Alright, from now on, I'm not rushing chapter endings like that anymore. ("._.) The ramen thing made me feel as if I wrote a Naruto filler or something. I do have reasons for that though and the fact that Sasuke didn't apologize or leave a note.
Besides, what kind of note could Sasuke leave Naru-chan?
"Sorry that I've been taking this whole knocked-you-up thing negatively. Next time I'll take it better and promise to pick out the pastels myself.
I've decided within less than a day of trying to convince you of the illogical-ness of keeping our baby, that I love you and want to keep making Uchiha-Uzumaki babies with you! Love you, Naru-chan! Take care until I get home!
Love, Sasu-kun"
...So yea.
Oh, and the whole daughter thing, I'm just playing around with gender and names throughout the story, so be prepared for all kinds of Uchimaki/Uzucha babies! XD (I, of course, already know the name and gender of the next Uchiha-Uzumaki generation!)
Onward to the next chapter!! Oh, and thanks all for the many reviews! :D
PS- Lots of dialog this chapter. :3
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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Period.
Chapter 9: So-no-gramaru jutsu! Naruto's first exam!
Naruto was happy.
He was blatantly, utterly happy. Waking up to find his most favorite food in a form in he discovered he could actually eat was more than enough to put the blond in high spirits, not to mention that he had plenty to last him until he found out who brought him such a present.
'I betcha it was Sakura-chan,' Naruto guessed as he pulled on an orange shirt with its black Uzumaki spiral.
Beaming, Naruto quickly tied on his headband and jumped into some black pants, intent on finding his pink friend. Before he could make it to his door, though, there was a knock.
"Come in!" the ANBU shouted from his room, "It's open!"
The door creaked and from the other room came a reply, "You shouldn't randomly shout things like that unless you know who it is, Naruto. What if I had been a missing-nin?"
"Then, Sakura-chan," the blond replied, "I'd have to ask myself two things: One, what is a missing-nin doing in Konoha in the middle of the day, much less my house; and two, how am I an ANBU if I can't sense the difference between an intruder and you at my door?"
The medic-nin could think of no reply.
"So I see you found a way to still have ramen," Sakura remarked, glancing into the living room/dining room/kitchen where several boxes of specialty-brand prenatal ramen lay.
The demon holder tugged his sandals on, "Oh come on! I know you were the one who brought me all those. Even I didn't know there was a ramen for pregnant people!"
Sakura sweat dropped at Naruto's use of the word 'people' instead of 'women'.
"Don't you mean women?" she correctively asked.
"Huh?" Naruto scratched his head, "Oh, well, yea. You know what I mean. Now really, admit it and tell me where you got the ramen from! Please!"
Naruto flashed Sakura his huge puppy eyes.
"Naruto, stop that," the pink haired girl avoided his eyes, "I swear I wasn't the one who gave you that. Do I look like I could afford to splurge on 200 packs of rare ramen?"
"...Yes."
More puppy face.
"Well I didn't get it for you, so stop your puppy eyes," Sakura began to sound like Tsunade.
Naruto faked a sob, "Sakura-chan, don't be so mean about it! Pweze?"
The medic turned on her heel and strode towards the door, "Looks like I'm going to have to tell Tsunade that you won't be able to make your appointment ...and I was going to treat you to lunch afterwards, too."
"Lunch?!" Naruto snapped into happy mode again.
A moment after, he processed the rest of the sentence, "Wait, appointment? What appointment?"
"The one for your sonogram and checkup, of course," Sakura looked at the other shinobi, "You have to have them to make sure you and the baby are healthy."
"Oh," Naruto felt a twinge of awkwardness about getting a prenatal checkup, "Why didn't the old woman come herself then? Why'd she send you?"
Sakura practically shoved her friend out the door before answering, "I don't know ...because she's hokage and she can. Now let's go, Naruto. You're already late."
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"Why long time no see, Naruto," Tsunade greeted the pair as she turned on a nearby machine.
They entered into the private exam room that was sectioned off especially for the expectant ANBU's visit. Only Sakura, Naruto, and Tsunade were in that wing of Konoha's outpatient ward.
"What's up, Baa-chan? You getting too old to do things for yourself?" Naruto gestured to Sakura.
The hokage ignored him for a moment before replying, "For your information, I am a very busy woman. Sakura is here to observe a few things and take over for a few of your visits. Now, take off everything but your boxers."
"She is?" Naruto glanced at his friend.
Sakura had just taken Naruto's chart from Tsunade and was writing in it when the blond looked at her.
"Yea, I am. Is that okay with you?" she questioned, concerned.
As the blond began to undress, he shook his head yes. Sakura was one of the people Naruto trusted most. Of course he would not feel uncomfortable having her as a doctor.
"I was just wondering why," he said.
Tsunade told him earnestly, "I'm the hokage, Naruto. As much as I want to be here for you, that's not always possible."
"Oh," Naruto answered.
He wondered. Would he ever say those words to this child, too?
"Naruto, are you ready?" Tsunade asked.
"Yea, I am," he replied.
Tsunade told Naruto to sit on the exam table where she took Naruto's vitals. She checked his blood pressure, breathing, heart. All the usual things that she would do with a woman.
"Good. Everything checks out perfectly," the older woman nodded.
Sakura checked off and recorded the new vitals while noticing, "Compared from your last physical six months ago, you seem to be in even better shape."
The blond, who was already bored with the exam, sighed, "Well of course. I haven't been on any missions in forever! All I've been able to do is train and fight with whoever I can find! Good thing Kiba and Lee are both still training their academy rookies or else I'd have no one! When am I going to have another mission, Baa-chan?"
Tsunade sighed. The truth was that Naruto probably would not have another mission for several months.
"We'll take about that later," she replied, "Lay down now so we can get a view of that kid."
Naruto almost fell down.
"W-what? How are you gonna do that?" he inquired nervously.
Sakura handed the Godaime a bottle, which Tsunade shook vigorously.
"Well normally since it's so early on, I would put this," she held up a stick like object, "into the woman's vaginal opening."
Naruto paled. He only had one opening, and he would damned to let anyone get near his nether regions with that thing. Tsunade laughed.
"But with your case, I'm going to try using this," she said as she poured a small amount of lubricating liquid onto the ANBU's stomach.
"Ah!" Naruto yelped, "It's cold!"
"Oh calm down. You've endured much worse," the old woman scolded, "This method is different. It's used when the baby is bigger and easier to see. I run this," she showed Naruto another object, "over your abdomen. It allows us to send signals into your body which reflect off of surfaces and reveal a sketchy image. I'm going to try to see if I can find where the baby has embedded itself within your abdomen, because I'm sure it's going to need a way to connect to your physical body and not just your chakra channels alone."
"You mean like a parasite?" Naruto asked, looking shocked.
"Yes, in a way," Tsunade talked as she put away the liquid, "With a woman, the baby is connected through the umbilical cord to the placenta, where it can receive nutrients and oxygen from the mother's blood. In the most gruesome thinking, a baby is a parasite. It gains nutrients from the mother without giving any positive effect back. The baby would need to establish a way to get nutrients from you. It only makes sense that it would need to attach itself to some part of your body."
"I see," the blond answered, "That gave me a headache."
The hokage smiled, "Don't worry, just know that the baby would never have been created unless it could put itself somewhere inside you. Now hold still while I take a look."
Tsunade pulled on a pair of latex gloves and gently spread the cool clear liquid all across Naruto's abdomen, making a clear, even coating. Then she reached for a white, handle-like device that was connected to a large machine with a screen.
As the end of the device touched the blond's body, the screen lit up with activity. It appeared to Naruto, though, to look like simple lines and spaces.
After a moment, he began to feel anxious that something was wrong.
"Why isn't anything showing up??" the blond asked, sounding more panicked that he wanted to.
Tsunade's gaze continued to be directed at the screen, searching fruitlessly through the void space. Meanwhile, the blond looked to Sakura for an answer, but the kunoichi merely stood by the hokage, biting her lip.
"Wait! What was that?" Sakura pointed out on the monitor.
As Tsunade brought the sonogram device back to where Sakura had indicated, Naruto suddenly felt very uneasy. What if he could not see the baby?
The device returned to its previous spot, and the monitor displayed at odd sight. There was a rounded, solid-looking object on the side of Naruto's large intestine.
"I-is that it?" Naruto swallowed hard. There was nothing there for him to see! Where was the baby??
The Godaime pressed a few buttons and turned off the machine. She wiped off the liquid from Naruto's abdomen and the device before carefully putting it back with the machine.
"Yes and no," she answered, handing Naruto a small printout picture of the round object, "Sometimes, there are cases of kunoichis who have partners with very potent chakra. That chakra is so potent, that it surrounds the womb like a defense barrier, providing extra protection against blows or attempts to damage the baby. Apparently this is the situation with yourself and Sasuke."
The blond sat up and glanced down at the picture. It was a hard thing for him to see. All there was was a sphere on his large intestine. How could Naruto possibly envision a child coming from that? The sight disconnected the young ANBU from the situation, and for a brief moment, he understood what Sasuke saw the day he told Naruto to get rid of it. It did look like nothing more than something Naruto needed to have removed.
A tear dripped onto the small black and white picture, causing Naruto to snap back to the present.
"S-so this is it? This is all we'll see?" he asked.
"I'm not sure, Naruto. I hate to say this, but we'll just have to wait and watch," the hokage tried her best to answer gently.
"What about a heartbeat?" Sakura interjected, "Could Naruto be able to hear that?"
"Hmm," Tsunade thought for a moment, "It may be possible, but not now. Naruto's only about six weeks."
Sakura searched her notes, "Don't you mean six weeks by standards of a female pregnancy? Taking into account the fact that he doesn't have a last period to keep count from, wouldn't the day of his conception begin the count instead?"
The Godaime nodded, "You have a point. That would mean that Naruto is only four weeks, which is too early to be able to get any kind of heartbeat-"
"HELLO?! Can you two please stop speaking like (sniff) I'm not even here?? (sob)" Naruto growled and sobbed simultaneously.
"Oh, sorry, Naruto," Sakura apologized, "Sensei, are we done with Naruto now?"
The older woman reached into her medical bag, pulled out a filled syringe, and answered, "I'm afraid not. Naruto, do you mind if Sakura and I have a little chat with the beast that bore you this burden?"
The blond lay back down on the exam table and gave a small nod of approval, still pouting from feeling neglected.
"Okay then," Tsunade spoke, injecting whatever medicine it was that pulled Naruto into a deep sleep.
"Sakura," the old medic-nin began, "you might want to take a seat. This is the part of the exam that I wanted to show you how to do."
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"What the hell do you want, you damn old hag??" Naruto seemed to snarl at Tsunade.
The ANBU's body had, of course, been restrained before allowing the demon to emerge, so the hokage took the insult without a hitch.
"Kyuubi, answer my few questions and you'll be left in peace," Tsunade spoke curtly.
The fox demon continued to growl at the hokage, glaring at her with red eyes that shook Sakura's nerves. Kyuubi caught a glimpse of the pink-haired ninja's disturbed look. His growl slowly turned into a smirk as his eyes stared intensely towards the kunoichi.
"You must be Sakura," a rougher version of Naruto's voice spoke huskily, "Heh, the brat used to dream about you a lot. I had my own dreams, you know,...but those involved more sadistic methods."
SLAP!
"Sakura, what are you doing!? That's Naruto you're hitting!" the Godaime grabbed Sakura's hand before the kunoichi could lay another blow.
Sakura was fuming at the pure cockiness of the demon. What nerve he had to make such comments! To her, this being was not Naruto at all, so it was very easy for her to just give it to Kyuubi. Too bad Naruto's condition complicated things.
"Let's just get on with this, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura puffed.
Tsunade nodded and pulled out an empty needle and vial of clear liquid.
"This," she began, "is a special type of high strength tranquilizer that is used to subdue and induce sleep in very strong class ninja. Usually, this drug is kept in Fire Country in only small amounts, due to the effectiveness and lethal nature of its components. For Naruto, you will use this at any time that you need to communicate with the demon. However, there are two important rules that I am giving you to follow while possessing this drug, Sakura."
Sakura nodded and made a small note or two on a clipboard for reference.
"First, when you administer this to Naruto, due to his special circumstance, you must dilute the dosage to one-third part," the older medic-nin indicated the dose, "Second, you must have permission from me to
use this. You can't allow for Naruto to have too much exposure to such a high medication in his state."
"I understand," Sakura replied.
"Good. Now that that's taken care of, we can ask our questions."
The hokage put away the medicine, "Kyuubi?"
"Finally remembered I was here?" the possessed Naruto scratched his face.
The Godaime rolled her eyes, "Of course! How could I forget the great Kyuubi?"
Sakura nearly burst out laughing. Tsunade's sarcasm towards the fox demon, along with the look Kyuubi had on Naruto's face, was priceless.
"Alright, genius," Tsunade continued, "I need to know- since I don't honestly have a clue- how you had planned on getting out of Naruto once the your body was viable enough to survive."
The demon crossed his arms, "Simple. As I constructed an environment for myself, I created a lining of special chakra which surrounds the inside of the chakra womb. It was created to only expand so far, and then it would burn through the womb to create a passageway for me to escape."
"That would have killed Naruto," Sakura breathed sharply as a vision of a gutted Naruto invaded her mind.
Kyuubi grinned, "Exactly."
"But it would have also left you helpless," Tsunade reasoned, "What would you have done then? A human infant can't care for itself no matter how strong its genetic background is."
"That may be true, but I am obviously not human," Kyuubi retorted, "I could have overtaken the small human easily, and become a smaller version of myself, just as the brat would allow me to do with his body ((1))."
The hokage gave an exasperated sigh, "Well great. So not only do we need to worry about keeping Naruto and the baby healthy, but now we're going to have to figure out a way to remove the baby before the chakra burns a damn hole through his body!"
"And even worse," Sakura added, "there's no definite way for us to know just how mature the baby is. There is the possibility that it may mature faster than human children in female gestation, or it could possibly mature slower. How can we know without a sonogram?"
"If I could interrupt your 'completely stimulating'conversation for a moment," Kyuubi rolled Naruto's eyes, "The brat's already waking up."
"Oh," Sakura breathed. She glanced at Tsunade for a decision.
"Alright, Kyuubi," the Godaime nodded, "that's all for now."
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"So that's the situation?" Naruto asked solemnly.
The hokage nodded as the blond continued to redress.
"All we can do is watch over you as carefully as possible, and try to prepare for anything," Sakura told her friend.
Naruto's eyes shadowed over.
"Are you going to keep me under lock and key then?" he asked in an almost bitter tone.
Tsunade humphed, crossing her arms as she replied, "Now you know that's not what's going to happen."
The blond glanced upward.
The Godaime paused for a moment before continuing her answer, "You asked about work, right? Well, since you're completely useless to send on missions now, I'm just going to be forced to start your training sooner than expected."
"Training?" Naruto stared at the older woman.
"To become hokage, of course," Tsunade grinned.
((1)) As seen in Shippuuden.
I've got a poll up in my profile for ya'll! 'What minor pair would you like to see hinted more in Unlikely Bond?'Go vote and make an impact in the story! :3