Hi. So, this is not exactly my first fanfiction, but it is the first one I write in English (I'm French). So, please, be lenient. I'm used to read in English, but writing is a different (and difficult) challenge. I just hope there are not too many grammar and spelling mistakes or too many awkward phrases. I tried to read and correct this text multiple times, so I hope it will be easy for you to read.

Story takes place after the manga, a few days after Sarada's birth to be more precise, so it contains major spoilers on the manga's ending. Main characters : Sasuke and Naruto (Sarada being a newborn baby, she is here but not really involved in the plot). No pairing.

Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

Peaceful Afternoon

Her name was Uchiha Sarada. She had a pale-skinned face with tiny, chubby cheeks. Her closed eyelids were hiding black-coal eyes that matched the few locks of hair on her head. Other would have described her as a plump baby. To Sasuke, she was just beautiful. It was the only word he could think about as he looked at his little girl's sleeping face as she was nestled in the protective crook of his arm. He felt a powerful and unspeakable emotion in his heart, like a warm feeling spreadind through his chest as he sat more comfortably against the rock he used to rest his back upon.

April was ending and the air was already filled with sweet, intoxicating perfume from the first spring blooms. Warm, kind sun-rays poured into the clearing. Sasuke felt like he had never lived such a wonderful day before in his life. Feeling completely at peace, he closed his eyes briefly and focused onto his warmed-up skin. The weather was so nice that he had removed his cloak and carefully folded it on the grass beside him. His jacket was carelessly unbuttoned and his rolled up sleeve revealed a pale-skinned arm to the daylight.

Sarada stirred against his chest, instantly attracting her father's attention. But she only pressed more closely against Sasuke without waking up. The Uchiha showed one of his very rare smiles. Sarada was a quiet child who almost never cried, spending her time observing instead. She would be looking at everyone and everything around her with her big, round, watchfull eyes. Sasuke still had difficulty to believe his daughter was actually born and that he was no more the last Uchiha alive on Earth. He could hardly believe he was a father to be honest.

'Nii-san, if only you could see her...'

Could Itachi's soul see his niece through his very own eyes inside Sasuke's head? Maybe that was his older brother's pride, gentleness and love that Sasuke could feel spreading in his chest. He blinked away a tear that rolled down his cheek and all the way to his chin since he was unable to wipe it away, his only remaining arm busied with holding his daughter against his chest. His Sharingan instinctively bled to life and chakra gathered under his eyelids. His Pupil stared at Sarada's little face until its image was branded into his memory, into his very soul.

Leaves rustled, breaking him out of his contemplation. But he was so used to Naruto's chakra that he didn't bother raising his eyes. He hadn't been to Konoha for almost one year, had not given any sign of life since then, but he had been expecting his stupid friend to come over sooner or later. Naruto's presence and chakra were kind of reassuring to the Uchiha, like music both cheerful and relaxing. At the now rare times in which Sasuke's heart would be troubled with fear, doubt, hate, the Naruto's presence was enough to sooth him out of his anguish. Sasuke could have felt humiliated about it, but he considered himself far too old to be as prideful as he was as a teenager.

Naruto came closer to his old friend and knelt down with a gentleness earned along the years. Sasuke finally raised his head and looked into the future Hokage's the shiny eyes. It was plain as day that Naruto was holding back tears, staring at Sarada as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Sasuke smirked.

"Why haven't you said anything ?" Naruto asked after a long silence, his voice slightly shaking.

Sasuke shrugged. "I knew Sakura would keep you informed."

"Katsuyu came to tell me only last night!" retorted Naruto, even if his face was stretched into an idiotic smile. "I was eating when she told me the new. I choked on my ramen and I ended with noodles sticking out of my nose! Well, I made Hinata-chan and Boruto laugh at least, even if it wasn't that funny."

Sasuke shook his head, chuckling quietly. Even through Naruto had become strong and was both the Konoha hero and future Hokage, deep down he remained the same dumb kid from their Academy days. Sasuke secretly hoped his friend's son, already as blond as his father, had inherited his mother's kind and bright mind. Naruto looked up at him, his eyes shining in the sunlight.

"May I hold her?"

"No."

Naruto's blissful face fell immediately. "What! Why not?"

"I don't want you to drop her, dumbass," Sasuke answered with his usual arrogance.

"Shut up! At least, I've got two arms! That's twice more than you, you bastard! And for your information, I'm used to handle children."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow with disbelief and let his Sharingan disappear, his natural charcoal eyes replacing the bloody irises. He looked at his friend's red, angry face wrinkled with irritation. Naruto sulked like a child when he realised Sasuke would not change his mind.

" You really are a bastard, Sasuke," he whined. "This is so unfair! I've let you hold Boruto when he was born! You owe me!"

"Hey, Naruto..."

The blond – whose voice tended to turn high-pitched when he was upset and sounded especially annoying to Sasuke's delicate ears – shut up almost immediately. Naruto knew that tone. Sasuke was by no means a talkative man, and only deemed useful to speak when he had something important to say. If there was a flaw that couldn't be claimed by the Uchiha, it would be lying. Sasuke had hardly ever lied in his life, and the few times he did were when he was a child. He always completely respected his nindo, no matter the consequences. He shared at least this quality with Naruto.

Sasuke looked straigt at the blond's face, allowing him to see the soft but firm resolve in his eyes.

"I want Sarada to grow up in Konoha," he said. "It is the Uchiha clan's birthplace and home. My parents' house is still there. It will belong to Sarada when she will be old enough."

Sasuke lowered his eyes and looked at his sleeping baby wrapped in a red blanket carrying the Uchiha fan. Sakura had spent her pregnancy days embroidering it, under Sasuke's watchful eyes as her belly grew more and more round with new life.

"Anyway, life on the road is not for children," Sasuked added firmly.

"Does Sakura-chan agree with that?" Naruto asked softly, sounding a bit solemn. He knew without having to ask that his friend would not come back to Konoha with his family. Now more than ever, Sasuke's place was on the road, in the world of which he had ignored the beauty for most of his life. Beside, Sasuke still felt the need to atone for his past sins. It was not very often that a former criminal like him could freely travel across the world.

"You know how she is," Sasuke answered, tilting his head to the side. "She would follow me to the end of the world with Sarada if I let her. But I insisted for her to go back to Konoha. She misses her parents, and she wants to introduce Sarada to them. It's the least I can do for her."

"She'll be sad to leave you."

"Obviously, but I know her. She is strong, she'll be fine."

Naruto looked knowingly at his friend. Sakura was Sasuke's wife and now Sarada's mother, but she also was part of Team Seven. After the end of the war, the bound formerly severed between the three teammates had been reformed and never broke again since then. Nobody had forgotten the past sufferings, but Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had grown stronger and more confident and all three of them had kept walking forward; Naruto letting Sasuke go, Sasuke being able to ease his hate and pain and starting his elongated redemption travel across the world, and Sakura following her husband after a few years of living in the village. She had left Konoha a year ago to join Sasuke on the roads. Sarada's birth marked the end of the journey for Sakura, but also it also meant the beginning of a new life for the Uchiha family.

Sarada stirred again in Sasuke's hold, finally waking up from her deep sleep. Her tiny face furrowed as she yawned without making a sound. Naruto gaped at her, eyes shiny with unshed tears. Sasuke smiled and watched his daughter slowly blinking her charcoal eyes open, and then widening them fully to look straight at her father's identical ones. The baby smiled up at Sasuke's face and freed her tiny fists from the blanket to lift them into the air.

"She looks so much like Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered.

"Sure," Sasuke scoffed, rising once again a disbelieved eyebrow. "Just as much as Boruto looks like Hinata."

Naruto blushed. "That's not what I meant! Well yeah, she got your hair and your eyes, but her smile... it reminds me of Sakura's."

Naruto wasn't wrong. Even if Sarada has unmistakably inherited the Uchiha looks, it was almost certain that she will be sharing her mother's personality. That comforted Sasuke in his idea to raise Sarada in Konoha, even if it meant they would be separated.

"I want her to have a peaceful childhood," Sasuke confessed softly over his daughter's quiet babbling. "I want – I want her to understand what is love and friendship, and to not repeat my own mistakes. I want her to be honest with herself and able to make her own decisions."

The Uchiha looked at Naruto to seek and find in his friend's blue eyes an unspoken agreement that comforted him. His and Naruto's chakras hummed together in a rare moment of harmony.

"The Sharingan is a powerful but dangerous weapon," Sasuke said. "You know this as well as me, Naruto. The hate will always seem more alluring to Uchihas who have known love. But I know Sarada will be protected from herself as long as she'll stay under your watch. Even if she knows death and misery, she won't be lost in the darkness and the hatred like I was."

Sasuke spoke from experience. He was Indra's reincarnation and Naruto was Asura's. The cycle of eternal conflict between the two brothers had been broken by Sasuke's decision to finally admit his defeat to Naruto, but Sarada remained an Uchiha. And the Uchiha hate could only be placated by the Senju love.

"I want you to watch over my daughter and turn Konoha into a village able to protect the Uchiha clan, where Sarada can grow up in peace," Sasuke said without blinking. "And to achieve this, I want you to become the next Hokage."

For a moment, there was only silence in the clearing. Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other, the former curious about his friend's answer, the later thoughtfully looking at the Uchiha. Nothing could be heard except leaves rustling in the wind, birds chirping, and Sarada's babbling which was turning whining until her father lifted her to rest her head on his shoulder. Sasuke didn't wince when little fingers grasped one of his black locks and yanked sharply, partially revealing the purple shade of his Rinnegan.

Nobody could deny that Sasuke had been a criminal. But what he became was the result of Konoha's scheming. The seeds of hatred were planted deep inside his heart because of the village council's decision, the hesitation from an old man too tired to be an Hokage again or Itachi's resolve to carry all the responsibility upon his shoulders and of course Sasuke's own choices of revenge. His Sharingan was like a mirror for his soul, reflecting all his pain and past mistakes, along with all the decisions he made, bad ones like good ones. Naruto had always refused to let Sasuke become an avenger, and that was because he could understand the Uchiha more than anybody else in the world. They had the same childhood, suffered from the same empty, ugly loneliness. They were like two sides of the same coin.

Naruto rose his hand – the left one, warm with blood and chakra – to rest it onto Sasuke's black hair. Without missing a beat, the blond bent his head until their foreheads touched. Sasuke stayed perfectly still, his eyes wide – because this was Itachi's move, Nii-san's, always had been – before slowly relaxing his tensed muscles. He felt their chakra humming once again as if they formed only one.

"So you trust me?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes, his mouth slowly moving into a small smile. "Yeah. I trust you."

He trusted Naruto to protect his daughter, to change the village, to make the world's hard-earned peace last longer. Naruto embodied the Senju love just like Hashirama before him. Only Naruto and his unrelenting could change a whole village. Sasuke saw his friend's smile, felt his hand in his hair, heard his daughter's heart bumping in her chest against his own. There was peace in his heart. He felt chakra gathering once more in his eyes. The Sharingan came back to life under his closed lids, not from familiar, fiery hatred, but from love transcending his very soul.

The Uchiha couldn't hold back his sudden laugh, because Naruto had just managed to achieve the unachievable. He had changed the Uchiha Pupil of hate into a Pupil of love. Sarada will be safe in Konoha, Sasuke was sure of it. He focused on his baby's warmth and Naruto's powerful chakra quietly humming against his own. His daughter will be safe and happy in the village Naruto had already begun to change.

After all, Naruto had made him a promise, and Naruto never broke his word. That was his nindo.

The end

That's all. I hope you have enjoyed this story. Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think and if the text was clear enough for you to understand.

Thank you for reading!