The group had left the village a day ago to bring Uzu back once Tsunade finally came clean-sort of. She had bluntly told them that Uzu was at the valley of ends, then came up with a BS. story to explain why she knew that. Then told them that she was worried that the blond may have decided to defect from the village and they were to return her, alive and unharmed, so that she could ask her for herself. Sakura had been beside herself with worry since the day they had left. Sai and the others were also worried that she may had defected, and yet when the reached the valley of ends, they found her curled up beside a boulder, sound asleep.

Her clothes torn, and bloody. Her face had bruises and cuts, like her hands, arms, and legs. They were defensive wounds. But they were'nt life threatening. Kakashi studied the pale face under all the dirt and grim and came to the same conclusion that the others came too, she had been on a mission of sorts; and Tsunade had apparently thought they should'nt know what it was.

That was'nt the only thing that sent off warning bells in his mind. It was the fact that she was alone. If she had been on a mission, where was her team? Were they dead? Or had she really gone on this particular mission without the benifit of any back up? The words suicide mission came to mind, but Tsuande would'nt do that to her. She loved the girl too much, still the worry he suddenly felt, coupled with his protective nature made him forget about the hell he had been through the past few days as he gathered the blond's body in his arms and carried her bridal style all the way back to the village.

He wanted answers but knew that Uzu was in no condition to speak yet, since she was suffering from exhaustion, and chakra deprivation. So he and the others would have to settle for cornering Tsunade and getting their damn answers.


Uzu awoke in a hospital bed, and listened to the soft whispered tones of several different people speaking about her.

"What the hell was she doing out there alone Tsuande?" Kakashi hissed between clenched teeth. He wanted to know why the woman had sent his bluesy blond on a fucking suicide mission, and didn't even warn him ask him to go with her. He was starting to get pissed at the woman in front of him for not answering his questions.

"None of your busness, Hatake. Now all of you get out, I have to run some tests on her, and make sure that she's really alright." Tsuande growled at him, Yamoto, Sakura, and Sai. The troublesome bunch had'nt given her a moments peace since bringing Uzu back, and she had to check and make sure the girl was'nt so damaged that she could'nt carry through with her plans.

She had already sinced a drastic change in her body, indicating that she had concieved, now all Tsuande needed to do is make sure that she, and her body could handle it.

A low feral growl worked it's way past Kakashi's gritted teeth, Yamoto grabbed him as he started forward, and smiled apoligetically at the woman. Kakashi's temper sometimes got the better of him. "We'll leave Lady Tsunade." Yamoto said as he had Sai help him drag the snarling and cursing jounin out of the room, while Sakura hesitated.

"Go with them Sakura. I can do this by myself." Tsunade said as she pushed the pinkette gently towards the door. Sakura looked torn. She wanted to help, and at the same time she wanted to know what was going on.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." She said meekly as she left the room and closed the door. Tsunade sighed and griped,

"I thought they would never leave. Oh, your awake! Are you feeling alright?" She asked Uzu as she sat down on the edge of the bed and checked her pulse, blood pressure and some other things.

"Fine, Ba-chan. Did it take?" Uzu said tiredly, her eyes were burning. Tsunade gave her a slow smile. Uzu sighed in relief. Thank god for Kyuubi's constant need to meddle in affairs that didn't concern her.

"What now?" She asked as she tried to keep her eyes open.

"Now you get some rest while I tell your friends that you wont be going out on missions for a while. I was thinking that maybe you might need a caretaker of sorts." Tsunade said as she tucked the thin blanket up around her shoulders.

Uzu snorted, apparently finding the notion funny. "You mean a fucking baby sitter. No thanks, I can do what needs to be done on my own."

Tsunade snorted with amusment this time. "And kill yourself in the process. No, I want to know that your in good hands when you leave here." Tsunade said as she noticed that Uzu had dozed off and grinned. A baby, she was going to be a great granny. Jiraiya would just die of shame! She thought as she opened the door and nearly ran into Jiraiya, Gai, and Anko.

Well so much for them not finding out about Uzu being here. "What happened?" Anko asked with a worried look on her face. She looked like she was about to cry.

Tsuande sighed, and motioned for them to follow her to the waiting room where everyone else was waiting. As soon as she stepped into the room she was met with a combination of dirty, angry, worried, and sad looks. These people were acting like she had put their puppy in a blender, and drank it right in front of them.

"I have some good news, and some bad news." She said cheerfully ignoring the looks that everyone was giving her.

"Is it true, Tsuande? Did you send Uzu on a suicide mission?" Hinata asked through tears, as she wrung her hands. Tsuande sighed again. Damn brats were giving her a headache.

"Yes. And no. I asked Uzu to go a mission alone to gather info on Sasuke, I didn't ask anyone else to go with her because she would have a better chance at getting out alive if she was caught. A team would only provide distraction for her on the mission, and get her killed along with everyone else. Now enough of your questions. I have something to tell all of you." She said cheerfully as they gaped at her.

"First order of busness is I'm promoting Uzu to Jounin rank." She said happily, Lee and Sai clapped their hands while their jaws remained firmly planted on the floor. Hm, hard crowd.

"Second of all, the mission was a sucess, I have what Uzu was sent for." That got some suprised looks from the group.

"And third, Uzu is in the family way. She didn't tell me before I sent her on the mission so I'm assuming that she didn't know." Did everyone's hair just turn white and fall out? She wondered as the group started freaking out in their own way.

"And the last order of busness, I'm appointing a live in body guard to stay with Uzu and make sure that nothing happens to her or the baby. I have it on good authority that Sauske will be coming to kill her for what she did during her mission. And I have decided that Kakashi, will be the guard." Tsuande said as Kakashi choked on his own tongue. Was the woman insane? Did she not have a decent bone in her body? Oh, she is asking for it! Kakashi thought as he narrowed his eye at her.

"Wait, Tsuande-sama! How far along is Uzu?" Sakura asked in a panic. She was worried that if Uzu had been expecting when she had used the death jutsu that it would kill the baby.

"About four weeks." Tsuande said absent mindedly. She would have Uzu ask Kyuubi to speed up the progress by four weeks. It would make the demon happy.

"Where is the father?" Jiraiya nearly yelled at her.

"He's dead. He died two weeks ago. Uzu had'nt told anyone that she was dating anyone, but she loved him dearly." Tsuande said as she let her eyes fill with tears and had trouble keeping astrait face when everyone freaked out even more.

Gods, they were all a bunch of guliable fools. No wonder Uzu had managed to get away with so much.