A/N: Hey, guys! First time dipping my toes into the waters of Boruto. This is gonna be pretty AU, so please be patient. This is gonna be toying with the question, "Hey, since Sarada has Uchiha blood and Boruto has Hyuuga, Uzumaki, and technically Senju, what would happen if they had a kid?" I wanted to make something more serious for that, but I thought screw it, you get a semi-crack instead. This doesn't follow the events of the manga/anime and is fairly non-spoiler.
Full Summary:
AU Crackfic. In which Sarada gets pregnant, and at last Kaguya's bloodline comes full circle. But can the world survive the countdown before the baby actually gets here? And what about Sasuke eventually finding out that his only daughter is dating his best friend/brother/rival's son? Raise a glass for the poor mothers, pour one out for the fathers, and press F to pay respects for Boruto.
KONOHAGAKURE
APRIL 6, XXXX
12:46 AM
All was quiet in the hidden village of Konoha. Its citizens were sleeping soundly while the moon watched over them.
Suddenly, an earthquake began to rumble through the streets. Buildings shook slightly, lights flickered, and one woman awoke from her fitful slumber to look outside in worry.
Her husband was already awake, staring at the window with a discontented frown.
"Anata?" She whispered, sidling over and wrapping her arms around his back. "You felt it too?"
"Aa," he nodded, shifting so that he could wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her in closer.
"It's nothing serious, is it?" She asked in worry, her brow knitting together.
He paused for a moment, concentrating. The quake had set off alarm bells in his mind, but he couldn't see anything off.
"... no, hopefully not," he admitted with a sigh. "I'll be heading out in the morning to investigate, no doubt."
ONE WEEK LATER...
Thirty-seven-year-old Sakura Uchiha hummed a little tune as she went about her tasks for the afternoon. It was one of her few days off (read: hospital-mandated days off), so she was determined to spend as much time at home as she could. Sarada, her oldest, was due home from a mission that night, her youngest child, a cheerful boy named Kaede, was still sleeping upstairs, and their latest addition - only nine weeks along - would be named Hinata, per Sasuke's request to honor his all-but-in-blood sister-in-law.
Sakura smiled fondly when she thought of her husband. He was so patient these days, what with Sarada's teenage mood swings and her younger brother's constant vying for his father's attention. When she'd brought up the fact that she was pregnant for a third time, he'd promised his travels would be over for a time - enough time to make sure this child wouldn't also grow up without knowing his or her father. The incidents with Kaguya had been dying down as of late, yet it only served to put them on edge. Nevertheless Sasuke had admitted he didn't want to be away forever ("I don't want to return to find the children grown and gone", his exact words were). It had been hell for Sarada, but they'd walked out of the dust cloud with only scratches and wounds that would be healed with some time and love. It didn't mean Sarada wasn't still bitter sometimes about her father having missed so much of her life, she remained as happy for her parents as she could once Kaede had been born. Well, as happy as a fourteen-year-old chuunin could be when constantly busied by a shinobi lifestyle. Sakura could definitely relate on that front.
"The house is so lively these days," she mused to herself as she set her basket down on the floor. She sat down on the couch, preparing to fold laundry. She had been meaning to practice down at one of the old training grounds, just to touch up her skills, but Shizune had voraciously forbade her from doing so. It wasn't like she was going to listen, of course; she knew what her body could handle during pregnancy, and she wanted to keep training Sarada so that she could inherit her mother's Strength of a Hundred seal. (Tsunade had been all teary-eyed and drunk that day, all too willing to see her techniques used by the younger generation. She cried (damn drunken hormones), Sakura cried (damn pregnancy hormones), Sarada cried (damn teenage hormones). It was a strangely emotional catharsis for the three generations of Konoha kunoichi.)
Sarada was a promising candidate when it came to her mother's seal. She definitely had her mother's prowess for chakra control (something her own mother had proudly stated came from her father's side of the family, along with the hair color, weirdly enough), and her father's sharingan to boot. Sometimes Sakura wondered if she was playing favorites with her children, but then again, Kaede was only two. Just last week he nearly put a hole in the wall of his bedroom with his head. If he showed as much promise, there was no doubt she would want to train him too. After all, there was never quite a kill much like overkill, as a wise, er, someone once said.
Really, though, would it kill Sasuke to let her children have some of her genes for once? She nearly pouted at the thought. Both children had ebony black hair with matching eyes. She was also currently in a betting pool with Naruto about whether or not Kaede would activate the Sharingan when he got older; Naruto betted no, one was enough, while Sakura betted yes, why not two for two. Meanwhile, she rather wanted to pass on her signature pink hair. It was so strange to think that she had once been bullied for her oversized-for-her-age forehead (which, looking back on it, may have just been childhood bullies blowing things out of proportion) and her short petal-pink locks, but apparently the hair color had been in her family for five generations, counting her. She felt rather guilty if all of her children came out with Sasuke's black hair. In a way, she blamed his genes; he was most likely a near-purebred Uchiha, judging from the miscellaneous medical files she was able to dig up from the archives, and thus would have more of a tendency to pass on his traits as well. Uchihas were nothing if not tenacious sons of bitches to begin with, and their offspring's genetic code was nothing to sneeze at, either. If humans were comprised of roughly 70% water, then Uchihas were 30% power. (The first time Sarada exploded a boulder her size was when she was eight years old and royally pissed off at Boruto for kicking over her sand castle, and Sakura had been half impressed, half concerned for any future victims of The Fist. At least Naruto and Hinata were gracious about the whole thing.)
Her thoughts trailed off at the sound of a knock on the door. She rose from the couch, calling, "Just a moment!" before patting down her flyaway hair and smoothing down her favorite light-pink apron. She rushed to the door and opened it, only to beam at the beautiful noirette before her. "Hinata! So good to see you."
"It is good to see you too, Sakura," she responded, leaning into the friendly hug. "Is Sarada-chan still gone?"
"Wouldn't you be the first to know if our children were back already?" She joked with a grin as she let the woman and her four-month-old son inside. "Oh! How's little Menma these days? Still got his father's temper?"
Hinata giggled, gazing down at the slumbering baby with exhausted pride. "He inherited Naruto's lungs, of that I'm certain. It's been a rough few nights."
Sakura smiled empathetically and patted her friend's shoulder. She could definitely relate to that; while Sarada had somehow inherited her father's calm temperament as a baby (or so some of the elders in Konoha had noticed), Kaede was all her (well, before the bullying and crippling social anxiety kicked in). She was lucky they were almost out of the terrible twos and threes.
"I'm sorry," she replied as she sat the woman down on the couch. "Would you like some tea? Or a nap? I just cleaned the guest room this morning."
"I would hate to impose," Hinata shook her head gently. "Just tea is fine for now. Hanabi should be visiting soon to take the baby anyway, so why not just have a chat?"
Sakura hummed from the kitchen, boiling some water in a kettle. "That does sound lovely. We haven't been able to talk as much as I'd like, and Ino's... well, Ino's been on that anniversary trip with Sai for the past week and a half. I don't even know when Tenten will be back from that taijutsu conference with the Lees."
Hinata hummed in response. Always polite, dignified, and ethereally beautiful. The Hyuuga, now Uzumaki, was the kind of woman you'd expect to see as the leader of a country; she had the ability to rein in her cheerful husband if his antics grew too out of control, and yet she carried herself with the grace of a monarch. Perhaps in another life, she'd been a princess?
Sakura distracted herself from her inner musings by bringing over the kettle and two saucers with teacups. She set them down on the coffee table and poured both of them a cup before settling back down again.
As they sipped the aromatic liquid, Hinata spoke up again. "Ah, how has Sasuke been taking the news?"
Sakura's eyebrows dipped into a contemplating frown as she lowered her cup. "He's been quite calm about it, or as calm as one could be when faced with a chuunin daughter. I imagine he's wanting to hurry up this last mission before Hinata-chan is born."
Hinata, the namesake, blushed at this with a shy smile. "I will never truly understand why he felt he had to name the child after me, but I'm flattered all the same."
"He cares about you, just like with Naruto," Sakura said encouragingly. She looked around for a moment, as if expecting the man himself to be listening in, before leaning in and saying in hushed tones, "Just between us, if you ever named your next baby after him, he'd cry."
Hinata giggled amusedly at the thought. "Oh my, and here I thought Naruto was the only one like that. How sweet. I don't know if we're having another, but I guess we'll both have to wait until this one is out of diapers."
"Indeed, indeed." Sakura nodded enthusiastically, downing the rest of her tea in a gulp. "I can't imagine taking care of a toddler and a baby. Just how did you do it with Boruto and Himawari?"
The pearly-eyed woman hummed, setting the cup down on its saucer to think for a moment. Menma stirred in her arms, and she briefly glanced down into his sleeping face before smiling fondly. "Boruto was such a spirited child, it was oftentimes too difficult to keep a rein on him until Naruto stepped in. Himawari was a calm baby, and I'm eternally grateful for that. I would advise that you keep track of things, plan in advance, and make sure you never take your eyes off of both children when they're awake."
Sakura laughed at that, softly enough not to wake the baby. "That horrible, eh?"
"There were many nights I envied your inhuman tolerance for alcohol," she confessed with a shake of her head. "But nevertheless, you will make it."
"I sure hope so." Sakura gently traced her stomach through her shirt with a mild frown. "With Sarada, it was so easy, since she was already almost grown and could reliably take care of herself. But with Kaede..."
"How did you manage to convince Sasuke-kun to have another child?" Hinata asked curiously, pouring herself some more tea. "I thought he wanted to avoid the circumstances of his own childhood for his children."
"He does," Sakura clarified, "but I suppose it was getting too lonely around here with Sarada out all the time, and... well, you know..." the blush on her cheeks gave away the words that died on her tongue.
Hinata smiled endearingly. "I know it so well. It still feels like yesterday that Boruto and Himawari were enrolled in the academy... and now he's a chuunin, and she is starting the chuunin exams this summer... ah, it's all so exciting, and yet the home feels so empty without them."
"You almost want another baby to fill it again," the pinkette joked, and the two women shared a chortle of understanding.
Just then, Hinata perked up. She activated the Byakugan and scanned the area, the slightest curve downward of her lips betraying her distrust.
"Is someone coming?" Sakura felt it too, getting to her feet and taking off the apron.
"I sense unfamiliar chakra heading this way," Hinata said as she handed Sakura her sleeping child. "Please wait here."
The woman went to the front door and opened it, peering outside. As soon as she did, a kunai came whizzing past her face, and she calmly shut it, walked back to Sakura, took Menma, and asked nonchalantly, "May I ask you a favor?"
"Of course." Sakura replied, totally ignoring the shouts starting up, muffled, in the street outside.
"I need a clone to watch over Menma." She said, gesturing to the front door with her eyes. "I have the feeling that we're going to need a fight."
"Oh, it's no problem at all." Sakura created a clone of herself, the clone took the baby and sat back down with a cheery thumbs-up, and the two women went to the front door, strapping on their shoes and going outside to meet the shouting from the street. The clone began humming a lullaby when Menma began to fuss, calmly standing and moving upstairs so that he didn't wake up to the sounds of battle.
"SHANNARO!" The shout from outside rang across the road.
A second of silence.
KABOOM!
She smiled at the baby when the enemy nin started shrieking in pain.
...
Meanwhile, outside...
"OI!" A rogue nin with a slashed leaf headband shouted at the two women as they walked into the sunlight. "Either one'a you named Uchiha?"
"I'm surprised you don't recognize for yourself," Hinata calmly said with a disarming smile.
"If you're looking for Uchiha, I'm his wife," Sakura added, cracking her knuckles with a warning glint in her eye.
The enemy nin sweat-dropped. "So... Sarada Uchiha ain't here?"
Both women shook their heads.
Beat.
The boy sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Eh whatever, take out the girl, take out the wife, it's all the same thing in the end."
He turned to his boys, shouting "Get 'em! Don't kill 'em though, we need 'em for questioning!"
The four other shinobi shouted affirmatively, and as they rushed in, Sakura took the moment to chuckle amusedly.
"I hope you don't mind, boys," she said airily, her grin all teeth. "But I have to let you know, right now I'm beating for two!"
She shouted, "SHANNARO!" and threw her fist at the ground, the strength from the punch completely decimating the road and sending the men sprawling with shouts of surprise and pain.
(The citizens of Konoha looked, alarmed in the direction of the small earthquake for a moment before nodding and continuing their day. Somewhere in the Hokage's building, Shikamaru felt a sudden shiver go down his back in dread at the paperwork due to fix the damage.)
The leader hardly had enough time to act before Hinata visualized behind him, her Byakugan activated and her lip curled into a saccharine smile. He turned shakily, only to catch a glimpse of her shadowed face before the beating began.
His high-pitched shrieks of pain were heard all across the city. "OH SWEET KAMI HAVE MERCY!"
The citizens merely paused, looking in the direction of the screams, before shrugging and looking away.
"Ah, sweet little Sakura must be on the warpath again," one of the elders mumbled as they pushed one of their chess pieces forward. "She used to be so demure and quiet as a child... guess being on a team with the Nanadaime and that avenger boy really made her snap."
"I pity the poor bastard on the receiving end of that fist," their partner agreed with a full-body shudder. "And that's not even mentioning the sweet Hyuuga girl. Pity all; I suppose Konoha's all the luckier that she didn't turn out like that Itachi boy did, or we'd all be rubble."
"Indeed, indeed." The first agreed. "Checkmate."
Just another day in Konoha.
Once the road had been blocked off (and partially repaired via a more controlled punch, with a sincere apology from the pink-haired woman), the two sat back down for tea, Menma once again safe in Hinata's arms.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Hinata asked, nibbling at a cookie that Sakura had presented on a plate. "We hardly ever get random attacks like that anymore."
"I know, right?" Sakura agreed blithely. "Ah well, it wasn't much of a fight. Still, one thing kinda bugs me. Why were they looking for Sarada?"
The two women sat in silence at this question for a few minutes.
"Perhaps they thought to kidnap her to lure either Sasuke-kun or me out?" Sakura guessed. "Nah, they'd probably realize right away why that's a horrible plan. We're still in the bingo books, and if the reports are accurate, the entries should be more than enough to ward away any potential threats."
"Maybe they wanted to go after her eyes," Hinata offered. "Every so often Naruto and I have a few crop-ups of some uppity rogue-nin trying to kidnap either the children or I to get the Byakugan. Usually I have to send them packing before dinner, but the thought still counts."
"Maybe..." the rosette hummed. "But after Sarada, especially? I can't say I've ever had someone just show up like that and demand her. I'd be quick to denounce it as a jilted lover if I even knew if she was dating anyone."
"Yes yes, Boruto too," Hinata chuckled. "I'm so glad our children have become so close."
"For a while, I was worried they'd hate each other just like their fathers did at one point." Sakura huffed a laugh at the memory. "Ah, the future looks bright."
"Indeed it does." Hinata agreed, finishing the cookie. "How about a toast to our children's bright futures?"
"I'd drink to that." Sakura gently clanked her teacup against Hinata's, and they both took a hearty swallow.
They were about to start on another topic before Sarada opened the door. "I'm home, Mom!"
"Welcome home, Sarada!" Sakura greeted with a pleased face as she stood to hug her daughter. A sharp nudge from Hinata made her pause, and when she looked over in confusion, the look on the younger woman's face (and her Byakugan stare) immediately sobered her. She looked back to her daughter in stunned silence.
"You wouldn't believe how Boruto almost screwed our mission over," Sarada was huffing as she took off her shoes in the entryway. A young lady of sixteen, she was definitely taking after more of Sakura's features than they'd first thought she would. She'd decided to grow out her hair a little so that she could put it in a low pony, rather strikingly like her late uncle's own hair. She'd filled out (thankfully for them, Sasuke was an early bloomer, while Sakura had filled out after she turned fourteen) and was toned, no doubt from the training she did on the regular. And yet, something was off with her darling daughter. Something that definitely wasn't there a month ago.
Sarada looked up, puzzled at her mother's uncharacteristic silence. "... Mom? What's up?"
Hinata's face morphed into one of vague displeasure as she gently cradled Menma closer to her bosom.
Sakura swallowed. Clenched and unclenched her hands. Closed her eyes and counted backwards slowly from ten. Even then, her fingers were trembling, the only outward show of her repressed rage. All at once she knew what she'd done and when she'd done it. Sixteen. Her only daughter was sixteen and was still single... as far as she knew. She had just turned sixteen about two weeks ago. That made it worse.
It took the thought of Sasuke coming home to a pile of rubble that used to be called their house again to finally calm her enough to speak.
When she opened her eyes, she smiled at her daughter, yet it didn't fully reach her eyes. "... Welcome home, Sarada. Did you know that you're three weeks pregnant?"
A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Please tell me what you thought. Updates will be hesitant, so I'll see you when the next one drops!
