[NEW STORY/COMMISSION] LIFE IN THE HIDDEN LEAF (A NARUTO FANFICTION)

Naruto remembered the swing.

He remembered sitting there beneath the afternoon sun, his small hands wrapped around the chains supporting the seat as he watched the other children gather together across the Academy grounds. They laughed and chased one another between the buildings, calling out to their friends as they ran, while he remained where he was, swinging back and forth with no one talking or waiting for him.

Even then, he had understood that they were avoiding him.

He had tried to convince himself otherwise at first, telling himself that they were busy or that they simply had somewhere else to be, but children were rarely as difficult to understand as adults imagined. Whenever Naruto approached, conversations stopped or moved elsewhere, and whenever he tried to join a game, someone always seemed to find a reason why there was no room for him.

So he had stayed on the swing and watched, and there had been days when he hated every one of them for it. On other days, however, he had wondered what was wrong with him and why nobody seemed to want him around.

All he had wanted was someone to sit beside him.

Sometimes, years later, he found himself wondering what that boy would have thought if someone had told him what his life would become. He had spent so much of his childhood convinced that he would always be alone that he had never really learned how to imagine anything else.

Yet somehow, everything had changed.

The people he had once watched from a distance had been replaced by friends who would stand beside him through battles, argue with him over the smallest things, and walk through his front door without bothering to knock. Along the way, he had found people he could trust, people he could laugh with, and people who would stay even when there was nothing he could do for them in return.

He had found a place where he belonged, and somewhere along the way, he had found love, too.

He had found Hinata.

The thought brought a smile to his face.

There had been a time when Naruto had barely understood what was happening whenever Hinata became flustered around him. Looking back, he could see things he had been far too oblivious to notice as a boy, and the more he came to know her, the more he understood how much courage had always been hidden beneath her shyness. The girl who had once struggled to speak whenever he looked her way had grown into a woman who could stand beside him without hesitation, whether they were facing an enemy or simply trying to decide what to have for dinner.

Somewhere along the way, she had become the person he wanted beside him for the rest of his life.

His wife.

And now she was giving birth to their first child.

Naruto sat beside Hinata, holding her hand while Sakura directed the midwives around them. His other arm rested against his side, the bandages around his prosthetic hand visible beneath the sleeve of his jacket. He had faced enemies who could have destroyed entire villages, faced opponents who seemed determined to tear the world apart, and survived battles that had left everyone around him convinced that he would never make it home. Yet sitting beside his wife while she brought their child into the world had left him more nervous than any battle ever had.

Another contraction came, and Hinata’s fingers closed around his hand.

“Come on, Hinata,” he murmured. “You’ve got this.”

She managed a breathless laugh. “You’ve said that already.”

“I’ll keep saying it.”

“Naruto-kun, I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Right.”

He gave her hand another squeeze, and this time he stayed silent.

Sakura glanced over at him as she worked. “She’s doing fine.”

Naruto nodded, although the reassurance did little to settle him. He trusted Sakura completely, and there was no one he would rather have looking after Hinata, but knowing that she was in capable hands did nothing to stop his heart from pounding whenever another cry escaped her.

So he stayed beside her, letting her grip his hand whenever she needed to and brushing the damp hair from her face when it fell across her eyes. There was little else he could do, and for once Naruto was content to let someone else handle what needed to be done.

When the next contraction came, Hinata’s grip became fierce enough that Naruto winced.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“I hurt you.”

“It’s fine.”

She gave him a tired look.

“You’re sure?”

Naruto laughed despite himself.

“Yeah. I’m sure,” he said, and left it at that. 

Sakura smiled as she continued with the delivery, and when Hinata cried out one last time, Naruto leaned closer and held her hand as tightly as he dared. A moment later, the room filled with the cry of a newborn, and Naruto felt his breath catch as Sakura carefully lifted the baby and checked him over before placing him into Hinata’s waiting arms.

“He’s healthy,” Sakura said. “They’re both healthy.”

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding. “Good.”

The word came out softer than he expected.

Sakura finished her examination of Hinata and the baby while the midwives cleaned up around them. Once she was satisfied, she gathered the remaining supplies and gave Naruto a familiar warning.

“Try not to bother her too much.”

“I won’t.”

Sakura gave him a skeptical look, and Hinata smiled tiredly.

“He’s going to be a handful, isn’t he?” Sakura asked.

“You have no idea,” Hinata replied.

“Hey!”

Sakura laughed as she headed for the door with the midwives, leaving the three of them alone.

Naruto turned toward Hinata and finally got a proper look at their son.

The baby was wrapped in a soft blanket, his tiny face scrunched as he made small sounds between cries. One hand had escaped from the blanket, and when Naruto reached toward him, the little fingers closed around his bandaged finger.

Naruto stared down at the tiny hand, caught off guard by how firmly the little fingers held on and by how something so small could make his chest feel so full. He found himself unable to take his eyes off the bundle in Hinata’s arms.

Hinata watched him with a smile. “Do you want to hold him?”

Naruto looked at her. “Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

She shifted carefully and placed the baby into his arms.

Naruto held him with both hands, afraid that even the slightest wrong movement might hurt him. The baby settled against his chest, his breathing evening out as his tiny fingers remained curled around Naruto’s bandaged finger.

Naruto looked down at him, still trying to understand that this little boy was really his.

His son.

He had spent so much of his childhood wondering what it would be like to have someone waiting for him when he came home, and now he was holding someone who would grow up knowing exactly where home was.

Hinata watched him for a moment before asking, “What should we call him?”

Naruto lifted his eyes to hers, and a mischievous grin appeared.

“What?”

“I’ve got a name.”

Hinata raised an eyebrow. “You’ve had one this whole time?”

“Maybe.”

“Naruto-kun.”

He laughed, then looked down at the child in his arms, his grin easing as he finally gave her the answer.

“Boruto.”

Hinata’s eyes warmed as she looked at their son, and Naruto smiled down at him.

“Boruto Uzumaki.”