Chapter 37: Whatever It Takes

"Kiba!" Kurenai-sensei shouted and was about to say more when Lady Tsunade spoke in a calming voice again.

"It's okay, Kurenai. It's a lot to take in. Hinata, why don't you talk with your partners privately in the corner? I'll inform everyone else about what happened yesterday."

Lady Tsunade offered, though I doubted she would tell them about what happened at the compound.

Hinata's face was a canvas of emotions, each one more intense than the last, as she stared at Naruto. Anger, then shame, and finally fear. After a steadying breath, she turned to Lady Tsunade and nodded, her silent agreement a testament to her inner turmoil.

The three of us walked to a corner of the room as Lady Tsunade began telling the rest, including Shino, who already knew about the marriage. She only spoke about our marriage and clan and didn't mention Shino's. My guess was she didn't want to out him and was waiting for Shino to do so at his own pace.

"I've heard whispers about Jinchuuriki and the Nine-Tails from my father, but he never revealed the identity, just that it was always someone in the village. Is that why you were subjected to such harsh treatment by the adults when we were children?" Hinata inquired, her voice filled with a mix of curiosity and empathy.

"Yeah, I didn't find out until I became a genin."

Naruto looked guilty for not telling her, but Hinata's apparent anger vanished as she hugged him.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." She said while hugging him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. The thing with us happened so fast, and I was told to keep it a secret. But you're right; I should have told you last night since we are married and part of the same clan now."

Naruto apologised as he hugged Hinata, who was quietly sobbing.

"I found out on my own; he didn't tell me, Hinata," I said, worried that Hinata may think Naruto trusted me more than her.

Hinata pulled back from Naruto's embrace. "I'm not mad, not really; I'm just scared. Lady Fifth knew the Akatsuki was after the Nine-Tails yet still sent you after Lord Kazekage, and now she is sending you to the Cloud to most likely fight them again."

"She didn't send me after Gaara; I practically ran after him alone. She just let me and sent Sakura and Kakashi-sensei to protect me... I'm sick and tired of those bastards targeting us Jinchuuriki. They almost got me before, and they KILLED Gaara. We brought him back, but they are still murderers targeting people like me. I have to bring the fight to them before they hurt more people."

And I still wanted to kill Itachi, who was with them. As much as I hated what Sasuke did, he was still a teammate, and I wanted him to return to the village. And Itachi was a mass murderer who needed to be taken down.

Hinata wiped her eyes and gave a weak smile. "Of course, you want to; you hate bullies. Okay, but you WILL NOT run off on your own or sacrifice yourself for anyone. We fight them together. I may be your wife now, but I'm also your teammate. And you heard what Lady Fifth said: we are to protect you at all costs."

Naruto looked conflicted. My guess was he didn't like the idea of us sacrificing ourselves for him. But he answered, "I promise not to needlessly put myself in danger," which was open to much interpretation.

Before we could say anything more, Lady Tsunade called us back to her desk.

"I hope you three worked everything out because it's time to continue with the briefing."

And with that, we stood at attention in front of her desk again. Kiba was glaring at Naruto but said nothing. Everyone else paid close attention to Lady Tsunade.

"Now that we are all on the same page, I will continue. We must stop the Akatsuki from gathering all the Tailed Beasts. We don't know their ultimate end, but in doing so, they are weakening the great nations while strengthening themselves. Now, some of you may be questioning why I am sending our own Jinchuuriki on this mission, placing not only him but our village's security at risk."

Naruto didn't seem to care, as it was personal for him, but that was a logical criticism.

"That is because we need to weaponise the Nine-Tails. Jiraiya and Kakashi have both told me that Naruto can lose control, and the beast within him goes on a rampage. That must stop now. There have long been rumours that the Cloud Jinchuuriki have a way to control their beasts; some believe those to be unfounded, but during the last great war, the Fourth Hokage reported fighting the Eight-Tails Jinchuuriki Killer Bee and his brother, Ay, who is the current Raikage. During their fight, the Fourth reported that Killer Bee could summon the beast's tentacles at will. And our covert surveillance has reported no Tailed Beast rampages in the Cloud for the last twenty years."

"I'm sending Naruto with you because I want you to somehow convince the Cloud to teach him how to control the Nine-Tails or steal the secrets if necessary."

Lady Tsunade then looked at me. It was clear what my mission was. Seduce the Raikage or Killer Bee if he was still there to convince them to show Naruto how to control the Nine-Tails or steal the secrets myself.

I spoke up. "So let me get things straight. Our main objective is to find out how to control the Nine-Tails; our secondary objective is to guard the Cloud's Jinchuuriki from the Akatsuki, but we are to protect Naruto from being captured at all costs. And our cover story is that we are there to improve relations between our villages. That could take a long time."

"Indeed." Lady Tsunade agreed. "You will be able to communicate with me via ninja falcon but are expected to make critical decisions and update as often as possible. If it looks like no progress has been made or more support is needed, I will either send reinforcements when they become available or deem the mission a failure and order you to return."

I nodded. I assumed she meant she would send Kakashi-sensei our way once he had recovered.

At that point, Kurenai-sensei looked nervous and looked like she wanted to say something. Lady Tsunade looked at her expectantly.

"What is it, Kurenai?" She asked.

"Lady Fifth, I'm sorry, but I can't go on this mission. If it was of a short duration, I might have been able to, but I can't be deployed indefinitely."

"What do you mean?" Lady Tsunade asked.

Kurenai-sensei looked around at the rest of us, embarrassed.

"I'm afraid I am pregnant and will be showing in a few weeks. I had hoped to get a few missions in before announcing it and retiring, but given that this mission is so critical and may take several months, I feel now that I must let you know."

She explained to Lady Tsunade and then lowered her head. We were all surprised, except for Kiba. In general, kunoichi only got pregnant when they wanted to. We made sure to stay on birth control at all times in case we were ordered to seduce someone, which didn't happen much these days, despite the unspoken order I just received, or we were captured and unfortunately abused.

"Ha, I knew about that before any of you did!" Kiba shouted proudly.

Lady Tsunade looked between Kiba and Kurenai-sensei, repeatedly raising her eyebrows questioningly.

"No! It's Asuma's. I would never lay a hand on someone so young and beneath my rank. It would be beyond inappropriate and borderline an abuse of authority! Kiba could smell my hormones changing and suspected it before I even did. He told me, and I asked him to keep it to himself."

Maybe Kurenai-sensei forgot what she overheard Lady Tsunade say when we entered the room, or it was a subtle way to get Lady Tsunade to back off and forget that Kurenai-sensei allowed herself to get pregnant while she was still an active ninja. Either way, Lady Tsunade looked a little ashamed of herself and quickly moved on.

"Well, what's done is done. I'll be honest, I could have pulled another jonin to command Team 7 from the start, but since this mission is so important, I wanted to use a proven Team used to their leader. If you want, I could still do that, or I could give the command to someone from within your team. Who would you recommend?" Lady Tsunade asked Kurenai-sensei.

She responded instantly. "Shino. He is more level-headed than Kiba and more decisive than Hinata."

Her statement appeared to annoy Kiba and sadden Hinata, but it seemed like they both agreed, as neither spoke up.

"Very well," Lady Tsunade nodded and turned to Shino. "Do you think you are up to the task?"

Shino took a moment to think. "When it comes to commanding in combat, yes, but for the espionage and diplomatic portion of the mission, I will delegate to Sakura."

"Then I believe that is all. You are to leave for the Cloud in three hours; use that time to prepare. Naruto, you may need the key to the seal. It is in Jiraiya's possession. Get it from him before you leave."

"We talked to him when we passed the bathhouses on our way here. We'll go see if he's still there and meet you two at the main gates." I turned and spoke to Shino and Kiba.

"That works. See you three then." Said Shino, and with that, we were dismissed and left the office.

...

"What are you reading?" Naruto asked me as he, Hinata and I walked to the bathhouses.

"A copy of the letter Lady Tsunade wrote to the Raikage and his reply. Basic political double talk. They are willing to host us but are not happy about it and are very suspicious."

I whispered the next part. "Also, they are VERY interested in you. Whether that is because they know you have the Nine-Tails or it is because you have Uzumaki blood, I can't say."

"Why would they care about my blood?" Naruto asked.

"The Uzumaki had large chakra pools and resilient bodies. You don't have their signature red hair, so you clearly aren't full-blooded, but you still have enormous chakra reserves, and in the past, the Cloud tried to kidnap a full-blooded Uzumaki girl from the village, though her identity was kept secret. They clearly want to study rare clans."

"There was also the incident with Hinata and Neji's father. So they are interested in the Byakugan too." I said softly as I glanced at Hinata. She had a pained expression.

"Is it such a good idea to take her with us then?" Naruto asked, worried.

There he went again, worrying about others before himself. He ignored their interest in him and focused on the potential danger to Hinata.

"This is an official diplomatic mission. They wouldn't risk starting a war by hurting either of you unless we gave them probable cause. I think this is another reason why Lady Tsunade is sending us."

I pulled them into a nearby alley and had Hinata check to make sure no one was spying on us. When she gave me a nod, I continued.

"With Hinata being part of your clan now and with you as the head, you are the one with authority to divulge your clan's secrets, which includes your special blood and chakra as well as Hinata's. We may be able to use that as a bargaining chip to get them to tell us how to control Tailed Beasts."

"Then why didn't Granny tell us that herself?"

"The Hokage isn't supposed to order clan members to divulge their secrets. She left it up to us. Also, if the Hyuuga clan finds out, they may try to stop us. Now, I'm not suggesting we give them your or Hinata's corpses for study, but regular medical tests might be enough to get us at the negotiating table."

"Er, I don't know... I may be the clan head on paper, but I don't want to order Hinata to take tests." Naruto wasn't convinced it was a safe plan.

"At least don't shut them down right away if they ask. You heard Shino, I'm in charge of the espionage and diplomacy. And I say we let them think they have a chance to study you two, at least at the beginning. Once we convince the Raikage and the Jinchuuriki of the threat, I think I can persuade them to teach us how to control Tailed Beasts in the interest of stopping the Akatsuki."

I was willing to go as far as blood tests from those two, sexual favours and an official agreement for cooperation until the Akatsuki was defeated, but I kept that to myself.

Naruto sighed. "If that is what you think we need to do, and Hinata agrees, then that's what we will do." He looked at her. "What do you say, Hinata?"

Hinata closed her big eyes and spoke in a resigned tone. "To be honest, I've always hated the Cloud for trying to kidnap me and causing Uncle Hizashi's death. And..." She looked at me and Naruto before cutting herself off.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"What I'm saying is that in order to make you stronger in order to protect you, I am willing to do what it takes, even if it means negotiating with and potentially letting them study my former clan's most valued secrets."

Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but I shook my head and dropped it. We left the alley and continued to walk towards the bathhouses.

...

As we approached the entrance to the bathhouse, we were stopped by an employee. I didn't know his name, but he was an older man with a shaved head.

"I'm afraid you two are banned from the premises." He said to Hinata and me.

Word must have gotten out that we were married. It had been a day since Hinata told Hiashi, and she and I had been holding hands around the village all morning. Lady Tsunade said she would use our clan's beliefs to punish those who discriminated against us, but that would take time; the people would need to see others getting punished for mistreating us before they believed Lady Tsunade was serious.

"What the fuc—" Naruto started to complain, but I stopped him.

"We only have a few hours, and we need that key from Master Jiraiya. You go in and get it if he is still in there. Hinata and I will wait out here."

He looked pissed and glared at the employee but stayed silent as he stormed into the bathhouse.

"Well, it's a good thing we have our own compound with its own top-of-the-line chakra water summoning system, isn't it, Dear," Hinata said to the man with the shaved head before kissing my cheek.

"Yes, baby. No need to continue using this subpar establishment." I said to the man before taking Hinata's hand and leading her away.

We sat on a bench facing the entrance of the building. The man glared at us for a moment before he went back inside.

"Hinata," I began softly, "What were you going to say back in the alley?" I asked while stroking her hand.

She took a deep breath before she began. "I never understood this as a child, but now I am older, I can see that they may have intended to... 'breed' me. So that they could produce Byakugan users for their own village."

I suspected that as well. True, they could have removed her eyes and transferred them to someone else, but that wouldn't be efficient. They may have experimented on her to find the limits of the Byakugan in order to counter it. But the most efficient and easiest thing to do would have been to use her to make more Byakugan users and raise them to be loyal to the Cloud. Why else would they kidnap a young girl with no valuable fighting skills or knowledge at the time?

"Are you scared they will try again?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Can you transfer a child from one woman's womb to another?"

I was shocked. "Er, I can't transfer a foetus, but I can transfer a zygote."

"A what?" She asked.

"Ah, a fertilised egg. It would develop into a foetus inside the other woman's uterus, but what are you suggesting, Hinata?"

"I-If they want a Hyuuga child, then perhaps we can offer them one, or maybe a few, in exchange for training Naruto to control the Nine-Tails. I don't want to have anyone's baby but Naruto's... or yours if you ever work out how to make your semen viable. But if we let them get me pregnant and you transfer the, whatever you called it, to another woman, then it won't be my child, right?"

Oh, that was a very complex question that I was not going to attempt to answer on the spot. I, for once, was speechless.