Road to Ninja Part 6

"So you've sent Menma off on a mission to another planet," Naruto reiterated.

"Yes, and that's where you come in Naruto,"

"Menma was always busy helping and saving the world,"

"He barely had the chance to be with his family,"

"And whenever he did, they seemed to misunderstand him," Obito said.

"I want you to help Menma,"

"What do you say, Naruto?" Obito asked.

"…" Naruto was silent.

He thought back to Azami and Hanato's reactions of him coming back. Though they were different from Boruto and Himawari, they were like his children in this world. Even if he were not their real dad, He didn't want to leave them by themselves as he did with Boruto and Himawari. Now that he was not the Hokage, what reason did he have to keep himself away from those innocent kids?

In the previous timeline, Hinata was at least there for the kids, but in this timeline, even Sakura herself was busy, did he still have a reason to refuse. Naruto then began to think of another problem.

("If there is one problem that I am going to face, it would probably be that I am short on information, and I cannot be a perfect replacement for Menma. Which means I need to try and avoid any conversation that will bring up the past,")

But there was another problem; it was the issue of dealing with adults like Minato, Kushina, and Sakura.

Naruto looked at Obito.

"I would like to help,"

"But I don't know if I can handle dealing with my dad, mom, Sakura-chan and her parents,"

"I am short on information here, and I don't think I can pull it off," Naruto explained.

*Sigh!*

Obito and Nawaki were helpless; Naruto was right after all. There were only somethings he could pull-off. The problem was that even Obito and Nawaki were short on personal information like what went on in the family.

"I know we are asking a lot…" Nawaki said.

"Naruto,"

"Please, I will do anything," Obito suddenly said.

"huh?" Naruto was shocked to see Obito suddenly bowing his head towards him.

"Menma has worked really hard all this time,"

"At this rate, the family he has strived hard for will fall apart,"

"I know this is asking a lot, but it is only for a short while,"

"If they find out, I will personally take responsibility," Obito pleaded.

"…" Naruto found it hard to refuse their request at this point, but at the same time, he found it hard to accept it as well. In the previous limited Tsukuyomi, his wish was to see his parents alive. Being their only son, Naruto didn't find it hard to accept his alternate reality's parents, since he had yearned it for all his life. But this reality was different. Naruto may have had a small wish of seeing Azami once again, but somethings went against his moral. For example, he could never see himself agreeing to sleep with Sakura in this timeline, should the situation ever arise, since she was Menma's wife and he was married to Hinata from his previous timeline. He could play as the father of the kids for a while, but he couldn't replace Menma.

Naruto looked at Obito and Nawaki.

"I need to tell Sakura-chan or at least my dad here at the very least,"

"I can't go ahead and fool them,"

"I might end up making things worse for Menma," Naruto explained his view on the matter.

"…" Nawaki and Obito were silent.

Naruto's words were correct, but that that would mean that Menma's problem wouldn't be solved once some of the people in the house were aware of the truth.

Nawaki and Obito sighed at the same time.

Menma had done so many things for the village. The two wished Menma would stay with the family once he had taken some days off from Akatsuki, but instead Menma went on a mission to find traces of the Ōtsutsukis.

"Looks like we were asking for the impossible," Obito consumed a cup of sake.

"…" Naruto also felt disappointed being unable to take any actions, but the situation was sensitive.

Naruto looked at Obito.

"Is Sakura-chan going to be busy to the point she won't come home?" Naruto asked.

"There might be an instance or two when she'll be back, but she'll have to be in the office again, early morning," Obito said.

"Hmm," Naruto began to think.

("If Sakura-chan does not come back, there is less risk of being exposed,")

("I might be able to fool Azami, but Hanato might also be a land mine,") Naruto thought back to how Boruto was very protective of Himawari. Hanato might not be outspoken, but he gave the vibe of a person who would very much give everything to protect his family. But there was also a part that made Naruto believe that even if Hanato found out, he wouldn't spoil Azami's happiness.

"Obito,"

"I'll try taking his place for a few days," Naruto said suddenly.

"You mean it?" Obito was shocked seeing Naruto agree to his request.

"Yeah,"

"As long as Sakura-chan doesn't come back much and his kid doesn't figure out, then I might be able to pull this off," Naruto said.

"Thanks, Naruto!" Obito grabbed Naruto's hands.

"Sure…" Naruto scratched his head with a wry smile.

Nawaki also seemed to be happy that Naruto accepted to take over.

"Here, Drink," Obito poured some sake into Naruto's cup.

Naruto downed the content in one go, following which he looked at Obito again.

"Please tell me the rest," Naruto said.

"Oh, Right,"

"Where were we…" Obito paused.

"You were explaining about the boys in Naruto's generation," Nawaki said.

"Right, so next one is Team Asuma,"

"From what you have heard before, Shikamaru is married to Temari, the sister of the Lord Gaara the Kazekage," Obito said.

"Yeah, same in my timeline as well,"

"He's an advisor of mine," Naruto said.

"Well, Shikamaru here became a guardian ninja under the Land of Fire's Daimyō once he became a jōnin,"

"Oh yeah,"

"Who's Sakura's advisor then?" Naruto asked.

"It's Shikamaru's father, Nara Shikaku," Obito said.

("Oh, looks like Old man Shikaku is alive in this timeline…") Naruto thought.

"Akimichi Chōji, is the current head of the Akimichi clan and is married to the no.1 lady chef in the land of fire,"

"WHOAH, he scored a home-run!" Naruto stood up in shock.

"Well, she is busy managing the number one restaurant in the city, so even chōji has to go to her restaurant I am afraid,"

"But other than that, he's lucky when she cooks personally," Nawaki explained.

"hm," Naruto nodded.

"Next up Asuma's wife, Team Kurenai,"

"Kiba became the number one dog breeder and the current head of the Inuzuka clan,"

"Aburame Shino is also the current head of the Aburame clan and leads special tracking teams," Obito explained.

"Wait, Isn't he supposed to be an academy teacher now?" Naruto asked.

"Nope," Obito and Nawaki shook their heads.

"Next up, we have team Guy,"

"Neji is married to Hanabi Hyūga and became a part of the main family," Obito said.

"Oh…" Naruto already expected Neji to be alive after hearing about Shikaku. The Hyūga family tended to have marriages within their clan to keep the pure bloodline running. Hinata would have usually been forbidden from marrying Naruto; however since she was not the heir to the clan anymore and Neji had died during the war, this led to the conditions being cleared for her to marry Naruto later on when they realized their feelings.

"Next up, Lee runs a dojo along with tenten and managed to find a kid who looked like him with the same disability," Obito said.

"That about sums up the boys,"

"Oh wait, there's Ino's husband who can also be considered to be within your generation," Nawaki suddenly said.

("It couldn't be Sai, would it?") Naruto thought back to when Obito had revealed Ino's nature in this reality.

"This guy is quite interesting, to be honest…" Obito said slowly.

"To think that girl could get a husband in the first place…" Nawaki also nodded.

"Is this guy's name Sai?" Naruto asked.

"…" Obito and Nawaki didn't react much since in some way or the other; there seemed to some similarities in both worlds.

"Yeah,"

"In fact, he is the guy who discovered Ino's 'M' side," Obito said.

("I guess, he is good at irritating people,") Naruto thought back to the first time he interacted with Sai. Sai would always end up making Naruto cry for help seeing that Sai could never understand a situation.

("But wait a minute,")

("If Sai discovered Ino's 'M', Doesn't that make him an 'S',") Naruto almost sweated at the thought of a sadistic Sai.