The Honoured One || NarutoxJJK

8: Resolve

"But sensei, he's so little.", his new classmates voiced out their similar concerns upon seeing him the next morning in their class. Even the teacher of the class looked flustered and out of depth. Satoru could see the man was not happy about having a toddler in his class but could not say anything against the hokage.

"Quiet children! Satoru is going to be a part of this class and that's the final decision taken by the hokage" 'even if it's not right', was left unspoken.

Satoru himself did not understand why everyone was making a big deal about it. It's not like he was defense less, right? But then, he could see why a toddler being a shinobi would make people uncomfortable. But still, Satoru could handle himself just fine.

He ignored the looks from his new peers and sat down in his seat.

The new class was obviously more advanced. With people using clan techniques and unique styles during the sparring sessions. Satoru could say now that he was being challenged a little but only due to his weak body.

In addition, there were more clan children in this class than his previous one. Probably due to the fact that most civilians never lasted this long into the academy session.

From those clan children, there were two in particular who caught Satoru's attention. Yuno Hyuga and Keisuke Uchiha were somewhat stronger than everyone in class. They were both 8 and were hailed as the prodigies of their clans. They also had the metaphorical stick up their ass that every Hyuga or Uchiha clan member had.

They were always trying to provoke him. From declaring him a snot-nosed brat to taking every chance they could to spar against him. It might be because of the clan pressuring them to maintain the clans' oh so great reputation and not lose against a toddler. But even after all that, they were never able to defeat him once.

Except those two acting as small sources of entertainment for Satoru, his time in the academy soon came to an end and before he realised, he was being given a forehead protector. He pushed the headband into his pockets and walked towards his mother who was standing outside the academy gate.

He could tell his mom kind of brightened on not seeing any headband on him but her eyes became dull and her smile wavered when he took his hands out of his pockets and waved his hand with the headband still clutched in it.

'As expected, but I need this mom, sorry' , Satoru put on a smile and hugged his mom who tried her best to hide her unease.

"Come let's go home, I've made your favourites."

'I wonder what's going to happen now',   Satoru quietly mumbled while laying in bed later that evening and drifted to sleep.

~~~~~~

Sakumo was happy. He was extremely happy in fact. The mission was a success. And he knew the war was finally moving towards peace talks.
There were already talks of ending the war from the heads of all shinobi villages. All the nations were tired and exhausted and could no longer go on with the war. An agreement was probably going to be reached within a week. After almost 8 years, the war was going to end.

Now he just wanted to return home to his family. He missed them so much. He wondered how big Satoru had gotten and how far had he progressed in his training. With all these questions, Sakumo left the hokage office after giving his mission report. In all his happiness, he did not pay attention to the wary looks the hokage was giving him.

When he was finally in front of the door, he unlocked it and quietly closed it. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Guess who came home?!" The glee was clear from his tone.

It was not long before he heard crashing noises from the kitchen and a body crashed into him. All his training came into use and he steadied himself while letting out an oomph sound. He laughed at his lovely wife who was listening to his heartbeat while going on and on about how she could not believe if he's finally home and whether he's real or not.

Sakumo kissed her forehead before another smaller body hugged his legs. Looking down, he saw his son and the sight made him tear up. He crouched down with his wife still in his arms and hugged them both.

"You guys have no idea how much I missed you." Sakumo breathed in his favourite scent, the scent of home.

Misa chuckled wetly, "Probably not more than we missed you, darling."

"Not to ruin the moment but it's been too long and I'm running out of air.", Of course his son was still a cute brat who could not take affection for more than two minutes.

"He's right. Now you go and freshen up. I'll set the table. You're just in time for dinner." Sakumo pecked his wife and their eyes promised much more later to each other and ruffled Satoru's hair, ignoring his little 'ew'.

Later, they were in the living room after a delicious meal catching up on different things. Sakumo was telling Satoru about his mission (omitting the gruesome details of course), while Misa listened with a content smile. But as he paid a closer attention to his wife, he could see there was something she was keeping to herself, something that was eating her inside.

"Oh yeah, Toru, how's your training going? You've been enrolled in the academy, right? Tell me your experience. Made any friends?", Sakumo noticed the sharp inhale of Misa as Satoru responded.

"Renji-sensei did help in my training. And the academy was quite boring but fortunately I don't have to go there anymore." Satoru cheered.

Sakumo's brows furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean you don't have to go there anymore?"

Satoru paused and tilted his head in confusion and Sakumo might have found the action cute if he was not dreading the next words coming out of his son's mouth.

"Because I've already graduated from the academy."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah Dad, and I'm going to get my team placement tomorrow."

"I see. That's good, Toru. I'm so proud of you.", Sakumo patted his head and attempted a weak smile.

It was then Sakumo realized why Misa was acting this way. Why in the world would the hokage let a literal child graduate from the academy. Especially during such tough times. No matter how much of a genius Satoru may be, he was still only three. Yes, Sakumo had admitted Satoru in the academy early but that was because he thought it would help his anti-social son make some friends and think about things other than training.

But he never would have imagined that the hokage would leave his son in the battlefield to die. No, Sakumo would not let that happen. Not when he's alive. He will see to it that his son gets to enjoy whatever childhood is left in him.

With that resolve, Sakumo nodded at Misa who understood him instantly and stood up clapping her hands, "Now Now, let's get ready for bed Toru-chan. It's getting late."

"But whyyy?? It's not even that late~" , Satoru whined but allowed his mom to lead him towards his bedroom.

After they both vanished into Satoru's room, Sakumo exited the house. Leaping through the air, he headed towards hokage's office for some answers.

~~~~~~~

A/N:

Yikes 😬...
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