"What Type Of Man Are You?"

by operadeglace

Bolt stood with his head bowed respectfully.

His fists were shaking at his sides.

Naruto was still in shock.

"What… did you say..?" The seventh speaks, slowly processing the words that had just come from his son's mouth.

"Ugh… I'm sorry, dad. I won't do it again." The young boy spits out, turning his head angrily to the side. "I cleaned my mess and apologized to the old people I covered in the paint I threw off of Hokage mountain…"

A few more moments of silence hung between the two. Then, Naruto spoke…

"I'm impressed, son. A strong shinobi admits his mistakes and takes responsibility for them like you just have."

Naruto smiles brightly at Bolt, who stops pouting in realization of his father's praise, returning an excited, equally as brilliant smile.

"I… I did?" Bolt says, then corrects himself with his usual confident air. "Yeah. I totally did!"

Naruto rises from his desk and rustles his progeny's spikey locks, grinning madly with pride. "Hey! Since you're here, how's about we take a break and go get some ramen?"

Bolt nearly jumps for joy. "Yeah, yeah!" He shouts in agreement as his father retrieves his white coat from a hook on the wall and flings it over his shoulders. To Bolt's surprise, instead of walking through his office door, Naruto jumps onto the windowsill.

"Hey, Bolt… I'll race you there!" The Hokage jumps from the window before Bolt could respond. "First one to Ichiraku is the fastest ninja in the village!" He yells out as he hops onto a nearby roof.

Bolt looks apprehensive as he also jumps onto the window and looks over the edge. Naruto waves at him in the distance.

"What? You scared, son?" His father taunts.

Bolt grins, with a determined look on his face.

"You wish, old man!" He retorts as he flashes forward onto the balcony on the opposite building, scrambling as fast as he could past his father.

Naruto knew that he was faster than the young ninja and she would have told him to let him win, but, he needed to teach his stubborn son a lesson…

—-

An hour later at Ichiraku Ramen…

"No fair!" Naruto whines as he sits next to Bolt in their favorite ramen shop. "You cheated!"

The younger Uzumaki laughs heartily. "Nope! Maybe its because you're so old!" He slurps on some noodles as he celebrates his victory.

"I'm only like… thirty something." Naruto complains.

"You don't even remember your age. You must also have Alzheimer's." Bolt adds sneakily.

"Why you little—"

"Thanks, dad." Bolt interrupts his father, smiling earnestly at him. "I had so much fun with you today."

His son's honesty was like a kunai to the heart. Naruto smiled, awestruck by the development between the two of them.

"You know, Sakura was the one who said I should talk to you…" The young boy continues casually, eating his ramen contently.

Naruto grins. "Ah, so it was your stepmother who got you to do that, hm?"

Bolt nods unintelligibly as he enjoys his food. He kicks his legs happily under the counter.

"She's scary… but, she helps me out a lot." He speaks with pieces of noodles spraying from his mouth.

Naruto smiles proudly at his offspring as he pats his back affectionately. "I love you, son." He says with his trademark grin.

"Yeah, yeah…" Bolt retorts, blushing.

"Seventh!" Two voices cry in unison. Naruto rolls his eyes and swings around in his stool to face his assistants.

"Go away! I'm in an important meeting…" He winks to Bolt, the small boy grinning in response.

"No! This is urgent!" Moegi says frantically, wiping the smile off of Naruto's face and replacing it with worry.

"What is it? Are we being attacked..?" He stands heroically from his stool, the ramen shop assistants sighing in admiration at the young Hokage.

"N-no." Udon stutters nervously. "It's your wife, sir!"

Naruto and Bolt both look very tense as they let the Hokage's assistants finish their message.

"She's in the hospital."

—-

"Where is she!? Where is my wife?!" The frantic Hokage bellows as he barrels through Konoha Hospital with Bolt in tow.

"R-room four t-t-t-twenty…" A frightened nurse squeaks as she could almost feel heat emanating from Naruto's glare. To her great relief, the Seventh dashes away to find the room which held his wife.

"Sakura-chan!" He yells as he flings open the door to 420.

"N-Naruto…" Was the female response from inside of the room.

"Stay in the waiting room, son." Naruto orders Bolt to quickly head towards the waiting place where he met with a handful of family friends.

"It's about time, idiot."

Bolt rolls his eyes as he faces his step sister, scowling.

"Shut up, Salada! I'm here, ain't I!?"

—-

Sakura was surrounded by robed medics and nurses. The head medic is in the process of calming her down. "Please, you need to push, Uzumaki-san…"

"Naruto… Naruto…" The pink haired woman with the swollen belly cries out painfully, pleading for her husband. Naruto rushes to her side and grasps her hand delicately.

"I'm here, Sakura-chan. I'm here." He says tenderly as he looks emotionally into her eyes. Sakura smiles at him sweetly. "Naruto…"

Her super human grip tightens painfully onto his hand, locking it in a vice grip. Naruto looks frightened as he sees her sweet smile turned into an evil one.

"Where. Have. You. Been..?" She says venemously, crackling, popping sounds coming from the bones on his hand.

"Ow, ow, ow! Sakura-chan! I was at work!" Her grip tightens.

"Liar. Your assistants couldn't find you in your office…" A little tighter.

"Eheh… I was… well… Bolt and I… we were at Ichiraku…" He whispers weakly. "Please, honey… that's my only good hand…"

"SHANNARO! You were eating RAMEN while I was here GIVING BIRTH TO YOUR CHILD!?"

Her grip loosens, and she smiles genuinely, sweating profusely from her exertion.

"Bolt… so he did talk to you! I'm so proud of him!" Sakura states breathily, holding Naruto's aching hand gently. "I'm proud of you, too, Naruto… making time for your son…"

Naruto winces momentarily before kissing his wife's cheek.

"No, I'm really proud of you! Now… push so we can see our son."

The Hokage's wife takes a few labored breaths before groaning loudly and pushing with all her might.

A few tense minutes later, there was sharp cry that echoed in the room.

Naruto gave out a sigh of relief as he heard the wails of his new child.

"I love you, Sakura-chan." He kisses his childhood sweetheart lovingly on her pink hair as their tiny son is handed to them in a bundle of blankets.

Sakura cries as she kisses the soft cheek of her freshly born baby.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me throughout my entire life, Sakura-chan." Naruto says in admiration of the beautiful scene taking place before him.

"You're just saying that because I just popped your kid out of me…" Sakura narrows her eyes at him warily. Naruto waves his hand in front of his face dismissively.

"No, no. I'm being honest." He puts his arm around his wife and holds his son with his artificial one, grinning roguishly. "You've shaped me into the man I am now."

Sakura leans her head onto his shoulder and sighs.

"And what type of man are you, hm?" She says playfully.

Naruto doesn't respond immediately, instead opting to stare into the sleeping face of his child for a few moments before answering.

"Happy."

-Story by odg