Naruto took Kawaki and Himawari to a taiyaki stall. Seeing Himawari get the chocolate one, Kawaki also decided to get the same.
"Woah, this is amazing!" Kawaki couldn't help but exclaim as he chomped into the fish-shaped cake, eating more than a quarter in his second bite.
"Have you never had one before?"
"Of course I have," Kawaki said defensively.
"No need to lie, kid," Naruto chuckled. "I'll take you around Konoha and let you try all sorts of things."
Kawaki made a face and dug into the snack again, devouring the whole thing in a few bites. On the other hand, Himawari had barely finished a quarter of hers.
The three of them soon made their way out of the main village and walked a little further, where the houses got sparser and more sizable. It was clearly a higher-end district where the houses were larger and looked more luxurious for people with greater wealth than the common man. Soon, they reached the Hokage's house.
"Welcome to my abode, Kawaki," Naruto said as he entered his home with Himawari walking beside him. "Take your shoes off."
The three of them took their shoes out at the entrance as Naruto looked for Hinata.
"Hinata, I'm home," he called out as he stepped in after putting on house slippers. "We have a guest."
"Just a second," Hinata said from the kitchen as Naruto looked at her from over the island counter in the middle.
"Mom, why don't you come to greet us at the door anymore?" Himawari asked with a pouty face as she walked to the kitchen.
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her words.
[See? Even Himawari has noticed. You should forgive me already.]
[Stop it. Is that the kid?]
Hinata smiled at Himawari and ruffled her hair as they both came to Naruto and Kawaki.
"You must be our guest," Hinata said with a smile and greeted, "I am Hinata Uzumaki."
"Kawaki," the teenager said with a sense of brashness in his tone. "Thank you for having me."
"Did he scare you?" Hinata noticed the slight tenseness in Kawaki's actions and quickly came up to him, giving him a light hug, making the teen freeze. "Honestly, Naruto. He's just a kid. Why would you try to intimidate him like that, huh?"
"I didn't intimidate him," Naruto said, "that much."
"Naruto …" Hinata stretched his name out with a disappointing tone.
"Don't worry about him, Kawaki," Hinata said, letting go of the frozen teenager and bending forward slightly to look him in the eyes. "He won't do anything to you. Everything he will do will be to those bad people who are looking for you. You are safe in Konoha, okay? I promise you that." She opened her arms and pulled him into a tight hug again. "You'll do fine here. Promise."
Kawaki didn't know how to respond to the woman's words. His arms hung from his sides as he inadvertently glanced at the Hokage's helpless expression.
"You are so much stronger than her," he couldn't help himself from voicing out his doubts. "Why are you acting like you are helpless in front of her? These words don't mean anything."
Hinata looked a little surprised as she pulled back from Kawaki and looked at him before turning to Naruto.
"Because she's my wife," Naruto smiled lightly. "I told you before, right? As the Hokage, this entire village is my family. Yes. But that doesn't work in a pragmatic sense. However these two and my son? They are my real family. I'd do anything in the world for them, kid. So yes, if my wife tells me to not lay a finger on you, then that is what will happen."
"I don't get it …"
"You don't need to get it right now. But eventually, you will understand."
"What Daddy wants to say is that he loves us very much," Himawari clarified for Kawaki and walked up to Naruto. "Do you love me, Daddy?"
"Of course, I do, my lovely peanut …" Naruto gave her a nickname and hugged her tightly.
"Ugh," Himawari cringed. "I don't like that. You should just stick to the usual cheesy names."
Hinata, after shaking her head at the father-daughter pair, turned to the confused kid in front of her.
"Kawaki, look at me." Hinata grabbed his face and forced him to look into her pure white eyes.
"What?" He looked confused.
"I don't know about your past. But from this single interaction I've had with you, I can tell that you've had a very rough childhood. I promise you that you don't have to worry about anything bad happening to you here. Naruto, as protective as he is, is also a big softie. Once you understand him a little more, you will come to appreciate him … just as everyone else does." Hinata gave Naruto a momentary glance before turning back to Kawaki.
[Not you?] She didn't reply to his teasing question.
"You have the same eyes," Kawaki said. "Same as that other woman."
"Who?" Hinata asked.
"She was a bit loud … and braggy. I don't recall her name."
"Hanabi," Naruto said. "She was the one who talked to him first when he woke up."
"That's my sister," Hinata clarified. "I'll call her over for dinner if you want to talk to her again."
"All right," Naruto said. "I'm going to leave him here for a while with a clone to monitor things. I have some things to take care of at the office and will be back at the usual time."
"Take care," Hinata said. "He'll be fine with us."
"Bye-bye, Daddy," Himawari said. "Come home soon."
"Of course," Naruto kissed her cheek.
…
"Hmm?" Naruto's clone raised his head with a thoughtful expression.
"What's up, Dad?" Boruto asked, noticing the distracted expression on his father's face.
"My real self has something to talk to you about. Keep trying to compress your chakra. I'll be busy for a few seconds." The clone kneeled on the ground and used his chakra to create a seal on the floor.
Boruto didn't listen and curiously looked at the seal that was being created by the clone.
"What is this seal?"
"You will understand in just a moment," he said, completing the final stroke.
A few seconds passed, and another Naruto appeared beside the clone.
"Hiya, kid," Naruto smiled.
"Since when can you teleport, Dad?" Boruto asked with wide eyes, looking between his father and the clone.
"Since our trip to the Land of Hot Water," Naruto said. "Did you think my clones were running through the Land of Fire every day to reach Konoha?"
"Well, no … I just. I didn't really think about it," Boruto said, noticing Naruto make a gesture to his clone as it immediately got dispelled.
"It seems your training is going pretty nicely," Naruto commented.
"I still can't correctly weave Yin Release with Lightning …" Boruto looked disappointed in himself.
"You'll get the hang of it soon enough," Naruto said. "How's your clone training going?"
"I don't have enough chakra to keep summoning clones once they pop," Boruto said, this time sounding jealous. "That's such a hack of a training trick."
"It requires a ton of chakra, though. Even then, you need some truly high mental fortitude for it."
"Can you teach it to me?" Boruto asked. "The teleportation jutsu. It's so convenient."
"Eventually," Naruto said. "For now, I'm here to talk to you about something important."
"What?"
"Did you hear about yesterday's mission?"
"I did." Boruto's nod was a little solemn. "We lost some very important people in that operation. I heard Hanabi-nee-chan also got badly hurt."
"She exaggerated her injuries," Naruto said, shaking his head. "Anyway, the target of that mission was a kid a few years older than you. Kawaki. He's currently at our house with Hinata and Hima and will be living with us for the foreseeable future."
"What?" Boruto made a weirded-out face. "Are we picking up random kids now?"
"He isn't a random kid," Naruto said. "He has a very deep relation with the Ōtsutsuki."
"Whatever you say," Boruto said. "The more, the merrier, I guess. As long as you don't want me to share my room."
"Of course not. We have a guest room for him," Naruto said. "I'm going to bring you both out tomorrow for a morning training session."
"Oh, okay. I'll tell Konohamaru-sensei before going home."
"Also…" Naruto paused with some hesitation. "I want you to avoid him until the morning. Try not to talk to him or come into contact with him until then."
"What? Why?"
"Mind trusting me on that? Just until tomorrow. I need to make sure that he isn't dangerous."
"At least give me a less half-baked reason," Boruto said. "You said you left him with Mom and Hima. He clearly isn't that dangerous."
"Just trust me, okay? It's not like I'm asking something too difficult."
"Sure," Boruto shrugged. "Not like I know the snotty brat anyway."
"He's probably three to four years older than you," Naruto pointed out. "If anything, you're the snotty brat."
"I'll show you a snotty brat," Boruto snapped at him. "Now leave me with a clone if you aren't going to train me yourself."
"Why not?" Naruto cracked his knuckles. "I don't have anything urgent at the office that a clone can't handle. Let us test your progress."
"What? No, I was just kidding. You can just leave a clone with me, Dad. You don't need to trouble yourself to train me."
"Don't be a baby," Naruto said with a smile and punched Boruto.
"No!" The kid jumped back with an expression filled with dread.
***
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