As much as Naruto tried to concentrate on the paperwork in front of him, it was difficult to absorb the letters when his heart was beating heavily as if it was ready to jump out from his chest.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
He flicked his eyes on the clock for a brief second only to sigh in frustration when only five minutes have passed since he last checked. He could have sworn it was fifteen.
Frankly speaking, Naruto didn't enjoy his job. He worked so hard to maintain peace and become Hokage. However, Hokage wasn't an important position during peacetime and the bare necessities consisted of paperwork, which was mostly handled by Shikamaru anyways because Naruto could not concentrate for five or more minutes reading them. He knew Tsunade was stressed out from being too busy, but Naruto was stressed out for having nothing to do and feeling useless. He was all for wanting recognition.
After his first year of Hokage, Naruto realized: If he could not gain recognition from his Hokage duties within the village, why not gain recognition from outside the village? Because of this, the Seventh Hokage's reign had a heavy emphasis on diplomacy consisting of frequent visits to other Shinobi villages and distributing funds to the less fortunate ones. Sadly, his policy wasn't so popular among the taxpayers of his own village. Taxpayers were greedy and selfish, always expecting their tax money to be used on themselves instead of helping non-taxpayers of other nations. At least the people of the other villages acknowledged him, loved him and held a marvelous parade when he visited.
He felt so constrained in his own village. It was not like his private life was doing any better either.
Naruto could say that the one thing he succeeded in his life was his marriage to Hinata, and the two beautiful children she gave him. He was the luckiest man on earth to have a wife who loved him, supported him, and worshipped the ground he walked on. He was grateful for her being content just being together with him and taking care of his two children all on her own.
That only made his feelings of guilt worsen because…
"Naruto."
That voice. Naruto looked up to see his best friend walking over to his desk.
Despite Sasuke's rugged appearance, he still managed to look beautiful. Mismatched eyes that would have made normal people look freaky, looked godly on Sasuke.
"Sasuke, you returned." Naruto's face turned into a grimace. He wanted to dance in joy at the sight of Sasuke but at the same time, he dreaded what was to come.
There were only two of them in the Hokage's office.
"I want to stay permanently in the village."
That was a surprise. A happy and dreadful surprise.
"Why?" Naruto's voice was a whisper.
"This is my home."
"Sakura-chan will be happy to hear that." He felt a pang in his chest from mentioning his best friend's name.
"You know she's not the reason."
"Sasuke...we can't continue this. I...I can't betray Hinata. It pains me to know that I am betraying her behind her back while she has been nothing but kind to me."
"I know," Sasuke replied softly. "I feel the same about my wife."
"I rarely go back home because her smile tears my heart! She doesn't know that I'm being unfaithful to her while she's being faithful to me!"
Sasuke nodded.
"I don't want to live another day regretting and hating myself."
"I know," Sasuke repeated.
"This ends today."
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, Sasuke's lips were on him. Their kisses were wild and forceful, locked in a battle both refused to lose. The raven-haired man crawled onto the table, knocking off papers and scrolls off the desk. The Hokage roughly tore the cloak off his lover, hitting the computer next to him and having it crash on the floor.
But who cared? Naruto always kept the Hokage's office messy except for the neatly lined books on the racks.
Unfortunately for him, If he ever bothered to read books he might have noticed a hole carved in one of the books' spine.
When Hinata first married Naruto she envisioned a life with romantic dinners on anniversaries, sleeping every night on a warm bed with her husband as company, and family outings every weekend. When she was in her teenage years Naruto was her knight in shining armor, always protecting her and encouraging her to follow her dreams.
Now? She barely has time for her own training because her husband expects her to plan and manage parties for the Daimyo, frequently visit other shinobi nations, cook lunch and dinners for the staff in the Hokage Tower while having to take care of the house and the children all on her own.
He thinks it's second nature for women to balance household chores, raising children, and assisting their husbands' jobs without any trouble or stress whatsoever. Worse still, he's acting like a child himself. One look at the living room and that's clear; the discarded socks on the carpet, the carelessly opened scrolls on the sofa, the dirty dish left on the table. She is supposed to be his wife, not his mother!
Hinata is reminded of the time she asked Naruto to cooperate in their marriage by putting dirty dishes in the sink, drop his sweaty training suit in the laundry basket, and to play with Boruto. The replies are always the same with "I'm too busy", 'It's not that easy", and "Maybe later". The excuse sounds hollow when she's lived under the rule of Tsunade who managed wartime politics, ran the Konoha hospital and raised her own disciple to legendary status. It's peacetime, so why can't he do it? She has already realized why; Tsunade ran the village with competency, Naruto runs the village by buttering up to important people.
She thinks of the possibilities in front of her if she quit the role of Hokage's wife, which was synonymous with "unpaid maid". She could take the Jounin exams, take an active role in Hyuuga Clan politics, and have her own genin team.
She knows the concept of divorce isn't common in Konoha. Many civilian women and retired kunoichi depend on their husband's salary to survive and tend to their children. However, Hyuuga Hinata wasn't just any woman. She was the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. Her bank account had savings bigger than her husband's.
The only other problem was her children. The law in Fire Country dictates that when a couple has a divorce, the party liable to the divorce will have to abandon custody. If there is nothing to prove Naruto's negligence to his duty as a husband, the custody may as well go to him because Hinata is the one wanting to separate.
Hinata will not stand for that. She switched on the remote control and watched the screen flickering to life for the television program, "Hokage Today". She smiled as she saw her naked husband with an equally naked ex-teammate.
The best thing about modern technology was that they were nigh traceable by chakra. Sure, Sharingan could trace electricity originated from chakra, but not energy sourced from a power plant. The hidden camera recording Naruto and Sasuke losing themselves in the heat of the moment was a testament to that.
Thanks to Sasuke and the whole village as a witness, she would have no problem in gaining custody of her children. Good riddance to her husband!
However, there was a single nagging feeling in her chest.
How would Sakura feel about seeing her husband sleeping with her best friend, and on the tv screen for the whole world to see? Sakura was a good friend who has always cheered her up and even saved her life several times. There was no doubt she would be hurt, miserable, and humiliated. If there was one thing Hinata felt guilty about this scheme, it was bringing pain to her one good friend.
Sakura was shivering on the sofa, cold from wearing only red lingerie. She picked up the remote control to switch on the television and keep her mind off the chilly air.
Her mouth was hanging open in shock at the image that showed in front of her.
Two arms hugged her from behind. The back of her head pulled into a bare muscular chest. "What are you watching, Sakura?"
"A gateway to my divorce."
Her lover watched the screen with interest. "Oh. I must thank my two ex-students for their scandal."
Sakura chuckled. "Why? Because nobody would criticize me when I divorce him?"
"Because nobody would give you trouble if you married your ex-sensei after that", Kakashi said as he put a ring on his future wife's finger.