A Mission with a Mistake

by PatheticRainbows

Summary:

Naruto has been asked by Kakashi to take the lead on a mission. A very specific infiltration mission that Naruto was more suited for than anyone else.

Naruto takes the task in stride, slipping into the life of a woman without much trouble. Deep under cover, Naruto is moments away from being kidnapped, ready for the mission to start in true. Only for his really annoying, absentee best friend to swoop in and ‘rescue’ the defenceless girl Naruto was pretending to be.

Things progress in a direction Naruto couldn’t even begin to expect, leaving the hero of the village to cope with the consequences. All while dealing with the fact that Sasuke’s left again, without even saying goodbye.

Notes:

This is a work in progress fic! I have a few chapters written, but I won’t be updating as frequently as I do for ‘Response to Responsibility’.

Apparently I have a very specific type of Naruto fic I like to write XD

“” - Talking out loud.
‘’ - Talking in head.

Chapter 1: Finally. A Mission

Kakashi sighed deeply, his hand lifting up to pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation – a stress induced habit Kakashi has only learned since taking up the god forsaken hat that he’s prone to doing. 

 

“You're sure we don’t have another option?” Kakashi asked, his tone defeated as he peers past his own hand and into the bored expression of one Shikamaru Nara. 

 

“This is our best option” Shikamaru responded, tucking the file he had previously been viewing under his arm and out of the way, “it’s our best, and probably safest, chance”. 

 

Kakashi leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing over his chest as he looked to the ceiling in thought.

 

“He’s not gonna like it” Kakashi lemented after a moment, his gaze straightening to look back at Shikamaru. 

 

The other man smirked in response. 

 

“No” Shikamaru said lightly, “he’s not gonna like it”. 

 

Kakashi snorted callously, leaning forward in his chair to rest his chin in his palm and his elbow on his desk. He steepled the hard, wood, surface with his other hand – the desk looked brand new, and probably was, based on the frequency in which Tsunade broke things in rage during her tenure as Hokage. 

 

“He might even throw a fit, the troublesome guy,” Shikamaru continued after a moment. 

 

“I don’t know” Kakashi said, continuing to steeple the desk in a staccato rhythm, “I think he’s going to be upset about parts of it, definitely unhappy about other certain aspects, but I also think he’s going to throw himself into the challenge,” Kakashi said while frowning, as if unhappy with the prospect. 

 

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the Hokage’s words. 

 

“He’s a dedicated guy” Kakashi continued when Shikamaru didn’t say anything in response, “I think he might surprise you this time around”. 

 

Shikamaru looked unconvinced.

 

“Well, you can be the one to tell him he’s gonna have to take his prosthetic off for it” Shikamaru said while sighing deeply, “I don’t want to be around when you tell him that”. 

 

Kakashi sighed, “no, I suppose you wouldn’t” he chuckled tiredly, “alright, mouse” Kakashi suddenly called, an Anbu appearing in front of the Hokage's desk at Kakashi’s beckon, “please inform Naruto to come see me…” Kakashi trailed off, looking at the clock behind Shikamaru's head.

 

It was roughly eleven in the morning, and chances were Naruto was at the training ground and had been for the last few hours. Kakashi preemptively wrinkled his nose at the idea of having to smell the sweaty boy in his office if he summoned him right now. 

 

“Tell him to come see me in the next two hours” Kakashi continued after a moment of thought, confident that two hours should provide Naruto with enough time to finish up and bathe before coming to see him. 

 

The anbu nodded once before disappearing from the room.

 

“Good luck” Shikamaru shot over his shoulder, already exiting the room before Kakashi could rope him into any more discussions or mission assignments. 

 

Kakashi just waved the man off. 

______

 

Naruto laid in the soft grass of training ground fifteen, his arms stretching above his head as he arched his back like a cat bathing in the sun. He let out a deep sigh, his body collapsing back to the ground with a satisfying release. 

 

He’d been training and exercising in the large field since six o’clock this morning, just feeling desperate to do anything to fill what felt like his endless free time. 

 

Sure he was still sent on missions, but those had become few and far between with the newly established peace times. Plus, Kakashi often used Naruto’s notoriety of being famously the most powerful ninja around to bar him from going on most missions. Apparently, it doesn’t translate well to other hidden villages when the Hero of the War was sent on no name B and C rank missions that any chunin worth their weight in dirt could compete just as easily. 

 

He also had his studying that he needed to do. Training to be the Hokage one day, and training to actually be granted the rank of Jonin since Kakashi-sensei refused to just promote him. But with construction around the village nearly being done, and the studying stuff only taking up so much of the day, Naruto often found himself killing time at one of the numerous training grounds littered throughout the village.   

 

He was so bored, he was actually contemplating asking Kakashi-sensei for a genin squad of his own. But even for that, he would technically need to become a jonin first before the silver haired jerk would grant him the assignment. 

 

Naruto grunted, his eyes squinting shut against the imposing sun in the sky. 

 

God, he needed something to do. A nice long mission or something to keep him occupied and his mind off more former-missing-nin-best-friend related topics. 

 

It’s been a little over a year since his final battle with Sasuke. Since he finally completed his life’s promise to bring the bastard home.

 

Only for said bastard to leave again. Naruto thought bitterly for a second before shaking his head to dislodge the idea. 

 

Sasuke didn’t abandon the village (despite what he heard Kurama continuously grumbled when Naruto paid the giant fox half a thought). No, he didn’t abandon the village; he was traveling the world, rectifying and bettering himself to try and make up for his mistakes of the past. 

 

A personal mission. Which Naruto supposed he could respect, even if it meant he’d only seen the jerk twice since he left, and even if once was only for two minutes because Naruto bothered to chase him down on his way out of the village four months ago. The bastard hadn’t even told him he was back. Not him or Sakura. He’d just stopped in with Kakashi and checked back out of the village all within less than an hour. It was a miracle Naruto even sensed the guy's chakra on his way out with how suppressed Sasuke had been making it. 

 

Naruto sniffed. He guessed that just meant he was the better ninja, seeing as he was able to find the Uchiha when he clearly hadn’t wanted to be found.

 

Their conversation had been brief, only two minutes as previously mentioned, and heavily one-sided, but what else was new. The stupid jerk didn’t know when he was going to be back, and wouldn’t tell Naruto where he was going, and basically just hummed and gave Naruto that irritating blank expression he developed as a child and mastered during his time with the evil snake bastard. 

 

Naruto sighed again, rolling over in the grass and onto his stomach, his hands folded under his head as he continued to contemplate the Uchiha. 

 

No, Sasuke didn’t abandon the village, but that didn’t mean Naruto wasn’t still a little peeved the guy just up and left again. He really tried not to be; but he had still ended up grumbling and complaining to Sakura, Kakashi, and even Yamato in the days following Sasuke’s village sanctioned departure. 

 

Naruto missed his friend. His first friend. His best friend. His other half. His strongest bond. 

 

Uhg! It all sounded so cheesy, and Naruto was pissed at himself for moping around like this. 

 

He pulled an arm out from under his head, readjusting the other arm so he lay in the crook of his elbow, and began ripping grass out of the ground and watching the wind blow the short strands away from in between his fingertips. 

 

He wondered if Sasuke missed him too. 

 

Naruto smacked his hand to the ground at the sudden thought. Kami! He was being ridiculous.

 

So what, he spent three nearly four years chasing after the guy to bring him home and save him from himself. So what, he lost an arm while doing it. So what, the bastard stayed in the village for less than a month after being healed and pardoned. Naruto just needed to get over it. Sasuke was on the mend; no longer so dark and twisted and bent on revenge. 

 

Naruto should be happy. 

 

Sasuke was doing what he needed to do to… how did Sakura put it again? Realign himself with his place in the world and focus on the rehabilitation of his mental health? Something like that. Whatever. 

 

The point is, Sasuke wasn’t a psychopathic, revenge seeking crazy person anymore, and Naruto really missed him. No! Scratch that! The point is that Sasuke is better, and Naruto completed his goal of bringing the prickly bastard back home… sort of. 

 

‘You have company, kit’ Kurama suddenly spoke up in his mind, pulling Naruto from his Sasuke centric thoughts. 

 

Naruto pushed himself up, focusing in on the chakra signature he felt closing in on him. Suddenly, an anbu guard with a mask reminiscent of a mouse stood in front of him. Naruto recognized her as the one who hung around the hokage's office, or he guessed was stationed at the hokage's office. Anbu didn’t really just ‘hang around’ places for no reason. 

 

“Hokage-sama has requested your presence at the tower within the next two hours” the mouse anbu stated before pausing. 

 

Naruto got the distinct impression she was scrutinizing him from behind her mask. 

 

“Perhaps you should shower before appearing before him” the mouse anbu continued before just as quickly disappearing from the training ground. Taking her chakra and her judgy nature with her. 

 

Naruto took a not too subtle whiff of his armpit and proceeded to make an even less subtle face of disgust at what assaulted his nose. 

 

Yeah, a shower was probably best. 

_____

 

Naruto was now squeaky clean and dressed in a fresh pair of clothes, a black tunic-jacket hybrid with a dark orange pant, a new look he had been trying out recently. He hoped to make himself look a little more mature, but based on the way Sakura snorted an impressive amount of milk out of her nose at the comment, Naruto had a feeling he was off the mark a bit. But whatever, he liked the outfit. 

 

Finally ready to see his sensei, Naruto climbed into the Hokage tower through the open window. Like, genuinely climbed in like a child who didn’t know how to use chakra, one arm at a time hoisting over the window’s edge and puling him into the building. 

 

He couldn’t use the door! Just because Kakashi-sensei was the Hokage now, didn’t mean Naruto wanted the guy to think he respected him. (He does, like an insane amount, and Kakashi knows this, but that’s besides the point). 

 

“Please please please tell me you have a mission for me” Naruto begged as he slung his leg over the window’s edge and fully pulled himself into the room. 

 

Kakashi watched the display with an amused huff and a slightly raised eyebrow. 

 

“I have a mission for you,” Kakashi confirmed, giving the rambunctious blonde a smile. 

 

“Yatta!” Naruto cheered, beyond excited to finally be given something to do. 

 

“Don’t get too excited, you haven’t even heard what it is yet” Kakashi said lightly. 

 

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it! Anything to not being dyin’ of boredom anymore” Naruto said eagerly, falling into the chair in front of Kakashi’s desk. 

 

“Well, if that’s the case, then I don’t want to hear any complaints about this mission” Kakashi said evenly, still smiling at Naruto. 

 

It was this that finally had Naruto narrowing his eyes at Kakashi in suspicion. 

 

“Alright” Naruto said slowly, “what’s the mission then? Why do you seem so…” he trailed off, his hand flapping uselessly in the space between them.

 

“It’s an infiltration mission, long term. Probably looking at a few weeks, but it could be more or it could be less” Kakashi began to explain. 

 

“Infiltration mission?” Naruto asked curiously, “you normally don’t give me those types of missions”. 

 

“No, not normally, but this is a special case,” Kakashi said cryptically. 

 

“A special case?” Naruto questioned. 

 

“Hori Mitsubishi, successful merchant and suspected Black Market slave trader. We believe he is using his extensive trade routes and merchant vessels as an aid in his human trafficking ‘business’” Kakashi explained, making Naruto scowl with each word he said. 

 

Those people are disgusting. How can you treat a life so worthlessly.  

 

“We have had increased reports of kidnappings from in and around Fire country. We need to gather proof of Mitsubishi’s crimes, and intel on who his clients are. We'll need to know how many there are, where he’s keeping the victims, amongst other things. The details are in the mission file” Kakashi continued, “This is where you come in” Kakashi placed the closed mission file on the table between them. 

 

“Right, you want me to infiltrate as a thug or something right?” Naruto asked, reaching out for the file. 

 

“Not exactly,” Kakashi confessed, making Naruto scowl slightly, “His organization is pretty tightly knit, and we’re not confident we could get one of our people in without being met with substantial suspicion. His trafficking ring deals almost exclusively with women and young girls” Kakashi said somberly, “we are going to need you to infiltrate the trafficking ring instead. As a woman”. 

 

“Huh?!” Naruto yelled, the file dropping out of his hands, “if you need a woman to infiltrate the trafficking ring, why not pick a kunoichi for the mission then!” Naruto squeaked, his voice raising. 

 

“Normally we would,” Kakashi explained calmly, “but in this case, Mitsubishi only deals with high value targets, which is why this mission is so important. But it’s also because of this that the organization is extremely picky about the type of women they kidnap. A kunoichi would be too obvious, they have scars and muscles, and to a trained eye, it can be hard to pass off as a regular civilian, and from what we understand, Mitsubishi has some people with extremely well trained eyes working for him. It’s too dangerous to send one of our kunoichi under a henge to hide any blemishes or make them look less battle hardened. This would be a long term mission and it would be impossible to hold up the henge undetected for the entirety of it” Kakashi took a breath, folding his hands together over his desk as he regarded Naruto with a critical eye, “this is where you come in. You are extremely proficient with the Henge Jutsu and would be able to hold the transformation up for the entirety of the mission due to your vast chakra reserves along with the help of the Kyuubi. Also take into consideration that you already have a female form you are comfortable maintaining and it’s a no brainer to have you be the one to complete this mission”.

 

Naruto slumped back in his chair, a hand raking through his hair as he let out a puffed breath, “I guess that all makes sense. And it doesn’t really bother me to maintain a henge like that” Naruto began planning, mumbling to himself more and talking to Kakashi less with each word he spoke, “plus, I’m strong enough to stop anything from, uh, happening if I need to, so I’d rather I be put in that position than one of my friends or one of the other kunoichi around” he hummed. 

 

“I thought you might say something like that, but this is still a mission, while I’m not happy about it, you may not be able to get out of those situation without blowing the operation” Kakashi noted somberly, “that’s why I want you to really think about this before you agree. Ideally you can get through it without any issues, but sometimes unavoidable things happen” Kakashi let out another sigh, his body sagging, “also, there’s more”. 

 

“More?” Naruto asked, shocked. 

 

“While we want you to infiltrate the trafficking ring, what we ultimately want is for you to get close to Mitsubishi. Our intel suggests that he sometimes takes some of the women for himself, if they catch his eye. But we’ve also gathered that he has a, well, he has a specific type, to put it bluntly” Kakashi slumped back in his seat. 

 

“Okay..” Naruto said carefully, “your stressin’ me out here, Kakashi-sensei. What’s his type?”.

 

“Young, typically around eighteen-nineteen, our sources say, innocent, weak, amputees” Kakashi said carefully, watching Naruto’s face frown deeper and deeper with each descriptive word he gave before it all culminated in Naruto choking on his own spit and nearly falling out of his chair. 

 

“What!” He screamed, slamming to his feet. 

 

“It seems Mitsubishi has an inclination for those with… traumatic injuries. Well again, to put it bluntly, he has a thing for amputees” Kakashi said, cringing slightly at his own words. 

 

“So what? You’re- you- uhhhgg!” Naruto yelled, his hands slapping down onto Kakashi’s desk. 

 

“We’ll need you to remove your prosthetic for the duration of the mission. It’s our most guaranteed way of getting Mitsubishi to take a liking to you, and for him to bring you to his private quarters to investigate” Kakashi tried to explain as calmly as he could, though he couldn’t stop himself from frowning. 

 

He honestly wasn’t pleased about it either, but there wasn’t much else they could do. More and more women were being kidnapped every day, and they needed to do something quick before things could get any worse. 

 

Naruto fell back into his chair, shock overtaking him. 

 

“Naruto?” Kakashi asked quietly when the blonde hadn't said anything else for a few minutes. 

 

“This guy, he’s really messed up, right?” Naruto asked hesitantly. 

 

“Completely” Kakashi confirmed. 

 

“And I’m the best option for infiltrating this guy's network?” Naruto asked, his voice taking on a bit more strength. 

 

“The best, it’s like you were tailored for this mission” Kakashi again, confirmed. 

 

“I’ll do it” Naruto stated, his eyes locking on to Kakashi’s as he said the words, “if I can help to get this guy and his business off the streets, and save all those women, then I’ll do it. It’s a no brainer” he said assuredly, his voice taking on confidence with each word. 

 

“I’m glad you see it that way, but you understand what you’ll be risking, right?” Kakashi said seriously to the blonde, “Will you be okay with disguising yourself as a woman for so long? Are you willing to sleep with the target if necessary? Your henge is unique in its stability, but would even you be able to hold it up during something like that?” Kakashi really hoped Naruto could get through it without anything untoward, but every mission had its risks. 

 

“I’d rather it be me, if I’m the safest option. I might have to do something like that if I go, but any other kunoichi would be risking the same or worse if they were sent on a mission they weren’t best suited for. If I’m the one that’s best suited, then I’ll do the mission” Naruto said seriously, matching Kakshi’s tone, “And my henge is solid, I’m not worried in the slightest to keep it up”. 

 

This was not something to take lightly, and Kakashi could see that determination reflected in the jinchuriki’s eyes. 

 

“Plus” Naruto continued after a moment, letting his words sink in for kakashi, “Henging as a women is no problem, I used to spend weeks as a girl when I was traveling with pervy sage” Naruto said casually. 

 

Kakashi coughed in surprise, “you maintained the transformation for weeks at a time while traveling with Jiraiya?”

 

“Oh yeah, it was usually way easier to get the jerk to focus on my training when I was a cute girl. Plus, I don’t know, it never really bothered my to keep the transformation going whenever we finished for the day, seemed easier to just keep it going than to bother letting it drop just to retransform the next day” Naruto explained, his hands resting behind his head like the words leaving his mouth weren’t anything to scoff at. 

 

“Wow, I mean, I expected you to be able to hold the transformation for weeks at a time already, but it’s reassuring to hear you already have experience doing so” Kakashi said a bit in awe, “was it you‘re sexy Jutsu that you held during your training with Jiraya?” Kakashi asked, tilting his head in thought. 

 

“Nah, after we started traveling together, I had to keep the really good stuff close to my chest, otherwise it’d eventually stop working. I usually just transformed into a more realistic girl version of myself, ya know? I only busted the actual Sexy Jutsu out when he was getting way too distracted” Naruto explained, his eyes glancing to the ceiling in thought. 

 

“This girl version you would transform into, was it more accurate to your actual age?” Kakashi asked carefully, though Naruto didn’t really notice. 

 

“Uh-huh” Naruto confirmed, leaning back in his chair. 

 

“And.. Jiraiya, did he still leer at you when you were henged like that” Kakashi asked suspiciously. 

 

Naruto hummed, “you know what, now that I think about it, not really. He sort of looked at me with this quizzical eye when I did it, but he still ended up giving me more attention whenever I transformed, so I didn’t really care” Naruto shrugged his shoulders, dismissing whatever memory he was looking back on. 

 

Kakashi was relieved to hear it, but still couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at Naruto’s words. He was starting to suspect Jiraiya hsd known something that Kakashi was beginning to figure out. 

 

“Your transformation that's just a girl version of you, do you still use it?” Kakashi asked, hoping Naruto would think he was checking because of the upcoming mission and not for any other reason. 

 

“Sometimes” Naruto shrugged, “I’ll transform when I’m training or hanging around the house. I don’t want to get rusty when it comes to maintaining a henge, plus, Kurama says that it’s ’beneficial to me’ which I assume he means it helps train my chakra, which is a bonus”. 

 

“So you're used to fighting when transformed as a woman? Their center of gravity is different from men. You don’t struggle with that difference?” Kakashi wondered allowed. 

 

“Not really, I don’t notice the difference anymore. I’ve been transforming into a girl for a while now, so the change never really botheres me”. 

 

“Wait, when did you first start transforming into a girl, not your sexy Jutsu, but just as a girl?” Kakashi asked. 

 

“The first time was when I was developing the sexy Jutsu, so… around the last year at the academy, but I only really started using it when I started traveling with pervy sage” Naruto answered. 

 

“Hmm” Kakashi hummed, studying Naruto with a new eye before rolling out his shoulders and sending the boy a smile. 

 

“The mission starts in two weeks. Details are in the mission folder. I recommend you spend these next two weeks with your prosthetic removed so you can get used to doing things with one arm again. Your arm is fully healed and looks more like an old scar now, so it wouldn’t do well for your cover if you still struggled with only having one arm like it was a more recent accident” Kakashi suggested, his voice taking on a more sympathetic air near the end. 

 

“Alright” Naruto agreed easily, though he frowned at his prosthetic arms as he did so, clearly not too happy with having to part with it for the mission. 

 

“I also recommend you speak with Kurenai, she has experience with infiltration and seduction missions, so she may be able to help provide you with some pointers,” Kakashi suggested, “for now, let me see your henge, we might need to tweak it for the mission. Kurenai might have some additional suggestion when you see her” Kakashi requested, noting how Naruto frowned slightly at the idea of adjusting his henge. 

 

He let out a puffed sigh before standing up and performing the familiar Jutsu. 

 

In a puff of smoke, Naruto stood before Kakashi in his more realistic henge. It really did just look like a girl version of Naruto, with average but muscular proportions, a slender build, slightly shorter height, and long blond hair that fell down his back in slightly messy layers. 

 

“Impressive” Kakashi noted, taking in the look with a critical eye, and subsequently making Naruto squirm at his sensei’s scrutiny. The clothes Naruto had been wearing now hung off his form, ill-fitting and too large. 

 

“You'll have to remove your whisker marks, they’re too notable. Since we need you to look more like a civilian, you should tone down your muscle definition as well. I would also suggest changing your hair colour if you can, you can keep it blonde if you want, just try something a bit darker. Your eyes… keep them as is. I believe the intel said Mitsubishi had a preference for striking eyes” Kakashi began instructing. 

 

Naruto hesitated for a second before bringing his hands back up into the transformation hand sign. 

 

“Oh, and shave off a few inches, he's not a tall man, and I think he would be more inclined to take you at a shorter height than if you towered over him,” Kakashi added before Naruto could adjust the transformation. 

 

Naruto nodded once before a cloud of smoke enveloped him once more. 

 

He now stood a few inches shorter, closer to Sakura's height, with a slimmer build. His whisker marks were now completely vacant, though Kakashi could still recognize Naruto without them, but he was confident that was because he was familiar with what he normally looked like. The thing that made Kakashi pause was that Naruto hadn't decided to go with a slightly darker blonde like he suggested, but instead went with a dark red colour more reminiscent of Kushina’s hair. It was the colour Kakashi would imagine you see when Kushina would first step out of the shower. All rich red tones–dark and almost blood coloured. 

 

”Good choice,” Kakashi praised, smiling at Naruto. 

 

Naruto smiled back before a frown overtook his gesture again and his gaze slid to his prosthetic arm once more.

 

With a heavy sigh, Naruto detached the arm and pulled it out from his now loose sleeve. It’s not that he was upset about only having one arm–he could never be upset about that, not when it resulted in him getting Sasuke back. He just hated the idea of being seen as less without it. People tended to look at him with sympathy and pity when he wasn’t wearing the arm Baa-chan and Sakura made him, and he hated being looked at like that. Especially when that look was coming from Sakura, she always looked so sad when she was reminded of its loss. 

 

Plus, it just made doing mundane things in general more annoying. Though, if he thought about it, Sasuke was still traveling around with only one arm as well, and if the bastard could do it without any issues, then Naruto certainly could too. 

 

“Do you have somewhere you can store it in case you need to quickly put it back on?” Kakashi asked, “you won’t be able to keep it on you during your mission, you’ll likely be stripped of your belongings when you're taken”. 

 

“I can give it to one of the toads to keep safe. That way I can just summon them if I think I need it” Naruto decided, doing exactly that a moment later and summoning one of the smaller toad summons and storing the arm in its mouth before releasing him with a quiet ‘thanks’. 

 

Kakashi nodded his head at the display, never not proud of how far his student had come. 

 

“Read over the mission report. I’ve taken the liberty of outlining some key information and suggestions in the final pages” Kakashi pointed to the file now sitting on Naruto’s chair, “it's up to you if you want to spend the next two weeks in henge or if you want to wait until the mission officially starts. I’m not worried about you needing to get comfortable with the change, so it’s your choice”. 

 

“Right” Naruto agreed, not making any motion to dispel the transformation, “I’ll head over to Kurenai-sensei right after this, so I’ll leave it on for now” Naruto explained. 

 

“Sounds good, you’re dismissed. Come see me again in two weeks before your departure unless you need to come talk to me before then”. 

 

“Roger, Kakashi-sensei” Naruto saluted, his stump arm lifting slightly before realization hit and he quickly switched to his other arm with a pretty blush.

_____

 

Naruto pulled the belt around his top tight, winching his jacket around at his waist to try and stop the oversized garment from flapping annoyingly around him while he ran to Kurenai’s. One sleeve grasped in his hand, the other clenched between his teeth. 

 

The genjutsu specialist had been taking a break from active work since the war ended, focusing more on raising her daughter. Because of this, Naruto had heard from Hinata and Kiba that the older woman could typically be found in her home when she wasn’t out with Mirai. 

 

Landing on Kurenai's doorstep, Naruto gave a few quick, sharp, knocks before stepping back and waiting. The door pulled open a few moments later, and the beautiful figure of Kurenai stood before him. 

 

“Can I help you? I don’t believe we’ve met before” the genjutsu specialist said upon answering the door, her piercing red eyes looking Naruto up and down in mild suspicion. 

 

“Hey Kurenai-sensei! It’s me, Naruto!” Naruto exclaimed, pointing at himself as if to ask ‘you don’t recognize me?’.

 

“Naruto?” Kurenai asked in surprise, her eyebrows raising, “why are you henged as a woman?” She couldn’t help but ask. 

 

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Kakashi’s sending me on a mission where I need to be in disguise. He told me to come talk to you for some pointers and stuff” Naruto explained, shifting from one foot to the other. 

 

“Oh, alright, come on in” Kurenai said a bit slowly, opening the door more fully for Naruto to step in, “you’ll have to give me the details if you can, I think I’m missing some context” Kurenai joked, looking Naruto up and down and finally taking note of his one arm. 

 

“That’s what this is for” Naruto said easily, lifting a standard mission file for Kurenai to see, “sorry for the intrusion” he then muttered, stepping into Kurenai’s home. 

 

The woman led them to the living room where little miss Mirai was colouring some very illegible blobs at the table. She motioned for Naruto to sit on the couch before asking Mirai to go play in her room, she then asked him if he would like some tea, to which he politely accepted. 

 

“Alright, why don’t you start from the beginning,” Kurenai directed, handing Naruto a steaming cup before sitting on the couch across from him. 

 

“Well, Kakashi-sensei assigned me this mission…”

…

 

“Hmm” Kurenai hummed, setting her empty tea mug on the table next to Naruto’s, “I understand why you’ve been assigned this mission, and you seem to understand the risks associated with this type of mission, but have you truly grasped what those risks might have you do. How you will have to act” Kurenai began wondering out loud. 

 

“I have” Naruto nodded, “I‘ll do everything I can to avoid it, don’t get me wrong, but I would rather I do it as the safest option, than send someone who may have more experience, but isn’t as tailored for the mission and will face more risks than if I go”. 

 

“Depending on the situation, you may have to fight, scream, and hate it, but still allow it to happen. You may have to be a willing participant, and make him believe you're happy to be there, happy to be doing these things with him. You won’t know until the mission truly starts” Kurenai said seriously. 

 

“I- I know. I understand those risks” Naruto said quietly, though he didn’t look away from Kurenai. 

 

“He has a fetish for amputees, are you prepared for him to focus on your arm? To make sexual advances not towards you, but towards your disability?” Kurenai continued. 

 

“I am totally prepared to face his creepy advances,” Naruto nodded. 

 

Kurenai sighed, leaning back in her seat. 

 

“Okay, I see there’s not talking you out of it, and I suppose you understand the risks. Let’s start actually talking logistics. I assume this is the form you will be taking for the duration of the mission?” Kurenai asked, gesturing to Naruto and urging the ninja to stand up. 

 

“Yeah” Naruto confirmed, raising to his feet, “Kakashi-sensei already took a look at it. Made me do shorter, less muscular, more civilian lookin’. That sort of stuff” Naruto explained, doing a sort of spin for Kurenai to get the full picture. 

 

“And the hair?” Kurenai asked, her red eyes focusing on the dark red hair. 

 

“Sensei suggested I shouldn’t stick with blond, so I changed it to be more similar to my mom’s. She had awesome red hair, but I made it darker so it wasn’t so Uzumaki-noticeable” Naruto explained as he pulled a strand between his fingers. 

 

“It looks more similar to Kazekage-sama’s hair than what I remember Kushina’s looking like,” Kurenai noted vaguely. 

 

“Huh, yeah I guess it does. Well that’s good too! Gaara's awesome” Naruto said happily, giving Kurenai and cheesy thumbs up. 

 

Kurenai huffed a slight laugh. 

 

“Well, you look different enough. I didn’t recognized you when you showed up, and I wouldn’t have figured out you’re you unless you told me” Kurenai praised, continued to eye Naruto’s form up and down, “I would suggest making yourself slightly more curvy than you have. Nothing exaggerated, but something more realistic to a nineteen year old. We know he doesn’t take a liking to anything too young, so we want to make sure you're not dismissed for being too childish looking”.

 

“Do something similar to… uhh, Ino? Maybe?” Naruto asked, his brow scrunching up in thought–Kurenai couldn’t help but think the face looked cute on Naruto as he was now. 

 

“Hmm, yes, I think that would do” Kurenai said after thinking for a moment, “you're already naturally tanned, so I wouldn’t change that. You're not a noble so you wouldn’t be striving to maintain a pale complexion. Your height is good, and you still look like yourself in the face, but I don’t think that will be an issue since you’ve never met this man before, and everything else about you is so different to how you normally look” Kurenai thought out loud. 

 

“So just the shape?” Naruto confirmed, his hand raising in front of his face to focus his chakra without the use of his other arm. 

 

“I think so,” Kurenai nodded. 

 

With a quick puff of smoke, Naruto stood in his newly adjusted body in front of Kurenai. Still slim, but with a slightly more curvy shape, enough to give way to the fact that she was a young woman, not a girl. 

 

“That’s good, I think this form is perfect for the missions,” Kurenai praised, “now we’ll need to think about your wardrobe. Anything you find in a civilian clothing shop should be fine. Stick with skirts and dresses and things that make you look more feminine while not hiding your amputated arm. We want the kidnappers to see it, so as to entice them to take you” the genjutsu specialist directed, “pick out a few things and come see me again, we can pick your outfit out together, and then afterwards, we can discuss suduction and acting”.

 

“Sure thing!” Naruto agreed easily, giving the woman a quick salute before swiftly exiting the house. 

 

Kurenai shook her head. She really hoped nothing happened to Naruto on this mission

Chapter 2: Mission Start

Summary:

Naruto’s mission officially starts!

Naruto glanced back at the large village gates. 

 

It had been the allotted two weeks since he was assigned this mission. With Kurenai's help, Naruto felt as prepared as he could ever be to tackle this infiltration. He had a head full of seduction knowledge, and increasingly embarrassing memories of the down right depraved things he had to do while training with the genjutsu specialist that he could fall back on.

 

He was leaving Konoha now, heading to the village his mission report had highlighted as the most likely location he would have a run in with the trafficking ring. It was roughly a three day run for a ninja, or a week or so days walk for a civilian. 

 

Naruto had just wanted to book it straight for Koiyoto Village, the small trading hub in the west he was headed for, but Kakashi and Kurenai had stressed the possibility of being spotted by Mitsubishi’s people earlier than suspected. It was best to minimize any possibility of breaking his cover. And with him walking the route they had confirmed Mitsubishi’s trading company often used, it was better to be safe than sorry. 

 

He was dressed in a casual, ankle length blue wrap skirt, layered with a second, softer white skirt underneath for comfort and warmth. He had a loose fitting, tucked in, black kimono style top with traditional sleeves. Finally, the whole thing was polished off with a large rucksack hanging off of his ‘good’ arm. The outfit had been bought second hand, so the cotton fabric of the skirt and shirt looked well loved and comfortable while still complimenting Naruto’s appearance. 

 

All in all, he wasn’t wearing anything that would seem out of place on a lower middle-class civilian, whether traveling alone or casually walking through the streets of a village. 

 

He had the sleeve of his amputated arm tied close to the nub so as to show, without obviously accentuating, the missing appendage. The goal was to make everything look casual and normal. To not stand out to regular people, while also being noticeable enough for the right ‘wrong’ people to pursue ‘Her’. 

 

Naruto had spent the better part of the last two weeks before he left staying henged as a girl, just to get in the swing of things again; and to get used to the odd experience of being referred to as ‘she’ and ‘her’. It had been a while since his travels with pervy sage, so he hadn’t walked around in public as a woman in quite some time. 

 

But, despite what Sakura thought when Kurenai brought her in to assist with Naruto’s training, he really didn’t mind sticking around as a girl. It was sort of just a ‘whatever’ situation in his opinion. It wasn’t like changing his gender changed who he was as a person. 

 

Naruto pulled the long, blood red braid Sakura had plaited for him before he left the village over his shoulder. It really was a pretty colour, and it totally did remind him of Gaara; he almost wanted to make a detour through Suna just so he could show the guy. He bet Gaara would get all flustered and flattered that Naruto chose to mimic his hair. 

 

Naruto couldn’t help but think the colour suited him; the red complimenting his tanner skin tone. Although, it would probably look even more striking on someone paler than him, someone like Sai… or Sasuke. 

 

Naruto couldn’t help but snort at the mental image of Sasuke Uchiha with blood red hair. Honestly, was there anything more fitting for an ‘avenger’?

 

But Naruto’s own natural blonde hair will always be his favourite. He just felt more like himself when he was sporting his usual sunshine locks. 

 

Kakashi gave Naruto a stipend to spend on lodging and food while traveling; a not unsubstantiated amount that he had sealed on his person (a miniscule storage seal he had painted on the tag stitched into the sleeve of his top) so that if/when he is relieved of his items, his wallet wasn’t one of them.

 

A civilian girl wouldn’t be trained to camp in the woods every night or catch wild game for food, so neither would Naruto. It was also best for the mission that he try to spend at least a few hours in a few villages to increase the possibility of being targeted.

 

But tonight, it looked like Naruto would be spending the evening camping on the side of the road. Or, more likely, off the path somewhere that couldn’t be seen easily from the road, just in case. No normal civilian girl would willingly put herself in danger by camping on the side of the road out in the open. But he was also careful to keep his camping place just obvious enough that it could be seen from the road if you looked hard enough. 

 

Unskilled was the word of the day. Naruto was an untrained civilian girl doing her best to travel alone through Fire country. 

 

Hunkering down for the night, Naruto went to sleep. 

_____

 

He’d been traveling for a few days at this point, and had stayed overnight in a handful of villages after that first night. Honestly, he was just thankful that he was able to bathe in actual showers instead of having to constantly make do with the babbling brooks and icy rivers he had to deal with when traveling strictly as a ninja. 

 

He’s had few interesting encounters throughout his journey, including a few drunk flirts and a handful of curious stares at his missing arm, but nothing mission relevant as of yet. 

 

It’s late now. He’s just finished checking into a room for the night and is now walking through the small village he’s staying at in search of a decent meal. Ramen would be ideal, but he supposed beggars couldn’t be choosers. 

 

He’s about halfway through his journey to Koiyoto, and he’s starting to get a bit discouraged. It seemed he really would have to wait until he actually reached the small trading hub village before he would be taken. 

 

At least, that’s what he thought as he left the small skewer stand he had just finished his dinner at. 

 

There were eyes on him, multiple eyes he could sense. He was picking up on an intent to harm. This might just be what he’s been waiting for.  

 

‘Looks like you’ve got company, kit’ Kurama’s strong voice echoed in his head. 

 

‘It’s about damn time! I was starting to get bored!’

 

Turning down a slightly more secluded alleyway that happened to also be a shortcut back to his inn, Naruto prepared himself for the attack he could feel was coming. His skin buzzed just under the surface with the adrenaline of an impending confrontation. 

 

It was harder keeping a straight, unbothered face than he had originally expected; but with the help of Kurenai’s rigorous training, Naruto felt prepared for the challenges to come. 

 

They were behind him now. He could sense them. They were pursuing him down the alley; any second now he would be taken and his mission would truly start. 

 

Naruto suddenly, in the blink of an eye, found himself standing on the rooftop of one of the surrounding buildings. 

 

A strong arm was encircling his waist as the men who had previously been pursuing him looked around the alley that he had just been taken from in confusion. 

 

What?

______

 

Sasuke preferred to be alone. That has been the case since he was still a child, fresh from the aftermath of the worst day of his life. Being alone was ideal. 

 

He was traveling—repenting—for all the damage he’s caused. It was a personal mission he had made for himself a little less than a year ago. Around the time his best friend blew up his arm and smacked some well needed sense into his slightly corrupt mind. 

 

Naruto. The guy was pretty mad with him the last time Sasuke saw him. All pissy and vocal in that way that was so obviously Naruto as he called Sasuke a bastard over and over again for not bothering to say ‘hi’. 

 

It reminded him of when they were kids, and the blonde would try to talk to him and Sasuke would just ignore him, continuing to walk past him down the street. Naruto’s entire face would pinch up in anger, contorting his features into something Sasuke couldn’t help but compare to a wet cat. 

 

Sasuke let a small smirk out as he relived the memory. The blonde was just so easy to rile up. Though, that hadn’t been Sasuke's intention when he tried to avoid him during his visit to the village. 

 

He made his stop in the village short, sweet, and secretive for one reason and one reason only. To avoid the blonde. 

 

Sasuke knew. He knew if he took the time to stick around for even the shortest of visits—if he stopped by to see Naruto and was treated to that blinding, sincere and beyond happy to see him smile of his—he wouldn’t be able to make himself leave again. 

 

But he needed to go, because he had to make right all the wrong he’s done; and because Naruto didn’t deserve to be dragged down by his association with the former missing Nin. 

 

Naruto had succeeded. He saved Sasuke; in more ways than one, and now it was Sasuke’s turn to return the favour. Naruto was going to be Hokage, that wasn’t even a question in anybody’s mind, especially Sasuke’s. He didn’t need Sasuke staying in a village that hated him while he struggled with his own negative feelings for The Leaf; he didn’t need to be distracted by Sasuke. 

 

Naruto could let him go now that he had kept his promise and saved the Uchiha, he could move on with his life; and Sasuke wouldn’t make it more difficult for him by sticking around. 

 

He was closer to the Hidden Leaf than he had been in a while, though he was still a few days' journey away if he wanted to make the stop… which he definitely didn’t want to do, even if he was feeling slightly guilty for not answering Naruto’s letters. 

 

He got lucky and found a small village he could bed down in for the night. It had been a while since he slept in an actual bed and had an actual shower, and he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't looking forward to it. His first task, however, was going to be to find some food. 

 

Campfire cooking was only so good, and even a man with minimal requirements like Sasuke still enjoyed a hearty meal cooked over something that wasn’t an uneven flame. 

 

He was scoping out the small village from the rooftops when he saw her. Or, more accurately, when he sensed the men stalking her. 

 

She must have been a civilian, it was obvious to tell, Sasuke thought. She had long, red hair that was tied back in an out-of-the-way braid. Her clothes were practical for traveling while not so practical for any type of combat; what with her long skirt and loose sleeves. 

 

That’s when he noticed the knot tied close to her shoulder. She was missing an arm. 

 

Sasuke couldn’t help but glance down at his own missing appendage, his mind once again reminded of the man with whom he shared his injury. 

 

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to get sentimental. Uhg. 

 

Clearly, she didn’t have any sense of danger if she chose to walk through that dimly lit alley when there were people stalking her. She didn’t seem to notice the advancing group of men as she leisurely continued to walk.

 

Sasuke sighed. He couldn’t very well leave her to get hurt, taken, or worse now that he’s noticed her. Though, he didn’t really feel like having to deal with a scene if he went down there. So, instead, he opted just to grab her and get her away from the dangerous men as quickly as possible. 

 

It was easy. Down and back up to the roof again in less than a few seconds. One arm secured around her waist as he chakra launched himself back into the shadows, and they were home free. 

 

He planned to just make sure she was alright, maybe escort her back to wherever she was staying with a warning of what he had seen—an explanation of why he intervened. 

 

What he hadn’t been expecting was for the girl to look at him, shocked, with the most blue, and somehow familiar eyes he had ever seen. Her surprised face only graced her features for a fraction of a moment, leaving Sasuke little to no time to question her familiarity, before her brows pinched in anger and she began to slap his chest with an impressive strength. 

 

“You bastard! You absolute bastard! You ruined my plan, you big dumb idiot!” She raved, causing Sasuke to actually rear back slightly in shock, “I can’t believe you! Of course you would show up at the worst time possible, Teme!” She continued to yell, her fist coming down on him harder and harder as she continued to struggle in his grasp; Sasuke’s brain did a full reboot to try and wrap his head around what was happening. 

 

Wait. Did she just call him Teme?

 

He removed his hold from around her waist, his hand coming up to instead grasp her wrist to stop her assault on his chest. He pulled her forward, his eyes narrowing as he took in the once again, slightly surprised face of the… girl?

 

“Naruto?” Sasuke asked cautiously, taking in the, now that he realized it, familiar eyes and shape of her face. 

 

“Sasuke” Naruto sniffed, pulling his wrist out of Sasuke's grip with a sharp tug. 

 

“Why are you a girl?” Sasuke couldn’t help but ask. 

 

“Why are you an asshole?” Naruto countered bitterly. 

 

Sasuke just leveled the blond with a glare. Naruto huffed, his eyes rolling and his lips pouting. Sasuke was struck with how feminine the gesture was, and he didn’t know how he felt about it. 

 

“I’m on a mission, jerk. One that you’ve nearly compromised” Naruto said sarcastically, his one hand landing on a cocked hip that once again had Sasuke’s internal eyebrows furrowing. 

 

“You’re on a mission, looking like that?” Sasuke asked incredulously. 

 

“It’s a long story,” Naruto suddenly said with a cheeky glint in his—her?—eyes, “if you want to hear all about it, I’ll tell you, but only if it's back in my room. Where you’ll have to sit down and actually hang out with me if you want all the details” Naruto said mischievously. 

 

Sasuke glared at Naruto’s proud looking smile. The quirk of his lips somehow looking even more fox-like with his current appearance. 

 

“Nevermind, dobe. I don’t actually care” Sasuke intoned, turning his back to that mischievous and familiar smile. 

 

“Awe, come on Sasuke” Naruto whined, his arm looping around Sasuke’s back instead of his shoulders where it would usually go; their height different was too great for it now, “you messed up my mission, the least you could do is hang out with me for an hour”. 

 

Sasuke didn’t want to admit that he was curious. What kind of mission would warrant Naruto having to disguise himself as he had? But, he shouldn’t indulge himself by allowing Naruto to drag him into whatever this mission was.

 

“Come on, Teme, you owe me” Naruto said seriously, grabbing Sasuke’s wrist and bodily dragging him towards where Sasuke suspected his inn was with a strength that was odd to be coming from such a small body but made sense when he remembered that this was Naruto. 

 

“Fine,” Sasuke said reluctantly, already regretting his agreement. 

___

 

“They asked you to do a seduction mission?” Sasuke asked blandly, leaning back on his one arm as he stared at Naruto with a scrutinizing gaze. 

 

They were in Naruto’s room at the inn now, and were perched around the small chabudai table the room was provided with. 

 

“Hey! I can be plenty seductive!” Naruto yelled, hand smacking the table and not looking the least bit seductive. 

 

Sasuke raised an unimpressed eyebrow, somehow looking extremely seductive. 

 

Naruto scowled. Dumb jerk had to look good even when dressed in a plain traveling cloak.

 

“And the arm?” Sasuke then asked, pointedly looking at where he knew Naruto used to have a prosthetic. 

 

“‘Well, ‘parently the guy has a thing for amputees” Naruto explained as he wiggled the stump arm in emphasis. 

 

“That’s..” Sasuke began, trailing off. 

 

“Totally creepy?” Naruto supplied. 

 

“A bit” Sasuke agreed, “what exactly are they wanting you to do?”

 

“Infiltrate. Gather info in order to take down the whole production. The usual” Naruto said casually, leaning back on his own arm. 

 

The movement had the corner of his loose fitting top slide slightly, his shoulder getting exposed. Sasuke quickly moved his eyes away from the exposed tan skin and focused his attention on Naruto’s face. 

 

“The plan is for me to get kidnapped and taken to the head guy who has the amputee fetish. Once I’m in, I have to hang around for however long it takes to gather the relevant information before disappearing, preferable without them ever finding out I was a ninja” Naruto explained, leaning his head back in thought; his neck stretching in a way that had Sasuke believe Naruto might actually be able to pull off a seduction mission. 

 

It was still odd. Even with the gender change and the hair colour change, and the jarring lack of whiskers, Naruto still looked like Naruto. Still acted like Naruto. The movements he was making weren’t any different to how he usually moved, how he usually acted. 

 

That was a realization that had Sasuke thinking back on every other interaction he’s ever had with Naruto. Focusing in on the way he moved, the way he presented himself, the way he looked at Sasuke with his never ending blue eyes; before Sasuke promptly shut the door on those thoughts and shoved them as deeply as he could into a metaphorical box in his mind. 

 

“Anyways” Naruto said when Sasuke didn’t say anything else; standing up from the floor and stretching his arm high above his head in a movement that both looked awkward with the missing appendage while also doing amazing things for the curves of Naruto’s new body. 

 

He then promptly sat down next to Sasuke, leaning as far as he could into his personal space in a motion not unfamiliar to them. 

 

“What have you been up to? When are you coming back to the village?” Naruto interrogated. 

 

Sasuke scowled. He didn’t want to talk about his travels. He didn’t want to tell Naruto that he didn’t know when he would be back… not that he would stick around for anyone but Kakashi to see him anyways. 

 

“Are you going to sleep with him?” Sasuke instead asked, looking for anything that could force the conversation away from Sasuke and back toward non-homecoming related topics. 

 

“What?” Naruto asked in surprise, his face scrunching up. Sasuke had to look away again. 

 

“That guy, Mitsubishi” Sasuke clarified, regretting even bringing up the topic. 

 

“I mean” Naruto began, leaning away from Sasuke in a motion that he couldn’t help but frown at, “if I have too. It’s not like other Kunoichi in the field don’t have to do the same thing” Naruto said rather rationally. 

 

“Idiot, you're not a kunoichi. You haven’t been trained for that kind of work” Sasuke argued. 

 

“I am right now,” Naruto argued back, “and I’ve spent the last few weeks doing nothing but training with Kurenai-sensei for this mission”. 

 

And she was. She was just as much of a kunoichi as Sakura was. Or Ino. Or any other of their female friends. 

 

“So you think, what, three weeks of training is enough to face the sort of things you might be forced to do out there?” Sasuke fought back, not understanding where this sudden anger was coming from—why he was fighting with Naruto about this. 

 

“It was two” Naruto mumbled, “two weeks”. 

 

“Two weeks” Sasuke said darkly, “Naruto, have you ever even been intimate with someone before? Ever had sex? Especially as a girl?” Sasuke almost yelled, nearly getting in Naruto’s face as his emotions began to get the better of him. 

 

He didn’t understand why he was fighting this so hard. Why Naruto’s blasé attitude about all that was making him so pissed. 

 

“That’s not-“ Naruto began, her voice hard and obviously angry. 

 

“Do you really want your first time to be with a creep like that!” Sasuke spat harshly—and by this point, they were nearly yelling in each other’s faces, inches apart. 

  

“No! Why?! You offering?!” Naruto screamed back. 

 

In the next second Sasuke surged forward, his one arm coming up to grip the back of Naruto’s head harshly as his lips slammed into Naruto in a searing kiss. 

 

Naruto grunted in surprise, freezing slightly as her eyes slammed open and her hand instinctively came up to grasp the front of Sasuke's cloak. Sasuke hummed at the touch, his head tilting slightly as he pulled Naruto closer while simultaneously deepening the kiss. 

 

His tongue pushed past his own lips and began running along the seam of Naruto’s. She felt her eyes flutter shut as she instinctively hummed in pleasure at the silky, incessant feeling as she parted her lips. Her hand slipped down Sasuke’s chest, instead finding purchase on his hip; her nails scratching lightly and earning a soft hum from the raven haired man. 

 

Sasuke explored the former blondes mouth with great efficiency, tracing her teeth and fighting a silky battle with her tongue. Naruto kissed like she fought. Fiercely and without giving an inch that wasn’t earned. 

 

Sasuke trailed his hand down the back of her head, stroking over her exposed, creamy shoulder and playing with the seam of her shirt there. 

 

The kiss was hungry. A battle for strength, like everything else between them was, as they pushed and pulled against each other. Tugging each other impossibly closer until Naruto was nearly straddling Sasuke’s thighs. 

 

They pulled apart with a wet gasp, their breaths mingling between them. The air around them felt heavy and hot as Sasuke didn’t waste a second before pulling Naruto back in. Peppering kisses to her lips, cheek, chin, before eventually locking onto her throat while pulling out a shocked sounding moan from Naruto as he nipped at the skin. 

 

He pulled away, blowing cool air onto the super heated and wet spot, sending shivers down Naruto’s spine. 

 

She moved her hand under Sasuke’s shirt, mapping his back as Sasuke kissed back up her neck before sucking lightly on a spot so sensitive under Naruto’s ear, she swore she saw stars. 

 

Naruto couldn’t help but hum, her arm removing itself from Sasuke’s back so she could instead pull him back into another searing kiss. 

 

Sasuke began tracing the planes of Naruto’s body, his fingers scratching and squeezing her hip and waist as he pushed himself more fully into her warmth. 

 

Slowly, and before she could even really realize what was happening, she found herself on the floor. The cool wood seeping through her shirt and sending tingles all along her back; forcing another shuddering moan out from between her kiss slick lips and into Sasuke mouth. 

 

Sasuke pulled back slightly, supporting himself on his one arm next to Naruto’s head, his eyes staring down at her in an unreadable yet lustful expression. Naruto stared back, her cobalt blue eyes soft and hazy with lust. she reached up, her hand petting the side of his face and cheek—her thumb brushing the smooth skin under his rinnegan eye. 

 

She smiled at him. A large, blinding thing that left no room for Sasuke to second guess; for him to think that this was something she didn’t want. She then promptly hooked her arm around his neck and pulled him back down to her, forcing him to catch himself on his forearm.  

 

He made himself comfortable, one of his knees finding its way between her quivering thighs. Her long skirt had bunched up around her middle, just shy from revealing to the world whether or not Naruto had decided it was necessary to wear panties or boxers. 

 

Sasuke wanted to touch more. See more. Know more. He wanted to taste every sound Naruto let slip past her kissed and plump lips. 

 

He pulled back, sitting on his haunches, the movement pressing his knee into her core and causing the former blonde to shudder. Naruto leaned up on her elbow, almost following Sasuke as he raised off of her. She stared at him with lidded eyes and wet lips—she had a deep flush glistening across her tanned skin, reaching down her neck and into the hills and valleys hidden away by her now rumpled shirt. 

 

She looked debauched. Seductive. And like every wet dream Sasuke has ever denied to himself that he’s had about his best friend. He wondered what Naruto would look like as himself and imagined doing this all over again just so he could see the blonde unfold for the second time. 

 

The thought sent a shivery pulse through his body. 

 

Sasuke stared into her lust ridden eyes, and watched almost sadistically as those long lashes fluttered shut and her head fell back as he crept his hand up a butter soft thigh. He slipped under the bunched fabric of her skirt, pinching and squeezing the delicious skin underneath. 

 

Naruto let out a hitched breath when Sasuke pinched a sensitive part of her inner thigh. The action causing her to arch lightly and be reminded of the strong knee currently pressed into her core. Before she could even really think about it, Naruto felt herself giving an experimental roll of her hips—stuttering as white hot pleasure surged through her centre. 

 

Sasuke hummed in appreciation, his fingers flicking the strapt edge of Naruto’s underwear. She was wearing panties. 

 

“S-Sasuke” Naruto stuttered, her breath coming out ragged and raspy as she found herself rolling her hips onto Sasuke’s knee once again, “just get on with it already, teme”. 

 

And wasn’t that just like Naruto, to demand for Sasuke to hurry up; to stop stalling; to quit being a stingy bastard already. 

 

Sasuke gave his best friend a smirk before hooking his fingers over the edge of her underwear and pulling the garment down. Moving out of the way briefly as he unhook the thing from Naruto’s long, tanned legs so he could throw the discarded piece somewhere over his shoulder. 

 

Wrapping his arm around her back, he pulled Naruto up and into his lap, sitting back against the wall. Naruto blushed fiercely at the feeling of Sasuke's interest against her. Leaning forward, he captured those plush lips in another bruising kiss. 

 

His hand snaked up and down her sides as she rocked gently in his lap, letting out little uh uh uh’s, before he finally, finally, pulled her top down and off her shoulders—the fabric pooling around her waist. 

 

He leaned back slightly to get a good look. Naruto’s blush somehow deepened, but that didn’t stop her from reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra, pulling the strap off her stump arm before allowing the item to fall discarded next to them. Sasuke may be in the same boat as Naruto, but he still found the action of her taking the thing off one handed an incredibly sexy sight. 

 

He could admit he hadn’t been the happiest when Naruto chose to wear the prosthetic. It felt like he was trying to hide the things they’ve done—the reconciliations they’ve reached. They climbed mountains and fought Gods to find each other again; and their shared burden was a testament to those battles—to their ability to overcome all the challenges. 

 

He smoothed his hand slowly up and down her exposed skin before cupping one of those perfectly formed breasts in his hand—pinching and rolling the hard budded nipple between his fingers and forcing yet another embarrassing noise out of Naruto. He moved his mouth down her neck, then shoulder, before finally dragging his pointed tongue across her injured arm. Naruto let out a choked gasp when he made contact with the sensitive skin at the base. 

 

Not to be outdone, Naruto smoothed her hand under Sasuke’s cloak, pushing the thing off his shoulder and onto the ground before slipping her fingers under the seam of his shirt. She pushed the fabric up, her nails periodically scratching and stroking his chest, before Sasuke was forced to lean back and help her pull the thing up and over his head. Adding it to the growing pile of clothes surrounding them. 

 

Locking back onto each others lips, Naruto began rocking anew in Sasuke’s lap; touching and feeling every inch of exposed pale skin she could get her hands on. Sasuke began once again kissing down Naruto’s neck, his hand inching further and further down Naruto’s body before he slipped in under her skirt and into the shuddering, moist folds of her heat. 

 

He probed his fingers, twitching and flicking, and Naruto whined, her back arching and pushing her supple breasts against Sasuke's firm chest. Sasuke bent down further, taking one of those perfect, stiff buds into his mouth, his teeth grazing deliciously. 

 

“S-Sasuke” Naruto breathed, her voice stuttering as she rolled her hips with the rhythm of Sasuke’s fingers. 

 

“Naruto” Sasuke moaned into the chasm of Naruto’s breasts, a wet tongue peaking out to taste her skin once again.

_____

 

Naruto stretched languidly on her stomach in her perfectly conforfortable bed, her back cracking and popping in ways that sent pleasant goose bumps down her skin. She pulled her pillow tighter against herself, rubbing her face in the soft, plush surface as she hummed in content. 

 

She slept so well last night; It honestly felt like the best sleep she's had since the war. She was so comfortable she didn’t even want to think about moving. 

 

She sucked in a deep, shuddering yawn. Her pillow smelled fantastic; woodsy and familiar. Comforting. 

 

She moved to roll onto her back, her whole body going stiff in pain with the act. 

 

“What the hell” she mumbled, her brow furrowing as she collapsed back against the soft mattress. 

 

She wracked her brain, trying to recall what exactly happened yesterday that left her feeling so… like she had been in another life or death match to decide the fate of the world. 

 

Or like she fought against Sasuke again. 

 

Sasuke…

 

SASUKE!

 

“Holy crap!” Naruto yelled, shooting up in the bed and instantly regretting it as an unfamiliar pain shot very embarrassingly through her lower regions. 

 

“Oh Sage” she moaned, her face dropping into her hand. 

 

She can’t believe she did that. SHE CAN’T BELIEVE SHE DID THAT! 

 

She slept with Sasuke. And then she slept with him again. And then a third time against that wall over there. Oh Sage, and then there was the fourth time when he did that thing with his tongue and—NO! She couldn’t think about that right now!

 

She quickly pulled her face from her hand, eyes darting around the room in search of her raven haired best friend. 

 

Nothing. There was nothing of his left around, and she couldn’t spot him anywhere in the small room either. 

 

Closing her eyes, she quickly entered Sage Mode to sense if he was anywhere nearby. But again, nothing. 

 

Oh Sage. She slept with Sasuke, and then the bastard just left!

 

And why does she still hurt so much?! She should have been healed by now. But if the stinging of her shoulder where she could most definitely remember Sasuke’s teeth sinking into her was any proof, then the damn fox was being deliberate about it. 

 

‘You do the action, you deal with the consequences, kit’ Kurama said with a dark laugh in his mind. 

 

“Kurama!” Naruto yelled, her face blushing intensely with the reminder that her fox friend presumably had a front row seat to Naruto’s… mistake? Super fun night? Her whatever!

 

‘I can’t believe you would let the Uchiha mount you like that’ Kurama said with a very bitchy attitude. 

 

“Ahh! Don’t say it like that” Naruto whined, burying her face back into her hand, “can you just please heal me? I can’t look like this or- or be sore like this while completing my mission” Naruto tried to ask nicely but only succeeded in making her face go almost impossibly redder. 

 

‘Should have thought about that before you thew yourself at the Uchiha, kit’ Kurama snarked. 

 

“I did not throw myself at him!”

 

Naruto got the impression that Kurama was raising a very pointed eyebrow at her. 

 

“Kurama!” Naruto shouted again, falling back in the bed and grimacing at both the pain and the slight wet spot she landed in, “please just heal me”. 

 

‘I don’t know? Have you learned your lesson?’

 

“My lesson?!” She screeched, “what lesson?!”  

 

Kurama snorted, not bothering to grace the stupid question with an answer. 

 

“Oh Sage, Oh Kami. You're the worst, you oversized ball of orange fluff. I promise I learned my lesson about not having sex”— ‘mating’— “uhhh-ahh,  mating”— ‘vigorous mating’— “Kurama!” The giant fox demon living in her belly just laughed, “I promise I learned my lesson about not.. mating.. when on a mission. There, you happy now? Just heal me already!” Naruto felt like her whole body was made of the colour red. 

 

Kurama just laughed deeply at Naruto, though she could feel the familiar heat of Kurama's chakra flowing through her. Good, the dumb fox was feeling appropriately appeased. 

 

Once again covering her face, this time burying it into the crook of her elbow, Naruto let the familiar feeling of being healed wash over her as she finally took a moment to think about, well, everything. 

 

She had sex. For the first time. Ever. With Sasuke. She had sex with Sasuke; and now the bastard was gone again. 

 

She couldn’t believe him! How could he just- just- just do all that with her and then up and leave for who knows how long without so much as a note. She didn’t know if she should be laughing at the predictability of Sasuke fleeing the situation or pissed off at the idea that he used her and then bolted. 

 

She guessed she could feel both. She didn’t regret it, at least, she didn’t think she did. She was definitely a willing participant yesterday if those memories of her on her knees were to be trusted. But, she just couldn’t get over Sasuke’s leaving like that. 

 

It’s not like it was out of character for the anti-social jerk, but, Naruto couldn’t help but feel like this situation maybe deserved a little bit more tact than Sasuke was giving it. 

 

He was probably just too awkward to stick around. Yeah, that was probably it. 

 

Though, she really sort of wishes he did stay around. She could have woken up next to him instead of the empty bed; could have stretched and arched against his pale, smooth and hard chest; he’d be rumpled and sleep soft and oh so drool inducing, she bet; and she would have been able to stick her face right in the crook of his neck— get that tantalizing smell of woods, rain, and Sasuke directly from the source instead of having to settle for what she could get from the pillow, and—- OH Sage! She has the freaking pillow shoved against her face! Get yourself together Naruto! You’re not some love-sick idiot!

 

‘Could have fooled me’ 

 

“You stay out of this, Kurama!”

 

Kami. She needed a shower. 

Notes:

Hehehe please be kind to me, this was my first attempt at writing Smut.

Criticism is accepted, please feel free to provide XD

Leave a comment if you want to give me superpowers.

Chapter 3: Kidnapped

Summary:

Naruto finally gets kidnapped. It’s about time. Jeez.

 

Sasuke fucked up. Oh boy did he fuck up. 

 

Of all the terrible, idiotic, stupid, fucked up things he’s done in his life, this feels disgustingly high up on the list. 

 

And that’s saying something for him. 

 

What was he thinking? What is he kidding, he wasn’t thinking at all. It was so unlike him, to jump into a situation without at least giving the consequences a half thought.  

 

The ceiling above him was cracked and slightly water stained, but he was unseeing of it all; too focused on the steady, heated puffs of breath against his shoulder; the smooth skin of a perfect arm draped across his chest. 

 

It was never his intention to do any of this. To act on this feeling he had long since buried deep in his chest. He had been doing everything in his power to let Naruto go, and all it took was one coaxing smile from the former blonde to send him falling right back into the pit of longing he was trying so hard to claw his way out of. 

 

And now he’s ruined it all. Now that he's heard her, tasted her, felt her. It was all over for him; there was no going back from this. He was a changed man; a man who was now never going to be able to convince himself that he wasn’t in love with his best friend. 

 

He could already feel its influence sinking its way into his very bones. He wanted to do it all again, wanted to pull Naruto—His Naruto, the man who chased him, who found him—into his arms. He wanted to taste him, feel him, stay with him. But he knew he could never do that—could never be what Naruto needed. 

 

He was broken. A ragged doll left to soak and decay in a pond of thick, bubbling, infectious rage and disgust. Abandoned and forgotten by all except the little kid who still looked for him in every toy chest and closet in his home. 

 

He needed to go. He had to leave—get out of here. He couldn’t do this, everything was crumbling. Every wall he built shattered to the ground with the earth shaking release he shared with Naruto right in this very bed; and on the floor over there; and against that wall. 

 

He slipped silently out of the bed. The moment his feet hit the floor, Naruto rolled onto her stomach, her arm reaching out as if to look for his warmth it had previously been wrapped around. Sasuke froze, waiting to see if she was going to wake up. She grunted, sounding a bit displeased, before curling into a tight ball and puffing out a sleepy sigh. 

 

Letting out his own relieved breath, he grabbed his things, and he left. 

____

 

The dirt crunched underneath Naruto’s feet as she walked, the village growing smaller and smaller in the distance. She wanted to put as much space between her, and that damned bed as possible; she  had a mission to focus on, she couldn’t let herself get distracted. 

 

She had another three or four days of travel until she reached her destination. Three or four days to get her head back on straight. 

 

Uhg! She was still sort of pissed at Sasuke for ruining her chance. She could have had this mission wrapped up early if it hadn’t been for the bastard interfering like that. She could only hope that she ran into the guys again on the road; and hope that they were even the right guys. 

 

She guessed that wasn’t something she had considered, actually. Not like she wouldn’t have been able to beat her way out of the situation if she needed to. Still, it was probably better if she waited until she was actualy in Koiyoto to get captured. That way, there would be a better chance that the next time someone tried to take her, it would be by the actual people she needed stealing her off the streets and not some randos. 

 

She hoped it happened fast, and she could wrap this mission up quick and easy, and maybe beat a few butts on the way. Kami, she could really use a good fight, just a few hours, or even minutes of battle to get the blood flowing. Just another reason to be mad at Sasuke for not being here. He was always her best fight, even when they were just kids. 

 

Dang, she really needed to get her head back on straight. Just complete the mission; then she could get back to the village and do her best to not think about the super mega colossal mistake she made with Sasuke. 

 

She bet Lee would give her a good fight, or even Sakura if she pushed her button hard enough; she could maybe even convince Shikamaru to go a few rounds. 

 

‘I bet you could,’ Kurama said with a laugh. 

 

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Naruto huffed in her head. 

 

Even she wasn’t stupid enough to go talking to herself out loud in the middle of the street, even if there wasn’t anyone around. 

 

‘I’m pretty sure that friend of yours has a thing for feisty blondes’

 

‘Stop being gross, Kurama!’ Naruto chastised, her face pinching in disgust, ‘Shikamaru’s my friend, I’m not going to try and sleep with him!’  

 

‘Last I checked, the Uchiha was your friend, too’ Kurama said sarcastically. 

 

‘That’s different!’ Naruto yelled at the big dumb fox inside her mind, ‘Sasuke’s different!’  

 

‘And why’s that, kit?’ Kurama hummed. 

 

‘He just… he just is! Ahh just shut up! I don’t want to talk about this anymore! Stop saying weird things to me!’ Naruto metaphorically covered her ears with her hands in an attempt to drown Kurama's pleased-sounding laughter. 

 

She really needed to just focus on the mission. 

____

 

She finally made it to the village, thank Kami. She had run-ins with three different bandit camps on her way, and not a single one of them was associated with her target. A waste of time that was. Her life would have been so much easier if Kakashi had just let her sprint here like she originally wanted too.

 

It’s official, Kakashi sensei was not getting a souvenir. 

 

She plucked the pretty pink Sakura flower keychain off the rack and headed for the pay counter. Sakura would get a souvenir, but only because it would drive Kakashi-sensei crazy that she got one when he didn’t. Maybe she would grab something for the other rookie nine too, just to really rub the dirt into the wound. 

 

She was only in the small shop because she was trying to have herself be seen by as many people as possible. Increasing her odds by also frequenting more touristy shops to really solidify her person as someone unfamiliar with the area. Thus, the souvenir shop she found herself browsing. 

 

She was to stay in the village for a month. If nothing happened by the end of the deadline, she was to report back to the Hidden Leaf in order to regroup. They may need to adjust their strategy, or even Naruto’s Henge if nothing happens. But, until then, she was to frequent the streets of the town as much as possible, and do her best to make herself as desirable a target as she could. 

 

Two weeks. It took two weeks for something to finally happen. She was beginning to lose hope.

 

This time around, she was wearing an olive green, mid calf length skirt, and a tighter black tank top style wrap shirt that left the sight of her disabled arm completely viable. She was walking just outside of the village, a stones throw from the nearest building, visiting a pretty creek one of the serving girls from the local bar had recommended to her. 

 

She felt their presence behind her almost the moment she stepped foot off the main path. Three– no, four of them were advancing on her. She ignored them, continuing her leisure walk to the creek and sitting delicately on the waters edge. 

 

One instant she was enjoying the pleasant view of the breeze stirred grass and softly rumbling water, and the next she had a blindfold covering her eyes and a hand over her mouth. 

 

She struggled, trying to pull away from the grabbing hands with as much fight as a common civilian would be able to muster. Screaming and moaning and crying muffled behind the tight grip of the hand pressing down on her lips. 

 

“You’re a feisty one. And a pretty one” one guy began to say—he sounded close, and Naruto suspected he was the one holding his hand over her mouth. 

 

“Too bad about the arm, though. Could have gotten a decent price for one as pretty as this” another man said, this one standing somewhere vaguely to the left. 

 

“Maybe, but the boss definitely isn’t going to be complainin’” a third guy said, this one standing directly behind her. 

 

“Best be getting a move on then, wouldn’t want someone from the village to spot us” the fourth and last guy said, sounding like the leader of the group if Naruto had to guess, “quick, get her tied and loaded up”. 

 

Naruto felt her arm get wrenched back behind her, letting out a ‘pained’ gasp at the rough movement. 

 

“Shut up” one of the men spat. 

 

“How do we tie up a girl with one arm?” The guy holding her wrist asked. 

 

“Just, wrap the rope around her wrist and tie the other end around the opposite shoulder, we’ll just keep her close to make sure she can’t escape,” the boss-sounding guy answered. 

 

Naruto struggled and the guy pulled her arm tighter against her back, a rope slipping around her wrist as he did exactly as the other guy described. 

 

The guy holding her yanked her against his chest, “Oh, I’ll keep her close,” he whispered seductively into her ear and neck, just loud enough for the others to hear as he stroked up and down her sides. 

 

Naruto felt a shiver of disgust recoil through her. This guy was gross, and his breath was awful, like unbrushed teeth and rot; he also smelled pungently of smoke, clearly a man who enjoyed the pipe. It almost reminded her of Jiji. 

 

“Don’t get too comfortable with the cargo” one of the other men chastised.

 

Naruto wanted to push the man’s hands off her waist, wanted to punch him so hard in the stomach that even Kurama would be impressed. His touch, it didn’t feel anything like Sasuke’s. 

 

‘Do you ever think of anything else, kit?’ Kurama bitched. 

 

‘Shut up you over sized bag of obnoxious cotton’ Naruto hissed. 

 

“Come on, this way. The carts just up there” boss man directed. 

 

Okay, they were taking her, good; and from the sounds of it, these were the people she was looking for. Perfect. 

 

All she needed now was for them to take her to their boss, preferably with no funny business. 

 

She put up a struggle as they corralled her forward, towards wherever the cart was. Kicking, muffled screaming, wiggling. You name it. 

 

“Shut up! Quite struggling, or I’ll plunge this blade straight through your throat, and I’ll enjoy myself while I do it” one of the men threatened, a cold blade touched her neck to emphasize the point. 

 

She froze, a small whimper leaving her as she submissively followed where they where leading her. 

 

Maybe she should be doing more infiltration missions; turns out she’s really good at this whole acting thing. Screw Sasuke and his little faith, she was great at this!

 

‘This is just getting ridiculous’ Kurama groaned. 

 

‘You’re ridiculous’ Naruto spat. 

 

Suddenly she was lifted off the ground, a shocked squeal leaving her before she choked it off. She was tossed onto something hard, and wood by the smell of it. The cart. 

 

Things were finally progressing. 

_____

 

They put a bag over her head, which honestly was a benefit in her opinion, because it meant she could easily enter Sage mode without being seen. She could sense Koiyoto village growing distant behind her, they were heading further west, the opposite direction of the Hidden Leaf. 

 

There were others in the cart with her. All women. Three of them. She hated that she couldn’t do anything to help them without jeopardizing the mission. She’d just have to try her best to keep them safe while she was here. Keep the focus of the men on her and away from the weaker civilians. She was a ninja, the strongest ninja, she could handle whatever came.  

 

The carriage pulled to a stop a few hours later. She sensed the men round the thing toward the back before the carriage door slid open. She quickly released Sage mode and began making whimpering sounds with the rest of the captured women. 

 

One of the men grabbed her by her bound arm and pulled her roughly from the storage cart. 

 

“Get a move on” he hissed, pulling her up off the ground where she fell from the rough treatment. 

 

Naruto could hear the others being pulled from the cart, same as her. They were all crying, muffled by the thick cloths they all had shoved into their mouths under head coverings. 

 

These men were sick. She couldn’t wait until they took them all down—set these women free, and returned them back to their friends and family. 

 

“Move!” One of the other men yelled as her back was pushed and she was forced to walk forward blindly. 

 

They took her and the others through a series of corridors; eventually, the others were pulled off in another direction and it was just her left, being led by the man still holding her tied arm. He was a wonderer, his hands periodically sliding up and down her sides in a manner that had her fighting between wanting to rip his teeth out and wanting to think about that night with Sasuke. 

 

“On your knees!” The man demanded when the came to a stop, presumably in a room now instead of a hallway. 

 

He gave her shoulders a push, and Naruto landed with a grunt and a whimper. 

 

“You stay put, you're about to be a very special gift” the man gruffed, slipping out of the room and leaving Naruto kneeling on the floor, her face covered; her hand bound, and her mouth gagged. 

 

She’d bet money that she was about to be given to the big boss. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could have this wrapped up by tonight. 

 

It had already been nearly four weeks since she left the village. And nearly three weeks since she had seen Sasuke… she wondered if Sasuke was thinking about that night too. 

 

‘Focus!’ Kurama spat angrily. 

 

‘I’m focusing!’ Naruto spat right back. 

 

It wasn’t very long before someone entered the room again, multiple someone’s, three to be exact. 

 

“Check her out, boss. We thought of you the moment we saw her” One of the men said, ripping the bag off her head. 

 

She had to blink away the eye strain as she readjusted to the light. She was greeted to the sight of two men standing slightly off to the side, and one man standing directly in front of her. He wasn’t on the tall side; older, maybe around mid thirties; with black hair and brown eyes. Overall, he wasn’t anything extraordinary, but he did match the pictures she had been shown in the dossier to a tee. Hori Mitsubishi, the man she’s been looking for. 

 

Naruto grunted into her gag, keeping her demeanour scared and intimidated. 

 

“Oh my, she really is a beauty. You did a wonderful job bringing her directly to me” Mitsubishi praised, grabbing her chin and tilting her head this way and that as if he needed to get a really good look at her face, “those eyes are magnificent. Mmm, and her arm…” her hummed low, trailing off at the end as he stroked a slow finger down the length of her stump arm, before circling around the base of the healed skin. 

 

Naruto shivered in disgust. It didn’t feel this gross when Sasuke touched it. Actually, I felt like the complete opposite, like Sasuke was meant to touch it. To worship it. To love it. Because it was her and Sasuke who did it; and it was Sasuke who shared that scar and burden with her. It was a reminder of all their struggles and the battles they’ve fought; of their understanding of each other; and the deep bond they share.  

 

This man shouldn’t be touching her like this. Shouldn’t be focusing on her scarred skin like it was his to praise. To Worship. To love. 

 

“Oh she will do just fine” he said, sounding disgustingly pleased as well as a few other things Naruto chose to ignore. 

 

He pulled her up from the ground, his hands wandering, cupping one of her beasts in a motion that she would compare to scratching nails on a chalkboard. 

 

Damn Sasuke, she was totally prepared to do whatever she needed to do before she ran into him. But now, for some reason, letting anyone else touch her like this felt so unbelievably wrong. Like she was betraying something. Someone. Herself. Sasuke, maybe. 

 

‘Hmm’ Kurama hummed deeply, his voice thick and his essence feeling slightly worried inside Naruto’s mind. 

 

‘What, what is it?’ Naruto questioned in confusion, choosing to focus inside herself as opposed to the hands roaming her skin in her reality. 

 

Mitsubishi was giving her some pseudo version of a pat down. Running his hands down the length of her arms, chest, stomach, back, and legs. Luckily, he didn’t seem to be going further than that. 

 

‘It’s nothing, brat. Focus on the mission’ Kurama answered before shutting himself away in Naruto’s mind so she couldn’t ask any follow up questions. 

 

Stupid fox, she thought they were past the whole brat thing.  

 

“Take her to my room, I believe we’re about to become very acquainted,” he said with a perverse smile. 

 

They began to shuffle her towards the door, only stopping when Mitsubishi called out. 

 

“Wait, what is your name?” He commanded. 

 

One of the men pulled the gag out of her mouth, and she used the opportunity to glare daggers at her target. 

 

“Where are the other women you took? Where are you taking them? Who are you?” She asked in a pleading and desperate tone. 

 

“You don’t need to worry about them, pretty girl. They’ll be well taken care of, I’m sure, by whoever feels fit to purchase them” Mitsubishi said with cruelty, gripping her chin in his hands once again, forcing her to make eye contact with him as he asked again. 

 

“You name” 

 

“Izumi” she answered, voice hard with fear and rage. 

 

“Well, Izumi, I think we’re going to have a wonderful time together when I see you in my bed later” he said with a sultry, slimy voice, “take her away”. 

 

The gag was shoved back into her mouth before she could respond. 

____

 

It couldn’t be this easy. It Could Not Be This Easy!

 

They actually just threw her into the room. Sure her arm was still bound, and the gag was still in her mouth, but she was completely alone. Not a single guard watching her; and everything was just sitting there, waiting for her to snoop. 

 

She didn’t waste any time. She shot to her feet the moment the guy closed the door behind her and promptly ignored the bed on the far end of the room. There was a desk that was covered in papers; she might actually be able to get what she needed and get out of here before the creepy boss even stepped foot in the room. Kami she hoped so, she was feeling kind of homesick for some reason. 

 

She could very easily get herself out of the binds, but she decided it was probably best if she didn’t in case she wasn’t able to get out of here before Mitsubishi showed up. She stood before the desk, and wasted no time reading over every paper she could see covering the surface. 

 

Ledgers, product lists, employee records—nothing incriminating yet, but she was only a fraction of a way through the visible paperwork. There were a few draws too, if she was a gambling gal, she’d bet the stuff she was looking for was sitting in one of those draws right now. 

 

She glanced around, ensuring that there was no one to witness her. Once positive that she was alone, she entered kyuubi mode and used her chakra arms to rifle through the draws. 

 

There! She can’t believe it! The drawer wasn’t even locked. A second ledger, a product list of women’s names, and a bunch of other incriminating paperwork just sitting there ripe for the taking. Kami these guys were dumb. 

 

No point in sticking around now that she’s gotten what she needed. The sooner she gets out of here, the sooner she can save those women, the sooner she can go home and curl up in her own den—she meant bed. 

 

She didn’t hesitate in removing the binding from her arm and spitting out the gag. She quickly entered Sage mode so as to keep track of any potentially approaching people. 

 

‘This is lucky’ Kurama said easily from inside her mind. 

 

‘Heck yeah! The hell with Sasuke and his doubts about my ability to do my job’ Naruto cheered back. 

 

‘Brat’ Kurama huffed. 

 

She ignored the fox, summoning a toad she had pre-prepared to hold some supplies she might need. She began storing anything and everything that could be used as proof of Mitsubishi’s crime network into a large sealing scroll that she then gave back to her toad. 

 

“You go ahead first and get this to Kakashi-sensei as soon as possible. Tell him that there are women here that need to be top priority for rescue. I would do it myself, but I don’t think the village would be able to get people here to take care of Mitsubishi’s people before they would escape if I did that. I’ll stick around from a distance to watch them and trail them if they decide to move along before we’re able to take care of them” Naruto instructed the toad. 

 

“Roger, boss” the toad saluted before vanishing in a puff of smoke. 

 

Naruto rolled up her metaphorical sleeve and got the heck out of there. 

 

____

 

She let out a cackle as she watched Mitsubishi’s people run around the area like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off searching for her. Jokes on them, she’s watching them from above, in the trees, like a ninja. 

 

‘You are a ninja, brat’ Kurama grumbled. 

 

“Exactly, that’s why I’m acting like one,” Naruto said matter-of-factly, “and what’s with the whole calling me a brat thing? I thought we were past that?” Naruto whined. 

 

‘Don’t worry about it, brat,’ Kurama said smugly. 

 

“Dumb fox,” Naruto grumbled as she hunkered down into a more comfortable position in her tree. 

 

She was in for a long night— a long few days, actually. 

____

 

She could sense them coming, thank Kami. She’d been camping out in this tree for the last four days and she did not want to be here anymore. She was bored; and she missed her den— she meant bed and apartment deeply; and she was very annoyingly missing Sasuke more than usual which was just exceedingly embarrassing; and for some reason, Kurama was being incredibly tight lipped with her, which just increased her drowning boredom. 

 

So the familiar chakra signatures of Shikamaru, Lee, Shino, and Tenten were welcome. She jumped down from the tree she had been camping out in to meet them on the ground. 

 

Dang, she was excited to see them approaching. 

 

“Miss!” She suddenly heard Tenten yell from the steadily closing in group, “are you alright? Have you gotten away from that compound over there?” She yelled in concern as she landed in front of Naruto. 

 

“Tenten! It's me” Naruto yelled in exasperation, her singular hand finding its way to her hip. 

 

It was as she did that motion that she finally realized how haggard she sort of looked. She was still dressed in the clothes she had been kidnapped in, and had basically been living in the forest for the better part of a week. Yeah, she kind of did look like she just escaped a kidnapping of some kind. 

 

“Naruto?!” Tenten gasped in surprise. 

 

“You look like a beauty draped in the very colours of the sky!” Lee said extravagantly, shooting Naruto a cheesy grin and a thumbs up. 

 

“Why are you still in disguise?” Shikamaru asked carefully, always the one to make sure he’s not missing any important information. 

 

“Hmm? I guess I just forgot” Naruto shrugged, “here, one sec” she put her hand in front of her face in concentration and channeled the chakra for the familiar jutsu. 

 

With a puff of smoke, Naruto felt herself change… though, not as much as she had expected?

 

“Huh?” Tenten hummed in surprise. 

 

“You look even more lovely than before,” Lee said enthusiastically. 

 

“Naruto?” Shikamaru asked carefully. 

 

Shino said nothing. 

 

Naruto looked down in confusion. She had breasts still? Smaller, but still clearly there. And a waist? And she definitely felt taller. She looked at her arm; muscular. She pulled a lock of hair in front of her face; blonde. She was in her regular female form. 

 

“W- What?” Naruto sputtered in confusion, “Kurama?” She asked hopefully. 

 

‘Don’t ask me, brat’ Kurama said carefully before promptly cutting himself off from Naruto. 

 

“What the hell, Kurama! Don’t just hide!” Naruto said in exasperation. 

 

“Maybe you’ve been in a henge for too long?” Tenten wondered out loud, “it’s been almost two months since you’ve put on the henge, right?” Tenten asked carefully. 

 

“Yeah, but that’s never been a problem before,” Naruto quickly denied. 

 

“You have been henged as a woman for such a long time before?” Lee asked. 

 

“Sure,” Naruto answered easily, “it’s- it’s probably fine. I’ll just talk to baa-chan when I get back to the village” Naruto tried to say with a semblance of confidence. 

 

“Kakashi said to release you right away, and send you home. He also said you would probably insist on getting the women to safety yourself, and not to fight you if you did” Shikamaru said tonelessly, never one to beat around the bush. 

 

“Abso-“ Naruto began to shout excitedly before promptly cutting herself off. 

 

She did want to make sure those women were safe, but she also had full confidence in the team Kakashi sent to do the work. And, if she was being totally honest with herself, she had this itch under her skin where she just really really really wanted to be home. She didn’t think she had it in her to refuse the option to leave it all to her trusted comrades.  

 

“Actually, I think I’ll leave it to you guys. Here, I drew a map of the building from what I could gather while I was in there and from what I could scope out over the last few days. The women are being kept in these two rooms. Children in this one. Mitsubishi’s room is here” Naruto directed, pointing to a few areas of interest on the hand drawn map, “there have been a few carts that have been sent out over the last few days, but I stopped them and released the prisoners and captured the drivers when they got far enough not to be seen. I’ve sealed the bad guys in here” she held up a sealing scroll as she continued to explain, “I’ll give it to Kakashi, or T&I”. 

 

“Sounds good” Tenten said happily, “you head home Naruto, you look like you could use the rest”. 

 

“Hmm” Shikamaru hummed in agreement. 

 

“Do not worry, Naru-chan! We will save those poor women and children right away!” Lee said with another one of his blinding smiles. 

 

“Thanks guys, I’ll leave it in your hands” Naruto shot Lee an equally enthusiastic thumbs up and smiled back. 

 

Without wasting a moment, Naruto went into full Kyuubi Sage mode and blasted off in the direction of the village with incredible speed. 

 

At this rate, she could reach the village in a day or two. 

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed. I love bitchy Kurama.

I was watching a lot of Walking Dead when writing this chapter, and somehow that translated into me writing the bad guys sounding vaugley like their southern American assholes in my head. Lmao idk.

If you liked it, drop a Kudos or a comment.

Comments breathe life into the author inside me. He’s very frail and scared, please feed him, he’s doing his best.

Chapter 4: WHAT?!

Summary:

Naruto finally gets back to the village!

Home sweet home!

The gates of the village never looked so good! The magnificent things just coming into sight did wonders to calm the wiggly creatures currently taking up residence in her skin.

She didn’t bother slowing down her speed when she approached the gate—just blasting straight past her favourite ‘probably dating and have been in a long term relationship longer than Naruto’s been a ninja, though no one can prove it’ couple, Izumo and Kotetsu. She was sure they would recognize her by golden presentation alone and alert the Hokage that she had returned, and if they didn’t, well, she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

Logically, she knew she should probably report to Kakashi-sensei first, but how could she make herself do that when her de- apartment was right there—and oops, looks like she’s already walking in through the front door; no helping it now.

She couldn’t stop herself from letting out a bone deep sigh. She just felt so much better in her den— she meant apartment; weird that she kept making that mistake. Walking into the familiar space was like getting washed with the comforting feeling of ‘safe’.

She kicked off her shoes and stripped off her dirty civilian clothes and headed straight for the shower. Kami it felt good to wash away the near week of grime; and even better, it was so nice to use her own soaps again—familiar and comforting, even with the juxtaposition of such a manly scent being on her when she was so clearly a woman right now.

Exiting the shower with a towel wrapped tightly around her head, Naruto went digging through her dresser drawers for something comfortable to wear. She ended up selecting a large black t-shirt she was pretty sure she had stolen from Iruka at some point, and a pair of comfortable orange shorts.

It was barely mid day, but Naruto was tired. Exhausted, actually.

Again, she knew she should probably make her way to Kakashi-sensei at some point. But the guy was always late, so Naruto didn’t feel so bad giving him a taste of his own medicine. So to the bed for a nap she went.

She flopped onto the bed with a tired yawn, tossing her hair towel to the ground to be dealt with later. She shoved her face into her pillow, taking comfort in the soft, safe, familiarity of it. She stayed awake just long enough to pull up the blanket.

____

“Naruto! Open up” came a loud voice from the other side of her door, followed by just as loud pounding on said same door.

Naruto groaned, curling deeper into her blankets and pillows.

“Naruto!”

She hoped whoever was making all that noise went away soon, she really didn’t want to get up.

“I swear to Kami, Naruto, if you don’t open this door right now I am going to punch it off its hinges”

“Get up, brat, someone’s trying to enter your den” came Kurama's displeased drawl.

No! She didn’t want anyone in her den right now.

“Go away” she tried to say, though it was mumbled pretty effectively by the pillow smooshed into her face.

“Naruto!” The voice screamed.

“Fine! Fine! I’m getting up, quite pounding on the door!” Naruto yelled before rolling out of her bed and nearly falling to the ground with her laziness.

She padded to the door, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she listened to the voice on the other side of the door rant.

“-sei knows you got into the village yesterday. You need to go give your report already, he gave you some time, but really Naruto, a whole day is too long. You should have given your report as soon as you-“

Naruto opened the door.

“-got baaa… why are you still a girl?” Sakura asked, Naruto’s appearance effectively breaking her train of thought.

“I don’t know. I tried to drop the henge when Shikamaru’s team relieved me, but I ended up just reverting back to my original girl form” Naruto shrugged, lifting her shirt slightly as she scratched her stomach in a lazy manner.

Her hair was a complete mess from going to bed before it had fully dried; and her clothes were rumpled and clearly slept in.

“Your original girl form?” Sakura asked slowly.

“Yeah. It’s like, just me, just as a girl. No extra sexy jutsu naughtiness” Naruto hummed nonchalantly.

Sakura looked Naruto up and down, taking in the familiar face, hair, and whisker marks, before moving her eyes down to take in the tasteful and natural looking proportions—as well as the sturdily built muscle on her arms, legs, and stomach.

Naruto really did just look like himself as a regular girl. Though Sakura was kind of pissed at the fact that Naruto kind of made a really hot girl. Especially right now, dressed and disheveled as she was—she looked like she had stepped right out of one of Kakashi-sensei’s pervy books.

“Why do you have a regular girl form?” Sakura couldn’t help but ask.

Naruto shrugged, “just do” she supplied unhelpfully.

“And you can’t change back?” She clarified.

“Tried a few times on the way back. Still a girl” Naruto shrugged again.

“You seem oddly comfortable with that fact,” Sakura said carefully.

“It’s not that big a deal. I figured I’d talk to baa-chan about it and that she’d probably know how to fix it” Naruto said surprisingly easily.

“Right. Let’s do that” Sakura stated, already deciding that she would go with Naruto to see her master, “but first you need to give Kakashi-sensei your report” she then said sternly, “and get dressed. You can’t leave your apartment looking like that”.

“Fine” Naruto sighed, stepping to the side to let Sakura in after a moment of clear hesitation that didn’t go unnoticed by the other girl.

Naruto went back into her room, digging through her closet for something she could wear in her current form. Luckily, since this wasn’t the first time she hung around the house like this, she actually did have a few things she could wear.

She pulled on a black and orange high necked dress that hit just above halfway to her knees and secured it at her waist with an orange obi. It was actually sort of similar to her usual jacket she wore as a guy—Just a tad longer with slits running on both sides to her hips. She had bought it to be something she could train in comfortably when henged as a girl.

She then matched it with a pair of orange shorts, thigh high black socks, and black ninja sandals. She didn't really want to put any thought into the outfit, so she just wore the whole ensemble that she bought for training—she knew she looked good in it, she had eyes. Even if she was a girl right now, that didn’t mean she would let herself dress like a bum.

Last minute she grabbed her thigh pouch, securing it over some tightly bound ninja wrap, and her headband.

Sakura found her in the bathroom when she decided that Naruto was taking too long to get ready. Naruto was standing in front of the mirror, a hairbrush and headband in hand.

Sakura took in the feminine, and clearly already owned outfit. Naruto really did spend time as a girl…

“Whats- what’s wrong?” Sakura asked when Naruto continued to just stare at herself in the mirror.

“Normally, I do pigtails. But, I don’t really want people to think I’m walking around in my sexy jutsu, so I thought I should probably do something else. But, then I realized I had no idea what else I could do” Naruto answered, looking at Sakura through the mirror, “plus, any hairstyle I choose would be sort of difficult to do with one arm”.

Sakura thought for a moment, taking in the long length of Naruto’s blonde hair. It went nearly down to her waist—her face framed by some choppy bangs.

“Here. Let me help” Sakura said gently, taking both the bush and headband from her hand.

Sakura brushed Naruto’s hair out, tying it back in two lower sitting pigtails at the back of her head instead of the sides. She then tied Naruto’s headband on the top of her head just above where her bangs start, in a fashion mimicking Sakura's own.

“There. Now you can keep your pigtails without looking like a pinup model in a questionable magazine” Sakura said proudly, “Naruto” she then tacked on after a moment of thought, “how come you're not wearing your prosthetic arm?”

“I guess I didn’t really think about it. I haven’t used it in almost two months, so it slipped my mind. I’ll put it back on later” Naruto said after a moment of thought.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense” Sakura said slowly.

“Anyway, thanks for doing my hair, Sakura!” Naruto smiled happily, “you’re the best!”

“Sh-shut up! Let’s just go!” Sakura sputtered, blushing nearly as pink as her hair.

“Sure!” Naruto agreed easily, slipping on some fingerless gloves to complete the outfit.

___

“Naruto?” Kakashi asked as soon as Naruto walked into his office, “why are you still a girl?”

“Not sure” Naruto shrugged, “anyways, Mitsubishi was a total creep—“

____

After debriefing Kakashi, Sakura promptly dragged Naruto to the hospital to be looked at by lady Tsunade. The woman in question had been doing paperwork when the two entered.

“Lady Tsunade” Sakura greeted.

“Baa-chan!” Naruto greeted louder.

“Shut up brat! you're gonna give me a worse headache than I already ha…. Why are you a girl?” Tsunade asked in surprise.

“It’s like that’s all anyone cares about” Naruto huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in exasperation.

“Well, it’s definitely an interesting situation, Naruto” Sakura chastised.

“What’s going on? Explain” Tsunade directed, resting her chin on her linked fingers and eyeing the two in front of her.

“Well, I went on an infiltration mission to take down this human trafficing ring, it’s why I’ve been out of the village for so long. I’ve been henged as a girl for almost two months now, and when I tried to drop the henge, I wasn’t able to” Naruto explained the gist of it.

“They sent you on an infiltration mission?” Tsunade asked in surprise.

“A seduction mission” Sakura interjected.

“Uh-huh! I did great. Totally got all the info we needed to take down the bad guys” Naruto said happily, giving the duo a cheesy thumbs up.

“Ignoring all that, let’s get back to the issue here. I assume you came to see me because you aren’t able to drop the henge?” Tsunade asked in clarification.

“That’s right,” Naruto confirmed, plopping into the chair across from Tsunade's desk.

“Try right now,” Tsunade directed.

Naruto did a quick hand sign, and in a puff of smoke, nothing happened… she still looked the same.

“Hmmm” Tsunade hummed in thought, “let me run a few tests. hop up onto my exam bed” Tsunade instructed, gesturing to the hospital bed she had set up against the wall on the far side of the room.

Naruto did as she was told, and Tsunade began flowing medical ninjutsu over her body. She started at the head, making her way down to the chest, the arms, across the belly, and down each leg.

“Sakura, could you go collect some vials to take some blood samples? And can you stop by the receptionist desk and set up a follow up appointment for in a few weeks. No more than three” the chief medical nin asked.

“Sure thing lady Tsunade” Sakura easily agreed, exiting the room.

Tsunade watched Sakura exit the room; locking the door and turning to Naruto once the pink haired kunoichi had left.

“Naruto” Tsunade asked carefully, almost sadly, “on your mission, what exactly happened?”

“Well, I hung around the target location for a few weeks, waiting to get kidnapped. Once they took me, they pretty quickly threw me into my targets bedroom” Naruto missed the way Tsunade flinched slightly as the blonde explained, “they were pretty dumb and left me unsupervised, so I ended up finding the info I needed pretty quickly, and then I left, contacting Kakashi-sensei to send in the strike team” Naruto explained.

“And nothing happened? Between you or any of the men there?” Tsunade continued to ask carefully.

“They were pretty gross and creepy, but no, nothing really noteworthy happened, I didn’t even get to beat any of them up. Why? What’s going on? What does this have to do with my henge?” Naruto asked as she stretched her head up awkwardly to stare at Tsunade in worry.

“Naruto” Tsunade said seriously, her hands once again glowing green and hovering over her lower abdomen, “I detected a pregnancy. You're pregnant”.

“WHAT?!” Naruto screamed, her head dropping painfully against the hospital bed.

“It’s unprecedented. A person under a henge should not have a functioning uterus or ovaries, let alone be able to get pregnant. But I clearly detect the early signs of pregnancy when I scan you” Tsunade jabbered, her scientific mind taking a forefront to the strangeness of the situation, “your henge must be incredibly accurate, and incredibly solid for this to happen” Tsunade suddenly turned all her focus onto the silently stunned Naruto lying on the examination bed, “so, Naruto. Who did you have sex with?”

“I’m pregnant!?” Naruto said loudly, ignoring Tsunade's question, her hand flailing around wildly.

‘I suspected as much,’ Kurama suddenly interjected.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SUSPECTED AS MUCH?!” Naruto shouted as she shot upright on the bed, startling Tsunade.

‘I’ve had my suspicions for the last week or so. Your increased desire to go home; your increased exhaustion; your annoying increased yearning for the Uchiha’ Kurama explained, his voice taking on a distinct annoyed edge as he brought up Sasuke, ‘you’re merged with me, so you seem to be experiencing some more primal instincts. Like wanting to be in a safe space such as your den while in such a vulnerable state. As well as longing for your mate’.

“My mate!” Naruto squeaked out in disbelief, “why didn’t you tell me!”

“Are you speaking with the fox, Naruto? What is he saying” Tsunade asked, confused by only hearing one side of the conversation.

“Kurama said he thought this might be the case!” Naruto screeched, “and he didn't warn me!” She suddenly gasped, “is this why you’ve been locking me out the last few days?!”

“I wanted to keep my suspicions to myself while you were focusing on your mission. And I did not want to worry you until we knew for sure” Kurama admitted.

“Kurama!” Naruto shouted, her hands shaking as she gripped the bed below her.

“Calm down, Naruto. Take a breath. We need to speak about this rationally” Tsunade tried to say calmly.

“Right- right- rationally, I can do rational. I’m totally rational. I’m super calm right now” Naruto said, convincing absolutely no one.

“Naruto, breath” Tsunade directed, taking an exaggerated breath in and out, encouraging Naruto to do the same.

Naruto followed the medical nins lead, taking a few deep breaths in and and out over the next few minutes. When she finally had calmed down enough, she released her bruising grip on the edge of the bed. .

“Good” Tsunade praised, “now, we can assume this is the reason your body hasn’t been able to let your henge go, it’s probably instinctually keeping itself in a form that can support the fetus. do you have any idea how far along you would be?” Tsunade asked.

Naruto blushed deeply, “a- about three weeks”.

“And the father? Is this a result of your infiltration mission” Tsunade asked carefully.

“No- I- this happened before I really started my infiltration” Naruto answered truthfully, her brain stuttering as she tried to make sense of the situation. .

“And it was consensual?” Tsunade felt the need to confirm.

Naruto somehow blushed an even brighter shade of red, “yeah, it was”.

“Okay, that’s good,” Tsunade said in relief, “who is the father then?”

“He’s- he’s just some guy I met, while traveling for my mission, I don’t know where he is anymore, he was traveling too” Naruto answered; she didn’t really want to say it was Sasuke—that was just too embarrassing, and she didn’t know how Tsunade would react to that information. She needed time to gather her thoughts before she told anyone… if she ever did.

It was pretty clear Sasuke didn’t want anything to do with her after what happened, the way he left like he did. But.. she couldn’t really keep this from him either, not after the family he’s lost—the life he’s lived.

She needed to think about it more.

“Okay” Tsunade breathed, “Naruto. You're going to have to make a decision. Do you want to keep this baby? We don’t know what having this child will do to you, a henged pregnancy has never been done before. And afterwards, when the child is born, it will just be you. Obviously myself, and everyone else will do our best to support you, but ultimately, you will be a single parent” Tsunade explained, trying to give Naruto as much information as possible.

“I-“ Naruto cut herself off, really thinking about what Tsunade was saying; but, none of that really mattered, did it? This was her child, a baby, an innocent, a family. It was the result of her and Sasuke—how could she not love it completely already.

“I’m going to have this baby. Did you really expect me to make any other decision?” Naruto smiled softly at Tsunade, her hand making its way to her still extremely flat belly.

Tsunade smiled a small smile back, “no, I didn’t”.

She sat back in her chair, rolling it towards the bed to continue the coming conversation more comfortably.

“I know you’ve made your decision. But I want you to understand you still have a few more weeks to change your mind, so take this time to really guarantee this is the decision you want to make” Tsunade explained.

“Okay, I will. But I won’t change my mind” Naruto answered truthfully.

“I’m not asking you too” Tsunade smiled, “I just want you to have all the information you can”.

Tsunade then grabbed her clipboard, flipping a few pages before seemingly finding what she wanted. She clicked her pen and began writing something Naruto couldn’t see.

“Since this pregnancy is such an unknown, we will need to schedule regular appointments for you. About every three or four weeks to start, and as you progress in the pregnancy, we’ll make those more frequent at about every two or three weeks” Tsunade decided, scribbling away in her clipboard.

“Alright. If I have to” Naruto sighed.

“Don’t be a brat” Tsunade chastised, “now, I want you to keep me up to date on your symptoms, so make sure you tell me everything, and I mean everything, during our appointments. Actually, do you have anything you want to tell me right now, have you been experiencing any symptoms yet?”

“Well” Naruto thought for a moment, “Kurama said that since we’re merged, that I’m experiencing more primal instincts,” Naruto said vaguely.

“Primal instincts?” Tsunade inquired.

“Hehe- well- he said he’s noticed that I’ve been more focused on being home in my ’den’ lately” Naruto began explaining.

’It’s a fox's instinct to create and protect a den in preparation of the kit, as well as to have a safe place while she is carrying the kit’ Kurama piped up.

“Oh, that makes sense I guess,” Naruto hummed.

“What makes sense?” Tsunade asked, her brow creasing.

“Kurama said it’s a fox’s instinct to create a den to have a safe environment while pregnant,” Naruto explained.

“It’s also a fox’s instinct to have its mate nearby to protect it while vulnerable,” Kurama then added with a slight laugh.

“A- and apparently it’s also a fox’s instinct to want its- its mate around to protect her when vulnerable” Naruto squeaked.

“Hmm, I understand. Have you been feeling these instincts?” Tsunade inquired.

Naruto blushed deep red once again, “I- well- I have- I’ve been feeling a strong urge to be at home lately, and well- I may or may not be thinking about that guy all the time” Naruto sputtered.

“Okay. Will that man not being here negatively impact your pregnancy?”

“I don’t know,’ Kurama answered truthfully.

“Kurama’s not sure,“ Naruto hummed.

“Okay, we’ll add it to the list of things to keep an eye on. Now, Naruto, there’s going to be some changes to your body, so I’m going to give you some pamphlets that I want you to read. But know you can always come to me with any questions you may have” Tsunade said kindly, a hand finding its way to Naruto’s shoulder with a comforting squeeze, “your also going to have to be more mindful of the food you eat. Some things you can‘t have as a pregnant person. You also want to eat nutritious and balanced food, so that means no ramen for every meal” Tsunade said sternly, “the pamphlets also cover all that, so I will repeat. Read. Them”.

“What?! No ramen! Baa-chan, you can’t be serious!” Naruto whined.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“Lady Tsunade, I’ve brought the blood work you wanted to do” came Sakura's voice from the other side of the door.

“One second, Sakura,” Tsunade said loudly so her student could hear.

“Naruto, I will ultimately leave the decision up to you, but I believe it would be wise to let Sakura know of your condition. I don’t know if you’re going to want to keep this development a secret or not, but I would trust Sakura to help you” Tsunade said more quietly so as not to alert Sakura.

“Um- I think I know myself well enough to know that there’s no way I would be able to keep this a secret for long, so I’m fine with letting Sakura know right now” Naruto answered after a moment of thought.

“I’m glad” Tsunade smiled, “you know” she then began to say as she pulled herself up from her chair, “in the future, if you decided to go on an infiltration mission as a woman again, we’re going to have to get you outfitted with some birth control” she said vaguely, reaching for the door handle.

She opened the door just in time for Naruto to let out a very concerning sounding squeak, similar to the sound of a deflating balloon.

“Oh Sage no, Sakura has not been shy with telling me the horror stories of an IUD insertion” Naruto shuddered..

“What. An IUD? What’s going on here?” Sakura asked in confusion, closing the door behind her.

Tsunade looked at Naruto’s still ghostly white face and sighed.

“Have a seat, Sakura” she said, directing Sakura to the chair she had been sitting in before as she began drawing blood from Naruto, “Naruto seems to have gotten himself—“ “—herself” Naruto blearily corrected, still deep in her own head as she tried to process everything happening around her, “herself into a bit of a situation” Tsunade sighed.

“A situation?” Sakura asked.

“She’s pregnant” Tsunade said bluntly, ripping off the bandaid—so to speak.

“Pregnant?” Sakura asked weakly, “Pregnant?!” She then screamed, shooting up out of her chair, “what?! How is that even possible?!” She stared at Naruto slack jawed.

“We’re not entirely sure, but I believe this is the result of an incredibly solid and accurate henge,” Tsunade answered.

“I did study a bunch of anatomy books when I was creating it as a kid,” Naruto said without grandeur.

“It can be assumed that the solidity of it is in part thanks to the Nine-Tailed fox as well” Tsunade added, dropping a filled vial of blood into a basket before inserting a third one to be filled.

“That’s- you- pregnant-“ Naruto was pretty sure Sakura was breaking more than she was, “OH MY GODS YOU HAD SEX” she suddenly screamed.

“That’s the part of this that shocks you the most?” Naruto couldn’t help but ask in bewilderment.

Tsunade sighed, drawing the last blood vial and dropping it with the others. She then rolled over an ultrasound machine, pushing up Naruto's shirt before squirting some cold gel onto her now exposed belly.

“Ah! Cold” Naruto complained.

“Suck it up,” Tsunade chastised, placing the ultrasound wand on her stomach.

“Wow” Sakura breathed, looking at the screen from over Tsunade’s shoulder.

“What, what is it? Can you see the baby?” Naruto sputtered in quick succession.

“Brat, your fetus is the size of a grain of sand. No we can’t see it” Tsunade tsked in irritation.

“She really has a uterus” Sakura said in amazement, “you have a uterus” she then repeated, looking at Naruto with a mixture of amazement and disbelief.

“Is that- is that not normal?” Naruto asked nervously.

“I said earlier that a person under a henge shouldn’t have functioning reproductive organs, but that’s not totally true. They shouldn’t have different reproductive organs at all” Tsunade confessed.

“A person under a henge merely affects their outward appearance, including their sex organ as well if they're skilled enough in the transformation, which we know you are. But the inside of the body, the internal organs, they aren't typically, or really ever affected. It’s not a necessary step in a henge. But you, you’ve changed everything, and I would even bet money that you’ve changed yourself down to your very DNA. It’s unprecedented!” Sakura gushed, looking at Naruto like a particularly intriguing science experiment.

“The way you're looking at me is really freaking me out, Sakura,” Naruto said dubiously.

“We’re going to test your blood, check your hormone levels, look at your DNA, check your overall health, and a bunch of other things I’m sure will just fly straight over your head” Tsunade interjected, “Sakura, I’m putting you in charge of Naruto’s health for the duration of this. If you ever have any concerns, drag her to my office with prejudice” Tsunade said seriously, her eyes boring into Naruto with warning.

“Rodger, lady Tsunade” Sakura saluted.

“Have you made Naruto’s follow-up appointment with reception?” Tsunade asked.

“Set for two and a half weeks from now, on the Thursday” Sakura confirmed.

“Good, blood work should be back in by then” Tsunade nodded along, “Naruto” she then directed her attention to her newest patient who had by now wiped the gel off her stomach, pulled her shirt down, and was now sitting patiently on the hospital bed, “as your doctor, I’m putting you on conditional medical leave—”

“—what?!” Naruto yelled.

“—No missions outside of the village; no missions above C rank; no missions involving combat, or that will last more than six hours” Tsunade continued as if Naruto hadn’t interrupted, “and only light training and exercise. Don’t push yourself, I can tell that you're already more tired”.

“She’s right Naruto” Sakura continued when Tsunade finished speaking, interjecting before Naruto could begin complaining, “you can’t just focus on yourself anymore. You're pregnant, you have to put both yours and the baby’s health first” Sakura said kindly, clasping Naruto’s hand between her own, “I’ll be here to help you every step of the way. You’re my best friend Naruto, and I’ll always support you”

“I- thank you Sakura” Naruto said with a choked gasp, “that means a whole lot to me” she smiled, clasping Sakura’s hands back, “I’m gonna have a baby. Oh Sage, Sakura, I’m gonna have a family”

Sakura smiled sweetly as Naruto, squeezing the other girl's hand.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna be the first one of our friends to have a baby” Sakura sighed, “gosh, we’re only eighteen, I’m too young to be an aunt” Sakura then lamented dramatically.

“You think you're too young to be an aunt? I’m gonna be a mother! Father? Whatever! A parent! And Tsunade's gonna be a great-grandmother now” Naruto said just as dramatically.

“I am no one's great-grandmother, brat,” Tsunade said angrily, flicking Naruto in the forehead.

“You’re gonna have to move too, you’ll need a place with at least two bedrooms now” Sakura added, already categorizing a mental list of everything they were going to need to do before the baby got here.

Naruto was still living in her same dingy, childhood apartment. It had survived the war and Pain’s attack, miraculously, so Naruto hadn’t bothered moving out of it. She knew, as the hero of the village, she could probably get any place she wanted, but, that didn’t actually mean she was ready to leave her apartment yet.

“Do I have too?” Naruto whined—she really didn’t want to leave her den right now.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t need to be done right this moment, but it should be done before you get too pregnant to handle the move” Sakura thought out loud.

“Naruto” Tsunade interjected, “I understand you have a connection to your home right now, and that instinctually, you feel safe there. But I think Sakura is right. Though, I actually think it would be better to move sooner rather than later, so you can associate the new home as safe right away, and not in the middle of your pregnancy” Tsunade explained, causing Sakura's eyebrows to crease in confusion.

“What do you mean?” She asked for clarification.

“Since I’m merged with Kurama, some of his more- ah- animal instincts have been affecting me the last few weeks. Mostly a desire to be home in my den, somewhere safe for me and the baby” Naruto flushed deeply.

“Oh, wow. That makes sense I guess, but that will probably add a whole new layer to the difficulties of pregnancy” Sakura analyzed the information, “but don’t worry, I’ll be here to support you, like I already said. We’ll get through this together”.

“Thanks Sakura,” Naruto said again, sincerity and appreciation bleeding into her voice in thick waves.

“You should also know, Sakura, since you will be Naruto’s primary caretaker, that these instincts of her’s also extend to a desire for her partner. Her mate” Tsunade said the last part with an amused glint, “we’re not sure if this instinct for the baby’s father will affect the pregnancy negatively or not, but it’s something to keep note of”.

“Oh wow, you really are going fully feral with this” Sakura said seriously, though Naruto could sense the smirk behind her eyes, “there has been research that suggests an animal being separated from their mate during pregnancy can cause increased anxiety in the mother, which isn’t good for the baby. Tsunade's right, we’ll have to keep an eye on that just in case. Maybe we should contact the father?” Sakura suggested.

“Uh- well- the thing is- Sakura you have to understand-“ Naruto stuttered.

She really did not want to tell her it was Sasuke. Not because she was afraid of how she would react, Sakura was long past her crush on Sasuke. It was just too much, too fast. She wasn’t ready to deal with the Sasuke of it all. Not yet.

“Naruto had a one night stand with a traveler,” Tsunade said smugly, clearly teasing the blonde.

“I!- yeah” she began to protest, only to give up before she even started, “I don’t know where he is anymore” Naruto supplied—she wasn’t even really lying, technically.

“You had a one night stand?!” Sakura squeaked, “Oh my gods, I guess you would have, to have gotten yourself in this situation” Sakura blabbered, “you have to tell me all about it. How was it? Was it your first time? Was he good? What was his name? How was it having sex as a girl?” Sakura began spouting off questions, seemingly forgetting the serious conversation they were just having in order to gossip instead.

“Uh- well” Naruto sputtered, glancing around the room for something that would help, “wow. Would you look at the time, I gotta go” she then announced, hopping off the bed and sprinting out the door.

“Naruto! Get back here!” Sakura yelled, not wasting a moment before chasing after the blonde, “you will tell me the details!” She yelled.

Naruto pushed chakra into her feet, sprinting as fast as she could out of the hospital. Time to hide! There was no stopping Sakura when her mind was made up, all you could do was avoid her until she calmed down enough to hear you out.

Where could she go? Her den? No to obvious, it’s the first place Sakura would look. ichiraku? No, same issue as her apartment. A training field? No, she might not make it there before Sakura caught up to her.

Then she saw it. Without a second thought, Naruto sprinted along the roof, slamming open the window, and dived into the Hokage’s office with incredible speed. She scrambled under the Hokage’s desk, ignoring Kakashi wide eyed bewilderment as she kicked his feet to the side to make room in her new hiding spot.

She pulled all her chakra into herself, trying to mask her presence as much as possible. Even the Anbu wouldn’t be able to find her now.

Kakashi looked from the window, to Naruto’s curled up form under his desk. He leaned back slightly.

“Do I want to know?” Kakashi asked slowly, looking at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

“Shhhh!” She hissed, “I’m not here!” She yelled in a whisper.

“But you are. I’m looking right at you” Kakashi said evenly.

“Don’t be a smart ass, sensei!” Naruto groaned—she could sense the mirth coming from the Anbu detail guarding the tower.

“Who are you hiding from, Naruto?” Kakashi asked, shifting his feet to the side to give the blonde more space.

“S-“ she began to say, only to cut herself off abruptly.

Sakura was approaching. She could sense her.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi with pleading eyes before the door suddenly slammed open.

“Sensei! Have you seen Naruto?” She asked, glancing around the room as if hoping to see her standing around there.

“Can’t say that I have,” Kakashi said calmly, leaning back in his chair, “why, what’s he done this time?”

Naruto pinched his leg.

“Sorry, she,” he corrected.

“Well, her and I were about to have a very interesting conversation when she bolted,” Sakura said sweetly.

Naruto shivered, she did not want to have that conversation, at all.

“Actually” Sakura said after a moment of thought, “while I’m here, Tsunade wanted me to inform you, because she’s positive Naruto wouldn’t, that she is to be out on temporary conditional medical leave. The details are listed here” she said, placing an official medical notice on the desk.

“Oh” Kakashi said in surprise, and Naruto groaned silently under the desk—Kakashi kicked her, “why’s that? Does this have to do with her transformation jutsu?”

“Yeah” Sakura said seriously, “it’s- well- the reason is listed on the paperwork, as per its requirement, but, I think you should probably let Naruto tell you before you read it” Sakura said seriously, her hand placed heavily on the cover page of the medical document.

Naruto froze, her fingers freezing where she had been drawing on her sensei’s exposed toes with a pen she had found on the floor. Kakashi noticed the sudden anxiety coming from his youngest student

“I’ll do that” Kakashi confirmed, “thanks Sakura” he smiled, taking the documents from the girl and adding it to his steadily growing pile of work, “have you tried looking for her at her apartment? Or Ichiraku? She has been gone for an awfully long time, she’s probably having withdrawals for her favourite food right about now” as if on queue, Naruto’s stomach rumbled, though thankfully quietly enough that Sakura didn’t hear—but it was obvious by the sudden humour in Kakashi’s eye that he had.

“Oh! Good point. I’ll check there next” she smiled, quickly leaving the office.

As soon as the door to the office closed Naruto scrambled out from under Kakashi’s desk, ready to pounce right back out of the window.

“Sit,” Kakashi directed before she could make her escape, pointing to the chair across from his desk.

Naruto sighed, collapsing into the chair. It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, by Kakashi’s request. He didn't want to encourage people to stay longer than strictly necessary.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” He said more gently now that Naruto was no longer trying to run away. He glanced at his foot, and sighed, “did you draw Pakun on my foot? You're going to inflate his ego” Kakashi said jokingly.

“He deserves the recognition,” Naruto mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, “for dealing with you all the time”.

“Ouch, you wound me” he said flatly, giving Naruto an unimpressed look, “what’s going on Naruto, why are you running from Sakura. Why is Tsunade putting you on leave?”

“Conditional leave. I’m still allowed to do some mission” Naruto corrected.

“Fine. Why are you on conditional leave?” Kakashi conceded.

Naruto hesitated, looking around for a last minute escape she could utilize. Kakashi just watched her with an expectant look.

She sighed.

“Mmprnn’nt” she mumbled incomprehensibly.

“Sorry, what was that?” Kakashi asked.

“I’m pregnant” she repeated slightly louder, and Kakashi was definitely able to hear it that time.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” He coughed.

“I’m Pregnant” she repeated with more gusto, her voice steadily gaining more volume “expecting. Knocked up. Bun in the oven. With child. Eating for two. However you want to say it”.

“You’re pregnant” Kakashi said slowly, “how is that even possible?”

“Ask baa-chan” Naruto answered, looking away.

“This- this didn’t happen because of your mission, did it?” Kakashi asked, obvious guilt leaking into his voice.

Naruto posture relaxed, her defensiveness melting away at Kakashi’s worry, “no, Kakashi-sensei, this is on me. It was a guy I met while traveling to Koiyoto village” Naruto said gently, hoping to ease the man’s killer guilt complex, “like I said during our debrief, nothing like that happened”.

“Alright” Kakashi relented, “are you, okay?” he asked carefully.

Naruto thought for a moment. Was she okay?”

“Yeah” she decided, a smile gracing her face as her hand found its way to her flat belly, “yeah, I am. I’m gonna have a family”.

“Okay” Kakashi gave his favourite student a smile, “then we won’t discuss it further”.

“Thanks Kakashi-sensei”.

“So… why was Sakura chasing you down?” Kakashi couldn’t help but ask.

“Ah, she wanted to get the details about my sex life” Naruto smirked.

“Maa, well” Kakashi coughed, “you’re dismissed”.

Naruto cackled.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed!

Leave a comment or a Kudos if you enjoyed. Or a comment. Comments are good :)

Chapter 5: Nests and Other Stupid Animal Instincts

Summary:

Being pregnant is no joke.

She somehow found herself browsing one of the newly built stores. A bedding store to be specific. She needed… well she wasn’t sure exactly what she needed, but she was pretty sure that super soft looking, fluffy yellow pillow was part of it.

It has been a few days since she found out she was pregnant, and she felt like she was taking it all relatively well. Circumstances permitting. Sakura had found her not long after she left Kakashi-sensei's office, but she had managed to successfully convince Sakura to let the whole one-night stand thing go with minimal details.

Actually, she ended up asking Sakura for a favour. She didn’t really want to continuously get asked the question ‘why are you still a girl?’, so she asked Sakura to spread the news that she would be living as a girl for the foreseeable future for personal reasons. People could think what they want about that, she was sure whatever conclusions they came to wouldn’t all necessarily be wrong.

She was starting to realize she really didn’t mind being a girl at all. Actually, she was maybe starting to understand what Kurama meant when he said being a girl every now and then was ‘beneficial to his mental health’ back before all this started. She was beginning to realize that, boy, girl, it didn’t matter what gender she was. She was Naruto, through and through. And sometimes, it was nice to have curves and long hair and to wear dresses.

She’d have to tell her friends about the pregnancy eventually, she knew this. But for right now, she wanted to keep it close to her chest. To spend time with it while the news was just for herself. She’d tell them later; maybe when she got too big to hide it, or maybe when she eventually moved into a new place—Sakura had been nagging her about that almost every day.

She added a large dark blue blanket into her cart on top of the yellow pillow she had already picked out. The blanket was soft, but not fluffy—it was a cottony fabric with a plush feel to it with rough, yarn stitching around its edge. It sort of reminded her of Sasuke, all rough on the outside while being all soft and squishy on the inside.

She kept walking, dropping in pillow after blanket into her cart; barely paying attention to the amount she was picking up as she made her way to the checkout counter.

“Doing some redecorating?” The clerk asked, ringing her up.

“Eh- sort of” Naruto shrugged, paying for her hall.

She summoned a few shadow clones to help her carry the multitude of bags she ended up filling, and began making her way back to her apartment. She wasn’t totally sure how she ended up in the bedding shop, she had actually been on her way out to eat when she was stopped by the sight of the comfortable looking display window. Next thing she knew, she had a cart full of blankets, and a significant hole in her wallet.

Unlocking her apartment, she sent her clones ahead of her. She was thankful she could still do jutsus, or, at least non strenuous ones. If she tried anything more difficult than a handful of shadow clones, she was pretty sure both Tsunade and Sakura would keep her locked in in the hospital for the duration of her pregnancy.

It was stupid! She felt fine still! No excess fatigue now that she was back from her mission. She didn’t feel weaker, or like she was unable to control her chakra as well anymore. They were just being paranoid, she was sure. But she valued her freedom, so she followed their stupid, overly cautious rules.

She followed her clones into her bedroom, happy to see they were already unpacking and setting her newly acquired pillows and blankets on her bed. Once their bags were empty, she dispelled them, intent on finalizing the area herself.

She stared at the pile of stuff now taking over her small bed. One wrong move and she was sure the stuff would come tumbling down to the floor. She glanced around the room. If she moved that dresser over there… then she could move the bed there… and then that would…

It was perfect!

She spent the next fifteen minutes reorganizing her room, all so she could push her bed into the corner furthest away from her door and window. She wasn’t sure why she wanted it there specifically, but it felt right—calmed the barely there anxiety buzzing under her skin.

With her bed now pushed into the corner, she began rearranging the newly acquired soft things without worrying about them all falling to the ground. She propped the pillows up along the wall and headboard, throwing blankets on top of them and across the empty space. She put the dark blue blanket and fluffy yellow pillow in the centre of the bed and took a step back to admire her handy work. Only to be struck with the realization that she built a nest.

A nest.

Like an animal

‘A burrow, like a fox,’ Kurama interjected.

“Oh Kami, you weren’t kidding about these instincts” Naruto lemented.

‘It’s just gonna get worse from here, brat’ Kurama joked, though not really, ‘let me out for a sec, I want to test it out for the kit’.

“Is that why you’ve been calling me brat again? Is the baby your new favourite” Naruto asked haughtily while beginning to channel chakra into a vessel Kurama could use.

‘I can hardly call you a kit when you’ve gone and mated into adulthood,'’ Kurama explained easily.

“Please stop,” Naruto groaned, “I really don’t want to talk to you about mating again”.

‘Talking about the Uchiha is not my favourite thing to do either’ Kurama bitched.

“You're impossible,” Naruto moaned in frustration, “don’t take too much chakra with you, I don’t know how that will affect my henge” Naruto instructed.

With a poof of smoke, a small, fluffy fox with nine tails appeared of the ground next to Naruto.

“Oh Sage, you are so cute, you should hang out like this all the time!” Naruto squealed, crouching down so she could pet his soft looking fur, “I could carry you around on my shoulders!” Naruto said excitedly even as Kurama batted her hand away from him before she could touch him.

“I am weaker like this as I have left most of my chakra with you” Kurama lamented as he hopped onto Naruto’s bed, sniffing and pawing at her bedding mountain with a critical eye before curling up in the center of it for a nap, “it will do” he said tonelessly, his eyes already closing.

Naruto huffed, crawling into the bed next to Kurama, deciding she could use a nap herself.

“I thought it was important for me to like it, not you,” Naruto sighed.

“You're new to this whole ‘nesting’ thing. I’m just giving you my guidance” Kurama said easily.

She sighed and tried her luck at touching his soft fur again; she was happy to see that the fox didn’t make any move to get away. Actually, she was pretty sure he started purring when she began scratching him behind the ears. She let out a soft chuckle.

She felt safe, and comfortable, curled up in her bed with all her soft things and Kurama; though, she couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. She faded into a deep sleep before she could analyze that feeling.

____

“Kurama, I need to go see Iruka today. So it’s time to dispel” Naruto announced while tying her hair back into a low ponytail tail with the help of a clone—it was easier to get done with the extra hand since she was still only rocking the one, “or you can let me carry you around on my shoulders and show off how cute you are, your choice”.

Naruto heard the tell-tale sound of a clone dispelling before she suddenly felt the presence of Kurama within her once again. She snorted—foxes and they’re pride.

It had only been a day since she had set up her bed, and Kurama had somehow claimed the space as his own, despite Naruto being the pregnant one. She couldn’t complain though, Kurama's out and about form was beyond adorable. She could watch the fluffy little guy sleep all curled up in her bed like that for days and never get bored.

She almost wished he would actually let her carry him around on her shoulders. Just so she could show off how adorable the fearsome fox could be.

She made her way through the village, taking her time on her way to Irukas. It was the weekend, so she was really hoping he would be at home and not the academy. She didn’t really want to have this conversation somewhere so public, where anyone could just walk in.

She was going to tell him. She needed to tell him. She needed him to know.

She stopped at a bakery, picking up a small cake to share. It was cute, white with orange frosting flowers decorating the edge. She briefly considered getting something written on it, but she wasn’t sure what would be appropriate in this situation. Congratulations? Surprise? None of those sounded quite right.

She decided to keep it simple. If she treated this like a happy surprise—something exciting—maybe she would be less nervous. Because this WAS something exciting. It was new, and precious, and important. So unbelievably important.

But she was still dying a little bit at the thought of telling him.

She made it outside of his apartment, and was relieved to sense that he was home, and that he was alone. She took in a deep, grounding breath. She could do this.

She knocked on the door, “Iruka-sensei! It’s me!” She called, holding the bag with the cake behind her back.

“Naruto?” Iruka called happily, not hesitating to open the door, “what brings you here?” he asked not unkindly.

“Ah- I was hoping you weren’t busy? I have something I wanted to talk to you about” she explained a bit nervously.

“Of course, come on in” he smiled again, stepping to the side to make room for her through the door.

“Thanks” she smiled back, walking into the familiar space that was his kitchen and living room.

Iruka’s place always felt like an extension of ‘home’. She spent many a night here after a rough mission, taking comfort in her favourite teacher/father figure. Lounging on his sofa, eating his food, listening to him complain about the latest batch of trouble making kids in his class. She made herself comfortable at his kitchen table, clutching the cake box protectively to her chest.

“Is this about you still being henged as a girl?” Iruka asked gently as he began puttering around in the kitchen, preparing tea, “because I want you to know that, boy, girl, none of it matters to me. You will always be my precious student, no matter what” he smiled gently, pouring the boiling water into two mugs, adding a little bit of sugar into Naruto’s.

Naruto smiled a shy smile. Iruka really was the best. So kind and understanding. He made Naruto feel loved in a way she had never felt before—like she belonged when he was around. Like she was wanted.

“Thanks Iruka” she said lightly, a flush gracing her pretty face, “I’m glad to hear you say that, it means a lot to me. But, actually, well, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about” Naruto confessed, avoiding her teacher's eye.

“Oh?” Iruka hummed curiously, setting down a mug in front of Naruto before taking a seat at the table across from her, “what’s that?”.

“Well- um- uhh” she stuttered, fiddling with the lid of the cake box, “congratulations! You're gonna be a godfather!” she suddenly yelled, thrusting the now open cake box across the table and under Iruka’s nose.

“I’m sorry, what?” Iruka asked in bewilderment, setting his mug gently down onto the table as he stared uncomprehendingly at Naruto.

“I’m pregnant!” She blurted before slapping her hand over her mouth in horror.

“You’re.. pregnant?” Iruka asked slowly, somehow blinking even slower than that.

“Yes?” Naruto answered just as slowly back, “and I want you to be their godfather?”

“A baby…” Iruka breathed, his face blank.

“Yeah, a baby,” Naruto nodded.

“You want me to be the godfather of your baby. Because you’re pregnant” Iruka continued as if Naruto hadn’t spoken, staring unblinkingly at the cake in front of him.

“Uh.. Iruka? Are you doing okay? Are- are you upset with me?” Naruto asked nervously, her hand fiddling anxiously with her untouched mug of tea.

“What?” Iruka’s head snapped up to look at Naruto in shock, “why would I be upset with you?”

“B-because I’m not in a relationship with anyone, because I’m single, a- and I got knocked up while on the road, on a mission” Naruto rambled, her hand coming up to pull restlessly at her ponytail.

“No. Oh Naruto, no, I would never be upset with you for this. This is.. this is just life, this is what growing up is. Things happen, and we continue to live. And if this is what you want, then I will be here to support you, always” Iruka pulled Naruto’s hand away from her hair, grasping it in his own, “it’s shocking, I won’t lie to you. I didn’t even know a henge pregnancy was possible. But, you’re growing up, you’re not that troublemaker kid who was always interrupting my classes any more. You’re a splendid young woman that I will always be proud of. No matter what” Iruka said sincerely, reaching up to wipe the tears that were now steadily flowing down Naruto’s cheeks.

“Iruka I- thank you- I” Naruto sniffed, a smile stretching across her face, “it is- what I want, I mean. It's my chance at a family, ya know? You- you’re family. Kakashi and Sakura a- and Sasuke too. But this is different” Naruto gripped Iruka’s hand back, “and I want you to be my baby’s godfather. Because you are so unbelievably special to me, and I want you to be just as special to them too”

“I’d be honoured to be your baby’s godfather, Naruto” Iruka said with a wet laugh, smiling at Naruto.

“I’m glad!” Naruto smiled back, “let’s celebrate! I’ll cut the cake”

___

“Your hormone levels are on par with an average woman at this stage of pregnancy” Tsunade announced, flipping through Naruto’s blood work results as Sakura hovered behind her and Naruto sat anxiously on the exam bed.

It was her first appointment since finding out she was pregnant. Six weeks. She was roughly six weeks pregnant. Nearly two months.

It had been six weeks since she had seen Sasuke. Six weeks since she had felt his rough, calloused yet gentle hand caress her skin. Six weeks since she saw her best friend, touched her best friend, slept with her best friend. Sage she missed him at times like this, when she thought about how long it had actually been since she had last seen him. Six weeks didn’t even compare to the lengths of time she used to go without seeing him before, but somehow, the circumstances made it feel longer.

“All of your blood work looks really good, Naruto. You have the body of an extremely healthy, pregnant young woman” Tsunade continued, Interrupting Naruto’s Sasuke centred train of thought.

“That’s good” Naruto smiled, a small flood of reliefs flowing through her at Tsunade's words.

“How have you been feeling? Any symptoms I should know about? Have you been eating well?” Tsunade interrogated.

“I’ve stocked her fridge with health food, and simple premade meals” Sakura interjected, “so if she hasn’t been sneaking to Ichiraku’s too often, she should be able to maintain her good health” Sakura said pointedly.

“Hehe, I really appreciate it, Sakura. I’m not much of a cook” Naruto admitted with a sheepish smile, “as for symptoms, mmmm” she hummed, leaning her head this way and that in thought, her one hand tapping her thigh, “I don’t think so, not much has changed since we last spoke. I’m still most comfortable in my own home, and-“ here Naruto flushed red a bit, “I’m still thinking about that guy, but not really any more than before” Naruto explained, “I’m not really feeling more tired, or nauseous, or any of those other symptoms that were listed in those boring pamphlets you gave me”.

“Well, that’s good. But it’s still a bit early in you pregnancy, you may find that changing over the next few weeks as you progress through the first trimester” Tsunade spoke as she scribbled in her medical notes, “have you given any more thought into moving? If you're still symptom free at the moment, I really encourage you to do the move sooner rather than later” Tsunade then asked, putting her pen down to look at Naruto.

“We’re looking at places right now” Sakura answered for her, “browsing the real estate market, you know how it is. Naruto’s a lot pickier than I thought she would be” Sakura joked at the end.

“Every place you suggest just sucks” Naruto pouted, looking away from Sakura to stare at the wall instead.

“You just have terrible taste,” Sakura scoffed.

“Well, try not to wait too long to pick somewhere” Tsunade smiled, endeared by the two's familiar bickering.

“I won’t, baa-chan” Naruto promised.

____

“Oh no” Naruto shot up urgently in her bed the moment she arose from her deep sleep.

Tsunade had not been kidding when she said that things were just beginning at her last appointment. eight weeks. It took eight weeks for her to hit the one milestone she had been hoping to go without.

She attempted to sprint from her bed, but found herself getting tangled up in her own nest of blankets as she nearly went tumbling to the ground in her haste. She pinched her mouth closed as she extracted herself from the blankets as quickly as possible before finally sprinting for her bathroom.

He knees slammed to the ground as she proceeded to heave the majority of last night's dinner into her toilet. She resisted the urge to rest her forehead on the cool porcelain when she coughed the last of her acidic vomit. It didn't matter how tired she suddenly felt, there was no way in hell she would willingly rest her head against a toilet seat.

She wrinkled her nose at the smell emanating from the toilet below her, punching down the urge to repeat what had just happened.

Gross.

Was this what people called morning sickness? The pamphlets warning absolutely did not do it justice in exactly how unpleasant it was. Actually, thinking back on it, she wasn’t sure if she had ever actually vomited like this before. She never got sick growing up, thanks to Kurama. Sure a rough punch to the stomach during battle sometimes forced a bit of the day's breakfast back up. But that was nothing compared to the overwhelming urge to expel everything she had just experienced.

She wanted to curl up in a little ball and do nothing but sleep. She wanted someone to be here. To rub her back comfortingly. To hold her hair and tell her that it was alright, that the unpleasantness was temporary. That it was all worth it in the end when she got to hold her baby for the first time. She wanted Sasuke.

She wanted him to be here. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t tell him, not when he ran away from her like that. Not when he hasn’t made any effort to contact her. Granted, she hasn’t sent him a letter either, but it’s his turn to reach out first. Besides, he never answered her letters before all this happened, why would he start now? When he was the one who chose to run away again.

“Brat” Kurama's voice cut in, pulling her from her mournful thoughts, “you’ve been kneeling over the toilet for twenty minutes”

Has it really been that long? Kami, she needed to distract herself from thinking about Sasuke.

She also needed a shower.

____

She needed… something. She wasn’t sure what that something was. But she needed it.

She was walking down the street with Sakura, heading to her next appointment with Tsunade. She was pretty excited; Sakura had been telling her that they could start looking for a heartbeat on the ultrasound now. She would actually be able to see, or maybe even hear, her baby. It felt surreal. It felt lonely.

She loved Sakura. She really, truly did. She was the sister she always wanted. She was family. But she wasn’t Sasuke; she wasn’t the father of her child. She almost felt like she was robbing Sasuke of something.

She knew she was dragging her feet a bit as they walked, delaying their arrival. She almost didn’t want to do the ultrasound, not like this. She wanted to share this moment with Sasuke. But she still couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Not yet.

She stared at shops as they continued to walk down the street. There was the first baby store Iruka and Sakura had brought her to; where she bought her first bag of baby onesies—gender neutral because she didn’t know the sex yet. Another first in this new life that she did without Sasuke. She wondered what type of baby clothes he would have picked out. Something blue and red, probably—definitely dark colours. She would have to fight him to get any colour into the kits wardrobe; maybe buy the yellows and oranges she tended to lean towards behind Sasuke’s back. He would be exasperated with her, she was sure, but he wouldn’t actually be upset.

She wondered if the baby would have Sasuke’s eyes; his hair; his pale skin. Would the kit inherit the Sharingan? They would need to know their parentage before that ever happened. They would know who their father was. That wasn’t a question. She would never keep the identity of her kit’s father from them. Just like she wouldn’t keep the baby a secret from Sasuke forever. She would tell him—would HAVE to tell him—eventually.

She felt her eyes get drawn by a food stand, and instantly felt her mouth begin to water.

“Sakura” Naruto piped up, halting the other girl in her place, “do you think we could stop for some food before going to see Tsunade? I just- my morning sickness—which isn’t just in the mornings by the way—has been bad the last few days, and those curried skewers looks so amazingly good that I don’t think I’ll survive if I don’t eat one right now” Naruto confessed, her eyes almost shining with hearts as she watched the man behind the small food stand.

“Oh- well” Sakura glanced down at the time on her watch, “we do still have about twenty minutes until your appointment, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to stop by” Sakura smiled at the sweet eyed blonde.

“Yes!” Naruto cheered, not wasting a moment to drop down at one of the stall stools.

“Three chicken curry skewers please!” Naruto said excitedly.

Sakura much more calmly sat down in the seat next to Naruto, “two for me, please” she requested.

The man handed over the food near instantly without fanfare, already turning away from the two women with an indifferent grunt.

Naruto chomped down excitedly, “oh man, this is amazing. I’ve never tasted anything so good before” Naruto moaned

Sakura chuckled, “even better than ramen?”

“That- I- Sage. Maybe” Naruto said dejectedly, her head falling forward dramatically.

Sakura couldn’t help but huff out another laugh, “don’t worry, it’s just the cravings. Ramen will go back to being your favourite food after the pregnancy” Sakura explained to the pouting blonde.

Naruto took an enthusiastic bite, “that’s good!”

When she finished her first skewer, Sakura watched as Naruto placed the empty stick onto the table, making no move to pick her next one up. She watched her for a moment; saw the crinkle between Naruto’s brows as she seemed to be thinking about something troubling.

“Sakura” Naruto eventually piped up, her voice quiet and contemplative, “am I.. wrong.. if I don’t want to do the ultrasound today?” she asked quietly.

Sakura was shocked. That was not what she had been expecting to come out of her friend's mouth.

“It’s there a reason you don’t want to do the ultrasound?” Sakura decided to ask.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, picking up her skewer but making no move to actually eat it, “I feel.. bad—Wrong footed—doing something so- so- so-“ Naruto stuttered.

“Monumental?” Sakura supplied.

“Yeah. Monumental, without the baby’s father” she confessed, refusing to make eye contact with her pink haired friend.

“Wow. Um, have you put any more thought into trying to find him?” Sakura asked, taken aback by her friend's confession.

“I have, almost every day” Naruto admitted, pinching her eyes closed so she didn’t have to look at Sakura.

“I-“ Naruto thought for a moment, “he left. After we spent the night together. I woke up the next morning and he was gone. I just- that hurt, ya know” Naruto squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

“Oh Naruto. I’m so sorry. That must have felt awful” Sakura said softly, pulling the blonde in for a hug, “we don’t have to look at the ultrasound today if you don’t want to. We can put it off for awhile so you can sort your thoughts out” Sakura spoke into Naruto’s hair as she hugged her friend.

“Yeah?” Naruto’s voice cracked.

“Yeah” Sakura confirmed, “Lady Tsunade is able to check the fetus’s health with her medical ninjutsu, the ultrasound is mostly just for you,” her pink haired friend explained.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah. I think I want to hold off on it for now” Naruto admitted slowly.

“Then that’s what we’ll do”.

___

“Wow, you really are still a girl” Ino squeaked, dropping into the seat next to Naruto at the ramen counter.

“What, you didn't believe me?” Sakura crowed back at the platinum blond, dropping into the seat on Naruto’s other side, “and what exactly are you doing here, Naruto? I believe Tsunade told you you needed to be eating better. I just restocked your fridge, you have plenty of food to eat” Sakura then directed to the poor blond who had just been trying to enjoy her meal.

Naruto shuddered internally. She had tried to eat one of Sakura's premade dinners earlier. But, the second she opened the container and smelled the stir-fried bell peppers inside, she promptly found herself sprinting to the washroom with a hand clamped over her mouth.

“Baa-chan said I couldn’t have ramen for every meal, not that I couldn’t have it at all. It’s been three whole days, Sakura. Let me be!” Naruto whined, placing her bowl onto the stack of empty bowls slowly growing in front of her as she called for another.

“How many bowls have you eaten?” Ino asked with an impressed air.

“Seven” Naruto grunted, shoving a mouthful of the speedily delivered noodles into her mouth as she answered.

It was amazing actually being able to eat something and feel like she would actually be able to keep it down. Bless the ramen gods, the magnificent food has yet to fail her.

“Seven?!” Sakura asked in disbelief’ “Naruto, that’s why too much salt! You can’t eat all that! Especially since you're not training as hard anymore!” Sakura began ranting, pulling Naruto’s bowl away from her.

While true, it didn’t mean Naruto liked it. Ever since she had told Kakashi on that first day, he’s been treating her ‘conditional medical leave’ like a full medical leave. Meaning no missions. None. Nada. Zilch. Not even a measly D rank consisting of pulling weeds or painting fences. The only thing the stupid Hokage would let her do was hang around his office helping him with paperwork under the guise of Hokage training; and never for longer than five hours.

Stupid Kakashi and his stupid need to take care of those he cares about or whatever.

Sakura wasn’t any better. No training. No excessive chakra usages. No doing anything even slightly exerting. She only got away with meditation, taijutsu kata’s, and stretching; and that was only because the increased blood flow was actually beneficial to Naruto and her pregnancy. Thank Kami.

“Teuchi! Ayame! You guys aren’t allowed to feed her more than two bowls of ramen per visit from now on. And she’s only allowed to have ramen twice a week at most” Sakura said passionately.

Teuchi and Ayame looked at each other with a huffed laugh.

“What!?” Naruto’s voice cracked, “Sakura?!”

Ino let out an impressed whistle, “Woah, Sakura, don’t you think you’re going a bit far. I mean, Naruto’s not exactly unhealthy” she said slowly, glancing at Naruto before her eyes trailed lower. She squinted briefly at Naruto’s abdomen… maybe she was gaining a bit of weight?

Ino dismissed the thought.

“Naruto needs to be watching her health!” Sakura recounted.

“What? Why?” Ino asked, her nose scrunching up in confusion.

Naruto suddenly had the thought that, if she told Ino, the whole village would know by the end of the day. She actually, maybe, didn’t mind that. The thought of having to constantly tell people what was going on in her private life was feeling pretty overwhelming as of late. It would definitely save her from having to tell all of their friends. Though, they might feel hurt if they found out through the rumour mill instead of from her… she didn’t want to make them think they weren’t important enough to her to tell them herself.

Plus, she was reaching week eleven soon, and she felt like she was maybe even starting to show a little bit. Her tummy definitely had a bit more pudge than what she was used to.

She had been shocked when she first noticed, catching her reflection in her bathroom mirror as she stepped out of the shower. She had ended up just standing there, dripping water onto the floor for nearly half an hour as she touched her stomach and stared at herself in the mirror in awe. She had wished Sasuke was around to see the change too.

“You know what, Ino” Naruto piped up, interrupting Sakura before she could answer, “if you put together a dinner or something for us rookies, I’ll tell you all why Sakura’s being a hovering nurse” Naruto said, surprising both Sakura and Ino with her response.

“Are- are you sure, Naruto?” Sakura could help but ask.

“I’m sure,” Naruto smiled, “I think it’s been long enough”

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Ino cheered.

____

“You’re sure? You’re totally one-hundred percent positive that you want to tell everyone? You know you don’t have to, right? It’s not anyone’s business but your own. And mine, because you're not getting rid of me” Sakura checked for the tenth time that night as they stood outside the restaurant Ino had instructed them to meet at.

It had been a week since their conversation with the gossiping girl. And Naruto was now firmly in her twelfth week of pregnancy

Naruto couldn’t help but chuckle. Somehow Sakura seemed almost more nervous than her; and that somehow helped Naruto feel a bit calmer about it all. She wasn’t worried, not truly. She knew none of her friends would judge her; she knew they would be supportive of her decision. But there was always that doubt in the back of her mind.

“I’m sure, Sakura. I want to tell them. This is an important milestone in my life, and I want them to be a part of it” Naruto said sincerely.

“Oh good, you're here!” Ino nearly yelled while slamming the doors of the restaurant open, “everyone is already inside, let’s go!” She grabbed Sakura and Naruto’s wrists, bodily dragging them through the restaurant and into the private room she had booked for their group.

“Sakura! Naruto!” Kiba called as they were shoved into their seats by Ino, clearly the drinks were already flowing with the way Kiba was swaying slightly, “glad you could finally join us!” Kiba gave Naruto a once over; she was dressed in a casual pair of black tights with an orange and black loose fitting qipao dress on top—similar in style to the dresses Sakura used to year as a genin—with her regular, black calf length sandals, her low back pigtails, and her headband on top of her head again, “you look hot” Kiba wolf whistled.

“Keep it in your pants, mutt!” Naruto stuck her tongue out at him, “I’m out of your league”.

“You’re mean when you’re a girl” Kiba barked back, laughing uproariously.

“Hello, dickless” Sai said with faux pleasantry, “although, I suppose that’s actually true now, but I would guess you don’t notice much of a difference”.

“Can it, Sai!” Naruto growled back.

“Aren’t you dating Hinata?” Sakura asked sarcastically, raising a single eyebrow at Kiba as she poured herself a small glass of saké.

Kiba scoffed, looping his arm around Hinata's shoulders while ignoring a pointed glare from Neji as he did so, “I said she was hot, from one bro to another. A mans gotta support his friend when she decides to live her life as a woman. But she’s got nothing on my Hinata”

There were tomatoes less red than Hinata's face, though she was attempting to hide it behind the fruity alcoholic beverage she had clasped tightly in her hands.

”it is wonderful to see you again, Naru-chan—“ “ahhh! Naru-chan” Kiba scream-laughed, nearly falling out of his seat and managing to elbow Naruto as he did it, “—and you as well Sakura, you look as stunning as usual” Lee greeted, heart eyes already locked onto Sakura.

There was a clear circle around Lee in which alcohol was not being passed. Most of them had learned their lessons about trying to get Lee drunk a long time ago.

Sakura blushed slightly, smiling demurely at Lee, “it’s nice to see you too, Lee”.

“Get a room!” Tenten called with cupped hands around her mouth, eliciting a few wolf whistles and cheers from some of the others in the room, and a weary eye roll from Neji.

She slapped him harshly on the back, “liven up a little, Neji. Here, have another drink” she said as she poured a hefty glass of alcohol into his empty cup.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” He asked, somehow sounding both teasing and bored at the same time.

“Mm, maybe” Tenten leered, leaning into Neji's personal space.

“That outfit suits you very well, Naruto-ku— I mean Naruto-chan,” Hinata said sweetly with a rosy smile.

“Thanks Hinata-chan!” Naruto smiled brightly back, flagging the waitress as she dropped off a few more bottles of booze at the table.

She was actually wearing the dress because it was more comfortable than her regular training clothes now. It put less pressure on her belly.

“Can I get some chicken curry skewers and some white rice. Uhhhh and can I also get a side of pickled veg, extra radish if possible. Uhm” she glanced at the menu in front of her seat, “actually, can I get two orders of pickled veg? And then lastly, an order of Takoyaki” Naruto decided, holding the menu out for someone else to take.

“You go ahead, Sakura. We all already ordered” Ino directed, sipping her own drink.

Sakura began speaking to the waitress as Kiba poked fun at Naruto from next to her.

“Dang, Naru-chan! You eating for two or something” he joked, causing a few people, as well as Naruto, to laugh—though the blonde was a bit more nervous with it.

“What a drag,” Shikamaru complained from where he was lying on the floor between Choji and Ino.

“Quit you‘re complaining, Shikamaru” Ino chastised, slapping the boy in the arm.

They chatted for a few minutes while they waited for their food to come out. Lee and Tenten let Naruto know how the mission went after she had returned to the Leaf. All women were rescued and returned to their homes and families. Ino was telling Sakura a story about a scene she had witnessed of Neji tripping on a rock and face planting in the middle of the street. He had adamantly refused the validity of such a claim, though most were inclined to believe the platinum blonde, if not just because they found it funny.

Choji was snaking on barbecue chips, apparently too impatient to wait for their food to arrive, as he chatted with Shikamaru about a new restaurant that would be opening in the village soon. Shino was drinking his drink silently, just sort of observing the environment around him.

“Anyways” Naruto continued her own story she was telling Lee and Kiba, “Yamato was so mad at me after I did that, that he actually refused to speak to me for a month. He literally left any room anytime I entered it while he was there, and I’m not just talking about running into him at the mission desk or something. I mean, he would just leave in the middle of a meeting with the Hokage without sparing Kakashi-sensei a second thought if I walked in” Naruto laughed delightedly, “it actually started to feel a bit like a superpower”.

“Yamato-sensei was quite upset with you at the time, yes” Sai added in the toneless way he typically spoke in.

“You're so mean to that poor man,” Kiba laughed with her, “what exactly did he do to deserve you sabotaging his home like that? I mean, I never would have thought about putting seals on someone else’s house to lock them out in the middle of a hurricane”.

Shikamaru sighed deeply from his position on the floor, “it took the fuinjutsu devision three weeks to break your seals“ the lazy man moaned, “they complained to me the whole time they were doing it”.

Naruto just continued to laugh, “honestly, it’s better that you don’t know what he did, I mean, even he admitted he got off pretty easy when he started talking to me again” Naruto whipped a single tear from her eye.

It was at this moment that the waitress returned with their orders, placing the plates around the table in front of everyone. Naruto eyed her curry chicken skewers with shining eyes.

The waitress reached past Naruto in order to hand Kiba his plate, and before Naruto could start shoveling the precious food into her mouth, she got a nose full of roasted bell pepper and promptly slapped a hand over her mouth. She looked at Sakura with urgency as she bolted from the table and stumbled out of the room as quick as possible

“Woah. What was that about?” Kiba wondered, shoving one of the accursed peppers into his mouth.

“Is Naruto-chan alright?” Hinata wondered, a worried hand covering her mouth.

“She really got out of here fast,” Ino remarked.

“Troublesome” Shikamaru muttered, rolling over onto his other side.

“I’m sure she’s fine” Sakura chuckled awkwardly, just in time for Naruto to enter back into the private room. She eyed Kiba’s plate with contempt as she scooted around the opposite side of the table, standing closer to Shikamaru and Ino than her own place.

“Jeez, Naruto. I was joking when I asked if you were eating for two, but are you really pregnant or something” Kiba joked through a disgusting mouthful of bell pepper.

Naruto gagged, turning her head away from the sight without saying anything.

Kiba watched as a slight flush crept up Naruto’s neck before settling pretty prominently across her face.

“No way,” he gaped, dropping his chopsticks.

“Are you pregnant?!” Ino screamed, probably startling the other patrons outside of their private room.

“Is that even possible?” Tenten wondered, joining Ino in blatantly staring wide eyed at Naruto’s stomach.

“Congratulations, Naruto,” Choji said happily, not waiting to start eating his food.

“You had sex?!” it was Kiba's turn to scream.

“I also find that hard to believe,” Sai added.

“Why is that the part that always surprises people?!” Naruto shouted in exasperation.

“I mean it’s a pretty shocking thing” Ino gasped, “oh my gods, who was it? Was it someone I know? Was it good” she asked the last part with a sensual leer, her eyebrows moving up and down comically.

“I- I’m not gonna tell you!” Naruto sputtered before slapping a hand over her mouth again, a green tinge rising on her face, “and Kiba, if you don’t get rid of those disgusting peppers I swear to Kami I will vomit all over both you and Akamaru” Naruto threatened.

Akamaru yelped in worry from between Kiba’s legs.

“O-on it!” Kiba said urgently, jumping up to his feet and slamming the window in the private room open before throwing his dish out into the street like a mad man.

“I mean, not what I would have done, but it’s effective,” Ino said flippantly, gesturing to Naruto’s much clearer complexion, “so this is what you wanted to tell us?” Ino then asked with a bit of excitement, always eager to get her hands on some gossip.

“So wait, you actually are pregnant?” Naruto was surprised to hear it was Neji who asked it.

“Uh, sure am,” Naruto confirmed, her hand coming up to rest instinctively over her stomach.

“Bakugan” Hinata and Neji said at the same time.

“Oh my!” Hinata gasped after a moment, her hand smacking down onto the table as she leaned closer towards Naruto, though not by much.

“You really are pregnant” Neji said, sounding particularly bewildered, “how is that even possible?”.

“And with twins!” Hinata choked, sounding far louder and more excited than any of them were used to hearing her sound.

“What?!” Naruto and Sakura shouted at the same time, Sakura slamming out of her seat.

“You didn’t know?” Ino gawked at the duo.

“She hasn’t had an ultrasound yet” Sakura explained in shock.

“You have two distinct chakra networks forming within you” Neji answered the non existent question.

“These are separate from both your own and the Nine-tailed Fox’s” Hinata finished for her cousin.

“A litter!” Kiba shouted excitedly.

Sakura choked on her own spit as she tried not to laugh at how accurate that comment truly was. Naruto had seemingly just gone catatonic.

She collapsed onto the floor next to Shikamaru.

“I’m having twins. I’m having two baby’s. I’m- that’s- I can’t- I need to-“ Naruto gasped.

“Oh no” Ino said in a hurry, “I think we’ve broken Naruto”.

“Naruto, calm down” everyone was surprised to hear Shikamaru say as he sat up from his lounging position; he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “you're okay. Everything’s okay. So you're having twins. That just means you’ll get twice the amount of family”.

Leave it to Shikamaru to know exactly what to say, Sakura thought with an impressed smile.

“He’s right, Naruto. This is a good thing” Sakura added.

“An exciting thing,” Ino tacked on.

“I’m gonna have two babies!” Naruto began blubbering, tears flowing freely down her face.

“And those would be the hormones,” Sakura sighed.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed!

Leave a comment if you enjoyed and let me know what you thought of the reveal!

I only have another chapter and a half written after this, so updates might slow down a bit.

Notes:

I hope you enjoy! This fic was jumping around in my head for a hot minute.

Please comments if you want to be the wind in my wings; the blue Jolly Rancher in the multi-pack; the lucky penny I found on the side of the road. I thrive on audience interaction.