She'd been running for the better part of a week almost non-stop. However, despite, being exhausted she knew she couldn't stop now when her designation was this close. There wasn't much time left before the seal they'd placed on her the after the first month of her pregnancy would forcibly open the last of her eight inner gates, the 'Gate of Death. She knew there would be no stopping it and saving of herself was no longer an option. Now, her sole objective was to ensure her child was born somewhere safe, somewhere far away from those researchers she'd barely managed to escape from. She shivered at the thought of them knowing she managed to survive the 100 feet fall into the turbulent river.

The researchers of the underground facility where she'd been held captive experimented using seals, and the one placed on her pregnant belly was just one in a string of others. They hadn't explained her much, but she'd overheard a conversation between the lead researcher and an assistant, and that's when she knew she'd to escape. Otherwise, her child would endure a fate worse than herself.

Even though the child in her stomach wasn't conceived out of love but by artificial insemination, it was still hers. She would damn well protect it to the best of ability. The 'Seal of Awakening' as she'd heard them call it worked by tearing apart the eight gates, pressure points controlling the natural limit of chakra flowing within her, and directing the immense chakra towards her still growing child.

A consequence of this was she'd never watch her child grow up and show it the love she felt. The only real thing she could do was bring herself within the boundaries of Konohagakure. During the first day of her escape, she'd heard whispers of their refugee program as she walked through a town to steal some food. They were still recovering from 'The First Great Shinobi War' and were admitting any unaffiliated families, and providing shelters and food for those without anything.

From before her capture, she'd only heard good things about that particular shinobi village and its Hokage, Hashirama Senju. She'd heard him being a compassionate and fair leader. Someone people were willing to fight and die willingly for. Not having the luxury to ponder for too long, because she was close to the point where she might go into labour, she'd set Konohagakure as the goal.

In addition to the pain she was constantly experiencing and the toll the seal was having on her body it, the overflowing chakra within her body gifted her increased strength and stamina. If that weren't the case she doubted she'd make it anywhere near Konohagakure before her time was up. She didn't need much sleep, she just kept running, uncaring about her ragged clothes drenched in sweat and shoes long ago used past their expiration date.

Only after four days of travel did she dare travelling by road instead of through the bushes and trees. It might make the distance longer, but she was able to travel faster this way. She wasn't a shinobi and had no other way to travel than putting one foot in front of the other, the oldfashioned way.

She tried avoiding towns and other people as much as possible. She didn't want questions being asked that she couldn't answer in fear of any rumour getting back to 'them'.

Getting closer to Konohagakure the road got wider and more populated making it difficult to go unnoticed, especially, with her haggard clothes and exhausted appearance with, not to mention her very pregnant figure while running.

On the seventh day, she stopped caring if someone saw her or not. She even dared to stop briefly to ask a passing caravan about how far out Konohagakure was. Being told she was only a day travel away from reaching her goal pure elation washed over her. Thanking the elder man, she continued running another hour until three men suddenly appeared in front of her wearing animal-styled mask.

"Stop!" the man in the middle said, with one hand making a stop-motion and the other taking grabbed hold of a sword strapped to his back. Left no other option she obeyed.

"I seek refuge in Konagakure," she panted while one hand rested protectively on her stomach.

The Anbu dropped his hand which he'd held in front of him to signal for her to stop, but he didn't let go of his sword and let it remain as a silent threat to discourage her from doing anything dumb.

All three wore the same black sleeveless jumper with a grey flack jacket, arm-length gloves with guards over them and strapped-up shinobi sandals.

"What your name, woman?" he commanded.

"Mari..." she answered.

All three of the Anbu members studied her appearance. She had thick dark hair with a slight curl that hung plastered to her forehead. Her dark golden skin was glistening with sweat and striking grey eyes. Even though the clothes were disgusting it did nothing to mask her beauty. She looked young, not much older than 20.

"Okay, Mari" he sighed "who are –" About to ask a question he was interrupted.

"Ugh...My stomach," Mari gasped surprised by a sudden spike of pain surrounding her stomach, "don't just stand there you idiots, I need help! I'm going into labour."

"Shit! Really?" Not quite believing the messed up situation. He glanced both left and right looking for good suggestions, both shrugged.

"Fantastic, just fucking great." He took a deep breath as if it were him in labour.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do –" having determined the best course of action " – we might manage to make it to the village if we hurry."

The one in the middle who'd been talking went closer to her and had since long ago let go of his sword. Went he got closer he could feel a significant amount of chakra being released from her.

"I'm not a sensor type, but even I'm able to tell you're releasing a lot of chakra –" Mari eyed him in a slight panic "Do a reading of her and tell me what you see Takara," the one in apparent charge said over his shoulder.

The Anbu on the left didn't move, however, Mari could see his eyes started glowing red.

"She got a massive amount of chakra concentrated around her stomach region," Takara who'd said, surprised by the discovery.

"No way, that's a normal pregnancy," he said as an afterthought.

Mari didn't want to tell them more than necessary. So, she kept quiet and just waited for them to make a decision. Both parties played the waiting game until the leader who'd been standing in front of her grew tired of it.

"We're obviously seeking answers, which you not willing to provide. We'll take you to the village to deliver, and then afterwards we'll talk! Sound good?"

"Yeah, that's fine by me," Mari smiled in relief. She'd succeeded.

All the way back to the village the Anbu leader carried her bridal style. It took them about half a day and underway the contractions kept getting worse. She could feel her stomach heating up due to all the chakra being directed towards it from the 'Gate of Death'. Pain and exhaustion were battling for her attention. She barely noticed when one of the Anbu was sent ahead to inform the Hokage of their situation and prepare a hospital room.

Passing under the main gate into Konohagakure it didn't take long before she was surrounded by nurses and medical-nin at the hospital telling her it was time to push, which Mari did. All she could. Only when someone told her to stop and she heard the cry of a baby did she relax.

What she was feeling was beyond pain, but she was happy. She'd done all she could and had given her baby everything.

"It's a boy," someone said and handed her blanket with a handsome little baby boy inside.

"Hello, little one!" Mari said smiling.

In the background, she began to hear yells of horror. She was turning to ash right before their very eyes, and no one knew what to do.

A short time later, Mari was gone and only a small baby wrapped in a blanket remained on the hospital bed.