Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
AN: Yes, I'm finally working on this story! I've wanted to start on this for a while and now I am! For the readers who read my other story "A Fateful Destiny" rest assured that I will eventually get back to it, but as of right now I want to focus on this one first. I have to mention that the beginning of this story will somewhat follow the canon similarly. However, the story will start to branch out once we get past this chapter. I'm excited to write about Naruto and Temari as a pair since I absolutely love this pairing and there doesn't seem to be enough good Fics with them in it. But it won't be all lovey dovey right away. No, that's just unrealistic and what I believe to be not true to how they would both act to one another because of their individual personalities. Well I hope you enjoy this Fic and see you at the bottom ;)
Chapter 1: Hate At First Sight
"Uh what's your name again?" A tall blond-haired whiskered boy asked sheepishly to the now irritated Suna Kunoichi.
"You don't remember me?" The female asked in a raised voice with utter disbelief. "How the hell does this kid not remember me after all these years? Speaking of which, where has this brat been this whole time anyways?" The lady's thoughts were soon interrupted by a commanding feminine voice.
"Naruto, you won't find your opponent in here. You'll find him outside." Lady Tsunade said while directing everyone's attention to the outside window. Curious to whom she was talking about, Naruto walked across the Hokage's room to the window and peered outside of it.
"Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked surprised to see his old time Sensei and friend just casually sitting outside the office window.
"Yo! Been a long time huh Naruto?" Kakashi said while giving Naruto his well known eye-smile.
"Yup, speaking of which I have something to give you hehe." Naruto giggled before reaching for his back pouch. Kakashi could only look on with suspicion before he could see what Naruto was going to give him. When Naruto did pull it out Kakashi instantly recognized that it was a book and not just any perverted book.
"Is-Is that the first new issue of the Make-Out Series in three years?" Kakashi squeaked out from complete shock.
"Yup, but if you ask me it's pretty boring." Naruto said while handing over the precious book to the now shaking Kakashi.
"Ahem!" A loud cough brought the two Shinobi's from their joyful reunion. "Now that you two know who your opponent is I-" But she was quickly interrupted by her attentive apprentice.
"Wait, you mean both me and Naruto are fighting Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked quizzically. Lady Tsunade nodded her head and waited patiently until she knew that Sakura wouldn't interrupt her again.
"Actually I was thinking that we should do this little spar later. I mean Naruto, you just got back from your long training trip and you must be tired." Kakashi stated while turning to leave.
"Are you kidding Kakashi-Sensei? I've been waiting to show off what I've learned these past few years, and I'll be damned if such a minor nuisance such as being tired is going to stop me from fighting you!" Naruto exclaimed with absolute exuberance.
Kakashi couldn't help but to sweat-drop at his former student's flamboyant nature. Thinking fast, Kakashi came up with the perfect excuse, "Even so, I still have to work on one of my NEW Jutsu's that I want to use against you both. So now I take my leave. Oh and I'll meet you both at the training grounds. So long!" And with that Kakashi jumped off the Hokage's Office window.
"Jeez he seemed to be in quite a hurry." The blond haired Sannin remarked while turning her chair around soon noticing that both Temari and Shikamaru were still awkwardly standing in the doorway. "Sorry about that you two. I just remembered you were gonna hand over something to me?" Lady Tsunade asked to Shikamaru trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.
"Yeah, here's the paperwork you requested for regarding the Chunin Exams." He answered while walking across the room to the Hokage's desk and quickly handing off the paperwork to the Hokage.
"Damn it with all this paperwork! I think I'm starting to go blind from seeing all this blinding white pile of paper stacked on my desk!" She yelled while slamming her head down hard onto her desk, which slightly created some fissures within the wooden desk's foundation.
"Hahahaha look Granny I think your starting to go senile!" Naruto pointed at Tsunade while roaring with laughter.
"You think getting old is funny punk?" The now enraged Hokage yelled back while furiously trying to get out of her chair which only resulted in the chair being thrown at dangerous speeds at another Sannin.
"Oh Kami! Why is it always me?" Jiraiya whimpered before getting blasted by the speeding chair.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Tsunade yelled before grabbing a piece of cloth from Naruto's clothing. "HOLD STILL AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN!" She said while desperately trying to contain a now frantic Naruto.
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU UGLY OLD HAG!" Naruto shrieked while kicking and screaming in all direction. Suddenly he felt some slack and his clothes soon gave way from the spontaneous slack that he felt from Tsunade's tight gripped hold. Naruto slowly looked up in curiosity and soon regretted that action. There was Lady Tsunade still as a stone. Her blonde flowing hair covered her face so that it was unreadable. But her whole body was slightly trembling and her hands were unconsciously shaking. She suddenly lifted her head up and looked Naruto dead in the eye which only made our blonde haired Shinobi gulp in fear of the impending doom that he unknowingly had put himself in.
"I'm an ugly old hag eh?" She said in a sickeningly sweet voice with a very large grin forming across her face. Suddenly she lifted her right hand up and made a quick hand-sign. Her hand then glowed with a green aura around it and a buzzing sound emanating from it. Naruto's eye grew wide from guessing what she had in mind for his punishment.
"Uh Granny I was just kidding hehe. You know I didn't really mean it right?" Naruto asked nervously. He was answered with the now fully glowing right hand slowly inching towards his lower body. "Oh come on! It was just a small joke Granny! Can't you take-" A death defying scream of unimaginable pain resounded throughout the whole Hidden Leaf Village when Tsunade swiftly dealt out her "unusual" punishment to her foolish jokester.
Temari could only shudder at what she just saw just now between the two. She was glad that her Kazekage wouldn't do such inhuman punishment to his fellow Ninja's. Actually, now that she thought about it, he would probably just kill them for any minor stupidity. "No Temari, that was the old Gaara. The new Gaara wouldn't do that anymore. Ever since then he has changed and became a more... "normal" person." Temari thought to herself. She hated herself for occasionally still believing that her brother was still a blood lust demon whose only purpose was to kill as many people as he could. No matter how much he had changed, the stigma of Gaara still wanting to kill her was branded into her brain. The sound of groaning pain woke her out of her deep thoughts and brought her back to the horrific scene that was in front of her. Tsunade was now casually sitting in her Hokage chair while Shizune was tending to both Naruto and Jiraiya who were both grasping their lower parts. She couldn't help but to frown at those two's antics.
"Well I think we'll be taking our leave now Hokage." Shikamaru said nervously before turning around and preparing to leave.
"You better take Naruto with you since he and Sakura are leaving also." Tsunade sighed while looking at the two idiot's predicaments.
"I'm not carrying Naruto." Sakura stated before jumping out the window.
Temari sure as hell wasn't going to carry this brat to the training grounds. But she noticed that something was off. She quickly glanced to her left and to her absolute dismay Shikamaru had disappeared on her! "That troublesome lazy no good Nara!" Temari fumed while face-palming herself at her own situation.
Lady Tsunade only smirked at the girl's reaction to the events and spoke up, "Ah Temari, good to know that you would like to volunteer to carry Naruto to the training grounds." Tsunade winked at the now fist clenching fan user. But Temari only ended up mumbling to herself and hastily picked up the pained Naruto and carelessly dragged the poor boy out of the Hokage's Office.
"If I didn't know any better, that moment just reminded me of when Dan would drag my sorry ass back to my house when I was too wasted to walk home." Tsunade chuckled mostly to herself while Shizune leaned back against the wall hesitantly giggling with nervousness. Jiraiya meanwhile had went into a somewhat peaceful unconsciousness only because the pain in his lower body had numbed up.
Temari was slowly making her way across town while carrying an ever groaning Naruto leaning against her shoulder. Other than having a full grown boy being carried on her, she noticed that the two of them were getting strange looks from the Konoho population. Some of the looks showed sadness and pity. Some even showed a sense of humor at what they were seeing. But there was no denying that most of the looks were consisted of pure and utter hatred, and the other was prevalent fear. Temari couldn't understand why these people would still hate the Hidden Sand Village after all these years. Hell, Suna should be more scared of Konoho than vice-versa. But she couldn't understand the looks for Naruto though. I mean, he was a Konoho Ninja, a hero if she had to think about it. "What is up with these people? It's like they are staring at us like we're demons or some sorts." Temari thought to herself.
"Don't mind them, you learn to get used to it after a while." A sullen voice directed her back to the blond-haired boy that she was carrying. He was looking at the ground and his face was unreadable since his head was facing down.
"Why do they look at you like that in the first place Naruto?" Temari asked innocently. There was no good reason for why the villagers should have looked at him that way in the beginning. This whole atmosphere felt similar to her somehow, but she couldn't figure it out at the moment.
Naruto chuckled which made Temari raise an eyebrow at the boy's action before he spoke up, "Gee, I wish I knew also." He grinned at a now stupefied Kunoichi.
"What the hell do you mean you don't know? You've been living here since you were a baby and you still don't know why they look at you like that?" Temari exclaimed at Naruto which made him flinch a bit from the hostile tone.
"I never said I didn't know why they look at me like that, what I meant to say was; I don't know why they STILL look at me like that." Naruto answered back before going back to groaning in pain. Both Ninja's soon entered an uncomfortable silence while turning around a sharp corner and trying their best at ignoring the venomous glares they both were receiving. "How's Gaara been doing?" Naruto asked out of the blue.
Temari was a bit taken aback by the question before she recovered and replied, "He's a lot better actually. Ever since that day you two fought, he's become more human in every aspect of his life. Simply stating; He doesn't want to kill all the time like he used to." She could remember that day like it was only yesterday. The battle between that blonde-haired brat and her most feared bloodthirsty brother was so intense that she knew that she would never forget that fight in her lifetime.
Smiling at hearing that a fellow Jinchuuriki was doing better, Naruto quickly made a remark, "I bet he's a very powerful Shinobi now huh?" Naruto said mostly to himself. But Temari had to raise an eyebrow at this.
"Umm Naruto? Haven't you heard? Gaara's now the Kazekage for the Hidden Sand Village." Temari informed Naruto only to witness Naruto's surprised reaction.
"What? He's already Kazekage and I'm still only a lowly Genin?" Naruto cried to himself while crouching on the dirt ground and covering his face with his open hands. Temari couldn't believe what she was seeing. Probably the most powerful Ninja she has ever witnessed was balling like a little baby in front of her eyes! Quite frankly it was getting on her nerves. She quickly snatched her fan off from her back and gripped it with a vice like grip.
"Naruto!" She slammed the butt end of her fan into the mourning boy and launched him fifty feet into the air before landing back into the earth with an bone cracking sound. "Shit. Probably should have not done that. Prooobably should have definitely not done that." Temari repeated to herself while sighing out loud before checking up on the now terrified Naruto.
"Oh Kami! Why are all the Kunoichi's this terrifying?" Naruto thought to himself while he watched Temari slowly walk up to him.
"Sorry about that Naruto. I'm just not used to that type of behavior around me." She said apologetically while thrusting a hand out for Naruto to grab.
"Yeah no kidding." Naruto replied painfully. With help from Temari, he quickly picked himself up and dusted himself off. This was the perfect moment for Temari to really get a good look at the boy in front of her. She couldn't stop herself from slightly blushing from seeing Naruto's clothes slightly torn up and seeing the exposed skin that was revealed to her. She could definitely see the ripped muscles pulsating from his body. Even more attractive was Naruto's facial features. When he whipped his golden hair around to get rid of the dirt in his hair it looked like his hair was made out of golden silk. It only added onto his features when she noticed his whiskers that she couldn't help but to squeal a bit from seeing. And then there were his eyes. Oh kami his eyes! They were a deep Cerulean color and she couldn't stop herself from being entranced by their absolute beauty. Temari was beginning to drool at the sight before her until Naruto's voice broke her out of her eye candying. "Hey why are you looking at me like that? It's kinda creeping me out a bit." Naruto asked a little nervous by the the wind mistress's strange facial expression towards him.
Temari quickly realized what she was doing and shook her head viciously in order to clear her head. Naruto could only add on to his theory that all Kunoichi's were weird and scary. "Well I think your okay now to walk." Temari stated gazing at Naruto who was now hesitantly trying to walk.
"Yeah, I think your right!" Naruto yelled out in delight, "I can't believe Granny would tear my groin just for something as silly as a harmless joke." Naruto snorted before jumping for joy since he could walk now on his own.
But Temari had other thoughts going through her head, "Wait did I just hear that correctly? She tore his groin? SHE TORE HIS GROIN?" Temari screamed in her head, "How the hell is he able to walk then? There's no way he could've healed that fast unles-" She was again interrupted in thinking by a now suddenly skittish Naruto.
"Uh can I ask you a really important question?" Naruto asked somewhat seriously.
Mystified by the sudden attitude change from the hyperactive brat, she slowly nodded her head in confirmation.
"Uh what's your name again?" Naruto asked sheepishly knowing something really bad was going to happen soon.
Temari soon narrowed her eyes so much that they could now be described as slits on her face. "Naruto! Are you trying to make me hate your guts?" She charged Naruto with her battle fan in both her hands. Naruto yelped in fear and quickly dashed off to the training field. "Come back here you dimwitted brat!" All throughout the village, everyone could both hear and see two crazy blondes going at it. One was a boy who appeared to be running for his life while the other blonde was a girl who appeared to be possessed by the devil herself. It's fair enough to say that the village that day had more than enough entertainment for that day.
Naruto and Temari had finally made it to the training ground after several long "detours" that both blonde's decided to take. Sakura was somewhat surprised to see a battered and bruised Naruto dropped off (literally) by a fuming Temari who then unpredictably began to calmly walk to the exit gates of Konoho. But before she walked too far, she turned her head around slightly and glared at the partially conscious blonde and spoke up, "And my name is Temari you baka! T-E-M-A-R-I!" She huffed out before turning around again and finally walking off.
"So that's what her name was." Naruto said half-heartily. Naruto didn't care about the whole name issue right now, he had bigger problems like; why couldn't he feel his left toe, or why did he keep hearing a loud and obnoxious ringing in his head when clearly there wasn't any bells near him.
But Sakura could only shake hear head in disappointment and had her arms crossed and eyes closed before speaking, "Your so hopeless Naruto." Naruto ears perked at that remark and he was quickly back to his old flamboyant self.
"What's that suppose to mean Sakura?" Naruto asked slightly annoyed that his teammate didn't actually seem to care about his current ordeal.
"I mean about women. At this rate you'll probably be killed by a woman instead of being killed by a man." Sakura stated bluntly before walking off into the training grounds.
"Oi! Sakura wait for me!" Naruto yelled while speedily getting to his feet and sprinting towards Sakura in order to catch up with her.
Both Ninja's soon entered the training grounds before a realization hit them both. Simultaneously, they both answered the the question that both of them knew before they even thought about it, "He's late."
Two hours later Kakashi-Sensei finally showed up at the training ground. "Hehe sorry that I'm late, a old lady crossed my-"
"Give us a break already!" Both Ninja's yelled in unison while Kakashi sweat-dropped at the two's actions. Kakashi soon guided them to the battle area and was met with a surprised reaction from his former pupils. "I remember this place. It only seemed like yesterday that all three of us were here." Naruto said quietly while being content with gazing at a nearby wooden pole that he remembered vividly to being tied up to.
"Oh that's right. This is where you had the bell test done." Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Those were the time's when the three of them were just beginning out as Genin Ninja's and were both inexperienced and naïve.
"That's when Sasuke was with us..." Sakura trailed off causing a ripple effect with everybody who heard her. Naruto was now cowering on the ground mourning to himself, and Sakura soon joined him in crying also. Kakashi gave a disbelief look at seeing both Ninja's depressed feelings.
"I better change the subject fast or else I will start tearing up also." Kakashi thought before closing his perverted book up while pulling out two brass bells out from his back pocket. The bell made a subtle ringing sound which alerted the two crying people towards the direction of the sound. "Alright guys, same rule as before. You pass when you both acquire these bells from me. Doing whatever it takes." He instructed before continuing on, "If-"
"If we don't go in with the intent to kill-" "Then we will never get the bells." Both Naruto and Sakura completed Kakashi's last sentence in sync. Kakashi couldn't help but to eye-smile at the two people in front of him.
"I guess they both have matured a lot while I was gone." Kakashi thought pleasantly to himself before assuming his Jounin stance and Naruto and Sakura soon copied his action by assuming their own stances as well. "The test begins when I say start Naruto." Naruto could only smirk from the memory of what happened last time he took this test. Looking between the two Ninja's, Kakashi assumed everything was in order and was ready to begin the evaluation, "Start!" And with that Kakashi vanished into thin air.
(Fast forwarding in the fight since most of it is the same as in the canon more or less. Now with Jiraiya and Tsunade now who are watching the fight from afar.)
"It seems the gaki has learned a lot from your three year training trip." Tsunade smiled while watching the two Ninja's hash it out against Kakashi-Sensei who was now showing noticeable fatigue from combating two very skilled fighters.
"So it would seem Lady Tsunade. So it would seem. Same goes for your apprentice Sakura Haruno also." Jiraiya returned the compliment before watching Sakura obliterate a nearby tree into thousands of tiny splinters. "And- for better or worse- she's almost a mirror replica of yourself Tsunade." He said while wincing from watching Sakura repeatedly demolishing trees after trees.
Tsunade could only shake her head in amusement before replying back to her fellow perverted Sannin, "Hmph I hope you didn't make Naruto into a pervert like you while you had him with you for three years." She questioned while slowly narrowing her eyes.
Jiraiya could only laugh at her worries and responded back assuredly, "Are you kidding, he's nothing like me. Because I'm not just any old pervert- I'm a SUPER PERVERT!" Jiraiya exclaimed making Tsunade rub her forehead in aggravation from her friend's idiotic episodes.
"Hey, is that the Sand Kunoichi from earlier?" Jiraiya asked randomly while pointing off into the distance to a densely grouped bunch of trees. Tsunade then squinted her eyes with difficulty and gazed into that direction. When she did indeed see the Wind Mistress of Suna, she could only smile at the girl. Jiraiya noticing this, raised an eye-brow and stared at Tsunade expectanly.
"Yes, she's been there since the beginning of the fight." Tsunade answered unusually chirpy.
Now Jiraiya had both eye-brows raised from this new found information. "Why is she even here in the first place? Wasn't she suppose to leave tonight?" Jiraiya asked with anticipation
But Tsunade only shrugged her shoulders and waved away the question. "Speaking of leaving tonight. Since it's already getting dark out and I think it would be in Konoho's best intentions to provide her with a bodyguard, I'd like to assign a C-Rank mission of escorting her back to Suna." Tsunade said before rubbing the back of her head in discomfort, "However, all my Ninja's are unavailable due to either being already assigned a mission or patrolling the town tonight." She scolded to herself.
"What about that Nara kid? You know the one who always says, "This is such a drag." or even better, "Troublesome." Jiraiya asked while mimicking the lazy boy's posture during those infamous quotes.
Tsunade couldn't stop herself from cracking up from her friends sense of humor and began giggling uncontrollably from seeing Jiraiya impersonate the young Jounin. When she had her fill of laughter she answered back somewhat seriously, "Haha no he's too damn busy planning the Chunin Exams to be able to help out with such a benign task such as escorting a diplomat." She stated while still watching the fight in front of them.
Jiraiya then took up a thinking pose beside a nearby tree and began running ideas through his head. He finally hit upon an idea and made a very large grin which unnerved Tsunade since she didn't usually see that type of grin unless it had to deal with his recreational peeping. "I got it! Why don't we send the blond-haired gaki to escort her?" Jiraiya proposed while twiddling his fingers together in a very devious way.
Tsunade thought about it, and came to the conclusion that, yes, that would be fine. "Alright for once I agree with you on that idea. But can I ask you something?" She questioned while looking at Jiraiya's twiddling fingers, "Why the hell are you acting like that?"
Jiraiya looked at what he was doing and quickly stopped twiddling his fingers. He decided to act stupid and simply shrugged his shoulders in a carefree way making Tsunade grow a tick-mark on her forehead at her Toad Sage's childish nature. She soon heard a wave of cheering and hollering from behind her. She quickly turned around to see Naruto and Sakura each holding a bell of their own while Kakashi looked distraught and disappointed. "I guess we win Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura stated with a huge grin on her face. Kakashi only nodded towards her statement before trying to get back up to his feet. But he was suddenly met with a hand in his face. Looking towards the origin of the hand, he saw Naruto beaming at him with a radiant smile. Kakashi graciously took his hand and pulled himself up with the help from the young Jinchuuriki.
"Hey Kakashi, I hate to break it to you but I never even read the whole book, let alone the end of it." Kakashi wide eyed at the revealing information that just lost him the fight, "In fact, after I read the first three pages I just closed the book and never bothered reading it ever again." Naruto informed the now bewildered one-eyed Shinobi.
Sighing out loud, Kakashi spoke up ruggedly, "I guess that is one of the skills to have for a ninja, lie and deceit." Both Naruto and Sakura grinned at their accomplishment at finally beating their Sensei at his own game.
Unknown to any of them, Temari was softly laughing at how the fight had ended. "I wish every fight ended with a simple one liner." She giggled to herself before turning her back towards the combatants and leaping off the branch that she had watched the fight on. "From what I've watched, Naruto appears to have gotten a lot more powerful since the last time I saw him. And what was that one Jutsu? It looked like a swirling spherical ball of Chakra being controlled by a... wind element?" Temari shook her head in denial, "No that's nearly impossible. Wind users in the Fire Country are extremely rare. But then what kind of Jutsu was that then? I remember him yelling it out. What did he say? Dammit think Temari!" After a short moment of self berating she inevitably remembered, "Aha! He yelled out "Rasengan! (Spiraling Sphere)" Wait a minute! I've heard that Jutsu before. I think it was the Fourth Hokage who first created it!" Temari wide-eyed at the sudden revelation. This only made her theory about Naruto being a very powerful Shinobi more prevalent. "Naruto, how much stronger have you gotten?" She asked mentally to herself while slowly turning her gaze towards the now setting sun.
Back with the group of ninja's, Tsunade and Jiraiya suddenly revealed themselves to their pupil's from appearing out from the tree they were hiding behind. "Well done kids, it would seem that your training didn't go to waste after all." Tsunade chuckled while elbowing Jiraiya in his side making him side-step from his sudden loss of balance.
"Thank you Hokage." Sakura replied back sincerely while bowing down to her teacher. Naruto simply gave them a heartwarming grin while showing them a thumbs up. "Well that's enough for today. You all can go home now and rest for tomorrow, you all deserve it- especially you Kakashi." Tsunade winked at Kakashi who only gave a half efforted wave showing that he understood her deeper meaning. Everyone said their goodbyes and began leaving until Tsunade spoke up towards a certain whiskered face blonde, "Naruto wait for a minute would you please." Tsunade asked politely.
Naruto, curious as to what Tsunade would want, pause mid-stride and turned a one-eighty so that he was now facing her. "Yeah, so what's up Granny?" Naruto asked honestly while crossing his arm. Tsunade quickly had a tick mark appear on her forehead and yelled at the smirking blonde, "When will you stop calling me that?" She demanded.
"When you stop using that Genjustu to cover your old facial features." Naruto replied simply.
"Hmph I'll only do that when you grow up, if you ever grow up." She countered blandly. "Anyways, the reason I asked you to stay behind was because I have a mission for you to take."
Naruto's full attention was now solely focused on Tsunade, "Really? A mission for me already?" After seeing her nod her head in confirmation, Naruto asked now very interested in this conversation, "What kind of mission is it Granny? Is it a super dangerous mission? No, I bet it's a super secret S-Rank mission! Oh please tell me!" Naruto begged while jumping up and down like a rabid rabbit.
"Calm down Naruto. I think you'll like this mission. It's a..." Tsunade trailed off so that Naruto would unconsciously lean in closer from the anticipation, "C-Rank mission involving you to escort a special diplomat!" Tsunade said jubilantly, but there would be no sounds of joy coming from Naruto.
"What? I don't want a stupid C-Rank mission! I didn't leave Konoho for three years to come back and take a stupid C-Rank mission! I demand that you change my mission or else I'm going home. Besides, I have better things I could be doing such as gouging into my limitless supply of Ramen!" Naruto cried out in absolute bliss. He soon felt a dark presence near his location, and slowly turned and looked towards Tsunade's direction.
"Naruto. If you don't want to spend the rest of your young Shinobi career participating in only D-Rank missions, that especially includes Madame Shijimi's weekly mission of trying to catch her crafty cat Tora, you WILL accept this mission or else Kami help you." Tsunade informed Naruto with deviance while cracking her knuckles. Naruto automatically had a noticeable chill go down his spine. He gulped deeply while rapidly going through all his very limited options. Sighing in defeat, Naruto gave in to Tsunade's demands and asked about the mission details. "Oh you know it's just a simple escort that's all. I just want you to guard Temari all the way back to her home village of Suna." Naruto suddenly scratched his cheek in an awkward manner which made Tsunade raise an eye-brow at this spontaneous show of distress. "Is there something wrong with this mission that you would like to share with me?" Tsunade asked questioningly.
"Uh there's nothing wrong exactly. It's just... well... um I think Temari hates me." Naruto finally muttered out. Tsunade couldn't prevent herself from chuckling from her brat's innocence. Naruto's subtly started to turn slightly pink from embarrassment before Tsunade spoke up.
"Then this mission should be even harder haha! Heck it might even be an unofficial B-Rank mission!" She cried out with great sarcasm.
"Very funny Granny. I'm sure Shizune's always taking an S-Rank mission in taking care of your old raggedy self." Naruto mumbled while beginning to leap off towards the exit gate of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Hey brat I heard that!" Tsunade yelled out from behind Naruto who was now disappearing from view. "Hmm I wonder if I should've told him that she was watching him the entire time during his fight with Kakashi-Sensei." After a while, she just simply shook her head in opposition. "Nah, besides he always wants to do everything the hard way." Tsunade chuckled to herself before slowly walking back to the Hokage's Office.
Temari had left Konoho's gate about thirty-minutes ago before she heard her name being shouted from behind her. Curious as to who would be calling her name at this hour, she turned around and was slightly surprised to see Naruto running towards her. "Naruto? What are you doing out here at this time of night?" She asked a heavily breathing Naruto. He simply put one hand up showing a universal sign for, "Hold on!" So she patiently waited for Naruto to get his air back before motioning for him to answer her previous question.
"I have a C-Rank mission that I was forced to participate in by Granny Tsunade," Naruto spat out Tsunade's name before continuing on, "I have to escort you all the way back to Suna regardless of whether or not you need it." Naruto finished before fixing his Leaf headband that had come undone from his speedy travel.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I can handle traveling by myself perfectly fine." Temari announced while turning around and preparing to leave before she felt a soft hand grab her wrist preventing her from walking off. She instinctively turned around to see why Naruto would dare grab her wrist in such a manner before she saw Naruto's face inches away from her. She peered into his ocean colored eyes and started to feel similar emotions that she felt earlier that day.
"No, you don't understand: I WAS FORCED TO DO THIS." Naruto emphasized the last few words.
Temari cheeks were starting to heat up from the close proximity both were at. "Why are his hands so warm?" She thought to herself. She had been walking for a while now and had began to feel the foreign feeling of cold before Naruto grabbed her.
"Naruto. Please let go of my wrist." Temari commanded calmly to which Naruto sheepishly responded back to her command by gently letting go of Temari's wrist. Frowning at the now foreign feeling of cold again, she looked back up towards Naruto and spoke up, "Well if that's the case then I guess I can't do anything about it. Just try to keep up baka." And with that Temari walked off in the direction of Suna. Naruto sighed quietly to himself and quickly caught up to Temari so that they were now walking side by side while in sync with each others footsteps. Naruto soon looked up into the skies and couldn't help but marvel at how bright the night sky truly was. There seemed to be a lot more stars than he last remembered since he was near the Hidden Leaf Village. Temari, noticing this innocent action, followed Naruto's movement and also looked up and came to the same thought as the blonde-haired Jinchuuriki. "Wow, I thought there were only this many stars back home." Temari thought to herself before focusing all her attention on the path home once again. Naruto meanwhile was content with just closing his eyes, holding his head back with his hands clasped behind it, and walking while listening to the soft crunching sounds coming from underneath Temari's footsteps for direction. They both soon entered a long duration of mutually peaceful silence the rest of the night. "Maybe this mission of having Naruto escort me isn't such a bad thing. At least I won't be lonely walking home this time around." Temari grinned to herself before letting herself go and getting lost solely in the presence of nature.
Mysterious Location
"Lord Pein, there appears to be a slight problem." A mysterious voice sounded towards a holographic figure.
"What kind of problem Sasori?" The figure appearing to be named Pein asked while narrowing his eyes.
"One of my spies has reported that the Nine-Tails is apparently traveling to Suna with a diplomat named Temari as we speak." Sasori answered back informatively. Seven figures in the room moved around in discomfort while Pein seemed to be in deep thought about the problem.
"Yes, that does make things... complicated." Pein finished off. One of the members slowly opened his eye's revealing his fully formed Sharingan and decided to share his thoughts on the case.
"Lord Pein, I believe it would be wise of us if we delayed our plans of kidnapping the One-Tails until we have found a suitable replacement plan." Itachi said calmly while gazing around the room for any opposition.
"Don't tell me your too scared to fight those kids Itachi?" A shark skinned figure accused Itachi while receiving several chuckles from around the room from various S-Rank criminals.
Closing his eyes, and showing no emotion whatsoever, Itachi spoke in a monotone, "Kisame, it is not that I am afraid of fighting these two Jinchuuriki. It's that, unlike you, I follow through with the plans given to me. And we were ordered to get the Nine-Tails last." Kisame huffed at his partners blunt explanation and turned away from him in frustration.
"Itachi Uchiha is correct. We cannot afford to fight both the One-Tails and the Nine-Tails without risking absolute annihilation." A female member spoke out to the rest of the participants.
"I say we target the Two-Tails then." Everyone raised an eyebrow at this suggestion from one of their mysterious member.
"You do know we need the One-Tail first correct?" Pein asked curious as to what Kakuzu was suggesting.
"Yes, we do need the One-Tail, but we can still capture the Two-Tails without sealing it." Everyone murmured their support for what sounded like a solid plan.
"Very well, the Akatsuki will go after the Two-Tails first. Since Kakuzu and Hidan suggested this plan they will have the honor of going after it." Pein announced receiving a nod of confirmation from those two. "Soon, the Shinobi world will know Pein..." He declared before all five holographic figures disappeared.
Well there you have it, the first chapter! Hopefully I made the relationship between Naruto and Temari as realistic as possible. Of course, their not gonna come off as lovers right away. Love at first sight is way to cliche for me thank you very much! But you will notice (hopefully) that their relationship will slowly but surely grow to the point where they question their feelings for one another. This is how I believe the pairing would most effectively work without a forced marriage or an ideal situation forcing them essentially to fall in love. They will fall in love by their OWN free will! Oh, and of course there will be many original twists in the plot and with The Akatsuki. Also there will definitely be more action later on in the story. Well remember to REVIEW and until next time ciao!