Sensing Sakura's distress, Naruto entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and hugged her back, sharing his chakra and with it, his emotional support, since it was about all he could do at this point. The Nine-Tails' warm, soothing yang chakra flowed into her pathways, bolstering her healing abilities as tall grass and wildflowers burst from the barren earth around them inside the tent, and…
"Eep!" Sakura yelped.
She had just felt a sudden jolt, a cramp in her side that she had felt many times over the past few years. Her cheeks flushed with heat as she realised what had just happened to her… or rather, what Naruto had just done to her.
"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura hissed furiously, brushing away the grass swaying in front of her as she turned to glare at him. "You just made me—"
Just how badly did Naruto want to impregnate her? Did he know? Was he doing this on purpose!?
That idiot had somehow caused one of her follicles to mature and release an egg ahead of schedule! In other words, his abundant yang chakra had bolstered her vitality to the point of triggering ovulation… which wouldn't have been a problem under ordinary circumstances, but he had just splooged inside her just a day ago!
"What did I do wrong!?" Naruto said defensively. "I'm just doing like we practised, ya know!"
Chakra was not inherent to humanity. For humans to possess chakra and chakra pathways was not a natural state for their species to exist in, unlike the divine Ōtsutsuki from whom chakra originated. Scientists still did not know the full extent of this substance's effects on the body, let alone on women's bodies, a field in which research remained painfully limited.
"I—" Sakura began, but she quickly fell silent. It wasn't his fault.
The battlefield demanded her attention, and she needed to keep her men healthy, both for their own sakes and for the sake of the plan. She ignored Shikaku as he issued orders for Inoichi to transmit through his own Katsuyu clone, focusing on healing those who needed it most.
Through the stars shining before her mind's eye, she could glean something of the battlefield's state without even having to set foot upon it. The Hidden Leaf's shinobi were engaging the enemy in small groups, ranging from a single four-man team to three working in concert.
Following the orders fed through their Katsuyu clones, they would target specific enemy groups, fall back, or break off combat to reinforce their comrades when needed, but they all had one thing in common: they were steadily retreating towards the border, towards the forests of the Land of Fire at their backs.
"The northern flank is taking heavy damage, they're no match for their opponents," Sakura said with her eyes closed. "They need backup."
Nearby, the Sensing Water Ball was beginning to experience some localised swelling, a few small bubbles forming on its surface rather than ripples.
"Five… ten… fifty… a hundred…! So many S-rank chakra signatures! This doesn't make any sense, the Hidden Stone should not have this many elites!" Inoichi gasped. "At this rate, the right wing will collapse, and then the entire formation will follow!"
S-rank signified Kage-level power, denoting the minimum quantity and potency of chakra required for a shinobi to be recognised as a powerhouse capable of leading and protecting an entire hidden village. Individual power levels varied wildly even amongst the Kage themselves, since S-rank simply meant that one stood far beyond the norm, beyond the ordinary genin, chūnin, and jōnin who made up the majority of ninja.
"They must have found Takigakure and taken the Hero Water," Sakura said grimly. "It's a legendary substance that can multiply one's chakra tenfold… in exchange for lifespan."
As for what this implied about the Hidden Waterfall, there was no need to say anything further.
"No wonder we lost communication with them," Shikaku sighed. "Well, in that case, there's no need to keep this charade going any longer— Inoichi, sound the retreat."
Despite Sakura's best efforts, two small villages had already been wiped from the map: first Magami's and Aragami's Kusagakure, and now Shibuki's Takigakure… but so long as their shinobi yet lived, there remained hope that they might rebuild once the war was over. Fū was still blissfully unaware that her village had fallen while she was out helping the Hidden Leaf on a different front.
"Naruto, you're up," Shikaku went on, signalling to the Intelligence Division to begin packing up their temporary HQ with a circular flick of his wrist. "Cover the northern flank's retreat!"
Sakura opened her eyes.
"Be careful," she said softly.
Naruto grinned and flexed his right biceps, gripping the slight bulge of muscle with his other hand.
"Hehe, Sakura-chan's worrying about me," he said, sounding rather happy. "But I've grown pretty strong too, ya know? I can hold my own just fine!"
Sakura smiled weakly in return. She was tempted to say something along the lines of, 'I don't want the baby to grow up without his father,' but since she neither wanted to raise any death flags nor have to raise a baby when she had no idea when the war would end, she kept her mouth shut.
Naruto winked at her, and in a flash, he was gone, leaving behind nothing but an afterimage and a powerful draught that sent the tents' flaps whipping wildly about. Now that he was gone, Sakura found herself gripped by the fear that she might never see him again, and she reflexively rubbed her trim and toned stomach… it was covered by a soft, thin layer of fat.
Being a teenage mother was daunting enough without the prospect of becoming a single mother as well…
"Milady, it's time," Shikaku said, coughing to get Sakura's attention as she absentmindedly stared at the swaying tent flaps. "We're retreating to the secondary HQ."
The Sensing Water Sphere collapsed with a splash as the four Barrier Team members responsible for maintaining it retracted their chakra. The liquid drained into the soil, much to the delight of the plants that had sprung up inside the tent after feeding off the Nine-Tails' life energy.
"Hmm?" Sakura said distractedly, starting at the noise. "Oh, right. Let's go."
Shikaku's gaze lingered a fraction of a second too long on her before he turned away to supervise the destruction of any important documents they would have to leave behind. Though Sakura unfortunately did not possess the power to read minds, had she been able to pry into his thoughts, she would have soon discovered where Shikamaru got his misogynistic tendencies.