"Dad?"

Naruto paused at the closed doorway of his son's room. He cracked the door open and saw Boruto sitting up in his bed, his lamp on.

He stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him. Taking a seat on the edge of Boruto's bed, he smiled gently at the boy who looked so much like him. His son, who he was so lucky to have.

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me the story again!"

"What story?" Naruto asked.

"The one about the suns who raised you and the moon who changed you," Boruto said proudly. "See, I remembered what you told me!"

"Well, do you remember how it starts?"

Boruto frowned in concentration. His eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered.

"Red and yellow make orange. Just like the sun."

Naruto smiled at him, continuing with the story.

"It began with the two suns. Red and yellow. Konoha's Red Hot Habanero and Konoha's Yellow Flash. Their son was the orange sun, their legacy. They loved their son with all their heart. So much, that they sacrificed their lives to seal the Nine-tailed Fox in him.

"Their son grew up, alone and unloved. The demon in him scared other people, and nobody would talk to him. But he had his own ninja way. Never give up! Never go back on his word! So he kept going. Even when it seemed everyone was against him. He always said, 'I will become Hokage! Believe it!' And he wasn't going to go back on his word. He ignored the whispers of the villagers. He ignored the temptations of the demon fox. He believed that he could do it.

"But then he met the moon. The blue moon, a rare, treasured friend. And so they fought. And so they laughed. Friends. And before they knew it, they were inseparable.

"He also met the flower and his mentor. Together they were an unstoppable team. And they would always stand with him. They still do."

"Sasuke-sensei and Sakura-san and Kakashi-sensei, right, Dad?" Boruto interrupted.

Naruto grinned and nodded.

"Right, Boruto."

He took a deep breath and continued.

"But the moon wanted revenge. Revenge on the crow who had killed his family. That crow...was his brother. The moon set off on a journey, seeking revenge. He fought, with his powerful eyes, his bolt of lightning, and with his sharpened sword. He killed many of his enemies. But he still hadn't killed the crow.

"The only way for him to reach his brother's skill was to become more powerful. To do that...he had to kill his closest friend. And so he and the sun faced off. But he couldn't kill his best friend. He left, for years, seeking more power.

"The sun could never stop trying to bring him back. He never stopped believing that the moon could change. And that made the sun himself change. He believed in his friend so much. He finally had a friend, and he wasn't going to let him go.

"The moon killed the crow, and found out the truth. He found out that the crow had chosen between the village and his family. And the crow had chosen the village, killing his family. Eventually the moon went back to join the sun, his best friend. They fought together, the sun, the moon, the flower, and their teacher, standing together once more. The unstoppable team defeated their greatest enemy, but the moon demanded one more fight against the sun. The moon wanted to be Hokage. But so did the sun. And so they fought. The sun refused to give up. He fought until the very end to stop the moon.

"And the fight ended. They lay on the ground, looking at each other. Finally, the moon saw how much the sun cared for him. He saw how far the sun would go to stop him. He saw that his best friend would lose an arm for him. And so the moon said to the sun, 'I accept it. This is...my loss.'

"The sun became Konoha's Orange Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki. But he would always remember Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. And he would never forget Sasuke Uchiha.

"Because they were the suns who raised him and the moon who changed him."

Boruto blinked sleepily up at Naruto.

"Hey...Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I like that story."

Naruto was about to reply, but stopped when he realized that Boruto had fallen asleep. He smiled, making a mental note to tell Boruto his answer the next morning.

Me too, Boruto.

Me too.