The Hidden Leaf

Forever And A Day

Author's Note:

This is just a part of the fanfic that I made on my Tumblr account. It's a story featuring all the canon (and non-canon, in Konohamaru and Hanabi's case) couples of Naruto Universe. For the whole – and real chronologically arranged – story, visit my Tumblr account linked on my profile page. There is a page containing all the links to all my Naruto fanfictions in Tumblr. This one's included in the Valentine's Day story.

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SHIKAMARU NARA ENTERED THE barbecue house and searched for his friends. He immediately found them on a spot at the corner of the restaurant and instantly went to them. Present that night were Sasuke Uchiha, Sai Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Chōji Akimichi, and Rock Lee.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Kiba greeted him. "You're late."

"Got caught up with a lot of work," he said as he sat down next to his best pal Chōji.

"Where's the Hokage?" Sai asked.

"He can't come," Shikamaru answered. "He worked so hard earlier that he's tired and needed to go home immediately to rest. He said he'll make it up next time when he's able to come."

"He must have overworked himself again," Sasuke said.

"Yeah. He did a lot of work all at the same time using shadow clones," Shikamaru said.

"That might have drained his energy," Sasuke said. He then sighed. "Sir Kakashi should not have taught that technique to him. Doing multiple things at one time. It really will drain you up."

"The Seventh is not an ordinary shinobi. He's very capable of doing that," Lee commented, again with the passion and determination that he always have. "He has always been an extraordinary person. I'm sure no one has ever thought of doing a lot of Hokage jobs simultaneously."

"You really admire him a lot, eh?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, what's not to admire about him?" Lee asked.

"For one, he doesn't have enough time for personal stuff, like his family and us, his friends," Kiba said.

"But that's because he works a lot," Lee said.

"That's right," Sai agreed. "And with regards to his family, that issue has already been resolved."

"Boruto understands his father now," Sasuke added.

"But, that's not the issue here, guys! Come on! We don't get to hang out with our friend just like how we used to do. Sure, he's the Hokage now. But can't he take a day off from his duties?" Kiba asked again.

All the other guys looked at him. Somehow, at the back of their minds, they kind of agreed with Kiba on that one.

"It's fine with me," Chōji suddenly said before he swallowed another bite of pork barbeque.

"Yeah, it's because all you think about is food," Kiba retorted.

Chōji looked at Kiba, but just let it go and didn't answer. Besides, he can't talk because his mouth is full of pork barbeque.

"We just understand the Hokage, that's why," Shikamaru said. "I also get caught up with a lot of work sometimes."

"Yes, that's right!" Lee said. "And some of us go on missions every now and then. Sasuke here even goes to missions as long as weeks or months. And Sakura never complains about it."

"Oh yeah? Maybe she doesn't, but I wonder how she feels about that," Kiba said.

Sasuke looked sharply at Kiba, but decided to not say anything.