Author's Note: This story follows the manga up to chapter 429. From chapter 429 onward, I have filled in with my imagination. It will contain spoilers, though. If you are uncomfortable reading spoilers, do not continue. You have been warned.
The Path of the Sun
Chapter One
It seemed as if everyone knew the story and Sakura Haruno was no exception. The story had its roots in the history of Naruto Uzumaki. What was the tale of a young, troubled nobody determined to become a somebody had been twisted and warped into an epic saga that chronicled the very existence of the current village of Konoha.
It included all of the necessary elements to be considered a "legend"; a friendship worth fighting for, a betrayal, a rise from ashes, an astounding amount of growth, a threat, a shattering battle that left the Village Hidden in the Leaves nothing but a pile of debris. The apparent grand finale of this saga was the immediate promotion of Naruto from Genin to Hokage in the middle of the wreckage that had been Konoha.
The story, however, continued. Over the next three years, what remained of the Leaf Village's ninja and citizens banded together for the first time since the original founding of the village to rebuild their home. At the head of this movement was the revolutionary Sixth Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, whose ideals on friendship and teamwork included the combining of nin and commoners. The grand village was restored and peace settled once more.
Yet the tale still did not end. At least not in the eyes of Naruto. In the fourth year after the Grand Battle, as it had come to be called, the Hokage surprised the village by engaging a woman. Her name was not immediately released, which had led the village to assume she was either some strong ninja from another village, or that they should already know who he was betrothed to.
The latter assumption led to the speculation of Naruto's fiancé. The names of all of the female ninja from the age bracket surrounding Naruto's were considered. In an non-communicated unanimous decision, the village deemed Sakura Haruno, the chief medical ninja, the only person suitable for Naruto and the only one he could love. Their thoughts never crossed over the heiress of ninja clan in their own village.
Thus, when Naruto made his engagement to Hinata Hyuuga public, the entire population of Konoha was shocked. No one, of course, protested or thought that the Sixth had made a bad choice; After all, Naruto had always been one of the best Hokages in history, rivaled only by the Third and the Fourth. His people loved him and would follow him under any circumstance.
The wedding was grand, and opened to everyone. Hinata was a vision in white: Her thick ankle-length black hair was piled high on her head in loose, wavy curls that still managed to touch the collar of her pearly white wedding kimono. Her pupil-less pale eyes shone with a happiness that had yet to be seen in her. The Sixth, as tradition went, wore a sweeping robe of red and white for the ceremony. He, too, was nearly exploding with joy. The only person, it seemed, unhappy was Hiashi Hyuuga.
If the engagement had been a cause of shock, it was nothing compared to the surprise of the discovery, one year later, that the Hokage and his wife were expecting their first child. Nine months were spent in a state of intense anxiety. Within the last month of Hinata's gestation, at every appearance she made with the Sixth, every eye was on her, the glowing mother-to-be, as if she was about to pop.
As chance had it, however, Hinata went into labor in the middle of the night and by the next morning, Naruto was practically running through town, mustering up the villagers for a spur-of-the-moment speech. After nearly all of Konoha was gathered before him, the Hokage announced that at approximately four that morning, he and Hinata had been granted a daughter. Over the roar of cheers that rang throughout the village, Naruto alerted the public to the baby's name: Mariko. When the villagers, ninja and commoners alike, had returned home to plan celebrations, toasts went out to the new baby and her name. "Mariko," it was heard to say, "True village child. What a perfect name."
It was no surprise that as Mariko grew to Academy age, she was one of the top in her class. Not only, however, was she the pride of the village, but she was a friend to all that met her. If the amount of fawning attention she received had ever gotten to her head, she never let it show. Her teachers and the older ninja of the village compared her to Naruto as a child, only happier. She was hyper, bubbly, joyful, and most of all, determined. Unfortunately, it was around Mariko's graduation into Genin-hood that Hinata began to fall ill.
She lasted for nearly four more years before the unnamed sickness became too much to handle at home and she, under Naruto's urging, had seen a medic. Every medic ninja had a time limit set for her with this unknown illness: a year, three months, two weeks. Naruto, however, in disbelief and confusion, took her to see Sakura, whom he had always trusted with his own health.
Sakura explained her illness; it was closest to a medical problem called "cancer". Cancer only occurred in commoners, though, because the amount of chakra in ninja kept cell growth under control. In Hinata, a reverse effect had occurred. Her chakra had grown too large for her cells, much like a cancerous tumor, and her cells had begun to attack it in order for her to live. It ate away the extra, deadly chakra and brought her back to a healthy level, but it did not stop there. Now the cells, fed so long on extra chakra, were turning on what remained.
Sakura said that there was no cure, but there was treatment. Where Hinata had been taking three steps backward, she would now be able to take one step forward for every two back, prolonging her life. Hinata met with Sakura every two days for the chief medical nin's special treatment. Her life as a ninja was over and now she was fighting for her life and, to her surprise, the life of another: she was pregnant once more.
The village noticed that the Hokage's wife, unlike in her last pregnancy, had been making fewer and fewer appearances with her husband throughout the nine months. When she did show up for ceremonies or in public, she was always on the arm of the Sixth and it was clear that she was wasting away. In her last public appearance, her skin had become dangerously pale and she could hardly walk. Her once thick dark hair had turned completely white, though her face was free of wrinkles. She was being supported heavily by Naruto, but it was clear, though she was obviously dying, that she was trying to spread her happiness about being a mother again.
A week after that appearance, two weeks before her due date, Hinata experienced a terrible stabbing pain all throughout her body. Naruto rushed her immediately to Sakura, who sadly told Naruto that the end had finally come. Naruto, through many tears, begged Sakura to save their child, if she could. As Sakura performed an emergency delivery, Naruto said his good-byes to his wife. She smiled once more, clasped his hand, and told him that she loved him and Mariko. She then closed her eyes. Naruto's face broke with fresh tears, but was hushed when Hinata gave his hand one more small squeeze.
"Jiraiya and the Third… The Fourth. He says he's proud… of you. And our emi, our beautiful blessing." A baby's cry and a mother's last sigh, and Naruto entered a new chapter in the story of his life.
[]
It was this that Sakura thought of as she inspected a two-year-old Emi. She looked up at Naruto; He had aged only two years, yet he looked as if the weight of ten had settled upon him since Hinata's death. In her own arms sat his small child, large pearlescent Byakugan eyes blinking curiously under a shock of pixie-like short black hair. The child's father, standing opposite of the check-up table, looked oddly restrained.
"Naruto, you can breathe. I can't find anything wrong with her," she said. She offered the young girl to her dad. "She responds immediately to any stimulation and she's quite smart; She had no problem figuring out puzzles from the age bracket above hers. There is nothing wrong with her vocal cords, so she is not mute. I don't know why she won't talk or make sounds, but there is nothing mentally or physically wrong with her."
"I wish she would just say a word," Naruto admitted. "Or even a sound, one sound. A gurgle. A squeal. Anything." He paused when Emi lifted her fat toddler hands and rubbed at the whisker-marks on the Hokage's face. He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "But I'm glad there's nothing wrong."
"You know, Naruto," Sakura said thoughtfully. "She might simply be making a conscious decision to not make sounds. Has she cried or made any sound before?"
Naruto thought back over the last two years. He could not think of a time that the child had ever made a sound. The baby had not had a reason to cry the entire span of her existence. Even at the beginning… No! Wait!
"She cried a little when she was born," Naruto answered. Sakura smiled.
"You see, I think that proves it. There's nothing wrong with her and no reason to make a sound, so she has decided that vocalizing anything is not worth the effort. A mini-tactician if I've ever seen one," she added with a smile, ruffling the baby's messy black hair. "Speaking of tacticians, where has Mariko been? She hasn't come to see me at all in the past few months."
"She's on a mission at the moment, but I don't know why she hasn't visited in so long. I'll be sure to tell her to stop by," he added, making his way out of the hospital room.
"Yeah, hopefully she'll see you before she sees me."
"You know she's never been injured on a mission," Naruto reminded his pink-haired friend. "Maybe a few bruises or scratches, but nothing major. She's got a Byakugan that-"
"-rivals Neji's. I know, I know." Sakura rolled her eyes. "Best Jounin of her time. Inches from ANBU. Lives to protect her comrades. Perfect mix of beauty and brains and strength. Naruto, I'm not interested in buying her so you can stop selling her," she added sarcastically.
"I'm not-" Naruto sputtered, but he was interrupted.
"But, I think Hiko might be interested, and I'd bet my headband that he'd pay higher than an old lady like me." Sakura laughed at her own joke as a groaning man on a stretcher was rushed past them into the operating room. Seeing as the medics had not even stopped to grant Sakura a salute, as they normally did within the hospital walls, both she and Naruto assumed it was an emergency.
"Shouldn't you be running in after them, Chief?" Naruto asked Sakura when she did not immediately fly through the doors.
"They're just going to be prepping him now, and washing up. They'll need me in about two minutes." She yawned, and stretched her arms out behind her with two satisfying cracks. Sure enough, as Naruto placed Emi in her carrying holster on his chest and prepared to leave, the doors swung open in their direction and an eager-looking medic ninja peered out. Behind him, Naruto could just see Ino scanning the patient with her chakra. The male first turned to Naruto.
"Good afternoon, Hokage, sir. Milady," continued the nin, redirecting his gaze at Sakura. "We are ready for you now." Sakura nodded and gave a wave of her hand and the medic disappeared behind the doors once more.
"It was nice seeing you," Sakura said. She bestowed a small smile on Naruto and hugged both him and Emi, as they were tied together with the holster. He smiled back.
"You should come around for dinner tonight, if you can. Mariko will be back and have no choice but to visit with you," he added. "But she might have her teammates over for a post-mission discussion with Konohamaru."
"I'll try to make it," she replied quickly, waving her hand and walking calmly through the double-doors to the still-groaning man.