AN: Hello, hello with chapter two. So let me explain a bit about what this story will entail. This will be a slow burn for the beginning as most of my stories are lol. This does have NaruSasu and other canon pairings from Boruto and Naruto shows. So do not worry and freak out as you read, I assure you there will be some very interesting things with this story. As for what got me into writing again is well the writer on Fanfiction PhoenixDiamond so thank you for that. 3

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Uzumaki Naruto

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep. BEEEEEEEEEP! The damn alarm on his phone went off loudly over his snores. Each time the damn thing went off, he would turn over and grab it with a tight grip to shut the alarm off. He would then swear to change the sound for a less heart attack sound, but then he never would. Part of the morning ritual Naruto had, he would just complain about waking up. One more day and then he would have a three-day weekend with his kids. Right, there was his kid Boruto he had to deal with this morning.

Getting up and stretched out his tired body, the muscles tight before he relaxed and rubbed his eyes free of the sleep in them. What the hell was his kid thinking trying to sneak off to a party? Seriously, what if something happened? Accidents happen, and they can be really bad ones when there's a body of water, teens, and booze involved. He should know, he had to tell the mom of a seventeen-year-old girl who was dared to jump off the side of a cliff and into the water while she and her friends were drunk. Finding her body in the lake, her friends crying, and just seeing her life she had all planned out gone in seconds when she misjudged the distance and hit her head on a sharp rock on the side of the cliff. Yeah, he had a hard time with seeing her body like that, seeing his kids if something like that happened. Even harder when he told the mom that day. She had stayed up all night for her daughter to come home safely after she couldn't reach her. The worried smile disappeared when Naruto stood on her porch and introduced himself. The scream that ripped through her, ripped through him at the same time. It wasn't easy telling the living their loved ones were dead, even worse when it was a kid's mom. He never knew how his dad did it and he didn't think that he could do it, but he had in the end and it wrecked him for a week. He hugged his kids tighter that week, told them he loved them over a million times in a day before he came back from the fear his kids would be ripped away so coldly from his arms.

Yet his oldest wanted to go some lake party and nearly have the same shit happen to him? Nuh-uh, that wasn't happening, and he knew his kid would try to act again because of the split up. So what was he to do? Ground him? Beat his ass? What? Groaning as he made his way into the hot shower he had running while he thought of ways to punish and keep his child safe. The hot water was much needed since he didn't sleep well last night after the screaming match he had with Boruto before he slammed his bedroom door in Naruto's face. Naruto smoothed his hands over his face and then stared at the tiled ground. Life was so much easier when he was back in high school. All he had to worry about was passing finals for college and of course his "moody" boyfriend at the time. But life was a bitch sometimes and he was never the same after his mother passed away. It was sudden and truly the worst day of his and his dad's life. She passed away in her sleep when Naruto was starting his senior year of high school, a cause is known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. A condition in which the heart muscles become oddly thickened without any obvious cause. Just sleeping fine one moment and then next… gone. After the funeral, he just pushed everyone away including his boyfriend. Gave up on going to college because he saw no point in it anymore. His dad urged him to go and have a better life, but he was just angry at his mom at the time for leaving him alone that he just fell into darkness and never really came out. It got even worse when he got stupid drunk after ending things with his partner and slept with his now ex-wife. Eighteen years old and went and got her pregnant like life couldn't stop mocking him. Though as he grew up, matured more, he realized that a lot of the problems he caused could have been avoided if he just dug himself out from the hole he made himself. Not that his kids are problems, or were ever seen like that. Fuck no he loves his kids more than he loves life itself. The day Boruto was born, this tiny little bundle in his arms snuggled away from the world, Naruto just cried, kept on crying when he finally came to terms with what his life was now. A father and future husband, getting a stable job to support them and he never looked back. Parts of him healed with his son being born, but he stuffed away all the rest of the broken stuff to the depths of his heart. Then his second child came only five years later, his daughter Himawari, just had him shoving away his old life entirely. He couldn't think back on things anymore, he had two little lives to provide for and a wife he needed to love.

Except that love was strained when Naruto became a detective like his dad once was. It was hard when he was a beat cop for sure and when Hinata started to take up residency at the hospital, it was just getting hard for them to see past what their reality was now. He knocked her up after getting drunk over a break-up and then married her because he chose to be in the kids' lives and be there for her through this. Naruto did love her for a time but the last three years it was just endless fighting that no one could see past, not even counseling helped. Staying together for the kids was their solution until Naruto snapped one day when Hinata changed her path to go abroad and help others around the world. Yeah it was amazing and he was proud of her choice but it felt like she was checking out first. Just up and leaving to have the kids left behind with him. They were shortly divorced, almost a year now, with her only to visit every other holiday and their birthdays since she was halfway around the world the rest of the time. Kids took it pretty hard, Boruto the worst because he and Hinata were the closest since she and Naruto started having problems. Himawari was upset but shortly after understanding that she would always see her parents and her brother, she took it on herself to be the "woman" of the house. Not her job and Naruto have told her a thousand times that she was only thirteen for starters, but she never listened to that and made sure Naruto and Boruto felt loved. She always made breakfast for them, simple stuff since the house nearly caught on fire when she tried to make pancakes for them one morning. Naruto is proud of the young woman she is becoming, now if only Boruto would stop acting like him and get back on the track he made himself back in middle school and freshman year. AP classes, track practice, the kid even did basketball now. So what was he supposed to do?

Bang! Bang! Bam! "Hey, old man! I want to take a shower too sometime before school!" came Boruto's loud voice.

Sighing, Naruto finished up the shower and turned it off. He wrapped himself in a towel and left the steamy bathroom. He heard the kid's bathroom slam shut down the hallway from his bedroom. He sighed again and sat on his bed when he got a call from his partner on his cell. A little too early for basic shit so that means they got another case. Damn, and he thought he would have a chill day today before his weekend.

"Uzumaki," he said and stifled a yawn coming on.

"You're up today? Thought I would have to call six times before you picked up." Shikamaru sounded slightly surprised over the phone but he also had a lightness to his voice that told Naruto he was teasing him.

"Haha, sure whatever. I think you love sleep more than your wife." he teased right back and he could hear police officers telling people to stay back in the background. The teasing tone was lost and Naruto got up off the bed, getting dressed quickly. "How bad?"

"Bad. Two victims were shot in the heart, a third shot in the head. The two are a married couple and the third we're waiting for fingerprints to come back. Found him in the walk-in freezer with nothing but his boxers on. The call came in from downtown about five this morning but Doc is doing his report right now." Shikamaru explained and could hear his partner shuffling around when the M.E. spoke up at the remark.

"I haven't even done an exam properly yet!" came Kabuto's rough voice followed by grumbling but Shika just waved him off.

"Shit, think it was a hit and run?" Naruto asked as he stepped out to make a fresh pot of coffee real quick.

"Has to be. Victims are dressed for a date and the restaurant was closed for a private event. I'm thinking a jealous lover or one of them had been rolling in the mud and got themselves in trouble, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, but we won't know more till we start investigating. Shit!" Naruto jumped as he had the phone to his ear by the shoulder, hot cup in hand, and his kid looking at him dressed for school. He had turned around to relax against the counter as he drank the coffee when seeing Boruto standing there before the kitchen entrance scared him.

"Naruto? Bro, you good?" The concern was hidden under the calm tone but Naruto calmed down and spoke into the phone.

"Yeah, just text me the address, be there soon." and he hung up. Naruto slipped it into his back pocket and looked to Boruto who was walking around to get a snack for school.

Boruto saw the look and frowned a little more, grabbing a yogurt and oatmeal breakfast bar from the pantry. "Got another case?" he asked though he knew very well and ripped the packet open before munching out a bite.

"Yeah I did, so do you think you can get yourself to school on time? Sister is being driven to school by her friend's mom and will be dropped off-" Naruto tried to explain but Boruto slammed the pantry door and huffed.

"I know already. I can get to school just fine, not like I was going to a party." Boruto chewed on the breakfast bar and missed the dark look his dad was giving him.

Naruto grabbed the thermos cup he always takes to work, dumping the liquid into it before pushing the lid on it and grabbing his keys. "Better not be, Boruto. I don't need to be finding your body dead in a ditch or somethin' okay?" he said it sternly but the last part had his anger dying and looking at his son with nothing but concern and worry that would happen.

Boruto noticed this look when his dad turned around and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay," he muttered and finished off the breakfast bar. His dad always looked at him like he would be dead soon and never really trusted Boruto on his own unless it was to and from school. Even then his dad was down his throat about being safe. Being a cop just made you paranoid and stupid to your family. Of course, Boruto didn't mean that, just a heat of a moment type of thing.

Naruto stared at his son and could see the giant wall between them. When did it get so bad between them? Sighing he went to leave, but he stopped short of the door and walked to his son, giving his perfect damp hair a shake from his hand and kissing it. "Love you, kid" and walked out the front door without so much as a goodbye from the teen. Seriously, what was he supposed to do here?

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End

AN: Okay, chapter two up and done! Hopefully, this wasn't over-explained about his life currently, and hopefully, it wasn't too melodramatic. Love you guys!