This mission was below him. He decided for the fourth time in as many minutes. He understood why he was on it. He still had another four or so years left on his probation period. To Konoha and the Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke was still considered a possible risk to Konoha, despite Itachi's Mangekyō breaking him free of Madara's genjutsu. Since he untrustworthy, he was given hazardous but usually useless missions like this one. Rumor's had been around for three years now of a Shinobi protector of Wave. Given the fact that Wave was once the homelands of Konoha's ally Uzushiogakure no Sato it had become more and more interesting to the council. When a Konoha shinobi had been saved by this Ninja of Wave they had sent him, given his knowledge of the area and the fact most ninja still could care less if he lived or died. He was to find, question, and then give an estimate on the treat the ninja posed. Still, for the now immortal Uchiha, the mission to find this savior ninja of wave was below him. Five for five now. He paused, giving his respects to the man who gave him his life back, who saved the country he was heading to, by way of the Bridge in his name.
Naruto. It had been five years since the blonde had disappeared from Konoha, since the world had last heard of it's Jinchuriki Hero. Sasuke often wondered where his friend was, if he was alright. The end of the war brought him both fame but at the same time newer enemies, people who assumed Naruto was the second coming of the Rikudo Sennin, or on the flip side, another Uchiha Madara. Konoha often was the recipient of both good will and ill alike from Naruto's banishment. Cleared his head as he almost ran into a ox cart from the lack of attention he was paying. Slipping off to the side of the bridge he paused as a large caravan moved past. The bridge was certainly bustling since last he saw it. All due to the safety the Shinobi of Nami was providing.
It was then he saw her. He had almost called out, mistaking her for someone else.
Standing on the lower railing, watching fish jump from the water below. Her long pink hair at once reminded him of his teammate, but from the younger days. The small stature of the girl was mostly due to age, but something else. Something all too familiar. Her carefree smile was unmatched by the other kids he noticed, very bright indeed. Dust was kicked up into his eyes from the last cart and he turned away, rubbing them free of the grit. Immortal eyes or not, he was very particular on maintaining them.
"The cart's have passed Emi-chan, come on." Lowering his hands he saw the pink haired girl turned and smiled so bright it reminded him of his banished teammate. The similarities were driving him insane.
"Hai Papa!" Papa? But that voice. That utterly feminine voice. The slender hand that took the child's was attached to a very beautiful young woman who glanced only a moment in his direction before starting to walk towards the island Sasuke was also walking towards.
Both he and the woman paused.
"S-Sasuke." Blue eyes, trembling with fear. Blonde hair, whipping in the wind and sudden turn. Whisker marks, growing sharper from the color draining from her face. Her arms wrapped around the young girl pulling her close. Two sets of blue eyes peered up at him, one framed by sun kissed hair, the other by rosette locks.
"N... Naruto." The Uchiha stuttered out. Before him, was Naruto, in his Orioke no Jutsu, with a miniature Sakura. A miniature Sakura with blue eyes.
His and Her Daughter: Arc One: The Shinobi of Wave.
Chapter Two: Five years Later.
By
Hibiki
All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Sasuke wasn't certain how he arrived in this rather homely house, sipping tea and watching his ex teammate as 'she' gathered her thoughts. But whatever the reason, he had too many questions to hold silent much longer.
"This is my daughter, Emi." Naruto finally said, and Sasuke's focus turned completely to the the blonde. "E (恵) as in blessing. Emi (恵美). My beautiful blessing." The woman before him remarked softly, her hand gently stroking the sleeping child's long hair as she laid her head in her mother's lap. Naruto sighed. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions. I'll try and answer them as best I can, but I only ask if it's too painful for me to answer, please respect that Sasuke." Not teme. Sasuke. The tone of her voice made it to plainly clear that this wasn't a happy reunion.
"How?" A glimmer of the old Naruto popped up.
"Well, when a man and a woman want a baby the man sticks his-" Sasuke's raised hand and pained expression cut her off, causing her to laugh. Not quite a male laugh but not a feminine giggle. Sasuke's eyebrow raised.
"You know what I mean. How is it you have her, not the mother?" Naruto's free hand took the weight of her head as she watched the wind push the chime resting on the porch.
"That night, when Konoha and the world was freed. I made a choice. A choice that gave me my beautiful daughter, but took away my life in Konoha. My dream of Hokage." Blue eyes became fathomless oceans, obviously remembering that time. Sasuke remembered it as well. The whole of Konoha had been shocked at Naruto's banishment. No explanation, no farewell. Only one day he was there, the next, gone. It had hurt them all, wondering why none of them had deserved a farewell from their friend. The Hokage had mentioned he had not the time to even write a farewell, merely asking her to tell them goodbye for him.
For the next year Konoha's elders and Hokage had been on edge, until a messenger toad had arrived for the Hokage. Only then, did life return to some semblance of normality, only without the warmth of their friend's person. Naruto tuned back in and Sasuke pulled himself from those thoughts as well.
"The fox changed me almost completely when I was given the... choice. Little did I know even though I could change back, a part of me didn't. Until I woke up one day, like this and unable to return to normal. I went to Baa-chan hoping she could figure out something. What she found astonished us. I, a guy, was pregnant. My lover's egg was transferred to me during that moment and the Kyuubi made it happen. We tried to cover it up but someone found out and brought it before the council. They stripped me down, forced me to show them everything. Cursed me, spat at me. Condemned me for my choice. Demanded my death or the death of my baby. Talked about chaining me to Konoha like a dog after the abortion. I refused. I was given another choice. Kill her, or leave. I was not going to throw away my treasure, not for any dream they could take away from me at any moment."
"I see." He digested that for a moment. "Did it hurt like they always say it does?" Naruto's smile pinched a little.
"You have NO idea. The whole last trimester they never talk about the kid doing acrobatics and martial arts on your organs. I knew of the kicking and a little wiggle but this little priss kept shifting and punching my bladder... made me feel like someone was trying to make me pee for weeks straight. But that was nothing when it came to the labor. I'll never badmouth a woman again, unless she deserves it. I know I had it pretty rough, but even with the blood loss and the seal weakening, Emi was born perfectly fine and the Kyuubi is still in here." She patted her stomach. "Well in the original." This was a Kage Bushin? He hadn't been able to tell! The Bushin stuck her tongue at him before turning away again. "The Kyuubi was hoping the pain was going to distract me from holding the seal so it forced a defect in my womb, but I refused to give in. I almost died. It was my little Emi who brought me back, crying out for me." The pink hair of Naruto's daughter caught his attention again.
"Does she know? Does Sakura know? That she has a daughter?" The smile failed completely.
"I suppose it wouldn't be fair to say it's too painful to mention, so allow me to simply say this. Sakura is NOT to know. She..." Her eyes grew cold, wild even, for a moment he was certain he saw red pooling in them. Sasuke was calm on the outside but inside his blood chilled instantly at the sight. "She tossed us away. Like TRASH." Naruto hissed. Emi shifted and whimpered and the calm composed mother returned. "She... She doesn't deserve to know her daughter. After all, to Sakura." Those same haunted eyes he remembered from when the last he saw Naruto, peered to the ceiling before shifting to him. "...A child of a freak, always will be a freak."
Sasuke's hand slipped nervelessly from his tea.
"Who cares about that freak? He's so twisted he'd try anything to get your attention. That's all this IS! He hasn't changed since we were KIDS!" Her eyes were hidden by her hair as Sakura screamed out at the assembled members of her graduating class and Gai's team. Everyone's already stunned faces couldn't believe the words coming from Naruto's teammate. Tsunade's frigid look was only matched by Iruka's as they watched her shaking shoulders.
'Naruto...' Sasuke thought, racing to try and understand everything he had just been told.
"Would you like to stay for dinner? I'm sure Emi-chan would love to spend time with the uncle I've been telling her about." Sasuke merely nodded. An odd feeling of family filled him at the thought of being an uncle.
"Un."
"Sup' Teme." Was the first thing out of the decidedly male Naruto's mouth as he walked into the room were Sasuke was drawing with his niece. It was like nothing had changed since the five years that had passed since they had last seen each other. Given the warm reception the little Uzumaki had given him he was more partial to talking with her than his dobe of a teammate.
"Hn." Sasuke responded then returned to talking with the little pinky. Naruto laughed, shaking his head. He headed into the kitchen were vast and enticing smells vented out from.
"Hey Naru. Do I need to send someone down to the store or do we have enough?" The Kage Bushin, Naru, shook her head.
"We're good. Set the table, it's just about done." Naruto gave a slight grunt but did as asked. Had he not known about the fact the two were one in the same, he could have been fooled by such a family scene. Brother and sister, given their looks. He eyed the small girl beside him a moment. All for her, he supposed.
"Dinner!"
"Come on, Sasuke Oji-san! Dinner Dinner!" The little girl has surprising strength as she pulled him up and towards the dining area. Given her parent's he shouldn't have been surprised.
The Male Uzumaki Naruto was much more like the one Sasuke had grown up with, all his brashness and gruffness that had brought the Uchiha back from insanity. But the harsh edge that he had before he left Konoha was gone. It was odd seeing Naruto the parent overlaid upon Naruto the Jinchuriki. As the two men sat upon the dock, after dinner, watching the moon reflect on the bay's calm waters Sasuke tried to come to grips with what he had learned. Accepting the sake glass he took a small sip to steady his nerves. Naruto merely held his up, examining it.
"You've changed." Sasuke finally mentioned, tossing a small pebble from the grit covered step into the water.
"I had a kid, Teme. I PHYSICALLY had a kid. What was I suppose to do, pop her out then go back to being my old self? I mean, not only did Sakura screw me over, literally, I had to accept that I wasn't a man for a year of my life. Accept that my baby girl was growing inside me, and that there was a chance I would never be a guy again. That's a lot to accept in just a few months. Add being kicked out of fire country, coming to Tazuna, Inari and Tsunami like I was, having to beg them for help. I can never repay them, or Nami for what they have given me. A home, despite how I returned, no fear or disgust for what I chose to keep. Only acceptance. Something I thought Konoha would give me. That's why I protect Nami. It protected me when I was weak. Besides, Nami was once Uzushiogakure, in a way I am here in my mother's homeland. It's fitting my daughter was born here. The first Uzumaki born in the motherland since it's falling. I may not be a Konoha Nin anymore, but I still will protect her. I am Uzumaki Naruto, Ninja of Nami, a ninja of Uzushiogakure, ally to Konohagakure." In the light of everything, Sasuke had given up on not being surprised, so it was almost humorous when it turned out that Naruto, the most surprising ninja in all the elemental countries, was the Shinobi of Wave he was sent to investigate.
"When did you get all sappy, eh Dobe."
"Ah stuff it Teme." The two glared a moment before Naruto's grin popped up, causing the smirk to appear on Sasuke, ending with the two men laughing long into the night, remembering good times.
Next Chapter: Konoha's Reaction
Here is chapter two. I'm not quite certain where I want to go with this, but once I stared writing it just didn't stop. Somewhere Sasuke was put in, I was going o use the crow for both this and Reality but now I had to up and change both of the damn stories due to Itachi. DAMN YOU ITACHI! *Chidori's Itachi.* But yeah. Anyway Sasuke was always going to be the one to find Naruto in my thoughts. I had to figure a way to explain both why he was sent on such a shit mission and why he was even working with Konoha. Thus the mysterious genjutsu trick was used. Oh well. Sharigans suck, stupid sayjin powered ninja basically. Oh well. Meet Emi (Originally Sakurako in plot summary/notes) Naruto's five year old daughter. At five I have time to mold her personality as I figure out how I am going further with this fiction. The hostility I gave Naruto due to Sakura's betrayal came out of nowhere, but for some reason I can picture it. It also opens doors that I hadn't thought about but now see as interesting plot points. Sakura isn't going to just waltz back into Naruto's life on a whim. I've made sure of that.
Oh and to one of my reviewers: 'Hope it's a boy, authors almost always make it a girl for some reason. ' Okay Seriously? The title of the story says it all. I just sorta gaped at that one.
Kinda short but everyone remember, I lost ALL my notes on every story I wrote. I have to go new directions unless I really had a firm grip on the story to begin with. With time my story's will lengthen up again.
As per Usual: Please read and Review, the more reviews the more into writing more of a story I am, as my Muse seems to run dry of inspiration otherwise.