What had started as snooping had turned into a very difficult situation. Shikadai, Boruto, Himawari, Shikaru, Haruto and little Shikanaru were staring into the faces of their parents. Well they weren't their parents yet, they were still Genin. Naruto and Shikamaru were young staring at them confused but seemed to be picking up quickly as to what was going on. The resemblances were too strong to ignore. Himawari clutched the scroll she had snuck out that very morning and felt a dread full her stomach. 

"Himawari I'm going to strangle you now and your going to be perfectly still and take it." Shikadai said before jumping said girl. She screamed and dashed around the empty abandoned training field trying to dodge her brother's arms. She quickly hid behind Naruto who was quickly knocked over by his soon to be future son. 

"Hey get off him, he's injured." Shikamaru said harshly as he pushed Shikadai easily off Naruto who was wincing. 

"Shika- it hurts." Naruto protest as he was pulled upright.  Shikamaru pulled Naruto's jacket down and pulled off his black shirt that was soaking with blood. On his back was a large whip wound that was slowly healing, the reason for the slow healing was because the whip was poisoned. 

"It's okay you'll be fine. Kurama's trying his best but it's going to take awhile." Shikamaru said pulling a scroll from the blond's pocket and unsealing it. Hundreds of medical supplies were poured out but Shikamaru ignored all of it for bottle of alcohol. "Grit your teeth." Naruto did and Shikamaru poured it over her wounds.

"Fuck!" Was growled out into the open field. His children watched frightened at the scene before them.  When it was over and Shikamaru wrapped Naruto's back and pulled his jacket on to protect him from the winter that was settling in. 

"Who are you guys and what are you doing here." Shikamaru asked holding Naruto up.

"Shikamaru not in the open, Danzo's men still lurk." Naruto said standing up straight. "Come here." He said they flocked to him, Shikamaru noticed how at ease they were with them.

'Almost as if they knew them.' He thought with puzzled look as Naruto warped them them to his apartment. It was going to be the first the others witnessed how their mother lived before marrying the Hyuga heiress and then to their father. It was plain, no decorations to signify the Christmas cheer that was going on. Naruto huffed and sat on his plain white sofa. "Naruto your going to get it bloody."

"Shikamaru I'll clean it later when Kurama heals this whip mark in my back." He groaned then turned to the other occupants. "Speak fast and quick, I know every ninja in my village and I've never seen any of you in my life."

"And don't say Anbu we know all of them too." Shikamaru said before he raised two fingers. Seals glowed around the room and Boruto and Shikadai knew them by heart. Silencing seals, barrier seals. 

Shikanaru had about enough of what his siblings had put him through and he wanted to go home. "Mommy I wanna go home." He whined as he stumbled forward to take Naruto's hand. Naruto whose eyes had widened pulled back in alarm. Shikanaru teared up and tried to reach again but Naruto pulled back and backed away. 

"It fucking worked." Naruto said in a whisper. "Don't tell me that little pet project actually worked."

"I guess I should explain because we need your help" Himawari said coming forward with a a large scroll in her hand. Naruto knew it all too well.

"Explain." Naruto said folding his arms, Himawari sighed. Naruto might not be his mother yet but he still had those narrow blue eyes he would line her up with when she pulled a prank.

*******Future***********

"Hey dad I found a bunch of scrolls in the back room." Boruto called as he made his way to the dinner table. It was the night before Christmas and the placed was splashed out in decorations courtesy of the younger ones who went crazy when Naruto took them decoration shopping. The house was buzzing with music, Christmas cartoons  and Naruto's cooking made the whole family hungry. 

Naruto's baking never waned in fact it only grew that was obvious from the amount of baked goods that were cooling on the main dining table. Naruto himself had just checked on the baked chicken he had in the oven before heading out to see Boruto in the living room scattering all his pet projects. "Where in Kami-sama's name did you find those." Naruto chuckled as he dusted off some of his favorite.

"What are they, what were there purpose." The others had gathered around to hear what was going on. 

"These are some of the greatest pet projects of my sealing days back when we were Genin." Naruto whistled. "I drafted up some of the most complex seals of my life for certain scenarios." His eyes darkened. "I wasn't the most loved in the village back then. So me and your father had measures in place, strategic plans should something go wrong."

"What were they for?" Shikadai asked pulling out cigar, Naruto quickly plucked it out of his hand and Shikamaru swiftly took it and lit up. 

"Shikamaru is the only smoker in this house. Kami knows how difficult it is to keep his lungs healthy." Naruto said and turned a sharp glare to Shikadai. "Don't smoke you have no reason to."

"What's Dad's reason then?" Shikaru asked asked softly.

"He's grieving, Shikamaru hates the taste it leaves in his mouth." Naruto stated and Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "As for the scrolls they were for Shikamaru to use in the event something happens to me that cannot be reversed with Kurama's help. Back then he was limited to how much he could heal me and how fast he could heal me. As such Shikamaru under my instruction would stop the event from happening. Most if not all of them are healing scrolls."

They looked at him puzzled but Naruto never reacted or gave an answer, he just looked off and stared at the Christmas tree. He sighed and picked up another scroll, he smiled at this. "This was the only one we never used and damn it was the finest of my creation."

"What is it?" Himawari got up to lean over his shoulder.

"Time Travel" Naruto said simply as he unrolled the seal. Complex circles and pentagrams laid out and underneath it a empty slot laid. 

"Wait your serious?!" Boruto launched up and looked over at the scroll, the others all huddled over Naruto to see the entirety of the seal. 

"Yup I must've slaved over this for two years before I tested it." 

"You went back in time." Shikanaru babbled. Naruto kissed his head and nodded.

"We went back to our childhood. And it worked." Shikamaru said gently caressing the blank space. "Naruto gave me the honor to write the date."

"Shikamaru slit his finger for me, and took me back to the day we became friends. I was surprised it work." Naruto laughed. "Best day ever it was the first confirmation that the seals I think about, the ones I draft are actually possible."

"Back in the war when I thought things had gone to far in Madara's and Obito's favor I briefly thought  back to this seal. Something about going back to fix it all is so appealing and gives a rush of adrenaline." Shikamaru said with a chuckle, Naruto snorted.

"I can see how that would've fuck us over six ways until Sunday." Naruto said under his breath but his older children and husband could hear him.

"So do you use ink or is it only blood?" Himawari asked getting really handsy with the seal. 

"No you can use anything that is a fluid. Bodily fluids other than blood are strictly forbidden. The scent would linger and that's just plain disgusting." Naruto scrunched up his nose. A sharp whistle echoed from the kitchen indicating that something was done cooking. Naruto wrapped up the scroll and picked up the others.

"That's enough walking down memory lane. We're on better times now." Naruto walked back down to the back room to drop them off and quickly came back to resume cooking. 

********Future End*************

"So I took the scroll when you guys went to bed and I dragged my siblings into it and here we are." Himawari said with a flair of her hands. Her younger parents looked at her like she had done something stupid. Maybe she had, she looked down trying to keep herself from tears. It was her fault they were all stuck like this and now she could have possibly fucked up the timeline. 

"Listen Hima-chan." Naruto said, softly. Her head snapped up and for a brief moment she saw her mother smiling at her, the older version of Naruto before it faded into the younger version sitting before her. This one was smiling as well. "I can't thank you enough to know that one of my children inherited my prankster nature."

"Well it was Boruto who first did it. His first prank was to deface the Hokage monuments." She said quickly drying her tears. Naruto and Shikamaru barked in laughter which confused them.

"What's so funny?" Boruto pouted, he knew it wasn't his finest moment but it was still was his first and last major prank. 

"I did that, before the Genin exams." Naruto choked out as he got up and headed over to the kitchen. He came back out with a lot of cup ramen. "Want any, it's all I eat." He offered.

"Naruto I'll buy you more baking supplies if you come to dinner with me." Shikamaru called out to him. Naruto came back around with a patient smile. 

"Shikamaru the owner won't let me a foot within the place and you know that." He said coming to sit on his lap. "How about you just go there order out and come set it up here. I'll keep our kids company."

"You know some of them have characteristics of others we know right?" Shikamaru said looking over the older ones. They squirmed under his gaze. "Like Shikadai you have Temari's eyes and Boruto and Himawari obviously have Hinata's traits." 

"I know and we don't have to deal with that until later and until then your my boyfriend. Kay?" Naruto cooed kissing his cheek. Shikamaru grumbled but nodded, he got up and headed for the door. When the door closed Naruto turned to them. 

"Let's chat shall we." Naruto said with a grin. He poured hot water in all their ramen and folded his arms and looked at them. He sighed with a chuckle. "I'm guessing my and Shikamaru's marriages didn't work out."

"You have no idea." Boruto sighed, as he watched Naruto instinctively began to feed Shikanaru. he didn't any prompting, no older sibling to step in. 'Even from back then he was a natural mother.' He thought smiling. 

"How come you don't have anything else to eat." Shikadai asked but he seemed he was slowly working the pieces together. 

"You're our son so I think you should be able to figure it out." Naruto said with a faint smile. "On second thought I don't think I would elaborate the gruesome details."

"Please can you tell us. I have spent almost 4 years from 8 to 12 hating you for being Hokage. Why you always spent so much time looking after others while me and Himawari wasted away in the background." Boruto said in a soft voice as he looked at Naruto's pensive face. 

"I guess this might be the only time I ever have to the courage to tell you that." Naruto said and gave a rueful smile. "This village fucking hates me." He spat, which made all them jump from the toxicity. "If you want the truth the only reason I'm still here is because of the bonds I have with a handful of people and another reason is because I want them to eat their words about me being a monster."

"Is that why you wanted to become Hokage? To prove them all wrong?" Himawari asked from her half eaten cup of ramen.

"Partially, I wanted to be respected by everyone. I just want to be treated like a human being. Do you know how hard it is to put on a brave face for everyone I call my friend and family. When I know the minute I drift away from them I'm being hunted by villagers. Chased into the alleyways, beaten down. I can't attack them because they'll run to the civilian council and tell Sakura's mother, the eternal bitch who makes shit a ton worse for me. Besides I practice what I preach and kill them with kindness." Naruto said sighing deeply. 

By now the kids were all sad, they never knew things were this hard for their mother. "Beaten down?" Boruto whispered looking over the bandages Naruto had wrapped around him. "But they love you know, they really love you and all of us and Dad." 

Naruto chuckled darkly. "I must've pulled a real miracle out of my ass to do that. Tell me did I win a war or something? Sacrifice myself for the greater good." They stayed silent because they knew that that's exactly what he did. He scoffed. "That just makes me feel a whole lot better." 

The door opened and Shikamaru came inside with a lot of bags. The scent filled the home and Naruto looked over to see his boyfriend. "One last thing. Is that all I'll ever be, a tool for this worthless village to fight and stop on command like a fucking dog." Naruto carefully set aside Shikanaru before stomping off to his room.

Shikamaru sighed as he unpacked the food he had and gave them equal portions. He took Naruto's seat and sighed. It was now his time to give answers. "I'm guessing you know why he's so bitter at the moment."

"Why do they treat him like that, that's our Mama." Shikaru spoke up, she's been quietly enduring hearing her younger mother be nothing but bitter, it was such a harsh contrast from the sunshine she was used to. 

"They fear what they don't know. And because of that Naruto takes the brunt end of it. He can't fight back or he'll lose his ninja license. He's already on thin ice as it is." He said looking over to the closed door.

"What do you mean?" Haruto piped up.

"Well I'm assuming Naruto completed his short term goal of bringing back Sasuke right?"

"Uncle Sasuke why would he need to bring him back." Himawari asked confused. Shikamaru clicked his tongue.

"So he did succeed." He said playing with his chopsticks. "Well as of three months ago Sasuke is now a rogue ninja. I led a team including Naruto to bring him back and we failed miserably. Sasuke rammed Naruto through his heart and killed him for about 3 seconds before Kurama kicked in with his healing. They're like brothers and former lovers you know and I can see Sasuke's pain just like how Naruto can. I led the team yet somehow Naruto's being placed on the chopping block for the failure."

"What, how..." Shikadai trailed off. Shikamaru raised his hand to stop him.

"Mebuki Haruno, Sakura's mother. She's the head of the civilian council and she has more power than she deserves. My father tells me she placed a petition for Naruto to be banished on the grounds he let a valuable ninja get away. But knowing Lady Tsunade that's never going to happen. This system is broken and it needs a desperate clean up and Lady Fifth is the start. She's going to make sure Naruto gets basic human rights." Shikamaru scoffed.

"This is exactly why I vowed to always walk in Naruto's shadow. Until this village wises up to what their doing I'm the only one protecting him. Our friends can't do anything simply because they don't know. And we plan to keep it that way." He sighed. 

"Is he always like that?" Boruto asked, he was honestly frightened of the younger version of his mother. 

"No, he's a real gem when you get to know him really, a literal sunshine. Always seeing the positive in everything and helping anyone who needs it. But whenever the villagers attack him or the civilian council makes things difficult on him. He gets bitter, toxic he flies off the rails and nothing can stop him until he purges it on his own. Seeing as how you all seem to be bewildered by his personality I take it he's the exact opposite in the future."

"Mama is really bright, wakes up with a smile everyday." Shikanaru said playing with his food. "Everything's going to get better soon for you and mommy this is just a storm you have to pass through."

Shikamaru looked at him and laughed. "Now I don't know who you take after." Shikanaru tilted his head and grinned. 

Naruto came out of the room looking like he had an epiphany moment. "We have to send them back soon. They can't stay here for much longer." He said gravely. 

"Why we just started to know about this side of you two we didn't even know existed." Boruto protested. 

"And at what cost because your fading as we speak." Naruto snapped at him and he wasn't lying. Shikadai, Himawari and Boruto were fading a bit.

"But how come we're not?" Haruto chimed looking over his body, the younger ones weren't fading.

"Because your our full product, the more the others stay the less likely me and Shikamaru have a chance of breaking up which means somewhere down the line we would discover that I can get pregnant which would solve all of the problems we would've encountered had we not known about my status as fertile." Naruto sighed. "The good thing about this is that we'll forget once you disappear, so the timeline would remain unwrinkled."

"But we want to know more, all we ever heard growing up from the villagers was all the good deeds you did. Everyone praised you as Lord Seventh." Shikadai said taking his mother's small hand in his. The twins had clung to Naruto's legs while Shikanaru remained attached to Shikamaru. 

"And you'll get your answers from future me. You've already spent enough time here. I never worked out how long your suppose to last in the future or the past when using this." He said drawing for the scroll Himawari brought. 

"Do you promise?" Himawari asked. "I have personally never hated you one bit for your job as Hokage but it made Hyuga-san very bitter to the point she cheated on you." Naruto scoffed.

"I always did tell Shikamaru the stutter was fake. Who did she do it with Kiba?" He asked with a smirk, he was making a joke out of it. Himawari bit on her lower lip to keep the smile at bay.

"Shino." Boruto sung coming closer. Naruto made a face of disgust.

"Well Kiba would've been a better choice but they always say the quiet ones are the kinkiest." Naruto waved off as he bit into his thumb. "Date and Time you decided to warp here."

Shikadai told him and all was set for them to go back. They all stood on the scroll reluctant to go. Naruto smiled at them gently. "I'm not your mother yet so I'm sorry your seeing this messed up version of myself. I promise I'll become more positive for you guys and myself so I can take care of you all. Until then I promise to keep you in my heart even if I don't remember."

"Well seems I'm your dad, don't worry I love your mother very much. I'll keep him from straying off his path. I'll make sure to love you all dearly from now on and forever. Your all sweet and kind and even though you didn't know what you'd expect to find by coming here in our timeline I'm glad you didn't reject us. We're far from perfect but I think by the time you actually meet us we'll be perfect for you." Shikamaru gave a yawn at the end.

"We love you guys, your the best parents ever. You love us, healed us you did everything we could ever ask of you guys and never once did you reject us. We're going to make it up to you guys soon, for all the hard work you did to ensure we had a fair upbringing. Thank you Mom, Dad." Boruto cried as the seal glowed beneath their feet. They warped away and the world spun for the two young Genin as the timeline straightened itself out.

When it was over they were left with splitting headaches. 

"Hey are you alright?" Shikamaru had asked when they were cuddling on the sofa after cleaning up the absurd amount of plates and food they had. They both found the situation bizarre but they couldn't place a finger on it so they chose to leave it until the answer came to them. After all the more you chase a memory the harder it eludes you.

"Yeah but my heart feels really light, like someone or something gave me a reason to stop being so bitter about everything and just smile." Naruto said with a giggle. Shikamaru smiled and kissed his hair.

"Whatever you say Princess." He murmured with a yawn. He wanted to go to bed and Naruto obliged him, when they settled down together Shikamaru told him the same thing. His heart felt light and he couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"Christmas happiness then?" Naruto suggested, Shikamaru knew it wasn't that but humored the blond.

**********Present***********

They had gotten home and landed in the back room where Himawari sealed the scroll tightly and placed it back on it's shelf. They made a fort in the living room and slept together until Christmas morning. Naruto came downstairs to see them cuddled up under the fort and smiled. He started breakfast and smiled when Shikamaru woke them up one at a time by dropping presents on their faces. Except for Shikanaru he was still a teddy bear to the family. 

"Did you guys not get enough sleep." Naruto asked as they dragged each other to the table. They didn't say anything but they looked like they had a lot to get off their chest. "Hey sugar cookies are you alright?" He asked them now becoming worried.

Boruto was the first to crack, it was one tear then a next and a next until he was streaming them. "I-I'm so so sorry! I thought I had finally understood why it was important for you to become Hokage but you just barely gave us the surface." He cried while Shikadai pulled him into a hug. He was a mess as well but he had always been a silent crier.

"Hey guys I'm confused and so is your mother. Just tell us what's wrong it's suppose to be a happy day." Shikamaru said shushing the smaller ones who erupted into tears.

"Mama rejected my hand when you were younger." Shikanaru cried, and it was with that everything shifted into perspective. 

"Wait hold the tears." Naruto said snapping his fingers. They stopped making crying noises and mostly sniffled as they looked at him. "I don't know if I should be proud or angry."

"Well your younger self did say you were happy one of your children took on your prankster nature." Himawari said wiping her cheeks.

"I'm sure he did and what would've happened if you had gone farther back." He said in a low tone. "Back to when we were kids. How would you have came back?" He narrowed his eyes and Himawari could now see the younger version of their mother now before it faded away.

"I'm sorry." She apologized looking down and away from his direction. She could hear him sigh softly.

"Hima-chan if you wanted to explore the past I have no qualms with you borrowing the scroll but you have to be careful with it. You can't just drop smack dap in the middle of the timeline because while the people you've interacted with won't remember when your gone the spectators will remember you simply because they saw you and exchanged no words with you. It's tricky but that's how it goes." He lectured softly, she nodded in understanding.

"Good now what is it did you learn." Shikamaru asked.

"Bitterness," Shikaru piped up. "Mama was so unhappy."

"Blood." Haruto said from beside her. "You had a big gash in your back."

"How unfairly you were treated, what they did to you when none of the others were around." Shikadai finished.

"You were so angry with the village so was Dad and how you were nearly banished for Uncle Sasuke's defect." Himawari continued. 

"But that's in the past, you understand right." Naruto said gently. "I had a lot of hatred back then for Konoha, I was fed up time and time again but I knew of I wanted to make a difference I would have to prove them wrong, so I aimed high and did whatever it took and to ensure the future generation of ninjas didn't have to go through what I did. That the corruption in the system was gone, purged."

"Now I'm free and happy to walk with my head high without having to worry about being dragged in an alleyway or facing punishments that weren't my fault." He sighed a bit and got up. "I never wanted you guys to know too much about my past because it's not the prettiest, it's ugly all around with only a few people making it beautiful." He hugged them tightly. "Now dry those tears and let's get Christmas going but know this. The next time you pull a stunt like that I'll strangle you all and your going to sit there and take it. Understood?"

The twins looked in Shikadai's direction and seemed to know where he picked it up from. Shikamaru laughed and sighed all at the same time. "I can imagine myself saying some cheesy shit about Naruto, we were still dating around that time. It was the first and last large wound he got because at that time we had to break it off so he could train with Jiraiya. After that everything was lost in the sand of time before the incident that led to us." 

"I'd like to hear more about your past." Boruto said looking up at Naruto. 

"Boruto you don't need to put yourself through this, I already told you it wasn't your fault to hate me like you did." Naruto tried to console but it wouldn't work not this time.

"I said a lot of hateful things towards you during that time and the only way I'll be able to put it all behind me is if you tell me everything. Growing up I only knew you as the Hokage, when shit hit the fan and we settled down I had finally started to get to know you but the you I was knowing was completely different from the you, you were from before the incident. So I want to know the different sides of you. The younger version of you was a harsh slap to the face, it made me realize that there was still more. More I had to see and more I had to know about my mother. So please let me, let us know you." 

Now it was Naruto's turn to cry and a quick look over at Shikamaru made him cry harder. Shikamaru was crying as well. He always knew back then, when he was toxic it had always affected the Nara but he never complained and only held Naruto while he cursed the very village they swore to protect into the dirt. How Shikamaru would loathe himself for letting Naruto take a beating when he bandaged the wound. He nodded through his tears, he wouldn't bury that side of him anymore, his husband had known and still loved him, married him and his children had earned the right. What good was a family that kept things from each other, it was keeping things from each other which caused the incident from before and there was no way Naruto was going to risk that.

"If you want to know I'll tell you." He said pulling himself together. They seemed to like the arrangement very much. "But not now, I'll make it my New Year's Resolution to tell you my entire childhood, for now we eat, drink and be merry." 

"I love you guys." Shikamaru said from his seat. "I couldn't ask for a more loving family than this. You all really do keep me smiling everyday. Right Princess?"

"Right Shikamaru." He kissed their heads and quickly heated up back breakfast and made some tea for the headaches they'll be having from crying. 'I swear this family cries out pain.'

A/N- My Christmas Gift to My Fans. Love You All And Thanks for the support, you guys really do push me to continue writing this ship.