Engaged
by Fitzgerald
Chapter One
Kakashi looked over his team as they finished up for the day. Giving a mental sigh at the difficult topic coming up he put away his book. "Good job today. I won't be able to join you for tomorrow's tasks however I have it ready. You'll be cleaning out a house and preparing it to be taken over. The former occupant died during the attack. Sakura your in charge, here's the keys." Kakashi said as he tossed Sakura the keys and a scroll. "Sakura, Sasuke you need to follow me to a meeting. Naruto, Iruka is waiting at Ichiraku Ramen for you." Kakashi followed up.
As Naruto started bouncing from foot to foot, clearly torn between ramen and a meeting he was missing. Kakashi sighed and added for Naruto's benefit "Iruka wanted to talk to you about the meetings topic alone. He insisted."
As the grin split across his face Naruto replied "Yosh! See you tomorrow Sakura-chan. Sasuke."
As Naruto run down the road Kakashi could only sigh this wasn't going to end well. Turning to Sakura and Sasuke Kakashi said, "We're off to the academy, there's a few announcements that have to made."
As the three made it to the academy they saw the other Rookie Nine and what was left of Gai's team waiting for them. Kurenai raised her eyebrows at Kakashi and glanced at the clock. Shrugging his shoulders Kakashi said "Yo."
Asuma rolled his eyes and said simply "There's two announcements to make. First as of now Rock Lee is on a medical discharge. Second as part of the peace treaty with Sand a marriage between two of the villages Nins has been arranged."
As the words sunk in Shikamaru asked in a slightly bored tone "This affects us how?" After all it was likely to be an older Chunnin or Jounin not any of the Gennin getting married. It was troublesome.
Ino and Sakura exchanged significant glances, as long as it wasn't Sasuke they were ambivalent. After all it was only a week since the attack. Sakura was still sore from the sand user Garaa. She wasn't too sure how she was going to react to a Sand Nin joining the village.
In response to Shikamaru's question Kurenai replied, "Apparently it's the Sand kunoichi from the Chunnin exam."
Noticing the tense reactions from most in the room Choiji was still munching away and Sasuke merely shrugged his shoulders, Kakashi spoke up "She was following orders. The Kazekage was killed by Orochimaru and impersonated by him to manipulate Sand into attacking. Anyone of you could be put in the same position."
As the Gennin relaxed slightly Kurenai continued on "For now you all being assigned to keep an eye out for Temari and help her adjust to Konoha. When the marriage occurs she will be made a Leaf Nin. Treat her like a future comrade, not an enemy."
"That brings us back to the first point." Gai said as he struck as his serious lecturing pose. "Until Lee recovers and once more burns brightly with the fire of youth my team is temporarily suspended. Since Konoha has much need of Jounin you will be forming four man Gennin cells. We will still train you but you don't need our supervision for D rank missions and low risk C rank missions. The assignments are as follows Tenten will be joining Team Asuma under the leadership of Shikamaru, and Neji will lead Team Kurenai. Burn with the fire of youth and do Konoha proud!" Gai proclaimed as he struck his good guy pose. Gai deflated a little after a moment as he clearly missed having Lee cheer him on.
Sakura however asked in a slightly confused voice "Kakashi-sensei who's joining and leading our team? Also who's she marrying?"
Looking up from his book Kakashi answered calmly "Temari, she apparently got made a Chunnin by Sand, in response to your first two questions. As to who she's marrying." Kakashi paused to build up the dramatic tension as he let a smile cross his face "That would be Naruto."
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Naruto bounded down the street trying to think what Iruka-sensei wanted to talk to him about alone. Maybe it had to do with the Kyuubi, or maybe Shukaku. Frowning at this Naruto thought of something else, maybe they were going to have a talk with everyone's parents about something, and Iruka knew that Naruto wouldn't want him to be alone as all his friends' parents glared at him. Stupid Kyuubi, Naruto grumbled to himself mucking things up. That was when Naruto realized he had reached Ichiraku Ramen. Slipping in beside Iruka Naruto said with a genuine grin on his face "Iruka sensei."
"Hey Naruto." Iruka said with a partial smile on his face. "I'm buying you dinner tonight for doing so well at the Chunnin exam. Beating Neji was no mean feat. He was his years best rookie."
Grinning at the praise Naruto replied in an aw shucks voice, "It was a good fight, but his family sure messed up his head up." Turning to the old man Naruto said "One large miso ramen to start. Then a curry ramen!"
Turning to Iruka who was eating his own ramen Naruto asked "Iruka-sensei what's the meeting about that you wanted to see me separately for?"
"Hey Naruto we'll talk after dinner alright your first bowls ready." Iruka said as he rubbed Naruto's hair. Nodding Naruto turned to his noodles and started digging in.
Iruka on the other hand turned his thoughts to earlier in the day as his appetite started to leave him.
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"Kakashi what's this all about?" Iruka asked as he followed the Jounin to the council room. "Are they planning on making Naruto stay in his apartment even after the buildings been condemned?" Iruka said as he considered how he and Naruto would fit inside his own tiny bachelor pad.
"No. It's bigger than that. You'll find out when you go inside." Kakashi said as he led the Chunnin onwards. The two had clashed occasionally over Naruto, but then again Iruka was a lot less persistent and quieter than Sakura's mother.
Three minutes later Kakashi grinned as he heard Iruka's bellow of "What! Are You All Insane!" The news had gone down as well as Kakashi expected it to. He himself had been surprised at the choice of Naruto, but a few of the elders and councillors had raised a few valid points in favour of the arrangements. He wasn't likely to find a family in Konoha ready to accept his pursuit of their daughter. Also Hiashi had raised the issue that Naruto as a Jinchuuriki was a priority target in any conflict and was going to be living a rather risky life. If the boy wanted a family he was better to start earlier than later.
Frankly Kakashi suspected Naruto was going to stick around for a long time to come. But then again one never knew with a Shinobi's life. The more spurious reasons Kakashi knew were directed out of hatred to Naruto, but the good in this case Kakashi thought outweighed the bad. Besides she was a spunky blond, the kid had landed a looker.
Iruka though was nearly having a heart attack. "He's twelve! How can he get married!"
Homura sighed in frustration; Sarutobi had specified that Iruka was to act as a stand in parent for Naruto. "Engaged for now. The marriage will take place when he's fourteen, which is the age of consent."
"Consent how the heck can Naruto consent to this." Iruka yelled as a vein throbbed on his forehead.
"As a ninja of Konoha he will undertake the assignment." Koharu added.
Glaring hard at everyone Iruka added "I expect of course that you'll be putting them together in Naruto's apartment of course. Which considering it's supposed to be torn down next week means the two will be on the street."
"No." Hiashi replied calmly "Given the importance of the treaty and this marriage the village will be buying the two of them a suitable property, something discreet, defendable and presentable. She is the daughter of the former Kazekage. A bachelor pad would be an insult."
From Iruka's point of view the conversation took a turn for the worse after that. A number of the old clans still arranged marriages at a young age for their children. For the rest of the ninja in Konoha it wasn't the case, and marriage treaties were usual between children of clans. In fact the only good reason Iruka heard was that Naruto was practically the only one who could face her brother. At least some council members recognized Naruto's strength.
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Iruka watched Naruto work his way through a tenth bowl of ramen. "Hey Naruto slow down a bit I want to teach you a jutsu after dinner. I can't do that if you have to sleep off your meal."
Eyes brightening at the prospect of a new jutsu Naruto bounced in his seat happily. "A new jutsu, that's terrific Iruka sensei you're the best!"
Slowly pushing his bowl back Naruto was torn between his two loves of ramen and jutsu's. However he had just eaten ten bowls of ramen, so that was more than enough to make a new jutsu very tempting. Jumping down Naruto said, "Thanks for the ramen old man!"
As Iruka paid up he called out "Naruto we're going to practice ground thirty three."
Nodding Naruto charged ahead, practically flying at the thought of learning a new jutsu. Would it be an elemental jutsu, or maybe a genjutsu or even better a prank jutsu!
A few minutes after Naruto got to practice ground Iruka showed up. "Hey Naruto ready to learn a new jutsu?" Iruka called out.
"Right, here goes!" Iruka said as he ran through four seals and called out "Kirei Kisoku no jutsu!"
Naruto didn't notice it but Iruka suddenly had minty fresh breath. So of course he started complaining. "Kirei Kisoku no jutsu! That's it!"
Rolling his eyes Iruka decided to fill in Naruto on the jutsu's function. "Naruto listen to me carefully. Now I'm assuming you want to date girls right?" As Naruto nodded Iruka continued on "This jutsu was designed to help on dates."
"Eh is it for perverted reasons?" Naruto said his face crunched up in concern.
"No Naruto." Iruka sighed; the conversation was going to be an absolute minefield. "Say you like a girl."
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said proudly.
"Right. So do you think Sakura would want to be near you if you had stinky breath?" Iruka asked patiently.
As Naruto frowned the gears in his mind ground slowly then the answer hit him. "I get it. In case I don't get to brush my teeth after a meal this means I'll have good smelling breath."
Sighing in relief Iruka replied "Exactly. It's designed to clean your mouth and leave it smelling fresh. So say you were on a date and after dinner you want to keep talking. Just use this jutsu and your breath will smell nice. Not for perverted reasons at all."
"Cool I'm going to learn this now!" Naruto declared happily as he worked through the jutsu. Going through the hand seals Naruto shouted "Fresh breath no jutsu!"
What followed was a mist of minty air that covered half the field. Shaking his head Iruka said "Naruto this only requires the same chakra as a Henge. Not a Kage Bunshin."
From the green fog Naruto declared, "Right Iruka-sensei I'll get it this time!"
An hour later the practice ground was minty fresh and Naruto had managed the jutsu. Bouncing a little Naruto's eyes were shining "Man that's so cool, I have a jutsu counter for Kiba's nose now!"
"Alright Naruto I have something important to talk to you about. You ready to listen for a bit?" Iruka asked. After all he knew Naruto was more likely to pay attention after burning off some energy.
"Sure! I hope its something cool!" Naruto said happily.
"Right I'm guessing you've forgotten my lectures on treaties right. So when two Hidden Villages sign a peace treaty tradition has it that two ninja from the respective villages get married to formalize the treaty. Usually the weaker village sends a kunoichi to the stronger. So do you follow me on this so far future Hokage."
Frowning a little Naruto tried working things out "So the couple symbolize the deal. Do they get a choice in the matter?"
"Not usually, it's considered a duty to fulfill by each village. Kunoichi over the years have insisted on certain changes to the tradition. The two usually must be within five years of age, and they may ask to choose between a smaller selection of ninja if they can't abide the ninja original selected. These changes were instituted after a long run of the spouses killing each other and voiding the treaties. That and kunoichi growing more powerful politically helped as well."
Frowning at this Naruto motioned for Iruka to continue on.
"So given our current situation after the Sound-Sand attack what do you think is happening right now?" Iruka asked.
Looking distinctively unhappy Naruto answered, "We're negotiating with Sound and Sand."
"Just Sand. It turns out their Kazekage was killed and impersonated by Orochimaru. He tricked them into war with us." Iruka replied waiting to see Naruto's reaction.
"Idiots." Naruto snorted in disgust. To have been fooled like that, Naruto would have known right away if the Third had been replaced.
"Right. So as the weaker party in the negotiations they are sending one of their kunoichi's to Konoha." Iruka continued on "In fact I learned it's the one who wielded the fan in the Chunnin exam. Subaka Temari, she's the former Kazekage's daughter."
Recalling the girl Naruto went through his memories of the girl. From the confrontation at the start of the exams to the battles he saw her in. "Her brothers are nuts." Naruto said quietly. "Its not like she did anything really bad during the exam. I mean she was following orders right?"
"That's correct. Do you remember the lecture on orders I gave you?" Iruka asked.
"Yup, ninja must obey the orders of superior officers. Even if it is something illegal it's the superior's fault." Naruto answered.
"Right so do you hold a grudge against her?" Iruka asked carefully.
"Not for that." Naruto replied with a grin on his face. "She didn't stick around so I couldn't fight her to show my abilities off as a Chunnin candidate."
Rolling his eyes a little Iruka replied cheerfully "It took me three tries to get to the third stage. You'll do it next time for sure."
Getting serious Iruka decided to get to the real heart of the matter "This of course brings up the question of who was chosen as the ninja to marry her."
"I hope its not Rock Lee. Imagine marrying fuzzy eyebrows and having fuzzy eyebrow kids." Naruto interrupted laughing.
Sighing a little Iruka said "No not Rock Lee. Actually its you."
A pin dropped in the practice yard would have seemed loud in the silence that followed. Naruto's face had dropped and a blank stare remained for a minute. Iruka watched feeling distinctly sorry for Naruto. The poor boy had to put up with a ton of crap over the years and here he was being dumped on some more.
Authors Notes:
New Jutsu:
Kirei Kisoku no jutsu: The clean breath jutsu, a supplemental technique designed no doubt by a perverted Shinobi and passed on to willing students ever since. Of course its been billed as a technique designed for seduction missions, most Shinobi use it after dropping the mission part from the seduction. After all who wants to make out with someone who had horrible breath.
Kiriminto no jutsu: (lit. Mist of Mint): Naruto's variation of Kirei Kisoku, this jutsu fills a large area with a light green mist smelling of mint. Although it only partially interferes with sight, this mist interferes with sense of smell as it floods the area with a single scent. Of course the downside of this is that after the battle one can be easily tracked with that scent having just been soaked in it.
Author's interjection: For those who claim jutsu's can't do everything I say bullocks, Shinobi in the Naruto universe use sex as a weapon against others. Why wouldn't they develop jutsu's to make life easier, to give them just that extra boost to make the target lose themselves in lust. Just because it isn't obvious and flashy doesn't mean someone wouldn't create this jutsu only Naruto would think of making into something useful for battle.