I apologise early on if this becomes lengthy. I wanted to write about Naruto talking to Sarada and Boruto about the past.
Boruto sighed as he glanced towards the clear blue sky. Such an uneventful day.
There wasn't any mission given to Team Konohamaru today... so he had some free time. It suffice to say... that means that he'd end up doing chores again. As could be expected.
"Boruto!"
He turned around to see his childhood friend running up towards him. "Sarada, what are you doing here? Did we receive an assignment?"
Sarada shook her head. "Nah. I was supposed to meet up with Chouchou here but then she remembered that she was supposed to resume training with her dad. What're you doing here?"
Boruto lifted up the bento he was carrying. "As usual."
His childhood friend gave him the knowing look before shrugging. "Boruto... you aren't going to act up again, are you?"
"Of course I'm not going to—"
"Seventh-sama!"
Both of them turned towards the pavilion facing the Hokage Monument, as a group of little kids had started to gather. In the middle of the group, undoubtedly... was the Seventh Hokage himself. His father... standing alone at the pavilion, surrounded by the younger generations of the village.
"And I thought you were supposed to be so busy that you can't even come home last night?" Boruto retorted as his father looked up towards him. Sarada elbowed him harshly.
Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I'm supposed to. But right now I'm on an hour break. Shikamaru insisted. I'd head home if I could but then I still would have to come back to resume work later."
Sarada nodded. "Mama mentioned something like that too, before. She said that you tend to push yourself too hard you even forgot your limits. She kept fussing about it too. Said you need to remember to take a break once a while and not push it till you're about to collapse. She mentioned about that night when you collapsed and all of your other clones went poof." She rolled her eyes at him. "Shikamaru-san told Mama about it."
Boruto stared at his father as Sarada sat beside Naruto on the bench. He suddenly reminded about the night during Himawari's birthday. Was Sarada... talking about that?
"Here!" he said suddenly, handing the bento towards his father. Naruto smiled.
xxx
"Anyway Seventh... what're you doing here?"
Naruto glanced towards Sarada in amusement as he shrugged. "I'm reminiscing."
"Reminiscing?" asked Boruto incredulously.
He chuckled.
"The Third used to hang out here whenever he had some free time, and sometimes chat with the younger children who came to see the Hokage Monument. He always come here whenever he wanted to think... or just to clear his mind."
"Hnnn... I guess looking at the past Hokage would have an effect," Sarada mused, before turning to glare towards Boruto, "And then you have Boruto scribbling on them every chance he's got!"
"Hey!"
Naruto laughed as he watched his son shouting at Sarada. "Boruto wasn't the first to do it though. I used to doodle on the Hokage faces myself, to get everyone's attention. Konohamaru also did it, just to get the Third to notice him."
Boruto cocked his head at him. "Dad did? Wait... I think I heard some people mentioning that before... b-but, Konohamaru-sensei also? After all the fuss he made last time?"
Sarada turned her glance back towards the Hokage monument. "I wished I could get to know them all, not just the Fifth... and Sixth. Not to mention you too, Seventh!" she exclaimed before turning to face Naruto.
"I guess you would think so. And I don't blame you, they're all cool people. Not just my father... the Fourth, Grandpa Third, Kakashi-sensei and Granny Tsunade. The old man Second and the First were also nice people. Old man Second might be a bit stiff, but he's very reliable." Naruto turned towards Sarada. "Also I heard you wanted to become a Hokage too, right... Sarada?"
Sarada blushed, before nodding shyly.
"You talked as if you knew all of the previous Hokage so well, but Dad... wasn't Grandpa already dead when you're still very young? How could you even say you that you know him that much. Even if you heard stories about them from others, the real them... shouldn't be exactly the same as the legends they're in."
Naruto nodded. "I agree. Legends do stretch the truths a bit, and I have to admit I did hear a lot of stories about them from the Third. Especially about the Fourth, even before I knew he was my father. But the short time I have; talking and fighting side by side with the Fourth, old man Second, the First Hokage Hashirama, it felt as if I had known them all my life as well as I knew the Third, the Fifth and my teacher, the Sixth. Those times were brief, but they were also my precious memories."
Boruto recalled the time when they were fighting the ogre Momoshiki, and how his father helped him create the largest Rasengan he had ever wield. He remembered seeing a glimpse of images—memories from his father's of the people important to his father, as well as the battles his father had fought. He remembered seeing an image of his father fighting side by side with his grandfather, wielding the same Rasengan.
"So Dad... you did... get to meet Grandpa for a while?"
Naruto glanced towards Boruto before smiling. "Yeah. During the last great war... and few other specialsituations. I got to see your grandma too, in that sense,"
"How did—?"
"Why did you want to become a Hokage, Seventh? What made you decide to become someone like them? I heard you've always wanted to become one since you were very little."
Sarada gave Naruto a serious look as he shrugged. "I guess because I wanted people to acknowledge my existence. Back then when I was young, I was always alone. And because of the bijuu inside of me, the villagers had always hated me. So I tried so hard to become a strong ninja so that everyone could see my strength and rely on me. A Hokage would fit that bill, right?" he said as Sarada listened attentively.
"But the more I get stronger I realized something, I didn't just want to become a Hokage for people to acknowledge me. I wanted to become one because I wanted to protect everyone. Remember when I told you that a Hokage treats everyone in the village as his own family?"
Sarada nodded as Naruto continued. "It's because of that... that I—all of the previous Hokage—was able to gather all our strength to do our best to protect everyone from danger."
Boruto thought again about the fight during the last Chuunin exam and silently sneaked beside his father to sit close to him. He recalled that wretched feeling when he realised that all of the harsh thoughts he had about his father were wrong, and how dreadful he felt at the thought of losing his father.
Naruto grinned as he patted Boruto's head fondly and placed a hand on his son's shoulders.
"Even then... just because you wanted to become a Hokage, doesn't mean that you can. Someone told me before that you don't become a Hokage because you're strong. You don't become a Hokage to get people to acknowledge you." He turned towards Sarada. "It's when people acknowledged your strength that you could become a Hokage."
Naruto glanced towards the sky... and the Hokage Monument. "Throughout the time when I strived to become strong until the time of the war, I've carried the will of the people who placed their hopes on me and acknowledged my strength. The Will of Fire... I guess you'll have to inherit that will as well, if you want to become a Hokage."
Sarada's eyes shone as she smiled. "I think I've already inherited that will, Seventh! It's when you talked to me before, when we went to look for Papa and to save Mama. I've wanted to become a Hokage ever since then, to become like you!"
"I'm glad to hear that, I hope your dream would come true as mine did," said Naruto as he patted Sarada's head. Boruto stared at Sarada and his father suspiciously, before putting himself in between them.
"Sarada, I told you before that I'd support you. But regardless... this old man is still my—"
Sarada chuckled before turning towards Naruto. "Seventh... that someone, who was it that told you that?"
"Hmm?" Naruto cocked his head towards her. "It's your late uncle... Sarada, Uchiha Itachi."
Boruto stared again at his father's face and saw how happy he was as his father talked more about his past. He learned something more today. Especially about the Will of Fire.
I had that fondness for the scene where Hiruzen was at the pavilion. I just want Naruto to also do something like that... considering Hiruzen was the first Kage figure that he came to know while growing up.