Mother?
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It was the evening of the Uchiha family reunion when all of them sat in the living room, enjoying their short time together before Sasuke would leave to finish his secret mission. After seeing her parents' flawless teamwork and Papa's confirmation of his feelings Sarada no longer had any doubts about her mom. The girl smiled happily at her parents sitting close next to each other on the couch, relaxed and comfortable with a familiarity of a married couple.
The family talked about the day's harrowing events that brought them all back together. After Sarada had explained her side of the story with a great degree of embarrassment over her impulsive jump to the wrong conclusions, her parents exchanged a significant look. It was like they were talking without words.
Sakura sighed. "Sarada, you're nearly twelve. You're old enough to handle the whole truth."
"What do you mean, Mama?" Sarada asked warily. The serious tone of her mom scared her.
"It's not easy to talk about. Many people wouldn't understand. Just promise that no matter what, you will remember that we both love you a lot."
Sarada gulped nervously. "O-Okay. I promise."
"Alright. Then we will tell you," Sakura said, squeezing Sasuke's hand soothingly in her own. He remained strangely silent during this conversation. "Don't worry, dear, everything will be alright," she told him.
"I know," he muttered, squeezing back.
Sarada was getting fed up with all this stalling. What was so important? The anticipation was killing her. "Mama, just tell me. What's the truth?" she demanded and prepared herself for the worst.
Sakura took in a huge breath. "Well, the truth is that... your real mother is..."
"It's me. I am your mother," Sasuke finished.
Sarada blinked.
"What?" she asked in utter confusion.
"Your father is your mother, Sarada," Sakura repeated.
"Is this some kind of a joke? This doesn't make any sense!" Sarada burst out, getting up on her feet. "Did you both hit your heads today, Mama?! How can Papa be my mother?"
"Calm down, Sarada. I know this is hard to understand, but it's the truth," Sasuke told her. "I'm your mother."
He said it with so much conviction that Sarada instinctively believed him. Her Papa wasn't the type to joke around like that. Still, her logical mind rebelled against this revelation. Sarada sat down heavily, feeling lost and confused beyond belief.
"But... how?" she asked helplessly, looking at her parents for a way to explain this madness.
"It all happened when we were travelling together, years ago..." Sakura started their story.
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It was a warm and peaceful day, perfect to take a rest near a secluded lake in the mountains. Sakura had taken the bath first, refreshing herself after their long hike. She was taking care of the campfire and the cooking dinner as Sasuke took his turn bathing.
A high-pitched scream made her jump to her feet in alarm.
"Sakura!" someone called her name. The person was in a very audible distress, so without a second thought she ran towards the voice.
Sakura stopped in her tracks when she saw an unfamiliar naked woman on the shore, standing over Sasuke's discarded clothes.
"Who are you? And what do you want?" Sakura asked suspiciously. Had this skank tried to jump Sasuke when he was unarmed and vulnerable? Well, she wouldn't have succeeded anyway. A quick glance showed that Sasuke was nowhere to be found.
"Sakura!" the woman gasped in relief. "Something's wrong with me!"
"Oh, I have no doubt," Sakura muttered with narrowed eyes. She readied her fists. "Something's going to be very wrong with you if you don't answer me. What did you do with my husband?"
The woman pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation. "Sakura, look," she gritted out as she brushed the hair out of her eyes flashing a Sharingan and a Rinnegan. "I am your husband. It's me, Sasuke."
Sakura gaped. Her arms dropped down from the fighting guard. "Sasuke-kun? It's... it's really you?"
Sasuke nodded.
Sakura took his new form in. She couldn't deny that this woman had too many physical traits in common with her Sasuke, like the short black hair, a stump of the left arm, and even the small birthmark on the left buttcheek.
"What happened to you? Why are you a girl?" Sakura asked, then a thought came to her. "You're not messing around with Naruto's stupid Sexy Jutsu, are you?"
Sasuke gave her an offended look. "No."
"Then why?"
"I'm not sure," Sasuke said. "Everything was normal when I went to bathe but when I came out, I was already like that." She gestured at her body, then she shivered.
Sakura picked up a towel and wrapped it around Sasuke. "You need to dry and get dressed or you'll catch a cold. Don't worry, I'll find out what happened to you and how to change you back."
Sakura, the disciple of Tsunade and the best medic in the land, did not find out what caused her husband to become a woman. Her medical scans only proved that Sasuke was strong, healthy and female to the boot.
Having no choice, they went to the closest village, hoping to discreetly gather some information about this phenomenon.
"Have you heard about any strange incidents around here?" Sakura asked a local woman, who glanced over her and Sasuke.
"You were at the lake, weren't you?" the woman responded shrewdly.
"How-how did you..."
"Wet hair," the local pointed out the damp tips of Sasuke's hair. "You should've come straight here. We warn the travelers about the lake. It changes people."
"Are you saying the lake does it? But I bathed in it too and nothing happened to me!" Sakura cried out in frustration.
"It happens only to men. You can't change a girl into a girl, right?" the woman explained with a shrug.
"Is there a way to undo the change?" Sasuke asked.
"If there is, I don't know about it," the woman replied honestly. "Sorry."
"Please, there must be some cure!" Sakura pleaded. "Tell us anything you can, it might help us with searching for it."
The woman hummed in contemplation. "Well, in the old legend my grandma told me there was another lake that could change women into men."
"Do you know where it is?" Sasuke pressed.
"No. It's just a legend." The woman wasn't able to help them anymore.
Even with such a faint hope, Sasuke and Sakura decided to continue their journey together, searching for the second mystical lake or a different way to turn Sasuke back into a man. They also avoided contact with Konoha and people they knew, keeping their predicament in secret.
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Sarada slowly absorbed this fantastical story. She wouldn't have believed it, if not for her parents' utter seriousness. She could tell by Papa's lack of eye contact that he was embarrassed about the whole thing. The girl adjusted her glasses.
"This explains how Papa could be my mother. It's possible if he was turned into a woman," she commented. "But what about Mama? How could you have me if Mama wasn't turned into the opposite sex too?" she asked. "Wait, did you find the second lake and Mama used it to change into a man?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that."
"Then how? Two girls can't have a child," Sarada questioned.
"Well, you're not exactly wrong..." Sakura said slowly.
"What do you mean? You can tell me, I already had sex ed class in the Academy."
"Sarada, as you know chakra gives us many unusual abilities. There is... a special jutsu that I used." Her mom's cheeks were getting red.
"Jutsu? What kind of jutsu?" Sarada asked with an innocent curiosity.
Sakura's blush deepened and she looked down on the floor. "It's a jutsu that gives a man's penis to a kunoichi for a few hours," she said in a small voice.
Sarada considered this new information as her sharp intelligence made the necessary connections. "So you used that jutsu and you and Papa..." she looked at them as she connected the dots. Both Sasuke and Sakura weren't looking at her or each other. Papa's ears were flaming red. "Ughh, gross! You're both dirty," Sarada complained with a disgusted face.
Awkward silence settled over them.
The family sat silently for a moment, each member lost in their thoughts. While Sarada was trying to scrub the mental image of her parents doing adult things out of her memory, Sakura was working on getting back her composure to finish the tale.
Sasuke... reminisced.
Adjusting to a female body hadn't been easy for him. Sakura had supported him though. Surprisingly, their marital activities hadn't suffered. Through Sakura, Sasuke had learned a great deal more about female pleasure. He blushed a little at the memories.
Then, Sakura had used that jutsu... and turned his world upside down. Nothing was ever the same.
"Wait!" Sarada exclaimed, bringing him back to the present. "What about my umbilical cord that was at Orochimaru's place? Why did Suigetsu think that Karin is my mother if Papa was there to give birth?"
Sakura smiled at her inquisitive child.
"Well, that one's easy to explain..."
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Despite Sasuke's advanced pregnancy, their search for the second lake continued. Sakura was getting increasingly worried about her husband's condition and they agreed to find a safe place to stay until the delivery.
Sasuke knew of such a place—Karin's hideout. To keep her unusual predicament secret from her former teammate, she used a powerful genjutsu with her Rinnegan to make Karin think that Sasuke was Sakura and Sakura was Sasuke.
Unexpectedly, the power drain from using that technique caused a premature labour. Sakura with Karin's help delivered the baby safely and the happy new parents gifted the umbilical cord to their friend.
After Karin had left them alone to catch some sleep, Sakura smiled tiredly at her small family. Sasuke was laying down, baby Sarada cradled in her mother's arms and sleeping peacefully. Sakura stroked Sasuke's hair.
"How are you feeling, darling?" she whispered.
"Tired. But I don't want to sleep," Sasuke replied. She couldn't take her eyes off her child. For the first time in her life, instead of bringing death to the clan, she brought life.
"She's perfect," Sakura said. "A new Uchiha baby..." she mused.
"Aa," Sasuke murmured with pride.
"We could have more, you know," Sakura said, half-joking.
Sasuke glared at her. "You will be the mother then," she said imperiously.
"We could take turns?" Sakura attempted to negotiate. Sasuke's glare turned scathing.
"After you get your strength back, we could continue searching for the lake," Sakura changed the topic. Sasuke didn't seem so enthused about it though. "Is something wrong? Do you have another idea?"
"Sarada's more important than me. We should return to Konoha and build a home for her."
"But Sasuke-kun, then you'll stay as a woman and everyone will know!" Sakura burst out in shock.
"I don't care," Sasuke said seriously and smiled tenderly at her and Sarada. "As long as I have you both, that's all I need."
"Oh, darling..."
Suddenly, a ripple went through Sasuke's body and she morphed. The process was so fast, that if Sakura had blinked, she would have missed it entirely.
"Sasuke... you... you're a man again!"
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"So you didn't find the lake but Papa still turned back into a man?" Sarada asked.
Sasuke and Sakura nodded.
"And Papa is my mother and Mama is my father?"
Another nod from her parents.
"And I was... I was an accident?"
"No!" her parents shouted.
"Don't get us wrong, Sarada. We wanted to have a child. We just... didn't expect you," Sakura said.
"Sarada, come here," Sasuke said. The girl got up and trotted to him. He tapped her forehead. "You weren't an accident. You're the best gift I've ever received. I'm proud of you... as both your mother and your father."
"Papa..." Sarada teared up and impulsively flung herself to hug him tight. Sakura joined them in a group embrace.
Despite the strange circumstances of her birth, Sarada was glad for her parents. She wouldn't change a thing about them.
The End
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AN: Sometimes I get strange ideas. I hope it was at least enjoyable. Let me know what you think ;)