Reviewers;
Czar Joseph: Ah! I saw your smillie face :))))) Hopefully, this next part won't make you hate me ;)
St3rfire: Ah shucksssssss. You make the author in me blush at your remarks Star. I will continue to update, but look to the AN for details on that.
Duh Bomb: You captured Naruto's turmoil between lust, love, trust, and mistrust all wrapped into his mind. It is the process where the story takes its toll on everything relevant, and where we begin to dig in more towards Naruto's side of things once more. Sakura was done for a good loop in your phrasing, desperate and yet worried for what is hidden inside. Now is the time to find out.
Harukei: Ah...you saw those little bits of foreshadowing did you? Well they are true, as this chapter will portray.
SkullWingD36: Well proud to do so.
Mangaka Shuzen: Hey, well glad you loved the lemon, and for this, Naruto is at the suspicious part of the romance of people where they don't want to look but do anyways. You know? And I did read one of your stories, the one with NS in the bikini shop, and I just have to say, wow, to what you'd want to do there.
AN: Hey everyone! Sorry about the long waits, and only one update a week, but another multitude of things have come up, and I'll be busy for about two weeks or so. You see, I'm buying a new laptop and making sure my files transfer over properly, but really, my sister is getting married this weekend and after that, I'm taking my cousins to amusements parks and outdoor recreation until next Friday at the earliest. They are my youngest cousins and they adore me, and I Will Not dissappoint them. As for my sister's wedding, let's just say that I'm working a lot of 'events' to help out.
AN2: Anyways though, let's get on with the last part of Arc 2!
Fire & Ice
Arc 2: Let It Go
Chapter 32: Want For More
Days came to pass, and Naruto continued to stay around Sakura's side, helping her in whatever she needed done, which was mainly just by providing his input and talking about their time apart. They did a lot of that really, Naruto talking about his various missions and the bounties on his head by various crime families and such. Sakura was soon to laugh at that, reminding him that she had whole countries after her own head, and they agreed after many concessions that they were both equal in that department.
But now, Sakura had taken Naruto on a grand tour of the castle, through its own secret passages, as Naruto had shown her so long ago the passages of Port Haruno's castle, except now it was Sakura's turn to show Naruto through these areas. One passage led from the ground floor all the way to the tallest tower, and another led to the gatehouse of the furthest wall, moving through the caves of the mountain itself. And so, after a few days, Naruto could see just how much work and imagination Sakura had placed into this project and into her new home made from her mind and her powers.
"Sakura, you are really something." Naruto spoke as they simply walked around the castle, enjoying the atmosphere. Sakura had given Naruto a new coat to help him with the cold and this one had the traditional red and black of the old Port Haruno but with the silver fur on the edgings and on the inside to keep him warm. Naruto was thankful and showed so through another session with his beautiful lover.
Sakura just smiled at him and leaned into his shoulder as they walked out of the castle and out along the city road. As they were walking towards nowhere in particular, the two pairs of eyes saw Layla walk around the corner, with two girls in either of her hands. And as soon as the girls saw them, they let go of their mother's hands and made their way to Sakura's side.
"Sakura-Nee-Chan!" The two girls exclaimed as they grabbed at the ends of Sakura's gown, pulling at the fabric between her hips and knees.
"Hey Miki! Suki! How are the both of you?" Sakura smiled as she bent down to hug the two black haired girls, and soon they were giggling and hugging Sakura back.
"Good! Mommy just picked us up from school!"
"And then she said we could play with Ronon!" Miki exclaimed, her blush prevalent on her face.
"And then we saw Tanya's babies!" Suki spoke happily, until her sister bonk her on the head.
"Puppies, Stupid!"
"I'm not stupid!"
"Yes you are!"
"Sakura-nee-Chan! Miki called me stupid!" Suki sniffled as tears came to her eyes.
"Well she is!" Miki retorted, as Sakura looked to her.
"Miki…" Sakura looked down at her as she grabbed the girl's shoulders and rubbed them, making the girl sigh and look at her twin sadly with a childish frown.
"I'm sorry, Suki."
Suki sniffled, and punched her sister's arm before giggling. "I forgive you."
The two girls moved closer and hugged the other, two identical masses becoming one.
"I love you!"
"I love you too!"
As Sakura watched the two girls sway side to side, their legs lifting into the air as they did so, and as they did, Naruto looked over to Layla as she smiled and walked over to him. "Your kids are beautiful."
"Thank you. It's one of the reasons why I envy normal human families though."
"Why?"
"Your children grow at a normal rate, and so you get to experience so much more time with them. I wish my little girls hadn't grown up so fast." Layla sighed and looked to Naruto with a kind expression. "I should thank you again for keeping our Queen happy."
"It's been her keeping everyone happy."
"Still, I imagine that many newborns will be born soon."
"Why do you say that?"
"Sakura-Sama told you about our linked feelings yes?"
"Well…yeah…"
"So when there is lust between the two of you…most of us were not able to function well enough to even make it out of the house this morning."
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I-"
"Don't be sorry. Most of us want bigger families. We'll love these next few months."
"I…I-uh…."
"Naruto? What do you think of my hair?" Sakura called out and the two turned to see Sakura holding the two girls in either of her arms, the girls laughing as their small hands held Sakura's long hair up and over her face, fanning out erratically rather than straight down. Layla and Naruto laughed as Sakura grinned at them and pleaded with the girls to try another hair style.
Naruto's eyes looked through the mixture of pink and black hair, straight at Sakura's shining emerald eyes, and the one thought in his mind was that Sakura would want this. She would want to be in the situation where she could hold a child in her arms….perhaps his child…in her arms?
A small hand pulled at his pants and Naruto's eyes refocused on the scene before him to notice that one of the girls had dropped down and soon stood in front of him. Naruto smiled and bent down as the girl was soon joined by her sister.
"What can I do for you Suki?" Naruto asked the girl to his right.
"I'm not Suki-"
"I am!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Miki." Naruto apologized, and heard the two women around him stand together and converse quietly, giggling at the scene before them. Naruto blushed a bit and smiled at the girls.
"So, what can I do for you girls?
"You're Naruto, right?"
"Yeah."
"Sakura-Nee-Chan's….L-lov-LOVER?" Miki pronounced slowly making Naruto blush before Suki hit her sister's arm once again.
"Not that, Miki! Nee-Chan's sex-buddy!"
"What? Naruto-Nii-Chan is going to put a baby in Nee-Chan?!"
The two girls looked innocently at Naruto who simply smiled nervously and pet their hair, while the girls continued to look at him for an answer and the older girls giggled and laughed at his terrible situation.
"Sakura-Chan? You here?" Naruto's voice echoed around the room that he slept in with his lover. Naruto opened the door a bit as he looked inside the room and noticed that Sakura wasn't there at all. She had said that she'd be here though.
'Huh…wonder where she is.' Naruto thought as he slowly closed the door, edging further inside the room, and made his way to the fireplace where, as always, Sakura's magical golden fire burned peacefully in the opening. Naruto leaned on the overhang, looking at the memories of Sakura's younger life that she seemed to have made from her own memories herself.
There was an image inside a small frame, and Naruto noticed that it was one of Sakura and himself, at the age of fifteen, and was just after Sakura had learned how to swim and Naruto could see the flecks of water in both of their hair. Naruto smiled at the picture and moved to grab it when the golden glow of the fire suddenly went out.
Now normally, Naruto would wait for the next thing to happen, but after feeling like something was wrong, his body moved on its own, his magic pushing into his legs as he sped towards the dark corner of the room, on the opposite end of the bed as light didn't reach this part of the room, and he slowly watched as the back wall of the fireplace slid to the side, casting a soft blue glow on the walls of the room that glittered off of the icy stones.
Naruto held his breath as Sakura appeared from the fireplace, before she looked carefully around the room, and then slowly reached over to the picture that Naruto had been staring at, and moved it back, and at the sound of a winch closing, the back wall closed behind her and Sakura looked back as the ethereal golden glow once again burned in its perch beneath her.
Naruto leaned forward, his eyes widening in confusion before he leaned back as Sakura's head twisted over her shoulder, looking directly at him, at his corner of darkness. Sakura's body soon followed and she began to walk towards him, her face looking with uncertainty in the darkness.
"Sakura-Sama?" A voice called out from the other side of the door and Sakura paused for a few seconds, making Naruto hold his breath as Sakura shook her head and turned to the door, walking towards it before opening it and smiled at one of the young teens her own age.
Naruto heard Sakura's voice carrying out the door and then down the hallway before he moved to the fireplace and stared at the picture once more. He shouldn't…..but he had to know. And so, Naruto grasped and pulled the image forward to where he had last seen it and slowly, the blue light glowed again, as the fire died and the door opened before him. Naruto looked around himself, hoping that Sakura would come in and show him inside herself, but this was his own choice and so he made his way inside the doorway and looked inside.
Once inside, he walked down a spiraling staircase, moving deeper and deeper into the mountain as he noticed how the ice stopped and the dry rock became pronounced, and after a brief graze of his hand, he found that it was smooth, cut into the rock by the slicing of ice.
Along the walls were not Sakura's normal fire, but super-heated torches of blue fire, and Naruto could only guess that they burned much hotter. And after a full minute of walking downwards, Naruto's feet hit the bottom step and as Naruto stepped inside the room, his eyes widened at the scene of a room, made for war, with maps of the world territory, and split between red, blue and green.
Naruto walked into the small room, and there were wooden tables pushed together, and Naruto's eyes looked closely at the clear glass in the center of the room, with snow and ice on the walls around the room, and the glass in the room held the map of the region on it as well. As Naruto stepped up, the colors shined brighter, and Naruto noticed more lines on it, the lines of the nations' borders.
In the left side of the map, it was green, and Naruto saw the Nara woods, the Yamanaka highlands, the Akimichi savannah, and the Inuzuka icelands, among other nations in this color. Naruto nodded as he looked at them and marveled at the points of their cities and capitals on the ice made glass.
Then Naruto looked to the right and saw the red swirling around the eastern and southern edge of the map, moving from the ten cities of the Uchiha plains, and into the sea before moving to the southern lands on the other side of the sea, where it was mainly deserts and other forms of lands...So then, Sakura had the information of the lands that Sasuke had assembled against her.
And then there was the blue color in the center of the map in the air, and Naruto noticed that this area was blown up to show the various walls, and canyon paths of the region. Naruto saw the magic moving through the glass and slowly Naruto widened his eyes as the blue border spread along the red and green provinces, maybe only a few feet in actual life, but it was something to be worried about. Naruto's eyes looked back to watch as the red conquered back half of the blue color and realized that the colors were fighting along the entirety of their borders, as if the blue in the sea was fighting in the water itself.
Naruto's eyes looked around for more information and saw a small book, with the Unity circle on the cover, wrapped in brown leather, next to a number of others, and as he watched, magical light shined dimly inside one of the pages, and so Naruto walked forward and opened it to the page in question to see words being written and as Naruto opened another book, he saw that the same thing was happening. Whoever was writing in one book was being written in all of them.
Naruto flipped through the book and then, as he read one of the mission titles, his eyes paused and he looked back at the screen in the air, watching as the ice slowly fought back against the red and more and more of the green was taken over. What was Sakura doing?
The lights were dark when Sakura returned to her room, and she knew that it was really early in the morning, and the sun had not yet risen. She hadn't meant to stay up with Layla's girls to see another batch of pups being born, but they had pleaded with her, and she felt like a godparent to all of the eight thousand occupants of this city.
Sakura's hand clamped on the door handle, as she sighed. Eight thousand…almost as much as Port Haruno was when it was one hundred years ago. To think, she had made as many of her citizens in so short a time as two years. Her plan would work, and then there would be peace. Everlasting peace.
Sakura opened the door and moved inside the room, and froze in place "…..Naruto? You're up?" Sakura asked, surprised as she looked to Naruto, who had his clothes back on, and ruffled as if he had slept in them as she had this past night. In fact, his eyes looked about as tired as she did.
"Yeah…"
"Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Sakura, you have to explain things to me."
"What do you mean-" Sakura began before she noticed that Naruto's traveling pack was on the bed, and fully pack as well. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Sakura….what is this?" Naruto asked, and Sakura's eyes widened as in Naruto's hand was one of her journey books, used by her commanders at the walls.
"...W-Where did you get that?" Sakura breathed out, her eyes frazzled and nervous. Naruto's eyes turned to the fireplace and Sakura sighed and leaned against the wall, her hands falling behind her. "So you were in here when I came out."
"Sakura, you need to explain yourself. What was that map showing exactly?" Naruto asked his eyes wide as he turned to face her. "What is Project Fuhen No?(Unchanging)"
Sakura gulped and looked to her lover seriously, before walking past him to the balcony, as Naruto grabbed his pack, placing it on his shoulders and followed behind her. Sakura looked up at the horizon and smiled sweetly.
"Naruto…haven't you ever imagined the world staying as it is? No hot summers, no blistering deserts? Life...staying just as it is?"
"We talked about it as kids…"
"Yes…and now, my powers are stronger than ever, and we can achieve that…a world wrapped in ice. A world where my powers are everywhere, providing food for everyone, providing protection against those who would attack helpless merchants."
"Sakura…"
"My magic automatically protects me in the snow, and so it would if there was snow everywhere. Imagine the world where I can protect everyone?"
"Sakura…you can't be serious…" Naruto spoke and Sakura turned to him, and he saw the madness in her eyes. What had happened to the girl he loved?
"I am completely serious, Naruto-Kun. You and me and my people here…We can start over…a new Garden of Eden…with your children and mine leading the world…"
"Sakura, what about Ino? Shikamaru? Kiba and Hinata?"
Sakura though smiled at him. "There are always sacrifices that have to be made when the world is created anew. In order in make this world, God had to destroy the idea that there was nothing in the universe and he made Life itself." Sakrua shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Naruto, her eyes a little too confident in her words and plans. "I'm just adding to that."
"But…Sakura, you'll destroy the harvest…and then people will die out…"
"Not those who are loyal to me, Naruto." Sakura smiled. "Once the ice and snow have settled, the survivors can continue to live if they pledge to me as Ino did. The Nara Woods will be taken care of for her people because of her pledge. Once the leaders pledge, I will take care of them. we'll be on top...as my house has always been."
"Sakura…Why?" Naruto asked, shaking his head as his breath grew ragged.
"I need more…power, Naruto. I can't last forever against Sasuke and his hordes of soldiers. My people are dying as fast as I create them. Already, there are orphans in my glorious haven. I cannot keep them growing. I must gain more power from the earth itself."
"But Sakura-"
"No!" Sakura yelled, her hand shining brightly as Naruto swore that for a second, Sakura's pointer finger froze, but then it melted, and Naruto's eyes looked to Sakura in realization as he moved forward and grabbed at Sakura's hand, and he cringed at the freezing temperature.
"Your hand is so cold, Sakura. This is why, isn't it?"
"I-I need to keep fighting." Sakura looked away, pulling her hand from Naruto's grip.
"No…you can stop. The alliance can defend you, and your new people."
"No…no one else needs to be around me but you." Sakura sniffled as she stared at him. "I want you to stay with me. Please."
"You are covering the earth just to keep yourself warm, Sakura. This plan of yours won't be enough."
"Then I'll cover the waters as well! And then the sky! Whatever I make, our children will live and survive in it. Life can begin anew, as it did hundreds of years ago."
"Sakura…" Naruto spoke as he backed up, and Sakura's eyes widened as she walked after him, her magic moving all over Naruto's body, as if he was beginning to run away from her. "Sakura…you will leave now, with me, or I will leave without you."
"Y-You wouldn't betray me, right? S-stay with me."
"Sakura…You must choose between fighting and having me."
"I-I can't!" Sakura pleaded and looked to Naruto, her eyes falling and small screams were heard as her people felt the heartbreak from their Queen. "Please! Stay with me! I-I'll leave the Nara Woods unfrozen! Just snow!"
"Not good enough.,,"
"I-I'll give you a son!" Sakura pleaded, and she held her stomach gingerly. "Please, Naruto! This whole plan needs you! I need you! I want you in my life!"
"You used to be selfless, Sakura. You were content with what you had, and now you are just as power-hungry as Sasuke. Maybe when you have realized your mistakes, you can find me again, but I don't want to see this side of you, never again. Naruto's magic glowed blonde yellow and Sakura screeched.
"Y-You can't leave me!"
"You can't stop me." Naruto spoke and disappeared in a flash, a screech following him through the castle, through the city, and soon Naruto reached the gate in less than ten seconds. Naruto looked around him and suddenly, the snow erupted all around him as he raced through the canyon passes and arrived at the western wall.
Using his speed, he raced up the wall and jumped into the borderlands, the snow jumping up all around him and as Naruto raced into the trees, the snow froze further into ice and seeped into the ground, a good thirty feet further than it had been from when he had arrived a few days ago. Sakura's powers were erratic and though Naruto slowed down to watch, he could only guess that his actions had caused Sakura to speed up her plan, with, or without him at her side.
AN: I know, I know. They just got together and I separated them again, but I had to do it for the sake of Sakura to see herself in a new light.
AN2: And next time, we will start into Arc 3, and start the final arc into this long story!