Author's Note: I don't plan on this story following Naruto Gaiden much. In fact, I wrote this chapter before it came out. It's my version of what happened after 700. It slightly follows the Boruto movie. I'm just going to make it my own thing though. Enjoy!

Uchiha Sarada concentrated all of her attention on smashing the boulder in front of her after she shifted her glasses. Her mother and her best friend, Uzumaki Boruto, watched from the side.

"C'mon Sarada, smash it to bits!" Boruto shouted.

Focusing her chakra to her hand like her mother had taught her, Sarada ran at full speed towards the boulder. Then, as soon as she reached it, she let her hand fly into the large rock without resistance. A crunching sound was heard and she opened her eyes with a huff of disappointment. It had only cracked, like always. She let her back rest against the chunk of earth and slid down to a sitting position, trying to catch her breath.

Boruto shoved his hands into his pockets, tilting his head to the side. "Well, it cracked a lot more than it did last time."

"I'm never going to get it right," Sarada said.

Sakura walked over to her daughter and offered a hand. "Cheer up! You'll get it next time!"

She took her hand and frowned. "That's what you said the last three times Kaa-chan. How long did it take you?"

The pair made their way back to the Uzumaki when Sakura answered. "A long time. You're learning faster than I did you know."

Sarada beamed. "Really?"

The other kunoichi smiled and nodded.

"Can you teach me how to do that Oba-san? I wanna destroy things with one punch too!"

Sakura chuckled and ruffled the eager boy's hair. "Sorry Bolt, but I don't think this type of training is for you."

He crossed his arms. "Aw man! And I don't want to be called Bolt anymore!"

She took her hand off of his head and frowned. "Why not?"

"That was the name I had BEFORE I became a Genin. I'm not a little kid anymore." He pointed at Sarada's forehead protector prior to his own. "We aren't some little kids you can mess around with either!"

Sakura grinned. "You certainly aren't. Do me a favor though and don't grow up too fast."

The two Genin nodded simultaneously. Boruto yawned. "Do you know when Sasuke-oji will be back? He said we were going to do some training this weekend."

Sarada frowned at the thought of her father. She remembered his promise to come to the ceremony where she and her other classmates were promoted to the Genin rank. He lied and didn't even show up that month. In fact, Sasuke hadn't been home once in the last six months. The only time she heard anything about him at all during his absence was when Boruto came back from training with him. Even then, Sasuke would only train with Boruto a few days at a time.

Sakura thought for a minute. "Sorry, I haven't heard from him recently."

Boruto groaned. Sakura announced that she had to go back to work in the hospital and the thirteen year olds made their way into the village. It was about time for lunch and it was Friday. The Academy gave students a special once a year free day so they could get in some training.

"I'm getting tired of waiting around for Sasuke-oji to come back on his own time. It's so irritating!" Boruto exclaimed.

Sarada frowned. "I haven't seen him in half a year so I wouldn't know anything..."

The Uzumaki put his hands behind his head and his expression changed to one of curiosity. "Really? He asks about you and Sakura-oba all the time."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm surprised."

He tilted his head so that he was facing the road in front of him once more. A mischievous smile appeared on his lips. "I'm gonna go throw balloons with paint in them at the Hokage's office after lunch. Want to join in?"

A sigh. "Why are you doing it this time?"

"My old man is always in his office. Whenever he actually decides to come home, he doesn't even act like I exist unless it's to scold me or refuse to do something with me."

They walked in silence for the next minute. Boruto was thinking of other ways to irritate his father. He had told the truth. Whenever Naruto came home from work, he'd usually go straight to bed or tell his son that he still had a lot to do. If he ever did anything with his kids, it was usually entertaining Himawari, Boruto's little sister. Naruto reached out to his disgruntled son a long time ago, convincing the boy to stop playing pranks. However, that had quickly changed when the elder Uzumaki did as he usually would and failed to keep his promises. Maybe once or twice he'd spent time with Boruto, but it didn't facilitate the situation much.

Sarada frowned and spoke with a saddened tone. "At least you know where your father is all the time."

The son of the Nanadaime's jaw dropped slightly and he glanced at his friend. "I guess both our dads kinda suck." He laughed quietly. "So are you coming or not?"

The Uchiha grinned. "Sure, but I'm only going to watch. It's always fun to see you get in trouble."

He smiled playfully. "You're such a wimp. Why won't you help me out? If you help me do this, I'll do something to Sasuke-oji for you. Just tell me what to do and I'll say it was all me!"

She sighed. "As much as I would like that, do you honestly want to see my mother get mad?"

They both shivered at the thought of an infuriated Sakura. Just before they'd become Genin, Boruto pulled a well thought out prank on his aunt. She'd gotten so mad he was surprised that she wasn't literally breathing fire. That was probably the biggest mistake the young and unfortunate Uzumaki had made in his life so far. If that wasn't enough, when Boruto's mother, Uzumaki Hinata, found out, her punishment proved to be almost as bad as Sakura's.

A nervous smile settled on his lips. "Yeah, maybe you should just watch."

Boruto had an evil grin on his face while he eagerly rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He and Sarada were sitting on a high tree branch, a bucket of balloons filled with paint resting next to them.

Sarada repeatedly cast nervous glances inside the Hokage's office. Her uncle didn't seem to be inside at the moment but that did little to ease her worry. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Heck yeah! My old man is a piece of crap and I'm gonna make sure he knows it!" He grabbed a balloon and took aim, giving a mischievous laugh as he did so. "The windows are open. This is gonna be great!" He released the first balloon and it sailed through the air, landing right above the open windows. The boy grunted as he threw the second. It went through the window but hit the floor in the center of the room.

"Are you trying to hit his computer?" Sarada inquired.

Boruto bit his lower lip and closed one eye as he aimed once again. "Yep!" As he had hoped, the third hit the computer and splattered paint all over the object, causing sparks to fly in every direction. The boy laughed out of satisfaction and tossed the remaining balloons inside the office. He grabbed Sarada's hand and they jumped down from the tree. "Let's get as far away as possible!" the boy shouted.

"He's still going to know it was you," Sarada responded.

"I don't want to get you in trouble though."

The Uchiha stared at her friend in surprise.

He turned his head towards her and smiled as they ran on. "Besides, nothing is worse than Sakura-oba getting angry!"

Sarada returned the smile and the pair halted another minute later. "Well, I'm going to head home."

Boruto waved and they separated.

Uzumaki Naruto nearly busted the hinges off of the front door as he stormed up to his son's room, holding a laptop dripping with paint. Hinata and Himawari, who were playing with dolls, shared a confused glance as they heard the livid man's footsteps echo throughout the house.

"Kaa-chan, why does Tou-chan look so angry?" Himawari asked.

"I don't know sweetie. I'm going to see what's wrong. Stay down here and I'll come play in a minute."

Hinata traveled all the way up the stairs and watched her husband fling their son's bedroom door open. She waited at the top of the steps, trying to hear what the problem was before she stepped in.

Boruto jumped as the door opened. He could tell that his father was extremely upset and furious.

"What," Naruto held the laptop up higher, "is this?!"

The boy being confronted gulped and sank lower in his chair. Before the sudden interruption, he'd been writing down more ways to make his father mad. Without looking, he shoved the list under a book and shrugged.

"You don't know?!"

Boruto kept his silence, not even daring to move a muscle.

The Hokage slammed the laptop down on his oldest child's desk and towered over him. "Tell me, what's that colorful stuff that's covering my broken laptop?"

The boy didn't answer.

"I asked you a question!"

"Paint..." Boruto was able to squeak out.

"Where did that paint come from? You better not lie to me either!"

"A balloon..."

"Where did the balloon come from?"

He shrugged.

Naruto backed up and crossed his arms. "You don't know, huh? That's interesting, because my entire office was covered in paint. The only person that ALWAYS does this kind of thing is you." He towered over his son once more. "I will ask you again. Where did the balloons come from?"

He swallowed and whispered, "I threw them..."

Naruto's hands grasped at his hair as he paced around the bedroom. "I had a lot of important documents on there Bolt! What were you thinking?!"

"Don't call me Bolt anymore."

The Hokage stopped pacing and stared at his son in surprise. "Fine! Right now your name can be Grounded! You're not leaving this house for the rest of the weekend!"

"But-!"

"No buts about it! You're lucky I don't ground you for next weekend too!"

With that, Naruto grabbed his ruined laptop and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Boruto growled and jumped onto his bed. He had been expecting punishment, but not being confined to the house for the remainder of the weekend. That was fine though. It would give him more time to think of more ways to get back at his father. This only added to the many things he'd get revenge for.

Sarada tapped her pencil on the desk as she thought about a question on her homework. Night had fallen on the village of Konoha and she had been working on it for a couple of hours now. Usually she would get it done in a matter of minutes, but she was distracted. Her father had sent home a letter saying he would be home by the end of the day. At first, she didn't know whether to be glad or furious. Her final decision was mad. It was based on the fact that he lied about being able to come to her Genin ceremony. Not only that, but it'd been half a year since he had been home and seen his family.

Glancing out a window, it turned into a stare of disbelief and her mouth nearly dropped to the floor. Adjusting her glasses so she could see better, Sarada leaned closer to the window in order to get a closer look. Sure enough, she saw a dark figure down the road, slowly but surely making its way towards the house. Uchiha Sasuke was staring straight ahead, heading in the direction of the house. Sarada always found it funny how her father refused to wear light colors. He appeared to be tired but nonetheless, a small smile was barely visible on his lips. The male Uchiha put up his heavily bandaged left arm to cover a yawn.

When he reached the front door, Sarada looked down to see her mother quickly embrace him and they kissed. The young Uchiha rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Gross..." Then, she glimpsed at her forehead protector and remembered that she should be mad at him. She sighed deeply and frowned as she turned her attention back to her homework.

Meanwhile downstairs, Sasuke and Sakura stumbled through the doorway as they hugged.

"How have you been?" Sasuke asked as he kissed her forehead.

Sakura blushed while he pulled away. "Good. What about you?"

"I've been better. What about Sarada?"

The pink-haired woman frowned. "She's probably mad at you."

"I know that I've been gone for longer-"

"No, it's not that."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

She huffed in complete annoyance. "Did you really forget? I thought it just had something to do with your travels..."

Sasuke was still lost and Sakura was increasingly getting irritated. "You'll figure it out. You should go talk to her."

He set his bag down and walked to Sarada's bedroom. They basically lived in a mansion so everything they did echoed throughout the house. It had been rebuilt for them and Sasuke called it the Uchiha Manor so everyone else did, too. He knocked and heard her give permission to enter, so he slowly opened the door.

She glanced at him through the corner of her eye and continued to write something down. "Hn, Tou-chan."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. "Since when does she call me Tou-chan? I thought it was Papa..." He cleared his throat. "How have you been?"

The girl turned in her chair, acting like this was nothing out of the ordinary and like he hadn't been gone for the past six months. "Fine, you?"

"Hn, good..."

Sasuke was extremely bewildered. Apparently he'd forgotten something important and now things between him and his daughter were getting to be awkward. "Do you want to," he scratched his head, "maybe, go on a walk with me?"

Her expression was still indifferent when she whirled back around and began writing again. "I'm doing homework. I have to learn a lot more now since I'm a..." She sighed and leaned closer to the desk as she worked.

Before completely closing the door, Sasuke saw the forehead protector and mentally facepalmed. Walking back to where he left Sakura, a string of curse words escaped his lips. "What have I done?" he said as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"So you figured out," Sakura said knowingly as she moved closer.

He buried his face in his hands and nodded.

"She's just upset right now. Did you say anything about it?"

Sasuke shook his head.

Sakura thought for a minute. "I'm sure things will get better after you say something. Just give it time."

He removed his face from his hands and rested his head on the back of the couch. "One more thing. When did I become Tou-chan?"

She chuckled quietly in amusement. "Her and the others who became Genin are trying to act more, mature, now. If it makes you feel better, I'm Kaa-chan instead of Mama."

He frowned and crossed his arms while sitting up. "What about her training?"

"She's getting a little frustrated lately. She's progressing faster than I did though."

Sasuke smirked. "Hn, she is your daughter so she has your smarts in chakra control."

His wife returned the smirk. "She's definitely your daughter, having your impatience."

They leaned forward to share another short kiss. Sasuke broke it to ask another question. "Have they been placed into teams yet?"

Sakura sighed. "No. Naruto still hasn't made up his mind. In the meantime, we've all been training them separately. How's Bolt, oh wait, I mean Boruto-kun doing lately?"

It was Sasuke's turn to sigh. "That kid is just as stupid as his father, but I can tolerate him more than I can Naruto."

"Well, Hinata won't let him be as 'stupid' as his father. Anyway, are you going to train Sarada?"

"No!"

Sakura looked taken aback when she gave a startled jump. "Why not? I mean, she's fine with me right now, but I can't help her deal with the Sharingan. She still doesn't have it yet."

Sasuke ran both of his hands through his hair, both of them shaking. "I just," he struggled to find the right words, "I'm already busy with Boruto. I hardly have enough time to train him and... I just don't have enough time to train Sarada."

The couple was silent for the next minute until something VERY important to Sasuke popped into his head. "She hasn't gotten involved with boys yet has she?"

Sakura laughed at his serious tone. "You don't have anything to worry about right now. And I promised that I'd be the one to 'interrogate' any boys while you're away."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Hn, good."

"By the way, if you were planning on training with Boruto-kun in the next few days, you might want to cancel that."

"What did that little dobe do now?"

"Sarada told me that he was throwing paint balloons into his father's office this time."

Sasuke cursed under his breath. After he finished, a sigh left his lips once more. "Do you have anything to do tomorrow? We haven't been together for the last six months."

She smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, yes. I have to be at work all day. On the bright side, you and Sarada can spend some time together."

He frowned. "She hates me right now."

"No she doesn't and you can make up for that tomorrow. Or better yet, make it up right now."

"She's doing homework."

"Sasuke-kun, she has the whole weekend to do that. And since when does someone doing important work stop you from getting what you want? I speak from experience."

The male Uchiha smirked at her last comment. "I guess I'll give it a try."

Sarada turned when she heard another knock on her door. She told the person to enter and it was her father again.

"I'm busy Tou-chan," the young kunoichi said while returning her attention back to the homework.

Sasuke said nothing as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her. He watched in silence while his daughter continued to scribble down more answers.

Sarada repeatedly glanced at her father from the corner of her eye as the man hovered over her shoulder.

"That one is wrong," he said, pointing to one of the answers.

"Thanks," she muttered and changed it.

He slowly picked up the forehead protector and stared at the object. "I'm sorry..."

She stopped writing and twisted towards him. The look on her face made him want to crawl in a hole and die for upsetting her.

The girl adjusted her glasses and averted her eyes to the floor. "It's fine." She gasped and her head popped up again as Sasuke tied the forehead protector around her head, looking her in the eye as he did so. "As beautiful as ever," he said after finishing. "Hm, I don't like it."

Sarada's mouth hung open and she raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't like it because it might attract boys."

"Tou-chan!"

He chuckled quietly prior to kissing her cheek, earning him a glare. "Your mother already mentioned that there weren't any boys yet. Was she right?"

"Yes."

"Good."

She reached for her pencil once more, but Sasuke quickly snatched it and all of the papers and books scattered around it.

"Hey!"

"Why are you doing all of this tonight?"

"Because I want to get it finished. I want a free day tomorrow."

Reluctantly, he handed everything back to her.

She sighed and shook her head along with making motions for him to go. "Leave me alone and, I don't know, go spend time with Kaa-chan. I bet you were already planning something like that anyway."

He smirked and backed up to stand in the doorway. "That's actually a good idea."

Sarada huffed with annoyance. "Then get out. I have work to do."

With one final smirk, Sasuke exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Sarada was left in bewilderment as she twisted her head to look out the window. Her father had never really acted like that. He hadn't mentioned training with Boruto at all so she guessed her mother had already explained the Uzumaki's mischievous actions of the day. "I'm always the second or last choice to him." She rested her head on the desk as she wondered to herself. Boruto was probably grounded for a long time now, so her father might actually bother to spend time with her, that is, if he stayed. She wouldn't put it past him to leave again since he wasn't training with the Uzumaki. As she pondered some more, a realization came to mind. "He seemed like he was actually sorry for not coming. I still don't believe it though. Hmph! He thinks that he can come back here after six months, miss my Genin ceremony, and think that one simple apology makes everything fine?!" She angrily began to do her work once more.

Hinata had recently watched her distressed husband violently attempt to pull his hair out after stomping out of their son's room. "Look at this!" he yelled, dropping the laptop onto the table in the living room.

"Tou-chan, why are you so mad?" Himawari asked.

"It's nothing you need to worry about honey. Can you go up to your room for a few minutes?" Naruto responded.

The young girl nodded and ran upstairs.

After their daughter had exited the room, Hinata sat down next to her disgruntled husband and tried to comfort him.

"Hinata, I don't know what to do with him. He won't stop with these stupid pranks."

"You used to be the same way. He just needs a little more time to mature."

He threw his hands into the air. "I've talked with him about this so many times. I don't understand, but I grounded him for the whole weekend this time."

Hinata tenderly rubbed Naruto's shoulders. "I think you did the right thing by grounding him. I'll go up to Boruto's room and talk to him. Maybe I can help somehow."

The Hokage smiled. "You've always been better at speaking to him than I have."

The married couple shared a long kiss before Hinata made her way upstairs. Prior to entering her oldest child's room, she told Himawari that she could leave her room. The excited little girl happily trotted down the steps and into her father's lap.

Hinata had already decided what she was going to say when she opened her son's bedroom door. What she saw upon entering was the upset Genin sitting on his bed.

"Are you here to scold me too? If you are then you can hold your breath because HE already took care of that."

"Well, what you did was wrong. I'd just like to know why you did it. Bolt, you just turned thirteen. You need to stop with these immature pranks."

"Don't call me Bolt anymore! I'm a Genin now!"

"Then why don't you act like it?" she calmly replied.

He didn't have anything to fire back at his mother. Instead, the boy crossed his arms and turned his head to look out the window.

"Look, your father is a very busy man and he doesn't have time for your pranks."

"Ha! Even when he's not at work, he never has time for me at all!" Boruto bit his lip to keep himself from repeating the words out loud.

"Why do you keep doing this?" Hinata asked while sitting next to her son and stroking his hair. Surprisingly, he didn't protest to the action.

The young Uzumaki frowned and shrugged.

Hinata matched his frown with one of her own. "I'm your mother and that means you can talk to me about anything, anytime you want."

"I know," he muttered, "but I don't have anything to say though."

"Okay, but if you want to talk later, I'll listen." Hinata kissed his cheek and made her way to the bedroom door. She stopped and looked over her shoulder after placing her hand on the knob. "Did you apologize?"

He uncrossed his arms and looked up. Shaking his head, he turned his gaze downward again.

"You don't have to do it tonight. I want you and your father to cool down first."

Sighing, Boruto nodded reluctantly. His mother exited the room and he laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. For the next few hours, the blond daydreamed about what it would be like to have his father home all the time. How would things be if that were the case? Then, he remembered his friend Sarada declaring that she was going through the same thing. Narrowing his eyes, he wondered if it was worse for her than it was for him. "At least Sasuke-oji doesn't only want to speak to her when it involves scolding..."

Boruto tiredly rubbed his eyes as he walked down the hall towards the bathroom. He was about to reach his way point when he heard giggles coming from downstairs. Curiously peering over the railing, he saw his father and sister sitting on the floor.

"You look silly Tou-chan!" Himawari laughed after putting more makeup onto his face.

Naruto smiled and looked into a mirror. He looked like a clown that had been in a horrible accident. "Silly?! I think I look awesome! After all, you're the one doing my makeup."

They both started giggling again and Naruto picked his daughter up, twirling her around. Himawari laughed and smiled until she was breathless.

Boruto sadly looked on as his mother came from the kitchen and grinned at her husband's appearance. Naruto put his daughter down and let her reapply lipstick to him. He then started to chase his wife around the room in an attempt to kiss her. The young boy upstairs almost wanted to smile at the scene. He began to do it, but stopped himself as soon as Naruto hugged both of the girls.

"At least he has time for both of you..."

Clenching his fists, Boruto ran into the bathroom and did his best not to slam the door as hard as he could.

Author's Note: I'll probably include some more of the next generation characters later on in this story. I'm waiting for Naruto Gaiden to progress a little more so I can get a better idea of what their personalities are like.