Hey everyone! Sorry I've been on kind of hiatus, school has been taking all my attention lately but I still haven't forgotten about my stories.

ENJOY!

12 years later…

"Come on dad, you need to eat something before you die of malnourishment." A young girl on the brink of teenage-hood whined while holding a tray of rice and fish. She was currently looking down at her father who had, once again, fallen asleep at his desk.

"W-what?" The blonde man's head shot up and he looked around in confusion. Once his eyes focused he looked at his daughter and smiled. "Oh thanks Haru. Heh, I fell asleep again didn't I?" He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Another long night as the Hokage."

The girl just rolled her eyes. She loved her father and did her best to take care of him, but it was frustrating at times. All the man did was work.

When she was just six she complained to her Uncle Kiba about how she wished she was never born because her father never pays attention to her anyways. Her uncle, who was her favorite for his light hearted attitude, immediately scolded her.

"Don't ever say something like that, you hear me Haru! Both your parents made huge sacrifices to bring you to this world. Your father is doing his best. You must never forget that not only does he have to raise you alone, but he also must protect this village and he is still grieving over the loss of your mother."

Haru didn't know much about her mother. Only what her uncles and aunts would tell her. Her father didn't like talking about her probably because it opened old wounds. She had seen pictures of her of course. They looked a lot alike. They both had the long indigo colored hair except Haru's was layered and her bangs covered her one eye instead being straight across. Her complexion was the same paleness like her too. Haru even wore her hitai-ate around her neck like her mother. The only real difference was the eyes. Sadly she did not possess the great Byakugan like her mother once did. Instead she had odd magenta colored eyes. To this day she didn't know where they came from. Her father just presumed that it was what happened when his bright blue eyes mixed with her mom's lavender ones.

Haru just wished that her father would talk about her mother. She wanted to know more about her. Like what were her interests, her hobbies, her personality, and most of all, Haru wanted to know if her mother would be proud of the person she was becoming.

She wasn't smart or fast or talented like the other kids at the academy. She barely passed the exam to become a chunnin. Even with all the extra help she got from her aunts and uncles she was still not very good. She still had yet to come with her own fighting style that was all her own. She couldn't even follow in the footsteps of her parents when it came to their styles. She didn't possess the byakugan like her mother so Gentle Fist was out of the question and she wasn't even close to having the same chakra levels as her father. Haru would be ecstatic if she could actually make more than one shadow clone.

"Please eat before you go into work. You know I worry about you." Haru gave her father a puppy dog eye look. The one she learned from Uncle Kiba.

"Alright, alright, enough of that look." Naruto took the tray. "So what are you doing today?"

"My team and I are training for most of the day and then we have plans to meet up with Isao's siblings for dinner. Don't worry I will bring home some ramen." She answered her father's question before he could even ask it making him laugh.

"That's my girl. Now be safe and watch out for Isao." Naruto pointed his chopsticks are her. "I don't trust that boy."

"Then why did you put us on the same team?" She joked.

"Because his mother insisted on it." He grumbled.

"Well that explains it. I wouldn't say no to Aunt Sakura either." Isao was the second eldest of the Uchiha clan. There were already four of them and there was another one on the way. Haru remembered overhearing her father telling Uncle Sasuke that if he kept this up then the clan would be to its old numbers in no time, which gave her father a hit on the head from a hormonal Aunt Sakura.

Also on Haru and Isao's team was Akihiko Nara, Aki for short, with their sensei being her Uncle Kiba. Together they were an interesting team. Haru was more on the quiet side and still trying to figure out who she was. Isao was nothing like his father and more like his mother with his short temper, but he did inherit his father's sharingan so that made for interesting days at the academy. The only trait that Aki got from his mother was the blonde hair everything else he received from his father. From his laid back attitude to his shadow jutsus. He was the brains of the operation, Isao the strength, and Haru was the heart. And Kiba-sensei was the glue keeping them together.

"I'll see you later dad." Haru went over and kissed her dad on the cheek before grabbing her weapons pouch and heading out the door.

Naruto watched his little girl go and let out a sigh. He then looked over to the picture sitting on his desk. It was of him and Hinata on their wedding day. They were at the reception and Naruto was kissing Hinata's hand while she was blushing. The two of them were so focused on each other that they hadn't even noticed the picture being taken. "I wish you were here to see how much your baby girl is growing up to be just like you."

Not only did she look like his Hinata but she acted much like her mother as well. Haru had the same quiet demeanor and lack of confidence, but she also had the caring loving heart that her mother had too. Naruto couldn't be prouder and he was glad that he had named their girl in honor of her mother. Hinata was his sunny place and Haru was his sun. He had lost one of them, he couldn't lose the other.

They had spent over a year looking for Hinata, but nothing ever came up, not even a body. Finally Naruto had to pronounce her dead, but there was a small sliver of hope in his heart that believed her to be alive. Although that hope shrank every year he had to watch Haru grow up without her mother. His friends had urged him to date, but Naruto could never do it. He always felt like he would be betraying Hinata. She had waited all those years for him to return her affections and for him to push that to the side felt wrong.

Naruto just worried that his grief was hurting his daughter. He saw how she did her best to be independent and not ask anything of him and instead of him taking care of her it was usually the other way around. And although she never said anything about it, he knew that she was hurting from not having a mother.

Even twelve years after her death Naruto was still deeply grieving and the only things that helped were training and engrossing himself in his work. He knew deep inside that he should be spending more time with Haru, but there were moments where he would look at her and all he would see is Hinata's smiling face looking at him.

"If you were able to wait for me all those years then I can wait for you." Naruto gently grazed the picture before getting up and getting ready for another long day.