I own nothing…

A young man stood facing the only rival that he had. His brother, not by blood, but by what they had been through in their life so far.
"Let's see how strong you are, now that you have gained the title of Hokage." The rival called out across the field with a smirk on his lips.
"What are the stakes of this battle?" The Hokage responded with a smirk of his own.
"If you win, I will return to the village." The rival stated.
"If you win, then we will stop hounding you and aid you when needed." The Hokage stated after his rival had not said anything for sometime.
Both nodded to the agreement. Jumping further away from each other, onto the heads of two statues.
"You know that I'm going to win, don't you… Naruto."
"Come on Sasuke, you know that today is the day that I finally defeat you!" Naruto smirked back at his rival, his hands starting to pull chakra into a sphere. Whereas Sasuke had been forming a sphere of lightning.
"Rasengan."
"Shidori."
The two lept at each other, their jutsus cancelling out. Upon this Sasuke had started a furious taijutsu battle with the blonde, while the blonde was able to block or dodge many of the strikes, few would land, One particular strike to the ribs sent him flying with Sasuke there the moment he had stopped.
"Come now Naruto, I know you're holding back, otherwise it wouldn't have been this easy." The black haired man stated.
"But how do you know that this whole time I haven't been trying to make you use your chakra? Make you tired so that it would make for an easy defeat?"
"Because you're not that kind of person Naruto. You're usually the one who rushes in."
"Alright, but you asked for it." Naruto moved back across the water, flashing through hand signs, with Sasuke following suit. "Wind Style: Air Bullet!"
Air from both clashed in the centre, causing the water beneath their feet to move violently. Both hands moving violently again. "Water Style: Great Water Mass!"
"Fire Style: Flying Flame Bullet!"
Steam rose around the area, cutting of the use of sight for the Hokage. Sasuke still being able to see though, decided to try a surprise attack.
"You should know that I do not need my sight Sasuke." The voice came from behind him, and the person in front, poofing out of existence.
Realizing very quickly what would happen Sasuke moved away from Naruto. "Why don't we continue where we left off last time."
"As you wish, Sasuke."
Both males jumped into the air, off the two statue heads of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.
"Rasengan!"
"Shidori!"

Both males were going all out this time, putting the majority of their chakra into the single attack. Both had smiled at each other in the moment that they had clashed.

A large ball of chakra had formed around them. Black on the outside, but a blinding white on the inside. Much like the one they had caused as kids, but much bigger. Slowly the ball became a full blinding white as it expanded.
The explosion caused by the chakra had reshaped the waterfall behind them. Behind the curtain water there was now a large cavern, the statues had disappeared this time, allowing the water to flow freely down the cliff.
Sasuke stood while panting heavily from the throwback of the jutsu, keeping an eye out for the blonde Hokage. He spotted movement from behind the water, which he could not have seen without his sharingan. "So you made it out alive?"
It had shocked him though, seeing the blonde move only by the chakra that was holding him up. Sasuke had known that he had barely been touched by the explosion, meaning Naruto had taken the brunt of it.
"It seems like you've won…" The blonde tipped forwards, following the water down, and grunting when something had stopped his descent rather abruptly.
"Come now Naruto, this isn't the end and you know it." Sasuke declared, even though it seemed like he wasn't going to make it. He had already started making his way back towards the place that he had rejected. The place that he had not considered home, as he was carrying 'home' on his back.

"We're nearly there Naruto." The condition of the blonde hadn't changed since they had been travelling. "Look the gates are up ahead."

As soon as they had passed through the gate and were heading to the hospital, Naruto had twitched. "I knew I could get you back."
The blonde could feel the final parts of his body healing. 'Thanks Kurama.'

"You were fine the whole time?"
"No I was healing, and by the way, can we steer away from the hospital? Sakura and Hinata are in there and I don't want to be scolded at the moment. How about we head to training ground seven, for old times sake?"
Sasuke had shrugged, knowing that he was finally home.

Upon reaching the grounds, Naruto sat down against a tree, a small smile on his face. "Sasuke, you will be the next Hokage."
"You know that I'm not going to be the one who can do your job."
"But you can Sasuke. I know since I've seen you fight."
Sasuke stared at the blonde who seemed more tired than he should actually be. "What's going on Naruto?"
He watched the blonde as he was trying to find the right words. "My heart is starting to give out."
"Can Kurama not heal it?" The black haired male slumped against the same tree with his head down, thinking about how he was going to lose his 'home' again.
"It is because of overuse of Kurama's chakra that my heart is giving out. I have been warned against doing many things, but I knew that you had to come back."
"You idiot."
Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, just letting him work through the information. "How much longer?"
The question slightly surprised Naruto after the ten minutes of heavy silence. "I'm not sure now. That fight would have speed it up a bit more." Naruto muttered, removing his hand from his shoulder. "I want to make it to see my first child Sasuke."
"Is Hinata…?" Sasuke looked over to his best friend.
Naruto nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, two months left."
"And last you knew, how long were you supposed to have?"
Naruto sighed, looking at his friend. "They said three months, if I was lucky."
Sasuke hit the ground in frustration. "And did you use Kurama's chakra at any point during our fight?"
"While healing, but that was unintentional." Naruto turned towards Sasuke with a dimmer version of his old smile. "It was worth it though Sasuke. It really was."

The two sat in silence for a long time after that, until two ANBU had appeared in front of the two. "Lord Hokage, Lady Hinata is looking for you. She is waiting at the hospital."
"Thank-you Hawk. You are dismissed." The two ANBU had disappeared in a shunshin. "Alright Sasuke, let's go."

Sasuke watched Naruto, pulling him to a halt for a minute, as it would now be easier to carry him there. At least then when they got there, he wasn't going to get in trouble with Naruto's wife and their friend. "Hold on, this won't take long."
"Trying to stay out of trouble, eh Sasuke?" Naruto teased as he allowed Sasuke to pull his arm around his shoulder and carry him to the hospital. "Or are you trying to keep me out of trouble?"
"A bit of both. I do not believe that I could stand against two angry women. Let alone one." Sasuke joked, as both he and Naruto knew that it could easily happen.

They moved quickly towards the hospital and were there within two minutes. "Lord Hokage, this way please." A nurse lead the two men down to the delivery room, before turning to Sasuke. "If you could please wait here. There is only to be two support people in the room."
Sasuke nodded, and sat down on one of the benches lining the wall. "I'll be here right when you come out."
Naruto nodded, knowing that the man before him was going to keep his word this time. "We didn't actually decide who won though did we?"
"I'm back here aren't I?" Sasuke smirked. "Now go to your wife. She is going to need need you."

At points during the next couple of hours, Sasuke watched as Naruto would occasionally come out of the room - that was usually when he heard Hinata calling for him to go out, he didn't think that the usually timid girl could do anything of the sort - but moments later he would be back in. After three hours, Naruto finally came out with a big grin on his face, "Do you wanna come see little Boruto?"
Sasuke smiled at the man before him. "Is that alright with Hinata?"
Naruto nodded, and lead his friend in. Lying on Hinata was a baby that looked like Naruto. "They need the skin to skin contact for a little while."
"He's like a mini you."
Sasuke heard the gasp from the pink haired nurse, and had seen Hinata look at him, then her husband. "Sasuke?"
"Don't be mad, you said it was alright to bring in my friend." Naruto had his hands in a defensive position,
"It's not that I'm angry, just surprised." Hinata said soothingly. "Welcome back Sasuke. Although, how did Naruto managed to get you back here?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto who looked back at him. "We uhh…"
"I went for a walk when I felt Sasuke's chakra, and I managed to convince him to come back."
"How much convincing did you have to do?"
"Umm, maybe a few weeks worth…?"
Sakura quickly moved towards Naruto, leading him over to the chair and ordering him to remove his shirt. She began checking him over, her hands covered in green chakra. The last thing that Sakura moved her hand over was his heart. Her eyes closed tightly when she pulled her hand away.
"How much chakra did you use?"
Naruto shrugged, knowing that whatever Sakura had to say, it was going to be bad. "A bit…?"
"Urgh!" They watched the pink haired medic as she slowly stood above the Hokage. "You told to only use chakra if it was absolutely necessary, and that was only to get away from any sort of situation."
Sasuke stared at the blonde. "Idiot, why didn't you tell me earlier that it was if you used any chakra."
"Because you needed a reason to come back." Naruto simply stated, pulling his top on again. "Do we want to know how much time is left? And no sugar coating."

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, working around figures in her head. "If you stop using chakra… three weeks tops."
"And… if I was using chakra?" Naruto hesitantly asked.
"Depending on how much chakra, I would give you to the end of this week." Sakura turned her glare on him. "So no chakra, or I'm placing a seal that is going to block it from you. Are we clear?"
Naruto nodded vigorously, while standing to move over to Hinata. "And we'll spend every last moment wisely."
Hinata nodded, looking at Sasuke. "You should stay with us for the next couple of weeks."
Her husband had grinned at her, extremely happy that she had offered for him to stay. "Thank you."

Naruto had gone back to his home with Sasuke taking him there. Once there, he had followed down to one of the guest rooms that was going to be his.
"Sasuke," Naruto waited for him to respond. "Please look after my family, show my son the right way when I can't."
Sasuke flicked his forehead, much like Itachi had done to him earlier. "You know that this didn't have to happen."
The blonde shrugged, but grinned at his friend anyway. "Are you going to tell me that you would have come willingly back to the village?"
"Yes."
Naruto chuckled, knowing that it wouldn't have been true, since Sasuke would have found another reason. "At least you're back."

The man had smiled, just the slightest tilt of his lips, but it was there. "Yeah."

Four years had passed and Naruto was sitting beside Hinata in the delivery room once more. Sasuke was watching Boruto just outside the room that Hinata was going to be moved to afterwards. When they saw the two coming, Sasuke held Boruto back so that they would make it into the room before their son had a chance to bombard them.
"Thank you Sasuke." Naruto smiled at the black haired man, before picking his son up. "And were you good for Uncle Sasuke?"
Boruto nodded, before going straight into questioning. "Do I have a baby brother or sister?"
"A baby sister." Naruto smiled at his son, who continued to fire off questions. "Her name is Himawari, she has blue eyes, the littlest nose, and dark blue hair like your mothers."
Boruto kept bouncing in his father's arms, giddy over having a sibling that he would be able to play with.
"We're going to have to be quiet when we go in though, Himawari is sleeping at the moment. And we don't want to wake her do we?"
Naruto chuckled at his son who had scrunched up his face and had gone wild shaking his head side to side. He had walked the two in, Sasuke having already been inside, holding the little girl.
Boruto stared at how tiny his sister was, thinking that if he touched her that he was going to break her. Naruto went and sat over in the seat, smiling when Sasuke came over to bring his daughter to him.
Naruto smiled as Boruto stayed in his lap, making eye contact with the black haired male to keep him nearby. He knew very well that if his son was to stay on his lap and get off while he was holding his daughter, then they may have had a bit of an issue.
Before the little girl could be passed to him, Naruto showed Boruto how to hold his arms where Himawari would be placed. He also had reassured his son that he would be supporting his arms with his own as well, so there wasn't going to be too much to worry about.
"She's so cute." Boruto whispered as the little girl was in his arms. "Hi Hima, I'm your big brother Boruto. And I'm gonna take good care of you."
Naruto smiled at his son, moving back slightly into the seat so that there would be little movement from either of his children. After a while he had noticed that his son had fallen asleep and glance to Sasuke to take his little girl back to Hinata.
"Thanks Sasuke." Naruto looked over to Hinata. "I'm going to take him home for a bit to sleep, and we'll be back before you know it."
"Hanabi is going to be here shortly, so I will allow you to go." Hinata had looked tired and like she needed some sleep, so it was good that her sister was coming to see her.
Sasuke had his hybrid smirk-smile on his face as he excused himself to go see his wife. "I'll be back shortly with Sakura, so she can properly say hi to the little girl."
Hinata had nodded, while Naruto was waiting for Hanabi to come. "Is there anything that you want me to bring back later?"
"Mmm, some more clothes would be nice, as they say I may be in here for a little longer than I was with Boruto, and maybe some food for Boruto while he is here?"
Naruto kissed Hinata on the forehead. "I love you."
Hinata blushed, but murmured it back as her younger sister walked through the door. "See you when you get back."

Naruto had managed to get Boruto home without him waking up, and placing him on his bed as he went about getting clothes and finding snacks in the cupboard. As he reached up to grab something, his sense of balance was disturbed, causing the blonde to fall over. The sound had brought his son out of his room and to the noise.
"Dad!" Boruto moved to the man who was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. "What do I do?"
"Call… Sasuke…" Naruto rasped out, trying to catch his breath so that his son wasn't going to worry so much.

The blonde could hear his son talking hurriedly, and then suddenly there were two sets of footsteps. He could hear Sakura's voice next to him, but that wasn't who he was worried about. It was his son who he could see standing in the door frame with Sasuke. He could hear his brother talk to his son in a calming way. Telling him that he had done the right thing to call him, so that they could help Naruto better.
"Hi-Hinata." Naruto whispered, wanting to see his wife again. "T-take… to her."
"I will just as soon as you are stable." Sakura murmured in that strong voice. "Sasuke will be taking Boruto to Hinata now. We'll get you to the hospital as well, okay? You will be just fine."
He knew he wasn't fine though, he knew that extremely well. "Look after…"
"Stop trying to talk for now." The medic ordered. "We will be looking after you and your family, so you just wait for now, okay?"
Naruto nodded, relaxing onto the floor.

Sasuke had tried to calm Boruto down, as it wasn't going to do any good to send him to Hinata in the scared state that he was in. It would only serve to worry her as much as him. "Your father is going to be fine, Boruto. I have seen my brother come out of much worse than this."
Boruto nodded but clung to Sasuke as they walked into Hinata's room. At that point Boruto was put down so that he could go to his mother.
One glance at his tear stained cheeks had her looking at Sasuke for an answer, while grabbing hold of her son. "What happened?"
"Naruto collapsed in the kitchen." Sasuke started, knowing Hinata would wait until he had finished. "Sakura is bringing him here after he is stable enough to move. I'm going to go back and help her move him here."
He noticed her eyes starting to go glassy. "I'm sure it isn't quite time yet. He will surely get more time than this to be with Himawari."
Hinata nodded, figuring that it had to be right. Naruto was supposed to die years ago and he still continued to defy the odds that had been set against him.

Sakura glanced up as she felt a slight breeze before Sasuke came in. "Naruto is stable enough to move now, but we must be quick."
Sasuke nodded before moving towards the blonde on the floor. "Alright Naruto, we're justing taking you to the hospital now."
Once an arm was supporting Naruto's back, with the his arm around Sasuke's shoulder, they disappeared in a shunshin, ending up just in front of the reception desk. Sakura was a moment behind them, ordering them to bring a bed out.
Once again she had started working on Naruto and continued to do so for the next few hours.

Sasuke was pacing outside of the theatre, waiting for news from the pink haired medic. When she did come out, she looked very grim.
"This time, he really doesn't have much longer. I want you to get Hinata, in a wheelchair, to room 205." The medic moved back into the operating room, while the black haired male moved on instinct, while sorting through his thoughts.

Hinata sat next to Naruto's bed with tears in her eyes. Himawari was placed just inside his arm on the bed, and Boruto sat towards the feet of his father.
"Protect her…" Naruto mumbled, his words coming and going from the drugs that he had been put on. "Hina… love you… Boruto… care of… -ter… Hima… sorry…"
When he opened his eyes, they roved through the room for a moment, before landing on his brother. "Remember… take care… take position…"
Sakura had walked back into the room to make sure that he was comfortable.
"Please look… him…"
"Don't worry Naruto. We'll look after them." Sakura said, looking to Hinata who had nodded, before moving to unhook the machines that he was connected to. The medic stayed near the heart monitor, so that she would be able to turn it off as soon as she heard his heart flatline.

It was hard for all of them to watch, their beloved friend slowly dying. The only thing worse was when his heart had stopped. Hinata finally started properly cry for her husband.
Sakura had moved quickly in turning the machine off. Tears in her eyes as well. "He will be remembered well."
"I know. The hero from the fourth great ninja war shall be passed on for generations." Hinata spoke, her voice quivering in places while she talked past her tears. "We must remain happy for him."

The blonde stood near his family, watching each of them. He wrapped Hinata in a hug, just as she had whispered that they remain happy for him.
"No, you are allowed to grieve, but sad." Naruto murmured into her ear, before moving to his son. Trying to comfort him as he he seemed to understand that he wouldn't get to see his father again. Once he seemed to relax he moved to his beautiful little daughter. There wasn't much that he was able to do except tell her how much he loved her, no matter how little time that they got to spend together. When she opened her eyes though, she saw him, and he knew she did. "I'm sorry Hima, I didn't get to spend more time with you."

He moved to Sasuke, glad that he wasn't only relying on Naruto anymore. "You are going to do well. I know you will."
He had moved to Sakura, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for still caring about him. For saving my brother."

One more look around the room gave Naruto a slight fright, as he had seen an elderly man just beside the window. "Is it time now?"
The man had nodded, pulling a sword from his side. "Do you wish to be reincarnated, or to help souls when they are ready to move on?"
Naruto considered this for a moment, knowing full well that it would probably change his personality if chose it, but that he may be able to do more good that way, he whispered "Reincarnated."
The man nodded at this slicing the air with his blade, immediately after he saw a thin line grow into a door. "I wish you the best of luck young man."

Thousands of years later, a woman had just given birth to fraternal twin boys. The oldest of the two had bright orange hair, and eyes that were already turning brown. The younger of the two had bright blonde hair, almost as if to deny his parentage, while his eyes had remained a cerulean blue.
"Aren't they just so cute." Masaki whispered, smiling brightly at her husband.
After already having been told off by his wife, Isshin smiled just as brightly and nodded. "I agree. And one should be Ichigo!"
Masaki glared at her husband. "I thought I told you to keep it down." She then looked at her eldest son. "Yes, Ichigo suits you doesn't it little one?"
While studying her youngest son, she remembered a story that was told to her many times throughout her childhood - it was considered more of a myth now though - about a young man who had saved the world, and lost many loved ones in the process. "And you shall be my little Naruto."

Let me know what you think…