Hello everyone and welcome to a new chapter of A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel! Today I have nothing much to say, except for the fact that I am looking for a good beta reader, and wished that someone would take that position so that I can rectify the mistakes that I did within this story! Thank you to Hanabi's Biggest Fan and True Glint! Your great reviews have shown where or what I did wrong, and I will try to improve my writings, though it might not be for a while, I guess. Well, enough of that! Without further ado, here's a new chapter of A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel!
CHAPTER 4: PREGNANCY AND NEW LIFE
-CHAPTER START-
Naruto woke up with a start, looked beside him and found out that his wife, and mate, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kurumi was asleep at his bedside while holding his hand. He bent down and kissed her head, while saying "Good morning, my love. I think I heard that some doctor said that you are pregnant, and I will be a father, and you a mother soon. Can't believe that that happens so fast. It seems that I must remember to use protection next time.*chuckles*"
She woke up, yawned cutely, and said "Believe it, Naruto-koi. I am pregnant, and if you want proof, you can see it for yourself. Try channelling the purified youki (AN: demon chakra, in case some readers didn't know) that we have into your palm, and place the palm on my abdomen."
Naruto then followed the advice, long since knowing that the purified chakra felt like life energy, and can be used to sense other lifeform around them, and channelled the purified youki into his palm, and places the palm on her abdomen. Immediately he felt something different within his wife, the feeling of another life being carried within his wife's womb, and he cried.
"Naru-koi, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" she said, while wiping the tears of Naruto's face.
"Don't get me wrong, Kurumi-koi. I didn't cry because of sadness, I cried because of my happiness, the knowledge that I will be a father, and you a mother, with the child, the baby you are carrying the proof of our love, and the result of our lovemaking. These are tears of joy, my love, and not of sadness."
Hearing such heartfelt words from her lover, she also cried tears of joy, and both of them sat comfortably in each other's embrace, preparing themselves to face the challenges to come with their family.
-BREAK-
The next day, the doctor taught Naruto on what to expect on being a father. The hormonal imbalance, the morning sickness, the mood swings, the potential sex drive increase (not that he hates that), and all the pain that she will endure makes him think back on having a child. But when he's back to her room, and seeing that would-be mother's shine on her face makes everything that she and him will encounter worth it.
"Kurumi-koi, the doctor has taught me what to expect during your pregnancy, and I'd have to say that it's going to be a huge hassle. But seeing how you looked just now, that shine on your face, thinking of our future son or daughter, makes it all worthwhile."
"I know. The nurse, Takano, has already taught me what to expect as well. It seems that we cannot travel well during the early stages of the pregnancy, because of the morning sickness that I will encounter, which means that we need to stay here for about a week or two until it passes. They also said that I will probably experience back pains and a lot of other pains during the early stages of pregnancy."
"All right. I guess the only thing we can do right now is to wait for the pains and all to come, then we will face it head on. Or should we leave now? Staying at one spot would be dangerous for us, seeing that we're bounty hunters as well."
"...I guess you're right, love. Well, let me pack my stuff first, and then we'll walk to another town. I guess that we'll have to change doctors often, eh?"
"Yeah. Sorry for putting this burden on you, my love."
"Yeah, I know. Now please hug me. I feel like I'm in need of a hug, or maybe more."
Naruto immediately hugged her tightly, not feeling like releasing her forever, while she also hugged him as well. And then, suddenly, Kurumi cried, for no apparent reason.
"Kurumi-koi, what happened to you? Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, you did not. But *sniff* I suddenly felt the need to cry...* sniff* I don't know what went to me. Please, don't let go, and I'll pack after this."
Naruto just nodded, and gave his shoulder for her to cry on. Which she gladly took, and 5 minutes later, she stopped crying, and started packing all her stuff, and preparing herself to leave. Meanwhile, Naruto went to meet Dr. Irie, and say some words of thanks to him.
"Dr. Irie, I thank you for all the advices that you gave me on how to handle her pregnancy. Here's the money for taking care of her and for the teachings that you gave us. "
"It's my pleasure Arashi-san. May we meet again on a later date, together with your child."
After thanking him, Naruto went to her room, and saw that she is already packed and ready to leave. They immediately went out of Hinamizawa, and entered the road, and started a new journey, one with a third person on the way. But even during the start of the journey, Naruto found out that she cannot go at their original speed, thus slowing down their journey greatly. Naruto was forced to break camp early every day, and every morning, the only thing that Naruto can help with her morning sickness is by letting her lie down and stops their journey, preventing her from feeling worse, while Naruto himself guards their rest point. Even so, he still didn't stop from taking missions, mostly bandit clearing missions and bounty hunting missions.
-BREAK-
"It's the fourth month already, love, and your baby bump is showing already. I still can't believe that in a couple of months I will be a father."
"WHAT?! ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!"
"NO! No! I will not call you fat! You are beautiful, never say otherwise, and I will never say so too. My love, you are beautiful. Never say otherwise. I will not let my wife undermine herself."
"*sniff* Really? Are you really saying that? *sniff* Please, hold me.."
Naruto then proceeds to hug her body, her crying face on his shoulder. Inwardly, Naruto sighed. These mood fluctuations, although he had been warned of it, was still very much a problem. She can turn from extremely happy, to extremely sad, to being a crybaby, to feeling touchy, all at the drop of a hat. Even the fluctuations of her chakra are really bad sometimes. Her mood fluctuates her chakra's rhythm, causing her to activate her chakra form all of a sudden, even when she's sleeping, then when she wakes up, she pummels him with a vicious taijutsu combo, before suddenly stopping, and hugged him while crying and saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" multiple times.
But still, Naruto held strong and firm, knowing that during these rough times, he will be the rock for Kurumi to hold on to, and the strong point of their lives. And looking at her happy face is more than enough for him to remove all the pain from taking care of his wife.
"Here, turn around. I'll give you a back rub."
"Thanks. I guess that these mood swings are really bothering you, right?"
Naruto expertly started rubbing her back, massaging her aching muscles with Kurumi moaning in pleasure. This will only get worse later on, Naruto thought. "And I will always be there for you, believe it."
Suddenly, she turned around and kissed him forcefully, having a tongue battle between them both. Naruto, shocked, by the sudden kiss, can only respond instinctively, while feeling her enlarging boobs on his chest. She then looked at him with one of the horniest look that her face has ever had, and whispered seductively to Naruto, "Love, take me, right now!" Naruto can't help but shiver from the sheer lust emanating from her mate. Once again, sighing mentally due to her weird mood swings, Naruto just surrendered, and prepared to bang his very hot, pregnant wife. Not that he hates it, mind you. He even likes the taste of her milk, and he just knows that their child will be having a tough competition for the tit to drink from.
-BREAK-
Still within the fourth month of her pregnancy, Kurumi suddenly felt very sad and lonely one day, when Naruto is off on another mission. Due to that, she decided to track him down and follow him to his mission, without his knowledge. After a while of following his mate mark, she found him, currently decimating an entire bandit camp, and crushing them under the power of his fists. She looked at him in awe, even though she had seen the same scene tens of times, even joined in some of his hunter-killer missions, each and every time he attacked a camp is still a sight for her to behold. "Naru-koi, your power... it's just too attracting... this baby will be a powerful child, as well." She whispered to herself.
Unknown to her, a couple of the bandits heard that, and immediately thought that she is his lover or something, and tried capturing her. Still enraptured by the sight of Naruto, Kurumi didn't realise that she was about to be captured until she was captured, her eyes widened due to her own idiocy. The bandits then brought her to their camp, where Naruto was still slaughtering the bandits.
"Hey you! Stop attacking us! Or we will kill your wife here and your baby as well!" the bandit shouted.
Upon hearing this, Naruto turned around, and saw a sight that he will never forget: Kurumi being restrained by bandits, with swords and other pointy items held towards her. Naruto's eyes blinked, and suddenly, a rage unlike no other bubbled from within him, and he was consumed by the desire to kill, kill KILL!
The bandits, thinking that they already have leverage towards Naruto, was instantly floored when an aura of golden flames shrouded Naruto, and that was the last thing they did, where Naruto appeared right in front of them, his hands through the heads of two of the bandits, with his chakra arms cutting the rest of the bandits into two pieces, from their head straight through their crotches. Naruto then immediately caught Kurumi, who fell to the ground, tears falling from her face.
"Kurumi-koi! Why did you leave the campsite?! You have endangered not just you, but our child as well!"
"I-i-I know! But I am so lonely! I suddenly felt very much alone, like you're not here, at all! I-*sniff*-i—i..." that was all that she managed to say, before she started sobbing and crying madly. Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyes, harder than steel initially, softened, and he immediately went forward to hug his love, currently on the ground.
"My love, it is not my intention to leave you alone, but our journey depends on me taking up the missions, not to mention that now you need to eat for two, thus requiring me to do more missions for our living. True that I can hunt and forage for us, but for certain things, it's better for us to have some money for us to last. I'm sorry if I got mad at you, but what you just did is wrong, and I hoped that you learned your lesson today."
Kurumi didn't say anything, and just cried on Naruto's shoulder, while Naruto hugged her. After she had cried herself to sleep, he carried her bridal style, still covered in blood, to their campsite, and placed her on their futon, with their bag acting as a makeshift pillow, while he himself creates clones to act as lookout for the camp. Naruto sighed, knowing that his wife's mood swings are even more insane nowadays, now that the fourth month is closing in. "We better start looking for a place to settle down fast, while her pregnancy is still going. Makes it easier to get medical support." Naruto thought.
-BREAK-
It's the fifth month, and Kurumi's mood swings got even worse. Though so does her sex drive, causing even Naruto, with his Astartes constitution, to feel a bit tired. Having sex for almost the whole day will do that to anyone, especially when during the act, she started crying due to his loving and her own feelings. It's like any emotion that she felt was magnified a hundred times! Irie already told him that this would happen but this seems like a bit too much. She even cried due to his back rub once, while saying that he is the most understanding mate ever and continued crying an entire river, before proceeding to ride his dick like no tomorrow. It's a very confusing experience for Naruto, who was busy scratching the back of his head using one of his chakra arms, while carrying his wife, who was sleeping, bridal style with his actual arms. "I swear, if I didn't love her so much, I would've dumped her somewhere!" but even so, Naruto's eyes kept going towards her abdomen, where the baby bump is even more prominent nowadays, and he can even felt the life within even stronger, which almost overwhelmed him at one point.
Then, she suddenly woke up and stretched in his arms, before placing her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. "Good morning Naru-koi." Her good morning was interrupted by a loud growl coming from her stomach. Blushing, she continued, "...And I'm hungry. Can we stop to eat?"
"Again? Our food supplies are almost out. That means we'll have to break camp early again and I'll have to hunt again. You sure eat a lot don't you nowadays?" Naruto joked, which was a wrong thing to say, from the killing intent emanating from her towards him. She then turned, ever so slowly to face Naruto.
"...Are you saying I'm fat?" she asked in a very low volume. By now, Naruto was sweating profusely, while still carrying her in his arms, not keen on just letting her go, even if she's extremely pissed at him right now.
"NO! As I said before, you are NOT fat! You are beautiful! That baby bump makes you look even more adorable!"
"Really?!" She asked, her face suddenly turning to a shining beacon of happiness from the sombre mood it looks like before.
"Yes! Of course! We'll break camp now, and I'll cook you some food! You're hungry right?" Naruto, with all his nearly nonexistent skill in misdirecting a conversation, tried to pull her thoughts away from thinking of mutilating him, not that she is capable of doing so, the back pains that she is currently experiencing has gotten worse, and she couldn't even walk right. And considering that they're always on the move, this makes her feel bad most of the time.
"Okay!" she chirped happily, not realising that he was probably saying that she eats a lot now.
Letting a sigh of relief out, Naruto then stopped and created clones to place the usual complement of seals around their camp, while the real Naruto prepped their tent, and started to take out their food supplies, which mainly consists of wild fruits and game. While he created another clone to prepare their food, Naruto talked with Kurumi about his plans.
"Kurumi-koi, I don't think that we can move around too much with you being this pregnant, so I think it is better for us to find a town for us to settle down for a bit. While I'm there, I can even learn some other things than just ways to kill people, and it is easier for us to get a doctor to check up on you once in a while."
"Hmm... I suppose that's a good idea. Any ideas on where should we stay?" from outside the tent, the smell of cooked food wafted into the tent, causing Kurumi's stomach to grumble even harder. "...Talk more after we eat." Nodding, Naruto went outside to eat the meal prepared by his clone, which was just a simple roasted deer thigh, which was quickly eaten by the two of them.
"So," Kurumi started, while wiping her mouth. "Where should we stay? Any plans?"
"Looking at the map, we can go towards Hot Springs Country, and stay at a town there, maybe learn a couple of things or two. From our current location (In Rice Country), we could reach the border of Hot Springs in a week with our current travelling speed. Then, I suggest we settle down at a town somewhere around or make our own house while minimising contact with everyone, as to not expose our identity. Is that fine?"
"Hmm... I think that's a great idea! All this travelling is making my back hurt even more. I'll probably need you to lift me again until we reached the town that you want to go, and let's hope that we won't encounter any enemies during our way there. For now, I just want to sleep, I'm tired."
"And I'll set up a perimeter to train as well."
Then, life continued as always, with the two lovers walking towards their destination, a town in Hot Springs Country called Karakura.
-BREAK-
After one week of uneventful travel, if you didn't count the sheer emotions running on Kurumi's face and body during their trip there, they managed to reach Karakura Town, a decent sized town, surrounded by huge plains, with a river at the north side of the town, providing food and irrigation for some of the farms within the town. The lovers immediately went to meet the doctor, a Dr. Kurosaki Isshin, one who has lived in the town for years, and asked for a check up for Kurumi's condition.
"So how is it?" Naruto, ever the loving and expectant father, immediately asked the doctor about his wife on her condition after he finishes doing all the necessary checks.
"Her pregnancy is going fine, there are no problems at all. In fact, she is the healthiest pregnant woman I have ever checked, and that's saying something. You said that you are travellers?"
"Yes. We travelled all over before we met at the border of Grass and Fire, and after that we started travelling together, and you can say that we fell in love during those times."
"*chuckles* Ah, young love. I still remember mine, and my wife, who became the centre of my universe, and who gave me three children, Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu. I loved them so much, but when their mother died, they took it harder than I ever did. Enough reminiscing for me. Now back to you, I'd say that you better stop your journeys, and is better off just staying at one spot, don't go around everywhere. It makes it hard for the baby. "
"True. And I AM planning on settling here for a while, at least until the baby is born, so I would like to ask if there are any jobs available around here that I can earn from."
"Hmm... you better ask my son, Ichigo. He's currently working at the smithy, and I think that he once said to me that his place needs a pair of strong hand to work with, since the previous smith is old and is no longer capable of holding the hammer."
"Hmm... A smith here sounds like a pretty decent job. I guess I'll ask him later."
-BREAK-
After meeting the doctor, he created two clones, one henge'd to go with him to buy supplies to build a small house outside of town, while the other went to the smithy's to ask for a job. After finding the local lumberjack, he bought himself a whole bunch of planks and logs, and sealed all of it within a scroll, which shocked the lumberjack, never having seen how ninjas used sealing scrolls to carry lots of bulk items at once. He also bought all the necessary supplies to build a house, namely nails, and some other stuff.
After that, he went to the site which he has chosen to build his house, a clearing on the plains, with the river close by, and started to build himself a simple, cosy cabin using his clones. After a couple minutes of building the house, while one clone tended to Kurumi's needs, he gained the memories of the clone that he sent to the smith's.
-FLASHBACK WITH CLONE'S MEMORY-
He found the smith's shop, a simple building with a wooden part up front and a wall of rocks that surrounds the furnace at the back, with the smokestack of the furnace spewing black smoke out into the nature. He went inside to the counter, and ringed a bell. While waiting for this 'Ichigo' guy, the son of the doctor to come out, he looked around the shop itself. There was nothing special within the shop, just some regular tools and everyday metalwork stuff, like hoes, kitchen knives and other stuff, all placed on shelves within the shop. But suddenly, a glint of metal caught the clone's eyes. On the back of the shop, a sword is mounted on a wall. The sword is huge, with its blade being shaped like a cleaver, the base of the blade almost as big as a grown man's torso but with no guard between the blade and the hilt. The hilt itself is only wrapped in cloth, which was wrapped around the blade, somehow not cutting it. The blacksmith, who came in suddenly, was about to ask his potential customer on what he wants before he realises that the customer was looking at the sword on the wall.
"That's not for sale."
"What?" said the clone, who turned around and looked at the one who talked to him. The man is 5'9" tall, with spiky orange hair and wearing grey soot covered shirt, and a pair of black jeans.
"That's not for sale. If you want anything other than that, I'll have no problems making them for you. So, how can I help you?"
"Are you Ichigo?"
"Yeah. Are you looking for me?"
"Kinda. You see..." and the clone then explained the situation about Naruto, her wife, and their need for a job while they're staying around town.
"Damn that dad of mine, always places me in weird situations. Hmm... we would like to have a strong man to do the heavy lifting and all. Not that I'm not capable, but I sure think more would be better."
"And if it's possible, I would like to learn some blacksmithing arts as well."
"You sure look like someone who can learn the arts. I'll call the old man for a while." And with that, he went back to the back of the shop. A couple of minutes later, a man came out. He is 5'3", with white beard, and an almost completely bald head with gray hair, and holding a walking stick for his back. The old man than stared at the clone intently for a while, before he speaks.
"You have a strong heart kid. I can see that from your eyes. You said that you will stay here until your wife gives birth? Then that would be half a year, give or take. I guess I'll let you work here then. My name is Kagerou, and you better remember that, young one. Now leave, and be here tomorrow at 6 am." The old man, now identified as Kagerou spoke, and he went to the back of the shop again, while Ichigo turned back towards the clone.
"Well, I guess that the old man let you work here. My name's Kurosaki Ichigo. You would've known that, having met my dad. I guess we'll be co-workers then. See you tomorrow. Oh, and a last hint. Better follow whatever the old man says. If he said that you should be here by 6 am, then you'd better be here by 6 am. He hates latecomers. See ya tomorrow then." He said before turning back and went to the back of the shop again.
Taking the hint, the clone left, before going into a hidden alley and promptly dispels himself.
-CLONE FLASHBACK ENDS-
Smiling, Naruto immediately created more clones to further speed up the construction of the house, and before long, the house, which is more like a cabin, was completed. It has just 2 rooms, the bedroom and the kitchen, nothing else, for they are not planning to have any visitors there. The floors are planks, and there are no toilets and baths, for any cleansing business, the river's close by, or for hot water, they can just heat the water up using some coals. Since they are used to living just by nature and everything they can put their hands on, it is considered a luxury to stay at one place for a long time. So, for them, this cabin is already a fine one. They are not planning to stay for long anyway. Until their child is born, and then, they'll leave the town, and destroy their house, making their travels untraceable.
Smiling, Naruto went to Kurumi, who was now lying down on their futon, placed just on the grass outside the newly built cabin. "Kurumi-koi, the cabin is finished. We can move in there now. And I guess we'll be staying at this town for a while. The people here look friendly."
Kurumi wakes up, and gave Naruto a kiss. "Alright Naru-koi. I guess we can do that." And so, both of them gets ready to live their life there for a while, with their incoming baby as well.
-BREAK-
It's the sixth month, and her abdominal area has grown considerably now. Naruto can even feel the child move, and he decided to not find out the gender of their child first, but already planned the names for the baby, with Minato, in memory of his father, for a boy, and Kushina, in memory of his mother, for a girl. Kurumi, with all her extreme hormone influenced emotions, cried when she first felt the baby kicking, with Naruto crying as well when he first felt the kick, with him kissing her stomach afterwards. Right then and there, Naruto made a vow with himself, witnessed by Kurumi, that no children of his will go through the childhood that he went through, but will also be trained to their utmost potential.
His work at the smith's is as fine as ever. He absorbed the old smith's teaching like a sponge in water, capable of forging regular farming tools and knives in just one month of learning. During this time as well, he created more of his kunai, though without the knowledge of the old man. But then again, he knows that the old man knows about that, but decided against doing anything. He didn't bother him anyway.
Within this month, Naruto didn't go out on any missions, and stayed within the town, doing menial labour and helping the townsfolk while helping Kurumi cope with her pregnancy. She can no longer go out much, her pregnancy's taking a huge toll on her mobility and her capability to do anything. During these times, Naruto acted as the perfect husband, helping her around their cabin, doing chores, getting supplies, and cooking, though most of his cooked foods are all travel recipes, and usually is just what they can get their hands on during their travels, but nonetheless delicious.
They have been living life within the town for a while now, and Naruto shows that he is a very loving and understanding husband, but sadly for them, peace didn't last long, and is on the way to its end...
-BREAK-
It's the eighth month of Kurumi's pregnancy, and everything is going smoothly for them. Kurumi's pregnancy is going well, and still is the healthiest pregnant woman Isshin has ever seen. Except for the usual symptoms of back pain, emotional unstability, and the mysterious disappearance of the smaller contractions, she is well and healthy. After finishing the checkups, he gave Kurumi some advice.
"You better tell your husband to help you a lot. It'll be harder for you to move now, and you'll be going to the toilet much more often than before. Also, you *pointing to Naruto* will probably need to stay up late to help her cope with her insomnia – the inability to sleep. Always be there for her, and you better help her with housework, because she's not going to be able to work, not with her condition like such."
"I understand, doctor. I'll take care of her well, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, getting giggles from Kurumi, and a belly laugh from Isshin.
"Well, you better be, kid. Now run along, I have more appointments to go through today. Being the only doctor in a town is tiring you know."
Outside the clinic, the couple are walking back towards their house, with Kurumi holding Naruto's hand, while one hand kept rubbing her even bigger stomach. "I still can't believe that a life is growing within me. Human pregnancies are... amazing. We can feel them grow within us, talk to them, feel them there, it's... It's... amazing."
"Yeah, I can see that too. I may not be able to feel them grow, but that means that I must care for you even more right now. And being a bijuu hanyou is awesome, eh? Even the doc says that your pregnancy is the healthiest he's ever seen, and he's seen a lot of them. Also, if I remember correctly, you are taught by Hashirama and Mito. Do they not teach you some medical jutsu?"
"Hashirama's medical jutsu was one of a kind. It came naturally to him, so much so that it is impossible for him to teach it to others, me included. The perks of inheriting father's body I guess. He couldn't teach me medicinal knowledge, since all of his knowledge is somewhat imprinted within his mind, except for herbs, so he taught me the Mystical Palms jutsu to heal smaller wounds. Before you ask, I didn't teach you the technique because I thought that the Larraman's Organ would take care of any wounds, big or small. And I guess that it's right."
Naruto may have learned a lot of offensive and defensive jutsu,but he knows nothing about medical jutsu or even medical knowledge, unless if you include the points on where to kill someone.
"But if so, it makes it harder for me to treat you during your labour! We are planning to have the birth at the house, and it's better to not rely completely on our hanyou bodies isn't it? And when our child is born, then we'll need to know some medical knowledge to help heal both you and our child! And-" his ranting was cut short by Kurumi's finger on his lips.
"Love, you would have no problems with that. Remember, we are hanyous, and our bodies are naturally tougher than most people. Not to mention that your bloodline will be inherited by your children without fail. When I was making it, I made it so that there will be a certain genetic anomaly present that allows our descendants to definitely inherit the bloodline, combined with any other bloodline that the other pair has, and will definitely inherit both bloodlines without fail. So, our child will definitely gain your bloodline, and with the healing capabilities of your bloodline, they will have no problem healing themselves from any injuries, lethal or not. So don't worry."
Listening to such an assurance from his wife, Naruto calmed down and stopped fretting about all the wounds and illness that they will encounter, which causes Kurumi to slowly remove her finger and kissed him slowly. "You really are a loving person. That is what I loved about you. Please don't lose that about you. I know that you're a good choice for a mate."
Naruto blushed hard. Public display of affection is still something strange for him, and this is no different. He then smiled, hugging his wife, and continued their walk to their house. Suddenly, when they are about to walk out of the town's border, they saw a bunch of people walking while a samurai riding a horse was in front of them, probably leading them. Naruto and Kurumi immediately went to the side of their path, avoiding them, and immediately hiding themselves within the bushes close to the road. From afar, Naruto, with his enhanced eyesight, can already saw what they are. The person on the horse was a samurai, complete with body armor, and a nodachi at his back. The small army led by him was actually a bunch of bandits from the looks of it, no body armour, lack of training, and other aspects of them that identifies themselves as bandits. As such, Naruto concludes that the samurai up front is a disgraced ronin from somewhere, and he's leading a small army of bandits, probably took over the leadership by killing the old leader.
Still hiding within the bushes, Naruto waited until the bandits have passed before going out. Thinking of what to do, Kurumi pulled him, forcing him to turn towards her.
"Naruto, we should wait first for the bandits' actions before we start doing anything it's not good to attack them early if we didn't know what they are doing here."
Silently Naruto nodded, agreeing with her assessment. He then continued walking with Naruto guiding his wife to their cabin, with Naruto promising to check on the town later. About a while later, after dropping Kurumi at their house while creating some clones to watch out for her, Naruto slipped outside to check the condition of the town. When he reached the town, he saw that all of the town's populace has been gathered in the middle of town. Using chakra to climb up a nearby house, Naruto listened to what the bandit's leader was speaking about.
"...A bounty hunter named Arashi, from my information, was here, and has settled down here. I want all of you tell me where his location is, or I'll kill you one by one until he shows up. If you all were to die, then it would be of no consequence to me, and may all of your deaths would weigh on his consequence."
"What do you want with him?! Arashi-san has been very helpful to all of us! You will not gain anything from us!"
"Heh. Hahaahha! So, you didn't know about him didn't you? All of you! You have been lied to! That man is a bounty hunter! An A-ranked bounty as well! He is extremely good! And has a total bounty of 350,000 yen by everyone!"
Then, a scream was heard from behind everyone. "SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!" Naruto turned around, and saw that the person was Ichigo, holding the huge cleaver blade that he saw at the shop, the wrappings around the blade removed. The blade, is extremely impressive, a black back with a clear silver cutting edge.
"Oh. So you want to challenge me?" the ronin asked.
"Yeah! Now die!" Ichigo then rushed directly towards the ronin, sword at his back, ready to swing it to cleave the ronin in half. But the ronin, who also rushed to met his charge head on, just sidestepped Ichigo's charge by the barest margin, before sending a vicious hook to Ichigo's temple, sending him flying and knocked out with the blade flying away, and fell, stabbing the ground. The ronin then took out his sword.
"Do you want to see what happens to those who tried to oppose me?! Any of you!? None?! Then he will be the first sacrifice to call Arashi!"
He was about to swing his sword to decapitate Ichigo, when suddenly, a breeze came in, and Ichigo's blade was suddenly blocking the ronin's nodachi. The ronin's eyes widened for a bit, before a hooded figure stood up from behind the blade, eyes glowing with rage.
"So... You want to call me? Well then, here I am!" shouted Naruto while holding Ichigo's blade. Inwardly, he was admiring the quality of the blade. The blade may be large, but with his strength, Naruto had no problems at all wielding the blade. And there's a weird feeling coming from the blade that he cannot pinpoint.
"Well, well, well. So this is the famed A-class bounty hunter that everyone is talking about eh? So will you die on my hands, before I kill everyone in this town?"
Naruto did not answer. Instead, he just lifted the sword above his head, and disappeared from everyone's sight, before reappearing right in front of the ronin, slicing the sword downwards. The ronin, shocked from the sheer speed that Naruto displayed, didn't have the time to do anything before he was sliced in half from his shoulder to his hips. Still marvelling the blade in his hands due to its sheer sharpness, he then proceeds to massacre the bandits that was busy surrounding the villagers causing Naruto to bathe in blood, with the villagers close to the bandits also showered with blood from the bandit's bodies. The rest of the bandits tried to flee after seeing their leader's death, but they quickly got cut down by Naruto who appeared within their midst like a phantom. In just two minutes, the entire army of bandits are already dead, with the ground bathed in the bandits' blood.
While still covered in blood and gore, Naruto went in front of the villagers, before saying to the villagers. "Everyone! People of Karakura town! As you all know, my name is Arashi! The thing that everyone didn't know about me is that as the ronin said, I am a bounty hunter! And a damn good one if what he says about me is true! Now you all have seen my true colours! The reason why I'm in this town is to let my wife rest while her pregnancy is going! As you can just see, having a pregnant wife while living on the run is not a good idea! I won't be here for long, only until she gave birth, and at best about a month or two after that! So now I ask from all of you: would you like me to stay or should I leave? I will not hold this decision against all of you, and I will have no problem leaving, if such is your decision!"
The villagers, still huddled together, started whispering and discussing among themselves about him, while Naruto himself was going towards Ichigo, who has already woken up to the sight of Naruto's massacre of the bandits and the ronin. He then crouched in front of Ichigo while using his sword as a stand to hold his body. He then pulled the blade from the ground, before giving back to Ichigo. "here's your sword, kid. It's a good blade, and I'm sure it'll serve anyone that it wants to extremely well.
He then turned towards the villagers again and said "You don't have to give your decision today. I will have no problems accepting any of your choices, and will leave immediately if that's what you want."
But suddenly, a person rises up, and started to speak. "Arashi-san. Your presence here may bring danger. But," and he turned towards the villagers "have any of us saw him threatening our people? He even helped around town with his skills! Some of us are saved from animal attacks because of him! And during this bandit raid, did he ever hurt us?! Did he let us be captured and killed by the bandits just to save his own ass? No! He came at us, saved the town, and even saved young, brave but foolish Ichigo over there from sacrificing his life! We owe him our lives!"
"But he's the reason why they came in the first place!" a villager shouted.
"True! But as I said just now, did he leave us here, just to die to help his own ass? No! He even saved us, and would accept our decision as well! I for one want him to stay! Now who's with me?!"
Murmurs and chatting broke out among the freed villagers, with the sounds of "cute couple", "nice guy", and "have him stay" was heard by Naruto and his Lyman's Ear. After a while, a lot of the villagers stood up, and proclaimed that they want him to stay. The first villager that talked then said, "so, from the looks of it, I'd say that most of the people would like you to stay here. So continue your stay."
Naruto, hearing this, bowed towards the villagers, then stood up, and said "Thank you everyone. You will not regret this. I will pledge myself to act as the town's guardian while I'm here, and will guard all of you from any threat, either bandits or missing nins. Once again, I thank all of you. Let me clean up all these bandit corpse." And with that, Naruto created many clones, which picked up the bandit's corpses and piled them outside the town and proceeds to burn them using a Katon jutsu, before going back to his cabin and telling the story to Kurumi. Needless to say, Kurumi was extremely pissed that night, and told him to sleep outside, which he responds by whispering "...I didn't sleep anyway..."
-BREAK-
It's the ninth month, and both Kurumi and Naruto are extremely excited, and was unable to hide the excitement of their soon-to-come child. Her stomach seems like it's about to blow, according to Naruto, and she kept going to the loo even more often nowadays -her womb is pressing her bladder, said the doc- and forces him to create a toilet close by to the house so that it is easier for her to walk to it. Also, mysteriously, the doctor says that she didn't show any signs that she's going to be in labour, even though it is already the final month of her pregnancy. This confuses the doctor, but even so, both the baby and Kurumi were doing fine, so he has nothing to say about it.
Meanwhile, Naruto's new task as the village guardian is simple : prevent any bandits or missing nin from entering or attacking the village, and even some wild animals rampaging from the plains, though this didn't happen much. Still, it's a job Naruto likes, and he has no problems doing it. Sometimes, he even acted as bodyguards during times when some of the village caravan needs an escort to a nearby town or anything else. It was a task that he really liked, and which he didn't mind, though his mind kept going back to his extremely pregnant wife almost all the time.
A month passed by, and the tenth month of the pregnancy came, and still no signs of any impending birth from Kurumi, which further puzzles Isshin to no end. None of his medical scrolls say that a pregnancy can last more than nine months and two weeks without any side effects to the mother, but hers was still going strong, and there are no problems at all with both mother and baby! Another mysterious puzzle from a mysterious pair.
Once the pair reached their home, Kurumi suddenly said "Naru-koi, I am tired, really, really tired. I have no idea why, and I didn't think I did anything to tire myself out. We haven't had sex for a while too, so no way I can be this tired, not without a reason" and sat herself down on a rocking chair that Naruto carved using his admittedly mediocre skill in carpentry. He was about to reply when what he saw at Kurumi shocked him. Kurumi suddenly, and mysteriously, had chakra exhaustion. Chakra Exhaustion! Kurumi had as much chakra as two Kages, and she had chakra exhaustion!
Surprised, Naruto immediately said to Kurumi "Kurumi-koi, it seems that you have a bad case of chakra exhaustion! That almost sounds impossible, but you really do!" Naruto observed her chakra flow further, and realised something even weirder. Kurumi was absorbing nature chakra, but they didn't circulate within her body, but instead, it flows within her chakra core, before disappearing. Also, the purified bijuu chakra, which she has 8 tails of them already, with its core, instead of being located at the stomach like a regular chakra core, is situated at the area between the two chests at the place where the trachea splits, and its colour being bright gold. This chakra was also absorbed into her chakra core and disappeared. "Not just that, the purified chakra is moving to your chakra core and disappears! Your body is also absorbing nature chakra around us, and is doing the same!"
"What? But how? I would've known if I were to use the purified chakra, and I'll feel it if I were to absorb nature chakra! And chakra exhaustion? That sounds almost impossible! I haven't used a jutsu in months! But wait. Maybe the baby's absorbing it?"
"That's a possibility, but one that we have no method of proving. So for now, I guess that we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Or maybe... here, let me try something." Naruto then pulls a bit of the purified chakra into his hands, and places his hands on her stomach. To both their surprise, the gold chakra from his hands was absorbed into her stomach almost immediately, confirming their suspicions about the baby absorbing their chakra, though for what reason, they didn't know.
Another month passes, and the eleventh month of pregnancy arrives. During this month, the ever-confused doctor gets even more confused when the couple came in for a check up with Kurumi looking like she just ran across the whole Elemental Nations! Excepting her extreme tiredness – chakra exhaustion, said Arashi-san – everything was fine as a whistle, though the length of the pregnancy is extremely bizarre, but now she was starting to get minor contractions, and she felt the baby turn, usual signs of an impending labour which he warned the couple about. Arashi then proceeds to give him a weird looking weapon, a three pronged kunai with a paper wrapped around the hilt with weird markings on it and told him to keep it at him at all times. Her chakra was still being absorbed by the baby, making her perpetually tired and edgy. Even her purified chakra was absorbed by the baby, while Naruto kept supplying his to the baby as well.
-BREAK-
It is almost the end of the twelfth moth of her pregnancy when she felt a powerful contraction came, which causes her to almost fell from her standing position onto the floor. She then immediately went and took one Hirashin kunai and flooded the seal with chakra and threw it close by, with Naruto appearing almost immediately on top of the kunai.
"Kurumi-koi, are you alright?"
"The baby's coming! I can feel it! Take us to the doctor, fast"
Naruto, not trusting his voice, just nodded, lifted her bridal style and Hiraishined in front of the doctor who was luckily not doing anything at the moment while shouting "Doc! My wife's in labour! What should I do?!"
Isshin, surprised out of his mind when Naruto appeared out of thin air, immediately went into doctor mode, and seeing Kurumi's pained face, immediately told Naruto to place her on a bed in the maternity ward, and told him to stay by his wife. After doing just that, he sat beside his wife while holding her hand tightly. "Don't worry. We'll get through this. Stay calm." He said.
More contractions came by, and her face seems like she was holding a massive amount of pain, before suddenly, a burst of liquid came between her legs, which causes Naruto to jump, screaming "Her water broke! Her water broke!"
After a while, Isshin came in with his daughters, Yuzu and Karin who acts as nurses for the clinic, and started preparing to deliver her baby, prepping gauzes, hot water, and a lot of other things that will be needed during the delivery.
Suddenly, her contractions started getting stronger and stronger, and her vaginal opening has grown enough that the baby can be delivered, and the team starts to stand by to receive the baby.
"Alright, when you feel the contractions, start pushing! The baby will come out, and we will be there to receive him or her!"
She then starts pushing in rhythm with her contractions. Luckily for her, the delivery is donw in a short while, and no complications are seen. But then Naruto heard the nurses talking "The baby is out! But... what's this?"
Naruto, hearing that, went ahead and looked at the baby. What he saw both shocked and made him felt happier than any other moment in his short life. The baby, a girl, had a thin layer of blonde hair, blue eyes like her mother, round face, and most importantly, seven flowing golden, white tipped fox tails flowing from behind her and two tiny fox ears with the same colours on her head, currently bathed in amniotic fluids. He immediately told the doctor and nurses "Just ignore the ears and tails first. Clean her up, and give her to her mother." They immediately complied, cleaned her up and wrapped her in a blanket, while Kurumi is pushing out the placenta from within her.
They then brought her to Kurumi, who was tired from the ordeal of delivering her child. She then immediately took the child, looked at her, and cried.
"Naruto, this is our child, our baby. The first of the new generations... And her name is Kushina. Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina. I always liked her you know, Kushina-chan. I hoped that she can continue her grandmother's legacy in everything." Is all that she managed to speak, before emotions overwhelmed her, and she started crying heavily. Naruto, holding back his tears at first, then joined on the heartwarming moment, and hugged Kurumi together with Kushina, who started to slowly coo, and immediately started brestfeeding on Kurumi's breasts.
"Hey Kurumi-koi, look. She recognizes her mother. Will she be able to recognize me?" he then turned towards Kushina, and said "Kushina-chan, this is your father here speaking. I don't know if you can recognize me right now, you might be too small to know. But I will be here for you, and will always be there for you."
Kurumi, already crying from the sight, started crying even harder, and said "Kushina-chan, you will be a great child, I can see it. You will be a strong child, a strong warrior, and a strong woman in your life. You will not let any other people harm your family, while also guarding our honour. Your power is great, even as a child and you will be taught how to control them, among others. Do not let anyone tell you that being a bijuu hanyou is bad, they are just jealous of your powers. Enough of that, I guess we'll see each other later."
She then gave her daughter back to Naruto, who kissed her forehead and gave her to the doctor, who cleans her up further before applying some postbirth medicinal herbs to Kushina and some herbal drinks to Kurumi to help her with any post delivery problems, though they saw that her wounds and all are already healing at a rapid rate, causing them to wonder what she actually is, especially when they saw that the child has tails and fox ears, while both Naruto and Kurumi did not. But before they can even ask anything, Naruto quickly applied a special seal on all those involved in the delivery that modifies their memory, making them lose the memory about the ears and tails, and places another seal on Kushina, which forces her to enter her full human form immediately, effectively hiding the fact that she is a hanyou from everyone.
And that is how the newest member of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family came to be... Though Naruto's challenges have just started, and a child will add even more spice to his already fucked up life in the future...
-CHAPTER END-
Whew! And here comes Kushina Jr.! I tried making the post delivery scene a pretty emotional one (I remembered CLANNAD's birth scene (CLANNAD fans know which one) at all time while writing that scene). I hope I succeeded. So everyone, please read and review! Any review that helps point out my mistakes are very much appreciated! See you next time, on the next chapter of A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel!