Chapter 10: The Hokage, The Priestess, And The Demon

The Konoha shinobi were led away from the shrine into an underground escape tunnel built for situations just like this. It was hard to see how far it went since it was dimly lit, making Dansue's body lightly glow, but it was free from damage so it was likely there were no threats there waiting for them. The nursemaid from the shrine was in front leading the way, holding a lit lantern for light.

"This way, milady would be in the retreat."

"The what?" Akane asked.

"It's a safe place designed to be used in the event of attacks on the shrine, to shelter the current priestess from harm."

"Konoha has something similar for the civilians in case of an invasion." Naruto whispered to his daughter, who nodded slowly.

"The attack would have gotten us by surprise had it not been for Shion-sama." The nursemaid added. "We took her to safety before the threat could get her, and some sentries stayed behind to guard the shrine and try to ward them off."

"Then what were you doing there?" Akane asked.

"Checking to see if anyone survived and needed help." She answered. "By the way, I'm Momo Chigawa."

"Why do you smell like honey, wax, and flowers?" Akane asked. "I haven't seen or smelled any of that stuff in the area. Flowers maybe but not the other stuff."

"It must be from a candle I had to carry last time to get to the shrine from here." Momo answered.

"How is Shion doing?" Naruto asked.

"Her condition's stable, but we're keeping a steady eye on her for obvious reasons." Momo told him. "Fortunately she got away unharmed."

"That's a relief." Naruto said.

"Any idea what might have motivated an attack on this place?" Hanabi asked.

Momo shrugged. "I can't say for sure. But according to one of the guards who fought and survived, he thinks he heard one of the Iwa ninja mention something about making use of Shion-sama's power."

"That makes sense." Sakura stated. "If you knew ahead of time the outcome of a battle, you'd know how to best prepare for it and which ones to avoid altogether."

"Then why did no one do this before?" Noburo asked.

"It has happened in the past." Momo told them. "But the priestess is always heavily guarded by those willing to sacrifice their lives to keep her and her gift safe. Besides, I think most ninja are more interested in skills that are more effective on the battlefield than off it. And Shion-sama's gift isn't something she had consciously choose to yield when the moment strikes her so it has little application when actually on ninja jobs."

"Makes sense. It's better to know the future before you head off to battle in the first place rather than when you're actually there." Sakura noted.

"Anything about the Iwa nin we should know about?" Naruto asked.

Momo thought it over. "Sorry, nothing specific comes to mind. One of them did like to use explosives though, if that helps." A door came into sight in front of them. "Ah, we're here." She pulled out a key and opened it.

On the other side there was a large room with white walls and four black doors, two on each of the left and right walls. Standing in the room were several guards dressed just like Naruto, Sakura, and Lee remembered them, all holding spears but none acted like they were expecting a fight anytime soon. Probably because none of their enemies were supposed to know where this place was or that it even existed.

One of them seemed to recognize Naruto and came to greet him. "It's good you showed up. Shion-sama has been waiting for you. The stress of everything recently hasn't been good for her health so I hope you can soothe her."

"I'll give it my best." The blonde said with a nod.

The guard opened the last door on the left. "She's in here, waiting for you. Perhaps you should go in first alone."

"Actually, it might be best if we all went in." Naruto countered.

"If you insist. I ask all of you to restrain yourselves in her presence."

They walked in to see a single large room with a large bed against the center of the back wall. There was more stuff in there like a couch and a small fridge, and a door to another room on the right wall. A bearskin rug was on the floor in front of the bed. And there was was a small dresser with a tv on top on it, which was currently turned off.

The door across the room opened, revealing a restroom on the other side, and Shion was the one to come out. "Uh... I hate how often I have to go now. This better end soon." She mumbled irritably before she realized she had guests now. "Wait, who...? Naruto-kun? Is that you?"

"Yep. Told ya I'd be showing up soon." He answered. "Everything alright?"

"As fine as I can be under the circumstances." Shion said while rubbing her enormously swollen stomach, which was the first thing everyone noticed about her. "Kid wasn't hurt, but seems to be a little more restless now."

"Mine was the same way at about that point." Hinata commented while shifting Jiraiya in her arms.

Shion smiled and sat on her bed. "Relax, get comfortable. No reason to be so tense now."

"Naruto, just what is going on here?" Sakura asked above a whisper with a hint of surprise and unease.

"You might want to sit down first. It's a bit of a long story." He told the pink-haired medic.

Hinata sat on the couch with Akane and Hanabi next to her. Sakura and Lee took the remaining seats on the couch. Dansue leaned against the wall with Ichi sitting on the floor at her feet and Noburo in front of Sakura and Lee. Naruto stood and faced them all. "So far only Hinata, Akane-chan, Baa-chan, and Shizune-neechan know what I'm going to tell you all. Hanabi."

"Is this about our last mission here?" Sakura asked, finding it hard to believe this would actually happen.

"Basically yes." Naruto told her. "For those of you not aware, years ago I was assigned on a mission with Sakura-chan and Lee to guard Shion-chan from someone who wanted to use and kill her. We succeeded, and when the mission ended Shion-chan here asked if I would be willing to help her continue the priestess line for the next generation." He paused to see if anyone this was new to could figure that out, which they did.

"And I agreed to do it. The problem was I didn't know what she meant. How could I? The academy wouldn't let me attend that lecture, probably because they didn't want me to ever reproduce, and even though I was surrounded by perverted sensei's, none of them ever actually told me the facts of life. Not even Ero-sannin. I didn't know any of that until baa-chan and Shizune-neechan sat me down and explained it to me, after I started dating Hinata."

He sighed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other at this point. "So because I married Hinata here, I felt I couldn't uphold my promise to Shion-chan here. It may have gone against my nindo, but being unfaithful to Hinata was even worse to me. Luckily me and Shion-chan reached an agreement regarding our situation and she absolved me of my ignorant promise." Shion nodded.

"At first this worked out, but occasionally I kept having problems for the past few years. Usually nights of insomnia, that started infrequently but kept becoming more common. And with me being unable to sleep regularly, it was affecting my job and my health." Naruto continued. "Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me. You should remember that Sakura-chan."

"Yeah, I do. But you told me that was fixed earlier this year." She said.

"It was, but you were never told how." Naruto responded. "Inoichi-san took a look at me saying it might have been a mental thing instead of my body acting up. After a few sessions, he told me I felt guilty over refusing to keep my promise to Shion-chan. He said even though it was an ignorant promise, it was still a promise I made and I put a lot of value on those. He said my subconscious felt I was deliberately ignoring my own nindo and causing me grief over it, in the form of insomnia that would only get worse until I got closure on the subject. So to do so, I talked with Shion-chan earlier this year, and I think you can tell what we decided to do about it."

Hinata then stood up. "Before anyone says otherwise, I want you all to know that my husband came to me about this first and said he'd rather deal with some bad nights than hurt me like this. But to save his well-being, I had to consider this option. As much as I loved his faithfulness, I knew he needed to deal with this and this was the best way to do so."

"So you got her pregnant to ease your conscience about refusing to, but only after getting your wife's approval?" Dansue asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "That's pretty much it. And like Inoichi-san said, once I managed to fulfill my promise, my health and sleeping patterns normalized and I was back at the top of my game."

"The child's due to be born soon, and I wanted Naruto-kun here for it, since he won't get many opportunities to see her that often." Shion added.

"So the gender's confirmed?" Naruto asked.

Shion nodded. "Yes, I'm having a girl, the next priestess."

Naruto smiled. "Perfect."

Shion then looked at Hinata. "Can I see your child? I'd really like to see what a child of Naruto-kun's looks like and I need some practice for holding my own."

Sure." Hinata said while she moved to sit on Shion's side opposite Naruto and handed the priestess her son. "His name's Jiraiya."

"He's adorable. He looks just like his father, but with dark hair." Shion stated happily as the young boy gazed at her curiously. "How did you decide on his name?"

"Actually, he's named after one of my sensei's. But hopefully he won't become a pervert like his namesake." Naruto answered.

"I'm nodda pawvart, I'ma supa pawvart." Jiraiay said happily after hearing 'pervert'.

Naruto and Hinata looked embarrassed while Sakura looked mortified. Dansue and Hanabi tried to hide their chuckles while Lee, Noburo, and Ichi just looked surprised. Shion just smiled and laughed lightly, finding it funny that a kid would say that.

"Naruto, just what have you been teaching your son?" Sakura asked in a hostile way.

"Actually Sakura-san, it was my sister who taught him to say that." Hinata claimed with a defensive expression as she took Jiraiya back into her arms.

Hanabi laughed. "Yep, but it's funny to her him say that."

Naruto leaned in closer to his son. "How many times do I have to tell you don't say that?"

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention, and Momo entered. "Excuse me milady, but would you like something to eat?"

"Oh yeah it's lunchtime." Shion said. "Yes, I'll have a sandwich with some ramen if that can be done."

"Certainly." Momo answered.

"You have to deal with cravings for ramen too?" Hinata asked.

Shion nodded. "All the time. I honestly can't remember the last day I didn't get hungry for it."

"Same thing happened to me. I swear it's gotta be genetic." Hinata added. "And it's likely to happen again with Number 3." She rubbed her still mostly flat stomach with that last part.

"Would any of you ninja like some food or are you going to wait and take a look around like the other one?" Momo asked.

"Other one?" Dansue asked. "What other one? We're all here."

"Wait a minute." Naruto then looked around. "Where did Akane-chan go?"

Everyone looked to where she was supposed to be sitting only to find the spot vacant.

Akane was currently walking down the hall back towards the shrine, having told the guards in the shelter that she was going to take a look around for clues. So far she had yet to be followed. 'Wow, I'm actually surprised they didn't notice me get up and leave. I guess all the pranking and training made my stealth better than I thought.'

She got to the end of the hall and reemerged back into the temple. 'So Iwa decided to try something here? I wonder if any of them will try a second wave?'

She walked for a bit, but paused in her tracks, certain she had heard something else move. Slowly she turned her head and saw a large beetle on the ceiling behind her, but not any ordinary beetle. This one was the size of a rat and colored completely white, and it smelled like clay. Akane threw a kunai at it, and it exploded with the force of a paper bomb, knocking her off her feet.

"What the hell was that?" She groaned. Once the smoke cleared she saw several more of these beetles swarm into her view, some even coming from outside and the hole in the wal from the explosion. She groaned again. "This could be a problem."