A plan
A furious female voice echoed throughout the entire office hallway of the Hokage building. Saki, who was preparing a fresh snack during her break from reception work, felt a severe headache coming on. She needed a strong cup of coffee—and she needed it immediately. Meanwhile, Uchiha Sarada was grabbing her colleague Takashi by the neck and shaking him like a sack of potatoes. At least Saki was glad she wasn't the one with a big mouth who couldn't keep the news of the Hokage's son's marriage to herself, especially in front of his teammates. Takashi had it coming, and Saki wasn’t about to help him out.
"This is ridiculous!" Sarada exclaimed.
Mitsuki watched Sarada with a smile, amused by the new information, yet curious as well. After all, things had grown pretty boring with their hot-headed teammate away on a solo mission for so long. "Looks like Boruto has managed to cause trouble even while being away from the village," he commented, gently holding Sarada’s hands from behind to keep her from harming Takashi. He didn’t want to lose both of his teammates: Boruto could potentially be dead after confronting Sarada upon his return, and Sarada herself could end up in jail for murder.
"Enough! I’m going to talk to the Nanadaime myself!" Sarada declared, stomping towards the main office with fire burning in her eyes. This was unbelievable! Why hadn’t anyone told her? Not even Boruto himself. She walked faster, almost slamming her fist into the door as she approached.
..........................................................
It was evident. Kakashi concluded this as he bandaged his thumb, having just cut himself with a small knife. Ever since the sun rose that day, he had been observing ominous signs all around him. His shower was too hot, his cat knocked over his favorite plant, and the bathtub was overflowing by the time he returned from the kitchen. And getting summoned to the Hokage's office out of the blue? If that counted for anything.
Kakashi paid it no mind, however, and continued on with his day as he made his way to the unassuming building they called the Hokage office. Out of all the things he expected, he didn’t anticipate witnessing Naruto and Shikamaru so animated.
“I want to know who runs that account! Get me the name of the person!” Naruto demanded, bouncing on his toes.
“Is this seriously happening? It hasn’t even been a day yet,” Shikamaru remarked, astonished by the speed of the internet—much less social media.
Hardly twenty hours had passed since they discussed Shigeru, the man who proposed that Naruto marry his son off to his daughter. Now, the entire office staff, if not the whole village, was aware of it.
['Uzumaki Boruto soon to be tying the knot with the heir to the Mei Corps.'] The post read. 'Konoha Bubble' had become a popular social media app among the younger crowd. It served as a source of spicy rumors and news, attracting interest from all age groups. Everyone in the village had an account, including the Hokage himself, although Naruto would never admit it. According to him, quote, "It was for teenagers."
If not for the gravity of the situation, Shikamaru would have asked Naruto how he found out about the post just five minutes after it was published.
"Is work going well?" Kakashi commented, unsure of what else to say.
Naruto abruptly halted, not noticing Kakashi’s presence until that moment. 'I wish to see the faces of my grandchildren before time runs out,' Shigeru had told him with a straight face before leaving the café yesterday. Ever since then, it hadn’t left Naruto’s mind.
“No, no. Everything is messed up!” Naruto replied hastily, resuming his focus on his phone the next instant.
"Two 'no's? Must be bad," Kakashi remarked, sharing a knowing look with Shikamaru, who simply shrugged. Kakashi’s interest piqued with each piece of information Shikamaru provided. It didn’t take long for him to realize that Naruto had completely messed this one up.
"They say stories spread as fast as light," Sai remarked as he walked in, smiling at the two. "And rumors spread even faster." He added, slamming his phone screen right next to Shikamaru's face. "Look! It already has 23k likes! Boruto's got quite the fanbase."
Naruto shot Sai an annoyed look. "This is not funny." Did he even realize the implications of this? If the rumors spread further, it would be much more difficult for him to handle things discreetly. It was already embarrassing enough to have rejected Shigeru's only personal request — a marriage proposal for his daughter. This was going to be a tough situation. But Naruto wasn't about to just sell his son off like that. He had no right to dictate Boruto's future. He also dreaded the thought of Boruto finding out, not to mention Hinata and the others.
He should have refused immediately, but the hopeful look in Shigeru's eyes had held him back. Still, he quickly decided to rectify that mistake and arranged for a private conversation soon, the next night at the earliest. Yet, the more the news spread, the harder it became for him. What if Shigeru was on the verge of death? If that were true, the man might have considered Naruto to be the only one capable of looking after his daughter. How many daughters did Shigeru have again? Naruto couldn't remember. But given that possibility, he couldn't bring himself to say no.
Still, he couldn't force Boruto to marry a stranger. They were far too young for that kind of responsibility. He doubted his son had a girlfriend. After all, Boruto was fairly well-known at his age. Sarada? No. Absolutely not! Sasuke would surely laugh at the thought if it were true. Boruto wasn't that foolish, was he? Now that he thought about it, he had never heard Boruto mention any girls or romance. He had always been focused on honing his skills as a shinobi, obsessively training with Sasuke from a young age. As he pondered this, he realized he needed to assign Boruto fewer missions; otherwise, he might not even see the faces of his grandchildren in his lifetime. Plus, he knew Himawari would never marry anyone. She wouldn't even date. She would always be his baby girl, and he refused to think otherwise. As for Kawaki? He had no idea what to expect from him, so he left that uncertainty alone. in five years or so, if fate permits, the idea of playing with his little grandchildren did sound appealing--
Wait. No. No. No! What was he even thinking? It was far too soon to be daydreaming about marriage and children. Shigeru had completely messed with his head.Naruto knew he needed to come up with something and act quickly.
"Are you just going to agree?" Kakashi's voice snapped Naruto back to reality. He turned to his former sensei, confused.
"When did I say that I agreed?"
"You didn't refuse him either."
"I can't just do that, and you know it. Besides, I was buying us some time." Kakashi held his chin for a moment, pondering his response. "Hmm. It seems like you're running out of it, though." The doorknob clicked twice before Sarada and Mitsuki entered the room, and Naruto immediately cursed himself. He had called Team 7 in for their recent mission report and completely forgotten about it. Seeing the calm look on Sarada's face though, the Hokage let out a sigh of relief.
"Good evening, everyone," they greeted as Mitsuki set down a pile of thin papers on Naruto's desk, studying the tense expressions of the men one by one—everyone except one. "Ah, Sarada, good timing. We were just discussing Boruto's—" "Thank you for the reports. You guys can leave now," Kakashi interrupted, awkwardly laughing before giving Sai a hard nudge on the knee to silence him. However, Sarada and Mitsuki weren't easy to fool.
"Hmm. It's quite rare to see the Sixth Hokage in this office, especially at this time of day," Mitsuki remarked in a voice barely above a whisper. The silence in the room made his statement carry. Before Naruto could respond, Sarada spoke up again. "What about Boruto?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. When no answer came, she grew tense. "Is he okay? Wasn't he returning from his solo mission soon?" Shikamaru had had enough. He coughed and gestured for the two to leave. "Rest assured, he is alright. In fact, we were actually discussing that." He skillfully deviated from the conversation, a talent Kakashi had always admired. Once Sarada and Mitsuki had no further questions, Sarada bowed.
"Very well, we'll excuse ourselves now." She offered a smile with her eyes closed, sending a cold chill through the room. She ushered Mitsuki out, her expression blank as she closed the door behind her a bit too gently, which Kakashi noted. It reminded him of Sakura. Sai smiled and waved at the duo as they departed. Silence filled the room. "Well? They seem pretty normal to me," Naruto remarked, sweat dropping from his forehead. Shikamaru glanced at the door before shooting a sharp gaze back at him.
"I think they don’t know yet. But we should—”
“—and we’re not telling them. Not yet,” Naruto corrected, earning a half-hearted sigh of exhaustion from his advisor. "I'll get everything ready," Shikamaru whispered mainly to himself. "Although this is going to be such a drag." Kakashi stifled his laughter with a cough, sharing a long look with Sai. This was going to be interesting to witness. "We need to stall Mr. Shigeru until dinner," Naruto continued. "And as much as I don't want to say this—" He turned to the tall, dark-haired man behind him, his expression serious. "—you are in charge." Sai nodded, following the Hokage's pointing finger to his own face. "You can count on me," he replied, mirroring Sarada's gentle smile.
He had come a long way in his journey to understand human emotions. Ever since his recruitment into Team 7, he had learned many things about how the human brain works. Still, there was much he did not fully comprehend.As the head of the ANBU, Sai had to manage and manipulate a great deal of information. He was acutely aware of when to reveal specific data to whom and at what time. The Hokage was an exception; he was the one person who deserved to know everything.
However, sometimes Sai preferred to keep things from Naruto. He didn't want to worry his friend unnecessarily, especially since he often managed situations himself before they reached Naruto's ears. At other times, he simply did not consider the information important enough to share. What difference would it make anyway?For instance, he had seen the Uchiha make that expression before; he had also seen it on her mother far too many times.
He recognized that it was fake.
..................................................................
Shikadai and Inojin had had enough for the day. First Shikamru sets them up for a guard mission. A mere C rank. Considering the fact that he was a Jounin, this wasn't even the most embarrassing thing his father had made Shikadai do. Hence it wasn't the worst part of the day yet. But what did make it worse were the old ladies babbling about the new trending post on the Konoha bubble.
Shikadai, unlike many of his peers, had preferred staying away from that cursed application as far as possible.
Curiosity kills a cat. It fucking always does.
Hence, an hour later the Nara found himself staring at Chocho's phone. She was trying to log into her account as they strolled towards the Thunder Burger. Apparently, Sarada has called them all for an urgent meetup this evening at the same spot. Coincidence? He thinks not.
"Just change your password!"
"No. I can't come up with any more unique ones. Its the 5th time already."
"Unique? My ass! All your passwords either starts or ends with the word 'butterfly'!"
"Which is why they are unique!"
"No, they're not!"
"Shut up!"
Shikadai let out a deep sigh of annoyance. The time Chocho took to remember her password, cause she refused to change it again for the 5th time, was enough for them to cover half the distance. "Ah! There it is!" The Kunoichi informed in a bubbly voice scrolling through the home page. Shikadai and Inojin got closer to get a better look as she clicked on the 'trending' section. A few moments later the three were now staring at her phone screen, stunned and bewildered.
"HUH?!"
Chocho exclaimed, almost dropping her phone to the floor before Iwabe caught it from behind. Denki and Sumire were found following after him not much later. "I see, so you guys also know?" Sumire had asked, short of breath from the run that she just had to make. Ignoring the fact that they appeared out of thin air, any response that Shikadai had to this new piece of information died in his throat.
He needed to talk to Sarada before jumping to conclusions. Thus, they all met up in Thunder Burger as they had planned. Sarada informed them how they got to know about it from the office staff, while they were going to submit their mission reports. Mitsuki had left one of his snakes there to keep them updated. Sumire and the others had just come back from a joint mission in the hidden cloud before they overheard the gatemen whispering to each other.
"I don't understand what is going on!"
Sarada concluded after a while, yelling mostly to herself. Heck, she almost stormed in the Hokage's office before Mitsuki had stopped her in her tracks.
"Violence will not work. We need to get a hold of the situation first."
He had told her. The situation? It didn't take long for them to realize how the situation was. Out of control would be the precise word for it. Seems like even the Nanadaime wanted to get out of it as much as they did. Although she still didn't know the whole story.
Why had he agreed in the first place?
This was wrong on so many levels that she couldn't even comprehend. Moreover, she didn't know why was she even getting so riled up just because, out of fucking nowhere, Uzumaki Boruto, her childhood friend, and partners since diapers, had apparently decided to marry some stranger? Was that girl even a stranger? Or did he even know of all of this in the first place? And why the fuck was everyone in the village so happy about it. She just couldn't understand.
"We need to speak with the Hokage about this immediately!" Sumire exclaimed, urgency lining her voice as her brow furrowed with concern. "We can't allow this to happen without Boruto's consent." Mitsuki, with a serene smile playing on his lips, gently interrupted her, his calm demeanor contrasting with her agitation."Its no use." He said.
He reached into the flowing fabric of his long sleeves and effortlessly drew forth one of his snakes, its scales glistening under the dim light. "Well, it appears that a celebratory dinner has already been arranged for tomorrow night," he stated, his tone smooth and measured. "All adults are invited to attend." The mention of the dinner hung in the air, a mixture of confusion and unease rippling through the room.
"WHAT?!!!"
Oh man this was getting bigger than they thought.
Celebratory dinner? Sarada puked at the idea. In addition, if all adults were invited, it appears that even her mother had chosen to betray her today, which is quite surprising.
Any hope Sumire had with her was crushed by this response. "Even Lady Hinata? How is this happening so fast." Iwabe asked flabbergasted. Shikadai breathed deeply from his nose, running the gears in his head. Why would the adults not inform them beforehand?
Atleast his father would've said something. Heck, Boruto would've told him. But the guy hasn't set foot in the land of fire for almost half a year. Shikadai knew that Boruto wasn't involved. Then what the fuck was happening?
Marriage was a big thing. And unlike their parents' era, they all were far too young. Lord Seventh would never allow this, let alone lady Hinata.
Did Himawari knew? Or Kawaki?
By the way things were going they probably don't have a clue either. In conclusion, this was nothing but a big fat mess that he had to get his childhood friend out of. Like usual. "Seriously, this guy. Always getting into some trouble." A deep silence followed, no one had anything to say anyway. No one but one person.
"She must be pregnant."
Chocho munched on her favorite salted chip, before casually dropping the bomb of the day. "The mystery girl I mean." she added nonchalantly. It didn't take long for them to register what she had said. Before they all exploded simultaneously.
"Don't be ridiculous! "
"As if he can screw anyone before me!"
"Not now Chocho!"
Sarada said nothing, instead she shot her best friend the coldest look she could possibly make. Chocho almost felt like she had a fever. Although Chocho was defensive. Because, this time she felt like her argument was valid. "What?He was out for nearly a year–"
"7 months." Mitsuki corrected, amused at the flow of this conversation. Chocho took a pause before licking her lips and passed a smirk. "All you need is a one night, boy."
Sarada was speechless.Could this be true?
No.No.No.
This was Chocho they were talking about. She was beyond ridiculous most of the time, that was her birth defect. "Can't really blame him. I've read it in a book. It's called 'Lone Lust'. Happens to anyone away from home for so long, let alone a teenage boy nearly 16–"
"My brother is not like that!"
A new voice drew the attention towards itself before Himawari jumped from the last bench and marched towards the whole group. A tall man followed after, he was easily recognizable, could be none other than Kawaki, except for the hat that he was wearing. Mitsuki noted.
"He will never do such a thing!" Hima yelled , teary eyed but angry nonetheless."Told you, this whole undercover shit was just stupid ." Kawaki said from behind, practically tearing off the pink bunny cap from his head that Himawari had made him wear.
"Himawari! "
"What are you doing here?" Sarada asked before sharing a worried look with Mitsuki. Though before either of them could utter a word, Inojin stepped forward.
"Okay so first of all–" He looked at the two alternatively. "Which one of you actually uses the Konoha bubble ?" Kawaki gave him a disgusting look. Like he was some annoying pest on the wall ready to be squashed.
"Why the fuck do you think it would be me, midget?"
"Stop fighting you two!"
Himawari interrupted waving her hands in the air so they would reach their faces. "That was me!" Shikadai gave her a stern look. "You're too young to be wasting time in that." He remarked.
"I'm not! I'm famous there, and don't act like my big brother!"
At that point, Shikadai could finally understand the sheer desperation behind Kawaki's cold eyes, who wanted nothing but to get away from all this. "In any case, what are you two doing here?"
"Ah , About that!"
Himawari thinned her lips, turning to everyone, sharing a look with Sarada, before they stretched into her famous devilish smirk. Sarada felt an instant pang of deja vu, not in a good way, this was before they almost died in a mission long ago when Boruto had made the same expression. The Uzumaki smirk that always indicated an incoming hazard.
"I have a plan."
........................................