Spying Together

By Lapiz Liberty

Summary: Sarada spies on her parents, and the Seventh Hokage can't help but join her.

"How mama and papa ended up together is a total mystery," she told the Seventh. "Since papa came home, he has hardly responded to mama's invitation to show some affection. Not a peck on the cheek. Not a pat here and there. Sometimes I think he hired mama to take care of me. There's got to be a contract somewhere." Sarada rested her chin on her knees and squinted to see her parents walking side-by-side towards the farmer's district. She'd come home from school, excited to see her father, only to discover that neither he nor her mother were in the house.

A hastily scribbled note from Sakura on the table told Sarada that her mother had gone grocery-shopping, but the vegetable-filled bags on the kitchen counter also told her that this grocery shopping of hers was a task completed before school was over. She proceeded to unpack the greens and place them in the chiller as she scrutinized this unusual behavior in her head. Her mama switched their lunch boxes and dropped a stethoscope or syringe in her school bag every now and then, but she had never failed to note her whereabouts should Sarada find the house empty.

Putting the grocery bags away, Sarada walked to her parents' bedroom to crush with haste whatever hope she had that her papa was home again. She had been disappointed so many times that when she opened the door and saw his cloak discarded on the bed, she had to stare and probe its rough, worn cloth to assure herself that such an item of clothing could only belong to her papa.

Finding them took her over an hour. Four in the afternoon in a bustling Konoha made the task nearly impossible. She stood on the tallest structure she could find - the rooftop of a newly constructed hotel - and surveyed the landscape. Now it all came down to how well she knew her parents. While her mama could bear the noise and traffic of the main district, her papa was not the sort who could be forced to mingle with people he had no business with or to endure its trivial glamor.

A smile surfaced on her face. She turned east and nodded at the farmer's district. This was the area of Konoha that remained largely unchanged, and if there was any quiet place her parents would spend time in undetected by their social circle, that would be it.

Ten minutes into spotting and stalking her parents, the Seventh Hokage whistled to get her attention. He looked comical the way he clung to a weathered signage half-hidden in the leaves of the tree she was on, and before she knew it, they were spying together.

Naruto dropped from the signage and perched on the branch next to her. The branch tilted, and Sarada had to hold on to it to keep from sliding off. They stayed that way until Sakura and Sasuke were at the end of the street and it was safe again to pursue them.

Naruto tapped her shoulder. "Let's go."

"Wait."

"Eh?"

Sarada scowled at him. "Just what exactly is the Hokage doing here, spying on my parents? Wait…you're just another clone, aren't you? The one chasing after Boruto?"

Naruto scratched the side of his nose. "If somebody sees us, I'm a clone. But between us, I'm the real one. And the real Naruto suggests we go now and find a suitable hiding space in the farmer's district before they get there. It's pretty much an open space, so the chances of them spotting us are really big."

"….Right."

They climbed to the top of the tree, spotted Sasuke and Sakura exiting the residential area west of Konoha and about to make a turn to the farmer's district. Naruto signaled Sarada to follow him. He hopped down the tree and onto a water tower. He led the way across roofs and into the vegetation surrounding the farmer's sheds. He frequently glanced at Sarada, slowing his pace enough for her to catch up – something she appreciated but noted as a skill to improve. If she were to become Hokage, after all, she would have to move as fast as one.

They chose the biggest tree in the perimeter and sat on a branch until Sakura and Sasuke reappeared. Sarada leaned forward and pushed her glasses up her nose bridge. "Oh, mama. You could have dressed nicer! It's not like papa's always home to see you!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose and scratched his cheek. "What's wrong with her clothes?"

"It's her normal everyday clothes! With all due respect, but I don't think it's something men will understand."

"Well, I'm a man and I know what I like," he said. "It doesn't matter much what a woman wears so long as it's presentable. And I think women look best simple."

Sarada sighed. "If papa thinks that way then mama's on the right track. If. But just look at them! They're only walking and talking. Papa's not even holding her hand."

Naruto pulled his leg up and wrapped one arm around it, grinning. "Well, Sarada, I'd worry if Sasuke does that."

"Huh? How so?"

"Your father…" Naruto stared at the couple walking slowly along the edge of the rice field. Sakura's pink hair and red dress stood out against Sasuke's dark coloured clothes. And that was pointing out only the physical. That such a bubbly girl would be the perfect fit for his silent and – there was no use denying the obvious – mania-prone friend seemed like an anomaly even to him sometimes. He couldn't help but flinch at the validity of Sarada's concerns. "His lack of – how do I explain this to a little girl?"

"If it's perverted, Seventh, don't bother."

"Whoa, where did that come from?"

"Boruto told me about the sexy jutsu." Sarada pouted to compensate for her reddening face. "He says he's disappointed in you, but I wonder about that. I caught him learning it from Konohamaru-sensei."

Naruto gawked at her, cheeks turning pink. He realized the face he was making, shook his head, and cleared his throat. "It seems Konohamaru is pinning the blame for the sexy jutsu on me. I'll see to it that he's punished for his perverted ways."

"Oh. So it didn't originate from you?"

"The road to becoming a shinobi was much harsher in my days," he said. "Do you think I'd have time to pull off that stunt?"

"Mama said it was tough. You're right. So does that mean she was not talking about the sexy jutsu when she said you were a bad influence on Konohamaru-sensei?"

Naruto stiffened. He told himself he'd have to speak to Sakura about what she shared with the younger shinobis about his childhood. "I think she's talking about me teaching Konohamaru an advanced skill when he was too young to learn it."

Sarada stood and stretched her arms overhead. "By the looks of it, nothing's going to change between mama and papa."

"As I was trying to say, Sasuke's the shy type."

"What? Papa? No way!"

He shifted on the branch, unsure of how to explain the temperament of his friend to a little girl. Years of friendship provided comfort in the company of Sasuke, but not a total enlightenment as to the thoughts that ran through his mind. How and when Sasuke decided that Sakura was the one for him was a mystery Naruto had no hope of solving. One thing he was certain of, though, was that his and her bond started in Team Seven and was fully acknowledged in his presence during the war, and of those things he had confidence to share. "If you think Sakura's made no effort to entice Sasuke, then you're completely wrong. Nobody's made more effort than she did. And he tried to deny it until the last moment, when we were dying by the end of the war, but there was no escaping the truth. When a girl like that shows unconditional love, even a boy like that can't remain unchanged."

Sarada resumed watching her parents. They were now seated on the edge of the rice field, their bodies at least a foot apart, and their eyes barely meeting one another's while they talked. "I can't imagine papa holding back simply because he's shy."

"Maybe you'll understand when you're older," Naruto said with a smile. "Sasuke's the old-fashioned type. He likes showing people that nothing breaks his heart. Perhaps he can act that way with Sakura in public, but he can't do the same to you."

"You're right."

"Aren't I?"

Sarada frowned at him. "No, I mean you're right about me not understanding it now. Somehow, Seventh, you just managed to make it more confusing."

Naruto grumbled. He couldn't believe his powers of persuasion still had little effect on an Uchiha. He stood and made a move to go, making sure to turn around slowly as he said, "Oh well, maybe I should wait until you're eighteen before I tell you about that time I got Sasuke drunk and –"

Sarada grabbed his cloak, wide-eyed. "Papa got drunk?"

Naruto puffed his chest out and put his hands on his waist. "Yeah! He's not as –" Through the corner of his eye, he saw the figures of Sasuke and Sakura on the rice field disappear into a cloud of smoke. Leaves drizzled over him and the little girl. He swallowed. "Hey, Sarada, was that the wind or are your parents somewhere above us?"

Her grip loosened on his cloak. "Seventh, I think now is a good time for you to admit that you're a clone."