The Secret

Epilogue

It had been five years since Sasuke was last in Uzushiogakure no Sato. Naruto hadn't heard any more news about the raven, other than from Kakashi that he had never returned to Konohagakure. For a while, it was really concerning, and everyone was on guard. After two years of no news, people slowly lowered their guard, believing the raven had finally given up.

Life returned to normal for the trio, raising their family in peace.

One day, a guard burst into Naruto's office, panting for breath before he was finally able to warn the blond about the man arriving at the gate. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation. He had enjoyed the years he had without worry; now it was over, as the headache had returned.

"Send him in," he sighed, eyes closed as he heard the door shut behind the retreating guard.

He massaged temples as he waited for the next person to enter his office.

"Naruto." The voice behind him made him jump, startled. He placed a hand over his chest as he glared at the man on his windowsill.

"Dammit, Sasuke! Don't sneak up on me like that, you teme!" Naruto shouted at the raven.

Sasuke simply smirked at the blond, having missed their arguments and name-calling.

"Hn, dobe."

"What do you want, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"I came to inform you I decided to give up."

The blond stared at the raven in surprise. He didn't believe the man for a second.

"Really now? And what made you decide to do that?"

Before Sasuke could answer, a cry erupted from his cloak. Without sparing the surprised blond a single glance, the raven pulled the cloak away from his arm and revealed a small infant, pale skin with red cheeks, crying loudly.

"Shhh," Sasuke soothed softly. "You're alright, Minoru." He bounced the infant lightly, before the crying slowly died down and the baby calmed down. With its eyes open, Naruto could see deep pools of green. He stared at the man before him, waiting for an explanation.

"This is my son, Minoru," Sasuke stated. "I found his mother while I was wandering the lands for the last five years. I met her in a small village off the coast, near Mizu no Kuni."

"So after all this time, you finally found someone to love, instead of constantly chasing after me? What took you so long to come back then?"

Sasuke stared down at the infant in his arms for several seconds, trying to think of how to say it.

"I...For the longest time I thought if I made you wait, you'd come looking for me instead of me always coming here to you. When I met Hinako, I was still waiting for you. It took me a long time to fall in love with her, and even longer to be able to admit to that fact. Before I had even realized it, we were married and had Minoru on the way, and I had almost completely forgotten about you."

Naruto was stunned, and Sasuke locked eyes with him as he continued, "It wasn't until a few weeks ago, Hinako found our old team photo and asked me about who was in it that I remembered. I told her about everything, including the night I defected. Surprisingly she wasn't angry about it." Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand awkwardly. "At least, I didn't think she was angry, but she did force me to sleep on the couch for several nights after. I guess she's good at hiding her emotions from me." He let out a light chuckle at his confession.

Naruto continued to stare at the raven for several more seconds. He was so shocked he jolted with surprise when the office door burst open, his oldest son was standing there, hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

"I—I heard—heard he was—was here," Fugaku panted out. When he finally caught his breath, he glanced over at the window, surprised to see his "father" holding an infant in his arms. "Wha..."

"Fugaku," Sasuke said softly. He gently climbed off the window ledge, not wanting to jostle the baby, and walked over to his son. "This is your half brother, Minoru." He held the baby in such a way that the speechless Fugaku could see.

The infant held out his hand to the young man, and he hesitantly placed a finger in the small grasp. Instantly, Minoru pulled Fugaku's finger toward his mouth, and began sucking on it. The act was so surprising, Fugaku couldn't help the surprised laugh that burst forth.

It wasn't long before the rest of Naruto's family arrived in the office, and Sasuke introduced his child to his older brother, who was not only happy Sasuke had found someone, he was mainly glad he didn't have to fight over his wife with his brother any longer.

They spent several hours simply talking and catching up, before Sasuke realized the sun was beginning to set, and he needed to get back to Hinako so she could feed Minoru before putting the baby to bed.

The whole Uchiha family walked him out to the gate, telling him he could come back at any time, hopefully with his wife as well. He gave a soft smile at the mention of the woman, before he waved good bye and left Uzushio.

When Sasuke was out of sight, Naruto finally released the breath of relief he had been holding since the raven had appeared in the window.

"I'm glad he found someone, which means I'll finally be able to have my friend back, instead of a stalker."

Itachi and Obito wrapped their arms around the blond between them, walking their large family back to the Hokage tower to drop their wife off before everyone went their own ways.

They knew life would always have challenges, but it was no secret that they'd happily go through anything as long as their family was by their side.

The end