Sasuke led Naruto to the forest campsite. Upon reaching it, they became spectators of the scene Naruto was not particularly surprised by since Boruto and trouble has been going hand in hand since the boy's infancy. The campsite consisted of three small tents that were hidden between the trees with their Konohaage as coverage as per shinobi's rules. In the place of the fire only the ambers were smoldering, but the Moon was high and bright enough to watch eight rouge shinobi circling around Boruto and Sarada, who were standing back-to-back with no visible preparedness to repel the assailants.

"So where are your famous clones, boy?" one of the rouges taunted. "Shouldn't you be all over the place by now?"

"Why isn't he using the clones?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke, ready to jump into the fray to help the children. Particularly since the gang knew the identities of the young shinobi, and that didn't promise anything good since both were very valuable targets.

"He awaits Sarada's signal. She will tell him when they are in needed position, since Boruto can't see all of them and she can with her Sharingan. After the incident I told you about, Boruto aims to control his strength not to harm people unnecessary. There is no need to waste chakra if everything can be finished with one move."

Whatever was the signal, Naruto didn't know, but when the gang had Boruto and Sarada in a dangerously tight ring, there was a flash movement of Boruto's hands to form a clone jutsu seal and eight clones appeared right in front of the rouge shinobi sending each of them in a knock out with a single right hook.

"Not a welcoming committee I was expecting upon returning home," Naruto heard his son mutter while dragging the gang members to the tree and tying them around it.

"And what did you expect? Steamers and flags?" Naruto asked, leaving their vantage point in the tree branches and coming out to the campsite, silently followed by Sasuke.

Naruto watched as his son straightened up after binding the unconscious shinobi to the tree and was shocked to see not a boy with blond bangs, but a young man he barely recognized. Of course, two years ago Boruto had already hit a growth spurt, but the change was a far cry from his current appearance. Now Boruto was not only as tall as his father, but also as broad in shoulders. Moreover, Naruto was taken aback by the waves of power that radiated from the younger Uzumaki.

"Lord Seventh," Sarada greeted with a bow, coming up from behind Boruto, showing her usual proper manners, which her partner ignored as usual. At least, that hadn't changed.

Naruto bowed to the girl in return. Well, not a girl anymore, by any means. If Sasuke's theory is to be believed, Naruto couldn't blame his son for having romantic feelings for his longtime rival and team partner, because even if Sarada's coloring was Sasuke's, her beauty and grace were all Sakura. What more, there was indeed a meter between the young shinobi now, even if minutes before they were practically one body.

"You seem to lose your grip on things, dad, if you allow such trash to roam so close to the city."

Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes at his son's arrogance. That, at least, hadn't changed too. "A team was to be dispatched to deal with them tomorrow, well, today."

"Well, we saved you the trouble. Although, I do wonder how large the ransom would've been… We leaving now, Sasuke-sensei?"

"Yes, it is better to return undetected."

Naruto watched in fascination as the youngsters methodically packed up the camp in close to fifteen minutes, clearly having a lot of practice with the act. There was also a definite method to not crossing each other's paths; if they did anything together, there was no even brushing of fingertips. The natural flow of such abnormal behavior was just bizarre.

"So-o-o-o, before you give me the answer everybody is just dying to know," Cho-Cho made a suspenseful pause to toss a chip into her ever hungry month, or just not to stop chewing, "what's with the get-up, girl? And what happened to your tits?"

Sarada hushed her friend, who as it turned out, did not shy from discussing female assets in a public setting of a café. Well, Cho-Cho rarely shied from anything. The get-up she was referring to was Sarada's free shirt, which was actually a male shirt that hang somewhat loose on her shoulders.

"It's what I've been wearing during the last years and I have nothing that fits me at home, so…"

"And this garb fits you how exactly?" Cho-Cho asked with clear distaste for the garment.

"It's comfortable to move in and fulfills its purpose."

"What purpose? To make you look like a sack of not tasty chips? Wait a minute… are you bandaged?"

"Yes, if you are so interested," Sarada huffed, irritated by her friend's tactless curiosity. What matter it was of hers how she dressed? Or was it what female friends usually talked about during downtime and she has forgotten?

"But why in the world would you subject yourself to that atrocity?!"

"It's a habit. We needed no distractions so it was only logical."

"So after practically co-habitating for four years you haven't seen Boruto shirtless?!"

"Why should I?!" Sarada protested, but a faint blush still crept onto her cheeks. Yes, she hasn't seen him without a shirt, but healing does require direct access and she healed Boruto enough times to have a general idea. Not to mention those shoulders… or his muscles of steel that ripped with every movement that even his thick cape couldn't hide…

"So you are not together then?" Cho-Cho asked, sounding as if she discovered her fridge was completely empty.

"Why should we be?"

"Because you are meant to be, girl! You two started heading in that direction from the moment you met! The rivalry, the tension, the closest friendship among all of us! It is as if you are joined at the hip or something. I hope you do acknowledge that your team was the most close-knit of our generation?"

"Mitsuki was part of the team too."

"And we know his opinion on the matter of you two, don't we?"

….

"So what have you been up to, Mitsuki?"

"Is that a veiled question about my getting on with other teams, Boruto?"

"Only if you want to hear it as such."

"You asked me the same four years ago before you embarked on your journey of self-discovery. You told me, you wouldn't go if it made me uncomfortable or lonely. It was very considerate of you."

"You are my friend before being my teammate, Mitsuki, I couldn't just dump you like that."

"To answer your unsaid question, being with other teams has been very educational so far. What about you, are you still 'ill at ease' around Sarada?"

"What do you mean?"

Mitsuki smiled at his friend's defensiveness. Same old story. "You said before that you really wanted to go with Uchiha-sensei, but didn't know if you could be around Sarada all the time since she made you ill at ease. Surely, you have overcome your differences by now. I have never seen a more perfect couple."

"Not again, Mitsuki! We are not a couple!"

"Why not? It's what made you hesitate about the training in the first place. Do you know, what I've gathered from other mixed-gender teams? That they preferred to not make the distinction. It is much easier to deal with team members when they are nothing but comrades in arms are they boys or girls. And such equal treatment is commendable, however… you never forgot that Sarada was a girl. Of course, you trusted her explicitly and never considered her weaker because of her sex (she does pack a mean punch), but in spite of her considerable physical strength, you still saw her as the beautiful young woman that she is. I don't understand why you are fighting your nature. My girlfriend-"

"You have a girlfriend?!"

"Why are you so surprised? Isn't it common to have one at our age? I approached my parent on the matter even before your departure. I asked him for a female companion. I wished for a personal connection beyond friendship, connection that you and Sarada have. My parent was greatly amused, but had to deny my request since even if he created a female version of myself and even if years were to be spent on her upbringing among humans, she would still be my sister with whom a romantic relationship is impossible.

"I met Yuna during a mission a year ago, by some blessing of the Fates she was revealed to me during a full moon at Tsukuyomi's shrine. She is a guardian spirit, who belongs to the entourage of the God of the Moon. She is not human or even corporeal, she visits me only in my dreams, but what we feel for each other is real, so if by some coincidence or even Gods' joke we found each other, we are not going to deny ourselves the happiness and love we have in our hearts."

"If you are happy… What is there to say… But aren't spirits immortal?"

"They are… But I am not exactly human either, so we have considerable time together. But you are wasting yours, Boruto."

…..

"Auntie Sakura is something else," was Boruto's awed statement upon leaving Hyuga's compound, where he, Sarada and Sasuke were invited by Sakura 'to meet someone'.

Upon entering the compound, they were brought to one of the large back rooms the tatami of which was occupied by six toddlers. One set of triplets was over one year old and the other looked older than three. All six children had straight black hair and black eyes, making the parentage unmistakable. The young shinobi and the current head of Uchiha clan stood paralyzed with shock while Sakura recited the names of the children, one of which was Itachi. But Boruto and Sarada were truly gobsmacked by witnessing Sasuke falling onto his knees in full dageza, his body rocked with sobs he didn't even bother to hide. The toddlers understood nothing of what was happing around them, but Boruto and Sarada wordlessly decided to leave the family reunion, even if Sarada was part of the said family. Something very special was happening inside onto what they had no right to intrude.

"I had no idea, Mama would use the fertility jutsu she was researching. She was trying to make it safer for the mother, since there was danger of death by childbirth. Nobody worked on it before since the aim was to get heirs, so the woman's life was unimportant in the grand scheme of things. But to risk it not only once, but twice and keep it all a secret from everybody in the village apart from Hanabi-san…"

"At least now, you don't need to think about the continuation of the clan."

"I talked once to Papa about the conflict of my responsibilities as Hokage and duty to bring the next generation of Uchiha, and he told me that children are born out of love, not duty. It was then that I decided that I should have my own children since how could I treat the whole village as a family if I had no experience in having my own?"

Sarada had more to say on the matter, but she was suddenly dragged by the hand into a dark narrow alley and pushed against the brick wall.

"What are you saying, Sarada?! Since when have you decided to get married?!"

Sarada instantly regretted her decision to face Boruto, but there was no way to avoid it, standing as they were. His eyes possessed no special powers of persuasion, but every time she looked into them, she found herself drowning in the bluest lakes, losing any coherent thought. She found him towering over her, barely a breath away. They have never been so close, so dangerously close…

"We made a promise, Sarada, all those years ago! For you to be Hokage and me to ensure your safety. And now you are talking about having a family?! You want to condemn them to the Fate me and Himawari suffered?! To leave your children without a mother is even worse than what my dad had been doing all our childhood!"

"I will make time-"

"Listen to yourself! The same promises my dad made and the same he broke each and every time! Are you going to break ours too?!"

"We were only children!"

"Well, I was serious! My granddad sacrificed his own child to seal a beast inside him to save the village, my dad sacrificed his time with his family for the peace, and now it is my turn to sacrifice the opportunity of having a family at all to keep this village safe, to keep you as Hokage safe. And I was willing to make that sacrifice for you. You have six brothers to care for now, why do need your own kids?!"

"And what about me?! Why should I remain alone all my life? Don't I deserve to be cared for? To be loved?!"

"Then why have we been fighting the obvious all these years? Why have you been pushing me away?!"

At that Sarada did push him away. She could've easily pushed him through the opposite wall or through two neighboring buildings for that matter, but she didn't want to be at fault for destroying her own village. Her push threw him towards the end of the alley, but the hit barely winded him. He was caging her between his arms just a moment later. Even if it was supposed to be threatening, Sarada was not scared even with the wall of Boruto looming over her. She had a general idea of the enormous strength he possessed (she hardly doubted, he himself knew of his limits), but she knew, he would never hurt her. No matter how angry he was with her.

"Don't you see it, Boruto? Because it is obvious! To everybody! The whole village is talking about how perfect we are for each other. Cho-Cho, Mitsuki, all our friends! The moment we get together our parents will start planning the wedding and naming our kids!"

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Because we will never be able to break up if things don't work out, you idiot! And we will end up in a loveless marriage hating each other and our children will suffer for it!"

"But I do love you!"

"What can you possibly know about love, Boruto?!" Sarada questioned, shoving him away once again.

Boruto blinked at the careless dismissal of his confession, but his stubbornness didn't allow to strain from his course. "You mother fell in love with Sasuke-sensei when she was ten!"

"And look where it'd gotten her! She waited for him for years! And when they had finally gotten together, he knocked her up and left for more than ten years! She raised me alone, the only pittance the money that was given to us out of his wages. During their whole marriage they have been together for less than a year! If that's love, I don't want it!"

"Then what do you want, Sarada?! Tell me, because for the last four years I've been schooling my mind and body to become as strong as I possibly can and… to be blind to how gorgeous you are. Yes, your outfit helped with the everyday distractions, but did you really think I will find you less attractive that way? Sitting hours under the ice-cold waterfalls, I tried to make peace with the fact that we would never be together because of your duties as hokage. I failed spectacularly, Sarada. My only comfort was in the thought that if I stay as your shadow then I will protect you from afar without suffering this feeling that tears at me whenever I look at you. Maybe it's not love, maybe it's just lust clouding my brain, I don't know. What I do know is that I'll level down a mountain for you, I'll kill for you and I'll die for you, and all deities' help me to not wring the neck of a guy you decide to marry."

"And you call this love, Boruto?! This is an insane obsession, this is what it is! I can't be with anyone but you?! You see nothing wrong with this picture?"

"So you feel nothing for me, Sarada?!"

"Whatever I feel is nothing close to love, friendship at best, but you are ruining even that by your current behavior!"

"Clearly we need a break from each other. They are gathering volunteers for a long-term mission in collaboration with other villages. A perfect place for me to get rid of my 'obsession' over you. But before I leave, I want-, no, I need to do something. Use Sharingan on me. If you are okay with it, just nod your head, if not… throw me out on my ass."

Sarada was taken aback by Boruto's quick concession. She was fully prepared to fight him… but for what exactly? The true nature of her feelings for him? Or she just wanted to argue the way they did during their childhood, because back then they could not communicate in any other way because of their competitive natures? Anything better than the dreadful blanket of silence that had wrapped around them during those last years. Some evenings there was a pleasant time of joking while sitting around the fire or even moments of introspection so uncharacteristic of the blond prankster, but those had become long and far between.

Sarada locked her eyes with Boruto's, but couldn't use her Sharingan right away, being once again mesmerized by the blue orbs. There was no resistance, no guard, even if she could use her power not to only look into his intended movements, but bind his will (she has gotten pretty good at that lately), she could do anything to him and yet…

The eyes of the young Uchiha turn red and returned to their usual ebony color a millisecond later not even knowing how to act. Boruto's cheer gal to even think that she will allow something like that to happen… Then why was she feeling herself nodding?

Even being a goal-driven shinobi, Sarada did imagine her first kiss as any other girl. And her imagination definitely did not depict it happening in a dark alley with her back grinding against a brick wall, although she had little care about the bruises the following morning. What Sarada had to grudgingly accept was that Uzumaki Boruto was not foreign in the concept of her first kiss. And now, when it was finally happening, she was astonished to feel hesitance in the movements of Boruto's lips. Boruto has been learning to curb his spurs of anger and power, but he was still obnoxious and bullheaded; he could very well gather enough power to take down a mountain by sheer will alone. In her ignorance, Sarada imagined (okay, she had to admit to that) his kisses to also be fueled by reckless passion, so where that hesitance and, dare she name it, tenderness was coming from? What if… it was Boruto's first kiss too? What if he has been saving it for her, despite the herds of girls that were twining all over him whenever they stayed in bigger settlements?

Their intimate if not very romantic moment was interrupted by a sudden skirr of metal against metal.

"Now you will have a reminder," Boruto began with a goofy smile, "to give an answer to my question when I return."

"What question?" Sarada asked, trying to catch her breath and wrap her mind around what in the world was happening.

"What you actually want."

And with that the blond shinobi disappeared up on the rooftops, leaving Sarada to contemplate her wishes and her suddenly emerged wish for the question to be something entirely different. She took off her forehead protector to see a two-centimeter-long dark mark near the right end. Have they just marked each other? It was a silly notion, but Sarada did not regret her newly polished protector tarnished in such a way. And not because it reminded her of a completely different tradition.

…

Naruto watched through a half-opened door of his son's bedroom as Boruto was systematically packing his bag for the upcoming mission. Naruto will never tell Sasuke, but he had to admit, that the grumpy shinobi did right by his son. Boruto needed clear direction and guidance to unlock his potential. Guidance Naruto would have never time for. The Hokage had yet to fully see the results of the long-term training, but he was already shocked to wakefulness, when he discovered his son, well-known for his love to sleep-in in the mornings, doing taijutsu routines at six in the morning. Moreover, when the household woke up at their usual time of 7 a.m., Boruto was found meditating on the roof. The only time when Naruto saw his son sitting continuously in one place was when his fingers were spasmodically hitting the joystick's buttons. And there he was, on the roof, a picture of calm and tranquility. Naruto had to yell to bring the young Uzumaki to their plane of reality.

"You sure, you need to leave so soon, son?" Naruto asked, stepping into the room. It seemed tiny with his grownup son standing in front of his childhood bed, but with two of them inside, there was no room to make another step.

"Yeah, this mission is exactly what I need. To clear my head and everything. I need to be… alone for a bit."

"If you say so… Sasuke told me about the rock slide… Were you really planning to die for her?"

"Nah! I knew that Sarada will find me. She always does."

Naruto could do nothing with his son's unshakable belief in his teammate's abilities, but the line must be drawn somewhere! "And if that time it didn't work, how many times would you have risked your life, hm?!"

"As many times, as necessary, dad. And rock slide wasn't technically the first time. One night, we happened upon a village on fire. The cries, the stench of burning flesh, burning buildings just collapsing on themselves. There was a considerable amount of trauma to receive there. We both had nightmares for weeks."

"But it wasn't enough. And none of you thought that Sarada may be a different sort of Uchiha? If her Sharingan opened because of the happiness of seeing her father, maybe she needed another big happy moment- Hey! What was that for?!" Naruto complained, rubbing his forehead that has been the target of his son's bag just a moment before.

"Get your head out of your arse, you hentai old man!"

Naruto recounted the words he has just said and… yeah, they could be interpreted in that kinda way. "No need to get all defensive, those are natural things-"

"Yes, but they are not done to boost someone's power, dad!"

"Is her new power even worth all this trouble?"

"Sarada is worth everything."

Yeah, the boy has it bad… So why was he leaving then? "What is it?"

"It's her secret to share. On the other matter… Did you actually have any valid reason for barging in here?"

"Yeah, I want you to meet someone before you leave."

"You and mum didn't hatch another kid while I was away, did you?"

Naruto threw Boruto a confused glance, but gestured for his son to follow him. Naruto invited his son to take a seat on a tatami when they reached their backyard.

"Now take my hands, close your eyes and relax…"

"I do know, how to meditate, dad."

"Then shut up and, for once in your life, do as I say!" Naruto snapped, disturbing the required peaceful atmosphere.

"Hai, hai…"

They joined hands and aligned their breathing rhythm. The next time the Uzumaki opened eyes, they found themselves in a spot if light, but from its border began all-encompassing darkness so thick and silent as if they were standing at the edge of the world. The ever impatient Boruto half-turned to ask his old man where in the Hell he brought him, when the younger Uzumaki was almost blown away by two streams of hot smoke. The smoke was soon followed by its source – a giant black nose emerged from the empty surroundings that turned out to be not empty after all. The nose snuffed Boruto up and down unceremoniously shoving him around to the blonde's great displeasure. The owner of the nose was further revealed, when the darkness was slashed by two golden infernal blazes that turned to be eyes that were intently focused on the young man in front of the seven-tailed fox beast Kurama.

"That's one big kitsun…" Boruto breathed out, trying and failing to get an estimate of the beast's true size, even if he had seen its manifestation at least once.

Boruto's reaction earned him a swift slap over the head by his dad. "Stop this insolence, boy! Don't you know, who granted you his presence?"

"Well, we haven't been properly introduced yet, now have we?" Boruto snapped in return.

"Kurama, meet my obnoxious elder son, Boruto."

"Hm… I've been watching you, boy…"

Boruto had to step back not to be bowled over by Kurama's fully revealed muzzle, but that was the only concession he was planning to give to the beast and his father. "And? Like what you see?"

"Nah… you are just a tiny idiot to me. Nothing special."

"Let's cut to the chase here, okay?" Boruto began, jumping onto Kurama's nose, challenge in his stand and every word. "Dad dragged me here to be assessed as the potential next jinchuriki without asking my opinion on the matter as per usual. I could be brought here only because I am special. The whiskers on mine and Hima's cheeks are proof of our connection to you being children of our father who is the current jinchuriki. Of course, you can decide that there is no need for the next jinchuriki at all and it will be so if it is your wish after dad's passing.

"If not… it is clear that I am the obvious choice for the transition to be as painless as possible for both parties. I will be an idiot to refuse such… coexistence. What I want to say, however, is right now I am not ready for this responsibility. If we do agree to become partners in the future, I promise to fulfill the needed requirements to become a worthy jinchuriki. What I am not going to do is that I will be not standing here with my kid in thirty-forty years. No matter my own strength, I am not going to subject my children to this fate, make them fight each other to be chosen as the next jinchuriki. Whoever you will choose after me, won't be anyone of my decent. Thus if the transfer does occur, then only after all my kids are born.

"Moreover… I am not my dad, so don't expect your ride with me to be the same. I am my own person and do things how I see fit. If you are not on board with my style then I don't see the point of forcing either of us into disharmony that only breeds hatred. So we understand each other?"

Kurama's only response was a feral grin. Boruto flipped backward to not get swept in by the great fox's tongue.

"I am leaving for a mission tomorrow, so I better get to sleep. I feel that I will hear from you without dad bringing me here." With that Boruto disappeared, leaving the current jinchuriki with his beast.

"That ungrateful, self-centered brat!" Naruto exclaimed, staring at the spot where his son has disappeared from (how has he managed that?!) "I am sorry, Kurama, I hoped he was mature enough to deal with the situation as an adult, but-"

"I like your boy, Naruto," Kurama interrupted Naruto's procrastination. His golden orbs were shining with mirth and barely held excitement.

"What in the world is there to like about his behavior right now?!"

"He knows what he wants and what he can handle right now. He has fire in him, fire that can turn into an inferno, but only at his command. It will be interesting to feed that blaze one day…"