NSFW warning for some lazy Sunday afternoon sexy fun times, *ahem*. There will be a little bit of smut throughout this fic, but nothing too explicit.

Naruto's clones had always been different than other people's, and over the years he'd refined his techniques even further. His clones had a strange physicality. They were wildly impractical in some ways, since they required food and water and all that- but they were much sturdier than a standard bunshin-no-jutsu clone. Combined with that bizarre perverted jutsu of his, the clone technique resulted in a vessel- for lack of a better word- that both Naruto and Sakura were convinced would be capable of carrying a baby.

…they were both insane. Sasuke wasn't disputing that it would work: what did he know about these things? It was just that who on earth would have even come up with this idea in the first place?

"Remarkable," Sakura commented, staring at the clone in front of her with amazed eyes. "Yes, this will do nicely."

"Mm," Sasuke replied gruffly, arms still folded over his chest.

"Of course, I'm not surprised that you mastered the technique so quickly," Sakura added with a cheeky grin. "You've maintained it for…how long now? A week? And no strain?"

"No strain," Sasuke confirmed. "And it's been nine days."

Nine days, and Sasuke barely noticed the extra pull on his chakra- the tiny bit of his energy being diverted into the clone. Sasuke had maintained clones continuously for much longer than this, and he was used to the strange sensation of being in two places at once; of being able to see through their eyes, feel what they touched. Naruto's clone techniques really were remarkable, and had proved immensely useful over the years.

"I'm sure Naruto is thrilled," Sakura commented, motioning for the clone to lie down on the examination table. "And probably still in shock that you agreed to even try his new jutsu."

Sasuke had mentioned it to him, of course, that he intended to maintain the clone for at least a week to see what would happen. And in the same breath, he'd given the blonde a dire warning not to get his hopes up. No-one had ever done anything like this before. This was all just a test.

Naruto had taken that well enough. Indeed he'd been far more upset that Sasuke had- once again- so quickly perfected a technique that had taken him so long to learn.

"You know, everyone always said you'd be a stunning girl," Sakura giggled to herself, as she set to work examining the clone. "They were right! Naruto told me how gorgeous she was. I think he's quite taken with her."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that. The clone barely looked any different than a male one- barely any different than him. A slightly lighter build, perhaps. And Sasuke's hair had already gotten pretty long these past few years, so not even that was different. As for the clone's, well, female assets, they were subtle, and all but hidden under the baggy outfit Sasuke had it wearing.

…still. Naruto's reaction to it had further strengthened his resolve to keep the thing out of sight for the whole nine months. If it worked.

"So everything's okay with it?" Sasuke asked, gazing at his female self on the table.

"Seems to be," Sakura said. "Are you able to modify her in any way, or is this the easiest form for you to maintain?"

"Modify it how?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Wider hips," Sakura said matter-of-factly, looking down at the clone critically.

Well, that did it. He'd been doing so well at holding himself together, and then-

All the blood drained from Sasuke's face and he swayed, falling down to the chair behind him. "Oh, god," he groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed, rushing over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke replied, taking a deep breath. Don't be so dramatic, he told himself sternly. "It all just seemed- so real, for a moment." And it had been terrifying.

"It is real," Sakura said quietly, her voice calm. She pulled a chair across the floor and sat down in front of him. "This could really work, Sasuke. So…you have to be ready, before we do anything. Are we moving too fast? You have to tell me."

Sasuke shrugged. For this whole week and a half he'd had the clone stashed away in the spare room upstairs, he had done his utmost not to think about it at all. "No, it's not too fast," he said. "And it probably wouldn't work the first time anyway, right? Or at all."

"Well, maybe not," Sakura confirmed, biting her lip and sighing. "Look, Sasuke, I'm really sorry. Doing all those tests with Naruto…it wasn't my place, it wasn't right. I let my curiosity get the better of me."

Sasuke nodded, accepting her apology without comment. "You're a medic-nin," he said, brushing it all off. "And Naruto's techniques are…interesting." Sakura wouldn't have been able to resist.

"They sure are," Sakura said dryly. "The thing is, back when you first started talking about kids, you wanted to adopt, didn't you? This is- this is very different. The baby would be…half-Uchiha."

Sasuke fell silent. Well, there it was, all out in the open. Sakura understood exactly. Sasuke wasn't sure if it had occurred to Naruto yet, or if he'd thought about it at all. Would he understand, why Sasuke might feel uneasy about that?

"When you first came back to Konoha after the war, you were so…anti-Uchiha," Sakura went on. "And…you've never worn the symbols, you've never…I mean, you're an Uzumaki now, legally! Sasuke, are you really okay with this all?"

He'd thought about it. He'd thought about it a lot. Sakura was right; for a long time, years and years, just thinking about his old clan had filled Sasuke with such anxiety that he couldn't breathe. Naruto had helped, had been gentle with him, patient.

Things had gotten better. And eventually, they'd even built their new house on the old Uchiha lands; the place was virtually unrecognizable now, but it was still where Sasuke had been born.

"I'm…fine with it," Sasuke said, his voice low, but firm. "It's not like we're rebuilding the Uchiha clan or anything like that," he added, with a wry smile to show Sakura that he was truly okay. "And it would be an Uzumaki, anyway."

And the Uzumaki genes would be its cure. Sasuke would never have considered having kids with anyone but Naruto. But this baby- if it ever came about- would be fine; how could it not be, with Naruto for a parent?

"Alright, then," Sakura said with a nod. "In that case, we can take the next step when the clone is ready. You know what I mean by that?"

Sasuke scowled. "Of course," he said. He knew all about that…stuff.

Sakura looked doubtful. "I'll give you some books to read anyway," she said. "And make Naruto read them too, okay? I'll give the clone a more thorough exam now. Do you want to stay?"

He paled. No, he really didn't want to stay. He shook his head and stood, preparing to leave. "No, I need to get back to work. It'll just walk home once you're done." It was bad enough he had to see and feel that stuff through his link with the clone; he didn't want to see it with his own eyes as well.

"You'll have to learn to cut off the link, Sasuke," Sakura teased, moving over to the table. "Have Naruto teach you how to set up a barrier. You don't want to spend the whole nine months as both a man and a pregnant woman, do you?"

The clone wouldn't be a pregnant woman- it would be a vessel- but yes, he saw her point. "I will, then," he murmured. "I'll see you later."

She nodded and he left the room, heading back to the tower.

Just stop thinking about it, he said to himself as he tried to concentrate on his work. They were very busy at the moment preparing for the next chuunin exams. Sasuke welcomed the distraction: at least he would have, if his mind was willing to be distracted.

"Pass me that pile there, Yuki," Sasuke said to his assistant. "And all those have been checked as well, haven't they?" he added, indicating a huge pile of paperwork on her desk.

"Yes, we did those last month after their wilderness test," Yuki said to that, showing him a checklist of names. These days genin had to pass a whole lot of tests and meet many requirements before they could even apply to take the chuunin exam. It was quite a task keeping track of it all, but Sasuke's team was more than capable. He'd trained most of them himself, including young Yuki here.

"Ah, Sasuke!" came Naruto's voice, peering in through the door and grinning at them both. "You're back! How'd it go?"

"It went fine," Sasuke said with a warning in his voice as he paused in his task. He had told Naruto repeatedly not to get his hopes up about this appointment with Sakura. It was one step at a time. "Don't you have a meeting? He does, doesn't he?" he directed at Yuki.

"Yes," Yuki confirmed. "With the Iwagakure ambassador."

"We're on a break," Naruto whined at that. "And it's taking forever to get anything decided, I just-"

"Hokage-sama," came Shikamaru's voice from down the hall, and Naruto flinched. "We're ready to resume, if you wouldn't mind…?"

Sasuke smirked at the edge to Shikamaru's voice and Naruto's reaction to it. "You better get going or he'll flay you alive," he said.

"Mm, true," Naruto said to that. "Let's just have dinner in the cafeteria, okay? It might be a late night. I'll find you when we're done here."

"Okay," Sasuke agreed, turning back to his work; and then his eyes opened wide when Naruto appeared right beside him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Naruto!"

"What?" Naruto said to that, giving him an innocent look.

"Not in my office!" he hissed, shooting Naruto a look. How many times had he told him this?! His poor staff had enough to deal with, without seeing any of that. "Honestly!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Naruto teased, leaning over and kissing him again. "Ah, that was an apology!" he cried as he stepped away out of range. He disappeared within seconds.

Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh. Boundaries- it was all about boundaries. And unfortunately, Naruto didn't have any. "Sorry, Yuki," he said to the poor blushing girl, focusing intently on her pile of papers in the corner. Honestly, that man…!

Naruto had being giggly and ecstatic the day he had his own appointment with Sakura. I know it's gonna work! he'd said to Sasuke, over and over again. Yes, the first time. Beginner's luck, see? Sasuke had generously allowed him a few hours to be excited, before calmly but firmly reminding him of their agreement.

This was all just a test. There was no guarantee at all that it would be successful, and even if it was, it wouldn't be a baby inside the clone. It would be a- a foetus. A collection of cells. For how long? Naruto had asked him, the first time Sasuke had said all this.

He didn't know. But this all seemed so risky to him. It had never been done before, as far as Sakura was aware. She'd found a few interesting references in some obscure medical texts that had her very curious, but essentially, this jutsu that Naruto had developed was unique.

So naturally, neither of them could afford to get emotionally invested. They had to be responsible here; they had to be calm. They had to be ready for this all to ultimately be a failure.

"I'm thinking of learning my dad's teleportation technique," Naruto announced late one Sunday afternoon as they lay in bed, snuggled up in the blankets, limbs tangled together.

Sasuke groaned, his happy, fulfilled mood broken at once. Not this again! They were still sticky and sweaty and Sasuke had just been thinking that a second round might be nice and then Naruto had to say- that!

"You can't be serious," he growled to Naruto. "This would be the millionth time you've tried!"

"Don't be silly," Naruto said to that, ticking his cheek. "The millionth time? Honestly, Sasuke!"

"Look, I know you value persistence," Sasuke went on, ducking his head down and out of reach, "but you should just accept it already! Some people just aren't meant to learn certain techniques." And Minato Namikaze's hiraishin-no-jutsu was definitely one of those!

Naruto's face fell. "But Sasuke!" he cried, pushing himself up onto his arms and throwing him a sulky frown. "I have to learn it- it's my destiny! My legacy!"

Sasuke scoffed. "It is not," he shot, falling back on his pillows. Naruto had tried and tried, and had barely any success each time.

"It is!" Naruto maintained. "My father's legacy. A grand tradition, handed down from parent to child-"

"Ah, so his father could do it too, hey?" Sasuke interrupted. "Or his mother?"

Naruto frowned. "Um, well, I don't know about that," he admitted, lying back down, looking crestfallen. "Actually…dad might have been the first in our family."

"Exactly," Sasuke smirked. He reached over and tugged Naruto to his side, circling his arms around Naruto's waist.

"But…but his legacy," Naruto whined, resting his cheek on Sasuke's chest, pressing a quick kiss to his skin.

"Kyuubi is your legacy," Sasuke said. "And so is being Hokage. I think your parents would be more than happy with how you've handled both."

"I want to learn it," Naruto pouted. Of course he did; he always wanted to learn new things.

"And what makes you think this time would be any different? Why will you succeed now, when you've failed so many times in the past?" Sasuke didn't feel good about saying any of that- Naruto had tried very hard, after all, and he usually got what he wanted after that much persistence. Failure was not in his vocabulary.

But someone had to be the realist in this relationship. The weeks and weeks- months, really, if you added it all up- that Naruto had spent on this technique had just been a massive waste of time. Naruto was Hokage now. He couldn't afford to go after new jutsus like he had when he was young and free.

"Because," Naruto said to that, a smile suddenly blooming and taking over his face. "This time, you're going to help me!"

"…no," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes, his suspicions confirmed. "I refuse. Give me one good reason-"

"If we're going to have a family, don't you want them to be safe?" Naruto asked. "I could teleport right to their side at the first hint of trouble!"

"Naruto!" Sasuke scowled. "It's been less than a week! This has very little chance of working-"

"-oh, I know," Naruto interrupted, waving him off. "This time might not work, or the time after that. Or maybe it will work. Who knows? But one day, we'll have a family, and I want to be ready for when that time comes!"

Sasuke fell silent. It was a low move using that sort of logic to win this argument. Even lower because he was right: of course it would be a useful technique in an emergency. And any kid of theirs would surely face a whole range of challenges, and-

He shivered. Oh, he just couldn't think about this! Maybe he would help Naruto, just as something to do in the next few weeks, to take his mind off it all.

…but for now, they needed a much more immediate distraction. Why waste their very limited time alone together with such awful thoughts? Of trouble, of emergencies, of Naruto needing to be there right away-

"Let's not talk about that anymore," he purred, slipping a hand under the blankets and between their tangled bodies, tracing down Naruto's stomach to rest between his thighs. "I can think of things I'd much rather be doing right now."

"Mm, like having a nap?" Naruto said with a yawn. "Yes, that sounds- ah! Sa- Sasuke!" he shrieked as Sasuke circled his hand around Naruto's length without warning.

"Yes?" Sasuke said back, flashing his eyes at Naruto as innocently as he could. "You're not that tired are you? Too tired?"

Sasuke ran his hand gently up and down, soft, easy; and still he drew a groan from Naruto, who was very quickly responding under Sasuke's touch. Yes, that was his man- whining to panting in ten seconds flat.

Naruto's skin blushed a deep, scarlet red. "Oh, I- mm, that's- well no, I guess we could…" his words trailed off, quickly subsumed by a low cry of pleasure.

"Don't worry," Sasuke said, slipping out from under Naruto's chest and manoeuvring him onto his back. "I'd be more than happy to do all the work," he added, seating himself on Naruto's hips, wriggling around until he was satisfied.

"I know you would be," Naruto gasped as Sasuke rolled downwards. He reached out to take hold of Sasuke's hips, his fingers dancing over the bare skin of his stomach and then trailing down his thighs and back again.

"And I'm even all ready to go," Sasuke went on, leaning forward to press his mouth against Naruto's, sucking on his bottom lip, biting down with his teeth. The second round always took so much less work than the first.

And I can't resist him when he's like this, Sasuke thought to himself, pulling back and gazing down at his man underneath him. He was still the most beautiful creature Sasuke had ever seen.

Sasuke bit his lip and circled his hips over Naruto's middle, feeling a liquid heat start to pool in his stomach. He did this once, twice, and felt himself starting to burn in response to the sensation of Naruto hard and firm beneath him, pressing up against his entrance.

"Sasuke…" Naruto groaned, reaching up to curl his fingers around Sasuke's jaw, arching his back ever so slightly in response to Sasuke's movements. "If you keep looking at me like that- ugh, if you keep moving like that- I won't last long at all…"

"Oh, well," Sasuke murmured, reaching a hand behind him, guiding Naruto's length into place. "In that case, we'd best get on with it then, hmm?" He stifled a moan as he lifted his hips and then brought them back down, feeling Naruto slide all the way into him.

Naruto tightened his hold around Sasuke's waist, held him still. "Hah, Sasuke, give me a moment, mm…" Once Sasuke stilled Naruto trailed his fingers across his stomach, up his chest, back down, smiling when Sasuke shivered under his touch. "Pass me some of that," Naruto said, nodding to the small tube next to them on the bed.

Once his hands were nice and slippery he brought them in between Sasuke's legs, running up and down his length with an abruptly fast pace that soon had Sasuke gasping.

"Naruto!" he cried, pushing forward further into Naruto's hands, his breath quickening at once. "Ohh, that's too- mm, be gentle, Naruto, I-"

"Move for me, Sasuke," Naruto panted, his chest heaving under Sasuke's body. "Yes, Sas, just like that-" he went on, when Sasuke resumed his movements up and down, pushing up on his thighs and coming back to rest.

He circled his hips and drew another deep-throated moan from Naruto, and he started moving faster, heat spiking through his blood and urging him on. "Like- like this?" Sasuke panted back, losing some of his rhythm in the face of the pure need coursing through him. No, he wasn't going to last long either, not with Naruto's hands on him like that, running all the way up him, running his thumb over the top of his length, moving back down. He-

"-just like that," Naruto repeated, "god, Sasuke, you're perfect, ohh, yes," he hissed, his eyes fluttering closed, his spine arching up off the bed and pushing harder into Sasuke. They moved together, their panting and gasps filling Sasuke's ears, until the rest of the world faded away and it was just him and Naruto, together and happy, with nothing to worry about at all.

"Na- Naruto," Sasuke stammered, his thrusts downwards becoming erratic and uneven, his breath catching in his throat, "are you-" And then his words abandoned him as the hand on his length tightened and Sasuke froze, his body jolting backward and flooding with sharp pleasure.

And then he was aware of nothing else but Naruto underneath him, joined with him, moaning and gripping his hips hard. "Mm, yes, Sasuke, yes," Naruto cried out, bucking upwards and holding Sasuke in place, breathing hard, his eyes burning.

Sasuke whimpered and fall forwards, letting Naruto catch him neatly and guide him down to the bed. Sasuke curled against him, finding his mouth and once and kissing him hard, breathing heavily

…oh, surely that was a much better way to spend an afternoon than wasting more time on that ridiculous jutsu! Even though I know he won't give up, Sasuke told himself grimly, even as Naruto snuggled back against him, wrapping his arms around his waist. Well, this is Naruto, after all.

No, Naruto never did give up. He sighed softly, feeling all his energy slip away as he melted against Naruto's side. Looks like they'd be getting that nap Naruto wanted after all. And then I'm guessing I have some jutsu scrolls to examine, Sasuke thought as he drifted off to sleep.

A month went by. Sasuke had never had to work quite so hard to keep himself and Naruto distracted. It was one thing to decide that they wanted a family- it was another to have to wait for it. And so they filled their days with work and training, and time trickled slowly by.

Until finally one evening in early spring came the news they'd been waiting for.

Naruto and Sasuke were leaving the tower and headed home after a very long day. "I'm starving," Sasuke muttered under his breath, supressing a yawn. "Let's just get ramen on the way home…"

"Ohh, really?" Naruto said back, sending Sasuke a jubilant smile. "And some gyoza and fried rice maybe…oh look, it's Sakura-chan," he added, as they walked through the front door. He grinned and waved brightly.

"Are you waiting for us?" Sasuke asked her once they'd exited the building. A tremor of nerves ran through him, which he quickly suppressed. It didn't work, he thought. We'll have to try again, and wait another month.

"I am," Sasuke said with a nod, her face calm and controlled- doctor mode. But then she grinned and her green eyes lit up, sparkling bright and radiant. "I have some really, really good news."

A/N: A word re: Naruto's clone technique- in my mind he's always been working on his clones, altering them to be much more useful, to be able to stick around longer and with slightly more independence than a standard clone. Until eventually, the technique he's using isn't bunshin-no-jutsu or kage-bunshin anymore, it's a brand new one. Naturally he names it after himself, Naruto-no-bunshin. Combine that with his sexy-no-jutsu and you get…sexy-Naruto-no-jutsu, *cough*. (Naruto did suggest that when Sasuke uses the technique it should be sexy-Sasuke-no-jutsu, but Sas did NOT respond well to that, ahaha.)

Anyway, there's a limit to just how seriously we can take all of this…we ARE dealing with a fictional world, after all! But I'll admit I did have fun thinking of ways to make this work, ehehe.

Thanks for everyone's lovely feedback so far, I definitely feel less nervous now about sharing this new story with you all!