Only Time Can Tell

LEGEND

Here's the epilogue! Don't worry I'll be acknowledging all of y'all later. This is the end of the first book (there will be more...but not of this book. Just wait and see) 

EPILOGUE

LEGEND

INOJIN YAMANAKA

We had been planning this day for a long time now, but thinking about it makes my mind immediately wander off, so I hadn't realized that it was today until we were actually there. I ushered the others away and went in on my own, telling them that they could come and join me soon.

I walked up to the place that we had picked. The grass had grown long, but the flowers were always in perfect condition. I knew for a fact that my mother came out here everyday to freshen them up. Even during the winter when the flowers didn't grow quite as beautiful, there was always the same glowingly beautiful flowers lying beside his grave. I'm certain that if he were alive he would have drawn them.

"Hey...dad." I sighed, sitting down beside him. "So today's the day. Would you believe it...today's my birthday? I'm...actually 32 today, which means, if you were here right now, we would be the same age." My voice cracked on the end, the sound of my own voice made my eyes prick with tears. "Sorry I haven't be around as often as I promised. I've been really busy lately...anyway..." I took a deep breath. "I miss you." I said leaning against his grave, tears falling now. I quickly wiped them away. "Ah." I said sniffling. "I know it's selfish but I wanted you to be around for this...

"I wanted to let you know about the last couple of years...I uh, graduated to jonin, and I actually have my own team now. They're great, though they can be a bit much sometimes, but that's to be expected with them this age. I'm certain they'll become strong ninja, I teach them the best I can. There's a girl in our group, her name is Hana, she's the biggest handful of them all. She reminds me of Lord Seventh, she's got some mouth you know? The other boys can barely handle her, but she shows a lot of promise. All these girls...after Sarada became Hokage, we've had an unbelievable amount of strong kunoichi, more than what we've seen in the past. Sarada's really proud of that, and so is mom.

"Ma's doing fine. She visits with Sakura everyday, she's actually looking into becoming one of Sarada's advisors. She comes here all the time, I'm sure you already know that. She's still beautiful, no one actually knows her real age except for me... Neji takes good care of her. The Hyuga's come and check in on us every other day, and that's a good thing because the kids get along great. Except when they're fighting, in that case, they're pretty much the worst." I laughed.

"I married Himawari 2 years ago. I'm sorry that I forgot to talk to you after, though I almost seemed to feel your presence at the wedding. Boruto makes the best and worst brother-in-law ever, but he's finally learned that I love her, and that I'll make her the happiest woman alive for all of her days, he's still trying to wrap his little brain around that. He turned out fine, just like you thought. He...he actually married Sarada 8 years ago. Took him long enough, right?" I smiled. "That was some wedding, for a while it looked like either one of them could faint, with both of their scary dads being there...It all turned out fine of course!

"A 2 years ago, uh...Hima and I had our first son. Yeah...once again, I'm sorry, but I've been busy." My eyes started to prick again. "When it came to naming him, we couldn't think of any other name but your's, so, congratulations, you've got a grandson named after you. Then just a few days ago...we had our daughter!" I smiled. "She's beautiful, she's got Hima's eyes, and....it's a little early, but I think she has your smile...Her name is Mirai....and I uh...I brought them with me today. I want to make sure that you meet them, and get to see them now, after all these years.

"Another thing too, Yukio...Daichi Lanfeng's son, he's actually Sai's and Mirai's godfather, since I felt bad about not making him my best man at our wedding. It's weird, but after all this time, even though I gave him the cold shoulder at first, we've really become friends, in a way that I couldn't imagine. You should have seen us when we were teenagers...we actually fought over Himawari...a few black eyes later we knew who won. Thankfully me. I thought that you would be proud of that...that the man who killed you...he's actually become so close to me, and he's lived the years that you didn't have the chance to. You'd be happy to know that Aimi is actually buried here too, over there." I said pointing to a patch of shade just by the edge of the forest, the farthest you could get from the rest of the graves.

"I can't help but think that this is weird...talking to you like this, with no response. It feels like any second now you'll answer me...." I closed my eyes. "After we got back from the past, we decided that it would be best for that scroll to be destroyed. So that no one has to go through what we went through...so that this pain doesn't ever happen again. Right after that, they added your name to the list of heroes. I'm going to take the kids to see the list today, they're too young to understand it yet, but one day, they'll know just how big a sacrifice you made.

I sighed. "It took a while, but I've forgiven you, for leaving me. I guess I was too young and immature to accept what you had done, and actually ended up blaming it on you. It was unfair, I know, and I hope that you forgive me." I heard Sai's laughter and I looked up, and smiled. He was playing with little Mirai. "You're a grandpa now."

I smiled and stood, waving to Hima, gesturing to her to come over. She smiled and took Sai's hand, leading him over to us. Sai immediately let go, and came barreling towards me, I swung him up, keeping him from tripping. "Hey tiger!"

"Rawr!" Sai roared. I swung him around. He squealed and laughed. I put him down before he could get sick on me. The last time I swung him around too much was a real mess. He sat down, picking at pieces of grass. His hair was raven black like my father's but he had Hima's eyes. It was the perfect combination, he was young, but I knew that when he was older he'd be a really lady-killer.

"This is your grandpa." I said gesturing to the grave. "Can you say grandpa?"

Sai smiled giggling a little. "Grundpaw." I smiled.

"He has the same name as you."

"Sai?!" He gasped standing up. He pressed his baby hand into the smooth stone. "Is he fwumb te storwee?"

"You're right!" I laughed, waving to Mirai and Hima as they made their way over. "Isn't that your favorite story?"

"Yeah!" Sai yelled, falling back on his butt. "Can you tell it again?"

"Of course." Hima and Mirai made it over here, and we all sat down. Mirai was much too young to know the story by heart, but Sai had almost completely memorized it. "This is the story of your grandpa Sai, and your uncle Neji.

"A long time ago, before you were born," Even at this age, the time before Sai was born seemed like forever to him. To me it was just a few short years that passed too quickly. "Your Uncle Boruto-"

"I like him!" Sai interjected, throwing up strands of grass like confetti. "I want him to be my sensei!"

"Someday, he will be." I smiled. "Anyway, your Uncle Boruto, Uncle Shikadai, Aunt Sarada, and myself got into some trouble in the Hokage's office. We were a few years older than you and we thought it would be a good idea to sneak in. Your Uncle Boruto, he touched a scroll that he shouldn't have, it was on the top shelf- and what are our rules about the top shelf?" I recited.

"Never touch anyfing on the top shelf. Ewur." Sai sighed. "Can we get on with the story, to the good parts?!"

I laughed. "Boruto touched the scroll and before we knew it, we entered a whole new world. It was the same place, where your grandpa, and Grandpa Naruto-"

"I like him too!" Sai giggled.

"It was the time when they were growing up. We had gone back to the past."

"The paaaaaaast." Sai echoed.

Mirai began to hiccup in Hima's arms. Hima gently began to rock Mirai back and forth, and the hiccuping stopped. Hima's got a touch when it comes to babies, to me, it always seems that I hold them at just the wrong moments. I'm about as skilled with babies as my papa was with girls.

Sitting here in the field where he was buried with the family that I had made, I could almost feel him there. He was sitting somewhere in this circle, listening to this story being told for the hundredth time, and for a moment, I knew that I had made him proud. This was exactly what he wanted for me.

Sai crawled over to Hima. "Mommy, why is papa crying?"

Hima just smiled, messing up his black hair. "Because he loves you so much." Seeing them, my family, happy and smiling, just like this...this must have been what my father had felt like. My life was complete, and the whole that my papa had left behind was finally filled, and it was like he was here with me again. Right alongside of me, holding these memories. He never really left me. He was here all along.

"That's right." I said wiping away my tears. I scooped him up in my arms and laid him in my lap resisting the urge to tickle him. "This is where the legend of your grandpa Sai begins."