*IMPORTANT NOTICE!* As of 1/30/15, this chapter has NOT been EDITED because it ALREADY abides the FFN guidelines. To view the entire, unedited and much better version of this whole story, links are available on my profile.
I am abiding by FFN ratings and removing-anything overtly dark or violent, and the scenes of complete and unrepentant smut that are considered MA, from this site. I do this in order to protect reviews linked to my stories and account that I want to keep from anyone with an email account, hate for my stories, and want my account banned for whatever their weak excuses may be.
Warnings: Contains adult language, themes, and suggestions. It is not suitable for anyone below the age of 16 per FFN guidelines.
This chapter holds the scene that started this entire story. I actually dreamed the short sequence, starting from 'The forest was alive around him' and ends right around 'The cold feeling of shock started to spread across his body'. How that dream snowballed into this monster of a mpreg story is beyond me, it kind of just happened.
June 21st, still the sixth week
The forest of death was the same as Sasuke remembered it all those years ago, nothing different with those over sized trees and chain link fence. They walked towards a tent located in a small area where all the grass had died after it had been trampled on a thousand times.
"This is training field forty-four also known as the Forest of Death." Anko yelled before anyone could ask. She pointed out to the caged forest. "The setting for the second exam!"
"Why is it called the Forest of Death?" Someone asked. Anko smirked at the kid.
"You'll soon realize why." Her cryptic response made the group of genin freeze. Sasuke let himself smirk. "Well," Anko looked away from the genin she had been staring down and pulled a pile of paper from her inside coat pocket and showed it to the group. "Before we start the second test I have to pass this out to you!"
"What is it?" Another brave genin asked.
"It's a consent form, before you can take part in the test we must have your consent to this. And if you want to ask why it's because from here on out people will die." The silence was deafening but Sasuke could feel gazes moving from Anko to teammates. "Here, here." Anko handed the papers to the nearest person and urged him to pass them on. "I'm going to start the explanation for the second test-this is to test your limits of survival." Papers shuffled and Sasuke found a timid girl holding a small pack of papers out to him. Taking the stack he pulled one off the top and passed the papers on to a boy near him.
"First, I'll give you step-by-step instructions on the terrain of this training field. There are forty-four locked entrance gates to this field. There are rivers and a forest with a tower in the middle, from every gate there is about ten kilometers." Anko pulled a scroll out from her coat and opened it, showing everyone a diagram of the forest. "In this confined area, you will go through a certain survival program and the contents of which is an anything goes scroll battle!"
"What does that even mean?" A genin quietly asked his teammates, whispering lowly but Sasuke heard him, Anko seemed to hear too.
"I want you to fight for two scrolls, the heaven scroll and the earth scroll." Anko rolled the diagram back up and replaced it in her pocket. "To start each team will receive one scroll, half of you get the earth scroll and the other half get the earth scroll. The goal is to have possession of both and bring them to the central tower in time." Whispers started breaking out all around Sasuke, talk of the possibility of actually passing the exam. "In the second test there is a time limit and it's 120 hours. For those who can't do your math that's five days. Oh and beware the wildlife, they can get a bit rough." Anko continued on as though no one had started whispering in the middle of her explaining.
"There will definitely be people who are unable to endure the rigors of the course but you cannot give up in the middle of it! Now moving on to the conditions of disqualification." The whispers gradually quieted and Anko continued. "Number one, if all three members of the team can't make it to the tower with the heaven and earth scrolls within the time limit. Number two, if a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and lastly, do not look at the contents of the scrolls until you have reached the tower!" Waving her arms at the last part she turned her stare to Sasuke and smirked.
"That's it for instructions. Exchange your three consent forms for the scrolls in that hut over there. You'll then be given a gate and all of them will open simultaneously." Anko's stare didn't waiver from Sasuke as she pointed to the small hut on the side. "Finally, just a word of advice. Don't die!" She yelled. Her eyes finally moved away from him and she was smirking at all the rest of the genin.
Everyone seemed to disperse across the small, trodden valley. No one wanted to let anyone overhear their plans and strategies or even the discussions of whether they should continue. Even the redhead walked away from Sasuke and the Uchiha looked for the liveliest patch of grass and moved toward it. He watched her from the corner of his eye; she kept a fair distance from every other group and read the consent form while looking around suspiciously.
He could feel eyes on him; it wasn't hard to miss someone who had no teammates here. Lying down on the grass, hands behind his head and one foot propped up. It seemed as though more people started looking at him when he lay down than when he separated himself from the group. Group by group people were called into the tent, spent three minutes learning the rules and were sent out. They left for their gate immediately, eyeing the other competition as they left, guarding their scroll already. With eight of the teams already gone to their gates Sasuke listened as people shuffled around, getting anxious. The tent flap opened and the ninth team exited along with one of the chuunin who was helping out this test.
"Sasuke Uchiha." The chuunin called out. Everyone seemed to still, waiting for two more names to be called but there no other names to call out. Standing up, Sasuke dusted himself off and headed for the tent. Murmurs started quickly, rising in sound level the closer Sasuke got to the tent. At the point where he was halfway to the tent he heard the distinct sound of someone throwing a kunai. He didn't even have a second to react but it was more than enough time to turn around and catch the kunai by the handle. The grip was worn and fraying, slipping millimeters in his fist.
Looking around, he let his stare linger on a team from the hidden cloud village, knowing that the boy staring angrily back at him had been the one to throw the weapon. He flicked the weapon into the grass at his feet and turned away again. Stepping inside the tent, the chuunin let the flap drop and he was alone with four chuunin and Anko Mitarashi. Three of the chuunin were sitting behind a desk, Anko sitting in the middle and holding a clipboard with papers.
"You got lucky that this was the exam you took before, Uchiha." Anko glanced up from her clipboard to grin darkly at Sasuke. "We thought a five year cycle would be long enough but I guess not." Shrugging, he handed his sheet of paper to one of the chuunin the other held out the earth scroll and he took it, slipping it into his kunai pouch. "You're gate will be number thirty-six." The chuunin didn't look up as Sasuke nodded. Sasuke moved to the exit of the tent, the chuunin opened the flap for him. He gave the remaining teams and the redhead a look before following the chain link fence to his post, the thirty-sixth entrance.
"Kyoko Suzuki Ushinawareta." The chuunin called out, Sasuke waited for more names to be called out but when there weren't he couldn't help but turn around. The redhead was walking forward to the tent, her eyes focused on the tent, her shoulders shaking.
"Lost? Who would have a last name extended to 'lost'?" Sasuke heard some girl mutter loudly. It was too immature to be a scare tactic; she really was making fun of the redhead.
"And where are her teammates? I thought we could only take the exam if a whole team decided together on it." Another male spoke up loudly; he was on the same team as the girl who had asked the question before.
"Shut up you scrawny maggots!" Anko burst from the tent, glaring angrily at the whole group. "I've had just enough from all of you!" The older woman pointed at the redhead without looking at her. "This girl, along with Sasuke Uchiha have been given special permission by the Hokage herself to take the chuunin exams without teammates." She lowered her hand and huffed angrily. "Idiots." She muttered under her breath as she went back inside the tent. Kyoko continued stiffly, probably scared out of her wits, disappearing under the closing flap the chuunin held up. Sasuke glanced at the groups still waiting then turned around and continued towards his specified gate.
At this rate Sasuke couldn't see more than six teams passing the second test. If any of them couldn't figure out that having special permission from the Hokage was a bad thing for them, then as Anko said, they were idiots. Anyone with permission of the Hokage meant either, they were close friends to the Hokage, or they were too powerful for their achieved ninja level. It took five minutes for him to walk around to the entrance labeled '36' in red paint and when he finally did there was still more than enough time before the second exam started. Standing in front of the gate, Sasuke waited patiently for the bell to ring and for the gates to open. His mind started wandering; the first thing that popped into his head was all the various ways to torture the redhead, Kyoko.
Her last name must have been a mistake; 'lost' was to tag underage ninja or civilian of Konoha as missing. She must have been missing at some point before the exams. Regardless of what she had promised through a code from Konoha's own books, he couldn't trust a stranger with a secret this important. Even if Naruto didn't want him to kill anybody Sasuke would do whatever it took to protect his family. Sasuke looked up at the gate, his eyes wide in surprise. His family. The thought hadn't occurred to him before. He and Naruto were lovers but having a baby had been a completely separate idea. Now the two ideas had come together, a family.
The realization quickly set in, a feeling of giddiness started to swell in his chest and he held back a smile, the edges of his lips twitching upwards. He was going to have a family again, it seemed almost to good to be true. His determination was only strengthened by this epiphany. He wasn't going to let anyone or anything happen to endanger Naruto or his baby. With that thought in mind Sasuke heard the bell ring and the gate opened, the second exam had started. Quickly darting inside, the Uchiha ran up the first huge trunk of a tree, heading for the treetops.
From above the forest of death didn't seem that dark and dangerous, the tower standing in the distance. Giving the other teams a few seconds lead, Sasuke watched and listened. It was like the forest had become silent at the sound of the bell and the only ones making noise were the teams of genin. Taking out his ninja wire, Sasuke dropped back down below the foliage and jumped from tree to tree, following behind the team closest on his left. Moving quickly, Sasuke caught up to the team he was following and assessed them.
All three of them were male, short brown hair and grey clothing, the strongest leading them deeper into the forest. They were Mist genin and his best bet would be that the strongest held the scroll on his person. Silently, Sasuke unwrapped the wire from the kunai it was attached to and threw it, throwing it wide enough to catch both of the weaker teens. Before they could react, Sasuke tightened the wire and pulled the two kids together. They slammed against each other, both letting out a choked gasp of surprise. The third must have heard what was going on behind him so Sasuke used the two he'd trapped and pulled them back so he could fly past them.
Headed straight for the last free genin he slipped a kunai out from his pouch, the genin stopped on the next giant branch and turned around only to see Sasuke upon him, kunai aimed right at his throat. Frozen, the genin just stood there and would have had his throat slit if Sasuke hadn't pulled his kunai back and pushed the genin down with his other outstretched hand. The two who the Uchiha had captured fell and snagged against the wire in his grip, they were heavy but Sasuke simply dug the kunai into the wood and released the wire. The wire twanged heavily and dug into the bark but didn't break. Sasuke landed on both his feet with a solid thump against the wood, his kunai against the young boy's throat and his free hand reaching down for the pouch on his waist.
"Never let your guard down." Sasuke spoke quietly; he opened the pouch and dug around carefully. Finding the scroll he pulled it out and glanced at it, a heaven scroll. Slipping the second scroll into his pouch, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked into the genin's eyes. The only chance Sasuke got to use his Sharingan though, was to see the genin use a substitution and dart away behind a tree very close by. Seeing this as the best time to leave, Sasuke jumped forward, keeping his kunai out just in case.
Behind him, Sasuke could hear the genin yelling, trying to get a plan together before he got away with their scroll. The sound of shuriken being thrown through the air made Sasuke turned around and he deflected them with ease. The genin were hot on his heels and Sasuke knew he would have to do some fancy genjutsu to get them off his trail. With practiced ease he continued to jump from tree to tree backwards, making the genin seem even more frustrated than they already were. Quickly forming the hand signals, Sasuke dodged more shuriken and kunai. The three were quickly learning Sasuke's jumping pattern and the kunai dug into the wood two inches from his foot.
Thinking quickly, Sasuke turned around and headed for the tops of the trees where he could surprise them, his genjutsu plan slipping from his mind. Flipping around again he took on huge leap into the air; the genin would stop on the tallest branches, see his shadow and look up. It was the perfect trap. The two fell for it, springing through the foliage they stopped and looked around. Seeing the shadow a second to late they looked up simultaneously and two pairs of eyes met Sasuke's Sharingan. He watched as their eyes rolled to the back of their heads. Falling backwards they landed on the foliage bouncing against it as the combined effort of a couple hundred branches held them. Sasuke watched them for a second to make sure they wouldn't fall through before diving back into the foliage.
Sasuke made his way deeper into the forest, the genin he had taken the scroll from would be moving again in half an hour and they would try to follow them. Deeming the distance he put between him and them good enough, he stopped in a small clearing and took a bathroom break. He briefly thought about going straight to the tower but there was the redhead to deal with first. Wondering how he could find her in the hugeness of the forest, he thought of several plans of action.
He could run around and take out other teams and would hopefully find her on his rampage. It would be tiring and dangerous for the baby so he would use it for a last resort. Another idea was to head back to the outside of the forest and track her from her gate but he wasn't exactly sure where her gate had been and he didn't how good Kyoko really was, she might not have left any trail to be tracked. That left one more option and it made the most sense to Sasuke. He would make a camp where he was, set up traps and traps on traps. The girl had said she was not his enemy and that meant there was a probability she would try to seek him out. It would be better if he were prepared rather than be taken by surprise.
Zipping up his pants, he pulled items out from his kunai pouch and went about securing the clearing for his makeshift camp. Invisible wires were strung in all directions, kunai and shuriken hidden in the leaves and outside the invisible wire traps were regular wires, creating an outer barrier that was visible to the naked eye. The visible wire was a trap; it would lure anyone in because they knew someone was hiding inside them. Once finished, Sasuke slipped past his traps and wires and went to find some food and clean water.
The forest was alive all around him, the birds calling out, insects buzzing. To the Uchiha it meant no one was watching him, otherwise the trees would be layered in a tense silence, not a sound would have broken through it. Being wary of the naturally large predators in the forest, he pulled a small metal cup with a handle from his pouch and sighed. He should have brought a small pot to hold more water but still took several long gulps of water. The birds stopped calling and Sasuke lifted his head before standing, the cup slipping back into his pouch. Seconds later a blur broke through a solid branch of wood, crashing into the shallow river thirty or forty yards from where he stood.
A genin from the sand dropped to the ground meters away from the person who had fallen into the water. The genin's teammates joined the lone one on the ground, they eyed him warily but he made no move to run or attack. One of them finally decided to step forward and into the stream, seeing Sasuke as no threat. He tentatively stopped a few feet into the flowing water and craned his neck to get a better view of the thing that had fallen. Sasuke watched as the water exploded, surprising the genin. The one who had stepped into the stream disappeared from view, hidden by the spray of water. Chakra rose out of the falling water, streams of red spinning out of control.
The two genin screamed in horror, incased in a wild flare of chakra was a person with long hair braided with a spiked strap. Sasuke immediately recognized the girl as Kyoko. He scrutinized the redhead while she was busy scaring off the sand genin, the third scrambling out of the water and out of sight past the thick trunks of trees. The red chakra swirled out of control angrily, rising higher and spreading out further from the girl. It was an enormous amount of chakra and Sasuke couldn't think of more than one person who could do the same thing that Kyoko was doing. The feeling of déjà vu hit Sasuke and almost sent a chill down his spine as Kyoko lifted her head and gave a thunderous roar.
"Kyuubi." Sasuke breathlessly whispered. Apparently his aloud realization was not quiet enough and Kyoko spun her head to look at him. Everything about her was bathed in red but her eyes were a deeper red, almost black through the haze of red chakra. Lines of red streaked across her face in three lines on both cheeks and her bangs were in a continuous frenzy of movement due to the density of chakra, allowing Sasuke to see the leaf symbol on her headband. Sasuke could see why the genin had fled; she was almost as terrifying as Naruto himself in Kyuubi mode.
Sasuke's mind was reeling, he knew that was Kyuubi's chakra but she wasn't Naruto. The girl's red eyes widened and the massive amount of chakra swirled closer to her, dissipating into nothing rapidly. His first reaction was to activate his sharingan, he could see the last bit of Kyuubi's chakra disappear and he knew it was the real deal. Sasuke didn't know what to think but had to act quickly. He was running towards Kyoko before he had figured out what he would do, he'd knock her out, take her back to his camp and figure out everything from there.
'Sasuke Uchiha' her lips shaped, he was too far away to hear still. Blood was soaked into her clothes where several tears were but she didn't look like she was in pain at all. Instead she steeled herself, expression souring and looked Sasuke in the eye as soon as he was close enough. Her mistake. Sasuke watched as red eyes faded back to green, bangs returning to cover her forehead, her expression oozing of surprise. Green eyes rolled back in Kyoko's head until all Sasuke could see were the whites. She collapsed on the banks of the stream, water splashing around her.
He slowed down until he was walking towards her, she would be out for at least half an hour. Sasuke stopped at the edge of the small bank and looked down at her, the creek's flow was weak but Kyoko's body still drifted slowly down towards him. The creek was deeper out in the middle, if he wanted, he could drown her. She wouldn't fight back under the influence of his Sharingan. It was tempting but Sasuke had time to think now, Kyuubi's chakra, what did that mean? Stepping onto the water he came closer to the slowly floating body and gripped her wrist, keeping her from floating down any farther. Hesitantly, carefully, Sasuke reached with his other hand to the redhead's face.
He gently placed his thumb and pointer finger on the eyelids of her right eye and carefully pulled them apart. Leaning over, he looked into that green eye and activated his Sharingan. Kyoko was unconscious and as Sasuke expected, nothing happened. Maybe it was because she was unconscious or maybe it was because it was some sort of trick but he still felt something trigger. Releasing her eyelids, Sasuke leaned back down and gripped the wet hem of her shirt and lifted it. He stopped as soon as he saw the flickering image of the black seal on her stomach under the water and studied it carefully. Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke lifted the shirt up farther to pull Kyoko's body out of the water. He frowned at the seal as his view became clearer. The edges of it looked as if some bits and parts had crumpled and flaked off.
The cold feeling of shock started to spread across his body; there was hardly a doubt in his mind that Kyuubi was inside of her. He'd seen the fox's power not even five minutes ago. Who was this? How did she have Kyuubi inside of her when the fox was inside Naruto? Birds began to cry out and their wings beat against the wind, they were being disturbed from their resting places. Sasuke looked up in the direction and watched the birds fly above him. Dropping the soaking shirt, Sasuke reached over the body in the water, gripping Kyoko's other arm.
He lifted the girl out of the water and maneuvered her onto his back, the cool water soaking into the back of his shirt and pants. Another wave of birds broke into chirping, their wings opening and taking flight noisily into the wind. Sasuke took this as his time to leave, jumping straight from the creek to the closest tree. Taking Kyoko back to his camp was the most logical course of action; he wouldn't need to rely on birds to notify him of an enemy approaching. Sasuke returned to his camp just as he had left it, all the traps untouched. Sitting the redhead against a tree, Sasuke rolled his shoulder backwards and turned his head, cracking his neck. She was heavier than she looked.
There was still time before Kyoko awoke but Sasuke wanted to talk to her immediately. Kyuubi was inside of her, how had that happened? What did she know about it? Would she tell him what he wanted to know just by asking her or would she put up a fight? How much would he have to torture her to get the information he needed? He paced around the camp in agitation. There was nothing to do but wait for her to wake up and it was irritating. All he wanted to do was get to the tower, finish the second part of the exam and get back to Naruto but Kyoko just continued to sleep. As time came closer, Sasuke tied her hands behind her back with wire, then bound her feet for good measure.
A few more minutes of pacing and Sasuke was starting to feel the pressure on his bladder that signaled his need to use the bathroom again. Even after taking his time Kyoko was still not awake and Sasuke, who would never show it, was feeling a bit desperate to have her talk. Kneeling back down beside her Sasuke brought his hand to her cheek and moved her head one direction, letting her headrest awkwardly to the side. Patting the cheek several times held no reaction.
Was he really going to have to wait for her to wake up? Sasuke frowned and gripped her chin, turned her head back to its normal position and stared at her. This was ridiculous. Turning away from the girl, Sasuke dropped her chin and sat down a few feet from the sleeping figure. Without even thinking about it, Sasuke set a hand on his stomach. He could feel the small bump under his abs and rubbed it gently. Realizing what he was doing he looked down and felt the edges of his lips quirk upwards. Naruto was starting to rub off on him but in a good way, to just sit there and feel his stomach was soothing. The forest was alive but there was still a quiet that Sasuke wished wasn't there, this was where Naruto was supposed to start talking obnoxiously. They had been together constantly for so long that now Sasuke felt almost naked without the blonde. As his mind wandered, Sasuke heard the sound of someone shuffling but didn't pay it any mind until the shuffling burst into a high-pitched screaming.
"Hii-ahh!" Sasuke looked up from his stomach to see Kyoko's bright green eyes watching him, filled with fear. She pulled at her binds frantically, enough for her to roll over and wriggle pathetically on the ground. Watching her, Sasuke slipped his hand from his stomach and stood up. Kyoko only grew more frightened and attempted to roll away from him into the foliage. Following after her, Sasuke set his foot down on her back and watched as she looked back up at him. She inhaled to scream again, Sasuke felt it under his foot and he pressed down roughly. Where was the courage she had to gawk at his stomach or to use the code during the first exam?
"You're annoying." Sasuke spoke quietly. Kyoko looked back up at him, her breathing shallow. He took his foot off of her back and bent down to pick her up and she squirmed, whimpering hysterically.
"Please! Please don't kill me I-" Kyoko cried out. She squeezed her eyes shut as Sasuke hauled her up to a standing position, pinning her back to the tree. "I don't wanna die, pleas-uh!" The redhead broke down. Her face scrunched up and tears started pouring down her face, Sasuke watched in disgust as she started to cry. Pulling Kyoko off of the tree he softly slammed her back into it. This had the redhead jerk out of her crying; she stared at the Uchiha with teary eyes and lower lip quivering.
"Stop crying." Sasuke quietly told her. He watched as she continued to hyperventilate silently and found it irritating. Tightening his grip on her shirt, Sasuke watched as Kyoko tried to stop herself from sobbing. She bit her bottom lip tightly and inhaled sharply through her nose. "Now you are going to tell me everything." Sasuke told the redhead. Kyoko continued to look up at him, slowly digesting what he said.
"You, aren't going to kill me?" She asked with a shaky voice. Sasuke shook his head.
"That would be stupid, a part of the Kyuubi is sealed away inside of you." The Uchiha watched the redhead's reaction, surprise and realization. She opened her mouth to ask how he knew and watched as Sasuke's eyes faded to red. "I'm an Uchiha, I can see and control the nine-tailed fox." Kyoko stared into the Uchiha's eyes; her mouth agape and Sasuke couldn't help but think that this girl was an idiot. "Keep staring and you'll have a new understanding of pain."
"I'm sorry." The redhead looked down and Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan. "It's a long story, I don't even think I'm supposed to talk about it." She murmured. Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes. Raising his free hand to her chin, Sasuke lifted her head and made her look at him.
"Start explaining." Sasuke told her. He watched her look up with her teary-eyed expression and slipped on a trademark Uchiha glare.
"But-I was told only the Hokage," Kyoko trailed off when she saw Sasuke's glare grow harsher. The tears had mostly dried on her cheeks and the teary look had dried into simple fear.
"The child you saw inside of me belongs to the real container of Kyuubi," Sasuke watched her eyes widen drastically. "So you are going to tell me everything." He was done with coddling the girl. If she was going to cry she could do it while explaining.
"The container is your lover?" The redhead glanced down at Sasuke's stomach, biting her lower lip and then looked back up at the Uchiha. "And you can control the fox."
"Now do you understand why I need to know?" Sasuke asked exasperatedly. "This is my business as much as it is yours." She frowned and opened her mouth to explain.
"I was six when it happened, my family went to the mountain, where the toads live. We went with the third Hokage, I don't remember why we went but my parents let me wander. There was this toad, Gamatora, that didn't want me to bug him and I was just a little kid so I messed with him. "He, I poked and prodded him enough he popped open like a scroll. I was curious so I, I didn't know better. I-I started to mess with the seal not knowing what it would do. He told me to stop but I didn't listen, I opened the seal and, and…" She trailed off.
"And what?" Sasuke asked. She was irritating, stopping just as she was telling the most important part. Kyoko shifted against the tree, reminding Sasuke that he was still holding her by her shirt. Releasing her shirt, Sasuke stepped back and watched the redhead slide down against the tree until she was sitting down. Sasuke sat down himself and watched her continue to talk.
"At the time I didn't know but Gamatora was a seal keeper, I thought it was a game and when I unlocked the seal I must have passed out. I heard this voice but all I could see was darkness. It told me that I was gonna die and I was scared. My whole body felt like it was consumed in fire, when I opened my eyes the world was bathed in red. I tried to scream but it was like every cell in my body had burst apart, I thought I really was going to die." Kyoko shuddered at the memory, stopping to shake her head and sigh heavily. "The next thing I knew I was on the ground with my family and the third Hokage above me. I had second-degree burns all over my body, there were even a few spots I had third degree burns. It took years of treatment to get the scarring to go away." She looked up to see Sasuke's irritated stare and shifted uncomfortably.
"Anyway, I didn't know it at the time but what had been sealed inside the scroll had been half of Kyuubi's chakra. Apparently, when the fourth Hokage sealed Kyuubi away he separated the chakra in half. There was the pure power, Kyuubi's being and there was the power of Kyuubi's will. The person who became the container had Kyuubi's being; I had unknowingly unlocked his will. When it happened, Kyuubi's will had taken residence in my body and manifested inside of me. I would have died and Kyuubi's will would have used what was left of my body to get back to Konoha and kill the container which would unlock his other half." Kyoko paused, taking a small rest from her story.
"The third stopped it though," Sasuke watched her expression and saw that he was right.
"Yeah, Gamatora gave his life so he could reseal Kyuubi's will inside of me. The third told me everything after it all happened and all the toads have been reminding me ever since." She paused, shifting uncomfortably. "I learned the eye trick from the toads in the mountains, they taught me all kinds of things while I was there. I used it to help birth baby toads all the time." Sasuke had been silent through almost all of her explanation, listening, ingesting and digesting. The fourth had split Kyuubi in half when he sealed the fox into Naruto, the fox must have been too strong for a newborn. It was a logical explanation and he had no way of doubting what Kyoko had told him. She had the seal, used Kyuubi's chakra.
"Um, can you untie me now? I won't run away." The redhead asked softly. Sasuke looked over to her and gave a small nod. He stood up, dropping his hand from his stomach when he realized he didn't even remember moving his hand there. Standing up, he moved towards her and watched her shift away from him warily.
"Relax." Sasuke muttered. She had stopped crying but was still irritatingly scared. Kyoko sat up straight and watched as the Uchiha got down beside her and untied the wire that bound her hands. Rubbing her wrists, Kyoko scooted away from Sasuke.
"The third Hokage said I was never to tell anyone, he was going to leave instructions for the next Hokage when he stepped down but all he left was my headband a paper giving me status as a genin and a statement urging for me to take the chuunin exam." The redhead continued cautiously. Sasuke sat back down and leaned against the tree as Kyoko moved to sit in the clearing.
"How long ago did this happen?" He asked and rested his hand over his stomach. Kyoko looked down at her hands, counting her fingers.
"I'm fifteen so it happened about nine years ago." Kyoko finished counting and started to fiddle with her fingers.
"When did you come back to Konoha?" He asked. Kyoko shrugged her shoulders; she seemed to be more at ease than before, letting her guard down.
"Six days ago." She answered.
"Why so suddenly?" A small chill ran down his spine, his gut telling him that something she was going to saw was going to make his life ten times more complicated. The redhead raised her hand to her hair and ran her fingers down her braided hair.
"Kyuubi talks to me sometimes in my dreams. Mostly just him wanting to destroy everything in sight, that kind of stuff but about a month ago he kept trying to talk me into coming back to Konoha, to see my family, to take the chuunin exam. He told me he wasn't going to stop until I went back." Kyoko fiddled with the frayed edges of her hair, unwilling to look Sasuke in the eye.
"So you did." Sasuke stated. It wasn't a question, obviously she had.
"Yeah, this was the first time he wasn't asking me to destroy anything so I was curious." The redhead looked up at Sasuke and looked away again, still unwilling to meet his eyes for very long.
"What did he want?" Sasuke asked. Kyoko made a squeamish face and glanced up at the Uchiha.
"He wanted to escape. The toads warned me it could happen," Kyoko looked up again, eye contact lasting longer this time. "My seal is weak compared to the container's. If I were to get close to them Kyuubi would become stronger and would eventually break through my seal."
"Killing you and escaping." Sasuke butted in. The redhead nodded.
"Yeah, so every time I felt the container nearby, or at least Kyuubi's chakra, I'd run in the opposite direction." Kyoko looked up and watched Sasuke rub his stomach.
"Do you use Kyuubi's power often?" Sasuke questioned.
"I did when I was younger." Kyoko admitted. "I was trying to become stronger and at the time Kyuubi's chakra seemed to be the only way. Now I don't use it unless it's necessary, every time I use Kyuubi's chakra the seal becomes weaker. More of my seal seems to disappear with every bit of chakra I let leak out."
Sasuke took in the information silently, not giving his impression of the information away. "You're really calm about this, it's scary." Sasuke held his stare a few more seconds and dropped it to his stomach, his fingers trailing over his shirt in endless circles.
"We're just talking, what is there to get excited about?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the redhead. Kyoko shifted and was silent. "This is all talk, you don't even know if I believe you." This made the redhead stiffen.
"You don't believe me?" She asked. Sasuke looked up to see her body posture do a one-eighty, her shoulders slumped tightly, she wouldn't look up from the ground and curled inwards on herself as if expecting an attack from him.
"I believe you." Sasuke spoke quietly. The redhead didn't seem to hear him; she didn't look up or even acknowledge that he had said anything. "Kyoko." Sasuke called out, louder this time. She looked up in surprise. "I believe you." He enunciated clearly and watched her bow her head in relief.
"Um," Kyoko uncurled herself but still looked nervous. "So what should I do?" Sasuke watched her wrap her arms around her knees and look up to him questioningly. He started to think, the gears in his head whirring quickly.
"The fifth doesn't know about you?" Sasuke asked. He already knew that the Hokage didn't know but Kyoko shook her head anyway. "If you went to her, it would be problematic for Naruto and I."
"Naruto?" The redhead interrupted. The Uchiha gave her a hard stare and watched her cringe away from him.
"Naruto Uzumaki, my lover, the father of my child and the true container." Sasuke answered her coldly. Kyoko nodded slowly. "The fifth doesn't know about the baby and we want to keep it that way. Having her know about you would put the baby in danger."
"Got it." Koko muttered softly. She looked away from him and started to fiddle with her fingers again, nervous. "So then what do I do? If I get to close to Naruto accidentally, Kyuubi will break free." Sasuke thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out all the options.
"I'll think about it. Focus on finishing this part of the exam." Sasuke stood up and dropped his hands to the side. Kyoko scrambled to get up, nodding vigorously.
"Do you need a scroll?" She asked. Pulling out two scrolls from her pouch she held them out to him. "I know you're strong enough to get them on your own but-"
"I already have two." Sasuke interrupted. "I'm not far enough along for it to cause problems in tricking thirteen and fourteen year olds." Kyoko muttered a quick apology and put her scrolls away, being careful not to look Sasuke in the eye.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." Kyoko whispered. She started to walk out of the clearing but Sasuke stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He had suddenly remembered about the traps he had set up. The redhead stiffened at Sasuke's touch and looked up with wide eyes.
"I set traps, wait here." Sasuke calmly told her, he went about undoing the traps with ease, collecting his weapons and wire before returning to the clearing where Kyoko was uneasily waiting for him. Emerging from the forest, Sasuke watched the redhead jump up in surprise, her hand in her pocket. "Come on."
Sasuke motioned for Kyoko to follow him and watched her get up, eyes downcast. Obviously something was wrong but she was trying to hide it, failing horribly. It would be annoying if he didn't find out what was wrong but he didn't want to deal with what was wrong with her. Intending on ignoring her all the way to the tower, Sasuke moved ahead of her. He jumped onto a large trunk of a nearby tree and ran up it, hearing the sound of Kyoko following his lead. Reaching this height of the branches, Sasuke quickly moved from tree to tree, the sounds of the girl growing fainter with each passing second.
"Hey wait! Not so fast!" Kyoko's voice echoed through the trees and Sasuke stopped, rolling his eyes and training his glare where the redhead would appear. She jumped into view and stopped a branch behind him, breathing heavily.
"You're too loud." Sasuke crossed his arms and looked away from the girl. Why was he putting up with her? The question already had an answer, she held the power of Kyuubi and if he killed her the Kyuubi would break free and go on a rampage.
"I-I'm sorry." Kyoko whispered. Her voice sounded weak, defeated and only irritated Sasuke further. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke turned back to her. The redhead had tears in her eyes and adverted them as soon as the Uchiha turned to her.
"What are you upset about?" Sasuke softened his glare even though it was going full force in his mind, and Sakura wondered why he couldn't stand her when they were younger. Kyoko stifled a sob and brought her hand up to her eyes to wipe her tears away.
"I'm not good with people, I've lived with animals most of the life I can remember." Kyoko inhaled raggedly. "And I did something to make you hate me and I don't know how to fix it." The redhead sniffed and wiped at her nose. Great, she was an ugly crier as well.
"Stop crying." Sasuke quietly told the girl. "I don't hate you, keep quiet and follow me to the tower." He watched her take a deep breath and look up at him, her hand went up to her braided hair and fingered the spiked strap weaved in it.
"O-okay." Kyoko took a deep breath and nodded. Sasuke turned away and jumped from the tree branch he was standing on to the next, he could hear the redhead follow behind him. He started off at the same pace as he had before and gradually slowed down until he could hear Kyoko right behind him again. "Doesn't this seem too easy?" Kyoko asked softly after a few minutes. Sasuke looked back to see her warily search the forest as they zipped past it, looking for any hidden enemies or traps.
"It's the first day out, everyone is too busy setting up traps to be worried about the tower." Sasuke replied. He turned his head back to where he was going; thinking that she had least had the sense to worry about it being too easy.
The two jumped on a rotting branch and it collapsed beneath them. Separating to regain their pace Sasuke could see the top of the tower in the distance. He couldn't believe the exams were this easy now. Of course the competition in the second exam was at a much lower caliber in comparison to five years ago but still, he had come a long way. His mind wandered from himself to Naruto and to Kyoko, there was no way they could continue to go on like they were right now. Something had to be done.
They couldn't go to the Hokage; that was out of the question. That old hag would get more than one person to look at Naruto and spend countless hours looking at the blonde's seal. Naruto would hate it and he didn't want to put the blonde in a situation he didn't like. There was the fact that if the blonde tried to get out it he would use anything in his repertoire, including the fact that his lover was pregnant. He would have to deal with fixing the seals on his own; the thought of it was daunting. Naruto and Kyoko's seals were no laughing matter; people had given their lives for those seals, to keep Kyuubi from escaping and destroying their village. Sasuke would have to do them justice and make sure Kyuubi wouldn't escape.
Kyoko's seal was the one that was weak; he would need to figure out how to fix her seal on his own. They still had some of the scrolls they had stolen that had information on seals that Sasuke could find useful. Kyuubi, with the help of Kyoko, made the situation a hundred times more complicated. The tower was looming closer; it wouldn't be long before they reached it. Sasuke had a rough plan mapped out in his head, now all he needed to do was perfect it and execute it.
"Kyoko." Sasuke suddenly stated. He slowed down and let the younger ninja move through the forest next to him. "I'm going to fix your seal." Kyoko gasped and jerked her head in his direction. "It will take time for to prepare so stay close to the village."
"They've set up an apartment for me near the eastern gate, is that far enough away from where you live?" Kyoko was eager, hopeful. Sasuke turned to look at her nodding vigorously.
"That's fine." He turned his head back to the tower and saw it looming over them, as the sky was growing darker. The sun would set soon.
"I don't think I can thank you enough, you're saving my life." Kyoko gushed. The Uchiha ignored her and sped up again, her problem seemed to have been fixed and he wouldn't deal with her anymore than necessary.
"Don't thank me for something I haven't done yet." Sasuke retorted. Kyoko was silent, Sasuke nearly sighed in relief. The rest of the run to the tower was uneventful, they reached the tower and Sasuke jumped down from the branches to the ground, Kyoko following his lead. As soon as they were close enough to the doors they opened and the two jogged inside, both slowing to a standstill in the middle of the room.
"Whoa," Kyoko did a 360 turn to look around, her green eyes wide in wonder. "This place is bigger than it looks." Sasuke nodded but the place hadn't changed since the last time he had been here. "What do we do now?" She asked.
"We wait," was Sasuke's monotone response. Kyoko moved to the nearest solid wall, still in awe.
"Um, have you-" Kyoko turned to see the Uchiha give her a cold, hard stare. "It's just a question." Kyoko looked away, still intimidated by Sasuke. The edges of Sasuke's lips quirked upwards for a flat second before disappearing back into his emotionless expression.
"What are we going to do about food?" The redhead asked. She looked around the enormous room as she changed the subject. "Did they give you guys food when you finished?"
"No, my team just barely made it to the tower before the end of the exam." Sasuke answered. Almost immediately after he spoke the skin on his back was tingling and he turned around and looked up.
"Second half of the exam? Mitarashi never said anything about that." Kyoko muttered, sensing the same thing the Uchiha was.
"Because we won't have a second half of the exam, not this time anyway." A voice echoed in the small stadium sized room. Anko appeared in a flash, standing on the walkway on the other side of the room. "The rest of the maggots out there are sneaky but not smart or strong. Out of fifty-three participants forty-four of them chose to move on, that's fourteen teams plus you two." Anko smirked and hopped over the railing, falling to the ground floor. "I bet only two teams at the most will make it, that's eight kiddies for the next exam." She stalked towards the two, her heels clacking against the floor. "No need to make them pick each other off more so than they already have."
Taking a step back and out of Anko's way Sasuke watched as the older woman stood in front of the fifteen year old and scrutinized her. "You're awfully young to have been living with the toads under the third's orders, even for someone who lost their parents in the fight when the third was killed." Sasuke looked from Anko to Kyoko quickly, the redhead hadn't mentioned that before.
Kyoko looked anywhere but at Anko. "I was li-living with the toads before my parents died." She answered. The redhead's eyes flickered upwards momentarily and Anko raised an eyebrow at what Kyoko said.
"Why did they ship you off so far away when you just could have attended the academy in the village? Did they not love you? Did they not want you around?" Anko pressed further. Kyoko's eyes widened drastically and she finally looked up, her expression dripping with fear.
"T-there was extenuating circumstances with my home life." Kyoko looked away and Anko smirked briefly before letting it drop back into a smile. She knew she had thoroughly intimidated the girl.
"Well I came here for two reasons, first, your name," Anko pointed to Kyoko. "Has not been changed, those idiot chuunin don't know how to read a transcript. You're still just Suzuki. And the last part is to congratulate you on nearly breaking the record the Kazekage and his siblings set five years ago." Anko waved her hand in the air and turned around, glancing at Sasuke pointedly before walking away. "Food will be dropped off three times a day until time is up." With that the proctor for the second exam disappeared in a flash, leaving a blank faced Sasuke and Kyoko, who's calm was quickly deteriorating. Taking a deep breath, the red head slid down on the wall until she was sitting on her ass, hugging her knees.
"Is everyone so scary?" Kyoko's voice was shaking. "I nearly peed myself." She whispered to herself but Sasuke still heard and nearly smirked.
"She's softened up over the years." Sasuke muttered. Letting out a weak laugh, Kyoko looked up at the older man and brushed away the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.
"You mean she used to be even more of a hard ass than she is now?" She chuckled harder when Sasuke nodded. He couldn't deal with this again; Sasuke wasn't her babysitter or her father.
"You did well." The Uchiha spoke softly, activating his Sharingan and looking over to the redhead. He'd just put her out for an hour, allow himself time to finalize his plans and for her to calm down.
"Not well enough if I'm going to break down crying any second. I just want to go back to living with the toads where there are no people." Kyoko took another deep breath and raised her hand to her braid, fingering the spiked strap in an attempt to calm down.
"You've been through a lot in the past few hours." Sasuke kneeled down, impatiently waiting for the redhead to look up.
"I don't see you bawling your eyes-" Kyoko stopped midsentence as she looked up and was caught in the sharingan.
"Sleep." At the command Kyoko's eyes fluttered shut, her head lolling to the side. Standing up, Sasuke deactivated his eyes and sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "I've been through worse." He said to himself.
In the few hours since the exam started the first plan had been blown to bits and he needed to sort it out. He was pregnant with Naruto's child, hiding the fact from everyone they knew and if people found out, Sasuke didn't know what would happen and didn't want to think about it. Now, this girl, Kyoko Suzuki, had half of Kyuubi's powers inside of her with a seal that would eventually break when she got too close to Naruto. Eventually Kyuubi would break Kyoko's seal and go on a rampage, another thing he didn't want to think about. This wasn't something he could just leave alone.
As he had thought before, telling the Hokage about it would lead to specialists brought in who would spend every free moment of the blonde's time looking over his seal. Either Naruto would blurt something out to try and get away from them or they would notice Sasuke himself acting strange, he was hoping the symptoms of pregnancy wouldn't be noticeable but there was no telling what his body would do. Morning sickness was a symptom Sasuke was dreading not only because it sounded terrible but also because it was the most noticeable that he could not stop. It could ruin everything. He couldn't allow that.
To keep the Hokage and everyone else in Konoha unaware of the situation for the time being he would have to strengthen Kyoko's seal without letting the Kyuubi out. He would need a lot of space, where he could work without being interrupted by anyone. Sighing, Sasuke could only think of one place that would work, the Uchiha compound. Moving into the compound would give him a plausible reason to spend so much time there and he had been thinking about actually doing it anyway. Naruto and he needed something bigger than their already crammed apartment to fit their growing family. As for Kyoko, once the seal was strengthened she would probably go back to the mountains but for now, Sasuke could make her promise to not say anything with a suggestion from him, she would keep the secret to the best of her ability and that's all Sasuke needed.
Rubbing his head in irritation, Sasuke moved to the wall and sat down. He would have to tell Naruto about all of this without Kyoko, the blonde would probably think he was joking at first. Then, he and Naruto would have to pack everything up, settle the rent and move to the Uchiha compound. It was going to be a major headache and with his growing mood swings and the inevitable growth of his stomach. Screw a headache; it was going to be hell. Minutes turned into an hour quickly with several bathroom breaks during it, just as the hour was ending, a chuunin showed up with a palate of steaming bowls and plates. He set the food down in front of the two and disappeared again. Gently touching Kyoko's arm, Sasuke shook the girl awake and she opened her eyes immediately.
"Dinner is here." He said and leaned forward to open up the steaming bowls. Two bowls of fresh, steaming rice, an array of vegetables and meat. It was simple and boring but practical.
"You put me to sleep." Kyoko dazedly accused. She was still shaking off the effects of the Sharingan so Sasuke ignored her. Sliding the palate of food closer, Sasuke grabbed a pitcher of water and held out his free hand to her.
"Give me your canteen," Sasuke watched as Kyoko frowned in discomfort and shifted, she pulled her hand from her back and set in Sasuke's hand. Unscrewing the lid of the canteen he checked the amount of water in it and refilled with water.
"Why did you do that?" Kyoko asked. She glared at Sasuke weakly and snatched her canteen back when the Uchiha offered it to her. Taking a small mouthful of water before recapping it roughly, angry.
"You were on the verge of a breakdown," Sasuke answered. He took a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks that lay on the side, picking out meat and vegetables to his liking.
"I was going to go cry it out in the bathroom." Kyoko grumbled. She watched as Sasuke picked out steaming pieces of meat and vegetables, placing them on his rice and leaned back, glancing at the redhead once with a hard look. Deflating before she was even completely angry, Kyoko leaned forward herself and picked up the other bowl of rice, piling it high with meat and not even touching the vegetables.
Sasuke took note of her appetite but didn't mention it; assuming it was Kyuubi's inclination to meat. His mind wandered again as he filled his stomach. Anko had said something earlier that was bugging him. "You're parents were killed during Orochimaru's attack?" He watched Kyoko look longingly at her bowl of food.
"Yeah, no one knew I was in the mountains so after the attack they found my family partially burned in a fire and assumed I had perished with them even though they hadn't found a body. I didn't receive the news until I went to apply for my genin rank and found myself legally dead." The redhead poked at her food now, her defeated mood turning even gloomier. "You don't plan on knocking me out again, are you?" Kyoko looked up from her food cautiously. Sasuke leaned forward and picked out more vegetables and meat before answering.
"Do you plan to start crying again?" Sasuke retorted. The gloomy expression didn't change and she watched the Uchiha sit back before she leaned forward, chopsticks digging into the last of the meat.
"No." She replied sullenly. Silence settled around them and Sasuke was glad Kyoko finally seemed to understand that he enjoyed silence more than conversation. "Hey Sasuke," He spoke too soon.
"Hn." The Uchiha murmured. He continued to eat, glancing up at the redhead only for a moment. Her expression was pitiful and Sasuke wanted to ignore her completely but she opened her mouth anyway.
"Earlier, we," Kyoko hesitated. "We weren't just talking were we?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and filled his mouth with food as Kyoko looked up to him. He chewed and swallowed, taking his time before answering her.
"No, we weren't just talking." Sasuke told her before taking another bite of his food. Kyoko's expression brightened slightly and she looked away from the Uchiha and poked at her food again. Silence settled around them again and Sasuke hoped she would keep it that way for the rest of the second exam.