The Future Has Passed

Epilogue

"It's almost time, isn't it?"

Naruto opened one eye, glancing towards the small clock next to his bed. He was lying in bed, it was warm, his wife was on top of him and he wasn't going to move his ass out even if the world was ending.

"Naruto…"

He groaned. "Yes, it's time."

She rolled off him, ruining the perfect moment of zen. He groaned again, sitting up and turning around, his feet touching the ground.

"Sara," he said. "Is this going to be every morning?"

"It's not my fault she can't wake up on her own," Sara said. "If you teach her how to, I'm sure we can spend more time in the morning."

Naruto shrugged, moving out of the bed and stretching. "You or me today?"

"Your turn."

Naruto nodded, walking out of the bedroom towards the room at the end of the hall. With one swift motion, he ripped the door open and shouted.

"Uzumaki Seramu!"

The girl that was sleeping in bed jumped up, hitting the ceiling. She stuck on it, her hands and feet almost glued to it. She made a noise somewhere between a hiss and a groan. "You could wake me up more gently, idiot father!"

Naruto smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up. "And miss you going wild like that? No way."

Seramu looked so much like Kushina, people wondered whether Naruto's adoptive brother title was just a lie made up to hide something bigger. The girl had his looks, of course, but she inherited her mother's hair.

Though Sara had insisted they named her after his mother, Naruto was certain that it had to be named after her's. The woman who had given her everything for her country would live on in their hearts, and her name would be carried by their daughter.

"You know what today is, right?" Naruto asked. Seramu blinked, dropping down from the ceiling and bouncing off her bed a few times.

"Right," she said, smiling at him. "Academy days, here I come-"

"Breakfast and washing up first," he said. She crossed her arms, grumbling. "Believe me, you'll regret skipping a meal by the time you're there. Academy's not just fun and games."

It's mostly learning, until you get to the practical lessons.

That's when it's mostly fun and games.

It was hard to lie to her, so she was aware of it already.

"Menma-nii's going to go too, right?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "But he's not in my class?"

"Year above you," Naruto reminded her. "Of course, if you're as great as your handsome father, they might put you in the class above-"

"Handsome?" Seramu asked, scoffing. "What kind of person talks about themselves like that, grow up."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Sara, your daughter's mean to me, she called me ugly!"

"Now, now," Sara said, poking her head out of the bedroom. "You shouldn't say such cruel things to your father, he might be a bit arrogant but there's nothing wrong with that."

"It's not arrogance if it's true dammit," Naruto said, skulking out of the room. "Everyone's so mean to me. Only Menma looks up to his uncle."

"Impressing him is the easiest thing," Seramu said, grinning at him. "Maybe if you were cooler I'd be impressed too."

"Maybe if you were cuter you'd have found a boyfriend already," Naruto said, grumbling. Seramu ran at him, trying to kick him in the back of his knees. He dodged, letting her slide over the ground until she hit the wall on the other side of the room.

"I'm too young!" she said. Naruto laughed at her reaction, moving up to her to pat her head.

"Try to sell that when you learn how to hide those magazines you have Tsunade-baa-chan buy you," he said. Seramu flushed bright red, her face and hair becoming the same color.

She had inherited Kushina's temper as well, luckily it was hard for him to be cowed by his own daughter. Unfortunately, Seramu had one advantage. A very, very doting mother.

Sara flicked her finger at his ear, making him flinch back and hiss in pain. "No bullying, I'm going to make breakfast and want this floor to remain standing here."

Naruto nodded, giving his wife a kiss and a quick hug before grabbing his daughter by the legs and dragging her towards the bathroom.

"Don't come out until you're clean," he ordered. Seramu grumbled, defiantly rolling into the room and towards the shower. He closed the door behind her.

It has been twelve years since their wedding. Thirteen years since he's come here. In the absence of war, the nations have grown closer, and Naruto could see the glimmer of hope in everyone's eyes.

In the wall hung an ornate cloth from Iwa, and an CD from Kumo, signed by the Fourth Raikage's own brother. They hung there, next to the gifts from the other villages, congratulating them on their wedding.

He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, watching Sara prepare breakfast with a smile on her lips. Sneaking up on her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kept watching, his chin on her shoulders.

"You smell so good," he said. She didn't say anything, humming as she kept cooking. "We need to take a vacation, just the two of us."

"If we leave that girl alone, we're not coming back to a home," Sara reminded him. He smiled.

"Houses can be rebuilt," he said. She laughed.

Naruto felt at peace.

##################################### FIN

AN: This fic was never meant to be 'long'. It wasn't meant to be this action and adventure filled fic that reaches 100k words and then dies because people have absolutely no perspective of scale. It wasn't going to be that long-winded romance that has 50 chapters until they first held hands, or the fast-paced first chapter love and marriage that seems to be so popular. The fights are where they're necessary, the action could've done with less 'screentime' so to speak. I was aiming for 'catharsis'. I'd like to think I succeeded. I am planning to pick up ssomething else soon. The current ideas are a more long-winded and plot-focused Naruto/Fuu fic or a more personal fic inspired by Amaama to Inazuma, in which Naruto as a single-parent has to deal with both the grief of losing his wife and his lack of domestic ability while he is taught to cook by one of his students (this would likely be a DxD crossover, said student would be Akeno). Whichever the case, if you throw me a follow you'll get an alert on whenever I post either of those. I'm not going to make it a poll, but I wouldn't mind some input on what people would like to see, and why they'd like to see it.

Have a nice day.