There's a crowd of girls surrounding the screen in the center of town, fan-girling over Boruto's latest interview.
"His smile makes my knees weak!"
"He's becoming such a strong shinobi!"
"His eyes are just like the Lord Seventh's!"
Sasuke glances over at his student to gauge his reaction. Unlike Naruto, the kid's been adored by fans his entire life, and as Sasuke knows, the fan-girling starts to wear after awhile.
Instead of looking smug or resentful though, Boruto looks bummed out. "They say that like they know me and my dad, but they don't. My eyes are actually bluer than dad's-at least that's what Sarada says, and she's always right," he sighs, kicking at a stray rock.
He says it in passing. A meaningless addition to his comment, nothing more. But it rocks Sasuke to his toes. Sarada...has thought to look that closely at Boruto's eyes and then comment on it?
It's not that he has a problem with Uzumaki Boruto. After all, the kid's his student and the son of his best friend. Since Hinata's his mother, the boy even has a bit more sense than Naruto did at his age. It's just that, Sasuke remembers Sakura's all consuming love for him began when she was twelve. After that, most of Sakura's life revolved around him, or getting him back, or being strong enough to fight him. He worries Sarada will become consumed with Boruto, and he would like a chance to actually know his daughter before she starts building her life around some stupid boy, no matter how special he might be.
The regret comes crashing down on him then. When he decided to take that mission, he'd made that choice because he knew it was the only way to keep everything he held dear safe. Honestly, he hadn't expected it to take so long. And somehow he'd expected that the firsts he'd miss with Sadara wouldn't matter because he'd be there for the lasts-and that would be enough. Now, he realizes none of it is enough. None of it would have ever been enough. And while he knows his mission allowed Sarada to have those firsts, he realizes he'll always hate himself for having missed them. Some days, he wishes he had the relationship with his daughter the Dobe has with his son. Because although it has it's problems, at least there's a strong relationship underneath.
After the whole Shin incident, Sasuke had thought his bond with Sarada would be okay. But after the chunin exams, he had realized something was off. Sarada was still speaking to him, and she hadn't really done anything wrong. But something was off. Finally, he'd realized that while she is like Sakura, she is his daughter as well. Not that she is as emotionally stoic as he was. She'd proven that when she'd yelled at him when they first met. But then she hadn't known him, hadn't cared what he thought. Now...now she did. And depending on what exactly the problem was, perhaps she knew yelling wouldn't solve it. Instinctively, she would suppress her feelings and go on, ignoring whatever was bothering her.
But just because he knew what she was doing, didn't mean he knew why she was doing it. He didn't even know how to broach the subject to ask. With Boruto, the kid was so open, he was acting out to get attention. He wanted Naruto to notice what was going on and to call him out on it. There just had to be a good fight and a reminder of his father's love and protection to make him happy again. But Uchiha are much more complex than Uzumaki. Thanks to his long absence, Sasuke doesn't have a strong enough relationship with his daughter to know how to broach the subject of a riff between them, and he knows if he messes up, it will just make things that much worse. (Such as her throwing his absence back in his face as the reason for the riff in the first place, and then ignoring him. Part of his heart shrivels up at the thought.) But he feels if he waits long enough, she will learn to trust him enough to tell him on her own.
But if she falls in love with Boruto now, she likely won't spend time around her father to build that trust. Sasuke knows that the minute a boy steps into the picture he becomes an obsolete relic of a disappointing childhood. And that is not how he wants any of this to go. But in the end, what can he do? He can't stop it.
He remembers Sakura's father begging him to take care of her at their wedding. Now the Uchiha understands a bit of how he must have felt: knowing she had chosen an ex criminal over her father's entreaties and warnings over the years and he was unable to stop her. Now Sarada is old enough not to need him, to care more about Boruto's smiles than Sasuke's. He'd hoped for time to reconcile for his mistakes and to build that strong relationship, but apparently he isn't going to get it. Sakura might have waited, but Sarada did not.
Sighing almost imperceptibly, Sasuke follows Boruto to Icharaku's. The kid inherited his father's appetite and lack of table manners, and Sasuke thinks, If she tried, Sarada could do better than the loser son of the Dobe. As her father, Sasuke wants only the best for his daughter. And she deserves the best. She has her mother's brains and Sasuke's looks, any man would be a fool not to value her.
Boruto grins up at him and says, "I did good today, right?"
Sasuke spares him a glance. "There was mild improvement."
"Coming from you, that means I did great, ya know. I'll be as strong as you in no time!" The kid pumps a fist. "Believe it!"
Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke asks, "I thought your goal was to beat you father?"
Boruto shrugs. "After the chunin exams, realized I didn't really care about that anymore. You have the most important job in the village because you protect Dad so he can protect everyone else. So I want to be like you and protect Sarada."
Sasuke's eyes widen. Barely, he manages to avoid choking to death on his ramen, but he does drop his chopsticks and stare at the kid. Pulling himself together, he asks dryly, "Sarada?" He knows the answer. Sarada is probably one of Boruto's special people already. Of course he wants to get strong to protect the person he loves. Sasuke's heart sinks. If Boruto returns her feelings, then they really will spend all their free time with each other. Sasuke will never get to see his daughter, despite his return from that accursed mission.
Nodding, Boruto slurps up the last of his fifth bowl of ramen. "Aa. Since she's going to be the next Hokage."
"Ah. I see." Sasuke turns back to his ramen to hide his smile. Already he's planning a more strenuous training session for the next day. If this loser expects to protect his daughter someday, Sasuke intends to ensure he's up for the job.
Setting down the bowl, Boruto frowns up at him. "Why? What did you think I meant?" Sasuke just looks back, waiting for Boruto's train of thought to catch up. The kid's face scrunches up in thought or concern or both. "Did you think I meant she was weak? 'Cause I know she's not. Sarada is a great ninja, for a girl. She knew all the answers to the tests and graduated at the top of the class. ...But only because I let her, ya know." If Sasuke didn't know his father so well, he would have been dumbfounded by the extent of his utter obliviousness when it came to anything remotely romantic. As it is, Sasuke is comforted. At this rate, it will be years before Boruto gets his head out of the sand and pays attention to the subtle signals Sarada might be sending him already. So while he's losing his place as the first man in his daughter's affections, it will be a long time before he has completely lost her to this idiot. He has time to change things around after all. "Anyway," Boruto continues, "I didn't mean she needs protecting or anything. Just if she's Hokage..."
"Aa," Sasuke interrupts, turning back to his ramen. He knows how strong his daughter is thanks to Sakura's teaching, and he's proud of that strength and how she uses it to protect those she loves-like her mother. After a moment of silence, he glances back at his student and adds, "But if you don't take care of your teammates, you're worse than trash."
Meeting his eyes, Boruto nods. "Yeah."
Sasuke decides that while Sarada might could do better, she could do a whole lot worse. From the look in those light blue eyes, Sasuke knows this boy will do whatever it takes to keep his daughter safe, for the rest of his life. Yes, she could do a whole lot worse.
And maybe, his heart whispers, no one could ask for much more than the man he knows this Uzumaki will become one day. Not even the man who loves Sarada the most.
A/N: So I found Boruto the movie. At which point I very nearly spontaneously combusted from all the happy feels. And then of course I started dwelling on all these "missing scenes" and lines that weren't elaborated on much. So, I started writing. This is set after the movie, of course, but there were several lines that contributed to this. Sarada's comment about not wanting to be like Sasuke during the exams emphasized to me that something must have happened in their relationship (like her finding out about his past, or at least part of it), but that it wasn't obtrusive like Boruto's conflict with Naruto. I also found it interesting that Sasuke seemed to see and know what to say to Boruto about Naruto, but he apparently hasn't addressed whatever has happened between him and Sarada. So I wanted to explore why that might be. Then, of course there was Sarada's comment about Boruto's eyes and that fantastic blush after he states his new dream is to protect her after she becomes Hokage. Since Sasuke is Boruto's teacher now, I felt this would come out and wondered how he might react to it, especially since he hardly knows Sarada. My answers to these questions are the story, and hopefully it made some kind of sense without being too scattered and full of over reaction on Sasuke's part. But I would imagine the thought of your daughter being in love with someone feels a little bit like losing her, so that was my reasoning.
Review and let me know what you think about it all. (And you know, what your favorite part has been of the whole next gen story so far!)