ตอน 18: Nindō 0018: Old Friend
"Naruto," Sasuke nodded at his friend and rival of a long time before raising a scroll and throwing it at him. A gust of wind blew, pushing his hair a little and revealing his Rinnegan momentarily before it was covered by his hair once again.
"What is this?" Naruto opened the scroll, "An unfamiliar dialect …"
"A souvenir from the castle in Kaguya's ice dimension," Sasuke spoke, "Can I come in?"
Naruto gestured with his head, stepping back toward the living room as Sasuke left his boots at the entrance and stepped toward the living room. Glancing around at the house, he sat at the seat Naruto gestured to him to sit in.
"I can't make anything out, but it feels as if it was dipped in maliciousness that I can feel even without the chakra cloak," Naruto said, rolling the scroll back up and putting it on the table.
"I can't make anything out with my Rinnegan either," Sasuke said as Naruto nodded and formed a seal with a single hand. With a popping sound, a clone popped into existence. He glanced at Naruto, nodded, and picked up the scroll before leaving.
"Leave it to the professionals to decode these things. We have good data from other Ōtsutsuki ruins that you've sent information about, so we should have enough points of reference to decode it," Naruto said as Sasuke continued to look at the spot where the clone had appeared.
"Leaving that with a shadow clone?" He asked, "Not going to be dangerous?"
"It's fine," Naruto said. "He's already summoned six more to support him. At the very least, I'm going to know before the scroll is stolen, if that happens."
"Whatever you say," Sasuke leaned back, looking outside the window at the star-studded sky. "I also ran into an Ōtsutsuki duo at that location."
"Tell me more," Naruto's eyes flashed with a grave light as Sasuke recounted his short skirmish against the alien duo of Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki.
By the time he was done with his recounting which ended with him using his Rinnegan to escape the dimension, Naruto's face had gained a serious look, "This is going to be a whole lot of trouble," He said.
"Let's hope the scroll gives us some concrete information," Sasuke said as he leaned back, waiting for Naruto's clone to return. "How's the family?" He asked after a long pause.
"You're shit at small talk, Sasuke," Naruto leaned back and laughed. "But since you asked, and we're going to be waiting for a while to get an answer about whether they can decode it quickly or not, everyone is perfectly fine. Hinata is as healthy as ever, Himawari is growing up to be an amazing girl and Boruto … he's Boruto. Bullheaded, stubborn, and all the other words that mean that he doesn't listen to anyone. But he's got a good heart. That's good enough in my eyes, as long as he grows up a little, he's going to make a fine shinobi. What about you? Did you go meet Sakura and your daughter yet?"
"Not yet," Sasuke continued looking outside." He said, "Probably going to go meet them tomorrow morning. They should be asleep by the time I get there. Anything I should know about?"
"Sakura's fine. She's a strong kunoichi. Your little girl, on the other hand," Naruto said, "she misses you quite a bit."
Sasuke sighed, "Yeah … I should spend some time with her as well. What has she been up to? She's a genin already, right? You should regularly receive her mission reports."
"She's a little genius, just like you," Naruto said. "As long as she can get some concrete guidance, she could become an extremely powerful kunoichi."
"Do you think I should teach her the Uchiha style?" Sasuke asked, reading between the lines of Naruto's words, "What about that so-called elder council? You're the one who told me that it would be easier to placate them if we kept her away from any information about the Uchiha."
"I've been playing nice with them for a while now, and they seem to have started thinking that I'm a pushover," Naruto said casually as if talking about something insignificant. "Sarada is the only one in her generation who has some potential to be a good successor to my position."
"They won't accept someone with Uchiha blood in that seat, especially those two from the Third's generation. You know that."
"They won't have a choice," An unfamiliar, dark look flashed in Naruto's eyes, "I'm not going to play nice anymore. On a more positive note, I took Sarada on as a sort of apprentice cum assistant to help me with the shit that the council throws at me in the name of respecting me."
"That's why you want me to pass on the inheritance of the Uchiha clan to her now," Sasuke nodded understandingly.
"You were always going to do that. I know that very well. I doubt you were going to let your bloodline's knowledge and inheritance die out like that.
"Greetings, Sasuke-san," Hinata descended the stairs, having tucked Himawari into bed.
"Evening, Hinata," Sasuke nodded to Hinata who was coming down the stairs, not getting up from his seat.
"I thought you would've gone to bed already," Naruto said, "Anything important?"
"I just thought I should get you guys something if you want," Hinata offered, "Should I make some tea?"
"Sasuke?" Naruto looked over.
"No need to trouble yourself," Sasuke said.
"How about some sake?" Naruto offered. "I should still have half a bottle of the sake from Iwagakure. Kurotsuchi specifically gifted it to me as a gesture of goodwill when she became the Tsuchikage."
"Sure, we probably have to wait for a while," Sasuke nodded. "And just a bottle of sake as a gesture from a kage?"
"Can you get us that bottle and some glasses, Hinata?" Naruto looked over at his wife with a smile as she returned to expression and left with a nod. "The rest went to the daimyo and the council."
Sasuke responded with a grunt, "I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time to teach her anything while I'm exploring all these ruins and Ōtsutsuki remnants. I'm probably leaving in a few days to track those two members of the clan."
"They'll come here eventually," Naruto said. "I'm sure of it. As was with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, they want to suck the planet dry of all life. For that, they need Kurama's chakra. So you can be damn sure that they will come after me eventually."
"You planning on sitting on your ass waiting for them?" Sasuke nodded to Hinata as she brought the bottle of sake and placed it on the table along with two cups. Since Naruto wasn't trying to be careful talking about these topics around Hinata, Sasuke didn't mince his words either.
"Thanks, honey," Naruto said, gesturing to her to come closer. She leaned forward as he gently gave her a light kiss, "Don't stay up, go to sleep. I'm going to be awake for a while." Hinata nodded with a little smile and left to go upstairs as Naruto turned back to Sasuke, "We can't find them, so it's better to prepare for their arrival instead of wasting our time looking for them, only to end up getting ambushed."
Sasuke grunted in response, "This is good," He raised his brow, taking another sip of the sake.
"Right?" Naruto asked with a smile, taking a sip from his own cup.
…
Eventually, Naruto's clone did return. Sadly, he was empty-handed, causing them to have waited for it for no reason. For now, the scroll was in the Research and Development department as the experts there worked to decipher the contents of the scroll.
"I'll get going then," Sasuke stood up with a look at Naruto, "make some arrangements and prepare the contents."
"Scarier to teach your own daughter than some random disciple, isn't it?" Naruto asked with amusement, knowing that Sasuke was probably extremely nervous about spending time with his daughter.
"No," He said, fast, too fast for it to be anything but false. "It's just …" He didn't know what to say and grunted before turning to the door to leave.
"Take my advice," Naruto said as he also stood up, amusement all over his face, "Calm yourself with a deep breath, and when you look at her, give her a short hug. Ask her how she's doing. And for the love of god, tell that child that her father loves her, okay? She's always in doubt about it. Don't try to do things and expect her to understand. Tell her your thoughts and feelings directly."
Sasuke paused in his steps, looking over his shoulder, he nodded, mumbling, "Thanks. I'll be off."
Just as Sasuke left through the door, Naruto closed it and turned around to look up the staircase. Seeing nothing, he narrowed his eyes.
'This kid's gone after Sasuke, isn't he …'
…
'So he's dad's rival. The one Mitsuki called the Shadow Hokage. He's so cool! That black cloak looks so badass. I should get one like that.'
Boruto had literal stars in his eyes as he saw Sasuke leave through the door. Just as Naruto was about to turn his head to look at him, he ran toward his room and jumped out of the window.
'I have to catch up to him. He shouldn't have gone far —'
He was quick to notice Sasuke's visage under the street lights. Without even thinking about his actions, he pulled out two kunai from his holster belt and aimed them at Sasuke. Moments later, he threw both kunai at the man.
'He'll definitely be impressed by me — Are those the stars?'
He didn't even realize when Sasuke appeared behind him and tripped him, causing him to fall on his back. Examining him, Sasuke spoke, "You must be Naruto's kid."
"I'm Boruto Uzumaki," The blonde huffed, not wanting to be referred to as his father's son all the time. 'I have my own identity, damnit. I'm a shinobi for crying out loud.' Despite his thoughts, Boruto's next words were completely different, "Can you please take me as your disciple?"
***
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