Sasuke was on his way to the Hokage tower. It was well into the afternoon now and he had just finished eating the meal that Sarada had kindly left for him. He kept her little note in his pocket. Sasuke took his time walking to meet with Naruto. It was nice to be back in Konoha and to see all the expansions of the village. He did not like the new and modernised technology though, he thought it made the citizens lazy. There was a train that could take him directly to the Hokage tower in a matter of minutes, but instead he chose to walk.

Sasuke soon enough reached the entrance to the Hokage tower where he was greeted and escorted to meet with Lord Seventh meaning he had been expecting him.

Sasuke arrived at the doors and entered. Naruto was seated at his desk speaking with Shikamaru when he looked up and caught Sasuke's regular cold glare.

"Teme…" Naruto said smiling as he greeted his old friend.

"Loser…" Sasuke said back. Naruto laughed and rose out of his seat to formally greet Sasuke with a handshake.

"It's been years teme, your last written report was received months ago. Where have you been?" Naruto asked.

"Don't tell me you were beginning to worry." Sasuke rarely made jokes, but he was in a seemingly good mood this morning. "I was in another dimension following up on the Otsutsuki where time goes by faster. I was there for two days which in this world would be two months." Sasuke explained.

"What did you discover?" Naruto asked. Sasuke gave him a stern look.

"I'm not exactly sure what it was that I saw. I was about to discover something but I made the choice to return back to this world instead." Sasuke watched as Naruto waited for an explanation, Shikamaru too.

"I mistook my daughter's chakra for an Uchiha clone." Sasuke admitted. Both Naruto and Shikamaru were silent. Sasuke knew they were internally judging him. He didn't care though, so long as Sarada had forgiven him.

"Understood. That's alright teme, you deserve to come home anyway. I'm assuming you'll be staying in Konoha for good now?" Naruto asked, turning to sit back at his desk.

As much as Sasuke wanted to say yes, he knew Naruto was desperately relying on him to follow the Otsutsuki. He was the only one who could do it as he was the only one in the world who possessed the rinnegan.

"No. I'm going to go back in a few weeks to resume the mission." Sasuke said.

Naruto sat down in his chair and sighed, clasping his hands together. Sasuke's loyalty and determination was something else.

"I am in debt to you Sasuke. I'm sorry for putting this all on you." Naruto said.

"Just make sure that Sakura and Sarada are safe, that's all I ask for in return." Sasuke replied.

Naruto firmly nodded his assurance. Naruto would absolutely keep them safe. They were more than family to him. Everyone was his family. He would protect everyone, especially Sakura and Sarada. Naruto wanted to ask Sasuke what Sakura thought about him going away again but decided not to as knowing Sasuke, he probably would leave it to the last minute to tell her or would tell him to mind his own business.

"Arigato, Sasuke."


Sarada was in the middle of her mission with the other members of team 7. They were hunting down a lost pet that had given them an unusual hard time. This particular cat was causing trouble and it was difficult to decipher its movements even for her.

Sarada was peering through tree bushes in search of any tracks when she felt the strange feeling of being watched. Sarada turned around looking at a dark spot deep inside of the forest. She stood up straight staring into the darkness, for a moment she swore she could just distinctly make out an outline of a body…

"Sarada? Did you find something?" Boruto asked, interrupting her thoughts. Sarada yanked her eyes shut and then opened them again to discover that there was now nothing in that space, it was clear.

"No. There's nothing on this side…" Sarada confirmed with Boruto as she continued to look into the darkness.

"At times like these I wish that I had the byakugan! This stupid cat is causing us more trouble than it's worth!" Boruto angrily shouted, clenching his fists.

Sarada was sure she had seen something in the forest. For now, she would ignore it, but if it appeared again, she wouldn't let it get away. She narrowed her eyes and continued to help look for the cat.


Sakura was on her break, seated in her office. She couldn't stop thinking about the dangerous position she was in. A lot of thoughts rushed through her mind as she rubbed her palms stressfully against her face. She was trying to get her facts straight, thinking about the very moment she had met Eichi. Nothing in particular stood out, he seemed like an ordinary person. There had to be something, anything.

She recalled the first night he had manipulated her with genjutsu. She was crying in her office and suffering from a panic attack over the stress of work, worried that she wasn't being a good enough mother to Sarada and Naruto had revealed to her that there had been no new report from Sasuke in a couple of months now.

Eichi had comforted her. At first she screamed at him to leave her alone but everything else became blank after that.

Sakura didn't recall ever being intimate with the man though images of them did flash in her mind. These were not memories, they were feigned to only make her believe it was real. If Sakura weren't a trained jonin then any lesser rank wouldn't be able to distinguish between what was simulated and what was reality. Sakura wasn't particularly gifted in genjutsu though and even though she was sure, she feared that Sasuke might not believe her…

Sakura searched and searched trying to think of a time where Eichi may have revealed his true intentions to her or at least given her a hint. Nothing. She couldn't think of a single thing or time where he had acted overly suspicious or as if he was plotting something. Then all of a sudden Sarada's words surfaced in her mind.

The family photo.

Why did he have it? What did that mean? What was he intending to do with it? Sakura's heart was racing as she couldn't think of any other reason other than confirmation. He knew Sakura and Sarada's identity, however… Sasuke…

Sakura had left her office and was marching around the hospital not as a doctor but as a ninja, searching for him. Sakura walked fast, a determined and angry look upon her face that her colleagues were too hesitant to question her about.

Sakura spotted him walking down a corridor holding a clipboard and writing down a few things. She marched right up to him and before he even knew it she had grasped hold of his arm so tightly anymore pressure it would be shattered. She pulled him into an empty examining room and threw him across the floor.

Eichi groaned rolling over on his back. He looked at Sakura surprised and seemed happy to see her.

"You have become eager all of a sudden Sakura… what changed your mind?" Eichi said with a rosy face. "That was hot."

Sakura scowled at him.

"Shut up. Just shut up and listen to me. What is it that you want with my husband?" Sakura began in a hard tone. Eichi sat up smiling and breathing heavily.

"On the morning you pursued my daughter, you stole the family photo from her."

Eichi raised a finger. "Hold on. I did not steal it, I found it on the ground and I was not "pursuing" her, I was doing you a favour and bringing her safely back home."

"Stop lying. I know you stole it from her and I know you are some sort of ninja on a mission that has something to do with my husband." Sakura said sternly, fire in her eyes, the jonin inside of her raging. "What are you doing here Eichi? Do you intend to assassinate him? Are you after his sharingan? Here to gather secret intel? Just what are you playing at?"

Eichi stood up to face her.

"Sakura…" Eichi said, getting closer. "I have no intention of approaching your husband. He's just a dangerous man whom I think is not good for you or Sarada-chan." Eichi said to her. His tone had changed from having fun to suddenly serious.

"Sasuke cannot be trusted, Sakura-chan. He isn't the same man you knew and loved. You will soon come to realize this."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked him. Eichi just gave her what looked like a caring smile.

"Don't worry, I'm handling it."

"Handling it? What's that supposed to mean!?" Sakura said, raising her fist.

"Relax, It's none of your concern."

Sakura had flung him to the ground and then pounced on him so that she was on top of him grabbing his shirt tightly, looking into his eyes with fury.

"Eichi, I swear to you, I promise you, if you in any way are a threat to my husband I will kill you and I wouldn't think twice about it."

Eichi looked at her with concern.

As quickly as the voice from outside came, Eichi had his hands on Sakura's hips and pulled her down so that she was lying on him. Sakura squealed and wasn't quick enough to get off of him before…

"Right through here - OH! Sakura-san, Eichi-san!"

Sakura's face shot up as to her great horror, one of their colleagues had walked in on them with a sick patient who was scheduled to be examined. Sakura squirmed her way off of Eichi, standing up straight with a horrified look on her face. This looked fucking bad!

"I'm so sorry! I have an examination in this room…" the colleague whom Sakura knew well said awkwardly, trying to avert her eyes.

"Mirei, this isn't at all what you are thinking. I am so sorry." Sakura said. Eichi casually stood next to her.

"Yes, we are so sorry." he said, raising his hands and scratching the back of his head making it look like they were doing something. Sakura turned her already heated fury toward him.

"H...hai…" Mirei stuttered looking at the both of them awkwardly. Sakura stormed out of the room and went to bashfully hide in her office.

She locked the door behind her and dropped against it. Her heart was racing as tears dared to well in her eyes and stream down her face. She hoped and prayed that Mirei was a kind enough friend to not go saying anything to any of their colleagues about what she thought she saw. Now her career and reputation was on the line and there was a big possibility that Sasuke could find out about this.


Team 7 had to delay their mission by another day as there just was no trace of the missing cat anywhere. Sarada and Boruto were furious that they came to no conclusion whilst Mitsuki was not too bothered by it.

"Now we have to continue looking tomorrow." Boruto said frustratingly. Sarada sighed, it couldn't be helped.

"Let's make sure we find it quickly because I want to spend time with…" Sarada closed her mouth before almost blurting out Papa's arrival.

"Spend time with who?" Boruto asked curiously.

"No one." Sarada said, shutting her eyes and folding her arms. Boruto bit his lip.

"Is it the visitor? Who is it?" Boruto asked her, determined to find out Sarada's secret. Sarada smirked at him and shook her head, she wasn't going to budge. Boruto scrunched his hand in a fist and groaned until he gaped looking past Sarada's shoulder.

"Who is that?" Boruto asked, pointing to a man walking toward them. Sarada turned.

"Papa!?" she yelled out. Boruto dropped his chin a little. So this must have been who Sarada was talking about. He watched on as she ran to meet him.

Sarada wrapped her arms around her father's waist beaming up at him.

"Papa! Did you come all this way to pick me up?" Sarada asked him cheerfully.

"Hai." Sasuke said to his daughter. He looked past her to where Boruto and Mitsuki were standing. These must be her teammates. Sasuke immediately recognised Boruto, he looked just like Naruto. Mitsuki hardly looked human, he immediately knew that he was bred from Orochimaru.

"Papa, these are my teammates, Boruto and Mitsuki." Sarada introduced them as they came walking over to investigate. Sasuke stared at them.

"Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke? You were my Dad's rival…" Boruto said.

"Konnichiwa, my name is Mitsuki." Mitsuki formally greeted before Boruto interrupted.

"Tell me, what are my Dad's weaknesses? You must train me! I can tell that you are strong from the way you hold yourself." Boruto confidently said. Sasuke only stared at him.

"Baaka Boruto." Sarada said grumpily. "Papa just got back home. There is no way he will be training with you before he trains me."

"Can you do the rasengan?" Sasuke asked him. Sarada looked up at him curiously. Boruto gaped. He looked away shamefully.

"Well… not yet…" he stuttered. He looked back at Sasuke with a spark in his eye. "But if you train me I'm sure I'll get it in no time!"

Sasuke snickered.

"Hn, if you cannot do the rasengan then you cannot be a student of mine." Sasuke declared.

Bouto gritted his teeth. Sasuke was so cool in appearance and posture. In a way he was sort've jealous of Sarada for having such an awesome Dad.

"I'll learn the rasengan and I will become your student!" Boruto insisted. He then leaped off to begin training right away.

"Ja." Mitsuki said with a smile before leaping off after Boruto. Sarada turned to her Papa.

"Do you really want to train Boruto?" she asked him curiously.

"If he can prove his dedication to me then yes." Sasuke replied. Sarada looked down at her feet feeling a little saddened. She had hoped that he would train her. Sasuke noticed this.

"Would you like to have a training session with me tomorrow?" Sasuke asked her. Sarada gaped excitedly at him. That was just what she wanted to hear. No strings attached, no needing to prove anything to him.

"Hai Papa! I would love to… only…" she thought about the stupid cat mission they hadn't completed yet. "Only I have to resume my mission tomorrow and it might take all day. A cat has been missing from its owner for a few days now and it has been giving us trouble. We can't seem to find any trace of it anywhere." Sarada said, a little bit embarrassed.

Sasuke looked at her as she shamefully looked away from him. He smiled. There was nothing to be embarrassed about so long as they were dedicated and not going to give up. He tapped his two fingers against her shinobi headband.

"There's plenty of time." Sasuke said. At that Sarada cheered up and went to give her father another hug.


They decided that they would surprise Sakura at work by going to pick her up. Tonight they would eat out at a restaurant together as a family. Sasuke had arranged the plans and couldn't deny that he was a little excited to be treating his family.

When they arrived at the hospital, it was a little bit past 6:00pm and Sarada could hardly contain her excitement about going out for dinner tonight. Sasuke and Sarada met Ena at the reception.

"Sarada-chan… oh…" Ena gasped looking at the tall and extremely handsome man standing next to her.

"Konnichiwa Ena. Papa and I are here to pick Mama up, where is she?" Sarada asked, enjoying the look on Ena's face as she gazed on at Sasuke.

"Hai. Sakura-san is in her office." Ena said.

"Arigato." Sasuke replied. Ena melted at the sound of his voice.

Sarada led Sasuke down a few corridors to where Sakura's office was. When they arrived she was already packed up and ready to leave, shutting the door to her office.

"Mama!" Sarada called out racing over to her.

"What are you two doing here?" Sakura asked, smiling at them surprised as Sarada wrapped her arms around her.

"Papa and I came to pick you up!" Sarada said, beaming and looking up at her. Her smile immediately faded. "Are you okay?"

Sarada saw her mother's eyes were red which always happened after she would cry. Sakura went blank. She had planned to clean herself up before going home and didn't expect Sasuke and Sarada to come to the hospital.

"Hai. I'm fine Sarada-chan." Sakura said, giving her an obviously forced smile. The entire time she didn't look at Sasuke which Sasuke realized from the moment they had approached her. He wondered what was the matter. He hoped it had nothing to do with him.

"Sarada, go and wait at the reception for us. We'll be right there." Sasuke said in a cold tone that gave Sarada no other choice.

"Hai…" Sarada said. She looked at both of her parents as she went to walk off.

"Is everything alright?" Sasuke asked Sakura once he was sure Sarada was gone. Sakura lifted her eyes to look at him. She felt guilty, sad, unfaithful, dishonest… She wanted to tell Sasuke everything. Everything about how she was feeling whilst he had been away. How Eichi had manipulated her. How he had physically forced himself on her today. How there was something seriously suspicious going on with him.

Sakura ran over to Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him tightly pressing her lips firmly to his. Sasuke was taken aback at first but soon responded passionately back. He slithered his arm around her waist holding her close to him as he kissed her.

"I'm sorry anata, I'm just upset about something that happened at work. It's nothing to worry about." Sakura said, breaking their kiss but still hugging him.

"Is it that man who came to our house last night? Is he causing you trouble?" Sasuke asked in a hard tone, ready to kill somebody.

"No… it's not that… Don't worry Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, extremely grateful. "Arigato."

She raised her face to kiss him again when they both heard someone gasp. Sakura moved her lips from Sasuke's and looked over to see Mirei, the woman who had walked in on her altercation with Eichi earlier. Mirei gave Sakura an odd look and then continued down a separate corridor. Sasuke noticed this.

"Gomen Sasuke-kun, could you please give me a minute?" Sakura asked. Sasuke nodded and then watched Sakura chase after Mirei.

Sakura caught up with the young medical nurse not too shortly after.

"Mirei!" Sakura called out to her. Mirei stopped and looked at Sakura with an embarrassed expression.

"Sakura-san…" Mirei said.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her face with her hands, not sure how to explain herself. She cupped her own face embarrassingly the entire time she spoke.

"Mirei, earlier today I want you to know that the scenario you walked in on between Eichi and I was not at all what it looked like." Sakura explained. "I had to privately discuss something very important with Eichi and I dont really want to explain how we ended up on the floor but please believe me that nothing sexual was intended."

Mirei carefully listened to her superior and nodded.

"I understand, Sakura-san. Don't worry. I know you are always strictly professional whilst at work. I appreciate you confirming with me though. Arigato. Was that your husband before?" Mirei asked in a friendly tone.

"Hai." Sakura replied with a relieved smile.

"He's very handsome. You are so lucky Sakura-san." Mirei said to her. Sakura blushed.

"I know…" she said with a longing sigh.


Sakura met back up with Sasuke and Sarada who were waiting together for her at the reception.

"Gomennasai." Sakura said to the pair as she joined them.

"Mama, Papa is treating us to dinner at a restaurant!" Sarada revealed.

"Really?" Sakura asked, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke was still wondering what earlier was about but pushed the thought aside for now. He smirked and nodded.

The Uchiha family walked home together that night to clean themselves up before heading out to enjoy a dinner together as a family for the first time in a long time.


Author's Note: I do enjoy reading reviews. Reminder that what makes a story good and unpredictable is expecting a character to do something only to discover that they do the total opposite. I don't want my story to be the same as everyone else's. The genre is ROMANCE and DRAMA. It's heavy on plot so I like to spice it up a bit otherwise it gets boring and that's the main reason why so many fanfictions get abandoned. I would like to make everyone happy but I can't so am just going to tell this story how I want to.

Thanks for reading :) New update coming soon.