A slap sounded through the air. The blonde girl clutched her stinging cheek as tears sprung up into her eyes, pooling around those azure orbs.

"Naruko! How could you?" Sakura asked, her palm tingeing from the slap. Anger radiated from her, her shoulders shook and her eyes flashed.

"...I don't know....I don't know..." the girl repeated her reply, she couldn't help it. She couldn't stop herself. She wanted him, she need him. She couldn't go on any longer without him.

"When?" one word demanded it all.

"That night. He came. He offered me a night of love in that lifetime of hate. It was my only chance. To be with him, to hold him, to love him," she replied, her words showed no remorse, no guilt. She daresay sounded proud.

"One night of love? Who has to bear the consequence? You not him!" Sakura reminded, her words penetrating her heart, reminding her of reality, breaking her image of daydream.

The girl did not reply for she knew she had messed up for the last and final time. She knew she was in the wrong, she knew she was going to bear the consequence but she showed no repent.

"This child cannot grace the earth." Sakura stated, her words allowing no argument.

"But-"Naruko protested, she was not going to terminate an unborn life.

"You are the carrying the child of your enemy, Naruko! You don't know what that means! War is approaching, we can't have our most lethal weapon to be immobile," she reminded harshly, stating the facts, something that one could not go against.

"The war has one year to start. I can have the child by then. I want this child, Sakura. It is the only reminder of him. I know he is going to die in this war. This child is the only reminder of Uchiha Sasuke," the room became silent. That name had always been a taboo. Sakura refused to speak, Naruko did not want to speak. Naruko knew how dangerous it was for her to have this child. Many people would want to have their hands on this child. After all, this child carried the blood of an Uchiha and a demon.

"You would go undercover." Sakura stated after a long pause. "You would no longer be known as Namikaze Naruko. Your training would be monitored by the legendary sannin, Jiraiya and fifth hokage of leaf village, Tsunade. You would now be known as Uzumaki Naruto, 18-year-old male,"

--

"Sakura...you are switched off again, were you even paying attention to anything I was saying?" Ino asked, questioning her best friend who sat across from her. They were supposed to have tea and biscuits together, conversing over the fact that Sakura no longer had a social life but like usual, Sakura had been staring off into space. Sakura shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, Ino, I was just thinking again," she said with a smile, trying to cover up her dejected expression.

"You were thinking about them again, weren't you?" Ino asked, reaching over the table to grasp Sakura's hand, offering comfort.

"Yes, you caught me, again," she accepted, sighing, "I was thinking about Nasuke. He is growing up; he would start to question soon,"

"Sakura..." Ino could not offer any advice. Really, what could she do?

"He is going to ask about his father. How would I tell him that I am not even his mother? Then, what happens when he expects me to tell him about parents. There only a handful of us who know about the truth. We can't have everybody know who his parents are," Sakura said, conveying her thoughts to someone finally. All these questions had been building up within her lately; it felt rather good to have it off her chest.

"You know, people still hate his father for being such a traitor and murderer. Although his mother is now in everyone's good books but if they find out about his parents, they are going to know about his capabilities such as the sharingan and carrying the demon blood." She continued, pulling out the facts that she had brooded over. "The villagers thought they had gotten rid of nine-tailed demon since her death, they would be shocked to know that the demon left his spawn. What's more dangerous is the fact that Nasuke is going to have the sharingan. Really, demon blood and the sharingan in one body is as good as destroying the earth. If he falls into bad hands, the world can be destroyed."

"What about the sharingan? If he manages to activate it, people would know. It would be obvious." Ino asked, clutching Sakura's hand tighter.

"I am really confused but starting to think over it. His chakra is sinister like theirs already. It rather scary. I just don't want him to suffer the same fate as his parents." Sakura sighed, closing her eyes, her head already started to throb with the all possibilities and questions.

"Where is Nasuke now?" Ino asked, wanting to take Sakura's mind off the pending questions.

"He is with Kakashi," she answered, opening her eyes.

"Kakashi, eh?" Ino asked as Sakura nodded in reply, "Why don't you say that Kakashi is his father, maybe that could explain the sharingan?"

"I don't know...Kakashi's sharingan was implanted into him. If he were to have a child, it would not be biologically correct for the child to have sharingan." Sakura said, she was after all a medic-nin, she would know about implants and biology.

"Well, no one needs to know that. As in, not every one here is a medic-nin. The nins that are not in medical department wouldn't know about this. Especially the civilians," Ino said as she helped herself to a biscuit.

"Its not that easy to feed people with lies these day. The lie that I told everyone that Nasuke is my child is starting to wear off; after all there is no resemblance between me and him. Despite the fact not everyone is medic-nin, there are certain things that everyone knows." Sakura sighed, "Moreover, if I tell them he is child of Kakashi, people would say things. People would think I was involved with Kakashi since I am his proclaimed mother. And, after all Kakashi was my teacher. It's wrong."

Ino sighed, it was getting harder and harder to hide the truth.

"Is there a way to seal the Sharingan away?" She asked, hopefully.

"No, I am too sure if a bloodline can be sealed or removed," Sakura replied, feeling rather defeated.

"I am sure, we would find a way out of this," Ino moved her hand onto Sakura's again, giving the woman a reassuring squeeze.