Well my good people, it's been a fun ride, but here's the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thank you for all your support and kindness along the way. I'll be heading back to the U.S. tomorrow, so it's great for me to reread my story since it evokes memories of my Asian travels.

All the best.

"Daddy! Mommy!" exclaimed Himawari as she jumped into her father's arms. Naruto and Hinata held their daughter in their arms, then, they looked down to their son.

"Bolt!" scolded Hinata, "where have you been? When I said that you two could go out on your own, I never expected that you would take this long! The fireworks are about to start!"

Bolt made a face as he looked away from his parent. "Sorry…" he mumbled underneath his breath.

"I don't want to hear that, young man!" said Naruto.

Bolt cringed. He knew that his Dad was going to give his "what it means to be a ninja" speech.

"You were gone so long that we were starting to worry! We know that this is a time of peace, but staying so long out of our sight was completely irresponsible! If you ever want to grow up to be a great ninja, you have to start taking care of your share of responsibilities..."

"Stop Daddy!" said Himawari loudly, "Bolt wasn't goofing off. He was saving me!"

Hinata smiled at her daughter. "And what do you mean by that, Sweetheart?"

"A scary man came into the Village!" exclaimed Himawari, "he made me sleepy, but Bolt and his friend were able to save me!"

"That's nice Dear…" began Naruto, barely listening, until the facts connected in his head, "Wait, what?!"

Hinata and Naruto looked at each other with wide eyes, shocked at what her daughter had just said.

"Himawari!" said Naruto, anxious but doing his best to avoid scaring his daughter, "what did the man look like?"

Himawari rubbed her chin with her fingers and looked up at the night sky.

"Well," she began, "I feel asleep really quick, so I didn't get to see…"

"He wore a mask," said Bolt, looking up at his parents. "And he had a big sword. It was black and it looked like a huge butcher knife."

"Bolt, Himawari," began Naruto, "are you completely sure about this? You have to be completely sure!"

"Yes, Daddy!" exclaimed Himawari, "it was really scary!"

Naruto and Hinata exchanged frightened glances. "Well…" said Naruto to his son, "I guess this changes things."

"Even though," Hinata chimed in, "you really should have come to us if something like that happened!"

"But since you did such a good job protecting your sister," Naruto said with a cheeky smile, "I guess I can let you off the hook…just this once."

Bolt smiled back at his father. "Thanks Dad," Bolt said.

"Well," said Naruto, "in any case, let go see those fireworks! They'll be starting any minute now!" Naruto turned to his daughter. "Himawari, do you want to sit on my shoulders?"

Himawari smiled but shook her head. "No Daddy," she said as she gestured for him to let her down.

When Naruto complied, Himawari walked over and embraced her brother. "I want to watch the fireworks with Bolt!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Yup!" said Himawari happily, "Uncle Sai said to watch the fireworks with someone who is special to you, and I want to watch them with Bolt!"

Naruto and Hinata grinned and Bolt smiled down at his sister.

"What do you say, Big Brother?" asked Himawari.

Bolt looked up at his parents. "Would that be okay?"

Naruto let out a loud laugh. "Of course it would be! But…" and with the second sentence his voice dropped, "…let's try to stay together as a family. Just in case. Something could happen."

Naruto gave his son a nod and Bolt nodded back, understanding what he meant. As Naruto stood back up he looked over to an ANBU black op that was standing by the wayside and gave a nod. The ANBU suddenly disappeared with the Body Flicker Jutsu.

With that settled, Naruto and his family wandered off to find a place to watch the night's fireworks. It had barely been four hours since Himawari was kidnapped.

As Naruto began to slowly walk behind his kids with Hinata under his arms, he felt Hinata tug at his collar, urging him to look at her.

"Naruto…" whispered Hinata, "a stranger in the village? What does it mean?"

Naruto looked at his wife's face. He really didn't know what to say, so in the end he shrugged his shoulders. "It means Sai's getting fired, that's what…"

Hinata slapped her husband's shoulder. "Oh come on, he's your teammate!" she said.

Naruto laughed as the honorable family made their way to see the fireworks. Only four hours, and yet, life before those four hours seemed so far back, like an story from times long past.

Sakura slept soundly in her bed. The festivities had ended and she and her daughter had long returned home before her and gone to bed. As she slept through the night, her eyes suddenly popped open. Even though Sakura was no longer an active ninja, she still retained a variety of skills and now, she knew someone was in the house.

Sakura got up quickly and walked out of her room. With her back to the wall, she turned her head around the corner to see a light was on in the kitchen. Looking through the crack of the door in Sarada's room, Sakura could see that her daughter was fast asleep. Quietly, Sakura inched toward the kitchen, planning how she would engage the intruder.

She waited for the perfect moment to strike, and suddenly, Sakura jumped into the kitchen, wielding a kunai.

"Who are you?!" she exclaimed as she pounced on the intruder.

As she ran into the kitchen, Sakura was quickly stopped by the feeling of two fingers on her forehead.

"Oh…hey…" said the intruder.

Sakura blinked. "Sasuke!" she exclaimed quietly, in fear of waking her daughter. "What are you doing in the Leaf Village? What are you doing in my house? …Why are you eating my food?"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized he was caught raiding Sakura's refrigerator.

Sasuke shrugged. "Sorry about that Sakura, it's just a few tomatoes. You won't even miss them."

Sakura sighed. "Well, sit down. As long as you're here, I'll make you something to eat."

Sasuke took a seat at the kitchen table while Sakura took out some food to cook.

"So was that all you came here to do?" asked Sakura, a little frustrated, "Come back, take some food from my fridge and leave?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Come on Sakura. You know me better than that."

"Do I?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke gave himself a scowl and looked onto the wooden table. "I…I just wanted to see Sarada."

Sakura, who was intently cutting up some vegetable to put in her stew, suddenly stopped at looked at Sasuke.

"Oh?"

"Yeah…" said Sasuke, "I…haven't seen her for so long. My…she's really grown a lot."

"You know Sasuke," said Sakura, "you can come and see her whenever you like."

"I know," said Sasuke, "but…"

"But what?" asked Sakura, a little angry. "Look Sasuke! She's your daughter as much as mine! She wants to see her father. Did you know what she said to me today?"

Sasuke began to open his mouth.

"No, of course you don't. And you know why? Because you're so busy running around the world doing who knows what!"

There was a silence in the kitchen for a little while.

"What did she say?" asked Sasuke, curious.

Sakura gave a sigh. "When I asked her to wear the sash with the Uchiha fan…she didn't want to. She said that…she wasn't an Uchiha."

Sasuke lowered his head toward the table, greatly distrubed. "Shit."

"Yeah," said Sakura, "it's so sad."

Sakura remained silent for a little while, thinking. The tension in the kitchen was thick and both Sasuke and Sakura knew it.

"Sasuke…" began Sakura, "I don't know if you care about me…and frankly…I don't care if you don't love me. But please, be there for Sarada. She needs her father. How do you expect me to raise an Uchiha without you? How can she be an Uchiha without an Uchiha to guide her?"

Sasuke got out of his chair and approached Sakura. Using his one good arm, he wrapped it around Sakura's body and pulled her to himself so that her ear was to his lips.

"I don't care about you?" asked Sasuke, "who put that stupid thought in your head?"

Sakura, trembling slightly, scoffed. "You did. Your silence speaks even louder than words."

Sasuke kissed Sakura's cheek and moved down to her neck. Sakura enjoyed her husband's kiss for a little while until she forced him away.

"Sasuke, stop," she said sternly, "now sit down. Your stew is ready."

Sasuke obliged and picked up his spoon, eating slowly. Sakura took a seat at the table so that she was to his right.

Sakura stared blankly at her eating husband who couldn't help but look at her every once in a while.

Sasuke got a little smirk on his face. "What happened to that little girl who used to do anything and everything for me?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and gave an equally cheeky smirk. "Every woman wants to protect her family. Even if it's from themselves."

Sasuke shrugged. "Sakura…" he began, "let's be honest. You know you're right. I know you're right. You're right. I'm sorry I'm not there for Sarada, but there is still a lot that I have to do. You understand, right?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Again with this…"

"Sakura," Sasuke said in dead seriousness, putting his spoon down to take her hand, "Suigetsu was in the village tonight."

Sakura looked at Sasuke, shocked at his words. "What?! Suigetsu!"

"Yeah…" said Sasuke, "that's why Sarada was all beaten up when she got home."

"It was Suigetsu!" exclaimed Sakura, "she said she had run into bandits! I didn't expect she'd run into a high level ninja like him! What was he doing here?"

Sasuke looked back down at his food. "I don't know," he said, "all I know was that he tried to kidnap the Uzumaki girl."

"Himawari!" exclaimed Sakura, unable to hold back her shock, "Is she safe? We have to tell Naruto and Hinata!"

"Don't worry, Sakura," said Sasuke, trying to calm Sakura down, "everyone is safe. There's no need to be too worried."

"It's just...what would your old team be doing here?"

Sasuke sighed. "I don't know Sakura," he said quietly. "I told you before…that this last journey was for me to atone for all the evil I caused. And now, it's time for me to destroy Taka."

"Are you going to kill them?" asked Sakura.

"I'll do what I have to," Sasuke said quietly. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly very good at Naruto's way of handling things. I don't know what it'll come to, but I have to do this. This last thing."

Sakura was silent as she stared at the table. "You know Sasuke," she said, "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it's kind of your fault that those three are causing trouble for us right now."

Sasuke sighed. "I know. That's why this isn't going to be easy."

As the two spoke there were gentle footsteps approaching from the other room. Slowly stepping into the kitchen, a tired looking Sarada entered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Mom?" asked Sarada with a sleepy voice. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."

As Sarada put on a spare set of glasses, her jaw dropped to see both of her parents sitting at the kitchen table.

"…Dad?" Sarada asked with a quivering voice, not believing that her father was really before her eyes. "Dad…you're back…"

Seeing his daughter, a small smile emerged on Sasuke's face. He lifted up his good arm toward his daughter.

"Sarada…" he said softly.

Quickly, Sarada jumped into her father's arm. "Dad!" she exclaimed, tears falling from her eyes. "You're back! You're back! I missed you so much. I haven't seen you for three years now. Where have you been? Why didn't you come home!..."

Sakura looked at her daughter with pity. "Sarada…" said Sakura gently, "Dad is only going to be here for a little while. He has something very important to do."

Seeing the crying girl at his chest, Sasuke put his hand over Sarada's head, pushing it closer into his body as it was the only way that he was able to embrace.

"Well…" Sasuke said, in a warm tone. "I suppose, I can stay in the Leaf Village…for a few more days."

Sakura smiled as she saw the way Sasuke looked at his daughter. He had a soft smile, and little diamonds of tears had begun to form in his own eyes.

Sarada began to sob loudly out of delight. "Tomorrow…" Sarada said, her voice quavering from her cries, "tomorrow…can we go to the training ground? I want to show you a special jutsu that I learned. Mom taught it to me. I've wanted to show you for a long time…"

Sasuke smiled as he patted his daughter's head. "Sure we can."

Late in the night, Bolt, hiding under his covers, stayed up, reading the special inscription that he had received from the Hermit. As he flipped through the pages, his eyes widened as he saw the long lists of jutsus which had been compiled on Minato Namikaze.

"Look at this one!" he whispered to himself.

"And this one!"

"Wow!"

Suddenly, reading the title of the next page, Bolt had half a mind to shut the book.

"Rasengan, again! Why does everyone seem to want me to learn this one!"

While Bolt made a small ruckus, he turned the page and was suddenly silent.

"Whoa! What is this jutsu!"

Silence enveloped the room as Bolt read away at the book in his hands, absorbing everything from the page like a sponge.

"Well…" Bolt thought with a smirk, "I guess there are some things worth learning after all."

Well, what did you all think? I was thinking of expanding the story into one where Sasuke hunts down the old Taka members, but then I realized it would turn into Red Dead Rinnegan or something. I hope you enjoyed and, of course, if the spirit within you petitions you to review, please do not hesitate to do so.