Chapter 5

I don't own Naruto

Naruto's Baby Chapter 5

The uneasiness between Naruto and Sasuke seemed to have grown larger between them since Naruto questioned if he had a brother. Though they worked together as teammates during the second exams, especially with the edition of Kabuto of the group, there was still that drift. Naruto had also noticed the pain Sasuke seemed to be in physically, though he didn't say anything. Raising a baby, Naruto's vigilance had increased, even when he was acting a fool for appearances. It was easy to see the waves of pain and the moments when Sasuke would go completely stiff when he activated his sharingan.

Naruto just remained quiet. He didn't want to make the forming gap between them even wider and harder to bridge.

They defeated the grass ninja and made it to the tower with their scrolls, and now, it was just the three of them. When Iruka was the one who appeared from the scrolls via summoning jutsu, he was relieved, but a question popped into his head.

Iruka was explaining the scrolls, but Naruto asked, "why are you not with Ai? Is she at the daycare then?" He asked in concern.

Iruka stiffened when he asked the question in front of his teammates, "well uh…yeah, she in daycare." Iruka said, though the tone of his voice nearly gave him away. Naruto noticed and asked, "why are you acting funny?"

"I just didn't know that Sasuke and Sakura knew about her," he said, and Naruto squinted his eyes at that, crossing his arms, "Yeah, they know." Naruto had a bad feeling, but he thought it was probably because he was hungry.

Iruka didn't have the heart to tell him the truth just yet…

Now, they were among the teams who had passed and things were moving along slowly. Naruto could overhear Sasuke and Sakura talking, but his mind was elsewhere. He thought about his baby. He hoped she was okay, and that she didn't cry a lot while he was gone.

Then the idea of that man coming back came back to his consciousness.

He shook his head and tighten his fists because he had to forget about him. He had to try at least. He couldn't be distracted right now. There was going to be a primarily around of one on one combat soon.

The first match was between Sasuke and some guy named Yoroi, and Naruto cheered for his teammate like anyone should, and within his usual loud behavior. He was just glad to see that Sasuke and he would have the chance to fight, once he'd win his match!

Orochimaru had just learned something very interesting. He honestly thought it couldn't be any more perfect. He looked over Naruto's ninja info card, complimentary from Kabuto, and read the new information.

Though the sanin decided to pay Kakashi a visit, and he knew that he was sealing Sasuke's curse mark, or at least, making an attempt. Orochimaru knew Sasuke's true path was darkness, and that mark was his way of making him crave more of it.

When Kakashi had sealed the mark, and Sasuke had passed out, Orochimaru made his presence known. "My, how you've grown," Orochimaru spoke and sent shivers down Kakashi's spine. "To think that you've become strong enough to perform the curse-sealing jutsu."

"You…Orochimaru." Kakashi turned around to face the man.

"Long time no see, Kakashi," Orochimaru smiled sickly at him. "No offense Kakashi, but I didn't come to see you. My business is with that boy behind you."

"What do you want with Sasuke?"

Orochimaru laughed softly at the assuming question, "you've acquired something new. How I envy your good fortune. I don't believe you had it the last time we met, did you?"

Kakashi stiffened at the comments Orochimaru was making, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "The gift. The sharingan in your left eye. It's only fair that I should want it too. The Uchiha power."

"And Sasuke is one of your pawns?"

"Oh, not a pawn. He's a far more valuable piece than that. But as for the others, well you know how it is in a game of chess…pieces must be sacrificed." Orochimaru started to approach, and when he took a step too close, Kakashi got into position and started to use his Chidori. "Stop! Don't come any closer." He said as his jutsu was powering up. "I don't care if you're a sanin, one of the three legendary shinobi. Take one more step and one of us will die here."

Orochimaru had stopped, was mildly surprised, but began laughing, "poor Kakashi, your noble efforts are all in vain."

"What?"

"Do you really think that seal of yours will hold? You think you can keep him from what he truly desires? You know I'm right, a heart like his only hungers for one thing will not be denied no matter what obstacles you'll put in his path. He's an Avenger, isn't he?" Orochimaru said.

"You think you can take advantage of that?" Kakashi asked bitterly. "Not Sasuke."

"You can't stop it. At one point, he'll come to me." Orochimaru said. "And if not him. If I just happen to be wrong in my assumptions, I know there is another who can take his place." He started off with a smirk, "she may be young now, but soon she'll grow, I know it," Orochimaru said.

Kakashi's eye narrowed, "who? No one else has the sharingan."

"Don't be too sure about that Kakashi. Perhaps I'll take her now and raise her as my own," Orochimaru said and laughed, "after all, a twelve-year-old jinchuriki boy shouldn't be a parent after all."

Kakashi's eyes widen, knowing exactly now who he was referring to. On instinct, he charged. "YOU BASTARD!"

Orochimaru vanished and was nowhere in sight, for he was gone but his evil laughter echoed in the halls.

Kakashi sighed in relief when Orochimaru vanished, but he felt that shiver crawling down his spine. He looked very sick at the moment, though it was hidden well behind his mask. Not only did he know about Ai but he thought that Ai is an Uchiha. Kakashi could laugh because it sounded so ridiculous. There wasn't any-

Then it hit him.

Kakashi turned and saw Sasuke's unmoving form, "Itachi didn't...did he?" He picked up Sasuke and had him taken to the hospital, and had him admitted.

While he was at the hospital, Kakashi went to check on another patient. During the second exam, Ai had gotten really sick. One the third day of the exam, she had gotten a summer cold, as well as developed rashes around her lips, hands, and feet. Iruka took her to the doctor and saw that she was burning up, and it wasn't just a cold. Iruka had been with her the entire except when he was summoned after the exam. Ai was sleeping at the moment in an isolated room, and Iruka watched from the window. Ai laid on a bed with metal rails raised up just enough so she wouldn't roll off them, and was laying on her front side.

"How is she?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka turned to see the man and said, "she still has a fever, and the rashes won't go away for a bit. They said it the hand-and-foot-mouth virus. She caught it at daycare more than likely," Iruka said, sadden for the child who was sleeping.

Kakashi looked at her and said, "she'll be okay. She's a tough girl after all." He said and placed a hand on Iruka's shoulder, "go get some rest. She's not going anywhere and-"

"You have to go back to the exams…someone has to be there for Naruto," Iruka said, and Kakashi sighed, "you didn't tell him."

"I couldn't, he would be forfeit the exams and he deserves to have this chance to try," Iruka said.

"He would quit the exams just to make sure she was okay," Kakashi said. "I'll tell him after his round, he does need to know," Kakashi said and began to head back to the exams. Iruka watched over the sleeping infant like a hawk, knowing that he had to be there for her.

Though eventually, even hawks have to rest…

Iruka stepped away for a single minute to use the bathroom, and it was during this time that Kabuto had seen his opportunity. He walked in and looked down at the infant, sleeping so innocently. He smiled down at the child, "let's see is your papa's suspicions are true," he whispered. He raised her sleep of her onesie, and with a syringe, he poked the girl, drawing some blood.

As soon as she felt the pain, she woke up and started crying. Kabuto stored the blood away and vanished before Iruka came back and ran inside the room when he heard the baby crying. "Ai, what's wrong?" He asked even though he knew she couldn't answer him. He picked her up, rocking her when he noticed the bit of blood seeping from the syringe. His eyes widen, fearing the worse such as poison. A shinobi could easily try to kill her if they knew whose child she was. "NURSE! NURSE!"

"We've run her blood, and it's clean," Renshi assured Iruka. He sighed and placed a hand on his chest. "Phew, when I saw the blood, I assumed the worse."

"It was probably a nurse who drew some blood," Renshi said as she sat in her office and in front of her computer. She got up and went over to her file cabinet and after some searching, she pulled out Ai's file and began to write down some notes, "I'll mark her admission since no one seemed to have done so," she said and began writing a note. Iruka glanced down at the file and tilted his head when he saw something he didn't know.

"It says Ai's blood type is AB?" Iruka commented, and Renshi looked over, "yeah, is that a problem?"

"Well I thought she would have type B blood, like…you know, Naruto," Iruka said with a nervous laugh.

Renshi looked at the file and read over, "her last visit, we drew some blood and saw it was AB, though Naruto hadn't been notified of it just yet. Since we don't know the parental blood sample, her chances of having this blood type is unknown, but he would be either A or AB blood." The doctor said, and that reminded her of something, "Kakashi came to me a bit ago and asked for a DNA test for her, do you have any suspicion as to why he would request that?" She asked. Iruka was baffled by that since he didn't know.

"Maybe he has a lead on who…hurt Naruto," Iruka guessed.

"Perhaps. Though maybe he's concern with a potential kekkei genkai," Renshi pointed out. Iruka blinked and asked her to repeat the last part. "We can determine if a child is part of a line with a kekkei genkai before it's activated. It's called Ancestry DNA and its fairly new technology but if we can isolate certain genetic markers and have them on record within our system, we can potentially find Ai's paternal family," Renshi said.

Iruka was both amazed and upset that Kakashi would even look into this. He doubted that Naruto would know about this at all. He needed to question Kakashi about why he's doing this. Hadn't they all agreed to let Naruto decided to peruse this, or Ai when she was older?

What was Kakashi thinking?

Kabuto had come back with the vile of Ai's blood. "I have it right here," he said as he handed it to Orochimaru. The snake man smiled and looked at the blood, "perhaps this is all just a fool's chase, and she isn't anything but the brat of a kid," Kabuto commented.

Orochimaru looked at Kabuto and smirked, "were you wrong then? Do you doubt yourself?"

"I doubt that Naruto even knows," Kabuto said, "even if she isn't an Uchiha, having the offspring of a jinchuriki would be a valuable asset to us once she's trained."

"In any case, I'll task you with abducting Sasuke. It seems Naruto's influence on him during out match as really struck a chord with him. He fights as though he'll die carelessly."

"And you think Naruto would make him think otherwise? I suppose striking while they're at odds is a good time as any."

"Excellent. Oh and Kabuto," Orochimaru chimed, "make sure that you make an info card on the baby, if she is going to be a backup plan, I'll need to know everything about her, won't I?

The primary rounds had finished, and Naruto was just told by Kakashi in secret that Ai was in the hospital. Needless to say that Naruto bolted over faster than anyone could actually stop him. He made it there in record time, and when he went to the front desk, he demanded, "where's my baby's room!"

"Excuse you kid!" The nurse said. "Aren't you a little young to have a kid?"

"I WANT TO SEE MY DAUGHTER! HER NAME IS AI UZUMAKI!" Naruto screamed in her face, and she said, "I'll call security to remove you from the grounds!"

"Whatcha say?!" Naruto said angrily. Kakashi stopped him and said, "Naruto! This a hospital. Have some respect."

Naruto turned and saw Kakashi coming over, following behind him. "Kakashi-sensei, tell this bitch that I want to see my child right now!"

"Naruto," he said sternly and cleared his throat, "I'm sorry about my student, he's got a rude mouth on him," he apologized to the nurse. Dr. Renshi was walking toward the desk with Iruka with her, and Renshi said, "it's okay. He can pass."

As they walked, Iruka hit Naruto on the head, "you're supposed to be in your jutsu."

"And you're supposed to tell me things like this, and you didn't!" Naruto argued back, "you could have told me when you first saw me after the second exam."

Iruka looked guilty, "I know, but I wanted to give you a chance to continue on in the exam. So, did you pass?"

"Yeah, and I'll be in the third round next month," Naruto said with some uneasiness. How could he be happy when his child was sick?He couldn't.

When they reached Ai's room, Naruto smiled since she was sitting up. He rushed in and hugged his baby, "I missed you!" He said and hugged her, though Renshi was very concern. "Naruto wait! She's contagious! Be careful!"

"He doesn't get sick, so he's fine," Kakashi said with a laugh.

"Yeah but he's been outside for days, and she's not only contagious, but her immune system is weak at the moment!" Renshi said and had to step in, "at least wash your hands! They're so dirty!"

Iruka looked over to Kakashi and said, "I know you're doing a DNA test on Ai. Why?"

Kakashi looked over and said, "It's…complicated."

"Isn't everything complicated anymore?" Iruka asked.

"Not that," Kakashi pointed out, and Iruka looked over. In that hospital room, Naruto was holding his child, and the two Uzumakis were smiling happily, back in each other's presence. Iruka smiled at the reunion.

A mother's love was never complicated.

Later that night, Renshi had just gotten the DNA results back after testing Ai's saliva. She hadn't even opened them yet when she walked into her office and saw Ai's file missing from her desk. Before she could even turn around, she felt a cut on her neck, and blood squirted out. Her neck had been sliced, and the file from her hand was taken.

She died nearly instantly.

The shinobi responsible jumped out of the open window and in the dark of night, met with his master.

"Did you get the files?" Orochimaru asked.

"Here they are," Kabuto said and gave the folders to Orochimaru. The man opened and read through them with amusement. There was a record of her birth, including how she was born via c-section and suppressing seals for the Kyuubi, the date of birth, location, and everything else between then and now. Orochimaru closed that file and opened the next one, and his sadistic smile increased, and he began laughing.

"She has it! She has the sharingan in her genes! She is an Uchiha!" Orochimaru chimed. "And her mother has the chakra of the Kyuubi syncing in his charka, which means the odds of his offspring possessing stamina and strong chakra is high!" He said delightfully.

Kabuto looked rather surprised, "there are only two Uchiha's left…and one of them is a kid. So the other would have to be...Itachi's?"

"Itachi Uchiha…seems like he's been a rather bad man. He's created the ultimate body for me and doesn't even know it!"

"What about Sasuke?" Kabuto asked.

"I'll still have him, and when his body is no longer of use to me, I'll use her and create more sharingans!" Orochimaru said and laughed louder. He looked back down at the baby photo of the child, "you sweet girl, you've given me a bright future to look forward to."