AN: So, I want to thank everyone for the reviews so far.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Fair warning, Sasuke may be a little OOC this chapter, but when you have an Uchiha paired with someone and in love it's impossible for them not to be a tad out of character.
Also, for anyone who wants to see what Kiyoshi and Nariko will look like once their around the ages of 3-5 there is a link on my profile. Along with her battle kimono as well.
The pictures are just edited screenshots from the anime which should be obvious as I can't draw anything but scenery very well. You'll also notice Naruto's kimono is similar to Temari's in Shippudan. It is a edited version of it.
A Quiet Thunder Arc.
Eternal Spiral.
Chapter 8: The Lovers.
Nearly a full month had passed since the night of the Blue moon, and her childrens birth.
A rare time for anyone to be born, seeing as blue moons weren't exactly something that happened every month. Sometimes, as far as she knew, they didn't happen every year.
She'd laughed upon realizing this. It was a strangely Uchiha-like thing to do, being born on the blue moon. Though if Jiraiya's memory was right she'd been born on a full moon.
Naruto didn't necessarily think to much on this, as she didn't really hold much for symbolism in things like being born on certain days or lunar cycles.
But she was babbling.
She was just happy to be through with the pain of childbirth.
Naruto had decided it was best for them to stay in Wave for a while after having the twins. Or at least until they were a little older and she and Jiraiya knew where they would go next.
As it was, with two infants with them they'd have to be careful as to where they went and what attention they attracted.
A part of her wanted to visit Suna. She had decided months ago she wanted to ask Gaara an important question. When she returned to Konoha she'd ask Hinata, Sakura and Kakashi the same question.
She'd at first thought of asking Tsunade but she figured she might enjoy the role of grandmother more than godmother.
Not to mention her being so much older... if anything did happen to her or Sasuke the chances of the Hokage being able to care for a child was slim. After all, the Sandaime had only been able to do so much for her with the time he had to spend working as Hokage.
It was pretty obvious what the question was, she was going to ask them if they'd be Kiyoshi and Nariko's godparents.
She wasn't sure if it was even allowed for her to have two sets of godparents, one for each twin. But by the ramen gods she was doing it.
Of course if anything did happen to her she suspected they'd decide who had the better resources and time to care for the twins and not split them up.
It was simply precaution, after all, Gaara was all the way in Suna. Hinata, Sakura and Kakashi were in Konoha.
This was all to prepare for the worst case scenario. But better to be safe than sorry.
The twins themselves were growing so quickly, at least in her eyes. She was always happy to be with them, and even if they were yet to be a complete family it was a start.
Someday she had hope Sasuke would return with her to Konoha and they'd be a true family.
Part of her feared a possible rejection though, after all, they hadn't planned on being parents so young. They really hadn't planned anything seeing as she wasn't even sure what they were to each other.
She knew her feelings for him, but she wasn't sure what she was to him. Not anymore anyways.
Ero-sennin would tell her she worried too much. That he doubted the Uchiha boy would reject her, seeing as if he felt nothing he'd have killed her at the Valley of The End all those months ago.
She couldn't help but want to believe that, but Sasuke was an enigma even to her at times.
On another note, nearly two weeks after having the twins she was able to return to more physical training. This wasn't exactly easy though, since she had to be a mother to her children as well.
Thankfully she was quickly falling into a routine on how to train and take care of Kiyo-chan and Nari-chan (nicknames she'd given the two ravens).
She would either have them with her, being watched by one of her shadow clones while she trained. Or she'd watch them while she made hundreds of shadow clones to work on her training.
The down side of using shadow clones to train was it didn't work to build muscles or even speed, it just gave her the experience and knowledge after expelling. So she had to work on physical aspects of training herself.
Thankfully she also had Tsunami to watch the twins for her, which she hated to ask at first, but the older woman had taken a shine to the children she'd helped deliver.
Seeing Naruto as a daughter, Tsunami saw herself as one of the twins' grandmothers. Something Naruto was happy to allow.
Tsunami herself had been surprised by how quick Naruto recovered from having Kiyoshi and Nariko, but the Uzumaki healing and healing she received as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki made what might have been a month wait into almost a full two weeks.
In the five weeks since Kiyoshi and Nariko were born she hardly looked like she'd had twins, though she hadn't quite lost all of her baby weight.
As for Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari, they had really taken to the twins as she'd said. And Naruto was more than happy to have Tsunami's help when she was at a loss as to what Kiyo-chan and Nari-chan wanted.
Currently she was finishing mid-day training with Jiraiya, her hair pulled back into a long low ponytail held back by a white ribbon. Her bangs and fringe framing her face, the small blue hair-clip that held one side out of her face in place.
She wore a short-sleeved, black kimono that bled into a dark orange-red around her knees and reached down her legs to just above her ankles, with slits along the sides that reach just past her mid thighs.
Under this she wears a mesh armor long sleeved shirt which is seen from the rather low cut of the neckline, and the fact the long sleeves continue just past her wrist area.
Under the skirt area of the kimono are mesh shorts that stop a few inches above her knees, which are seen briefly when she moves.
A long dark blue sash is tied around her waist, and in a small loose bow in the back with the left over parts of sash free, and loose like two tails that stop just above her knees.
She also wears standard shinobi sandals, or more like boots seeing as they go up to her shins and have a very short heel.
Of course, Naruto isn't very tall, barely 5'2, which is better than the 4'11 she was two years before when she'd first become a genin.
Which made her realize it had been a year since she'd been back to Konoha, and two years since she, Sakura and Sasuke had become Team Seven.
But she digressed.
To finish her look there was the standard spiral of her clan. A larger one on the back of the kimono in orange-red, and a white clan spiral on the left sleeve of her kimono at her shoulder.
Very similar to the white one on the orange and blue jacket she'd had since she was little but hardly ever wore anymore.
Not only was it too small now but it was also much brighter orange and stood out more.
Naruto may love orange but she wasn't stupid, she knew the dangers of wearing too much orange as a ninja on a mission.
Training, or on her down time, that was another story. Over time she'd out grown the need to draw attention to her by wearing loud colors or decking herself out in kill-me orange.
Besides she had other colors she liked besides orange.
But moving on.
On her forehead was her hitai-ate, though the blue fabric had been changed for a black fabric not long after she'd left with Jiraiya on the training trip.
Around her neck was another hitai-ate but this one had a spiral, the symbol of her clan and Uzushio and had a dark violet-blue fabric.
She'd found the hitai-ate while they were staying at her clan house in Uzushio, and suspected it to belong to her mother since it had been in her room – something easy to figure out when there were names written on metal plaques on the doors in kanji.
The only bedrooms that didn't have a plaque were quest rooms, and the master bedroom.
Despite her mother never being a Uzushio Kunoichi it was obvious Uzushio considered her one since they'd left a hita-ate in her room, probably for if or when she came to visit.
Seeing as Uzushio no longer existed Ero-sennin hadn't said anything when she'd begun wearing the symbol of her mothers village. Even if they were still around, it was her right as the Uzumaki heir to wear it despite being a Konoha ninja.
The whole reason for the new wardrobe, and change from her old orange and black attire was the fact it no longer fit. With the slight increase of height, baby weight which she was steadily loosing through training, and increased breast size.
Which apparently was normal with pregnancy and was to accommodate breast milk - or something along those lines. Eventually they would go down to normal, but from what Tsunami said they may not go back to the exact size they'd been before she'd gotten pregnant.
She'd never been happier she'd sealed a few outfits from her clan home away for latter use.
There was quite a bit not harmed from the destruction and there was no point wasting money on new clothes if she had things that belonged to her through inheritance that she could wear.
"You're getting better at the Hiraishin," Jiraiya said, and Naruto smiled slightly.
Picking up the three pronged kunai as she stood, Naruto dusted off her kimono and tucked a bit of her long hair that wasn't retrained behind her ear.
"I think I need to work on my natural speed more though," she said, shrugging slightly.
After a moment she continued.
"The dizzy effect it has one me is bearable, but could be a liability in battle. I think it is caused because the Hiraishin is nearly to fast to be seen by the naked eye, and the normal human body to keep up with - seeing as you're moving nearly at the speed of light. Unless I train my speed I remain unable to keep up my awareness and eyesight once I reappear."
Ero-sennin grinned slowly, with what Naruto thought was pride in his eyes, and clapped.
"I was wondering when you'd catch on to that. It was something your father had to work around as well, but his speed was more by the time he'd begun using it in the war than yours currently is. It's also one of the reasons your mother never mastered the move. If she had lived and given a few years she probably would have."
Naruto nodded and ran a hand over the ponytail she'd moved to rest over her left shoulder. A habit of hers, running her hand over or brushing through her long hair. It calmed her down or simply gave her something to do when bored.
"That's enough for today," Jiraiya said, glancing at the sky where the sun sat brightly. "Tsunami is headed this way with your brats, brat."
Turning around briefly she could tell her sensei was right, the dark haired woman was walking towards them, the twins with her in a baby sling, and a extra sling with her.
"I wish you wouldn't call them that," Naruto said, rolling her eyes. "Kyuubi has been singing the same for months now."
Jiraiya raised a concerned eyebrow.
"Oh, has he been contacting you often?"
Naruto chuckled.
"Not exactly. The easiest way to enter the seal in through meditation," she began. "I simply meditate some and he likes to rant. Since the twins birth the space he has has grown so he's mostly been quest as of late."
Jiraiya nodded.
"Naru-chan, Jiraiya-sama, you both seem to be working hard," Tsunami said as she came to a stop hardly a foot from them.
Naruto couldn't help but express how happy she was to see her two raven haired children.
It had been hours, and she didn't know if all new mothers had a hard time being separated from their babies at first or not, but she knew she did.
In the first week she'd returned to training it had been hard for her to think of anything but Kiyoshi and Nariko and focus on training. Weeks later it still wasn't easy.
Tsunami handed her the extra sling, which she slipped on. It was made so one baby could rest on her back safely and the other on her chest.
"I think Kiyo-chan, and Nari-chan were missing you, Naruto," Tsunami said as the blonde teenager she thought of as a daughter reached for one of the twins, cooing softly as she pulled Kiyoshi to cradle to her chest.
Naruto smiled.
"I missed them too," she said and placed Kiyoshi in the front of the baby sling and then took Nariko from Tsunami and repeated the cooing, though cuddling her to her chest was a bit harder with Kiyoshi secured there.
"I hope they weren't any trouble though, if they're anything like their father they're stubborn," she said and Jiraiya snorted.
"They have a double dose of that then, brat," he said. "You're the most stubborn person I know other than your parents."
Naruto pouted and allowed Tsunami to help her get Nariko into a secured position on her back.
"They were no trouble," Tsunami said. "I enjoyed watching them, it's been so long since Inari was their age."
"Thank you," Naruto said, smiling. "I think I'm going to go introduce them to two old acquaintances today. It's close by so it's the perfect time."
Jiraiya blinked, unsure of what the girl meant. After all, she didn't really know anyone away from Konoha.
"Who are you talking about, kid?" he asked.
Naruto smiled sadly, and replied, "Zabuza and Haku."
Naruto recalled them with the most clarity of anyone she'd met outside the village – besides Inari and his family. Her extended family, she thought to herself.
She had actually thought of naming Kiyoshi, Kohaku in honor of Haku, but upon seeing her little boy she realized the name simply didn't suit him.
Nor did it suit Nariko. But she would keep the name for the future, after all, she'd always wanted a large family having grown up with nothing.
"Right, those missing-nin from your first C-Rank?" Jiraiya said more than asked.
Naruto nodded.
"Their graves aren't far. I'll see you both back at the house in about an hour," Naruto said, giving herself plenty of time before they began to worry.
She didn't plan to stay long, ten or fifteen minutes but she also thought it might be nice to go to a small meadow area close to the sea she'd found while exploring Nami no Kuni and the village.
Despite them being young, she didn't want the twins to only see the house, village and woods. She knew she'd get bored of that easily herself.
They might not remember, but she recalled her childhood only seeing the inside of Konoha and the forest.
Tsunami and Jiraiya nodded and left in a one direction while she headed in another.
What she found at the grave sight was not what she expected.
Sasuke.
It had taken him a few days to get to Nami no Kuni, much to his annoyance.
Upon arriving he located the first place to rest for a little while and then proceeded to a place he had not been in a while; Zabuza and Haku's grave.
It didn't seem like that long ago he'd stood in the very place, wanting to comfort Naruto yet being unable too. Not only because of his pride either. He hadn't had an attachment to either one of the two missing-nin.
Unlike Naruto who seemed to make bonds so easily.
The sunny blonde had a way of changing someone or bringing the best out in them.
She'd done, or had begun, doing the same to him. Long before he'd even begun to notice, really.
Ambivalent, a word hardly used but suited to Sasuke in many ways. Maybe not to a 'T' but enough that the word was something he'd remembered from somewhere.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke stiffened for a minute as he heard a almost husky voice mutter his name behind him.
He smiled, almost nonexistent.
"Dobe," he returned, and began to turn around to face who he knew to be there.
The first thing he saw was beautiful blue eyes, brighter than the sky – in his opinion.
Smooth sun-kissed skin and silky looking sunset blonde hair which looked to be in a low ponytail that she had draped over her left shoulder.
She was wearing something new, probably because she outgrew them as she looked to have gone through a small growth spurt, if the fact her breast looked a size bigger was anything to go by.
It was a battle kimono of sorts, mesh armor shirt, and short under it and split up the sides almost to her hips for movement.
Dark blue sash around her waist, the color of the kimono itself seemed to be a black that almost seemed a dark purple in the light that hit it which bleed into a dark orange-red that resembled flames the way it blended around the knee area.
On one shoulder he saw the white spiral symbol he knew to belong to her clan, like the orange-red one sure to be on the back of the kimono.
It suited her.
It was seconds later his eyes focused on something else which his brain had yet to catch up too.
A sling was over her chest, off white in color. The sling was not empty, and it wasn't for an injured arm either. Against her chest was one lump, and he glimpsed pale skin and rave hair, the same could be made out over her shoulder.
Babies.
Raven haired, pale skinned, one with what appeared to be dark eyes though he saw them at an angle so he could be wrong, and the other with a shade of blue. He was sure he saw whisker marks on both babies cheeks.
Babies, his mind repeated and he blinked.
"Na-ru-to..." he said slowly, drawing out her name. "Are... how...when?"
He felt faint for a moment, but shook it away. He was an Uchiha, Uchiha did not faint, even if they did suspect the women they loved to have had their children without them realizing it.
Naruto smiled softly, yet slowly, and began walking closer. As she got closer he saw the babies more closely, and realized there was no way they were anything but Naruto's. No one had those whisker marks other than her.
"Well, when and male and female love each other very much, or are simply into one another they decide to have sex...and sometimes the male and female forget basic sex education and..."
Sasuke sent the blonde a glare which held no anger or any emotion other than to let her know not to be stupid.
"Dobe, I know how babies are made," he said.
He looked from her laughing blue eyes down to the baby on her chest and the one on her back, looking over her shoulder at him with bright, light violet-blue eyes.
Not the exact shade of Naruto's but still blue. He figured they must be inherited from one of her parents, he wasn't sure who they were or what they looked like though.
As he stared he felt his stomach flutter and flop around. His chest felt tight and almost lethargic at the same time. So many emotions ran through him he wasn't sure where one began and another ended.
"I'm sorry, but it was too good to pass up," she said. "How did you find me?"
He smirked.
"You told me you were heading to Water Country, I just asked around. Eventually I found a lead. I didn't expect to find you here though, I thought by now you'd have moved on."
Naruto nodded, and then ran a hand through the baby with onyx eyes, he now realized, hair. It was a beautiful sight he realized as his breath caught in his throat.
"Well, I couldn't go far," she said.
"Why didn't you tell me, Naru?" he asked suddenly and he almost regretted it when he saw her eyes tear over.
"I wanted too, but I didn't even know until I was already in Mizu no Kuni. I'm pretty sure I conceived in May..." she began.
"May, but they don't look as if you'd had them too recently. They look at least a month old," Sasuke interrupted, trying to mentally figure out when they'd been born.
Honestly he was still shocked. He hadn't even thought of the possibility their time together would produce twins, but than he should have thought of that.
Thinking back on it he just assumed she was on the pill like most Kunoichi their age.
He was pretty positive she had been too, seeing as he recalled accidentally coming across it on their mission to snow when he'd been looking in her bag for extra kunai.
That had been awkward, thankfully no one had been around to see him blush.
Nonetheless he wasn't upset or displeased with the development.
Actually the only emotion under the happiness and curiosity was fear. Fear of being a bad father and fear of history repeating. He'd wanted to restore his clan, but not until Itachi was gone.
"They were born on December 31st, a few weeks early actually," Naruto said, shaking him from his thoughts. "It isn't uncommon for twins to be early though."
Sasuke nodded and hesitantly reached out, stopping just as his hand would touch the feathery looking hair on the onyx eyed babies head he heard Naruto giggle – a uncommon occurrence for the blonde.
"Don't be a scaredy cat, Sasuke," she said, and smiled brightly at him.
Reaching out she guided his hand and laid it on the babies head, her hand covering his gently.
"See, it's fine," she said.
Sasuke frowned for a moment and than smiled, a true smile for once.
"I'm sorry I didn't try to find you, and tell you. I'm sorry to say I didn't plan to tell you until they were older... but I was just afraid. I don't even know what we are, what we're doing. I have enemies who would use them against me – Akatsuki especially – and Orochimaru."
Looking up Sasuke noticed Naruto was close to crying.
"He's obsessed with the Sharingan, if there is even a hint of a chance they'll awaken it... he'll want them too. I've already lost you, I can't loose them too!"
Sasuke let his hand fall from the place he had it on the babies head and moved it to cup Naruto's cheek.
He gritted his teeth together, understanding what she meant. While it hurt that she would leave him in the dark for years if she'd had the chance, he understood why.
The less people to know the safer it was.
She was also right about Orochimaru. In that moment he wondered who was more dangerous to his children – something he still wasn't quite used too, but enjoyed being able to say immensely – Itachi or Orochimaru.
In that moment he regretted leaving Konoha more than ever.
Though if he hadn't left, he had to wonder if the twins would have been born. He knew he still would have loved Naruto, but would they had been born? Probably, he thought.
"You haven't lost me, Naru-chan," he said, his voice more gentle than Naruto had heard since they were children, before the massacre.
"I would go back with you right now if it wasn't for the fact it would only cause Orochimaru to come looking for me. It's better I continue with what I started and once I have enough power, kill him myself. Then Itachi, after my brother is gone I'll come home, and face the consequences of my leaving."
Naruto blinked, not wanting to cry at his words.
They were bittersweet, and involved a lot of waiting she realized.
"You promise?" she asked.
Sasuke reached into his shirt and pulled out a silver chain necklace with a small Uchiha fan pendant.
"I promise," he said and almost choked on the next words. Not because he didn't mean them, but because he'd not told anyone these certain words since his clan had been alive. "I love you, Uzumaki Naruto. This necklace will be my promise."
Naruto's eyes widened and she gaped at the onyx eyed boy – no man – before her.
She had never heard him say those words, not since before the massacre and she'd never expected to hear them directed at her. Her heart burst with joy and she smiled.
"I love you too," she replied and allowed Sasuke to latch the necklace around her neck.
"What are their names?" he asked, and Naruto could have hit herself.
She hadn't given him their children's names.
"Uchiha Kiyoshi is the oldest and the one on my chest," she answered, smiling proudly. "Uchiha Nariko is the one on my back."
Sasuke surprised her again by smiling, and not in the subtle Uchiha way, this one was almost a full blown grin.
Naruto seeing the look in his eyes knew what he was afraid to ask and gently pulled Kiyoshi from the sling.
Seeing Sasuke's eyes widen so much when she practically shoved the wide awake baby, which looked so much like him but with what seemed like spikier hair, into his arms she couldn't help but burst into laughter.
For now, she realized, she was happier than she'd been since just after their first C-rank mission, before the horror of the Chūnin Exams.
For in that moment their family was together, and though she knew it was temporary at the moment, she would treasure it.