Chapter 29

The Bright Future

Over a decade has passed since then. Everyone was old adults, no longer teenagers and young adults. Their children were at the age where they were a ninja. Well... Most kids.

Now in her late 20's, Kotomi arrived at home after a long day at work. She was working at her dream job, the dream she remembered sharing with her late teammates. She accomplished becoming the head of the Konoha Police Force just like her father.

Kotomi used one hand to closed the door while holding a two year old boy in her other arm that she picked up from daycare.

The little boy had spiky black hair with black eyes. Except his eyes were lighter than Kotomi's, assuming that he has more of Konohamaru's eye color.

Kotomi put the boy down, taking off his shoes. "Mommy, when is daddy coming home?"

"He should be home soon, Kojiro."

Kojiro's eyes sparkled. "Yay!" His stomach growled. "Mommy. I'm hungry."

Kotomi laughed through her nose. "Alright, I'll make dinner now. You can watch TV while you wait."

"Ok! I'm going to watch my favorite show!" Kojiro started running towards the living room.

"Kojiro! Don't run in the house!" Letting out a tired sigh, Kotomi headed her way to the kitchen. "Kids..."

***

The next morning, Kotomi felt someone gently shaking her awake. Opening her eyes, she saw her husband sitting at the edge of the bed. "Good. You're awake."

Kotomi rose up from the bed, rubbing her eyes. "What do you need that you had to wake me up?"

"Naruto just informed me to let you know that he needs you to come by right away. He says it's top secret, so he wouldn't even tell me."

"Top secret..?" Kotomi was confused about that. It must be something important. "Alright. You can take care of Kojiro while I'm out."

Konohamaru nodded. "Of course. You can count on me."

After getting ready, Kotomi was putting on her shoes. Kojiro walked her away, dragging a stuffed bear behind him. "Where are you going, mommy?"

"I have to see the hokage. Daddy will be taking care of you today."

Kojiro's eyes sparkled. "I get to spend time with daddy?! Hurray!"

Kotomi giggled at her small son. "Be good to daddy, alright?"

Kojiro nodded happily. "I will! I'll be a good boy!"

"Good. I'll see you later, Kojiro." With that, Kotomi went out the front door, heading her way to the hokage's office.

***

In the hokage's office, Naruto was about to discuss some important news to Kotomi. "You're probably wondering why I called you here, right?"

Kotomi nodded. "Yeah. You never called me here with something top secret related. What's up with that?"

Naruto lowered his head. "A certain someone informed me that they would like to ask a special favor of you."

Raising an eyebrow, Kotomi crossed her arms. "Who's this certain someone?"

"I know you'll get upset, but it's Orochimaru."

Her eyes widen. "What?! What does he need to ask me?!"

"He told me that he would like to tell you himself. I'll give you permission to head over to him."

"Do I have to go by myself..? I really don't want to..."

"He specifically said he only wants you to go there. Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I promise you."

Kotomi let out a sigh. "It better not be." She still felt very ill towards Orochimaru, still not trusting him even to this day. But despite that, she agreed to go to where he is.

***

Arriving at Orochimaru's hideout, Kotomi was soon greeted by two familiar faces.

One of them was Suigetsu who waved at her. "Kotomi-chan. Long time, no see."

Kotomi gave him a smile. "Likewise. You gotten older looking."

He gave her an awkward expression. "Hey! I'm not that old!" Pausing for a moment, he studied her face. "I see that being a mother has been fun."

Kotomi dropped her eyelids. "Don't even joke about that."

Suigetsu started laughing, getting close to her. "You know, Kotomi. If you and I had gotten to know each other a little better, we could've gotten hitched."

Kotomi snorted. "Whatever."

"Yeah, you're right. It would be weird for me. It would feel like being married to a girl version of Sasuke."

"My god, Suigetsu... You can be too much sometimes."

Jugo bowed his head. "How have you been, hime?"

Kotomi let out a sigh through her nose. "I told you that you don't have to call me that, Jugo. But I've been well more or less, how about yourself?"

"I've been well, thank you. Both of us will lead you to Lord Orochimaru. He's been expecting you."

Kotomi dropped her eyelids. "I know..."

Suigetsu and Jugo took Kotomi to where Orochimaru was. In a plain looking room, she saw Orochimaru up ahead.

Orochimaru looked at her and smiled. "It's been a while, Kotomi-chan. You look more grown up since the last time I saw you."

Kotomi rolled her eyes. "And you look much younger the last time I saw you."

Orochimaru chuckled at her expression. "I see that you still not quite fond of me."

"Why would I be after all you've done?" Kotomi let out a sigh. "Anyway... What did you call me here for?"

"I wanted to ask you a very special favor. I feel like you're the only one that can help me with this."

"What is it?"

"You see... I recently had a child."

Kotomi's eyes widen. "Wait what?!" She couldn't imagine who Orochimaru had a kid with. It was impossible to think about it.

"It's not what you're thinking. This child was made synthetically. He's around the age of a young adolescent."

"Ok? What's your point in this?"

"I want him to learn about how it is living with a family. I feel like you're the only one I can entrust this with."

Kotomi grunted. "Are you saying that you want me to be a foster mother to your child?"

"Correct, Kotomi-chan. My child doesn't know what it's like to call someone mother or father. He calls me his parent."

"I don't blame him... I wouldn't know what to call you either if I were in his position."

Orochimaru chuckled. "So... Do you accept being my child's foster mother?"

Thinking to herself for a bit, Kotomi knew that she shouldn't judge this child just because he was Orochimaru's child. Her of all people knew how it felt like only being labeled as just Sasuke's little sister.

Looking up at Orochimaru, Kotomi nodded. "I accept. Just know that I'm not doing this for you, I'm only doing it for the child."

"Good choice. Since I'm unable to step foot into the village, you have my full authority to do whatever you want with him. Praise him when he's done something good. Punish him if he's done something bad. Go to the parent and teacher conferences in my place."

"Basically, just treat him as he was my own."

Orochimaru nodded. "I will have him introduce himself to you now." He looked over towards Jugo and Suigetsu. "Bring him here."

The two left the room, fetching Orochimaru's son. About a few minutes later, the two entered the room while escorted a young boy with white hair and golden eyes.

Kotomi turned towards the young adolescent, surprised at the sight. In a way, he did resemble Orochimaru. But passing through that reason, he looked quite adorable in her eyes.

"Introduce yourself." Orochimaru spoke up.

"My name is Mitsuki. It's nice to meet you." The boy responded.

Kotomi gave him a small smile. "It's nice to meet you too. My name is Kotomi."

"Mitsuki." Orochimaru spoke up. "This will be your new foster mother that you will be living with in the leaf village. Listen to everything she says."

"Understood." Mitsuki turned to Kotomi. "I look forward getting to know you, mother."

Surprised that he was so respectful, Kotomi nodded. "I look forward to getting to know you as well."

"Kotomi-chan." Orochimaru spoke up. "Please give me updates every once in a while about Mitsuki. I would like to hear how he's doing."

Kotomi nodded. "I will. I promise to take great care of him."

"Glad to hear it."

***

It was already night time. After Kotomi arrived back to the village and informed Naruto about everything, she arrived home with Mitsuki. "I'm home."

She heard footsteps heading her way. Seeing her husband walk over to her, he had a concerned expression on his face. "What did Naruto do to make you come home at this hour?" His eyes averted to Mitsuki. "Uh... Who's that?"

Remembering Naruto informing her that she cannot reveal who Mitsuki truly is, she tried to come up with something. "Well... Naruto told me to take this child in for a while due to special reasons. He will be living with us, and I'm basically his foster mom which makes you his foster dad."

Mitsuki bowed. "My name is Mitsuki. It's nice to meet you, father."

Konohamaru looked a bit weirded out by some child he only just met calling him father. "That's... Going to take some time getting used to."

Kotomi giggled, looking around the room. "Where's Kojiro?"

"He's already asleep and-"

"Mommy!" Konohamaru has a defeated look on his face. He should've known that it wasn't that easy to put a child to bed. It was too good to be true.

Kojiro ran up to Kotomi, only to realize Mitsuki there. He tilted his head in confusion. "Who's that, mommy?"

"Kojiro. This is your new big brother, Mitsuki." Kotomi introduced.

Kojiro's eyes sparkled. "A new big brother?!" He grabbed a hold of Mitsuki's hand. "Hey! Hey! Let's play together! I can show you all the toys I have!"

"Kojiro." Kotomi said in a stern voice. "It's late already. You should be in bed."

Kojiro started pouting. "Aw... Then can I play with him tomorrow?"

"Yes, you can play with him tomorrow after breakfast." Kojiro cheered in response.

Mitsuki stared at Kojiro. "He's a really small person. How old is he, mother?"

"Kojiro is only two years old. He's very energetic, so if he gets too much for you, you can always tell me. Ok, Mitsuki?"

"Yes, mother."

"Anyway, I'll show you to your room you'll be staying. I need to set up a futon in the spare room." Kotomi turned to her husband. "Konohomaru, can you try to put Kojiro to bed again?"

Konohamaru sweatdropped. "I'll try my best..." He scooped his son up in his arms. "Let's go to bed now."

"Ok!" Kojiro responded cheerfully. "Goodnight mommy! Goodnight Onii-chan!" Konohamaru began walking away with his son towards his room to put him to bed once more.

Kotomi turned to Mitsuki. "Follow me." She did a little tour around the house before showing him to his room. She made a mental note to herself that she would buy a better bed for him to sleep on since he will be living here for a while.

***

Thinking it would be smooth sailing while taking care of Mitsuki, Kotomi thought wrong when she received a note from the academy. Apparently, Mitsuki faked a sick note for himself and his two classmates Boruto and Shikadai.

After getting out of the conference with Mitsuki's teacher, Kotomi turned to Mitsuki. "You're not supposed to do that kind of thing. It's wrong, especially if you involved two of your classmates. I'm letting you off with a warning this time, but next time you'll be grounded."

Mitsuki looked at her confused. "Grounded?" He was thinking to himself. "Boruto explained that to me recently. Does that mean you'll restrict me and send me to my room?"

"Basically that's the gist of it. I'm being serious about it. You will be grounded if I hear you do something bad again."

Not wanting his foster mother to get upset at him, Mitsuki nodded. "Yes, mother. I won't do it again."

In the inside, Kotomi struggled to scold Mitsuki like this. Even though it wasn't full on scolding, she couldn't help but feel her heart hurt. Since Mitsuki has been so good and only screwed up this one time, she would go easy on him just this once. But knowing if he does something bad again, she would have to put her foot down and do what a parent has to do.

A/N: We're now in the Boruto part! One of my ideas was that Kotomi becomes Mitsuki's foster mother. I love that precious cinnamon roll so much! Kotomi and Konohamaru have a two year old son... At least it seems like he isn't going through the terrible twos. Lucky parents.