Haha... hey there.

So, one year ago I posted the first chapter of this story, and I never thought it would amount to much... especially when changes in length and schedule happening and I found myself still drowning in Wave (hehe). But, getting over 400 follows, 200 reviews—I admit defeat, you guys proved me wrong!—and 300 favorites was well beyond any of my expectations!

Another thing that caught me off guard was the influx of reviews last chapter. I always get around 15 reviews per update and that was pretty much my aim, but I got almost twice that amount before the first week after the update was even over. What a surprise! I simply can't believe I actually got 201+ reviews so far. (considering a few deleted flames and one accidental victim of that purge...)

On to relevant matters: this is not a true update. Which you guys might have guessed by the low word count (those that got e-mails anyways)

This is just a small bonus story that I wrote to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the fic, since I knew I wouldn't be able to update in time for it but didn't want to leave that date pass by with nothing said.

It is canon to my story, but it is from a far future compared to where they are now. The story is also pretty short, but I hope you will enjoy it! It doesn't have any spoilers for the main books (besides that which I spoiled on my profile anyways), and was in fact built to leave a couple things foreshadowed for the next chapter. (Even so, you might want to wait until Chapter 17 or perhaps even 18 before reading this, as it can kinda break the tension from last chapter-next chapter)

ALSO!

This chapter is dedicated to everyone that has supported me with this story so far, but especially to three people:

SimplePotato, the beta, for being a pal and helping me out with this tale all this time. It's been over a year of me bothering him incessantly over this story and somehow he hasn't quit just yet. Guy can't take a hint; it just means I gotta try harder to get rid of him, I suppose! Joking... you rock, man.

Then there's gio08, who left this story's second review and also is the only person that left a review for every single chapter so far! They were also nice enough to point out typos here and there in after-review PMs, which helped a lot.

Lastly, there's an unknown guest who left me a review on my birthday and mentioned that they also have their birthday in October—the 25th! That is when this update is going live, so this one is a present for you! Happy birthday, guest!

Hope you all will enjoy it! (Note: answers to guest reviews will be at the end of the chapter. So if you weren't a guest reviewer you can ignore them, but there is some merit to reading them.)

Bonus Chapter

Chapter 14: Road to Wave (Current Version:1.0)

"Wow...! Look, Boruto! There are so many ships! They look like toys from here!"

"Stop tugging at my arm, Hima! I can see them from here! Hey...!"

Naruto and Hinata smiled fondly as they watched their children admiring the bustling activity surrounding the islands of the Land of Waves. Despite Boruto's protests and scowl as he was dragged away, he seemed as mesmerized as his sister upon seeing ships for the first time in his life, even if from a distance. The glint in his eyes told the whole story.

After a rather hairy mission that took Naruto away from home for over three months instead of the planned two weeks and made him spend his anniversary apart from his family, the Uzumaki patriarch all but demanded to be given a vacation to compensate him for his troubles, given that the mission didn't exactly change rank and thus he wouldn't even have gotten extra pay for it. The Sixth Hokage was not at all in the mood to deal with him and quickly accepted the proposal, allowing Naruto to take his wife and the kids to a place he hadn't visited in well over a decade.

Currently, the four were walking on the bridge that Tazuna built to connect that island country to the Land of Fire all those years ago. They had been walking right in the center of the bridge, but thanks to Himawari half of their party was now close to the edges of the gigantic construction. Just as the young girl hadn't let go of her brother's arm after dragging him to see the ocean, the married couple had their hands linked even as they stopped to let the kids amuse themselves.

"It's been so long, hasn't it?" Hinata commented softly to her husband, leaning against his broad chest. Her eyes did not once waver from her children; the railings surrounding the bridge were tall and sturdy so there was no danger of the two falling into the sea, but she couldn't help doing it given what happened there once before.

"Yeah... it's hard to believe how much this place has changed after we left," Naruto agreed with her, not sharing the same worries. He, instead, was looking at the islands themselves, seeing the tall buildings visible even from far away—and not just on the main island, which held the capital. The kids grew up with such sights and thus weren't impressed, but comparing it to the assortment of small, modest houses that he had seen in his first and so far only visit to the place left quite the impression on him. The difference was striking.

"Getting rid of that scumbag Gatou did this place more good than I imagined," he continued.

"And we haven't even entered the country itself." Hinata tore her eyes away from her kids and looked at the cities across the islands as well. "It's good knowing that we were part of this; that we were able to change all of these people's lives for the better," she noted, watching as quite a few other people were traveling across the bridge as well.

"Oh yeah," their son interjecting, turning his head around with Himawari following suit. "You two were here before on a mission, right?"

"That's right! It was our first C-rank mission!" Naruto happily exclaimed, remembering the giddy feeling he had felt between the Sandaime Hokage giving them the mission and Tazuna's anticlimactic introduction.

"Even though it was practically an S-rank mission from our perspective..." Hinata added quietly.

"Uh...what was that, mom?" Boruto raised an eyebrow, his sister silently frowning as she tried to decipher her mother's mumbles, which as usual, didn't lead to anything.

'Some things never change,' Naruto shook his head slightly and tightened his hold on Hinata's hand, smiling. "What your mom was saying is that our mission was actually much more than a C-rank. We were supposed to just escort the old man who built this bridge back to his home—this thing here wasn't even halfway done back then. We were only supposed to worry about bandits, you know, but we got chased by a jonin on a forest back on that island over there," he pointed to the main island.

Himawari frowned. "But dad, I don't see any forests..."

"Probly got cut down to make room for those buildings, like back home" her brother shrugged and approached his parents once again. "So you had to flee from a bad guy?"

Hinata nodded, keeping a neutral expression that contrasted with Naruto's huge grin. "It was really scary... but our sensei managed to save us in the end. We had to fight that jonin's students a week later on this very bridge, though."

"Really?! Right here!?" Boruto exclaimed, and his sister's mouth was wide open. While both of the kids were clearly enraptured, a few people passing them by couldn't help but look after hearing the outburst.

Naruto noticed that. It reminded of how people used to look at him when he was unnecessarily loud. "Oi, settled down, Boruto! No need to make a scene," he scolded the boy, to which his wife responded with a giggle.

"You don't have a lot of credibility to be asking that of him," Hinata lightly teased him, making the man sigh

"Mom's right, Dad. You are usually even louder than Boruto!" the youngest Uzumaki piped in, giggling as well. Whereas she was mimicking her mom, her brother defiantly crossed his arms in front of his chest and stuck his tongue, as if saying "touché, old man!"

"Your father is far quieter now than when he was a kid, though."

"Hinataaaa! They didn't need to know that..." Naruto pitifully whined, shoulders sagging even more. Nowadays Naruto could hardly look back at his past self without cringing from embarrassment at the things he used to do, such as painting the Hokage monument or being an insufferable brat in general.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun," Hinata apologized as she leaned closer to him, clearly not meaning much by the apology.

Sometimes Naruto wondered if he had been a bad influence on the former Hyuuga as he watched the kids pressing them for further information, which Hinata supplied.

And talking about influences...

"Naruto," a deep voice rumbled from within his mind. It did not belong to him.

'What is it?'

"I truly do not like to interfere in your personal matters, especially between you and your wife... but I noticed something that could become a problem later on."

Naruto had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"There have been quite a few times where I've heard you scolding either of your kids, only for the princess to cut in and soften the blows to a degree. Your son is just as stubborn and hot-headed as you and your mother... if he stops respecting you that will surely cause conflicts between you two in the future. I recommend talking to her about it before it becomes a problem."

'Ugh... I know. I hate to agree with you there, but you are right. I noticed that too, actually.'

"Why have you done nothing about it, then?"

'I know how Hinata is—she will be kicking herself over it for quite a while and I probably will feel guilty for bringing it up in the first place... I really didn't want to bring this up. I suppose I can't run away from it forever, though, But only after this vacation is over! Nope; I'm not gonna ruin this vacation for us.'

Sensing acknowledgment from the voice that had spoken to him, followed by silence, Naruto focused on the real world again just in time to catch Hinata staring at him with a little concern.

"Is everything alright, dear?"

His mind scrambled for a good excuse to dodge the situation—she'd certainly press him on that very day later if she wasn't convinced— but luckily for him for him a flood of memories entered his head, giving him what he sought.

"The clones arrived at the hotel already."

"Oh. Were there any problems?" she probed further, to which Naruto shook his head.

"Everything went by without a hitch. They are bringing the luggage to our room now." Hinata narrowed her eyes a bit. "Well... there was this one employee that was kind of a jerk, but no big deal. Once they understood who they were talking to, everything went smoothly," he said, truthfully.

"No big deal, he says," Boruto rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the guy got a huge scare. You kept talking the entire trip about how you even got your name on the bridge."

"Aw, can you blame dad for it?" Himawari interceded. "It is really cool to have your name on something like this!"

"...I don't see why that even happened, if you guys just fought the bad guy's minions."

"Well..." Naruto had to defend himself. "Those two were really strong! Me and uncle Sasuke fought just one and we almost died that day, and..."

As Naruto began to recount the ordeals he had been through during that day, the four of them resumed their walk. Hinata listened to her husband's tale and noted how quite a few details had been left out of the account he was giving to their kids.

'To them, the good guys defeated the bad guys and that is it... but it wasn't as cut and dry as that. If only we knew that back then... so much unnecessary blood was spilled...

"Amazing...!"

"So you even fought the Mizukage...! I guess you did deserve having this bridge named after you, dad."

"Dad's the best!"

The wonder on the kids's voices brought Hinata back to reality.

"Yup! It was pretty tough, you know!" He grinned, pridefully. "But maybe tonight you guys will get a better idea why this bridge has my name on it. It wasn't just because of the fight."

"Right... so how far is the hotel from here anyways?" Boruto asked, in that one tone Naruto and Hinata associated with an incoming complaint. "I'm tired of walking so much. This bridge never ends!"

"Just... a little less than an hour," Hinata constated, quickly flashing her Byakugan to check. It was also quite easy to calculate the distance, since Naruto's clones when put together had more chakra than anything else in her massive range of vision and shined brightly to her special eyes.

"That much? You've gotta be kidding me... my legs feel like jelly from all this walking."

"Stop complaining, buddy! We're almost there," Naruto called out to the boy, grinning widely. "Your sister isn't complaining, so you can keep going too. Besides, what is our family's ninja way...?"

"We never give up!" Himawari exclaimed happily, with Boruto droning boredly right after.

Despite their son's lack of enthusiasm, the couple couldn't help but share a look of pride at hearing those four words coming out of their two children—their two most precious people in existence, who now upheld the ideals they had embraced so many years ago.

The mere thought that they were, together, a family... at one point the idea was nothing more than a dream of what could have never happened. It had seemed so impossible, and yet it became their reality.

While it had been close to a decade since Boruto had been born, Naruto and Hinata both still felt almost overwhelmed from the sheer happiness that even looking at their two children brought to them, no matter how much time had passed.

Meanwhile, Boruto shoved his hands in his pockets. "I know that... I never said I'd be giving up!" Boruto kept on whining, but in a low tone. He realized he had been complaining a little too much already.

"You know, this is your fault," Himawari pointed out, the smile on her face betraying the ache on her own legs. "You were the one that insisted on taking the slow way to see the sights."

"Shut up, Hima!"

Vengeance was sweet, the girl thought. 'But it is not enough.'

"Boruto..." Naruto began, partially to break the fight, "If it's bothering you that much I could give you a shoulder ride till the hotel. It's been a while since we last did that, right?" he smiled at the boy, crouching to his level.

Naruto was hoping that Boruto would accept, since he missed carrying his son like that. The boy, too, loved the feeling of towering over everything and the closeness with his father... things just weren't the same after a certain someone got rid of his monopoly over both of his parents. He really, truly wanted to take his father up on his offer but...

He could feel the stare aimed at his back.

With an eyebrow twitching, he shifted his gaze to that certain someone. Boruto could feel the promise of endless embarrassment behind those big, azure eyes his sister had. Eyes that promised that she would always remember this moment and that every single one of his friends would be informed of it... and that she'd bring it up at the worst possible moments.

Too risky. Far too risky!

"D-do I look like a child to you?! I'm way too old to do something as stupid as that," he blurted out without thinking, scowling and blushing a fair bit.

Naruto kept the smile on his face, even though he was hurt by the comment. "Alright... I was just—"

"If he doesn't want, I want it!" Himawari quickly interceded, jumping at her father's back before it got out of reach.

"Haha! Okay then! Up we go, little princess!"

Everyone but Boruto laughed happily at the scene, especially Himawari. Her smile, however, took a turn for thewicked at the exact moment her mother stopped looking, just because the girl was aware her brother was still staring.

The smugness in her smirk was simply not enough for her; she mouthed the word "checkmate" to him and turned away, giggling innocently.

Boruto's jaw almost broke when it hit the floor. 'I can't believe her! She... she planned everything?!This is so unfair...!'

Resigned himself to his fate and doing his best to ignore his sister and father's happy mood and laughs as he continued to walk, unaware that Hinata had noticed him sulking after a while.

"What is the matter, my lightning?"

"Um... what are we going to eat? I mean, I know we will dine at that guy's house."

"Tazuna-san," she corrected him in a slight chiding tone, pausing before deciding to not press him further. "Yes, we will have dinner with him and his family, but I think we should eat in a restaurant for lunch. What do you think, dear?" she turned to his husband.

"Eh... I was looking forward to some of your food, to be honest." Naruto then glanced at the sky. "But it is a little too late to start lunch, so I suppose I'll have to endure."

"Yay!" The little girl that was using Naruto's shoulders for a chair commemorated. "Chouchou-chan said good things about the food of this country!"

"Unless they are complaining, you shouldn't take an Akimichi seriously when the topic is food..." Boruto grumbled, but went ignored by Himawari.

"She spoke especially well about that dish... er... black beans and something?"

"Rice." Naruto almost vomited. "Please don't remind me of that, Hima... I have bad memories of the one time I tried that out when I was here. It sucked."

"Ah... but I was looking forward to testing that recipe," Naruto heard his wife's rare whining voice and raised an eyebrow at her. "I found the recipe in a cookbook..."

"Look, Hinata, I know your cooking is out of this world, but I don't think even you can salvage that—"

"Is that a challenge?"

Gulping under the intensity of Hinata's lavender stare, which was almost comical given the height difference between the two, he tried to come up with a reply but failed completely.

"You said the same thing about various and various kinds of vegetables before," she reminded him, softening her eyes, "and I proved you wrong every single time. Or... were you lying about them?"

"N-no! No, I like your food even when it's all green!" Naruto swore, shaking his head in denial. He was treading in dangerous territory and he knew it.

"Then let me cook that for you. I promise it will be tasty!"

"Ahh... well, okay," he acquiesced. "You did promise, so you will have cook something yummy!" he warned, remind her of their other shared belief: to never go back on their word.

Satisfied, Hinata smiled and nodded happily. "It will be! But..."

"But...?"

"Well," she began to blush and looked away for a moment, fidgeting. It made Naruto feel nostalgic. "If I just so happen to fail... maybe I could make up for it by serving your... secret favorite dish?"

Hinata then made eye contact with Naruto, and the blond man couldn't help the grin blooming on his face.

Boruto, who was watching the exchange, felt bothered by it. At that moment he saw Hinata's blush intensifying, and though both were sharing a smile... there was something off about them, especially given what his mom had promised...

"Wait. What do you mean by secret?" Himawari questioned from atop Naruto's shoulders, and Boruto jumped at the opportunity to press them further.

"I thought your favorite food was ramen, dad. Is there something you like to eat more than ramen?" For some reason he couldn't understand yet—and oh, he would regret the day he understood why—he wanted to punch his dad's face to wipe that smile off.

The young boy could not remember a time his mother had blushed so hard, and especially not a time where his father had a matching red on his tanner face. "I-It's a secret for a reason, kiddo! Trust me, you guys don't need to know and you don't wanna know..."

Naruto then leaned closer to his wife and whispered: "Don't even think about trying to lose on purpose... the winner gets a reward, after all."

"A-anyways!" Hinata clapped her hands in front of herself, hoping to dispel her thoughts and blush. "I was thinking and... I don't remember Tsunami-san serving that to us during that mission," the older bluenette spoke with a frown, trying to dig up memories of those days before her husband stopped her.

"She didn't; not to you guys," Naruto clarified. "There was some of it as leftovers on that first day. I woke up from a nap hungry and dinner wasn't ready, so she reheated that for me. You know, that day I brought you food cuz you couldn't walk? We even talked for a bit."

"I see..." Hinata trailed off, and eventually giggled. "Come to think of it, that was the first time, wasn't it?"

Naruto stared at his wife's warm smile with slight confusion. "...That I brought you food in bed?"

"No—I mean, that too but... that was the first time we ever had an actual conversation," she reminded him fondly. "I was so happy that I had finally managed to speak to you."

Naruto looked away. "...Well, glad one of us was happy. You just left me completely confused that entire mission, you know. Up until the very end anyways."

The happy, lovestruck expression Hinata had went away when her face flared up and she, too, looked away. "I-I know... ugh."

"Wait, what happened between you two?" Himawari immediately questioned, while her brother just looked straight ahead with feigned disinterest, even though he was listening just as intently.

"You two know your mama sometimes struggles to express herself," Hinata confessed with a self-depreciating smile, her mood dampening. "Back when we were younger it was much worse, especially around your father or grandfather."

"I didn't really get a lot of things back then, like girls, so that didn't help either," Naruto added, also looking out of sorts. 'If only I knew she wanted to be my friend ever since our first meeting...'

A cloud of depression hung over the two, as they both reflected on their childhood. Their younger years would have been so much more bearable if they had found each other sooner... no, not bearable. They both knew this one connection, so early in their lives, would have made every ounce of pain worth it, and brought nothing but happiness.

A happiness that they had to grow up without...

"...But we are here, you know." Boruto spoke up, making the other three Uzumaki stare at him in confusion and snapping the older two from their regretful thoughts. They annoyed him, and the melancholic aura he felt from his parents particularly pissed him off. "I mean, come on! You two are talking as if you didn't marry and have me and Hima in the end!"

Naruto considered the words and then broke into a grin. "...You know what, son? You are completely on the right!" Hinata yelped, not expecting her husband to hook his arm around her to bring her as close to him. "Nothing in life is perfect... but we got our happy ending, didn't we?"

Reflecting the Naruto's wide smile—the one that was as much of symbol of their little family as the spiral—Hinata mimicked her husband and brought Boruto closer to them with one arm, while wrapping her other limb around her husband and daughter's back as best as she could, given her short arm.

"Hmm... yes, but it could still be closer to perfect"

"Eh, it could?"

Hinata simply stood on her tiptoes and closed her eyes. Grinning at how she still could blush at these situations, Naruto followed her lead.

...Closer, indeed.

A/N:

I somehow could not bring myself to spell it out for you guys. But everyone knows what happened there, don't you?

Anyways, I hope you guys liked this extra little chapter! Now that I got it off my mind perhaps I can finally proceed with the true Chapter 14 (which will now be 15 because FFdotNet numbers chapters on its own... *sigh*). Coming from the battle scenes of the last chapter, to tests, to MORE battle scenes took a toll on my mind. And my motivation.

This is kinda of a taste of what Part 4's content will be like, in case we all haven't died of old age by then. Not all is sunshine and rainbows between those two, but there's certainly a lot of happiness there—or at least I hope that's what was conveyed.

I also hope you guys enjoyed it! The next chapter... I'm not sure how long it will take. I no longer have a job and luckily will not need to hunt for one in the near future, but I have difficulty with battle sequences, and I can get long-winded with other sections so... well. Let's pray that you all will hear of me again soon enough!

Guest Review answers:

The two guests that talked about the "silly crush" part: Your reviews deal with the same subject so... well. For the pro-Sasusaku guest, Kakashi was referring to Hinata's feelings when he thought about signs of a silly crush, because he did not understand that Hinata likes Naruto for more reasons beyond the superficial. Hinata also wants his friendship first and foremost. That is something Sakura is achieving as well now that she matured a bit and got glimpses of Sasuke's true nature, but I'd say neither are in real love just yet.

Sakura is still mostly about the superficial 'cool' aspects of Sasuke and lacks enough understanding... while Hinata is still too selfish, given that she knows Naruto would have liked a friend when he was younger and she did nothing, despite wanting to. She'd rather not risk hurting herself despite also seeing personal benefits. She just kept stalking him every once in a while to gather courage the to go on...

I'm also curious why the pro-Naruhina guest (BR guest from last chapter? I mean, between the wording and the "há" with acute accent...) posted two reviews that were close to twins. And at different times. But eh.

Tykronos: Hang in there. It is coming!

Brady: I'm glad you loved it! At least the reception to the arc has been positive despite the length, hasn't it?

Remaining guest: Anonymity makes it hard to properly address you, but thank you very much for the kind words!