Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I also don't own a Frisbee.

It was a hot summer day in Konohagakure. A perfect day to go for a run, a perfect day to throw a Frisbee around.

A perfect day to sweat.

"Haa, haa… Just give it up, teme! You know how this is gonna end!"

"Like hell I will, dobe! There's no way I'm losing to you!"

Konoha Park rang with the sound of kunai clashing. Black and blond hair danced this way and that way, not in the wind (it was a breezeless day) but in the heat of battle.

"You leave me no choice! RASENGAN!"

A swirling orb of force materialized in an outstretched hand.

"Fine! Be that way! CHIDORI!"

A lightning blade crackled and chirped.

"SARADAAA!"

"BORUTOOO!"

It was a beautiful scene. Two young shinobi, destined to be rivals. The feelings of a man and a woman embodied in a fight to the death. The blood of their fathers itching to burst from their veins.

But they were only twelve.

An orange blur swept between them at the last second. Boruto tripped, and his Rasengan drilled into the dirt. Sarada went flying, and her Chidori plunged into a tree trunk, ten feet off the ground.

"Oof, what the… Sarada, you alright?! Where are you?"

"I'm up here, Boruto!"

"Well, get down from there! We have to finish this!"

"I can't! I'm stuck!"

"What the hell do you mean, 'stuck'?!"

Sakura Uchiha sat on a park bench, watching as her daughter tried to get her hand out of a tree. The Uzumaki boy had immediately climbed up and started pulling on Sarada's elbow, cursing her for using such a useless technique. The girl retaliated with her own insults, but she had the decency to blush at her present helplessness. Sakura would probably have to treat their splinters later, but she couldn't help but smile at what she saw: young love. As it should be. Love was for the young.

Her smile faltered.

Suddenly, a second presence materialized beside her. Sakura had seen him coming, but the speeds he could reach never ceased to amaze her. She turned her head to look at him. Tall, blond, whiskered, and dressed in orange and black sweats as though he were still sixteen. The Hokage hero of Konohagakure.

"You're late, Naruto."

"Ehehe, sorry, Sakura-chan. I had some things to take care of. What did I miss?"

His big goofy grin looked the same as it did when they were six. It was familiar, and it made Sakura feel at ease. She sighed in relief, smiling in spite of herself.

"Oh, they nearly killed each other. Same as usual. This is why I told you two not to teach them such dangerous techniques."

"And I keep telling you, Sakura-chan, I didn't teach Boruto anything. He picked it up from watching me. Sasuke was the one who insisted on training them and making them watch us spar. I told him it was a waste of time."

"I know you did."

At that moment, Boruto successfully wrenched Sarada's hand from the tree. Unfortunately, the momentum broke his concentration on the chakra climbing technique, and the children went tumbling down, landing in a heap. Sakura watched them, lost in thought. Naruto kept his eyes on her. He wondered what she was thinking. He glanced at the red dress she had worn.

"I like your dress."

"Thank you."

"…Have you heard from Sasuke?"

"He still hasn't called."

"Well, he's probably busy."

"We've been saying that for months."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say. Last they'd heard, Sasuke was in Otogakure, developing new jutsu with Orochimaru and Kabuto. The snake Sannin and the dragon sage had refused to return to Konoha, but their personalities had been completely reformed. These new jutsu were supposedly going to benefit all of mankind. Sasuke had eagerly agreed to help, but he hadn't bothered to stay in touch with his friends and family. No calls, no emails, not even a scroll sent by bird. Sakura was being kind with her phrasing: they hadn't heard from him in half a year.

"…Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not today, no."

"Oh…"

Sakura needed to switch topics. The poor boy had saved the world countless times before he'd even turned sixteen, and only now at twenty-eight was he running into problems he couldn't solve. She didn't want to burden him with her problems again.

"How's Himawari doing?"

Naruto smiled. Sakura could tell it was a fake smile, but she let it slide. It was the kind that was supposed to make him feel better.

"She's doing great! She has the best grades in her class at the academy. Her whisker marks have started to fade, but she's turning out to be a real beauty. And she wears orange! It's great."

"How's her mother?"

"She's fine."

Awkward silence. That was the wrong question to ask.

"I was just over at her place, actually. She found some of my things that had still been hiding under the couch cushions when we moved. Probably won't be the last time that happens. I lost stuff all over that house."

"Does Boruto like your new place?"

"It's smaller than what he's used to, but he hasn't complained. More than anything, I think he misses his sister. He calls her just about every other day. It's been… hard. On everybody."

Naruto looked out at Boruto and Sarada. They'd gotten up and started talking about the fight constructively. That was something he'd taught them. Instead of screaming about how unfair the fight was (as he used to do to Sasuke), they could properly analyze the moves they had taken: this dodge over here was sloppy, you should have put more chakra into that jutsu over there, you nearly got me with the right hook back here, etc. It was a training technique he had picked up from playing many games of shouji and go with Shikamaru. Naruto liked thinking about this. It was distracting.

But the train of thought was broken by a hand placed on his shoulder. Sakura was giving him a very concerned look. It was cute, as it had always been.

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to think about such things on a day off."

"I wasn't, really, I just-"

"We should have dinner."

"Huh?"

Naruto didn't know what the hell he was blushing for. Surely she didn't mean-

"The four of us. Me, you, Sarada, and Boruto. My place. Six o'clock. Is that alright?"

No, of course she didn't.

"Sure thing, Sakura-chan."

Without warning, she pulled him into a hug. His heart started racing in spite of himself.

"It'll be okay, Naruto. We've got each other. Friends to the end, remember?"

Naruto's eyes began to water. He buried his face in Sakura's shoulder.

"Friends to the end, dattebayo."

The End

P.S. I don't know. This started off as a really good idea, but I'm just not feeling it today. Maybe I'll come back to it later.