Nindō 0116: Delayed Infusion

Things slowly normalized after Naruto returned from his trip. After taking care of Tsunade's healing session, which should've been two days prior, he was going to deal with another one-to-one session that had been delayed because his real self was too preoccupied after returning from the trip. Sarada hadn't received her weekly infusion, causing her training to stagnate somewhat. Naruto still sent his clones to help her train her chakra control, but the results had been pretty disappointing due to her missing the weekly power boost that came from the infusion.

It wasn't until Wednesday that Naruto's real self was able to meet Sarada for her infusion.

"Master!" Sarada exclaimed as she entered Naruto's office excitedly. "You finally have time for me. I feel neglected …"

"I know, I know," Naruto said with a smile. "I had a ton of things to do after coming back from the Land of Hot Water. I ended up delaying your Chakra infusion by three days."

"And you turned me away for two days in a row …" She said with a sad expression. "I thought you were going to abandon me and stop training me."

"Now, why would I do that to my amazing disciple?" Naruto asked as he stood up from his seat. "I don't think I've seen anyone as diligent as you when it comes to your training. Where would I even find another viable Hokage candidate?"

She giggled, looking very pleased after goading Naruto into complimenting her. "Did you guys enjoy the trip?"

"It was a blast," Naruto said. "How has your week been?"

"Just so-so," she said. "I don't think anything noteworthy happened. Are we going to do it now or later?"

"Now. That's why I called you here earlier than our usual time," he said. "Come here, sit beside me. It won't take too long."

"All right," Sarada nodded and quickly sat beside him, holding her hands together on her lap as she tightly clasped her fingers together.

"Nervous?" Naruto asked as he placed his hand on her head. "You don't need to worry. We have already done this twice without any problems arising."

"It's just … embarrassing," she squeaked out, tightly closing her eyes.

Naruto didn't reply and simply combed her hair with his hand. She naturally calmed down and relaxed, closing her eyes while breathing deeply and slowly.

"Do you want to do it the same way as last time?" Naruto asked.

"Of course. I want to be able to keep my cool in all possible —"

A squeak escaped her lips, interrupting her sentence before her breath got caught in her throat. Her Sharingan automatically activated itself and revealed its true mutated form. While her concealed Sharingan only had two tomoe, she had actually gained one in the time between now and when Naruto last examined her. It now had five tomoe populating the whirlpool as opposed to four from before.

She shivered and instinctively grabbed Naruto's leg beside her, tightly gripping his thigh as Matatabi's overwhelming chakra assimilated itself into her.

Soon, she was groaning with occasional spasms, unable to suppress her reactions anymore. She kept holding Naruto's thigh and lightly pulled him closer to herself. He understood her gesture and used his chakra to shift her a bit and held her, letting her ride out the rest of the overwhelming experience safely.

"You did good, kid," Naruto praised as Sarada's groans continued alongside her spasming while tightly hugging him back. "You held off for almost a minute this time. Last time, you tapped out after thirty seconds."

As the minutes passed, he combed her hair and rubbed her back, helping her maintain a level of sanity as the overwhelming assimilation procedure concluded.

"Good work," Naruto whispered to a half-conscious Sarada. "I'm proud of you."

"Mm …" Sarada didn't respond with words and closed her eyes, leaning against her master's chest. She mumbled something further, but it only came out as a weak hum through her lips.

Letting his disciple rest on the couch, Naruto covered her with a blanket and got back to his work.

An hour later, Sarada woke up and ate ramen with Naruto. Well, she ate ramen. Naruto, for the time being, felt a sense of revulsion whenever he looked at any noodle-based food after his date with Hinata.

As she ate, Sarada told him about the mundane events that she had experienced throughout the week. Normally, she would go home after that, but Naruto had her stay for a bit longer to help him with paperwork, only freeing her when it was time for him to clock out for the day.

"You don't have to walk me home, Master. I can go back by myself," Sarada said to Naruto as he draped his Hokage cloak over his shoulders.

"You didn't go home after completing today's missions, did you?"

"No," she shook her head. "I ended up hanging out with Chōchō and the class president; she's been in Konoha ever since the Scientific Ninja Tools division was disbanded. What happened with that? It was a very abrupt dismissal."

"Politics," Naruto said. "I'll tell you about it later. As for why I asked whether or not you went home …" He held the door open as Sarada walked in front of him. "Because I told Sakura that I would be having dinner with her today. She would've informed you had you gone home."

"You're having dinner with us?" Sarada raised her brow.

"Yes. It's been a while since we hung out, don't you think?"

"She should've told me. I could've helped her cook," she spoke to herself.

"Don't worry about it. She asked me to keep you occupied until dinner. She seems to have a surprise prepared."

"Master, why don't you reduce her working hours … she works so much," Sarada suggested. "She had to cook dinner all by herself."

"Sure. I'll talk to her about it."

"Wait, really?" Sarada stopped and turned to look at Naruto.

"Yeah, sure. I was actually planning to move her to a different research-focused role. It's related to the disbanded Scientific Ninja Tools department."

"As long as the hours are lowered …"

"Look at you, worrying so much about your mother." Naruto patted her head while walking beside her. "She is much stronger than you realize, okay? She wasn't a part of Team Seven for nothing."

"I just worry, you know?" Sarada said. "The stress gets to her every once in a while. Without Dad to accompany her, she gets lonely. I want to do my part in mitigating her loneliness."

"I wish Boruto was half as sensitive to such matters as you," Naruto laughed. "But as a father myself, I can tell you in good faith that you don't need to try too hard. You are the most important person in your mother's life. She will be pleased as long as you are willing to simply accompany her. Just eating dinner with you at night is enough to mitigate almost all of the stress you just mentioned."

"Thank you, Master," Sarada said.

…

Inside Sakura's home.

"No way." Sarada's eyes shone brightly. "You're awesome, Mom. You made all this by yourself."

"Naturally. Now go and wash up. We will eat soon," Sakura said with a loving smile as she patted her daughter's head.

The girl quickly moved to her room as Sakura turned to Naruto.

"How have things been?" Sakura asked.

"What? No hug for your long-lost friend?" Naruto opened his arms with a smile filled with a playfulness that Sakura was very familiar with.

"Yeah, right, mister long-lost friend who runs the village I live in." Sakura shook her head and approached Naruto for a brief yet comforting hug. "What brought this on?" She looked up at him with a smile before stepping back. "You said you have something to talk to me about."

"Let's talk about it after dinner. It's going to be a lengthy conversation with some things that I need to explain to you."

"Okay," Sakura nodded.

Sarada soon came back down as Naruto washed his hands in the kitchen before they all dug into the dinner.

By the time they were all finished, Sarada was anxiously looking at the clock and Naruto's face, shifting between them repeatedly.

"What's wrong?" Sakura noticed her daughter's abnormal actions.

"Master …" She called out.

"I'm not postponing your training, Sarada. I want you at the training ground at five sharp. No exceptions."

"B-but … Don't you also have to be awake to send a clone, master? Don't you want to sleep for longer?"

"No exceptions, Sarada," Naruto said. "That applies to me as well. You will meet my clone at the training ground, or I will drag you out of bed myself."

"I wanna stay up and spend more time with you guys … The stories on TV are so different from what you were talking about."

"Put the dishes in the sink, Sarada. I'll wash them later," Sakura said. "And go to sleep. If you are that interested in more stories from our past, I'll tell you some interesting stuff later."

"Fine." Sarada looked like a scolded child as she lowered her head and gathered up everyone's dishes before taking the pile to the kitchen. After giving everything a shallow rinse, she left them in the sink. As she slowly made her way to the stairs, her frame slouched and looked even more desolate, as if she'd been abandoned on the streets, helpless and unloved.

"Stop with the melodrama, Sarada," Sakura sighed. "It's not like Naruto having dinner with us is unheard of."

"Fine." Sarada looked at her mother with a defiant look and stuck her tongue out before running up the stairs.

"What a brat …"

Naruto smiled, appreciating the dichotomy of Sarada's personality. The girl showed completely different sides with him versus when she was with her mother.

***

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