Marriage
After the Fourth Shinobi War, the world was at peace and the five great nations had formed an alliance. Measures were made to keep the alliance. The Mizukage offered a marriage alliance with the land of Fire for its best kunoichi to wed her nephew. And who are the four best kunoichi in the Hidden Leaf?
This takes place right before Naruto: the Last so there will be naruhina & sasusaku but they won't be official. Neji survives the war because I feel like his death was just the slightest bit insignificant and I would rather he ends up with Tenten. I really want to know how Sai and Ino became a couple so I made this to imagine how they might have gotten together.
Main Pairings: neji x tenten, sai x ino
Just because Pairings: naruto x hinata, sakura x sasuke, shikamaru x temari, choji x karui
Crack Pairings: yamato x anko, iruka x tsubaki, genma x yugao, kakashi x shizune
Tsunade stared at the eight cards in her hand. They were the cards of her eight best ninja, all anbu and jounin. They were also part of the twenty legendary Ronin, who had made their stand on the final battle of the Fourth Shinobi War. (A/N: Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Sai, Shikamaru, Choji, Rock Lee, Shino, Kiba, Suigetsu, Gaara, Kankuro, Omoi, Karui, Karin, Temari, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, and Ino are all part of the Ranin.)
The cards consisted of Neji, Hinata, Sai, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Ino. She dreaded the news she was going to tell them but she had no choice. The Mizukage had specifically said that she wanted her best kunoichi for her nephew and that was exactly what Tsunade was going to give her.
The girls she had picked out had no boyfriends or anyone they might end up with except Sakura and Hinata. Hinata was in love with Naruto but he had rejected her and Sakura still had a thing for Sasuke not that it was going anywhere. Tenten and Ino however, the Hokage couldn't pair with anyone in particular. Shikamaru was obviously in love with Temari so he was out and Choji had just begun dating Karui- Tsunade had no idea how that happened but she was happy for them.
She sighed, wondering how she was going to break the news that one of them were going to be engaged on this mission , when all eight shinobi walked in. At first, the Hokage merely stared at them, then she cleared her throat trying to get the word out of her mouth. They all just stared at her. Lady Tsunade had never been at a loss for words.
"You have a mission for us, my lady?" Sakura asked.
"Yes. You four girls are the best and most beautiful kunoichi this village has to offer. To uphold the alliance with the Hidden Mist we decided with a marriage. One of you is going to be engaged with the Mizukage's nephew." Silence followed that statement. The girls were speechless while the boys just stared at them.
"Hinata Hyuuga, you are part of the main branch of the Hyuuga household. With your leave, Neji can take over. Sakura Haruno you are my apprentice and the best medical ninja. Ino Yamanaka you are the heiress of the Yamanaka clan and the leader of the Intel faction. Tenten you are the esteemed weapons master of the land of Fire."
"If you aren't the best, than the Mizukage can kiss my ass. The boys will guard you because the lesser nations don't want this alliance to take place. You are dismissed." Everyone piled out of her office. No one dared to say a word until they got outside.
"What just happened?" Ino asked staring at nothing in particular.
"I think one of us is about to be engaged." Hinata said, her eyes pooling with tears.
"I think should go tell our parents..." Sakura wondered how she was going to break the news to her parents.
"Let's all meet here tomorrow. The Hokage said we should set out in the morning and it will take us a few days to get to the Hidden Mist." Neji informed. The girls just nodded and split up, going in their separate directions.
The next morning, they showed up at the gate of the village in their kunoichi outfits. Normally, all their hair would be down but it was hot so they had tied it. Tenten's hair was put in a long braid, Ino had her hair in a ponytail like she used to wear in her shinobi war days, Sakura had grown her hair out and it was put in two ponytails like her mentor, and Hinata had put her hair in a loose bun. The boys showed up a while later.
They hadn't changed that much. Naruto had cut his hair while Sasuke had grown it out. Sai had it just a bit longer and Neji now wore his in a silky ponytail. Tenten and Sakura's bangs had all been swept to the side while Ino and Hinata's were still the way they had always been. They all waited for their other friends to come and tell them goodbye.
Lee, Choji, Shino, Kiba, and Gai came all together. Finally, Sakura saw Shizune and Kakashi coming their way. Kakashi had snaked his hand around Shizune's waist. It was getting easier seeing them together like this but Sakura still didn't know how they were together. Shizune and Sakura were very close. She was like an older sister to Sakura and their medical jobs just made them closer. Shizune slipped out of Kakashi's grasp and ran over to Sakura.
"Lady Tsunade told me what happened. I swear, Sakura, I didn't know or else I would have talked her out of it!" Shizune said in a rush.
"It's alright, Shizune. When Lady Tsunade makes up her mind, there's no changing it." Sakura just sighed. Kakashi watched the two women but his eyes drifted over to his former favorite student. Sasuke stood there, looking at the ground. Kakashi knew that Sasuke had feelings for Sakura if only the stupid teme could admit it.
Yamato and Anko came next, Anko rushed over to Ino. The two had become friends when Ino had become an anbu. Since they had many missions together, they naturally became good friends and Anko helped her with some of the less likable tasks of the black ops. Yamato was very close with Sai. He had worked with team Kakashi and knew how hard it was for Sai to fit in. Yamato had helped him discover what 'feelings' were along with Ino. He also knew what Sai was going through because he was also raised in the anbu.
Hinata embraced Tsubaki when she came with Iruka. Tsubaki & Hinata became friends because they were both the shy and timid type and had promised to get over it together. Hinata had also helped Tsubaki get over Mizuki's arrest. Iruka looked over at Naruto wishing he wasn't so oblivious of Hinata. Sometimes he really wanted to smack that brat.
Yugao could be seen over the hill with Genma. Tenten had convinced her to start living again. Just because Hayate had died didn't mean she had to stop living too. Yugao was still a young woman who had her entire life ahead of her and Hayate would have wanted her to move on after. Genma and Neji had a mutual friendship. They worked well together and talked often. Genma was someone Neji could go to when he had enough of Gai and Lee's antics.
The guys watched as the eight women cried and embraced each other. When they had enough of the projectile tears, Sasuke cleared his throat and motioned for them to get going. Reluctantly, the girls let go. The four older shinobi knew that one of their little sisters was not going to be able to call the Hidden Leaf home anymore and the younger females knew that their days of freedom could be numbered.
