DOUBLE SPECIAL UPDATE: Part II

A/N: More reading for you guys! Have fun!

WARNING: Depression ahead!

Chapter 7- Conception to Conviction

"Glad that mission is finally over." Kushina grumbled. It had been a year since Minato was sworn into office and she had married him.

"Come on, it was only a month. It wasn't that long." said one of her teammates.

"Yes, I know but it seemed to drag on forever and ever because they said it would take two weeks, which ended up being a month. I just want to see Minato-kun." The ANBU squad entered the forests directly surrounding the southern gate.

"Looks like you'll see your Hokage play toy sooner than you think," said the hawk masked ANBU next to her earning the man a quick hit to his groin making the man fall to his knees before catching up to them with a noticeable limp in his walk.

At the 'play toy's' office, Kushina stood patiently as the squad leader gave the mission debrief. When he was done, Minato said, "Have the mission report on my desk by the day after tomorrow. You are all dismissed, except for you Kushina." Even if she was his wife, his voice kept that stern formal tone. When the rest of the team had left he relaxed, saying, "I have a surprise for you at home."

"Why would you give me a surprise so randomly?"

"Tonight is Valentine's Day night, remember?"

"Oh, I forgot." 'I didn't get him a gift!'

"I'll be waiting." Minato disappeared using the body-flicker.

Kushina jumped across the rooftops to the Hokage residence. She unlocked the door and walked in, throwing her ANBU mask and keys in the kitchen table. "Where's my surprise?" she called out.

"Over here!" His voice came from the bedroom. She walked over and opened the door. Inside, he was lying on the bed, naked as the day he was born, with a red bowtie around his neck. "What do you think of your present?" he asked.

"Love it. I absolutely love it." Kushina took off her pack and her hair put of its ponytail.

"Well?" He watched her sit on the other side of the bed. "Aren't you going to unwrap it?"

She turned around and faced him, grinning mischievously. "You bet I am." And while they kissed, her hands wandered after taking off the bowtie and throwing it on the floor, while he began to take off her clothes.

(Three Weeks Later)

"Ugh. I hate this." Kushina flopped down on the couch with a hot cup of tea in her hands. "Why am I so siiiick?" she moaned.

"Beats me." A voice said from behind her. "Besides, it means we have more time for each other." Minato jumped over the couch and landed next to her. He, like a child, put his head on Kushina's shoulder and sighed.

"Stop." She pushed his head off. "Whatever I have, I don't want to give it to you."

"Please?" Minato said as he gave her the puppy eyes.

"N-urp." Kushina clapped her hand over her mouth and made a mad dash for the bathroom. Seconds later, she could be heard hurling her recently eaten breakfast into the toilet and then the sound of it flushing. She came out, holding her stomach and shaking her head. "Do you really want that?"

"No and I won't get it anyways."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"I am a ninja and the Hokage. Nothing gets to me." Minato said it confidently with one of his signature smiles. The kiddy streak still hadn't worn off.

"Fine, but if I don't feel the slightest bit better by tomorrow, you're getting the couch."

"Fine. If I get the couch, we are going the doctor and finding out what you got because you certainly don't have a simple stomach bug."

Kushina groaned. She hated going to the hospital.

(Two Days Later)

"Now, have you gained any weight since this sickness started?" asked the doctor.

"A bit." Kushina stated.

"Have you been doing thinks you usually wouldn't?"

"Besides throwing up, sitting on the couch, eating junk and not doing A and S ranked missions? No." the kunochi sarcastically replied.

"Hmmm…" the doctor checked Kushina's eyes, ears, mouth, temperature, blood pressure and so on. "Everything is normal. I can't see what wrong with you." She concluded when she wrote the results on her clipboard. She stood there a bit, eliminating the possibilities of what this could possibly be. One very common thing fit all of these symptoms. A grin crept onto her face. "How's your sexual life? Have you done things recently?"

The redhead blushed. "Valentines Day night…"

"So about three, four weeks ago?"

"Yes."

The doctor wrote something else down. "We're going to perform a scan now, so follow me."

Minato was sitting in the waiting room for her with a small stack of paperwork he usually had to do as Hokage. Kushina came out when he had gotten ¾ of the way through it, but when he asked her what the doctor's diagnosis was, she shook her head. "They said they didn't know. Must be some sort of new disease." Actually, there was a diagnosis for it, but Kushina didn't voice it because she didn't even believe it herself.

(A Week Later)

"We're over." The Hokage solemnly stated to Fugaku. He was the only one who would go with the blonde to eat ramen. "Ever since that time we went to the hospital, she's been avoiding ma and not talking to me like she used to." He stared into his half full bowl.

Fugaku smiled and clapped him on the back. "Just hang in there. Mikoto and I went through the same thing at one point, and look at where we are now. I have a son and a second child on the way and we still love each other a lot." He finished his ramen, put down some money and left. "See you tomorrow."

(Another Week Later)

The door opened. "Hey Hiashi. Where's Sumiko?" Kushina looked oddly tired and worn.

The Hyuuga heir shook his head. "She is at the training grounds."

"Oh. Ok thanks." Kushina wandered around them and found her friend practicing her Taijutsu by herself at training ground 26. "Hey, Sumiko!" She began to run but a major pain stabbed her in her stomach, reducing her to a walk. The dark blue-haired kunochi stopped in the middle of a roundhouse kick and punch combo and approached the 'sick' woman.

"What are you doing here Kushina?" The two hugged.

"I want… to talk to you about… something." Kushina looked down and fiddled with her shirt.

By the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice, Sumiko knew that what she had to say was serious and wasn't all that good. "You know you can tell me anything and I won't tell, even if my life depends on it. What is it?"

She looked up. "You can't tell anyone at all about this, ok? This secret to me is like what happened to Minato when Sarutobi told him he was going to be the next Hokage. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"If you… I don't know… got really sick and went to the doctor to see what you had and then discovered you weren't sick all along, what would you do?"

Sumiko was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Like you weren't sick at all but you had a little person growing inside you? What would you do?"

The other woman's eyes widened. "No way… A-are you really?" She squealed like a crazed fan-girl. "Oh my god, when did it happen? Was he good? How long did you…?" She grinned devilishly. "Oh Hiashi better get his act together... Screw that, I'll make him."

Kushina gave her a look. "Do you really want to get pregnant? It really messes up your life, especially the ninja part. The doctor told me that before long, the baby is going to start making its own chakra and that going to screw up my own system, so then I can't do a damn thing as a ninja at all. Then you don't earn money and so then you go broke and stuff, all because you get knocked up." She waved her arms around for emphasis.

Sumiko put up her index finger. "Number one, you are married to the fucking Hokage.You will never go broke. Ever. I'm engaged to the Hyuuga heir. He will inherit the name of the richest and most powerful clan in Konoha. I certainly won't end up in the streets. Two, Minato loves you and would do nothing to hurt you, nor be disappointed for romping around in bed with him and as a result, carrying around his future child. Actually, I bet he's itching to get the Namikaze clan going again and having a family of his own. In my case, Hiashi will need an heir after he passes on, so me and him will definitely have kids at some point."

The redhead sighed in defeat. "I guess you're right… You and your damn logic."

The victor smirked. "So, when are you due?"

"October 14. I'm going into my sixth week now."

"And when did this sickness start?"

"Three weeks ago…" Kushina said meekly.

"WHAAT!?" Sumiko screeched. "It's been two weeks since you found out and you still haven't told him? You've been avoiding him all this time?" She grabbed her friend's wrist. "Come on, we are going to tell him, like or not."

"No! Oh no no no please no!

"You're going to have to tell him at some point!"

Kushina grimaced. Her friend was right… again.

Five minutes later via Sumiko's back, the door to the Hokage's office burst open. "Minato, your wife has something to tell you!" Kushina was dragged in by the wrist by a very irritated looking Sumiko. Her eyes were pleading not to tell, but to no avail, as she was forced to stand right in front of his desk.

Minato looked at her questioningly, wondering if this was the reason why she was so withdrawn from him all this time. "So? What is this thing you have to tell me?"

"You tell him or I will." Sumiko growled.

The Uzumaki began twiddling her thumbs and looked down. "A-Ano, Minato-kun, I-I-I'm, I'm, I'm…"

"I'm what?" he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm p-p-"

'Hoooly shit. No way. No no no.'

-regnant."

He fainted.

Sumiko smiled. "Well, I think that went well. My work here is done." She left the incapacitated kunochi to her husband.

Minato woke up on a mysterious couch. He slowly sat up and groaned, head buzzing. "How long have I been out?" he moaned.

"Finally awake, honey?" Kushina sat in the chair nearest him. He jumped. "I had a guard bring you back here from when you fainted."

Her voice brought back what she had said just before he passed out. Minato turned towards her and asked the question. "A-Are you really… pregnant, Kushina-chan?"

"Do you remember your valentines day gift?"

"Yeah…oh. That's when it happened."

"Good going Sherlock! So you took your own wife, a very strong and able kunochi, an ANBU nonetheless, out of the ninja ranks. This is your fault, not mine."

He put his face in his hands. "I'm really screwed over now. I'm not ready." He mumbled.

"What was that?" His wife leaned down, putting her head level with his.

"I said I'm screwed. I'm not ready to be a father. I was hoping to wait a bit longer. We can't help it now, I guess."

Kushina moved onto the couch beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. "Of course you're ready. You just don't believe you are." She patted her stomach. "Hey, I have it worse. I have to carry this thing around for another seven and a half months, then I have to give a painful birth, and then finally there comes breastfeeding and taking care of the baby. I'm going to go friggin crazy." She got up. "When we learn what it's going to be, I'm going shopping. Whatever the sex, we're going to color the room some sort of orange."

(Four Months Later)

Kushina looked at the screen showing the baby inside her. "So?"

The doctor moved the instrument around to the side of her patient's belly. "Looks like it's a boy." She put it back in its holder.

Kushina sat up with some difficulty and put down her maternity shirt. "Good. Boys are tough." Mentally, she was jumping for joy because this meant she could now go on a shopping spree.

Later in the week, she and Sumiko did just that, buying orange boy oriented things. One odd thing Kushina couldn't help buying was a large orange fox plushie. She came home, arms full and from the nature of the items, Minato figured he was to have a son. Now only one thing remained to be decided. The name.

"Don't say that Jiraya-sensei. I thought it was great!" Minato held up the green book. "It was really cool when the character didn't give up, not for one second."

Jiraya leaned back and sighed. "Yeah, but it didn't sell."

"Who cares if it didn't sell? It's a good story."

Kushina came out of the kitchen. "We liked it so much that we decided to name our son after the main character."

"A-Are you sure? I was eating some ramen and it was just a random name that popped into my head-"

"Naruto… It's a beautiful name." She came over and put a hand on Minato's shoulder.

( October 10 )

Minato and Kushina were getting antsy, as Naruto was due in four days. Kushina spent the last few days taking walks through the park with a seven month pregnant Sumiko and watching children play on the playground, imagining her son among them. "Sumiko," she began as they were sitting on a bench, "you never told me what you were going to name your daughter."

"Hiashi and I haven't decided yet but we're thinking of naming her Hinata." she replied.

"Towards the sun… from the province of light … (A/N: I will explain this later.) I like it. It has a nice meaning. You-" Kushina stopped in mid-sentence. "Aah!" she shifted around in her seat. "I think… Oh shit my water just broke."

The door banged open for the millionth time that day. A Medic Nin ran in.

"Hokage-sama, your wife is in labor!"

Minato rose form his seat, a twinkle in his eye showing his joy of finally becoming a father. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"She just came into the delivery room at the Konoha Hospital, sir!"

The Hokage nodded and body-flickered to the hospital entrance. He had placed a seal on the doorway a week before in case something like this would happen. He strode up to the desk, people watching and wondering why on earth the perfectly healthy Hokage was here. "Where is the delivery room?" he asked the secretary.

She pointed down one of the halls. "Down there."

"Thanks." He ran down the hall, her name running through his mind. Skidding to a halt in front of the fifth to last door on the right, he saw her on the hospital bed, red hair disheveled, face scrunched in pain, white knuckled hands gripping handfuls of sheets. Minato smiled, thinking about how beautiful she was. "Kushina." He whispered. As if hearing him, her head snapped in his direction and he saw in her eyes a mix of pain, anguish, love thanks and a desire not to give up. He rushed to her bedside and took her hand in his. "Where's Sumiko?" he asked.

A chain of words between breaths told him. "Home…too…tired…to…come. Wishes…she could…"

He looked at the doctor. "How long?" he asked him.

"Half an hour. Everything is normal." He pointed towards the machines. Minato looked at the numbers, but what they told him was definitely not normal. Her heart rate was thirty beats above her regular rate.

"You call that normal!? Its way over!"

"It's normal for labor." Just then Kushina arched her back up out of the bed, screaming. Minato could have sworn he heard a bone or two in his hand crack.

"Come on honey, you can do this! You can do this! I believe in you! Believe it!" he gripped her hand even tighter. He felt bad because all he could do was give encouragement. He couldn't do anything else. He couldn't take the pain away, no matter how much he wanted to. Even if it was the slightest amount, he would shoulder it for her. For the first time in his life, Minato was powerless.

He sat there, watching her, holding her hand, urging her on for hours until the messenger came, telling of the great catastrophe that would ruin his family from that day foreword.

"Hokage-sama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune is here!" Minato's mind went from family mode to Hokage mode in an instant. "Where is it? Is it in the village?" he demanded.

"No, but it is a few miles outside the walls."

"Send all the ANBU, Jounin and Chuunin to intercept it. It cannot be stopped by simple fighting means. Also, send for the Sandaime and tell him to meet me in my office. Go!" the man ran out the door. Minato turned back to his sweaty and exhausted wife and looked her in the eye. "Kushina, I love you. I have loved you since the day we met at Ichiraku's and I would die for you without a second thought. Though what I am going to do now to defeat the Kyuubi will kill me. It will change your life and our son Naruto's life in more than one way." He gripped her even tighter. "This is the last time you will ever see me alive. I am going to use the Reaper Death Seal."

Kushina's eyes widened. "M-Minato…please… no. Not… Naruto. Seal me… instead. P-please."

He shook his head. "No Kushina. I can't seal you. With power that great, the power of the Kyuubi will need undeveloped chakra coils of the sealed person will die. When Naruto grows up and becomes a shinobi, his chakra coils will form with the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra. He will be able to use its chakra. He will have great power, Kushina. He will grow to be the strongest there has or ever will be. Trust me." He tried to convey all the love he could never express and sadness he was feeling right now through his eyes. "I love you and I love our son." Minato leaned over and kissed her with a passion, putting every feeling he had into it. Just as Kushina reached up to touch his face, he broke away. Giving her one last look, he body-flickered to his death.

"Minato…" she softly cried.

"He's almost there, Mrs. Namikaze! Just one more push!" said the doctor.

"MINATOOOO!!!!!!!" screamed Kushina in agony, arching her back off the bed as she gave one final push. A baby started crying.

(At the Hokage office)

"Sarutobi-san, when Naruto is cleaned and Kushina has held him, bring him to the small shrine on top of the Hokage monument, set up a ring of nine ceremonial candles around him. Tell the village to view him as a hero. Actually, bring him here first. I want to see my son before I die."

"Minato, why don't I seal the Kyuubi? You taught me the technique. You could live with Kushina and Naruto."

"No. This is something that the Hokage must do. I will make this sacrifice for my son."

"Hai, Minato-sama."

Sarutobi walked in to find Kushina holding an infant Naruto. She looked up at him, pleading not to take her son. He understood but shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry Kushina. I wish things could be different too, but this must be done." He slowly took the boy out of his mother's arms and said, "I'm sorry." one more time then ran out of the room.

"Minato…" the Sandaime came it holding a bundle of white blankets. He handed it to the Hokage.

He removed the sheet covering his son's face. He could only say one thing about what he had helped create; perfect. Naruto was half asleep and grabbing towards his father's face, but he had a tuft of blonde hair and blue eyes, just like him.

Minato wished that he could have at least an hour with his child but he knew that it wasn't possible. So then he gave the only gift he could right now. Minato kissed his son on the forehead and held him close. "Namikaze Naruto, take care of your mother. Love her as I have. That is all I ask of you." He whispered in his ear. Minato kissed Naruto one last time and handed him over to Sarutobi. He turned away to hide the silent tears. "Go now." he commanded. The Sandaime bowed and left.

'You are a great Hokage, Minato-sama. You are better than I ever was. You are the greatest of us four.'

A cry went up. "The Yondaime! The Yondaime Hokage is here!" many of the men and women cheered as Minato came up riding on the top of the head of Gamabunta.

He stood there, analyzing the situation. The Kyuubi was at least the size of a ten story building at the shoulder and each of its tails was at least the length of a football field. Its fur was a dark red-orange with black tipping each of its tails, ears and paws. Red, bloodthirsty eyes immediately focused on its new opponent. It bared its giant teeth and began to advance.

"Everyone, fall back!" he yelled out. He performed the hand seals, summoning the Shinigami. "Reaper Death Seal!" the purple claw of the death god reached around Minato and went into the head of the demon fox, grabbing his soul and chakra.

The Bijuu roared in agony which could be heard for miles around. The claw slowly pulled out a bubbling red mass out of the Kyuubi and once it was free, it flew back towards the village. It went over the Hokage Monument and spiraled down like a cyclone into Naruto's belly. The soul and chakra was pushed in and the claw went in itself before retracting out and flying back to the Shinigami.

Once Minato felt the Kyuubi was in its new prison, he did a snake hand sign. "SEAL!!" the claw once again came from its owner, plunging into the Hokage and slowly separated his soul from his body, painfully and antagonizingly slow. His eyes rolled back into his head, his body stiffened and his head snapped back 'Good bye…Kushina. Good bye…Naruto.' His body crumpled on top of the toad's head, lifeless.

Sarutobi sighed. "It is done." He took Naruto from the ring of candles. The first thing he noticed that was different about the child was the three whisker-like marks that appeared on either cheek. Then he noticed the seal on his belly that glowed bright red. He adjusted the crying baby so it would be easier for him to run to the hospital. He got there, returning the child to Kushina. She appeared more distraught and tired than ever before, holding herself tightly and shivering. When he showed her Naruto, she immediately calmed down a lot, though not entirely, and snatched him up.

"Its okay darling, mommy's here, mommy's got you. Shhh, everything is going to be alright." Kushina whispered to him, tears streaming down her face, cradling him close and brushing his new face marks. Sarutobi stood there, watching the broken and scared mother fawn over her living reminder of her dead husband.

"Kushina…tomorrow, we'll…talk," said the Sandaime before walking out of the room knowing that tomorrow would be just one bad day after another.

A/N: ;-; It was so hard to write Kushina giving birth and talking to Minato. I don't know why, it just was. Probably beacuse it was such a sad and defining point in the story.

Ok what Kushina means is something from Japanese folklore. I was reading this book that my dad lent me about Japan's history. The mythical story of creation said something about the son of some gods coming down to the Earth and he landed in the land of Hyuuga, which is on the southernmost major island of Japan. That's what she means by the "Province of light"

Hey did you guys also know that there was a land (a large one too) called Nara?

GIve me some love (dattebayo!) in the form of many reviews and I'll update. I need something to make me feel better after writing the depressing scene.

Next Chapter (hopefully I don't change my mind): Kushina's fate is determined, and a teenage Naruto gets the shock of his life.

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