Chapter 26

She had never been shocked in all of her life, never been devastated, and never been miserable all in one. How was this possible? When did it happen? She had been with Sasuke since Hebi was formed, yet why didn't she know about this?

Sasuke had a child.

That single fact leaves a bitter taste on her mouth. Worst of it was that the child was Sakura's. Pinky!

Pinky had an intimate moment with her Sasuke? WHEN? She thought Sasuke had nothing to do with his former team, more or less when it comes to Pinky? How the hell did it all happen?

Karin, gripped the edge of the table. It hurts. It really hurts inside. She wanted to cry, she wanted to shout.

Sakura and Sasuke's child.

Their daughter.

She thought she already had an edge when it comes to Sasuke. But now this?

Had Sasuke been aware? Of course he's not. If he was, he would have already acknowledged it, then everyone in Konoha will know about it. Sasuke was kind of a celebrity, everyone was waiting for his next move and his next plan. Everyone was waiting for him to finally settle down and know the lucky woman who'll become the new Uchiha matriarch. And everyone was waiting for the next line of little Uchihas.

It seems Pinky don't have any plans to tell the Uchiha either. Would that mean the child was not planned at all? A one intimate mistake and that Sasuke was not aware of it? So, Sakura did not expect this as well wasn't she? That's why she didn't tell the Uchiha! Then what was she's planning? Why won't she tell Sasuke? This was her chance to finally capture the elusive Uchiha right? I mean, if she's on her shoes, when she'd learned she'll bear an Uchiha, she would take up that chance to tie up Sasuke to her.

Without any second thought.

Sasuke had a daughter.

So much has been running on her mind.

"Karin, let's go. I have all the documents here…are you alright?" Kotetsu asked, looking at her.

She must have looked pale to him and was on a deep thought. Karin acted her best to look normal.

"Ah, yeah. I haven't eaten breakfast yet so I was kinda hungry. Is this all the papers we need?" she asked, feigning ignorance. Kotetsu nodded, then leading the way out of the Archives. The red-head followed him.

Karin reached the Hokage tower and handed the blueprints to the Hokage silently, which seemed a bit odd to Tsunade. Usually, Karin would scowl and whine, its her usual forte, but today she seemed a bit pale and lethargic. Had she inhaled all the dust in the Archives?

"You alright?" Tsunade raised a brow asking her.

"I am totally fine, Tsunade-sama," Karin indignantly said, lifting her nose in the air while adjusting her glasses. "I'm just a bit hungry, I'll go grab something to eat then I'll deliver these to Sasuke," she said.

"Okay," Tsunade answered without lifting her eyes. She's already busy scribbling notes on a scroll.

Karin bowed slightly and silently exited the room, clutching a few papers. When she was a few meters away from the Hokage room, her right hand went to her jacket's pocket…and she hold tightly to that little green scroll.

Her mind was working on things to do. But first things first…she wanted to see the little girl.

SxS

As promised, Sakura and Ryuna climbed up the Hokage Mountain and had their picnic on that beautiful Sunday morning. The mednin prepared sandwiches and drinks for them to dig in and the weather was so good and breezy. She laid a blanket under a tree.

"Whoa~ Mommy! You can see everything here!" Ryuna exclaimed. Her daughter has been so thrilled this morning when the pinkette told her that they're going for a hike and climbed the Hokage Mountain for a picnic and just spent time together. She had been coped up with all the hospital works and recently, most patients came in down with a nasty cold. Nothing serious though as it can be just a common cold and allergies but so far, no heavy casualties when it comes to the Shinobi people. The perks with all the peace reigning and the treaty of five countries in effect, it is a good thing. Still, the hospital went so busy that she had to do a twenty-four shift sometimes. So when she finally liberated herself from all of that, she told Ryuna they're going for a hike.

"Yeah, be careful you won't fall from there," Sakura shouted as she eyed her little girl watching the view. It was safe though because there's been a safety railing placed on the edge of the cliff for people who had wanted to tour around the Hokage Mountain. For a limited time (because Hokage Mountain is also the headquarters for the ANBU special squad and honestly any civilian is forbidden to climbed up or to be in the vicinity of the mountain), people can visit the place, with special permission from the Hokage. "Your food is ready," the mednin called in. Ryuna came and sat on the blanket and grabbed the plate her mother had prepared for her and started eating.

"Honey, I might be gone for a bit for a mission. Probably maximum of one week but I'll see to it that I'll get home in an early as three days," Sakura started. The convoy for Suna for the Chuunin exam has been released yesterday and she had just received the mission scroll with it. She's one of the members delegated to look out for the participants for this year's Chuunin Exam. She was assigned as the main medic to take care of the pre and post examination of the participants from Konoha during the entire event. She will make sure that no one will die in this exam, though she expected few serious injuries and few broken bones to occur to some of them but nothing she can't fix. Together with other Konoha Shinobis, she noted that Naruto will stay by the Hokage's side the entire time.

"Can I come? I wanted to see the Chuunin Exam," Ryuna plead.

"Nope," Sakura pinches her daughter's nose because she just made that cute face, "it's not time for you to see those kinds of things yet," Sakura said her eyes went soft, "soon." Sakura chuckled because Ryuna pouted as she said the word soon.

"Yo! Nice to see you two here," greeted Naruto who walked up towards them.

"Uncle Naruto!" Ryuna shouted and run towards the grinning Jinjuuriki.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Getting away from Tsunade-baachan," Naruto smiled then winked. The jinjuuriki must've escaped from Tsunade's lesson again.

Yes, Tsunade has been training Naruto for administrative job for a Hokage, and Naruto hates paper works more than anything else aside from waiting three minutes for his instant ramen. He prefers to be in the frontline and face the situation personally.

"You'll get an earful from Shishou later," Sakura said as she handed him an onigiri, "Shishou's doing this for you and that's to prepare you when you seated as the Hokage. You asked for it, you have to deal with it,"

"But Sakura-chan, sitting there and doing all the sorting and filing and..and all that stuff!? I'm going to die!" Naruto said exaggerating the situation. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"That's the Hokage's real work! Managing the whole village, getting to know all sorts of problems and making sure that the whole village is running smoothly," she said, "being Hokage is not just brawling out there. You can protect everyone behind a desk too!"

Naruto pouted, " I know, I just hate it. You know I don't have the head for those kinds of things," he murmured.

"Naruto, remember, you are not alone. Why do you think Shikamaru volunteered himself as your right-hand man?" Sakura stared at Naruto, "humans are not perfect. We got a lot of faults and flaws. That's why we have comrades and friends and those dear to us to fill in those gaps for us, right?"

Naruto smiled and somehow that lifted his spirits. "We're going to Suna in two days, you ready?"

"Yeah, somehow it's just for formalities but I'm not really needed there," Sakura said as she wiped Ryuna's mouth. The little girl has been silently sitting and attending to her food, "I'd rather stay here and spent time with my little bunny here," she pinched Ryuna's nose again which made Naruto giggle.

"Me too, but I wanted to see Gaara again. Besides, Sasuke is not coming as you know he's busy rebuilding the Uchiha District. Man, if you look at it now, you can say it's much better than in the old days. Sasuke had asked Tazuna to build a manor it's so big at least 20 families can live together there!"

Sakura did not answer. She just nodded and smiled as Naruto updated her for the happenings so far. It's a relief to know really that the Jinjuuriki seemed to forget everything from what happened in the club. Probably Sasuke had also forgotten about it too, not to mention he's occupied with the construction of his home.

"That's good to know," she just said.

"The progress has been fast actually because the carpenters were all so skilled, not to mention that a lot of people had helped in the construction," Naruto continued narrating, Sakura seemed listening but was busy doing something while Ryuna looked at them one way to the other.

Frankly, the mednin didn't want to hear anything about it because in the end, she has nothing to do about it right? It would just hurt her that someday some other woman who will bear Sasuke's kids will be the one to live there. It just saddens her really that for reality check, Sasuke's new family will live there.

Well, enough with the sentiments, she thought as she lovingly stares at her little bundle of joy. At least I have my daughter and for me…that is more than enough I could ask for from him.

SxS

Two days after that, the group to Suna departed from Konoha for a three-day non-stop dash towards the Sand Village. Ryuna was left in the academy again and right now they're having an activity outside the classroom.

"Okay class, we're going to learn how to sense chakra. I know you can mold your chakras now but you can also learn how to sense it. In battles, being able to sense chakra will save you from many situations. This is quite true as you can discern your enemies potential with this, not only you can feel them and know that someone is out there, " their sensei told them as they quietly sit in the ground, "A skilled sensor can detect their targets from a great distance as well as differentiate the characters by their chakra signatures. We will come to that part by the way, how to differentiate chakra signatures, but for now let's do the basic," their sensei explained.

Anyone is capable of sensing chakra but not everyone can be a sensor, Ryuna remembered this from the book she was reading yesterday.

*Everyone had a certain sense that allows them to detect chakra. This sense was most apparent when touching another person or an object that contains chakra however it's possible to sense chakra from a distance. Even with training, for most shinobi that wouldn't extend beyond ten meters unless there's a powerful and/or huge spike of huge chakra.

A smaller percentage of the populations are known as Sensors. Their ability to sense chakra extends far beyond what most people are capable of, allowing them to detect targets from a great distance as well as differentiate individuals from their chakra signature alone. They possess an awareness of when other sensors are using their ability. The range and detail of this technique varies between sensors as some are so skilled that they can tell when a person is lying or preparing a jutsu whilst others can only tell the general direction of a chakra mass

It's also possible for a ninja to suppress their own chakra to prevent them from being sensed. For most ninja, this doesn't completely hide a person's chakra but it does make them far harder to sense which is useful for stealth and evasion. A sensor on the other hand is essentially able to make themselves completely invisible to chakra sense at the cost of not being able to use their own chakra sensing. It's very difficult to use a jutsu and suppress chakra at the same time due to the needed concentration, usually forcing the ninja to stop the suppression when they need to attack or defend.

Some shinobi have developed specific jutsu which allows them to detect the presence of enemies either because they aren't sensors or to expand the range of their sensory ability. This is known as contact-type sensing. The most notable examples are Nagato creates rain infused with his chakra and Gaara who spreads a special type of sand over an area.*

Their sensei stood in front of them, "Now, we are going to play," he told them. "It's like hide and seek. Go and get a partner and I'll tell you after that,"

The children scattered around looking for a partner. Ryuna looked around to check who's still available and saw that nobody approached Aburame Sachi. So she smiled and went towards her to ask if she would like to partner with her but Keita, the one who always bullies her, had approached the timid girl. Probably he had asked to be partnered with her, but there was hesitation on Sachi's expression but she saw her nodded nonetheless. Ryuna felt there's nothing good with Keita asking Sachi to be his partner so she approached both of them but someone had stopped and grabbed her wrist. When she turned around, she saw one of her classmates, Jin, holding her wrist.

"Ah, I don't have a partner yet," Jin, with apologetic expressions said.

Jin is a good looking boy and probably the prettiest boy in the entire class. Ryuna would always find him surrounded by girls and he seems really nice.

"Uh," she turned again to check on Sachi but she saw her following Keita, so she looked at Jin again who is still holding her wrist, "o-okay…"

"Yatta!" Jin sighed then released his gripped on her wrist, "I was so worried you might have declined me. I really thought you're snob, but I see that you're friendly. By the way, I'm Jin Tachibana,"

"R-Ryuna," she timidly said, finds it weird that the famed boy from her class is talking to her, "Haruno Ryuna,"

"Nice to meet you Ryuna-chan. I often see you around and wanted to be your friend. I'm glad I did it today,"

Ryuna just nodded.

"Well, let's do this! We'll show them we can do this ahead of them, right?"

"Okay,"

They heard the teacher started to clap his hands, so they turned towards him and listened, "Ok now that you have your partners, here's what we're going to do. One of you will hide, while the other will seek. You must find them using your chakra and by sensing them!"

Their sensei heard a lot of ohhhs and ewwws. "Sensei, that is impossible! We don't even know how to do that," one boy said.

"Well, let's see. I'm going to release my chakra and you should be able to feel it," their sensei told them.

He released a massive form of chakra that everyone could feel. The little children were in awe as soon as they felt it. It was like being washed up with a warm and heavy air.

"That's how my chakra felt. To those who are seeking, you have to feel them and concentrate. You have the whole day to do it anyway," sensei told them as he laughed, "Just don't go out from the academy's premises!"

Everyone said a half-hearted "Hai!"

The children scattered around with those who had decided who will hide and who will be the seeker. Ryuna decided to be the seeker and Jin will hide. The two had picked a place, in the school's backyard and decided to do it there. When Jin had hidden himself, Ryuna was left in the middle of the yard.

She closed her eyes and remembered everything her mom and Uncle Naruto had taught her. Concentrate and feel everything around you, use your senses to work, don't rely on what you see and what you hear but what you can feel.

Ryuna tried but she seemed she can't do it. So she tried again and again. Suddenly, with eyes closed, she could feel a slight flicker of something new to her. Is this what chakra feels like? She opened her eyes but she sees no one but the flicker is still there, like a warm prickling sensation on her skin. She turned left and right to see but no one's around. She closed her hands into a fist and determination plastered on her face. I can do this!

She run towards where she could feel that prickling sensation and every step she took, the feeling is getting stronger and stronger. She smiled. She can find Jin in no time!

Wait, how would I know that that chakra is from Jin? So she stopped on her strides and fall on a deep thought. She could feel it moving now so she looked on the direction it was coming. It was from inside the building. No time to think, I'll see when I get there!

Just when she turned towards the building, she saw Sachi and Keita walking together and their heading out towards outside school premises.

"You know, if we wanted this to work out, we gotta do it in a nice and quiet place," Ryuna heard Keita said. Sachi was behind him following silently.

Where are they going? The teacher told us not to go outside of school grounds, Ryuna thought. Torn between following the two or continue looking for Jin, she had decided it's better to follow Sachi and Keita. She's worried about her friend.

Following the two closely without them noticing her, Ryuna looked back and realized they have been walking for a while and are now in the outskirts of the village. No one had noticed the three of them and they are now entering a forest. [Ryuna doesn't know this part of the village but if you walk west from the Academy, you will reach the Forest of Death, where the Chuunin Exam was held. This area was still intact as this was located outside the village walls. The density of the forest extends towards the village and has only specially built walls and security to avoid people from getting inside the forest. As you know, many wild and untamed animals are being studied and are breed over there :P). The trees are getting thicker with each step they made and they can hear a lot of noises from animals they don't know what or where. Ryuna was getting nervous but she has to know and follow them. She was even aware that her Mom will be very angry at her because she had broken one of their set rules; never to set foot outside the village without telling the senseis. But it's now or never.

After the long walk, Keita finally decided to stop, so she also stopped and hid herself behind a tree. She peeked at them and looked what they're planning to do.

"Now, I will hide and you will find me. Got it? You can even use your bugs for that," Keita smirked.

"B-But I don't know how to control the bugs yet," Sachi gently said, looking at the ground, "I wasn't taught how to use them yet,"

"Not my problem," he said then he walked.

"W-Wait! You're going to leave me here?" Sachi asked, almost wanted to cry.

"I am not going to leave. I will hide so you'll have to find me! And if you don't then I'll leave you!" Keita said then he ran.

"K-Keita-kun…" there was pleading in her voice as she called him, tears started to fall on her eyes, but it fall on deaf ears as she saw the boy ran away from her and jumped towards the bushes.

Keita had vanished from their sight, Sachi was left alone standing in that area. Ryuna sat on the ground, still hiding behind the tree and waited, until she heard a soft sob from Sachi. She peeked and saw that Sachi was crying. She had this urged to come out from where she's hiding but somehow she thought that this could also help Sachi in her training some way or the other. So she waited patiently.

"I-I can do this! Nii-san will be proud of me when I told him I can do chakra-sensing," Sachi said after crying. Ryuna smiled. Her friend is encouraging herself, so with a little prayer, she also cheered her up on her mind. Gambare*, Sachi-san!

Five minutes went to fifteen, and fifteen went to thirty. Sachi was trying her best, concentrating the best she can, trying to find Keita. She also tried to walk around, Ryuna following her. Now this troubled Ryuna more than finding Keita. They are walking blindly inside the forest and they are in an unknown territory. She remembered her Uncle Naruto explaining to them that as a shinobi, forest is your greatest ally. You can use the forest to conceal yourself, but can also be your biggest enemy. You don't know who or what was hiding behind those tree or bushes.

And the two of them are in grave danger.

Sachi stopped walking and trying to concentrate again. Ryuna did as well but of no use. The only chakra she can sense is Sachi's which she had determined awhile ago. Her chakra is subtle and smooth, just like her personality. This actually made her wonder what her own chakra felt like. Getting her mind on the their situation, Ryuna snapped her head towards the sound of something feral. Her eyes turned wide upon seeing that Sachi was facing a huge dog. No, it's not a dog, it's a wolf.

"Sachi!" Ryuna called out showing herself to the girl. Ryuna had a good view of what was in front of them, it is a grayish black wolf with its teeth bared at them. It is growling and looking, assessing their move. Its head was lowered meaning it will attack at any moment. Ryuna had never been so scared in her entire life. The wolf is so big and what could two little girls do with it? Sweat run from her brows, her mind working on something.

She hated Keita. If not for him, they won't be here. Probably, this is one of his bullying towards Sachi. From the start, he had planned to leave the little girl in this forest. And she had dislike Sachi for letting someone like Keita bully her. As a friend, she wanted her to have more confidence in herself so that no one can look down on her. One day, she will talk to Sachi and tell her about that. And she will talk to Keita and his friends too, to ask them to stop bullying little Sachi.

But for now, they have to get out from this predicament.

Ryuna looked at Sachi and the little girl was probably stunned because of fear, "R-Ryuna..-chan…"

"Sachi, don't move," Ryuna whispered, enough for Sachi to hear her. Slowly but surely, she grabbed a small kunai hidden on her back, one of the 3 sets her Mom gave her, gripping it tightly, the wolf snarled at them "when I say get down, you get down…okay?"

Sachi could not even turn her head towards Ryuna, she didn't want to move, "W-What are y-you going to do..Ryu-chan?" Sachi hiccupped as she continuously cried.

"Shh…don't worry," Ryuna's eye trained on the wolf which was now moving sideways, still snarling and growling at them, then it stopped, "now!"

As fast as she can, Sachi curled down, covering her head with her arms. Ryuna flick her wrist and throw a shuriken which she held on one hand, remembering the lesson his uncle had taught her. The shuriken gashed the wolf's face which made it stopped attacking Sachi. It looked at Ryuna.

"Come at me you big bad wolfie!" Ryuna said as she dashed as fast as her feet can drag her. The wolf ran after her.

It doesn't matter whether the branches and twigs cut her face, her arms or her legs. It doesn't even matter where she's running to as long as she can run away from the animal. With eyes close, arms swaying to part the bushes and plants away, she can't see anything. All that she knows was that she has to get away as fast as possible. She knew the wolf was just behind her, barking and growling. She won't turn around. A second waste for stopping and event pausing could mean death to her. So she should keep running even though her lungs is burning and her legs are in strain now. She's glad that she had saved Sachi but what should she do now? Mommy! She cried. Her mom will be proud of her for saving her friend, but in this kind of situation, why she's here in the first place was a dreaded thing to think. Her Mom will be fuming.

Without thinking and looking where's she's heading, her foot slip and before she had realized what happened, she was rolling on the ground downhill, snapping branches along the way. Ryuna had landed on a soft ground and before darkness claimed her, she saw the wolf approached her but suddenly flew off towards a tree, impaled with two kunais on its neck. She can't move, her whole body hurts especially her left arm. She heard footsteps approaching her. Who is it? Was Sachi okay? Was she able to look for help? With vision became blur every moment, she saw a pair of legs in front of her.

"M-Mom…?" she croaked. No its impossible. Her mom is away on a mission, and the person in front of her was not a woman. It's definitely a man.

"What are you doing here?" The man said. Ryuna recognized the voice and as the man kneeled down she had a good, but a bit blurry view of who the person was.

"Mr…Uchiha," she whispered, then she passed out.

TBC

A/N:

*taken from, Laws of Chakra.

Gambare – good luck

Hai - yes