Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
The news sweeps over the village like a hurricane. Uchiha Sasuke is dead. His only child, Uchiha Sarada, is disabled. No one can retract the damages, for it is far too late.
After Naruto dresses Sakura in her pajamas, he tucks her into bed. She is sound asleep.
He gently lays a wet cloth over her forehead, and holds her cold hand silently.
"Aw, how sweet of you. It's as if you really cared for her all this time," a voice jeers from the back of the room. Naruto turns to face his old friend leaning against the doorframe.
"Ino," he speaks, with an unmistakable hint of annoyance. "Why are you here? And how did you even get in here?"
"First off, I'm like Sakura's sister. I need to be here for her, unlike someone in this room," Ino scoffs while glaring down at Naruto. "Secondly, you left the door unlocked, genius. Sometimes I really wonder, how did you ever manage to become the Hokage of Konoha?"
"Cut the crap," Naruto hisses. "Why are you giving me such shit right now?"
Ino pushes her body away from the doorframe, and snorts. "Oh, like as if you don't know!"
Naruto blinks. "No, I really don't know."
There is a pause. Ino blinks as well, dumbfounded by his reaction. "You can't be serious…"
Naruto blinks again in confusion.
Ino sighs. She tosses two sheets of paper on Naruto's lap.
"Read them," she demands.
Begrudgingly, Naruto picks up the first sheet and reads it out loud.
"Dear citizens of Konoha, it has come to my attention that I can no longer be your Hokage. The truth is I was in a relationship with someone else during the course of my marriage for seven years, and will continue to do so in the future. Regrettably, due to my circumstances, I can no longer practice as a politician. Please remember that you are all very dear to my heart. Regards, Uzumaki Naruto…"
Naruto blanches, and a wide-eyed Ino presses her hand over her face.
"You didn't do this?" she asks. "They're scattered throughout the village."
Stone cold, Naruto shakes his head, and reads the last sheet in silence. The more he reads it, the more he feels as if gallons of bleach are pouring through his brain.
"Hinata!" Naruto shouts as he barges through the front door of his home. "Hinata!"
He finds his wife calmly sipping tea in the kitchen, and knitting a red scarf from scratch.
Her faux serenity stirs up a tempest in his heart.
"Oh, welcome back," Hinata hums. "How was your day?"
Naruto slams the sheets on the table. "You did this, didn't you?!"
"Did what?"
"Don't play dumb, Hinata! I know you did this!"
Hinata takes a swift glance at the sheets, and smiles sweetly. "So what if I did?"
There is a flash of wrath within his usually calm blue eyes. "Do you not realize what you've just done?!"
"And what about you?" Hinata says, and takes a sip of her tea.
He stops, taking a deep breath before continuing. "What do you mean?"
"I warned you, Naruto-kun," Hinata tells him sharply. "I warned you that something you'll regret would happen if you don't stop."
Then it hits him like lightning.
"No," he mumbles inaudibly.
He stares incredulously at his wife.
"You couldn't have… You're not that kind of person."
The wife continues to smile.
"She was so naïve, even though she belonged to a line of brooding geniuses," Hinata recounts. "Sweet Sarada-chan… She believed in everything I said! Do you want to know how it all started? Do you, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto stays immobile.
Hinata prattles. "Poor thing, she knew what was happening between you two few weeks ago. I asked her to deliver your lunchbox on her way to school, and that's how she saw you two in there—"
"That's enough, Hinata," mumbles Naruto.
"—And later, she asked me if she could get in touch with her long lost dad. Since I'm the Hokage's wife, I was able to pull some strings. But first, I made sure that she wrote a letter to her dad for his location—"
"Stop it."
"—But don't worry. I didn't send it, Naruto-kun. What would have poor Sasuke-kun thought of his best friend if I did? Instead, I snuck into your office one day when you were away, and used the byakugan to search through the scrolls on Sasuke-kun's whereabouts."
"That's enough."
"Later, I wrote a fake letter for Sarada-chan. She missed her dad so much! It's the least I can do for the poor girl. I can somehow relate to her that way. Isn't it funny?"
"Hinata…"
"After reading it, she left! But I didn't know that she would end up in the hospital. What a stupid little girl, just like her mother—"
"Enough!" Naruto roars. Hinata shuts up, and Naruto pants in rage.
After a pause, Naruto clears his throat to speak.
"Starting today," he declares. "We are no longer husband and wife."
Hinata pulls out a small binder from underneath her chair, and opens it to the first page.
"As if we ever were," she tells him begrudgingly. "Sign. It's our divorce paper."
He reads the papers over, and realizes that Hinata has been collecting evidence on his infidelity for two years.
"I'll be gentle with you on our divorce settlements, Naruto-kun," Hinata tells him. "But you will never see Boruto and Himawari ever again in your life."
"You can't be serious… You can't do that! They're my children!"
"Well you should've thought of that before their depriving quality time with you," Hinata replies coldly.
Naruto runs.
He remembers the conversation with his wife that day.
Well, his ex-wife now.
"Are you seeing her again?"
Naruto stops. His hand just barely touches the doorknob, and his moment of freedom expires.
"So what if I am? Naruto replies back, no longer hiding his impudence against Hinata.
His little wife sighs. Her lips tremble, but not a single stutter crawls out.
"Well? Aren't you going to stop me?" he poses, stretching his arms out to Hinata questioningly.
It doesn't matter. Naruto knows well enough that Hinata won't do shit to stop him. Already, she is looking despondent, dejected even.
Typical, he thinks. Just before he is about to step out to the front steps, Hinata locks her fingers on his sleeves.
He turns sharply. Naruto looks squarely at his wife, expecting tears or some kind of heartfelt "Don't go." Instead, he is met with a strange glint in his wife's white jade eyes, a quiet resolution that he could scarcely fathom.
"This is my final offer: Think of our children, Naruto–kun," Hinata advises him, but Naruto isn't the type to listen to anyone who blocks him, especially his wife.
He takes one step, and she yells at him.
"If you don't stop, I'm going to do something you'll regret for the rest of your life!"
The meek wife's attempts are futile.
He sneers.
"Get out of my way."
Naruto shakes her away violently and leaves, but no tears spring up from Hinata's eyes. The little wife lost her ability to cry two years ago.
Then he remembers what followed after…
They are both in her bed again. Her body is locked securely within his arms.
They both pretend to sleep, even though they both know that they are awake. Usually, after spending few hours on the bed with her, Naruto dresses up and leaves at midnight.
Tonight is different. He decides to tell her the truth.
"Hinata found out," he whispers.
Her grip tightens around his arms.
Silently, he sits up, and she holds on.
"Don't go," Sakura tells him. She doesn't look up at him, but she's holding on to his arms.
She knows what's coming next. She knows that it must end. They made a silent pact years ago that the affair must end if either Hinata or Sasuke found out.
"Good night," he whispers back to her.
Sakura shifts slowly towards Naruto. She feels as if her guts detonated, though she doesn't understand the exact reason behind it.
"Be with me," she pleads. "Just for tonight. Then I'll let you go."
Her pale jade eyes entreat him, and Naruto eventually caves in. He slips back into the bed and winds his arms around her.
He falls into a deep slumber, but it takes awhile for Sakura to fall asleep. She's trying hard not to weep in front of the man she spent the last five years with together.
At daybreak, Naruto takes a quick shower, gets dressed, and leaves for work. He is awash with regrets, wishing that he never made such promise with Sakura five years earlier.
He wants to continue seeing Sakura. Still, he realizes that this is not possible anymore. Hinata already knows of their affairs, and has confronted him about it two years ago. Nevertheless, he was Uzumaki Naruto, the obdurate man who cannot quit on anything he set his mind to.
But this time feels different for him. This time, he quits. He knows that he cheated on not just Hinata, but Sakura as well for breaking the promise of stopping the affairs. This time, he decides to honor the promise.
'But what's a little promise compared to a lifetime of being with Sakura?' a treacherous part of his mind opines. Still, even Uzumaki Naruto, the dead–last as his best friend Sasuke calls him, knows that dragging on the affair would have jeopardized not only his career, but his and Sakura's family as well. If the word was out, Sakura could potentially be scarred from the scandal, or worse.
Naruto shudders, and puts his wretched thoughts aside. Today is a new day, he thinks. He wants to start over again, for his sake, and hers.
At least, that was his mantra to protect his sanity for nearly a decade now.
The divorce is settled within weeks. Uzumaki Naruto is no longer the husband of Hinata, and the Hokage of Konoha.
He decides to leave the village once the divorce is finalized. He cannot wait to escape the piercing, cold stares of the villagers that remind him of his mistakes. Indeed, the ramifications of his past actions are truly terrifying. Not that he regret any of it.
That insignificant Monday night, Naruto quietly packs a kit bag and makes his way toward the gates. He kisses his sleeping children one last time, and leaves.
It is a crisp night that sends chills to his bones. Not a soul is seen within his distance.
Naruto reaches the gates when he sees her standing, just waiting for his arrival.
"Sakura–chan," he speaks softly.
She walks toward him, closer and closer. He does the same until they meet each other half way.
"Don't go," she cries.
"I have to," he replies. "It's the only way to protect you."
She hits him on the chest, and he flinches slightly. Even after all those years, she is still able to throw a hefty punch.
"Bullshit!" she yells. "You know that isn't true!"
Sakura pounds his chest with her fists, again and again, until tears flow from her eyes nonstop. Having no words to console her, Naruto holds her.
"Naruto, I can't let you go," Sakura weeps, burying her face within his chest. "Who can I rely on in this village?"
"I'll be back," he tells her. "I promise."
She looks up into his eyes.
"When?"
"I don't know, Sakura–chan."
"And what if you don't?"
He grins. "Have I ever broken a promise with you, Sakura–chan?"
She wipes away the tears with her sleeves, and he kisses her gently on her forehead.
"I'll be back," Naruto speaks. "A promise of a lifetime."
"Meaning I have to wait for you till I die," Sakura pouts.
"No, I promise you, Sakura–chan. I'll be back, and we'll meet. Wait for me," he answers.
Letting her go, he bids her a good night.
She does the same.
And she watches him walk away in the distance for the last time.
