Well, this chapter is the beginning of the ending fight. But it has a bit of family. I'm happy to tell that this is soon done, and I'm glad for all of those who read this. It means a lot!


Chapter thirteen

Naruto woke up alone in his bed, he didn't feel Sasuke's warmth near him. He turned around and as he guessed his lover wasn't there. He had a good night sleep either way, something he enjoyed more with someone sleeps in the same bed as himself. Surprising Himawari didn't have any nightmares this night, she had screamed in the middle of the night. They didn't seem too bad, but enough to scare her. He had hugged her close and she calmed down, it didn't take long before she fell asleep in his arms.

He sat up in the bed, rubbed his eyes and stood up from the bed. He felt a chill over his body and noticed that he only had his loose boxers. He had notice a difference a while week back, he wasn't as skinny as before. Sasuke even mentioned it, and that made him boost to his confident. He put on his ordinary clothes, that contained a long sleeved orange shirt and black pants.

The blond walked down the stairs and to the kitchen, Himawari smiled happily at him and he let a soft smile from. He saw Sasuke walking to the table with some bread in his hands. He smiled and pulled out a chair and the other male did the same.

"Dad, will you go and meet with Boruto today?" Himawari said in a shy tone, as she grabbed a piece of bread.

"Yeah, in an hour. Why did you ask?" he asked in a gentle voice. He took a bread and waited for his daughter to finish butter her bread.

"Can I come?" she asked in the same shy tone. "I promise I will be good, I want to meet Boruto" she added in more demanding tone. He looked up and met her shiny eyes.

"I think it would be okay, but you need to know that you can't see him only speak to him. He could get a flashback anytime if you two see each other too soon. But of course you will meet him, he misses you a lot" he said in a friendly ton.

"Boruto seems to get better each time you meet, I'm sure it's time for him to meet someone else" Sasuke added, laying his chopped tomatoes on his bread.

"Yeah, the last two weeks been going great. We've just started to look at each other, but this will take time. But the progress great" he replied and took a bite of his sandwich.

"Why does it take more time for nii-san than for you?" Himawari asked in a curious tone but soft between a bite.

"This take different long time for different persons, this was harder for Boruto than for me" The blond answered and swallowed the bread in his mouth.

"Will nii-san be alright?" the girl asked gently and worried.

"Of course, but it takes time to recover it all" It could take years, he added mentally. She nodded slightly.

"Okay" she said shortly, uncomfortable with the subject of recovery.

"Sasuke will you be at the office today?" Naruto changed the subject and turned his attention to his lover.

"Yes, but you can come over later today. We have some business we need to talk about" Sasuke replied in a serious tone but hidden. The blond gave a nod.

"I can come by after meeting Boruto and leaving Himawari in Hinata's care" he replied.

"Will I meet mom today?" Himawari asked happily, the blond nodded.

"Yeah, I will get you later today. You can eat dinner there if you like to" he said in a friendly tone.

"I want to eat dinner here, can mom eat too?" she asked in the same happy tone.

"Sure, I think it will be alright!" he said in a exiting tone and with a smile. "Do you have time to cook with me today Sasuke?" he added and turned to look at his lover.

"Yes, it will be quicker if we do it together" Sasuke responded.

"Yeah I can help you" He said with a smile.

Naruto knocked on the door to Boruto's temporary room, Himawari stood behind him. Neither of his children had met each other for a month, they were close before and he didn't want to ruin it. He and Himawari waited for a moment.

"Come in" Boruto's voice answered and Naruto gave a short nod to Himawari who returned it.

"Himawari's here too, is it alright to meet her too?" the blond asked in a friendly tone.

"A-alright" Boruto said unsure but agreed. Naruto turned and looked at Himawari one more time, before opening the door.

Boruto sat with his back towards them, his shirt not as big as two weeks ago. Himawari walked beside him and to the bed, the blond sat at the edge of the bed and gave the girl a gesture to do the same. She did so and with her lightweight it didn't make any different, they were silent for a moment.

"How are you Himawari?" Boruto broke the silent with a light voice.

"I-I'm alright, how are you?" she asked in a gentle concern voice.

"Been better but I'm alright" the younger blond answered in a lower tone "How's things at home?" he added.

"It's alright, Sasuke and dad seems very happy. But I miss you" Himawari's voice grew softer and weaker.

"I miss you too, but soon enough I'll be alright and come home. How's mom?" Boruto asked in a soft voice.

"She's at her own place, but I will visit her today. She must be lonely without us" Himawari replied in the same voice. Naruto understood very well that both of them were worried about their mother, he were too.

"Mom will worry about us all the time when we are gone. But she knows that we are in a good place, with dad and Sensei" the younger blond replied with a light voice. Naruto could picture him smiling a little with the words.

"I wish you were back at home nii-san. You should see Sasuke and Dad together, they always smile when they are near each other. It's pretty cute" Himawari said with a lighter tone, she had grown more comfortable with the situation.

"Sensei smiling? That's something for sure, but every time I mention dad while being with Sensei he always lights up a little. I always want to tease him about it but he always has this glare that scares me half to death" Boruto said in a light happy voice but slightly embarrassed.

"Sasuke's glares is never funny until you learn that it isn't all that hateful as it seems" Naruto broke in his children's conversation.

"He has that black eye that seems to be staring you into your soul, the rinnegan doesn't make it any better" Boruto replied and Naruto smiled slightly.

"It's true what Ni-san said, it's quite scary" Himawari broke in with a lower tone than the two blonds.

"I have to admit that he can send out a bad vibe, but he's a good guy" Naruto said in a comforting way.

"Otherwise you wouldn't fallen in love with him" Boruto said in a thoughtful way, and Naruto were surprise that his son were that wise. But in the other hand, he had a lot of free time to think of things now that he barely have anything to do.

"Yeah, that's true" he replied in the same thoughtful voice, he had fallen in love with a bastard. A huge bastard that had gotten to his bad sides far to many times. But yet, Naruto had scarified a lot to be with him. That bastard, he could really go under your skin.

"But he's a bastard either way" Naruto added with a little smile. "But a good one, a really good one" he added in a low tone.

"I forgot to ask you, will Sarada be living with us?" Boruto asked in light voice.

"Yeah, she will. The same time you two will be living in our house she will be living with us" Naruto replied.

"S-sarada-chan will be living with us?" Himawari said in a gentle surprised voice.

"Yeah, she's Sasuke's daughter after all. I thought it would be a good idea for you two to bond, being the only girls in the house" he said and turned to see his daughter blush slightly at it.

"I think you two will like each other, you two care a lot" Boruto added but without Naruto seeing his features he knew that he was probably smiling.

"W-we do?" Himawari asked in a gentle voice.

"Yeah, you to care a lot. It's a great use for teamwork" Naruto said in a comforting tone.

"Sarada always nags about it, telling us to be more careful. It gets annoying, but I like to know that she cares" Boruto added and Naruto found hints of happiness in his son's voice.

"You think it's annoying that we care?" Himawari asked her brother in a worried tone.

"Not when I know the reason, it's a very useful thing Himawari" Boruto answered.

Naruto didn't look at neither of his children but he was very pleased with how everything went. He loved that they still talked like they've seen each other every day. Even if it's been a month since they met the last time. But they still held a normal conversation with more emotions. Both of them cared, and Boruto nearly never showed it beside his family. Boruto had a deep confection to Hinata and Himawari. For the past year Naruto wasn't one of them, but it felt like he managed to make his son trust him. Hope were a wonderful thing and he couldn't help but smile at it. Both of them began to warm up quickly, Naruto were proud.

"But you are a great person too Ni-san" Himawari said exited blue eyed looked towards her and saw her smile. But her eyes flowing in emotions.

"What makes you think that?" Boruto asked, making Naruto wonder why he was shocked about it. He understood it when he had thought about it once more. Boruto feel guilty, not strong enough as well as not a good brother. The same things he had felt and are feeling even now.

"You are a great brother, you always take care of me when I'm sad or need a friend. You can be mean sometimes, and I get angry at you. But you always say that you didn't mean it and I get happy. You care about your family and friends and are really strong" Himawari said fast and exited. The older blond smiled knowing that Boruto would listen to her words deeply.

"It's true what your sister said. Sasuke wouldn't take anyone as a student but he took you and you are strong. You care and you never give up and wants to get better each day even if you have to struggle. You are worthy and strong Boruto" he added with a confident tone and smile that his son didn't see. It was silent for a moment after that.

"T-thank you" Boruto said in a low tone.

"We are always here for you" Naruto said in a confident tone once more.

"Yeah, we will always be here" Himawari said in exited tone, making Naruto smile that she felt empathy at this age.

"I'm so sorry Himawari" Boruto said in a low weak tone.

"What for?" Himawari asked surprised.

"That I left you alone for four weeks, I can't forgive myself for that" The younger blond replied in the same weak tone.

"I miss you, It's been lonely without you" Himawari responded in a low tone "But dad explained why you always is here. but Sasuke and Dad's been with me a lot of the times" she added in a more light tone.

"I can't help feeling guilty about this" Boruto replied in a weak tone.

"You shouldn't Boruto. It's nothing you could control. it's not your fault" Naruto jumped in the conversation. "I know that it's hard to believe, but it's true you just need to accept what happened and you can move on. I've told you before" he added.

"It's hard, but I will try" Boruto said in a weak tone.

It was silent for a moment, in all honestly. Naruto haven't been able to move on completely. He set his son in danger as well as everyone else in the village. He felt guilt most times he saw Boruto, and he still had nightmares about it all. He managed with help of Sasuke if he woke up sweating or screaming, but it was still there and it bothered him. It was a nagging thing that kept him remembering what happened. It was something that kept him for taking more steps forwards in his recovery.

But he needed to take his roll as a parent first, and later on the roll to keep himself in check. He had more than himself to take care of and right now. He wasn't the major part of all this, it was Boruto.

"What do you do when you are here Ni-san?" HImawari's feminine voice broke his thoughts.

"Thinking, reading a little" Boruto replied.

"That sounds boring" Himawari responded.

"I think we two needs to go, one and a half hour have gotten past" Naruto broke in as he made eye contact with Himawari.

"Alright, it was nice seeing you Ni-san. I hope you get better soon" Himawari said and jumped of the bed and the oldest in the room did the same.

"I will see you soon Boruto" Naruto said and began to walk to the door with Himawari beside him.

"Bye, take care of my sister old man" Boruto said with a light voice. Naruto smiled at it.

"I will pick her up in a few hours, I need to head to the office for a while" the blond said to his ex-wife. Hinata held her daughter light on the shoulder and nodded.

"I hope you take it easy with the work, it's been a while since you been there" Hinata said in a caring tone.

"Yeah, I will. I need to go, see you" Naruto replied and smiled at the two before turning and running to the Hokage tower. Jumping from building to building in high speed and into his office.

Sasuke and Shikamaru stood in the room when he open the door, they were looking at him with slightly widen eyes that turned to normal size in matter of seconds. He looked around the office and many papers were gone and he was pleased by it.

"It was something you two needed to say to me. What was the business?" he asked the two males in demanding tone.

"You have gotten cretinism that you've been gone and having me here instead. I explained your situation but they still want you here instead of me" Sasuke explained.

"You are the second Hokage, you have every right to be here as much as I am" he replied.

"I'm not the Hokage, I didn't get the cloak. I will help you, but only if you are in the same room as me" the raven explained.

"I always have my clones here, you are always with them. They can't expect me to be here every day when I have to be with Boruto to help him with his recovery" he responded with a angry under tone.

"They know that, but they want the ordinary here and the clone with the children" Shikamaru broke in the subject.

"I won't accept that, but I will be here more often if that's what they want" he looked at the brown haired.

"We can't do anything about it, it's the council that have their eyes on us" Shikamaru replied.

"I will speak with them if they say something more about it" he muttered.

Karasuba stood looking at him with its none eyeballs. Just observing him around them there was grass.

Naruto got the memories in a flash and he panicked. But in auto pilot he was out of the building, knowing fully well where his enemy were. He ran as fast as he could through the village and saw Sasuke in the corner of his eye.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked in a demanding tone.

"You can't come there, stay away from me" Naruto said with a more dominate voice, he made ten clones in matter of seconds and they tired to buy the real one some time. But knew it wouldn't last for long Naruto ran faster out of the gate and to the place where his clone were.

He saw Karasuba's black sand body, and he began to softly panic. He didn't have a plan, he were useless. But he still looked at his enemy with an angry eye.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, the similar question to the same situation were horrible to re watch. Naruto's clones were gone and he felt their memories come to him, knowing fully well that Sasuke would come here any second.

He saw the black cloak in the corner of his eye and he grew angry, and turned to glare at his lover.

"Can't you listen to me for once? I don't want you to be in the same thing I was in. Can't you see?" He said in an angry tone and his eyebrows touching each other.

"You should listen to me for a change, I won't leave" Sasuke replied with a glare.

"You will leave, do it fo-"

"I am doing this for you, I won't let you be alone fighting this" Sasuke cut in.

"I've already seen what it can do, you are fresh meat for it. Run away before it controls you" Naruto said fast and angry.

"If you get trapped there again, no one can help you out of there. You won't gain anything with these arguments Naruto" Sasuke replied as strong.

"I don't want you here, it will hurt you and I can't stand seeing you hurt. Can't you see that I'm worried about you? I don't want you to go through this and I won't let you" the blond replied with a glare.

"I have the sharingan and rinnegan, I don't think it can control me like it can control you" Sasuke argued back.

"I won't let you, that's final" he said in a flat tone before he made a ton of clones, they ran towards Sasuke and only making it harder for the raven to make it to Naruto.

The blond turned his attention to Karasuba, it's body still black and looking like sand. The enemy still looked harmless, and he was afraid enough to shake slightly just looking at it. What that creature could hold was something scary.

"What do you want" he said in a harsh tone, venom spitting out towards his enemy. "I-I can't" Karasuba responded, and he wanted to laugh at the familiar situation.

"Let's skip the things we already told once before and get to business" Naruto replied and stayed strong.

Before he had time to think he saw Karasuba open its mouth and he got sucked inside. He heard a loud voice scream his name but he were in control of another creature and couldn't listen.