Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Beautiful Occurrence ❯ I Want to Know, I Want to Learn - Pregnancy 101 ( Chapter 4 )

Edited by Obscure Omen (Thank you, thank you!!)

Disclaimer: Naruto is © to Kishimoto, a Japanese mangaka.

A SasuNaru story. A slow kind.

There are some warnings in this chapter: spoilers and spoilers!

Chapter 4: I Want to Know, I Want to Learn - Pregnancy 101!

Morning in Konoha was truly a sight to behold. As a village that was situated in a tropical country like Fire country, the weather was always warm and wet throughout the year. It was sunny year-round, which really helped the flowers and plants grow beautifully.

The flowers and plants were always at their best in the morning when they began to bloom as if they were starting to wake up—just like human beings. Even morning dew did nothing to hinder their beauty; in truth, it only helped them look more gorgeous by making them sparkle. If only Konoha was not a hidden village—then she surely could attract more visitors and probably bring in a major income for the village, too.

However, the boy in the bed of one small apartment in this particular village failed to appreciate the beauty today's morning. It wasn't because he didn't appreciate it at all. In fact, he usually felt quite thankful for being able to wake up to a new day and enjoy the lovely scenery—it was a great achievement for fellow shinobi to do that, seeing that their line of work could easily get them killed. Furthermore, he was a nature-lover at heart, which was proved by the many pots of flowers lining his windowsill.

The boy—namely called Naruto—loved to grow plants, nourishing them, watching them grow and bloom. For him—apart from ramen—plants, trees, flowers, forests, wild fruits, and everything with leaves, sticks, twigs, and spores made him happy. Partly because those things were not just “things”—they were his friends: he talked to them, confessed to them, and sometimes even cried to them, too. He grew up alone, and the plants were the only things that had always been there for him.

Another reason might be because the Kyuubi. Everybody knew that the Demon Fox was a wild animal of nature and his habitat used to be the forest before it was caught by human and manipulated. So it was natural for it to want to be near the forest. Indeed, when Naruto was small—before he went to Konoha Academy—and Kyuubi had had a little control over Naruto's young mind, he always wandered, under the Kyuubi's influence, around the forest surrounding the Konoha village.

At that time, Naruto was probably more familiar with the forest than anybody else—he knew what could be eaten and what was dangerous and learned how to survived by instinct. Luckily for the boy, that was one of the few things that let him survive his childhood without somebody watching over his well-being.

 

Yet, today those feeling were totally lost on Naruto. Although he was lying on his bed, seemingly asleep, in actuality, he had already been awake for awhile now—he normally woke up at this time of day to train anyway. He just didn't want to wake up. Period.

Because today, for obvious reasons, he was not feeling very grateful to be awake.

Today, he just wanted to play dead and bury himself in his blankets. If it was possible, he never wanted to wake up again.

For today was a dreadful day during which he had to do a dreadful thing that made him dreadfully low in spirit.

And stay in bed he did, because two hours later, he was still in bed, moping. The only difference now was that the day was getting brighter, and he felt a tad bit nauseous. He had been like this for a few days now and was already familiar with the pattern. Almost every morning after his breakfast, he would feel queasy and end up throwing up his breakfast. For Naruto, that was just a waste of his precious ramen and thought nothing more of it. It never crossed his mind that it might have something to do with his pregnancy.

Well, it was not his fault for being so clueless. For a shinobi like him who had just been discharged from the hospital, being nauseous for a day or two was a common condition. The chakra transfers, medicines used, and loss of blood during treatments could do that to people. That was why Naruto really didn't have any concern for the matter. And nobody could blame him for not realizing that the nausea attack had been going on longer than normal, either. He had too much on his mind these last few days to notice this abnormality. Then again, he didn't even realize the other, more obvious abnormalities: He ate a lot more, became tired easily, and had those anger attacks.

Understandably, he might not realize he ate a lot than usual just because he ate a lot normally. Though he did notice that he was easily tired, he was not complaining about it and easily put the blame on his distressed state. On the other hand, he was kinda grateful for being tired. Tiredness was a welcome state for getting a good night's sleep, which was what he needed to stop thinking for a while. However, he was somewhat aware of his anger outbursts that seemed to happen for no reason whatsoever, especially the incident with Kiba at Ichiraku's. Still, that mutt-face deserved it. Oh yes, he deserved it, and somehow that made the eruptions of anger worthwhile.

Another bout of nausea hit him. He knew he needed to get out of bed, run like hell to the toilet in ten seconds flat or risk throwing up in his bed, which was not a real option.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6...

Uwekkk. That was the disgusting sound of Naruto throwing up in the sink. He looked at the contents of the sink—a clear, liquid substance—and turned on the tap to let the water wash it all away. Scooping some water into his hands, he splashed it on his face. The cold water managed to make him feel more awake.

Che, so much for staying in bed forever. I hadn't even had my breakfast this time.

Naruto unknowingly cracked a little smile. He was a bit glad that he had to dash to the toilet, because only God knew how long he was going to mope around if he wasn't forced out of bed. Now that he finally awake, Naruto felt that finishing his daily routine was the right thing to do: shower, breakfast, watering plants, and some light exercises.

After finished grooming himself, Naruto didn't know what else to do. Yes, he knew he had to do what he promised he would do last night, but goddamnit, he didn't know where to start. Honestly, nobody expected a young boy like Naruto to know anything about abortion.

Do I have to stab my stomach with kunai?

Or—or do I have to drink poison?

And the most important question was:

Is it gonna hurt?

Naruto sighed. Making the hard decision was bad enough. Now that he had the solution, he had no idea what to do about it.

Maybe I should start with the drug store.

Which sounded like a brilliant plan—surprising, since Naruto rarely came up with brilliant plans like that. This showed exactly how distressed and desperate he was; only desperate people could produce extraordinary ideas (sometimes), or, in Naruto's case, a brilliant plan.

Making up his mind with that, he began to make his way to the nearest drug store, albeit very slowly. If he absolutely had to do this thing which he truly detested, he might as well take his own sweet time. No need to rush for evil things.

Naruto sighed again and suddenly laughed. Laughed? That did not sound right.

Eh, what is tickling me?

He laughed again, this time quite loudly, making passerby look at him strangely.

“What—hahaha—the hell? Hahahahha…” Naruto tried to be angry despite his laughing and searched fervently under his shirt for the source of the tickling.

Ah ha. Found it!

It was one of Tsunade's slugs! Or maybe it was someone else's; he couldn't really tell. The thing might just be a random caterpillar or—or a worm. Eww. Heck, he didn't know. Who could tell the difference anyway? He sure couldn't!

With a manly cry of “Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”, he threw the slug lookalike to the ground, feeling slightly disgusted at the idea of it really being a worm. Crouching down to the thing, he took a closer look. To his relief, it was a slug, and, judging by the colour and the way that thing seemed to glare at him, he knew it must be one of Tsunade's.

He picked the slug back up and put it on his palm, considering for a minute whether he should talk to this slug in the middle of a busy street.

To hell with everything! Baa-chan must have something important if she had to use this thing to get me.

“So, what are you doing in my shirt, huh? Don't tell me it was something perverted!”

“Stupid. Boy.” The slug slurred through each word with a high-pitched voice.

“Hey, you really can talk!”

Ignoring Naruto's stupid exclamation, the slug continued, “Hokage. Meet. Now.”

“Really? Now? Oh, man! Sorry, but I have somewhere to go now.” Naruto started to move to his original destination when he heard a loud, high-pitched voice from his palm.

“Hokage. Meet. Now!”

“Look, I'll go there after I'm finished with my thing, okay?”

“Hokage. Meet. Now!!” The slug was screeching now.

“Okay, okay, I'll go. Stop screeching; my ears hurt.”

They both “poofed” to the Hokage tower.

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Upon reaching the Hokage tower, Naruto was shocked to see Kakashi-sensei and Sakura already there. He almost didn't notice Tsunade sitting behind her desk, working on some paperwork and progressed to greet both of his teammates loudly.

“Sakura-chan!! Kakashi-sensei!! What are you guys doing here? Are you okay already? When were you discharged? Why didn't I know about this? Eh, where is Sai?” Naruto questioned, all the while trying to hug Sakura only to be pushed away by her violently. Disappointed, he turned to Kakashi-sensei to do that in return and received a fatherly hug from the man.

“Sai has something to do right now. And if you try that again, I'll crack your skull. Got it?” Sakura answered at the same time, threatening him if ever dared to try that kind of act again.

“Hahaha… Sorry, Sakura-chan. I was, er… excited. You might not believe me, but I missed you guys.” Naruto grinned stupidly, but everybody could see that he was genuine about it. What he didn't know was that the others probably felt the same. They were just thankful that they got out from the encounter with Itachi alive.

“Hmm hmm.” Tsunade cleared her throat, catching the others' attention.

“Eh…Baa-chan, you are here. Ahaha, I didn't notice you for a second there.” The blonde replied while scratching the back of his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed about not noticing the Hokage in his excitement.

“Well, if you came here properly and knocked the door, you probably would have.” Tsunade straightened her back, trying to look intimidating in front of the rude boy.

“Yeah, whatever, old hag. Why did you call me here? And what the hell was with the slug?! Her voice is just plain irritating.”

Tsunade glared at Naruto. This boy was always trying her patience, but she needed to be calm. It would not do to lose her cool in front her subordinates.

“Well, I have a mission for you all. As for the slug, I don't have any available assistant right now. We are all up to our necks in work from the Chunin exam.”

There was three seconds of silence before Naruto shouted, “What mission? Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei just recovered. We can't be on a mission right now. And—and, like you said, we need people for the exam.”

All the people in the room looked at him strangely. Naruto was the last person they would expect to reject a potential mission

“Are you rejecting a mission?”

“Huh? No, I just…. No, never mind. Just tell me what the mission is.”

With a defeated sigh, Naruto plopped himself onto a nearby couch, readying himself for the mission briefing. It looked like he had no choice but to take the job, which meant that he had to wait for another day to pay a visit to a drug store. Moreover, Kakashi-sensei and Sakura had just recovered from their injuries, which made Naruto a little wary at the prospect of accepting the mission.

“Well, the mission is for you three is to go to the Field village in Grass country and catch that thieves that have been bothering the villagers there.”

“What the...”

“Let me finish, brat. The Grass country villagers are civilians, and they don't have the confidence or skills to catch the thieves themselves. And they really do need our help right now, because the thieves have started to become more aggressive.”

A pregnant silence filled the room. Everybody was contemplating the seriousness of the mission.

“Wait, can't you give this mission to any Genin team? This mission is not that hard. Those two have…….. Ohhhhh, wait. I know. You don't want me here during Chunin exam, right?”

“Naruto.” Tsunade sighed pitifully.

Naruto knew it was true, when she said Naruto's name that way that never meant good news.

“Don't you `Naruto' me!” the boy said, suddenly feeling emotional—if he listened to himself right now, he would realize that he sounded just like an angry wife.

“I didn't even do anything this time!” he continued, still feeling a bit betrayed by Tsunade's intention.

“I know. This has nothing to do with that. I just want you to be away for awhile until the Chunin exam ended.”

“Why? I—“

“There's a lot of commotion about…hmm… How should I put this…safety precautions, and, as Hokage, I need to make this Chunin exam run smoothly. It will only take a few days, after all. But most importantly, I want you to be safe, Naruto.”

Looking straight at Naruto, Tsunade concluded her explanation, unaware that she failed to keep her worry from showing from her eyes. She knew this couldn't be easy for Naruto, but she really hoped he would wise up this time and understand her reasoning. This mission was her way to keep Naruto safe from the negative receptions from outsiders that would come to the Chunin exam. Even though it looked like she was playing favourites by doing this, she didn't want to lose another precious person. Naruto was the only one she had after Jiraiya di…No, no. She still has not confirmed the news yet and that would have to wait. Now, she needed to persuade Naruto to leave first.

“I—,” Tsunade tried to continue when Naruto cut her off.

“Alright, Baa-chan. I understand. Thanks for your concern, but you really didn't have to, you know. I can take care of myself. I'm the great Uzumaki Naruto-tebbayo!” the blonde boy said, trying to decrease the tension radiating from Tsunade. He was also a bit touched by Tsunade's concern for him and would've started to cry for no reason if not for Kakashi-sensei's question.

“When do we have to go?”

Drawing in a deep breath, Tsunade steadied herself before replying, “I need you to go this afternoon. All the details about the mission are in this scroll. Remember to destroy it afterward. Now, leave. I have a lot to do. Go!”

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The journey to Grass country took them almost three days of walking, which was longer than normal for such a trek. On the first day, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei still had nausea from their treatments, so they had to stop once in a while for that—well, Naruto had nausea, too, but that went unnoticed since he only felt sick in the morning when everybody else was still asleep. They also had to stop frequently to rest because Sakura and Kakashi-sensei still were not in their top condition.

By the second day of the journey, they just had to stop to rest—Sakura and Kakashi-sensei had stop vomiting, which ironically made Naruto worried because he didn't. Not wanting to make his teammates worry, he just kept quiet about it. The third day, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei were back to their top condition. They reached Field village near sunset and decided to stay at a nearby motel.

The very next day found them at the outskirts of the village. From the scouting that Kakashi-sensei did alone last night (“You kids go to sleep. It's adult time right now”), it was obvious that these thieves were not ordinary thieves. They moved in groups and had their own leader to conduct their activities, which dubiously sounded like bandits. And bandits almost always stayed inside a forest or near a hill for their headquarters. Not surprisingly, the Field village was a really strategic place for that: The village was surrounded by a hilly forest, for God's sakes!

After much sneaking around and movement-reading, Naruto reported to his teammates that they were about 20 something bandits and if they wanted to take all of them down, they better do it at night with the help of sleeping gas or something of that nature. Kakashi, being the leader of the mission's team, agreed with Naruto's observations and ordered them back to the village to get prepared. They would get back to work in two days; more investigation was needed to determine the bandits' strength, and acquiring the sleeping gas required time, too.

On the night of the operation, Kakashi carefully crept near the headquarters's opening to throw the sleeping gas bomb. The bandits, being the brash bunch that they were, never expected this kind of attack. They might have been very skilled in handling weapons such as daggers, swords, and knives, but they didn't know anything about strategy-based attack. So, not expecting such an ambush attack, they didn't have time to defend themselves and slept like logs after a few seconds of breathing in the gas.

Well, the mission sure was easy; all the bandits in the cave were down, and the shinobi began to tie them up only to find out there were five bandits missing. It was too late to hide when these five arrived and saw them tying up their mates. With a war cry, the bandits lunged to attack, and they quickly engaged the ninja in battle.

The fight was easy enough, simply because they were shinobi and the bandits were not. They could use cool jutsu, but the bandits only had steel weapons. Yet, Naruto, in his over-emotional state of excitement, managed to get slashed. On his stomach. Frozen for a moment, he looked at his bloodied shirt and, all of a sudden, started to freak out. Staring angrily at his attacker, he killed him with a single swipe at the neck.

Kneeling down on the ground, he desperately tried to wipe away the blood, hoping it would make his stomach somehow heal. After wiping for some time, he began to whisper hysterically to himself.

I can't get it off. I can't get off. Get off, stupid blood. Get off!

Noticing Naruto's weird reaction over a small cut, Sakura went to him.

“What's wrong, Naruto?”

“Sakura? Help me! The blood won't come off. My stomach. They hurt my stomach.”

“Let me see.” Sakura tried to be professional despite being a bit agitated by Naruto's over-reaction. She lifted his shirt to find a long cut across his stomach, but it was not deep enough to be fatal.

“It's just a small wound. Don't—”

“You don't understand! They hurt my stomach. It's bleeding!”

“Naruto, calm down. If you move so much, I can't heal you.”

“No, no. I can't calm down. It's bleeding! I—I… Zzzz.”

“Did you have to do that?”

“Kakashi-sensei! This idiot won't stay still; I had to put sleeping jutsu on him.”

“Is he really hurt?” Concern laced his voice.

“No, not really. The wound is already healing, too. He doesn't need to freak out like that.”

“Now, now. Don't be so mad. He's probably just tired. Hmm… Who is going to carry him back to Konoha, then?”

“Oops, I forgot about that. But you don't expect me to carry him, do you, Kakashi-sensei? I'm a girl! I can't carry him. It's not appropriate!”

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Naruto woke up to a rhythmic beat of a tap-tap sound.

Huh, where am I?

When he opened his eyes, all he could see was silver hair.

“Kakashi-sensei?” he asked groggily. How long had he been asleep?

“Ah, Naruto. You awake. Can you walk now?”

He was on Kakashi-sensei's back! Apparently, Kakashi-sensei had carried him on his back while he was fast asleep.

“Yeah, I guess so. I would want you to put me down even if I couldn't.”

“Maa maa. Don't be embarrassed. You have nothing to be embarrassed about with me. I've seen it all.” If it wasn't dark, one would see Kakashi's eyes lighted up with glee.

“Ewwww. Don't say something weird, you perverted old man! Someone might misunderstand.”

Kakashi just grinned. He loved teasing his student; nowadays, that was his motivation of life. It was a privilege that came from being a teacher.

“Where's Sakura-chan?”

Naruto asked when he discovered that she was not with them, all the while feeling his stomach for the previous injury. He heaved a huge sigh of relief when he realized that his stomach had stopped bleeding.

“She's going back to the Field village to inform their leader about the bandits. She will catch up to us soon,” Kakashi answered Naruto, his tone now serious.

“Are we heading back to Konoha?”

“Yeah, we are. We can't afford to wait any longer. This mission has taken longer than it should have, and the Chunin exam has ended, too. We should hurry back, or the Hokage will blow a lid.”

Naruto chuckled.

“Yeah. Let's.”

I have something to do in Konoha, too.

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The debriefing of the mission was a breeze, and now Naruto was back in his apartment. After cleaning himself, he lay on his bed—only in his boxers—staring at the ceiling. If he was still uncertain about his decision concerning the pregnancy before, now he didn't have any speck of doubt about it—he definitely, definitely sure he COULDN'T kill the baby. Now that he decided to keep it, he had started to call it “baby”—not just as a nameless creature like before.

The panic attack he felt when the bandit slashed his stomach was a sure indication that he couldn't bear to lose this new life inside of him. He felt like he might die along with the baby if it did die at that time.

But the decision to keep the baby was not what made him unable to sleep now. The dilemma was about how to have a baby and how to raise it. Where should he start? He didn't know anything about raising a baby. Heck, he didn't know anything about pregnancy, either.

Naruto could feel a headache coming on. This baby was not even born, and yet he already had a headache about it.

I need to know about pregnancy; I need to learn on how to raise a baby. Shit, I just can't ask anyone… It would be too suspicious. Hmm, maybe I can learn to be a “mother” by learning more about women?

Naruto scoffed at the idea of learning about women, but he knew he had to do it.

Then, maybe I should go to the city's center and watch them. Hopefully I can learn something from there.

That was probably not the best of ideas, but hey, a guy's got to start somewhere, right?

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