Chapter 20

Okay, I'm sorry I had put this story on Hiatus for so long. I couldn't come up with a straight plot for this part of Ai's story. It's hard to try to come up with an idea and make it flow through, ya know? Another thing is that life happened and I slacked off from stories.

I do want to announce that I have a Tumblr for my fanfiction account. "Wolf of Writing" and that has things like my opinions on certain ships, some concept images for my OCs (including Ai) and if you ever want an update on what's going on with my life, go there. I also do "Q and A" on there as well so feel free to ask me a question or two.

Now, will this story be getting a regular upload schedule? No. Not unless I get majorly inspired to write. More than likely, I've deleted certain chapters and this one will be up in its place.

I just want to say this. So I'm not a fan of the Boruto series, but my LEAST favorite thing about it is the arc which Sarada looks for her dad and that "drama." Cho-Cho was really annoying in that arc, and everyone had to beat around the bush that shouldn't even be there. I mean…COME ON! However, I sorta took that plot and made it more…believable in this sense (at least I think).

With that out of the way, let's get to the story!

I don't own Naruto, just OCs

Naruto's Baby Chapter 20

The journey had taken a positive turn for the girl. From the small village to now just walking around. With the bit of money that she had taken from that man, she was able to go to the nearest hot spring and take a bath and even buy some new clothes from the gift shop along with some more food. She was wearing some black shorts and a teal-color shirt that had the hot spring logo on it. Not much, but she wasn't known for being a fashionista. Though now that she had been traveling for a few hours, she was finding herself really tired.

So, as she was just walking through another small village, she wondered if she should set up camp. She had brought her camping gear anyways. As a shinobi-in-training, she had equipment for things like this. It wasn't like she could always be a bed to sleep on.

Ai parted away from the path and headed into the forest. Hopefully, she could find some cover, though she doubted that she would need it. It seemed like no one was looking for her after all. The brunette began unpacking her bag, rolling out her sleeping bag and pulled out her flashlight. She didn't know how to start a campfire, and she would need some light. She laid down under some trees.

She was beginning to feel bad…maybe she shouldn't have left. Maybe they couldn't find her… Perhaps she had gone too far? She could imagine how mad her father would be at her for leaving. No! She can't go back! She wouldn't go back! Though she was still too young. Who would take care of her? She didn't know anyone outside of Konoha.

"I wonder what Dad's been doing…I wonder if he even knows I'm gone," Ai mumbled to herself. She had begun developing the habit of speaking to herself. Who else would she talk to? She slowly closed her eyes and sleep eventually came, but not before some noises kept her awake out of paranoia.

That night, Naruto had gotten from a mission that was last minute. As he hurried to try not to miss the rehearsal dinner, he headed to his apartment to pick up something. It was in his room and hidden away so no one could find it.

It was the adoption papers Hinata had signed to be Ai's legal mother. Tonight, they were going to announce that Hinata was officially Ai's legal mother.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He muttered to himself as he saw how late he was running. He made it to his apartment when he saw the door kicked in. "What the hell?" He pushed the door opened and went into guard mode. He pulled out a kunai really quick and pushed the rest of the door open, seeing no one inside. He walked in, "Ai! You in here?" He asked loudly, still on guard. When he sensed no one else was in the apartment, he began looking around for his daughter. He opened her bedroom and saw that her bed was messy, her clothing drawers in her dresser were messed up and with some clothes pulled out. He began looking all around the apartment for any other signs. He hoped that she had just taken a bag of clothes and stayed with Iruka…but he didn't remember telling her to go over to his place…or anywhere.

He just realized that he had left his child all alone!

Naruto took a deep breath. His child was not like him. She would have been smart enough to stay with someone or intelligent enough to know how to take care of herself. Yeah, he wouldn't freak out.

Then a parade of disturbing thoughts came to him. What if Ai was kidnapped? What if someone saw him as an enemy and wanted to use his baby as a hostage? What if they just wanted to kidnap her to use as a slave. What if she just happened to have an accident and die? What if she was dead?

Naruto couldn't handle it, and he rushed out of the apartment and began going to the places where Ai would be.

By the time Naruto had gotten to the Hyuuga Estate, everyone had been looking for the Uzumaki child. Hinata had asked her relatives to help and their friends, who had been informed of the girl's disappearance, had been searching high and low for her.

Naruto even went into his sage mode to try to sense her chakra out, but he couldn't sense her.

Dawn was soon upon them, and Kakashi had called for a search mission for the girl. However, he only sent out Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Sakura. They were under the impression that Ai had been kidnapped by someone. For all they knew, Ai was a happy child who had no reason to run away from Konoha.

And Naruto was one concerned-as-hell parent.

Ai woke up as well rested as one could be. She stood up and looked up, seeing how cloudy it was getting. She knew that it was going to start raining soon. She got up and began packing everything away, but before she knew it, she could feel raindrops hitting her. She put her bag on her back and started climbing up the side of the hill. Ai only turned to look over her shoulder for a moment to see if anything was behind her before she resumed her climb.

She found a cave and climbed inside, and soon it became a downpour. She sighed. Now she would be bored. Ai sneezed and wiped her nose with her wrist, "did I caught a cold already?" She asked herself. Yes, she was talking to herself. She did that a little too often anymore, especially while alone. She couldn't stand silence.

Ai sat down, leaning against the stone wall of the cave and stared at the wall in front of her. She remained at the mouth of the cave's entrance and looked over, watching the rainfall. She could see the tops of trees and the road that she had diverted from to sleep in the forest.

In moments of silence, like the one she was experiencing now, many questions began to bubble in her mind. However, this would be the first time she would ever ask a particular subject. The man who she had stolen from didn't believe her before that her name was Uzumaki. "Look kid; you think for a second that you're going to give me some made-up story about how you're related to the Uzumaki Naruto than move along." It wasn't that strange of a comment, but it hurt her feelings to hear that. She mostly heard it from classmates who liked her dad and had crushes on him. Though Ai had been hiding these questions to herself, she was insecure about her appearance.

Ai reached for some hair and pulled some of the longer locks forward so that she could see them. Her dad's hair was golden like the sun. Her hair was turning brown and getting darker every year it seemed. She wanted blonde hair like her dad, and his blue eyes as well. "Why do I look so different from him? Aren't I supposed to look like my dad?" As these questions pondered, one popped into her head, and she was scared to ask it aloud. Her lip quivered as she dug into her bag, pulling out what looked like a photo book. It was small and held a few amount of pictures at a time. She flipped through and found a picture of herself with her papa. Naruto was a child, holding her as a baby. She didn't really think he was that young, but now that she knew better, many things were not adding up. "He's a kid when I'm a baby…so…is he my brother?" She asked herself. She began to pull nervously at her head. She was feeling uncomfortable even asking this to herself. Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Gah! If he's my papa then who's-" she asked before she spoke, "my mama." The words sounded so foreign to her. It was a question she never knew she needed to ask allowed. Okay, sure, she knew kids had moms, but she didn't. Maybe that is who she resembled? Her mama? Ai began flipping through the photobook and not a single woman who could resemble her mom would be in the thing. There was Tenten with her brown hair, but they didn't share eye shape. Not to mention if they were related, why wasn't she more involved in her life? Ai quickly scratched that idea out and began to ponder…and no one she knew fit the bill of who her mama could be.

She flipped back to the photo of her with Naruto. She began doing some math, using her fingers to help her count. "Papa is around…eighteen. I know that because I remember his birthday. And I'm seven," she said and began to count back. She paled at the realization, "so…he was eleven when he had me?" She asked. "No way! He has to be my brother or something! Parents can't be kids!"

Once that idea came to her, that Naruto was her brother, not her father, she then began to ponder…" who are my mom and dad then?" She flipped through the book and saw a picture of her and Iruka and Kakashi. The more she thought about it, the more times she remembered being around Iruka when she was young, before Naruto. He was old and could easily be her parent. What sold it was the hair and eye color. They seemed to match! "Iruka-sensei is my papa?!" She asked aloud. "He has to be!" She got up and put the book away in her bag. "He's my papa…so then…why does Naruto-nii make me call him Papa?" She asked herself. Ai looked out, "I'll go back and ask him! If he's my true papa, then he would know who my mama really is!" As the girl was trying to get her things together, she let out another sneeze. Ai began rubbing her nose with her wrist again until she was offered a tissue from someone. She took it, "thank you," the girl blew her nose and then realized something.

She wasn't alone.

"Have you seen this child?" Naruto went up to a traveler and showed him a photo of Ai. It was her on her first day at the academy. Naruto had made sure to take her picture. She looked happy in it. She had on the Uzumaki grin and saw was wearing a white button shirt with a navy skirt and black leggings that went down her to ankles and she had on pink sandals. The traveler looked at the photo and shook his head, "sorry, haven't seen her," he said and went on his way.

Naruto growled a bit and was getting frustrated, though he knew better than to get angry. Sakura went over and sighed, "I know you're concerned, but we can't keep stopping and asking people. Odds are, they haven't seen her."

"It doesn't hurt to ask. Any lead would be really helpful," Shikamaru stated. The truth was, they didn't have any leads on where Ai would be heading or who would even take her. They could be heading in a completely wrong direction for all they know. They only guide they had was to look at where the closest exit out of the village was closer to her by the time she left. Not even while searching for clues back at Naruto's old apartment did anything come up.

Naruto cleared his anger and said, "I just want to know why this is happening. Why now of all times and why her?" No one knew how to answer that. It could be for a million reasons. Hinata walked over and placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder, "we'll find her." She said and smiled, "besides, she's our child, she's tough."

Sakura looked taken back by that, "did you say our child? As in yours and Naruto's?"

Naruto smiled, "it was supposed to be a surprise, but since Hinata and I are getting married, we decided to make her Ai's mother legally. She needs a mom, ya know?"

Sakura sighed and smacked her forehead, "what if she found out about that and got upset?"

"Why would she be upset? She likes Hinata," Naruto asked.

"It's still a major change in her life. Remember how hard it was for her to adjust to you after you came back from training for two years?" Sakura reminded him. "Having a new parent is a lot for a kid."

"Like you would know Sakura," Naruto said with hints of attitude in his voice. "Excuse me?!" Sakura went over to him. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I mean you need to back off. Ai isn't your child. She's mine. You think you're so smart because you studied healing jutsu and everything else. Having a child is different and it makes you think differently. I constantly have to put my daughter's needs and wants over my own and it's very taxing," Naruto proclaimed. "The few times I was selfish, bad things happened to her, like now," he said. "So it would be helpful to not get snide remarks from someone who doesn't know how to raise a child."

"If you a good parent-" "Sakura stop!" Hinata spoke and confronted Sakura. "You'll regret what you say if you finish. Naruto's been trying for years to raise Ai by himself." Hinata said. She knew how hard it was, especially when she began seeing Naruto with Ai after his return and how happy they were, but only recently did she see his struggles as a single and young parent. "And despite the thousands of clones Naruto can make, he can't always be there for Ai. It's difficult to admit and to accept, but that's the truth."

Sakura lowered her head, "I don't think I can imagine someone raising a child by themselves. I'm sorry Naruto." She said.

Naruto nodded, "you never know. You might be in a similar situation one day…it's best not to judge people or their kids when you don't really know what is going on."

Shikamaru pointed, "come on, there's a village up ahead not too far from here. Ai might have gone by there." He said and began to lead the way.