Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dreams of the Heart ❯ The truth and Secrets ( Chapter 4 )

It was still early morning when Naruto began to make his way to the Hokage tower; he left the warm house and entered the fresh, cold morning air. As the years past people came to slowly see Naruto in a different light, after repeatedly seeing him defend a village that once threw words and stares as hard as rocks, they realized that he wasn't the same menace that was inside of him, that he was just a happy go-lucky boy and not the Nine-Tailed Fox. Once on some occasions vengeful Sasuke fangirls had taken their revenge on the blonde, sometimes leaving him in the gutter bleeding just as the sky would begin to cry. Cheerful hellos came from all directions, whether they were genuine or not the blonde accepted them and return equally happy hellos. The blonde briskly walked through the village trying to get to the Hokage tower, trying to get to the warmth of the inside of a building.

The blonde swiftly turned a corner, beginning to speed up `Gotta hurry. I need to get this resolved, I need to know before Sasuke realizes something's wrong.' Suddenly the blonde collapsed onto a wall, his arm smashing into the hard stone, `I…I…feel nauseous. What am I saying? Geez…' the blonde slowly brought a hand up to his head, knocking it lightly for his sudden stupid thought. Clutching his stomach he slowly left the safety of the wall he had been leaning against, once again making his way to the Hokage tower, it was only a short while away now. Naruto turned a corner, and there before him was a large cleared area with only a few tall trees surrounding the Hokage Tower. He slowly gulped down a knot in his throat; he was expecting the worst when it came to old hag Tsunade, but today…a major feeling of dread was welling up inside of him, it was the feeling that he could only describe as `It's like… I've just lost my dignity as a man' the words of the fox seemed to be sinking in much fast than they had only a few hours ago.

The blonde entered the Hokage tower; it was warm inside, the warmth embracing him in as he entered. Walking gradually over to the stair case that lead to the Fifth Hokage's office, he placed one foot onto the stone stair, glancing down at his sandaled foot, he was stalling. Determination filled Naruto's face, `I'm gonna see this through. Believe it!' the blonde beginning to run up the stairs as fast as he could, upon reaching the top, rushing over to the office door and smashing it open,

 

“Old hag, your one special old lady because I've come to you for help!” Naruto gave off a big grin

 

“What makes you think that I'm going to help you brat? I'm extremely busy, I'm sure it's nothing too big, go bother your old teachers Kakashi and Iruka” Tsunade lazily replied.

 

“But…they aren't medical ninja. I need you to do a check up on me. I'm…worried that there might be something wrong with me, that the demon fox might be trying to escape” Naruto had just lied through his teeth, but it was an emergency, he wasn't about to have Tsunade brush him off so easily.

“What did you say? Okay okay sit down on the chair and take your shirt off” Tsunade finished looking over at the blonde in her door way.

 

“Eh? D-Do I have to take off my shirt? I never thought that the old hag would be a pervert” Naruto blushed furiously just as he sat down, clutching his shirt, refusing to take it off.

 

“Boy you want this check-up or not? If so take your shirt off you damn brat” Tsunade sneered, carefully watching as the blonde slowly removed his shirt, her eyes widening in fear as her eyes came into contact with the large glowing seal on Naruto's stomach.

`Damn we don't need anymore problems in this village…we have enough as it is' Tsunade's thoughts went into a spiral of pondering, only to be brought back to reality by a blushing Naruto,

 

“Old hag get on with it! I'm getting cold.”

 

Tsunade smiled softly at the blonde, she began to pool her chakra into her hands, concentrating hard to make sure that her chakra control didn't waver halfway through the exanimation. She placed a hand on Naruto's chest, the blonde flinching from how cold her hands were, Tsunade began to gradually shift her hand down Naruto's chest, using her chakra to fully examine the blonde's internal organs, making sure nothing was out of check, that everything was in its place. Suddenly as she reached Naruto's abdomen she was confronted by a large amount of chakra, blocking her from pressing onwards in her search, making her frustrated `Damn it. This chakra is hiding something, perhaps if I press on it more with my own I can break through' and just as her thought came into action she slowly put pressure onto the chakra that was blocking her way, breaking through it enough to find out what it was concealing, shock crept across her face, she quickly withdrew her hand from Naruto's stomach. Tsunade leisurely walked over to the window behind her desk, staring out at the beautiful scenery before her, meanwhile behind her Naruto hastily put his shirt back on, his cheeks still pink from the embarrassment of the examination, once finished his bright blue eyes travelled over to where Tsunade stood near the window, she hadn't of said anything but he could already tell that something was wrong.

 

“Oi! Old hag you done with me yet?” the blonde trying to lighten the mood.

 

“Naruto this is no time for your silly nonsense. This is going to probably sound extremely impossible and not comprehendible but…during the inspection I found something that was a little amiss. It seems that…oh dear I don't know how to say this but somehow you've got a half complete female reproductive system inside of you. I don't know how this came about but that's not the only problem.

It also seems to be…that you're pregnant”

 

Naruto's eyes opened in shock, the fox demon had been right, meaning it was all her fault! The blonde quickly averted his gaze from the fifth Hokage, shame was riddled on his face.

Tsunade smirked,

 

“So who knocked you up?”

 

Naruto looked at Tsunade rage filling his face.

 

“Who do you think old hag? It was Sasuke…Sasuke that bastard! I felt sorry for him and look what's happened! I'm a bloody freak thanks to him and that damn fox!”

 

Tsunade smiled, she couldn't help but laugh,

 

“Okay calm down. Now you might want to tell me what happened so that I can help. After all this isn't something that happens everyday” she finished with a sweet smile. The blonde couldn't help but feel like he had just become her guinea-pig, with a deep sigh he slowly began to tell her what had happened, leaving out some of the “non-important” details,

 

“Well…about a week ago, I found out who Sasuke had been sightly mad at me and had been so…edgy. He came home from a mission and out of…longing we um…made love” the blonde blushed, it was so weird telling Tsunade about this kind of stuff, especially since she was 50 years old.

 

“I'm sure that isn't the end, continue brat”

 

“Don't call me brat old hag! Anyways just for fun I used my sexy no jutsu while we were…ah…making love, I didn't think anything would happen but…the next morning when I tried to release the jutsu, it took me an entire day to fully release the jutsu. At least that's what I thought.

Then about a week later the Kyuubi starts giving me a history lesson on female foxes, saying how every one hundred and fifty years the female foxes come into season and can conceive a child, I found it stupid that it was telling me this, until it told me IT was actually a she. Of course I completely spazzed out, I really couldn't believe that the Kyuubi was a she, then it decided to tell me that with it's and Sasuke's help, it helped get me pregnant! I didn't believe it at all, so she told me to come and see you. So here I am, I feel nauseous and you just confirmed that I'm now officially a freak of nature.”

 

 

Tsunade looked at the blonde, `She had such a serious face' thought Naruto.

 

“You didn't need to make a speech. Anyways, this information is very useful but…As useful as it is, I can't reverse what has happened with an abortion, you see I had enough trouble just being able to see what the large amount of chakra was protecting, I'd never guess it was this but…It means that if I had so much trouble just being able to see what was going on, it means I won't be able to remove the child. Which means…you've gotta see this through to the end Naruto. I'm sorry, I'll try and help you as best I can but right now, the best thing is to tell Sasuke, he deserves to know the truth. Also from here on, all your missions will be suspended until your fit to continue them” Tsunade finished on a never serious note. Naruto looked down onto the wooden floor, he knew he had to tell Sasuke but he was afraid. When Sasuke found out that Naruto had the nine-tail inside him, it took him awhile to adjust to that and during that adjustment Sasuke had avoided Naruto completely by taking extra missions so that the Uchiha didn't have to confront the blonde. But now…how would he react to this?

 

The blonde stood up out of the chair, his feet being dragged along the wooden floor as he made his way to the door. He was out in a flash, as he walked down the hall to the stairs his shoulder clashed with another, he glanced over mouthing a sorry, the person he had bumped into was Sakura. She looked at Naruto with concern as he continued to walk, making his way to the stairs. Tsunade looked at the now closed door with worry written all over her face.

 

“Naruto…” she whispered

 

Naruto left the Hokage tower, his feel still being dragged along the dusty footpath, his brain taking over, blinding his heart, `Sasuke…Sasuke…I don't think I can tell him. I just can't! He'll…he'll think I'm a freak, I don't want him to judge me, damn fox, why did she do something like this! I can't face him, I just can't!'

Just as Naruto began to run to the forest outside of the village, dark clouds began to line the sky, thunder growling like a large beast, it then slowly began to rain.

Naruto continued to run, his hair, clothes and faces becoming damp from the rain, staring up at the gloomy clouds he thought `Are you crying too?' tears glided down from his eyes, mixing with the cold rain.

He ran as fast as he could, hoping if he ran far enough the memory of everyone back in Konoha would fade and cease to exist. The rain was beating hard again his body, the heavens tears a sign that even it didn't want Naruto to leave all his friends behind, to leave his lover behind, but the blonde continued to run, until he was surrounded by a variety of trees, till even his skin was wet from the rain.

The blonde glanced around, searching for somewhere he could curl up, try to keep warm and think everything over. Upon gazing at a large tree, he found a reasonably big hollow nook, the blonde managed to pool some of his chakra into his feet, concentrating as well as he could. He slowly began to climb the tree with just his feet, making his way up the tall large trunk of the tree, until he made it to the nook, upon looking inside the tree; Naruto only assumed that during the spring this had once been the home to a family of birds.

 

“A family…” the blonde whispered. He placed his drenched body inside the hollow nook, his face, arms and legs, facing outwards into the vast trees before him. The wooden nook was warm, shielding the blonde from the rain and cold wind.

`I don't want to…see his face. I can't tell him. What would he think of me? This wasn't suppose to happen, things weren't suppose to turn out this way! Trust me to screw up the best thing that has ever happened to me…Sasuke. I'm a freak…that damn fox made me into more of a freak!' as the thought entered his mind a single tear slid down from his bright blue eyes and down his whiskered cheek. The blonde couldn't tell how long he sat their in the nook, with his legs drawn lost to his chest, the thought that in a few months time getting into this position would be almost impossible.

“I really don't know what to do…” Naruto said to himself, wishing that a solution would arise.

Kakashi watched the blonde from a tree near by, `That boy, he's always forgetting something.'

With lightning speed Kakashi appeared in front of Naruto, his one eye looking the blonde over.

 

“Naruto what are you doing out here? Everyone is waiting for you, did you forget that we were going for ramen to celebrate you becoming a shinobi and Ino getting pregnant.”

 

The blonde looked his old teacher straight in the eye; he had forgotten about this get-together and was wishing he didn't have to go. He recoiled his gaze from Kakashi's, realizing that Sasuke would be there, how long had he been sitting here?

 

“Kakashi…I don't want to go. Please just leave me here”

 

“Naruto, it's raining, you're soaking wet and I'm sure you haven't eaten anything all day. Be a good boy and come back with me; to your friends that are waiting”

 

Naruto slowly tried to push himself back inside the tree's trunk, trying to escape from the person before him. Upon realizing this Kakashi quickly grabbed the blonde's wrist, holding it tight he drew the blonde from the tree, Naruto tried without any success to release himself from Kakashi's grip, soon giving into the fact that he wasn't going to fight again someone that had good intentions.

 

“Let's go back Naruto. You can have as much ramen as you want” as Kakashi said this, a smile just visible underneath his black mask, Naruto's eyes softening, as much as he didn't want to return to the village, it seemed like he had no choice.

Kakashi let go of the blonde's wrist with a nod, they both began to run along the tree tops making their way back home, back to Konoha.

Ten minutes later they both arrived at Ichiraku Ramen Ichiraku. Over the span of four years the ramen shop had expanded, taking over the shop that had been next to it, by knocking down the wall that separated the two shops, they were able to make enough room to place numerous wooden tables and chairs.

This was like Naruto's second home, he had many fond memories that had been made here with his friends, and once again a new one was about to be made.

Naruto entered the ramen shop first, his eyes falling upon Sasuke, they began to widen in utter shock, before him, was Sasuke with a large chidori blazing in his right hand, his hand in the direction of a tall man with long black hair, his features very similar to Sasuke's, `Itachi!' the blonde thought `What is he doing here? Why is he here?' without any hesitation Sakura stood in-between the two brothers, all their friends looked on in shock, each that had a partner going close to them, in case they had to protect one another.

 

“Please stop, today we are here to celebrate with each other not to cause trouble” Sakura said, heaving a sigh as she looked at both of the two Uchiha brothers,

 

“Why is he here Sakura?! He has no right to be here! You bastard…you should just leave!” Sasuke's voice was full of rage, his face changing from one without emotion to one contorted with anger the chidori sending small bolts of lightning into every direction,

 

“He…has a right to be here…because…I invited him. I didn't want everyone to find out this way, but I guess there isn't any helping it. Everyone this is my husband. Sasuke Uchiha's older brother Itachi Uchiha.”

 

The chidori in Sasuke's hand dissipated, his eyes widening in shock, he dashed to Sakura, grabbing her by her shirt, pulling her up into the air,

 

“WHY?!? WHY HIM?!? Do you know what type of person he is or have you forgotten! This is the person that killed his entire clan and tried to take Naruto away from us all, and you're here saying you love him, that you married him! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!” the rage kept pouring out of Sasuke, it was like running water from a tap that just had its handle broken.

Itachi strode leisurely over to where his wife and brother were,

 

“Little brother let go of my wife. Just because you don't understand the reason doesn't mean you can hurt her”

 

Sasuke looked over to his older brother, pure despise was written all over his face as Itachi spoke,

 

“If you try to do this again to her…” Itachi bent down his lips close to his little brother's ear,

 

“…I'll kill you” the older Uchiha moving into a straight position, his arms folded over his chest.

 

Sasuke's onyx eyes opened in horror, as memories of his dead parents filled his mind and his brother's last words that fateful night `Run run, cling desperately to life, and live on in shame', those words immobilizing him just like it had the first time he heard them.

Sasuke's grip on Sakura loosened, her feet hitting the floor with a thud, she felt dizzy, her balance coming undone as her feet came off the ground, her shoulder threatening to smash into the wooden floor boards; just as her body was about to hit the floor, Itachi quickly scooped her into a tight embrace, holding her body close to his. Sakura looked up at the Uchiha, her eyes speaking the word thankyou, while she tried to convey that she was okay through her aqua eyes to those endless dark ones. Sakura pushed herself off her lover, brushing herself off, trying to fix her shirt. The first thing she saw was Naruto only a few feet away, staring in utter shock at the events that had just folded out before him, just behind the blonde, Kakashi had pulled out the latest book in the series Icha Icha series, its title `Icha Icha Beauty' his one eye skimming along as he read the text, paying no attention to the commotion that had taken place.

Sakura's face brightened up as she saw the pair, `Everyone is now here!' she thought as she bolted over to Naruto, bringing him into a tight hug, her embrace was so warm, so gentle, you would never have guessed that she was capable of super-human strength.

She smiled sweetly as she released the blonde from her grasp, the sweetness of her smile sinking into the words she said,

 

“Come on Naruto! We already got your favourite ramen bowl all ready for you” at this point, everyone had returned to the conversations they had been having before the uproar, Itachi had now returned to the long wooden table that had been rented for the party, he sat at the far end, while Sasuke sat on the other end, as far as possible from his older brother, a single space left right next to him for Naruto. The blonde would of gladly sat there if it had been any other day but after finding out the news that he was pregnant, it made him want to avoid being near the one that made it happen, the blonde shifted on the same spot, Kakashi by-passing him making his way to sit down at the table his book still in front of his face.

Sakura stared at Naruto, watching as he toggled on the spot, his blonde bangs swaying softly. Sakura didn't know what the problem was but one thing was defiantly clear; Naruto didn't want to sit down next to Sasuke. Feeling that she might regret her actions later, she pulled out Naruto's right arm, looping hers with his as she dragged him over to where she and Itachi sat; she plonked herself down onto the chair next to her husband, then watched as Naruto sat down silently, beginning to eat the ramen that was before him.

Sakura smiled once again, everyone seemed to be happy and the night was still young, she glanced the long wooden rectangle table over, Gaara and Lee were sitting next to get other across from Sakura, it seemed only fitting since the pair had been together for over two years now, Lee making as many trips as he could, backwards and forth from the village of Sand just to see Gaara, Sakura could only say `It's so cute. Those two, you would have never thought.' Next to Gaara was Ino and Neji, `Now that's a strange and long story. I would have never thought that Ino-pig would have fallen in love with Neji. It was a weird accident of love; it seems so strange that now they are gonna have a baby too. I wonder if it will have blank eyes like them.'

 

Sakura silently giggled at the thought of a little Neji or Ino. Beside Ino was Iruka, Sakura's old teacher when she first entered the academy, it brought back old memories, very old memories of her Sasuke fan-girling days. Next to Iruka was Kakashi still reading his book, Sakura had guessed that in the span of some years, Iruka and Kakashi had grown to like each other a lot, getting themselves involved in a relationship, it wasn't really known if it was true or not.

Sakura along with everyone else had seen Iruka and Kakashi too close together to think otherwise. At the other head of the table sat Hinata, over the years she had also developed into a young lady, growing her hair out long, it swayed beautifully as she spoke to Tenten that sat on the same side of the table as Sakura. Hinata was now dating Kiba, it had taken her a long time to get over Naruto after he got together with Sasuke, leaving her just as broken as Sakura had been over Sasuke. Due to Hinata being part of the head branch in her family, she was restricted from pursuing any man, her father had died only one year ago, making her the head of the family, putting a lot of un-needed stress and problems upon her shoulders, `She seems to be pulling through well though' Sakura said inside her head to inner Sakura, the reply only being `Yeahhhhhh! She's a fighter!' Sakura giggled once again, inner Sakura still had a mind of her own even…after the jutsu accident.

On Tenten's right side were Kiba and Shino, with Sasuke smack bang in the middle of them and Chouji and Shikamaru next to him, all of them talking happily together, next to them was Gaara's two non-related siblings Temari and Kankurou. Temari had also grown into a fine woman, she now kept her long hair in two loose pony tails that hung half way from the back of her head, Kankurou was still the same as before, the only difference was he had become extremely tall in the span of four years. She ran a glance down the table again, the over all difference in everyone was not only were they all stronger but were all elite ninja almost all having the highest rank of ninja possible that wasn't Hokage, some of her friends were even ANBU ninjas.

 

Sakura dragged her body upwards, lifting herself off the chair; she grabbed her glass, taping a chopstick against it, the noise didn't die down, she began to beat the chopstick faster and harder against her glass, trying to get everyone's attention for a toast, finally her patience broke and she tapped the glass so hard and fast with the wooden chopstick that the glass smashed right in her hand. Sakura had finally got everyone's attention; they all looked at her as they saw the broken glass in her hand, the owner of the ramen store crying softly from the counter for his broken glass,

 

“Ah…whoops” Sakura smiled awkwardly

 

“Well I got all of your attention didn't I? Now for a toast, to Ino-pig who finally got herself married and pregnant, and to our beloved Naruto who passed his Jounin shinobi exams! You took your sweet time Naruto. Okay everyone toast to Ino and Naruto!” everyone slightly chinked their glasses against another, at the end each taking a sip of the beverage inside. Everyone then continued with their talking and eating of ramen, Sakura looked over to Naruto; she found that he had almost finished his bowl of ramen, his face cherry red from Sakura's toast; she then placed her eyes onto Itachi, his glass still placed in his hand in front of his face, her eyes saddened, it seemed that no one had chinked their glass against Itachi's. Sakura scooped up a second glass in her hand and hit it softly against Itachi's, she looked over to her slightly surprised, only to have a gentle smile form onto Sakura's face, as she moved her lips close to his ear whispering,

 

“No one deserves to be left out. Not on an event like this…” she backed away once she had finished those words, she smiled again, then turned to Naruto and tried to engage him in some sort of conversation, the air surrounding Itachi seemed to have just gotten lighter with that one act.

 

Meanwhile on the other end of the table between Kiba and Shino sat an extremely grumpy Uchiha, he had been completely abandoned by his lover at the time when he needed him the most. He shot angry glares at his older brother while he ate his second bowl of ramen, `That bastard! I can't believe he seduced Sakura. Of all people my best friend! He's lying, everyone is lying, that bastard he hasn't changed at all I just know it! If anything, Sakura better be careful if he hasn't changed, not only that…Naruto and I should be careful also. Speaking of which why is MY lover, MY Naruto sitting next to Sakura? He hasn't said one word to me, not even a glance, it's like he is avoiding me on purpose!' Sasuke couldn't help but get carried away with his thought's, he didn't understand anything, didn't understand why Sakura was with his evil brother and why Naruto wouldn't come near him.

As the night passed and the celebration slowly came to an end, the blonde had only gone through two bowls of ramen, the lowest he had ever had, the blonde looked at the wooden table trying not to make eye contact with Sasuke, he had talked a bit with Sakura and surprisingly enough with Itachi, but had remained pretty much silent the entire party, he only answer a few peoples questions when they came over to talk to him and the others on his end of the table. It was getting late and the blonde could tell that the party would end soon, seeing as a few of his friends had become drunk from sake.

Naruto swiftly stood up, giving a jolt to Sakura, before anyone could really say anything the blonde spoke,

“Hey hey guys I'm gonna head home, its getting late and I'm beat, so please continue enjoying yourself and take care of Sasuke for me. Night all” he winked at everyone while doing a good-guy Lee pose, then began to walk across the ramen shop to the exit, the ones that were still fairly sober all yelled out in unison,

 

“Good Night Naruto!”

 

Sasuke stared in disbelief as the blonde exited the building, his face twisting into one of anger, `This proves it. He really is avoiding me, that damn dobe; he even left early so that he wouldn't have to walk home with me.'

 

Just as Naruto entered the street, the dark clouds from earlier on came rolling in, merging together to cover the dark velvet blue sky, blocking out the stars. The blonde stared up at the sky, `If I don't hurry home I'll get wet from the rain. I don't need a cold when I'm pregnant' he placed a single hand over his stomach and began to run at a fast pace back home.