Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After a grueling ten hours of pushing, Boruto Uzumaki was born on the twenty-seventh of March at exactly eight thirty-three in the evening.

Never again, Hinata told herself. Chunin exams? That, she could do. A-rank missions? No problem. Fighting in a literal war? Been there. But childbirth? It was uncharted territory. Hinata let out a soft whimper. Her body ached, her hair was in her face, and everyone - everyone was staring.

Well, maybe she didn't mind that last bit.

Her father looked proud. Hanabi squeezed her hand. Kurenai sobbed into Kakashi's shoulder. Her teammates were there, too, crying in the back of the room.

Sakura stood beside Sasuke, both watching anxiously. She met the couple's gaze. Hinata grinned as the Uchiha woman placed a hand on her own stomach. You're next, she told her without needing to use words. Sakura grinned back.

Then, she looked to Naruto, who looked back at her with such endearment. Such love. Tears spilled out of his eyes when he smiled at her, then he laughed. It was an ethereal sound. She decided at that moment that there was no one and nothing as beautiful as him.

Except... there was.

When Shizune gently placed her newborn baby into her arms, Hinata cried. Hard. He was beautiful.

She felt many things swell inside her chest as she held her son for the first time. Happiness. Warmth. Pride. Love. Oh, she was going to give this boy so much love.

And when Naruto cupped her - their - son's cheek, Hinata knew that he was thinking the exact same thing.

"So," Kakashi was the first person to speak after a minute or two of silently listening to the child's soft cries. "Does he have a name?"

"Boruto." Hinata said with absolute certainty. The smile on her face was unwavering. "Boruto Uzumaki."

At just eight months old, everyone had already figured out which parent Boruto grow up to remind people of. He was a loud, bubbly kid and it amused Naruto to no end.

He had originally thought that all babies were sunshine and giggles, but one night of babysitting Sasuke's daughter, Sarada, made him realize otherwise.

"She's just like you!" Naruto had said to Sasuke accusingly as he handed the small girl to her father.

"Thanks?"

"That wasn't a compliment! Seriously, the girl is so silent. Do you know how many times I had to go and check to see if she was even alive?"

"Some kids are just naturally quiet. And you should've been doing that anyway. " Sasuke gave Naruto a blank look. "Remind me to never let you babysit my kid again-"

"Rude!"

So yeah, maybe not all babies were like as happy-go-lucky as Boruto. But he was loud in everything he did. He was always smiling. He was always laughing. And it was contagious.

There just was something about watching your child grow that elicited a feeling Naruto couldn't begin to explain. Albeit Boruto was still only eight months old, his bright personality shone through.

Naruto pressed a kiss against Boruto's forehead and left the room, leaving the baby to sleep and eventually returning to bed with Hinata.

He loved his kid. So, so much.

And that's why it hurt. By God, it hurt.

BORUTO UZUMAKI MISSING

The news spread quickly.

Boruto Uzumaki was kidnapped on the sixth of December. Nobody knew exactly when.

Kakashi had wasted no time in calling upon the best tracking squads to lead search parties. He sent the ANBU to the outskirts of Konoha, had the Military Police Force on the scene, and prompted the other four Kage to keep an eye out for the kid in their own respective villages.

They searched all day, searched all night, then did it all again the next day. It was a vicious cycle. Days became weeks. And ever so slowly, weeks became months.

The search parties grew smaller by the day. They couldn't find Boruto so they sure as hell weren't going find whoever took him. People were losing hope. They had no leads, no possible suspects, no evidence, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing .

How did someone get into the house without anyone noticing? Why didn't Boruto cry for help? How could there be nothing? Everyone left something behind.

A belonging, a hair, a fingerprint, a smell, a chakra signature, maybe?

Because everybody had a chakra signature. Everybody had one.

Whoever took Boruto didn't-

Shut up. Shutupshutupshutup.

It had been a hard and depressing four months for both Naruto and Hinata.

Boruto's first birthday eventually came around. Hinata did not get out of bed. Naruto spent the entire day searching.

She did nothing. He found nothing.

It was a few months later that Naruto and Hinata felt that they owed it to their son - and everyone else, of course - to get their shit back together.

"This has to stop." Hinata cried into the fabric of Naruto's shirt. She had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. "We can't keep doing this."

Just like the day she gave birth to Boruto, she cried. Hard. It was her first time crying since the day he was abducted. It broke Naruto.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could say to her.

After that night, they began to pick up the pieces that they had been left in. Recovery was a long and fragile thing, but eventually, they were together again.

Still not whole, though. They couldn't be whole. Not until Boruto came home.

Nearly a year after Boruto's disappearance, Naruto - who had just recently been appointed to be the Seventh Hokage - had a heart attack. And no, not a heart attack heart attack, but the kind of heart attack where his wife thought it was a good idea to casually tell him at Ichiraku Ramen that she's...

"...three and a half weeks pregnant, by the way."

What.

They both go silent awfully fast and Naruto knows what Hinata is thinking about. Who she's thinking about. Because, God, he was thinking about him too.

It hurt. It was always hurting.

But they were healing.

"No, this is good. This is good for us, Hinata." He caressed her face, and with a genuine smile - something that hadn't seen the light of day in a long time - he pulled his wife close.

"I'm happy for us." He told her. And he meant it.

"Me too."

HIMAWARI UZUMAKI:  DAUGHTER OF THE SEVENTH HOKAGE

It was all over the news.

Himawari Uzumaki was born on the first of August at exactly seven fifty-two in the morning.

The moment was bittersweet for her parents, but oh, how they loved her.

At night, they told her bedtime stories about a boy named Boruto. When she was four, she asked if Boruto was real. That's a story for another time, Naruto had said to her in response.

It was when she was eleven, and going through the photo albums, that Himawari stumbled across an old photo of her mother in the hospital, cradling a newborn baby.

"This one is different," She said to Hinata, eyeing the picture curiously. "You showed me the pictures of the day I was born before. How come I don't remember seeing this one?"

"That's because..." Hinata grabbed the photo tentatively and flipped it around. The comment on the backside - which had been written by Kakashi, if she remembered correctly - was old and faded.

'3.27 - Congratulations Naruto, Hinata!  So proud of the both of you! Welcome to parenthood, it's about time ;)'

"Mom?"

"When daddy comes home from work, we'll tell you a long story." Hinata gently placed the photo down and gave Himawari a tight-lipped smile. "You remember Boruto, right?"

Chapter Text

A tired sigh escaped Gaara's lips. As he overlooked his village from the Kazekage tower, he thought of the time Deidara attacked on behalf of the Akatsuki.

However, that, Gaara decided, was nothing compared to what had just happened.

The attack was quick. Whoever was responsible was smart enough to avoid combat. How they made it into the village without getting caught, Gaara would never know, but just like the attacks on Stone, Cloud, and Mist, the perpetrators were in and out without so much as a word of what they were after.

There was no fight. No confrontation.

They still had yet to figure out exactly how many people had died, but just by looking at the mess, it wasn't unreasonable to say that hundreds of people were probably left injured and without homes.

Yet, Gaara didn't have a single thing to say to console the people of his village.

A perfect crime. That's what Chojuro had called it during the Five Kage Summit that was held after Mist got attacked. It happened so fast, so fast, Gaara remembered the Mizukage saying in obvious distress.

And now, he was in the same predicament. The worst part? The people behind it had disappeared before he could even think about doing anything.

"Incoming call from the Hidden Leaf," A soft tap on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. "The other villages were notified of the situation twenty minutes ago. It's probably the Hokage, sir."

"Thank you," He picked up the telephone, dismissing the Jounin.

By the time he got the phone pressed up against his ear, Naruto was already talking a mile a minute.

"-kuro told me what happened! I was going to call earlier, but we were celebrating Hima's fifteenth and I didn't want t - whatever, that doesn't matter. Is everything okay over there? Are you okay?" 

"Geez, Naruto. Calm down, will you? We're okay," For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Gaara rubbed his eyes. "Well, now we're okay. But I think I'll have my hands full with damage control for the next few months."

"How did they even... how are they doing this?" 

Gaara didn't know.

"It was just as Chojuro said - no one saw them come in, and no one saw them leave."

After a beat of silence, Naruto's unsteady voice came through the line again. "Darui wasn't kidding, then. They really are targeting the five nations."

Gaara drew in a long breath. "You know what this means, right?"

He was sure Naruto had already connected the dots, but he warned him anyway.

"The Leaf is the only village that hasn't been attacked yet. They're coming to you next, Naruto."

Boruto let the hood of his cloak fall to his shoulders as he ran a hand through his hair. It was dark out, so he didn't worry too much about people recognizing him - or, well, people recognizing how similar he looked to the Hidden Leaf's current Hokage. Not that there'd even be anyone else around besides...

"Y'know, Boruto? For a seventeen-year-old, you can be pretty fucking stupid sometimes." A woman sneered. Boruto turned around to see his partner - Delta - fixing him with a cold stare.

The only response he gave her was an exasperated eye roll. He really didn't feel like arguing with Delta. 

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," He said dismissively. Though, it was a lie. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "I was following orders-"

Delta was quick to cut him off. "No, you were disregarding orders. We were specifically told to stay hidden, but where did I find you? Right outside the Kazekage's office!"

"I just needed to hear what he was saying! He was on the phone with.." The words died away on his lips. The Hokage, Boruto mused, shaking his head, he was on the phone with the Hokage.

Why did he even care about the Hokage anyway?

He chanced a look up at Delta and wasn't surprised to see that her face remained expressionless. "What he was doing doesn't matter. I'm trying to say that if he saw you, he would've killed you."

"Like you'd care if I dropped dead." Nobody would.

"True," Her eyes narrowed, "But Jigen would be upset. And he isn't gonna like it when I tell him about what you did tonight."

Boruto's gaze fell to the ground. They both knew what happened when he disobeyed orders. He'd be punished again. Surely Delta wasn't that heartless.

"You..."

"For someone who was raised by Jigen, you sure disobey his orders a lot."

Shit, she's serious. A part of him wanted to scream at the woman for being such an insensitive asshole, but he knew that'd only make things worse.

He wasn't afraid of her, no. Her intimidating aura had stopped affecting him years ago. It was just that - though they were mission partners for the time being - she was still technically his superior. And back-talking superiors only ever resulted in punishment.

So Boruto remained silent.

He was left to think about what Jigen would do to him once they returned to the base. He hadn't disobeyed orders in months. He did everything Jigen told him to do. He had been so good lately. Maybe... maybe Jigen would let him off easy.

Jigen did not let him off easy.

Blood gushed out of Boruto's nose when he sat up. The upper half of his body was littered with wounds and bruises, and a sharp pain in his left arm had him biting down on his bottom lip. It was when he attempted to roll his shoulder back that he had to suppress a scream, because nope, nope, no, it wasn't his arm, it was his collarbone.

His very, very broken collarbone.

He ran his fingers over it. 

Great. Fucking hell.

The last time he screwed up on a mission, his punishment had been a week without food. It was shitty, yeah, but he'd much rather deal with hunger pains than a broken collarbone.

Twenty minutes of taking the full brunt of Koji's - a fellow Inner - power was the punishment he was given this time. At first, it didn't seem too bad. Had there been no catch, it probably would've even been bearable for him.

But of course, there had to be a catch.

"Fifty seconds will be added to the clock every time you move, so I suggest that you sit tight and endure." Is what Jigen had told him before leaving him and Koji alone in the room.

It could've been over in twenty minutes if he had just stayed still, but after twelve minutes and sixteen seconds - yes, he had been counting - Boruto dodged an attack that probably would've done a number on him.

At the time, it seemed like a wonderful thing to do. Dodge, and maybe don't get hit! But damn, he had forgotten about the whole 'fifty seconds' thing and just kept dodging and dodging and dodging. It was when the initial twenty minutes came to an end that Boruto realized what he had done.

The additional seven minutes and fifty seconds of torture left him feeling like absolute crap. 

Koji shot him a sympathetic look as he knelt beside him to heal some of his injuries. "I hope you know that I don't enjoy hurting you, kid."

"You were just following orders."

Neither of them said anything afterward and Boruto took to focusing on the soft, green glow coming from Koji's hands. 

The feeling of someone else's chakra entering his body was... weird, to say at the least. Boruto didn't know whether to feel violated or pleased. He wasn't used to being healed since Jigen rarely allowed it. 

Unless Boruto was literally paralyzed or dying, he was usually sent straight back to training after a punishment. Because if he could still move, he could still fight, right?

It wasn't long until Jigen came striding back into the room, prompting Koji to finish up and leave.

"Stand up, Boruto."

He did.

(And, man, Koji must've worked wonders on him since getting up didn't hurt nearly as much as it should've.) 

"I've already gone over your last mission with Delta. According to her, everything went as planned. Well, everything except your little mishap. But other than that, you did well."

You did well, Boruto repeated in his head a hundred times over. The praise gave him a warm feeling and he couldn't hide the small smile that crept across his face. You did well, he thinks you did well.

"Thank you, sir. I won't mess up again."

"For the both of our sakes, I hope you're not lying. You have ten minutes to clean yourself up, then you are to meet me in the briefing room." 

The briefing room? Don't tell me...

"Another mission? But I just came back from one," He tried not to sound displeased, though Jigen must've noticed the way he seemed to falter. The regret sunk in instantly and Jigen sent him a pointed look.

Shit, why couldn't you just stay quiet?

"Are you complaining?"

Well, he wasn't complaining! It was just that his muscles ached and he hadn't slept in two days. So excuse him if he didn't feel up for another mission. Okay, yes, maybe he was complaining. But Jigen didn't need to know that! 

"No, no I'm not! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have - I didn't mean that. Just please don't..." Please don't hurt me, is what he had to stop himself from saying. His back hit the wall and although he didn't even remember shutting his eyes, Jigen was already exiting the room by the time he reopened them.

"Ten minutes," Was all he said before closing the door.

And nobody but Boruto would hear the heavy breath of relief that he let out.

When Boruto stepped into the briefing room, the first thing he did was nod in acknowledgment to Jigen, who sat in the chair at the font of the room. The second thing he did was look around the room for whoever his partner for the mission was. And when he couldn't find anyone, the third thing he did was look back to Jigen in disbelief because there was no way this was happening. No way.

A solo mission!

"As you may have already guessed, this will be a solo mission," Jigen said, echoing his thoughts. "It's your first one, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Boruto curiously eyed the file in Jigen's hands and suddenly, he didn't mind getting sent on another mission. He slowed and deepened his breaths to contain the excitement gnawing at him. 

Boruto was ten years old when he went on his first mission. He vaguely remembered Delta complaining about children being a nuisance and Code telling her to shut up, but other than that, he couldn't recall much. Most of his past missions blended into one big hazy memory once he got the hang of things.

Every mission after his first went this way: get in, kill, (maybe) take a hostage, get out, no witnesses. And as disturbing as it was to admit, the redundancy kind of... bored him.

But a solo mission was new. It was different! (It also meant that he didn't have to deal with annoying teammates who hounded him for the smallest things!)

"I hope you meant what you said back there because you absolutely cannot screw this mission up," Jigen tossed the file to him and he caught it with ease. "I want you to have all of that memorized by tomorrow. I'm sending you out in the morning."

Boruto absently responded with a nod. Guess who's not getting any sleep tonight? He opened the file - not even bothering with the first two pages since they were usually irrelevant anyway - and skimmed the third page for the basics.

From what he read, it was just another standard mission - which was a little disappointing, but if anything, he was confused. Solo missions were usually... special. And so far, his mission was looking to be a bit dull.

Really, he considered giving the file back to Jigen after realizing that he could sum up the entire page with just seven words: get in, kill, get out, no witnesses. Had he really just wasted his time reading all that? Seriously, he should've already known that things weren't going to change for him.

But then, he turned the page.

And the fact that his breath hitched did not stop his brain from going: no fucking way, no fucking way, no fucking way, nofuckingway!

Either he was suddenly dyslexic, or the sleep deprivation was giving him some kind of vivid ass hallucination because there was no fucking way that the concoction of letters he stared down at was real. Jigen had to be messing with him. It had to be a joke!

Except, Jigen had no sense of humor whatsoever - to Boruto's knowledge, at least.

He looked back up. Jigen was making a face. He couldn't really tell if it was a grin or a grimace, but the fact that there was even an expression on the man's usually blank face was all the confirmation Boruto needed.

Slowly, his eyes traveled back to the file in his hands. He read the first five words again. And again, and again, and again, just in case.

It felt like forever before Jigen snapped him out of the trance he had been in and began to go over the things he needed to know. Boruto listened, of course. He nodded when prompted to and responded when addressed. He'd save whatever mental breakdown he was on the verge of having for later when he was alone in his room.

The briefing took longer than he would've liked, but for once, he could not bring himself to care. He spent a majority of the night memorizing the important parts of the file and mentally reviewing the things Jigen had told him.

And before he fell into his hour-long, dreamless sleep, five words repeated themselves in his head.

MISSION LOCATION: HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE