Naruto; Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Sasuke; Every second she's not here is a second we don't have to relive in therapy.
LC; I'm hurt that you think of me as a trauma inducing drug.
Both; AAAAHHHHHGGGGG! *Perform panickes man-hug*
LC; Joy to the world, I enjoy torment, my love, derives, from pain!
Pein; Did you say my name?
LC; No, Pain!
Pein; Yes?
LC; NO! Pain!
Pein; What do you want? I am Pein.
LC; Never mind.
Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. And if the above conversation is any indication, maybe it's better that way. Kishi already pretty much destroyed the entire plot. I thought it was about Naruto becoming hogake and now it's all jacked up!
Chapter 3; One step forward.
The Suna ninja stayed for a while. It soon became apparent that Matsuri and the only other remaining Suna kunoichi, Kira, were pregnant as well.
However she guessed that they had been a bit more willing. It also seemed Matsuri already had a son by our favorite redhaired jinchuriki! Who knew Gaara had it in him!
Disturbing facts about her old pal's love life aside, Niki honestly did not know what to do with the new information given to her. She had not been in contact with any other humans other than her kids since the Iwa shinobi left.
And apparently they chose now to tell her that there was an unofficial truce called by every shinobi village that had any remaining memebers. This truce basically stated that until every village was at least big enough to be considered clan size they would hold off all fighting in favor of repopulating the Earth.
Females were now the most sought after living thing on the planet. Shit.
Niki's little gaggle of kids was more than enough to be Uchiha size when it was in it's prime. However, thanks to their young age and lack of training, they were not being targeted.
She suspected this was more due to her ability to create an army with clones than respect for children safety though. She would have to stay on guard, for the sake of her children.
For the sake of New Konoha.
The day came when the Suna ninja left their camp. It was a tearfilled occasion as the children did not want to say good bye to their new friends.
Niki could at least rest easy in the knowledge that New Suna would stand by New Konoha. Now all she had to worry about was the up and coming due date of her son/daughter.
She had not the control needed for medical jutsu, and Matsuri and Kira could not stay to aid in the birth. She would have to hope her clones' knowledge of child birth from the numerous books she read would be enough.
The day of reckoning was coming, but at the moment, she put that in the back of her mind.
Everyone had been studying dilligently, until now the first of them finally 'graduated'. Among the graduates was Shiro, Faia, Kaji, Hige, and Kiba.
She proudly presented to them their new hitaites, salvaged from the corpses of her fallen comrades. She was proud to be the one to have trained the new generation of Konoha shinobi.
"Today you are the rank of genin, the lowest possible form of ninja." She said reverently, producing a speech to her new comrades.
"As each of you go about your life, I can never be more proud of you then I am now. You've worked and studied hard and overcome your past. Once this world was filled with people, and some day, I know, it shall be again." She vowed to them, hope shining in each eye. "I know you will help anyway you can and I know that so long as their is a single scattered leaf, the will of fire will burn on. In a world stranger than the one we had known, we must learn again to survive and show the world that Konohagakure does not fall!"
Cheers rang through to the heavens as one by one the children gave their voices. Promises for a new life began, and none of them even considered taking it back or breaking it.
Promises were made to be kept and damn it all if that wasn't the one lesson each child had learned from their adopted mother.
"Today you are shinobi of Konohagakure!" The voices reached a deafening pitch and they laughed and celebrated far into the night, indulging in the large winter stores Niki had set up for them all.
The crator had changed much since Niki had returned with her horde of children. Now many of the buildings were back where they used to be.
The children lived in mainly apartment complexes, near the Hogake tower where Niki herself resided. Here and there, one could see the presence of the city as a haven for children. Toys strewn in the streets, parks equiped with jungle gyms, slides, and merry go rounds a plenty.
It was everything Konoha was, but with a large difference. For here, there is no shadow of hopelessness that once kept the citizens weighted down. Near the newly rebuilt gates, is a large sign.
Welcome to New Konohagakure! The village of the children of the will of fire! All are welcome, despite past or feature. We belong here, we will always belong here!
At the end of her ninth month of pregnancy, this sign is the first thing the Iwa shinobi see once in sight of the village.
Their conceince weighing heavily on their minds and bodies, they traverse into the village in search of the real Niki in a village full of clones.
Everywhere they looked they saw clones helping the children build homes, cook food, mend clothing, or simply playing with the younger ones.
It amazed and stunned all of them to see the level of strength this one woman had. It intimidated them, making them wonder just how much chakra she truly had to create so many shadow clones. It seemed an impossible feat.
But when one deals with Niki Uzumaki Namikaze, the word impossible not only applies, it defines.
"How wise do you think this is?" One of the men asked their leader, Genuske. He thought a minute before answering.
"I think we're in some deep shit."
They walked to the center of the village, in front of the hogake tower, where the clones said the original was reading. Sure enough, a single Niki was seen resting in the shade of a tree reading a cook book.
Genuske and the others stepped forward somewhat nervously, knowing full well that this woman could kill them if she chose to do so.
"Your early." They nearly jumped the width of the wall when she spoke so suddenly. "The child isn't due for a few days yet."
"We couldn't be sure as to the date." Genuske said, bluffing that he was not frightened by this woman with the ability to make an army. All shinobi can lie, but those that are the best at it, are the ones that stayed alive.
"You are welcome to stay in one of the unoccupied buildings for as long as you wish to stay." Niki said, standing up and taking her leave. "I request that you do not attempt any more kidnappings though. My children have been training quite dilligently."
With this cryptic warning she left the men and sole woman to their own doings and went to one of the training grounds.
Watching from behind a tree, she watched as Shiro seemed to be 'shadow boxing'. She had learned that his special ability allowed him to bring his shadow to life for certain periods of time to train and fight with him.
The shadow in essence was an independent and living creature. He was currently fighting against the black clone, even in strength and pushing him to his absolute limit.
She watched as he ran out of chakra and his shadow retreated back to it's place underneath him.
"You've grown Shiro." Niki said, revealing her presence. "One day maybe you will become stronger than me."
Shiro smiled at the thought but secretly believed that impossible. No one was stronger than his mother Niki. She was the strongest living thing in the entire world.
He and every other poor misfit orphan she had picked up believed this. They would be sorry to see her leave.
"Your eleventh birthday will be in a week, is there anything you want?" He gasped at the realization. In seven full days he would be eleven, another whole year older.
He thought about all the toys he had seen the other kids who'd already had their birthdays played with. He thought until the Sun had set and night was coming on.
Finally he answered.
"I want another name." Niki raised a single curved brow at the statement and asked him what he meant by another name.
"Your full name is Niki Uzumaki-Namikaze." He pointed out logically. "I want a last name too." Niki smiled kindly as she remembered how she too once yearned for a clan name.
Once upon a time she had thought the name Uzumaki to be something the matron at the orphanage had made up. Now she knew better, and she could understand the want for a name.
"Alright, I think that can be easily arranged." Niki acknowledged him, leading him by the shoulder back to the village and to his own home to sleep.
Walking through her newly rebuilt home Niki allowed her mind to wander to the past for the first time since the apocolypse.
"Niki-baka, you can be so blind." "Yo Niki, ready for training today?" "Dobe, like you'd ever be able to beat me." "Niki, your the most beautiful troublesome woman I know, will you marry me?" "Congrats Niki, when's the baby due?" "I'm sorry, but the child was lost." "There was nothing we could do, I am so sorry Niki." "You'll have other chances gaki, don't let this one get you down!" "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll bring the next one to term."
She remembered those final months with her friends and husband. Shikamaru, oh how she missed him. The way he would always be found on a cloudy day just looking up into the sky on his back.
His nonchalant intelligence, saving their lives more than once. She even missed how he called everything troublesome.
She never got a chance to say good bye. He died, taking away with him what she thought to be her one chance at happiness and love.
This child she now carried, it wasn't the man she loved's child. It was a complete stranger's. She didn't know anything about the man that had sired her offspring. Over the last few months, she'd almost hoped she wouldn't be able to bring this one to term. Now it was too late. She had committed the ultimate betrayol to her love.
'Forgive me, Shika-kun.' Tears streamed down her face and she rushed to her bed chambers so none could see them fall. Only one man had ever seen her cry and he was dead.
But oh, how she truly missed him.
The next day burned harsh through her window the morning after her talk with Shiro. She felt the memories of the clones that had dispelled in the night, and quickly made more.
Her morning had become a sort of routine after so long. In the early morning she would go around with some clones waking the children for breakfast. Afterwards she would go to a training ground and practice in whatever technique she was currently trying to master. At lunchtime she would summon the children to the pavilion for their meal and spend the time between then and dinner training them individually.
After dinner Niki would read from her books, relaxing after another day in New Konoha.
"Niki-san, how are you this morning?" Niki turned to see the female iwa ninja from yesterday. Now that she thought back, she could not remember ever being formally introduced to the female shinobi.
"I am fine, but I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I never learned your name." She admitted somewhat sheepishly, a light blush coloring her cheeks.
"I'm Akine, jounin of New Iwa as it's to be known as." She introduced herself cheerfully, trying to stop herself from staring at Niki's expanded waist line, she sought a new line of topic.
"So, uh, do you know if it's a boy or girl?" She nearly smacked herself at her poor choice of conversation. Why on Earth would anyone in Niki's position want anything to do with a child borne of kidnapping!
How could she be so stupid! She didn't even have any back up since her comrades were all eating at the pavilion!
"Actually since I have none of the technology needed, I still don't know the gender of my child." Akine nearly fainted when she heard Niki say that as though she were spreading some juicy gossip.
"I guess we'll learn in a few days." She said woefully, playing her part of the happily expecting mother perfectly. Everytime she felt the child kick she pictured having Shikamaru lay his hand on her stomach to feel his son/daughter.
It had made these past few months somewhat more bearable, knowing he was watching her from above.
"Why don't we head to the pavilion to eat?" Akine suggested, eager to avoid possibly saying the wrong thing and ending up a grease stain on the dirt road.
The day passed rather uneventfully, that is, until the first contraction hit in the middle of a spar between clones.
"AH!" Niki gasped, clutching her stomach in intense pain. Water leaked from her kimono down her bandage wrappings, as she trembled in place. In some back corner of her mind Niki knew she was in labor and should be calling for help. However, she was too busy trying to stop herself from crying in pain.
She'd been wounded many times in her life. She had taken a chidori to her chest Kami knew how many times and survived and fought on. This pain, had nothing on child labor.
The clone who she had been fighting against quickly dispelled in order to inform the remaining ones of this new development. Withtin seconds, more clones had arrived and were helping her to the hospital.
The Iwa shinobi, perhaps sensing the clones' discomfort, followed at a leisurely place. Despite their past aggressions, they felt an illogical worry for the young woman with the fox's ears.
Inside the hospital room came screams of pure pain and anger. The Iwa shinobi stood outside the door, frozen in terror and listening in a sort of horror-induced coma as they listened to the increasingly painful curses being lain on Genuske.
With a quiet agreement, the shinobi all took a few steps back away from their commander, leaving him to brave the storm on his own.
"I'll Cut off his fucking balls with a rusty damned kunai before rubbing salt in the wounds! Then I'll bar-be-Q his fucking cock and make him eat it as a shish-ke-bab!" Genuske's hands automatically covered his downtown manland. "After that I'll fucking cautorize the wound with a fireball jutsu! Then I'll fucking rip his fucking legs off before beating him with his own limbs!"
Many hours passed before finally the cries of a babe were heard in the hall. Inside the room Niki lay, exhausted, in bed holding her newborn son in her arms.
He had black hair and blue eyes, faint whisker marks adorned his cheeks. On each side of his head were two black fox ears. Hidden by the blanket he was wrapped in, was a black, white-tipped tail.
"I think I'll name you, Haku." She said lovingly, recalling her old friend. The baby stopped crying and stared up into her big blue eyes, he reached up with a chubby arm and patted her cheek.
Even as an infant, on some level he recognized this woman as his mother. She was his vixen, and he her kit.
And holding him close to her heart, Niki knew she would never be able to give him up. She would fight for her child!
Genuske walked in cautiously, one hand cupped over manland. He would not put it past her to hold up to her threats. He knew Niki Uzumaki-Namikaze's reputation after all.
She always kept her word.
Praying to whatever diety would listen to a poor man with his pride and joy threatened, he opened the door a fraction more to see Niki holding their son.
As he watched her name him, he knew he would never get to raise the boy as his own. He would never be able to take him away from his mother. They would simply have to find some other way to rebuild their village.
He would not seperate this couple.
Young Haku would grow up without his father, a man who had all but forced his way into his mother's pants.
"Genuske, come hold your son." Niki ordered sadly, wondering how she could back out of her compromise without risking her childrens' lives.
"He's not my son, Niki-san." Genuske said regretfully, tracing the whisker marks on Haku's cheek. "He is yours and does not deserve to be without his mother. I'll visit him every now and again, but I can not take a child from his mother."
The Iwa shinobi left the village before Niki could get out of bed to stop them. She stood some hours later in front of the gate, holding her only son.
Looking down into his eyes, she felt gratitude towards Genuske for his sacrifice. She made a promise there and then, to uphold the memory of his gift forever. She figured it would not be too hard. After all, he was already in her arms.
"Your name is Haku Uzumaki-Namikaze." She said softly to the sleeping kit. "And your father is a kind man."
THIS IS THE LINE!
LC; Okay, chapter 3 done and ready to upload!
Naruto; Your getting some real work done.
LC; YEP!
Sasuke; Shouldn't you be doing your math homework.
LC; YEP!
Naruto; Why aren't you then?
LC; HAHAHHAAHAHHAHAA! Oh...Your serious.
Both; Yes we are.
LC; Math is the incarnation of all evil, why would I partake in the destruction of the world?
Sasuke; You just don't like algebra.
LC; LETTERS DO NOT BELONG IN MATH! WHY DO WE EVEN FUCKING NEED ALGEBRA! IT'S USELESS!
Naruto; I have no clue. It does seem pointless.
Sasuke; Just get on with the dismissal so we can go home and forget this disturbing conversation.
LC; Fine. BYE BYE!