Naruto 1. Saskue's Sacrifice

Hinata noticed that she couldn't move as her body was being cocooned by a gigantic tree, "Naruto-kun." Naruto was in the middle of a heated battle, but he felt a disturbance in his heart that left him standing with a blank expression on his face. His knees suddenly felt weak and he fell, "H-Hinata…" Madara Uchicha laughed horrendously as all of Naruto's comrades were encased by the tree. Naruto was angered, "Why you! Saskue let's go!"

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Madara smirked, "That same jutsu! It's getting a bit old don't you think? Muhahahaa!" All of Naruto's shadow clones spoke at the same time each one enveloped in the controlled chakara of Kurama. "They're different this time!" Saskue appeared behind Madara ,"Chidori Blade!" Madara was being kept in one place by Saskue when he noticed all of Naruto's shadow clones running towards him, "Rasen Shuriken!" Saskue quickly moved out of the way and all Madara saw where orange blazes heading towards him when he felt thousands of needles stabbing him throughout his body.

Madara fell to the floor, Naruto's shadow clones disappeared and he was was on his knees gasping for air. Naruto turned to look at Saskue and Sakura who was healing him, "We did it!" and gave them both his goofy grin. The tree slowly started to rot and the cocoons around the shinobi were falling apart. In a last attempt to capture the nine-tail by setting Naruto off on a rampage he formed the last of his chakara in the palm of his hand to give Naruto a blow in his back that cannot be healed by medical ninjutsu. Sakura was too busy healing Saskue to notice and Naruto was still trying to catch his breath, but Saskue did notice and without even realizing it he jumped in front of Naruto and pushed him to the side.

Naruto landed on his back and the scene before him reminded him of their first A-Rank mission when they were fighting Haku and Saskue protected him from Haku like he did just now. "Dammit," Madara said and then closed his eyes never to open them again. Saskue coughed up blood and Naruto could do nothing but stare, "S-Saskue…" Saskue couldn't keep his body up so he fell, "Do you always need protection? Loser." Saskue voice was weak and continued to get weaker with every breath he took. Sakura ran up and began healing him, while Naruto just continued to stare at Saskue with tears forming in his eyes. Sakura began crying when she realized Saskue took too much damage and she couldn't heal it all at once.

Saskue began to speak weakly, "Sakura, I'm sorry I never noticed you before. I was too hung up on revenge to care about anything or anyone else." Saskue caressed her face, "But when I saw your strength today, I noticed that I could have grown to feel what you feel for you." Saskue began sobbing, "Saskue…" Saskue interrupted Sakura, "Naruto… You've been trying to bring me home all these years. That day at the waterfall when I said we became the best of friends, what I really thought was that you became like a brother to me. But, I didn't say it because I knew I couldn't kill you and if I couldn't kill you who wasn't even my real brother how was I supposed to kill Itachi. Naruto, protect Sakura for me and Sakura, find someone who deserves you more than I ever could.

Saskue's body went limp and Sakura started sobbing loudly, while Naruto just hugged her silently. Shikimaru, Temari, Garra, Kankuro, Kiba, Akamaru, Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, Chouji, Ino, Hinata, Neji, Shino, Lee, Gai, Ten Ten, Tsunade, Mei, Ay and Onoki stood behind Naruto and Sakura as they mourned.

Back at the Village Hidden in the Leaves, they held a memorial ceremony for Saskue, the only people who came where those who wanted to support Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. Karin, Naruto, Sakura, Jugo, Kakashi, and Suigetsu seemed to be the only ones who went for Saskue. After, the memorial Sakura and Naruto stayed at Saskue's grave for a while before Naruto grabbed her hand. Sakura looked at him with tears in her eyes, while Naruto just put her hand in both of his. He looked at her straight in the eye, "All we can do now Is keep our promise to Saskue. I'll protect you not matter what. I know you really loved Saskue, but you're going have to keep your promise to him too." Sakura's eyes shined, "Naruto…" Naruto let go of her hand and started running out, he turned and waved good-bye, "See you later Sakura, I've got to go find Hinata."

Hinata had been watching Naruto and Sakura from behind a tree the entire time, and her chest tightened when she saw Naruto grabbing Sakura's hand. But when she heard Naruto was looking for her she panicked and ran off to a bench in the direction that Naruto was going. Naruto appeared a little after she sat down and looked surprised. "Well look here just the person I was looking for! Hinata!" Hinata started to blush, "H-Hello, Naruto-kun. W-What did you want to talk about?" Hinata clasped her hands on her lap, a nervous habit of hers she formed to replace the other habit she had of twiddling her fingers.

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a while Hinata, but I needed to figure some things out first." Hinata started freaking out inside because she saw Naruto blushing. She thought, _"Naruto-kun is growing red, Naruto-kun is blushing while talking to me." _"Anyway Hintata as I was saying, since that day when you saved me from Pein, when you told me that you… you… loved me. I've been wanting to talk to you Hinata, because no one has ever told me that before, and when you told me that I… I felt happy, happier than I ever had before. It-It took me some time after the fight with Pein to realize that I-I love you too." Hinata gasped, she never thought that Naruto would say those words to her, her face started blushing furiously.

"I-I get if I'm a little too late on telling you this, and you moved on or something, but hear me out when I say that I want to be by your side if you'll let-" Hinata yelled rather forcefully, "Of course I still love you Naruto-kun." Her volume lowered, "I will always love you Naruto-kun." Naruto looked at her with an astonished look on his face, "Hinata…" Without even thinking her pulled Hinata into a hug and kissed her, Hinata felt like she was in a dream but she knew it was real. This time it was Sakura that saw everything from behind a tree with a sad smile across her face.


	2. Saskue's Dream

A few weeks after the Fourth Great Ninja War there was a large ceremony held for the fallen and awards given out to those who survived. Only two were given the Medal of Eternal Honor and that was Naruto and Saskue, the award given to those who defeated Madara Uchiha. After the ceremony Naruto ran around looking for Hinata when he crashed into Sakura and she fell on the floor. "Oh hey! Sorry Sakura!"Naruto gave her his hand to help her get up. "Hey Naruto, what are you in a rush for?" Naruto blushed, Sakura was surprised she's never seen him blush so much before, "Actually, I'm looking for Hinata, I have something I want to give to her." Hinata and Naruto have been going out for a few weeks now, and not many people know about it only Sakura, Shikimaru, and Kiba have suspected and been confirmed by them.

Kiba enjoys teasing Naruto and Hinata about it, but you can tell that he is really happy for them, since he's been a Naruhina shipper since the beginning. Sakura rubbed her head in thought, "Actually I think that Hinata went home, I'm pretty sure she told me that today she was going to train with Neji. "Oh yeah, now that I think about it she did say something about that earlier when we talked on the phone. Thanks Sakura, I guess I'll give this to her later at dinner, see you later!" Naruto ran off and Sakura felt a lonely sensation within her, it wasn't that she wasn't happy for Naruto. It was more like with Saskue gone and Nruto being promoted to jounin going on all these missions by himself she felt like Team 7 was separated.

Later at the Hyuga Mansion Hinata and Neji were training each using their byakugans and gentle fists. They were talking casually while doing so, "You're getting better at this Lady Hinata." "I've been training with Naruto-kun as well." "You and Naruto have been spending quite a bit of time together Lady Hinata." Hinata jerked back in surprise and her face flushed red, "Tha-That's not true Neji-nissan." Neji grew suspicious then his eyes grew wide in surprise, "Don't tell me you and Naruto are a couple now?" Hinata's face was all red but she shook her head up and down fast while covering her face. In an Instant Neji picked her up and spun her around, "That's great Hinata!" Neji slightly blushed and quickly put her down when he realized what he did. "Have you told your father yet Hinata?" Hinata grew nervous, "N-No way. I can't tell father something like that!" Neji decided to tease he a bit, "Well you're going to have to tell him sometime if you two plan on getting married." Hinata was surprised at hearing thos words, her face burned with the thought of Naruto in a suit, "M-Married?!"

After her training Hinata cleaned herself up and started getting dressed for her date with Naruto. In the few weeks that they've been together they haven't been able to spend much time together, because of Naruto's promotion to jounin he's been requested for more and more missions. Missions lately have been mainly about escorting to protect against thieves, none the less there was peace between the five kages. Hinata met Naruto at the bench were he had asked her out almost a month earlier, that was there meeting spot ever since that day. Hinata and Naruto wore what they usually wear so people would just think that they happened to be walking together instead of going on a date, the reason they were being so secretive is too keep Hinata's father from finding out. When Naruto saw her, he instantly picked her up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

Hinata blushed, over the few weeks that they've been together Hinata hasn't been as nervous around Naruto as she had been before, despite them not being able to spend much time together she was more comfortable around him. Naruto placed his arm around her and she leaned on his shoulder, they talked normally to each other. Naruto's tone turned serious suddenly and Hinata adjusted herself so that she was facing him. Naruto sighed and began to speak, "Granny Tsunade asked me to join the Anbu Black Ops along with Sai, Shikimaru, and Neji. The four of us are going to make up our own squad and we're going to be in charge of going after rogue ninja in the bingo book of all the villages, each villiage is going to provide one team. Me, Sai, Shikimaru, and Neji are our village's team." Hinata's heart ached a bit when she heard this, because it means that Naruto is going to be gone for a long time. Nonetheless, she continued to listen.

Naruto handed her a box that was black and orange like the clothes he always wears, and continued to talk. "I know we don't get to spend much time together from the start and me joining the Anbu Black Ops isn't going to help at all with this, but I still need to experience lots of things if I'm going to be Hokage. I hate the thought of leaving you alone, it wouldn't bother me so much if Neji was here but he's coming too. Granny Tsunade promised us that every time we take down five rogue ninja we could take a two day break at the village. But I don't know how long taking five rogue ninja will take, though I'm pretty sure Shikamaru will make us hustle through them so Temari doesn't get upset, so I want to give you this." He handed her the black and orange box to her, she unwrapped it carefully. Inside was a necklace with the emblem of the Land of Ebby hanging off of it that was as red as Kushina's hair, as well as the emblem of the Hyuga clan. Hinata had already been told by Naruto about Kushina and Minato, so the present meant a great deal to her. Naruto sighed and smiled, "I'm going to do what Saskue wanted and become Hokage then restore my clan. But I can't restore the Uzumaki Clan alone and boy Hinata do I hope that you're going to be the one who helps me." Hinata blushed, that was the second time someone had mentioned her marrying Naruto today.

Two days afterwards was the day that Neji, Shikamaru, Sai, and Naruto were heading out of the village to begin their mission. Shikamaru, Sai, and Naruto were all waiting patiently by the main gate for Neji to arrive. Naruto waited impatiently, "Dammit where's Neji! The faster we leave, the faster we get to come back!" Shikamaru sighed, "Man I can't believe you in charge of this mission, just because you're a jounin." Sai interrupted him, "Princess Tsunade didn't pick him just because he's a jounin, she picked Naruto because he has the most fighting strength out of all of us. I was there when she picked the team members." Neji and Hinata were walking towards the main gate, while Naruto was arguing with Sai, right when he noticed Hinata he forgot completely about their argument. Naruto ran up to Hinata and pulled her into a kiss forgetting about the awkward stares they were being given. Neji walks up to Shikimaru and Sai, Shikimaru whispers to them, "He was the one who wanted to leave asap but now it's gunna be a drag getting him to leave."

Neji sighed, "Well it was either Hinata coming to see us off or her not coming and regretting it later, and so I dragged her here." Shikamaru spoke to Naruto, "Come on Naruto you're not the only one whose got a girlfriend waiting for them. If we don't hurry up and meet with the Sand's Anbu Temari will have my head and it will be such a pain." Hinata pushed Naruto back from their hug, "Go on Naruto-kun, I'll be fine." Naruto gave her a kiss on the forehead and then touched his forehead with hers, "I'll be back soon, I promise Hinata." Hinata smiled, "And you never go back on your word, because that's our ninja way." Shikamaru had to admit that over the month they've been together they have been acting disgustingly cute, but right now they really didn't have the time for that. Naruto walked away from Hinata and the four of them began on their mission to capture the rogue ninja of the five hidden villages.


	3. Sakura's Recovery

**Author's Note:**

**I put up this chapter quickly because I got two wonderful reviews from The Night of the Rabbit and xXYour DoomXx and they both inspired me to write another chapter quickly. Thanks for the reviews you two are the best! Reviews are greatly appreciated and inspire me to put up another chapter as quickly as my lil hands can type, but they are not necessary for the fan fic to continue. Follow me on tumblr neverlandsfirstlostgirl.  
**

**-S-**

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Before Naruto left on his mission he would visit Sakura every day, to make sure she was okay. After the funeral for Saskue, Sakura would stay home all day and wouldn't let anyone see her except for her parents. Sakura's parents were worried about her, so they asked Naruto to come, and after a few weeks Sakura started feeling better. Naruto was still worried about Sakura, so he asked Hinata if she could check on her and maybe take her out once in a while. Hinata was also worried about her friend Sakura so she agreed and said that she would check on her once a week.

In the evening, Hinata went up to Sakura's house and knocked on the door, Sakura's mom opened the door, "Oh hello, you must be Naruto's girlfriend, and yes he told us you were coming."Sakrua's mom said a bit nonchalantly but Hinata remained unnerved, "Yes, hello my name is Hinata Hyuga, nice to meet you." Hinata bowed and then suddenly Sakura's mom turned cheerful, "Well don't just stand there, come in. Sakura is cleaning her room right now, so while you wait I'll get us some tea." Hinata sat on the table and Sakura's mother handed her the tea, "So how long have you and Naruto been together?" Hinata choked on her tea and started blushing, "M-Me and Naruto-kun, we've been together for a month now." Sakura's mother notice the necklace hanging around Hinata's neck, she recognized one as the mark that Naruto has on his clothes and the other as the Hyuga mark.

Sakura's mom smiled, "That's a lovely necklace, did Naruto give it to you?" Hinata looked down and grabbed her necklace, "Y-Yes he gave it to me before he left as a good-bye and our one month anniversary gift." Sakura's mother laughed, "It looks kind of like a substitute for a promise ring if you ask me. Hinata blushed and hid her face, "N-No, me and Naruto are only 17 years old t-there's no way." Sakura's mom's face grew serious, "But you know better than anyone that at 17 and a half they start looking for a husband or wife for the heiress or heir of the Hyuga family so they could get married at 18." Hinata looks shameful, "I-I know but I haven't told Naruto anything about that, he only knows that w-we have to keep our relationship a secret." Sakura's mom smiled a fake smile, "I think Sakura is coming down the stairs."

Like her mom said Sakura came down the stairs she looked surprised to see Hinata at the table and then smiled, "Hey Hinata, I forgot that Naruto mentioned you were coming by, sorry." Hinata smiled, "Oh no worries, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the hot springs with Ino, Ten Ten, Temari, and me." Sakura mentally sighed at the thought of going to hang out with all her recently taken friends. Hinata and Naruto were the first ones to get together after the war. A couple of day afterwards Temari was in town with Kankuro and Gaara for a meeting with Tsunade about the jounin test and after the meeting Shikamaru asked her out. A week after that Kiba sent Akamaru to Ino with a letter in his mouth asking her for a date, at first Ino was hesitant but they've been inseparable ever since that first date. Neji with help of Hinata and Naruto, finally got him to confess his feelings to Ten Ten before they left on their mission. Nevertheless, Sakura agreed to go thinking that a day at the hot springs might do her some good.

At the hot springs Ino, Ten Ten, Temari, Hinata, and Sakura were bathing peacefully with a bottle of sake. Ino opened to bottle and started pouring each person a cup, "Temari, what brings you into the Leaf Village anyways." Temari sipped out of her sake cup, "Gaara asked me to come over to get the reports that Naruto's Anbu Black Ops Team sent in, because apparently they only sent out one copy so that Sai could save his ink, so I had to copy them word for word. One report for each day it was seven reports in total, so when Hinata invited me out I was more than happy to accept the invite." After thirty minutes of small chit chat and many cups of sake the girls were a little more than drunk, especially Sakura. Sakura drank back cup after cup, then she noticed Hinata's necklace, "Hinata what's up with that necklace, you should take it off before it gets all rusty." Hinata picked up the necklace to show them what was hanging off of it, "I-I can't Naruto-kun made me promise that I wouldn't take it off. Also, he said that it was made from a metal that wouldn't get rusty."

Ten Ten leaned in to get a closer look at the necklace, "Hey isn't that the Land of Ebby emblem and the Hyuga emblem. With those to next to each other it kinda looks like he's promising to marry you." Ten Ten, Ino, and Temari all laughed blushing and began teasing Hinata while Sakura finished the rest of the bottle by herself. Sakura threw her head back, and thought she was speaking in her mind but she was talking out loud, "I wonder how my life would have been if I had fallen in love with Naruto instead of Saskue. Would I be happy and disgustingly cute with Naruto like Hinata is? Would I have gotten married with him? I don't know but now everyone is happy together and I'm all alone." Sakura out her head back up and realized that they were all staring back and forth from Hinata to Sakura. Sakura realized what happened, "N-No Hinata I don't mean it like that-" The other three expected Hinata to say something rude, but Hinata isn't that kind of person instead she went up to Sakura and gave her a hug.

Hinata talked to her in a soothing whisper, "Love can be heartbreaking, but it's also the only way your heart can ever be cured. Someone is going to cure your heart someday it might be Naruto or someone else, but it will be with requited love. Remember you have a promise to keep to Saskue, and whoever it may be who you end up loving next I know that he'll be happy for you." Sakura sobbed into Hinata's neck and Ino, Temari, and Ten Ten all comforted her with a hug.


	4. Kakashi's Savior

**Author's Note:**

**I had actually planned on writing this yesterday but it was my lil cousins birthday so I didn't exactly have the chance, but today my brother left to his friend's house and the computer looked a lil lonely so I decided to give another chapter to my first two followers Beckill and Rider831. Thank you for being the lovely poeple you both are.**

**-S**

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Sakura had eventually passed out in the hot spring bath from sweating and crying out all the water in her body it took all four of the girls to carry Sakura and change her, by the time they were finished they were all exhausted. Ino took out her cell phone, "I'm going to call Kakashi-Sensei, see if he could help us hide this from all of our parents." Temari stood confused, "But he's her Sensei wouldn't he try to pull a responsible move over us and tell us that we should come clean?" Ino smirked evilly, "Don't worry about that! I've got plenty of dirt on Kakashi-Sensei from Sakura and Naruto, so we should be fine!" Hinata and Ino had stayed behind with Sakura while the others left home. Just like Ino said Kakashi came without complaint and on time. Kakashi saw a limp Sakura propped up against the wall of the hot springs he sighed loudly, "So who's house is she going to be staying at?"

Ino and Hinata both looked at each other, knowing that neither of them could take Sakura to their house smelling like alcohol. Hinata had an idea, "Well actually I have the keys to Naruto-kun's house, to take care of while he's gone. We could take her there." Ino shook her head, "No, if Sakura saw that she woke up in Naruto's bed she'd freak out and jump to conclusions. N-Not that it's something she'd want to happen it's just you know?" Hinata just silently nodded, she knows it shouldn't bother her but the thought of Naruto being with anyone besides her made her chest burn. Also Hinata and Naruto had only been going out for a little over a month, so thinking about doing something more intimate than kissing three or four times in a row made her nervous. Hinata felt blood starting to run down her nose as she thought about her and Naruto making love, she noticed before anyone else could and quickly ran off without another word.

Ino and Kakashi just stood there dumbfounded at Hinata's strange behavior, then Ino took the chance to slip away. Kakashi suddenly found himself alone with a passed out 16-year-old that reeked of alcohol, he realized the situation he was in and how bad this must look to passer byers. He quickly picked up Sakura in his arms and had no choice but to take her to his house. He arrived at his house rather quickly considering the hot springs is pretty far from there. He carefully placed Sakura on his bed and was walking towards his couch when he felt a small hand grab his arm. Sakura had sobered up a bit, "Thanks for helping Kakashi." Sakura's voice was low and had a seductive tone to it, probably due to the alcohol still coursing through her system. Kakashi started to blush, it reminded him of a scene in one of his books, and he blushed even more when he saw that Sakura had entwined her fingers into his. Kakashi kept his hand in hers when he turned around to speak to her.

"Sakura you're still pretty drunk, you should lay back down." Sakura pulled Kakashi closer, "Only if you lie down with me Kakashi," She kept tugging on his arm until Kakashi lost his balance and ultimately fell on top of Sakura. He was hovering over Sakura and she tugged down on his mask, "You know I've always wanted to see what was under that mask Kakashi and for your information I'm more sober than you think, I know exactly what I'm doing." Kakashi's entire face grew red as Sakura pulled down his mask and her lips pecked at his neck to his lips. Sakura didn't know why she was acting the way she was, but something deep within was telling her that she wanted him. Kakashi was hesitant at first, but once he felt the passion growing in her kisses, he felt the need to give her kisses back equally as passionate. It was strange for him to want someone so much, he had compelled himself to spend his entire life without falling in love, still feeling he wasn't worth any sort of love because of how he almost abandoned Rin. However, that night he didn't think about any of that, instead he let allowed himself to make love too Sakura and somewhere in that time he allowed her to slip into his heart.

The next day, Sakura woke up next to a very exposed Kakashi Hatake, she blushed ferociously when she had a flashback about last night's events. She turned around to a handsome face, a face usually kept hidden underneath a mask, but now that mask was on a pile of clothes next to the bed. Kakashi woke up to see a very beautiful pink-haired girl staring at him, he remembered that he didn't have his mask on, normally that would make him feel uncomfortable but because it was the girl he had just given his heart to he didn't mind one bit. Sakura blushed when she saw him staring at her, "Kakashi-sensei I-" Kakashi brought a finger to her lips and smiled, "It's okay Sakura when we're alone you can call me Kakashi." Sakura didn't know what else to talk about when her stomach started to grumble. Kakashi laughed, "I can whip us up some food if you'd like." Sakura shook her head, "No it's okay I'll do it, that's what girlfriends are for." Kakashi smiled at her bold statement of their relationship, she was always the type to speak her mind without hesitating.

Neither Kakashi nor Sakura understood why these feelings had come to the surface when they did, but they were glad it had happened. Their feelings for each other came out of nowhere but now that they were together it felt like the feelings had always been there. The moment when one fell in love with the other could not be pin pointed in their memories, maybe they fell in love in the exact moment they started making love to one another or maybe they were slowly forming feelings for one another since the beginning. In the end it didn't matter, because Sakura's promise to Saskue had been fulfilled. Both Kakashi and Sakura could feel Saskue smiling at them approvingly from wherever he was.


	5. Tsunade's Expectations

**Author's Note:**

**This is a pretty long chapter considering that my chapters usuallyonly consist of a little over a thousand words. I wrote half of this chapter yesterday but got really distracted watching Naruto Shippuden: Road to Ninja, which was beautiful btw. Anyways thank you to my three new followers: FireBear667, Darkknight69ml, and angeleyes09 along with a new favorite from Umbra Gami for inspiring me to put up a new chapter asap. Ya'll are beautiful.**

**-S**

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It's been four months since Sai, Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto left the village and the three girls waiting for their return started getting impatient. Neither could really complain because when the day of their anniversary came their boyfriend would send them an anniversary gift. Today was the same as every other month, Hinata got called to Tsunade's office and there on her desk was a small box wrapped in orange and black paper. She three present from him from previous months one is a necklace with the emblem of both the Hyuga and the Land of Ebby, another is a bracelet with lavender flowers matching the color of her eyes, and the third is a ring with a lavender on it. Tsunade ushered her to come forward and handed her the orange and black box.

Before leaving Hinata couldn't help but ask, "Milady, do you know when Naruto-" Tsunade stood up, "Hinata you know as well as anyone that these missions take time, I'm sure Naruto and the others are trying their best to finish this asap. However, I will inform you that Naruto and the others are already more than halfway through their bingo book, they had many chances to come back home but they chose not to, knowing that if they did it would just delay their time to stay permanently. I'm sure Naruto and the others will come home soon, be sure to inform the other two girls waiting. While you're at it bring the TenTen and Sakura, I have a mission for you four." Hinata left and when she was outside of the Hokage Tower she opened the box carefully inside was a pair of lovey earrings with lavender flowers hanging off of it along with a note.

_Dear Hinata,_

_I know I said that I was going to come home after we beat down five rogue ninja, but I figured it just be easiest to finish them all without going back home. The Anbu Black Ops mask they gave me is so cool! It has whiskers on it just like I do! We're almost done with our bingo book though so next time you know it I'll be home! But boy Hinata do I miss you, especially your cooking, the inns we stay at, well their food will never match up to the food my Hinata makes! If you're wondering why I keep sending you jewelry with lavenders on it, it's because they remind me of your eyes. And Man Hinata don't I miss you! I decided that after this I would keep sending you little charms for your necklace. Happy four month anniversary Hinata, ya know! _

_Love,_

_Naruto_

Hinata smiled reassured by his words and went to inform the others about the boys' that are trying hard to complete their first mission as Anbu and their new mission. Tsunade gave them very specific instructions to go pick up Temari on the way, so that they could walk together to a conference that needs to be attended at the Fire Inn nearby the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.

Sakura freaked out when she heard a knock on Kakashi's door and even more so when she heard Hinata's voice. Kakashi and Sakura quickly got dressed in a hurry before Sakura opened the door. Hinata saw how Sakura was slightly embarrassed but decided not to say anything abou, "Princess Tsunade has a mission for us." Sakura smiled, "I'll meet you at the Hokage tower in thirty mintues I promised Kakashi-sensei I'd make him breakfast as a thanks." Hinata didn't need to use her byakugan to know that Sakura sounded unusually happy and seemed like she was hiding something but she decided that if Sakura really wanted to tell her she would. Kakashi appeared behind Sakura and gave Hinata a more than cheerful smile and a nervous wave. Hinata thought that they were both acting unusual but had already decided that she wouldn't pry instead she nodded her head in suspicion and left.

After the awkward encounter with Hinata, Kakashi and Sakura decided that it would be best if they kept their relationship a secret for a while, until they both saw it going somewhere. It was an uncomfortable talk since both of them already felt strong feelings towards each other but neither of them were very thrilled to see the reaction everyone would have, so wanted to keep it a secret as long as they could. The three girls were on their way in no time and made in to the Village Hidden in the Sand in three days. They arrived at the villiage and Temari was waiting by the main gate, "Do you guys know what this mission is really about?" All of them shrugged at Temari's question and proceeded towards the Land of Earth.

They arrived at the Fire Inn in two days, a day before the meeting was supposed to occur and booked a room for the four of them. They all got up and began to undress so that they could get into the steaming spring bath outside. They had barley entered the bath when they started hearing the boys next door speak loudly, their voice sounding familiar. "Damn that ninja took us longer to track down then we thought he would I mean three days! We usually catch them in a day or two!" Hinata gasped as she heard Naruto's loud voice next door and looked at the others in surprise. "Well the strongest ninja are always towards the end of the bingo book, so it only makes sense that now it's going to take even longer to track them down as we go on," this time it was Neji's voice and Ten Ten just sat their dumbfounded. A voice that was clearly Sai's spoke, "Well I do imagine that the people waiting for us to return home are growing impatient." Shikamaru's lazy voice was low but you could hear it clearly, "Yeah it's gunna be a drag, the yelling I'm gunna get from Temari for taking too long, but in the end I already came up with a strategy to get her to calm down."

Temari grew angry at Shikamaru and was about ot yell until Sakura muffled her screams with her hand, "Shut-up Temari! We can't let them know that we were eaves dropping!" Temari settled down as she realized the position they were in and nodded her head slightly in agreement. Naruto laughed, "I bet the other guys from root are a little lost without you Sai, since you've became kind of like their leader! Hey! What about that cute girl, Selena, have you made any progress with her?" Hinata grew a little jealous when he heard Naurto call Selena cute. Sai blushed a bit, "Well I asked her to go out with me like on a date but the day that we were supposed to go out I got called in to assist Lady Tsunade to set up this mission. I told her I was going on a mission and she told me that after I came back we could go out on a date." Shikamaru laughed, "Looks like we all have plans to put in action when we finish this mission."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "Tell me about it! I'm still having trouble finding a way to make it up to Hinata that wasn't there on the actual day of any of our anniversaries." Neji gave Naruto cold eyes, "Just don't try anything strange with my cousin." By this time the girls already had themselves wrapped in towels with their ears pressed to the wall that separated the two baths. Naruto waved his hands in frenzy, "N-No, no, no, no! That's not what I was thinking at all Neji! I'm a nice guy I wouldn't do anything that Hinata doesn't want me to." Neji glared at him even more and Naruto noticed his terrible choice of words, he became flustered. Shikamaru and Sai silently laughed at the scene before them while the girls just listened intently. Hinata nose started to bleed at her impure thought of seeing Naruto naked. Naruto fixed his mistake quickly, "I mean I may not look like it but I'm a pretty traditional guy! That stuff should be saved until we're married!" Hinata fainted at Naruto talking about marriage, taking the foldable wall down with her. The boys turned around to seen a fainted Hinata in only a towel and Temari, Sakura, and Ten Ten behind her also only in towels with a flabbergasted expression on their face. Naruto immediately reacted, "H-Hinata?!" and was about to get up and pick her up until Neji, Shikamar, and Sai pulled him back, reminding him of the naked state he was in.


	6. Hinata's Doubts

**Author's Note:**

**Here's to my new two followers DBZNELL and eurraelizalde1 who also followed me as an author. Welcome and thank you both!**

**-S**

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Shikamaru raised his voice, something he doesn't do often, "What are you guys doing just standing there! Grab the girl and go get dressed!" All the girls did as they were told in a hurry the guys wrapped themselves in a towel and fixed the wall before anyone else could come in to the baths. All the shinobi proceeded to get dressed and the girls got a knock on their door. Sakura opened the door only to reveal a ten year old girl with short dark blue hair behind it, she bowed deeply, "Mr. Uzumaki requests all your presents in his room for dinner." Sakura stood their confused as they put mister in front of Uzumaki like if he was some sort of gentlemen, "We'll be right there." Hinata was still completely embarrassed about the incident that had occurred and it took a lot of convincing and pulling to take her to the guys' room. In front of the door, all the girls realized that they were in their pajamas and were about to make a hasty retreat to change into something more appropriate, until Naruto opened the door.

"What are you guys doing just standing there? Come in!" Naruto rubbed his eye and when the girls entered they were all obviously tired and were in their pajamas as well. The guys sat on one side of the table while their pair sat on the other side, obviously Sai and Sakura didn't have their lover with them so they sat across each other. There was an awkward silence until Naruto and Hinata broke it by clapping their hands together and simultaneously saying, "Thanks for the food." They all broke out into laughter at the couple's attempt to lighten the mood, which worked very well considering throughout the meal they were all laughing and smiling. That is until Hinata suddenly put a frown on, remembering the situation he clan Is going to bring upon her and Naruto. Naruto immediately stopped laughing, "Nata, what's wrong?" The table went completely quiet and their attention landed immediately on Naruto and Hinata. Hinata tried to force a smile, "N-Nothings wrong." Naruto looked urt at the obvious lie Hinata tried to give him, "You're stuttering, you've stopped stuttering in front of me for a while, don't lie to me." Hinata knew the low husky tone well, it's the tone he puts on his voice when he knows Hinata lying to him, "Naruto-kun n-nothing is-"Naruto immediately stood up and picked up Hinata bridal style to the backroom, completely ignoring the stares they were getting.

When the door closed, the couples left behind just looked at each other unsure what to do until they all silently decided to hear the argument. Neji used byakugan to quietly summarize the scene behind the door to the others. Naruto cupped Hinata's face so he would look straight in his eyes, "Nata, what's wrong?" Hinata looked down, "Naruto, I-I know that we send each other letters everyday but words can be completely meaningless on paper. S-So I guess what I'm trying to say is that h-how do you really feel about me?" Hinata didn't need to look at him for her to see his disappointed face, but she also knew that Naruto would prefer it for her to look at him. So she did, and the sadness behind his eyes made her wish she didn't saying anything. Naruto's voice cracked a bit, "Are you doubting my feelings for you Hinata?" Hinata had no time to answer before Naruto pulled her into a deep passionate kiss, one that they haven't shared before and made Hinata's mind go completely blank. Naruto pulled out of the kiss reluctantly, knowing he wouldn't be able to control himself had he continued, but he did pull Hinata into a tight hug.

Neji released his byakugan, because he knew the fight was over and that they were going to come out any time. Shikamaru spoke up, "So he didn't do it, huh?" Neji sighed, "Well can you blame him? Hinata just completely doubted him." Then the guys all sighed at the same time, the girls just looked at them questioningly. Sai smiled, "Sorry girls, but it's not our secret to tell." Hinata and Naruto walked out of the back room Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, because he knew they were all listening. "Well you girls should get going, sorry but it's pretty late and we've still got to strategize for our next targets. We've got a good chunk of our bingo book left so it'll probably be another month or two until we go back to the Hidden Leaf." Naruto looked at the four Anbu uniforms and masks on the hangers to the side of him, everyone's eyes followed. Naruto's expression turned serious, "Shikamaru and me will start strategizing, Sai and Neji you two start cleaning up this mess so that the maids wont have so much work to do this late."Naruto gave Hinata a kiss on the forehead and slammed the sliding door for the backroom shut.

Shikamaru got up and looked straight at Hinata, "I'll go talk to him, it's not your fault Hinata, he's just mad at himself." Shikamaru whispered to Temair, "Sorry, I'll see you see you soon," and walked off without another word. Hinata ran out of the room upset at herself for making Naruto sad, and Sakura ran after her. Ten Ten and Temari took that as a signal to leave, before Ten Ten was about to go through the door before Neji spoke, "We'll be back at the village in no time." Ten Ten smiled sweetly, "Got it," and went to her room.

Shikamaru sat across from Naruto, as he was flipping through the bingo book writing down the names and abilities of the missing niinjas, "So you didn't do it?" Naruto sighed and put his head in his hands, "No, okay, besides I haven't even bought the ring yet." Neji and Sai came in with his same flat voice Neji joined the conversation, "You are the one who ssaid that next time you saw her you would ask." Nartuo laid on his back, "I'm not going to propose to Hinata without a ring, plus I don't want to propose to her when she's doubting my feelings for her." Both Neji and Hinata knew that in about two months the selection for Hinata's groom-to-be would begin, and Naruto knew he wanted to get married to Hinata. He also knew that it was a little crazy considering that he wasn't around for most of their relationship, but then again that might be exactly the reason why he wanted to get married.

Life as a shinobi isn't an easy thing and a marriage between two shinobi was about the hardest marriage to maintain, both Hinata and Naruto slept with heavy hearts.


	7. Naruto's Death

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you Serpiente for the favorite and thank you YinandYanv and InsanityDeath for the follow. Your guys are sweet.**

**-S**

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Hinata woke up the next morning to see a present by the door in an orange and black box with a note attached to it. She picked it up and read the letter.

_Dear Hinata,_

_Thanks for coming over yesterday. It was great having dinner with you! I'm glad you guys came when you did but I'm pretty sure Grandma Tsunade had it planned that way because she told me to tell you that your conference isn't until tomorrow. When I get back home I've got a surprise for you though Hinata. Its way better than any of the presents I've given you! I've got us reservations at a really nice restaurant but I won't tell you which one because it's a surprise. The reservation is a little more than two months from now, but don't worry I'll be home by then. Well I'll see you then Hinata, I love you and I won't do anything to hurt you. Plus I'm pretty sure Kurama would give me a beating if I did, he really cares about you, ya know!_

_Love,_

_Naruto_

_P.S. Shikamaru and Neji told me to tell you to give Temari the golden hour glass necklace and Ten Ten the limited edition kunai blade. The other two are for you, for the next two months that I won't be able to send you anything because we're going deep undercover, so it would be dangerous to try to contact you. Sorry Nata, but you know I'll be careful._

One month and three and a half weeks later, in the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, there is a ninja battle. A battle between the Anbu of the Leaf and missing ninjas from the Mist. Shikamaru had the toughest opponent under his Shadow Stitching Jutsu, Sai had ran out of ink for his super beast scroll and had beaten the other opponent with his taijutsu, and Neji had been completely blinded from the never ending mist his opponent had made. The mist was so thick that not even Neji's Palm Rotation Jutsu could blow it away. Neji got himself beaten senseless from his lack of being able to use his byakugan, and because the enemy had his chakra spread everywhere. Naruto had just beaten down Neji's opponent when the strongest man that Shikamaru had supposedly stitched down, only to discover that it was a shadow clone, attempted to attack all three of his men with one sharp wind blow.

Naruto made two shadow clones and used the transportation kunai he had given to each of his men to take the blow himself. It all happened in an instant Naruto appeared before them when he got slashed across his chest, cutting into his internal organs, and causing the mist to clear up. Also, feeling three times the pain when the shadow clones disappeared. Simultaneously Shikamaru, Neji, and Sai all shouted, "Naruto!" Neji, the only one with fighting power left grew angry, "8 Trigram 64 Palms!" He shut down the man's chakra system completely, "Sai use Naruto's blood as ink and draw a bird to take him to Lady Tsunade immediately, his chakra system is being disrupted by some kind of poison and it looks like Kurama is trying to keep Naruto alive, but even he can't cancel out the poison completely. Shikamaru and I will take these men to the prison that's just up ahead. I suspect they tried to escape from there in the first place."

Sai did as he was told and drew a bird using Naruto's blood, in no time they were soaring in the air. Shikamaru sighed, "So how are we going to move these four to the prison." Neji looked at Shikamaru, "There's no need to, a group of shinobi guards from the prison are coming this way. Let's go to the Hidden Leaf, top speed, make sure your mask is still on." Sai made it in front of the main gates, he picked up Naruto and was about to pass through the gates until Izumo stopped him, "Take off both the masks." Sai took Naruto's and his off in a hurry, "Izumo, Naruto is hurt please go inform Hinata immediatley." Izumo was surprised, "N-Naruto got hurt! What? How?" Sai looked down in sadness, "The fool jumped in front of us to protect us from a wind blade attack. Now go get Hinata!" Izumo was startled by Sai's yelling, "Y-Yes!" and ran to the Hyuga mansion, while Sai took Naruto the hospital.

Izumo knocked of the door of the Hyuga mansion and luckily Hinata was the one who opened the door. Izumo spoke frantically, "L-Lady Hinata! Naruto got injured from his current mission, Sai is taking him to the hospital as we speak!" Hinata gasped, "N-Naruto…" Hinata was about to start running towards the hospital when Hiashi grabbed her shoulder. "And why would my daughter, be concerned with the well-being of that boy, I know he was in the same team as Neji, but as long as Neji is fine there's no need for Hinata to go or worry." HInata's anger rose and she pushed her father's hand off her shoulder, "Because Naruto is my boyfriend, and he has been for almost six months now!" She ran towards the hospital and didn't look back to see her father's knowing smirk, "She finally speaks the truth."

At the hospital, Hinata runs in and is about to ask where Naruto's room is to get pulled back by Sai, "He's in the Intensive Care Unit no one can go in the room." Hinata's tears streamed down her face, "W-What happened?!" Sai sighed, "Neji, Shikamaru, and I were all about to get hit by a sharp wind attack when Naruto and his shadow clones jumped in front of us. It appeared that the wind had some sort of poison threaded to it using charkra, so not only did Naruto experience triple the pain, he also has triple the poison in his system." Hinata started sobbing, until Sai removed his arm from her rest and put it on her shoulder, "It's going to be fine Hinata, Lady Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura are the ones attending to him as we speak. They won't let him die without trying everything they've got, he'll be fine." Sai then left to go write up the report to give to Lady Tsunade later.

Neji and Shikamaru arrived at the hospital and were about to ask the women at the desk, when they heard Hinata crying in the lounge. Neji ran up to Hinata and gave her a big hug trying to sooth her, "Hinata he's going to be fine, I promise he's going to be fine. What condition is he in?" Hinata spoke in between sobs, "H-He's in I-I-Intensive Care, l-last time I checked they s-s-aid they were having trouble trying to figure out how to cancel o-out the poison, b-but they did man-age to slow the reaction d-down." Neji sqeezed her a bit tighter, "Just one step Hinata, as soon as they get rid of the poison, Kurama will be able to heal the other wounds in no time."

In the Intensive Care Unit at night, Naruto's heart stopped, and it took a lot of time just to stabilize his health again. Sakura was zipping up the Anbu uniform when something fell out of his ninja pouch and rolled onto the floor, catching the attention of the three medical ninjas in the room. Sakura picked it up from the floor, and the moment she had gotten up Lady Tsunade and Shizune were already looking over her shoulder. Sakura opened the small black velvet only to reveal an engagement ring with a lavender heart shaped diamond, outlined by smaller white diamonds, and with a band that switches from white to lavender diamonds. All the ladies' eyes opened wide with surprise when they saw the beauty of the ring, they all smiled. Sakura spoke with great determination, "Well if he was planning on giving this to Hinata, then that just means that we're going to have to try even harder to save our next Hokage for the sake of his fiancé.'


	8. A Fiance's Duty

**Author's Note: **

**Thank you MYK-ON for the favorite, follow, a.d review! I really appreciate the review it made me happy, I like reviews. Thank you lovely soul, MYK-ON. **

**-S-**

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The night Naruto had been taken to the hospital Hinata had refused to leave, but eventually she fell asleep on the chair and Neji carried her home. Neji took her into her room and laid her on her bed, tucked her in, and decided to sleep in the bed with her just in case she has any nightmares. In the depths of the night, Hinata felt a comforting warmth next to her, it reminded her of Naruto's but she knew it wasn't. She opened her eyes slightly to see her cousin Neji's face sleeping peacefully beside her, she smiled to herself and snuggled up against her cousin taking in his comfort. Neji woke up very late the next morning and was about to wake up Hinata when the doorbell rang, he opened the door to see a panting Sakura. "Tell Hinata, as soon as she wakes up that the antidote has been given to Naruto and he has now stabilized. So she can go see him now!"

Hinata woke up as soon as she heard something about Naruto and Neji started throwing clothes at her face so that she could get dressed. She was dressed in no time but there was a mess of clothes in her room, which made it appeared that a mini tornado came in. Neji and Hinata had practically busted into Naruto's hospital room, there on his bed he was sleeping soundly, except that he was too still to be sleeping. Shizune appeared by the door in the room and had a sad look, "Lady Hinata, we did give him the antidote for the poison. However we found out that the poison was draining his chakra and slowing down his chakra replenish system. Unfortunately, the poison affected his chakra system harshly and not just his but Kurama's also. In other words, Naruto is going to remain in a comatose state until his and Kurama's chakra is fully replenished." Hinata almost fainted but managed to stay awake, "H-How long?" Shizune sighed, "We don't know, with the enormous amounts of chakra that both Naruto and Kurama have and the chakra replenished system slowed down, it may take months."

Her eye sight went black and almost fell on the floor until Neji caught her, "Hinata!" Hinata woke up alone next to Naruto, who whether in a comatose state or not, still had his hand interlocked in hers. She sat down in the chair that was placed next to the hospital bed and slid down to take a seat without ever letting go of his hand. In the corner of her eye she spotted a black velvet box and turned to face it. As if drawn to it she let go of Naruto's hand and grasped the black velvet box in her hand. She opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring she has ever seen, it took her some time to realize what it was for. Hinata gasped, "Naruto, you were going to-" tears threatened to fall and they did, into an uncontrollable sob. Eventually she stopped crying, instead she took the ring out the box and slipped it through her ring finger. She kissed Naruto softly on the lips, wanting to retrieve every kiss she would have gotten had he not gone off to the mission, "Yes I will marry you."

Hinata had just wiped off her tears when Tsunade entered the room, she looked at Naruto and had a flashback to the much younger version of him with a broken arm saying, "Granny Tsunade!" But when she looked again she just saw the usual cheery boy completely still, quiet, and close to death. Tsunade noticed the ring on Hinata's finger, "So I see you found it." For a second Hinata didn't know what she was talking about, "Oh my engagement ring, yes I did." Tsunade smiled, "I'm glad you found it, I know Naruto would want you to have it, especially in the condition he is now." Hinata and Tsunade both looked at Naruto, Hinata sighed but smiled, "I know and I love him for that." Tsunade had some papers in her hand and handed them to Hinata, "As the fiancé of Naruto Uzumaki, you, Hinata Hyuga are to attend the conference of the choosing of the next Hokage as the representative of Naruto Uzumaki."

Tsunade sighed and sat down in the chair next to Naruto while Hinata stood there dumbfounded. "I had plan on taking him out to all you can eat ramen at Ichiraku's and giving him the news there along with Sakura, Kakashi, and you. I sent him away on that mission because I knew he would be a good leader for this mission and it was easier for me to get the elders to approve him to be one of the options if he was an Anbu Black Op first, like his father. I never imagined something like this would happen, especially not to Naruto." HInata nodded her head in agreement, "I agree I didn't think this would happen so soon, but I did always think that Naruto would get himself hurt more than usual by protecting his comrades. Naruto usually has such good luck, however for this to happen to him before he proposes and before he becomes Hokage, it's terrible really. We should go off to the conference before we are late, Lady Hokage."

At the conference, Koharu was the one arguing the most, sticking to her old fashion ways, "But we don't know if Naruto will wake up, or if he ever will wake up." They had been arguing back and forth for a while but that comment tested the point of Hinata's patience and broke the scale. She stood up, grabbing all the attention in the room, "Naruto promised us, the people of the Leaf, that he wouldn't die until he became Hokage, and Naruto never goes back on his word! He will wake up and when he does he will assume the position as the Sixth Hokage because he is the only one who truly deserves it! No one has ever tried as hard or done as much as he has for the Hidden Leaf! He didn't have to do it you know, remember that he hated us! He could have let us all fall into destruction, because we deserved it, treating him the way we did! But he didn't he decided to turn that hate and used it to become Hokage and a hero of the village! Until Naruto wakes up I will work as a step in for him, I will do the duties of the Hokage as his fiancé, but he is still the Hokage! And no one can take that from him!" With that Hinata left the meeting not allowing any one else to argue, and ultimately Hinata's decision was final.


	9. Naruto's Loss

**Author's Note:**

**Oh jeez, I hope this chapter isn't terrible, I had a bit of writer's block while typing it, so it might be a little off. I'd like to hear what you guys think about this chapter since I'm not so sure about it myself.**

**-S-**

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It's been five weeks since the conference was held and the condition of Naruto which was kept a secret was revealed to the public, as well as his engagement to Hinata and his position as the Sixth Hokage. Hinata immediately had her stuff moved from the Hyuga Mansion to the house that was prepared for the Sixth Hokage. After the war, there was many thing left to do but they were all pushed aside so that each village could repair themselves first. Therefore the treaty of the Allied Shinobi Forces that still needs to be signed and the discussion about what to do about the smaller ninja villages. However, all these issues were pushed aside once again when Hinata refused to go to the Hokage Summit and told the other Kages about the issue with Naruto. Naruto's hospital room was filled with get well and happy engagement presents, and along with her duties as the step-in she had to sort out the presents. Hinata was in the office when she called Shikamaru, Naruto's advisor, "Shikamaru can you get Kakashi-sensei and Sakura for me? They are most likely at his house, tell them I have a mission for them."

Shikamaru knocked on the door to Kakashi's house and he opened the door just enough for him to poke his head out, "Hey Kakashi," Shikamaru pushed the door open to reveal Sakura sitting on the sofa, "and Sakura, Lady Hinata needs you too at the Hokage tower, she's got a mission for you two." Sakura stared at Shikamaru in surprise, "H-How'd you know I was here?" Shikamaru shrugged, "Lady Hinata told me you would be here, but it didn't come to my surprise. Don't worry though only I and Hinata know." Shikamaru left without another word and Kakashi-sensei turned around to face Sakura with a smile, "Well I suppose we'd better get going."

Kakashi and Sakura arrived at the Hokage's Office were Hinata was sitting and stamping paperwork. When the door closed, Hinata looked up, "Oh, you've arrived, well this mission is simple, and you have to go to the Village Hidden in the Sand and escort Gaara from the Sand to the Leaf. He wants to visit Naruto in the hospital the only way he can do that however, is if he has two leaf and two sand shinobi protecting him. So, I decided you two would be best, it would also give Kakashi a chance to see Naruto." Kakashi bowed to Hinata, "Thank you for your consideration Milady." Hinata laughed, "Please don't call me that Kakashi-sensei, I'm not the Hokage, Naruto is. Oh and just to tell you, I'm sure Naruto will be very happy to hear about your relationship. So, please head off to Gaara immediately."

Five days after Kakashi and Sakura left to the Hidden Sand Village, Hinata went to visit Naruto in the hospital. Before, Naruto looked terribly pale, but as the days go by more color keeps coming to his face, letting Hinata know that he is getting better. Hinata looked at her ring remembering the day she put it on which was also the day her father called her up to his office after she had gotten home. That was the day her dad revealed to her that he had known all along about her relationship with Naruto, and Naruto had already came to her father to ask for his blessing, which he gave to them whole-heartedly. Hinata cried in her father's arms that day, and although he wasn't used to the embrace he tried hard to comfort her. Looking at Naruto now, she couldn't have asked for a better man to fall in love with, not only was he her inspiration to become stronger, he also brought her family close together. Hinata's tears ran down her face as she laid her head on Naruto's chest, "Oh Naurto, please wake up soon. Please come back to me, it's not home if you're not there."

Two days later Gaara arrived at the hospital and to his surprise opened the door to see a completely conscious Naruto. Gaara, Naruto, ad Kakashi all said in surprise, "Naruto!" Sakura gave Naruto a big hug, Kakashi patted him on the shoulder, and Gaara couldn't help but smile. Until Naruto looked around the room, "Umm… I'm sorry but do I know you guys?" The room went silent and Sakura felt like she was in a nightmare, "Y-You're kidding right? It's me Sakura, I'm your comrade from Team 7 and this is our leader, Kakashi-sensei, and the guy with the red hair is the Kazekage and our friend Gaara." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry, but I really don't know who you are... Now that I think about it, there was another girl with dark hair in here two days ago, she was crying when I woke up, but she looked really happy when she saw me awake. But she started crying all over again when I asked her who she was and ran out of the room. I wanted to go after her, but I don't know her, so I felt like it wasn't really my place. I assume you guys now her, if you do, you should go check on her. I'm kinda worried." Kakashi, Sakura, and Gaara couldn't believe what they were hearing, any moment they expected Naruto to say, "Just kidding!" However, that didn't happen, and Sakura whispered to Kakashi and Gaara, "He has amnesia. It looks pretty bad too, he doesn't remember who we are, he doesn't remember who Hinata is, and he doesn't remember who he is. Poor Hinata…"

Kakashi put his hand on Sakura's shoulder and spoke to Naruto, "Well, when are you going to be able to be checked out? You are the leader of our village here and we need you to return to office as soon as possible, it's not fair to let your fiancé do all your work." Naruto rubbed his chin, "Fiance?" he grabbed his head and started screaming in pain. Sakura quickly went to Naruto and laid him down, she checked his forehead which was burning, "I think it's still a bit too early to help him remember things." Gaara wet a towel and place it on Naruto's forehead, "Nonetheless, he is the Hokage, and he need to attend to his duties immediately. I'll go get the release forms from the office and then we can take him to Lady Hinata." When the release forms were signed and approved, Naruto was sleeping soundly on the hospital bed. Kakashi picked him up and placed him in a wheel chair.

The three of them guided the sleeping Naruto through the village, Naruto out of the hospital caught all the villagers' attention and they celebrated the awakening of their Sixth Hokage. None of the three had the heart to tell them about Naruto's amnesia, and thought it best to keep it a secret from the villagers and the elders, because if they knew Naruto might be asked to step-down. When they arrived at Naruto's and Hinata's new home, they saw Hinata sitting on the porch with her head laying on her knees. Hinata looked up and wiped the tear stains off her face, "So, I see you three went to go see Naruto. You probably know about his memory loss too. Come in, you can tuck Naruto in the bed while I make us some tea." Hinata gave them a weak smile, the rest of the evening Hinata put on a strong front, and made small chit chat with the three of them. Just as the three of them were about to leave Hinata turned to Gaara, "You can spend the night here, Lord Gaara. We have a guest room up the stairs on your left." Gaara accepted the offer, silently agreeing with Kakashi and Sakura to make sure Hinata was okay.


	10. Naruto's Gain

**Author's Note: **

**Thank you Pieface18 for the story favorite and follow. Thank you kakakura for the story favorite. Thank you Rider831 for the review. And thank you lawrenceac1 for the author and story follow. This fan fiction already has more than 10 people following it and that makes me really happy and excited to keep on writing. I still don't know how I plan to or when I plan to end this fan fiction, but we'll see.**

**-S-**

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Naruto woke up around the middle of the night to see a dark haired beauty next to him. He spoke to himself, "It's her, the girl from the day I woke up in the hospital." He gently stroked her face, not being able to control the urge he had to touch her. The other day, when he saw her crying and running off, his heart ached. He wanted to run after her and hug her, but the rational part of him restrained, even when every fiber in his being was screaming for him to go. He didn't understand what was going on, all he knew is that his face was drawing closer to hers, and that his lips were closing on to hers. He kissed her gently and immediately Hinata responded by slipping her tongue into his mouth. Naruto was surprised to feel her tongue in his mouth, even with his memories gone he was positive he had never kissed like this before. It was so intimate and it all came to them naturally when Naruto placed his hands on her waist while she wrapped her arms around his neck. Naruto pulled back from the kiss slightly, close enough for her to feel his breathe in her mouth. He whispered more to himself then to her, "Hinata..." He surprised himself when her name slipped through his mouth as if he's said it a million times before.

He got confirmation it was her name when she pulled him into an intimate kiss filled with passion. He hovered over her as their tongues danced. Hinata ran her hands underneath his shirt and all over Naruto's well-buit, tan chest. He let her hands touch him, as he whispered in her ear, "I remember you. I still don't remember everything, but I do remember you. I bought you a ring, I was going to propose to you, but then something happened and I didn't have a chance to." Hinata licked up to Naruto's ear, before she whispered, "I found the ring while you were unconscious. I put it on, because I knew you wanted me to have it." Naruto kissed Hinata's neck as he said in a slight whisper, "Marry me..." Hinata's back arched when she felt Naruto lick a line where he had given her a trail of kisses, she moaned, "Yes..." She pulled of Naruto's shirt and that told him what she wanted. She wanted him, she wanted to feel his comforting warmth inside of her, and after all the suffering he gave her, how could he say no? Although, it's not like he would have wanted to.

Hinata woke up to see a very exposed Naruto next to her, last night she wasn't shy because she was just too happy. But now, thinking about what happened the night before she couldn't help but blush. Hinata kissed Naruto on the cheek, which woke him up, and before she could pull away, he hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry Hinata. I wasn't careful enough." Hinata, Naruto, and Gaara were all eating breakfast peacefully together. Naruto looked at Gaara, "Your name is Gaara right?" Gaara eyes widened, "Yes, why did you remember something?" Naruto sighed, "Not really, I know that you're the Kazekage which is like the Hokage, but for a different village. I know I'm the Hokage now, and that made me really excited when I heard, but I don't know why." Gaara sighed, "Becoming Hokage was a dream you've had long before I even met you." Naruto looked straight at him, "I got the feeling you would say something like that, but I don't remember why I wanted to be the Hokage so badly." Naruto sighed, frustrated that he couldn't remember what everyone knew, but smiled afterwards. "On the bright side, I remember Hinata. The memories that have lots of other people besides Hinata are a little fuzzy, but I can remember Hinata clearly. Gaara smiled, "It's great that you remember Hinata, that means that you memory loss isn't permanent."

Naruto laughed, "You're pretty smart Gaara and just by us talking like this I could tell we were really great friends with lots in common." Gaara blushed a bit, being happy that he could talk to Naruto so normally, "Actually, you were the very first friend I've ever made." Naruto looked taken a back and then smiled, "Well then you're my first friend too. I don't remember how we met and I don't really remember who you are, but even when I do remember, I'll always think of you as my first friend." Gaara smiled, "You may not remember much, but you're still Naruto. You can make everyone feel better just by saying a few words and that's what helped you become the hero of the Ninja World and the Hokage." Naruto dropped his fork, "Hero of the ninja world? What is a ninja anyways?" Gaara smiled, "Jiraya-sensei would say a ninja is someone who endures. But, I'll give you the logical definition, a ninja is someone who specializes in ninjutsu." Naruto looked at his hand and then he performed the Rasengan, he put the arm out with the Rasengan so that everyone could see, "Like this…" Hinata smiled, "That's the jutsu that your father created it's called the Rasengan, you made a stronger jutsu then that one by mixing in your wind style chakra with it, that move is called the Rasen-Shuriken. But you can only throw it like an actual shuriken when you're in Sage Mode." Hinata got up and opened the door behind the dinner table, "You have the day off today, so how about we go in the back on our training grounds and help you remember you jutsus."

For the rest of the day Hinata and Gaara helped Naruto with his training. It took some time for him to get in the mood but eventually all his ninja skills came to him naturally. Even Sage Mode was something he recalled fast, and when he summoned Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, he remembered their names. They all showered and retired to their beds when they were done eating dinner after training. Hinata was sleeping soundly when Naruto yelped and was holding his head in pain.


	11. Gaara's Savior

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you NamikazeNaruto1226 for the story follow and Ayrmed for the story follow.**

**-S-**

* * *

Gaara came into Naruto's and Hinata's bedroom when he heard Naruto's yelps, he saw Hinata trying to calm down Naruto but to no avail. Naruto was thrashing all around, but Hinata just kept trying to get closer and closer to calm him. Gaara knew that Naruto could accidently hit her and that Naruto would absolutely hate himself if he did. So Gaara leaped on top of Naruto and knocked him out with a struck on the head. Gaara saw the frightened look on Hinata's face and reached out to hug her, it took her a while but she did calm down. Naruto's eyes opened, only the eyes weren't sky blue, they were red with black slits for pupils. Gaara and Hinata pulled away from each other and Hinata saw his eyes, "Kurama?" Kurama got up and rubbed his or rather Naruto's head, "Hinata, I need to tell you something." Hinata nodded her head, "Naruto recovered most of his past now, because I helped him while he was sleep and we'd talk in his mind. There is a couple of things I didn't tell him about, because I'm terrible at comforting and that's all the people he knew who died. In other words. I'm leaving the touchy stuff for you." And with that Naruto's body went limp again and his face went from filled with pain to peaceful.

Naruto woke up early in the morning to see Gaara sitting on the sofa seat nearby the bed and Hinata slumped up on the bed post, which looked like an uncomfortable position. Naruto tip toed on Hinata's side of the bed and fixed her so that she would be more comfortable, immediately she snuggled into the blankets. Naruto picked up Gaara, who was surprisingly light, and laid him down on his side of the bed. Naruto left and went to go pick them up something to eat for breakfast. Hinata turned the other way and sunlight hit her face, she opened her eyes slightly to see Gaara right in front of her. She startled herself wide awake, which also seemed to wake up Gaara. They looked at each other in confusion, Hinata spoke, "W-Weren't you asleep on the sofa seat?" Gaara ruffled his hair, "Yes, and you were asleep on the bed post." Hinata looked around, "Where's Naruto?" Gaara noticed that Naruto wasn't in the room, "Maybe he woke up earlier then and he moved us so that we would be more comfortable." Hinata sniffed the air, "Do you smell food?"

They went down stairs to see Naruto unpacking food her bough preparing for them to eat. Naruto looked at them and smiled, "Hey you guys are awake! That's great! Well I bought us some food from a restaurant down the street so pick what you want and put some on your plate.' Hinata and Gaara did what Naruto told them and laughed and smiled over random subjects. Before they ate Naruto, Gaara, and Hinata clapped their hands together and said, "Thanks for the food!" Naruto smiled at the obvious teasing and they laughed. Hinata grew serious, "Naruto mean and Gaara have to tell you about Saskue and some of your friends." Naruto nodded his head, "Okay but talk over breakfast because I've got start my job as the Sixth Hokage. Oh yeah, I'm sorry you had to do all the work for me, but I'm awake now. So instead of doing paperwork, you can start planning our wedding." Gaara smiled, "So you finally officially proposed? You know it's all thank to Hinata that you were picked to be the Hokage. If it wasn't for her, they would have picked someone else since you were unconscious." Naruto blushed a bit when he remembered when he proposed to Hinata, "Y-Yeah I know. I'm lucky to have a girl as great as Nata, I'm sure my mom will really like you!" Gaara and Hinata looked at each other and then told Naruto all about his parents, Master Jiraiya, Saskue, and everyone else whose death affected him.

Naruto had finished eating when they finished and his eyes were filled with sorrow, but then he got up from the table, "Well it looks like my memories officially came back. Thanks Nata and Gaara, I've got to go to a meeting with all the Leaf Ninjas, which means you better get going to Nata. Gaara you too, I have to introduce you to the Leaf Village. Naruto walked up to closet by the door, opened it, and pulled out his cloak that said Sixth Hokage. He opened the door and the light shining through, proved him to be the spitting image of Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage.

All the Hidden Leaf Ninja were waiting on the top of the Hokage Tower to be addressed by their Hokage. Hinata and Gaara were one of the last to arrive and all the Leaf Shinobi bowed at the Fifth Kazekage. Naruto arrived within moments and they all bowed at him. Shikamaru stood next to Naruto in his Anbu uniform, "Good Morning Mr. Hokage, I am your advisor. Naruto hated hearing Shikamaru speak to him in a formal way, "Okay, no need to be so formal with me." Shikamaru smirked and thought to himself, "Same old Naruto." Naruto spoke loudly, "I'd like to thank you all for working hard during my absence and for helping my fiancé, Hinata Hyuga, for keeping my post as the Sixth Hokage. However, I have a matter I'd like to talk to you about, Sakura Haruno and Shizune Kato along with all Medical Ninjas please step forward."

A handful of ninjas stepped forward, "I have already talked to Lady Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura about this and we've gotten the approval from the Elders this morning. That there is to be an increase of Medical Ninjas so that we can send at least one in every team. This means that the Medical Ninjas will no longer be in the hospital all the time, they will switch between hospital duty and ninja duty. Therefore, those of you who want to become a Medical Ninja or if a teacher from the Academy can think of a student skilled in chakra control, they and you will now be training under Shizune Kato and Sakura Haruno. The students in the academy will be required to attend the academy and also attend an extra class, where the current Medical Ninjas will also be attending. Of course the kids from the academy have a right to refuse. These classes will start tomorrow, which is a Monday, that's all for today."

The Leaf Shinobi immediately began talking among themselves and Hinata walked up to Naruto. She smiled, "You did so much in one day Naruto. I'm sure your parents are proud." Naruto took off his Hokage cloak and hung it on his arm, everyone looked at him in surprise. "Now that I'm talking to you guys as Naruto and not as the Hokage. I want to make sure to tell you guys that you are all invited to my and Hinata's wedding, the date hasn't been set yet but you'll all get an invitation." All the ninjas celebrated the kindness Naruto showed them. His closest friend came up to him and they all talked to each other normally before they went back to work.


	12. Iruka's and Selena's Honor

**Author's Note:** **Here a little background information. Hinata and Naruto started dating a month before Hinata's birthday** **Naruto was unconscious during the month of Sakura's birthday which is March. Right now Sakura is 18 and 2 months old, Naruto is 17 and 7 months old, Hinata is about 17 and 5 months. Therefore this chapter takes place is May.** **-S-**

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Two weeks after the Medical Ninja Conference Gaar was already gone, leaving the Leaf to attend to his duties in the Sand. Iruka and Naruto were enjoying some Ichiruka Ramen during Naruto's lunch time at the Hokage Tower. "Y-You what?" Iruka yelled at Naruto from across his desk. Naruto simply laughed, "I said I want you to be my best man at my wedding." Iruka rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "I'm honored Naruto, really. But don't you think someone else would be better suited like Kakashi, Shikamaru, Sai, or Gaara." Naruto smiled, "No. It's like you said Iruka-sensei I think of you like a brother and what's better than having your brother be your Best Man at you wedding? Nothing. Plus you're the whole reason I am, who I am today. If it wasn't for you, I could have become this completely different person. Someone Hinata wouldn't have even looked at twice. Honestly Iruka-sensei, you're the only person I could think of to be my best man." Iruka sighed in defeat but smiled gently, "Okay Naruto, I'll be your best man."

Naruto gave his usually good grin and smack Iruka on the shoulder, "Great! Don't forget to invite Tsubaki too!" Iruka's eyes widened in surprise, "H-How did you know?" "Tch. Come on Iruka-sensei I'm the Hokage! I know lots of stuff!" Iruka laughed, "Yeah I guess you're right. I've got to admit thought it is a little strange to be the Best Man at my former students wedding when I haven't even gotten married yet." Naruto smirked, "So when are you going to pop the question anyways Iruka-sensei?" Iruka laughed nervously, "Well we've only been going out for a couple of months and-" Naruto cut him off, "Just give it a little time. In a month or so you're already going to be making plans in your head!" Iruka shook his head and laughed, "Took get proposal advice from you of all people. I've got to admit it's great seeing that you've become all grown up Naruto." Naruto smiled and giggled like a little good who had just be praised."

Meanwhile, Hinata was at her house with Sakura, Ino, Ten Ten, and Sai's new girlfriend Selena. Each girl was flipping through wedding magazines helping Hinata pick out a theme and wedding dress. Ten Ten pointed out, "Het why isn't Temari here." Sakura sighed, "Apparently being the older sister of the Kazekage is actually a lot of work, and usually she just bring her work with her and stays here for a while. But, she's been sent on a mission so she won't be around for a while." Ino jumped from her seat and pointed at a picture in the magazine to show it to Hinata. "Look Hinata! This cake is really pretty, and it has lavenders on it! Looks great with your eyes." All the girls leaned in to get a closer look. Hinata smiled, "Selena, do you think you could make me a cake kind of like this but the lavenders should be different shades of purple. Since we've said that the theme should be "Purple Rainbow" to go with me eyes. Selena looked sort of like Hinata with the long straight hair and body shape, however her skin was medium dark, her facial features were sharper, her eyes were black along with her hair, and she didn't have bangs that's covered her face. Selena gasped, "Yeah I could make the cake white with white draping. Then each drape will be decorated with lavenders of different shades, but like a reverse ombré effect! So instead of it going from dark to light it could go from light to dark!" Hinata smiled, "That sounds great! I can't wait to see it!"

All the other girls jaw dropped, Sakura spoke, "Hey Selena, I didn't know you could bake." Selena giggled, "Yeah, after Danzo was killed I started working at a bakery for money. I retired as a ninja shortly after Sai and the others left for the Black Ops mission and started working there full time. The women who ran the bakery going to retire soon and she said she'd leave it all to me." Ino looked curious, "I get all that, but how are you so close with Hinata. I mean no offense, but we've never even heard of you until Naruto talked about you that one time at The Fire Inn. Hinata told the story, "Actually I've known Selena since she's worked at that bakery. I've gone there a lot to buy pastries for Father and Neji-nissan, and we used to talk a bit. Then after Naruto was hospitalized she used to leave me pastries at the front door, and when I worked as a step-in for Naruto she was sort of like my secretary." Understanding dawned up the faces of the young ladies.

Hinata sprung from her seat and yelled as she ran, "I'll be right back!" She returned with five little boxes, one was bigger than the others. Hinata handed Sakura, Ten Ten, and Ino the same sized box and watched then open it. Inside the box was a simple sliver necklace with a heart shaped lavender diamond outlined by silver metal. Hinata spoke happily, "I hope you guys will wear this to my wedding as my bridesmaids, I have on for Temari as well, but it looks like I'll have to give it to her another time." Sakura, Ino, and Ten Ten each hugged Hinata and said something along the lines of, "Of course I'll be your bridesmaid!" Hinata turned to Selena and gave her the biggest box, "Selena I hope you'll wear these on my wedding as my Maid of Honor." Selena opened the box to reveal a necklace exactly like what the others got but there was also a pair of earring with small silver outlined lavender hearts dangling from the ends. Selena smiled, still unsure of how to express her emotions and gave Hinata a big hug, "Thank you Hinata, I'm honored!"

Naruto and Hinata were talking over dinner, Hinata smiled, "I got Selena to bake us the wedding cake, and she's really good at baking you know. She works at the bakery were I get all the pastries that you eat for breakfast." Naruto grinned goofily, "Oh! She made those pastries! Those are great! I'm glad she's making our cake! Good call Nata!" Hinata laughed, "I also asked her to be my Maid of Honor." Naruto looked confused, "I thought you were going to ask Sakura to be your Maid of Whatever." Hinata frowned a bit, "I was going to, but I'm much closer to Selena then I am to Sakura. Although Sakura is my friend, she's more your best friend then mine." Naruto realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly fixed the situation, "T-That's great Nata! I'm glad you picked a close friend to be your Maid of Honor, speaking of honor! I asked Iruka-sensei to be my Best Man. Hinata smiled, "That's great! I'm sure Iruka-sensei is really happy!" They spent the rest of their evening planning out their wedding.

Little did they know that someone they thought to be gone was approaching the Leaf Village. Someone whose body from the War wasn't collected because when they died and spoke their last words, the edge of the mountain broke and their body fell into the black abyss.


	13. Saskue's Return

**Author's Note:**

**Did I thank you Ayrmed for the review on the eleventh chapter? If not, thank you. I also need to thank Ayrmed for the review on chapter 12 too. I also want to thank Tsukoblue for the story favorite andthe review.**

**-S-**

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Naruto was sitting at his desk in the middle of the night, he had already called his fiancé and told her that he would come home late if he came home at all. Being Hokage wasn't an easy task they were a lot of papers that need to be stamped and signed, and many issues that need to be sorted out before the Kage Conference. Because of his absence the Kage Conference had to be postponed again and again. Now the conference is going to be held in exactly one month. There were so many issues that needed to be sorted out among the 5 Hidden Villages. Naruto was so concentrated on the papers in front of him that he didn't notice that someone had come into his office and was sitting across from him. He was stressed about the situation of the other Ninja Villages when he finally looked up. At that moment Shikamaru, Sai, and Neji appeared in the room. Shikamaru announced, "Naruto! Someone has infiltrated the leaf." Sai, Neji, and Shikamaru finally noticed the person standing in front of Naruto. Naruto looked like he had just seen a ghost, and wasn't sure if it was wrong, "S-Saskue?"

Naruto spoke sharply, "Shikamaru, Sai, Neji, leave immediately. And speak to this about nobody, especially not Sakura." Neji tried to interject, "But Naruto-" Naruto pounded on his desk, "I'm the Hokage and you are all Anbu, therefore you work as my personal militia. Now do what I said!" They disappeared with a, "Yes sir!" Naruto knew he was acting a way in which he normally wouldn't but right now he was feeling so many mixed emotions. He was angry, sad, happy, relieved, and so much more. He didn't know how to act, and he didn't know what to say. Saskue broke the heavy silence that the Anbu Squad left behind, "The way you yelled at the Anbu like that didn't sound like you at all, dobe." Naruto decided to just question Saskue, "H-How? Where? Why?" Saskue sighed, "Kabuto and Orochimaru caught and kept me alive after I fell off the cliff. I've been at one of Orochimaru's hideouts were I did rehabilitation which took months. And as for why now, I thought that it would be better just to let you guys think I was dead."

Naruto jumped on Saskue and punched him, "Teme! Who are you to decide things for me and Sakura!" Naruto got up and held up a hand to help Saskue get up. Saskue took his hand and wiped the dust of his clothes when he got up. Naruto spoke demandingly, "You're staying at my house tonight whether you like it or not let's go. I have the day off tomorrow so we could talk more then." Saskue snickered, "Don't tell me what to do, dobe." Naruto growled, "Shut-up teme."

It was around one am when they arrived at Naruto's house. Naruto sneaked in his room to not wake up Hinata and grabbed some pajamas to give to Saskue. While Saskue got changed Naruto spoke to him, "Just so you know Kakashi-sensei and Sakura are an item now." There was a loud thud coming from the bathroom, it was quiet until Saskue came out of the bathroom with his usually unemotional expression on. "So Kakashi and Sakura huh? Didn't see that one coming." Naruto felt like laughing but sustained himself knowing he could wake up Hinata, "Yeah they think that I don't know but I'm the Hokage, what kind of ninja would I be if I couldn't even figure that out. But are you really okay with it?" Saskue smirked, "You're still thick-headed, and look I told Sakura that I could have loved her, I never told her that I loved her." Naruto's faced dawned in understanding, "You're right. Oh well, if you're okay with it then I'm sure they're a good pairing, it's almost 2 am. Let's go to bed. Oh and just to tell you, I am your friend but I am the Hokage first. As in you are staying here as a guest, but you're also being watched, you can't and won't leave this house. Good night." Naruto yawned, scratched his stomach and went off not bed. Saskue stood there in the hall struck by Naruto's maturity and his ability to be a good friend and a good Hokage at the same time.

Hinata woke up early the next morning with Naruto's arm around her waist, she kissed him on the cheek and slipped through his arms. She changed into casual clothes and went off to the market to buy food for breakfast. Naruto woke up and hour later and saw the note Hinata left behind telling him that she went to the market. Naruto changed into a black shirt with the Land of Ebby emblem on it in orange and white pants. He walked down stairs to see Saskue sitting on the couch, "How long have you've been awake?" Saskue turned down the TV, "Not long." Naruto scratched his head, "I'm going to look for a snack for us to eat." Naruto was in the kitchen when he heard a loud scream coming from front door. Naruto ran to the front door, "Saskue, w-what happened?" He saw Saskue holding Hinata to the neck with a kunai to her throat, "Saskue!" Kurama immediately synced with Naruto and his chakra arm pushed Saskue back while Naruto ran to Hinata.

Naruto was hugging a scared Hinata and Saskue pointed the kunai to her again, "Who are you?" Naruto stepped in front of Hinata to protect her, "What do you mean who is she? She's part of the Konoha 12!" Saskue then remembered a shy little dark haired girl with light purple eyes always staring at Naruto. He looked at Naruto and Hinata and noticed the hand of Hinata's that he was holding had a ring on her engagement finger. Saskue's eyes widened in surprise and he put the kunai away, "You guys are engaged?"

Hinata was already calm and standing by Naruto's side, she nodded her head, "Our wedding is going to be held in two months." Saskue's face remained neutral, "So I see you and Sakura did do better without me there to drag you guys down." Naruto punched Saskue again, "Stupid teme! Don't think like that you idiot! We did better for you!" Naruto looked at Hinata, "I'm sorry Nata, I didn't tell you that Saskue was staring here. But I'm pretty sure that Sai, Neji, and Shikamaru already told you about Saskue being alive. I know they were overhearing mine and Saskue's conversation." Hinata spoke nervously, "Y-Yes they told me this morning." Naruto put his hands on her shoulder, "I'm not mad Hinata, you're my fiancé I was going to tell you earlier but I didn't want to wake you up. Can you go and make us some breakfast while me and Saskue talk for a bit." Hinata smiled, nodded her head and went to go cook breakfast.

Naruto placed on of his hands on Saskue's shoulder, "Listen Saskue, I'm glad you're alive. Sakura will be excited too, but we can't tell anyone else yet. I hate to do this but you're not allowed to leave my side until we're sure you don't mean any harm to the village. It's not that I don't trust you but I have to think about what's best for the Hidden Leaf. You're going to live here and be disguised as an Anbu and protect me the Hokage, with all your might. It's going to be a pain having a teme like you always around."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Just to let you guys know I'm not putting Sakura and Saskue together, I like her with Kakashi too much to do that.**

_**-Spoiler-**_

**I'll tell you what I'm planning to do. I'm going to eventually have Saskue fall in love with an Uzumaki that's going to come to the village when Naruto finds all the former members of his clan to ensure them safety in the Leaf Village.**


	14. Gaara's Suspicions

About a month later, it was another day off for Naruto and Saskue. Hinata and Saskue barley exchanges any words to each other since that incident, Naruto had made Saskue apologize but other than that they didn't really talk unless it was absolutely necessary. Naruto was in his room resting up because tomorrow he would have to make his way to the Kage Summit for a meeting. Saskue was in his room staying quiet because down stairs Hinata was with her bridesmaids, including Temari. They had dresses brought to the house by some hot shot wedding planner and each girl was trying on different dresses to see which one would better fit the theme. However, Saskue was getting hungry, so he sneaked into the kitchen to get some food.

Saskue made it into his room with a sandwich without being seen or heard by anyone. Just as he was eating his sandwich he heard a girls voice from outside his window, "Well I've got to go back to the bakery so I'll leave the dress picking to you guys. Bye see you soon!" He recognized her as Sai's girlfriend, Selena, she would stop by a lot so Saskue would always have to climb through the window to go inside the house. It bothered him, so he hated her just for that's reason.

Ten minutes later, Saskue had just finished eating his sandwich when a kunai was held to his throat. He looked up to see a person in an Anbu uniform with a strange mask that looked sort of like an owl's face. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" It was obviously a female voice and Saskue noted that he could easily over power her in his mind. He smirked, "How did you know I was here?" She pressed the kunai harder to her neck, "I used to be a member of root, part of the Detection Squad. In other words, I'm a sensory type ninja and I can hide my presence damn well just in case you're wondering why you couldn't sense me. I couldn't sense you until you came downstairs, I guess you put a barrier or something to hide you chakra, now who are you?" Saskue pulled the girls arm over his head and twisted her arm behind her.

Saskue extended his hand out to her mask, "Now let's see who you are." The girl tried to escape but she couldn't, taijutsu and genjutsu weren't options for her, she was only decent at both and just decent won't get her out of this situation. She was much better at ninjutsu, but with her arm behind her back she couldn't wave signs. Saskue took off the girl's mask and recognized her as Selena, in that moment of shock she managed to slip out of his grip. Selena was sitting on the windowsill, "Well it seems like what Sai said is true. Saskue Uchiha is still alive. I just needed to see it with my own eyes. Good-bye." She left as quickly as she came. If it wasn't for that moment she wouldn't have been able to escape, she wasn't strong enough, and she knew that.

Saskue sneaked to Naruto's room immediately after Selena left, and told him all about what just happened. Naruto sighed, "Dammit I forgot that I told Neji, Shikamaru, and Sai that they could tell their girlfriends anything as long as they didn't tell anyone. That means that practically everyone important knows except for Ino, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei. Oh well, after the Kage Summit I'll make an announcement to the entire village. Oh and tomorrow when we leave the Leaf you're still going to have to wear your mask and make sure it's tight." Saskue's brows furrowed, "But masks aren't allowed." Naruto sighed, "Yeah I know, but I can't have them knowing your alive yet, arranged have to be made." Hinata came into the room, "S-Sorry but can you keep it down a bit? The girls are still downstairs." Naruto was already falling back asleep so Saskue walked out of the room.

Once in the hallway he spoke to Hinata, "Why?" She looked taken aback, "W-Why what?" He glared at her, "I want to know why he settled for you." Hinata spoke in an unsure tone, "Naruto did not settle for me." Saskue talked sharply, "Really? You don't see so sure about that. I'll tell you that Naruto deserves someone better then you, someone like Sakura." Hinata grew angry, "It may be true that Naruto could be with someone else better than me but that doesn't change the fact that he still chose me. Naruto is with me because he loves me, not because he forced himself to be with me." Hinata sounded completely confident like she believe in the words she just said with all her soul. Saskue walked away, "You know, I don't hate you. But in the month that I've been here you hesitate sometimes, as if you couldn't believe that Naruto was actually with you and that you would be his wife. If that kept up, eventually you would have doubted your own feelings. I hated that you thought that Naruto could say such serious words like that without meaning it." Saskue walked away, and Hinata smiled then ran back down stairs to continue to plan her wedding out.

The next day, Naruto, Saskue, and Shikamaru were heading towards the Main Gates to leave the Leaf and Head towards the location were the Kage Summit will be held. Many villagers were standing by to see off their Hokage, Temari met them at the front gates, since they were going to meet up with the Kazekage and Temari is one of his guards. They were pretty far from the Leaf when Temari stepped in front of Saskue, "You can take off the mask now, Saskue. All of us here know it's you, and it looks strange to only have one guards in a mask and the other without." Saskue walked right past her without saying a word and Shikamaru felt a little bad for Saskue because he know what's coming. Temari yelled irritably, "HELLOOOO I'M TALKIING TO YOU!" Narut sighed when Saskue looked at him and nodded no. Saskue lifted up his mask slightly so that she could hear his words clearly, "I'll only take off the mask if Naruto tells me too."

For the rest of the three days in which they were heading towards the Sand, Saskue only had his mask off when he ate or slept. The road to the Sand was pretty silent, the only noise was small chit chat between Naruto, Shikamaru, and Temari. Naruto wouldn't really talk to Saskue much, knowing he wasn't much of a talker, but they'd talk before they went to bed. Naruto met up with Gaara and Kankuro, Temari immediately stood by Gaara's side. Gaar spoke curiously, "Masks aren't allowed at the Kage Summit, Naruto. This is your first time going but I'm sure you know." Naruto waked his hand, "This person is a special case I'll explain it all at the conference." Garra, Dismissed the rule-breaking, knowing Naruto probably had a good reason for it. Naruto, Saskue, Shikamaru, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara all made their way to the Kage Summit.

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Author's Note:

Sorry if you guys think that I included my OC a little too much, but I needed to give Naruto a reason to announce Saskue's return sooner then what he would of wanted too. By having it so that more people would know and that he would have to tell them before the villagers realize he was hiding something from them. I want to thank Ayrmed again for the review. I got another review from a guest saying that it would of been better is Saskue stayed dead. I had originally planned out that he would stay dead but on a whim I decided that I wanted to end the story in a way that would confirm that the hatred between the Uchiha and the Senju was wiped away. And I didn't want that to be because all the Uchiha were wiped out. Just wait you guys I've already planned out how I'm going to end this story. Thanks for hearing me rant xD

-S-


	15. The Hyuga's Dispute

Meanwhile Naruto was attending the Kage Summit, Hinata was planning out her wedding. When she was younger she always imagined her wedding as a small intimate gathering, but because the marriage is between the Sixth Hokage/Hero of the Ninja World and the daughter of the Head of the Hyuga Clan. The wedding was going to be very big, as in a village celebration. Since Naruto became the Hokage he had changed many of the old tradition the Hyuga Clan followed, the Elder Clansmen didn't like the interference but they had to oblige either way. Once they had heard about the relationship between Naruto, at the time the future Hokage, they wanted to make Hinata the heir of the clan instead of Hanabi. They only remembered Hinata's weak personality, and figured that they could manipulate her to do what they want. What they didn't count on however, was Hinata completely denying their help to help her excel to be better than Hanabi and become the Heir of the Clan.

The Elders had been completely ignorant to Hinata's existence, so they failed to realize her once weak personality had become stronger. They failed to see the impact Naruto had on Hinata, but not only Hinata, Naruto also inspired Hanabi to become more open. Thus, both of the Hyuga Heirs were influenced by Naruto and won't be manipulated. Since then, the Hyuga Clan has been surrounded by heavy air every time the traditionalist opposed Hiashi, but they are more branch members then main family members, therefore the non-traditionalist outnumbered the traditionalist. Hinata has only heard about the problems of the Hyuga Clan, since she hasn't been to the Hyuga Mansion since she left to work as a step-in for Naruto. Usually Hiashi, Hanabi, and Neji came to her house to visit her. They informed her on the situation then Hinabi asked her how her wedding planning was going.

Hinata giggled, "Of course you're going to be invited to the wedding, and you are our flower girl after all." Hanabi's eyes sparkled, "R-Really?" Hinata walked up to her room and pulled out a bag, "Here this is your dress for the ceremony." Hanabi's eyes sparkled at the lavender tulle, above the knee dress with a white bow in the front. The 12-year-old gave her sister a big hug, "Thank you Nata!" Hinata smiled, "You got that nickname from Naruto didn't you?" Hanabi jumped back, "Yeah! The Hokage is always coming by the Academy to visit Iruka-sensei and check on me." Growing up with no family, Naruto saw Hanabi as his own sister, and absolutely adored her. Hinata smiled ta the thought of Naruto being like that with his children. Hinata laughed again, "Hanabi how many times has Naruto told you to call him Naruto and not Hokage." Hanabi eyes widened, "I know but I can't do that! People will make fun of me, thinking that I'll get special treatment because he's marrying my sister. " Hinata's brows furrowed, she made a mental note to talk to Naruto later about this.

As they were leaving, Neji and Hiashi turned to Hinata, Hiashi spoke first. "Hinata I have to warn you that ever since the Caged Bird seals have been removed from the branch members, the main family members have been fighting for more authority over them. However they can't do anything without the Hokage's word and as you are working as his step-in while he is at the conference they may try to contact you. There is a possibility this could turn into a civil war, so I need you to be careful." Neji stepped up, "I would be more comfortable if Naruto was here, to be sure you'd be safe, but who knows how long the Kage Summit is going to last. They have a lot of issues to go over, so if you want I can stay here with you." Hinata shook her head, "It's okay, I have a friend who is a former member of root, and I'll ask her to stay here. Since I'm sure that you have lots of things to do, including a mission I have to assign to you. And she is a retired shinobi so she won't have to leave on missions or anything."

Hiashi's eyebrow raised, "She? Are you sure she is strong enough to protect you? Who is this girl?" Hinata looked seriously at Hiashi, "She works at the bakery were I used to get your pastries every day. She's baking my cake for my wedding, and like I said she's a former member or root and a retired Shinobi. She used to be part of the Detection Squad of Root, and although she's not very skilled in taijutsu or genjutsu. She can detect others chakra even if it's suppressed and she is very skilled at ninjutsu." Hiashi nodded his head in approval, "Very well, we will be off." Once they left Hinata went back to the Hokage Tower and began the assignment Naruto wanted her to do. She was flipping through the files of the former members of the Uzumaki clan.

The clan that was wiped out because of their sealing jutsus. Hinata discovered that Nagato, the man that Naruto defeated a while back was an Uzumaki along with his parents. She also discovered that Karin, Saskue's former comrade, who is now imprisoned is also an Uzumaki. She saw that all the Uzumaki's had one thing in common, their bright red hair. So she had every filed of every person in the Five Great Nations who had bright red hair and their family. Surprisingly it wasn't very hard to access those filed and distinguish them. Now that she had every blood relative of Naruto in a file, she had to write a former letter to each family. The letter informed them of Naruto's parents, his position, his desire to unite the clan once again, and guarantee to their safety. Each letter was stamped with the Hokage symbol when it was place inside an envelope. Thankfully the only ones of the Uzumaki Clan who were Shinobi were Karin and Nagato, therefore there will be no trouble of a shinobi having the leave their duties.

Hinata went to the post office and sent out the letters, she went to the bakery to inform Selena about the situation. Without hesitation Selena agreed to help out Hinata, "Just come with me to my place to get my stuff and I'll leave a note for Sai to tell him I'll be busy. You can do your paperwork and other stuff in a private room we have in the back during the day when I work in the bakery." After a few days of a routine of Slene spending the night, both waking up early and eating breakfast at the bakery, Selena working, and Hinata having her meetings in the private room. The two girls quickly grew accustomed to their routine one day when Hinata was looking through her Uzumaki files. A picture of a girl, around her age caught her attention. She had the trade mark Uzumaki red hair, but her hair was curly instead of straight, and her eyes were red. However, besides the curly hair and innocent smile, she was the spitting image of Karin Uzumaki. Hinata looked more into the background and discovered the girl was the twin of Karin and her name was Kanakari Uzumaki.

Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro arrived at the location where the Kage Summit would be held. Naruto sighed as he came closer to the Summit and thought about the many days of debating that were up ahead.

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Author's Note:

I really appreciate the help of epicmaster26 for the correction of Sasuke's name! It's been bothering me for a while because I didn't think I was spelling it right so thanks a bunch. I also want to thank hiryuuchan, , animetreasura909, and portantes de morte for the story alert. I need to thank portantes de morte even more for the author alert, favorite, and review. I need to thank Ayrmed and tell them that their my new best friend because of all the reviews they are giving me!

I need to apologize because this chapter is a little late for my usual updates and it's probably no what you guys expected. It's more of a filler chapter and introduces the problem that is going to be happening next as well as Sasuke's love interest that I told you earlier about. That and I'm having trouble of deciding how I want the 5 Kage to react to the news that Sasuke is alive. I want to apologize again if you guys think that my OC is making to may appearances and I apologize even more if you guys are annoyed at my concept of having Sasuke fall in love with an OC of mine but I guarantee you guys I have a reason for this! Please inform me if you guys think that someone else going OOC because I'm trying really hard to keep their personalities the same as how they are in the anime/manga. Thanks for listening to my rantings.

-S-


	16. The Kages' Decision

Naruto and Gaara sat on their chairs as the Kage Summit had been officially started. Shikamaru, a masked Sasuke, Temari, and Kankuro each sat behind their Kage. Once the Kages had their chance to welcome Naruto and congratulate him on finally attaining his goal their curiosity got the best of them. Although Mifune, being the representative of the neutral Land of Iron and moderator of the meeting spoke first, "Sixth Hokage, I'm sure you are well aware that masks are not allowed." Everyone's eyes landed on the boy in the ANBU mask, they couldn't determine who he was by sensing his chakra. Since Naruto had specifically told him to suppress his chakra until he felt that they were sure he wasn't a ghost. Naruto's face went completely straight, his eyes showed the importance of this subject, and drew you in to listen to what he had to say. "Yes, I am well aware of the rules and significance behind them. However, I would never break a rule that ensures security if it wasn't for a very important reason." Sasuke stared in awe as he saw the seriousness in Naruto's face, never had he saw the loud smiley blonde look like that outside a fight. Once again, Sasuke was amazed by how fast Naruto's personality changed. The Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Mifune couldn't help but smile of how much Naruto's sudden change in personality reminded them of how Minato was the exact way. Naruto stayed completely calm, "Although this matter may not be... of importance. I felt that it was highly needed to introduce this person's existence to sort out what this person's fate is to be." They all looked at Naruto questionably. Whose existence could be so important that is what up the 5 Kages what his fate was to be?

Naruto motioned for the masked man to stand next to him, the other guards watched carefully, to make sure no harm came to their Kage. Sasuke nervously walked towards Naruto, it was a foreign sensation for him. But just the thought that these five people could very well sentence him to death just as he had been saved, frightened him to the bone. Naruto gave Sasuke a supporting smile. Sasuke took that as his cue to take off his mask and he did, in hesitant and a bit dramatic manner. Too say that the other four Kages didn't know how to react, was an understatement, their faces held no emotion and their eyes were indecisive. Naruto cleared his throat, "Although the decision of the burning of Madara's and Zetsu's body, imprisonment of Suigetsu and Karin, and the decision to give real help to Jugo was made right after the war, when I wasn't Hokage. I know that they were meant to be sentenced to death for their actions yet you gave them a lighter sentence, because they participated in that war. Saskue will confess to all of his crimes, give us information on the whereabouts of Orochimaru and Kabuto, who still need to atone for their sins, and help us in capturing them. Not so much for in exchange for his life, but for in the hopes that he could in some way make up for all the troubles he caused while he was taken over by darkness."

The four Kages stayed silent for a while, Saskue had hurt each of them in one way. The Raikage by trying to capture his little brother just to get the 8 Tails. The Kazekage by causing Naruto pain, which was something Naruto didn't need more of having suffered through his childhood, and because Gaara knew how Naruto suffered in childhood it hurt him to see Naruto suffer even more. He hurt the Tsuchikage by being affiliated with the organization who took one of his most beloved students. Sasuke hurt the Mizukage by being affiliated with the organization that had both manipulated and killed the previous Mizukage. However they knew that the pain Sasuke had given then was nowhere near the pain Sasuke had given Naruto, and if Naruto wanted to have his life be spared who were they to object? Naruto was the Hero of the Ninja World, as is Sasuke, but that doesn't mean that they are going to let him leave unpunished. They agreed upon allowing him to live as long as he did what was mentioned before. He wasn't going to be imprisoned but Sasuke was to stay by Naruto's side constantly and live with him. Sasuke was already used to being by the dobe's side considering he's been doing it for a month so it didn't bother him much. However the next two conditions did.

They said that Saskue was only allowed to go out without Naruto if he had a seal on him, which was close to the Cage Bird Seal. In which, it could only be activated by Naruto and those Naruto chose to teach how to activate it. However this seal could only be activated once, as in if Sasuke would die instantly once the seal was activated. This seal was made by Naruto's mother Kushina, which she had intended to place on herself so that in the time of her death she could kill both her and Kyubi, however she died before she could place the seal in herself. Because of the power of the jutsu the formula was sealed so that only Minato, Kushina, or someone containing both their DNA could access it. Only the Tsuchikage, Raikage, and Mifune knew about the 9-Nin Ga Shibo Sealing Jutsu. The concept behind the jutsu is that in the moment it was activated it would fry nine of your organs instantly including the kidney, liver, spleen, stomach, pancreas, eyes, lungs, brain, and heart. After Naruto argued a bit about how he trusted Saskue whole heartily and that the sealing jutsu wasn't necessary, Sasuke cut him off. "I'll do it," he stated plainly. Naruto looked at him with surprise but saw the determination in Saskue's eye and agreed to let him agree. Sasuke understood why the Kages didn't trust him and he didn't want them to grow frustrated with Naruto and loose some respect for him as he agreed for Sasuke. It wouldn't help the guiltiness Sasuke held towards the blonde if he lost the respect he held as a Hokage because of himself.

The next condition was the last and it bothered the Uchiha boy more than he'd admit. The condition was that the tablet in the Uchiha Clan's ruins was to be destroyed. They stated that the tablet contained information too dangerous to be written down. It was true, the tablet contained information of how to obtain the Rinnegan and they did not want a sort of repetition of what happened recently. Sasuke knew they didn't mean that another Uchiha was going to be the cause of a war and that they were right about it being dangerous but he was bothered nonetheless. Destroying something of that obtained knowledge his ancestors had probably spent years obtaining made him upset. However in the end he agreed, realizing these Kages could easily have him executed and the condition they had weren't bad compared to spending almost his entire life in prison like Suigetsu and Karin were experiencing.

The meeting ended that day with Naruto announcing that he was going to restore the Uzumaki Clan. Meaning that whoever was a member of the Uzumaki Clan and was a resident of any village would be moving to the Leaf Village. Naruto assured them that they wouldn't be losing any forces because his fiancé had informed them that besides Karin and Nagato, none of the other members were shinobi. Everyone was surprised to learn that Nagato and Karin were relatives of Naruto's in some way. Especially Sasuke, he began to wonder if Naruto was going to ask if Karin could be released but he didn't. Obviously not considering the girl to be related to him, he was surprised at first. But it did explain why she had the exact same hair color as his mom, however she gave him the creeps so he didn't exactly want to acknowledge her as a relative. The 5 Kages agreed, knowing full well that their predecessors were the ones responsible for the clan's demise. That was only what happened in the first day of the meeting the continuation of the meeting way to be announced, and the 5 Kages were to rest until the continuation of the meeting.

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**Author's Note:**

**If you guys are wondering how I put up these chapters so fast its because I type half of it on my phone before I go to sleep. Because everyone knows the best ideas come at the night and type the other half when I wake. However some times I have a light bulb and end up typing the whole chapter which is what happened with this one! Oh yeah I need to thank portantes de morte for again for the encouragement.**

**Here's a little more background information! Uchiha means paper fan. Which are used to fan flames, showing their fire nature chakra the Uchiha have. Senju means thousand-armed which probably refers to the strength they possess or the number of followers Hashirama had. The 9-Nin Ga Shibo Sealing Jutsu is literally called the Nine Deaths Sealing Jutsu. The name Kanakari roughly translates to demi-god of light/brightness. Now, now remember she isn't a shinobi so don't automatically assume the demi-god refers to her strength.**

**-S-**


	17. Hiashi's Plan

It had barley been two days since Hinata had sent out the letters to the members of the Uzumaki clan, and already the Leaf Village was teeming with bright red heads. Showing that the ones who remembered the attack on the Uzumaki's had been dreaming of the day their clan could be restored. Every time a family arrived they were sent to see Hinata at the bakery and she would welcome them then assign then a home based on the size of the family. The homes were made instantly when Naruto had been made Hokage, and the new area that would be occupied by the Uzumaki Clan surrounded the house of the Sixth Hokage. The public announcement that the Uzumaki Clan was now going to be a part of the Leaf hasn't been made yet, but few already knew. A pair of women stood in front of Hinata, one she recognized as Kanakari, Karin's twin sister. The other she suspected to be her mother, it seemed that the women were accustomed to it being just the two of them.

The older red head smiled warmly, "My name is Kiyoko and my daughter here is named Kanakari. So you are the wife of Kushina's son?" Hinata nodded, "My name is Hinata and yes, by the way you say her name, I'm going to guess you and Naruto's mother were friends?" The lady giggled, "Yes, we used to be quite close, before she was sent here." Hinata smiled, gave them the keys to the house closest to theirs, she had a feeling that they would be visiting often. "I'm sure that Naruto will be very excited to meet you and hear stories about his mother." She nodded, "Yes, I'm very excited to meet him as I'm sure others are as well. Kushina was quite popular despite her temper, when will he be back?" Hinata smiled warmly, "If I'm correct today is the last day of the meeting, so I'm sure he'll be here in three or four days." The older red head nodded gently and as she got up from her seat Kanakari spoke to her mother.

"Mother, I'd like to speak to Lady Hinata for a few minutes, alone." Then she smiled sheepishly at Hinata, "I-If that's okay with you Lady Hinata." Hinata nodded assuring that it was fine and the mother at first was hesitant but then walked out the door. From looks Hinata could tell that the girl was caring, confident, and that she spoke her mind. The red head spoke, in a confident tone that assure Hinata that her assumptions were correct, "I know that the Leaf Village is the village that is holding my sister prisoner. Even from where I and my mother lived the news of Saskue Uchiha, his team, the Fourth Great Ninja War, and Naruto Uzumaki was a popular subject. When my sister ran away shortly after she attended the Chuunin Exam I had a feeling she would get herself into a lot of trouble. Although she is my twin sister, I'm thank that you guys could capture her before she could lose herself in the darkness."

Kanakari's voice was soft and sweet, much like Hinata's but with a natural confidence attached to it. The next few words were a bit hesitant, which sounded foreign to the voice, "I was wondering...if I could see...my sister.." Because it was obvious Kanakari didn't want her mom here, Hinata could only expect that the girl had kept this information from her mother. Hinata sighed, "I don't have the authority to allow you to go see her, however when Naruto comes back I'm sure he will allow you to go see her." The girl stood up and bowed at Hinata, "Thank you very much Lady Hinata." Hinata smiled, "Please just call me Hinata." The girl nodded and left the room. Hinata couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to see this girl at her home a lot in the near future, and like they say Hyuga's have great eyes.

Hiinata was walking home while Selena was following her in her ANBU gear with a respectable distance between them. However, something was off when they walked past the streets that are behind the Hyuga Mansion. Selena sat on the tree and meditated just for a second before she could sense an abundance of killer intent and rising chakra coming from the Hyuga's Mansion. Obviously, there was a battle, and branch members were falling quickly to the lack of training in some techniques that the main house had. In a split second Selena appeared kneeled before Hinata, "Milady, there seems to be a fight going on in the Hyuga Mansion. I advise that you go get the other Hokage cloak and put it on to show that you are acting as the Hokage and not as a Hyuga. I shall wait here for you return."

The Hyuga's were fighting in a sort of line showing that the Hyuga's were split in between traditionalist and non-traditionalist. Neji was in the midst of a heated battle when all of a sudden everyone was pushed back by a wall of wind. He looked up to see Selena standing on a tree and a glimpse of Hinata in the air before she landed on the floor. The winds from Selena's ninjutsu hadn't died down yet, therefore the winds were blowing underneath Hinata, showing of the cloak she was wearing that said Sixth Hokage. Hiashi and Hanabi weren't there which made Hinata guess that Neji had them in hiding just in case they tried to kill them. Luckily Hinata had arrived before any traditionalist could make their way to the Head Family's house, "What is the meaning of this, the clan is supposed to be as one not in a split of two. I know that there have been problems between those who wish to keep the traditions and those who want to evolve. You must face the fact that even if you, the traditional ones were to win, you would be executed for defying the orders of the Hokage which are that the Hyuga Clan is as one, no main house or branch families. Everyone is always going on about the pride of the Hyuga Clan, however the pride of the Hyuga Clan will be distinguished completely if the Hokage is forced to destroy it because of them defying him. And if that was to happen the Hyuga name would be tarnished for the centuries to come, is that what you are fighting for?"

One of the traditionalist leaped towards Hinata before she could activate her byakugan, "We are fighting to restore our pride." He tried to aim straight to Hinata's heart but was stopped before he could reach by a katana sheath. Hinata looked down to see Selena protecting her with her katana, no not the katana a katana sheath. It amazed her, she didn't know that Selena was so fast and skilled in kendo. Hinata didn't even see when Selena unsheathed her sword and cut off the man's hand, her kendo ability would put Sasuke's to shame. Her face was still hidden behind the ANBU mask but she could tell her face was completely emotionless, loudly and clearly Selena spoke. "Arrest the traitors!" In a blink of an eye, the traditionalist were surrounded by ANBU Black Ops, which to their surprise they hadn't sensed them until they showed themselves. There was a bit of a fight, but the traditionalist were quickly arrested and imprisoned.

Selena appeared before Hinata, "Milady if you will accompany me to the Hokage Tower." Hinata did as she was suggested knowing that she can't say what she was going to say in front of the people. Once they were in Naruto's office she yelled, well what was yelling for Hinata, "Why did you arrest them? They are going to be imprisoned or killed!" Selena took off her mask, and behind it was the same old ROOT expressionless face on, "It was an agreement between Hiashi Hyuga and Lord Hokage that if there was to be a civil war between the two groups of the Hyuga Clan. The ones who defied the orders of the Hokage were to be arrested. It was meant to hide the situation from the public to keep the image of the Hyuga Clan strong, because if it were to leak out that one of the Leaf's most powerful clan was weakened greatly then other ninja villages would see it as an opportunity to attack. Hinata was silent for a while but then nodded her head in agreement. She spoke with a smile, "Where'd you learn to use you katana so skillfully." Selena's face went back to a small smile, "When you know that I'm not good at genjutsu or taijutsu and there was no way in hell I would of survived in ROOT just by being skilled in ninjutsu and sensing chakra, so I had to practice in speed and kendo. Now let's get some rest." They went to Hinata's house and rested, the next few days were peaceful while everyone waited for Naruto to arrive.

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**Author's Note:**

**Thanks for the story alert Creamcheese7 and for Tsukoblue, I totally considered doing that when I read the review! But then I thought of how much stress that would put on Hinaa and how much she'd had me so I decide against it. I am thinking of making another fan fic like that though! Thanks for the inspiration!**

**Here's some background information Karin means pure, Kiyoko means pure child, and Kanakari means demi-god of light/brightness. See the pattern I made there?**

**-S-**


	18. Sasuke's Fated Meeting

Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru arrived at the Hidden Leaf. It was decided at the Kage Summit that the Shinobi Alliance would stay intact, the other ninja villages would be left alone, and that the tailed beast would all have a choice of being placed within a new vessel or not. Kurama would talk to them through telepathy and speak to the other Kage of their decision through Naruto. The meeting ended with Naruto placing the 9-Nin Ga Shibo seal on Sasuke. The seal was placed on Sasuke's back and covered most of. The seal consisted of the Uzumaki symbol with eight Japanese characters outlining it separated by a curvy line with a slash right through it. The eight words said kidney, liver, spleen, stomach, pancreas, eyes, lungs, brain. In the middle of the Uzumaki symbol is kanji for heart. The sealing jutsu was indeed complicated but thanks to the natural knack Naruto had for sealing justus he managed to do it successfully.

Hinata and Naruto were talking to each other about the events that occurred during their absence when Hinata brought up the subject of Kanakari, her mother, her relation to Karin, and her request from Naruto. Naruto was more than happy to grant her request, "Sasuke! Come over here." Sasuke hadn't been listening to the conversation going on between his best friend and his soon to be wife, so he really had no idea what was going to be asked of him. Sasuke just looked at Naruto, "What do you want?" Naruto's face went into Hokage-mode, "I need you to go to this house and ask for Kanakari Uzumaki then take her to the Leaf's Ninja Prison and to cell 5-D. After she's done with the visit, I'll have the tablet from the Uchiha's and it'll be destroyed. I'll have Selena tail you guys just in case, and make sure to keep your mask on and tell them that it is on the Hokage's orders." Within minutes Sasuke was in front of the girl's house and knocked. Sasuke wasn't looking when the girl opened the door and merely said, "Hello, I'm here on behalf of Naruto for a Kanakari Uzumaki."

The red head knew what this was for and yelled behind her, "Umm... Mother, I'm going to check out the town for a bit, I'll be home by dinner." In reply the girl got a simple, "Have fun sweetie." Only when the door closes behind her did Sasuke look up to see a curly haired red head with an innocent smile who looked exactly like his former teammate Karin. She was wearing a lavender turtle neck, muscle tank that split into two above her navel and draped to the knee of her black leggings. The girl wasn't as curvy as her sister, she had black arm gloves like her sister, but she instead of sandals she wore flat black shoes that covered up her feet. Her clothes were all Sasuke needed to see to be able to tell that although the girls looked alike they were completely different.

She spoke in a sweet confident voice, completely different from her sister's rough yet feminine voice. "So, you're here to escort me to see Karin." Saskue noticed that her tone reminded him of his best friend's fiancé, but Hinata's lacked the confidence this girl's has. On the way there the girl never spoke to Sasuke but when she passed by one of her new friends she made in the village she would talk in a very bubbly way. A way that was eerily similar to how Naruto talked, he figured that was how all Uzumaki's spoke. It took them a while to arrive at the Leaf's Ninja Prison because Kanakari stopped twice to speak to someone and for some reason Sasuke liked to see her talk, so he didn't pull her away. They stood in front of Karin for a good few seconds when she noticed her sister was standing in front of her. Sasuke stayed behind Kanakari not wanting to intrude in any way.

She growled, "Kanakari, what are you doing here?" Kanakari's voice didn't waver under her sister's glare, "The Hokage of the Leaf is an Uzumaki and gathered us all here to re-establish the clan. Mother was more than happy to mover here when she found out he was Kushina's son, and I knew I could see you and tell you something if I came." Karin snorted, "He beat you to the punch, huh. I thought you were the one who was going to re-establish the clan Akari. Are you here to gloat about kicking my ass during the Chuunin Exam or about how you were always father's favorite because you were a better ninja then me, huh little sister?" Sasuke made a mental note of how Karin had some serious father issues and how Kanakari was a ninja. Kanakari's voice spoke sadly, "Karin, I'm not a ninja anymore and that's not what-" Karin cut her off, "Hah! So all that big talabout becoming a Jounin and becoming one of the strongest female ninja was all talk."

Sasuke grew frustrated at Karin for talking so rudely to her sister, remembering that how he used to talk to his brother and now he regretted it so much. Here was her sister trying to tell her some obviously important news and Karin was just brushing her off. Sasuke spoke to Karin with some serious killer intent and a bit of chakra, "Karin, won't you shut-up and listen to your sister, she's obviously trying to tell you something important." Karin recognized him instantly and looked at him in surprise, "S-Sasuke? Y-You're alive." He snarled, "Yeah I'm alive, just listen to your sister." Kanakari sighed, "I knew it was you behind that mask Sasuke, Hinata told me all about your situation yesterday, but I didn't know how to react when you were the on picked to escort me. So I pretended I didn't know and I'm sorry, also thank you for trying to help me."

Her red eyes looked straight at Sasuke's black ones when she said those words. Karin noticed house his killer intent completely vanished and how his chakra warmed up a bit when she talked to him. This made Karin extremely jealous, then her sister suddenly spoke, "Father died shortly after you ran away. I told Mother that you were living somewhere far and were on your way to getting married. Mother was really happy and proud when I said you were still alive." Kanakari spoke so caringly and it sounded like she didn't hate Karin one bit, instead it sounded like she was worried for her. "I'm glad you ended up here before you could get yourself killed, I'm happy your still alive Rin." Karin bit back her tears and yelled, "Get out of here Akari!" Sasuke was about to yell at Karin but Kanakari just walked away and before she left smiled warmly at her sister.

Sasuke ran after the girl who was walking towards a bench. He sat next to her, and tried to speak when she interrupted him. "You can take off that mask, it must get annoying having to wear it all the time, and there's no one here." He shook his head, "I can't, just in case someone comes." She smiled and reached her hand to take off his mask. She spoke in her usual strong gentle voice, "I may not be a ninja anymore but I still have my chakra sensing abilities, so I can warn you if any one comes." He merely nodded and talked in his legendary uncaring tone, "It take a lot of strength to talk how you talked to your sister so warmly after all she's done." The girl couldn't help but laugh loudly, "With the way your tone is I don't know if that's a compliment or not!" Saskue glared at her, and she quickly fixed herself. "Sorry, I tend to speak my mind. It gets me in a lot of trouble, so I try to attain myself but it just slips out."

He stopped glaring at her and instead chose to just look at her as she looked up to the sun, "Karin always thought I was perfect, but I'm not. I'm lazy, I tend to talk to myself which makes me look crazy, I talk a lot, I'm terrible at ninjutsu and taijutsu, I can't fight with a katana to save my life, I bruise easily, and my bones are naturally weak. Which is strange considering that my clan is known for having a strong life force. However my chakra sensing abilities are the best my mother has ever seen, I'm skilled in chakra control, I'm advanced in genjutsus and in sealing jutsus, and I was one of the best kunai and shuriken throwers in my class of Gennin. Despite my weakness I do have my strong points, same thing for my sister. Even after all she's done she is still my sister, and no matter what she does I will always love her." Sasuke couldn't help but think of when Itachi said this exact words to him, and smiled.

The smile didn't go unnoticed by Kanakari and she laughed again, "So you do have emotions." Saskue glared at her again and she quickly realized what she said, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to! Ugh, stupid mouth speaks at the same time in thinking." This time it was Sasuke's turn to laugh as the girl was yelling at herself. She realized that she was yelling at herself and laughed nervously. Sasuke expected to get hit on the head like any other girl her knew would of, but then he realized that Kanakari didn't seem to have a bad temper like he and a lot of other people he knew did. Sasuke noticed how late it was getting and without even thinking about it got up and extended his hand out to help her up. "We should get going, it's getting late and your mother night start to worry." Kanakari just nodded and took his hand. Sasuke felt the warmth in her hand and didn't pull away from it. Kanakari didn't seem to mind so he just walked toward her house with her hand in his. On the entire way Kanakari spoke enough for the both of them, but Sasuke didn't care. The way her voice spoke so gently and kindly when she was recounting about her memories with Karin, made him wonder if Itachi ever spoke that way about him.

He arrived home pretty late that night and was left food on the table by Hinata. He stuck it in the microwave when Naruto turned in the light and looked at Sasuke knowingly, "So how was your date teme?" Sasuke glared, "It wasn't a date dobe." Naruto smirked, "Oh yeah then why did Selena come back an hour or two ago saying that you were getting cozy with my cousin." Sasuke spit out the water he was drinking, "Your cousin?" Naruto laughed, "Yeah me and Hinata went to go visit Kiryoko and found out she was cousins with me mom. So that makes her daughter sort of like my cousin." Sasuke just stood there dumbfounded then Naruto patted him on the shoulder, "Who cares if she's my cousin. You like her right? Don't let the opportunity slip, or she's just going to find someone else, like Sakura. Oh yeah, we're announcing that your alive tomorrow along with the re-establishment of the Uzumaki Clan. Oh and the wedding is in three weeks so you should ask Kanakari to go with you, before someone else invites her." Naruto winked and walked back up to his bedroom. Sasuke was left in confusion. Did he like Kanakari? He had just met the girl that day, but people have fallen for him in minutes. But those affection weren't real, it was mainly just fan girling. However they were very really in Sakura's case. Sasuke was distracted by a ding and decided that he was just going to ask Kanakari on a date before inviting her to the wedding.

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**Author's Note:**

**Okay so this is the longest chapter I've ever written for Someone To Call Home and most of you might hate this chapter because it has a lot of my OC in it. But let me just tell you guys, I based her personality on Itachi's when he was much younger: gentle, kind, confident, and caring. Which is kind of like a mix of Hinata's and Sakura's personality with a bit of Ino's personality as well. The next chapter is going to be about the announcement of Sasuke and the Uzumaki clan. I feel bad because I paired Sakura up with Kakashi and kind of forgot about her so I'm thinking the next chapter or two will be about how Sakura reacts to Sasuke being alive her feelings and what she thinks when she sees him paying special attention to a certain red head. I don't know how many chapter are left but I do know that this fic will be over pretty soon. Oh and the name Rin and Akari are nicknames Kanakari and Karin have for each other. Thank you KathyxDan for the story alert and sorry Tsukoblue but the tablet has been determined by the % Kages that it must be deleted! Thanks for listening to my nonsense!**

**-S-**


	19. Sakura's Thoughts

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long to write but I was reading another Naruhina fan fic series so yeah I was distracted. If you guys want to know the name of the first fan fic and the author just say so! Thank you Kayrasberry for the author alert and story alerts! And thank you Ayrmed for the review I'm starting to memorize your pen name for all the thanks I have to give you! Haha i really appreciate it you guys!

Here's some info on how to read this chapter:

Narrative

_Sakura's Thoughts_

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_I was pretty surprised this morning when Naruto was banging on Kakashi's door yelling, _"Sakura! Kakashi-sensei! Open the door I've got an announcement!"_ I opened the door with Kakashi behind me and Naruto's face switched into what our friends call Hokage Mode and spoke sternly. _"I need you to go and knock on every door, tell every villager that at noon everyone must be present in front of the Hokage Tower, I've got announcement. Shikamaru, Neji, and Sai have already started, oh and don't forget to tell the other ninjas too." _He switched back to the same old Naruto and scratched the back of his neck,_ "Sorry to wake you up so early. I would have used the formulated kunai I gave you, but I didn't want to intrude on anything." _Me and Kakashi both blushed. How long has he known? He laughed at the sight of us blushing, _"Come on, you guys can't keep anything from me. I'm the Hokage, I know everything that's going on, whether I want to or not. Why do you think I've been sending you two on missions together? I'm really happy for you guys!" _He switched back and forth to Hokage Mode_ _and just plain ol' Naurto,_ "Now, go preform your duties and Sakura before I leave I need to tell you that right now you won't know what I'm talking about but soon you will. I'm sorry Sakura and I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei too because this could bring some trouble." _Then before I could even ask what he was apologizing for he left in an orange flash. But I can't forget the look in his eyes, a look that said he was keeping something from me. Is that why for a while now he's been sending Shikamaru to give me the information of mine and Kakashi's missions and not been summoning us to his office instead? Has he been completely avoiding Kakashi and I because of whatever he's hiding? Is it really that bad? _

_Kakashi must have noticed the look of betrayal I had on my face because he embraced me in his arms. _"Don't worry Sakura about whatever he was keeping from you and me. I'm sure he had his reasons and I'm absolutely certain that he didn't want to keep it from us. He probably had to as the Hokage, come on we have to do as he says, even if he is a former member of our team." _I was just about to leave, but then Kakashi pulled me back into his arms. He pulled down his mask and kissed me. His kisses burn like alcohol and I was going to make it deeper but he pulled away. He pulled his mask but up and sighed, _"I wouldn't mind going another round Sakura but we've got different duties to attend to." _He winked and disappeared_, _he's such a perv. But he's the perv I've been with for a while now and other then Sasuke, he's the only other person I've felt so strongly about._

_It was 5 minutes before twelve when I arrived at the front of the Hokage Tower, everyone from the Leaf was there, even children. I somehow managed to meet up with the rest of the former Gennin from my class. It's amazing how far each of us have gone Ino, Kiba, Shino, Chouji, Lee, Hinata, Ten Ten, and I have all been promoted to Jounin after the war had ended. Neji, Sai, and Shikamaru were all promoted to ANBU. Naurto was promoted from Gennin to ANBU then from ANBU to the Sixth Hokage. I looked in front of the Hokage Tower and there was a bunch of bright red haired kids, men, and women standing in lines of 10. One girl from the bright red heads caught my attention, she looked eerily similar to the girl who was on Sasuke's team. But for some reason I knew she wasn't, this girl's chakra, which she has more than the average person, was completely different from the girl named Karin. As I looked above were Naruto was standing, another person caught my attention. It was a person standing close to Naruto, in a way that they are friends and have been for year. But everyone from our Gennin year and Sai are standing around me, including our senseis. So who is that person behind the ANBU mask?_

_I don't know how long I was staring but I know that out of the corner of my eye I saw Naruto's face flicker to Hokage Mode. So I stopped staring and forced myself to pay attention to whatever Naruto has to say. He spoke in a tone that can capture your attention in an instant, _"Thankyou all for taking the time to come and see me! I'm sorry if I'm disrupting you day, but I'll make it up to you buy paying for everyone's lunch today! I just hope the Akimichi Family will be considerate and won't wipe my bank account clean." _We all laughed because of the fact that he was half joking and half serious. I remember the day I found out how much the Hokage earns from accepting an A rank mission, and then on top of that Naruto had a large inheritance from his family that the Third and Fifth have been carefully investing. Naruto was richer than any of the old clans, he was almost as rich as the bank holding all of the villagers' and shinobis' money. _

"I will be paying for all restaurant meals purchased from 1 pm to 2 pm." _Of course Naruto knew that many people won't take advantage of the offer, but I know I will._ "I have great news, as of today there will be a new noble clan in Konoha. As of today the Uzumaki Clan will be able to officially call the Hidden Leaf Village home. They are relatives of mine and my mothers in case you're wondering. The older ones may now realize who my mother was by the trade mark hair color and who my father was by the color of my hair. " _The older crowd did indeed smile and some of them shed a tear or two. It wasn't common knowledge of who Naruto's parents were, but no one looked too surprised. Then again ever since Naruto has been able to wear the Hokage Robe, no one could miss the resemblance. Naruto continued his announcement, _"Now a selected member of the Uzumaki Clan will announce the person they have chosen to be the Head of the Clan." _Is that really necessary, it's obvious who'd they pick. The ANBI I was staring at earlier appeared next to a red head that was as old as our parents, disappeared, and the reappeared by Naruto's side with said red head. _

_The women next to the ANBU reminds me of the younger red head I saw earlier. Now that I think about it they were standing next to each other. Maybe that's her mother? The women spoke clearly but she sounded emotional, _"I, Kiryoko Uzumaki, and the ones who were members of the Uzumaki Clan in the Land of Ebby, have decided that Naruto Uzumaki will be the Head of the Clan. Not just because it is his birthright as the son of Kushina Uzumak, but also because he's done what many of us have dream of doing for many years. He brought us back together and re-established our clan. We trust Naruto and believe that he will lead our clan successfully. We will do our best to support the village and Naruto by living up to the reputation Naruto has established as Konoha's Number One Most Surprising Clan of All Time. _I couldn't help but smile at Naruto's goofy grin, he seemed so happy to have family. We all clapped, because Naruto deserved this, he's done so much for the village and it's nice to see him get a little reward for all he's done. _

_In a blink of an eye, Kiryoko reappeared by the side of the girl I suspect to be her daughter. Everyone stopped clapping I looked up and say why. Naruto's face was sterner, he didn't look mad, but he looked more than serious. His eyes shot to the ANBU standing next to him and the ANBU stepped forward. _"Most of you will not be affected by this news, but some of you will be affected harshly. Whether you handle this news in a positive or negative way is all up to you, I am merely suggesting that you trust me. Trust in your Hokage, when I say that I will not put you in any sort of danger, because you are all precious to me. Each and every one of you. The person behind the ANBU mask is someone who was thought to be dead. They were declared dead after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, but they were saved and have been recuperating their health since then."

As if both Naruto and Sasuke had this all planed, Sasuke took of his mask at the same time Naruto said his name.

_S-Sasu-ke!_


	20. Sakura's Decision

_There he is standing in my sight but I still don't believe that it's him, everyone else was as silent as I was until Naruto spoke. _"As many of you know, Madara couldn't have been defeated had it not been for me and Sasuke working together. Therefore, if you are going to consider me as the Hero of the Shinobi World, you must also consider Sasuke the Hero of the Shinobi world, for the reason that we defeated Madara Uchiha together and brought peace upon us once again!" _You could tell that Naruto's words touched the hearts of everyone, he always did have a knack for that. The immediately began screaming _"Sasuke is a hero of our village!" "The fox and the hawk saved us all!" "Sasuke is one of us!" "The Hokage and the Uchiha are both our heroes!" _Naruto quieted them all down with a simple cough, _"Indeed Sasuke is our hero, but he also wants to pay for all the suffering he has caused. That's why he has agreed to help us capture the man and his apprentice who nearly destroyed our village all those years ago. Thank you all for coming and paying attention to my announcement. Don't forget that I will be paying every restaurant meal purchased from 1 pm to 2 pm. Have a great day!"

_Everyone in the village immediately went back to their usual daily routines, but I couldn't move. I couldn't move one bit, everyone was leaving but I couldn't. I looked above and saw him standing exactly where he was before, he was scanning the area below him like he was looking for someone. Who is he looking for? Was he looking for me? On that day when he told me he loved me, did he mean it? I think he is looking straight at me. Wait a minute, is he smiling? I fell down to my knees, I don't know why but my body moved on its own. Oh, is he coming? I need get up but I can't! Is this relief or shock? Wait he's not on the roof anymore, where'd he go? _Sakura looked up and saw him appear right before Kanakari Uzumaki. _Wait, what? Why is e with her, didn't he tell me he loved me? What could have changed since the war ended?_

_I was listening to their conversation. _Sasuke was avoiding making eye contact with her, he was nervous but he was listening to her every word. Kanakari was going on about how she was thinking about becoming a ninja again when she felt someone's chakra crushing them behind her. She turned around and saw a pink hair kunoichi on her knees, gasping for air. Sasuke only noticed Sakura on the floor when Kanakari turned around and ran right towards her. Kanakari laid down Sakura and Sasuke was immediately by her side helping her. Kanakari made some hand signs and positioned her hands over Sakura's stomach, "Chakra Release!" Sasuke had his sharingan on and saw that Sakura's chakra had been released into the air, not all of it but most of it to keep her own chakra from crushing her.

Sasuke was impressed, "What was wrong with her?" Kanakari sighed, "When you become shocked you get the feeling that you movements have become slower and the air around you became heavier. But in fact it really is just your own chakra compressing itself far too much and crushing your body under the pressure. My mom has lived through many terrible things in her life, so when she dreams about her past she ends up like Sakura hear. It's hard to calm her down so I invented this Chakra Release Jutsu that will release the chakra within her so that it doesn't crush her. She'll need some rest to recover her chakra but other than that she'll be fine." Sasuke blushed a bit, "Well thank you, this girl here is my friend and you helped her even though she's a total stranger to you." Kanakari smiled sweetly, "I like helping people, not for the thanks, but because I hate seeing people suffer."

Sasuke smiled, "Kanakari, I was wondering if you'd want to go get lunch with me?" Kanakari laughed, "Taking advantage of the Hokage's treat are we?" Sasuke looked away and blushed a bit, which caught Kanakari's attention, "No, I'm going to pay because this is…a…a date." This time it was Kanakari who blushed, "Oh umm… umm..sure Sasuke I'd be happy to go on a date with you. She smiled, not her usual confident smile, but a girly smile. Hinting to Sasuke that she's either never been asked out before or she's never accepted an invitation to go on a date before. Either one made Sasuke weirdly relieved, because he's never been on a date either. Kakashi came up to them without his usual orange book, which Sasuke noticed and picked Sakura up bridal style. He noticed the blushing red head and that Sasuke seemed oddly comfortable around her, "Welcome back Sasuke."

Kakashi welcomed him warmly while Sasuke spoke in his usual cold tone, "Hey Kakashi I heard about you and Sakura got to be honest didn't see that one coming. But you guys look like a great pair." Kakashi didn't sense the tiniest bit of jealousy in Sasuke's voice and noted mentally that he coming back just might not cause problem between him and Sakura after all. Then again that depended more on Sakura at this point. Kakashi turned to the red head and smiled at her, "Hello there my name is Kakashi, I'm Team 7's old sensei and this pink haired girl here is my girlfriend Sakura." The girl smiled brightly, weirdly similar to Naruto's but far more attractive, "My name is Kanakari Uzumaki and if you Team 7's old sensei then you must be Naruto's and Sasuke's sensei, it's great to meet you." Sasuke grabbed Kanakari's hand without even thinking, "Come on Kanakari let's go get some food." That time Kakashi did notice possessiveness in his tone and thought it was interesting to see an Uzumaki and an Uchiha falling for each other. Maybe, just maybe, the hatred between the Senju and Uchiha Clans is really gone for good.

Even though Sakura was unconscious she heard everything. _Why her? She's not even all that pretty. Wait, is that Kakashi? Hm, maybe Sasuke will get jealous. What? He didn't even sound mad at all! I thought he loved me. At least Kakashi loves me? Wait, does he love me? He's never said it before. But do I love him? I don't know, this is real complicated. But its obvious Sasuke doesn't care about me. I'll ask Sasuke, that's what I'll do. Then I'll know my answer of who I love and who I don't. _Her subconscious slipped as she fell asleep.


	21. Kanakari's Determination

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you for the story alerts Ultimate Glaceon456 and universal cynicism. Thank you Ayrmed for the reviews, your my favorite. And I'm happy that my new story The Fox and The Hawk got more than one review and one follow with just the first chapter. Ya'll are the best!**

**-S-**

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In was late in the afternoon when Sakura woke up to see a very familiar ceiling, though it was the ceiling to the bedroom of hers or Kakashi's, it was a ceiling to a room to the Leaf's Hospital. She looked around to see a red-eyed girl preparing to switch the cloth on her head with a fresh one. Why was she being treated? She was a medical ninja dammit! The girl jumped back a bit when she noticed that Sakura was staring at her. The girl's voice was sweet as honey, "Oh! You're awake!" The girl proceeded to change the cloth on Sakura's large forehead before she I introduced herself, "My name is Kanakari Uzumaki, and I'm a cousin-of-sort to Naruto." Sakura was determined to see just what was so great about this Kanakari. "My name is Sakura Haruno, I'm a former member of Team 7 along with Naruto and Sasuke." Kanakari froze for a bit but then smiled, "Yes! I've heard about you! You're the kunoichi that specializes in medical jutsu! You're the former apprentice of Tsunade! She was just here and spoke very highly of you, I didn't know that you were the one she was referring too!" Sakura looked confused, "Lady Tsunade was here?" The red head nodded her head, "Yes, apparently Sasuke had told Naruto about my Chakra Release Jutsu and how I was thinking about becoming a ninja again then Naruto informed Tsunade. She came to praise me, saying that I must have very skilled chakra control, because with my Chakra Release Jutsu you have to leave as little as chakra behind as possible. She offered to teach me medical jutsu as another apprentice." Sakura filled a little angry of how the girl was offered to be personally trained by Tsunade herself.

"But I'm not so sure I want to be a ninja...not anymore at least. I have to take care of my mother, her health is not the best, only from old age so it's nothing serious. But I want to take care of her for as long as I can." Sakura was about to make a rude comment before she noticed Kanakari's solemn look in her face. She looked down in what appeared to Sakura as shame. "Well you s-see I've never liked the idea of killing or hurting people. In the Chunin Exam I-I didn't pass the second test because I stopped to help a red haired boy who I thought was unconscious but it ended up he was just sleeping, he took my scroll and almost killed my teammates." Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Did he have a tattoo on his forehead and did he use sand?" She nodded, "Yes but I saw the loneliness in his eyes and begged him to stop, he just stared at me and then disappeared with a puff of smoke. My parents did always say I was a sensitive child, I was meant to help and not kill." Kanakari looked into Sakura's eyes and saw all the conflicting emotions behind them.

"That silver-haired man loves you very much, but you're still in love with someone else aren't you. Perhaps, Sasuke?" Sakura's eyes grew wild at the blunt statement the girl made, and all the confidence she had behind it, like if she peered into Sakura's mind and saw it herself. The red hair girl smiled kindly when Sakura didn't respond. "I've seen the way he looks at you, it's a look my father used to give my mother. A look that shows how he can't understand how he obtained something so wonderful. From all the stories Naruto and Sasuke have told me about, you act very differently around them. But from what Tsunade has told me you're very much like her. I'm sorry to say this, but how can you expect someone to love you when you locking up a part of yourself away? You hid your aggressive side from Sasuke, but Kakashi has seen both your sides and he still loves you."

Kanakari replaced the warm cloth again with a cooler cloth a brushed Sakura's bangs back. "Maybe, just maybe, if you show Sasuke who you truly are, he will fall in love with you. But it's not a sure thing, and don't forget you already have someone who loves you deeply. Sakura laughed, "You Uzumaki's spit out wisdom when it's absolutely necessary don't you?" Kanakari laughed, "Yeah, I guess we do have a talent for that, it comes with the red straight hair apparently. The straight part which I didn't get, guess that makes a half-breed Uzumaki, so my wisdom probably isn't as wise as it would of been." Sakura laughed at Kanakari's snarky comment, which reminded her so much of Sasuke's comments. They're definetly a good pair she decided. In an instant Kanakari left the room and was replaced by Kakashi. Kakashi prepared himself for whatever Sakura was about to tell himself, he played the situation over and over again, for all possible outcomes. However when it came to Sakura his mind would always go a little fuzzy. Which is exactly what happened when Sakura pulled him down to kiss him. Kakashi couldn't begin to describe the relief he felt when she kissed him and so he made love to her. Right there, in the hospital, like the pervert he was.

Kanakari walked out of the hospital and yelled above her, "Sasuke, you can come out! I know that you and Kakashi were listening." Sasuke appeared behind her, "Wow, you're a straightforward kind of girl aren't you." Kanakari freaked out when Sasuke suddenly appeared behind her, "Gosh don't do that!" Sasuke chuckled just a bit, "So how'd you know me and Kakashi were listening to your conversation?" "I'm a sensory type, remember?" Sasuke didn't let his embarrassment show on his face, "Yeah. You're a good person." "Was that a compliment coming from the almighty proud Uchiha?" "Shut up." "Your cold exterior doesn't scare me you know." "I know." "I'm not a good person either." "Of course you are, you were willing to give up your potential happiness to let a complete stranger be happy, you're very selfless. You remind me of my brother." "People change when big events happen, I'm not special I'm just me." They started walking, "Do all Uzumaki's not realize how great they are or is it just you and Naruto?" "My mother told us that the Uzumaki way is to never believe that we are inferior to anybody, because it causes problems."

Sasuke realized just how much this girl was like Itachi she was selfless, skilled, caring, gentle, kind, and she didn't have an inferior complex like he did. Sasuke made up his mind. "Kanakari, would you like to come with me to Naruto's and Hinata's wedding?" Kanakari stopped walking and looked at the Uchiha's emotionless face. The feeling she held for him were filled with pity, anger, and a strong determination to help him. She didn't understand why she wanted to help him so much but she did, she was going to help him, in any way she could, "I'd love too."


	22. Everyone's Happy Ending

Sasuke and Kanakari have been going out a little under a month until the big day came. Yes, the big day, the day of Hinata's and Naruto's wedding. Both of them woke-up early in the morning, they had to sleep apart, they didn't want to but Sakura insisted. By insisted it was more like she dragged Hinata out of the house while Naruto hung on tight to her waist, while Kanakari and Sasuke laughed at the scene. The bridesmaids were dressed in a simple lavender, two strapped, scoop neck dress that was above the knee and had a think white ribbon tied towards the front. Hinata was dressed in a white kimono with long sleeves that had lavender ombre effect 2/3rd up, lavender outlining, and a lavender sash. On top of that kimono was a full lace cover-up with white flowers and branches on it decorated occasionally with dark purple flowers. Her make-up was simple with dark purple eye make-up and soft nude lips. Her hair was done in a simple loose updo with lavender flower clips.

Naruto wore a full white kimono with black accents on it. Hinata walked down the aisle with Hiashi by her side, still wearing his infamous Hyuga stare. But you could tell that deep down he was really happy. Hanabi walked ahead of Hinata and their flower throw flower petals as she walked. Naruto smiled lovingly at the sight of Hinata in her kimono, she looked so beautiful and he was more than happy that he could call her his. Iruka gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder meaning how his parents would have been proud of him. Behind Iruka were Sai, Kakashi, Gaara, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Neji all wearing black suits with lavender ties and vests. On Hinata's side were Selena, Tsubaki, Sakura, Matsuri, Temari, Ino, Ten Ten. Sitting closest to the bride and groom are Kanakari, Kiyoko, Sasuke, Sai, Chouji, Kurenai, Ebisu, Gai, Konohamaru, and the rest of the couple's closest friends. Almost all of the village was attending the ceremony and the reception was a village celebration. It was a day nobody in the village would ever forget, because it was the day Naruto and Hinata swore to be by each other's side forever.

Seven years later, it was October 10th the birthday of the Leaf's beloved Hokage and he was walking around with his 5-year-old twins and wife. Their son whose name is Minato Hiruzen Uzumaki had blonde spikey hair, pale skin, pale eyes, and six whisker marks on his face. Their daughter whose name is Hitomi Kushina Uzumaki has blonde straight hair, pale skin, pale eyes, and six whisker marks on her face. Because they are twins they are equal in strength but their personalities differ. Minato and shy and timid like his mother, but he's a hard worker like the rest of his family and can be very loud around people he is comfortable with. Hitomi is loud and quite the prankster like her father, she is also a hard worker but she does fiddle with her fingers when she's nervous.

The Uzumaki family walk into a diner were they see Sakura and Kakashi with their 3-year-old daughter Misaki Tsunade Hatake. The girl takes more after her father then mother with her olive skin, silver hair, and cold composure, but her hair is straight like her mothers, she had green eyes, a bad temper and unbelievable strength to go with it. Sasuke and Kanakari come in with three children, obviously they worked hard to rebuilding the Uchiha clan on their own. Their 6-year-old son whose name is Itachi Fugaku Uchiha has a duck butt hair style like his father's, bright red hair, red eyes, and pale skin, although he looks more like his father he is kind, caring, and gentle like Sasuke's brother and his wife. Their 4-year old son Naruto Kazumitsu Uchiha has curly black hair with a red undertone, red eyes that they suspect will invert the color of the original sharingan to suit his eye color, olive skin and is cold to anyone who he doesn't know but around the people he is comfortable with he smiles and laugh but doesn't speak much more than a "Hn." Their 2-year-old daughter Mikotokana Uchiha has curly black hair with subtle highlights of bright red, black eyes, pale skin and she loves getting attention like a much younger Sasuke Uchiha, adores her big brothers, and is confident about everything she does.

The Uzumakis, Hatakes, and Uchihas all sit in the diner celebrating the birthday of Naruto. They talk about the old days, celebrate Hinata's and Sakura's pregnancy, thus Team 7 is having fun like old times. They finish eating to attend the party where their friends, pregnant wives, and children are waiting. No one has to worry at all about there being any kind of sudden declaration of war, because they are in a time of peace that the old Konoha 12, their allies, and their senseis fought so hard for.

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**Author's Note:**

**This Chapter is short I know but this is the end and I wanted to keep it short and sweet.I thank all of you who have given me authors and stories alerts throughout the time I was writing the fan fiction. I'm writing a NaruSasuNaru fan fiction as well called The Fox and The Hawk, it's rated M but right now nothing exciting is going on. If you want to read it you can but if you dont want to read the uhh... other stuff I'll put up a warning before the uhh... stuff is starting and you guys can simply skip it. Thank you so much and I know that I have a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes in this story and I probably will have a lot in my upcoming fan fiction but let me just tell you guys that after I finish typing one chapter I put it up immediately because I don't like reading through what I just typed. So if any of you guys want to be my editor of sorts and get first dibs on the upcoming chapter just tell me in a review and you can give me your email so I can send you the document. Arigato reader-san!**

**-S-**


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Naruto, Friendship, Romance