Staged

Eighth Stage: Family Day

Naruto tossed Shikadai over his shoulder as the dark haired kid failed in his counter attack. Boruto came out the left field with mutiple shadow clones which was an instant give away for what his next attack was gonna be. Naruto smirked and slammed a fist into the ground. The whole training field imploded as rubble flew everywhere. Boruto screamed as he was lost in the debris but was quickly caught by his mother who happened to be laying by the lake on the other side of the field. 

"Nara Clan Secret Art: Shadow Step." Naruto heard over his shoulder, he chuckled as he felt Shikadai wrap his arms around his waist within Naruto's shadow. "I got you Dad." Was the happy voice of Shikadai who was stepping out of Naruto's shadow. Naruto ruffled his hair and picked him up smoothly. 

"Guess you did but your light years away from ever seriously trapping me with that." Naruto said cheekily. Shikadai pouted with a huff and turned away, Naruto laughed and soon so did Dai. They sat beside the other members of the family watching as Boruto sniffled about a bruise he got in the debris.

"Sorry buddy," Naruto cooed as Boruto waddled over to him for a hug. He got said hug and fell asleep. "I am seriously reevaluating that he's the energetic one." Shikamaru covered his mouth to stifle his laugh as Shikadai joined his brother in sleeping on their father. 

"Why not go to mom, he's the softer one of us." Naruto grumbled but he didn't mean it. He always grew up feeling cold, now with his family they brought him the greatest warmth. He motioned for Shikamaru to come closer which was happily obeyed and Naruto laid his head in the plush thighs. 

"You all seem comfortable." Shikamaru murmured as he yawned too, he leaned over and combed through his kit's hair as they laid out on their father's chest. The sky was cloudy with bits of sun peaking through, perfect weather which was ruined by chakra signatures coming in. 

"Indeed, that's why your dealing with them." Naruto said as he lulled his body asleep with practiced movements and kept his mind and ears wide open. Shikamaru sighed but didn't say anything other than lean down to kiss his lips. Turns out it was just Team 7 and they caught him in the middle of the act.

"What are you guys doing out here." Sakura asked looking around at the decimated field. Shikamaru hummed lazily as he twisted Naruto's hair.

"Does it really matter if you get an answer or not." He asked instead, he was already dreading that this was going to be a tedious conversation. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto who was holding his kits rather protectively.

"I'm going to assume you were training your children?" He guessed, he only received a nod in response. "Figured I could sense, smaller chakra jumping around the place."

"That's all?" Kakashi asked in suspicion.

"Is there anything else to do?" Shikamaru questioned in a sarcastic voice. "It's my husband's day off, the kids don't have playdates and the big open field is just here." He wrapped his arms around Naruto's shoulders and rested his chin on the mop of blond hair.

"So what's your plan for the day." Sakura asked coming closer, she looked over he children and had to really just marvel at their beauty. They were perfect incarnates of their parents. Shikamaru hummed a bit.

"Can you get Ino here I was suppose to continue a story with her." He said with a little smile. Sakura nodded and headed out of the field. The rest just sat around the small family.

"So how's Naruto from your perspective." Yamato asked, the blond looked utterly at peace. His arms were protectively around his children. "I'm happy he finally has a family but I don't know why he never just came back and explained to Tsunade about it. She was an absolute wreck when he first disappeared."

"I'm sorry he caused so much harm but then again I wasn't completely honest with her." Shikamaru said caressing his cheeks. Naruto groaned a bit but didn't stir, Shikamaru had to stifle his laugh. He kissed the whiskered cheek tenderly along with his children's own before pulling back. He caught Sasuke's subtle glare but didn't even bat an eye. 

'Why is everyone suddenly out for my husband he's mine.' He thought darkly.

"Care to explain?" Kakashi asked with a knowing look. Shikamaru gave him a side glance.

"I supposed you were privy to the details."

"Not all Inoichi stopped when a certain obstacle arose." Kakashi murmured with a wandering hand, he was about to touch Boruto but a dark growl stopped him. It was Naruto, his eyes had snapped open and they were red.

"Go back to sleep Naruto." Shikamaru said touching their foreheads together. "He isn't going to hurt them, I'll be damned if I let that happen." Naruto's eyes lidded and closed. For nearly 15 minutes a silence reigned before Naruto's breathing got heavy, signaling he was asleep again.

"Are you going to tell us about how this started." Sasuke said folding his feet. 

"Sure Ino already knows far more than you do." Shikamaru didn't get far just as he was about to get to the little rape scene, Ino came barging in and Shikadai woke up.

"Mom, I'm hungry." He whined a bit from under his father's arm, he stretched across his father's chest to poke his twin's cheek. Boruto being a light sleeper woke up. Shikamaru smiled and unsealed a basket from his arm.

"Ramen! ramen! ramen!" Boruto squealed right into Naruto's ear.

"Shut up mayhem." Naruto groaned poking his son's cheek. Boruto pouted and weakly pulled at his clothes.

"Get up it's ramen time." Shikadai joined in as he slipped out from under his arm to take the slightly heavy basket. Ino was watching this unbearable cute scene but it was marred since she knew what Naruto had done. It boiled her in the wrong way possible. 

To Kakashi it appeared to be a really happy family. It reminded him of Minato and Kushina when she was swollen pregnant. So happy and carefree it was made all the more cuter when Naruto ate from his children's chopsticks and they tried to eat from his. He remembered how depressed Naruto became whenever they crossed paths with a father son duo or a mother and son duo. He saw the pain and anguish of being so alone in the world, how having someone to come home to was something he desperately wanted. 

But now Naruto was experiencing those moments only this time he's playing the father role inside of being the child. He could imagine how happy he was to come home to a family sitting down to dinner, family vacations or even just cuddling together on the sofa with a movie. The way he looked at them, the way he gazed at Shikamaru it was all with love. It was such a beautiful thing to witness. "I'm proud Naruto."

Naruto looked up from feeding a messy faced Shikadai, he titled his head in confusion. Kakashi waved him off, he smiled and went back to feeding the young boy. Shikamaru laughed but was cut off when Boruto offered him some noodles. He accepted it. After everything was eaten by the two healthy boys and one man child Naruto stood up.

"Alright think fast." Naruto smirked as his kids disappeared in a flash. "I'll be back Maru." Naruto gave chase. Faint shrills of laughter could be heard as Boruto came sailing through the air. The young Namikaze  got back into the fight by using a thick tendril of his shadow to launch himself back to were his brother and father were sparring.

"Those shadows seem much thicker than Shikaku's." Ino commented.

"They are, I made sure of it." Shikamaru said with a careless wave. Kakashi's eyebrow quirk at that little line. He would have to bring this to Shikaku, if he knew anything about the Nara clan it was that to make your shadow that tangible must come with some extreme training or a secret technique.