Summary: Sasuke has returned to the village after killing his brother and the only way for him to remain out of prison is to get married to the person the elders choose and to revive the Uchiha clan. So who's the bride? Naruko Uzumaki! (Smart/strong Naruko) FemNaru/Sasuke pairing and rated T for the usual, it might go up to M but I'm not sure so it probably won't…just putting it out there lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because if I did then Naruto would be Naruko.

Please enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Proposal

He couldn't believe it, he actually did it! He actually killed Itachi! But what was he supposed to do now? Should he return to the village? Would they even allow him back without torturing information out of him about Orochimaru and then throwing him into prison for the rest of his life? All these questions and more running through Sasuke's mind as he lay wounded and bleeding on the ground as the rain falls on his face mixing with the blood. He had just won his battle with Itachi and had successfully killed him, finally avenging his clan. But the battle had left him severely wounded and his chakra depleted, even if he wanted to he couldn't move to go anywhere, his body was too broken. He didn't know where his team was, whether or not they were killed by his brother's partner who had met them earlier and only allowed him to continue on or if they were alive and waiting for him. He didn't know, he was tired and wounded but a sense of relief had washed over him and now all he wanted to do was sleep. But for some reason rest wouldn't come to him because the nagging question of what he was going to do now was continually eating at him, refusing to let his mind sleep. He could feel his body becoming weaker and colder, his vision was becoming blurry as his eyes were no longer able to focus properly. Was he going to die here? No he couldn't. He was an Uchiha, and an Uchiha never lies down and accepts death like this. But his body was betraying his pride, refusing his commands to move, and after several minutes of trying to get up, exhaustion took over. Just as his eyes were closing and with his limited vision and even though it was raining, he swore he could see the sun shining above him brightly in the blue sky.

She had found him lying on the ground in the rain and in a pool of his own blood. The area around him was completely destroyed and even some black flames could still be seen burning. It looked as though two titans had just battled and what was before her eyes was the aftermath. Nonetheless there he was, lying amongst the rubble wounded and practically without any chakra left. Without hesitation she quickly ran up to him and knelt beside him, despite the protests of her ANBU team. They were yelling something about it possibly being a trap and she could be killed, but she didn't care because lying at her knees was a more dead than alive Sasuke Uchiha. His clothes were ripped and bloodied, his skin was paler then the last time she had seen him but his hair was still the same, the color of obsidian with the occasional streak of midnight blue running through it and spiked up at the back like a duck's backside. A small smile couldn't help but find its way onto her beautifully plump lips at seeing her best friend, but a tear couldn't also help but leak out of her eyes on fall onto his face. She had found him, and now she was going to bring him back home, whether he liked it or not.

The next thing he knew was that he was lying in a bed surrounded by four white walls with one window letting in fresh air and the warm afternoon sun and a vase full of flowers sitting on a small table beside his bed. His body was covered in bandages and bruises, all the blood had been cleaned from his body and hair and he was now dressed in a grey hospital robe with matching pants. Where was he? He could hear birds chirping from somewhere outside and the sun was bright and warm. Were those also voices he could hear? Children playing? Where was he? Did his team find him and take him to a hospital? No, Karin knew medical ninjutsu and wouldn't risk taking him to a hospital. Where was he? Voices leaking through the door from the hallway brought his turbulent mind to a halt.

"Sakura how is the patient doing?" an all too familiar voice asked. Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning, he was back in Konoha. But how? Then it hit him again, just before he blacked out, that wasn't the sun he saw it was the hair of the person he tried to kill so many times before. It had been Naruko.

"It's been six days since he got here and when he was brought here he was more dead than alive, so it could take several more days for him to come around. I was actually getting ready to go in and change his bandages." At the sound of the door beginning to slide open, he quickly closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

"Looks like he is already awake. You can open your eyes now Sasuke," the voice of his previous sensei called out. Frustrated that he had been found out, he reluctantly opened his eyes to be greeted by the sight of his former sensei and teammate.

"You're awake!" the pinkette exclaimed with a smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around him. A small grunt escaped his throat from the pain of his wounds being jostled. "Sorry," she apologized as she backed off.

"Well I will leave you to tend to his wounds and I'll go inform Tsunade that Sasuke is conscious," Kakashi stated as he disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving Sasuke alone with the pinkette.

As gently as she could, Sakura begun to remove the bandages covering the many deep cuts and stab wounds on her friend's body. Letting out a grunt or hiss when she touched the disinfectant soaked cloth to them. "You're lucky that Naruko found you when she did. A few more hours and you would have been beyond help. She came to visit you the day after she brought you back, but she hasn't returned since. The flowers are from her," she said, looking at them quickly before returning to her work. "Well that should do it for today, I should report in to lady Tsunade." Quickly she gathered her things and started to walk out the door, but before she closed it she turned to face him with a smile, "it is good to have you back." And with that she closed the door and left him with his thoughts.

For some reason she couldn't bring herself to go and visit him in the hospital. Sasuke, he was her best friend. And she still thought of him as her best friend despite the many times he tried to kill her, actually he had succeeded once but thankfully lady Tsunade revived her. Would he hate her for bringing him back? And what had caused all the wounds he sustained? She knew there had been a battle and she could guess that he had probably fought Itachi. But there was nobody else around, not even Itachi whom she suspected he fought. Had he finally been able to kill Itachi? If he did, where was his body?

"So many questions!" Naruko yelled out as she sat atop the roof of her apartment, slamming her fist down on the tiles, causing several of them to crack. "What do I do?" she asked, this time, her voice barely a whisper. After several hours of brooding, she finally decided to get up and get something to eat, because of her somewhat depressed mood she hadn't eaten all day, something a little ramen couldn't fix. Just as she was about to jump from her perch a pigeon with a tiny note attached to its leg landed on her shoulder. Hunger forgotten she gently removed the message, shortly after the pigeon flew off into the sunset. It was a summons, and it must be important seeing how the old hag had underlined the word now several times. With a sigh she destroyed the paper and made her way to the hokage's office.

Without even bothering to knock upon her arrival, Naruko opened the door and strolled on in, "you summoned me grandma Tsunade?"

"Yes," she replied angrily, a small vein made itself visible on her forehead. "You could learn to knock."

"Nah, what's the fun in that?" Naruko said back with a sarcastic laugh.

"Children these days," she mumbled. "Anyway, I wanted to inform you that the Uchiha has regained consciousness."

"I see…"

"Once his wounds have healed enough he will be taken to the intelligence unit where Ibiki will work his magic on him."

"You plan to torture him in order to get information on Orochimaru. What will be his fate after that?"

"Depending on if he cooperates or not his fate will be decided then. Though he will not be executed because the elders want to keep him alive to keep the sharingan in Konoha. But there is more," Tsunade continued on, "they also want to make sure that the sharingan will stay in Konoha permanently. They want the Uchiha to either marry someone of their choice and revive the clan by his own free will and swear loyalty to Konoha, or…"

"Or?"

"Or else they will forcefully make him revive his clan," a grim expression on both hers and Naruko's face. "I trust you don't need further explanation…"

"No, I get the picture," Naruko replied quickly with her hands up, definitely not wanting Tsunade to elaborate. "Forgive me grandma Tsunade but why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because the elders want you to marry the Uchiha."

"WHAT! Why would the elders want me to marry him?!"

"They chose you because they deemed you to be the best candidate. Their reasoning is because within you, you carry an incredible amount of chakra even without the kyuubi and because the blood of your mother runs through your veins giving you a strong and unnatural life force. You are the top kunoichi in Konoha and are extremely intelligent and strong, they saw no reason to say no."

"And what if I refuse?"

"If you refuse then the council will never condone you in becoming hokage and will take away your status as a kunoichi and a chakra seal will be placed upon you so that you will never be able to leave the village again."

"Ouch. They are making it hard to refuse," she said quietly, as her voice trailed off. "Ever since you sent me on a reconnaissance mission that had to do with the akatsuki behind the elder's backs they've turned into real hard asses," she mumbled.

"They also said that if you agree, the Uchiha will be allowed to freely walk around the village but not leave it and once he has proven his loyalty he will be reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha."

"I see…" her face full of sadness.

"Naruko, you don't have to decide this moment, however the elders want an answer within the next few days or so. I am ashamed that you are being forced to make this decision and if there was any way I could stop this from happening I would."

"I know grandma Tsunade. I will inform you of my decision tomorrow, I just need some time to think things over," her normal demeanor soon returned. "Night granny Tsunade," she said with a smile before she disappeared. Once alone the busty hokage opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a full bottle of sake, and quickly downed it before grabbing another. Soon finding herself lost in a drunken bliss.

Marriage? Yeah she had thought about it. Someday she did want to get married and have a family but she didn't think that it would happen so soon! And with the teme! When they were younger she did have a little crush on him, nothing like how Sakura was, but soon she got over it and just thought of him as her best friend and rival. Especially because over the years and the few encounters she had with him after he left, he made his feelings clear. To Sasuke she was the dobe who always seemed to get in the way and irritated him to no end. What would he say to the elder's plan? Would he accept it? Or chose to rot in prison and be forced to revive his clan by whatever means necessary. A shiver quickly made its way down her spine at the thought.

He was her best friend, even if he didn't think of her that way and she would do anything for him. Hell, she even left her village at the age of thirteen for four years to train with the pervy sage and literally went through Hell in order to become stronger. When she finally returned and learned that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru and formed his own team she was happy he was free from the snake but was saddened to learn he was still on the path of vengeance. Over the span of two years she was promoted to jounin and joined the ANBU, she became their top assassin and strongest member. Slowly people started to accept her and realize that she herself wasn't the kyuubi and wasn't to blame for the death of their friends and family. Things had started to look up for her and for once she was truly happy.

Then a week ago she found the teme lying in a pool of his own blood, she was happy to see him, but deeply saddened to see him in that state. Without hesitation she brought him back, but now deep in the back of her mind she was regretting it. Marry the teme and still be able to become hokage one day, or lose everything. Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are even lower than trash, Kakashi's voice echoed in her mind. It then hit her. She knew what she had to do. She's said it so many times. She would do anything to for her friends. It looked like her decision was made, she would marry the teme and help him revive his clan, the thought sent another shiver down her spine and made her nauseated. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep, Naruko jumped from her usual perch on the roof and headed for the training grounds to work out her frustration.

The next morning, with only having gotten two hours of sleep due to her restlessness Naruko slowly made her way to the hokage's office, having used the roads for once instead of hopping across rooftops. The sun was shining particularly bright today and was especially warm for the end of March, even the cherry blossoms were just beginning to bloom. She always liked the cherry blossoms because they were beautiful and brought a feeling of calmness over her being. When she was little she would always picture herself getting married under an ancient cherry tree with the blossoms falling down upon her and her husband when they kissed for the first time as a married couple, the nostalgic feeling made a smile find itself on her face. But the smile quickly disappeared upon the realization that that would never happen. Being lost in thought Naruko hadn't realized that she had been standing in front of Tsunade's office door for several minutes. Putting on a happy face, she knocked quickly and before she was granted entrance she walked in anyway.

"Morning lady Tsunade," she greeted with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"At least you knocked this time," she said playfully, but frowned when she saw the smile on Naruko's face but the deep sadness in her eyes. She also didn't miss that Naruko had addressed her as lady Tsunade and not granny or grandma Tsunade. "Have you made your decision?" she asked, her voice grim and serious.

"I have."

"And there is probably nothing I can say to dissuade you?"

"Kakashi-sensei taught me many things, the most important of all to never abandon your friends and I will not abandon Sasuke, even if he doesn't want my help."

"Very well then. Bring him in!" she yelled to no one in particular and a few seconds later her office door opened again and in walks several ANBU agents surrounding a bruised and battered Sasuke.

He really didn't care about refusing to give up information to them about Orochimaru. In actuality he let Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka dig through his brain and retrieve all the information he wanted on the snake man. However he put up a fight when they tried to get information about Itachi. After about a day he was returned to his hospital bed where Sakura would come in every so often to check on his wounds and change his bandages. Now he was being led to the hokage's office, surrounded by ANBU agents with chakra cuffs around his wrists. The leader knocked once before a gruff voice granted them entrance, but Tsunade quickly dismissed them and after a quick bow they disappeared. He wasn't alone with the hokage, he knew those ANBU were nearby, her attendant was at her side like always but there was someone there he didn't expect. It was Naruko.

It had been a few years since he last saw her, the last time being when her, Sakura, Kakashi and his replacement had found one of Orochimaru's hideouts and infiltrated it. He had almost killed her again, but because of the snake's interference he wasn't able to. Unlike last time, her hair was now in a long braid going down her back and she wasn't wearing a speck of orange. Instead she was wearing black pants with many pockets going down the sides and a blood red tank top that ended just above her navel. He also didn't fail to notice the ANBU tattoo on her upper left arm, or how her shirt and pants hugged her curves.

"Now that you are here and have surrendered the information asked for, the elder council has a proposition for you, Sasuke Uchiha," Tsunade announced to him, but instead of replying he just looked at her with cold eyes. "Since you have been cooperative, the elder council will allow you to marry a girl of their choosing so that you can revive your clan. In return you will swear loyalty to Konoha and in due time you will be reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha."

"And if I refuse?" he answered, his voice was cold and emotionless.

"Then you will be imprisoned and not wanting to go into any details, will be forced to bring the Uchiha clan back to life."

"If I should agree to this, who would I have to marry?"

"The council has decided that should you accept you will marry Naruko Uzumaki."

"Marry the dobe?" At least they didn't pick Sakura, his thought to himself, not missing the slight flinch of Naruko's body.

"What is your answer Uchiha?" Tsunade demanded impatiently.

He surely didn't want to spend the rest of his days locked up in prison, and he for sure didn't want to be forced to revive his clan, the thought of it threatening to make his stomach throw up his breakfast. But he didn't want to marry the dobe, surely she didn't agree to it? She must have, but what did the council threaten her with to make her agree to marry him?

"Well?" Tsunade commanded again, this time with anger in her voice from being kept waiting.

"Fine, I will do it," he replied in a monotone voice.

"Very well, because you both have agreed it will be made official." Reaching into one of the many drawers of her desk, Tsunade pulled out several sheets of paper and two pens. "By signing this you are officially engaged, the wedding will be next week," she said as the two signed the papers. "And there is one last thing, a seal will be placed on you Sasuke so that you will not attempt to escape, because if you do I will activate it and no matter how far away from here you are it will instantly kill you. Secondly a chakra suppressing seal will also be placed on you. Understand?"

"Hn."

"Very good. I will place the seals on you tomorrow, for now you are dismissed Sasuke. Naruko you will stay, I have a new assignment for you."

After he was dismissed he was escorted back to his hospital bed, however he couldn't take his mind off the dobe. She had matured much since the last time he saw her, but the air about her was different. When they were younger she would give off an aura that was full of energy and happiness. Now the air around her was heavy and laced with sadness. Her shoulders even seemed to be slumped by an unseen burden. Yes he would marry her, but he didn't love her. To him Naruko was weak, she was the dobe who always got in the way.

After Sasuke had been dismissed, Tsunade had given her a scroll containing her newest assignment. She would only be gone for a few days which would give her ample time to be back in time for her wedding. What had she gotten herself into now? What would everyone say when they learned that her and Sasuke were to be married? Surely Sakura would be a little steamed since it wasn't her that was picked to be Sasuke's wife. She would have to talk to her once she got back from her mission, a talk she wasn't looking forward to. Kakashi probably wouldn't have too much to say on the matter, he would worry about her but try not to show it. Jiraiya, the pervy sage, would probably be ecstatic and write a story about it…the perv. Everyone else would be confused at first, since they couldn't know the real reason behind the marriage, everyone thought that she and the teme hated each other since they were rivals.

With a sigh, Naruko changed into her ANBU uniform and adorned her mask, a fox mask with crimson accents as whiskers and blue ones covering the tips of the ears. She was the best at what she did. She silently swooped in and dealt the killing blow before the person even knew they were dead. This time she had to hunt down and assassinate a ninja who had infiltrated the village and gathered intel on certain things that should be kept secret. It wouldn't be a particularly difficult mission. Ever since she had learned sage mode from the pervy sage and then mastered it, tracking people was easy. After all she had to be back in time for her wedding…

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading and I really hoped you liked the first chapter! I've had this idea in my head for a while and it was really starting to bug me so I finally decided to turn it into a story! Please review, constructive criticism is appreciated!