Sakura learned something no medical textbook had ever prepared her for.
Fear does not disappear when peace arrives.
It only changes shape.
She felt it now as she watched Naruto sleep beside her, their child tucked safely between them, small fingers curled instinctively around Naruto's shirt. The rise and fall of Naruto's chest was steady—too steady, she thought irrationally, as if stillness itself were a warning.
She reached out, touching his cheek just to feel the warmth.
Naruto stirred immediately. "You okay?"
She nodded, then shook her head.
"I keep thinking," she whispered, "that one day I'll wake up and you won't be here."
Naruto pulled her closer, careful not to disturb the child. His voice was low, rough with honesty. "I think the same thing about you."
They lay there like that, wrapped in each other, listening to the soft breathing of the life they'd made together.
Love didn't erase fear.
It made it worth carrying.
CHAPTER 42 – The World That Demands a Price
The attack came without warning.
Not on Konoha—but everywhere.
Seals detonated across the Five Nations, ancient chakra networks flaring to life. The enemy finally named itself: Mokuren—the belief that love had made shinobi weak, that peace was a sickness, that bonds must be severed for power to return.
"They want to erase what we built," Shikamaru said grimly.
Naruto stood at the head of the room, Hokage cloak heavy on his shoulders.
"They won't," he said.
But Sakura saw the truth in his eyes.
This wasn't a war that could be won without loss.
That night, Naruto stood over their child's crib long after Sakura fell asleep.
"I don't want them to grow up without me," he whispered into the dark.
Sakura woke and heard him.
She didn't try to stop him from trembling.