Chapter 9

I don't own Naruto

Naruto's Baby Chapter 9

Iruka went rushing in as soon as he heard the horrible news. He opened the door and saw Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma in Kakashi's apartment. The man was on the bed, passed out and everyone was concerned. Iruka came in and closed the door behind him. "I just only just heard," Iruka started. "Was it really Itachi that did this?" He asked the group of jonin.

"Yeah, it was," Asuma said, grabbing a cigarette from his pack and put it in his mouth, "He and another rouge named Kisame were looking for Naruto and yet they couldn't find him." He said and lit it up with his lighter. He took a drag, "they should have easily found him in the village."

Iruka was beyond worried, for both Naruto and his child. As far as they knew, Itachi was Ai's father. He looked at the jonin in the room, and they knew they didn't know this. Not even the third hokage knew. Iruka began to shake with worry. He took a seat next to Kakashi and worried heavily about him as well. Kurenai went over and placed a hand on Iruka's shoulders, "he'll be okay Iruka. He just needs some rest." It wasn't completely true. Kakashi would need more than a simple nap.

He needed Tsunade.

When Sasuke came in, he began to ask why was Kakashi asleep and before any of them could answer, another shinobi came in, "is it true that Itachi has returned? And that he's come here to get Naruto?" Sasuke's eyes slowly widen as the information sank in.

Itachi is after Naruto. Itachi also attacked Naruto before, and that resulted in Ai's birth. Would he be after Naruto's child as well? Sasuke could only see Itachi attacking Naruto, and it made him sick with disgust!

Sasuke ran out of Kakashi's apartment and when to find Naruto.

"Stupid pervy sage…leaving me by myself," Naruto mumbled as he settled in the hotel room. He laid Ai on the bed and watched as she kicked about, becoming fussy. He sighed, "it's nap time huh?" He asked rhetorically to himself mostly, but he was talking to Ai on some level. The girl was almost a year old now, and she was developing fast. Naruto was trying to adjust to what her needs were now. He still bottle-fed her, but she often would hold it for herself now and it wasn't just formula anymore; she was drinking whole milk, which made Naruto try to be extra intuitive for it not to be spoiled.

Naruto dropped is two bags, his bookbag that had his ninja gear, some spare clothes and scrolls in it, and the baby bag that had Ai's things inside such as diapers, her clothes, some toys, and more. The blonde went over and picked up the girl, huffing lightly, "you're getting heavy," he commented and then sat down on the bed, trying to rock the girl to settle down, but Ai wouldn't easy up. In fact, his rocking was making her feel worse, and she began bawling.

Naruto groaned and laid the girl down, "shh, shh, it's okay Ai," he said and observed to see what was the matter. Was she hungry? No, she was fed on the way to the hotel because the pervy sage was bottle feeding her when they took the break at the shrine. Naruto remembered because he was playing with the bells with some clones. Was she just tired? Hopefully. Did she want her pacifier? Naruto went to the baby bag and began digging through. He found one and placed in his child's mouth. The girl's eyes open, revealing onyx orbs but she spat it out and began crying once more. Naruto's eyes widen, and he picked up the girl again, holding her close, "it's okay baby," he said and began rubbing her back softly. Her head rested on his shoulder, and as he continued to rub her back, Ai slowly stopped crying, and that was when she fell quiet and fell asleep.

Naruto sighed and laid the girl down slowly as to not wake her up. But when he did, she began to whimper once more, and Naruto wondered what was going on with her.

Then he smelt the problem…

"Oh…diaper change," Naruto said and picked her up and looked around. "No changing table…time to get creative."

After the mess of trying to change his child's diaper, Naruto went back to training while the girl slept peacefully on the second bed with her pink fleece blanket. Naruto was trying to focus on his chakra and had produced many clones around the room to help in with this, but nothing much else was happening. The boy also knew that he couldn't make a lot of noise for Ai's sake.

Then, there was a knock at the door.

Naruto disbanded his jutsu and groaned audibly, "that you pervy sage?" He said and remembered that he had the key and had locked the door. "What that woman dump you already?" He asked as he got up and heard another knock at the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Naruto went to the door and unlocked it before he opened it, pulling it open and looked up at the man who wasn't the pervy sage. Naruto froze in his spot and saw the sharingan eyes that stared down at him. They were all too familiar…at least, Naruto thought that were. The man…looked like…

A pulse of recollection radiated within Naruto's being. This was him. It had to be. The man who gave him his child. Naruto couldn't look away. It was like, he was locked in some sort of battle with him, and he was losing.

"I can't believe that the Kyuubi is in this little runt," the shark man, Kisame, came out from around the corner and peered down at the blonde from over Itachi's shoulder. 'How does he know about the Kyuubi?' Naruto asked himself.

"Let's take a walk," Itachi said. Naruto seemed to be under the man's control and walked out of the hotel room, eye contact never breaking.

"Hey, Itachi. It'll be a pain if this kid tries to make a run for it. Maybe I oughta chop off a leg," Kisame said as he grabbed his sword, ready to do the deed pleasurably. "just in case." Naruto reacted only a bit, gasping lightly and his eyes widen slightly.

"No need, we already have collateral," Itachi said, and his eyes moved to the hotel room. He broke eye contact with Naruto and walked inside, seeing the infant sleeping softly. Naruto's heart pounded hard in his chest. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Naruto charged in, but Kisame grabbed by his jacket and threw him against the wall.

Itachi picked up the infant softly, not disturbing her sleep and swaddled her in the blanket she was covered in. He walked out, "you've taken such a good care of her, despite your age," Itachi said and looked back at Naruto. "She seems well-fed…not mistreated either, this makes me happy," Itachi cooed in his monotone voice. Naruto's eyes widen with a look only traumatized people would understand. Kisame looked at his partner and said, "it's not like you to be all parental Itachi."

"Well, I am her father so I must be," Itachi said as he cradled the infant.

Naruto's worse fear was coming true. He began to breathe heavy and was seeing spots. "No…she's not…she's mine…she's all mine." Naruto said as panic rose within him. Itachi looked at Naruto and said, "she's my child…don't you remember our night together Naruto?" Itachi said and just so he couldn't bring up any more details, Naruto lowered his head. "Please…I'll go with you…just don't hurt her. Don't hurt my baby."

Itachi nodded, "make sure he doesn't get away," Itachi said to Kisame walked to Naruto and was about to draw his sword out to make sure Naruto couldn't run away.

Naruto was frozen, but when he looked over for a fraction of a second, he saw his child waking up in Itachi's arms. She began to whimper, and Naruto just moved instantly. It felt like slow motion, but Naruto had gone to get his child, but he was thrown back once more and felt his head whirl.

"It's been a while Sasuke," Itachi said, not turning his back to the younger Uchiha who had just arrived. Naruto watched as Sasuke grew angry and formed a Chidori in his arms. He began to charge as Itachi, who was still holding Ai. His eyes widen. "SASUKE DON'T!"

Sasuke was stopped by Itachi so easily that it seemed surreal. Itachi held Ai in his left arm and Sasuke's wrist in his right. The electricity died down. Sasuke looked at Ai, and his eyes went back to Itachi. All he could feel is hatred for them both. Itachi for what he has done, and Ai for being the result of what he had done to Naruto.

Sasuke's wrist was snapped, and he fell to the ground. Itachi looked down at the girl in his arms and saw her eyes. He was nearly surprised by how much she looked like her brother. He didn't look fazed, but he knew who her true father really was. It was when Jiraiya had made his presence known by protecting Naruto with a toad summoning that he looked away from the infant.

After some minor bickering between Naruto and Jiraiya, Kisame was too focused on Jiraiya and Naruto made a run for his child. Naruto wrapped his arms around his child, which Itachi let him have, and Naruto shielded her, though when Sasuke was getting beaten up by Itachi, Naruto couldn't look away. He wanted nothing more than to save Sasuke, but he couldn't. Sasuke began screaming, and Naruto winced painfully. Ai started to cry as well. The loud noises and movement around her were too much to remain quiet anymore.

Jiraiya soon activated a jutsu that made them all be in the belly of a mountain toad, Itachi, and Kisame escape through a jutsu Naruto had no idea about, and they were gone. Ai's cries had died down, and Naruto went over to help Sasuke but saw that he was unconscious. It was so devastating to see Sasuke like that. "Pervy sage, will Sasuke be okay?" Naruto asked.

"Physically he should be, but I'm not sure about his mind…he needs to go to the medical core at once," Jiraiya said before he was kicked in the face by Gai, who had made a dynamic entry...

As Itachi and Kisame made their escape, Kisame turned to his teammate, "you said back there that brat was yours. Is that true?" The stoic Uchiha remained quiet. There was a lot on Itachi's mind and he would need to recover from his overuse of his ninjutsu. "Yes." Itachi lied.

"Let him take her back to Konoha," Jiraiya said sharply to Naruto. The boy hung on to his child and said, "no! There is no in Konoha to watch over her. Gai-sensei just said Kakashi was out of commission and I don't trust Iruka at the moment! Not after her first kidnapping!" Naruto screamed. He found out that Iruka had handed his child to whom he thought was Sakura, and if he couldn't have seen that it wasn't Sakura, then how could he trust his child with her once more and not expect the same thing to happen again? "I'm her only guardian right now. She needs me, and I'll be damned to be separated from her again," Naruto said.

Gai had Sasuke on his back, and they were about to head off to look for Tsunade. Naruto wasn't going to risk anything happening to his child once more, especially since he almost lost her once more. Now that he knows that he's targeted, he wanted to become stronger and train, but he had a responsibility to his child, and she came first.

He would have to balance the two. Training and caring for his child.

As Naruto began his training for learning the Rasengan, Jiraiya had been watching over Ai once more. He noticed some things about the girl. Much like Naruto, her hair was also growing with her swirl to the right, which meant her chakra flow would also be going to the right. Her hair was short enough to tell easily. Ai was also starting to walk around, and Jiraiya was more than happy to help her up with the aid of his arm and she began taking tentative steps.

Since Naruto's training involved water balloons, Ai had many to play with. She wasn't strong enough to pop them, but she seemed to love the feeling of them in her hands. It was a good thing that Ai was easily entertained, because that way, Naruto wouldn't have to be distracted by her if she were fussy or crying.

Jiraiya also carried Ai to the town they stayed in, and the ladies he would have dinners with thought she was so adorable. Jiraiya jokingly referred to Ai as "his chick magnet." Apparently, a man who was the "fatherly" type was considered attractive. Though when Naruto came back to the hotel one night to see Jiraiya passed out in the futon with Ai covered in lipstick from strange women kissing her head, he stopped that and began taking Ai with him to train.

It was actually Ai who helped Naruto come up with the idea…well, sort of. She was rolling the balloon around with the innkeeper's cat, and the cat was bating it with its paw and Ai took it away, and it popped, making the infant begin crying.

As Naruto's training continued, Ai had started to mimic the hand gestures that Naruto had been doing to learn the Rasengan. She didn't have a ball, though, and she was only grabbing at air, but Jiraiya thought it was cute, and so did Naruto. "Aww, she wants to learn as well," Naruto chimed in. "That's my girl. She wants to be strong like her daddy!" He said and knelt, "can you say, papa?" Ai was quiet. "Dada?" She remained silent. "Da? Pa? Anything?"

Ai looked at Naruto with big eyes as she sat on the ground. "Nana!" Naruto felt the disdain in his face. He had to remember that she probably only heard his name and not "Dad" or anything like that. "No, not Nana, Daddy!" He said.

"Nana!" Ai clapped her hand and giggled happily.

"Daddy!"

"Nana!"

Naruto began to get frustrated. "I'm not Nana!"

"Mama!" Ai's annunciation shifted to the 'm' sound, and Naruto looked away, looking teary-eyed, "call me Nana…go back to that."