When Boruto learns what the Hokage is, he is five years old. Naturally, when he next sees his father, only one thing is on his mind.
"Dad, why aren't you the Hokage?"
It doesn't make any sense. His father is the strongest ninja in the village, right? In Fire Country? In the world, even? That's what he'd always believed, anyway.
But to not even be the leader of his own village...perhaps his father is not as strong as Boruto had thought.
Boruto does not know that he is nervous, but his father can see him fidgeting. He pretends to consider the question while his son's eyes dart across the room.
"Hmm. Well, it's simple, really. I would've been Hokage, but my hair would've been too hard to carve. Too many details, you know?"
A perfectly reasonable explanation. His father's hair, shaggy with strands pointing in every imaginable direction, would be a nightmare to carve onto the Hokage Monument.
Boruto's uneasy smile is quickly replaced with a brighter one, as though each and every one of the world's problems has just been solved.
"Okay."
When Boruto learns that his father has told him a complete falsehood, he is seven years old. When he confronts his father again, he is eight. And, once again, only one thing is one his mind.
"Dad, why aren't you Hokage?"
Boruto's question is brusque - he needs to make sure his father knows he is serious.
"Hmm? Well, it's simple. That's Konohamaru's job, of course. I couldn't go and take his job now, could I?"
If Naruto were a better actor, he might have gotten Boruto to believe it was a serious answer. But a light, and unmistakably mischievous smile, worms its way onto Naruto's face.
For his part, Boruto is now upset not only because his father has dodged his question - twice! - but also because he was nearly fooled again.
"Daaaaaad."
"Ah, come on now," Naruto pleads. "Does it even matter anyway?"
"It matters! We learned in the Academy that the Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village! And I know you're stronger than Konohamaru-san, but Sarada," Boruto spits out the girl's name as though it tastes like soap, "wouldn't believe me because you're not Hokage!"
Naruto has to laugh at his son's indignance.
"So it matters because Sarada says I'm not as strong as Konohamaru?"
"Yes!"
Naruto does not say anything for a while. Instead he smiles wistfully at a dent in the ceiling. A dent Boruto accidentally created with his first set of training kunai.
When his father finally does speak, Boruto is not impressed.
"Do you know what your first word was?"
"No. How could I remember something like that?"
"It was, 'ramen.' Can you believe that?" Naruto laughs again. "I thought your mom would kill me. She always said feeding ramen to a newborn was a bad idea. But you hate the stuff now. Must have overloaded you when you were younger, so I guess everything worked out alright."
"Dad."
Boruto tries to pout, but a smile is quickly wresting its way onto his face as well. One look into his father's soothing eyes smothers any further attempts at false resentment.
"If you won't tell me," says Boruto, conceding defeat, "will you at least help me with the Rasengan again?"
Naruto's smile grows a tiny bit larger.
"Sure."
When Boruto learns that his father was once offered the Hokage's hat, he is fifteen. It is uncommon knowledge, but hardly a secret.
Strangely, it is a Nanadaime Hokage himself, Konohamaru Sarutobi, who tells Boruto.
"Yeah, Naruto got offered to be Hokage before I did."
The Hokage appears to be thinking of something else, but Boruto sees a glint of interest in the eye of the village leader.
"It was a couple of years after the war. Kakashi wanted out, and any ninja with half a brain knew Naruto would come next. He was a big war hero. Stopped Akatsuki, stopped Madara, brought back Sasuke, made everyone his friend, blah blah blah. So it was a pretty big shock when I was chosen instead. But of course the offers are all made in secret, so to most people it just looked like I leapfrogged my rival."
Konohamaru can't help but smirk despite his feigned disinterest.
By now, Boruto knows better than to go to his father with this information. So in the most professional voice he can muster, he asks:
"Why didn't he accept?"
To this, the Hokage just laughs.
When Boruto starts to put the pieces together, he is eighteen. He has just finished sparring with his father. This battle was different from the others because Naruto could have lost. It took all of Boruto's trump cards - a Rasengan variation, two elemental jutsu combinations, and even a genjutsu - to give Naruto his first scare in ages.
Feeling empowered by his progress, Boruto asks a question he has rehearsed countless times:
"Hey Dad, how old were you when you turned down the Hokage job?"
"Huh? Well...I must have been twenty-four or so."
"And how old was I?"
The left corner of Naruto's mouth twitches upwards ever so slightly.
"Two."
When Boruto finally learns why his father never became Hokage, he is twenty-five. It is not a coincidence that his first child, a beautiful girl with immaculate blue eyes and a full head of raven hair, has recently been born.
Her first word, thankfully, is not 'ramen.'
AN: This is just something I typed up in a few hours because I couldn't sleep. It's the first creative writing I've done in a while, so tell me what you think!