content warning: this chapter may contain material some people find triggering, read discretion advised.

Chapter Thirty-Four

As a woman and a medical-nin, Hinata knew she would have to deal with a patient that had miscarried someday. I just didn't expect it to be today of all days! It was a silent taboo carried by kunoichi the world over. Losing a baby to a miscarriage in many circles carried the implied weight of failure even though somewhere around one in five pregnancies ended with a miscarriage – even with impeccable prenatal care. And the real bitch of it is, poor Sakura was out of first trimester, just past the high-risk timeframe! Nothing had prepared Hinata for her first miscarriage patient to be someone so close to her – practically a sister.

Sakura now lay despondent in a green hospital gown on the delivery bed in the labor and delivery ward. Hinata confirmed via ultrasound what he Byakugan had already told her: the fetus had no heartbeat and had been expired for some time, possible hours, possibly a full day at this point. It happens. Everything is innocuous until it isn't. Everything is going well, and then the next second you are in mourning. Let's make sure we don't kill the mother, too! While Sakura appeared outwardly healthy, Hinata ordered a full spectrum of blood labs, knowing full-well septic infections could appear entirely unremarkable until the patient flatlined out of nowhere.

Hinata took her friend's hand, swallowing down bile. There had been the awkward act of inserting medicated suppositories to induce labor contractions, but now came the incessant wait for the medication to kick in and start contractions – it could still be several hours. Then came delivering what would have been Sakura's first child. "H-Hinata…" Sakura whimpered.

"I'm here," Hinata assured her with a squeeze of the hand. Normally, medical-nin would pawn this task off on midwives and nurses, but this was something that deserved true attention and not lip service. Hinata knew if their roles were reversed, Sakura would be doing the same for her.

"W-what… what happened?!" she cried.

"Sakura… I…" Hinata weighed what she was about to say, not sure if it would help or hurt, "It's too soon to tell without the lab results, but if I had to guess, it was just a textbook case of cervical incompetency."

"I should have come back when Sasuke told me to all those weeks ago!" Sakura freed her hand and buried her face in her palms.

Hinata placed her hand on her friend's back. "Sakura, this wasn't a case of you exercising poor prenatal care!" Hinata struggled to not cry herself. She regained her composure, "By all accounts, and pathology report will confirm, the fetus was otherwise healthy right up to the end!"

"That doesn't make things better! I killed my child!" the pink-haired kunoichi bawled.

"Sakura!" Hinata brought a hand to her friend's cheek, forcing her green eyes to meet Hinata's, "Most second trimester miscarriages happen without cause or warning, just like first trimester ones! Without a prior history of miscarriage, we wouldn't even know to be wary of it!"

"I'd had an episode of discharge the day before and just thought I'd peed myself!" she screeched, "OH GOD!" Sakura buried her face into Hinata's shoulder.

"Sakura, look at me," Hinata struggled to remain authoritative, and felt a total fake, and having only the vaguest idea what Sakura was experiencing. She brought her arms around her friend "Assuming that was your water breaking, it would have been too late to do anything! Had you come straight back at that exact second, we would have been in this exact same goddamn position of doing nothing because the pregnancy would no longer be viable!" Hinata softened her tone, "And if I'm right, you could have been here under my care or my mother's care non-stop, and we wouldn't have been any better off. Cervical incompetency is gives no warning, and is diagnosed by past history; you had no past history! This… was… not… your fault!" Hinata huffed, now having her own tears join her friend's.

Just as Hinata stopped crying, Mom came through the door. "Doctor Hyūga, the blood lab results." She handed Hinata a packet of papers, "As you suspected, no sign of infection or metabolic anomaly." Mom turned a sympathetic eye to Sakura, "I'm so sorry, Sakura," Mom shook her head.

"Lady Hyūga, Hinata says nothing could have been done?!" Sakura wiped tears.

"Yes," she nodded in confirmation, "but that doesn't mean we will be helpless in the future."

"What- what do you mean?" Sakura asked with pleading eyes.

"Well, now that we know that you're prone to… this condition," Mom measured her words with practice of a lifetime, "We can perform cerclage. We in an outpatient setting stitch the cervix closed to prevent a repeat, and we remove the stitch after the baby is viable. It has a high success rate for healthy pregnancy and delivery."

Sakura continued to cry, burying her face in her hands. Hinata couldn't fault her for being a mess. If their positions were reversed, she'd be an even worse wreck. What would happen if this happened to Boruto or Himawari? What happens if you screw the future? Hell, has this screwed the future up or did this happen because Himawari played with time? The cycle of recrimination continued until Sakura spoke, "Hinata… would it have been a boy or girl?"

"Sakura," Hinata paused. Goddammit, she's in a fragile state. Don't patronize her, and don't treat her like a child. "It would have been a boy." Sakura again buried her face in her hands.

"Sakura," Mom spoke, "I know this is a bad time, but I don't know if we will have a better time to ask: when this starts, you are going to have what might feel like intense menstrual cramping." Mom raised her hands palms forward, "It won't be on par with actual labor pain, but I don't want to add to your discomfort level. Do you want pain medication?"

"No," Sakura replied curtly.

"I understand and respect that," Mom replied calm and cool, "If you think otherwise at any point, please, just let us know."

"Thank you, Lady Akemi."

Hinata swallowed another lump in her throat, "Sakura, your mom is here…"

"And?" Sakura asked, voice rising in pitch.

"I know everyone processes things differently, but do you want her here until the time comes?"

"NO!" Sakura yelled before breaking down again. Hinata clutched her friend in her arms. "I want MY BABY! I want my husband!"

Hinata exchanged a look with her mom. While she could understand not wanting family present, having Sasuke here could be dangerous if word leaked out that he was in the village. Would that have stopped you for asking for Naruto if you were in her position, and he had a death-mark on his head? "I'll be back with him." Hinata teleported back to their one-time refuge at Hachiōji Manor to find Sasuke and Naruto tussling. Naruto was ramming Sasuke into a wall and gave him a solid knee in the solar plexus. Both men sported black eyes and bloody lips. Naruto had torn the sleeve of his black shirt, and Saskue's collar was hanging from his shirt.

"Hey! HEY!" she placed firm hands between the two, "Break it up, both of you!" Hinata forced the two apart. "What the hell!" She glared at Naruto and then Sasuke, "This is not helping a GODDAMN THING! Much less helping Sakura!" Hinata paused, heaving several deep breathes to bleed off the heat of her anger, "You two acting like schoolyard children is not helping things!" She turned from Naruto to Sasuke, "Your wife is begging to see you!"

"She doesn't want to see me…" his flat, dead voice fanned an ember of anger Hinata never knew she possessed.

Hinata grabbed Sasuke by the throat and rammed him back into the wall, "Your wife," she accented the title, "is going through the most profound form of pain a woman can go through physically and mentally! She needs her husband with her, and if you don't man up about it RIGHT NOW; I guarantee your pain will match hers!"

"Fine," Sasuke deflated, not showing the least sign of defiance. Hinata loosened her grip, but did not release him. Without a word, she teleported to the hospital room, returned to the manor for Naruto, and returned to the hospital with Naruto.

"Oh my god, what the hell happened to you two?!" Sakura's tears cleared for the moment.

"It was my fault!" both men said in unison. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged defiant looks, but Sasuke shook his head first, "It was my fault, I lashed out in anger when I shouldn't have."

"Mom, are you okay to look after these two while I see to Naruto?"

"Of course," Mom nodded.

Hinata dragged Naruto from the room to an adjacent treatment room and sat him in a chair. She washed her hands and gloved up, "You mind telling me why I had to break you two up?" Hinata grabbed a towelette and began dabbing blood off of Naruto's face.

"Ow," he protested, "I opened my mouth to say how sorry I was; apparently, he wasn't ready to hear it."

"Some men react to such situations with violence," Hinata sighed, "being this is his second child lost, I can only imagine what toll it is taking on him."

"Ah shit," Naruto huffed, then winced as she dabbed him again, "I didn't even think about the other time. Ouch!" he squirmed as she worked.

"Naruto, I need you to stay here in the hospital and keep an eye out."

"No one knows he's here," he replied.

"These walls have ears, and ears have mouths," Hinata reminded Naruto, "and lest we forget it took an innocent confession at a grave twenty years ago to almost kill your whole family."

Silence lingered between them. "Great, point taken."

"Please tell me we have something?" Hinata pleaded, helplessness crawling up her back. "We can't send Sakura away, and I doubt it would be wise to send Sasuke away."

"We had a major break that links things; Dad, Grandpa, and Itachi are chasing that lead down."

"Pray it bears fruit," Hinata finished clearing the blood from his face. Under normal circumstances Naruto might have needed stitches, but the wounds had already healed. "Otherwise, we're in for a rough few days!"

"Hinata! Get back in here!" Mom's voice came from across the hall.

"I've got to go; keep an eye out!" Hinata hollered as she ran back across the hallway.

Minato knocked on the door to the apartment, Kakashi and Itachi quietly remaining out of view down the hallway. The door opened, and a young woman with raven hair and obsidian eyes opened the door. I could see how her sister faked being her. "Lord Minato?" The woman asked in sincere surprise.

"Hello Sango," Minato smiled despite the seriousness of what had brought him here. "May I come in?"

"What is going on?" she asked.

"It's about Shingo. He hasn't been to class in three days," Minato was not lying this time, and his concern for the boy's physical and mental health was very real, especially if what he thought was happening was going on.

"He… he hasn't?" Sango's voice cracked.

"Sango, where is he? Is he here?" Minato asked.

"M…" she squeaked.

"Sango, I can help, but I need to know what is going on," Minato pressed, trying to sound reassuring."

"I don't… I can't…" she began to whimper.

"Does Ema or Fuji have him?" he asked. "I know about the faked birth certificate. Are they blackmailing you?"

"Fuji has him," her eyes went glassy, "he told me if I talked, I'd never see my son again!" she broke down crying.

"I think we need to sit down for a chat," Itachi came over from his hiding spot.

"Lord Itachi!" she balked.

"We know about Ema. We know about Hattori and his bastard son. The question is: what do you know?"

"E-Ema faked the birth certificate with help, to hide the baby's true mother. Lord Hyūga would have no reason to kill me."

"Whose help!" Kakashi demanded.

"Hizashi Hyūga!" she squealed.

"Hizashi?" Minato took a step back.

"He knew of the other murders when his father was clan leader! His wife told him about how his father had raped Ema! Hizashi came to her and helped pay for her silence and to hide any record that she was pregnant! He said it was to protect her!"

"Let me guess," Itachi broke in, "Fuji or Ema swore revenge on my father and Hizashi?"

"At first it was just to hide any record of her having given birth!" Sango protested, "Ema contracted leukemia before the war and died during the war. Fuji blamed both clans because there were supposedly treatment options for it, but she and Fuji were of no means!"

The sins of the father come back to haunt us. "Sango, where is Fuji, hell, where is Shingo?!" Minato demanded, determined to stop further bloodshed.

"Three days ago," she spoke through tears, "he came and took Shingo; he told me if I played along nothing would happen to the boy."

"Fuck!" Minato huffed in frustration.

"Minato, I'll go and check out his apartment," Kakashi said, "he's not of any extraordinary means, and it's the only property we could find in his name."

"Itachi," Minato turned to the younger man, "do what you must. I'm going with Kakashi!"

Itachi withdrew a set of handcuffs. "You have the right to remain silent." He began cuffing the sobbing woman.

Minato teleported himself and Kakashi to the entrance to Stony Bridge. It took a scant few seconds to get the key to Fuji Uchiha's apartment from the building superintendent and get to the door. "Boss, wait," Kakashi called out as Minato inserted the key. Kakashi placed the back of his hand on the center of the door, then the knob itself. "No heat."

"Placed right, and explosive tag won't be detectable," Minato said as he unlocked the door. Both men stood out of the door frame on opposite sides, "By the numbers!" Minato turned the knob, feeling no resistance. He gingerly pressed forward on the door, feeling for any telltale resistance of a tripwire or a match set to strike along the ground. If he set a fuel-air trap like what Naruto found in his Chunin Exam, Shingo is already long dead. Minato pressed the door until it was an inch ajar. Kakashi visually inspected for the sign of any line or wire along the visible part of the door and ran his hand along.

Satisfied, Kakashi called out, "Breech!" Minato gave the door a firm slap and both men raced out of the doorframe in case there was another boobytrap they'd missed. Nothing happened, and they moved through the entrance. "SHINGO!" Minato called out.

A muffled sound came from inside the apartment, and the sound of feet stopping on the floor.

"Shingo, hold still!" Kakashi ordered, "We're coming to you!" They didn't have to go far. Shingo sat tied to a chair in the bedroom, gagged and blindfolded. The poor kid had peed himself at some point. Judging by his disheveled state, the kid had been tied up for many hours, maybe even a day or two.

As they approached, Minato noticed two things around the boy's neck – a tight-fitting collar and an inner tube wrapped around him. "Shingo, do not move! We're going to take off the blindfold and gag, but you have to hold very, very still," he cautioned. Minato inched closer, smelling the mix of piss and sweat coming off the boy. He also recognized the unpleasant, oily scent of kerosene. The collar was some kind of bomb and the inner tube was filled with kerosene.

Minato inspected the blindfold and gag for any sign that they were rigged to set the bomb off. Finding none, he used a kunai to cut both free. "Instructor Namikaze!"

"It's okay, Shingo," he assured the boy, "It's okay; we're going to get you out of here but we need you to stay calm."

"Shingo, did Fuji say anything?" Kakashi asked as he, too, inspected the bomb collar.

"He said…" the boy whimpered, "… he was going to the hospital to settle his debt."

Kakashi and Minato turned to one another, "Fugaku is there," Kakashi said.

"So are Akemi and Hinata," sweat began dripping down Minato's sides like melting wax in a candle. Minato reached for his phone and dialed his son.

"Dad?"

"Naruto, you were right, Fuji Uchiha is behind all of this. He has rigged Shingo to some kind of boobytrap. Fuji told him that he was going to the hospital, probably with a bomb!"

"Shit!"

"Son, get everyone out!" Minato commanded.

"It might not be that easy," Naruto replied, "We have several serious labor and delivery situations going on; we can't just move the patients!"

"Naruto…" Minato weighed telling him to go after Fuji or try evacuating everyone, "… get the son of a bitch!"

"On it!"

Minato hung up and called the Hokage's office, "Dear?" Kushina answered.

"Kushina, I need you to send the military police to evacuate a 3-block radius around Stony Bridge Apartments. There is a bomb present. Tell them I need Hiashi here!"

"Hiashi?"

"Do it quick!" Minato turned to Kakashi, "Head out into the hall and pull the fire alarm, and then clear the building!"

"Sensei, what are you going to do?" Kakashi asked incredulous.

"Once Hiashi gets here, get him to me, then get yourself the hell away from here!"

"Boss, I'm not leaving you!" Kakashi protested.

"Dammit, evacuate the building and we'll argue later! GO!" he commanded. Kakashi ran out into the hallway and pulled the fire alarm.

"I'm on my way there!" Kushina called through the phone, ending the call.

"Kushina!" Minato called back, but there was no answer. He turned back to Shingo, "Okay, I need you to hold still; I'm going to inspect the device.

Naruto put his phone away and paused. He activated his Byakugan and assessed where things were. Sasuke was with Sakura, Hinata, and Akemi. It looked like Hinata and Akemi were delivering the remains in a bloody mess. He struggled to keep his lunch down at the horrific sight. Further down the hall, Hanabi was coaching Neji and Tenten through the birth of their twins. And even further down, a team of midwives was with Granny Tsunade. Shit!

Naruto ran from his spot in the hallway to the nurse's station. He grabbed the phone and dialed the operator, "Hello?"

"This is Naruto Uzumaki, you need to evacuate the hospital. Someone has made a bomb threat. HURRY!" He set down the phone and the nurses at the station began staring. "Sorry, but I'm afraid the threat is very real; you need to evacuate everyone you can!"

The nurses made a faint nod in unison and set about life an army of ants. Naruto turned and ran back to the room where Hinata and the others were. He came through the door as the intercom boom, "CODE ORANGE! PROCEED TO EVACUATION STATIONS!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Akemi shouted over the alarm.

"Is Sakura in any condition to move?" Naruto asked as Hinata wrapped a bundle in tissue paper and a towel before taking it out through the door. Naruto's stomach sank again as Hinata took the remains from the room.

"Naruto, we haven't delivered the placenta yet! We could have very serious complications if we try moving her now!"

Fuck! "Sasuke, come with me, then!"

"Naruto!" he protested.

"The guy who framed you is here in the hospital with a bomb!" Naruto shouted. "If we don't do something he's going to kill a lot of people we can't safely move!"

"Tsunade was just induced as well," Akemi wiped her forehead with a forearm. "Right now is critical!" She tore off her gloves and washed her hands in the room's sink.

Naruto turned back to his friend, "Sasuke, it's up to us!"

"Okay," Sasuke nodded, squeezing Sakura's hand one last time before running for the door.

Hokage Kushina Uzumaki had to bully her way into the exclusion zone over the protests of the military police and her protection detail. Her heart raced in sync with her feet as she ran the hallways of the apartment building that had once been home. She reached the open door, finding Minato, Hiashi, and Kakashi gathered around a boy tied to a chair. Kushina spotted the unusual rig around the boy's neck and shoulder – a rubber innertube from a bike and a threatening-looking collar.

"What's the situation?" she asked.

"Lord Hokage, you shouldn't be here!" Kakashi protested.

"Kakashi leave right now, that's an order."

"Like hell," Kakashi replied, "I'm not explaining to your kids if something goes wrong."

Minato ignored the drama, instead inspecting the collar on the boy's neck with Hiashi. "It's as you feared," Hiashi said, "There is wiring throughout the collar's strap rigged like a burglar alarm. We break the circuit, and we trigger whatever this thing is."

Kushina turned her attention back to the device, recognizing it from a classified briefing. A shipment of suicide collars and vests like the one the boy wore had been confiscated by the border guards a few weeks ago. Shit! There is no disarming it! "Minato, I need you in the hallway right now!"

"It's all right, Shingo," Minato put a hand on the tearful boy's shoulder, "I'll be back." Minato followed her out into the hallway, and she moved far enough away from the door to keep them out of hearing distance. "What's up?" Minato asked, cool as ice.

"Minato, we have to get him out of here," she shook her head. "There is no conventional way of disarming what he's attached to."

"Kushina, we can't just abandon him."

"Minato, we don't know if that thing has a countdown timer or some other trigger. Can you teleport it off him or teleport him out of it?"

"There is too much contact with him and the device," he shook his head.

"Goddammit, we can't just sit here and wait for it to blow the building!" Kushina shook her head, feeling every bit as frightened as she was the night they'd bonded Nine-Tails to Naruto and Hinata. "We can't remove it, we can't render it inert, and we can't freeze the clock!"

Minato's mouth fell open in realization at her statement, "Say that again."

"I said we can't remove it, render it inert or…" she carefully searched the words she'd used, "freeze the clock."

A smile wholly inappropriate for the situation formed on his face, "Now I know why I married you; you're a genius!" Minato brought his lips to hers quickly then withdrew. "If you're determined to stick around, keep the boy calm, and see if there are any clean towels in the apartment; I'll be right back!" He disappeared in a flash.

Seeing no other options, Kushina retreated into the apartment. "Kakashi, Hiashi, see if you can find any towels, preferably clean. Hurry!"

"I see some in the restroom, a few more in the kitchen area," Hiashi said, Byakugan glowing faint purple. "Any particular type?"

"Just whatever, preferably clean," she instructed. The two men set about the task.

"Lord Hokage," a child's voice too innocent for these circumstances spoke. Kushina looked at Shingo, seeing a boy that could have been Obito Uchiha when she'd last seen him as a child. "What's going to happen to my mom?"

"Shingo…" she paused, almost tearing up. Had Obito been in this same position what would you have told him? "… we have to get you safe, first. Then we can figure that out. Just hold real still! My husband should be back any minute, ya know!"

On cue, Minato returned in a flash, holding a grey jug with a screw top lip, "Sorry about the wait."

"What's that?" Kushina asked.

"Liquid nitrogen, had to go to the lab at the academy to find some!" he explained.

Hiashi and Kakashi returned with towels. "Got 'em, boss," Kakashi said. "You sure this is a good idea?"

"What are you going to do?" Hiashi asked, handing a towel to Minato.

"Drape the towels around his collar and shoulders," he ordered. "Shingo, this might feel real cold, but I need you to hold very still while I do this, okay?" The boy nodded.

"You're going to freeze the bomb?" Kushina asked.

"We did it a few times during the war on booby-traps left somewhere we couldn't easily evacuate," Kakashi explained. He exchanged a look with Minato, "never did this on bomb strapped to a person, though!"

"That was on a chemical-energy device!" Hiashi protested. "This has mini-chakra scrolls!"

"Flame chakra, though, right?" Kushina asked.

"Yes," Hiashi said, "if they blow, they'll immolate everyone in this room, easily."

Kushina stared at Minato, "In theory, freezing the scrolls should have the same effect, inhibiting the reaction needed for chakra release."

"Even if it doesn't," Minato said, "The cold could freeze the battery and internal electronics, buying us enough time to get the thing off him." Minato paused and shrugged, "Of course, if anyone has a better idea."

"Do it," Kushina said.

"Then take the others and leave."

"I'm your wife and your Hokage," she replied sharply, as she pulled out a kunai, "I'm not going to put you in danger in the name of my own safety. Freeze the damn thing and let's cut it off him!"

Minato nodded then turned back to the boy tied to the chair. "All right, son," he unscrewed the cap to the jug, steam rising from the jug's mouth, "this may still feel really cold. If anything starts hurting let me know."

"Okay," Shingo said in a whimper. Minato delicately tilted the jug, and steam and liquid spilled out onto the face of the collar on the boy's neck. With measured care, Minato moved outward from the center and along the straps, careful not to spill onto the boy's shoulders. A ghostly pale layer of ice crystals formed on the black material.

"That should do it," Hiashi said, "I can see ice crystals forming on the inside."

"Kushina, quickly, before this thing thaws!" Minato ordered. She didn't wait; Kushina placed the blade of her kunai under the collar and slashed it free. Minato dropped the bottle of liquid nitrogen and grabbed the frozen collar with a wince. He teleported out of view, and several agonizing seconds ticked by. Minato reappeared, and everyone took a deep breath.

"All right," Kushina turned to Shingo, still tied to the chair and wrapped in an oily-smelling inner tube. "Let's get you out of this."

Sasuke sprinted down the hallway behind Naruto, slowed by the ache in his guts where Naruto had driven his knee into his solar plexus and the absence of a right lung. Despite the discomfort, Sasuke did not slow. He was disconnected from the world around him and running on pure adrenaline; he was well aware the crash would be as bad as drug withdrawal when it did hit. Now is not the time to be thinking of it!

Nevertheless, Sasuke could still see, with great detail, the image of Hinata holding his now deceased child every time his eyelids closed. She had the good sense to tell you not to look and the better sense to take the remains from the room immediately! The pit of his stomach curdled with the horrid image. The child had enough detail to be human. The image would be burned into his brain until the day he died.

"Naruto, Sasuke, can you hear me?" Ino spoke telepathically.

"Loud and clear," Naruto replied.

"Yes," was all Sasuke could muster.

"Naruto, your mom and dad disarmed some kind of suicide bomb collar on the Uchiha kid. Do not try to disarm until they arrive."

Naruto froze, activating his ghostly blue-white Byakugan, "You said it was a collar, right?"

"Yes, some kind of scientific ninja tool meant to set off a massive fire release if disturbed."

"Tell my parents NOT to come to the hospital, and reiterate the need for everyone to evacuate!

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto turned to him, eyes still aglow, "He's wearing a vest rigged with a series of explosive tags and multiple bricks of a chemical explosive, Naruto's voice dropped grim and hollow. "The bomb is rigged to a dead man's switch in his hand and has multiple secondary triggers if we try to disarm it." Naruto eyed Sasuke with extreme wariness, "And…"

"And what, goddammit!" Sasuke shouted.

"Your mom and Izumi are in the room with him and your father," Naruto sighed, "If we screw up…"

"How do we play this?"

Naruto pulled out his cellphone, toggled a series of functions, and put it in the breast pocket of his jacket. "Play cool, do as I say."

"What is the plan?"

"Just, keep him talking," Naruto reiterated, raising his hands. "And pray he's only so suicidal."

"What do you mean?"

"He has heart monitor leads on his chest," Naruto explained, "If we take him out or he does the job for us, we're all dead and a sizable part of the building could be damaged." Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Keep him talking, no sudden movements, and try to not piss your pants," Naruto grinned as only he could.

"You're a real moron sometimes!" Sasuke chided.

"Time to see if this moron is as good of a diplomat as he is a shinobi," Naruto winked. They again took off running into the intensive care ward, coming to a non-descript door.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Sasuke recognized Fuji Kimura, or rather, Fuji Uchiha. The severe man's hair had grown longer from when Sasuke had last seen him. His hair was unruly and oily, a sign of not having been cleaned in some time. Fuji also had the black scraggle of a beard that was given time to grow but clearly hadn't filled in.

"Fuji," Naruto called out, calm as ever, "we just want to talk." Naruto's voice shook only slightly.

"Fuji," Sasuke chimed in, "You have me, let Mom and Izumi go."

"Like hell!" the man shouted, "You two little bastards screwed everything!"

Despite being warned not to, Naruto walked into the doorway, "Why don't you tell us about it?"

"Shut up!" the man shouted. Sasuke peeked around Naruto to see the man holding out the dead man's switch. If he drops it, we all die. Looking further into the room, a visibly pregnant Izumi stood next to Mom, both with wide eyes in terror. In the room's bed, father lay. The bear of the man that he'd been had shrunk considerably, and his normally flowing hair was missing in large clumps to give some perspective as to how badly burned he'd been in the bombing.

"Fuji, my father is crippled for life, and you have one of his sons in reach. Wouldn't you rather kill me, who ruined you little plan?"

"Stop calling it little!"

"Fuji," Naruto stepped into the room.

"I SAID DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" the harsh rebuke came as expected.

"What was the plan, Fuji?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking too badly. Adrenaline made his bladder shrink and his throat tightened.

"What do you care!"

"You're planning on killing all of us, anyhow," Naruto said nonchalant, "why keep us in suspense?" He shrugged.

"Yeah, I love a good tale, certainly you can't begrudge a man a dying wish?" Sasuke tried summoning some of the self-assuredness he'd had when he'd been a teen and strutting about the village like a peacock.

"Y-you" the disheveled man stammered, "had to stick your nose into things."

Sasuke continued, "We were investigating the misdeeds of your father…"

"DON'T CALL THAT SON OF A BITCH THAT!" the man screeched.

"Let me guess," Naruto added, "the bombing of the Uchiha Compound was a rush job because you knew Sasuke was sniffing around?" Sasuke noted that Naruto inched closer as he spoke.

"I was going to blow them all up!" The man spoke, clearly manic. "The Uchiha, the Hyūga, the Hokage! All of them! At this year's New Year's celebration!" He glowered at Sasuke, "I had to settle for trying to kill your father and brother!"

"Why, Fuji?" Sasuke asked, "Hattori is dead, Hizashi is dead!"

"All my mom ever wanted was to help people!" Fuji screeched, turning a glare at Father, "She was studying to be a nurse when dad died! She took the job with that lecherous bastard to support me, and then he raped her!" Naruto had inched several inches closer, and Sasuke could see what he up to. Clever, keep him talking.

"And Hizashi changed your birth records so that it looked like you were Sango's kid so Hattori wouldn't suspect a thing," Sasuke now stood in the doorway, bracing against it. "And because she didn't want to give up the ruse, your mom refused to reveal your parentage when she came before father to beg for his help."

"He turned her out of the house!" the wild man shouted, turning toward Father again, "All of this was your fault! Had you not been such a judgmental, unfeeling bastard!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke inched in closer in the man's momentary lapse of view. "Fuji," father wheezed, "for what little it is worth, I am sorry."

"What was Sango's role?" Naruto asked, "was she in on this plan, too?"

"She fed me information; I used it!"

"Then you rigged her kid with a bomb, why?"

"If she knew what I was planning, she would have tried stopping me; she almost turned me in after the Uchiha Compound until I threatened her son. She would have told that I was going to be here today had I not rigged him to blow!" He pulled back his jacket to reveal a vest with multiple explosive tags and bricks of plastic explosives throughout. I knew Fugaku was still here in intensive care, I knew his wife would be here, and thanks to Sango, I learned that most of the senior Hyūga women would be here delivering Hizashi's grandchildren!" He grinned unnervingly, "It was my last best chance to get all of them before someone sniffed me out!"

"Why frame Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Because, you fool! He was on to me!" Fuji explained, "If I could get him out of the picture, get everyone's eyes off of me, I'd still have a chance for revenge!"

"We already know about Hattori," Sasuke said, "Those details were about to be made public, all of them! Was that not enough!"

"Did either clan do anything when Mom got sick?"

"Did she ever reveal herself?" Mom asked.

"Shut up!"

"Had she, we might have been able to do something," Mom continued, "She lived and died in secret to protect you for years, and this is how you would repay her?"

"SHUT UP!" the man growled at her. Mom must have seen what he and Naruto were doing.

"Fuji, it's not too late," Naruto said.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" the man retorted. "Even if I could turn off the suicide vest, I'd be looking at life in prison at a best!"

"There has to be some way to get the vest off…" Sasuke started.

"NO, THERE ISN'T!" The man screamed.

"There is no reasoning with him," Naruto transmitted via the telepathic link with Ino. If he drops the trigger, we all die."

"Agree, if we try taking him alive, we lose, but we can't just take him out!" Sasuke replied.

"Maybe we can," Naruto's thought sounded contemplative. "You and Hinata clear the hospital of any backup devices; I'll try and put him far away!"

"What the…" before Sasuke could complete the thought, Naruto surged forward and bear hugged Fuji. "Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as the two flashed out of view, Fuji's thumb coming off the trigger gripped in his right hand as they disappeared.

It had been reckless, but there were probably no other options at this point – Fuji had he look of a man with nothing to lose. Sasuke eyed his Mother, Father, and Izumi. Sasuke noticed how badly the younger woman was shivering, clutching her swollen belly. Oh god, no more! Panic bolted Sasuke from the room, searching for the nearest nurse's station. He found two wheelchairs and dragged both to the room. I've killed one baby today, please don't make it two! "Mom, can you get Izumi out? I'll get father then have to help clear the building. Get her outside to the police and have the medics check her!"

Mom nodded assisting her pregnant daughter-in-law to the chair and quickly pushed Izumi out. Sasuke turned to his withered father. Wordlessly, he picked him up and transferred him to the wheelchair. "I never expected," Father gasped, "to live to see the day where you would be carrying me. Thank you, Sasuke."

"Thank me after we're out of here." Sasuke began pushing his father out of the room and down to the emergency exit.

"I never stopped believing you were innocent, son," father spoke, still labored in his breathing.

"Dad, don't talk!"

"No," he continued, "you need to know…" he labored, "I knew… it wasn't you!"

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Sasuke paused.

"A hunch," he sighed.

"A hunch?" Sasuke laughed as they cleared the exit. He ran father toward the line of military police and medics cordoning off the hospital.

"I couldn't accept that you would come so far back from the edge, only to willing go off the deep end."

"Well, I'm glad someone had faith in me," Sasuke almost smiled as he reached the perimeter. "He may need the medics to attend to him!"

"Lord Fugaku?" the nearest member of the military police stared incredulous – a member of the Uchiha Clan Sasuke didn't recognize.

"My son saved my life, and he is innocent of the crime he has been persecuted for!" Father growled, "Show a little goddamn respect!"

"Yes, sir!" the man bowed and began wheeling Father away.

"Kids these days!" Father shook his head as he was wheeled off.

Sasuke turned back to the hospital, heavy stone sinking in his stomach. He didn't know how to face Sakura or her parents. He didn't know how to tell his own parents and brother what had happened. He was hollowed out, disemboweled by the thought of everything that had just happened in the past few hours.

"Sasuke, where is Naruto!" Ino's voice in his head rang alarm bells.

"What?! Can't you track him?!" he asked.

"He teleported beyond the barrier, and I can't sense his mind!"

"Shit!" he kicked off and sprinted back towards the hospital, hoping he didn't have to bury anyone else today.

Author's notes: Hello everyone. Thank you as always for reading. Let me apologize for this chapter being almost a week late from when it should have been published. Between an insane work schedule and how poorly polished the last chapter was at release, I wanted to be sure this one came out right. For those wondering, much of the conversation between Sakura and Hinata was based on conversation with an excellent doctor we saw after our loss. I certainly wish I'd had Hinata and Akemi there during the loss; most of our labor/delivery team was insensitive at best. Sadly, it seriously magnified the pain for both my wife and myself. I'll spare you the gory details.

With that tangent aside, next chapter might be a bit delayed due to prior delays. I will be trying to wrap up a few plot threads as we prepare to move into the next act of the story. We will be wrapping up the Kara arc as well as getting ready for several weddings. After everything the characters have been through, I think a little lighthearted fluff is in order. Until that time, stay healthy, stay safe, and I'll see you next chapter. Thank you all again for reading.