Hey, everyone! This part was really easy to write, and I had such fun! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it too!
By the way, if you have any fun and interesting stories about where you are when you read fanfics, do share them with me, it always puts a smile on my face!
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Madara's reaction to Naruto's new training regimen had been one of mild amusement. Not the amusement of an adult looking at a cute child, no, but the amusement of a predator looking at a prey futilely trying to change its status. It made Sakura clench her fists, teeth grinding together. She wanted to kill him.
That, and get as far away as humanly possible. She could use the seal on her wrist to return to her cave, she knew, and so could Naruto, but with the close scrutiny she was under, there was no chance she could take Obito along.
She gnawed worriedly at her lower lip. If only they had been faster at getting at him! If only...
"No use dwelling on the past," she murmured to herself. She had to plan for the future. Shikamaru had always been better at that than her, but she wasn't a lost cause either. Already, now that she wasn't worried about Obito dying on her during the night or Madara trying to kill her at any given moment—for now, he seemed content to observe her like a hawk—she could start planning.
There was one possibility she could envision, but it brought with it too many risks and variables. If possible, she didn't want to go down that path.
The ache in her chest, at least, was now more emotional than physical. The gaping wound had mostly closed, its healing slowed down by the scuffles with Madara she had no way of avoiding.
One thing she had noticed was that the old man stayed asleep for longer and longer periods of time, probably because overexerting himself would do him no good. Maybe there was potential in that situation. If she could slip past his radar...
The White Zetsu, however, showed no sign of tiredness. She already knew they didn't have to eat or drink, and it looked like they didn't need sleep either.
Monsters, all of them.
Even if they did try to get in her good graces, for whatever reason.
"Let me."
And there went one of them, taking the spoon from her hand to silently stir her pot.
She was unsettled, but also quite morbidly curious as she watched him twirl a piece of broccoli in his fingers. He looked fascinated.
"Can you feel hunger?" she blurted out, chastising herself when the strange man turned to look at her, seeming a bit too pleased for her tastes that she was finally acknowledging him after days of stubborn silent treatment.
"Hunger?"
Well, she was damned already. "I mean, most people start to salivate when they smell something appetizing. Does that happen to you, even though you don't need to eat? Come to think of it, can you eat? Or will it make you sick or something?"
She sat on her haunches, her head cushioned in her hands as she observed him with nearly childlike curiosity. Surprised, Zetsu looked at her without a word for a long moment, trying to ascertain whether or not she was serious. When she started pouting at him, he finally decided to answer.
"I can eat, but I don't feel the need to. It won't make me sick, but I'll have to vomit later, since I can't absorb any food. If I could, I'm sure broccoli would be my favourite. It's like a little tree, isn't it?"
She looked at him with an unflattering expression of unimpressed disbelief. "Really. Forcing yourself to throw up. How is that any better than actually being sick?" she deadpanned.
He shrugged, seemingly indifferent. It wasn't a big deal, and he had never known any better anyway.
"By the way, how much food is there here?" asked Sakura worriedly. "You don't need to eat, and the old crow's sleeping most of the time...Does this cave have enough food stored for all of us?"
"We're on our last bag of rice," admitted the clone without flinching, "but I'll get out and gather more supplies soon."
It took all her training not to tense minutely in interest. Instead, she simply cocked her head to the side. "Really? Good. But will you manage to get out?"
Do not mention how, let him do that himself...
Naruto hadn't found a way out during his laps, and even now that her sensory jutsu was back into use, she hadn't fared much better.
"I can travel underground," replied White Zetsu. "It will not be a problem."
"Good. You may not be hungry, but I sure am."
"Normal, you are still healing and your body is adjusting to its new charge."
She stilled, confused, and a perplexed "Eh?" left her lips before she could contain it.
"Didn't you know? It's faint, but there is a trace of different life in your stomach. You're pregnant. That's why you have much less chakra and energy than usual."
She nearly fainted.
-:-
Obito looked at Sakura curiously as she ambled over, nearly tripping over her own feet as she did so. Zetsu, who was hovering close by, rescued her, chastising her gently for not being careful and encouraging her to lean on him.
He stopped throwing kunai at his target, Naruto doing the same next to him.
"You said it was alright if I stayed sitting!" he said defensively before she could edge in a word.
"Sure, sure..."
Naruto took out a kunai from his makeshift target, frowning in confusion. Sakura didn't look like she had gotten into a new scuffle with Madara, so why was the white guy so attentive? She couldn't have gotten hurt, could she?
For all he was usually dense, he had a way of getting at the heart of things with just a few words. "Did something happen?"
She nearly tripped over thin air, saved once again by Zetsu's grip.
"Ano..." she fumbled, flustered.
"She's pregnant," said the clone bluntly.
"Stop saying that!" she exclaimed, upset, with a slap to his chest.
"Why? Isn't that the truth?"
He had a way of sounding so completely innocent.
"I can't be! It was one night, and I've been tossed around so much since then I'd surely have lost the baby by now! Besides, I don't even feel morning sickness! What does that tell you, huh?"
Zetsu only replied calmly that not all women got morning sickness, to which she replied testily, "How can you know?"
Zetsu didn't reply, staying silent in the face of her growing ire. Any further words on his part would be oil on the fire.
Naruto walked over as Sakura handed a bowl to Obito and crouched in front of her, eyes level with her stomach. So there was a baby in there. He had trouble imagining it, as it was still flat, but he had seen other women swell with their pregnancy before. It always amazed him.
Sakura sent a probe of chakra in her stomach, sensing, as Zetsu had, the flicker of the fetus in response. Indeed, there was life growing in her womb.
Her throat constricted painfully as a wave of emotions washed over her. Whose child was this? Itachi's? Kisame's? Would her baby have her eyes and hair, her nose and ears, or rather the father's features? Would the child lean toward her personality?
Her hand rested lightly on her stomach as she pondered.
"Nee-chan...Does this mean I'll be a big brother?" asked Naruto uncertainly, twisting his hands as he looked up at her hopefully.
She reached out and hugged him to her, perhaps more tightly than necessary, and buried her nose in his blond locks.
"Of course, Naruto-kun. You'll be a great older brother."
Obito shifted, feeling somewhat like a third wheel.
"Ano...Congratulations, sensei. I hope the baby will be strong," he said, rubbing the back of his head through his growing hair.
She smiled at him, a bit wistfully, a bit sadly, but still genuinely.
"Thank you. I will treasure this child," she said softly.
Then he remembered that her husband had been killed. Indeed, that child would be the only thing she had left of him, the only link between her and the dead man. He felt sympathy for her, knowing her child would remind her of her husband and open her wounds again and again throughout the years to come.
"You know, I pretty much live alone. Except for my aunt and uncle, of course, but the house's too big for us. If you need a place to crash for a while when I'm healed...You know, before you give birth...It's always better to have people around in case something happens..."
Once more, Sakura smiled a bit sadly, and he thought that she knew something he didn't, something that made her sad and dispirited. It seemed she didn't have much hope for the future.
"That's...very nice of you," she allowed carefully. Inwardly, she doubted she would live long enough to give birth. "For now, please, don't mention this. I've got...I've got to get used to this first."
She carefully covered the speck of life of her growing fetus with her chakra, hiding it away in her womb. The longer Madara didn't know the better.
-:-
Obito listened avidly as Sakura explained technical points of a jutsu to Naruto. His friend was nodding from time to time, trying to imitate her handsigns to perfection.
"Your forefinger is a little too high...There, try again..."
Minato-sensei was a good teacher, but nowadays, he was always so busy with the war that they often had to make do on their own. It wasn't so bad, overall, but he wasn't a genius like Bakakashi who seemed to master any jutsu with ease. Even if Sakura wasn't out to teach him specifically—especially given that he was still recovering and was under strict orders not to overexert himself—he could listen to her teach Naruto, and it felt a bit like having a second teacher. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, anything was fair game. He especially liked the parts about survival training. In a war such as this, it paid off to be able to find the best place to find shelter and hide, the non-poisonous as well as poisonous or medicinal plants in the area and the various ways one could hide traps to be forewarned if an enemy was close by.
The way she talked, he had no doubt that she had put her knowledge into practice many a time before. It lent her words credibility that made one sit straighter and listen closely.
Sakura stepped back, letting Naruto try the jutsu once more. Until the end, Obito was convinced he would make it, but, as he found out moments later, he had apparently used too little chakra and hadn't molded it properly, resulting in an embarrassing episode during which he flailed about, arms waving, as his eyebrows smoked from his failed fire jutsu.
With a snort, Sakura used a water jutsu to drench him, chuckling at his drowned cat look.
"Practice makes perfect," he couldn't help but quip, grin wide and innocent as Naruto glared at him. Hey, if he had been laughed at by his family when he had tried to learn his first fire jutsu, then of course he wasn't going to restrain himself when another poor soul burned his eyebrows off.
"C'mon, Naruto-kun, try again. Focus on your chakra control so the jutsu doesn't blow in your face, alright? It's not the best offensive jutsu, but it can still be useful and will allow you to start a fire even without matches, so if only for that, it's worth learning."
He noticed that most of the things she taught Naruto could be used as both offensive and defensive means of survival. It was a novel way to think, but indeed, one could use a jutsu in different ways, depending on the intent. Maybe he could try surprising Bakakashi the next time he saw him.
Lost in his thoughts, he tried to mold his own chakra surreptitiously, confused when a branch shot out of his arm.
"What the hell?!"
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Are you curious as to where I'm taking this? Don't worry, I've got it all planned out!
