Chapter 1.
It all started out with a simple experiment.
"Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, watch this!"
"NARUTO, NO!"
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Earlier that Day…
Uchiha Sakura stepped out of the Uchiha district into the bright sunshine with a smile on her face, and a bounce to her step. Today the 26 year old, happily married woman was going to see her best friend for the first time in three months, the infamous Queen of Sunagakure, Sabaku no Ino.
Married to her boyfriend of four years, Sasuke, for a little under two years, the pinkette was still as stunning and deadly as ever. She had kept her hair shoulder length and straight, her complexion clear, and her body fit for battle.
Earning her doctorate in medicine, Dr. Uchiha was now the most revered medic in all of Konoha, earning her the title of one of the three New-Age Sannin, and as predicted, surpassing her teacher and good friend, the Godaime Hokage Tsunade.
"Sakura!" A voice called, and she turned around to see her good friend and first lady of Konoha, Namikaze-Uzumaki Hinata walking towards her.
"Ohayo Hinata-chan!"
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan. Are you going to meet Ino-chan at the gates?"
"Yeah, she gets in soon."
"I have to go talk to some of the teachers at the Academy about testing this year, but I hope to catch up with the two of you later. Maybe we could do lunch?" The once-shy girl smiled as the pinkette nodded and turned to say goodbye.
Sakura stared after her, a thoughtful smile on her face. Ever since Naruto had returned her feelings after the defeat of Pein, the ex-Hyuuga Heiress had come out of her shell exponentially. She and Naruto had been married three years ago, the same year that the blonde was named Rokudaime Hokage, and now had a one-year-old son named Daiki. The boy had his father's blonde hair and blue eyes, and was the joy amongst the Hokage's friends.
"Oh, Sakura!" She snapped out of her reverie to see Hinata calling back to her. "Naruto wanted to see you at the old Team 7 training ground later."
"Okay, I'll see him there then!" She called back before turning around and heading for the gates.
Personally, she and Sasuke had chosen to wait to have their own kids, despite his need to restore his clan. She was happy he wasn't pushing anything on her, instead allowing her to pursue her career, while he did the same. Sasuke was now an ANBU Black Ops. Captain of three years, but planned to retire to Jounin when they finally decided to start a family.
The pinkette watched with a smile as the gates opened, and Ino and Gaara walked through, leading a group of their people. The blonde queen of the sand took a breath of the fresh air and sighed happily.
"I missed this air." She smiled fondly at the trees and the landscape, before her gaze came to rest on her best friend, who was smirking an Uchiha-worthy smirk at her.
"AHHHHHH!" The two girls screamed, running forward and embracing each other. Gaara gave a small smile and waved his hand to stop the many sand-nin who had prepared for attack at the sound of Ino's shriek. The Kazekage walked forward to join his wife and her best friend, placing at protective hand around her waist as the two women talked animatedly to each other.
"I have to go see Naruto, but first I want to make sure everyone is settled." The once- Jinchuuriki spoke when the two paused for a breath. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Alright. Aishiteru." Ino said before the two shared a passionate kiss.
"Aishiteru." Gaara responded quietly with a small smile as he embraced her one last time, then turned and walked back towards the group. Ino watched him go with a smile, then turned to her best friend, who had raised an eyebrow at her.
"What?"
"That was pretty intense. You guys do that every time you have to leave each other?"
"As much as possible." Ino licked her lips devilishly. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"How does the town feel about your spontaneous PDA?"
"Oh, they love it." The two began walking towards the main street of the village. "The young villagers think it's romantic, and the older villagers get a kick out of it."
"If you say so." Sakura shrugged, and changed the topic.
Ino and Gaara's first actual "meeting" was on a mission- she was working as a spy for the Torture and Interrogation Department under Ibiki, and was sent on an S-class mission that brought her near Wind Country. At that time, her position in a household of mafia members was compromised by an outside source, and she was on the run. They tailed her to the middle of the desert, where she defeated her pursuer, but lost too much blood to keep going. She collapsed in the sand.
It was three days later that she woke up in the Kazekage's palace, not exactly fully healed, but well enough to discover that the Kazekage himself had found her lying the sand, half-dead, and brought her here to be healed.
"He didn't leave her side for three days." Temari had once told Sakura when she was visiting as the ambassador from Suna. "He would take all his meals in her room, and do all his paperwork where he could watch over her. All meetings and missions were suspended for those days."
"That must've been annoying." Sakura had responded.
"Annoying?" Temari gave a snort of laughter. "Those were the best three days of my life! No work, no annoying kids asking for missions, no meeting up with snotty dignitaries- Nothing!"
"And?"
"And it was in those three days that I knew there was hope for my baby brother to find someone to spend his life with." Both women had smiled at that statement.
Sure enough, four months after the mission and three months after her return to Konoha, Gaara and Ino publicly announced their relationship. Apparently, the villagers of Suna agreed with Temari, and embraced the Konoha-born and raised with open arms. A little under a year later, the two were married (there were two ceremonies- one in Suna and one in Konoha) and the blonde moved to her new village.
"So how was your visit with Hinata?" Sakura asked, referring to the ex-Hyuuga's diplomatic trip to Suna last month.
"It was great- Hinata is just a lovely person. Plus, she shut Kankuro up by beating him in a spar." Ino grinned.
"Naruto was frantic here at home- she left him all alone with Daiki. He was constantly calling and Sasuke and I to baby-sit. I'd go to the office on my off-shifts and the place would be even more of a mess than usual, with Daiki sitting on the table laughing hysterically. I think Naruto cried more than the baby did." The two cracked up, almost collapsing in the middle of the busy street. People looked on with a chuckle, the young ones recognizing one of the New Age Sannin and Queen of Sunagakure, and the older ones remembering a pair of younger best friends doing the same thing.
"Speaking of that blonde idiot." Sakura breathed heavily, a few giggles breaking through her speech. "He wanted to meet me at the Team 7 training ground. Care to join me?"
"Sure, why not? Maybe I can get a good spar in." Ino sighed happily.
"In those?" Sakura asked, pointing to the beautiful, elaborate robes her best friend was currently wearing. The blonde lifted one of the long sleeves to reveal her normal ninja gear underneath the robe.
"It's just for show. I put it on 5 seconds before we reached the gate."
The two kept chatting, and headed for the Team 7 training ground.
"So how's Sasuke been?"
"He's been great. Our anniversary is in a couple of days, but he gave me this as an early present." She moved her hair and plucked a silver chain from underneath her shirt. On the chain was a small Uchiha fan- intricately carved with Sakura blossoms on the silver- and her initials in delicate, swirly letters.
"Apparently every woman married to the head of the clan got one. It's indestructible silver they found deep in Snow Country." She smiled as Ino ooed an ahhhed over the exquisite piece of jewelry- in the Sakura petals were small pink and blue diamonds that had been imbedded in the precious metal.
"You wanna see what Gaara gave me?" The blonde asked, and Sakura nodded eagerly. Ino looked around, then dragged her into a secluded alleyway nearby. Pulling down the top of her formal robe, she exposed the skin just above her left breast. The pinkette gasped scandalously.
"You got a TATTOO?!"
"Shhhh, be quiet! But yes- it's Sand Village tradition." Sakura leaned in to take a closer look. It was beautiful, really- the butterfly was in mid-flight, and had wings so full of color that Sakura could have mistaken them for being made of stained glass, with a black body and border around the wings. She also noticed that in the butterfly's tail, which dragged behind a bit, a golden, feminine crown was wrapped delicately, as if the butterfly had been delivering it to her lady.
"That's amazing."
"I know, right?" Ino pulled her robe back up and smoothed them out. "All the Queens of Suna had one that was different, in a different place on their body."
"Did Gaara do it himself?"
"No- he's not really one for detail. If he had his way at first, then it would just read 'Property of Gaara- Don't Touch.'" Both girls chuckled at this. "Honestly though, it was Temari who really fought so I could get what I wanted. Shikamaru helped too."
"Shikamaru actually helped you get that?"
"Well, he thought it would be too troublesome to argue about it with Temari. Plus it got him on her good side." She grinned mischieviously, and both girls burst out in giggles. "Anyway, he's one of the head advisors, and we pretty much leaned on Gaara until he gave in. As long as I promised him it wouldn't be anything I couldn't show my parents."
"Did that help?"
"Not really- he practically bored holes into the guy doing it because he was getting so close in such an... interesting spot. He got so territorial that I finally had to shoo him out of the mansion and get Kankuro to take him training." Both girls laughed a little before leaving the alley and continuing their way down to the training ground.
After a few minutes, Sakura spoke.
"Are you gonna show your parents?"
"HELL no."
It was only ten minutes later that Ino and Sakura, still deep in conversation, arrived at the old Team 7 training ground.
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan!" A voice called, and both women turned to see a familiar, if not grown-up, blonde running towards them. Naruto had filled out well over the years- all baby fat quickly turning to muscle, and his blonde man growing wilder than ever. With his trademark foxy grin, if you put a picture of his father, the Yondaime, up next to him, you almost wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The only big separator was the six whiskers that sat on his sun-kissed cheeks. They were faint- a signal that the Kyuubi had not fought his human container in years, and the two were now almost friends- but they were still most definitely there.
The blonde slowed to a stop when he reached them, and bowed to Ino.
"Subaku-san." Ino curtsied in response.
"Namikaze-san." They stood a moment and stared at each other before bursting into laughter as Naruto enveloped the blonde in a hug.
"It's good to see you, Ino-chan." He grinned, releasing her as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Same here, you little scoundrel!" She gave him a noogie that he playfully swatted away. Sakura laughed along with her friends as Naruto led them out to the center of the field.
"What did you want to see me about, Naruto?" Sakura asked, getting to the point of their trip.
"Well, I was snooping through some of the old file rooms in the Hokage Tower- there's a ton of weird stuff in there- when I found this." He reached into the pocket of his coat, and brought out a shiny, round, silver object. On the top was a carving of a strange, ferocious animal that neither of the girls had ever seen before, on top of a strange star-shape.
"What is it?" Sakura asked. Naruto pressed a button on one side- which was connected to a chain- and the top flipped open to reveal a clock.
"A pocket watch?" Ino questioned. "That's pretty old fashioned."
"That's exactly what I though." Naruto continued. "So I stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it. When I came out here to train a little while ago, I started doing a jutsu when I felt something weird happen with it. It got really hot against my side, and when I took it out, it was giving off blue sparks."
"That is strange." Sakura noted, taking the silver watch out of her old teammate's hands and examining it carefully. "Let me try something." Her hands began to glow green with chakra, and she closed her eyes. After a few minutes, the glow faded and her eyes snapped open.
"This thing is insane." She gasped, staring at it. "It's got a core like nothing I've ever seen- something inside of it amplifies power, but it's not made for the use of chakra... something more volatile, harder to control..."
"Maybe it was made for people with insane amounts of chakra, then." Ino suggested. "Like Naruto."
"Let me try it." The blonde took the watch back and stepped away from the two women.
"Start with something small." Ino suggested, removing her formal robes and setting them down by the bushes so she could move more easily.
"Alright. Kage Bunshin!"
Suddenly, the clearing was filled with Naruto's. The blondes looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
"I said start with something small!" A hundred Naruto's turned to face the annoyed blonde.
"I did!" They all chorused together, before the original dispersed them. "I only used enough chakra to make one!"
"Wow." Both women looked at each other, then the Rokudaime with wide eyes.
"Maybe this thing is more dangerous than we expect, Naruto." Ino cautioned. Sakura nodded in agreement, eyeing the watch nervously. The blonde just grinned.
"But did you see how much stronger it made my jutsu?" His eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. He began backing up, mentally measuring the distance between them. Twenty feet would be enough, right?
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. He just placed the chain between his fingers as he made some very familiar hand signs and running towards them.
"Hey Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, watch this!"
"NARUTO, NO!"
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Hey everyone- thanks for tuning in. Yes, this IS a Fullmetal Alchemist-Naruto crossover, and it will become apparent in the next chapter. If you've seen my other stuff, then you know I'm a big crossover person- it's kind of my favorite thing to write. Enjoy!