A/N: Ty all so much for your reviews, everyone! Keep them coming, I do answer them and no, I don't bite.

kuu: :D Ain't saying nuffin', it's still too early :D

lugege: Nope, my parents aren't poor, my father died over 20 years ago and my mom has a nice pension.

Darksecrets11: Thanks so much for your support, I really appreciate it :D

I hope you all like this chapter, yes, things might seem confusing still but there are reasons for it that will be slowly explained as the story goes on. Don't forget, if there's anything you want me to clarify (that doesn't have to do with how the story ends, of course), send me a review, I'll answer it asap.

Ino was shaking with anger when she turned towards the other people in the Hokage's office, but she reigned on her rage. This was too important to be addressed without care.

"Sai, sit down and stay quiet," she ordered, and turned to Naruto. "You, don't come close to him. I have to make sure I'm right," she said, and turned to Sai, the both of them going deathly quiet and rigid.

Naruto and Shikamaru waited over an hour for them to move again, Shikamaru taking the opportunity to call home from his own office, leaving Naruto to watch over the couple.

He pulled his phone from his pocket with a grimace, and ran a hand over his face, as he remembered what he had put Temari through the years after their marriage. No wonder the woman was never happy… and even less wonder that his own mother had simply cut ties with him, claiming him to be a disappointment, a shameful son, a blemish on the Nara clan…

"Nara," a child's voice answered the phone on the third ring.

"Hey kid, how's everything at home? Can you call your mom for me?" Shikamaru asked, and winced as Shikadai screamed for Temari.

"Yeah," Temari answered the phone with a tired, defeated voice that made Shikamaru dry-swallow in shame.

"Hi," he started, for once without words.

Temari sighed. "Shikamaru, is there anything you want me to do? Because if there isn't, I'm busy."

"Uh, wait. I..." he swallowed again. "Look, something important came up here and… I don't know what time I'll get to be home, but can you get the kid and come to the tower? Grab your travel bags too."

"What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you when you get here. Just please come quick, and make it quiet."

Shikamaru closed the phone and took a deep breath.

"So, what is it?" he asked, after closing the door to the Hokage's office, seeing that Ino had apparently finished up with Sai, who was currently passed out on the bed in the adjacent room.

Naruto had lowered his chair so only the top of his body would show behind the desk.

"You gonna have to keep an open mind while I explain this, it's really weird, and… I never heard of it being possible, but after seeing it in place on Sai's mind, I think I can figure out how it works, partly," Ino said, and pulled a sheet of paper and a bunch of colored pencils, motioning for Shikamaru to come closer to the desk.

"Ok. Here's the thing I saw in my mind," she said, drawing a scheme on the paper with a black pencil. "This is how I see the synapses that intertwine memories, these are the memories themselves. In order for us to have complex memories, like situations and context, we need these synapses to lock several little separate memories, images, sounds, smells, emotions, and tactile impressions. Now, here," she pulled up a red pencil and began drawing a complex web pattern, "are synapses that link memories from different events and these little boxes in green, are false emotional memories.

"What happens in a regular genjutsu is that we're thrown into a dream built by images, sounds and events created in the caster's mind, but our reactions to it are still our own. That is why we can get out of it, and that actually answers the question of why Naruto is so weak to genjutsu - he's never been in absolute conscious control of himself due to sharing his mind with Kurama since he was born, so he and Kurama tend to react to things poorly when their minds are alone." She looked at Naruto, waiting for the shoe to drop.

Sure enough, after half a minute, his eyes widened. "Shit, you're right. Guess I never realized that," he said.

She nodded. "Now this thing is way more complex than that. It's got both fake memories and fake links between true memories that build fake complex memories at a very deep cognitive level. It basically plants suggestions that change who we actually are, how we see reality and interact with it, because what makes our personalities is the sum of what we've experienced through life, and those experiences are stored into our minds as memories, that we constantly use to compare events we live to understand what is going on and how we should react to them."

"So what you're saying is that somebody found a way to turn people into something they're not through genjutsu? Like hypnosis or something?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.

"It's something like hypnosis but way more complex than that. It doesn't plant suggestions directly, but it changes the context of the real memories that build who you are, and insert small fragments of memories along with the real ones in a very subtle way. So subtle, your brain can't differentiate what's real and what's not, so you can theoretically spend the rest of your life being what the caster wanted you to be without even noticing," Ino said, and looked sadly in the direction of the room where Sai was sleeping. "In our case, I mean, me and Sai… it made him believe we should get married because he saved me from that rape attempt and I thanked him, and it also shaped how we behaved with each other and everyone else for… I don't know, over ten years, at least. And from what I saw on his mind, the jutsu was cast on him originally, I probably fell under its effects when we joined minds at our wedding," she sighed. "After I analyzed his mind I tried to break the jutsu, but couldn't, so I asked Naruto to touch him… and when Naruto did, his chakra seeped into him just like it did with me, and that broke the jutsu."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, then at her again. "So you're saying that Sai didn't marry you because he was in love with you, but because he was under a jutsu? And then you got caught in that jutsu as well?" he asked, and she nodded. "Why did you want to break it then?" he asked again, frowning.

Ino rubbed her face with her hand, discreetly wiping her eyes in the process. "Shikamaru, unlike what you men might think not all women are uncaring of men's feelings or just interested in the status of being married to some man. I've liked Sai for a long time, and yes I was happy that he married me, but you know what, I don't want to be married to a puppet, and I don't want to be a puppet. What has been done to him… is horrible beyond words," she said, and swallowed a sob. "And what it's done to me is even worse! What kind of woman would I be if I were content to have a man be forced to marry me regardless of his true feelings?

"And there's more," she continued. "Because of this damn jutsu I've spent a third of my life sitting on my fat ass at home or at the shop, without doing anything to honor my dad's work, when he passed that responsibility to me! I had over a decade of my life stolen from me!"

"We all did, not just you," Naruto said after a while, in which he let Ino's words sink in and felt the weight of his responsibility over the welfare of his people yet again. "Though I have done my own share without being controlled by anything for this to have happened. If I hadn't driven Sasuke away in fear of agreeing with him and ending up changing the system so much I wouldn't become Hokage… if I hadn't put my stupid selfish desire to keep the status I gained in the war, this wouldn't have happened, because Sasuke wouldn't fucking let me screw up the way I did."

"You know what, I don't know how we fell into that jutsu, but I'll bet I know when," Shikamaru said after musing for a few minutes. "Remember when we were in that mission to rescue Hanabi, that problem with the moon guy?"

Naruto nodded.

"Remember we fell in a genjutsu back then? That genjutsu made us dream about our childhood, didn't it? What if this jutsu was embedded in that, as a way to trap Hinata?"

"Sounds like it's possible, but how do we check it? I mean, dude, this is way too precise a mind control jutsu and honestly, if it was meant to happen back then we wouldn't have been able to rescue Hinata, she wouldn't have wanted to return with us," Naruto reasoned.

"Hmmmm… we could get you to touch Sakura and Hinata to see if they'll respond the same way we did, that could work," Ino said.

"I'm not meeting Sakura myself," Naruto said, putting his hands protectively over his body.

"Why? Your chakra is the cure for this!" Ino asked, and Naruto sighed.

"Look… the only reason I got out of this jutsu you're talking about is… oh, what the hell," Naruto huffed, and pushed his chair back, opening his robe a bit.

Ino's eyes went as wide as saucers. "Is that a baby? Holy shit, Naruto, whose is it?" she asked, coming closer.

"It's Sasuke and Sakura's. I think it's his chakra that got me out of this jutsu… and please don't say a word about this, they think he's dead," he said. "He was born with… an abnormality, and they freaked out and wanted to kill him, and long story short, I adopted him but nobody can know he's theirs."

Ino nodded. Infanticide was a common practice amongst the traditional clans when defective children were born. Hers was not all that different, although her father had changed many things when he became the head of the Yamanaka. But sometimes Ino still caught herself thinking about her little cousin that she didn't even get to meet when she was five. "I won't tell anyone, don't worry about it. Poor thing. You could send a clone, though," she said.

Naruto stood up and made the seals to summon a clone, but as he tried pulling on his chakra, he felt a sharp pain on his chest, and doubled forward with a cry.

"Don't even think about it," he heard Kurama growl. "Your body is eating up the kid's chakra, it's all I can do to give him enough to stay alive and grow faster so he'll be able to produce enough for the both of you."

"What?" Naruto screamed, and retreated into his mind to look at the fox. Sure enough, it was holding the child in his arms, and a thin purple string of chakra was connecting Naruto to the baby.

"Once you held the child your body began sucking off its yin energy to repair the damage the break of the bonding between you and his father caused; as soon as I noticed I decided to give him our combined chakra to keep him alive. His body is preparing for a growth spurt with the extra chakra I'm giving it, if I didn't intervene he wouldn't survive for much longer. And if you try to cast jutsu, you'll kill him," Kurama explained.

"Holy shit! I… I didn't know! I'll give him to Tsunade or something," Naruto said.

"Can't, your body has attuned to his to replace the energy bond you had with his father. If you break the bond you'll be seriously damaged, unhealable damage. Only by rebuilding the bond you had with the Uchiha, or by hanging on to this kid until he's big enough to produce enough chakra to balance the amount you're taking from him, you'd be able to stay safely apart. With his abnormalities, I don't even know if he'll ever be able to do that. He is a tough little thing, though," the fox said, and nuzzled the child affectionately.

"He's not Sasuke, though. He's also Sakura's child… how can he have the same chakra as his father?" Naruto asked, looking down at the baby.

"I don't know, kid. All I do know is that his chakra is exactly the same as his father's. The bonding wouldn't have happened successfully if it wasn't."

Naruto nodded, and left his subconscious.

"Bad news," he said. "Can't use chakra or the baby will get hurt," he groaned, feeling suddenly weak.

"Well, that means we can't get Sakura off the genjutsu, but how about Hinata? You said she knows of the child," Shikamaru said, and Naruto nodded.

"Ino, can you check on her first, though? I'll… deal with this later, I really don't feel so good right now," Naruto asked, and closed his eyes.

Ino took a look at his pale, rugged face and nodded. "Sure. Shikamaru, come help me get Sleeping Beauty home, gods know I don't want to be around when he wakes up, but Naruto should rest."

Salad had never been to Konoha City, and her first impression was the same she had whenever she saw the high rises from her village: it was the strangest place in the world.

She and her Papa had been walking nonstop ever since leaving home. They had left the village proper through the staircase in Hokage Mountain, passed the rich noble district, with its impeccably dressed, white-gloved guards and pristine streets, the less noble middle-class neighborhood where the civilians and ninja that worked for the higher-ups and companies lived, and reached the part where the poor people, ninja and civilian alike, dwelled right alongside the industrial district.

Salad scrunched her nose at the smell of trash and smoke and funky food, and nearly jumped at the amount of cockroaches and rats that seemed to lurk at every dank corner.

Little kids in ragged clothing played soccer in the middle of the street, and the low, rickety buildings all had clothes hanging off the windows, or some tired, hopeless-looking adult smoking while looking out.

Three times Salad's Papa stopped, one in a building, another in a dirty alley, a third in a derelict shop, picking up envelopes from strange people. He never introduced them to Salad, or said anything much besides scolding her if she fell behind, so Salad almost jumped when he turned around a corner and, after entering a tiny ramen stall, told her to sit down next to him.

" 'Sup?" a rugged-looking middle-aged woman asked, giving a curious glance in Salad's direction, and Sasuke nodded to her in greeting.

"Traveling with extra luggage. Two of the usual," he said, handing her two of the envelopes he had gathered, and opening the third, and smallest.

'Dear Mother,

Remember that old song, "Still haven't found what I'm looking for"?

I've been singing that a lot, along with "I shot the Sheriff".

And I didn't shoot the Deputy.

Weather has been very wet around here, and the Ba humbugi are well fed.

On other news, the Gelae belae doesn't seem to notice, but the Gelae baen is all over the place, be careful not to run into any, word is that it has a mean bite.

By the way did you know Gelae baen is the favorite food of Oedipina complex? Damn things are getting hungrier as they grow too, soon we'll be seeing them everywhere.

Unfortunately, Hebejeebie sp. doesn't extend its protective foliage very long, being so delicate and all that jazz, so yeah.

Hope this finds you well,

Your loving son,

C. Darwin'

Sasuke frowned at the news - or lack of - from Suigetsu. His old Taka teammate had been spying on Konoha for years, especially focusing on Naruto ever since he became Hokage, but no matter how much he snooped, he couldn't pin anything on the idiot, or on Shikamaru.

That was damn worrying, since Sasuke's web of spies had unearthed enough dirt to bury all the other Kage and pretty much all the clan heads, including the new Konoha Council. The criminal organization that had taken over Amegakure had spread its criminal tentacles deep into the political structure of the shinobi system, in the same way that hidden village's technology had permeated urban life in the world's biggest city.

It was no wonder at all that "peace" reigned everywhere: the main clans were all fat and useless, living on government pensions and bribes, and pretty much the entire underworld had pledged allegiance to the "Yakuza" (a name chosen for the irony that it was a much luckier endeavor than the previous, more auspiciously named ones such as Akatsuki), leaving only the small fry to bother the poor - the rich civilians and businesses all religiously paid their "protection" fees to the organization.

Suigetsu's letter, correctly decoded, read:

Still haven't found anything on Naruto (the Sheriff) or Shikamaru (the Deputy).

Bribes (from Rain) have been plentiful, and the New Council (Ba humbugi) has gotten yet richer (this information was pretty much pro forma, since October was the year's most profitable month for drug trafficking, due to the many festivals held in Konoha and the amount of rich visitors coming to the city for the festivities, especially the "Peace Festival" on the tenth of the month).

The only mildly different and possibly interesting bit of information was:

Naruto (Gelae belae; together with his wife Hinata as Gelae rol, their son Bolt as Gelae baen and their daughter Himawari as Gelae fish they were the "Jelly family", named so by Suigetsu because of, as the spy ironically said, "its firm and stable structure") doesn't seem to know, but Bolt spends time looking for trouble in the City, so be careful not to run into him. Salad (Oedipina complex, for the girl often asked Sakura about her father) has been following him around, and Sakura (Hebejeebie sp. because, according to Suigetsu, she creeped him out) doesn't monitor her because of the pregnancy, so your kid might get in trouble soon.

Well, at least now that there was no pregnancy anymore, his poor excuse for a marriage was over and he had custody of the girl, that was one problem he didn't have anymore.

However…

"Ayame, have you seen any jelly beans around lately?" Sasuke asked when the woman served him his ramen, and then muttered "Itadakimasu" under his breath, before breaking his chopsticks apart, when he saw another customer approach the stall.

He was about to eat when he noticed the lack of sound beside him, and looked down.

Salad was looking at the food curiously, and shyly raised her head to look at him.

Salad's Mama never made ramen at home, and never, ever ate it or let Salad have any in the few occasions when they ate out. The only time Salad had asked why, Salad's Mama had said "Papa doesn't like it," and that had been it.

So it was with understandable curiosity that Salad watched her Papa order ramen. And in such a dingy little place, too! She looked down at her chopsticks. The wrapping had the same name as in the faded banner in the corner: Ichiraku Ramen.

"Eat," Salad's Papa commanded quietly, and Salad broke her chopsticks after politely thanking for the food, but only dared pick up the first bite after she saw the man begin eating.

The dish was the best thing Salad had ever eaten in her life, much, much better than the tomato-paste loaded dishes Mama cooked at home - she had said that Papa loved tomatoes, and tomato paste was concentrated tomatoes, so obviously tomato paste made everything tasty for Papa and that was why Mama put tomato paste on everything (even onigiri). Mama had also told her that she had given Salad her name so that when her brother was born he'd be called Tomato, and together they'd be Papa's favorite dish.

Salad hated tomatoes with a passion, especially because they gave her cold sores. And tomato soup gave her stomachaches. Which meant Salad had both very often.

She watched in wonder with the corner of her eye as her Papa ate heartily.

The other customer left after paying for his take-out. Sasuke finished his meal and lighted a cigarette.

"I haven't, but Pops said he saw one at the Pit last week," Ayame said. "Oh, and by the way," she said, and rummaged in the stall for a minute, before handing him a small plastic bag, "these are for you."

Sasuke picked the bag with a fleeting smirk, and laid it on the counter before pulling an individually packed senbei from it and wordlessly handing it to Salad, who looked at it curiously.

"Your grandaunt used to make the best senbei in the Fire Country," Ayame told the girl. "That's one of has sesame seed. Try it."

Salad hurriedly finished her ramen, and opened the small package, fishing out the rice cracker. She looked at it closely before biting it, and then her eyebrows raised.

Mama had never made senbei, but Salad had eaten the industrialized version that sold in the supermarket.

This one was way, way better.

"Did you like it?" Ayame asked, and Salad nodded with a small smile.

"Might make a real Uchiha out of her yet," the stall owner winked at Sasuke. "You guys going on a bird-watching trip soon?"

"Yes, and we'll need bento for the trip, will be picking it up before we leave. Thanks for the food, Ayame. Tell your dad I said hi," the Uchiha said, and they left.

A/N:

Small glossary of aliases and names used in this chapter:

Ba humbugi: a species of endodontoid snail from Mba island, Fiji.

Gelae baen, Gelae belae, Gelae donut, Gelae fish, and Gelae rol: same genus (Gelae), different species of fungus beetles.

Hebejeebie sp. (Plantaginaceae): a member of the Hebe complex; it has caused taxonomists anxiety because its classification is problematic. [Botanical Society of Otago Newsletter 36:10-13]

Oedipina complex: a species of lungless salamander

Yakuza: ya-ku-za, 8-9-3, is a losing hand in Oicho-Kabu, a form of blackjack.

On another note, The Uchiha Senbei (うちはせんべい) was a shop affiliated with the Uchiha clan. The closely guarded secret recipe of the senbei gave the shop its fame. It was owned by Uchiha Teyaki and his wife Uruchi, until they both were killed by Itachi. The shop was abandoned after its owners' deaths. Sasuke would sometimes come here after his day at the Academy to get food. The explanation as to how, in this story, the Ichiraku family got the recipe will be given in the next chapter.