A sigh escaped barely parted lips. The sound floated away in the gentle breeze that blew through Barch when the turbines turned harshly to keep Barch in a regulated temperature. It was never too hot and it was never too cold, just perfectly perfect every single day.
Naruto tugged his blond locks out of his eyes again. His blue eyes watched the exits from the Center for Kushina. A bundle wrapped in black packaging was cradled under his arm, a red dragon symbol marked its center. A black envelope with Barch's symbol stamped in the corner occupied his hand.
His eyes met charcoal black eyes, Sasuke nodded his way. Naruto dipped his head back as a sign of respect and nothing else. Sasuke maneuvered around the citizens that spilled out of the exits. Multiple Hunts were being ushered along the way to the tracks. The train that would take them beyond the cities walls, then if they were lucky, or unlucky depending on one point of view, they would move past the training camps on foot for the actual hunt.
The jobless hurriedly left the building towards where ever their assignment was supposed to take them, some followed the Hunts to their tracks and others left in the lift for the main city. The mothers and women that wore the Yukatas slowly glided from the door making sure to take their time, some had tears in their eyes and other had slumped shoulders, a few hobbled around swollen bellies with huge smiles adorning their faces.
"Naruto." Sasuke greeted stopping about a foot or two away.
"Sasuke." Naruto returned the greeting.
They stood in silence, both searching the existing people in front of the center.
"Your mother was with you?" Sasuke broke the silence between them, not taking his eyes off of the building.
"Yes." Naruto answered politely. His eyes traveled over pink hair in his search for blood red.
"Didn't you take her to be incubated about six months ago?" Sasuke looked up at him in confusion, Uzumaki's didn't speed through incubation period, right?
"Yes, they could only save enough for twins, though." He gave a half shrug and looked down at Sasuke. His forehead came to about Naruto's clavicle.
"Sasuke." Sasuke frowned briefly before looking away from Naruto and to Sakura who stood in front of the pair with a glowing smile.
"Hn." He grunted as the female tried to enter into his personal space. He held himself stiffly still to try and persuade her that touching wasn't something he wanted to do.
"Have you looked at your results yet?" She asked innocently referring to the bundle in Sasuke's arms.
"No." He stated and then proceeded to ignore her, turning to Naruto, "Have you looked at yours?"
Naruto blinked down at him, from the corner of his eye he saw Sakura pout but looked just as excited to hear his answer. Probably to know what to expect from her own. "I was going to wait for Kushina and open it back at home." He gave a tiny half shrug.
Sasuke nodded seriously, "I'm waiting for Itachi and Shisui as well."
"Um, Naruto isn't Kushina your mother's name?" Sakura asked confused from Sasuke's elbow.
"She was my father's wife." His shoulders rose a little, he had been shrugging a lot today, "She isn't my biological mother."
Sasuke nodded, "Is she off the incubation period?"
"No," Naruto looked back up at the building and held eye contact with Madara for a split second.
"Do you think they will let a pregnant lady fly?" Sakura jeered from her lack of height.
"They might." Sasuke defended frowning down at her. "We are settling another sector, that usually means having babies there and making a life there."
Sakura instantly blushed and giggled. Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned back to Naruto, "Yeah." Naruto agreed, a frown taking over his face. He didn't ever think of it like that. "More than likely they will be pairing us up before we leave." He sighed and looked heavenward, "One of the minds told me that were going to get assigned jobs."
"One of the minds?" Sakura piped up, brows furrowed.
He looked down with a raised eyebrow, "I had like three different minds taking me to different places."
"There was only one who took me around," Sasuke mentioned lightly.
"What makes you so special that you need more than one guide?" Sakura questioned slightly put out, a frown marring her face.
Naruto frowned a little back, "Don't be mean, you're just jealous." Madara's voice made everyone jump a little. Naruto blinked over at her sudden appearance.
Sakura huffed a little before marching away. "Whatever." Was muttered to Madara as she passed.
Madara rolled her eyes, "Why did you take her shit during Challenge school?" She asked Naruto, taking Sakura's place in the circle. He could only shrug, he didn't know why either. "Have you opened yours yet?" She gestured with her own package to the one tucked under his arm.
"Not yet."
She nodded and looked down at the one in her hands with a small frown.
"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts now." Sasuke teased his cousin from her right.
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh shut up."
"Hey don't worry, the minds wouldn't send us to our deaths right?" Naruto poked her with the corner of the envelope. She smiled at him, and even Sasuke seemed slightly relieved. Naruto looked up and made eye contact with Kushina.
Sasuke noticed Kushina seconds before Naruto, "Come visit us, would you? You know before we are shipped off?" He punched Naruto's shoulder softly, Naruto gave him a grin.
"Sure, see you guys later." He waved before walking around the crowds towards Kushina.
"You go first." Kushina muttered quietly as they sat opposite from each other at the kitchen table.
Naruto looked back down at the package. His heart thumped painfully in his chest. The little envelope had been placed in the middle along with Kushina's. He stared for a moment before reaching forward and tugging the package into his lap. "Here goes nothing." He mused before peeling the packaging off. A booklet pad sat on top of a black jumper with red trimming. The booklet was about the size of Naruto's hand.
He placed the uniform on the table and picked the booklet up. Opening it up the pad began to hum a little as the blank pages gained a cursor and lines began writing themselves down the page.
Uzumaki Naruto, we at sector one would like to thank you for your continued service for our species survival.
Results are posted with a score of one to ten. One is very, very poor, while ten is a perfect score.
Physical: 10
Mental: 7
Health: 10
Reproduction: 10
Naruto looked up at Kushina, "I got a ten in the physical test, a seven in the mental test," He sighed as Kushina giggled at him, "A ten in health-" He blushed bright red and looked back down at the booklet. "My rank is a warrior/hunter. My selection rank is top?" He scanned some more. "We will be getting a companion, and a... partner on the Transmitter along with all the supplies we will need."
He looked back up at Kushina again, "What does yours say?"
She looked down at the package, peeled its covering off and grabbed her booklet. "Physical is a five," She pouted and he chuckled, "It also says that the result is inconclusive because I am pregnant and can't be properly tested. Mental is a nine." She gave him a victory smirk, "Health is ten, hey wait a minute mine has reproduction!" She reached over the table and snatched his booklet out of his hands before he could effectively get it out of reach.
She hummed in the back of her throat. "Ten, same as mine." She flipped her booklet out to show him. "I got ranked farmer, and the selection rank is middle." She pointed at the two labels close to the end of her booklet. "What's the difference between their companion and partner?" She tugged her booklet back into her hand.
He sat back in his chair, "I have no idea."
Kushina went silent as she too leaned back in her chair. Her hand rubbed her stomach without realizing it, "This is really happening then." It was quiet and very light as it broke the silence that had gathered in between them.
Blue sought out brownish purple, "It's still our choice, you don't have to unless you really want to." He spoke softly and leaned forward on to the table.
"I know." She whispered to herself, her eyes finding a very interesting curve in the tables border to stare at.
Silence weighed heavily over the table, Naruto frowned down at the table. He was doing this for her, for the twins, for the idea of something else. He liked Barch but the thought of being something greater that Barch couldn't give to him, he was willing to cut his ties of this place. He was twenty-one with no real job selection, no girl he was sweet on, no idea of the future except helping Kushina raise his fathers children.
"I have to go to the Birthing center tomorrow for a class." Kushina closed her booklet and set it on top of her uniform. "I don't know how long it will be, but since we won't be living here any more in a week, we should probably start thinking about selling everything."
He sighed, "I'll send the papers in tonight about a sale for the next few days." He stood up slowly, and took his uniform off the table, "I'll make some thing to eat then we can go through everything tonight."
Edited 6-29-2016