In Naruto with the Flame-Flame Fruit-Chapter 490: First Day at the Academy

In the blink of an eye, it was time for Shinichi to start his first day at the academy. Kiyosuke had been invited to attend the opening ceremony. Normally, he never bothered with these things, but since his son was starting school, of course he had to show up.

"Yawn..."

Naruto, standing beside him, said:

"Kiyosuke-san, don’t tell me you went out drinking again last night?"

"Impossible. I just stayed up late gaming." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ever since Konoha began modernizing, things had advanced ridiculously fast—Kiyosuke could even play video games now.

"Hmph! And Shinichi still dreams of beating his old man in a game? He’s twenty thousand years too early!" Kiyosuke puffed up proudly, completely delighted that he could beat his son at gaming.

"Haha!"

Naruto couldn’t help feeling a little envious of their father–son relationship. His own kid was already getting rebellious—and at such a young age too.

"Later you need to go up and give a speech. It’s tradition for the Hokage. And if Kiyosuke-sama is willing, he can speak as well." As Hokage’s secretary, Shikamaru had already arranged everything. All Naruto had to do was make decisions and follow the schedule. Naruto’s performance as Hokage was... hard to describe politely.

Without his shadow clones and Shikamaru’s help, he’d practically have to live in his office.

Most days, he went home looking like a soulless husk—the sofa might as well have been his bed.

He barely had time for his family, which only made Boruto resent him more. In Kiyosuke’s opinion, the kid was long overdue for a proper beating.

"Alright, roll call begins!" Aburame Shino, now an academy teacher, started reading names.

"Asakawa Shinichi!"

"Here!"

A handsome black-haired boy answered crisply. Standing among the other children, he was absurdly good-looking, having inherited the best traits from Kiyosuke and Mei Terumī. He had also inherited Kiyosuke’s ability—elementalization—and was still exploring it. Given time, he would definitely become another monstrous prodigy.

No doubt—that’s my son.

"Akimichi Chōchō!"

"Here!"

Chōji’s daughter, born from a kunoichi of Kumogakure—Kiyosuke forgot her name.

"Uchiha Sarada!"

"Here!"

Sasuke and Sakura’s daughter, the little princess of the Uchiha clan. For some reason she was nearsighted...

An Uchiha... with bad eyesight...

If Madara knew, he’d die a second time just from spite.

"..."

"Uzumaki Boruto!"

Shino looked up.

"Uzumaki Boruto. Not present?"

"That child! Where did he run off to? How can he skip something this important?" Naruto started grumbling.

KA-THUNK—

A deafening crash echoed overhead. Kiyosuke looked up to see a train engine falling from the cliff above, slamming directly into Naruto’s Hokage Rock face and splitting it open.

A blond, pineapple-haired boy stepped out of the wreckage.

"Uzumaki Boruto, reporting in!"

Kiyosuke burst into laughter.

"Naruto, your son is even worse than you were!"

Naruto was stunned.

"B-Boruto..."

Konohamaru appeared behind Boruto, effortlessly grabbed the disobedient kid, and dragged him back into the line.

Naruto finished his speech without mentioning the incident. Kiyosuke went up afterward, said a few encouraging words, and repeated the Third Hokage’s famous "Will of Fire" spiel. The kids listened with fiery enthusiasm—except his own son, who silently pouted.

There goes Dad, fooling people again.

When everything wrapped up, Kiyosuke left with his son.

"Dad, didn’t you say the Will of Fire was just something adults use to fool kids?"

"Yeah. And aren’t you kids?" Kiyosuke said lazily. "The ’Will of Fire’ basically just means protecting the village because you want to. The old Third used it to fool us back then, and plenty of people really got tricked."

"I know Obito-san wasn’t fooled—he was always late!" Shinichi cut in proudly.

"Yeah, exactly. Anyway—got your eye on any girls yet?"

"Dad, what are you even talking about? I’m still a kid." Shinichi sighed helplessly.

"You’re not that young. Look at Sora—once he became a ninja, he ended up in a team with Nanao and your sister. That kid makes me uneasy. He’s always circling around your sister. As a boy, it’s your duty to protect girls. That includes protecting your sister."

Yuka had become a ninja and formed a team with Hatake Nanao and Uchiha Sora, led by Obito.

"Yeah, of course. You taught me that. A real man protects girls. But... does Sis really need me to protect her?" Shinichi remembered his sister’s strength and felt like going near her in battle would only make him dead weight.

"Nonsense. You inherited my ability. Even if you can’t reach my level, becoming one of the top ten in the entire ninja world won’t be an issue. By then, your sister won’t be your match." Kiyosuke said confidently. At Shinichi’s age, his chakra reserves already rivaled young Kakashi with Sharingan. And he would continue growing. After teaching him senjutsu, his strength would skyrocket even more.

Kiyosuke already had plans for his son’s future.

Well—only general plans. If Shinichi chose something else, he wouldn’t interfere.

"Shinichi, what’s your dream?"

Shinichi thought for a moment.

"I want to become a man as strong as you, Dad."

"Then keep working. One day, you’ll surpass me." Kiyosuke ruffled his hair as they walked home together.

"We’re home!"

"Mom, we’re home!"

The father and son removed their shoes as Mei Terumī’s voice drifted from the kitchen.

"Welcome back!"

"Dad, Shinichi, welcome home!"

A girl who looked very much like a younger Mei peeked out and smiled.

"Back already? Finished your mission that fast?" Kiyosuke asked, surprised.

Yuka crossed her arms proudly.

"It was just a C-rank mission. I handled it easily."

"That’s true." Kiyosuke nodded. "My daughter would never struggle with a mere C-rank mission."

He sat on the sofa, listening to Yuka recount her mission. She then tugged at him.

"Dad, Obito-sensei only teaches Fire Style. Teach me something else!"

"I wanna learn too!"

"Fine, fine. I’ll teach you Wind Style. Honey, has Yuka learned Water Style yet?"

Mei said:

"Not yet. You teach first."

"Alright. Let’s eat first. After dinner, I’ll take you both to the Konoha training grounds. Yuka—when I was your age, your mom and I were already fighting on the battlefield."

"Huh? With Mom?" Yuka and Shinichi looked shocked.

"Yeah. Your mom used to chase me down trying to kill me." Kiyosuke said. "But in the end she fell hopelessly in love with me—and married me. Shinichi, take notes. Someday you can steal the heart of some other village’s beauty."

"Mm-hmm! I’ll learn well!"

"Don’t teach the kids weird things!" Mei smacked Kiyosuke on the head with her palm.