❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 15: 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒂

Naruto and his group were huddled inside a small cave hidden among a cluster of rocks. They were forced to seek shelter after a group of ROOT agents had found them. It made Naruto feel sick to his stomach when he had removed the souls of his fellow comrades from Konoha but the intel he gained was priceless. It seemed as though Donzo had found out because the countryside was now crawling with Sound shinobi and ROOT agents. After a few encounters with Sound shinobi Naruto decided to lay low until the main group had moved on. Almost everyone was asleep except for Naruto who stood watch over the rest of the group. The smell of burning trees floated on the air as the enemy shinobi attempted to burn part of the forest with the hope of smoking them out. All they were succeeding in doing was pissing Naruto off as the forest he'd known for his entire life was being destroyed.

"Naruto!" He turned towards the sound of the panicked voice and seen Sakura retreating further into the cave. He created a Kage Bunshin to keep watch and followed the path Sakura took down the winding tunnels. The sound of rushing water greeted his ears and he soon found Sakura bent over the water, emptying her supper into the swift waters. He took up his usual position of holding her hair and messaging her back. After a few moments Sakura lifted her head to address Naruto.

"I'm so sorry Naruto..." She refused to look at him and her now free hair blocked her face from view.

"About what Sakura-chan? You have nothing to be sorry about." He continued the soothing action on her back while using his other hand to gently lift her face so he could look at her eyes. He felt the pain in his chest when he seen the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm not sure how bad this flu is going to get so we need to hurry. I can only do so much with Medical Ninjutsu." She felt him pull her in and gently kiss her forehead.

"We'll set out in a couple of hours. I just have a few things to take care of. Until then please go back to sleep." He helped her stand and she nodded before following him back to the others and falling asleep. He sighed and turned towards the clone.

"Are you ready?" The clone nodded and they both set out with one goal on their minds: clear a path.

The 67th body dropped with a quite thud before Naruto used a jutsu to hide the body. The ground rose up and encased the body before the bulge sunk back down until it was like nothing ever happened. He glanced at the moon and estimated that it was about 3 AM. He dispelled his clone and silently made his way back to the camp. When he returned he noticed Sakura was awake but it seemed like her mind had checked out. She sat staring at a wall with a worried look on her face while biting her lower lip like she was deep in thought. He cleared his throat and she shook her head slightly before looking at him. For a brief moment Naruto thought he seen panic in her eyes but it vanished quite quickly.

"Are you ok Sakura-chan?" He noticed the change in her demeanour, like she had put on a mask.

"You baka! I was so worried about you!" She left out some key points of what else she was worried about too. That could wait until Suna. He shut up so he could avoid being in trouble and instead began to wake up the group. As he stirred them from their slumber he directed each of them to get ready to leave. It took only a few minutes before they were ready to depart.

"Ok everyone, our goal is to reach Suna today! Anyone falling behind will receive a 10 minute ride on a clone. Besides that there will be no breaks. Lets get going!"

5:00 PM rolled around and Naruto found himself and his team in his friend's office. The Kazekage and the Hokage had both greeted him warmly and he had given his report of their encounters. Now he was waiting for the location of his lodgings and any other information he may need.

"Well Naruto I was able to pull a few strings and reserve the last few rooms on the top floor of the hotel you requested. Just go to the desk and tell them your name. It's good to see you still alive my friend." Gaara gave Naruto a rare smile and dismissed the them but Naruto and Sakura both remained to ask one last question.

"Hey Baa-chan were going to need your help. Sakura has been sick recently and we have no idea what's going on. I'm bringing her to the hospital but I would feel a lot better if you helped us out." Naruto ignored the glare Sakura gave him when he basically announced that he made the decision without her consent.

"Gaki if you keep calling me that I'm going to bury under this god damn desert! I'll meet you there." Tsunade vanished in a cloud of smoke which threw the two young Jounin off. Tsunade almost never did that. They quickly did the same. After several minutes they found themselves in a room with Tsunade doing a diagnostic scan of Sakura's body.

"So Naruto what happened in Wave country? Why was the mission a failure?" Tsunade glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Sasuke." He clenched his hand briefly before it relaxed again. He was obviously beating himself up for what happened to the people in the caravan. So many lives senselessly ended in a massive slaughter.

"Oh I under-" Tsunade's eyes widened and she double checked the area one more time. Her gaze became steely and settled on Naruto. "When was the last time you had sex? Either of you?" Both Naruto and Sakura blushed at such a personal question. They answered anyways because they knew that with Tsunade there really was no other choice.

"Um...uh...a-about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Why?" They exact same answer came from both.

"And who was it with." The blush stained their whole faces now. Naruto prepared to answer by moving next to the door.

"W-with...Sakura..." His hold on the doorknob tightend in preparation to flee.

"That's what I thought..." She removed her hands from Sakura's form before continuing. "Well it seems you didn't use protection either. Don't even try to argue Naruto. I guess I should get on with it." She smiled the couple as Naruto went to stand beside Sakura. "Well Sakura you aren't sick. No instead you're pregnant."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, Tsunade's words still not registering yet. "Well I'm so glad that you aren't- wait what?!" His eyes were wide as he stared at Tsunade.

"How else do you want me to say it? You knocked her up. She's got a bun in the oven. You're going to be a father!" Tsunade emphasized the last one by smacking Naruto on the head.

"Owww what was that for?!" He rubbed the sore spot gently and glared at the Hokage.

"That was for getting my best student pregnant!" She then pulled the boy into a hug. "And this is for finally realizing your dream of having a child with Sakura. Congratulations you two." She pulled away and left the room to fill out the necessary paperwork so she could give them both some time. Sakura had expected to hear that since the cave and was now apprehensive about how Naruto would take it.

"I'm going to be a father..." His tone was that of someone far away. Sakura felt almost crushed at the tone but tried to cover her feelings with a poor attempt at humour.

"Surprise." Her voice was weak yet Naruto turned his head towards it. They stared at eachother for several seconds before the blonde began to smile.

"I'm going to be a father." The voice sounded much warmer now and Sakura smiled.

"I'm going to be a father and Sakura-chan is the mother!" He felt several tears of happiness stream down his face and he pulled Sakura into a loving, yet excited, embrace. "I'm going to be a father." He said it like it was a fact that everyone would be wise to remember. He laid a loving hand on Sakura's stomach and pulled his gaze down to where his hand was.

"I promise that I'll be the best father ever! I will be here for you to give you everything I never had. I will always be here for you. I swear on my vow to become Hokage that I will always, ALWAYS be there for you! Even if that means giving up on becoming the Hokage dattebayo!" His verbal quirk somehow emphasized his seriousness and his dedication to their unborn child made Sakura begin to cry.

"I love you so much Naruto-kun."

"And I love you too Sakura-chan." He patted her stomach lightly. "And I love you too little one."