Hey, just thought I'd make this a twoshot. May or may not end up as a multichapter fic further down the line. I like the idea.

I don't own Naruto.

They couldn't know.

Not the Hokage.

Not Iruka.

Not his classmates.

Not the villagers. Heaven forbid the villagers ever find out what he did.

Naruto paused, the mangled form of Hitori Hyuuga slumping even more in his arms as he dragged her through his living room.

The boy grunted as her back met his chest, her dead weight causing him to stumble, buckling under her to fall on his bottom.

Naruto shook his head, the woman's mussed hair from their previous struggle spilling over his face.

Unable to handle her weight, Naruto was forced onto his back, the corpse of his tormentor lying over his front. Feeling cooling liquid beginning to seep into his already red spattered front, the boy summoned his strength.

With a great heave of breath, Naruto shoved the mutilated corpse of Hitori to the side. The woman bonelessly flopped over, arms covered in stab wounds lying akimbo.

There was a bold streak of blood trailing from Naruto's bedroom and into the living room from when the boy had been dragging the woman's body.

She was draining quickly of life's fluid, and Naruto was utterly astonished. He honestly had no idea a single human could hold so much blood. Though, he always was one to learn from seeing and doing.

Naruto's entire front was covered in a red spray. There was a deep splotch of crimson on the side of his mattress where Hitori had died. Another one on the side of the bed where he'd shoved her off and onto the floor.

He'd left her cooling corpse laying on the floor for several minutes as he tended to his baby. Cheering the teary eyed child up and soothing him to slumber in his caring arms.

Once Boruto was resting, Naruto set the child aside, far away from the huge stain on his bed, but not so far that the baby could fall off.

Naruto then began dragging Hitori out of the room.

He'd been strangely calm, noting the large streak of blood the woman left as he pulled her by her ruined arms across the hardwood floor. After what a mess he was making registered, Naruto had decided to drag her from under her arms, so most of the blood would get on him. He could simply throw out the clothes, but he couldn't throw out his whole floor. He'd scrub fiercely later, but he was almost positive he'd have to invest in a few rugs. He'd gotten into a few scuffles at the Academy, so he was wise enough to know the more blood, the worse the stain.

With that thought in mind, Naruto sat up.

He knew he had to get rid of her.

No one could ever know what he did. If anyone found out… if anyone knew that he felt absolutely nothing for the terrible thing he'd done…

Naruto didn't want to think about it.

The blonde also knew that no one could know about Boruto. They'd take his son. His little baby. Naruto knew what it was like to be lonely. And though he'd rather rot in solitude forever than ever have to deal with someone like Hitori again, Naruto didn't have to be alone anymore. He didn't have to hope Hokage-jiji wasn't busy and would take him for ramen. He didn't have to misbehave to force Iruka to give him detention and by proxy the attention he was starved for.

With Boruto, Naruto had family.

Naruto knew that if he kept his little Bolt a secret, he would always have family. It was small, just himself and a tiny blonde baby, but it was something. And that something was absolutely precious.

Naruto would do whatever necessary to protect his something to avoid suffering with nothing ever again.

The boy did not want his son to grow up an orphan. Or worse, not be allowed to live at all. He was after all, the offspring of a monster.

Naruto shambled further to the living room, and to the storage closet. He reached for the brass knob, his blood slicked hand slipping and sliding across the tarnished metal. When the boy finally got the knob to twist properly, he pulled open the door, the scent of stale wallpaper greeting his nostrils.

Naruto didn't own many things, so he didn't keep anything in the closet but a janky broom, an empty old chest that had been in the apartment's closet when he moved in, and a can of white paint.

Naruto dropped Hitori to the side of the closet's entrance, removing the broom and can of paint and setting them outside of the cramped space.

The blonde dropped into a squat before the chest, unlatching the buckles on either side of its face and flipping the lid open with a loud creak. It was as empty as it had always been, with old miscellaneous stains and a worn woven interior. The chest was pretty big, and Naruto decided that it was perfect for what he'd previously been trying to do.

Hide a body.

After several minutes of struggling, Naruto got Hitori's bloody form more than halfway in the chest. But she was too willowy to fit all the way into the cramped space. One of her legs was hanging over the right side of the chest, her left arm was broken beyond recognition, twisted over her head in an odd position, flailing outside of the box.

Naruto huffed.

"She's too big." He realized.

The boy sat back on his heels, wiping a bit of perspiration away from his forehead with his arm, only accomplishing smearing more red across his face.

The boy began to wonder.

"How do you make someone smaller?"

Naruto stared into space for a long moment.

Well, he supposed you couldn't really make someone smaller, just more compact. He'd have to make her fit somehow because he wasn't quite strong enough to break her into position.

Blue eyes drilled into the flailing limbs flopping over the side of the chest.

"If those weren't there…"

She'd fit.

Naruto blinked.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was returning to his bedroom for his knife, and when he blinked next, he was standing in the gaping doorway of his closet, shadow casting a dark streak over Hitori's corpse partially stuffed into the old chest.

The blonde shuffled into the closet, raising the already bloodied knife, remembering everything the woman had subjected him to, remembering everything she'd done to those babies, remembering how she'd ignored his son, and couldn't even bother to change the boy.

He let those memories fuel his actions, and he cut the dead witch to pieces.

He'd made her fit.

All the pieces fit just fine in the old chest, and even if he'd had a smidge of trouble getting the old box to close, he eventually got it to close and latch tightly.

He'd scrubbed away the dribble of blood that had spilled from beneath the lid of the chest. It was just a faded streak when he was done.

He stood back, noting that the chest looked as normal as could be. Just an old box in a mostly empty closet.

The boy put the janky broom back into the closet, but he left out the can of white paint. He then closed the door, and took the time to break the handle off.

Nobody would be getting in the closet door unless they took it off its hinges, or shunshined into the room. But he couldn't see anyone expelling that much effort for any reason unless he gave them reason to think they should. He wouldn't.

So, the boy turned around, blank eyes finding the streak of gore on the floor leading back to his bedroom. He stared for a moment, and then he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk, head in his hands.

They hadn't been able to find Hitori. Not even Kakashi had been able to track her. Her scent stopped dead somehow in the neighborhood that Naruto lived in. Just right in the middle of the street. He knew she had done it on purpose, but the ANBU that the Sandaime had stationed outside of Naruto's home confirmed that the boy was safely in his apartment.

The agent hadn't breached the boy's property by searching for a visible, but he had gathered that the boy was in his home and his chakra signature was not distressed.

Suddenly, Hiruzen jolted up, his weary eyes going wide.

"Naruto has no reason to be calm." He realized. "Why did the agent not look for details. Why did he not check what was going on inside of that apartment?"

Hiruzen cursed his own carelessness.

Hitori was a fūinjutsu master. Of course she knew of a way to erase her own scent. And if her scent was close to Naruto's home, that obviously meant that she had gotten into contact with the boy. She was either with him right at the moment or had been with him. And the ANBU that was "watching" Naruto, he was too passive.

Hitori had done something to him, something that would make him ignore the fact that he should be checking on Naruto more thoroughly.

Hiruzen was already moving, not bothering to call for any of his agents. He took a step, and disappeared.

He flickered into existence outside of Naruto's bedroom window, standing on the fire escape. Hiruzen's eyes narrowed when he spotted a seal tag quite blatantly stuck to the murky glass. The blue curtains were drawn, so the Hokage couldn't see what was going on inside.

He recognized the characters scrawled across the small parchment. The tag was meant to keep others out, and save for completely blowing away the wall, he wouldn't be getting in unless someone opened the window from inside.

"Kuma!" The Hokage snarled, merely shifting his eyes to side glare the kneeling ANBU operative that immediately flashed to his side. "Would you like to explain to me, how an agent of your stature could've possibly been caught unguarded by a physically disabled person?"

With his masked face bowed, Hiruzen could see the glowing red seal drawn on the back of his neck.

"Sir?" Kuma questioned, not daring to look up.

Hiruzen sighed, forcing himself to calm down because he knew that Kuma didn't know what he was talking about. He also knew that even if Hitori had been in Naruto's apartment, she no longer was. He sensed the boy and another small presence.

The Sandaime was not nearly skilled enough at chakra sensing to tell what the other smaller presence was. Perhaps a small animal? Naruto did have the tendency to bring home strays and send them on their way after nursing them back to health.

"Nevermind." Hiruzen muttered. "Kuma, go see Kakashi. Tell him something is wrong with the back of your neck and that I sent you."

"Hai sir." Kuma murmured, blurring from existence once again.

Hiruzen knew Kakashi was adept enough at sealing to break the one on Kuma. And after he had, Hiruzen would be giving his ANBU a very thorough dressing down as well as a demotion.

He was supposed to protect Naruto for Kami's sake. But instead he'd gotten caught unawares and let their enemy escape after doing whatever it was she had to Naruto.

And almost just as worrisome...

'Why is Naruto calm?' He wondered, using the body flicker once more so that he was instead outside of Naruto's front door. 'I know that Hitori was here, and if the place she kept him prisoner is of any indication he should be utterly terrified of her.'

That being said, her presence should have left him an emotional wreck.

'Why hadn't you called for anyone when she approached you here, Naruto?'

Hiruzen knocked on the door, ignoring the paper tag that was there. He knew touching it would cause him immense pain, as it was, after all meant to keep people from entering. A barrier that locked intruders out, and a way of causing pain if one touched it.

"Naruto!" He called. "Open this door immediately young man. I know who was here."

"And I want to know why you said nothing once she fled."

Naruto looked up, eyes dilated as he held his son in his arms, the baby's electric eyes wide as he stared happily up at his young father.

"Jiji…" Naruto rasped, terror flaring within him, clutching his baby tighter in his arms.

No.

No. He couldn't let him in. He couldn't let him see Boruto. He'd take him. Naruto knew he would take him!

It had been a few hours, and Naruto had cleaned up the blood seeping into his hardwood floors to the best of his abilities. He'd used the white paint from his closet to mask the faded, left over blood stains, and then he had gone downstairs to his apartment building's basement, which served as a laundry room.

He'd thrown his ruined sheets in the wash, getting rid of the stench they gave off before folding them up neatly and shoving them into a garbage bag. He took the bag out back and buried them under the garbage already in the dumpster belonging to his complex.

Once that was done, he'd returned to his apartment, able to get in because he'd left the door open, knowing the seal on it would be active and lock him out if he had closed it completely. The paint trailing from in front of his living room closet to his bedroom was still fresh, and quite obviously hiding something.

So, after checking on his son, who had still been fast asleep and hidden in a blanket padded, opened box under his bed, he'd gone back out, searching for something to cover the paint trail.

He'd made several trips from his apartment to neighboring ones, which were empty of actual tenants, as no one had wanted to live directly next to him.

Luckily he had found throw rugs in the apartment left to his. There were two large fuzzy blue ones, and they weren't very dirty save for a bit of dust. So, he'd shook them out and dragged them back to his own home. The two rugs were only large enough to cover the paint trail from his living room closet to just outside of his bedroom door. So, as long as he kept his bedroom door closed, no one would see the odd paint smeared across his floor.

Jiji rarely visited his home, so Naruto knew that the new addition of the rugs wouldn't throw him off much. But the smell of paint would. It hadn't aired out yet.

"Naruto!" His Jiji called again. "Open this door!"

"S-she's not here!" Naruto stuttered, clutching Boruto closer to his heart, shushing the baby when he began cooing at him.

"Shhh, baby be quiet!" Naruto begged. "We can't let him find you!"

Boruto just giggled some more and drooled a bit, pleased at the hug he was receiving from his daddy.

"Naruto…"

The boy's stomach twisted with dread.

"Jiji, Hitori's gone!" He said truthfully. "She won't ever come back and I can't tell you where she is. She was here but she's not anymore. So please… please just leave me alone."

'Please go away.' He thought. 'Just go away... Just go the fuck away!'

"I can't." His Jiji said, voice muffled by his door. "Naruto, you need to let me in. Why are you trying to send me away? You know I must question you on Hitori. You know sending me away won't make this go away. You cannot hide in your apartment forever, Naruto."

He could. He could hide forever with his baby if the Hokage would just leave him alone.

The blonde buried his face in his baby's hair, tears stinging his eyes because he knew he was lying to himself. He knew that even if he could hide Bolt from everyone, he would not be able to hide him from the Sandaime.

"Naruto, if you don't open this door, if you force me to use force to get inside, you will have more things to worry about than whatever it is you think is worth trying to hide from."

Naruto swallowed hard. He pulled his nose from his son's head, and he looked down at the face so very like his own.

Boruto stared back, blue eyes large and innocent, the complete opposite of his father's, teary and jaded.

Naruto nodded once to himself.

He'd known for a while. Actually, since he'd finished hiding away his new bloody little secret…

He'd known he wouldn't be able to hide forever.

There was a pause.

"O-okay…" Came the boy's voice, closer to the door than before. "Okay, I'm gonna open it, Jiji. Just… just promise not to be mad, okay? D-don't be mad."

Hiruzen sighed, his Hokage hat feeling heavy on his head.

"Alright." He agreed. "I won't be mad. Just open the door Naruto."

The old man waited for a moment, feeling relieved when the tell tale sound of locks unlatching started up.

The knob twisted, the the door creaking as Naruto pushed it open slightly, mostly hiding behind it as he poked his head out, black rimmed blue eyes staring up at him.

The Sandaime swallowed hard at the boy's tortured, tired eyes.

"Hey Jiji." Naruto greeted softly. "She's not here. She's not gonna come back or hurt me or anyone anymore."

Hiruzen's brows furrowed.

"How can you be certain?" He asked. "How can you be absolutely certain that Hitori will never return, Naruto? What do you know? Why did you not report to me that you had seen her as soon as she left? Do you realize that you have allowed a fugitive to escape with your silence?"

"I… I'm sorry." Naruto croaked, his eyes shining. "I was scared. I'm sorry Jiji."

Hiruzen knew he was, but that didn't make it any better. Parents needed closure, and Naruto's actions had made that impossible. The Sandaime was sure now that she was gone, she would never be found.

"I know I messed up." Naruto whispered, tearing his eyes away. "But I know she's gone. She won't hurt anybody anymore. So let's just forget about her, okay? Let's just… let's just forget her."

'Oh Naruto.' Hiruzen thought, despaired. 'If only it was that easy…'

The Sandaime wasn't sure why Naruto seemed so certain that Hitori was gone for good. Maybe it was just foolish hope that the woman would harm no one else? Maybe it was his way of coping, by thinking that way? Though, there was no doubt in Hiruzen's mind that Naruto was truly scared and that he was remorseful about not telling him about seeing Hitori.

Hiruzen had sent operatives out to see if they could track down Hitori, but the village leader doubted their efforts would be fruitful. She was Orochimaru's student after all.

Hiruzen honestly wanted to be angry at Naruto, he wanted to be disappointed and he wanted to have enough in him to at least reprimand the boy harshly. To make him understand that he had committed a crime, that he could be perceived as an accessory, as aiding and abetting.

But honestly Hiruzen was just too damn tired. It was lazy and irresponsible but he was the leader of the village and what would come of punishing Naruto?

The boy was already broken. Placing the blame of the monster's crimes on him that had hurt him as well… that would just dump salt in his fresh wounds.

Hiruzen knew at least that his decision to let Naruto be more or less would not cause any one else inconvenience. He knew because he was going to lie. He was going to lie to his village and tell the citizens that Hitori was dead. That she'd met a just end to the members of his Torture and Interrogation Department. Then there would be closure.

Naruto's name would never be mentioned. The Sandaime was not foolish enough to tell the citizens of his involvement with a monster, even if he was a victim of said monster.

He had made that mistake once before in telling of the boy's status as a bijuu holder.

He would not make the same mistake.

"Naruto may I come in?" He asked. "I apologize for shouting at you. But there is much we need to discuss."

Maybe what Hitori had last said to the boy could offer clues to her current whereabouts. Though Hiruzen seriously doubted it.

"Um…" Naruto muttered, looking at him and then away again. "Okay, but remember you promised not to be mad Jiji."

He had. He had promised. But why was Naruto so adamant about this? Why did he have the need to assure himself that he wouldn't invoke Hiruzen's temper?

A little sound soon answered his question.

Hiruzen froze.

The Hokage looked at Naruto, who looked back, those sad blue eyes dialated with fear.

And the small detail that Hiruzen had taken note of but not categorized as important became glaringly obvious.

Naruto was hiding behind his door. Hiruzen could only see his face. But why was he hiding behind the door?

The little sound came again.

Unblinkingly, Hiruzen let himself in, feeling oddly numb as he ignored Naruto's stuttered protests, pushing the boy back and shutting the door behind him.

The little noise, a baby's gurgle he realized, came yet again and snapped Hiruzen out of whatever trance he was in as he locked the door behind him.

Naruto was standing across from him, wearing the expression of a person that had realized they were caught, and was scared beyond words.

Hiruzen looked at the boy blankly, and then at the infant he held in his arms.

He studied the baby's sunshine hair, his large bright blue eyes, his peachy skin tone, and the two obvious whisker marks on either of his cheeks.

The apartment smelled oddly of fresh paint, and Hiruzen thought he should question this, but he was too focused on the infant cradled in Naruto's arms.

The boy swallowed, and it appeared painful.

"Jiji…" He finally rasped. "This is my baby."

Hiruzen wondered why he didn't feel more than tired at that point. He watched Naruto turn, throwing uncertain glances back at him every once in a while as he went further into his home.

The boy soon reached a blue rug, one that looked like it had seen better days, and atop it sat a box with blankets lining it. He set the baby, his baby, inside of the box and then he stood up again, walking back over to Hiruzen, who hadn't moved an inch.

Honestly the Sandaime knew he should be a plethora of things at that moment, most certainly angry at Naruto's obvious lie about his child being stillborn, but no.

He was not. Hiruzen simply found himself wanting to take off his heavy Hokage's hat.

"Naruto, you lied to me." Hiruzen stated, almost alarmingly flat. "You told me that your child was born dead. That Hitori's resulting depression is what allowed you to escape."

Naruto flinched, looking away, down at his bare feet.

"N-no… I didn't lie about that." He whispered. "My baby… he had a sister. She… she was dead. She… came out after him, and she wasn't breathing. That woman-"

The boy paused, and Hiruzen took note of how he didn't say "Hitori", how his face contorted briefly with absolute, unshakeable, hatred for a split second before he seemed to catch himself and he withered again.

"She… That woman couldn't look at my baby after that."

My baby. Not our baby.

'I suppose you aren't that calm at all, are you Naruto?'

Of course Hiruzen knew Naruto was long overdue for some serious counseling, but his current behavior only made his need of it more apparent.

The Sandaime made a mental note to contact Inoichi, he was unbiased and had a child of his own, so he would do what he could, his absolute best to put the shattered boy back together again.

"I ran away while she was laying around. And I… I took my baby with me because I knew she would kill him like all the others. She would kill him or let him die because all she was doing was ignoring him." Naruto shook his head back and forth, looking at Hiruzen with a desperate, almost manic need to be believed. "I just… I brought him here and then I went to go see you. When I came back she was here. She told me she loved me and the baby. But I didn't want her. I didn't want her for my son. So I made her leave. She's gone now."

Hiruzen watched the boy watch him.

"I… I'm sorry I lied Jiji." Naruto whimpered, hand lifting, drifting to his unruly hair and taking hold. "I am. I was just scared. He's my baby. He's mine."

There was no doubt in Hiruzen's mind that this at least was the truth. That Naruto really did just want to protect his son.

And oh god this boy. This little, unfortunate, teary eyed boy had a son. A son that he obviously loved. A son that he wanted to take care of. But even so…

"You realize that I cannot allow you to keep that child." Hiruzen stated.

His own tone was flat, and he hadn't meant for it to be. He just… how could he express how he felt when he didn't even know? Hiruzen thought he should be feeling multiple things instead of numbness but truthfully he was feeling so much at the same time that he couldn't even process it.

The Sandaime watched Naruto stare at him, his mouth slightly agape, his skin steadily draining of color.

"Oh no." Naruto croaked, sinking to his knees. "Oh please."

The boy shook his head back and forth, his other hand flying up, clutching at the other side of his hair in a painful grip as his body began quaking. His pupils dilated and he curled up on the floor, rocking back and forth in an unconscious attempt to comfort himself.

The false numbness in the Sandaime abandoned him as he witnessed the magnitude of Naruto's pain. Of Naruto's fear.

"Not my baby." He choked. "Please don't take my baby. Please please god no."

Hiruzen watched tears pour from the boy's wide eyes, and in them he saw only suffering.

'Such great despair for this poor, poor boy…'

The Third Hokage watched Naruto, a boy he once held in his arms, put a bottle to the mouth of, and soothed to sleep in the absence of his parents.

He watched the boy begin to crumble under the fear of losing the only person he'd ever loved so deeply, and the only person who would probably love him just as deeply in return.

Naruto moaned as if the grief he felt was a physical ache he struggled to endure.

He just kept muttering…

"Please no. Please don't. Not my baby. Not my little boy. He's mine. He's all I have. What am I gonna do? Oh no… please no…"

'You are a little boy. Just a boy.' The Kage inwardly argued. 'There's no way. I cannot allow you to keep that child.'

But even as the Sandaime thought this inside he knew. Despite his logic, despite his duty, he knew.

Naruto whimpered, his hands clenching even tighter. Any more and he'd rip his hair from the roots.

It tore Hiruzen's heart to shreds.

"Alright."

Naruto didn't seem to hear him, and Hiruzen gusted out a sigh.

"Alright." He said again, this time firmly, seeming to snap the blonde out of his grim, nearly crazed mantra. "I… I will allow you to keep him, Naruto."

The Kage nearly flinched at how fast Naruto snapped to, neck whipping up and eyes somehow growing wider.

The tears in them made them brighter, and Hiruzen inwardly winced at the immediate hope he invoked.

What he was about to permit, could have grave consequences. He knew he was too soft, he also knew he could be stronger, but he didn't want to make himself break Naruto's heart.

The boy had already been dealt so much pain in his short life, Hiruzen didn't want to add more even knowing that heartache was unavoidable for anyone.

'Well, if I'm being logical, not many would want to take in the child, and people would know they're related somehow. He looks just like his father.'

The Kage's eyes darkened.

Naruto should not be anyone's father, not at his age, not if the child was the result of such agony. But the fact of the matter was, Naruto was a father, and Hiruzen was going to allow him to remain as such.

"I will allow you to keep your son, Naruto." Hiruzen said, suddenly looking exactly his age as he verbally sealed the deal.

Naruto's tear filled eyes softened, and his lips tilted up slightly, tranquil, so unlike the sunny grin Hiruzen remembered. And he had a feeling that the sun in Naruto, would be obscured by the clouds of his own suffering for many years to come.

"Really?" Naruto rasped, his hoarse voice slicing at Hiruzen's heartstrings.

"Really." He promised.

This time, the tears were not heavy with pain. Naruto's expression crumbled and he sobbed deeply, and never once did that small little spark of hope in his eyes leave.

"Thank you."

'God damn me if this boy ever makes such a face again.'

Hiruzen only nodded once, raising up a gnarled hand to tilt his hat down, hiding the wet gleam in his weary eyes.

Naruto held Boruto in his arms, slowly rocking his baby back and forth as he slept away through the lingering evening light. He'd finally gotten his little son off to sleep.

He smiled down at his boy when the baby's mouth twitched in a lopsided grin for a moment, probably having pleasant dreams.

The fond expression on Naruto's face faded, replaced by a bleak frown as he remembered what occurred before Jiji left.

"I'll let you keep your son Naruto, but under strict rules. Under no exception must you tell anyone about him." The Sandaime said.

Naruto nodded. He could agree wholeheartedly to such a demand. He wouldn't allow anyone to harm his son for simply being his son. He wouldn't allow anyone to harm his son period.

"No one must ever find out about your boy, do you understand? No one. This must be treated as an S class secret known only by you, and myself. He will not leave this house with you unless I am with you, no exceptions."

"Okay," Naruto murmured. "I promise Jiji, I won't lie about this. I won't tell a soul, and no one will see him."

"Solemnly swear it, Naruto." His Jiji intoned. "Solemnly swear this knowledge will not leave this room."

"I swear on my soul I will never tell anyone about Boruto." Naruto returned, just as serious.

His Jiji seemed pleased, and nodded once.

"Excellent."

The grim atmosphere lightened after that curt response.

"Now," The Sandaime moved a bit closer, dipping into a crouch beside Naruto's form on the carpeted floor, unknowing that beneath his very feet lied the evidence of something else Naruto had hidden. "Boruto. That's… that's his name?"

Naruto felt a flush of pride swell inside his chest, as well as a warm flood of affection.

"Yeah," He breathed. "I named him. He's gonna be great, strong and unpredictable, like a lightning bolt."

'Nothing like me. Nothing like her. He'll be better. So much better…'

"Hm, it is a good name." His Jiji murmured. "You… you will do good for him as well, Naruto."

"You think so?" The blonde whispered, staring into his grandfather figure's brown eyes in slight fear. "You think I can give him what he deserves? You… you think I can be good, a-and that I can help him be good t-to?"

"I do." His Jiji returned, eyes soft, aged face assuring.

"S-swear." Naruto stuttered. "Swear it Jiji."

"I swear it." The old man promised.

"A-And you'll help me?" Naruto wondered. "Will you help me keep him safe? Will you help me get strong?"

"I will."

Naruto, shaking again, held out his fist, pinky extended.

The Sandaime huffed out a little chuckle, extending his own larger, more aged hand, wrapping his pinky around Naruto's.

"I will." He said again.

Naruto tightened his pinky around his Jiji's, sealing his own deal.

He need not thank the old man again, for the village leader saw the gratitude in the boy's watery blue eyes.

Naruto blinked away the haze that had fallen over him.

He smiled softly down at his slumbering son.

"It's gonna be okay Bolt." He promised. "I'll be good for you, and you will be great."

They were not alone.

They had Jiji.

Everything…

It was going to be okay.

I know Bolt's name was probably meant to be homage to his uncle Neji's, whose name means screw, but I like the lightening theme better.

Thanks for reading. Ja ne~