The pamphlet's title was "So Your Marriage Failed". Naruto thought that the title was too on the nose, but still didn't hit as hard as he expected. It its title was, "So Your Marriage Was a Sham and Neither of You Wanted to Admit It Until Now", then he would have wondered if the author was thinking about him. Reading the inside, however, it became clear that it was aimed at both parties in the failed relationship... which was still a little bit on the nose, but this pamphlet, with lines like, "Sometimes people just fall out of love", or, "Sometimes the couple will disagree on money", was aimed at a general audience.

Across the table, Hinata read a different pamphlet, "Talking to Your Children About Divorce". And that subject, covered in the pamphlet his soon-to-be ex-wife was reading, was why we are with them today. Divorce papers were strewn around them on the table, signed and sealed, with the dates for the divorce to take effect written in ink at the top of the pages. It was now only a matter of "when" the divorce would happen. Thirteen years of marriage, wasted, and based on a lie, were set to end in a matter of weeks. There was time to transition the kids to be ready and get used to it, but telling them would not be easy.

Hence the pamphlet Hinata was reading.

"I don't know if I can do this," she groaned.

"You have to," he said, softly. Just because they were divorcing didn't mean he could become uncharacteristically callous.

"You try telling them," she replied. He sighed in defeat. He didn't want to do this, especially not now, while Boruto was still at home recovering. Himawari sat over on the couch watching TV, she was going to react about as normally as she could—still upset, but probably won't take it as personally as Boruto almost certainly will. But then she could also react just as poorly, and both she and Boruto could end up getting super stressed, go down some bad path—maybe even get sick more often—and all sorts of bad things? This was why it was important to get this out of the way now, because their lives were going to be forever upended in the next few days or weeks, and they only had a short timeframe to break the news.

Hinata reached over to Naruto and squeezed his hand, but he didn't react. There were no goosebumps, no warm feelings, and especially, no reassurance. He looked at her, meeting her eyes, and still felt nothing. Neither did she, and she removed her hand from his. Yes, this was for the best, he decided. No sense keeping the lie going.

"It says here we should be calm all the way through," she said.

"It does?" He had read the pamphlet, but he couldn't be sarcastic right about now.

She nodded.

"What else does it say?"

"That we have to put up a united front, tell them it's not their fault and we still love them, and that we should apologize."

"Will they accept it?"

"There's only one way to find out."

For the fifth time that conversation, Naruto sighed.

"Will you stop sighing? It's like there's an earthquake in here every five seconds!" Kurama spat.

How can you tell? Naruto sarcastically replied.

"Because… Shut up!"

Against Kurama's wishes, Naruto sighed again. "Let's get this over with," he said.

Hinata nodded and stood up. The sound of the feet of her chair grinding on the wooden floor sounded louder than usual in this quiet house, and it startled Himawari, turning around to see what was going on. "Mama? What is it?" she asked.

"There's something your father and I have to tell you," said Hinata.

"Is it about the rumors that daddy and Sasuke—"

"No! No, it has nothing to do with that," Hinata interrupted. "Your father doesn't see Sasuke that way."

"Why don't we just all go into Boruto's room and discuss this there?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded, gave Himawari a "Come with me" gesture, and exited the dining room with Naruto and Himawari. Their daughter could clearly see that there was some awkwardness between the two of them; they weren't holding hands, nor did they look at each other. Ten-year-old girls like Himawari could tell that something was up, and she visibly didn't like it, looking away from them both after they climbed the stairs and went to Boruto's room.

The boy in question was sitting up comfortably, reading a manga, when his parents and Himawari walked in. Looking at Himawari, Naruto gestured to Boruto's bed, and she sat down at the foot of it, while Naruto and Hinata sat on her bed, across from their kids. They sat there, silently, occasionally glancing at each other, at the kids, and back to each other, awkwardly. The palpable awkwardness extended to Boruto and Himawari, as they too shot awkward, confused glances at each other. It was a situation where neither side was sure of what was going to happen first, and who was going to make the first move, like two armies facing each other down, but unwilling to shoot the first arrow. Only this wasn't war, it was a family.

Finally, Naruto sighed (again) and spoke. "There's… something we need to tell you," he said. "And you're not gonna like it."

"You're ending the ninja program?" Himawari asked. Boruto glared at Naruto.

"Not yet," said Naruto. "But, it's… you're not gonna like it, especially not now."

"Your father and I have been going to marriage counselling, but we discovered something about ourselves," said Hinata. Boruto and Himawari were both visibly nervous, so Hinata smiled, warmly. "It has nothing to do with either of you, but we want you to know that we love you both very much. It's just…"

"… It's just that…" Time to get it over with. "Your mother and I didn't love each other as much as we thought we did." He could see the realization dawning on both their faces; their eyes and mouths widening in shock. "So we've agreed that… in a few weeks… we're no longer going to be married."

Boruto and Himawari stared at them. Three… two… one…

"WHAT!?" they screamed.

"You're doing this NOW!?" Boruto roared.

"Boruto, sweetie," Hinata said soothingly, "It has nothing to do with you."

"Then why are you separating!?"

"Sometimes, mommies and daddies don't love each other as much as they did, or thought they did," said Hinata.

"So they make mistakes," Naruto continued. "These things happen."

"We're not calling you mistakes," said Hinata, "We love you both very much. What your father means is, they make choices that seem like a good idea at the time… which, again, has nothing to do with you… that hurt them when they're older."

"And sometimes they lie to themselves, even though they hate it when people do that," Naruto added, averting his eyes from Boruto's hard glare.

"But mama," said Himawari, "What about us?"

"Don't worry," said Hinata. "The actual separation won't happen for a couple of weeks. I'll find a new place to live."

"And we've already set upon a schedule for which days you live at whose house," said Naruto. "You'll both see us equally."

Boruto scoffed. "Yeah, right! You're probably doing this now just because—"

"Brother, stop!" Himawari snapped.

"What's he talking about?" Hinata asked.

"It's the rumors again, isn't it?" Naruto asked, visibly annoyed. "NO, I don't like Sasuke that way. In fact, last time I saw him, I called him a dirty name. Now can we get back on topic?"

"Like I said," said Hinata, "We're doing this because your father and I never actually loved each other as much as we thought. It's for the best, but you're free to disagree."

"I disagree!" Boruto objected.

"Obviously," said Naruto. "If anything, I'm the most to blame for this. I chose to marry your mother, and I'm the one who decided to get divorced first. I didn't coerce her into this, either. In fact, she found her own reason to agree with me. And I'm thankful to her for understanding, and I'm sorry to her, and to you, for going through with this."

"Yeah, you'd better be!" Boruto snapped.

"Thanks for reminding me, Boruto," said Naruto. "Just know that things are going to change a little bit in the future. I'm staying here, at the Hokage residence. Your mom will probably go back to the Hyuuga estate."

"So I can see grandpa more!" Boruto said, his eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, sure," said Naruto.

"I'm not gonna be branded, am I?" Himawari asked, her voice shaking, tears welling up in her eyes.

"No, no!" Naruto said, calmly. "I talked to your grandpa, he's ending that practice." Himawari was visibly relieved… at not getting branded.

"You can't separate!" she pleaded.

"Please, understand, this is not your fault," said Hinata. "It's our fault that things have gotten this way. In the end, we were not the right fit for each other."

"What do you mean?" Boruto asked.

"Sometimes, the person we want isn't the person we need," said Naruto. "I thought the same thing with regards to Sakura Uchiha, towards your mother, but now I don't know who I need."

"Dad, we don't need self-reflection right now," said Himawari.

"Sure… Boruto, I'm really sorry. Everything just… happened. I was under a lot of stress, and, I decided now was a good time to do it."

"Yeah, when I'm hurt!" Boruto snapped.

"Do you think I haven't considered that—" Hinata held him in place, pushing him back onto the bed. After a couple deep breaths, he hung his head. "Go ahead and be mad at me. I deserve it, don't I?"

"Duh!" Boruto replied. He crossed his arms and snapped his head to the side, but he was audibly trying to keep his voice from breaking. Unsure of what else to say, Naruto sighed for like the hundredth time, stood up, and left the room, Hinata following. They closed the door, but Naruto lingered long enough to hear Boruto start to cry. It painfully drove home the fact that his pursuit of his own life's meaning had the potential to ruin everything his son wanted to do, perhaps permanently driving a wedge between them both if he didn't do something to fix their relationship. Or Boruto could get over it once he found out things weren't going to change too much.

If only he had a father to go to. But then again, Iruka-sensei, and Yamato-sensei were both available. Maybe he could learn from them.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"I'd like to file for…" Sakura gulped, "Divorce." Did she really say that?

"These things happen, 200 ryo, please," said the clerk.

Grimacing, Sakura wished the clerk, who obviously had to keep a professional attitude, could be at least a little bit sympathetic. But with no time to dwell on it, she pulled out the money and handed it to the clerk. Then the clerk handed her the necessary paperwork. "Is your husband with you?" the clerk asked.

"No," Sakura answered. "But I'm allowed to sign this in his stead."

"Eh."

Doing the paperwork itself was easier than she expected. Since it was a divorce by mutual consent, she didn't need her lawyer, but he was with her anyway, hanging out in the back, just in case. She filled out the visitation form, stating that Sasuke would be allowed to see them, but she was taking sole custody of Sarada, which they had already agreed upon, and wasn't going to change anything for Sarada. She was used to living alone with her mother, anyway, this was just making it official. They would start looking for a new place to work as soon as her still-rocky financial and work status were sorted out.

And that's why, instead of sad, Sakura felt relieved. Her lawyer had noticed it when she arrived at the courthouse, posture upright and head held high. An eyebrow raise and a grin were all she needed to know that he had noticed something different about her.

("What's going on?" she asked.

"You look different," he said.

"How?"

"Well… you look… happy… ish.")

Sakura pursed and rolled her lips to stop herself from smiling. Like it would matter to the clerk, though. She wasn't focused on her, just the paperwork she had to do. Her cavalier, nonchalant attitude told Sakura enough, anyway.

It didn't matter. As soon as she finished the paperwork, she released a long breath, like she'd emerged from the water with a weight around her chest. Her story with Sasuke, which took up almost 2/3 of her life, was finally over. She was free; free to move on and find someone she could happily spend the rest of her life with. Also, she had finally let part of her past go. She wasn't that silly little schoolgirl with a crush on the bad boy anymore.

As she departed, her lawyer nodded again, and they both left, feeling confident. Then, her lawyer spoke up.

"So… about the hospital."

Her demeanor came crashing back to earth like a bird hit by a rock.

"What do you suggest?" she asked.

"First, I'd tell your boss," he answered. "I have a feeling his attitude will change, but that won't hurt our case."

"I hope not."

"Don't worry too much about it. The case is my specialty."

She didn't protest. He was right, after all. The Law was his specialty, and medicine was her specialty, and according to one philosopher, the world would be better if everyone knew their place in society. Yet she also felt that, while that idea made some sense, it fit professional occupations better than home and family life. While it didn't quite fit her life and situation, she admitted, she wondered if the philosophy had done more harm than good in the home in general. She couldn't answer that, because she neither a philosopher, nor a reporter, and that question would go unanswered. Her problem was the fact that she was a doormat in regard to one specific person who was now out of her life.

"Wanna get lunch?" she asked.

"I'm married," he answered.

"Not that kind of lunch," she replied.

"Friendly lunch. Got it. Is Sarada invited?"

"Let's ask her," Sakura answered.

She sat on a bench, bored. They didn't need to ask her. It was written all over her face, and the way she kicked her legs. Sakura walked up to Sarada and said, "Hey, sweetie, ready to go?"

"Yeah," Sarada answered, her tone also showing her boredom.

"We're going to get some lunch, want to come along?"

"No," Sarada moaned.

"Why not?"

"All you'll do is talk about your boring grown-up stuff, and I don't wanna hear it."

"Are you mad about the Chunin Exams?"

"How could the Hokage do that!?" Sarada snapped.

"Because he thought it over, and decided it was best to end them," said Sakura.

"I think I'll go visit Boruto." Sarada got off the bench but waited for Sakura and the family lawyer to pass by, first, before following them out. Once outside, she walked off in a different direction from Sakura and the lawyer.

Along the route to the Hokage residence, she met up with Mitsuki. He told her he wasn't busy, so he could go with her wherever… she was going. After telling him she was visiting Boruto, he seemed to brighten up, and eagerly followed her on the way to the Hokage residence. Along the way, they stopped at Ino's flowershop to pick up a card and some chocolates. Inojin wanted to go, but he was too busy helping his mom and dad, since Sakura had the day off from the flower shop, and he believed that she would inevitably go back to the hospital full-time. When they were done, they left the flower shop and headed straight for the Hokage residence, passing by the big TV screen showing a news story with the chryon, "KAGES AGREE TO END CHUNIN EXAMS; DECISION HAD BEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING, WILL LOOK INTO REPLACEMENT".

Boruto's house looked the same from the outside, once they arrived, but that quickly changed as soon as they entered, for they found a box filled with personal items sitting in the foyer. After removing their shoes, they looked inside, saw nothing interesting, and moved on. Freyja, the farmer's wife from Fjordland, was in the kitchen, making snacks. Boruto sat on one of the two chairs facing each other, legs up, watching TV. His crutches laid against the chair facing him, and he was doing his best not to move. He was also scowling. Unaware of what had taken place days earlier, Sarada and Mitsuki walked up to him, brightly greeting him.

"Hey, Boruto!" Sarada announced. Boruto flinched and then winced. "Oops, sorry."

"Do you need a massage?" Mitsuki asked, arm extending to Boruto, who shook his head.

"Oh! Sarada! Mitsuki!" said Freyja. "I did not know you were coming."

"We won't be long," said Sarada. She and Mitsuki sat down at the dining table. Freyja placed some stuffed prunes on the table. Confused, Sarada and Mitsuki stared at them, picked one each, and ate them. Sarada spat hers out. Mitsuki did not.

"What are you doing here?" asked Boruto.

"My mom and her lawyer are hanging out, so I thought I'd stop by," said Sarada. "She just got divorced."

"Divorced!?" Boruto spat. "My mom and dad are getting divorced, too!"

"Huh!?" Sarada's head snapped to the left, ignoring Mitsuki. "Whaddaya mean, 'divorced'!?" Boruto went over what happened. "Seriously!?" Sarada stammered when he finished. "What the heck is going on!?"

"I don't know!" Boruto whined.

"What if—what if your dad and my mom are doing this because they're still in love with each other and-and-and they're just starting to—OW!"

"How dare you accuse your parents of such scandalous behavior!" Freyja scolded, retracting her hand from smacking Sarada upside the head.

"You didn't have to hit me!"

"But isn't it strange that Boruto's father and Sarada's mother are divorcing their spouses at the same time?" Mitsuki asked.

"Coincidence," said Freyja. "Life is not a soap opera."

"Yeah, yeah, what—HEY! How did you know the Hokage was getting divorced!?" Sarada asked.

"Because you children speak louder than Thor!" Freyja scoffed.

"Who's Thor?"

"My god," Freyja sighed.

They heard the door opening and slamming shut. They expected Hinata, but the heavy footfalls told them otherwise. Naruto entered, took off the Hokage cloak and placed it on the back of a chair. "Work's

been slow today. Hello, Sarada, Mitsuki and Freyja." He went over to Boruto and squatted in front of him. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better," said Boruto. Naruto smiled, chuckling.

"I knew Dr. Uchiha was the best one for the job," said Naruto.

"Dr. Uchiha?" Mitsuki asked. Naruto stood up, nodding. "Dr. Uchiha divorced Sasuke today." He said, smiling. Sarada stared at him, mouth agape.

"Huh!?" Naruto asked, eyes blank. "Whaddaya mean, 'divorced'!?"

"Oh, I guess you and Dr. Uchiha weren't having some torrid affair and decided to get divorced at the same time," Mitsuki continued.

"Divorced!? What—" Naruto stammered and sputtered. "How did—how did you know I was getting divorced?!"

"Boruto told us," Mitsuki continued, still smiling.

"And now I know," said Freyja. "Keep me out of your personal drama!"

"Gladly," said Naruto. "Sarada, what happened? Why's your mom getting divorced?"

Sarada told as much of the story as she could, leaving out the parts she wasn't sure about, or wasn't there to hear. It became clearer to the kids that Naruto really didn't know what was going on with Sakura's love life, because his confused expression remained the whole time, until Sarada got to the part where Sakura socked Sasuke's jaw, calling him something very mean and nasty. At this, Naruto threw his head back and laughed.

"Aw, man, and I'd just insulted Sasuke that day, too! Hahahaha! About time she divorced him, to be honest."

"You wanted them to divorce!?" Sarada asked, indignantly. "Why didn't you say anything!?"

"Hey, she's her own person, who am I to tell her what to do?" Naruto replied. "Who knows? This might be the best thing that's ever happened to her. Where is she now?"

"Having lunch with our lawyer," said Sarada.

"Ah, so I guess her lawsuit's still going forward?" said Naruto. Sarada nodded.

"Why are you and Lady Hinata getting divorced?" Mitsuki asked.

"Oh, we both came to the conclusion that we're not right for each other, and our marriage needed to end," Naruto answered. He didn't say "Our marriage was a mistake based on a lie" because Boruto was right there, and still smarting from the conversation they'd had two days ago. In fact, he was glaring at Naruto right now, and Naruto knew it.

"So where are you staying?" Naruto asked, changing the subject.

"With my grandma and grandpa," said Sarada. "Y'know, it'd be nice if we could go on a mission."

"Well, you're not," Naruto answered. "Not yet, anyway." Sarada moaned and groaned, but Freyja, coming back into the kitchen carrying rice balls, glared at her, silencing her.

"That's good, if you ask me," she said. "Children do not belong on the battlefield."

"But you were a warrior!" Sarada countered.

"When I turned 18, I was allowed to become a shieldmaiden," Freyja said proudly. "My first battle was with an army from the southeast. Technologically, were more like you during your father's time, except invaders from a land east of us, trying to force their ways upon us. We lured them into a trap and slaughtered them." Her eyes darkened with bloody nostalgia. It didn't scare the kids. They were in awe of this badass warrior lady.

"How many people did you kill?" Sarada asked, her eyes sparkling.

"How many breads have you had in your life?" she asked.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto said. "Please don't give them any ideas."

"But we wanna hear!" Boruto interjected. Naruto groaned and furrowed his eyes.

Then he felt a punch to his arm. He turned and saw Himawari. He was lucky she didn't hit him as hard as she did on his Hokage inauguration day. "So, you're not a shadow clone," she said.

"Just say you're mad at me," said Naruto.

"Where's mom?" she asked anyway.

"She's out with Tenten and Ino," said Naruto. "I think they're having lunch together. I'll call her."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata had wondered what Sakura was doing with some other man at the same restaurant she, Ino and Tenten went to, but now that her soon-to-be-ex-husband told her, it made a lot of sense.

Soon-to-be-ex-husband…

Those words came off her thoughts' tongue like aojiru. Even as she smiled at Sakura, noting how different she looked, now that she'd divorced Sasuke, the coincidental events connecting them didn't go unnoticed. How mad should she be at Naruto? That thought had to wait, Ino pulled on her elbow, bringing her to the bar, behind which the chefs were busy making food, sushi being the most visible. They sat down. Ino placed herself in between, from the chef's perspective, Tenten on the left, and Hinata on the right. Ino and Tenten were both eager to start on some sushi, and that's what they ordered. However, Hinata was still visibly feeling the blues.

"Come on, what's wrong?" Ino asked.

Hinata glanced aside, sighing. She whispered, "I'm getting divorced."

Tenten spat out the beer she was drinking. "WHAT!?" Ino shushed her.

"What do you mean!?" Ino whispered.

"I mean, I'm getting divorced," said Hinata. "And the timing couldn't be better." Obvious sarcasm was obvious.

"Damn, right now?" Ino asked.

"No quite."

"Oh, so you've got time. Look on the bright side! You'll be a free woman again soon!"

"Should I be bitter? Naruto wanted to do this."

"To be honest… a little, but not too much," said Ino. "I didn't think you two were compatible, anyways." She ignored Hinata's almost-offended stare to focus on the sushi samples placed in front of her. When she acknowledged it, "What? It's true."

"Thanks a lot," Hinata sarcastically said again.

"I'm not saying you can't be bitter," said Ino. She picked up a piece of sushi and stuffed it in her mouth. "Jusht, look on the bright shide."

"Am I the bad guy?" Hinata asked.

"How should I know?" Ino asked again.

"Never mind," Hinata sighed. She turned around, looking at Sakura. "Sakura's getting divorced, too."

"Really!?" Ino blurted. Fortunately for her, the noise in the restaurant was loud enough that Sakura couldn't hear her. But that didn't stop Tenten from putting a hand over her mouth. "About time."

"Good for her," Hinata said, genuinely proud. Then, she turned, and stared off into the distance. The chef thought she was looking at him, at first, then figured out she wasn't looking at anything in particular, and went back to his work.

"Naruto and Sakura are still in love with each other," she said.

Tenten spat out the beer she was drinking, but Ino didn't. Realizing this, Ino said, in about as fake surprised as one could get, "Oh, my goodness!"

"Are you kidding me!?" Tenten blurted out after coughing up the beer that went down the wrong pipe. "So, like, they must be planning to get married or something!"

"Naruto didn't sound like he knew," Hinata answered.

"Oh, so it's just a coincidence," said Tenten. (It really was just a coincidence.)

"So, what are you going to do?" Ino asked.

"Naruto wants my father to end the Branch House practice," she said. "And I'll see to it that it's finished. It's what Neji would've wanted."

"Good," said Ino. "And Sakura?"

Hinata turned back to look at Sakura. She sighed. "I want to be mad at both of them, but I'm not. They'd better not mess this up."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

End chapter

For this story, I'm drawing on some of my experiences with my parents, who were also divorced, but I had to look up information on how parents can tell their kids they're divorcing. I don't remember any conversation I had with my parents about it, because they divorced when I was three years old, and got used to it pretty quickly. In fact, the only things I remember about that time, were, that at one point, they slept in separate bedrooms, and the other memory that stands out, was moving into the house that I'd grow up in with my mom. My parents split custody; I spent Sundays (and some Saturdays) through Thursday with my mom and spent the weekends with my dad. He moved around often, so I spent my formative years living in five towns, all in the same suburban region.

The reason I had the kids discuss everything going on, was because I wanted them to act like sort of a Greek chorus. Think C-3P0 and R2-D2, except they're major players in this little play. And the reason I'm making fun of soap operas, is because I don't want this to come across as a soap opera, because it's not. The reason I had Himawari hit Naruto was to show two things. One: The kids were going to be mad at him for longer than a day. Two: That it was actually him, not a shadow clone.

My biggest concern is that I could accidentally make Naruto the "bad guy". There is no bad guy in this story… well, except the dude who hurt Boruto, but that's beside the point. My main hope to combat this, is by showing that Naruto knows he's not coming across well, even though he's just as much at fault for this marriage as Hinata. At the same time, I don't believe they're at fault. They just made a bad choice. Obviously, I won't say that in the narrative, because they do love their kids, and don't want to call them a mistake.

I do have the rest of the story planned out, but please, if there's way I can make Naruto more sympathetic, what would you suggest? And how bitter and angry at Naruto should Hinata be? The plan is to make them amicable exes, so I'd appreciate the input.

(And yes, you may make that joke, wrt Freyja's bread question)

And as always, thanks for reading!