Well, hello ! Just recently joined this site even though I've been reading stories here for years now. To tell the truth, I'm not really a writer type and I kind of suck at expressing myself literally but this short story I'm uploading now, just came to my head the other day and I absolutely wanted to write it down. I really love the new generation of Naruto, especially the Uzumaki family. So, this is my take on how Boruto and Himawari got their names.

PS. English isn't my native language so I apologize for the possible grammar/spelling errors.

PPS. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.

Naruto stepped into the bedroom, wiping his slightly damp hair with a towel. He made a side glance at his wife, who was on their bed reading a book she borrowed from the library. Now that she is about seven months pregnant with her and Naruto's first child, her stomach has got big with the growing baby inside her which has also caused lots of tiredness and ache on her lower back and her feet. So, when she doesn't have anything else to do, or is too tired, she spends her days laying on the bed or on the sofa in their living room either reading books or knitting small socks and mittens for her baby boy.

Naruto wouldn't have that any other way. He doesn't want to admit it but he is quite over-protective of his pregnant wife, tailing her like a shadow and helping her with everything he can. So he's perfectly happy with Hinata resting at home. When he's on missions or having some business with Kakashi-sensei in the Hokage tower, he might sometimes leave a few clones to look after Hinata, or he might plead some of their friends to check up on her every now and then. Usually it's either of Hinata's former teammates, sometimes it was Sakura or Hinatas sister, Hanabi, who eagerly is waiting to meet her nephew. But since Hanabi is often busy with the business in the Hyuuga clan, being the next head of the clan, and Sakura is nowadays extremely busy taking care of her and Sasuke's baby girl, little Sarada Uchiha, who was born to this world almost two months ago, it's often either Kiba or Shino who get the job as Hinata's caretaker. Luckily they don't mind at all and happily fulfil his requests.

To think of it, many of Naruto's former classmates and old friends from "Konoha 12" have been blessed with families of their own. Shikamaru had tied the knot with Temari from Suna and together they received a baby boy named Shikadai. Chouji married with Karui from Kumogakure. It was a huge shock to everyone when Chouji introduced his girlfriend to his friends for the first time. Chouji told they got to know each other on a mission he had in Kumo. They kept in touch and eventually started a relationship. Naruto could vaguely remember the woman coming to Konoha after the defeat of Pain to accuse Sasuke for joining Akatsuki and capturing her master, Killer Bee. Naruto didn't have a good impression of the woman at first but upon seeing how happy his good friend was together with her Naruto welcomed her to Konoha with open arms. They are also expecting a child of their own to be born later in the same year. Even Lee is a married man and a father now. Sometime after the war he started to date a girl from some shop he frequented. Naruto hadn't seen the girl before he still doesn't know her well but as long as Lee is happy with his new family, that's all that matters. Naruto just can't help but think about Lee's son older, also wearing that infamous green one piece and enthusiastically running around Konoha spreading the joy of the "Springtime of youth" with his father. The thought makes Naruto always to laugh lightly.

Ino and Sai had found each other and started dating around the same time Naruto got married with Hinata. Also a few months ago they got blessed with an offspring of their own, a boy they named Inojin. Hinata can clearly remember the shrieks of joy from Ino and Sakura upon realizing they are "pregnant buddies" as Ino liked to call them. Hinata had to admit it was nice to have someone else than Naruto or her doctor at her prenatal check-ups to share her worries and other things about her pregnancy with, although Ino and Sakura where both already quite far in their pregnancies when Hinata and Naruto passed their friends the happy news about having a baby on the way. The girls would meet at either tea house or at either of their houses to share the latest news, complain about everything that comes with pregnancy (like what Ino used to do) or to go shopping together. But now that both Ino and Sakura are having their hands full with their offspring, Hinata thought it was for the best not to bother her friends too much.

Seeing the happy families their friends have built Naruto is very excited yet nervous to wait for the day he can meet his own child. His child. To say Naruto is happy about the fact he's about to become a father is understatement. He is truly, extremely enthusiastic! When Hinata had told him they are expecting a baby of their own Naruto was shocked. After Hinata told him the news he didn't react for almost a full minute, which caused Hinata to worry and fear he didn't want this after all. But when his initial shock melted away he had found his voice again.

"Say that again?", he hoarsely asked her. He really couldn't believe what he had heard. Or maybe he had misheard, he didn't know. But he had to make sure.

"I…We…we are going to have a baby, Naruto-kun", she shyly told him the second time.

So, he had heard right the first time. They were going to have a baby. He was going to be a father. They were going to have a family. A real family. Something he could only dream of having when he was younger. He couldn't stop the tears that started to fall from the corners of his eyes or the yells of excitement from his mouth as he stood up, took his beautiful wife into his arms and gave her a kiss so passionate that made her head spin. Not long after that the realization hit him and he nervously admitted he had no idea how to be a good father as he grew up without one and thus doesn't really have any role models to take after. The interactions he had with his own father could be counted with fingers of one hand and during that time they were at war. There wasn't much time for father-son bonding. So aside that the only father-like figures Naruto has had in his life are his late master, Jiraiya, and Iruka-sensei, who, by the way, participated in Naruto and Hinata's wedding as his father. Hinata had reassured him that it will be okay and he will learn to be a good father when their baby will be there. He still went to ask Iruka-sensei or either of his friends who already had some experience for advice. Though they all said him the same thing: you will learn when the time comes. He had to live with that and just wait for the day.

By now he has got accustomed to the idea of becoming a parent. When not on missions or away from home he would spend every single moment with Hinata to help her around in the house and try to bond with his unborn baby as much as possible. His favorite moments of the day are in the morning after waking up and right before going to sleep when he would talk to their baby. He had first considered talking to his wife's stomach weird and doubted that the baby would even hear him, but Hinata told him otherwise, that talking to the baby would be good way to bond as the baby would eventually begin to recognize the voices of his parents. Hinata admitted that she usually talks to their unborn child especially when Naruto is not at home, so she had eventually encouraged Naruto to at least try. He did try once and he surely didn't expect to get any reaction from the child growing in her wife's belly. But once he started to talk to his baby he felt a strong kick come straight to his hand that was resting on Hinata's round stomach. And he loved it. After that talking to his baby boy every morning and every night became his routine. Sometimes he would just greet his baby, tell "good morning" or "good night" and just kiss Hinata's belly tenderly. Sometimes he would tell some short stories about his day. And when he comes home after a long mission he would tell him how much he missed him and then go on telling about his heroics on his missions. Hinata can't help but smile lovingly at his husband and stroke his hair when Naruto has either of his cheeks pressed on her belly, his hands on her hips and is talking in a sweet quiet voice to their baby. Every now and then Naruto would make a quick glance at Hinata and continue with his stories. Those are perfect moments for both Naruto and Hinata.

Naruto had just come back to Konoha from a mission that took two weeks to complete. He had missed his wife and his unborn son dearly. After giving a quick mission report to the Hokage he planned to go home right away but decided to take a small detour before arriving home. It took nearly an hour before he stepped inside their house and was greeted by his wife. He was happy to be back home, but it was already late and he was very tired. So after a meal of leftovers that Hinata offered to warm him and a refreshing shower it was time to go to bed, cuddle with his wife and tell good night to his unborn, unnamed child. Unnamed? That reminded him.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked cautiously from his wife as he searched for a clean night shirt from his drawer. Hinata raised her head from the book she was reading and turned to her husband who now was wearing a dark T-shirt and pants and was moving to his side of their bed.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" she asked and placed the book on the night stand.

He sat down on the bed, nervously glancing at her. "Have you…you know…thought already about any names? For the baby, I mean?"

Names? Yes, she sometimes gave a thought to that. But she really couldn't come up with any names that she imagined their son to have. It was very serious matter since he would be stuck with the name for the rest of his life so she thought it should be something very special with a special meaning to it.

"Not really." she admitted. "I've tried to think, though. But none of them don't seem to fit him. Do you…do you have something on mind?" she finally asked. He chuckled lightly and scratched the back of his neck, a habit he usually does when he is feeling embarrassed. Finally he opened his mouth.

"Well, yeah…kinda. You wanna hear it?"

"Of course. What is it?" she answered and turned fully to him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he gave his answer.

"Boruto." He finally said.

"Boruto?" Hinata asked. Before she could say anything else, Naruto continued.

"Before you judge or say anything, just hear me out." he said, waving his hands. "Tonight, after giving the mission report to Kakashi-sensei I passed by the cemetery." he started. Hinata had no idea what he was trying to say, so she sat there quietly and allowed Naruto to continue.

"I visited Neji. I realized it has been quite a long time since I've been there the last time so I decided to make a little detour there before coming home." Neji, Hinata's late cousin and Naruto's good friend died honorably during the last Shinobi World War. He fell protecting Naruto and Hinata from the Juubi's attack, which had a huge impact on both Hinata and Naruto. Their relationship with Neji wasn't a good one at first since Neji had grudge against the Hyuuga main house and hated Hinata to the point she almost died during the fight against him at the Chuunin exams. Naruto on the other hand, disliked him for his high and mighty attitude and his beliefs about the destiny you can't change no matter what. But Naruto had proved him wrong by winning against him in the final matches. After that Neji's views of life changed drastically and he silently thanked Naruto for teaching him that valuable lesson, that one can change their destiny if they try really hard and never give up. Naruto, for his part, started to really respect Neji and he quickly became one of his trusted friends. Naruto also thinks that thanks to Neji he started to view Hinata in a totally different light. At first he thought of Hinata as a weird and quiet girl, but he quickly learned about her cruel past and her desire to change to be a better and stronger person, just like he did. And it was all because of Neji's abusive words to her during their preliminary match. After Hinata's loss Naruto was determined to beat Neji and give him a "revenge" for the things he did to Hinata. It was funny, Naruto barely knew the girl even though they were in the same class at the academy and graduated at the same time. But he still felt sympathy for the girl and he could identify her feelings since he felt the same: the desire to get accepted by getting stronger and overcome the weaknesses you have was strong in them both.

After Neji's death Hinata was devastated. Neji was her dear cousin, almost like a brother to her, but she understood why he had chosen to sacrifice himself in that situation. She had also jumped to shield Naruto, whom she loved more than the life itself, but for some reason Neji didn't let her die protecting Naruto on that day. Hinata remembers that day like it was yesterday and the memory still saddens her. She wasn't surprised at all to hear that Naruto had visited Neji's grave since she knows that her husband still honors the memory of her late cousin as much as she does, and she is secretly very happy about that.

"You visited Neji-nii-san?" she managed to ask. Naruto just nodded, a sad smile planted on his face.

"Yeah. I was just supposed to go and give him quick prayers but I kind of got stuck there for longer than I imagined. I just started to talk about everything what was going on in the village, about how you are doing and about…the baby." He said quietly.

"I started to think back to the moments I had with Neji, all the way from the Chuunin exams to the day he…" he swallowed. Even though it's been years since that faithful day it's still too sad to remember. And not only Neji, but those hundreds other comrades from different villages had fallen on that day, for his sake.

"Anyway, I kind of realized how big effect Neji actually had on me. He was one of the reasons why I strived to become stronger. Also, if it wasn't for him, I don't think I would have noticed you the same way I did at the exams when you were fighting him." He raised his eyes to look at her, a small blush on his cheeks.

"He was a great person and a really strong shinobi and I respect him a lot. I was staying there and looking at his grave stone thinking that hopefully our son would become as strong as his Uncle Neji was. And then, it hit me, the name for our baby. You know what I'm getting at?" he asked and looked expectantly at his wife. Hinata sat and stared directly at her husband's bright blue eyes, thinking what Naruto meant by all this. She started to think back to the names. Boruto. Neji. Neji. Boruto…

Her eyes grew wide and mouth opened slightly. Naruto wanted to honor Neji by giving their child a name that has a reference to that of her late cousin. The reference isn't that clear, however, and you need to think hard to find the connection between the names to understand the meaning. Upon hearing the name one would think Naruto wanted to give his child a name that's just similar to his. Hinata, however, understood the hidden meaning behind the name and couldn't be happier about the fact her husband also wanted to give their unborn child a special name. Hinata couldn't stop her emotions and let her tears fall freely from the corners of her eyes as she sobbed hard. Naruto was surprised by the reaction she gave him. He didn't expect her to hate that name so much that she started to cry!

"Oh, Hinata, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry. It's ok if you hate the name, you can think of something else and-" he didn't manage to end his sentence when Hinata wrapped her hands around him in a tight hug. She tried to control her sobs and finally looked at Naruto with a small smile.

"Hinata…?"

"I love it."

"Huh?"

"Boruto… I love that name. I… I really wanted that our baby has a name with a special meaning to it and you managed to come up with one. I think it's perfect." she reasoned. Naruto's confusion was replaced by a very happy smile of his own.

"Are you sure? To name our baby that?" he carefully asked while holding her by her arms. She nodded and he kissed her lovingly before pulling his lips from hers and shifting his gaze down to her stomach. He placed his left hand on top of her stomach while his bandaged hand stroked up and down her back. She also looked down and placed her own hand on his that was resting on her belly.

"Uzumaki…Boruto…" she sighed happily. "That's a perfect name."

Naruto just smiled and kissed her again.

Boruto released a strong kick at his parents' connected hands.