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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, otherwise the NejiTen would be canon.

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Enjoy.

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Chapter 16. Kumogakure

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They had left Konoha an hour after the exams were finished, the prisoner that had been captured and interrogated by Neji hadn't been released, so Toshio was even more explosive than the day before, his attitude of diplomatic representative was crumbling and he realized it. While she kept serene and according to her role of good wife thanked for the Hokage's hospitality, he had pulled her by the arm to get into the carriage that would transport them.

They would make a stop at Kumo, Toshio explained tersely that he had business to attend to there, and that being the capital and main village of the Lightning Country they would find a good medical team that could make a new evaluation of the state of her pregnancy.

They arrived late at night to a hotel, she had a headache and felt nauseous, so after dinner she ordered a tea while she took a shower and prepared to go to sleep. When she came out of the bathroom the tea was waiting for her, and Toshio was watching her in an indescribable way, she went to go to the table but he in a quick movement pushed her to trap her against the wall, he put his head in the hollow of her neck and remained motionless.

"Toshio-sama?" he took a deep breath.

"I don't want to obey Tsunade's instructions," his hand took her tightly by the waist, "but maybe tomorrow the doctors here will recommend the same," he started to lift up the pajama dress she was wearing.

"Toshio-sama," she tried to push him away, and he looked at her angrily, "can I drink my tea first?" she pointed to the table where it was, he snorted and nodded, undressing and sitting on the bed to wait for her. If everything went according to plan she would soon be able to get rid of him, but in the meantime she had to continue to endure and fulfill her role.

Neji and Tsunade were sitting across from her.

"Did you know he's a ninja?" Neji asked, she nodded.

"I had my suspicions, but he hasn't taken any exams nor have I seen any records about it. I think he received training outside of the academy."

"What exactly made you suspect that?"

"He knows how to move with stealth, his strength and," she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "his physical endurance."

Neji quickly related to her what they had discovered so far. Did Toshio know how to do kage bunshin? She had been stupid to have asked to be allowed to help with the exams, but they precisely knew she missed being a ninja, and had played that card in their favor. Now she felt guilty.

"What techniques exactly did you explain to them?" asked Tsunade.

"Nothing too advanced, it was all genin focused so it was strategies to improve stamina for taijutsu, how to properly grip their weapons and where to aim to hit."

"Did you teach them the twin rising dragons?" he knew all her techniques.

"No, just basic summoning techniques, I wasn't allowed to use the scrolls very often," she paused, "'it wasn't appropriate for my position to be performing jutsu'," she said imitating Toshio's tone, Neji smiled sideways.

"I am going to give you some supplements to ensure that you aren't at risk before the end of your first trimester, but they have already stopped considering you a threat because of your pregnancy. It's important to keep it that way in Lightning Village."

"In the Lightning Village?" she asked surprised, should she come back?

"Tenten, we are just beginning to make the plan. This... has taken us by surprise, it is necessary that you continue with this marriage a little more," she nodded and before they left she told them what she had discovered in the history books about that village.

She should be grateful that they had insisted so much on knowing the history of her new village because she had had to read quite a few books about it, and in her natural curiosity she had explored some papers that were also in that library. In all the books she had managed to see a common factor and that was that they didn't agree on where the fortune of the Yoshida family had come from or how they had managed to become such a powerful family.

The family had left the Kumo apparently because of differences in the way of running things, and had founded their own village with the money they had, in another book that was quite hidden she had read that their fortune began to be amassed by extorting powerful families. Currently they were a respected and important family in the Country of Lightning but in a document hidden in a book, she could also read that apparently the custom of extorting money from wealthy families hadn't disappeared. And everything seemed to indicate that the Raikage was turning a blind eye to the issue because they were donating large amounts of money to the country, especially to the ninja academy to ensure that they retained their military strength.

Tsunade and Neji nodded, if they could prove that, they could expropriate their fortune, and by not thinking about the economic factor the Raikage could act freely.

So her orders were to stay married without arousing suspicion, but additionally the Hokage had given her the mission to adjust to her new condition, they trusted her but she should know how to understand her symptoms and do her best to have them under control. Although her role wouldn't be fundamental in the fight that was coming, she should be able to defend herself and run away. They hoped not to take too long organizing everything, but if the plan was delayed and by the time her belly began to grow, she had to be sure not to lose her perception of space. Tsunade had explained to her the exercises and how to meditate to become more self-aware.

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The next day Toshio accompanied her to the exams, to say that she felt naked would be a pleonasm, because besides a hospital gown she had nothing else on while she was surrounded by a team of 5 doctors. The best in the country, her husband proudly explained.

They hooked her up to various machines, weighed her, measured her, took her blood, and performed countless other tests. The results were the same, they gave her an envelope with the data obtained, the approximate date of conception, which confirmed that she was approaching her 10th week. Although everything was in order, they prescribed some prenatal vitamins and rest until the first trimester was successfully completed. Yes, Toshio was disappointed.

"It will only be 3 weeks," he said taking her by the chin. She nodded pleased to be able to get him off her back for even that short time.

They walked back to the hotel stopping on the way at a restaurant for lunch, Toshio was a little calmer compared to the previous day, while they were in the place, they had been approached by several people to greet them. At one point he left the table and was quite a while away from the table talking quietly with some guys who were clearly dressed as renegade ninjas, she wanted to get up from the table, leaving her tasty dessert aside, to try to hear what they were talking about, but he could watch her from his position and from time to time he looked up at her.

6 days they were in that village, 5 of those days she was alone in the hotel room. She could tell that at the end of the hallway there was someone watching, so she took the opportunity to start the meditations, she would breathe in deeply, exhale slowly resting her hands on her abdomen, it was almost imperceptible but she could feel how her stomach was slightly bigger than before. She tested her balance, did some yoga stretches and tried to force her stamina by doing handstands. Those days she only saw Toshio in the evenings for dinner, which was in a restaurant next to the hotel, and where he was mostly absent talking to the same renegades as before.

At the Lightning village Toshio's father had embraced her warmly, congratulating her for helping to carry on the Yoshida legacy and announcing that they would have a gathering to celebrate the news. She took a shower and as she came out, she could see that the outfit for the celebration had been chosen, and besides matching her husband's suit, it was tight, very tight. Obviously they wanted them to be able to see her well, which seemed absurd to her as her pregnancy wasn't yet noticeable.

In the reunion a tinkling sound echoed through the room causing everyone to fall silent.

"The wonderful news of the continuation of our important lineage," spoke Toshio hugging her, "is very welcome, it is also well known that the first born of the Yoshida is always a boy," he raised the glass. "Let's celebrate today the upcoming arrival of our son, Takeshi."

Everyone toasted and applauded while she thought that he had never consulted her or even commented that he had already chosen the name for the child, and also tried to remember the family tree she had read. It was true, although they used to have only 1 child, maximum 2, the firstborn of each generation was always a boy, and they had the tradition of keeping the names with initial 'T'. Takeshi son of Toshio, Toshio son of Tetsu, Tetsu son of Tomohiro and so it could go on until the first generation. She rolled her eyes mentally and took a sip from her glass of orange juice.

The attendees at the gathering delighted in touching her abdomen as they congratulated her, couldn't she claim that touching someone of her position was inappropriate or disrespectful? Among the guests were again the renegade ninjas and other characters she hadn't seen before, at one point she caught up to hear the strangers whisper that they had lost one of the persons among those who traveled to Konoha, but she could hear no more as they noticed her presence and fell silent. She loved having the excuse of her rest, as after a few hours she was able to excuse herself in her tiredness and leave the place.

A couple of weeks later, Haruo had joined them for dinner, apparently they were congratulating him for the results of the exams, they had managed to promote a total of 5 of the participants, and now they wanted to create some 'special consultancies' to help those who were preparing to be promoted to jōnin. Before even trying to give an excuse, Toshio clarified to her that he had already talked to the doctors and as she was already in her second trimester they authorized it, so she smiled and accepted.

She had pretended to explain them some more advanced techniques but with movements that she knew were easy to predict for a well trained shinobi, and on the other hand she sabotaged the attempts to teach them more advanced invocations pretending that because of her pregnancy she couldn't control her chakra. With that they had apparently been satisfied, because in passing she had corroborated how harmless she was, and they had thanked her, she had only apologized falsely for not being able to help them more.

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15 weeks, just over three and a half months gestation, her belly had bulged a little, this had made her dresses no longer fit her and allowed her to wear looser, more comfortable clothes. The uncomfortable symptoms had disappeared, her appetite had opened up and her hair was starting to grow faster, sometimes getting in the way when she did her exercises because they hadn't let her cut it, she had to start having among her things a ribbon to tie it up or she was going to have problems.

Her senses were at their peak, she could hear the gossip circulating around the mansion and see Toshio getting more and more upset, they hadn't been able to talk to the Raikage again and the rumors about an imminent attack had them all alert.

It was noon when the explosion sounded, she knew it had started. They had taken their time but they were finally there, she inhaled deeply as she caressed her belly and then went out the window and began to run away from the place, without turning her eyes for anything, she left nothing important to her behind. She was reaching the place where she could hear the fight when she met her husband, she hoped she could soon say ex-husband, who started walking towards her with an annoyed look on his face.

She looked him up and down and took out a kunai from a scroll she was hiding in her suit, a scroll she had stolen from Haruo by taking advantage of an oversight.

"Don't be ridiculous, dear," he scolded her and stretched out his hand to ask her to give him the weapon, "you yourself taught us your tricks."

"You've always been a conceited jerk," only one person could really boast of knowing all her moves, and yet she had managed to hurt him on several occasions, she threw the kunai and made a deep cut on his cheek.

"Not my face!" Toshio put her hand to the wound to stop the bleeding. "Damn you! I should have hit you all the times you deserved it," he took a step forward and she pulled out 2 more kunais.

"Go away," Neji appeared in front of her, "Now!"

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

Hope you like it!

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Regards, Sally K.