Summary: How hard could it be to buy a pregnancy test in Konoha? Turned out, it was plenty hard when the person in question was the Hokage. Or when Sarada and ChouChou failed the most important infiltration mission of their lives.

Character: Uchiha Sarada, Akimichi ChouChou, OC (minor)

Rating: T

Word count: 1697

Author note: I figure it has to be hard trying to be secretive when you are the Hokage, especially concerning something like pregnancy.

"This is ridiculous!"

"It's a S-class mission of the utmost importance. Nothing about this is ridiculous."

Sarada rolled her eyes at her overdramatic friend. Akimichi ChouChou could have pursued an acting career if she wasn't so set on becoming a shinobi.

"I'm going to the pharmacy, not facing a deranged goddess who threw a temper tantrum because her children didn't listen to her!" She eyed the oversized hat and the sunglasses ChouChou was waving around like weapons. "Besides, wouldn't a henge work better than those…costumes?"

"It wouldn't be as much fun, though."

"Right, because "a S-class mission of the utmost importance" has to be fun."

ChouChou nodded sagely. "Of course."

"Don't you think you are…I don't know, a bit overboard? The sale lady probably sees dozens of women everyday coming in to buy pregnancy tests. I'm just another customer."

All of this, of course, could be avoided by a much better solution, which was to go to the hospital for a proper checkup. But Sarada wasn't entirely sure that her symptoms were only that of a stomach flu, or that she was pregnant. She figured that she would take a test first before booking an appointment. Simple and painless. Really, how hard could it be?

What she had not expected, was for ChouChou to insist that she went out in disguise, which comprised of a large hat and oversized clothes that looked like they hadn't been worn in years.

"Honestly, you can be so dense sometimes-"

"-hey!"

"-you are not just another customer!" ChouChou continued with a note of impatience, "You're the Hokage. The sale lady would recognize you the moment you step into her store!"

"So what?"

"So what? How about that the entire village will know you are pregnant within the hour? I know how you are with your privacy, Sarada. Besides, do you want Boruto to find out about this through gossip?"

Sarada opened her mouth to retort, then faltered. ChouChou did have a point there. The downside of being the most powerful figure in the village (not counting her parents or uncle, of course) and having her face carved into a giant slab of rock meant that she was rather recognizable. And once the sale lady put two and two together…

Well, she was sure that the news of Lady Hokage being pregnant would spread around Konoha (and possibly the entire continent) like wild fire. There were so many things that could go wrong from there. Like if she turned out to not be pregnant, then damage control would be a nightmare for her advisors. Or if Konoha's enemies got wind of it…that could be nasty, though she knew that that was unavoidable. Even the Hokage couldn't hide a belly the size of a beach ball or claim it was because of the extra food she had been sneaking into her office at night.

And if her husband heard about it before she got around to properly inform him…Sarada mentally winced. She couldn't decide which was worse, Boruto keeling over from shock, or him shouting it from the top of the Hokage mountain while dancing like an idiot.

"Ah, I see that you finally catch on," ChouChou snorted. "Took you long enough. Aren't Uchihas supposed to be, I don't know, smart and all that stuff?"

"Shut up, Akimichi!"

The hat and oversized clothes didn't seem to be so bad, after all.

The lady was eyeing them suspiciously. Which was to be expected, seeing as she and ChouChou had walked into her shop, looking like a pair of hooligans and totally failing at being inconspicuous.

Not that they would have ever achieved that in the first place, considering the way they were dressed.

"The goal is not to be invisible," ChouChou had insisted. "We just need her to not recognize you. Tell me, what sane person would think that their Hokage would be walking around, dressed like some…hippy cat lady?"

"Hippy cat lady?!"

Sometimes, Sarada wondered why she was ever friends with ChouChou in the first place. It had to be because her mom had dropped her on the head one too many times as a baby.

But she had to agree that there was a certain…brilliance in ChouChou's plan. No one spared her a second glance as she perused the aisle of the pharmacy, save for the sale lady whom she suspected had the police on speed dial.

It was refreshing, in a way, to be out on the street without people calling out to her, engaging her in conversation or otherwise, gazing at her in adoration. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the attention. Sarada did, to a certain degree, because it meant that she was doing a good job and people were happy. Better that the citizens of Konoha looked up to her, than for them to hate her.

Still, there were times when she couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit apprehensive. Sarada was an intensely private person by nature and having an entire village interested in whatever she did was rather overwhelming at times.

Konoha was her family, she knew, and family cared about one another, and shared things with each other. There were many things that she was willing to share with her village, but at least this time, this one time, she wanted to keep the news between her and Boruto first. Sarada wanted to be an expecting mother, relishing in the coming of her first born alongside her husband before being the Hokage.

ChouChou probably understood that, like she understood many thing else about Sarada without the Uchiha even voicing it, which was why she was doing this.

"Excuse me, do you need any help?"

The pair almost jumped at the sight of the sale lady standing a few feet away from them, a tight smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes. Some ninjas they were, Sarada thought dryly.

"Uhm…she's the one knocked up, not me," ChouChou said immediately.

"Chou!" Sarada hissed at her friend.

"Oh, you are looking for pregnancy test, then?" The lady's face relaxed slightly. It seemed there was something about (possibly) pregnant women that made it less likely for them to trash her shop. "Is this your first time?"

"Yes." Sarada decided it was best to get this over with as soon as possible. "I just want something simple and fast. I have my suspicions, but it's best to make sure before going to the hospital."

"Of course, of course," the lady nodded, a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Then, her brow furrowed suddenly as she peered at Sarada. "You know, you sound really familiar. Have we met before?"

ChouChou threw her a look that probably translated to, uh oh.

"A lot of people say that about my friend," the dark-skinned woman laughed nervously. "Apparently, she sounds like Lady Hokage."

The first thing she did when she got back to her office, Sarada decided, was to demote ChouChou back to Genin status. How the woman ever passed the Chuunin exam, let alone the Jounin one, with this kind of acting skill was beyond her.

The lady slapped her hands together, a triumphant look on her face. "That explains it, then! I keep thinking I have heard that voice somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where. Well, it's nice that you sound like Lady Hokage. She has such a lovely voice."

"I think she would love to hear that," ChouChou smirked. Sarada resisted the urge to send a Chidori her way.

She cleared her throat pointedly. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, so if you can…?"

"Oh, yes, yes! Well, let me see…something simple…" the lady muttered to herself as she searched through the shelve full of boxes. Sarada was a little baffled at how many brands there were. A pregnancy test was a pregnancy test, right? No matter what kind of advanced technology the manufacturers claimed to have used, the mechanism was pretty much the same. Life was already complicated enough without companies trying to confuse consumers.

But then again, with the way the economy was growing, it was only to be expected that there would be many different brands vying to sell the same things. Competition in the market was not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the claims on these boxes seemed a bit too outlandish to be acceptable. A pregnancy test, no matter how effective it was, could never guarantee that the result was 100% true.

Sarada frowned. She made a mental note to look into advertising regulation once this whole ordeal was over.

"Ah, here you go!" the lady pulled out a pink box with the image of a smiling woman printed on it. "This is the brand I usually recommend to my customers. Really easy to use. You just need to follow the direction on the box and that's it."

The Uchiha nodded. Simple was good. She didn't have a lot of time to spare, anyway, not with the pile of paperwork that never seemed to end waiting on her desk. She was already behind by agreeing to go on this…excursion.

The pair followed the sale lady to the cashier. Just as Sarada was reaching inside her pocket for her wallet, ChouChou put up her hands and stretched, accidentally knocking her hat to the ground.

"Do you want…" the sale lady trailed off, her eyes widening as she took a good, long look at Sarada. As for the Uchiha and her friend, both of them stood frozen to the spot, identical look of horror on their face as they took in their situation.

The lady looked back and forth between Sarada and the window, which happened to have an excellent view of the Hokage Mountain. Realization dawned on her face.

"Thank you for your help. Keep the change," Sarada said hurriedly, slapping some money on the counter and made a grab for the box before the both of them Shunshin-ed on the spot.

"Have you heard? Lady Hokage's pregnant!"

"Pregnant, you say?!"

"Yes! She came in my store to buy a test just now. Can you believe it?"

"I have to tell the entire village!"

End.