NOTE: I'm moving across the country in 2 days, so this will be my last post until I can get internet. I like posting at least once a week, but it may be closer to two when I finally have internet and am settled. Thanks for all your support so far though, and I am excited to see some of these ideas come to life!

In this chapter Sasuke comes home and in true Sasuke form, takes control of the situation.

While her mother was gone at the Hokage's office, Sarada lay in bed staring numbly at the ceiling. By the time she came to after the shock of finding out she was having twins, a new thought and feeling was already taking root in her mind: Did she really want an abortion? Her fears were already confirmed; she somehow knew that if she saw the ultrasound she would change her mind, but what she didn't expect was that just hearing their heartbeats would also make her feel a sudden and fierce pull toward them. She swore she could feel them fluttering within her- two, they were them- so how could she just take them from their home? The thought of ripping them out of her suddenly made her just as nauseous as her morning sickness.

She was stuck and in just the same predicament as she was when Boruto busted into her room unannounced. She didn't want to feel anything toward them and wanted to swiftly erase them before his presence could change her mind. Resolve. Sarada needed that resolve. Yet she was quickly losing it even without Boruto there in front of her. However, what was worse to her now was not that her mind was changing… it was that she didn't really know if she could go back even if it had changed.

Not wanting to be a single mother before, and wanting to be able to keep her life plan on track, she was able to look to the future as a beacon to keep her steady, but now that light was beginning to fade out and her mind was beginning to actually feel something toward the little lives growing inside her. But after what she did to Boruto to shut him out forever she didn't know if she could actually change her mind. What was the point of going through with the birth? Surely he'd never forgive her. She'd be the single mom and never achieve her goals, and her children would grow up alone. If he couldn't be there- and really, would she have forgiven him if he did the same to her to keep him at arm's length- then why bring children into this world? They would just have a miserable existence. Maybe it was still best to get rid of them.

She rolled over in bed to face the wall as an ache swelled in her chest. How awful was it that she changed her mind too late? She was so sure that was what she wanted...and it all changed that quickly. But there was no way she could go back now if Boruto couldn't be there. She effectively had ruined her relationship with her best friend and was still going to lose the babies she now fervently wanted.

The door creaked open to the room and she was thankful for the sudden distraction. "Are you awake?" her mother whispered from the doorway. Sarada turned over to face her but didn't say a word. "You're crying," Sakura instantly pointed out and hurried to sit next to her in bed. "I'm sorry for how I reacted earlier. I should have been more understanding, I was just scared." As she reached out to wipe stray tears off her daughter's cheeks, she became uneasy in telling her the prophecy; it of course sounded too trivial now that she was out of Naruto's office and back with the girl who actually had to carry the babies. As much as she didn't think an abortion was the right choice, she also felt the pull to respect Sarada's opinion and reopening the conversation- Naruto be damned.

"Mom, I messed up," Sarada sputtered, ignoring her mom's apology. At that moment it didn't matter when so much more seemed at stake.

"No, no, things like this happen," Sakura cooed and pulled her in close to her chest.

"No. Not about that."

Sakura pulled away to look at Sarada in the face. "What do you mean?"

"I think I messed up Boruto and me." Once again the tears began to fall more heavily and she scrunched up to hide her face in Sakura's lap. "I can't have these babies... and I really really think I want to." She took a shaky breath. "But Boruto won't ever forgive me. I messed up and I can't go back!"

Sakura hesitated, wanting to ask what happened, but finally figured it was best to leave it for a later conversation. "Of course you can still have them, Sarada, with or without him."

"No! Would that even be worth it? He hates me, I highly doubt he'd even care."

"Do you really think Boruto wouldn't care if you were having a baby with him? Or two?" Sakura asked firmly, taking her daughter's face and pulling it up so they locked eyes. "Look, he can be an idiot, I get that, but I don't really think you actually believe he wouldn't care that you were pregnant or that you wanted an abortion." She thought of how Naruto left his office to confront him and wondered about his reaction; how did he feel about becoming a father? Did he feel the same way as Sarada and didn't know how to fix him and her?

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Sarada said sourly.

"Sarada...Boruto is a great person and your best friend. If you truly want these babies, you should try to fix it. Nothing is ever too late."

Nothing is ever too late. But could that really be true when she tried her hardest to push him away? Isn't there a point of no return for everything? "He hates me and it's all my fault."

"No. If you want him you need to talk to him. Do you want me to talk to Naruto again?"

"Again?" Sarada scrambled to sit up. "Is that where you went?! Mom, please tell me you didn't tell him!"

Sakura took a shaky breath of her own as she sat up straighter against Sarada's own defense. "I had to. Boruto had a right to know-"

"Boruto knows?! Are you kidding-"

"This isn't just something you carry on your own!" Sakura snapped. "That's why you shouldn't believe that having them will automatically mean single parenthood! This is half his fault and he needs to take responsibility too."

"I just told you that he hates me! Oh god oh god oh god-" Sarada began spiralling again, her mind swirling at all the scenarios that could happen. Would he come there himself and ask her to get an abortion? She slunk back down under the covers to try to get away from her thoughts.

"Sarada, please calm down, you are going to put yourself under duress and that's not healthy-"

"You just told me that Boruto knows I'm pregnant and Lord Seventh knows I'm pregnant and I'm not supposed to feel stressed?!"

Sakura sighed and tried to stand. "Let's go home, okay? Let's get you into your own bed and we can settle down and think through this rationally. You don't have to make any decision right now."

"What did Lord Seventh say?!" Sarada demanded, though what she really meant was What is the Hokage going to think of me?

"Naruto is very supportive and believes you should have them…"

"Really?! Oh why, just because they are his grandchildren?" she asked forlorn.

"No," Sakura replied. "Because…" Her conversation with Naruto loomed in her mind. "This may be bigger than both you and Boruto."

"What?"

Taking a deep breath, Sakura tried to think through her next words carefully. Should she tell her? "There was a prophecy…about these babies..." she began. Sarada scoffed. "A what?"

It was definitely too late to go back now. She had her daughter's attention so she sat back down on the edge of the bed and launched into her conversation she had with Naruto at his office. She told her the prophecy and how they believed Sarada and Boruto's children were the "convergence" of "the sun and moon"; she told her of her father's relationship to Naruto and the power of Boruto's family and her own; she told her of what this could mean for the future. Sarada listened carefully, soaking in every last word of the prophecy, all the while comparing it to her own situation. It seemed so real, so accurate. Who would have thought that her and Boruto's children could be so important? Yet even as a different type of resolve built back up within her with each word her mother spoke, she still had a snaking doubt that giving birth was the right choice. She didn't want to face this future on her own, even if the prophecy was the truth.

Once Sakura stopped speaking, Sarada immediately began. "So you think I should have these babies," she said instantly.

"Again," Sakura replied, surprised at her daughter's knee-jerk reaction, "only if you want to. I am just telling you what was relayed to me. I know how much you respect Naruto but don't do this just for him."

Sarada grit her teeth. Her children were to be the saviors or the ruiners of this world, but she was in charge of whether they lived or died; the future was hanging in the balance and it all came down to her, in this moment, at seventeen years old. Two questions now hung over her head: Should she do it without Boruto if it meant her world would be safe? Or should she risk the world and her own future? Once again it was too much to handle at once.

Sarada finally agreed to go home to give herself more room to think and within the hour she was showered, in her own pajamas, and sipping black tea in her own bed. Sakura tucked her in and told her she had to be back at the hospital, but she took a minor detour back to Naruto's office to see how Naruto's own conversation went with Boruto. She now felt less angry and tense than she did hours the first time she saw him that day, and once again thought about how quickly things changed in this day- previously she wanted Naruto to pound some sense into his son's head for hurting Sarada, but now she just wanted them to reunite for the good of their growing family.

"Are you the real one?" she asked as she walked through his office door.

Naruto looked up from writing at his desk. "Yeah."

"So how did it go?"

Naruto sighed and put his pen down. "Not terrible," he replied honestly. "He's shocked, obviously, but mostly scared. He really feels like he messed up with Sarada and doesn't know what to do now."

"Sarada feels the same way." Sakura perched on the window sill behind him. "She changed her mind before I could even tell her about the prophecy- she said she wants them now. But she doesn't want to go through with it because she believes whatever happened between them was too bad to fix."

Naruto sighed. "So she still wants an abortion…"

"I don't know what to do. I don't really want to get into the middle of it, but they need to make up if they are going to be bringing children into this world. If that's the only way she'll have them then we have to do something."

"Well, we may want to put that on the backburner for a bit because we have something bigger to worry about," Naruto announced and held up a scroll to Sakura.

"What is it?"

"Sasuke will be here earlier than expected and could be back by tonight... I received this while I was at home."

Sakura's eyes widened as she reached for Sasuke's letter to Naruto. "And he still just thinks you want to talk about the prophecy…?"

"Yep. He has absolutely no idea what's going on," he sighed.

At that moment the door opened and the two jumped causing Sakura to drop the scroll she was holding. "It's just me," Shikamaru said blandly in the doorway. "Don't look so freaked…"

"Sorry," Naruto breathed, "we thought you were-"

"Me?" Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Shikamaru. Sakura and Naruto jumped again at his sudden appearance, their eyes widening to the size of saucers, but neither could conjure any words; as much as they usually wanted to see Sasuke, now was the one time they desperately needed more time away from him. Shikamaru turned to look at Sasuke and instantly shook his head as he realized what was going on. He turned back around and announced, "I have to go. Again. Call me back later, Naruto."

"O-Okay," Naruto replied weakly.

Sasuke looked between his wife and best friend and tried to calculate their faces. "What's wrong with you two?" he deadpanned. "What's with the looks? Are you really that surprised to see me?"

"You said you'd be back tonight," Naruto stuttered.

"So I got in earlier." Sasuke shrugged. "And you said it was important." He then nodded at his wife who was still just staring at him while her face reddened. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura and Naruto exchanged looks. "Just stopping by to see how things are going," Sakura finally replied.

"Uh huh...is something wrong?" Sakura looked away from Sasuke's looming glare and sardonically thought about announcing 'We're having an affair.' That might give him less of a shock than the truth.

"She is here because of the prophecy I wrote you about," Naruto clarified.

"Well then I guess I'm glad I got here when I did. What is it?"

Sasuke was always to the point and Naruto was thankful he now seemed to ignore the nervous tension bearing down on the room to place his attention on the business at hand. "So," Naruto began, "I was summoned to Mount Myoboku as you know and we are a part of this prophecy which is why I asked you to come home. It said-" He cut off to check a note on his desk to make sure he got the wording right. "'The sun and the moon will converge with power you have not yet seen. Based on the vigilance of the current sun and moon, they will either save the world or destroy it. You are in control now of this convergence.'" When he finished reading he looked back up to allow Sasuke to soak it in.

"So we're joining somehow," Sasuke said monotonically after a few seconds of thinking. Sakura watched his face carefully, but he gave no indication that the truth had crossed his mind as a possibility. He deserved these last few seconds believing everything was normal, she thought. "In what ways can we be joining to destroy or save the world? We haven't even seen each other in person for so long."

"That's why Sakura is here…" Naruto said shakily. "We need to talk. I think you should sit down."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, refusing to match the tension in the room. "No, I'm fine standing."

Sakura and Naruto exchanged a quick glance again. "Sasuke, our families are joining," Naruto uneasily said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke genuinely looked between the two of them trying to read their faces but couldn't crack them other than seeing worry.

Sakura this time cut Naruto off before he could talk; a wife should tell her husband, not his best friend, she figured. "Sasuke," she said stronger, "Sarada is pregnant."

Sasuke didn't say a word for a few beats. He could see both Naruto and Sakura's faces redden further, and though that should have been the confirmation that he needed, his mind still couldn't compute. A prophecy? Converging of sun and moon? His teenager was pregnant? "Sarada is pregnant?" he asked hollowly.

"Yes…" Sakura began to walk toward him but Sasuke put a hand up to stop her.

"Our families are joining?" he echoed Naruto then turned his cold glare to him. "You mean your idiot son got my daughter pregnant?" Sakura's heart dropped into her stomach as she stared at the coldness he was emanating; she was rapidly preparing herself for the venom he could potentially spew. Was he going to ask how this happened when she and Naruto should have been watching their kids? Was he going to turn it around on them as the irresponsible ones? She felt that guilt churning within her and didn't know if she could handle her husband reflecting her worries about herself as a mother back onto her.

But Sasuke didn't want to say any of that. He wanted to say a lot of things, of course, how could he not- he just found out his only child was pregnant by his student, after all- but blaming Sakura and Naruto wasn't one of them. Actually, blaming anyone seemed counterproductive right now. He was trained to focus on the situation at hand and to him this was just another mission- he needed to push his emotions down to look at this rationally. The world could end if he didn't.

"Yes..." Naruto finally responded to Sasuke's question. "Now try to calm down, don't do anything rash-"

"I'm not going to do anything rash," Sasuke replied smoothly.

Again, Sakura and Naruto just looked at each other. "You aren't...mad?" Sakura asked.

"Well of course I'm mad, I'm incredibly disappointed, but what's the point of yelling? What's done is done. The question is what do those two intend to do about this and what do we need to do, Naruto, since the prophecy says we are in control of what happens with this 'convergence.'"

Sakura stared in awe at her husband. He had gotten angry at so much less, had been through so much, so she just assumed he would lose himself more than she and Naruto did. But, she quickly supposed, since he had been through so much more, this could be just one more thing added to his plate that he could handle and protect.

Naruto blinked a few times, also shocked at Sasuke's matter-of-factness, and rapidly tried to change back into Hokage-mode. "Uh, yeah, yeah. We need to figure that out and what that means for the babies-"

"Babies?"

Naruto's eyes widened again as he admitted, "Yeah...twins," as though it was his fault this was happening.

"Ah. So there will be two." Again, Sasuke quickly pocketed the information and moved on. "What do they think about that? How long have they known?"

"Sarada found out two days ago...Boruto, Naruto, and I found out today."

"Did she tell you all at the same time or something?"

Sakura faltered. "She didn't tell any of us actually," she replied. "She was sent home from a mission and went to the hospital for what we thought was an illness so that's how I found out, then I told Naruto, and Naruto told Boruto…"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "She didn't tell Boruto?" he asked.

Sakura sighed and she grimaced as she admitted, "They actually aren't speaking right now..."

"Why?"

"They had a falling out…"

"So what you're telling me," Sasuke stated rationally, "is that they know they are having a baby together- two babies- and they still haven't spoken to each other? How will this be conducive to these babies' lives?"

"We are trying to find a way to get them to talk," Naruto finally jumped in. "Sarada actually stated she wanted to have an abortion-" Sasuke made a noise in his throat, but Naruto pushed on hurriedly- "but we're hopeful we can change that once they reconcile."

"An abortion?"

"Yes."

"Do they know about the prophecy?" Sasuke asked and both of his teammates nodded. He then straightened and turned toward the door without another word. "Wait, where the hell are you going?!" Naruto called after him. "We're not done!"

"You said they aren't talking." Sasuke stopped and turned around, his hand on his hip. "If we're supposed to make a future for these babies to exist in, to save the damn world, they need to grow up. I'm going to talk to them. I'll fix this." He turned back around and walked straight out in search of his daughter.

Sarada was sleeping when Sasuke tiptoed into her bedroom. He stood in the doorway and watched his daughter take slow breaths, her neutral sleeping face not giving away any of the fear and doubt that was churning within her only seconds before she finally gave way to sleep. She looked so at peace to Sasuke, and he couldn't help but think back to the tension-filled conversation he just had with Naruto and Sakura. All those years ago he'd never have thought they would have the type of that kind of meeting. They had debriefs, they argued about the best strategies, but never did he think they'd have to discuss their families merging together and the best strategies of parenting and preparing their children to do so. He also ended up married to Sakura when his teenage self never would have considered that, so did that mean that someday Sarada could do the same with Boruto? Would she be having this same conversation about her own children someday?

Sarada must have subconsciously suspected someone in her room because she began to stir. "Mom?" she murmured. She opened her eyes slowly and turned her head to her door, but her eyes quickly adjusted and she realized that the person towering over her wasn't her mother but actually-

"Dad." She quickly sucked in her breath and jumped to sit up. She noted that her dad's face was still and unmoving, but that wasn't uncommon. Why was he home? "I-I didn't know you were supposed to be coming home."

"Naruto asked me to come home to discuss a prophecy actually."

Sarada's face drained of all blood. "W-What did he tell you?" she whispered and hoped he almost couldn't hear her in case he still didn't know. There was a chance he still doesn't know, right?

But Sasuke jumped to the point and asked, "How do you feel?" Her skin instantly grew hot under her father's unchanging stare and she could feel her eyes well over again which was so stupid because she never cries. "F-fine," she squeaked before the first tear gave her away and slipped down her cheek.

Sasuke gestured at the foot of her bed. "May I sit down? We need to talk."

"Y-Yeah," she whispered and tucked her knees up to her chest then began blurting, "If you are here to yell at me I understand but please-"

Sasuke held a hand up to stop her. "I'm not going to yell at you," he replied gently. "Just like I told your mother and Naruto, I believe that is a waste of time. There is no point in getting worked up and it won't be helpful."

He watched Sarada's face relax and in return could feel his body begin to relax as well. "I'm sorry," she whispered after a few seconds. "I really messed up."

"I know."

"Are you disappointed?" Sarada raised her guilty eyes to meet Sasuke's and it took almost everything in him to not look away from his own eyes staring back at him. Will they have her eyes? Will they have the sharingan someday?

"I am," he replied truthfully, causing Sarada to pull her gaze away. "But I am not here to lecture you," he continued. "I don't think you need to be lectured- it's clear enough that you are punishing yourself."

"So why are you here?"

"We need to talk about you and Boruto."

"Oh." Sarada winced and she slid backwards onto her pillow. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Well, that's the father of your children so you don't have a choice," Sasuke replied coolly. He knew his words would cause her breath to hitch in her chest, and though he truthfully didn't want to lecture her as he said, he felt he could turn the knife just a little when it came to her and Boruto to hopefully help her see the seriousness of the situation.

"My understanding is that you are thinking of having an abortion?" He tried to soften the edge to his tone again so as to not alienate her; if he ever needed to connect to someone at any point, it was with her in this moment.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Why?"

She flopped to face the wall. "Because I really messed up."

"And?" he scoffed. "We went through that already. You can't dwell on it because what's done is done. Why do you want to get an abortion? Your mother says it has something to do with Boruto, is that correct?"

"What's the point of going through with this if he's not around?" She grit her teeth. "I already went through this with Mom- What kind of life would they have without their dad?"

"I don't think you have messed up enough with Boruto to have him not want to be there for his children. Have you even talked to him?"

"Well...no…"

"So how do you know then?"

"I just do, okay!" Sarada shot up in bed again, eyes filled with tears. "You weren't there! You have no idea!"

Sasuke kept himself even keeled and his eyes challenged hers. "I know him enough and I know you enough and I think that if you really want this, and you truly believe you want Boruto to be there, then you need to fix it. Stop dwelling on a future that hasn't even come to pass; you can only take what's given to you and move on. Look…" He sighed. "When I was your age I did so many worse things so I'm not in a position to yell at you for this, but I can share with you what I learned over the years: I learned that you either can wallow and stress, or you can accept it for what it is and move on with an action plan. So if you want these babies, Boruto or not, you need to just do it. And if you want Boruto back in your life, you need to do something about that too."

"So what?" she sniffed. "Do you think I should have them?"

Sasuke was the one next to falter. Though he didn't want his daughter to be a mother just yet, he also didn't want his opinion to sway hers; if she wanted to be a strong kunoichi, she needed to be strong in her own decision. "I think," he began, "that you want to be Hokage someday and this won't deter that. I think shinobi face their missions head on no matter how difficult. You are carrying such a heavy mission, in territory you have never been in, but I think you can do it and you can do it well. ...But you need to actually take steps forward to do so." At his last words he leaned forward and poked her in the forehead and stared her in the eyes to allow his words to soak in.

Sarada didn't flinch away from his fingers. "But what about Boruto?" she asked. "I don't think I can change his mind-"

"Just rest right now, you need your strength." Sasuke cut her off and stood to end their conversation. He narrowed his eyes at her to let her know he was serious then turned toward the door. Before he walked out he turned around one more time to look at her and announced, hoping to nail his words deeper: "I love you."\

Across town, Boruto was coming to his own conclusion: he wanted to be a father. He was scared, of course he was scared, but as he paced the same ten steps across his room, his mind was made up that he wanted Sarada to have their children. But how? How could he make that happen? He pushed her away and didn't want to push her further by demanding her to give birth. He felt that just his presence would turn her toward abortion again. And even though his father seemed so sure that she wouldn't have one, insinuating she couldn't because he said so because of this "prophecy", he didn't know if his dad could or actually would do something like that. Surely Naruto Uzumaki, the peacemaker, wouldn't eliminate her autonomy. She had the ultimate say of what happened, but even without the prophecy looming over their heads he still wanted to be a chance to be their father. He wanted nothing more than to hold Sarada, to take away whatever pain he caused to make her want to eliminate what they created together, but he ruined his chance. She hated him and he didn't know how to knock down that wall she so effectively built up around herself.

He was about to turn to pace his room for the five-hundredth stride when the door to his room opened without warning. His face immediately went pale as his eyes glazed over his sensei, not at all the figure of his mom he was expecting. Just from Sasuke's stern expression Boruto knew in his soul that he knew.

"Please don't kill me!" he immediately yelped and fell backwards onto his floor.

"I'm not here to kill you." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic."

"S-So why are you here?" he asked nervously, pushing himself as far away from Sasuke as he could.

"I'm here to train you."

"T-Train me…?" So maybe he didn't know…

"Yes."

"Right now? W-Why…"

"Well, I hear you impregnated my daughter?" Sasuke put his hand on his hip and asked, "Is that true?" He felt oddly satisfied at seeing even more color drain from Boruto's face while his mouth hung open in his inability to speak at his bluntless.

"I'll take your silence as a yes."

Boruto continued to stare up at Sasuke with widened eyes, his heart racing to beat out of his chest. This was the exact confrontation he was scared to have the most and Sasuke had the ability to dissolve him into dust in the flash of a second. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he sputtered stupidly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes again. "Yes, I am aware."

"W-Why do you want to train me then?" Boruto asked smally.

"Because I'm not letting an idiot raise my grandchildren."

Boruto's eyes flashed and he scrambled to sit up from his spot on the floor. "Wait...what?" he sputtered.

"You heard me."

"Wait...but Sarada…" He quickly clamped his mouth shut in case Sasuke didn't know her plans to have an abortion, though he also knew that Sasuke being his father's best friend, he likely already knew more than he even did.

"I also hear you and Sarada are not talking though," Sasuke continued. "So how are you going to raise them if you don't even talk to their mother?" Just like before with Sarada, he half-enjoyed seeing Boruto struggle to find words when presented with his own immaturity.

"Sarada doesn't want to talk to me…" he whispered, his face growing hot under Sasuke's incessant glare.

"How do you know that?"

"Because she put me under a genjutsu when I tried to ask her if she was pregnant." A genjutsu? That was new information. Sasuke couldn't stop his eyebrows from rising in surprise. "She was trying to push me away and for good reason. I think I completely messed us up."

"Well, have you tried to fix it?"

"I don't know how...she hates me…"

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes again. These children. They were such natural born leaders but clearly had no idea how to take control of their own lives. "Do you want her?" he asked bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you want to be with her? Are you ready to step up as a father?"

Boruto nodded fervently. "Then you need to tell her how you feel. If you want to step up then just do it." Sasuke closed his eyes and placed his thumb and forefinger around the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he sighed. "You're an idiot but you care a lot about Sarada, and if it has to be this way then I'm glad it's you. You are good for her. If I'm being honest I'd rather put you through the wall right now, but if I killed you where would that leave my grandchildren? You know about the prophecy, Boruto, correct?"

Once again, Boruto just nodded along. Sasuke continued. "Then of course I want to train you so we, including your father, can ensure these children grow up on the right track. But to do that you first need to step up and go to Sarada."

Boruto avoided Sasuke's eyes now and looked toward his team photo by the corner of the bed. How young they looked, how innocent, two children who had no idea what was to come. "H-How do you know she even wants to see me?" he asked quietly.

"Because Sarada is stubborn, so while it's difficult to change her mind I know she wants to see you. I know she wants to have these babies. So if you want it too, then you need to actually tell her. You are the only one who can change her mind. ...Which sounds completely ridiculous but it's somehow true," he tacked on saltily at the end. "Now go apologize for whatever you think you did. She is waiting- the future of your kids depends on it." He was surprised even in himself, but Sasuke reached out a hand to help Boruto off the floor. Boruto stared at it for a second as though it was a trap, but in the end decided it was worth trusting him if it meant he could reconcile with his best friend. Sasuke easily pulled him up until they were standing face to face, inches apart; he noted how much taller Boruto had gotten since he had seen him last.

"Thanks," Boruto replied stronger than he had the entire conversation. He held Sasuke's gaze for a few seconds longer, wondering what Sasuke could be thinking behind his unreadable glare, then finally tried to move past him to head for the door. Before he could reach it, Sasuke reached back and gripped his arm. "And Boruto?"

Boruto immediately stiffened. "Hm?"

"Don't wait for shit like this again. If you want something go get it, and when it comes to family you need to act immediately because it can all be gone before you are done thinking. If I ever hear you wait this long again to make a decision when it comes to my family, I will kill you- prove to me you can do this."

Boruto stood still for a second longer before ripping his arm away from Sasuke's grasp, and within seconds Sasuke could hear him barreling down the stairs and out the door. He smirked, impressed in the strength he just saw in the boy, and knew they would be just fine.

We are finally to the Sarada vs. Boruto confrontation!