A/N: Hi. Well here we are, the penultimate chapter of Missed Years. Is it up to the standards you readers so desperately desire? Probably not. But it is a longer chapter that Chapter 14, positives and negatives people, positives and negatives.

Anyways, if you guys have your feels at the ready, here we go!

What had started as a rush to look after her father in an ill state had actually turned out to be quite a pleasant trip for her. True to his word, Hanabi had exaggerated his sickness somewhat. Within a day her father was strolling around his manor again, although she had insisted that he still rest.

She had actually managed to finally find a bond with her father, she wasn't blessed with a genius intellect for business like Neji or Hanabi, so there was never anything truly for her to connect with her father about.

However, she had children, and they had managed to finally connect through their children. She would tell her father stories of Bolt's rambunctiousness and Himawari's confidence, and her father would reminisce about her and Hanabi as children, how they were rather similar. She spoke about them not having a father most of their life, and it was another thing they could connect on. As Hiashi had similarly dealt with a child without a father, when he had adopted Neji and taken him into his home following the death of his younger twin brother. He remembered Neji's anger of the event, how it tormented him, how it took years for Neji to open up to him.

And surprisingly to her. She was also able to connect with her father over love. Her father would talk openly about her mother, something he had never truly done before. And in return, Hinata would inform him about Naruto, what he was like, how he was so good with Bolt and Himawari, how he managed to channel Bolt impossible amounts of energy into something productive and help Himawari develop confidence.

And so, she went home happy. Knowing that at the end of it all, she still had a father, and it was only through her jumping to conclusions prematurely did she lack him in her life for such a long time.

She had returned to the city, it was late when she had finally arrived in the train station. She knew Bolt and Himawari were staying at Naruto's during her time away. So she had decided to get a taxi straight to the blonde man's home. She didn't want to disturb him as it was approaching Bolt and Himawari's bedtime. And he may have just finally got them to settle down.

She arrived at Naruto's apartment complex. It was larger than her own, with much nicer architecture in a much more quaint part of the city. And also, his apartment complex had a working elevator. Which was especially useful as Naruto was in the penthouse at the very top of the building. He had done a lot of work on the top floor of the building, knocking down walls, opening up part of it to create a roof garden. She wondered how he was able to do so much to the building. He once joked that it was because he owned the entire building, and she wasn't quite sure whether his joke was based on a truth or not.

After ascending up the elevator, she reached the top floor, the elevator opened up to a small box room, with the door to Naruto's apartment on the other side of the room.

Naruto had said that he would leave the door open for her when she came back. And sure enough the door was open when she tried the handle.

She opened the door, and found the apartment dimly lit. The flickering light of the television scattering across the room. She saw the blonde man facing out against his wall made of windows. And sat in front of the TV was Bolt, not even dressed for bed, he even still had his shoes on. "Bolt?"

He turned to her and beamed wildly. "Hi mom! Welcome back!"

"What are you doing still up? It is far past your bedtime now." She gave him a scornful look.

Naruto turned from the window and looked at the back of the boy's head. "Bolt, I thought I told you to go to bed an hour ago-ttebayo."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm going. I'm just going to bathroom first." The boy sighed heavily, before jumping off the couch. He quickly moved over to his mother. "Something's wrong with the geezer, mom. He's been really quiet and weird ever since we got back from the park." The boy shrugged, before moving towards the bathroom.

Hinata watched him he shut the bathroom door behind him. She turned and caught the eyes of the blond man. She smiled happily, however Naruto quickly turned back around to face out the window again.

Her smiled faded. "I-I'm back, Naruto-kun."

"Welcome back." He replied quietly, almost in a broken whisper.

She hesitated moving towards him. His actions were rather bizarre, she had expected a greeting a bit more lively than the one he had given if she were honest. "N-Naruto-kun, is e-everything okay?"

"October 10th."

"What was that?" She asked, barely able to make out his words.

"October 10th. Almost eight years ago. Where were you, Hinata, on October 10th-ttebayo?" He turned around to face her finally. She discovered his eyes to not show anger, but rather an image of fear.

But her own eyes widened in shock. October 10th. Almost eight years ago. That was the night she met the boy who would become the father of her children. The boy she thought was Naruto, and his friend Shikamaru near enough confirmed.

"You were at Hamura's, weren't you?" Her eyes widened even further. He knew? "You were wearing a black dress, and you met a blonde boy who was out with his friends for his eighteenth birthday. You complained that you didn't like the dress you were wearing, your friends had forced you too wear it and you didn't feel comfortable wearing it. You admitted you didn't even want to be at that tiny club, but your friends had wanted to go out and you couldn't say no. You and the boy carried on talking, and laughing… and drinking, and before you knew it, you were at some crappy motel. And… and… and…" Tears began to well around his blue eyes, and on cue, tears began to well in her own. "Oh shit, Hinata… It was your first time and you wound up pregnant. I'm such an idiot!" He near shouted as he grabbed and pulled at his head.

"N-N-Naruto-kun, it was not your fault. I am too blame as well." She rushed to him, tears falling from her face as she did so.

"No! Why didn't I realise it sooner? I left you all alone to raise these kids, and then I just waltz around with you like nothing's wrong!" He cried even harder than before. "I… I can't believe I was so stupid I didn't tell you who I was back then…"

"I-I didn't tell you who I was either, Naruto-kun." She tried to comfort him. "It wasn't your fault it had happened. It was our mutual decision to leave that club. No one… N-No one had ever made me feel as special as that boy did that night. N-Not before, and not since… Not until you had acted so kindly to me in that supermarket… And then you came back to me… And I was so happy to have you back that I didn't know how to tell you…"

"So… you knew? That I am definitely…? That what I said… it's true?" He asked, his head buried into her shoulder.

"N-Not at first." She responded. "But I had a feeling, and then your friend, Shikamaru, he told me you were there. And I started to believe my suspicions were true."

"So Shikamaru knew, huh? And… why didn't you tell me earlier?" He asked further.

"I was scared. I was scared of how you would react… I-I was scared… you would leave…" She replied honestly, burying her head into his chest.

He lifted her head back upwards to face him, before her kissed her firmly, almost securely. Once their lips parted he pressed his forehead against her's. "I won't leave you, Hinata. You get me? I will never leave you. That's a promise of a lifetime-ttebayo. I'll spend every day for the rest of my life making up my mistake, I'll never leave you alone again."

She smiled back happily, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." She cried happily into his chest.

"Although… My lifespan is about to decrease dramatically. I'd say about to the time it takes to get from Uzu no Kuni to here." His weak laugh did nothing to mask the fear in his voice, and she had to look up to him in confusion. He caught her confused gaze. "When I tell my mom she's got grandkids that are nearly eight years old, she'll kill me. She whines about it a lot, always asking when I'm gonna bring her home some grandkids-ttebayo. When she finds out that she does have grandkids that she hasn't been able to see for nearly eight years because I was an idiot. She'll charge over here from Uzu no Kuni and beat me to death… then she'll spoil Bolt and Himawari rotten with eight years' worth of presents."

"Will she really react that badly?" Hinata asked almost worriedly, she couldn't tell with his weak laugh if it was truthful or not.

"Probably, you haven't met my mom, Hinata. She's pretty damn scary. And violent. She threw a frying pan at me when I last went to visit her because I hadn't visited or called for eight months. I can only imagine how bad she'll be when I show up and go: 'Hi mom, this is Hinata. A girl I got pregnant eight years ago. And this is my son and daughter, Bolt and Himawari.'" He laughed again nervously, but the beads of sweat dripping from his face showed a different, more panicked story.

"What?"

They both turned quickly at the small voice. They looked in shock as they saw Bolt standing in the hallway. "B-Bolt…" Hinata spoke quietly, seeing the tormented, angered look on the young boy's face.

"Your son and daughter? So the old geezer is actually… my old geezer!?" The young boy shouted angrily. "You're my dad-ttebasa!"

"Bolt, listen…" Naruto spoke gently, slowly approaching the boy. "I get that you'll be confused. But if you calm down, me and your mom will try to explain everything and-oof!" He was cut off by a punch to his stomach by Bolt. It was particularly hard, but the surprise of it somehow knocked the wind out of him.

Bolt quickly darted for the door bursting it open. "Bolt, please wait!" Hinata tried to follow after him. But it appeared no one had used that elevator since she had, as the doors opened quickly. As she chased him she watched him smash buttons inside, and just before she could reach the doors closed. She watched as the lights above began to flicker, indicating what floor the elevator currently was at. "Naruto-kun, we have to go after him!"

"I know!" He grumbled as he rose to his feet. He looked back into his apartment. "Hinata, you stay here with Himawari. I promise I'll find him." With that, Naruto took off to the stairs in the small room next to the elevator. Sprinting down them at a lightning pace.

Hinata watched him leave worriedly. Bolt had always been resentful of his missing father, even if he never liked to say it. She would remember seeing him stare with almost envy at children playing with their father's. When she attended parent teacher meetings, she would see him stare at the father's praising their children.

"Mommy, what's going on?" She turned to see the scared Himawari, standing in her pyjamas. She quickly rushed over to the small girl, picking her up in her arms.

"It will be okay, Himawari-chan." She responded reassuringly, gently rubbing the small girl's back. "Bolt and Naruto-kun, have just gone out for the moment. They will both be back soon."

"… Naruto-san is… my daddy?"

Her eyes widened again, so their conversation had woken up Himawari, and had been overheard by her too. "Yes, I am sorry, Himawari. I am sorry that he has not been her for you, and I know Naruto-kun is as well. But Naruto-kun is going to work very hard to show you that he will always be here for you now."

"I'm glad…" Himawari whispered back to her. "I'm glad… my daddy is so nice. I knew if I ever met my real daddy… I wanted him to be as nice as Naruto-san…"

'Bolt!' Naruto ran down street after street, his eyes constantly flickering around looking for any sight of the small blond haired boy.

He supposed he understood why he was so angry. Bolt didn't have a dad, and now one was being thrust open him so quickly. But he also knew Bolt liked him, enough that he was surprised over how angry he was. Was the blood relation really that catastrophic?

Nonetheless, a seven year old running off at this hour was never a good thing.

He continued searching, he found himself quite far away from his home. He stumbled across a city park, and decided to take a look around. It was still lit thanks to the street lights. And hopefully Bolt had stayed in the light.

Better yet. He had found him. Sat on a lonely swing. Kicking his feet back and forth weakly. He was facing away from him, so Naruto approached the boy slowly and quietly, under different circumstances, he'd probably make a joke about him moving like he thought he was a ninja or something.

"Bolt." He spoke, the boy's head snapped up and turned sharply.

"What do you want?" He grunted angrily, remaining sat on the swing.

"Bolt. I know you're feeling angry, but you can't just go running off like this-ttebayo. Your mom is really worried, come back with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you! You're not my dad-ttebasa!" He shot up from the swing, glaring angrily at the blond man.

But Naruto spotted the tear that fell faintly from his eye. "Bolt, is it really that bad that I'm your dad? I mean you like me before you heard that?"

"Yeah, that's because then you were the super cool old geezer Naruto! That would play video games with me, and watched One Piece with me, and taught me how to play soccer… but now… you're just my crappy old man-ttebasa!" He screamed, his tightened fists shaking with rage. "My crappy old man who was never there!"

More tears began to fall from his face, and Naruto began to understand the young boy's anger some more. It was likely that Bolt was angry at him per se, he was just angry at the idea of having a father. "Bolt." He spoke gently, approaching the boy slowly before kneeling to be at his height. "Just let it all out. That anger at me, I can take it."

"Why…?" The boy mutter again, before looking at him again, scared, angry eyes meeting calm, remorseful ones. "Why the hell weren't you there!? When me and Himawari did good in school, you weren't there to congratulate us! When we hurt ourselves, you weren't there to tell us it's going to be okay! On our birthday you weren't there!" He began to sob loudly. "Where the hell were you!?"

"I'm here now, Bolt. And I promise I'm not going anywhere from now on-"

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I don't care where you gonna be! I'm asking where you were! I… I hated not having a dad! It hurt not having a dad! Aren't parent's supposed to know where their kids are hurting!? Didn't you know I was hurting!? Didn't you know where we were!? Didn't you know we were alive!?"

"Bolt… It's not… It's not as simple as that…" He looked in anguish at the sobbing boy. "All I can do is promise you that you won't hurt again. I won't hurt you again…" Carefully, he reached an arm towards the boy's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" He shouted, slapping his had away, sobbing still. "I don't have a dad! I don't want a dad! I don't need a dad! That's what I've told myself!" He screamed before sprinting off again.

"Bolt!" He stood up quickly, running after the boy.

But his eyes caught the strange illumination that began to envelop the area the boy was running to. To his right, he could see a car approaching the area. And Bolt… was dangerously close to absentmindedly running into its path!

"BOLT!" He sprinted, he was far quickly than the boy. And his full speed allowed him to catch up to the boy quickly. He sprinted into the road to grab hold of the boy, he could hear the screeching sound of brakes and tyres. He saw Bolt's eyes widen as the boy finally caught glimpse of the oncoming vehicle.

In a second he stared at the car and back to Bolt. He already knew it was too late for either of them to move out of the way, even he could manage to push Bolt out the way, it would be too late.

He grabbed the boy and pulled him into his chest, before turning so his back faced the car, and his own body shielded Bolt's smaller frame.

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"Hello!? Yes I need an ambulance please right away! At Hashirama Memorial Park! I tried to stop when the kid came running out into the road, I really did! But this guy shielded the boy! The kid's alright, but the guy! The guy's bleeding really badly from his head!"

'Who is that?' He wondered, he felt dizzy, like he had been smacked across the head with something hard.

"Oi, geezer! Naruto!" His eyes began to regain their focus, he saw Bolt's face looking down at him. He could barely feel the tears that fell from his eyes and landed on his face.

"Bolt… You're okay… I'm glad…"

"Why…? After everything I just said to you? Why would you save me?" He heard the boy asked.

"Because… you're my son… and I'm your dad-ttebayo. I told you… that I'd be there for you… from now on… I promised that I'd make sure you were never hurt again… I always… keep my… promises…"

His eyes began to get heavy… really heavy… like he want to have a nice long sleep… 'Sleep… doesn't sound like such a bad idea… right about now…'

"Oi, Naruto…! Naruto…! Come on, wake up…! Wake up please…. Dad!"

A/N: Me again! Soooo how was it, was it good, bad, mediocre, subpar? So the next chapter will be the finale/epilogue, so stick around for that.

Things to discuss:

- Like I said earlier, this is a story about Naruto meeting and bonding with his kids, and the final segment to that was Bolt, I haven't seen the Boruto movie but I've got enough material to know that their relationship is strained to say the least. So Boruto was always going to be the final standing point for Naruto becoming the Dad of this family. Boruto is headstrong and angry at his father's absence, and I have tried to portay that in the same way, but under a different context if that makes sense.

- Funny story, I've probably got enough material planned out to make this 30 chapters long, but I am very tired. I thought if I don't finish it now, and try to reach that 30 chapter mark, this story would never get completed. So I have cut it short, for the sheer sake of it, here are all the plot lines that were cut from the final product:

1 - Adventures in Uzu no Kuni. Initially, Naruto was going to reacted a bit move angrily to the news of his fatherhood, after an arguement with Hinata about why she didn't tell him sooner, and referencing the fact that Hinata kind of did the same thing Shion did, hiding the existance of his children from him (It's doesn't make sense in short form, but trust me, once winded out Naruto's thought processes become a bit more clearer). Naruto bails, and goes to Uzu no Kuni, after a talk with dear old dad, Minato, and some speculations on the credibility of Hinata's claims of Naruto's fatherhood, Jiraiya confirms it by looking at Bolt. Hinata and the kids end up going to Uzu no Kuni to meet the grandparents and take part in wacky, fantastical misadventures.

2 - The return of Shion, plans for Shion to return and... do stuff... and... cause worry... and Hinata's insecurities... and generally just created a problem. I didn't really have that much planned out for this bit.

3 - The introduction of Toneri - some turmoil in the love affair from Hinata's side, ey? That's right, Toneri struts around causing mayhem and shit.

4 - Suna adventure, what could have happened, was the business venture Naruto planned in Suna going to fail!? Find out... Never.

Anyways, thats about it from me. Ta ta