A/N: Hi everyone! I noticed that quite a few of you were a wee bit upset at last chapter's cliffhanger. Good. *evil smirk* You may or may not be happier with me for this chapter, apologies in advance.

***Please read*** Warning for this chapter: A discussion of miscarriage occurs in this chapter. If this affects you, please proceed with caution when Sakura henges into her adult self until the last four paragraphs of the chapter, it's not overly long.

I don't often give warnings but I understand how delicate a subject it is.

Soul Matrix

Chapter 9

Saudade

1 Week Since Kaguya's Return:

Sasuke stalked back and forth angrily. His wife was practically non-responsive with grief, their Hokage was dead, two-thirds of the village had gone up in flames with a quarter of the populace, and they had no fucking idea how Kaguya managed to escape her seal.

"We fucking sealed her!" Sasuke's chest heaved, breaths increasing in pace while he tugged frantically at his collar.

"We did." Naruto replied tensely from where he hovered over Shikamaru who's dislocated shoulder and second degree burns were being looked at by a medic.

"But she still fucking got out!" He couldn't breathe, why couldn't he breathe?! Sasuke whipped off his slightly singed jonin vest and threw it at the floor.

"I know, Sasuke."

Sasuke spun around and pinned Naruto with a furious glare, "But how?" he hissed, sharingan spinning wildly.

"I. Don't. KNOW." Naruto's final word came out as a growl causing Shikamaru's good hand to grab onto his pants, stopping the blonde from moving. The Nara winced as the movement jostled his injured arm.

"Calm down, Uchiha. Getting worked up won't help anyone right now and we have no idea when she'll be back." Pain crossed Shikamaru's face as the medic removed the last piece of fabric from his burn. "At least we're alive to figure it out."

Naruto gripped his uninjured shoulder painfully. He looked up to see Naruto's face devoid of colour, an ashy hue making him look ill. He proceeded lowly, "Are Sakura and-?" But the blonde shook his head and whispered, "Just Sakura."

At Shikamaru's words, Sasuke felt the room start spinning and darkness crept into the edges of his vision. His pulse raced in his ears as he was forced to take a knee. Breaths becoming shallower and quicker every second. Mind spinning in circles. Then, nothing.

Naruto broke away from Shikamaru as Sasuke tilted towards the floor. The blonde caught him and settled him more gently on the ground. "Shit."

The next few moments were tense as they waited for the medic to leave, assuring her that they knew what was wrong and could take care of Sasuke. They were alone.

"Shika… I think I fucked up."

Shikamaru gazed at the bowed head of his lover. He winced as he stood to join Naruto, coming to a stop at his side and running his good hand through blonde hair. "How."

The Uzumaki pressed his face into Shikamaru's thigh, "When we sealed Kaguya, I tossed Zetsu into the Chibaku Tensei with her however, we didn't place the seal on him specifically. I had pinned Zetsu so he couldn't move and embedded him in the seal… I thought it was good enough."

Shikamaru continued to run his hands through blonde hair as his mind whirled and moisture bloomed on his pants, "It's okay, Naruto. We'll figure something out."

Present Day, 6 Months in New Timeline:

Naruto's wild eyes darted between the three frozen forms in front of her. They weren't moving. Why weren't they moving?!

She dove to the ground and gathered up the materials at her feet, she couldn't afford to leave these behind. Her frantic movements seemed to jolt the others into movement. As they all scrambled to remove any of their traces from the area, Naruto began to shout some more information.

"He's approaching rapidly form the northwest, arrival time is approximately thirty minutes." The four huffed together in a loose circle, adrenaline from the unexpected approach pumping through their veins. The blond looked at each one in turn, conveying the absolute seriousness of her next words, "Disengage all of my special privacy seals, and do absolutely nothing you wouldn't have done the first time. No sneaking around, no reading anything suspicious, no talking to each other in a more familiar way." She took a deep breath, "We're very lucky that the academy is already out for the day. I'll monitor where he is and his target. I'll contact you when I can. Now, scatter!"

Each of them responded instantly, they hadn't heard Naruto sound so commanding since he took over from Kakashi when he died. It sent a thrill through their veins and settled steel in their bones.

They scattered.

o-

The first week was tense, having to act completely as they had before. The lack of contact was felt most keenly. They had grown used to playing a part during the day but at home, on their own time or during training, they had had each other. Right now, they were alone.

Finally, six days after Zetsu had arrived in Konoha; Naruto was able to slip a message into Shikamaru's hand.

"Man, Shikamaru. With a look like that on your face you'd think you'd have to take a dump or something!"

It was break time and the boys around them (particularly Kiba) started hooting in laughter at the blonde's comment as she ran out of the room. Shikamaru's face settled into a frown and had to bite back a look of surprise as he felt paper sliding into his hand as she had passed.

"Hah, funny, Naruto."

This wasn't the first time Naruto had acted crass in the past week but it was the first time that Shikamaru was directly mentioned.

'She wants me to open this in the bathroom? Must have an opening right now… troublesome.' His parents had been quite confused over the past week as he'd had to warn them off of saying anything related to their predicament, he had promised to tell them when he could.

Nonchalantly, the Nara made his way into the academy bathroom and locked himself in a stall. It was as good of a place as any to read a secret note – no windows and no way to see in unless Zetsu directly shoved his head through a wall.

Carefully he unfolded the message, a scant few sentences greeted him along with a seal paper.

White only.

Curious but bored.

Watching me, Sasuke sometimes.

Use seal, won't detect.

Love you.

Shikamaru's eyes watered slightly and he rose a hand to remove the moisture before slamming a fist into the wall of the stall. 'Dammit!' His fist stung as he had added to the dents. He bit his fist slightly to stop himself from making any noise before reaching into his pocket and fishing out a lighter he had filched from his father. He tucked the privacy seal deep into his pocket (Konoha standard issue, slightly modified. No one would be suspicious if Shikaku used one) and flicked the lighter. He allowed the message to burn completely and flushed the evidence before leaving the stall to wash his hands.

By the time his hands were dry, Shikamaru was deep in thought analyzing every word that Naruto had given him. It was obvious she had to write it in a hurry and from the way it was slightly wrinkled, the blonde had been looking for an opening to give the message to him for at least a couple days.

'White only,' that meant it was only the white Zetsu present gathering information and Shikamaru could hardly contain a sigh of relief, the black one was far more dangerous. 'Curious but bored,' from that it was likely that the creature wasn't there because of anything they had done or there would be no trace of boredom; likely a routine survey that that hadn't been aware of the first time around. And he was exclusively watching Naruto and Sasuke, that also fit into the picture of routine. Him and Sakura weren't suspected, 'Yet anyway,' and as long as they could wait out however long Zetsu would be here for they would be able to pass under the radar.

Shikamaru thought hard on the last line, committing the curves and edges of those two words to memory as he let out a sigh, damn he needed a cigarette.

'Love you too, Nikko-chan.'

o-

The second week of isolation was worse than the first. She had been able to give Sasuke a heads up but only just, the weight of Zetsu's unwanted presence made even thinking difficult. Fortunately, the plant bastard had consistently kept his distance and made no attempt to go through her belongings, verifying further that this was routine. Not that that helped when he -she- could feel his eyes when changing and constantly monitoring his movements was exhausting.

Naruto stared into her empty cupboards, noting the last cup ramen tipped over pathetically in the back. She was out of food. The blonde had managed to convince Iruka to treat her Ichiraku a couple times and had gone there herself a few more but she really needed to buy some now. It was something he -she- had avoided like the plague since they had returned, always using a henge to enter shops and only changing back after she had gotten all that she needed. People would see her walking around with the bags but no one would pay attention enough to notice if she was actually in any store. But, with Zetsu watching her every move twenty-four hours a day, he would notice and be suspicious.

She had been too stupid to try using a henge at this age and she wanted to keep that perception. With a sigh Naruto slipped on her shoes and grabbed her wallet. She had a market to get abused in.

It was every bit as foul as she remembered; the averted gazes, or worse the disgusted looks and whispered words. The occasional mutter of 'Demon brat' assaulted her ears as she wandered the marketplace, a red flush creeping up her neck. Shame. Anger. She was thrown out of a few stores and shooed away from more stalls than she cared to count before she was able to procure enough food for the week. There had been a reason why the blonde had mostly subsisted off instant ramen, that particular convenience store grudgingly put up with her presence.

Naruto looked down at her slightly pitiful looking bag of meat and vegetables; it would have to do.

o-

The third week was testing all of their patience. Tempers were running high and Naruto had found herself in fist fights almost every day this week both with Sasuke and Kiba as well another asshole kid in their class that had pissed her off. Fortunately, bouts of anger were common in her childhood so she made no effort to curb her ire.

On top of everything at the academy and her own irritation, Naruto mainly felt lonely. Lonely in a way that he -she- hadn't since she was really in the academy. After making genin there had always been Team Seven, then Ero-sennin while they were travelling, then they were so busy fighting the war and the Akatsuki that there hadn't been any time to feel the loneliness. After the war, there had been a few times when the feeling had crept back but between his reunited team and the villages new hero worship he had barely acknowledged the loneliness. Then Shikamaru had come into his life and everything had been wonderful. Even after Kaguya's return he hadn't felt lonely – angry, sad, terrified, frustrated, desperate – but not lonely.

Her chest felt hollow as she walked down the dusty street. In her distraction, the blonde wandered a bit too close to a takoyaki stand and bumped into a patron leaving the establishment.

Before the blonde could react, a knuckled back hand caught her in the cheek and sent her tumbling into the dirt.

"Watch it brat!"

The incensed adult kicked some more dust at the fallen jinchuuriki before stalking away, not sparing another glance at the small form.

Naruto ran a hand over her now bruising cheek, Kurama would take care of it shortly and she barely felt the pain. Slowly, the girl sat up and brushed some of the dirt and dust from her clothes. She hissed slightly at the grit being rubbed into the scrape on her knee, cursing not for the first time, the soft baby skin still covering this body.

Eventually getting her feet back in under her, Naruto brushed off her shorts and looked up and down the street only to freeze.

Shikamaru was standing a few shops down, Chouji by his side munching on his ever-present chips. The Nara's face looked murderous, leaving little doubt that he had seen the entire altercation. His fists were balled tight at his side, knuckles white. His jaw muscles were jumping furiously as he fought with himself not to react. Naruto could see his pulse jumping in his neck from where she stood as a shame filled blushed crept up her own cheeks while moisture gathered in her eyes.

She gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head before turning around and sprinting off in the opposite direction.

With any luck, Zetsu would assume that she was embarrassed that a peer had witnessed her abuse and not that there was anything between her and Shikamaru. The bastard had been watching from a tree at an angle where the young Nara should have been hidden anyway.

o-

Four weeks after Zetsu's arrival Naruto awoke from the first peaceful sleep that he -she- had had in a month. Naruto rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to figure out why it felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Her senses spread out over the village imperceptivity, then into the forest beyond. Out and out it stretched, covering almost half the fire nation before it stopped; the past month had done wonders for her range. With a jolt the blonde sprang into a sitting position eyes wide and a smile bright enough to blot out the sun crossed her face.

Zetsu was gone. GONE. Gone, gone, gone. Naruto paused for another moment just to be sure of the fact before shooting out of bed and hastily shoving some clothes on before bolting out through her window.

They were free!

Naruto careened through the streets almost crashing into a cabbage merchant just setting up his cart in her haste to get to the Nara estate. The girl thumped down in the back yard of the main house and flew through the veranda door, rushing to get to Shikamaru.

Said brunet was listlessly eating his breakfast with his parents when the blonde whirlwind entered the room and knocked him off his chair. He was disoriented for a moment with a lapful of wiggling Uzumaki but finally came to his senses as the girl started peppering his face with kisses.

"Nikko-chan?"

"He's gone Shika! He left!" Naruto sat on top of him beaming and his face broke out into a similar smile.

"Really?!" Shikamaru sat up as well, tipping the excited blonde and causing him to catch her with his arms to settle her in his lap. At her frantic nod, the youngest Nara crushed the girl to him as he buried his face into her shoulder, the stress from the last month draining out of him at last. "Thank Kami."

Small hands traced soothing patterns on his back as Naruto returned the embrace.

Still seated above their heads, Yoshino and Shikaku exchanged an amused but relieved glance. The past month had been difficult for everyone.

Team Seven's reunion later that day was slightly tearful. Sakura was crying freely as she wrapped herself around the shaky Uzumaki. Sasuke attempted to hang back but the ever-strong arm of his tiny wife dragged him into the group hug. And if his grip was tighter around the pair than necessary, no one said a word.

Days in pigtails: 89

Naruto catching missions: 9

Jonin's promoted: 3

Present Day, 11 Months in New Timeline:

"Everything looks great, Yoshino-san! Would you like to know the sex of the baby?" Sakura said brightly, green glowing hands making one last pass over the Nara matriarchs small baby bump.

"That's all right, we want it to be a surprise. Thank you." Yoshino smiled and sat up on the couch as Sakura wrote her findings in her custom sealed notebook.

The girl laughed slightly, "I suppose you know that already though but Shikamaru wanted me to check as well."

Yoshino hummed in agreement and looked out the doors to the verandah, both Naruto and her son were sitting on the grass. The blonde girl passing blue glowing hands over her sons face and chest, writing notes in her own notebook. She shook her head and looked back to the pink haired girl across from her.

"You were Tsunade-hime's apprentice, right?" She probed gently. After the havoc that had caused Naruto-chan to stay away for weeks a month ago it had taken the children a while to get back into the swing of things. Her son had wanted the girl to meet with her weeks ago but hadn't been able to make it happen until today, something about altering the seals.

The girl's green eyes found her own as she closed her notebook.

"Yes. Shishou taught me everything she knew." Sakura paused, not sure how in depth to go but wanting Yoshino to feel confident in her abilities, "I was in training to take over as head medic at the hospital before everything went pear shaped."

Yoshino's eyes widened, she found it hard to remember sometimes that her son and his companions had been so accomplished when she had only ever seen them as the children they were right now.

"That's impressive for one so young, your parents must have been proud."

A light blush travelled across Sakura's cheeks at the praise but the skin around eyes and lips tightened and a faraway look settled in her gaze, "Yes… Not as proud as my boys though."

At Yoshino's questioning gaze sakura elaborated, "Sasuke-kun, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei." The girl shook her head free of memories and smiled as she stood up, cutting off the conversation.

"Thank you for letting me check you over, Yoshino-san. I'll be back in two weeks if that's okay?"

"Of course, Haruno-san. Sure you don't want to stay for dinner?"

The girl shook her head as she waved goodbye to the two still seated in the grass before heading for the front door and applying a henge. "Uchiha, please…" Sakura corrected gently, "And thank you very much for the offer, Yoshino-san, but I have to decline. Sasuke-kun is waiting for me."

The Nara matriarch smiled and opened the door for the now nondescript middle aged brunette, "My apologies. Next time then."

"Next time."

o-

Dinner that night was a content, quiet affair with conversation flowing easily around the table. However, towards the end of the meal, Naruto grew serious. There was something that needed to be brought up.

"I need access to Orochimaru's research and reference materials."

Movement around the table stopped as three pairs of eyes turned to look at her.

"Between the Uchiha and Nara archives I have almost a complete picture of what's going on but, there is still something missing." Naruto took a breath, "Part of my original seal is based in the Edo Tensei. Orochimaru worked on perfecting it for years. Not to mention the curse seal. I believe that there is something in there that I can use."

Slowly, Shikaku set down his chopsticks and closed his eyes with a sigh. "Those documents are held within the Hokage's classified archives in the Hokage tower. Plus, those particular documents are kept in a sealed chest to prevent anyone from opening them." The elder Nara opened his eyes only to see twin smirks from his son and pseudo daughter-in-law.

Shikamaru snorted at his father's raised eyebrow. "Naruto broke in the archive the first time around at the age of twelve and stole the forbidden scroll. That's where she first learnt about shadow clones."

"I see." Came the tense reply, would these kids ever stop surprising him? "However, the forbidden scroll is less guarded than Orochimaru's documents. To maintain your cover and not cause an intervillage incident, absolutely no one can become even the slightest bit aware that you -whether they know it's you or not- have been in there. Which means you can't remove anything from the archive. You'll have to copy everything."

"Yeah, an increased threat level for the village would certainly change things in ways we can't predict." Shikamaru agreed, lips setting into a thin line.

"Sounds like you need a distraction." Yoshino chimed in, as if what they were discussing wasn't technically treason.

Upon hearing her words, Naruto's face broke into a wicked grin, "Oh, I can do a distraction."

Days in pigtails: 103

Naruto catching missions: 10

Jonin's promoted: 4

Present Day, 1 Year in New Timeline:

'There, all done.' The Naruto clone smirked as she lowered herself to the ground. It had taken a while to get everything set up to accomplish this prank/operation.

The blonde clone looked proudly up at her masterpiece, all forty feet of it extending across the Hokage tower.

There, laid out in full colour, was an obnoxiously painted image of the Sandaime eagerly reading the newest Icha Icha novel accompanied by a glowing five-star review, purportedly written by the Hokage himself.

The time travelling Uzumaki cackled as the first rays of dawn struck the top of his -her- beautiful creation. She had used a nasty paint mixed with a glow in the dark stain abomination that Sakura cooked up for her. Even if they managed to scrub off the paint by nightfall it would still glow like festival lights for nearly a week before the weather fully erased the image.

The Naruto clone gave herself a mental pat on the back as she heard someone raising the alarm. They had finally noticed her efforts. Turning quickly, she raced towards the river knowing that they would soon be on her tail.

'That should give boss more than enough time to complete the mission and get out of there.' The clone mused, turning into a blur of blonde hair and paint spatters.

o-

The undercover Uzumaki swallowed labouriously, frantically copying the contents of the scroll in front of him alongside half a dozen clones.

She had henged into the adult male version of herself -sans whiskers- hoping to confuse anyone just in case. It felt… weird. He -she- expected to feel normal, finally, after a year of living as a prepubescent girl, but she didn't. If anything, he -she- felt just as awkward as she did for the first few weeks of being here. What did that mean?

The blonde shook her head, now wasn't the time to be asking philosophical questions.

He -she- had been here for almost four hours now, the sun would be rising at any minutes and the still had two full scrolls to copy.

Cursing, the jinchuuriki created two more clones to help, making the space even more cramped. How she wished that Sai was here, the copying would have been done hours ago.

She hurriedly abandoned her spot a moment later to a clone as the warning bells sounded throughout the village.

'Just on time.'

Her second watcher clone had dispelled outside, letting the rest of them know that the on-duty shinobi had taken the bait.

Naruto quickly looked once again through the discarded scrolls, making sure that she had gotten anything even remotely relevant. With a satisfied nod, the blonde began piling the notes and materials back into the box. Behind her, the half dozen clones finished their copying and dispelled themselves. All that remained was for the Uzumaki to seal up the copied scrolls into a storage scroll of her own and reseal the containment chest.

The blonde cast a sweep gaze around the room to ensure everything was just as she had found it when a steel glint caught her eye from a low shelf.

The glint was out of place in the room full of scrolls, texts, and tapestries. Naruto decided to indulge in her curiosity for a moment and knelt down. On that low shelf, in a dusty wooden box with the lid slightly ajar, were three tri-tipped kunai; Hiraishin seal still attached to the handles.

'Tou-san's kunai!' She was shocked, she hadn't gotten the chance to see one before (barring in the middle of battle) and no one seemed to have record of the seal. Not to mention that any attempt on her behalf to create it from scratch had failed. (She'd only put a handful of hours into it in the past-future though- she had been busy)

'Are you going to take it, kit?' Kurama intoned from the back of her mind.

Naruto reverently stroked the handle of the blade closest to her, 'I can't they would notice if I took anything.'

The beast shifted impatiently, 'What did you just spend the last four and a half hours doing?'

She could have smacked herself. Quickly, she carefully unwrapped the seal from the handle and unraveled her storage scroll to a blank section. The blonde furiously scribbled down the astonishingly simply seal – really, who would have thought to say that space was the thing that was moving? -

'Now's not the time to marvel, kit. I'd say you have less than five minutes before the record keeper shows up for the morning check, regardless of your distraction.'

The jinchuuriki cursed and rolled up the scroll, then tucked the seal back around the handle and set the box back the way it had been.

For the last time, Naruto swept the room and disengaged the warding she had set up before slipping out the door.

A moment later he -she- touched down in an ally just out of view from the Hokage tower and henged into a generic looking civilian.

Mission Complete.

Days in pigtails: 115

Naruto catching missions: 10

Jonin's promoted: 4

Present Day, 1 Year 1 Month in New Timeline:

November rain fell outside of the Nara household causing the Saturday afternoon to look dull and miserable. However, they had selected this particular day for Sasuke to attempt reverse summoning himself a couple of weeks ago and the Uchiha wasn't about to let a bit of weather deter him.

The time travelling quartet had decided to do the summoning using the Nara's backyard. It was closer to the hospital should something go horribly wrong and Naruto could set up stronger wards using a building to anchor to.

Sasuke had been gone to the summons' world for about an hour now and everyone was working on their own projects.

Naruto huffed and ran a hand through her already spikey nest of hair, it was shorter than it had been for a while, cut to fall just below her chin. A similar groan and sounded from her two shadow clones littered across the veranda, each working on a separate project.

In front of the original was her highest priority seal work, the design for Shikamaru's soul stitch seal. Yes, she had already named it. No, it wasn't anywhere close to being complete. The work in front of her was some of the most complex and delicate seal work she had ever attempted to accomplish. Storing a soul was one thing, but stitching one together- Naruto shook her head and sighed again in frustration, barriers were her thing. What had happened before was a stroke of luck, desperation, and circumstance that allowed her to create the soul seal. Even the time travel seal, created by her and Kurama, was fueled by a desolation and anguish so sharp and fading that it was becoming increasingly more difficult to remember as the days passed. All she was left with was her own guile and stubbornness.

"Gah! Nature chakra!" Clone A shouted a few moments later. "Boss! The thing we are missing is nature chakra, that's the missing piece!"

The original looked up sharply and rushed to the clone. She grabbed the papers out of the clones extended hand and groaned. The clone had been working on her anti-Zetsu barrier seal. His unique body chemistry and blend of Hashirama DNA posed a difficult challenge to circumvent. He could sense any normal blend of chakra, including elemental and bijuu in origin, that flowed through her seals.

Naruto's blue eyes flew over the notes and calculations. It was all theoretical; based on numerous conversations and hypothesizing with all three of her compatriots but something told her – an instinct of some sort that had overcome her before when she found her solution – this would work. A leaf cannot tell where the wind started to blow.

The Uzumaki let out a slow breath and sank to her knees, dispelling the clone along the way. Her head throbbed; she hated using clones for seal work due to the information overload but it was effective.

"Boss?" Clone B massaged a temple, feeling the effects.

Naruto simply flapped a hand and it also dispelled, remnants of the Hiraishin deconstruction simply adding to her cranial pressure.

An unexpected tendril of shadow wrapped itself around her middle and dragged her over to where Shikamaru and his father were playing shogi. The shadow deposited her sideways into her lover's lap while one arm tucked her head into his shoulder, fingers running through her hair while his other arm moved a piece forward on the game board. She tensed at first but at Shikaku's complete non-reaction Naruto allowed herself to relax; she had thought enough for today.

While Naruto and her boys were on the veranda, Yoshino placed a fresh cup of tea down in front of Sakura and took her own to her seat. The pink haired girl muttered a thank you and finished writing her entry notes in her notebook.

Sakura took a sip of the tea before speaking, "How are feeling, Yoshino-san?"

The Nara rubbed a spot on the side of her belly, the baby was kicking again. "Aside from constantly needing to use the bathroom… I'm feeling pretty good, Uchiha-san."

Sakura smiled, the Nara matriarch had now entered her third trimester and seemed to be doing better than most. "Good, good. Do you feel like you're progressing at the same rate as when you had Shikamaru? If you can remember, I know it's been a long time."

Yoshino's eyes were warm at the question, "It's been over eleven years, but I think you always remember your first." She didn't miss the way Sakura's eyes tightened, it had happened several times since they had started meeting two months ago. For now, she ignored it, "I've gained a touch more weight but this little one is more active than Shikamaru-chan was. Even in the womb that boy was lazy."

Sakura laughed lightly and proceeded through the checkup, passing glowing hands over the now pronounced baby bump. She concentrated for several moments, checking every tiny bone and blood vessel. This baby would be a smart one too judging by the currently forming brain connections. She ignored a Naruto sounding yell from the veranda as she opened her eyes and ended the technique.

"Everything looks good. You can sit up now." Sakura returned to her notebook on the loveseat as Yoshino picked her tea back up. "Sure you still want to be surprised?"

The younger girl wasn't looking at her as she asked her question. Yoshino narrowed her eyes, tired of dancing around the subject; she had asked at every checkup.

"Sakura-" The girl looked up sharply as her given name with a lack of suffix was used, "Can you henge into your adult self for me? I'd like to talk to you as the equals we are, please."

Sakura fidgeted before conceding, she had hoped -apparently in vain- that Yoshino wouldn't catch on. A moment later a much taller young lady sat in her seat, complete with Hyakugou seal and Uchiha clan symbol on her clothes.

"Thank you," Yoshino smiled, "Now, why did you agree with Shikamaru to check me over when it causes you pain? And why do you want me to know the baby's sex so badly?"

Sakura sighed and looked down at her hands thoughtfully before straightening her spine to look Yoshino right in the eyes. "I want to check you over, Yoshino-san. Don't think I don't, I was the one to offer when Shikamaru told us the news. It's just…" She faltered again, passing a hand over her own belly.

Yoshino's eyes widened at the implication and she hurried over to Sakura as fast as her own seventh month pregnant body would allow. "Oh sweetie…" She wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her in close, "I'm so sorry."

Sakura shook her head in a jolting motion and let out a sad shaky laugh, "I was four months along when Kaguya returned, barely showing…" She ran a hand over her face, trying to stay composed, "It was the shock and the stress- I just remember being so excited because we finally found out the sex…"

They sat there for a long moment, Yoshino slowly rubbing Sakura's arm as the younger woman calmed down again.

"About three years after Shikamaru was born," The Nara matriarch began, "We attempted for another however… It wasn't meant to be. After almost two years we finally succeeded but, then we didn't; I was two months in and we hadn't even told Shikamaru-chan yet, he still has no idea. We stopped trying after that."

Sakura looked up at her in slight awe and gratitude, this was a rather painful subject for anyone. Before she could speak, Yoshino gave her a smile and took Sakura's hand in her own. She placed it on her protruding belly over where the baby was kicking.

"This little one is thanks to you four, you know. What you went through was beyond comprehension, but you are still so strong Sakura. And this is a second chance not just for everyone else but for you as well, sweetie. For you and Sasuke, and for Shikamaru and Naruto. Thank you."

Moisture gathered in Sakura's eyes but a hopeful smile spread across her face. She squeezed Yoshino's hand in both of hers, "Thank you, Yoshino-san. We're so lucky to have you. You and Shikaku both. It's been wonderful how supportive you've been, it means so much; to Shikamaru and Naruto especially." Yoshino smiled and squeezed back.

Meanwhile, with a soft poof and a muffled groan, Sasuke returned to the Nara estate. Blood spilled from beneath the fingers pressed to his side as he collapsed painfully into the wet grass. The summon scroll was signed.

Days in pigtails: 128

Naruto catching missions: 10

Jonin's promoted: 4

A/N: Once again an emotion filled chapter with many things going on. But Itachi is coming soon if anyone is looking forward to that.

How is everyone with the pace now? Slow down, speed up, just right? More character interactions outside of the main four, less? More info on their training perhaps? Let me know what you'd like to see, I have lots of wiggle room right now.

As always, thanks for reading!