiko never married, and Sasuke wanted to keep it that way. He loved her, but was worried about the damage that it would cause if their daughter took his name. However, his lover had insisted.

-_-_-

"査等妥 うちは"

Sasuke looked at the name written in front of him.

"No." He told Kiko and the woman glared at her lover.

"Your whole existence for the past few years has been about reviving your clan, and now that you're being given the chance you say no." Kiko growled at him. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"She'll be a girl. She's going to lose her name once she marries anyway." Sasuke replied and Kiko only sighed.

"However, she will have your- your- what's it called again?"

"Kekkei Genkai."

"Kekkei Genkai. Right. Wouldn't it make you feel at least a tiny bit good to know that you had a relative carrying your name and genetics somewhere in the world?"

"No. Just go to sleep Kiko." Sasuke told her. "Besides, its tradition to not use kanji when spelling names in the Uchiha clan." He told her again as she laid down beside him.

"If i don't use the kanji, will you let her have the Uchiha name?"

"Sure. Whatever."

-_-_-

Kiko did eventually have the baby, but it did not end how either of them had expected. Both mother and child had passed away during the birthing process. He looked at the graves in front of him. The graves of his daughter and wife.

'Here lie the remains of Uchiha Sarada & Narahashi Kiko'

There wasn't much else Sasuke was able to put on the grave stone. His life with Kiko had been incredibly short lived, and he had barely gotten to know her before she had gotten pregnant. As for Sarada, he had patronized Kiko in what he had written on both the birth certificate and the tombstone. Her name was in the kanji that Kiko had suggested, but in honor of what his wife had wanted, he had decided to give Sarada his surname.

All of that had been about a week ago, and the wounds were still fresh. He had sold the home he and Kiko had lived in, and was wandering the Land of Fire aimlessly. He had no legacy to pass on to the next generation, now that his only offspring was dead. And really, was that such a bad thing? The Uchiha clan would die out, and all of the hatred and suspicion along with it. What was so wrong with that?

Even though being alone was driving him towards suicide, especially after the death of his lover and child, he was still too self-centered to go back to the village on his own, now that his attempt at a life outside the village had ended in failure. He needed them to want him back. He desperately wanted them to fight for him to come back like they did that time so long ago, when he didn't want to go back.

A few days after his final visit to the grave of his lover and daughter, he stepped through Konoha's gate. It was the middle of the night. Peace had left the village gate mostly unguarded, one guard sat in the booth. The guard stood when he heard the shadow approach.

"Who goes there? Please present your ID." The voice ordered with a yawn. Sasuke stepped into the light. His raven colored black hair had grown out, and he was dressed all in a long black cloak. A sword in its hilt sat on his hip, a small Uchiha creast was on the hilt. Sasuke recognized the guard as he handed him the paperwork, and the guard recognized him as well before even looking at the photo ID. "Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke?" The guard, who Sasuke now recognized as Nara Shikamaru, asked.

"Yes. I've returned." Sasuke replied and Shikamaru groaned lazily as he got up from his chair.

"Well Sasuke, I think you know what I need to do." Shikamaru told him as he produced some handcuffs from within the dark booth. "Out of respect for Naruto though, I'm not gonna report your appearance officially." Shikamaru explained as he handcuffed Sasuke. Once that was done, Shikamaru made a sign for a shadow clone to appear. "C'mon. We're going to the Hokage tower." Shikamaru told him. Sasuke nodded. The two walked through the village in silence. As they were mounting the stairs to the Hokage's office, Shikamaru finally spoke. "How long has it been? Thirteen years?" Shikamaru asked him. Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah..." Sasuke replied. Shikamaru opened the door to the Hokage's office. Sasuke looked around. It looked about the same as it did the few times he had been here before, except there was one section of the room cordoned off, with a flimsy door leading into the area. Shikamaru led Sasuke towards this area.

"When Naruto started to spend a lot of time here, he had this area created." Shikamaru explained. "Of course, we lucked out in that this was one night that I was able to convince him to go home early." Shikamaru said as he opened the door. In the small section of the office, there was a cot, similar to the collapsible ones that some escort teams would bring along when they had an important client, as well as a collapsible wardrobe which held some changes of clothes and a set of pajamas for Naruto. "Sleep here. I'll have a messenger go by Naruto's place in the morning to let him know what happened." Sasuke sighed as he collapsed onto the cot. He felt his eyes closing and he was soon asleep. He woke up with a little kid in his face shortly before daybreak. A kid who looked an awful lot like Naruto.

"Do you want something?" he asked the little boy.

"What are you doing in 'tou-chan's office?" the boy asked. Sasuke sighed.

"The better question is what are you doing in your father's office without him?" Sasuke asked the boy. The boy's face turned pink.

"I-I...I wanted to play a joke. I got up early so I could sneak into his office and play the joke. I'm only in the academy still, but I could sense your chakra in here." The boy explained. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm Uzumaki Boruto, and you look an awful lot like that one guy who was on my Dad's genin team. The weird dark one who betrayed the village." Sasuke cringed at this. As the saying went, out of the mouths of babes...

"Boruto! How many times must your mother and I tell you. The Hokage's office is not a play area." A familiar voice rambled from the hall. A few seconds later, there was the sound of rushing footsteps. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto in the doorway of the section of the divided office. "Sasuke..." Naruto said. "Shikamaru told me you'd be here, but I didn't think you'd actually stay the night and wait for me to get here." Naruto said to him. Sasuke got up and looked into the eyes of his "best friend."

"It's time to come home. For good this time. Will you help me Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Sasuke was not prepared for the sudden embrace from the other man. He heard his voice, thick with joyful tears.

"Always Sasuke. Always."

Chapter Text

Once Naruto had let go of Sasuke, he had lightly shoved his son for his rude comment.

"How many times must I tell you? Sasuke did not betray the village." Naruto told his son.

"But Jii-chan said-" Boruto replied. Naruto sighed. He was constantly warring with his father-in-law when it came to some of the finer moral aspects when it came to raising his children. Despite this however, Naruto insisted on Sasuke's status as a war hero.

However, that didn't mean that Sasuke and Naruto didn't have their own falling out shortly after the war. Kakashi had given Sasuke his pardon, Sasuke had taken it, and life in the village drove on. Sakura and Naruto both knew Sasuke was unstable, but Naruto had become busy with his work at the Hokage's office (Kakashi had hired him as a part-time assistant to begin grooming him for the office), and Sakura had been in the process of establishing a newly adapted and researched children's wing of the Konoha hospital. They just didn't have the time to give Sasuke the attention he needed to properly recover.

Naruto regretted it of course, and he knew Sakura did too, but what else could they do? They had tried getting through to Sasuke, but he still left again soon after his pardon had been given. He had promised to come back, but both Sakura and Naruto were devastated when Sasuke had written a few months later, informing Kakashi that all he really wanted was to be left alone in his misery. He had wanted to give civilian living a shot, and Kakashi could send a tail after him if he wanted, as long as they didn't interfere with his personal life.

The last Naruto had heard was that Sasuke was with a civilian woman, living in a village close to the border of the Lands of Wind and Fire and about to have a baby. He hadn't felt comfortable telling Sakura about that, despite the fact that he knew she was over him. Naruto looked down at his son. Before he would begin his chat with Sasuke, he felt it was best for Boruto to head out.

"Boruto. Go ahead and head to school. I'll see you after awhile okay?" Naruto said to his son, his parental orders being phrased as delicately and politely as possible in order to placate his son. Boruto was stubborn yes, but he knew better then to blatantly disobey his father when they were in his office.

"Yes 'tou-chan..." Boruto muttered and left the office. Before he forgot however, the respectful manners of a clan heir shined through in his parting words to Sasuke. "Nice to meet you Sasuke-san. I look forward to hearing some of your stories." Boruto said to Sasuke with a bow. Sasuke ducked his head back in response, and without another word, Boruto had scampered off to school. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"I have another, a little girl named Himawari. She's about two years younger then him." Naruto told Sasuke. That lent him the perfect segway into getting to know Sasuke again. "Speaking of that, you just had a child yourself didn't you?" Naruto asked, but frowned when Sasuke's expression froze on his face.

"...no. Her and her mother passed away during the birth. It happened a week ago." Sasuke explained and smiled meekly at Naruto. "That's part of why I wanted to come back. I left the shinobi world to leave behind the grief, but clearly, you're going to lose people close to you whether their civilian or not. I might as well spend time with the people I care about before they pass too." Naruto frowned at this. Everyone was effected by death, whether they be ninja, civilian, or samurai. However, he couldn't really blame Sasuke for wanting to walk the path where more death was less likely to happen. Maybe he could get Sasuke to talk to Tsunade.

Ever since her retirement, Tsunade had been taking on a variety of different sorts of medical cases, some he knew were in fact psychiatric and psychological, considering he was married to one of Tsunade's patients. (Hinata had been seeing Tsunade for her anxiety since she was a teenager, and Naruto had only found out about it shortly after they started dating). Maybe he could convince Tsunade to talk to Sasuke? Of course, there was the matter of getting Sasuke to go in the first place. But then there was Sakura...

Naruto knew that Tsunade took doctor-patient privilege seriously, so as long as they played this just right, Sakura wouldn't find out until Sasuke was ready to tell her. Naruto's resolve was strengthened as he looked at Sasuke's grim expression.

"Well Sasuke, you want my help, and I have a plan for you..." Naruto said. "I'm going to take you to a doctor..." Sasuke's face was screwed up in horror and embarrassment, thinking about which doctor Naruto was thinking of. "NOT Sakura. But Tsunade. She's been doing some independent medical work ever since the end of the war and her retirement. She's not affiliated with Konoha's hospital and keeps her own records, so there's no way for anyone to know about it unless you choose to say something." Naruto explained. Sasuke frowned at this, but Naruto carried on.

"As for your living arrangements, while huge chunks of it were sold and torn down, both Kakashi and I made it a point to keep the main house of the Uchiha compound intact in the event that you chose to come back. As for work, it may take some doing with the council, but I'm sure I can get you reinstated as a shinobi again, provided Tsunade can provide proof that you are recovering from and or living with whatever mental illness you are currently struggling with. That's the one catch with your sessions with Tsunade. She is to report your progress to me and me alone. That fair?" Naruto explained. Sasuke nodded.

"When's your next council meeting?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Next month. You won't have made a lot of progress, but enough that I think Tsunade may be able to foresee your possible recovery. There'll be multiple weekly sessions, but I think Granny will get over it." Naruto replied. Sasuke chuckled and Naruto embraced him again. "It is wonderful to have you back Sasuke. We've missed you." Naruto said as he let his friend go. He made a quick sign and a shadow clone appeared and he spoke to it. "Get started on today's work. I'm going to go take Sasuke to Granny and run a few errands before I can be back in the office." Naruto told the shadow clone. He gestured for Sasuke to follow him out of the office as the shadow clone began to get to work.

-_-_-

The former kage lived in a luxurious neighborhood near the Hokage estate. Kakashi lived next door to Tsunade, so that would be Naruto's first stop in his line of quick errands that needed to be taken care of. He knocked loudly on the front door of Tsunade's house, with Shizune opening the door after the fourth knock. The woman still wore her pajamas, and yawned loudly.

"Naruto? What are you doing here so early?" Shizune asked Naruto.

"Is Granny up yet?" Naruto asked her. Shizune shook her head. Naruto barged past her hollering for Tsunade.

"Naruto-kun!" Shizune called after the man. Naruto grinned at her as she chased after him. Ever since he became Hokage, Shizune never called him anything but 'Naruto-sama.' It took a lot for him to get her to call him anything else then that, so whenever Naruto got her to call him anything else, he considered it a victory. They both looked up when they heard a door down the hallway slam open. Tsunade stumbled out of the room, hung over.

"Naruto! What the hell?!" Tsunade demanded of the man.

"Granny! I have a patient for you!" Naruto declared. Tsunade grimaced, but looked behind Naruto.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" Tsunade asked him. Naruto nodded cheerfully.

"Yup! He's back in the village for good this time! Can you see him as a patient? Make sure he's psychologically stable for missions? I need an outlook and treatment plan for him by the council meeting next month." Naruto told her. Tsunade blinked, processing this. "I'm getting back at you for all the shitty missions you sent me on while you were Hokage." Naruto told her, only to get a response of a punch to the head.

"I'll do it. And I assume the Hokage's office is going to foot the bill?" Tsunade replied simply. Naruto grinned at her and nodded. "I assume Sakura doesn't know he's back in the village yet." Tsunade asked Naruto. The man shook his head.

"Nope. And when it comes to evaluating him, your discretion would be greatly appreciated." Naruto responded. Tsunade looked at Sasuke.

"Of course. As for you Uchiha, please come here tomorrow at..." Tsunade trailed off, and Shizune made up for it by consulting the other woman's planner that sat on a nearby desk.

"...noon." Shizune finished. Sasuke and Naruto both nodded.

"Alright, well, that's all we came by for." Naruto said as he headed back out of the house, just as unceremoniously as he entered. He felt Tsunade's irritation bore into the back of his skull as he left.

-_-_-

Tsunade sighed and stretched as she watched the current Hokage prance out of her house. Who did he think he was?! Well, while psychology wasn't her cup of sake, she couldn't help but feel excited about the prospect of digging into the mind of Sasuke Uchiha. A seasoned terrorist and missing nin, but one of the two saviors of the world. She was looking forward to tomorrow.

-_-_-

As the two men walked through the streets of the village in amiable silence, Naruto was bursting at the seams.

"Ne, Sasuke, can I tell Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto begged. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course, it would be uncharacteristic of Naruto to NOT tell those two. Sasuke only shrugged.

"Hn." "Whatever...do what you want. Not like I can stop you anyway." Was what Naruto translated the noise to.

"Alright! We're gonna have a party tonight then! You, Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei'll come over and Hinata'll cook something great! I'll let her know." Naruto said as he made a sign for a shadow clone who ran back in the direction of the Kage neighborhood to go inform Hinata about what was going on. After awhile, the two made it to their destination, the main house of the former Uchiha compound. "This is where I'll have to leave you." Naruto told Sasuke. "Don't worry about any issues with the inside of the house." Naruto added. "Both Kakashi-sensei and I both made sure the inside of the house was well maintained and no one broke in." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded. Naruto left with a final wave, before sprinting off towards the hospital.

-_-_-

When Naruto got to the hospital, he headed straight for Sakura's office in the children's wing of the hospital. He hurriedly knocked on Sakura's office door.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Open up! I have something huge to tell you!" Naruto called through the door. Eventually, the door opened suddenly, with Naruto almost hitting Sakura on the forehead in his excitement. Sakura glared at her former teammate and yanked him by the arm into her office. Naruto only grinned as she sat him down in the chair.

"What is it Naruto? I haven't even had my coffee yet!!" Sakura declared indignantly. Naruto only smiled.

"It's Sasuke. Sakura-chan, Sasuke is back in the village, and he's planning on staying in the village."

-_-_-

Meanwhile, outside of Sakura's office window...

When it came to the ANBU who were tasked on guarding the Hokage, with every Hokage came a change in mask. When two particular ANBU (one male, one female) were tasked with bodyguard duty for the Hokage himself, they were required to change their animal mask during their time on duty as the bodyguards, with their masks reflecting the current Hokage's signature animal.

Fox-kun and Fox-chan were standing guard outside of the hospital window where the Hokage currently was. Fox-kun chuckled when he heard Fox-chan cringe at the treatment of the Hokage.

"Why do they manhandle him so?" Fox-chan asked her partner. "Why haven't you done anything any of the times?" Fox-kun only chuckled.

"When someone with malicious intent is trying to hurt the Hokage, you'll know."

Chapter Text

For Sakura, much like Naruto, her life had been pretty eventful after the war. She finished learning under Tsunade and eventually became a doctor in her own right. She had been seeing patients on her own since her twentieth birthday. Her specific speciality had been pediatrics. Her and Ino had established a stronger pediatric department of the hospital shortly after the war, originally intended for primarily mental treatment, but the two women had ended up having more involvement in physical treatment too. When it came to treatment of young ninja from academy to early chunin age, Sakura and Ino were their doctors.

On this particular day however, Sakura had barely put her coffee cup to her lips before Ino slammed into her office.

"Sa-ku-ra. Guess what Shikamaru told me this morning while we were dropping the kids off at the academy?" Ino asked her. The Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans all lived in the same area, so it wasn't out of the question for Ino to see Choji or Shikamaru first thing in the morning. Sakura moved the coffee away from her lips and grimaced.

"Who?" Sakura asked, impatience clear on her face. Ino knew better then to put it off at that point.

"Sasuke is back. He came in the middle of the night last night. Temari had him drop off Shikadai before she let him sleep after his guard duty last night." Ino explained. Sakura barely avoided dropping her coffee cup on the desk. "He said Naruto is with him now. I'm sure he's gonna come by though, so act surprised when Naruto tells you okay?" Ino told her. Sakura nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks Ino." Sakura replied. Ino smiled genuinely at Sakura.

"Look at it this way, this is your chance to finally get that date we always wanted." She teased Sakura. Sakura scoffed. A date with Sasuke? There was a part of her, the Inner-Sakura part that was still twelve, who jumped for joy at the thought of Sasuke being home. The adult however knew that to pursue Sasuke now would be insane. She still loved him, but she wasn't going to make any decisions on trying to pursue him until she knew he wanted to pursue her. She was alright with unrequited love for the time being.

She had been on a few dates after the war. None of them really stuck long term, except Lee. That had gone on for about a year before they parted ways amiably. She vaguely understood what it would be like to be in Sasuke's place after she dated Lee. He was a perfect gentleman, but it came to be too much, and the pedestal he put her on was too high.

"Maybe..." Sakura finally said in response. She finally snapped out of her thoughts long enough to shove Ino out of her office. "If anything happens, I'm not telling you, pervert. Now go away so I can have my cup of coffee." Ino only chuckled as she made her way down the hallway outside of the office, waving lazily behind her. She took a sip of her coffee as she leaned against her open doorframe and grimaced when she realized her drink was no longer at its optimal temperature. She hoisted herself off the doorframe and shut the door behind her as she reentered her office.

Since Sakura had her own office, she didn't require a large coffeemaker. Instead, she had one of the newer models that only brewed one cup at a time. Sakura poured her mug into the sink (her office did occasionally serve as an exam room if needed), and set another coffee to brew.

As her new coffee began to brew, Sakura leaned against the counter, flipping through a patient file without wandering too close to her desk. As she was finishing one page, there was a hurried knocking (banging really) at her office door.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Open up! I have something huge to tell you!" Sakura heard the familiar voice of her former teammate through the door. She opened the door suddenly, and Naruto almost hit her on the forehead in his excitement. Sakura glared at her former teammate and yanked him by the arm into her office. Naruto only grinned as she sat him down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"What is it Naruto? I haven't even had my coffee yet!!" Sakura declared indignantly as she finally got a sip of the coffee she had been wanting to drink all morning. Naruto only smiled.

"It's Sasuke. Sakura-chan, Sasuke is back in the village, and he's planning on staying in the village."

Sakura nodded mutely.

"I know." Sakura said simply. "Ino came in right before you got here." Naruto pouted dramatically.

"Why's that Ino gotta ruin my fun!" Naruto declared. Sakura rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee.

"Where is he now?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"I took him back to the Uchiha main house." Naruto said to her. "He's getting the house set up right now. I was wanting to have a party at my place tonight with all of us. You, me, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei."

"Sure." Sakura replied. Naruto grinned broadly at her.

"Great! I'll see you!" Naruto replied, and the look on his face looked more like the twelve-year-old boy she had met as a girl, and not like the man who had become Hokage. He left her office and Sakura sipped at her coffee, the file opened to some young chunin her and Ino had been treating for PTSD after a mission that involved guarding a trade caravan as it passed through the mountains.

She thought about the dreams she had when she was sixteen, still smitten with Sasuke. Of a family life, them and Naruto going on missions as jonin. A girl with red glasses and short black hair.

She wished she had it in her to love someone and to just have them love her back, and have the pedestals they put each other on to be at the same height. Surely it was too much to have Sasuke reciprocate her feelings?

She wanted a family. As she slowly trudged towards midlife, and it looked like she was going to live a long one, considering the peace that had fell after the war, she wanted something-- or someone-- to keep her company when her strength wained and she could no longer keep up with the intensity of the hospital shifts.

Sakura's eyes flicked to the little boy who came into her office.

"Yuino-kun! You're early for your appointment! Have a seat okay? Let me put this up!"

Chapter Text

Sasuke couldn’t fault Naruto or Kakashi for selling the furniture. It made sense even. They had to make sure the estate had proper security, which most likely required some sort of monthly fee. He looked around the main house, which was empty. Yeah, he got it. And he would have to find some way to get appliances and furniture again.

He didn’t have much money. A lot of how he was able to afford things was thanks to Kiko. Kiko worked a lot. Her parents had owned a tea house in the village that they had lived in. He, was clueless about how to get work that wasn't within the context of his personal skill set. That was something he would definitely have to talk to Naruto about tomorrow. First, Naruto would want to party and celebrate his return.

As he looked around the estate, he realized there wasn't too much he could do right away. He would have to wait to get a steady income to come in again before he did anything, or could live here properly. He thought about asking Naruto to lend him a futon, but hated the idea. Because if he asked Naruto to lend him a futon, Naruto would tell him to come stay with him. And he did not like that idea. While he wanted to stay in Konoha, he also didn't want to talk to people. Emotions were a funny thing. He mainly came back so that he could be near Naruto again.

He left the house again, sighing. There was no point in him being there for right now. As he was locking up the building, he sensed some very familiar chakra.

"Yo." a familiar voice said while his back was still turned. Sasuke turned back around, and smirked when he saw Kakashi.

"I was wondering when you would turn up." Sasuke told Kakashi in way of greeting. He saw Kakashi smile under his mask.

"One of my cute students finally coming back to the village, how could I not know?" Kakashi replied. Sasuke only rolled his eyes. "Are you finally going to get a prosthetic?" he asked the other man.

"No."

Kakashi nodded. "So what are you going to do next?"

"I don't know. I-- needed companionship." Kakashi nodded again.

"Naruto is bound to find something for you to do. Do you still want to be a ninja?"

"I don't know."

"Don't have a lot of answers do you?"

"My girlfriend and daughter died last week. I'd like to think that, for once, I don't need to have answers to anything for a bit."

"Fair." Kakashi conceded. He looked over at Sasuke. "Well, I'll see you at the party tonight. Yes, Naruto already told me." Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course the dobe did.

---

Sasuke found it hard to keep himself occupied during the time before the party. Of course, he had no idea what time this party was going to be, but he was sure that Naruto would find him when the time came. So he went to the library. Eventually he was able to find a book, and sat down and began to read.

---

"SASUKE! SASUKE!" a familiar voice shrieked through the village streets outside the library. Sasuke cringed and felt like people were staring. Who would have thought he would still be so recognizable? He put his book down on the table and left the library.

"Could you yell any louder, dobe?" Sasuke asked Naruto as he came out to the street from the library. "I'm not sure ALL Konoha was aware of me being back in the village!" he snapped at Naruto. Naruto shot his friend a cheesy grin, and Sasuke had to bite back his own smile. All things considered, he knew that this was what he came back for. He came back for the chance to smile on a daily basis again.

"Hinata's ready for the party!" Naruto chirpped happily as he pulled Sasuke along. "I can't wait for you to see her and meet Himawari!" Naruto explained as he dragged Sasuke through the village and back to his house.

---

"Papa-- who's this?" were the first words out of Himawari's mouth as Sasuke entered the house with Naruto. Naruto knelt in front of his daughter and hugged her.

"Hima-chan, this is Sasuke. He was Papa's friend when he was younger. Say hello." he gently encouraged his daughter.

"Sasuke-san, hello." Himawari said with a bow. Sasuke smirked. Clearly, Hinata had at least been able to train the daughter well. Sasuke bowed back at the girl, and Himawari giggled shyly. Hinata followed shortly after her daughter.

"Hello Sasuke-kun." Hinata greeted. Sasuke nodded a greeting at Hinata. "Sakura and Kakashi-sensei are already here." she told Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto smiled and began walking towards the dining room. Sasuke held Naruto back.

"What?" Naruto asked him.

"Does Sakura know about Kiko?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto only shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Kakashi-sensei might have told her? You all got together while Kakashi-sensei was still Hokage right?" he asked Sasuke. Sasuke nodded. "Then maybe? Like I said, I don't know." Sasuke let out a frustrated noise right before he followed Naruto into the living room.

Luckily, Naruto hadn't invited Sai to this party. It wasn't that Sasuke didn't like Sai. It was more like he didn't KNOW the other man. So seeing him at his welcome back party was not something that Sasuke was sure he would be okay with.

It was hard entering the room. Sakura had been the only one that Sasuke had not seen since he had returned to the village.

"Sakura." Sasuke said in greeting.

"Sasuke." Sakura replied. Sasuke, admittedly, felt a little uneasy with Sakura greeting him that way. It actually made him miss her calling him 'Sasuke-kun.' But, they were older now, so it was reasonable for her to not call him that. This was especially true after going practically a decade without contact. Naruto had to be able to feel the tension, or he chose to ignore it.

"LET'S PARTY!" he declared happily. The other three members of team seven smiled at their other member. The three were not sure if they should appreciate the other trying to ignore the tension.

---

Sasuke simply listened to his friends talk.

He heard all about Naruto and Hinata's courtship and marriage. About Boruto and Himawari (who came in and out of the living room to take part in the festivities).

He heard about Kakashi's retirement.

He heard about everything that was going on in the hospital. And the new programs that Sakura was trying to put in place.

After awhile though, Kakashi left, and Naruto went to bed.

"Y'all can stay here for awhile longer if ya want." Naruto said to Sasuke and Sakura. "I gotta go sleep." Sakura smiled at Naruto.

"I'll make sure to lock up when we leave."

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he went upstairs. And with that, he left Sakura and Sasuke alone.

"You haven't talked much." Sakura said, in one of the first sentences she had directed towards Sasuke for the entire night.

"No reason. I haven't been up to anything important." Sasuke said to her, taking a sip of his drink.

"What was your daughter's name?" Sakura said suddenly. Sasuke had to stop for a second to digest the information. Well, that finally answered the question that he had asked Naruto earlier that night.

"Sarada." Sasuke told her. Sakura nodded and took a sip of her own drink.

"And the mother?" Sakura asked.

"Kiko."

"Did you love her?"

"I think so."

The two were quiet for another few minutes before Sakura finally spoke again.

"I did end up dating someone after you left. Lee-kun. It made me realize how ridiculous I acted towards you." Sakura said to him. "We gave it a shot for about a year, but I just couldn't take being on such a high pedestal." she explained. She looked over the rim of her cup at Sasuke. "I don't think I like you anymore. You're still gonna be my teammate, but I don't have a crush on you." she announced. She paused for a minute, when she noticed Sasuke's cup was empty and she filled it for him. When he didn't say anything else, she continued.

"It took awhile for me to find my identity, outside of having a crush on you. Once I got to about nineteen, I realized you had every reason in the book to not like me. Everyone had a lot of reasons to not like me, and it made me not like me." Sakura explained. "So I started caring about myself. I had to find out who I was outside of my relationships with other people. That was when Lee-kun and I started going together. That was the nice thing about Lee-kun, he had a crush on me, but he had a bigger identity outside of me. I wanted that too."

Sasuke nodded, and they were silent for another few minutes.

"Can we become friends?" Sakura asked him. Sasuke paused for a minute. "Like, I want you to meet the person I've become."

"You're drunk Sakura."

"But, you know what they say about drunks right? That when you're drunk, it just amplifies whatever your true feelings are."

"..."

"What do you say Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Sasuke grimaced. He actually did kind of miss her calling him Sasuke-kun. The lack of an honorific actually created more of an impersonal effect when she wasn't using it.

"I'd like that." Sasuke replied. Sakura smiled as she shot down the last little bit of sake in her cup.

"D'you have a bed still at the Uchiha estate?" Sakura asked him. Sasuke shook his head.

"I think Kakashi and Naruto sold off the furniture to help maintain everything." Sasuke explained. Sakura nodded.

"I have enough room at my apartment. You can sleep on the couch." Sakura offered. "I know Naruto wouldn't care, but Hinata might if you spend the night here." Sasuke nodded.

"Alright." Sasuke told her. He was buzzed, but he wasn't about to let it signficantly effect him. The two left the house after they had placed their dishes in the sink. 'Hinata doesn't care...' Sakura had told him. The two left the house, with Sakura locking the door behind her.

"A lot of the folks from our year hang out here. As long as we lock up before we leave, Naruto and Hinata don't mind. But since they had Boruto and Himawari, they don't let anyone spend the night anymore." Sakura explained as the two ambled through the village. They walked towards the dorms were the single jounin lived, near the academy and the Hokage tower.

"You sure you have room for me here?" Sasuke asked Sakura. She nodded.

"I'm the elite among the elite when it comes to village shinobi." she said smugly. "I get the best housing, but the food in dorm canteen sucks." Sakura replied as she led Sasuke to an apartment on the first floor. She opened the door to reveal a fairly plain apartment. It looked to be one bedroom, with a decent sized living room and a couch that looked like it could fit him. "I'll get you some pillows and a blanket." Sakura said to him as she wandered down the small square of a hallway which led to the kitchen, bathroom, and her bedroom. She appeared once more with some pillows and blankets. She gave them to Sasuke and yawned.

"If you need water, you can get some, I'll let you find the cups on your own." Sakura said as she leaned against the doorframe that led further into the apartment. She paused for a minute and went into her kitchen again, and Sasuke heard her get out something and it tapped on the counter. "I got some pain medication for you too, in case you're hungover in the morning. Good night Sasuke. Do you know what you're going to do in the morning?"

"No."

"Well, you can sleep in however long you want. I won't wake you when I leave for work."

"Alright. Good night Sakura."

Sakura smiled as she went into her bedroom.

Chapter Text

Naruto had spent the night at the house after the party with Sasuke. He woke up with a huge grin on his face, before Hinata as usual. She got up about thirty minutes after him, and was a surprisingly heavy sleeper for a woman. He went to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day. He was so happy, that he thought he would even try getting breakfast and the kids ready to go. 

Surprisingly, it was Boruto who had woken up all on his own, and Naruto had almost stumbled over him as he exited the bathroom.

“Ne, ‘Tou-chan, was Sasuke-san a bad man?” Boruto questioned in way of greeting. Naruto only scowled at the question.

“No! Of course not!” Naruto told Boruto as he picked up his six-year-old son and they walked towards Himawari’s bedroom.

“Then why does Jii-chan say he betrayed the village?” Boruto asked Naruto again.

“He did-- but he just made some bad choices.” Naruto replied as he opened Himawari’s slightly ajar door with his hip. He placed Boruto on his feet next to Himawari’s bed as he gently shook Himawari awake. “Good morning Himaaa~” Naruto whispered in greeting as his daughter opened her eyes. Himawari grinned as big as her sleepiness would allow her to.

“Papa-- you’re here.” Himawari said, and Naruto felt a twinge of guilt. He didn’t often spend the night at home. But Boruto and Himawari were always excited when he did.

“Yup! You want to come downstairs and help Papa with breakfast? Let’s surprise Mama when she wakes up!” Boruto said to Himawari. That statement fully woke up the girl at that point.

“Okay!” 

---

Naruto, Boruto, and Himawari were in the process of making breakfast when Hinata entered the kitchen. Naruto smiled at how Hinata startled when she saw him in the kitchen.

“I figure Sasuke is going to need some help settling in today, so I decided to take the day off today. I wanted to surprise you!” Naruto replied. Hinata smiled sweetly. “I can help you get the kids ready for the day and then we can go over and help Sasuke.” Hinata nodded in agreement, and looked at the abysmal state of the breakfast her husband was attempting to prepare. Hinata let out a small chuckle.

“Maybe I should finish making breakfast though?” she suggested as she gently took the chopsticks away from Naruto.

---

Once Boruto was safely deposited at school and Himawari was safely deposited at daycare, Hinata and Naruto headed towards the Uchiha estate. It had been abandoned ever since their early days in the academy. Despite Sasuke’s popularity, a lot of kids from then until now, still whispered about it being haunted. Naruto thought, depressed, that it would still be haunted, but only this time by a real ghost. Until Sasuke found some help that is.

They opened the front gate of the house and headed towards the main house. Naruto shouted ahead of them.

“Oi! Sasuke!” They didn’t hear anything. Hinata used her Byakugan just to make sure.

“He’s not here Naruto.” she told him. Naruto pouted.

“Where else would he go? This is his home now!” Naruto grumbled, annoyed that Sasuke wasn’t the first place where they looked.

“Maybe he went to an inn?” Hinata suggested. “Didn’t you say that you and Kakashi-sensei sold all the furniture to help maintain the property?” Naruto groaned.

“If we go to all the inns in the village that would take all da- WAIT!!” Naruto said, when he realized. “We scheduled him an appointment with Tsunade-baachan yesterday! We’ll just go over to her place around noon and wait for him to finish his appointment.” Naruto explained. He looked at his wife and smiled genuinely. “In the meantime, let’s go for a walk! We haven’t done that in awhile.” Hinata smiled at her husband’s suggestion of the impromptu date.

“I like that idea.” she replied.

---

After a few hours of shopping and dropping the stuff off back at their house Naruto and Hinata eventually made it towards Tsunade’s house, where Naruto knew Sasuke was finishing his session with Tsunade. They walked up to the door as Sasuke was exiting. Naruto grinned.

“Sasuke! How’d it go?!” Naruto asked as he went up to his friend. Sasuke shrugged.

“Fine I suppose.” Sasuke replied. “I’m seeing her again next week.”

“Oh great! Where did you spend the night last night? Hinata and I went by your house and you weren’t there.” Naruto told him.

“I slept on Sakura’s couch. You and Kakashi sold my bed remember?” Sasuke replied. Naruto was a little taken aback that Sasuke would have gone home with Sakura, but he did not let it show on his face.

“Alright then, first step is to get you a futon then!” Naruto replied with a grin. “Hinata came along with me to help you get settled back in.” He told Sasuke. Sasuke shrugged.

“Will make it easier I guess. Thank you Hinata.” Sasuke said to Hinata. Hinata smiled.

“No problem!” Hinata replied.

“What about Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked Sasuke.

“I dunno-- I think she said something about work?” Sasuke said, thinking back to last night. “She was gone when I left her place this morning.” Naruto scowled.

“Sakura-chan should have taken the day off too!” he sulked. “We could have all helped you! Kakashi-sensei too!” Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Kakashi is not that sentimental. Plus he’s lazy. You know that.” Sasuke told Naruto. “As for Sakura, she has no reason to be sentimental towards me anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked him.

“She doesn’t like me anymore dobe.”

“Right-- so I guess it’s just the three of us then! We don’t have a lot of time since Boruto gets out of school in a few hours. Himawari can stay at the daycare a bit longer right Hinata?” Naruto asked her.

“If we need her to, yes.” Hinata replied.

“Great! Let’s get started!”

---

A few hours later, Naruto and Hinata had helped Sasuke pick out furniture for his bedroom and helped him to move it into the house. After a bit, Hinata excused herself to go pick up Himawari and Boruto as it was about time for them to be coming home anyway, and it seemed like they had gotten most of the work done.

“We’ll just finish some of the stuff here, and then we’ll meet you back at the house.” Naruto said to Hinata. Hinata smiled and nodded as she left the estate. After Hinata left the general area, Naruto turned to Sasuke. “So you spent the night with Sakura-chan?” he asked Sasuke. Sasuke sighed.

“There was nothing to it moron. Since I didn’t have a bed here set up yet, Sakura let me sleep on her couch in the jounin dormitories.” Sasuke explained. Naruto smirked. “There isn’t!”

“Right.” Naruto said.

“She-- wants to be my friend. Not just be the girl who used to have a crush on me. I think I like that idea.” Sasuke said to Naruto. Naruto smirked.

“I think she still likes you.”

“Naruto-- we are not twelve anymore.”

Naruto hummed as he finished cleaning.

“Alright, I guess it’s time to go back over to my place. Y’ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

---

Naruto and Sasuke finally made it back to the Uzumaki house and were greeted with a big surprise. Even Naruto had no idea that it was going to happen. All of their former teammates: Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Tenten, and Lee were all piled into the living room of the Uzumaki house. Apparently Hinata had organized the get-together. Now that Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto had been able to welcome Sasuke back to the village, it was the rest of the people in their age group’s turn. No kids were in sight, apparently being watched by significant others.

“SASUKE-KUN! I know Shikamaru told me about it, but I just couldn’t believe it until I saw you!” Ino exclaimed as she ran up and embraced Sasuke. Of course, Naruto knew that Ino was married-- to Sai (as well as had a kid with him), but the way she embraced Sasuke harkened back to some of the old feelings that she and Sakura had had for Sasuke. Naruto found Hinata in the kitchen, finishing up the refreshment preparations.

“I can’t believe you did this.” Naruto said to Hinata as they watched their friends talk and tease around Sasuke. “He won’t be a big fan.” Hinata turned around to face her husband.

“Well, the only way to get him back into the village properly is to reintroduce him to our friends. Like it or not, we are going to have to be his biggest advocates.” Hinata gently reminded Naruto. “You remember what it was like to be shunned by the village don’t you? I have a feeling that it’s going to be Sasuke-kun’s turn once his return becomes common knowledge. Even though he is friends with the Hokage.” Hinata explained to Naruto. She was right, and he knew it. He hadn’t really thought about what the best way to reintegrate Sasuke into the village would be yet. He was still getting over the high of having him back in the village. Sometimes, the gravity of his work as Seventh Hokage hit him at the worst of times, and this happened to be one of those times. Naruto looked up from Hinata’s face when he saw Sakura approach.

“They’re hungry. You seemed like you were having an intense moment, so they sent me over here to ask about the food.” Sakura explained. Hinata grabbed a tray that was behind Naruto.

“Naruto, grab the other one.” Hinata ordered. “We have guests to serve.”

“Yes ma’am!” Naruto replied and grabbed the other tray. He stopped for a moment to talk to Sakura. “Sasuke said that you told him you want him to get to know you as a friend? Not just the girl who used to have a crush on him?” Naruto asked Sakura.

“That’s right. I told him that I know what it was like to have someone put you on a pedestal.” Sakura said, looking over at Lee who was sitting close to Tenten. “I don’t want to do that to someone ever again-- it’s just a very long way to fall.” she explained. Naruto nodded.

“Do you think you guys will ever-- y’know-- date?” Naruto asked Sakura.

“No, I don’t think so. Not right now at least. I need to get to know him too.” Sakura replied. Naruto nodded. “In the end, I’d like to have a relationship like the one you and Hinata seem to have.” Naruto sighed.

“It took her a long time before she felt like she was ‘alright’ enough to go out with me. She steamed through what you’re wanting to do with Sasuke in about a year. She didn’t want to just go from crush to girlfriend. She wanted to know me as a person-- not just as her crush, but she wasn’t sure how. Tsunade-baachan helped her with a lot of that.” Naruto explained.

“She was seeing Lady Tsunade?” Sakura asked, surprised that she had never even caught Lady Tsunade slip up and mention it.

“She still is from time to time-- post-partum after Himawari really shook her up. She goes bimonthly for a two hour session.” Naruto explained to Sakura. Sakura nodded.

“Oi! Naruto! Bring the food over before Chouji eats it all!” Kiba complained.

“Alright you piranhas I’m coming!” Naruto shouted over Sakura’s shoulder. He turned his face back to Sakura. “We can talk about it more later okay?” Sakura nodded as Naruto brought the food towards the main part of the party.

Chapter Text

Sakura couldn’t believe that they were having a party with Sasuke for the first time in years. They were all adults and the drinks were flowing. Maybe Naruto was right, her and Sasuke could be together eventually but this was definitely not the time.

“So Sasuke, what finally brought you back?” Kiba asked him. Sakura wanted to punch him. Sasuke had mentioned during their team-only party last night that he had recently lost a daughter, but she knew that he barely could talk about it to her, Naruto, and Kakashi. Why would he talk about it with their larger friend group? Sasuke caught her look.

“Sakura– it’s fine.” Sasuke said to her and he looked at Kiba. “I got a woman pregnant. She had a baby– and lost the baby.” Sasuke explained simply. The group got quiet. “I wanted to spend my life with other people who I cared about and cared about me so here I am.” Ino looked like she was about to cry. Everyone else just looked uncomfortable.

“Oh. I’m sorry man.” Kiba said to him. Sakura looked thoughtful at him. They were uncomfortably silent as they all mulled over Sasuke’s admitted affection for the group. “So what are you going to do now? Are you going to go back to being a shinobi?” he asked. Sakura looked at Naruto, who had just taken a big gulp of his drink when Kiba had asked that question. Sasuke was silent.

“I don’t know yet.” Sasuke said simply. He was tired of the violence within the shinobi world, but at the same time it was the only thing he knew how to do. He also knew that Naruto had no idea what he could do with him at this point if he wasn’t a shinobi.

“What about you Hokage?” Kiba asked Naruto. “Would you let Sasuke be a shinobi again?” Naruto was silent. They all knew it would be a slippery slope to navigate if Naruto decided to allow Sasuke to be a shinobi again.

“I don’t know. It’s something I haven’t thought hard about yet.” he explained. “Sasuke, come to my office tomorrow and we can talk about it around 10:30?” Sasuke nodded. “Now, can we go back to the party please?” Naruto asked the group. They all unanimously agreed.

–

After a night of drunken shenanigans amongst the newly reunited Konoha 11, Sasuke was hungover. Due to his ongoing vendetta against the world over the past several years, he had not been much of a drinker. He woke up and headed to Naruto’s office during the mid-morning. He was greeted by the guards.

“I’m here to see the Hokage.” Sasuke told them. They seemed to know that he’d be coming and they led him to Naruto’s office. The office looked vastly different then it did when Sasuke was young. Stacks of paper all over the place, boxes of papers, empty raman bowls. “Looks like you have definitely settled in.” Sasuke said to Naruto. Naruto rolled his eyes. This was probably the most chaotic the Hokage’s office had looked since the inception of the village.

“Don’t be rude.” Naruto chided half-heartedly as he leaned back into his office chair and lazily spun around. “I don’t remember much about last night, but I do remember that we need to discuss what you can do around the village.” Naruto said to him. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I– haven’t thought that far ahead, if I’m being honest.” Sasuke said to him with a frown. “I don’t know if the village would accept me as a shinobi again.” he explained. Naruto nodded in agreement.

“How would you feel about doing recon?” Naruto suggested. “Work for the ANBU, and gather intel for the village? The only people who would know would be Sai, Shikamaru, and I.” Sasuke was thoughtful.

“You really don’t think the other ANBU don’t try to figure out who each other are?” Sasuke said cynically. “I would rather just travel outside the village gathering intel on my own. Who said it had to be through the ANBU?” Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. “It might be better for me to do something that keeps me outside of the village, to keep me out of the public eye.”

“How are you doing for money?” Naruto asked him. Sasuke shrugged.

“I still have the money from my clan.” Sasuke explained. Naruto nodded.

“I’ll pay you per mission then. I think you also have enough of a reputation that you can get along with some shady circles and be enough of a reason that the elders will approve of it.” Naruto explained.

“That sounds fair enough.” Sasuke replied.

“Let me run it by the elders and I’ll let you know tonight.” Naruto replied. “You have an appointment with Granny right?” Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded. “Come to dinner tonight? It won’t be as crowded. Hinata, the kids, and I.” Sasuke smiled.

“Sure.”

—

“SAAAAA-KU-RAAAAA.” Ino sang as she pranced into Sakura’s office. Sakura rolled her eyes. The two of them had some down time between patients. Ino plopped down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Sakura’s desk. “So what did you think of the party last night?” Ino asked Sakura. Sakura looked up from the case file she had been looking over.

“It was fine. He spent the night the night before last…” Sakura explained.

“He did? Like, in your bed?” Ino asked her. Sakura rolled her eyes.

“He slept on my couch. He was still asleep when I left for work yesterday morning. As for last night, it’s not like it was anything exciting. I think the only weird thing was the way Kiba was pestering him and Naruto.” Sakura explained. Ino nodded.

“I wonder what he and Sasuke decided on?” Ino mused thoughtfully. “Sasuke really seems like he’s not sure what he wants to do next.”

“He’s been through a lot since the war.” Sakura replied. “I don’t blame him for not being sure.”

“Haven’t we all?” Ino replied.

“Ino I’m serious–” Sakura replied again. Ino’s interest was piqued.

“What happened?”

“It’s not my story to tell. It’s not any of your business.” Sakura told her. Ino rolled her eyes at that comment. She got up and stretched and looked at Sakura.

“Whatever then. I have a patient. See you around Billboard Brow.”

“Later– Ino-Pig.” Sakura said, the two women entoning their usual farewells. Sakura continued to thumb through the case file, wondering. She didn’t even think she was interested in Sasuke like that anymore. She really and truly just wanted to be his friend at this point, and he was obviously going through a lot. She honestly wasn’t even interested in dating anyone anymore. She had her work, and sometimes with some of her younger patients her heart would melt, and she would want a kid for a week but she would get over it.

After spending so long listening to kids and adults talk about their struggles since the war, she just did not want to be responsible for another human’s physical, mental, and emotional well being. She struggled enough with her own. Maybe someday she would find someone and her mind would change, but for now she was fine with just being on her own, and whenever she got lonely, she would hang out with Naruto or Ino’s families. A knock came at her door. She looked up and saw Sasuke.

“Hey.” Sakura said to him. “What’s up?”

“Wanted to come by and tell you about my meeting with Naruto.” Sasuke said to her. “He’s going to have me go on recon missions for the village whenever he needs information, pay per mission. In between missions, I’m going to live off of what’s left from the Uchiha estate.” Sakura smiled.

“I’m glad you got it worked out.” Sakura replied with a grin. Sasuke sat down across from her.

“What about you? How are things for you? We really haven’t talked about that yet.” Sasuke told her. Sakura suddenly got nervous.

“Well– I was able to convince Lady Tsunade to give me funding to start this clinic. We work with kids and adults who are struggling with mental health after the war.” Sakura explained. Sasuke nodded.

“What do you do besides work?” Sasuke asked her.

“Nothing really. Like I mentioned a couple days ago, Lee-kun and I dated for a bit but we broke up.” she explained. “I hang out with Naruto and Ino’s families sometimes, but not much for a single woman to do in Konoha.” Sakura said with a laugh. “You probably haven’t noticed yet, but Konoha has become a pretty family-oriented place since Naruto became Hokage.”

“I have some.” Sasuke replied. “Never thought I would see the day.”

“I don’t think any of us would.” Sakura replied lightly. And that was true. Of course, when they were younger it was difficult to notice much beyond their sphere of childhood, but looking back, Konoha was a dark place when they were younger. “And I guess now that you’re here we’ll be able to hang out together whenever we get tired of seeing children?”

“Sure.” Sasuke said with a chuckle. “Does anyone in Konoha not have a family yet?”

“Shino and Kiba– but we all have our theories about that.” Sakura said with a laugh.

“Theories?”

“We think they’re together, but with how secretive Shino is, it’s hard to tell.” Sakura told him. Sasuke smiled.

“Was Ino as pushy with them as she was with me when I walked in here? I can’t say I really blame them?” Sasuke said. Sakura raised an eyebrow. “As I was walking in here, Ino gave me the third degree.” Sakura sighed.

“She was in here giving it to me too.” Sakura told him. “She’s harmless, especially now that we’ve been friends again for a few years. She runs the clinic with me.” Sasuke nodded. “She’s got it in her head that everyone needs to be paired off. So I’ve been a source of frustration for her, especially since her and Sai got married.” Sasuke smiled.

“No interest?” Sasuke asked her.

“Not really.” Sakura replied. “I think I’ve grown out of actively looking.” Sakura looked up at the clock on the wall. “You better go, I have a patient coming in. I’m glad you and Naruto got your situation figured out.” Sasuke got up and nodded.

“Do you want to go out to eat tonight? What time do you finish here?” Sasuke asked her.

“About five. We can meet at Yakiniku Q? I don’t think you’d probably want to go to Ichiraku.” Sakura said to him.

“Sounds good. See you then.” Sasuke replied as he left the office. In truth, Sakura was honestly a bit uncomfortable with Sasuke. It was hard adjusting to him in her life once more. She could only hope that the awkwardness would go away eventually.

Chapter Text

While it was clear to Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto was doing what he can to make Konoha a good place for families. Naruto was still struggling with maintaining his own family relationships. When Boruto was first born, Naruto had been a jonin. He spent time away from home, but no more than the usual shinobi parent. So whenever he wasn’t home, Boruto wasn’t upset over it. But, once he became Hokage and Himawari was born he wasn’t around much. There wasn’t much that could be said about why he was away from home. No excuses. Himawari had become used to it, but Boruto was resentful. He wished his father would spend time with him again. Wish his sister knew him. Himawari hardly knew her father, given how much time he spent away from home.

That’s why young Boruto, after being at the academy all day, found himself at his father’s office to talk. Boruto knocked on Naruto’s office door.

“Come in.” Naruto said through the door and Boruto entered. Naruto lightened up when he saw his son come through the door. “Boruto! You usually don’t visit me in my office like this.” Boruto stepped up to his father’s desk. Unlike most parents with his job, most children would shrink in this setting, but not his son. The boy straightened, scowling at his father. Boruto approached the desk like a real shinobi. Not like a student with two years left in the academy.

“You need to come home more.” Boruto said. “I heard Himawari talking to mom. She’s always asking who her Dad is.” Naruto stiffened. “Not where but who.” Boruto emphasized as he put his hands on his father’s desk. “Don’t look so shocked old man. There’s pictures around the house, but she’s so young that she hasn’t really made the connection.” In truth, Naruto was. Why hadn’t Hinata told him any of this?

“I’ll come home tonight.” Naruto said. And he was planning on it. He wanted to get to the bottom of this with Hinata.

“Promise?” Boruto asked him.

“I promise. I need to talk to your mother.” Naruto said, his voice weary.

—-

When Naruto did make it home later that night, Himawari and Boruto were already in bed. Which was good, he didn’t want to upset them. When he opened the door, Hinata walked towards him.

“Boruto said he came by your office.” Hinata said to him.

“He did. We need to talk.” Naruto said. “Can you put your shoes on? We should go outside to talk. I don’t want to wake up the kids.” Hinata very rarely heard Naruto talk like this. She took her shoes and walked out to the back porch so she could go outside the back door. Naruto followed and they both sat out on the patio in the backyard.

“What do you need to talk about?” Hinata asked him.

“When were you going to tell me that Himawari doesn’t recognize me as her father?” Naruto asked her. Hinata stiffened. Boruto had heard that?

“I didn’t want to worry you. She’s young. There’s still time.” Hinata said to him. Naruto rolled his eyes. Himawari wasn’t like Boruto. It wasn’t like Himawari had a father who then got a bigger job and wasn’t around anymore. Himawari had an unknown father.

“This isn’t like with Boruto. Boruto at least knows who I am. I never wanted this to happen with my kids.” Naruto said, . “What else haven’t you told me?” Naruto asked, his voice thick with annoyance. “What do you think of this? Of me being Hokage?”

“I can’t say anything about that Naruto. You know that.” Hinata said with a scowl. “It’s what you’ve wanted to do since you were a child.” Naruto looked at her.

“That doesn’t matter. You’re my wife. Your opinion matters.” Naruto said to her. Hinata sighed.

“I want you to be happy, but I also want Boruto and Himawari to be happy.” Hinata explained. “Right now? Boruto and Himawari are not happy.” She said simply. Naruto nodded, and Hinata could see the conflict on his face. “Sometimes, you have to choose.”

“You chose.” Naruto said to her. Hinata scoffed.

“Do you really think me giving up active shinobi work was a choice? I wanted to give it up.” Hinata said. “Do you really think I was suited for shinobi work?” Hinata asked him. For the first time since he heard Boruto’s tangent, he chuckled. Hinata really wasn’t. For most of their lives, she seemed reluctant.

“Do you think I should give up being Hokage then?” Naruto asked her. Hinata was silent, and leaned back against the patio chair she was in.

“Yes. At least cut back. Let Shikamaru step in some.” Hinata suggested. “You trust him don’t you?”

“That’s easier said than done…” Naruto said to her with a sigh. Hinata put her hand on his knee.

“You can do it.” Hinata said to him. “Let’s just give you a time. Say— 6 PM?” She asked. Naruto thought about it. If he got up earlier, he could get a lot of work in before 6 PM.

“6 PM.” Naruto repeated. “We’ll start it the day after tomorrow. I want to make sure that Shikamaru knows what’s going on before I suddenly leave at 6 PM.”

“Okay.”

—-

Naruto came into work first thing that morning. When Shikamaru arrived, he was shocked to see the leader of the village in his office so early.

“Naruto? What are you doing here. You never beat me over here.” Shikamaru said to him.

“I wanted a chance to talk to you before everything starts today. I’m going to be cutting back on my office time some.” Naruto said. “I need you to take over some of the work.”

“Why?”

“Boruto came by the office yesterday.” Naruto said and he sighed. “He told me that Himawari doesn’t realize that I’m her father. I need to spend more time at home.” Shikamaru nodded.

“You do realize you can’t completely slow down right?” Shikamaru asked him. Naruto nodded.

“I know, but I was thinking about it last night after I talked with Hinata. We could make it work. We’re trying to promote a more family-friendly image. If I cut back so I can spend more time with my kids, it will definitely help.”

Shikamaru shrugged.

“Sounds like a pain. But we can try it for awhile, just as long as it’s not long term.” Shikamaru said to him. “Long enough to get Himawari to recognize you again.”

“It’s really not funny Shikamaru.” Naruto said with a scowl. “I feel so bad. Hinata wants the kids happy. I want the kids happy. The best option is to cut back on my hours in the office so that I can help her make the kids happy.” Shikamaru nodded.

“It’ll be okay Boss.” Shikamaru said wryly.

—-

Boruto sat by the front door, waiting. The ten year old had been doing this every night since his father had become Hokage. Hinata had gotten to a place where she knew better then to say anything to him. In truth, Hinata was a little nervous herself. This was their first day of working with this new schedule that they had worked out. She hoped that Shikamaru was understanding.

At 5:59, Naruto opened the front door. Boruto shot up to his feet, stunned.

“Old Man— you—“ Boruto sputtered. His mother had told him that his Dad would be home by 6 PM, but he hadn’t believed it.

“I’m home.” Naruto said with a smile.

“Early.” Boruto said. Naruto hadn’t been home on time since becoming Hokage. Himawari sometimes would never see him. Boruto would see him. If he was lucky. Hinata came out, Himawari in her arms, when she heard Boruto’s commotion. She smiled, in the ‘I-told-you-so’ type look that only a parent could maintain.

“See Boruto? He made it home when I said.” Hinata said to her son. However, Boruto had one more test to perform before he truly believed his father was home on time. Boruto kicked his father’s shin. Naruto was startled, rubbing his shin.

“Did you really have to kick that hard kid?” Naruto asked his son.

“Had to make sure it wasn’t a shadow clone.” Boruto said with a frown, crossing his arms petulantly. Naruto went up to his wife who was holding Himawari.

“Hi Hima…” Naruto said, holding out a reluctant hand to touch his daughter’s cheek. Himawari looked determinedly at him, but Naruto could tell she was unsure.

“Your Papa came home early for dinner. Are you ready to have dinner with him?” Hinata asked her daughter. The family went into the dining room where Hinata had already set the table. Hinata set Himawari up in her booster seat and Boruto sat beside her. The family sat and they actually enjoyed dinner.

—-

Once they had put Boruto and Himawari to bed after dinner, Naruto headed back to the front door. Hinata followed him, confused.

“Do you still have more work to do?” Hinata asked him.

“I’m sorry. I can manage being home for dinner, but some days I might need to go back to work. I’ll help you put the kids to bed when I do have to go back to work. But I really gotta go back. I’ll start bringing home some work to do in the office.” Naruto explained. Hinata nodded. She was worried that Naruto would burn himself out.

“Please Naruto-kun, don’t burn yourself out.” Hinarta said to him, and she hugged him from behind. Naruto held his wives hands where they were on his chest.

“I won’t. I’ll do what I can to make sure that you and the kids are happy.” Naruto told her. He turned around and kissed his wife. “Go to bed. It’s so late, that I won’t be sure if I’ll make it home to come to bed. I might sleep there.”

“I understand.” Hinata responded. “Take care.”

Chapter Text

At five o’clock, Sasuke enter Yakiniku Q, and found Sakura already waiting at a table. She looked up from the menu and waved. Sasuke waved back and went ahead and sat at the table.

“Were you waiting long?” Sasuke asked her.

“Not really, I only got here a couple of minutes ago.” Sakura replied politely. “I was waiting for you to get here before I ordered.” Sasuke nodded. The waitress came up.

“Can I get your drink orders?” She asked.

“Water.” Sakura said.

“Water.” Sasuke replied. The waitress left and Sakura looked shyly over at Sasuke.

“I’m really not expecting anything.” Sakura said to him. “This is just us, getting to know each other not as a girl who is obsessed with you and an emotionally unstable teenager. This is two adults getting reacquainted after not seeing each other for several years.” Sasuke nodded.

“Okay.” Sasuke said with a nod. They both sat awkwardly. “How was work?” He asked her. “What exactly are you doing now?”

“Well, Ino and I have founded a pediatric and mental health clinic for the children of the village.” Sakura explained. “We saw a need for it after the war. Mostly because of the trauma we all went through.”

“I see.” Sasuke said. Sakura smiled when the waitress brought them their waters and took a drink of water.

“What about you? What have you been doing— professionally.” Sakura said, since she already knew what had gone on with him personally the past several years.

“Mostly just wandering. I’ve done some odd jobs in various villages, and I got by.” Sasuke explained. “I didn’t do anything related to shinobi work.” Sakura nodded. She could understand why he wanted to keep away from the shin obi world. She bit her lip, hesitating to ask her next question.

“What about your daughter’s mother?” Sakura asked him.

“Her? Her name was Kiko.” Sasuke explained. “Her village was on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. She knew nothing about shinobi, other then they were the worst kept secret in the world. She was perfect. We would have spent our lives together if she hadn’t passed away.” Sakura nodded. “She respected the fact I didn’t want to talk about my past and left it alone. She said she always felt like I’d tell her when I was ready. I probably would have, if she hadn’t passed away.”

“Do you think you would have ever come back to the village if she had still been alive?” Sakura asked him.

“Maybe— eventually— she would occasionally ask me about coming to Konoha.” Sasuke said with a shrug. As they finished their conversation, their food came and they quietly began to eat. In the end, Sakura felt that maybe she had pried too much into Sasuke’s life since he had left the village. “What about you? Did you ever see anyone?”

“Oh, yeah. Just Lee, but we talked about that already. He’s really sweet, but going out with him made me realize how badly I treated you.” Sakura explained with a shrug. “He’s going out with Tenten now I think…”

“I see… is there anyone else you would have been interested in?” Sakura was getting the sense that he was just trying to be polite.

“Not really. It’s just all about work.” Sakura explained. “I love the kids and helping people, but other then that there’s nothing else I’ve been too interested in.” She explained.

“Same here, of course, the stuff with Kiko happened about a week ago.” Sasuke explained. Sakura’s eyes widened.

“Just a week ago?” Sakura asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m surprised you’re doing so well.” Sakura responded.

“It comes easier after awhile, once you’ve experienced enough loss.” Sasuke explained. Sakura stiffened. In truth, that was one of the hardest things for her to deal with when it came to relating to Sasuke. She always never knew what to say. He never seemed like he wanted to or cared to be comforted for what had gone on in his life.

“But I’m glad you’re back. You know Naruto and I will always be here for you.” She said gently. Her teenage heart that still existed deep down melted some when she saw the slight smile on Sasuke’s face.

“I was worried about that,” Sasuke said to her. “but I’m glad it was unfounded.”

“Why’s that?”

“So much happened between the three of us, I wasn’t sure if you guys forgave me.” Sasuke told her. She reached out her hand gently and grasped his hand.

“Sasuke, you’re our teammate. We’re family. That’s been the rule since before we were born. Not only do we love you, but we have a duty to care about you like a brother. Even if sometimes you made that duty difficult.” Sakura explained to him. Truly, Sasuke wasn’t sure how he felt about that response, but he didn’t pull away his hand. Sakura pulled away. After awhile, they finished their dinner in companionable silence.

—-

After they finished dinner, and the two left the restaurant.

“We can walk home?” Sakura asked Sasuke.

“Sure.”

The two continued to walk in silence. Sasuke spoke up as they headed towards Sakura’s apartment.

“I hope that one of these days, I can make you and Naruto care about me more than just because it’s a duty.” Sasuke said to her. Sakura stopped and looked at Sasuke. Sakura sighed. Of course he would take it like that.

“Sasuke. That’s not what I meant. The important thing is that you’re back with us and we can start fresh.” Sakura explained. “You still have some healing to do, and Naruto and I will be with you every step of the way. So will Kakashi-sensei.” Sasuke was silent as they continued walking. “That’s why you came back right?”

Sasuke sighed, she was right, but there was something deep down that he knew he was finding excuses to reject his friends. He shouldn’t be doing that.

“You’re right.” Sasuke mumbled as they walked up to Sakura’s apartment. He supposed in the end, that they were both still so emotionally ill equipped to be people because they were shinobi. Clearly neither of them were able to meet on the same wave length. “Well, here you are.” Sasuke said to her.

“Yeah…” Sakura mumbled. Sasuke looked at her.

“I get what you’re trying to say, but I think in the end, because we’re shinobi, we don’t know how to have emotions like normal people.” Sasuke said to her. Sakura laughed humorlessly.

“Wow, what stellar insight.” She joked.

“We’ll be alright though. Good night Sakura.”

“Good night Sasuke.”

Chapter Text

Naruto woke up with a start. He scowled at the alarm that said 5 AM. He had stayed long enough after dinner to help Hinata put the kids to bed, but came back to the office immediately after. He ended up sleeping here-- again-- due to being here all night. The kids seemed like they were warming up to things, and Hinata seemed content-- but not happy.

Naruto hurried and dressed.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." he mumbled, making the hand sign, with one clone popping up beside him. "You stay here and get some work done. I have to go home for breakfast." The clone muttered an incomprehensible agreement and Naruto left the office. He checked his watch as he left. 5:15am. He had just enough time to hurry home and at least have Hinata wake up next to him. He'd pretend to be asleep-- he just hoped that he wouldn't actually fall back to sleep, because then the shadow clone would disappear. He got to his house and crept quietly through the door.

The house was still, no one seemed to be awake yet. Good. He crept up the stairs to his and Hinata's room and slid under the blanket next to Hinata. Hinata was still asleep, but seemed to sense his presence as she cuddled next to him. He'd just close his eyes for a few minutes and focus... on the... he bolted awake for a second when he remembered about the shadow clone. He figured it would be fine. He was a Hokage-level shinobi... he should be able... to fight off...

"GWAH"

Naruto woke up with a start, with Boruto sitting on his chest. Hinata was gone. He groaned.

"What are you doing?" he mumbled. Boruto poked his father's cheek.

"Time to wake up dad\~" Boruto sang. "Did you actually sleep here last night?" he asked. Naruto yawned.

"Yes." he said. Boruto looked visibly impressed, but it was clear he was trying not to be. Naruto then heard the sound of small footsteps running eagerly.

"Papa! Papa! Wake up!" Himawari called out as she ran into the room and climbed onto the bed. "Mama made breakfast and it smells really good and Boruto-nii said you were up here and I wanted to see!" she said in one excited rush, bouncing slightly on the mattress.

"It's time for breakfast Old Man." Boruto said to his father. Naruto yawned, and let Himawari grab his hand and try to pull him up.

"Come on Papa! I'm hungry!" Himawari insisted, tugging at his arm with both of her small hands.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming Hima-chan," Naruto said with a smile as he let her lead him down to the kitchen. Hinata had just finished making breakfast. She looked at him and smiled a knowing smile. He smiled back sheepishly. He knew she knew what he tried to do, and he could tell she was appreciative.

"Good morning, let's eat!" Hinata said as the four of them sat down for breakfast.

"Itadakkimasu!" they said in unison and ate. Once they were finished Naruto yawned and stretched as he got up from the table.

"Time to go back. Bye kids!" he said. He gave Boruto a one armed hug from where he was seated, that he begrudgingly accepted, and kissed Himawari on the head.

"I'll walk you out." Hinata said as she walked her husband to the door. They paused at the door, and Hinata gave him a long hug. "Thank you for trying. I appreciate it." she told him. Naruto hugged her back, patting her gently.

"Thank you. It still feels like not enough, but I know we'll get there." Naruto said and pulled away from the hug. He kissed her gently. "Have a good day okay?" he said to her.

"Thanks. You too."

---

"You slept here again." Shikamaru stated as Naruto walked into the office with a yawn. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.

"How can you tell?" Naruto replied.

Shikamaru shot a pointed look at the couch where blankets lay rumpled, then wordlessly held up a paper from Naruto's desk. The handwriting started legibly enough but devolved into illegible scribbles halfway down the page.

"Even your shadow clone fell asleep," Shikamaru observed dryly.

Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"What exactly did you do after I left?" Shikamaru asked him. Usually, Shikamaru got there before Naruto, and left before Naruto. Despite being the Hokage's right hand, Shikamaru wasn't required to log the copious amounts of overtime that Naruto did.

"I finished some reports. Went home for a few hours. Came back and worked some more. CLEARLY. Still not enough." Naruto said with a groan. He sighed. "But, Hinata and the kids are happy, and that's what counts." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. As a fellow father, he could appreciate Naruto's need for work/life balance, but this was getting ridiculous.

"Maybe you need to cut bac--"

"Don't even go there." Naruto replied. "I will make this work. I have to."

Shikamaru sighed, knowing better than to argue when Naruto got that determined look. He pulled out a stack of papers from his bag.

"Fine. But we still have work to do." Shikamaru said, dropping the stack on Naruto's desk with a heavy thud. "These are the mission assignments for this week that need your approval. Three chunin teams, two jonin solo missions, and one ANBU operation."

Naruto flipped through them, his eyes scanning quickly. "Anything unusual?"

"The ANBU op might take longer than expected. It's border patrol near the Land of Lightning. They're reporting some suspicious activity but nothing concrete yet." Shikamaru explained. "Also, the Daimyo's office sent another request for a meeting about the budget allocation for next quarter."

Naruto groaned. "Again? We just had that meeting two weeks ago."

"They want to discuss the increased spending on the academy renovations." Shikamaru pulled out another document. "And there's a dispute between two merchant families about trading rights that somehow ended up on your desk instead of going through the proper civilian channels."

"Why does everything end up on my desk?" Naruto muttered.

"Because you're the Hokage." Shikamaru replied matter-of-factly. "There's also the weekly report from the hospital, updates from the sensor division, and—" he paused, pulling out a smaller stack, "—these are the requests for personal audiences. About fifteen of them."

"Fifteen?!"

"I already filtered out the ones that could be handled by other departments. These are the ones that specifically require the Hokage's attention." Shikamaru said with a shrug. "Oh, and don't forget you have that council meeting this afternoon about Sasuke."

Naruto's head hit his desk with a soft thunk.

"Leave me alone to dieeeee\~" Naruto groaned. "Can't you forge my signature?" he asked with a pout.

"I could, but that would be a whole other issue. You would be the first Hokage to get impeached. And then they'd make me do it. And I don't want to." Shikamaru told Naruto. "I have some stuff I can go check on for you. Do your paperwork."

"Fine." Naruto grumbled and got to work. Shikamaru smirked and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him. Naruto began to shuffle through the work in front of him. He yawned. This paperwork was getting to be ridiculous.

He picked up the first mission assignment form and began reading through it. Standard chunin escort mission to the Land of Tea. Simple enough. He signed it and moved it to the approved pile. The next one was similar—border patrol rotation. His pen moved almost automatically across the page.

The third form was longer. A detailed report about the suspicious activity near the Land of Lightning border. Naruto squinted at the text, trying to focus on the words. They seemed to blur together. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes. When was the last time he'd actually slept in a real bed for a full night? He couldn't remember.

His head felt heavy. Just for a moment, he told himself. He'd just rest his eyes for a second while he thought about the best team to assign to the Lightning border situation. Just a second...

His forehead touched the desk. And he was out.