So this is one of the two scenes I originally had for this chapter, but it ran so long that I decided to make it all of chapter four. Expect it to be a while for chapter five while I grapple with Naruto meeting the rest of the New Generation kids, which I wanted to have for this chapter. It felt easier to have this than to have you wait several weeks before I pin down the next scene. Expect a really long chapter next time, with so much added to it.

The most uncomfortable thing about the couch was that it felt so comfortable, so worn in to someone sleeping on it. It mattered a lot more than Naruto liked to admit, despite the faint outline of someone much taller and larger than him. He managed to wave off everyone's concerns, and took the couch in the study over a guest room.

In any other place, in any other time (and wasn't that a phrase Naruto was going to use a lot until Hokage managed to find a way to get him back home), Naruto could have fallen asleep easily. Instead, he tossed and turned and got just enough sleep to be sleep, but it didn't feel particularly restful. He wondered if this was what Gaara felt like, unable to get truly restful sleep.

He shuffled out of the room, stopping when he smelled something in the air. Naruto squinted, trying to figure out what it was. It was food, that was for certain, but it didn't smell like toast or something going bad. It smelled almost like the bakery he passed on the way to the academy, but not quiet.

"Naruto!" He blinked, finding a small hand wrapped around his own and pulling him to a huge table in a room all its own. Boruto seemed to scowl at him, irritated. "You're awake. Good. C'mon, Mom said to get you for breakfast."

Boruto sounded like he said that a lot, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to ask. Not until he got some milk and a sandwich in him. Then he could head off to find Hokage and–

Naruto's line of thought exploded like a poorly made explosive tag when he saw the table. Food was piled everywhere on it, from thick slices of bacon to weird round bread-things. "Uh."

"Mom decided to make an extra-big breakfast since you're here!" Himawari chirped from behind a huge tower of the bread-things.

"What are those?" Naruto felt himself say, getting pushed into the seat beside Himawari, while Boruto took the seat opposite him. "Those round things?"

"Mom's famous pancakes," Boruto replied, creating his own tower and drenching it in a honey-like liquid. Boruto held out the saucer the liquid came from. "Syrup?"

"Uh." Naruto took it, setting it down beside his plate. "Pancakes?"

"Yes." Hinata walked in from the kitchen with a pitcher of milk, setting it between the plates of food and sitting down on the side adjacent to Himawari. The fourth side of the table had an empty chair, and Naruto suspected if Hokage was meant to sit there. "I remember how much you used to eat at that age. Boruto's not as old as you, and Himawari's still young, but they still eat everything in sight." She made a gesture, picking up a fork and stabbing several of the pancakes onto her own plate. "Go on. Eat."

"...alright." Naruto picked up a lone pancake, nibbling on it curiously. He froze, amazed at how delicious it was. Naruto stuffed the entire thing in his mouth, in love with it. He chewed and swallowed enough that he could speak, and already had two more pancakes in his hands. "Holy shit these are awesome!"

Boruto coughed, and Himawari gasped. The two of them stared at Naruto like he'd done something wrong, and he carefully lowered the pancakes and swallowed again. He looked from one to the other, and then to Hinata, who looked to be badly stifling her laughter. Frowning, Naruto said, "What?"

"You just said a bad word," Boruto said, awed. He got stars in his eyes and a huge grin spread over his face. "I didn't know you even knew any bad words, Dad!"

Naruto choked on air, reaching for the pitcher of milk to help clear out his throat. "You..." Naruto rasped, feeling off-kilter. This wasn't even close to his area of expertise. The most he'd ever encountered kids younger than himself was Konohamaru, and the idolization there had only lasted an hour, if that. Naruto had no idea what to do when the object of hero worship was himself. "I... shit."

A spoon knocked into Naruto, and the same happened to Boruto. Hinata sat straight in her seat, the amusement gone. "No swearing. I will get the soap if you repeat any of those words, either of you."

Hinata grimly stared from Boruto to Himawari, and Naruto sniggered. Then she turned her gaze on him, and he burst into laughter. "Kids," Naruto managed to get out between giggles, "l-listen to your mom."

The laughter died out soon after he said that, and Naruto didn't feel quite so hungry. He mostly poked at the pancakes left on his plate, and watched Boruto and Himawari. If he squinted, he could see how they looked like him, like how Himawari had his nose even if she had Hinata's ey– "OH!" he pointed at her. "Oooooooh!"

"Are you having a moment?" Boruto asked, wary of how Naruto was flailing. Himawari, for her part, just leaned away from Naruto.

"Hyuga!" Naruto exclaimed. "Hyuga eyes!"

"Yes," Hinata said. "She's got my eyes. Naruto – my husband, I mean – says that she's also developed the Byakugan."

"I don't got the eyes," Boruto grumbled, and Naruto wasn't going near that bundle of emotional mess. Louder, he said, "What about 'em?"

"She's– Hyuga–" Naruto waved a hand at Himawari's forehead. "Branch!"

"Oh!" Hinata set down her fork, reaching over to take Naruto's hand in her own. "The family stopped the practice, Naruto. It ended with Hanabi's succession as leader. Neji would be proud."

"Yeah, Mom and Himawari visit Uncle Neji's grave all the time," Boruto complained, and Naruto started.

"Neji's– he's dead?" Naruto couldn't bring himself to be surprised anymore, only shocked and saddened and all these other hurt feelings he'd only really felt in the moments he'd woken, carried on Kakashi-Sensei's back after the failed retrieval mission. Neji was brilliant, was powerful, He couldn't have just died. "How?"

Boruto frowned. "Uncle Neji died in–"

"Boruto!" Hinata hissed, and both children shrank in on themselves. Naruto watched it all happen, tears blurring the edges of his vision. What kind of awful future was this, that Neji was dead and apparently everyone had known who his parents were but no one was ever gonna tell him and apparently he was the kind of parent that was never home, that slept on a couch in his office. This was wrong, all of it.

He wanted it all to change.

"Tell me." He blinked away the tears, focusing on his anger. "Tell me everything."

"I don't think I should." Hinata didn't look at him, but Naruto could hear it in her voice. She knew too. She knew, just like the other adults. It was just like before, with everyone in on the secret but him.

"Tell me!" Naruto commanded. "I've had enough of people keeping things from me. How did Neji die?"

"It was on Dad's birthday," Boruto said, speaking fast so Hinata couldn't stop him.

"Boruto no!" Hinata said, trying to speak over him, but he rose his voice so Naruto could hear.

"Dad turned seventeen and Uncle Neji died protecting him in the fourth wa-umph!" Boruto's mouth was covered by Hinata's, and she smiled gently at Naruto.

"The fourth war, huh?" Naruto said, sounding bitter.

Hinata sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know if you wanted– if you should–"

"Oh, no it's fine." Naruto waved her off, picking up a pancake and biting into it. It tasted fluffy and warm and what he thought love tasted like. "Not like I'm not used to this," he said, between bites. "Just figured things would be different when I was older."

Hinata faltered, looking away. "Boruto can take you to the library later. There's records there that have all the answers you want."

"If you say so," Naruto said, finishing the pancake. He raised the other one to his mouth, only to have Himawari gently take hold of his arm and lower the pancake onto the plate.

"You're eating them wrong," she said. "Pancakes are a fancy breakfast food." She leaned forward, as if imparting a great secret. "Use the fork."

Naruto grinned, picking up the fork and stabbing the pancake. He lifted the pancake up by the fork, staring at it. Shrugging, Naruto returned to eating the pancake. As much as he wanted to keep angry, it was easier just to... not. Anger was exhausting, and it never did anything good for him. All it really ever did was make the emptiness feel larger, and hurt more.

"Haven't you ever had pancakes before?" Boruto asked, squinting at Naruto in the same way Naruto often squinted at others. It unnerved him, how similar Boruto and Himawari were to him.

Naruto shrugged, taking another bite. "Nope." He used his free hand to point to the half-eaten pancake. "These are really good. Like, awesome good."

"Swallow before you talk, Boruto," Hinata said, before stopping. Naruto felt a shiver crawl along his shoulders, and swallowed. Hinata looked stricken. "Naruto, I'm sorry, it's just–"

"He really does look a lot like me," Boruto said, and Naruto tried so hard not to think about that, about how much they looked alike. Looking at Boruto was like looking into a bad mirror, seeing different parts of himself reflected there but in a way that Naruto didn't get when he looked at his clones. "It's kinda weird."

"Papa has shorter hair," Himawari said, setting her fork down to pull her hair back. Like that, Naruto could see his own face in hers, and felt something twist in his gut.

"Yeah, but that's because he didn't want to look like grandpa, you know," Boruto waved his hand, dismissing the claim. Naruto nearly asked what Boruto was talking about, what did grandpa look like? What did Naruto's father look like? Did he look like his father? He tried to imagine someone that looked like himself, but older, and all that his mind came up with was Hokage. "You really never had pancakes before?"

"Nope." Naruto shook his head, finishing the pancake and reaching for another. He paused, looking at the bacon. On a whim, Naruto snagged a slice of bacon, biting into and tearing a piece off. "Never had bacon before, neither."

"Either," Hinata absentmindedly corrected, watching Naruto sadly.

"Whatever." Naruto finished the bacon, and went back to the pancakes. He paused. "How much did this all cost? Because I can totally pay you back or clean up the kitchen or–"

"You don't have to do any of that," Hinata waved him off. "Just... finish your breakfast and Boruto can take you to the library and help you there."

"Mo~om!" Boruto complained, and Naruto didn't know why he would ever talk back to his mother. If Naruto were in Boruto's position, he'd do whatever his own mother would ask of him. "Why can't the old man take care of him? They are the same person!"

"Your father's very busy trying to solve this problem," Hinata explained. "He called earlier to say that Naruto should stay either here or be escorted around town by you."

"I don't want to do escort him, you know!" Boruto protested in the same time Naruto said, "I don't need escorted, you know!"

The two of them looked at each other, having said the same phrase at the same time, in the same tone. Both Himawari and Hinata hid their laughter, although Hinata's was hidden beneath a smile.

"Now you understand why I say that you're just like your father when he was your age," she said, and Naruto bristled. He still didn't like getting compared with Boruto, and instead jabbed at Himawari.

"I'm taking her with me," Naruto declared. "Because I like her, unlike you."

Boruto sulked, while Hinata looked from Naruto to Himawari in surprise. Naruto looked determined, and Himawari looked excited at being included. "I suppose you can..."

"Yes!" Himawari cheered, climbing out of her seat and pulling Naruto along. "I'm done let's go!"

"Hey!" Boruto cried out, while Naruto let himself get pulled along, before slinging Himawari onto his back like he'd seen some parents do. "Wait for me!"

Naruto laughed, and from where she was perched on his shoulders, Himawari laughed too. Behind them, still at the table, Hinata called out, "No leaving the house until you put on clean clothes!"

Naruto froze, Boruto bumping into him. He glanced down at the hospital scrubs. "Um." He looked at Boruto, comparing their sizes. "You're too small for me."

"Huh?" Boruto blinked, confused, before he realized what Naruto was talking about. "Hey! I could totally wear your clothes if I wanted to!"

"That's not what he's saying." Hinata came up, plucking Himawari off of Naruto's shoulders and shooing her down the hallway. "Boruto, you're eleven. Naruto here is thirteen. He's too big to borrow your clothes."

"What?" Boruto squinted, still confused, before understanding hit. "Oh! Ew! I don't want my dad wearing my underwear!"

"I don't want to wear your underwear!" Naruto cried out, waving his hands in front of him, trying to ward away the thought.

"I think we've still got one of your old jumpsuits boxed up somewhere," Hinata mumbled, leading the two blonds down the hallway. They passed a door marked as Boruto's room, one marked as Himawari's, the study, a bathroom and a linen closet, and entered a spare room filled with old boxes. Hinata began peering into boxes, muttering to herself. Boruto lingered at the door, curious but not enough to enter the room.

Naruto wandered through the stacks of boxes. He peeked into one, and felt his stomach lurch as he was presented with a box full of toys. Wooden building blocks and colorful plastic shuriken and cloth dolls staring back at him with plastic eyes. He shut the box, tried the next one. Pastel onesies with huge kanji written across them that said things like "I'm adorable" and "Hokage material".

He quickly shut the box, avoiding peeking in others. Down the way, near the wall, Hinata held up a box triumphantly. "Found you!"

She carried the box out into the living room, with Naruto and Boruto following. Opening the lid, Hinata held up Naruto's jumpsuit. His stomach lurched at the fist-sized hole through the right side of the jacket, near the shoulder.

"Wow," Boruto said, snagging the jacket out of Hinata's hands. He held it up, looking at Naruto through the hole? "What did you do to this?"

"Sasuke." Naruto dug through the box, finding his pants (also ragged, with stains that looked suspiciously like dried blood and mud), one of his shirts, and managing to dig up a pair of okay-looking boxers.

"What did he do, try to grab you?" Boruto stuck an arm through the holes experimentally. Blood stained the edges of the holes a dark brown.

"He tried to kill me." Naruto rubbed at his chest, recalling the numbness he had felt. Shock, he guessed, was what kept him from feeling anything. "That was two days ago."

"That was over twenty years ago," Hinata gently explained, taking the jacket and folding it back into the box. "And you've more than made up for it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, but Hinata shook her head, bustling Naruto off into the bathroom to change. Boruto stared after him, his brow furrowed as he looked from Naruto to the box and back.