Nindō 0075: Grown Up?

As the master-disciple pair ate, Naruto explained to Sarada the situation with Matatabi's chakra integration. He didn't go too deep into the nitty gritty and merely told her that, eventually, she would be able to become a special jinchūriki that had never existed before. That seemed to excite the girl enough that she squealed excitedly before getting embarrassed once again.

"So from now on, instead of this convoluted training regime where you exhaust your chakra and wait for me to recover it for you, we will move on to chakra control training instead. Every morning, I want you at our usual training ground at five in the morning sharp. We will train together for three hours before you have to leave for your daily missions. After that, you are free to do whatever you want. I'm sure you've missed socializing with your friends these days with this hectic training schedule anyway."

Sarada nodded earnestly before a hesitant expression appeared on her face. "Um …" She had an intense gaze.

"I know you are reluctant to stop having ramen with me, so how about we just change our meeting time instead? We can eat breakfast at Ichiraku before you have to leave for your missions."

"Can't we train in the evenings?" Sarada asked. "I don't feel like getting up so early …" She mumbled.

"We could. But that means that you have to rush directly to the training ground once your day is finished, not leaving any time to hang out with your friends. I don't want the training to go on too late, your mother will worry."

"Fine …" Sarada mumbled. "Morning it is …" She seemed resigned before a cute pleading expression appeared on her face. "Master, I'm your lovely disciple, right? Why don't you tell Konohamaru-sensei to make our shift a little later?"

"No can do, Sarada. That is a part of a larger system. All of the ninja teams that work on simple and short-term C and D rank missions are supposed to start at eight and finish at five. If I change it for one, all of them will start asking me to change things up, making things very complicated. The system was already very difficult for me to implement. Not to mention, without it, you can say goodbye to the strict nine-hour shift. Without that system being as rigid as it is, some teams would end up working on those D rank missions for the entire day while others will find themselves free in a few hours."

"Please~" She showed a cute pout, trying to get her master to fold.

"Be good, Sarada," Naruto put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair, forcing her to close her eyes. "Now then," He said with a hint of finality. "We're already a little late. I'm going to pack up and pick Himawari from the Academy before heading home. You should do the same, lest Sakura break into my house to chew my ear off."

"Haha … she wouldn't do that …" She didn't seem that confident.

"Don't underestimate your mother," Naruto spoke from experience.

…

[After so many surprises, I'm curious as to what effects natural energy is going to bring when you transfer it through the mark.]

[Let's put a stopper on that, buddy. After the surprise with Karin and this surprise with Sarada, I just want to go home and rest with Hinata. I can't even sleep early because of the whole Karin situation. She still needs a while to absorb all of that chakra. We can try further experimentation later.]

"And–and then, Shino-sensei lured a boar that we all worked together to hunt. I subdued the huge thing with a single attack of my Gentle Fist," Himawari spoke proudly. "Then we let it go after feeding it a few carrots."

"My Hima is the strongest of all," Naruto spoke cooingly and bent over to pick his daughter up in his arms.

"Daddy …" The girl had taken to a different address for him for the past few days. Whether it was the influence of her brother or something else, she had abruptly decided that Tou-chan was too childish. "I'm not a child. Let me down."

"You'll always be daddy's little girl, Hima," Naruto ignored her protests and nuzzled his nose into Himawari's cheek. "Tell me more. What else did you do in the day camp?"

"You're embarrassing me …" The child was red-faced.

Seeing Himawari's current expression, Naruto had a sudden thought.

"What's with all this change, huh? Did my daughter suddenly find a boy she likes?" He teased with a hint of probing.

"T-Tou-chan!" The girl was embarrassed, and her natural address for Naruto came out. "I'll complain to Kaa-chan that Tou-chan was teasing me …" She puffed her cheeks and looked away.

"Fine, fine. I was just curious why you've suddenly started trying to seem like you're growing up."

"I am growing up, Daddy. It's natural for a person to slowly grow out of their childhood habits. When I'm thirty years old, I obviously won't be asking you to feed me food."

"By then, I'll be old enough that I'll ask you to feed me. How about that?"

"You'll just be in your fifties, Daddy. Don't tease me like that."

"My little Hima is trying to act all grown up suddenly," Naruto lamented. "I just hope you don't end up finding a boy for yourself … I'm telling you beforehand, if he isn't stronger than me, he can forget about dating my daughter."

"I'll die alone then, Daddy. No one's stronger than you," Himawari giggled at Naruto's theatrics. "My daddy is the strongest."

"That's perfectly fine by me. I'll make sure never to let my Hima leave the nest."

"Hmph," She snorted and puffed her cheeks again. "Then I'll run away from home. Mom will help me get free of my tyrant daddy."

"T-tyrant!?" Naruto pretended to be hurt as Himawari looked away from him.

The father and daughter duo continued bantering as Himawari continued telling Naruto about the rest of her day. After some thought, Naruto decided to take a slightly longer way home today, wanting to spend some more quality time with his daughter. As for the villagers, his presence in the village — as a clone or otherwise — was natural enough that no one came up to him to greet him and disturb the pair.

…

"Welcome home, Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted as she opened the door. Her expression got even softer when she saw Himawari nestled in Naruto's arms, sleeping with her face buried in his neck. "Was Hima's day tiring?"

"She was very energetic earlier, but it was just fumes," Naruto stepped through the door and kissed his wife in greeting. "Just as she finished telling me about her day, she was out like a light."

"Come on in; dinner is ready. Wake Hima up as well," Hinata's eyes brightened at Naruto's casual display of affection and lingered on him as he took off his shoes, followed by those of Himawari, before entering the living room. She bent over and fixed both of their shoes, placing them in the corner while following them inside.

"How was your little outing with Ino and Sakura?" Naruto asked just as he took his seat on the dining table.

Hinata's expression turned a little unnatural, "They had … questions."

"I expected as much. I wish I was there to see you stuttering in embarrassment," He laughed amusedly while Hinata looked at him with aggrievement.

"They just teased me a little," her voice got very small as she clasped her hands together and looked at the floor. "But you should at least get rid of the other thing … It's been there the whole day."

Naruto smiled at his wife's state, [If it wasn't for the kids, I would roughly grab you and put you over this dining table before fucking your brains out. You're aroused out of your mind, aren't you? You're dying to feel my cock messing up your insides.]

"Naruto-kun …" Hinata's voice got even smaller as even her ears turned red. She wasn't surprised by Naruto's telepathic abilities — he had already tried it with her over the past week by using the same chakra excuse as usual.

"Call Boruto down, Hinata," Naruto spoke. "I'm famished. Hima is in the same boat as me."

Hinata looked at him with an expression of aroused resentment before taking a deep breath. Her expression quickly normalized into the previous gentle and loving one. All traces of the freaky Hinata that only came out when Naruto riled her up disappeared.

[I am always amazed at your ability to suppress your inner slut when it comes to the kids …] Hinata didn't react to Naruto's words and called Boruto down for dinner.

"Hey, Hima. Wake up," Naruto shook his younger daughter awake.

"Huh?" She was confused and looked around with glassy eyes. "Lemme sleep, Tou-chan." She wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and buried her face in his neck.

"You must be hungry, right? Let's eat dinner before going to sleep. If you don't eat your food, then how will you grow up?"

"I don't wanna grow … I'll always be Tou-chan's princess."

"It's funny how she changes her tunes when it is to her benefit," Naruto shook his head in amusement and tried a few times before Himawari finally gave up on going back to sleep, looking at Naruto angrily.

"You woke me up."

"Dinner is an important part of the day, Hima," Naruto said. "Nutrition is vital for a shinobi."

"Fine … I'll eat. But only if you feed me."

"As my princess wishes," Naruto smiled.

***

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