A/N: I do NOT own Naruto

"Regular speech"

Regular thought

In-game announcements

In-game narrative

"In-game speech"

'In-game thought'

-In-game comment on open chat

Himari: In-game private chat


Chapter 2

August 29

Hinata fell to the floor in shock.

The first time that Hinata had made it into the Top-Ten Dueling Ranks, she had looked up every player and their achievements. It was no surprise that she was very impressed by the Top-Five:

5. Hisashi

4. Garon

3. Shigaku

2. Saitarou

1. Haruto

Hisashi's most potent attack was hitting a character's chakra points but was weak against any assault with a good weapon. Garon used primarily sand attacks and other earth jutsus but was extremely weak against any strong water jutsu. Shigaku controlled shadow puppets that were useful in long-range attacks and could manage a player's character if they're captured in Shigaku's shadow. He was also known for being a tactical genius. Saitarou was known for being a cold-hearted slayer. Saitarou's power mainly came from his strong fire jutsus and powerful electric jutsus that he incorporated with his katana. But the number one position was taken by Haruto. With a rumored endless amount of chakra, Haruto controlled the wind, creating whirlwind powered attacks that decimated any an all opponents.

So, naturally, Hinata had expected anything but a marriage proposal. Thus her shock, swollen derriere and embarrassment as her roommates laughed at her. Heat flooded her cheeks as Hinata straightened her chair and ignored the snickers.

Himari: Are you a hacker? This can't be Uzu Haruto.

Haruto: My account is perfectly safe.

Hinata's eyes widen. This can't be real… She shifted in her seat, and the pain reminded her that yes, this is really happening. Then a stray thought came to Hinata, and her eyes narrowed.

Himari: Why do you want this marriage?

Haruto: The website released the promo for the Couples Championship. You're the only female on this server that is placed in the Top-Ten. It's logical that I find someone that can keep up with me.

Hinata felt like she was stuck in an endless rollercoaster. The way her feelings went from high to low and looped over and over made her have a headache, her logical brain straining to keep up. Firstly, Lord Haruto wants a dueling partner for the championship, and she was his choice. Therefore this was another no-strings-attached marriage like her first. Secondly, why should her second marriage be for the tournament? She had seen the promo and was interested, but she had no partner. Lastly, this was a game, not real life. Why should she not agree? She got to fight next to the top player of the server, level up and access paths and adventures from the map that required a partner.

"Sakura," Hinata called suddenly. "Yes or no?"

"Err… yes?"

"Matsuri?"

"For what?"

"Just yes or no."

"Then… yes."

Hinata nodded and went back to her game. Sakura and Matsuri looked at each other and shrugged.

Himari stood up and turned to Lord Haruto. "I accept your offer. Let's go to the-"

"Wait," Lord Haruto interrupted. "The wedding will take place five days from now at 8 pm."

"Why five days?" Hinata asked confused. "I don't require anything."

Lord Haruto walked towards her until he loomed over her. "I am Uzu Haruto. My wedding cannot be simple."

Lord Uzu Haruto has logged off.

Hinata internally groaned as her headache became worse. This Lord Haruto was way out of her league.

o.O.o

Konoha campus - Boy's dormitory

"Guys," Sasuke said to his dormmates. "I've got something to say."

Gaara and Shikamaru looked at him while Naruto nodded but still faced his computer.

"This semester I'll find a girl that doesn't piss me off and date for six months."

Gaara's jaw drops and Shikamaru muttered his trademark "Troublesome." Naruto was still facing his computer.

"Yeah right," Shikamaru broke the silence. "Your face is in the dictionary next to man whore."

"Just because I have flings with girls doesn't mean that I cheat on them," Sasuke grumbled. "My mother taught me better than that."

"I just can't see you, Sasuke Uchiha, settling down," Gaara added from the top of his bunk bed.

"Truthfully, I've got tired of the same thing," Sasuke stated. "There is no thrill anymore. Girls just fall easily with a smile and a wink." In reality, his mother was pressuring him to find a girl and take her to their summer vacation.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes but nodded. "You want more. You want to chase and be kept on your toes."

"Who are your targets then?" Gaara asked.

"Not sure yet."

"There's Shion, the Campus Bell."

"Too high maintenance and you'll have a third wheel with her shadow that hangs around her," Shikamaru said referring to Karin.

"Definitely not them." Sasuke shuddered. Karin had tried to get it on with him and had stalked him all through his third year until he had finally embarrassed her in front of the entire school. Since then she always glares at him when they cross paths.

"The Department bell then."

"Too innocent." Then Sasuke smirked, "Though, it could be fun to corrupt her."

"Too troublesome."

"What about you Naruto? What do you think about Sasuke looking for an official girlfriend?" Gaara asked.

"He can have any girl he wants since I've gotten engaged in-game. I'm now a one-woman-man." Naruto said and turned to see three jaws on the floor.

Sasuke hurried next to his side not believing the idiot. "Engaged to be married? In-Game? To whom?!"

"I'll introduce her to you guys later."

Naruto packed up his laptop and left the dorm, leaving the guys in shock.

August 31

Friday morning the dorm room awoke with the arrival of Temari. She had just arrived back from her summer internship in the Land of Iron. Temari had been working on updating and modernizing the government's main website and systems. Being the land of Iron, it always snowed, and Temari was pale compared to the sun kiss tan that she had left with. Her first task on getting back was to spend the day at the water park. After unpacking her stuff and packing all of theirs for the trip, the girls first had to stop at a store to buy new swimsuits.

"Hinata!" Sakura called across the store. "Come and see this one!"

Hinata dragged her feet. It was supposed to be an in-and-out shopping trip, yet she hasn't found any swimsuit suitable for her body type or her tastes. The sale's person had only shown her bikinis all shapes and sizes, yet Hinata did not like bikinis. She had made it very clear, but the sale's woman did not listen.

Finally, she reached Sakura and saw a one-piece swimsuit, but it was orange, a color that clashed horribly with her blue tint in her hair and fair skin.

"Don't make that face," Sakura admonished. "Just try it on, trust me."

Hinata reluctantly grabbed the thing and headed into the changing room. After a quick change, Hinata stared at the mirror. At first, she had thought the color would wash the little color of her skin out like it usually did. This shade, instead, brought out the blue in her hair and made her shin look warm instead of the usual pale. Hinata decided to show her friends and Sakura squealed in glee at the site of her.

"See? I knew it would look good on you. And it shows off your curves."

Hinata wrapped her arms around her waist. She had always been shy in showing off her body and usually stayed away from any form-fitting clothes.

"Don't worry Hinata," Temari spoke up. "I've got a beach cover that is too small on me that you can wear."

With that, Hinata changed back into her clothes and paid for the swimsuit, and they all left for the water park.

"First things first," Temari said after they had established a table and a few sunbathing chairs as their own. "Since Hinata can't swim, we'll take her first to every ride with a raft. Each of us will switch, and then Hinata will stay here, and we can then go to the other rides. Deal?"

"Sure. I can stay here first," Matsuri said. "I want to work on my tan."

Temari grabbed Hinata before she could speak up and dragged her to the first ride with Sakura behind them. They were halfway in line when Sakura spotted Naruto Uzumaki and his friends, and the idea of teasing Hinata was too much.

"Hinata," she called in a sing-song voice, "look who's here." And pointed to her left.

Hinata turned, and her cheeks turned red. "Sakura!"

Temari looked and smirked at seeing Naruto in the distance. He was easy to find wearing his trademark bright orange colored swim trunks. "Have you asked him out yet?"

"Don't look!"

"Of course she hasn't." Sakura teased.

Behind her hands that hid her face, Hinata said, "It's not my fault. He's way out of my league!"

"Look while you can Hinata." Sakura removed Hinata's hands from her face. "Now that he has an apartment at the campus, we won't be able to see him around the boy's dorms."

Temari was going to chime in but, as they moved up in line, a voice called her name out. When she turned, she saw Tenten.

"Hey," Temari said surprised. "It's good to see you. How have you been?"

"Super stressed! My boyfriend…"

As Temari and Tenten talked, Hinata sneaked secret glances at Naruto. Since her first year, Hinata, and the majority of the female population at the university had a major crush on Naruto. But unlike the others who go up and confess, Hinata stayed in the shadows. Hinata knew that she was a beauty and attractive while growing up, but instead of letting it go to her head, she had shied away from that sort of attention. So, in her mind, she was not up to the standards that one must meet to be with Naruto.

"Hey Temari," said Sakura breaking Hinata's observations and Temari's conversation. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Sorry. Tenten, these are Hinata and Sakura," Temari said motioning to each girl. "Girls meet Tenten. A friend from the same internship."

After the pleasantries, it was their turn on the ride. Because it was only two per floating device, Temari and Tenten went first followed by Sakura and Hinata. At the end Hinata was soaking wet, having the front seat, and decided to give a pass on the rest of the other slides. One soak was enough for her. Hinata grabbed Temari's cover and went to back to Matsuri who was lying face down on the tanning chair. Hinata looked at her milk-white skin and decided that a bit of color would look good on her. She disrobed silently, reapplied her sunscreen and joined Matsuri.

o.O.o

"Cheers!"

It was late in the evening when they decided to head out to eat after a fun day riding all the water slides. At least it was for everyone except Hinata. Currently, her skin is as red as a lobster's – and yes it hurt. Hinata had only intended to tan for ten minutes max because she knew her skin tanned easily. What she did not expect was the effects of her new sunblock to so bad that she looked half uncooked and half overcooked. Hinata always used a high numbered SPF sunblock. Therefore her skin tanned a nice color. But the new sun cream that her mother had sent it being a 100 SPF burnt her to a crisp! And she didn't even try to be in the sun to protect her skin.

At the moment, while everyone downed their drinks, Hinata lightly passed the perspiration of her glass on to her red, hot shoulders and chest.

"For being my last year!" Temari cheered, holding up her second drink.

"To passing my nursing exams!" Sakura cheered.

"To finding the right career path!" Matsuri cheered.

Temari looked questioningly at her. "Isn't it a bit early to be changing your mayor?"

"I knew that I wanted to be in the computer department, but had still no clue in what area to study." Matsuri sipped her beer. "It was Hinata's game that made me decide to be a game designer."

"Really?" Hinata asked in surprise.

Matsuri grinned and nodded. Temari cheered to that.

Hinata lifted her glass of ice cold water with extra ice. "To not looking like a molting lizard on Monday!"

Laughing, the girls cheered and clinked their drinks.

After digging into the food that they had ordered, Matsuri asked, "So, who is this Tenten that Sakura mentioned?"

"She's an intern that I met in the Land of Iron," Temari explained. "She was in charge of whipping the bodyguards and staff of the government into shape. Apparently, they had an incident during New Year's, and they have been going through trainers like crazy. Tenten has been the only one to actually last this long."

"She must be outstanding then."

Temari nodded. "She's a well-rounded weapons expert and has three black belts in three different martial arts."

The conversation ended by the arrival of dessert

o.O.o

Saturday, September 1

Hinata, having not drank last night, woke with the sun while her roommates slept and snored away at dreamland. Closing the curtains of the room, she quietly set up her computer on her desk as she ate a quick breakfast before logging into the game. Since it has been a while that Hinata had done a solo quest, she picked out the "Catch the Sendai Imp Thief."

Dark blue turned to purple turned to pink as the sun peaked on the horizon. Himari's shadow growing ever so slowly as its rays illuminated the receding cover of the night. She stood on the highest point on a rooftop of a house, her eyes looking for any sign of movement in the early hour. To her left, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement.

She was on the move.

Himari followed the creature through the labyrinth-like roads, swinging her giant sword any chance she got. She got more misses than hits, but the little bugger was small yet agile and could easily dodge her swings.

The imp stumbled, and Himari took her chance to swing. Her sword hit and the imp lost half of his life points. Himari viciously grinned.

She let the imp 'escape' and let it fall into a false sense of safety as it changed its ugly little form into a black cat. The cat slowly trotted through an alleyway that leads into a park with dense trees. Just before it could make its great escape, Himari swung her sword and landed the hit, causing the imp's life points to drain to zero. It disappeared and dropped a chest.

Himari of the Blue Sea Clan has completed the Catch the Sendai Imp Thief quest.

Opening the chest, Himari earned fifty gold coins, a dagger with Sharpness Five and torn paper that read: …unite the orbs and obtain the ult-

Unite the spheres… Hinata thought. Could the red orb be related? Hinata opened the main menu of the official game page and searched all the forums that contained the word orb. Non where a hit until the last one that read:

"Has anyone found any colored orb? I found two pieces of a scroll that mentioned some colored orbs that when united with something else will become the ultimate weapon. Hit me up in the DMs please."

It was dated two years ago.

Hinata clicked on the profile and saw that the player has been absent for over a year. She was back at square one. Hinata decided to explore the Sendai area since Manabu said to have found it around Sulfur Mountain in the Hokkaido region, it wasn't a far reach that there could be a possibility that another orb could be in Sendai. Hinata headed east towards the mountain area of Sendai.

Haruto: Where are you?

Himari: Sendai, mountain area.

Himari stood still as a portal opened next to her and out stepped Haruto. His avatar was regally dressed in orange robes that had blue accents. His long blond hair was pulled back in half updo, held by a golden hairpiece.

Haruto smiled. "How have you been?"

Himari waved, "Could be better but I'm good."

Haruto lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Himari blushed and looked away, "I got sunburn from yesterday's outing."

"At Konoha's waterpark?"

Himari nodded. "You live in Konoha too?"

"Yes." Haruto looked around, "So what were you doing before I logged on?"

"I was just doing minor quests. But, now that you're here, do you know anything about colored orbs?"

Haruto looked questioningly before shaking his head. "No, I have not. Even this game has many secrets that I haven't discovered."

Her shoulders slumped, "Oh."

"But if you need help to find it, I am at your service," Haruto said and bowed.

Himari felt herself blushing but nodded. "I was headed up the mountains to see if I could find any clue up there."

"Mount Funagata?"

"Yes."

"Lead the way m'lady."

o.O.o

"How long have you've been playing IRL?" Himari asked. They were halfway up the mountain. Since she was leading, Haruto would be able to see her looking back at him.

"Since I was seven. I was left alone for the majority of the time. Video games became my escape from reality."

"That's so sad…"

"What about you? How did you get into gaming?"

"When I was little, I had an accident that fractured my hands, and I had a lot of intense therapy. One was to practice how to type on computers to get my fingers moving, so my mother bought lots of computer games. I would spend hours playing these games with her, that gradually my finger movement became fast and I became bored with those games. My aunt then introduced me to the online games, and I've been hooked ever since."

"How long have you been playing Japan: A History"

"Since I was twelve. You?"

"Fourteen."

Before Himari could comment, they heard a loud sound. Himari pulled her sword out of her sheath and got ready in case of other players attacked. But the noise disappeared.

"We're getting close," Haruto said and pointed to the tip of the wind temple that could be seen in the distance. "Be ready for anything."

Himari nodded and stayed close to Haruto, sword in hand, as they closed the distance between them and the temple.

Ten minutes later they had reached the temple, but everything was too quiet. Usually, the background music could be heard, but the scene was silent. Then, a loud swoosh and a high shriek came from above. In the shadow of the sun was the boss bird, Ceraon.

Haruto and Himari jumped away as Ceraon landed between them. Himari knew that fire overpowered wind, but since she was a water user, fire became harder to wield, and her thunder jutsu drained her chakra faster than other jutsus. If she timed it well using her most widespread fire jutsu, her chakra would last for seven minutes in between recovery and use. 'If I only had a wind jutsu my clone could combine a fire jutsu and the bird would be roasted.'

Haruto landed a hit, and Ceraon took to the sky. Himari regrouped with Haruto as she kept an eye on the giant bird.

"Do you have any wind jutsu?"

"Yes. What fire jutsu do you have?"

"A short range, Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Style - Art of the Phoenix Flower). I have another fire jutsu, but I haven't practiced it yet."

"Use the Hosenka no jutsu when it strikes again," Haruto said.

No sooner than he finished, Ceraon shrieked again and flew towards her. Himari waited until it was close enough to let out all of her chakras into the jutsu. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Multiple great fireballs shot out of her mouth as a sudden wind propelled them, causing them to grow triple their size as they headed towards the giant bird.

Himari jumped to dodge the flaming bird and watched as its health bar diminished to zero.

Haruto joined her as the bird boss disappeared and the purple light shined, dropping a chest in Himari's hand. She looked towards Haruto before opening it.

Haruto received a jutsu scroll with one hundred gold coins while Himari got a one-time-use map and a yellow orb with the kanji of Wind inside of it.

"Is that what were you looking for?" Haruto asked.

"Yes. A few days ago, as a reward for winning a battle against a clan leader, I received a red orb, but thought nothing of it."

Himari took out the red orb from her inventory and inside it held the kanji for Fire.

"If these two mentions two elements, then there may be three more that you'll need to look for."

"Why three?" Himari questioned.

"Fire defeats wind, wind defeats lightning, lightning defeats earth…"

Himari finally understood. "Earth beats water and water beats fire." Haruto was talking about the nature transformation cycle.

So I have two find the lightning, earth and water orbs before uniting them with something else to make the ultimate weapon.'

"Ugh, Hinata why are you up so early?" Matsuri grumbled as she sat next to Hinata.

"It's already eleven."

Matsuri let out a groan, but Hinata hushed her, Sakura and Temari were currently participating in the snore choir.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing Japan: A History."

"That's the online game, right?" Matsuri asked, sounding more awake.

"Yes," Hinata answered and felt Matsuri's chin rest on her shoulder. Hinata opened the menu and showed off her updated avatar. She had changed her samurai robes for a lavender jumpsuit with blue armor. Her long blue hair was now tied up in a high ponytail.

"That looks wicked."

Haruto: Would you like to meet my friends?"

Himari: Sure, lead the way.

Hinata clicked auto follow as Haruto jumped from Sendai to Hokkaido. All the while Matsuri's eyes were glued to the screen.

"I'm definitely going to be a game designer," Matsuri stated before she went back into her bed and fell asleep. Hinata shook her head in disbelief.

o.O.o

Sasuke heard his phone go off. He groaned before getting up and answering.

"Yo."

"Wake up the guys and meet me in-game at out spot. I'm bringing the missus." Naruto said before hanging up.

Naruto's statement woke up Sasuke. He pulled Gaara's sheets and shook Shikamaru awake.

"Oi! Get on your computers, Naruto is bringing his missus."

"Wha-" Gaara asked half awake.

"Get down here," Sasuke insisted. "We're going to meet the missus!"

Gaara stretched and jumped from his top bunk bed, landing next to sleep deprived Shikamaru. "It's too troublesome."

Sasuke glared but handed a cup of instant coffee to Shikamaru. The guys powered their laptops and quickly logged into the game. A Sasuke's avatar popped up next to Shikamaru's and Gaara's at their base, Naruto was already there with a female companion.

Gaara's eyes widened. "He really wasn't joking!"

Haruto leads Himari closer to the three men that were waiting.

Himari, these are Saitarou, Shigaku, and Garon, my teammates."

Himari bowed. "Nice to meet all of you."

Sasuke smirked at the other guys, "So Mrs. Haruto does exist!"

"Her handle seems familiar," Gaara said.

Shikamaru nodded, "She's in the Top-ten for dueling, but there's more…"

Saitarou narrowed his eyes. "Your name sounds familiar."

Garon nodded in agreement.

"You're Tsubasa's ex-wife," Shigaku stated.

Above Himari popped up a bubble with dots, meaning that she was typing something, but Haruto beat her to it.

"She was. She trusted the wrong guy. Don't give her a hard time."

Himari blushed.

"Forget about him, Mrs. Haruto," Garon said. "Let's get to know each other in a quick dungeon."

Gaara sent out the invites, and they all quickly joined.

The group walked into a small rocky valley. Suddenly an Orc appeared and charged at the group. Garon used his sand shield to block the Orc's hammer while Saitarou used Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique). Himari then charged at the distracted Orc and connected a slash with her sword, the Orc letting out a yell in pain.

Then a second Orc attacked from behind. Haruto blocked and then used Daikamaitachi no Jutsu (Great Cutting Whirlwind Technique) with a fan that caused the Orc to be cut in half.

Shigaku used his shadow puppet to pin the first Orc in place while Himari channeled chakra through her sword causing a fiery slash that decapitated the Orc. After the fight, Shigaku healed every one.

"That was awesome Mrs. Haruto," Garon said. "It's pretty rare to find someone that can keep up with us."

"Thanks," Haruto answered.

Saitarou shook his head but didn't comment.

"So, when is your in-game wedding banquet?" Shigaku asked. "You didn't forget to invite us, right?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Troublesome."

"Isn't that the…" Garon started but was cut off by Haruto.

"There's time."

"If your busy that day," Hinata said, "we can reschedule."

"It's fine. The day after tomorrow is fortunate. It's good for weddings."

Sasuke lifted up his hands in surrender. "I give up!"

Shikamaru and Gaara looked at him confused.

"This guy is totally head over heels for Himari. Naruto has never been like this in the time we have known each other. Never!"

"Well," Gaara said, "if the never-have-dated Naruto can get a wife, that means that we also have a chance in love."

"Troublesome."

"And on top of it all, he had to choose the day that Jiraiya releases his new romance book."

o.O.o

Sunday, September 2

Kiba Inuzka was unloading his things from his sister's car when he noticed a black 2018 Jaguar F-Type pull up next to the campus gate. To his surprise, the Department Bell got out of the passenger side. Since he was part of the Journalism Department and the Director of the Konoha University news center, Kiba had his trusty camera always in hand, and this was no exception. He quickly captures some shots of the Department Bell bowing to the passenger before crossing into the campus. Kiba tried to get a clear picture of the driver, but since it had dark tinted windows, he couldn't see who it was.

But in the end, it didn't matter, he had this fall semester's first news.


A/N: Hope you like this chapter. So many things are happening in my life. The days are going so fast that I can't keep up! The reason for once a month update is to write long-ish chapters in between finishing up my semester. My studies come first then fan fiction.

Thank you for all those who commented. This is a Naruto x Love 020 mashup but with my own twists. I really want to have characters develop into young adults facing multiple obstacles.

Until next time!