AN: Fan art of Haru! It's a work in progress that the reader wants to develop throughout the chapters,here's the first phase! ^ Also, this chapter is heavily unedited so please be easy on me with this chap, I promise I'll go back in and fix any errors!
recap: "Well, I think you should head to Kiri. Don't worry, I'll dedicate some of Danzo's death to you." Sasuke dryly states and I let out a huff of indecisiveness. "You want me to head to Kiri? But why? Is it because you're mad at me?"
Sasuke arches a brow at me before adjusting Reiji on his hip, the baby scrunches his nose like a little kitten and I smile at the sight.
"Just call it a gut instinct, Haru"
••••••
My shoulders slump a little when he takes away his hand to then place Reiji back on my lap. "Gut instinct huh? Alright I'll go... I don't know how I'll find whoever my mom wants me to find but I guess I'll have to deal with it." I settle, giving Sasuke a worried look.
Its not like I want to leave him! I'm far too curious to find out about whoever the hell my mom is talking about.
Shinji arches a brow from across the table "You've been a skilled sensory ninja for how long now? I think you'll do fine."
I begin to analyze the entire situation that I'm blindly putting myself in. "Yes well i could find whoever I need to find if I had some sort of hint! Geez how am I supposed to look for someone who I have absolutely zero information on?"
"I think you could do it Haru! Who knows maybe you'll just run into whoever your looking for! You're lucky on occasion!" I stare at Shinji with not even the slightest bit of amusement on my face. "I wonder why I put up with you." I murmur before switching my gaze to behind me where Sasuke remains standing.
"What about Isamu? He'd be able to help you look for anything off." He proposes. I slump my shoulders once he mentions my summoning partner who's sadly off duty for the time being.
"I'll have to explain to you another time when we have more time, Sasuke. But bringing Isamu on this little mission isn't an option." I reply sadly. The lack of Isamu seems to really be an impairing factor, but I can't just summon him out of the blue and take him away from all the work that's being done in the tundra!
"Isamu is out of the question, but hey you're no stranger to really cryptic solo missions! You'll do just fine." Shinji exclaims.
"Solo mission? Wha- why are you acting like you're not coming with me?!" I ask, only to feel my heart drop when a guilty smile appears on his face. "Sorry Haru! But Sasuke and I are headed in the same direction for the land of iron. I'm not going to the kage summit though, heading into parties you're uninvited to is always awkward."
My nose scrunches up in confusion and I ignore his little monologue at the end which is obviously used as a small distraction. "Land of Iron? What type of business do you have there?!" I ask. The boy in front of me shrugs "Eh, you shouldn't worry about it. Its far less interesting than whatever you'll be going through."
"I don't think I like the idea of you heading out with Reiji alone, hell, I don't think I like the idea of you heading out alone at all!" I worry, squeezing Reiji's adorably chubby body closer to my chest but not to the point where it'd hurt him.
Shinji mischievously smiles at me "Don't worry about us Haru! Reiji and I are two strong boys, Isn't that right Reiji?" Shinji asks, placing his gloved fist out in front of him as if he were waiting for Reiji to reach out his tiny fist and give him a fist bump.
I deadpan at the scene and Reiji just giggles at his fathers shenanigans, not knowing the true intent behind his actions. I turn to Sasuke with a very serious look on my face "Sasuke, promise me you won't be a dumb dad like Shinji is." I plead, taking his hand and ignoring the ridiculous pout Shinji is sporting.
Before Sasuke could even respond, Shinji takes Reiji from my grasp and narrows his bright blue eyes at me. "Hey! I'm not dumb, just enthusiastic! Anyways, Reiji and I will be just fine, We'll tag along with team Taka up until our parting point." Shinji decides much to my dissatisfaction.
"Fine, just send me a bird when you're in a near death scenario." I mutter lowly before turning my attention back to Sasuke. "Do neither one of your knows anything that could be mildly suspicious over there? Suigetsu do you know anything?" I call out, gaining the attention of said boy who was staring at a fish tank before I called him.
"There are plenty of suspicious things in Kiri Haru! The place is corrupt!" Suigetsu deadpans as he walks over to us. I click my tongue at his answer, he may be right but jeez at least he could've given me something specific!
"Uhh I don't know, maybe try one of Orochimarus old hideouts? He has one underneath a lake in Kiri, he never actually uses it though so it was built without much use. He has like one other hideout in Kiri but it hasn't been used infers either." Suigetsu reveals, and I perk up with a huge smile on my face.
"Orochimaru had a hideout there?! Suigetsu you genius!" I marvel before standing up and placing a congratulatory kiss on his cheek. "Now I'm not completely lost! Thank you!" I exclaim contently before turning to Sasuke and giving him a hurried hug without much thought. I wave off everyone else in the restaurant rapidly (With a complimentary smile for Reiji, of course) I then grab what's left of my dango and take it out of the store with me, leaving a trail of dust behind me.
Suigetsu stands frozen, the shock of Haru's kiss weighing heavily on his body. The shock however wears off when he feels a piercing glare coming from a certain Uchiha and the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.
"Suigetsu, don't think much of it, I'm sure it'll still never happen." Jūgo deadpanns besides his aquatic teammates. Karin jumps in between the two and smiles at Sasuke "Huh looks like Haru is loosing interest Sasuke, but don't worry you'll always have me here-"
"Shut up Karin." Sasuke commands with an eye roll much to Shinji's amusement on the sidelines.
Shinji stands up with Reiji nestled on his side, he then walks over to the group gaining the attention of a certain red haired kunoichi. She would've never admitted it before because of his relation to Haru, but Karin found Shinji to be handsome.
Not as handsome as Sasuke though! Never as handsome as Sasuke!
"Alright boys! Time to head to the land of iron!"
"B-BOYS?! I'm a woman not a boy!-" Karin is cut off by Reiji letting out a soft sneeze before resting his head once more on his fathers shoulder. Shinji sweat drops at Reiji and gives Karin a sarcastically sorry look. "Sorry dude, you're gonna have to hold that thought until I fix him up!" Suigetsu laughs heartily when he realizes whats going on with Karins situation, and Jugo could only facepalm behind him.
This only leaves the red headed Uzumaki fuming even more "DID YOU JUST CALL ME DUDE?! And YOU! Suigetsu! why don't you go back to your fish friends in the tank over there huh?!" This prompts Suigetsu to burst back in retaliation much to the worries of Jugo and amusement of Shinji.
Sasuke eyes his group with the addition of Shinji and Reiji with both annoyance and concern, this is going to be long voyage. . .
••two days later••
In hindsight, I should've asked my mother for clearer directions when she told me to head west of Kirigakure. I mean, Kirigakure is a big place....There are a lot of places to head west of! And even further into my hindsight, I should've asked Suigetsu about specific lakes, considering that Kiri IS MADE UP ENTIRELY OF LAKES AND BODIES OF WATER!
"It's okay Haru, just focus on off chakra signatures, it can't be that hard! There has to be a hideout here somewhere. . Unless Suigetsu lied. . Ugh I shouldn't have kissed him on the cheek maybe he did that on purpose!" I mutter to myself as I walk around aimlessly.
Plenty of years as a sensory ninja and I'm struggling so much! Jeez am I really this bad without direction?!
Amidst all of my running thoughts, I fail to notice the once cyan blue skies turn into a murky gray, the absence of the sun calling for a lack of light. I sigh once I feel the inevitable first drop of rain land on my left shoulder.
Great, now chakra signatures will be that much harder to pick up on!
Luckily the rain fails to manifest itself into a monsoon and settles in a light drizzle. Its when I stop walking and allow myself to think within the soft pitter-patters of the rain that I feel something odd.
Its a chakra signature, a very faint chakra signature, and its not coming from any direction other than below. My eyebrows furrow when I feel the chakra signature begin to fluctuate, and it almost feels like Reiji's chakra!
Ah thats right! For some odd reason, many babies have fluctuating chakra signatures up until their earlier toddler years where it stabilizes! But that means whoever is down there must be a very young infant. . . What the hell?
If my sensory skills are right, then that means that there is a baby under the trail! My eyes snap over to the nearby lake and my jaw almost drops in realization. It must be Orochimaru's hideout! That barely explains the baby chakra though. . .
I shake my head with determination, this is perhaps the weirdest moment I've come across these past two days and I'll be damned if I don't investigate further. I walk onto the grass besides the trail in search for more hollow ground, only to smirk when I finally reach a seemingly simple opening.
I bring my hands together and channel my wood release to a rather elevated degree to which large roots grow out from under my feet and spread out throughout the ground surface. They then begin to dig downwards into the ground, creating a sort of passageway while at it.
I smirk once the roots reach deep enough where the opening to the lair beneath is fully revealed. Hah! I was right! Kissing Suigetsu on the cheek wasn't in vain!!
After checking one last time for any other chakra signatures but coming up empty handed, I decide to finally go down and scope out whatever scene was going on down there for myself.
I land effortlessly on the cool gravel ground, and eye my surroundings wearily, this place is nearly identical to some of Orochimaru's other hideouts! I'm given little to no time to really analyze the space around me once I hear a bizarre cry from the room at the end of the hallway that I'm currently in.
My eyebrows furrow, so there really is a baby?! What the hell is a baby doing in one of Orochimaru's hideouts?!
I waste no time in heading over to the room where the fluctuating chakra and very audible cries are coming from. Once I enter the room, my eyes instantly zero in on the infant wrapped up in thin blankets in the center of the room.
My breath hitches and I can't help but do a double take as I look at the sniffling baby. The child looks nearly identical to how Sasuke did in baby pictures I remember seeing back at the Uchiha household.
The baby has pale skin, flushed pink cheeks, and coal black hair. I have yet to see their eyes because the child hasn't opened them yet. I can't help but walk closer and closer to the crying baby until I'm finally directly in front of it.
My eyes glance around the room and I find what seems to be an information card on a nearby desk. My eyebrows furrow and I take the card delicately between my fingertips.
Age: Three months
Lineage: 50% Uchiha , 25% Senju , 25% Oshiro.
Sex: Male
Weight: 13 pounds
Physical features: Black hair, red eyes, pale skin. Predominantly Uchiha features.
Chakra signatures: Fire, water.
W-what the hell is this?!
I put the card down back on the table and turn my attention directly over to the baby who's calmed down significantly since before I entered. My mind is running at a mile a minute, and I don't know what to think.
Three months old. Thats how old my baby would've been if it didn't pass away.
50% Uchiha, 25% Senju, 25%Oshiro. How the hell?-
Then it clicks, it all clicks into place, and I can't help but feel overwhelmed as old memories finally begin to make sense in my mind. Am I imagining things? Is this real?! Everything is clicking into place so quickly, and I don't know what to do with the new information.
••Memory of Conversation with Mina (Wolf Sage)••
"A baby huh?" Mina asks to which I nod, my heart hurting a little. How far along in a pregnancy would I have been at this point? "And Orochimaru, you lost the baby in his attendance?" She asks to which I nod again.
The daunting silence appears yet again, leaving me defenseless against the intense gases of the wolves. "Well that explains a lot!" Hikaru suddenly exclaims making the rest of us turn to him in surprise.
"What do you mean?" I ask, feeling extremely confused. The red robed wolf doesn't hesitate answering despite the look his brother and mother are giving him. "Well us clan wolves know how many Senju's are out there, it may sound weird but we could sense your chakras! Before it was only you and Tsunade but lately we've been sensing a third chakra- OW WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" He suddenly exclaims when his brother, hideo nudges him harshly in the side, stopping him from saying anything else.
Unluckily for him, I already caught on. "There's a third Senju out there?" I ask, almost feeling breathless as if all the air in the room stopped circulating. Hideo and Mina both look at each other discreetly and I look between the two, confused. "What's going on here?!" I ask, all types of thoughts running through my mind.
Mina turns back to me, stoic and with a sturdy gaze. "Don't worry about that for now Haru, Hikaru is just simply confused." She says, and I glance over at the panicking brother wearily. "How would my miscarriage result in a third Senju chakra signature?" I ask, watching as her eyes narrow slightly.
"It could just be a false alarm and two totally unrelated coincidences, Hikaru was just guessing. We'll keep you updated on that." She curtly says.
I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head "Are you sure about that?" I murmur, almost scared of her answer. Yet instead of giving me a verbal one, she simply nods.
••Memory of Conversation with Father••
"A brother?" I whispered, not believing it. "Orochimaru sensei wanted me to have kids with crystal release, I wasn't married to your mother at the time, we were just dating and my clan was dwindling down to a few people since no one was having kids." He stopped to look at my reaction.
"Without my knowing he took some of my DNA and inserted it into another woman from my clan who was also one of Orochimaru sensei's subjects." He said looking down. "I-I didn't even know I had other kids until after I was dead." He said looking at his gloved hands on his lap.
I was speechless, how the hell do I respond to that?! He looked up at me and sighed. "Shinji is your age, you were born in October and he was born in early February." He told me.
I have a brother........what the hell?!
•••••
I almost chuckle at the early memory with my father, It was when I first met Shinji and my father explained how Shinji was born. Looking back at it now, and holding my intense gaze on the baby in front of me, everything is beginning to click into place. If what I thinks going on really is the case, then Orochimaru must have used the technique he used when creating Shinji as well.
It's an inexplicable innate feeling within me, and with the extremely circumstantial evidence now piling up, I let out a shaky breath.
I finally snap out of the thinking phase and piled up memories of these separate conversations and let my eyes widen once the baby in front of me calms down on his own. I don't really know how to react when the baby opens his eyes only to reveal a ruby shade eerily similar to my own.
I'm overwhelmed with emotion when I reach my hand out a touch a small lock of black hair,
"Y-You're mine aren't you?"
••••••••••
Hello my lovely readers!
Dun dun dunnnn! So what'd you think of this chapter?
What on earth is going on?! The baby, its Haru's! Yes folks, its now confirmed, Haru is a mom! (A teen mom but lets not get into that lol)
(Oh And PSA! I'm not promoting teen pregnancy so please keep this in mind readers!)
Anyways, were any of your predictions right?
Looks like Haru's first born is a little boy! (Let's play a name guessing game! I already have a name picked out, but I have a special prize for whoever guesses correctly!)
Anyways, Are his looks anything like you expected them to be like?
How will the new baby will play into this series with events like the upcoming war and Sasuke going batshit crazy?
How will Haru develop as a character alongside her son?
How will other characters react to her son?
Let me know about your predictions since they're honestly super fun to read, and I'll see you next chap!