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Last time:

I clutched my shoulder as my body was full of agony, curling into the fetal position. I could dimly hear my bedroom door splinter open and someone yelling for help.

Then I knew nothing more.

Chapter 6: The Seal

I was currently sitting on the dirt floor of a dimly lit room after going through several tunnels, I would never be able to find my way out by myself. Tsunade was sitting next to me playing cards with a little boy. As soon as he saw her he brought out a small deck of cards and asking if she wanted to play 'Go Fish.' Other women and children were still being brought back in these tunnels for safe keeping for a few minutes after we got here. I didn't think I would see so many since I was told I was in a castle. There were so many little faces I was surprised I hadn't heard any of them while I was awake.

A little girl about the age of five came up to me and sat down. She had her thumb in her mouth and her other hand was clutching an old faded blue blanket. Her hair was unkempt and looked to be down to her waist. She looked like she could use a good bath as well. Her beige dress looked like it had seen better days with a few tears her and there and a couple of dirt stains.

"Hi." I smiled at her before reaching forward to move some her hair out of the way so I could see her eyes.

Startled green eyes looked at me before smiling back, she was a cutie.

"I'm Naru. What's your name?" she just looked at me without saying anything. So I held my arms open for her to come forward and sit with me. She stared for a moment before climbing into my lap.

The sounds of 'Go Fish' continued beside me as Tsunade spoke between turns. "Her name is Suki. Her parents died last year in a fire and she hasn't spoken to anyone since. She's always wandering around the castle by herself but causes no trouble. Go Fish, do you have any red fours?" the little boy handed her a card and she set the pair down.

"Her parents were some of the best elite Ninja we have here so they lived in one of the houses on the grounds. When they died, Itachi decided she was to live here and be taken care of by the staff, instead of going to the orphanage." She looked at the cards in her hands when the boy asked for a blue six and took one out handing it to the boy. "You're the first person I've seen her walk up to by herself and let touch her without a fit besides Sasuke."

I looked down at the girl in my lap who seemed to have fallen asleep. "How old is she?"

Tsunade laid down another pair of cards, "She's four. Her birthday was a couple of months back but no one could find her anywhere. She's always disappearing from time to time but she always shows back up in a couple of days."

'She's only a year younger than Maru.' The thought made me want to cuddle the girl close and not let her go. 'She's so young, but she has lost so much. I can't imagine how she must feel.'

I rested my hand on her head and she snuggled deeper into my touch.

Suddenly the sound of many footsteps running through the tunnels put everyone on edge. Kiba came rushing into the room and headed straight for Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade, you're needed immediately, he has been injured." He said in a harsh whisper trying not to let anybody hear, but I was too close not to.

She nodded arranging the cards in her hand into a small neat pile. "Grab the girl and bring her with us, she is still my patient you know. The little one too, be careful not to wake her." She squatted in front of the little boy before handing him his cards. "Momiji, come see me later and we'll play some more, okay?" The little boy nodded before taking off towards a woman on the other side of the room.

Kiba came over to pick me and Suki up, I rearranged the sleeping girl so she was more fully on me before he lifted us up. She clutched my hand while she was sleeping and we were off down the tunnels at impossible speeds again.

When we arrived back at the infirmary Tsunade was already bent over a man laying on one of the beds. I couldn't help but stare at him while Kiba set me and Suki down on my old bed. The man had a head of the blackest hair I had ever seen, his skin looked really pale and seemed to to be covered in a layer of sweat as though he were running a fever. Every now and then I could hear a whimper or a moan coming from him and his face would contort in pain.

Tsunade's hand seemed to glow a pale green as she slowly moved it over his form, she seemed to be looking for something when her hand hovered over a spot near his shoulder. She pulled down the collar of his shirt and she seemed to pale almost as much as the man before her.

"Get Kakashi, NOW!" she told one of the many guards in the room. She looked at one of the others and motioned for him to follow her a little further away."Tell me what you know and how long has he been this way?"

"We went to his room to look for him and found the door sealed shut, we tried to get through to no avail. When we heard him screaming on the other side of the door we broke it down and found him laying on the bed in the fetal position. He was burning up with fever and was unresponsive. We sent someone to get you right away." The man said before bowing and backing away. She nodded and went back over to the man.

While we were waiting for Kakashi to arrive Tsunade cut open the man's shirt using only her hand and removed it. As looked closer at her hand I noticed a pale green glow surrounding her hand. 'Odd.' I had to look away when she started cutting through his pants, I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

I shook my head softly. 'What is wrong with me? He's injured!'

I occupied myself with tracing the patterns on the blanket with my finger for a few minutes before I hear someone enter the infirmary. I looked up to see Kakashi walk over to Tsunade. They spoke in hushed tones I couldn't make out before Kakashi nodded and began searchinf his person for something. He pulled out a few scrolls that looked too big to fit into any of his pockets and began to unroll them onto the floor around the bed the man was in. He then walked over to Tsunade's desk, grabbing an ink well and a brush, before kneeling before one and drawing and writing strange symbols. I couldn't read anything from where I was sitting but I doubted any of it would make sense anyway. He moved from scroll to scroll until each one was writen on.

He then went back to the first scroll and made a few hand gestures I couldn't catch and smacked his hand on the ground with his fingertips landing on the edge of the scroll. Black writing shot out form the scroll towards the bed an around creating a circle within a circle. More black shot out from the inner circle towards the man and over his body. When it got to wherever it was going Kakashi made some more hand gestures and smacked his hand down again causing the black markings to all head towards the man before disappearing. I watched with my eyes wide as the man began to relax and Tsunade let out a breath of air she must ave been holding. She then placed a couple of pillows under him and covered him with a light blanket before motioning for Kakashi to follow her out into the hall so they could talk.

The dark hair man now slept quietly in the bed and color seemed to be returning to his features, not that he seemed to have much. The longer I looked at him the more I had to admit to myself that he was sort of pretty, well in a man way. In some places where there was more shadows his hair seemed to be so dark it devoured the light around it, but it all looked like it would feel like silk if I ran my fingers through it. My eyes traveled to his face, he looked so much more peaceful now than before Kakashi did whatever it was that he did.

It was a few minutes before Tsunade came back in without Kakashi, she walked over to the bed and placed her had on his forehead before looking relieved.

She looked over at me, "Let me know if he wakes up." and she headed into the greenhouse.

Sasuke's POV:

I woke up with a pounding headache and a copper taste on my tongue. I moved my tongue around inside my mouth and winced when it passed over a sore spot on my cheek. I must have bit it after Orochimaru bit me.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the infirmary, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise since apparently I had been unconscious. I pushed myself into sitting position with one hand and used the other to run my hand through my hair to get it out of my face.

I glanced over to the bed the girl was in to see her sleeping on her side peacefully, I could hear Tsunade mumbling to herself in the green room beyond the doors off to the side. Judging by the dimness of the green room I assumed it was night.

Tsunade came through the doors and walked over to her desk and sat down. "I see that you are awake now, you've been out for a few hours. How are you feeling?" She made her way over to the side of my bed.

"My head hurts and I seem to have bitten my tongue," I placed my hand on the spot where Orochimaru bit me and flinched, finding the spot tender. "and my shoulder hurts something fierce."

"Yeah that might have something to do with the seal that was placed on the curse mark you were given."

'Curse mark?' I wasn't sure what that was. But I assumed it had something to do with Orohimaru biting me. "And what is this 'Curse Mark'?"

Tsunade shrugged her shoulders before resting her head on her now upturned hand. "Hell if I know anything about that Idiot's 'experiments' as he puts them." she waved her other hand absently, "I doubt Jiraiya even knows, and he spent years following and studying that bastard." She looked me in the eye. "We're more concerned with what he wants with you."

I felt my shoulders droop, "I have no idea."

"Well I can have-" we both looked over when the girl began to yell out in her sleep and began to toss and turn.

I leapt out of bed to her side afraid she was going to fall out. I placed a hand on her arm to hold her still and her eyes snapped open and a hiss escaped her lips. Tsunade gasped when she appeared on the other side of the girl, crimson eyes flickered before turning a beautiful shade of blue. The girl relaxed and her eyes rolled back.

Tsunade grabbed the end of her nightgown and brought it up over her waist just before her breasts and groaned. I was about to protest when I saw it. There on the girl's belly was what looked to be a seal for holding something powerful if I wasn't mistaken.

"What is that?" I asked as I removed my hands from the unconscious girl afraid of what might happen should she wake up to find my hands on her person.

"That is a very powerful sealing jutsu. It is called Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, any who use it die afterwards." Her hand hovered above the swirl pattern before closing in a fist and dropping to her side. "The only person to pull it off before dying himself was Minato Namikaze, the King of the Land of Fire, using it on his own newborn child. But they said his child was a boy.

I took a step back from the bed. "So this girl is...?" My eyes grew wide at her nod as she continued to stare at the girl. "T-then that means she has the," I didn't even want to say hoping she knew what I was talking about. "Inside her?" Tsunade only nodded again and lowered the nightgown back down her legs and covered her with the blanket.

I ran both of my hands through my hair and down my face. As far as anyone knew or thought, the baby of the story disappeared and most likely died. No body ever saw it after the battle and just assumed. There was no search party to go looking since who would bother with a baby that had a demon sealed inside it? Yet here was that same baby but now a woman laying in front of me very much alive and thriving. 'Does she know? Probably not. How would she?' I looked at the girl finding some similarities between here and the photos of Minato I had seen. 'Her eyes are the same shade of blue.'

"What do we do?" I asked Tsunade as she made her way over to one of her many cabinets, pulling out a bottle of sake.

"Well it's not like we can tell anyone. They'll want to kill her. Royalty or not. Hero or not." she threw back a shot of the potent alcohol.

'Hero?' I thought about it for a moment and concluded that technically she would be one if even she didn't know it. 'If she wasn't strong enough to be the vessel for the demon he'd still be terrorizing the nations. And a lot more people would be dead.' Though the likelihood of others seeing it that way were slim to none. 'And for her to be the true heir of the Land of fire as well?' The thought made me want to laugh. 'Danzo would be pissed if he ever found out that his enemy was in possession of niece.' Especially since he was the one to release the demon in the first place, though there was no solid proof.

"Then we just won't tell anyone that doesn't need to know." I vowed, I would keep her safe. "Did she wake up at all while I was out?"

"Yes." I tore my gaze away from the girl on the bed. "Her name is Naru." She threw back another shot. "Can you imagine what Jiraiya's face when I tell him is Godson is really a Goddaughter and is very much alive as well?"

'I forgot about that detail.'

Author's Note...again:

Well, that's chapter 6 everyone!

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