Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 323: Back Home
Naruto's body appeared floating above the Hyuga Compound.
He glanced down at the people. Of course, they had already noticed him, but no one was alarmed as they had already grown accustomed to his presence.
A small child ran out of the largest building in the compound while looking up at him.
Naruto landed on the ground, and the child immediately ran at him.
"Papa!" The little girl, who was now around four years old, was now in front of him.
"Himawari. You have grown a lot since I last saw you," Naruto said.
The girl looked at him with confusion. "Papa?... I saw you this morning, but then you disappeared… where have you been?"
The clones were dispelled many hours ago, so it was the last time she had seen him until now.
Naruto smiled. From the little girl's perspective, he never truly went away.
She always had one of his clones available to spend time with her, so she never felt alone or abandoned. Completely unaware that the real Naruto had spent three years absent from here.
"I had something to take care of, but now I'm back for good. I won't go away again," Naruto told her.
"Naruto!"
He lifted his gaze and found a young beauty staring at him with curious eyes.
"The little firecracker has become a woman, I see…" Naruto commented.
Hanabi puffed her cheeks. "I am nineteen already, stop calling me that. Wait! So you are… you know… you?"
Naruto nodded. "It is me." They tried to avoid referring to Naruto's clones as clones for the sake of Himawari. Even though everyone else knew what they were.
"You're not going away?" There was some bitterness in Hanabi's tone.
"No. I'm not going anywhere for a very long time," Naruto told her.
"Good. I hope that's true. My sister is i—"
"I know," Naruto interrupted her. He already knew where everyone was.
He knelt down and picked up his daughter in his arms. "Himawari, I need to go visit the Hokage for a bit. Wanna come with me?"
"Yes!" she said enthusiastically.
"Good, then we will go see your mother." Naruto glanced at Hanabi. "Thank you for helping take care of her."
Hanabi shrugged. "She is my niece. I don't need your thanks. Just don't leave again, you jerk."
"Papa?... why are your eyes weird?" Himawari had noticed the change in his Rinnegan.
"Do you like them?" Naruto asked.
The little girl seemed to be considering it for a moment before she eventually nodded. "I do. They are so shiny!"
Naruto's body began to float in the air. He'd rather not teleport while carrying a toddler, so he would have to fly to the Hokage's building. "Hold on to me and don't let go, okay? I don't want you to fall down." Not that it was a possibility.
"Yes!" Himawari exclaimed with a grin. "Papa! I want to fly too."
"You want to learn to fly? Mmm…" He wasn't sure if it was possible for her to do this. She would need to master his movement technique and a tremendous amount of chakra.
But then again, this was his daughter, so it may not be impossible for her to at least levitate a bit.
"I'll see what I can do. But you will need to be patient and diligent, okay?"
It only took him a minute to reach the building.
He walked with Himawari in his arms while people greeted them. Most of the civilians and ninjas working in this building were very familiar with his daughter already, as Hinata would often bring her along when visiting Ino or Tsunade.
"Lord Naruto, and the little Himawari. Greetings!" Naruto noticed that the secretary had not changed; she still greeted them politely.
"The Hokage is currently in a meeting with the Elders, but…"
"I'm sure they won't mind. I only wanted to say hi." Naruto walked past her and opened the door.
"Hey! We are in the middle of… Naruto?" Tsunade said.
Kakashi, Hiashi, and Shikaku Nara turned around from their seats to look at him.
And lastly, Ino, who was standing next to the Hokage, also gazed at him.
"Hello!" Naruto walked inside with his daughter and shut the door behind.
"I just wanted to—"
"You are the real one," Kakashi noted immediately.
"That explains the disappearance of all the cl—" Shikaku was smacked in the head by Hiashi.
"Right…" The Nara Elder realized his mistake when he saw the girl that Naruto was holding.
"Naruto, welcome back." Tsunade saw Ino leaving her side to get closer to Naruto. "Ehm… Himawari? Why don't you come greet your aunt Tsunade? I have some rice crackers here."
"Cookies!" Himawari jumped from Naruto's arms and ran to Tsunade.
Ino was now right in front of him with an expression that showed how she felt. "Three years?..."
"Sorry?" Naruto wasn't sure what to say.
"Did you bring your daughter as a shield? Thinking that I would not punch you if she was here?" Ino asked.
"Are you going to?" Naruto asked in response.
She shook her head. "No… at least you had the decency of leaving 'them' for us." Ino said, referring to the clones. "I still missed you all this time. And so did her."
"I know, but I did come back, just as I promised, even though it took me a bit to be ready."
Ino sighed. "I know I shouldn't be mad, but I can't help it."
"I won't go away again," Naruto said.
"Promise?" Ino asked.
"I give you my word."
Ino nodded. "Good enough." A smile appeared on her face, and a moment later, she jumped into his arms and began kissing him.
"Whoa there, there's a kid present," Tsunade complained.
"Leave them, it's been a while," Kakashi said.
"I suppose this meeting has lost its reason," Shikaku commented. They were just talking about the disappearance of all the Naruto clones that he had left in the country and what that could mean.
But now that they saw the real one had returned, there was not much point in continuing this meeting.
"So, if you don't mind, Lady Tsunade, I would like to go see my wife."
"And I have a book to work on," Kakashi said. After his favorite book series ended, he had taken it upon himself to write the next series of erotic books.
"Have you seen Hinata yet?" Ino asked.
"No, I was going there now," Naruto said.
"Do you want to leave Himawari here?" she asked.
"No, I'll bring her along. I told her we would see her mother next."