IMPORTANT A/N: This fic follows Boruto anime and all those canon characters, pairings and backstories except there's no Uchiha massacre. Many of the backstories are derived from the first Itachi Shinden novel and Itachi Shinden Anime adaptation. It's fine if you hadn't read it though, it is depressing (thus I can't read the second book) but realistically speaking, it is the true ninja world. The events in Chapter one is 4 months after academy graduation, six months after the Sarada Arc. In Boruto anime, it is after the Genin Mission Arc (Ep. 42)
This story is a non-Uchiha Massacre AU where grandpa Fugaku lives. Itachi married Izumi and have a son in Udon's team (in place of Denki Kaminarimon). Normally I hate hate hate OCs so much, but because I'm in a pinch, there will only be one OC who appears kinda often. I gotta give Itachi a son (otherwise Sarada would be lonely :p). He is not the main character and I swear he's not Gary Sue whatever.
Anyway sorry for the rant, Enjoy!
'I, Uchiha Sasuke, loyal shinobi of Konohagakure,
second-born son of Uchiha Fugaku,
shall take you, Haruno Sakura,
to be my rightful wife.
From this day forward,
I vow to love and cherish you,
in peaceful times, and in warfare,
in rich, and in poor,
in sickness and in health,
till death do us part.'
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Prologue
Sunset brought orange vibes on the sky. Birds flew back to their nests to rest for the night, civilians finished their job for the day and walked back to their houses. A raven-haired girl entered the lively Uchiha district, chatted with few people as she passed and headed straight to her house. She fished the keys and turned them on the lock.
"I'm home." Sarada announced as she slid her front door and put her shoes on the rack. She just finished her regular training with Team 7 and had snack with them at Kaminari Burger. It was 6pm in the evening and Mama was supposed to be home, but the house was dark and nobody answered her. She checked the shoes rack and Mama's working pantofle is missing.
Oh well, double shift again today then.
Sarada sighed at the empty house. Mama was always working so hard, sometimes she went home looking so tired but always tried to conceal it with happy smiles so Sarada wasn't worried. Then the young girl would offer her mom a back massage and Sakura always ended up falling asleep on the bed.
Sarada put her sling bag down to the dining room chair and opened the fridge to see if there's any food she could heat up for Mama when she got home later that night. But just before the bespectacled Uchiha saw anything meaningful, the home phone rang, piercing the silence.
"Moshi moshi?" Sarada answered.
"Hey, Sara-chan.. " It was Izumi obaa-san's cheerful voice. She seemed relieved to have Sarada on the phone"..I called you a few times but it seemed you just went home?"
"Yes Obaa-san. I just finished training today." Sarada answered her while fondling the telephone cable. If Izumi Obaa-san called then...
"Well, Sakura told me this afternoon that she will have double shift..or was it long one? Anyway, she told me to let you stay here tonight. Just pack two set of clothes or something, you have your spare toiletries here anyway." Izumi explained patiently.
Sarada spending nights at Itachi ojii-san's house was nothing new. Since she was little, Sasuke practically almost never been in the village and Sakura was often so busy in the hospital which left Sarada alone. So on nights like this, Sarada would stay at either Itachi's or Naruto's or Fugaku's house. Mostly Itachi's, as he lived very near to her place and he also got a son who was only ten days older than Sarada.
"Okay, I will drop by soon. See you later, Obaa-san." Sarada hung up the phone.
The two brothers' houses were only ten minutes apart and were in the southwest of Uchiha district. Fugaku Oji-chan's house, though, was exactly in the middle of the clan district. Probably due to the fact that he was the previous clan head for thirty years before Itachi ojii-san took over the role a little before Sarada was born.
Some clansmen saw her passing and greeted her. Truthfully she didn't know them personally and they only knew her as 'Fugaku's granddaughter' or 'Sasuke's girl'. Sasuke was a hero in the last great war anyway, so he was notorious inside and outside the clan.
That's what they said.
Her musings finally brought her to uncle's house. The house was slightly bigger than her own but unlike her home's modern interior, Itachi's house was traditional Japanese style complete with it's paper thin sliding door, low table and tatami mats.
"Come in, the gate's not locked." her only cousin, Itsuki came out on the front door and invited her in. Her cousin had round eyes from his mother, no tear through and short spiky black hair and black eyes from his father. There's nothing remarkable in his features, he looked just like typical Uchiha
"Itsuki, how's your team?" Sarada opened conversation while he led her to the guest room where she could place her bag and spend the night.
"As always." he smoothed out his black high-collared uchiha shirt. "Iwabe is being smug and Metal becomes nervous if he realizes he's being watched."
The girl chuckled and sat down on the bed, "What did you do today?" she patted the space next to her for him to sit on but he politely shook his head, standing on the doorway.
"We sparred in the morning and then we had a D-rank mission." he answered. "We weeded out someone's garden today but Metal panicked and almost sprayed weed killer to the lady's flowers. Iwabe thought we are ninja and not supposed to do this and complained the whole mission." he smiled at his own story.
Sarada smiled at him. If she thought her team was helpless with Boruto being...Boruto and Mitsuki's occasional comment of 'You guys bicker like an old married couple', it was nothing compared to Itsuki's team.
"That must be...sucks..." Sarada commented ruefully. She was feeling sympathetic to him, but all along, Itsuki was retelling his story without any hint of complaint.
"But somehow I could understand him." he added, putting his chin on his fist as a sign he was thinking,"Iwabe is three years older than us. He's turning sixteen this year. He could be restless as some of his academy friends from his generation are promoted to Chunin already."
Sarada raised an eyebrow at this. She knew he failed the graduation three times before, but didn't realize he was that...old. "What did you say to him then?"
"That he doesn't have to worry about progressing late. Early rank is not everything in peaceful era like this. Otou-san always say ninja these days have to have notable contribution. And sharp thinking too."
Sarada was amazed, if it were her, she would be full of 101 ways to retaliate her teammate and never try to understand his dilemma.
"Yeah, with contribution comes the acknowledgement..." Sarada said, silently thinking then added, "Did he listen to you?"
The boy smirked sardonically. "As if. I'm still a younger boy to him. But that's our job as a teammate, to keep reminding them if they're doing it wrong. It's another matter whether he listens or not."
Sarada smiled sympathetically to her cousin."But I'm amazed you're not thinking of changing teams. If I were you, I would already ask audience to Nanadaime-sama to change team. I once almost did it but we cancelled..."
Itsuki perked at Sarada's comment. "It crossed through my mind once. Hyuuga-sama's team is an all-girls team, they could use one boy over there. But I thought that's really egoistical because then our teams dynamic will start over from the scratch and Iwabe will delay his ninja progress even more. And it's not fair for Metal too.."
What? He's still thinking about others? Seriously why do I have such self-sacrificing person for a cousin. How could someone only ten days older than me be this wise and patient. Shannaro!
"Despite Iwabe's attitude, I think he's one of the few who can accept Metal's inability to use ninjutsu. Other people might bully him a hard time. Anyway, how was yours?" he asked back, all team problems forgotten.
"You know Boruto." suddenly tons of complaints about Boruto she had in her mind crumbled away. I sounded so immature If I complain for such small things, she thought.
"He's...um...he's being Boruto. He's cheeky and we disagreed on lots of things. He's so uncool. He still painted graffiti on Hokage's mountain. Um, and Mitsuki was as patient as you. Except, he follows everything Boruto did." she pouted.
Itachi's son laughed softly, eyes crinkling. "I can imagine. I can't meet him everyday like I used to, but he's so fun to be around. Remember when he broke down the door on my room?"
Once when Boruto was little and had sleepover there with Itsuki and Sarada, he somehow ran through the paper sliding door and successfully created Boruto-shaped hole on it. Sarada was gaping like dead fish when the whole thing happened while Izumi obaa-san was laughing madly, unable to stop. Naruto was really shocked and apologized profusely to Itachi and Izumi when he picked Boruto up although the hosts never minded and found the kid's antics really funny. After that, no matter how much Boruto begged, Naruto never allowed him to sleep over at the Uchiha clan head's house anymore. Sarada smiled at the fond memory.
"I'm not that close to Mitsuki, but I think he fits your team well." Itsuki added.
"How so?" Sarada countered. Sometimes all she needed on the team was another sane head to counter Boruto's madness but Mitsuki is an ever-smiling passive person. It's not helping. Voting just couldn't be done with two opposing parties and one yes-man.
"Well, you don't need third head adding fuel to the fire." he commented.
Her answer was being cut when Izumi obaa-san's voice drifted through from the kitchen, "Sara-chan, Itsuki! Dinner is ready! Otou-san is here."
Itsuki put a small smile and beckoned towards his only cousin.
When they reached the dining room and kitchen, Itachi was openly hugging his wife from behind and placed his chin on her head, seemed to savoring the moment of silence. They were both facing the stove, away from them, but Izumi seemed to be already finished with cooking. A pang of awkwardness but stronger than that, jealousy, hit Sarada. Even though his uncle and auntie was always openly affectionate at home, Sarada never got used to it.
Especially when her Mama is always tired, alone and her house is always empty
Izumi was wearing a violet short-sleeved, knee-length dress with her notorious long brown hair tied into high bun. She had pretty round brown eyes which spoke much about her non-Uchiha father and a petite lips.
Itsuki cleared his throat playfully which spurred the long-married couple to face them.
"What? Would you rather see us throwing plates?" Izumi teased the happily teasing Itsuki.
"Oh, hi Sarada." Itachi went to her and playfully patted her hair, all smiles. "..how are you?"
Sarada gulped, fixing her glasses nervously. Itachi ojii-san was always being very nice to her. "..I'm fine. I'll be staying again tonight."
"It is nice to have you here." he also smiled to his son and hooked his arm on Itsuki's shoulders. "..and you?"
"I'm fine. Genin days. As usual." Itsuki answered comfortably.
He practically guided both of them to sit on the tatami mats of the traditional low dining table. Itachi sat himself in front of both young genins. Izumi, an ever diligent wife, busied herself preparing all four of them portions of rice and a bowls of beef stew.
"So, how was your team with Boruto and Mitsuki?" her uncle asked her specifically. Sarada told their antics at team training today when Boruto was being cheeky to Konohamaru as usual.
"Oh! I think they and Team 10 planned for second outing with the kids from our generation." Sarada mentioned now that she remembered. "But I'm not sure with everyone in different teams and we have different schedule..."
"Yeah, the only free time would be weekend. But that's family time." Itsuki voiced his opinion.
Oh yeah, family time for you, Sarada looked down in jealousy. Her weekends were spent mostly with Mama, but even then she's sometimes needed on the hospital. So she ended up third wheeling (fourth wheeling, actually) into Itachi's family or spend time at her grandparents' house.
Itachi seemed to notice her sudden distress and smiled knowingly to Itsuki, "You know, as you grow older you will be busier and would never had the chance to meet your academy friends." Izumi chose that time to pour some ocha for all of them, set down the bowls of rice and went back to her stew in the kitchen.
"I do not think it is likely to happen in this peaceful era, but being a shinobi is a dangerous profession, and your friends could die anytime." looking at the sudden morbid turn of the topic, Itachi ended up his speech with a small smile, "..so meet while you still can."
Itachi was working in ANBU as it was part of him for more than two thirds of his lifetime, serving as the supreme commander for the whole battalion. Initially, ANBU was commanded directly by the Hokage until Godaime (The Fifth), Tsunade. However, as the village underwent modernization, Hokage's jobs are increasing so much that managing fourty or so ANBU personnel was impossible. That's why Rokudaime Hokage(The Sixth), Kakashi, decided to elect one supreme commander who reported to the Hokage as an intermediary for ANBU missions allocation. Who was a better candidate than the one who had been there for so long, knew every personnels' specialty and could create cunning strategies like Itachi?
Initially he rejected the role of Uchiha clan head in favor of holding his neutrality and passed them to Sasuke (hell, he never used the clan emblem in his clothes when he's outside clan compound). However, since Sasuke decided to be wandering outside the village and neutralize threats (she seriously still don't get it), the role fell back to the true heir. There seemed to be another reason but Itachi just never brought it up.
"How about your genin team, Otou-san? Did you still meet them occasionally? Where are them now?" Itsuki asked innocently, sipping at his warm ocha.
At his unexpected question, Itachi's expression fell a little. "I cannot say things are going well with my team. One of them was murdered in front of me when I was eight. Because of this, the other decided being a ninja is too harsh for her and she retired early."
"When Otou-san was eight? That's the trigger of your Sharingan?" Itsuki commented. Sarada just gasped. Her own Sharingan only appeared a few months ago due to excitement when she tailed Naruto to meet Papa.
"Did everybody graduate at eight on that time?" Itsuki asked smartly.
"Academy on that day started when you are six and graduate at twelve. However for some reason, they recommended me to graduate at seven, so I only spent one year on academy. My teammates are all five years older." Itachi explained patiently.
"How was it?" Itsuki, who also had to deal with older teammate felt like his father was on the same boat.
"The boy tried to bully me and keep trying to find my fault. The girl coddled me like I am her little brother. It does not help that my team leader is a nervous wreck too." he smiled at the past memories. "...at least Iwabe still behaves much better." Itachi concluded. Clearly Itsuki had told his parents about his team condition, and Itachi kept encouraging him positively. He was a truly caring father. Sarada gulped, Would Papa know who Boruto is if he was not Naruto ojii-san's son?
"After the team disbanded, I never worked in a team, enrolled the chuunin exam alone until I got accepted into ANBU three years later." he ended his story. A hint of amusement appeared on his onyx eyes, "Now...guess who my team leader was."
Sarada did a quick calculation. Eight plus three equals to….eleven! So he was already a chuunin and enrolled to ANBU at eleven? Seriously? I'm still a genin seeking a lost cat at thirteen, she thought.
"Who? We didn't know anyone from back then. Is he even still alive?" Sarada countered.
"Ah but you know him personally. He called you by name." Itachi puzzled them.
Sarada and Itsuki guessed a few names, asked few hints such as, "Is he an Uchiha?" but they hit the wrong marks.
"I know!" Sarada said suddenly. "It is Rokudaime-sama isn't it?"
Itachi smiled at her, "Correct."
"Really Otou-san?" Itsuki steepled his hands, leaning forward as he find the topic interesting, "Naruto-ojiisan said he was mostly late for at least three hours..."
"Yeah and he brings porn books everywhere. Even when he was testing us for Genin." Sarada added.
Itachi casted a small smile to the two inquisitive children. He was debating what and what not to reveal. Kakashi during that time was a lonely, grieving young man who was forced to grow up too fast. He lost two teammates, blamed himself for it, joined ANBU to find a mission that could kill him but never find one. He bore the Sharingan and the silent scorn from the arrogant clan.
Suddenly he had to accept the heir from said clan to nurture. Kakashi had every right to project his revenge to him. But, he taught Itachi carefully, even went as far as risking his own life covering for the pre-teen a few times. He could not be more thankful for the two years he had under Kakashi that helped shaped him to the man he was now.
"He was never late. And no porn. Probably because there's a preteen at his team. But he taught me how to care for teammates and never leaving them. You know his most famous teaching." Itachi finally deduced what was safe to tell. Sarada nodded. She liked listening to Itachi-ojiisan as he was a very wise and logical person.
Izumi chose that time to appear again. "Come on, let's dig in!" Izumi cheerfully put the big bowl of stew down on the middle of the table and poured for each of their bowls.
A present father, a happy mother
This is the family I've always wanted...
A/N : Okay so this is just a teaser. I'm not supposed to publish it until I'm done with my dissertation (In two weeks, fingers crossed). I might edit this in the future though.
Anyway regarding the wedding vow, it will be the bottom line of the whole story. I researched many types of wedding vow but I think this one hits me the hardest. The story won't be related to Christianity at all.
I'll be really happy to read what you guys think.