A/N: This is the last chapter, and I can't tell you how happy I am this fic is over. This story has changed me, and not for the better.

I know, it was a horrible delay. This chapter just didn't want to come out right. It took over my life, alienated me from friends, family, responsibilities. I lost count of how many rewrites I did. In the end, after I'd been all but murdered by this thing, I finally realized what the problem was: There was too much info. At that point I had 50 pages on my hands, so I split the chapter in half. Now this piece, after I added all I wanted to say to it, swelled to 43 pages. The second piece will be in the next fic of this series, Infancy.

There's more I want to say. How this fic has basically been a nod to events happening in the manga, and how the many loose threads will be tied up in the next installment, but for now I'd just like to thank all those who've stuck with me for this rough ride. Who've commented, shared their thoughts, and made known their views, whatever they are. I've replied to everyone, I think, but a special shoutout, as always, to those I couldn't: T-Girl, Lolly, Maria, corner, Koda, Rei, White Fang, Uchiha itachio, and the many who simply signed in as Guest.

Please excuse any typos I've missed. The site eats words from the text whenever you press 'Save'.

Peace. ^^

Chapter 10

"Sasuke!" The chakra around Naruto's hand surged as he ripped it out of himself, releasing a torrent of blood. She reached him just as he plunged it in again. Ducked as he nearly caught her in the face with his elbow when he drew back his hand to stab yet again. This time she caught his hand, doubled her fist, and punched him hard dead center of his forehead. It was the only thing she could think of to snap him out of the deadly trance he was in.

Naruto staggered. Sagged. She had her hands full as she tried to simultaneously break his fall and guide him as carefully as possible to the floor. Even then he struggled. Twisted and writhed as she got his head into her lap and tried to catch his hands. "Stop," she said. "Stop it, stop!" Oh God… He was bleeding so much. Her Byakugan came automatically as she finally latched onto his wrists and held them down. This left her face hovering over his, where his head was pillowed on her knees. She realized that she could see him, see into him, and quickly took the opportunity to assess the damage.

He was actually bleeding into his abdominal cavity… His organs, though. She could see one lung in danger of collapsing, his large intestine was- she squinted. The sack had attached itself to whatever was nearby to keep itself in place. Now that it was failing, it was tearing loose of everything it had held onto. His bowel was perforated in several places, his stomach, his liver…

The baby. She could see him clearly.

And, so help her, she could feel him. The hurt Naruto had done to him by accessing his chakra. That pain was almost greater than the pain the blade had caused. Both the injury with Naruto's wind blade, and the pain of having his chakra leeched so suddenly woke an answering burn low down in her belly.

She glanced at Naruto's face. He was silent now. Face stark with an inhuman rage, torso covered in blood while he tried to pull his hands free of her. She needed help. "SASUKE!"

-oOo-

The moment Naruto left the room, Sasuke went to the balcony. The snow had stopped, for the moment, but the wind was still brutal. He'd intended to shut the doors, but opted for a quick piss over the side while he was free to do so. He had himself tucked away again the second his frozen stream of urine was carried off into the night. He spent a minute or two leaning against the balcony doors, trying to shut them against the gust that sprang up.

Once he'd managed it, he turned to touch up the fire, but stopped. Something, some other sense that always warned him of danger, shivered along the fine hairs of his body. There was a stillness in the house. A vibe different from when they'd all been avoiding each other.

He was already striding toward the hall when Hinata's scream tore through him like an icy wind. The terror and panic in her voice only chilled him further. He was so cold he felt as if he couldn't move. Felt as though hours passed before his leap carried him over the bannister, where he floated down with all the weight of a feather. Landed in a small puddle of blood that had him skidding, and his heartbeat clanging like a gong in his eardrums. Had him briefly wind-milling his arms before he jumped again, making a clone mid-leap, and landed at the bottom of the stairwell. Hinata's second scream for him put everything back at its proper speed.

-oOo-

He stumbled into the kitchen. Took in the scene in a series of disconnected flashes: Hinata's chakra-coated hands pressing Naruto's wrists to the floor; blood soaking through Naruto's pants; more blood pumping and bubbling out of a dark wound on his stomach; Naruto's face white, his eyes dark and staring while he struggled in Hinata's grasp. And surrounding it all the distant, incoherent sound of Hinata trying to tell him what happened. Her sobs. Bleating Naruto's name.

One frozen moment, where he couldn't think past the sight of Naruto down, and all that blood.

Then his mind kicking into overdrive, pushing away the knowledge that so much blood meant certain death. "No. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no."

"He knows," she babbled up at him. "Remembers the rape. He tried to kill the baby. Pulled on his chakra. Wind blade. Stabbed himself twice before I could… I can see his injuries. Baby's not fighting me, so I can see… He's bleeding out internally, the sack barely attached anymore, but his natural chakra is trying to mitigate it-"

Sasuke found himself on his knees beside Naruto, both hands pressed to that abdominal wound. "He's not dying. Don't tell me he's dying. Naruto?" Nothing. Naruto's eyes remained unfocused, the lids drooping by the second. "God. Don't do this. You're not dying…" He couldn't think; blood kept welling up through his fingers, and the things Hinata was saying didn't bear consideration.

Hinata bit her lip. "The baby is, though. He's holding to Naruto's chakra, but that's fading as Naruto's body fails… both of them are failing… Sasuke, there's just too much damage-"

He rounded on her, wild in his panic. "Then save him!" His eyes were red. "What are you here for, why'd you stay? SAVE HIM, YOU BITCH! SAVE HIM!"

She knew which 'him' he meant. "I can't." She flinched when she felt a Genjutsu brush her mind, but Sasuke reeled himself in at the last moment. The sheer weight of his chakra brought a sweat to her brow, despite the fact that it had yet to manifest. She rushed to explain. "I can't, Sasuke, his injuries are too severe. I don't know enough. But I can…maybe I can help the baby. Maybe."

He glared at her, leaning all his weight on that wound, the blood still oozing between his hands. "How?" A wealth of suspicion in his voice, in the way his eyes narrowed at her. "If you can help one, you can help the other."

She trembled, commiserating with his fear and worry. Naruto went limp at that moment, his eyes half closed. Blood swelled and dribbled from one corner of his mouth. She carefully lifted his head from her lap and set it on the floor. When she'd positioned herself on Naruto's other side, opposite Sasuke, she reached to replace his hands with her own. "There's no time to explain." She accessed her chakra. "The baby's badly hurt. Very badly; that blade went right through him. I think he can heal himself, but he needs chakra…enough of it to-"

"Then let me use mine-"

"No. He needs…he needs me."

Sasuke frowned at her, but scooted aside, moving to Naruto's head. "Do it."

Beyond seeing her eyes close, he didn't watch. He put a hand on Naruto's cheek, gently turning his face so that he could look into his eyes. He could barely form the words, barely wrap his head around how quickly things had gone from good to bad. Not ten minutes ago he'd been sitting with Naruto's head on his shoulder. Now he was staring down into eyes that met his own, but had no life in them. No will. He paused to swipe at his own eyes, leaving a smear of blood, before bending down and putting his lips by Naruto's ear.

"You listen to me," he whispered. "You're not doing this. You're not dying on me. You promised, remember? Gave me your word. You've never failed me, and you won't now. I know you." He gave him a little shake. "I know you. Okay? So don't do this to me. Hang on." He worked one bloody hand into Naruto's cold one and laced their fingers. "Hang on to me. Naruto? Look at me." He made sure those eyes were on him, nearly losing it completely when another fountain of blood swelled from Naruto's lips. "Oh God. Okay. Okay. You'll be okay. Stay with me. I love you. Hold onto that, dammit. Naruto!" He tried to hold that fading gaze, but the fear kept getting the best of him. He finally settled for stroking one cold cheek, and whispering over and over, "Just keep breathing. Breathe. I love you. Breathe…"

Naruto tried to focus on him. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke gave an encouraging nod. Hope bloomed fast and hard in him as he saw Naruto's effort. "Yes. I'm here."

"I f…fucked up."

"No. No, you didn't. Come on, fight it. I've seen you pull through worse. You can do this. Don't talk, just hang on to me." His hand tightened in Naruto's.

-oOo-

His mind was clouding over, but Naruto tried. Except… so much made sense now. Sasuke's behavior around Hinata. The way he'd tried to shield her from him. Both before his senses had returned, as well as after. Sasuke had known. Known, the whole time he'd been making his grand speech about not being able to live without him, exactly what he'd done to Hinata. Had lied about it. To his face. Sasuke had lied to him.

You should have told me.

There were tears and blood on Sasuke's face.

And another flashback hit him. Of using Sasuke over and over again. Roughly. Brutally. Painfully. Joyfully. He'd bitten him. Marked him as his. And now, seeing the blood and tears on Sasuke's face, he could remember other times seeing the same sight. Being provoked by it. Spurred to use him harder, more often, forcing him to submit.

His dreams came back to him, enhanced with sound and feelings at last. The visceral, bestial sensations that passed for thoughts and feelings whenever Kyuubi had him. The same feelings he'd felt when he'd hurt Hinata…but this was Sasuke. And there were other memories. Of Sasuke's eyes. Seeing them red, as they were red now. Seeing hatred so virulent in them that this too had excited him.

For a moment the pain of hurting Hinata was eclipsed as his final reason for hanging on all these months was also taken. The memory of Sasuke's tight-lipped forbearance brought on a scream of fury and denial that tore his insides. Or maybe that was the pain of total recall at last. He fought, weak as he was. Twisted and turned in Sasuke's grasp. Tried to claw the memory from his mind, leaving long, bloody grooves down his face. He could feel and hear Sasuke trying to restrain him, shouting his name, but it was so far away. And still he fought. That fullness in his gut grew, and the tearing in him intensified, and he was gone, gone, gone. No! Sasuke!

Sasuke cursed. "Dammit, Naruto!" His hands were too slicked with blood to catch those flailing fists. "Naruto, stop!"

Too weak to fight. Sasuke's voice barely audible through the rushing sound in his ears. That sound, the sound of his blood pumping, faded until it was replaced with the sound of his heartbeat. Gradually easing from its gallop. Slowing down from his rage. Slowing. He was so tired of it all.

Sasuke calling his name again. Frantic. A sticky hand patting at his cheek.

He could want to kill the kid for making him hurt Hinata, but Sasuke… That, he couldn't even look at. That he could not face, could not take. Could not. It was done. He was done.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said sharply. "Naruto's fading fast, hang onto him!"

Sasuke's face hovered over his own. The eyes dripping, nose leaking. So full of grief. He felt Sasuke's hands, filled with chakra, settle on his chest, but Naruto understood something with frightening clarity just then.

You don't forgive me, he realized, staring up at the desperate eyes. You will never forgive that. But it's easier to tell yourself you're fine now. This is the only way you can take control…to tell yourself it wasn't as bad as it was, to tell yourself you forgive me. You hate me, Sasuke. You hate me. Not for hurting you. Not for hurting Hinata. But for making you choose subjugation. You never back down. But I made you. You said you can't see me, but it's yourself you can't see. I'm just the thing you're holding on to so you don't blow away with the wind. You kiss me, and smile, and tell me we're fine, but we're not. We're so not. You're not. I took away who you are. Made you less. Made you nothing.

And he knew exactly what that felt like.

Sasuke's tears fell on his face and he couldn't do it. There was nothing to hold on to. He'd broken Sasuke.

He finally looked away from him and swallowed. "Tell her to stop. I don't want it. I don't want him-"

Whatever else Naruto wanted to say was lost as he choked. A violent coughing spate sprayed Sasuke's face with blood, and had him yelling Naruto's name. In the aftermath, Naruto was silent. Still. Eyes closed. His breathing was harsh, wheezing in and out of him, but slowing down.

-oOo-

Sasuke had to squeeze his eyes hard to clear them of tears, but he looked up. "I'm losing him. How much longer, Hinata? Hinata! How much longer?"

She ignored him. Naruto's body was clinging to life, with Sasuke's help, which left her able to focus on the baby. Her Byakugan allowed her to visualize the full extent of the child's injuries. His chakra pathways were incredibly weak, and his heart was barely beating. It was slowing down even as she watched. Working quickly and carefully, she reached for him with her chakra. An application of Mystical Palm tailored to bypass Naruto's body and go directly to the baby.

She could sense his recognition of her. Sensed the way he reached for her with what chakra he had available to him, but his ability to do so was severely compromised by the clumsy way Naruto accessed that wind blade, not to mention the damage of the blade itself. She was persistent.

The massive pull she felt when the baby finally managed to touch her chakra made her gasp, but she maintained focus. There were a few seconds where she couldn't breathe… The baby was still powerful, if weakened. But then the link was complete and the drain was immediate. A tiny squeak of fright escaped her.

Occupied with trying to revive Naruto as he was, Sasuke nevertheless heard her and glanced over his shoulder.

Hinata's entire body went up in a blaze of her chakra, but he was seeing deeper than that. The baby. He could see him as a bundle of weak, orange chakra curled up in Naruto's midsection. And it seemed to him, when he stared at Hinata, that a similar, smaller bundle of orange pulsed deep within her. Tiny, but strong.

Mouth dry, Sasuke blinked, rearranging the way he saw her. He studied her chakra exclusively, where it swirled around her, and realized this was also being siphoned from her. A glance showed the baby's chakra exponentially stronger than it had been a moment ago, and getting stronger by the second. The moment the baby was restored to health, Sasuke's Mangekyo was blocked.

Apparently, Hinata wasn't. She continued to feed the baby chakra until she was all but sucked dry. He watched until she took her hands from Naruto with a faint sound of exhaustion and sat back on her heels.

"The baby?" he said, barely moving his lips.

Her voice was weak. "Stable."

"Naruto. Can you help him?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He met the look with a neutral one of his own, and she swallowed. "Not beyond what you're doing. I can try and anchor him with my chakra along with you, but…" She looked away.

As furious as he was, he had to put it away in order to focus on the problem at hand. Later. There'll be time to confront her later. "Your chakra's depleted."

"It won't save him anyway, only prolong the inevitable. We need…I know you don't want to hear it, but we need help."

"Don't you think I know that?" He had no patience. "Can you deliver the baby, at least?"

"I d-don't think so. I mean I can try," she offered when his frown deepened. "If you really w-"

"Shut up." He looked to his clone, silent and standing by the stairwell the whole time. "You. Bring my bag."

The clone vanished up the stairs. Sasuke took his hands from Naruto only long enough to form another. This one he gave a short list of items to bring. "Check the other houses in the village, you should find what I need." This clone went out into the main room, and left via the front door.

Hinata looked at him. "What are you going to do?"

He had a hand over Naruto's heart, and one on the bloody mound of his abdomen now. His head was bowed as he muttered to himself. "Tsunade or Sakura. Tsunade or Sakura, which one?"

"I…what?"

His clone came back with the bag. Sasuke looked Hinata over carefully. "I need to bring someone. Tsunade or Sakura?"

"Wh-"

"Sakura won't try to kill the baby, but Tsunade knows more, so which one?"

She blinked, trying to think. "Um…um, okay. Sakura knows a lot. So much. She does a lot of Tsunade-sama's procedures-"

Sasuke was nodding. "Yes. Yes, okay, Sakura, then. I'll bring her."

"But you don't have a way to contact her quickly. You only have the scroll that will go to Tsunade."

Sasuke paused in the act of taking his bag from his clone, one hand still on Naruto. "Then it's Tsunade." He glanced at her. "Your chakra's still low, but it's enough to anchor Naruto for a minute. Only a minute. I need to do something. Here, take over. Quickly!"

She did as ordered. Watched as he snatched the bag from his clone, and rummaged through it. He took out a scroll, ink, and brush. A quick dip of the brush, and then he was writing. His hand was steady, his handwriting bold and sure. "What will you tell her?" she asked.

"No help for it. I have to tell her the truth or she won't come prepared."

"Aren't we hiding from her though?"

"Which was why I wanted Sakura. And anyway, I'm not entirely sure she can't find Naruto no matter where we are. She always showed up at the cabin…"

"The cabin was a location of her choosing. There were guards in place to let her know if we moved from that spot. This…I kind of think she'd have put in an appearance before now if she knew where to find us."

"You could be right. But for sure once she gets this scroll she'll trace the jutsu back to its point of origin. How is he?" He didn't look up as he dipped the brush again.

"Fading slower than before, but still fading."

Sasuke's lips thinned. "I don't trust this woman," he said, now fanning the ink to dry it. "She tried to kill my baby. Ousted or not, she's still part of a world that would want to take him from me. So…she doesn't leave here." He looked at her, ready to shut down her protests.

But her eyes were remarkably steady. "Are you sure?" she said quietly.

"I expect Naruto to be restored to full health. Even if she can't save him, once the baby's out, Kyuubi won't be blocked anymore. He'll heal him. Naruto will help us. If she tries to take the baby or hurt him, he'll help us."

"Naruto tried to hurt the baby, Sasuke. I heard what he said. That he didn't want it."

"I know him. Once he sees the baby he'll change his mind. We're not letting her anywhere near the baby, though. And she can't be allowed to go back with knowledge of him. So, yes. I'm sure. Tsunade comes, but she doesn't leave." The ink was dry. Sasuke stood.

Hinata felt compelled to give one last argument. "She's Kage. Sannin. Do you really think we can take her?"

"Oh, I can take the bitch. Even without Naruto." He paused in the process of activating the scroll. Looked at her. "I know I've seemed weak to you these past months. Maybe I have been during this whole thing, but it's not like I had a chance or a reason to go balls out before now. For one reason or another, I've had to hold back. That's done with. If she tries to leave, I'm taking her out, and I won't fail. But…if the unthinkable happens… If Naruto doesn't… And if I go down- if… It's up to you. You know that, right? You have to kill her. Protect my son. Even if you can't take her, protect him at all costs. Fucking run, if you have to."

She held the black eyes for as long as she could, before nodding. "I will. I promise."

He sent the scroll.

The other clone returned bearing a long wooden table on his back. Sasuke directed him to put it in his bedroom. Hinata watched the clone struggle to fit the thing through the door leading to the stairwell before she was startled by the feel of Sasuke's hands nudging hers aside. "I need to move him," he said.

She moved back. "Sasuke…"

"Not now." Sasuke lifted him. "Whatever else you think we need, get it. Work fast. I need you upstairs."

His tone commanded she keep it together, and she responded to that. Tried to believe Naruto -whom she still loved, she found- wasn't dying. That Sasuke, whom she also loved, wasn't expecting her to participate in an assassination of Tsunade-sama herself. Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe we won't have to. She'll save Naruto, and everything will be better. Focus. "Water. Bandages," she said, getting to her feet. "Tsunade will need a trauma room set up, or as close to one as I can manage." She took a deep breath. "I'm on it. Have your clone stoke the fire in your room while he's up there. "

Sasuke gave a tight nod in approval of her steadier attitude.

Upstairs, the room was overly warm, but Naruto needed it. His body was now cold to the touch, and his lips, fingers and toes were blue. "It's hypoxia, not the temperature," Hinata said, as she bustled around. Sasuke laid Naruto on the table and resumed his original position of having his hands placed on his vital organs. "But having the room heated can't hurt. His body's cold because higher functions like thermoregulation are beyond the baby now. The pregnancy itself is all but over, so his manipulation of Naruto's chakra is limited. Naruto's got low oxygen circulating in his blood, and that bleeding…" she paused over the pot of water she was heating over the flames. Shook her head.

Sasuke kept his eyes on Naruto's face, feeling the connection he had with him weaken despite the strength of his own chakra. He had it all but blazing, yet even so it wasn't enough. "He's slipping. I can't…I can't hold onto him."

Hinata hurried over and checked for herself. "Multi-system organ failure. Sasuke, if you're going to bring her, do it now."

"I did what I could by sending the scroll. It's up to her to come or not. Get ready."

"What?"

Instead of answering, he closed his eyes. His chakra swelled even more, filling the room with its oppressive weight. When he opened his eyes, Eternal Mangekyo was present. "Get. Ready."

Understanding made her moisten her lips, but she mimicked him to the best of her abilities. Their eyes met across Naruto's body.

"How long do we have to wait?" she asked when ten minutes ticked by.

"I told her to come immediately."

"I hope she gets here in time."

"If she doesn't I will personally hunt her down and end her." He assessed Hinata with a flick of his eyes. "You're chakra's coming back fast. Really fast." If there was any doubt left in him as to why, he only had to look at her to see the reason. Her body was essentially carrying its own miniature generator. He saw the way her eyes held his, and the knowledge passed between them. He looked away. Later, he reminded himself. "When she comes, watch what she does. Make sure nothing happens that isn't supposed to happen."

"Like what?"

"Anything."

"I learned some things from Sakura, but I'm in no way a medic. There's plenty that could happen without my knowledge. I honestly don't know how you plan to keep her from touching the baby if she's supposed to be delivering him."

He started to respond, but there was a loud poof and Tsunade stood on the far side of the room.

They studied her from head to toe.

She was dressed as if she'd been outdoors. Heavy cloak, the hood and shoulders of which were finely dusted with snow. Boots. Gloves. She pushed the hood back now, her eyes taking in everything without blinking. If she cared that she was faced with two fully engaged ninja, her expression didn't show it. Her cloak was undone with a tug on the clasp at her throat. It fell to the floor, revealing a large sack slung over one shoulder, a cooler held in one hand, and what looked like an oblong toolkit held in the other.

Her eyes dropped to Naruto, Sasuke's hands…and naked fear crossed her features. "My God…" She moved toward the table.

"Stop," Sasuke said.

She did, but her eyes never left Naruto. "Your note said to come alone, or you'd kill whoever I brought. No matter who that person was. It also said to come well-equipped. As you can see, I have complied with your wishes. Now let me at him, or I will set my own chakra free." Her voice was tense, but her face was now schooled to stern professionalism.

"It's not that," Sasuke said. "It's… Naruto's… I was anchoring him, but he's slipping. The baby's slipping with him, so now I'm anchoring them both. Can you extract him while I'm anchoring them?"

"Doubtful." She was at Naruto's side. She released an initial flash of chakra from her hands to sterilize them, then coated both with a steady release of chakra that would allow her to assess at a single touch. "I understand the last time someone tried to examine this child he blocked them." She set a hand to Naruto's abdomen. "Hmph. Much has changed, it seems."

And she could see why. Sasuke was intimately connected with the fetus. She sensed a rudimentary form of communication. Sasuke commanding the fetus through his chakra to stand down. Because of this, she was able to see that the fetus was healthy as an ox, and strong as one to boot. Naruto, on the other hand… Her lips tightened. "You should have called me long before this."

"Called you as soon as it happened." Sasuke said. "Can you heal Naruto with the baby inside?"

"If it was something minor, yes. This…no."

"How soon can you have the baby out, then?"

"Ninety seconds, if I have to, depending on what I find when I open him." The chakra on one of her hands refined itself into a scalpel. "And I can see by his condition that I'll have to. You'll need to release your hold on them both. I can't work with an opposing chakra source infiltrating the body, not one to the extent yours is. Hinata, do you plan to stand there staring at my back, or can I count on you for assistance?"

Hinata glanced at Sasuke. "I-"

"She stays where she is," Sasuke said.

Tsunade didn't lift her head from what she was doing. "Distrustful as ever. If I had time, I'd take you both to task; it's likely this same distrust that delayed you calling me sooner-"

"We called you as soon as we could!" Sasuke snapped.

"Spare me. I should have been called weeks ago. I meant for you to run, not shut me out completely. But no matter. I'll need a level of assistance neither of you can provide anyway." Five clones sprang up and positioned themselves around Naruto. Tsunade began issuing orders.

Sasuke was crowded on both sides. His eyes met Hinata's over Tsunade's head. That Tsunade could perform jutsu like Kage Bunshin without hand seals made them swallow. On the one hand, it boded well for her expertise. On the other hand, Sasuke made sure to communicate with his eyes that under no circumstances was Hinata to drop her guard. She nodded.

Tsunade noticed, but all of her attention was on Naruto. "Sasuke, when I tell you to, release contact."

"But I'm the only thing keeping Naruto here. He and the baby will die-"

As dire as the situation was, she took the time to meet his eyes. "My clones will take over supporting him."

"The baby won't allow anyone else's chakra near him if I leave him."

"Ninety seconds. I doubt he'll be able to fight me when he's fighting for himself. He can survive for up to four minutes without assistance, but he'll be out long before then."

Sasuke swallowed. Nodded. "Okay. Ninety seconds. And no one touches him but me." His eyes glowed malevolently. "No one. Not so much as a finger. Hinata?"

She stepped up and gently, yet insistently elbowed one of the Fifth's clones aside until she was standing directly beside Tsunade. Her eyes, when Tsunade glanced at her, were flinty with determination.

Tsunade checked her clones. Each of them had their hands coated with chakra and positioned over a different part of Naruto. One at his head to keep him under. One for his circulatory system, one for his GI tract. Two to assist her with equipment and whatever else she needed. All eyes were on her, waiting for her signal. She gave them a nod. "Sasuke. Step back…now."

He did as bidden. The baby tried to cling to him, protesting the separation, but he stepped back, and two clones closed the space he'd occupied.

-oOo-

The clones operated in one seamless unit with Tsunade, who's face was harsh with concentration. He tried to see over their shoulders, over their bent heads, but they were too close together.

Tsunade spoke. "I don't sense Kyuubi's opposing influence, the way I usually do when working on this boy."

"Naruto hasn't been healing, either," Sasuke said. "The demon's blocked completely."

A grunt. The tiniest of pauses on Tsunade's part. "That changes things. All right. Someone want to tell me what went wrong here? This stab wound is exceptionally fine. Not given by any conventional blade. And deliberate. By the angle, it would have pierced the fetus, yet he seems unharmed."

Hinata did the honors. She had to swallow when she saw her work from the stab wound itself and widen it.

"And the fetus was able to heal himself from your chakra alone?" Tsunade asked. Her clones used the hot water she'd prepared, handed Tsunade lap pads, or withdrew surgical items from the sack she'd brought.

"Yes."

"Really. Your chakra hardly seems to have suffered, if that's the case."

Hinata declined to comment. She recognized the sterilizing process they used on the equipment as the same one Tsunade had used on her hands. Hands that worked with unbelievable speed. Naruto's abdomen was opened, exposed. She glanced at Naruto's face to see if he felt any of this, but there was a clone at Naruto's head, holding two fingertips to his brow. This clone murmured out periodical statistics: Pulse ox, BP, other things she had only a basic understanding of. "It's one minute," she said when her explanation was done. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke stir. Felt his chakra condense.

"As I am well aware. There is an unbelievable amount of damage here, girl. This housing sack has penetrated every organ…"

Hinata kept her eyes on Tsunade's hands. She monitored her chakra, the way it interacted with Naruto's body, the baby's vitals, and exactly what Tsunade was doing. "Ninety seconds."

"Blood pressure's bottoming out," a clone murmured.

"Bring another unit of blood," Tsunade snapped. A clone bent to the cooler to do this.

"Two minutes," Hinata said.

"Tsunade." Sasuke grated, looming over them.

"He's in v-tach," another clone said. "Defibrillating…" She placed one hand high up on Naruto's right pectoral, the other beneath his left one. "Clear!" They all backed away, feeling her chakra surge before a burst of it shot into Naruto. His body jerked off the table.

"Two minutes, t-twenty seconds."

"Clear."

Another burst of chakra lifted Naruto. And another, stronger than the first two. A pause. A third burst of chakra. "…Asystole."

"Oh. Oh G- Th-th-three minutes."

"Tsunade, goddamn you! Goddamn you!"

Sweat stood out on Tsunade's brow, but her voice and hands were rock-steady as she bent to Naruto once more. "Go to manual manipulation of his heart via his chakra pathways. Crack his Second Gate. A crack."

The clone who'd done the defibrillation repositioned her hands and closed her eyes.

"Three m-minutes, thirty s-s-s…"

Sasuke's body erupted in lightning chakra, suffusing the room with the stench of ozone.

"…I have sinus rhythm," the clone reported.

Hinata breathed a shaky sigh of relief. "Three minutes, forty…forty s-seconds."

"The fetus is exposed," Tsunade said. "Now-"

Sasuke shouldered his way through. "Move. No one touches him but me. I said move!"

"We can't move, unless you want Naruto crashing again," Tsunade snapped. She reached for the baby.

A bar of lightning extended from Sasuke's hand and came to rest not two millimeters from her throat. "You think I don't know you tried to kill him? I said to move…the fuck…back," he growled.

"Kill me and Naruto dies."

"He's stronger than you think." The bar of lighting moved closer, if that was possible. The heat of it seared her skin.

Holding his gaze, Tsunade slowly raised her hands away from Naruto's body. Her clones did the same. "Make it fast," she barked. "Naruto's circling the drain, and I won't have your insufferable paranoia be the cause of his death."

Sasuke glanced down. The baby lay pale and bloody, surrounded by the viscera the clones held aside. Swallowing his sudden nerves, he released his chakra and reached into the warm, wet cavity. Got a hand beneath the baby's head, another beneath his slippery back. The baby rolled from his grip and nearly fell back in, but then he snagged an arm and a leg and managed to lift him out that way. The baby dangled. After a second he figured out how to lay the baby in the crook of his arm. The cord attached to his stomach stretched back into Naruto. Tsunade reached forward, grasped it with two chakra-coated fingers near its base, and both cauterized and snapped it off in a single move.

Sasuke grabbed her hand and squeezed down hard. "Touch him again and I will kill you right here, Tsunade. I mean it. Don't touch my kid."

She wasn't listening. She'd already snatched her hand back and now had her head bent to Naruto. The clones closed ranks around the table once more.

Sasuke was torn between monitoring their efforts, and staring at the baby. For the moment, the baby won out. "He's not breathing." His eyes flew to Tsunade, the clones. "He's not breathing!"

Those golden eyes flicked up at him, flat and emotionless. But then a clone handed Sasuke a bulb syringe and showed him what to do. He was still peripherally aware of Tsunade and the clones' heightened activity around Naruto, still glanced in their direction from time to time, but he backed away from the table, toward the fire, to let them work.

-oOo-

A faint cough. A kitten-like sneeze. His attention was brought back to the baby. Holding that tiny body was difficult. So soft and floppy. He wasn't sure if he was doing it right, and spent a few moments trying not to drop him. The cough and sneeze worried him, but he saw that the boy's breathing seemed even. He used a white cloth someone, a clone, handed him to gently wipe the blood and gunk from that little face…and then two large black eyes opened and blinked up at him.

Sasuke gazed down into a face that was his in miniature. Even the hair, though matted with blood, was black. Though small, the body had no deformities that he could see. Nothing abnormal or inhuman. He saw nothing but perfection. Ten chubby fingers, ten rounded toes. Dimpled elbows and knees. The little fists were held beneath a rosy chin. The cheeks were plump and equally pink. The eyes again. He couldn't stop looking at them, at the way they regarded him so alertly.

His son.

Captivated, he couldn't do anything but stare down at those lively eyes that watched him with just as much scrutiny. He realized he was smiling. Slowly at first. Tentatively. His son stared at this, tracking the smile's progress across his face. Sasuke's uncertainty vanished under a wave of love that swelled and crested, obliterating his senses. His smile was wide and unreserved now, accompanied by a flood of tears that sprang up from nowhere. His child was fine!

The baby, understanding the welcome he was receiving, shivered and flailed his pudgy arms. There was a sound from him at last. A hiccuping coo, complemented by an open-mouthed smile of his own.

"Hey, you," Sasuke whispered.

If anything, his son's movements increased. His eyes crinkled and his mouth opened wider. Those hands reached toward Sasuke's face, opening and closing. One brushed his nose. Sasuke let his bloody finger rest in his son's hand, where it was held in a strong grip. Worth it, he thought with pride. Worth every second.

He spent some time absorbed with the baby, so it was a few minutes before he became aware of the silence in the room.

It was hard to tear his gaze away, but he turned to ask about Naruto. Six blonde heads were huddled over the table, elbows jostling as they worked. Hinata could be seen standing behind the original Tsunade now. She was still on guard, still prepared to do what they'd agreed on, but her eyes shimmered with tears…and her breath jerked in and out of her as she fought to keep her composure.

"What's going on?" he said sharply. "How long before Naruto's healed?"

He could see one of Naruto's hands dangling off the table. The nails were still blue. He heard words, orders given in a low voice that made no sense to him but which nevertheless made his blood run cold. He couldn't see their faces, but Hinata's tears ran ceaselessly, sending a shiver of dread down his spine.

Sasuke went to Naruto's side, forcing one of the clones to give him room. They, none of them, were moving now. Their glowing hands were placed on key parts of Naruto –his chest, his abdomen, his forehead- as Tsunade murmured at them to maintain the Cell Activation technique.

Sasuke stood frozen, the baby forgotten in his arms, looking at each grim face in turn. Tsunade's eyes were forbidding.

"No." He looked at Naruto's face. Maneuvered the baby to one arm so he could reach down and place a hand at the crown of his head. "Why isn't Kyuubi healing him? The baby's out now, so there shouldn't be anything stopping-"

"I could detect no trace of his seal," Tsunade said quietly. "His chakra is so depleted that I don't know how he hung on as long as he did. Cell Activation isn't even working. There needs to be life in a body, something for the technique to work with."

Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat. "But you're saving him. You can save him, right?"

"If he can hold on, maybe. If he holds on."

"He'll hold on," Sasuke swore. His eyes never left that blue-tinged face "He doesn't know how to quit. Never gives up. He's pulled through worse, he can pull through this. He'll hold on."

But the minutes ticked by. Sasuke's was the only voice in the room, muttering non-stop that Naruto would hold on. It was a prayer. A threat. A plea. He didn't know how long he stood there, idly swaying his son back and forth and whispering, but he didn't stop. He watched Naruto, and his son watched him as he repeated himself over and over.

Even so, Naruto's face never changed. No air passed his lips, his eyes didn't open. No change.

"Sasuke…" Tsunade said.

He'd never heard that tone from her before. Such pity in her voice. Such terrible pity.

He stopped speaking. The hand he had in Naruto's hair clenched a moment before he straightened up. He stood silently. Staring at Naruto's face. Willing him to breathe, to open his eyes. To live. He wouldn't ask Tsunade if… He wouldn't ask. Asking made it real. And this wasn't real.

He would wait, he decided. Naruto would come around. His body would bounce back the way it always did. All he had to do was wait and be patient. Naruto never failed, would never leave him.

"Sasuke," Tsunade tried again.

"He's fine," he bit out. "He'll wake soon. Just needs to rest. Pregnancy was too hard. Such an ordeal. He just needs time. Time."

Tsunade, watching him in anguish, whispered something and her clones removed their hands from Naruto. They all took a step back, but she remained.

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw this. Heard Hinata finally fall to her knees somewhere in the room, and the sound of the clones vanishing. Saw the way Tsunade braced her hands on the edge of the table and bowed her head. How she tried to hold it in, but couldn't. Her bloody hands gripped the side of the table, her shoulders shook, and a small, grief-stricken sob escaped her. Hinata cried openly.

He never took his eyes from Naruto's face. Not during the long while Tsunade and Hinata grieved. Not when Hinata finally grew silent. And not when Tsunade at last gathered her composure and began closing Naruto up. He was perfectly still. Waiting. His faith in Naruto was unshakable. Naruto wasn't d… He wasn't… He was resting. Gathering his strength. The pregnancy had been so hard… All he needed was to get his bearings. Soon he'd wake up, and see him waiting, see that he'd never stopped believing in him, and then they could move on. He just had to wait. He would wait. He could wait forever.

Naruto was closed, cleaned, and covered with a blanket. Hinata and Tsunade now stood at the foot of the table, watching Sasuke. The roaring fire was down to embers. Sasuke's rigidity did not fail once in the hours they'd been waiting with him, nor had he looked away from Naruto's face.

At last Tsunade spoke in a whisper they all heard. "There was no hope. Too many months of him being drained of his chakra. Too much trauma to his organs. There was nothing left of his chakra to help him along, to…to survive the surgery. Not even when we accessed his pathways directly was there much chakra to be found. He was barely alive when I got here."

"Stop speaking like that," Sasuke said hoarsely. "He's fine. Just needs to rest a minute before his body snaps back. I'm waiting. He's fine." He clutched the baby a little tighter. "Fine."

Tsunade considered him for a long moment, her face a study in compassion. "All right." Moving slowly, she went around the table until she was standing just behind his shoulder. "Let me examine the child."

"No."

"I understand your misgivings, but at least let me determine if he's well-"

"No."

"Sasuke, he needs to be cleaned."

"If you touch him…I will kill you." He spoke in a voice so low, one vibrating with brutally stifled emotion, that she thought better of simply reaching for the child. She settled for inspecting him from where she stood.

Not once had the babe cried, she observed. Nor did he fidget. As far as she could tell, he was awake and alert to his surroundings. Or, more specifically, he was alert to Sasuke. He hadn't stopped looking at Sasuke's face during the hours since his birth. As if he, too, was waiting for something.

When another hour passed, she tried again. "Sasuke. The child needs to eat-"

"My child," he hissed, "is fine. Leave us alone-"

"No. This has gone on long enough. Six hours, Sasuke. He is dead." Tsunade put a hand over her eyes, but resumed speaking at once. "He's gone. He just…didn't hang on. I did everything I could think of, but he…is…gone. He suffered. Lost his home, his life. Nor was he the only one. So unless you mean to have the reason so many have suffered die in your arms you will accept the truth, hard as it is, and let me tend to that child. Or tend him yourself. Naruto is dead. You are not."

Now the baby cried. Opened his mouth and gave a lusty scream that filled the air.

The sound startled Sasuke into nearly dropping him. He looked away from Naruto at last. Looked at his son, whose face was red and whose screams only climbed in volume. At Hinata, who stood with her eyes wet, staring at him. At Tsunade who's face wore a fierce frown. Back at Naruto.

His vigil, the paralysis that had kept him together, finally shattered in the face of reality. Horror filled him. "Oh God." He stumbled back a step, clutching the baby to his chest. "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God-"

The baby continued to scream, stiff and flailing in his grip.

"Please." His voice was losing control, and dizziness was beginning to set in from his rapid breathing. "Please. You have to do something."

Tsunade shook her head. "There's nothing I can do."

"But…that… You can do anything medically. Naruto never shuts up about 'Granny' and how she can heal any injury. Even prevent herself from dying by regenerating her own organs. You expect me to believe you can't help him?"

"His body…" She shook her head, remembering the husk Naruto's body was. How all vitality and life had been drained from it. "If I could have saved him, I would have. It just wasn't possible."

"You said he could survive, if he knew what was happening! You told me specifically, I don't know how many times, that he wouldn't die!"

"I also said he might die anyway!"

"No." He shook his head, negating the whole thing. "He's not dead. You're wrong. Look at him, he's just resting! He can't be dead. As many times as he's been hurt, from wounds worse than this… He's too strong. He's not dead."

The baby cried even louder, positively roaring.

"I know." Tsunade nodded, swallowing painfully. "I know how you feel, why you think that. But he was too weak. I've treated this boy countless times, from injuries as severe as this, you're right. Always, I've felt his will to live. Always. This time was different. It was like he'd given up before I'd gotten here. And there was nothing for him to hold on with. He was completely drained."

Hinata made a small sound of misery.

Sasuke continued to shake his head, staring at Tsunade. "Do you remember?" he said, nearly vomiting with the strength of his heartache, but somehow managing to remain upright. "Do you remember us coming to you at the hospital? How scared he was? How he said he didn't want to die? How afraid he was that he would die? How could you let this happen? How- Oh…"

And now he lost it as he sank to the floor and buried his face in the baby's neck. So forceful was his grief that he thought something inside him must actually be broken. How it hurt. He kept careful hold of his screaming son to make sure the gut-wrenching sobs didn't injure him in some way. Held him and cried.

Tsunade stared at both black heads. She would carry Naruto's death to her own grave, but for now she put it away. Now that Sasuke had at last begun the grieving process plans would need to be made. Naruto's body disposed of. Things would move forward... And now that the child had arrived, he would need to be safe-guarded. Besides which, from all she could see, the child was unnatural to every degree. That would have to be taken into account. The precise level of his abnormality would have to be explored.

The child continued to cry, beating his small fists against Sasuke's head.

Looking at them, she had a moment of horrific insight: The child, the impact of whom was already being felt halfway across the world, would continue to shape events by the very fact of his existence. Could conceivably change the face of their world as they knew it. And Sasuke was not someone easily beaten. Throw in his grief, the inherently unstable nature of his personality, and now fatherhood…he would be unstoppable should anyone come after that child. And people would come. Countries would tear themselves apart for the chance to have it. Sasuke had been on the offensive when she arrived, but now, while the child was new, and Sasuke incapacitated, would be the best chance any of them had for continued peace. Before anyone else knew of the child, or that it was born.

It would be her duty.

She made her observations in silence. By the feel of the wind slipping through the cracks in the balcony doors, she felt safe in concluding that she was somewhere in the extreme north. It had been mid-morning when she received Sasuke's scroll, yet she was sure the sky here had been black. In support of this, both Sasuke and Hinata were wearing heavy furs. She would need to see the stars to ascertain her exact location, but she had an idea.

Hinata. The edge she'd boasted of to Shizune had sharpened into something with hard eyes, and an even harder demeanor. She could scarce credit the dangerous kunoichi at her back as being the Hyuuga Hinata she knew. That's because she's not the girl I know. What in God's name happened up here? Aside from the obvious, that was. Without taking her eyes from Sasuke and his bawling infant, she allowed herself to feel out Hinata's chakra and the dual quality of it.

A peek showed Hinata to be composed now. Byakugan still activated, tears slow and silent. She had the unnerving sense that the girl was aware of her indirect scrutiny. Very aware. She spent another moment feeling out her chakra before she returned her gaze to Sasuke. The man was bent over the squalling babe, and all but squalling himself. No. Not his. Naruto is the only one who ever existed for him. Her eyes went to Naruto. Possible. He wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances, but…possible. Unless there was a fourth party up here. Also possible. The fact was she didn't know for sure. But if there was even a slight chance of it being Naruto's, the girl would bear monitoring. The strength of the chakra she felt from her shouldn't be possible for a woman who wasn't even showing yet. It shouldn't be possible for anyone in her condition, period.

Moving casually, she turned so that both Sasuke and Hinata were in sight.

The question was: just how dangerous had Hinata become? She could see faint signs of weight-loss, perhaps a bit of malnutrition, but there was no use thinking these were handicaps. She knew when she was in the presence of danger. Could practically smell it in the air. What she didn't know was if that dual chakra would come into play. Just because Naruto's pregnancy had been capable of protecting him didn't mean Hinata's would, assuming her child was his. Even from where she stood, she could sense a natural gestation. Which meant it had come about by natural means, and thus should exhibit all the natural characteristics of a normal pregnancy. Naruto hadn't been the one in possession of those unnatural powers, after all. His child had. It was then unlikely that Naruto would pass those powers on.

Even taking into consideration any growth in the girl's abilities, Tsunade felt confident of her own prowess. She could take Hinata. And perhaps get to the babe before Sasuke could once more render himself an effective adversary. She would have to act now-

Those pale eyes slid to hers and held. Tsunade met the gaze with a hooded one of her own.

Hinata walked forward and placed herself in front of Sasuke.

She'd really hoped this wouldn't happen. Her heart was like a stone in her chest over Naruto. The simple act of breathing was difficult, let alone movement. Back in the kitchen, when she'd agreed to this, things had been in a state of emergency. Now the pall of grief that hung over the room somehow didn't lend itself to the possibility of danger.

Sasuke was clearly no help at the moment. If she was honest with herself, she couldn't fault Tsunade's assessment of the situation; there would be no better time to get at the baby.

But nothing was going according to Sasuke's plan. Naruto wasn't healed, and she was on her own. The unthinkable had actually happened. No, not quite. Sasuke's not dead.

She'd been uncomfortably aware of the older woman's assessment of her. It was the professional scrutiny of an opponent. She couldn't be sure if her condition was known to Tsunade, but it was definitely known to her, and just then she didn't know how well she'd be able to keep her promise to Sasuke. Not a state of mind advisable when going up against someone like the former Hokage.

Unbidden, her brief fight with Pain came to her. That hadn't ended well. In an effort to peacefully resolve what she saw as an unfolding disaster, she spoke.

"I know what you're planning, Tsunade-sama," she said quietly. "But before you…before you cross that line-"

Tsunade unmasked her chakra, cutting off her words. Hinata had time to realize that this was it, that it was happening, that the only thing standing between her and Sasuke's baby was herself. And she wasn't sure she could do this. Suddenly, she wasn't sure at all.

She almost ran. Almost ducked aside. There were not many seasoned warriors who could stand in the face of such force coming at them –Tsunade herself!- and she wasn't seasoned. Wasn't even that experienced.

In the second it took Tsunade to step, leap, and lift her leg in preparation to bringing it down in her legendary Heavenly Foot of Pain, she felt time fracture apart. The moment divided into separate heartbeats. She felt as if she hyperventilated through each one, but knew she wasn't.

It was only a second. Her fear reached a peak. An instant wherein she visualized herself dodging that blow, but she didn't.

Her chin lowered in the face of such unstoppable strength. Tsunade leapt, even in the confines of that room. She blinked, then she blocked that downward kick with both Lion Fists crossed over her head. The blow drove her to one knee.

"Kill her, Hinata!"

Screamed from somewhere behind her. She sensed Sasuke getting to his feet and backing away with the baby.

Something in her settled. The grief, the pain, the heartache and confusion. The fear. It was all sucked away to leave an empty calm that allowed for clear thought and cool retaliation. Chakra surged through her body, packing the punch she leveled at the former Hokage with enough juice to send the woman crashing against the far wall. Tsunade's hair whipped around her face as her own chakra stormed about her. The older woman was gathering herself, twin chakra blades coating her hands as she shot off from the wall and collided with her.

She was already rushing to meet her. Caught Tsunade by the throat, and kept going, propelling them out the balcony doors with a crash of wood, and into the snowy darkness beyond. They landed on the iced inlet of water, skidding until they came up against one of the cliffs.

-oOo-

Tsunade broke away with a punch that forced her to jump back into another skid. She straightened warily, watchfully, studying the way Tsunade also took a moment to assess her. The wind whipped her hair free of its braid, but she could see Tsunade's frown.

"You're stronger," Tsunade said. The wind forced her to shout. "I don't expect you to understand or agree-"

It was her turn to cut the words short. She flew off the snow in a spray of ice, saw the way Tsunade's chakra swelled in her hands, and twisted mid-air. Even so, she felt herself caught by the back of her tunic, felt herself thrown with unbelievable strength, and countered by latching onto Tsunade's hair with one hand. Her trajectory was sharply checked, and the woman went tumbling with her.

They both used chakra to keep themselves anchored on the slippery ice as their fight began in earnest. On the outskirts of her mind she knew a species of trembling awe that she was fighting Tsunade-sama herself, but inside, where that stillness resided, she realized she was stronger. Not just within herself, but stronger than Tsunade.

And Tsunade knew it.

She could see it in the blazing brown eyes, feel it in every punch and kick she blocked with punches and kicks of her own. Strikes that would have leveled buildings, she withstood. Barely even felt them as she delivered attacks that stunned them both. Tsunade was driven back a step, then another.

She almost missed it in her focus: the way a knot of heat radiated from low down in her belly. How her strength stemmed from this. How it wasn't just her Byakugan that fed her information on her opponent's attacks, but this secret heat. Those blows would have killed her, yet she was still standing.

This, too, Tsunade noticed. She feigned a blow that Hinata lifted an arm to block, grabbed her arm, and yanked her in close. "That child is Naruto's. Isn't it?" she hissed into her face.

Right then, with Tsunade's light scent in her nose, and her golden eyes dark in their murky surroundings, she saw what wasn't said. The knowledge that this wasn't just about the baby in the house anymore. Tsunade wasn't holding back. Wasn't trying to overpower her long enough to get to Sasuke and the baby, but actively trying to finish her.

There was no remorse in those calculating eyes at seeing that she realized the truth. Tsunade only wrenched herself back, gave herself room, and came at her again with renewed intent.

That heat in her swelled, obliterating thought.

Tsunade hurtled into her with a knee that staved in several ribs. She felt this. Didn't stop to note the way that heat mended them even as the blow struck. She lifted Tsunade high into the air one-handed and slammed her to the ice. Blood erupted from Tsunade's mouth, but Hinata dropped to one knee on her chest, aping her move from before, and drew back her fist. Tsunade's leg swung up, clamped around her neck, and flipped her. Now it was Tsunade's fist coming down at her, but she caught it and used it to leverage herself up into a head-butt. Tsunade soared backward.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she was leaping after her, thought still gone, heat still sizzling in every pore of her body. Tsunade flashed away, reappeared behind her, ducked when she twisted to face her. There was a fraction of surprise in her overheated mind at the way Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou was not only withstood, but countered with precise chakra bursts from Tsunade. Countered and combated with Taijutsu superior to any she'd ever faced from someone who wasn't Hyuuga. She was the one being driven back now. Tsunade was grim.

The heat intensified beneath her skin, until she felt she must be smoking in the arctic air around her.

When Tsunade's face changed, showing an expression beyond killing intent at last, Hinata looked down at herself. Raised her hands before her face.

She was glowing. Not the familiar blue of her chakra, but bright yellow.

"Gaaah!"

She looked up to see Tsunade flying at her with her chakra fully unleashed. It raged with enough ferocity to rival the punishing wind.

For a moment, she wasn't sure what happened. She knew contact had been made, that she'd turned her hands to protect herself against the attack…but she was left facing the house, and Tsunade was nowhere in sight. Not at first. Her Byakugan fed her the information that Tsunade was a hundred or so yards behind her. Moaning. She turned to see this, and felt something brush her leg. She looked down.

An arm. Held in her hand by its wrist, the lacquered fingers still twitching. The arm itself ended at the shoulder joint, showing gristle and bone, and dripping blood that even now was in the process of freezing solid.

And she was still glowing, she saw.

Another moan drifted to her on the wind.

She couldn't feel herself walking. All she felt was power, the way it pumped through her in hot waves, timed to her heartbeat. She reached Tsunade and stared down at her, trying to process what she was seeing.

The woman lay writhing in the snow: it looked as if her chest had been torn open by a wild animal. Several ribs protruded from the cavity, and the entire lower half of her body was twisted at an unnatural angle. Blood ran from her mouth in slick torrents, but she could see Tsunade's Creation Rebirth technique beginning to activate.

Her hand was already lifting, blazing yellow Lion Fist formed, to come down on Tsunade's face-

-Light swallowed Tsunade, muffling her curse of rage, and then she was no more. Gone in a puff of smoke the wind snatched away. Hinata was left staring down at the bloody ice.

For a long minute her chakra refused to subside. It circled in her, searching for an outlet. At length she blinked and she was herself. She had to take several deep breaths before her mind cleared enough to fully register her surroundings again. Once she did, she slowly turned around. She could see Sasuke silhouetted in the balcony, presumably watching her.

Sasuke backed away into the room when she jumped up through the broken doors. He was silent, Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan staring.

The wind had all but blown the fire out. It gusted about the room, making Sasuke squint, and the baby scream even louder. "I was going to help you," Sasuke began.

Hinata smoothed her hair back with a shaky hand. She noted that he was no longer holding the baby. A clone was. It stood in the corner, awkwardly rocking the howling boy. She looked back at Sasuke. "You were right not to. If she'd gotten past me, and the only thing left to protect him was your clone-"

"I know. It's why I-"

"Stayed. I understand. The strongest protection needed to stay with the baby. You don't have to tell me, Sasuke. I'm sorry I failed."

He nodded. "You tried. I saw how close it was…" His eyes dropped to her hand. When she glanced down to see what he was looking at, she saw that she was still holding the arm. She tossed it out the balcony.

Their eyes held a moment, before Sasuke slowly let his gaze drop once more, this time to her stomach.

Hinata turned away from him. "Where do you think she went?"

"Back to wherever I summoned her from. Hinata, your strength-"

"Do you think she knows enough to report us? Or that she will report us?" She wanted to keep him talking, but not about that. Naruto was dead, and her condition was now known. How that condition may or may not have altered her body just wasn't something she felt up to discussing. Besides, now was hardly the time. Sasuke might have been ready to step in and fight, but she could see he was far from fine.

"I don't see how she could. She never left this room. Beyond the fact that Naruto's…"

She turned around. He was in the process of putting his face in one hand, but the tears still came and unmanned him. Her own grief responded and had her flooding right along with him. The last of her adrenaline bled away. She went to him and touched his shoulder. His head. Put a hand over his, where he had it covering his face. Then hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. He clung to her. Held on to her as his knees gave out and he sank to the floor. She ended up wobbling to the floor with him. Right then she didn't know what was worse: that he was so overcome, or that his sobs now came without sound.

"I know," she whispered at his hair. "I know. Sasuke…please. You can't fall apart like this, the baby needs you." She beckoned at the clone to bring the boy, who hadn't stopped screaming since he started. The clone looked relieved and hurried to obey.

But when he passed the table, the baby stopped. The clone stopped too, looking uncertainly from Hinata, to the baby, and back.

Sasuke looked up. "No, bring him. I need him."

The moment the clone moved passed the table, the baby began howling again. Again the clone stopped. The baby stopped too, sniffles making his little voice hitch.

Sasuke got to his feet, went to the clone, took his son, and frowned down at him. The boy was shivering in the aftermath of his screams, red-faced and hiccuping.

Hinata approached him. "Tsunade-sama was right. He needs to be fed and cleaned." She stayed away from the topic of Naruto for both their sakes.

Still frowning at the boy, Sasuke nodded. "I know." He glanced at Naruto. "I know. Just…I can't leave him here." He turned from the table to look at her, and the screaming resumed. He switched to staring at the baby in misery.

She touched his arm. "I understand. But there's nothing we can do for him right now. Your son needs you. When he's quiet and fed and everything, you can come back and take care of Naruto. All right? Just come with me. Please. I can mix milk for the baby, and help you clean him."

Sasuke nodded against the baby's head. "All-" He had to swallow. "All right."

Executing a teleportation jutsu while mortally injured was ill-advised; she reached her destination in decidedly worse condition than when she'd left Hinata. Had she not already been healing herself during the fight she might not have survived that last attack.

The thought of that girl and what she now carried tightened her lips more than the pain did, but she held in her expletives for the moment. When the smoke cleared from her arrival, she did a quick scan to make sure she was alone. When all seemed safe, she let out a relieved breath.

She'd made sure to materialize far from camp, far away from the patrol units she'd set in place. Having her injuries seen was out of the question. Nor did she want to have to explain how she'd received them. That she'd lost a fight in an attempt to kill a child. A decision she still felt was sound, but which was only valid if it succeeded. Well, no matter. She'd failed, and no one need know how low she'd sunk in the name of peace.

I'm no better than the council. Or the previous council, when she thought of how they'd killed the Uchiha for fear of their power. All had been done in the pursuit of peace. And here she was trying to kill an infant for the same reason.

Tsunade bit her lip till it bled, but her shame was deep. It was the right thing to do, she insisted to herself. Perhaps. Even so, a new plan would have to be formulated. Especially now that Hinata-

A sound had her sitting up, looking around.

Nothing but wind and trees met her eyes. Her stretch of the forest remained deserted to her heightened senses. The sound came again, and she was on her knees, turning to find a deer staring at her from the shadows.

Now she did curse. A single bolt of lighting dropped it where it stood, leaving her free to settle down and resume her healing. She would have to be careful of Inuzuka and Hyuuga scouts, but she had enough sense to mask herself while she healed.

In the heat of battle, she could perform this process in a matter of minutes. Now, to give herself time to think as well as to lessen the strain on her body, she let it happen slowly. She used small sensations like the feel of her frozen hair melting in the warmer air to block out the pain of larger sensations like her arm re-growing itself. Eventually she was able to sink into a semi-trance and let her mind focus on what she was coming to realize as a problem far bigger than she'd imagined.

She lined the situation up in her mind: A child of potentially unrivaled power had been brought into being. A matter concerning Konoha's Jinchuuriki and a probable danger to his well-being, as well as the nation's. Could she have gotten away with not telling the council? No, she decided. The truth would have come out regardless, and likely have been an even bigger mess for having hidden it. She'd expected the council to aid her in achieving a peaceful solution. She still felt taking the child and observing it would have been best. With study, a way to harness it might have been possible. Perhaps even a way to guide it and raise it to protect Konoha. Killing would have been a last resort. But then the council had made it clear how they intended to take it themselves, and use it to conquer neighboring countries…their allies… They wanted war. She'd been happy to hear Naruto and Sasuke swear to keep it. It meant she wouldn't be the only one fighting for it. Smuggling them out of the village had seemed like a good idea. One that would buy her time to get around the council some way. But then to discover during her examinations just how powerful the child was, how aware…

Well. Her first attempt to handle the situation, telling the council, had backfired. Her second attempt, killing the child, might actually have made matters worse, now that she thought about it. Sasuke would have come against the village with everything he had. She would have Naruto's death on her hands as well as the condemnation of her peers. Stopping Sasuke would likely start another war, which, when she thought about this too, seemed inevitable no matter what she did. She wasn't sure one wasn't already on the way; news of Naruto would have to be given.

Whole again, she remained where she was, in a pile of dry leaves, and finally let herself think of him. She felt as if the hole in her chest opened all over again, her heartache was so strong. Resting her head on her knees, she let herself grieve without restraint.

She'd failed him. Sent him away, and now he was dead. All that boy had ever done was believe in her. It was all he'd ever asked for in return, and she'd tried. Tried to give him as much faith as he'd given her, but if she'd truly believed in him she wouldn't have sent him away. She should have trusted him, trusted his belief in the village. He would have found a way to sway the council to his side, she realized belatedly. He would have. It was what he did. His own special talent, swaying the most stubborn minds. Why hadn't she given him that chance?

Despair weighed her down. A moment of hopelessness. That child was too strong; it would change their world. Most likely for the worse. Another child, possibly just as strong, was also on its way, and there was very little chance of preventing its arrival short of killing Hinata. And Naruto was dead. She truly felt that there was little hope for any of them with him gone. He was –had been- their best shot at peace.

It felt good to cry, but it didn't last long. Naruto deserved more from her, but the past months had sucked her dry as well. She was left with her face, swollen and hot, resting against one knee and the wintery wind blowing sparse flecks of snow against her huddled shape. Her mind was blank. She stared at the patches of snow scattered beneath the trees until thoughts began drifting to her once more.

If the council wouldn't help her, and the child couldn't be killed, she surmised, then the only thing left to her was a summit. Perhaps that should have been the plan all along. The child would affect everyone; everyone should be involved in dealing with it. Especially with Naruto gone. She didn't like the idea of exposing Konoha's weakness in such a way, but then their weakness was already known by all. The child would have to be taken and shielded. Sasuke would need to be subdued. The real obstacle to those ends, Naruto, was sadly yet thankfully out of the picture. She would miss him for the rest of her days, but there would be no hope in Hell of taking, shielding, or subduing anyone if he were alive.

It was a plan. One that had to work, as they were now out of options.

Course of action decided, Tsunade got to her feet and retrieved the deer. Food was scarce these days.

-oOo-

Almost the entire village had fought on her side. All of the major clans, and most, if not all, of the Tokubetsu Jounin. This, in addition to civilians who'd sided with her. As such, the camp she walked into that night sprawled over a section of forest denuded of trees that stretched for some three or four square miles. She'd left for Sasuke's summons from within her tent, but she was sure her absence hadn't gone unnoticed. Shizune had been given orders to say that she was attending to an urgent matter should anyone ask. By the way every visible head turned to make note of her return, she guessed someone had asked. Any urgent matter was likely to affect them all directly; they stared in silent expectation. She stopped on the small knoll she'd taken to addressing them from and looked out over the many torch-lit faces.

"Naruto is dead," she announced.

The silence deepened.

She let that knowledge sink in, monitoring the way it did so slowly, or not at all in some cases, before she spoke again. "As one of the worst results-"

Someone shouldered their way to the front of the crowd. Hiashi, she saw.

"What do you mean," he said in a carrying voice, "that Naruto is dead? How do you come by this knowledge?"

"I went to him. Saw him. Tried to…help him."

Sakura joined Hiashi, her face a study in fury. "Help him? I've never known a patient to die of your help, Shisou. What really happened?"

That started the murmurs rippling through the crowd. Heads were put together. Looks thrown her way. She could all but feel the suspicion, never far from the surface these days, swelling to dangerous levels.

Hiashi silenced them by turning his back on her to face the crowd himself. "Enough! I say enough. We have followed this woman to our detriment. I, too, was skeptical of this child she says Naruto conceived, but we have all seen the lengths the council has gone to in the name of obtaining it. Look at us! We have followed her into exile. Landless! No Hyuuga has ever been exiled. Nor, I'll wager, have any of your people. But we agreed to it, remained steadfast to our symbol of Konoha –her- in the name of supporting Naruto. In the hopes of him helping us reclaim our village. And now she strolls in here after an absence to unknown parts, and tells us as coolly as she pleases that our reason for suffering in this shame for months...is dead? No." He turned and pinned Tsunade with an icy glare. "It is enough."

"If you would all listen-" Tsunade tried.

"Where is proof that he's dead?" Hiashi countered. There were nods behind him. "How did he die? What news is there of my daughter? What of the child, the cause of all this strife?"

She only hesitated a moment. "It is born."

Another loud mutter spread throughout the villagers.

While they were thus distracted, She took the opportunity to raise her voice and try again. "Hiashi is right. This has gone on long enough. My first attempts to remedy this situation have met with catastrophic results. It's my sincere belief that we must bring in the other nations. I propose a summit."

"To do what?" Hiashi said.

"To assess the situation, our status, and aid us in coming to a peaceful resolution to this. To assist us in taking back our village."

Speculative silence. Then, "And what, to you, would be a peaceful resolution?" Hiashi said. "Now that the child is here, and Naruto gone, what is it that's supposed to happen? If you wanted the child confiscated you could have done so while you were supposedly helping Naruto. Or do you tell me a Kage was no match for Uchiha Sasuke?"

She debated telling him of his daughter. No. Not yet. Knowledge was power, and as the unofficial spokesperson for what remained of the village, Hiashi had far too much power for her liking. She would need every ounce of leverage she could get with him. The time would come when news of his daughter would bend him to her will. Until then, "You underestimate the power of a parent, much less Sasuke. I will not act without advisement from a summit."

"Envoys from the other nations have been present in camp for weeks," Kakashi spoke up now. "They've been clamoring for information. Despite your best efforts, they have gotten it; they know of the child, and now, I daresay, Naruto. Why didn't you call a summit weeks ago?"

"You've all elected to follow me," she said. "That means you trust my judgment. I may have been Kage, but I am not without flaws. A summit is a drastic action, the last resource for peace in times of conflict. Other means of resolution had to be explored before-"

"What other means?" Hiashi said loudly.

"-Before I could conclude that this is the only way," Tsunade finished. "Hyuuga Hiashi, if you do not stand with me, make it known now. Any further contention and you may take yourself to Konoha and butt heads with the council."

There was a staring match between the two elder ninja that went on for several seconds before Hiashi sniffed and turned to speak to a clansman. Tsunade relaxed only marginally. In the wake of her final words, the other ruling Jounin approached her and began a whispered discussion on what this new plan entailed.

All throughout camp similar groups were huddled together. Whispering. Many were crying, some going so far as to sit down in the snow in their grief. Swallowing her own anguish, Sakura gathered her friends with a glance, and led the way between tents to a meeting place they'd established months ago.

Everyone who'd gone to the cabin for Naruto was present, with the addition of Konohamaru.

Sakura stood with her arms folded, all her muscles tense, as tears made hot tracks down her face. She couldn't speak for several minutes, but when she was able to, she lifted her head and cleared her throat. "Guys." They were watching her, their own pain evident. She cleared her throat again, and swiped at her face. "Guys, I don't buy it. She was supposedly off somewhere helping N….Nnn…helping him? And he ends up dead? No, there's more to it. I'm not saying she killed him, though I'm not…I'm not ruling that out. But there was fighting."

"She looked normal," Konohamaru pointed out with a shrug.

"No, Sakura's right," Tenten said slowly. "Her body might be fine, but her clothes are almost in rags. Her hair was a mess. That's a stupid thing to comment on, but I've never seen her so unkempt."

"Not only that," Sakura added. "Her Hyakugou is gone. Something required her to use it. She probably tried to hurt the b…buh…hurt someone, or take someone, and Ssssss…you know who stopped her. I don't know, but there's shit she's not telling us."

That kind of language from Sakura had them all more alert. "What do you suggest?" Lee said carefully. "We're still sealed. We can't even talk about N…Nnng-"

"I know." She glanced over her shoulder, toward camp. "But we don't need to. We just need to find out what she's keeping from us. I don't trust her." Her face broke again, at admitting this. Tsunade had been her idol for years. To watch the woman fall from that pedestal, to suspect her of hurting her best friend… "We need to get in her head," she said. "Inside her thoughts."

Frowns all around. But then every eye slowly went to Ino, who met Sakura's gaze with watery eyes of her own. "Consider it done," she rasped.

"Wait, that's it?" Shikamaru said. "Consider it done?"

"You got something to say, spit it out," Sakura snapped.

"How about we consider that we're about to attack Tsunade, of all people," he turned to her and grated. "Last I checked-"

"Who said anything about attacking?" Ino said. "I can be in and out of her mind in ten seconds."

Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right. I get it. I'm the one who left Nnnn…Nuh…left him first, so my name is mud to all of you, but I think I've since proven where my loyalties lie, okay? Don't you think I'm bleeding over…him… too? I can't help it that I seem to be the lone voice of reason here, but for all you eager people ready to fly to Sssss…to Thing's side, let me itemize the problem as I see it.

"This is a woman who's been having her authority undermined for months. Who's been surrounded by detractors and enemies for months, who's been ousted from her home. She's distrustful. No one, not even the people here, are allowed within fifty feet of her. No one except Shizune. She's guarded with us, and suspicious of every word, every glance. More than that, she's got a low-grade buzz of chakra going around her twenty-four seven. You guys haven't noticed that? Or that she has us especially monitored in case...our friends... make contact with us? The only way we will get close enough to her for Ino to do her thing is through attack. And there's no way we can take the Hokage. Period. It's just not possible. She's too strong."

They frowned at him, weighing his words. Kiba pulled his lip. "She does have us watched. No one's close to us right now, but then everyone is sort of reeling over this latest news."

"Can we do it while she's sleeping?" Lee asked.

"Her precautions are highest when she's sleeping," Sakura shook her head.

Konohamaru spoke up. "We can't fight her, and we can't sneak up on her. Fine, then. That leaves distraction. How long did you say you needed?" He looked at Ino. "Ten seconds? I can get you thirty."

They stared at him. "How?" Chouji asked.

The younger boy gave a grin just then that was very reminiscent of Naruto. "Just leave it to me." But then his smile faded. "If Boss really is gone, or she did something to him, then he needs me. Trust me, I'm all over this. You guys just be ready with someplace for us to disappear to once it's over."

Tsunade retired to her tent when she and the Jounin finalized plans to initiate the summit. The envoys had been brought into the discussion and since dispatched to their respective countries to begin the process. For now, she watched Shizune close the tent flap against the wind as she folded herself onto a low stool, and wrapped her hands around a bottle of warmed sake.

Shizune came to stand in front of her. "What really happened? You're back without the equipment you took, and your clothes are a mess. Your seal-"

Tsunade held up a hand. She didn't think the woman's low voice had carried beyond the tent walls, but she heard a noise just the same. "Are we alone?"

"You know we are. No one's allowed near this tent. There are sentries-"

"There. I definitely heard something."

Shizune's sigh said this new paranoia wasn't all that new. "I'll go check."

She set Tonton down to push the tent flap open, but that was as far as she got: Right then, the entire tent was ripped away. Sucked up into the night as if by a vacuum, exposing the women.

Shizune shrieked, but she was barely heard as a veritable stampede of naked young men, all gorgeous and oozing sex appeal, swarmed over Tsunade and Shizune both.

Half a mile away, everyone stood grouped around a sweating and straining Konohamaru. "Go," he panted.

Ino nodded and disappeared. Neji kept his Byakugan trained on the tangle of bodies half a mile away. "She's in. When she gets back, we'll only have seconds to leave the area before we're pursued. Not sure we aren't being discovered as I speak."

"I've got that covered," Sakura muttered. "How much longer?"

Thirty seconds seemed like an hour to them, but Konohamaru dropped to his hands and knees with a gust of release. "She totaled them. But it was a good minute and a half before she did. Horny old broad."

While they blinked at this imagery, Ino reappeared, out of breath, in a puff of smoke. They looked at her in question.

She burst into tears.

The rest of them hung their heads. "So he's really gone then," Sakura whispered. Ino nodded. Konohamaru chose that moment to add his waterworks to hers.

Neji was the only one composed. "Bullshit."

That got their attention.

"I don't believe it," he went on. "I'll tell you what I do believe in: our friend. Until I see his body, I'm not giving up on him. I say we go to him."

"No," Ino said in a rusty voice. "He really is gone. He's been dead for hours."

Neji lowered his eyes a moment. "Still," he said quietly. "I think we should go. If he is then his baby, its other father, will need us. Who knows what the summit will do? Go after them, most like. Our other friend is powerful, but he's one man. We're talking nations, here. Converging on him. And if he doesn't have...him...by his side, he's going to need us. Besides," and here he met each serious pair of eyes. "My cousin's with them. I've been getting a strong feeling about her lately-"

"She nearly killed Tsunade," Ino spoke up. She met the startled glances. "Just remembered that. It was her, not S- Not him. And she's…"

They waited, staring at the way she chewed her lip, but there was a cry in the distance. They turned to see several Jounin rushing toward them, and Sakura said, "Now!"

-ooo-

Tsunade bustled up to the large cloud of smoke and cursed in disgust. "Anything?"

Karin went over the area carefully. "I can sense the jutsu, but not the destination," she said. "I'm sorry-"

The older woman turned away. "Fan out. Find them." Her tone was one of imminent violence; she recognized her own jutsu and was too incensed to feel pride at Sakura's execution of it. "Tracking them will be impossible, but find them. By whatever means necessary." Her mouth pursed for a second, as if there was more she wanted to say. Instead, she spun from the stares and marched back to camp.

The assembled Jounin watched her storm off. No one so much as twitched in a manner that suggested looking for anyone. After a moment of watching her yell at Shizune in the distance, they glanced at each other.

"I saw my daughter in that ridiculous attack," Inoichi said. "Hidden, but I saw her. Saw what she did. It would seem the children feel as we do. That Tsunade is keeping things from us."

Hiashi stepped forward. "That-"

Inoichi held up a hand. "I know you've taken up the mantle of leader, albeit unofficially, but hear me out." He waited until the Hyuuga stepped back with a dip of his head before continuing. "The notion of a summit is a radical one. One, unfortunately, that this situation is now in need of. However, a summit will only solve the issue of Tsunade's deposition. The matter of this child, and what's to be done with it, will circle the table without resolution, much as it did with Tsunade and the council. Like it or not, it is a power source. And, like it or not, talk of isolating it, or studying it, is just that. Talk. As long as it lives, nations will fight over it. Especially since Naruto is gone. The only safe conclusion they can come to is to kill it."

The rest of them met each other's eyes. Some wore neutral expressions, while others were decidedly uneasy.

"It sits ill with me that we're defying Tsunade," Inoichi murmured, chin in his hand, "but the woman is no longer our leader. We are here, all of us, out of loyalty. To our village, yes, but more importantly to Naruto." He looked up at them with grave eyes, and to a man they all straightened their spines in response. "Sasuke defied everything to flee with Naruto. To keep his child safe. He stood by Naruto despite the cost. Hinata gave up everything to do the same. We stood by Naruto as well, by fighting with Tsunade. Because we thought she was protecting him. How can we abandon him now? I don't know what Tsunade's new agenda really is, but this summit will do the very thing Sasuke was trying to protect Naruto against. The very thing we chose exile over rather than be a part of. There has to be a better way."

"But Naruto is dead," Shibi said. "What is it you suggest?"

"That we do as our children have done," Inoichi said. "They have the right idea, I'm thinking. Clearly, they haven't given up on Naruto. They stand by him still, even if that now means standing by Sasuke and this child. I propose we do no less. If we are truly Leaf ninja, and wish to honor Konoha, then we must stand by Naruto. Even in death. No one believed in Konoha more than he did. And as for Sasuke…it's high time we stood by him as well. He has never had the support of his home."

"You're saying we should go to him," Hiashi breathed. "Abandon the village, and any hope of going back, completely."

"I like to think the village is its people, not a piece of land," Inoichi said. "But I don't see anything to go back to. Do you?"

Hiashi rubbed his chin, eyes troubled.

"The children must have some idea of where Sasuke is," Shikaku said into the silence. "We'd have to find them in order to find Sasuke. Can you? Can you make contact with Ino?"

"I can," Inoichi confirmed. "No matter where she is. Not that it will be easy. However, if we're going to do this, we should do it right." He glanced at the clan heads meaningfully.

"All of us?" Tsume interpreted. "All members of all the clans?"

"If we're renouncing Konoha to stand by Naruto, then we do it in earnest," Hiashi nodded, showing where he stood. "The Hyuuga, for one, will follow the example set by my daughter."

"So will the Aburame."

"And the Inuzuka."

Each one pledged their clan. Such a moment as divorcing themselves from the village their families had spent generations serving was met with heavy hearts and bowed heads. But Konoha, as they knew it, was no more. They'd fought, and lost, and had been idle too long in the name of trusting a woman who no longer seemed capable of leadership. A concrete course of action was welcomed.

They picked their heads up and separated with no further speech, each in search of their people. Those with no clan behind them, such as Kakashi, Gai, Ibiki, and a few others, went in search of more common supporters.

-oOo-

When the clearing they'd occupied was empty, a shimmer in the air resolved itself into Sachi. She stood with a finger to her lips, thinking.

She'd probably been one of few people, if not the only one, to be pleased with Naruto's death. From the sound of things, events could not be more tailored for her success. Sasuke was alone, with an infant of possibly staggering power. Both of whom were ripe for the plucking, she mused.

Her smile was slow and wide. Soon, Sasuke. Our meeting is destined.

His son's wails were incessant. Bouncing off the walls to beat unmercifully against his eardrums, where he had his head buried in his hands. The child was now in a basket at his feet, himself parked on the couch. He stared at the boy, eyes leaking, and wished he had it in him to voice his grief so openly.

Hinata stirred from her perch by the fire. "Should you try feeding him again, do you think?"

"Tried countless times. You saw him, he doesn't want it." The bottle, one of many items he'd gotten during those two weeks he'd been gone, stood untouched near the quaking basket.

"Maybe he's cold."

Sasuke doubted it. The fire was a fierce blaze, the heat of which reached all the way into the room. But just to be sure, he touched one of the boy's clenched fists. "He's warm."

"Well, we can't just leave him like this! It's been hours-"

"Don't you think I know that?" He picked his head up to look at her at last. "Don't you think I know he needs something that I'm not giving him? He doesn't want to eat. He's clean, he's warm, he's dry. Screams whether I'm holding him or not. I don't know what else to do! I wish he'd fucking tell me so I could do it. If Naruto were here-" The thought of Naruto lying dead upstairs made him stop breathing. He had to close his eyes and struggle before he could inhale and go on. "He's not here, though. I brought him out here and failed him. And now I'm failing our son. I can't-" He pinched the bridge of his nose. A massive headache throbbed in his temples.

-oOo-

It was several seconds before he realized that the room was finally quiet. The only sound to be heard was the crackling fire. The screaming had stopped. Sasuke slowly brought his hand down so that it covered his mouth, and listened. He saw that he'd gotten up and crossed the room while he'd been yelling. He turned now from Hinata's wide eyes to see his son.

The basket was empty.

It wasn't tipped over, either, to indicate that his son had rolled out of it. It was just empty. The length of fur the boy had been wrapped in remained, but the boy himself was gone.

Sasuke felt his skin shrink all over his body as panic punched through him. Hinata came to stand at his elbow. His chakra erupted full force as he snatched his sword up from where it was leaning against the wall. Sharingan whirled into place.

"There." Hinata's Byakugan stared upward, at the ceiling. He looked upward as well, picturing the layout of the house. They were in the main room. The room directly above them was his. The room Naruto was in.

Sasuke exchanged a glance with her and saw terror and dread on her face. Probably the same look that was on his own face, he thought. "How'd he get up there?" he whispered. As if the boy could hear them.

Hinata shook her head. Then shivered.

Here was everything they'd feared about the baby coming to pass. Right then, every unknown about the baby seemed to leap to the forefront of their minds. Every horror they'd speculated on, every nightmare they'd had. Bracing himself, Sasuke led the way to the kitchen, over the bloodstains, and into the stairwell. Hinata had a trembling hand of fright on the small of his back the entire way up.

The upstairs hall was pitch black and deserted, but then they hadn't expected to see anyone. Sasuke paused anyway to give half a glance over his shoulder. Hinata gave a tiny nod. The baby was still in the room with Naruto, then. He heard the way her breath whistled in and out of her nose, noted the way the hand she had resting on his back had switched to clutching his tunic, and forced himself to take a calming breath; the sword held in front of him quivered with his own tension.

They reached the door. Hinata's body was flush against his back now, where it shivered almost as badly as his own was doing. He put one hand on the knob, waited until his nerves settled from Hinata's involuntary squeal, and twisted.

Slowly, silently, the door opened. No creak of rusty hinges. The darkness of the hall gave way seamlessly to the darkness of the room beyond. Nothing. No movement. No sound other than the wind whistling around the room. He sensed death, but that was Naruto. His throat was too dry for him to swallow, while his body was conversely drenched in cold sweat. In the extremity of his fear, Sasuke fancied he could feel the darkness as a velvety weight against his eyeballs.

They moved across the threshold as one, Hinata's arm now clamped with terrible strength around his middle. His sword wove and dipped in the air, but his chakra was steady within him. Get a grip, he scolded himself. You are literally scared shitless, as if you haven't gone up against far worse than a baby in your life.

The reprimand didn't help much; there was nothing worse than this in his memory.

They were in the room. Hinata was gripping him so hard he thought she'd soon bite him in her terror, yet he couldn't tell her to release him. As much as it shamed him, he wanted the support.

A wavering flame appeared in his palm. His eyes skipped about the glacial room, searching, until Hinata pointed a shaking finger over his shoulder. Toward the far side of the room. He edged in that direction, and she shuffled with him.

Naruto's corpse was thrown in sharp relief as they passed it. Even now, Sasuke's insides twisted at the knowledge he was dead. He missed him savagely in that moment, freezing where he stood. For that endless moment he was unable to move on, to pass the table completely. Naruto wouldn't have been so afraid, he thought. Wouldn't be cowering with an equally petrified woman. Sasuke closed his eyes. After a minute, they pressed on.

When they rounded the table, they found the baby on the floor between the balcony and the table itself.

Snow swirled in from the shattered doors, only to melt a foot from the boy's body. At first sight there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. He was on his back, arms and legs waving fitfully in the air. Unnaturally quiet now, true, yet his eyes were open and he didn't seem to be in any pain. But no, there was something different. Sasuke stared at him and felt a yell rising up the back of his throat.

It was his eyes. The way they flickered. Sasuke risked holding the flame closer, the better to see, to believe, but there could be no doubting what he saw. Hinata did give a muffled scream then.

First black, the color he'd been born with. Then Sharingan. Rinnegan. There was the Byakugan Hinata said she'd seen in what felt like another life. The eyes returned to black, and stayed that way, only to begin that flickering cycle again. And again, more rapidly than before, as if his son was searching for something. The longer he searched, the more agitated he became. A frustrated cry left him every now and then as the cycle continued. Sasuke watched helplessly, hair standing on end, as the cycle first grew erratic, then fell out of sequence, then faltered altogether.

Sharingan, black, Rinnegan, Sharingan, Byakugan, black, Byakugan, black, black, Sharingan, Rinnegan…

Kyuubi.

Hinata's nails dug into his skin as Sasuke backed them up to the wall. Kyuubi's eyes glowed in his son's face, slit pupils angry and malevolent. The Genjutsu he reflexively threw out met with the same invisible, impenetrable wall as always. His grip on his sword tightened as lightning coated it.

Nothing happened for a minute or more. But then a fine, yellow light outlined the still and now silent boy. This grew and thickened until his son glowed bright enough to illuminate the entire room. The flame in Sasuke's hand withered away. There was another of those hesitations from the baby, wherein Sasuke thought he was concentrating, and then the chakra began to take shape.

Safely pressed between Sasuke's broad back and the wall, Hinata let loose another tiny shriek. "Oh God, what is that?"

Sasuke was wondering the same thing. The chakra warped and condensed, stretched and flailed, as if his son didn't know what to do with it. This went on for some time, until it seemed the boy found a way that worked for him.

Out of the misshapen cloud of chakra grew what looked like a long, segmented arm. It reached upward and down, touching the floor. Another arm joined the first, then two more, and two more again. Sasuke studied this. His son was the center, a human abdomen on what appeared to be an arachnoid shape. The entire structure was nearly as high as his knees.

Yet another pause. More concentration from his son. Then the arms, all resting on the floor, leveraged him upward about a foot off the stones. Moving separately, each leg lifting high before it was set down again, they began a slow, painstaking walk toward the table. Sasuke watched, hardly daring to blink, as one arm attached itself to a table leg, then another. For a moment the boy was awkwardly suspended from the side of the thing, but then the arms resumed their climb.

Sasuke jerked toward the table when he realized what his son was doing, but Hinata yanked him back. "Don't," she hissed. "We don't know how he'll react if you interrupt him."

True enough. He contained himself, but it was an effort.

The arms successfully made it to the top, where they now crawled over Naruto's body and crouched there. A pause. Then the arms carefully lowered their burden until the baby lay on Naruto's chest. He let loose a little whimper at this contact. A sound that had Sasuke swallowing hard, and Hinata blinking furiously.

"He wanted his father," Sasuke muttered. "That's what he needed, what I can't give him." He closed his eyes in anguish. The heartache was fierce. Too much. It was too-

Hinata's scream derailed his grief. Mangekyo came before his eyes were even open, but once they were he was glad of it.

He saw what she must have seen with her Byakugan: the chakra in his son, not what was visible, but what lurked deep inside his little body, was surging at an alarming rate. "What the hell-" He could feel it too, he realized, and felt it spike outward a split second before it exploded, blinding him and Hinata both.

Hearing returned first. A ringing sound in his ears. The sound of wheezing. A deep, wracking cough somewhere to his right. Some odd sound he couldn't immediately identify. A rumbling, cracking sound. The cough came again, this time followed by a moan.

Sensation returned in the form of tingling in his skin. This escalated to wide-spread pain over the whole left side of his body. His eyes, when he opened them, felt gritty. He saw a cloud of grey in a faint orange glow and wondered at it. Realized there were snowflakes and dust floating in the air above him. He brought his left hand to his face. It was burned. Raw. The skin still bubbling, the sleeve of his tunic gone to reveal his whole arm a mess. He tried to sit up. Something heavy lay across his stomach, pinning him to the floor. Gave up.

He lay there for a long while, dazed. Until he heard the moan again and more coughing. He thought maybe he drifted in and out of consciousness for a time. The pain was a sharp as ever, but there were no more moans or coughing. Then he jerked in a convulsive breath and his mind cleared somewhat.

Moving pulled at the skin on his left side. He felt it tearing, bleeding…and saw that it wasn't just his arm that was burned. There was a dim recollection of turning away from the blast, trying to shield Hinata, but it was so fuzzy. He couldn't think, couldn't do more than blink at the perplexing realization that he was downstairs. Lying half in the kitchen, half in the stairwell. When he managed to turn his head, he saw Hinata sprawled about ten feet away.

There was rubble on the stairs, when he finally managed to extricate himself from the table on top of him. He stood staring at that. The table. Splintered and blackened, but recognizable as the table Naruto was on…

His thoughts finally clicked into place. Sped up, rewound, assembled themselves in proper sequence so that he scrabbled over the debris and up the stairs.

The hall was on fire. Or it had been. Isolated flames clung to the corners along the ceiling and floor. The doorway to his room was one solid wall of fire, though. The source of the crackling sound he'd heard.

He was through the doorway on a shout of fear, his chakra shielding him from the flames. Once through he was brought up short. The wind was still blowing in unchecked from the balcony; the half of the room closest to it was free of fire. Both Naruto and the baby were lying among broken masonry. They were almost completely obscured by the snow gusting in. He picked his way to them, noting that Naruto was lying a few feet away from the baby, and that the room was in shambles. Cracks in the walls, part of the ceiling blown off, where more snow swirled inside. A chunk of the floor missing, showing the main room below. Gouts of flame here and there. He went to the baby first.

The boy was shivering and blue with cold. Careful of his left hand, he scooped him up and held him close to his chest, trying to warm him. His son didn't appear to be awake, but he was breathing and unharmed as far as Sasuke could see. He risked using his left hand anyway, chafing at the boy's skin in an effort to warm him.

There was no sign now of the powers he'd witnessed. The baby's chakra was completely submerged. He stared at the closed lids, at the eyelashes that made small, dark fans on his pale cheeks. Three Great Doujutsu, and he has them all. He had no idea how that was possible, but then the little life in his hands shouldn't be possible either, yet here he was. He wondered what his son had done with that blast of chakra. Why he'd seemed to be searching for the power in himself to do whatever it was he'd done. He just wanted to be near Naruto. Knows he's dead. Grief probably made his chakra spike out of control like that. Possible. Probable, even. He had no way of knowing, and at the moment, didn't care. The child was unhurt, and that was all that mattered.

-oOo-

When he looked up, his mind already on getting his son downstairs and seeing to Hinata, his eyes fell on Naruto.

For a moment, just a moment, he'd forgotten he was dead. That filled him with a mixture of shame, shock, and horror. The feeling was like something rancid in his stomach. Slithering through him in an oily fashion. Holding his son upright against his shoulder, Sasuke slowly sank to his knees.

He had to let go, he realized. As impossible as this notion was, as unconscionable as the idea was in his mind, and as mightily as every atom of his body strained in negation of this fact…it was the truth. He had to let Naruto go. Just voicing it in his head brought on a moan of agony, but there could be no more denying it. Everything ended, it seemed. Everything he loved. His family. His brother. Now Naruto, who'd been his bright, shining new lease on life…was gone. His heart, his reason for living. Gone.

His son was a warm, soft weight in his arms. He squeezed him, rocking back and forth, as he tried to breathe through the worst of his pain. Holding the boy helped. A piece of Naruto. But he couldn't get up. Moving would be the start of life without Naruto, and that he could not face. It wasn't enough, the time he'd had with him. Not enough to last him the rest of his days. A thousand years wouldn't have been enough. But he cherished it. Held it close. Used it to at least think about moving on. Just…not yet. In a minute. Maybe never. No, he would never be able to live without that smile, or those eyes.

He didn't know how to go on, to live. It was like someone had a fist in his chest, and was trying to physically tear his heart from his body. Impossible to accept, or just let happen. He kept fighting it, kept hanging on, kept denying what he could very well see as the truth. Nothing in him could accept that Naruto was dead. It was the worst sacrilege, Naruto dying. Obscene. Wrong. Fundamentally wrong. And he would never accept it, not as long as he lived. When he got up, he would leave a piece of himself right here. Most of himself, in fact. How did one live through something like this?

He had their son. So he would try. Somehow. Another minute. He just needed to see that blond hair a little longer. That ruddy skin. Then he would get up, and go, and try to live. Just one. More. Minute.

He had no idea how long he sat there. Long enough for him to promise that these would be the last tears he shed. After this, nothing would be able to hurt him again. Until that moment arrived, though, he sat and stared at Naruto, and clutched his son whenever his eyes spilled over.

Whatever his son had done had blasted the table into the hall, but it had also flipped Naruto's body on its side. There were no scorch marks on him, like there were on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Not that he cared overmuch, but he glanced away from Naruto to verify this. Black, smoking marks around the room. None on Naruto.

But then there were no marks on his son, either. He double-checked this too. Looked back at Naruto. Something…wasn't right.

He frowned for a long time, trying to pinpoint what it was. He supposed whatever involuntary display of chakra his son had released had also shielded him and Naruto from its effects, but that didn't explain why he felt so unsettled of a sudden. Something. Something was wrong, something right in front of his face. He ran his eyes over Naruto searchingly, his pulse accelerating despite his ignorance of just what he was seeing-

Naruto's body registered with him anew. How it was positioned. On its side. One arm bent beneath the body, one leg also bent. Bent. That shouldn't be possible. Rigor mortis had been well set the last time he'd seen Naruto, as had livor mortis. There was no discoloration to the skin at all now. Just the normal tone he knew so well.

Holding his breath, feeling as though everything, even Time, had stopped along with his breathing, he took one hand off his son's back and slowly reached for Naruto's shoulder. Hesitated an inch from touching him. Heart pounding in his ears. Swallowed and closed his hand on the expanse of flesh.

Warm.

It was like touching lightning. Everything in him lit up. Seized. Then went numb in preparation of disappointment; no way was this happening. But his hand pulled. Naruto rolled to his back…and he was breathing. He could see his chest rising and falling. Heard the faint sigh that escaped him at being moved.

"…Naruto?" Issued in a hoarse voice, from a mouth dry as sand. If he was wrong…he had to be wrong. He'd experienced moments of insanity just like this when he'd stood waiting for Naruto to wake up. Even imagined he saw him breathing still, but-

"Sa...suke."

Those eyes. Those incredibly blue eyes he'd thought never to see again opened halfway. Saw him. Held his gaze for three endless seconds, then closed.