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Chapter 2. A Seed Of Doubt
Unbelievable...! She was such an idiot!
Sarada was having a hard time not to groan angrily at her own sudden stupidity as she flopped down on the couch at the kitchen of their house, followed by Chōchō who, to her surprise, remained absolutely impassive as she saw the guests present in the small room, smiling at the two of them politely while Sakura was preparing tea and some sweets, turned away from the rest.
How...? How could she have been this dumb and careless?! What if they had heard something she had told her friend about her feelings…? That would be a complete disaster!
She flinched, noticing Hinata peering at her searchingly.
“Uh… Uzumaki-sama, did you say something? I’m sorry, I guess I spaced out for a moment,” she giggled nervously, looking at the unusually concerned face of Naruto’s wife. These white eyes of hers always seemed so full of some strange wisdom… Sometimes it made the young kunoichi wonder if this was just her own impression, or perhaps this woman was truly not as simple minded and naive as she pretended to be.
Despite her dismay and nervousness, however, Sarada realized that the Seventh’s wife wasn’t looking well. There were clearly visible dark bags under her eyes, making the usually invisible tiniest wrinkles around her eyelids quite notable; she was now also far too pale even for an aristocratic Hyūga offspring, and her regularly cheerful and kind expression was gone, replaced with a rather sorrowful one. All this in the aggregate was so odd, on the brink of being disturbing...
Sarada suppressed a slight shudder. What…? No, it can’t be that she’s actually heard something..., her heart skipped a beat but, to her surprise, the woman only smiled at her, lowering her eyes sheepishly the next moment.
“It’s alright… It’s quite alright, don’t worry. I—I merely meant to ask you—since you work with Naruto-kun, and spend a lot of time with him, after all… M-Maybe you happen to know…,” she frowned, pursing her lips thoughtfully for a second, clearly picking words carefully, “What makes him so… tired lately?”
The young Uchiha blinked a few times, slowly letting out a sigh of relief. Maybe Hinata hadn’t heard anything, after all… Still, the situation was far too perilous for her to feel comfortable; it was just too unlike her to allow things to come to such a dangerous state.
She then moved her gaze at Himawari who smiled back before glancing at her mother and then lowering her eyes sadly. Of course, her father’s condition had to bother the girl quite a lot, too… Although she had failed, already for the second time, to achieve the rank of chūnin last year (to be fair, the reason to that was mostly her teammates not being good enough - the girl herself was splendid in Sarada’s opinion), and despite her fourteenth birthday being just a couple weeks away from now, she still remained the soft and naive girl all of them had always known. It was adorable yet, at the same time, it made the Uchiha feel bad for Boruto’s sister.
She didn’t deserve to be a part of this mess...
“Uh… To be honest, Uzumaki-sama…” Sarada somehow managed to remain more less calm as she glanced warily at Sakura who didn’t react to the question herself, still turned away from them and chopping something with a knife. If her mother would somehow react to her lie… “As far as I’m aware, Hokage-sama is very busy in preparations for the upcoming Gokage summit… Beside that, the third ANBU department… They’re causing problems of late, too. Eh-excuse me, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to reveal any details on this matter, it’s restricted for anyone below jōnin rank…” She shrugged apologetically, once again glancing at Sakura who finally came close to them, putting a few plates with various sweets and dishes on the table.
“Yes, it’s true, Hinata,” the pink haired medic nodded without looking at Sarada, confusing the girl even more, for the thing she had just told the Uzumaki was purely a fruit of her own imagination, so her mother couldn’t possibly have known about it. She was actually playing along! But why...? “He told me that secret services of Konoha are in trouble these days, though I never cared enough to ask him to elaborate, but he seemed to be quite worried about it the last time we talked.”
Hinata lowered her head, nodding slowly and uttering:
“Well… I s-suppose that makes sense… It’s just that he—his behavior… He has... changed,” she almost whispered the last word, sounding… hurt?
Sarada frowned, looking thoughtfully at Himawari who was now caressing her mother’s back with great compassion and understanding in her blue eyes.
“Changed, huh…?” muttered Sakura frowning as well, pouring the hot green tea into everyone’s cups. “To be honest, I haven’t noticed any changes in him aside from strong fatigue and little signs of depression. Maybe it’s just a middle age crisis?” she smirked reassuringly, although something in the jade eyes told Sarada that her mother wasn’t completely genuine right now.
Looks like I’m not the only one who has something to hide, huh…? She squinted at Sakura thoughtfully. Of course, her parents were the best friends of the Seventh, everyone knew that. She ought to know some things even Naruto’s wife didn’t know. The question was, what exactly was she hiding from Hinata?
Had she not known better, Sarada would have instantly assumed that her mother and Naruto were an item. No… This is actually stupid jealousy and nothing else, she corrected herself and clenched her fists under the table. And this realization made her feel even worse than before. What right had she had to feel jealous when it came to the Hokage…?
“What if he has a lover?”
The sudden question came out of the blue, instantly muting the kitchen. Everyone there froze, staring at Chōchō who was chewing a chocolate donut, not seeming to pay any attention to their reactions whatsoever.
“A lover?” repeated Hinata quietly, which almost sounded like a whimper.
“Well, he’s a man, isn’t he? He’s rich, powerful and very, very handsome. With all due respect, Hinata-san, do you know how popular your husband really is worldwide?” The dark skinned girl shrugged at the woman, raising her eyebrow slightly as though she was trying to explain something absolutely obvious to some child.
“Chōchō-chan, what are you saying?!” Sakura suddenly yelped, giving Hinata, who now looked like she was about to start crying, a scared glance. “Naruto is not like that, he would never...! He—!”
“Do not worry. I really doubt that is the case, Uzumaki-sama,” suddenly deadpanned Sarada, silently blessing her talent of becoming completely cold and emotionless in stressful situations — something, she reckoned, she had inherited from her father, “As you said yourself, I do spend a lot of time around Hokage-sama, and I would know it for sure if he had a secret like that. Naturally, I would tell you about it as soon as possible, for I despise cheaters,” she almost spit the last line, remembering how Boruto had tried to cheat during their first chūnin exam.
Surprisingly, it worked as intended — Hinata’s features softened, and her eyes were now filled with timid hope… And yet, having now realized how deep the problem in their family actually was, the onyx eyed girl wasn’t sure if this hope wasn’t false, though.
“Oh… I—I see.. Thank you very much, Sarada-chan,” said the woman smiling at her warmly to which the raven haired Uchiha was unable not to smile back even though she truly wanted to. “I hope Boruto hasn’t cheated since that time, has he?”
Sarada frowned a little bit, gulping nervously. This woman… She wasn’t naive at all; on the contrary, she was reading her quite deftly… She needed to be much more careful around her from now on!
“Not as far as I know,” she smiled politely, looking away. “It’s not about him at all, though.”
Hinata and Himawari giggled, this followed by an unsure smirk of Sakura a split second later; unlike the Uchiha matriarch, they didn’t know that Sarada didn’t like Boruto in that way at all…
“Of course, of course. Uh, Sakura-san,” Hinata then looked at her friend, bowing her head slightly and putting her hands together in front of her in a pleading manner, “You see, I—I also wanted to ask you… There is also something s-seriously wrong with Naruto-kun’s health, I’m afraid... So, if it wouldn’t b-bother you too much… Could you possibly pay him a visit and check h-his condition? He doesn’t tell us anything, b-but I think he truly needs your help…”
Sakura’s reaction this time was even more astonishing than everything she’d done until now — her eyes widened in surprise, or perhaps even in shock; her mouth opened and then closed, as though she was unsure what to say, and only then did the woman frown like she always did whenever she was brainstorming something. It all happened in a matter of a couple seconds, but Sarada had always been apt to studying people’s reactions to various things; for some reason, this seemingly normal request downright shocked her mother.
But, why…? It made absolutely no sense. Unless Sakura knew something nobody else in the room knew...
“Eh… Sure, I guess, I’ll pay you guys a visit tonight, but… What’s exactly wrong with him, if you could tell me?” she asked carefully, sipping the hot tea and not moving her eyes from Hinata’s face.
The dark haired woman sighed, pursing her lips and not touching her own cup.
“I—well, this—it’s about his heart, I believe… S-Something isn’t quite right with it, I saw it with my Byakugan… And also, his vitals all in all—” She stopped, giving Sakura a hopeful questioning look, to which the woman slowly nodded.
“I see,” she replied casually after a short pause, “I’ll have to examine him carefully then, I suppose. What you mentioned there isn’t something to approach lightly for sure.”
A broad happy smile then appeared on Hinata’s face, followed by a similar expression of her cheerful daughter.
“I’m so glad! Thank you so much, Sakura-san…! It’s just that, I love him so much, and he… I suppose he doesn’t want to make me worry, that’s why he refuses to tell me what bothers him so much…,” she mumbled, though not sounding very convincing, as though not even believing her own words.
All of sudden Sarada felt nauseous. She realized that both the older women were lying and saying half truths, to each other and to the their children… No, actually, Sarada had done this herself, too. And it felt absolutely disgusting to her; it wasn’t like any of them had done something criminal to be forced to hide it from the rest. Yet they were already deep in the net lies, and this hypocrite game of pretending to be polite for the sake of fooling friends…
She refused to be a part of it!
“I’m sorry, but I need to leave as soon as possible. I have to report to Hokage-sama regarding my most recent task, and we also need to discuss my training in preparations for ANBU enrollment, so kindly forgive me,” she got up and bowed to everyone, not looking at Chōchō who gave her a surprised stare but, fortunately, said nothing.
“ANBU…?” mumbled Hinata, gazing at Sakura in surprise. “I—I didn’t know Sarada-chan was joining…”
“Neither did I…,” muttered Sakura to herself, and it was the last thing Sarada heard before she left the room.
She walked out into the lobby, quickly taking off her light pink wool jumper as well as the white skirt and then changing into her ninja attire: a sleeveless bloody-red, cropped top that revealed her toned flat stomach, as well as tight black pants — the headband with the forehead protector rested on the low waist as she used it as a belt; fingerless gloves with steel plates on them, and sandals with heels that were slightly higher than normal.
Fixing her slightly wild long black hair and putting her glasses on, she opened the door and walked outside, breathing in some fresh air. To her relief, she instantly felt better - turned out that she merely needed some time.
And afterwards… Perhaps she would really pay a visit to the Seventh. After all she needed to see it first hand if something was truly that wrong with him, or maybe his wife was just overreacting as she always was inclined to...
-~X~-
“Neither did I…,” muttered Sakura to herself, “Chōchō-chan, do you know anything about that, by any chance?”
“Nope,” the girl shrugged, sipping her own tea slowly. “I doubt it’s true, though. Last thing I heard about her career intentions was becoming Hokage-sama’s apprentice, and eventually succeeding him.”
Following Sarada’s back with her eyes, Hinata suddenly felt uneasy. The girl’s reaction to her last sentence about her relationship with her husband… There was something off with that, but the woman wasn’t sure what exactly was that.
“Apprentice…?” she muttered. Or possibly… something more? she thought, analyzing the girl’s unusually aggressive reaction to her words.
No! What on earth am I even thinking…? Am I going insane?! She closed her eyes and shook her head, forcing the horrible idea to disappear.
“Well, yeah. She wants to become Seventh’s successor, remember? Naturally she wants him to teach her to do the job,” she grinned for some reason, and it made Hinata feel even more uneasy even though she couldn’t rationally explain why.
“Oh... I see. Well… sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you f-for your time,” she said then, getting up and slightly bowing to Sakura, eventually following Sarada out the door with Himawari quickly following beside her, unable to hide the clear sadness and disappointment in her expression.
As Hinata noticed Sakura’s daughter walking out the room, having already changed into her combat outfit for whatever reason, she silently gasped as the Uchiha suddenly disappeared from sight in a blink of an eye. To a normal civilian, they would describe it as some sort of teleportation, however a ninja, especially a Hyūga, would always be able to recognize it as none other than Shunshin, a body flicker technique. And she was pretty fast at that...
The ANBU training is that important, huh? Hinata thought as they walked home through the crowded streets of Konoha, wondering why she had never been told of this before. And also, what Chōchō had said about Sarada’s intention to become the next Hokage... These two stories didn’t quite match; a candidate for Hokage didn’t need to join ANBU beforehand at all, especially someone of Sarada’s skill and experience — the girl was already quite famous around Land of Fire, with common talk even calling her ‘Crimson Fury’.
Hinata sighed and frowned at the depressing thoughts, not noticing the careful looks her daughter was giving her from the side. The woman was well aware that her obvious gloominess contrasted with her loud and lively surroundings quite a lot, but she just couldn’t help it. She glanced over at Himawari who was already only a couple inches shorter than Hinata herself, and smiled at the young Uzumaki who instantly looked back, mirroring her mother’s smile.
She really hated allowing Himawari to see her like this. Despite the girl being only thirteen, the exhausted older Hyūga was sure the kunoichi was already old enough to understand without words that things between her and Naruto were not as perfect as they would like for others to believe.
Still, that never stopped Hinata from trying to pretend that it actually was alright, especially in front of her children. Truthfully, with each passing day of their marriage, the unavoidable frustration slowly yet incessantly increased everyday, and it already seemed to her like it was never going to stop. The constant half-truths and masks of pretentious happiness… Deep inside, despite being possibly the most patient and understanding woman in the world, Hinata was just so sick and tired of all this. She could tell even from a hundred miles away that Naruto wasn’t happy with her at all... but why? Why?! Perhaps it was her fault after all? Was she not good enough for him — or worse, had he grown tired of her? The marriage with her first love was not as bright and happy as her younger self had always fantasized it to be… Not that it ever had, to be completely honest...
To put it bluntly, Hinata could agree to withstand a lot, but she simply couldn’t accept always being kept in the dark like this. She was his wife for gods’ sake! Yet, he still seemed to consider her unworthy of even knowing whatever was going on at his work. Top secret missions informations of which were only accessible to jōnin level and above...? That was his excuse? Just because she had never attained the rank? Even after everything they had been through in the past with the Akatsuki, Pain’s invasion, and of course, the Fourth Great Ninja War, nowadays commonly referred to as simply the Great War... Naruto still didn’t consider her good enough to know about whatever possibly life-threatening issues that were only knowledgeable to very strong ninjas? Or at least about his possible plans for retirement, speaking of Sarada...?
No matter how much she tried to convince herself that he did it all for the sake of her safety, the truth was becoming too blatant to keep ignoring it. Clearly he simply didn’t trust her at all! And without trust… what was even a point in their marriage?!
Feeling tears forming in the corners of her eyes she immediately brushed the devastating thought away. She couldn’t let the public, let alone her daughter see her cry. Rumours would very easily and quickly spread around the village, and it could ruin Naruto’s reputation and thus cause Hinata to be even more of a burden to him than, the former kunoichi assumed, she already was.
But that actually wasn’t what bothered Hinata the most, no... as if her previous concerns weren’t already bad enough, though. And yet, what truly disturbed her was what the young Akimichi girl had suggested a few minutes ago. At first, it was so absurd that deep inside Hinata wanted, for a very brief moment, to slap the silly girl for such a ridiculous and boorish idea. After all, one had to be a fool to decide to cheat on his wife who just so happens to possess Byakugan, and Naruto was not an idiot… was he?
She narrowed her eyes and paled, staring at the road under her feet. It was foolish, and yet… this crazy suggestion, somehow it made sense...
Truth to be told, at this point Hinata was already fully convinced that Naruto had never really loved her, or at least not nearly as much as she loved him. Otherwise, why would he have to always fake his happiness around her? Why would he lie to her? Neglect her? And most importantly…
Everyone knew that her husband was a master of Shadow Clones. She had never dared ask him, but the question kept bothering her even up to now: why did he refuse to utilize them to do at least a part of his work at the office, and let his real body come home at least once in a while? There was absolutely no excuse to that, especially seeing as he sometimes hadn’t come home in weeks, no less...
Hinata winced, instantly remembering the incident taking place on Himawari’s ninth birthday, in which Naruto had used a shadow clone to attend the party, and it ended up disappearing unexpectedly and ruining the cake. Naturally, the real one remained to do all the paperwork away from their home...
Perhaps that was the first breakpoint for them, the woman now thought; it just never made sense to her no matter how much she tried to find an excuse for Naruto. Why, just why wouldn’t he use a clone to attend his own beloved (and when it came to his feelings for her, Hinata had absolutely no doubt) daughter’s birthday party as opposed to the other way around? But now, all the pieces to her deliberate neverending puzzle seemed to finally be forming a picture. How could she not have thought of this before? How could she have been so blind...?
He didn’t love her anymore, it was safe to take it as a fact. And yet as a healthy man who was still quite young and in a great shape, he definitely had his needs. Therefore Chōchō was most likely correct, as much as Hinata hated to admit it — Naruto probably indeed had a secret lover.
But who…? Who could it possibly be? Who was the one receiving Naruto’s love and attention instead of his wife and children who genuinely deserved it the most? Hinata slightly blushed in embarrassment as she remembered her previous suspicion of Sarada, which had made her and Himawari leave Sakura’s house earlier than they had wanted from the outset, in a reflective attempt to follow the girl. She was only seventeen for gods’ sake, and Naruto was almost twenty years older than her! How desperate had Hinata become to suspect a minor, and a trusted one at that, to be her husband’s possible secret love interest...? This was absolutely impossible, she now realized with relief.
But if it wasn’t Sarada... then again, who?
Hinata scanned her memory for every female that used to come in contact with her husband. Tenten? As far as she was concerned, Neji’s former teammate was too busy managing her armory and weapon shop to even bother with such affairs. Besides, she was happily married to Rock Lee...
Ino? That wasn’t impossible, but somehow it seemed unrealistic. Yamanaka Ino was a stay-at-home mother much like Hinata herself, and had a beloved husband and son. She would most likely not have any time to flirt around with the Hokage, at least without anyone noticing it — after all this woman, despite being quite elegant and graceful, had never been known for being stealthy or two faced. And besides, they had never been interested in each other to begin with despite always having many opportunities to interact...
Then and only then did the belated realization hit Hinata like a train, causing her face to instantly pale again, resembling clean paper now. Could it… could it possibly be the blonde’s best friend and the young Uchiha’s mother?
Could it be Uchiha Sakura…?
It was well-known that Naruto had been in love with her as a child, but thankfully for Hinata, Sakura never returned those feelings for him…. Or did she?
Everyone knew that Sakura had always loved her husband Sasuke and nobody else, but did Sasuke himself even love Sakura in the first place? That question had always been there silently, although Hinata had never dared to ask it even to Naruto. Sure the two of them had a child together, but so did Naruto and Hinata themselves, and yet the jinchūriki’s love for her was also very questionable at this point… to say the least. And when was the last time she saw Sasuke and Sakura together anyway? It appeared that the medic kunoichi was just as neglected by Sasuke as Hinata was by Naruto…
And now that she thought about it, when she asked her pink haired friend to check Naruto’s health, her reaction was quite peculiar...
Of course, that only proved Hinata’s suspicions even more. Considering that Sakura probably wasn’t as loyal and definitely wasn’t nearly as patient as she was herself, Sasuke’s constant neglection could have very easily caused his wife to eventually lose her feelings for him after all these years, and focus on the person who had loved her ever since they were children — Uzumaki Naruto! And besides, it wasn’t impossible that his feelings for Sakura had never faded after all, no matter how desperately Hinata had tried to convince herself that they were long gone.
She gritted her teeth; her lips trembled as she suppressed another wave of tears. Then again, it was absolutely ridiculous! Hinata had always thought that she and Sakura were friends. In fact, the Uchiha was the one who had encouraged Hinata to confess her love to Naruto in the first place! Besides, knowing her, it was safe to say that Sakura would never do such a thing to a married man with two children, let alone to cheat on her own husband, and to lie to her child who was clearly oblivious… or was she?
Hinata frowned even deeper now. Sarada’s odd reaction to their conversation… The girl was clearly very displeased by something either of them had told. Or done. But...
She then shook her head, trying to calm down.
Perhaps she was overthinking things? Yes, that had to be it. Of course, it definitely could not be Sakura… What a foolish idea.
“Hinata!”
The sudden call ripped her out of the intoxicating thoughts, to her relief. The Uzumaki quickly pulled her eyes away from the ground ahead of her and focused on finding the source of the familiar voice calling out her name.
She immediately noticed him, right ahead of herself and Himawari. Her old team member and her best friend, now a teacher at Konoha’s Ninja Academy, Aburame Shino. He had been Boruto’s sensei for years, and was coincidentally teaching Himawari now as well.
“Hi, Aburame-sensei!” Himawari joyfully shouted out, waving out to him.
“Hey, Himawari, how are you doing?” he responded, walking a bit toward them until coming face to face with the Uzumaki family.
“I’m good, thank you! Mommy and I were just heading home.”
“Ah, I see,” he quietly said before immediately turning to face Hinata with a look of concern on his face.
The older Uzumaki instantly noticed his reaction as he met her gaze. She quickly pulled two hundred ryō from her purse, handing the money to Himawari who immediately lightened up at the sight of the opportunities presented in the shape of paper. It was quite ironic; most people would have never thought that the daughter of someone as rich and powerful as Hokage would be excited over such a little amount of money, but Hinata had always purposely tried to raise her children better than being some spoiled brats, contrary to what other people might have thought about their family. Boruto and especially Himawari were raised to believe that money was something that required to be earned through hard work and dedication, and that it wasn’t just something they would have access to whenever they wanted. Hinata had always dreaded rich and greedy snobs, after all. That’s why she was more than happy to have left her clan long ago...
“Himawari, why don’t you go buy yourself an ice cream? And maybe some toy from the booth over there…,” she offered.
The young kunoichi didn’t hesitate to grab the money, and then proceed to cheerfully shout: “Thank you, mother! See ya, Aburame-sensei!” as she excitedly ran off. She didn’t head to the store her mother had pointed at previously, though Hinata never noticed that, too preoccupied with her thought and the upcoming conversation with Shino.
The former Hyūga lowered her eyes, staring at the ground blankly for a while and trying her best to avoid eye contact with the Aburame, in hopes of him not noticing how terrible she looked. There were a few seconds of oppressive silence between the two of them until it was finally broken by Shino’s slightly trembling, deeply concerned voice,
“What’s wrong, Hinata? I could feel your depressive aura from a mile away. Is it about Naruto?”
She winced at the mention of her husband. Of course, always leave it to her old teammate to be able to read her like an open book. Hinata hesitantly opened her mouth and quietly muttered, “Y-Yeah….”
Her eyes widened as she immediately realized that they were, in fact, in a public place, which unfortunately meant possible eavesdroppers. She quickly grabbed Shino’s olive coloured sleeve, ignoring his baffled expression, and dragged him behind her, heading towards a seemingly empty alleyway. Before answering the confused man’s questions, she cautiously glanced behind her, making sure that Himawari was still in sight — the girl was now studying books in the nearest store just about thirty yards away from them. She was already happily licking her pink, presumably strawberry flavoured ice cream, clearly not caring about the two of them at all, so Hinata quickly looked back at Shino, meeting his worried, almost scared eyes (which was notable even in spite of them being hidden behind his dark polarised glasses) with her tired and grim ones.
“This... I-I’m afraid it’s all too p-personal. I brought you here because I-I don’t really want other people t-to hear what I’m about to s-say…” Hinata haltingly explained, suppressing the upcoming sob.
After a few more long seconds of Shino patiently waiting for her to continue explaining her problem, which he assumed to be about her relationship with Naruto after all, considering her reaction to his question, Hinata finally opened her mouth to speak again,
“W-well, as you g-guessed correctly, it is about h-him…”
Hinata was beginning to question whether it was really a good idea to tell Shino about her… about their issues. Although she did trust this man with her life, would telling him that her ‘perfect’ family was actually a big fat deception be such a good idea? How would he react to that? Would it ruin his image of them…?
But yet again, Hinata had already accepted the fact that her marriage was getting worse and worse with each passing day, and eventually it would clearly become too much to hide. She would rather him find out from her words than through countless rumours, gossip and stupid tabloid articles.
She then frowned slightly, finally taking a deep breath as she slowly began, “I-I don’t think Naruto l-loves me a-anymore, Shino-kun.”
And just as she had expected, Shino’s concerned expression immediately transitioned into a shocked one with a slightly dropped jaw.
“Hinata… What on earth are you saying? What do you mean Naruto doesn’t love you anymore? Of course he does!” he said a bit louder than she would prefer, which made the woman look around in fear before replying quietly,
“I-It’s true, Shino-kun…” She felt tears slowly dripping down her cheeks as she couldn’t withstand the stress any longer. “F-For a long time, I-I refused t-to believe it at first, b-but now I c-can’t deny it a-anymore… a-all the lies, his n-neglection, i-isolation, a-and secrets… All of it m-makes sense now…” She forcefully and desperately tried to hold back a burst of tears, and managed to continue, “I d-don’t even know what to do anymore! H-he won’t tell me a—a thing. I c-can see that he’s always tired and unhappy w-with me, b-but he wants me to believe he is. Why? Why does he keep lying?!” She closed her eyes and stomped on the ground in frustration and anger.
Unable to come up with a response as he was too shocked by this heartbreaking confession, Shino instead took the woman’s shaking hands in his own reassuringly, rubbing her palms carefully to try to calm her down at least a little bit.
“Listen, Hinata, I don’t really know what exactly has been going on in your home of late, but I know this one fact for sure: of course, Naruto does love you! He—”
“No!” She whimpered and then bit her lip, wincing and shaking her head. “S-Shino-kun, y-you-you don't understand... He keeps p-pushing me away e-everytime I t-try to help him. H-How could he p-possibly love me w-when he treats me this way?!” she finally bursted, closing her eyes again and lowering her head in defeat.
“Just calm down, Hinata! Please.... just hear me out! From what you’re telling me, the isolation, the fatigue I noticed myself, and loss of interest — those sound like classic signs of depression. This is textbook material, silly!”
Just as Hinata was about to respond, asking what on earth could Naruto possibly be depressed about aside from marrying someone he didn’t even love, Shino added, “Have you tried asking his student to try and figure out the source of his depression?”
Hinata’s reddened eyes slowly widened. His… student? Since when did Naruto have a student...? And why was she unaware of such an important fact? A personal student for a Hokage could only mean that he… he had chosen his successor...!
“Student...?” She repeated dumbly.
“Yes. I mean, Sarada-chan. I recall seeing Naruto teaching her his famous Rasengan a few weeks ago. Why do you seem so confused? Is he no longer mentoring her?”
Her face suddenly relaxed, and everything around suddenly became deaf to the woman.
So this was how it had to be.... Was this the extent of his lies? Even going as far as to hiding the fact that he had a personal student now? This only made Hinata wonder furthermore what else he could possibly be hiding from her. Countless thoughts and questions consumed Hinata’s mind the same second. But one that she kept coming back to was the simple question she just couldn’t answer: why, why did he have to hide it from anyone? Especially from his own wife...?
No. Enough was enough. This was just too much. She had to talk to him openly, it was impossible to keep pretending that everything was fine anymore.
“Hinata, are you alright? You’re spacing out,” said Shino, interrupting Hinata’s rabid storm of thoughts and assumptions.
“Y-Yes, Shino-kun… Everything is perfectly fine. I’m sorry, but I have to go…” She didn’t stutter as she said it before walking away, swallowing her tears that begged to come out, and putting on the usual fake smile, not giving a chance for her ex-teammate to say anything in response.
She quietly walked over to Himawari, who was now putting a few heavy tomes into her backpack. Hinata wondered since when had her girl loved reading so much…? The woman couldn’t really tell.
“Come on, Himawari. We have to go home now.”
“Ow, already?” The kunoichi whined, picking up her bag and proceeding to put her hand in her mothers. “What did Shino-sensei want, mom?”
“Nothing special, sweetheart,” she smiled, clenching the girl’s tiny palm in her own. “Tell me, what did you buy over there?
-~X~-
Naruto’s sleepy blue eyes were running through numerous papers again and again, one after another. He had long lost any track of time, but it didn’t really matter — he had a lot more work to do tonight, so there was no reason to worry about anything else…
He was ashamed to admit it, but he had also completely lost any desire to go home after yesterday’s conversation with Hinata. The man didn’t really feel like unnecessarily annoying his wife again, especially seeing how uneasy she felt around him recently. Besides, the current political situation in the world totally didn’t encourage him to spend an evening home cozily with a newspaper and tea. Every country that possessed a jinchūriki was now in the increased combat readiness state, and this time it was not for the sake of unity at all; if another Madara appeared right now, they would likely all be doomed…
“Damn it…,” he cursed, tossing another stack of papers aside. All of this totally wasn’t what he truly needed to do right now… He wanted to be in the frontline, to fight the evil threatening everyone he so wanted to protect. But, what could he possibly do when today’s foes were yesterday’s friends…?
As he kept reflecting on these painful thoughts, Naruto didn’t notice as someone put his hand on his right shoulder reassuringly.
“Calm down.” It sounded really cold, but the Seventh still felt the so necessary note of support, except it didn’t make anything easier at all. Sasuke didn’t know how to take care of his own child; he had no idea how it felt when his children, his family was targeted by the deadliest ninjas of their age…
“Calm down, huh?” He sounded a tad nervous, which was quite unlike him, but it didn’t matter now that they were alone. That’s why he, getting up and pushing the Uchiha’s hand off himself, blurted out: “Calm down?! No, Sasuke. I won’t calm down until I find every single bastard that wants to destroy my family’s prosperity!”
“Prosperity?” He could feel his friend sarcastic grin without even turning around to face him. “Please. Your family has collapsed long ago, Naruto. You must accept the truth and move on until it’s too late. Meet me at the hot springs in two hours, you need to relax for once. We’ll discuss it there.”
“Wait. Boruto… Is he safe?” asked the blond, still not turning around.
“Naturally, unlike your stupid head.”
Thanks to his Rinnegan, he disappeared quietly without a trace, so the Uzumaki had no chance to throw something heavy at the raven haired man. His words had hurt him; Naruto just couldn’t bring himself to admit that Sasuke was right. There was indeed not much left of his family... and was there anything at all, actually? Naruto didn’t dare answer this question even to himself.
He lowered back into his chair and sighed tiredly, grabbing the nearest report paper and staring at it blindly, so deep in his thought that he didn’t recognize a single word in front of him.
Was it a wise decision to have sent Boruto to a faraway country with Sasuke to train his boy and to hide and protect him from a possible threat? Was it a good idea to keep Hinata in the dark about all this in order to allow Himawari to keep living as a happy, careless child at least a little longer? Was Sarada truly ready to become his apprentice, even though it was more out of necessity right now for the sake of the girl’s safety…?
Seventh didn’t know the correct answers to these questions, if they even existed to begin with. He just kept doing what he thought was necessary and right, leaving all the doubts behind as usual. After all, he couldn’t afford to be selfish; he had too much to protect and to take care for, and his own life and well-being were of no importance in comparison to his family, his friends and his village.
He put the paper back on the smooth surface of the table, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes. Sasuke probably was right, he truly needed a break. But the truth was that he just couldn’t relax when there was so much he needed to handle, and to do it as soon as possible. Then again, would he be able to do any of it if he suddenly died to a heart attack due to fatigue and stress…?
Finally you’re making some sense, fool. Drop all this shit for now, go and rest at least a little bit! I don’t want us to get in a comatose state, and I’m sick of supporting you with my chakra! When was the last time you ate or slept, again?! The beast in his mind roared, making Naruto smile gratefully.
Thank you, Kurama… And sorry, I guess I really forgot to eat and to do other things.
I’ve always known you were a retard! Stop with all this self-devotion bullshit, or I swear I’ll kill you and your useless brood by myself!
Naruto smirked. Of course, it was an empty threat, and they both knew it. The fox would never do that, and yet... he had a point.
Fine, fine… I guess one evening off wouldn’t hurt that much…
A loud knock on the door interrupted the silent conversation. Naruto raised his head and frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall — he wasn’t supposed to have any visitors this late, Shikamaru was supposed to already be at home for an hour or so…
“Enter,” he said, leaning on the back of his chair and stretching his back.
The door opened, revealing the familiar face of his newfound apprentice who entered the room right away, closing the door behind her back and then coming to his table.
Much like Boruto, she sure had grown up fast; although Naruto didn’t really pay attention to this, he realized that this wasn’t the blundering little girl he remembered from the time when he, Sasuke and Sakura had rescued her from Shin. Now it was an attractive young woman who clearly had inherited both her parents’ good sides when it came to her appearance, and who also already knew how to present herself. The way she moved as she approached him was gracious and smooth, and the nice sway of her hips was so natural and feminine that it made him wonder for a split second how could she remain so nimble and fast whenever they sparred...
Sarada was indeed very talented and gifted, even for an Uchiha. Perhaps that was why he didn’t feel like she needed as much protection as the rest of the members of their families. At the same time he didn’t realize that, as ironically as it was, she was actually the most protected out of them all as his protege and thus constantly being under his watch…
“Oh, Sarada-chan. What’s up?” he asked casually, trying to sound more welcoming and cheerful than he had with her father. He totally didn’t need another woman to be worried for him…
“Greetings, Hokage-sama. I’ve come to tell you something important about the latest task you gave me… And also something else,” she added cryptically after a short pause, her face remaining neutral, yet her eyes clearly giving away the uneasiness she was feeling for some reason.
“The task…? Ah! You mean daimyo’s ambassador! So how did it go? Was he satisfied with our village’s hospitality?” He smirked, to which Sarada rolled her eyes and snorted.
“Oh yes, he sure was. Although I’d prefer not to deal with hookers the next time I have a similar assignment. Their bosses are not exactly the most pleasant people to interact with.”
Naruto frowned at her, giving the girl a very serious look.
“I hope you haven’t killed anyone there, have you?”
She blinked, blushing a bit and then readjusting the glasses on her nose, trying to look as serious as possible yet inevitably failing at that.
“What? O-Of course I haven’t! What are you saying, Hokage-sama?!”
He smirked in amusement, and it was genuine for once. He had always found it fascinating how this kunoichi could switch between her civilian and professional sides in an instant, one second being an elite warrior who seemed to have no weaknesses, and then suddenly becoming a cute young woman with amazingly sweet manners as well as exceptional charms.
“Just kidding, don’t worry. But, you need to realize that this is the job of Hokage. If you want to take on this mantle one day, you will have to do a lot of dirty work, and dealing with pimps and other scum is by far not the worst of it,” he lectured her patiently, to which she nodded obediently, lowering her eyes in embarrassment.
“I understand, Hokage-sama. Please, forgive my impudent complain, it won’t repeat again,” she snapped, surprising Naruto with her tone that was now steel firm.
He sighed, shaking his head and suppressing a grin. What a girl… And why was she so determined to ruin her own future upon becoming the next Hokage...?
All of sudden, he felt the burning desire to stop her from that somehow. To convince her not to follow his footsteps, not to repeat his mistakes… But then he realized that he had absolutely no right to do any of that. He wasn’t her father, and he wasn’t even her friend. Of course, he was her mentor when it came to combat skills, but there was barely anything else connecting the two of them.
Besides, somehow he knew for sure that she wouldn’t listen anyway…
“Like I said, relax. It’s just the two of us here, no need to be so formal. I’m just making sure that you realize what you’re getting yourself into, you know?” he asked, closing his eyes and rubbing his face before yawning. Of course, he didn’t notice how she blushed as he pointed out the intimacy of the moment…
The girl turned away so that the light coming from the table lamp stopped reaching her face, hiding her expression in the semi-darkness of the office.
“I understand. So, anyway… With all due respect, you look really tired, Naruto-sama. Maybe—”
Oh, no…, he almost winced, Please, not you too… He squinted, not listening to the ending of her sentence.
“Hokage-sama?” she asked when the pause became too long, but there was no response.
“Hokage-sama?!” the girl repeated a bit louder, and the man in front of her flinched, peering at her with his immolated eyes.
“Huh…?” It sounded awkward and he suddenly looked so lost that there was a sign of fear on Sarada’s face, but it was there only for a moment before she frowned and said:
“I just wanted to offer you my help.”
“Help…?” he repeated dumbly, blinking at her perplexedly.
“Yeah. These papers,” she nodded at the huge stack in the corner of the table, “These are the reports from the academy, aren’t they? Pretty sure I could handle them with ease,” she smirked, her self assured expression instantly reminding him of Sasuke.
“Eh… Nah, thank you, Sarada-chan, but there is no need—”
“I’m afraid there is,” she paused, taking a deep breath as though afraid to say whatever was on her mind before she finally continued a few seconds later, while he stared at her in confusion and surprise, “You look like you’re about to collapse, and such state definitely won’t affect the quality of your work positively. Besides, I need practice, don’t you agree?” she cocked her head slightly, almost coquettishly, and her expression that was somehow insolent and sheepish at the same time simply disarmed the man.
He sighed, getting up from his chair and making a welcoming gesture.
“Fine, you win. I’ll take a nap meanwhile, if you don’t mind. I guess I’m really a bit tired.” He yawned, slowly walking toward the couch near the window. Only then did he notice absently that it was raining outside…
He turned around to glance at Sarada - her hair was indeed slightly wet.
“The tissues are in the locker to your right,” he offered, but the kunoichi only waved at him dismissively as she uttered, reading through the first report:
“Kindly go to sleep already, I need to focus.”
He smirked. Now she reminded him of Sakura… Sarada had sure turned into such a bossy young lady that he suddenly found it very cute for some reason.
And it was the last thought that crossed his mind before he would fall into the long awaited oblivion of dreams.
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