~~~Naruto : Remnants of the Past~~~

~~~Next Morning~~~

Mito's nostrils twitched as the break of dawn forced her to come astir and cuddle up in her blankets even further. Now that her senses were starting to gather together, she didn't quite remember sleeping on a soft mattress; or coming home last night for that matter. Eyes snapping open, she sat up with a start and started looking around frantically.

Finally, realizing she was within the confines of her own room, the heiress heaved a sigh of relief before tiredly falling back on her comforters. Ironically, her nostrils twitched yet again as a familiar scent filled up her lungs. She collected the red blanket in her arms and took a deep whiff. Hesitantly, she pulled it even closer to her face and sure enough there it was, the lingering remains of Naruto's cologne; a scent that made her mind go numb. It smelt so nice, almost like sandalwood; so she sniffed it again, and again, and once more for good measure.

She could figure out what must have happened last night, she must have fallen asleep on the date; and her companion, being the bumbling idiot that he was, had found it prudent to haul her butt back to her room rather than wake her up and let her walk herself. Her lips quirked up in fondness before she smothered her face deeper into the fragrant bundle of wool collected in her arms.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say my wife gave birth to a cat."

"Kya!~~~"

Rolling opposite to where the voice had come from, Mito fell down the bed and rubbed her sore backside with a wince. "Otou-sama!" she whined pathetically, glaring down at the amused man with all her might. As dangerous as she tried to appear, her glower had absolutely no effect on the man who was more engrossed in enjoying his tea at the moment to notice her all righteous fury.

"Mito," Ryouta started, his voice gravely serious. "Where were you last night?" he asked.

Mito gulped, she hadn't heard her father be so serious in quite some time and this time she knew she was at fault. "Uh, out…?!" her mumble made him narrow his eyes on her even more, and all the while she shrunk further and further under his gaze. "I was with Naruto." she finally relented.

Ryouta forced his lips down, already knowing that fact but still proud that his daughter wasn't hiding anything from him. It served to lessen his worries even more, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to scare her even more than he already might have done.

He did have to drill in some etiquette after all.

"So, let me get this straight. You were out with a strange boy without so much as informing me, came home well over midnight snuggled in that very boy's arms. Is there anything else you might have left to tell me, Mito?"

She could sense where he was going with this, and rightly so. "N-Nothing of that sort happened." seeing his challenging eyes, she reciprocated his look with one of her own. "Really, nothing happened." she stressed tersely.

Ryouta huffed, "And I am supposed to believe that, am I right?" he taunted testily.

"You. Are."

Her strict words struck him off guard, he almost had a reminder of last night where that boy had essentially told him the same damn thing. Sighing, Ryouta got up from his chair and took a seat on her bed, gently rubbing her head with his hand. "Mito, what are you doing?" he asked, exasperated.

Last night, Ryouta had racked his mind to make sense of this new development. But for the life of him, he couldn't make out a single explanation as to why it was that Mito was tolerating Naruto, much less going out with him. He knew how she hated the very name of the Uchiha with a passion, rightfully so; then how had this situation led her here…?

The girl in question picking on the wrinkles of her bed much more interesting than meeting his eyes at the moment. "He's a nice person." she commented softly, her voice barely above a whisper. Ryouta glanced at her with worry, it came as no surprise to him that she was smitten with him; and from how he'd seen Naruto look at her last night as if she was the most precious thing in the world, he knew the feelings here were mutual.

But therein lay the problem.

"Mito, you do realize that for this alliance to work; the clan has plans to betroth you to one of the Senju siblings, do you not?" Ryouta finally ground out, and instantly regretted his choice of words when fresh trails of tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't wanna marry them." she cried, her face muffled in between the blankets.

"It doesn't matter what you want."

Ryouta was in a really difficult position right now, one way he could fall in a well or go the other way and dive down a ravine; either way pain was what awaited him. "That's not for you to decide, child." he sighed.

"I won't marry them!" she half screamed, half wailed. Ryouta tried to calm her down but seeing her stand up while her hair started flailing, his eyes went wide. "Mito, what's gotten into you?!" he finally asked, shocked.

She had always been the obedient child a father could ever hope to ask for. But, this past week she had been disobeying him one time after another. From keeping her hair open at all times when she knew it wasn't how an heiress should carry herself, to sneaking out from home to go and meet up with a weird boy; all throughout the week she had been acting weird and completely out of the norms.

"If you try and force me, I swear I'll do something reckless." she threatened, and Ryouta almost had a seizure then and there. From playful banter, this conversation was delving into a far deeper territory. He hadn't known how deep her feelings went. But if her reactions were anything to go by, this was no playful courting; she was absolutely serious about him. "Mito-" he tried.

"No," she cut him off before he could say any more. "I swear I'll run away. If that doesn't work, I'll go and attack those damned Senju's at the wedding itself." he almost had to bite back a chuckle hearing that last point, she didn't know how to threaten anyone to save her life-

"If all else fails, I'll kill myself!"

Slap!

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Just as the adrenaline coursing through his veins died down, Ryouta's eyes widened seeing his daughter holding her tinged cheek with tearful eyes. In all the years he'd raised his daughter, this was first time Ryouta had ever been forced to raise his hand on her.

Before he could so much as utter a word of apology, Mito ran by his side and hightailed out the door; closing it with such brute force that Ryouta knew he'd have to replace it later on to hide those cracks she'd left behind in her wake of sorrows.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He'd figured she was just going out with him for the heck of it - nothing serious. Just some teenage wish fulfillment every child her age went through. And so, he'd never given it so much as a side glance. But this, this…slapping his forehead with an audible smack, "I'm getting too old for this shit!" he grumbled in annoyance.

For the second time this week, Madara stared at the curled up ball of blanket on his bed rather blankly. They were supposed to be shinobi, were they not…? If nothing else, shinobi should have proper etiquette and punctuality in their lives; at least that's what he thought.

Clenching the corners of comforters in his hand, Madara shrugged them off with such brute force that it served to leave a dust cloud in it's wake. The bumbling blonde ball muttering curses at his very existence was merely a bonus for all the work he'd put in. "I swear, there's a special place in hell for the likes of you. Waking me up in such demonic ways, you're the biggest bastard I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, go relish in that!"

Deciding to cut his colorful praise before it got too far, "As pleasant as it is to hear you appraise me so highly, it's time to wake up." Madara said.

"I was up late last night, get lost and let me sleep!"

"Oh…" Madara placed a thoughtful finger on his lips, apparently amused. "Finally, the Uzumaki heiress caved in eh?" seeing his brother's twitching eye, Madara was having the time of his life.

"Or did she brush off your charms as if they were mere-"

His brother, apparently didn't find it quite as amusing as he did; if the couple of shurikens flying at his face were any indication that is. Not to say, he caught them in his fingers with ease and watched his blonde idiot of a brother rummage through his clothes for some more.

Smirking, Madara kicked him in the butt and toppled him over the other side of bed. "Wake up, before I have you labeled as nocturnal." he ignored the incoherent curses that came flying from his back and turned around to go and look through some paperwork.

There was a knock on the door that garnered the bantering duo's attention. And just as Madara was about to go and get it, he heard a weird sound coming from the other side of the door. He was momentarily blinded when his brother flashed right in front of him and opened the door in haste. Knowing this was something serious, since his brother never used that particular technique until absolutely necessary, Madara kept his words to himself and decided to just let the events unfold for now. "Naruto~~~" now that sniffle was surely feminine, and if the crimson blur that had barreled into his brother's chest was any indication…

It was probably the heiress.

"Hey…" in all the years he'd known his brother, Madara had never heard his brother coo someone with such affection; especially of the opposite gender. His general rule with women was to move on after the night was over, and it had served him pretty well over the years. Not to say, that particular skill had come in handy on many missions as of late to Madara himself. But seeing the mismatched crowns of hair snuggled into each other, even he had to smile.

Maybe there was some hope left for his brother after all.

"Naruto - sniff - he - me - sniff - marry - t-then slap…"

"Mito, calm down." Naruto cooed in her ear, "Let me hear you, princess." he told her. What he hadn't expected was what came next, she started punching his chest back on the ground with all her might while her wails turned louder and louder each passing second. By this time, Madara was choking back a chuckle seeing Naruto deliriously dodge those fists that were leaving small craters by his head.

"Wha~~~"

Finally catching a hold of her wrists, Naruto pulled her down on his chest and kept her firmly planted in his arms with an iron grip. She tried to wriggle free, but after a few vain attempts she relented and cried her heart out on his chest; all the while Naruto tried to figure out what he'd done to make her cry so much. But what if someone else had-

"Mito, did someone hurt you…?"

Madara's senses tingled in joy seeing his brother's hidden side force itself out. These moments were rare and far in between, but when they did appear; let's just say he'd never been so proud of his brother.

Choking on her sniffles a couple of times, "M-My father h-he…" she hiccuped.

Instantly all energy left Naruto's body and he relished himself in holding her tightly to his chest. Tucking her head under his chin, he started rocking her back and forth. "What am I supposed to do now?" Naruto mouthed to his sensible half - the elderly Uchiha - who merely reciprocated with a helpless shrug.

There were only a handful people Naruto couldn't touch, and unfortunately, his girlfriend's father ranked pretty damn high on that list.

But also -

"Mito, how am I supposed to help if you won't tell me anything…?"

Silence befell the room for a few seconds before Mito's reddened eyes turned intensely towards Naruto. "What am I to you?" she asked.

"...huh?!"

"What am I to you?" she repeated, still not blinking. Naruto's face went through a tirade of emotions, before finally settling into a tired one. Cupping her puffed cheek in his hand, "Whatever you want me to be." he told her, his own voice honest and sincere.

The way her face lit up in pure joy, Naruto knew he'd scored big time with that reply. Not a second later, Mito had mashed her lips on his own and sealed them both in a tight kiss. "Uhum -" Madara coughed, interrupting the moment.

Reactions were instant, Mito was off her lover in an instant and shot off a couple feet away from him. Naruto settled in on glaring at his brother for breaking the sweetest kiss he'd ever had in his entire life. Feeling a light slap on his cheek, "Hey! What's that for…?!" Naruto protested.

"For taking advantage of a helpless girl like you just did. Plus, embarrassing me in front of your brother!" she retorted heatedly, blushing madly. "I'll have you know it was you who initiated that kiss-" once again, Naruto's cheek was slapped with a light enough smack that it wasn't even hurtful physically; but his pride was taking quite a few hits here.

"S-Shut up!"

"Plus, I bet my life that he won't even mind getting a free show if I were to take you here and now- "

"I knew it, both of you are perverts!"

"I said I'm not a pervert, and my brother isn't that important anyways-"

"You two do realize that I'm still here, right?"

"Shut up!/ Stay out of this!"

Giving up on trying to have a meaningful conversation with two fools, Madara sipped on his tea and sifted through his newspaper with his legs crossed while those two hormone charged idiots sorted this mess out on their own. That wasn't to say he wasn't keeping his ears peeled for some new information.

"I've fallen for you, Naruto."

Spilling his tea on the newspaper and some on his shirt, Madara had to stare at the heiress and his brother wide-eyed while both were too engrossed in each other to notice his eyes on themselves. "Come again…?" Naruto asked, his own voice barely above a whisper right now.

"Don't make me say it again…" Mito shyly whispered. Madara had almost missed that part if not for his sensible skill at charging his ears with some chakra. Well, he to admit that it was fast. That wasn't to say he had been doubting the blonde's claims at charming the heiress in less that two weeks; but this had barely been a week. "I'll have no one as my partner other than you." she told him, clearly in an all too smitten way.

That sealed the talks of alliance in Madara's head more or less.

Finally deciding to intervene, Madara got up from his chair and sat on a knee by Mito's side. Placing a comforting hand on her head, "Do you know what you're admitting here, young lady…?" he gently questioned the wide eyed girl.

This was no small matter, she was of royal origins. Her shoulders carried the weight of this entire island, and her words spoke on behalf of all her people. Not to say Naruto's status wasn't any lesser in his eyes. Since after him, the entire Uchiha head family's burden was Naruto's and his alone.

These two getting together would bring forth a change in alliances not seeing for nearly a whole millennium. Even as outspoken as Naruto was, he didn't dare interrupt his brother when he was talking so seriously on something as important as this.

"I do."

Smiling at her instantaneous reply, Madara pressed his hand on her head with a bit of force to offer his blessings and flicked away his hair to reveal a dangling jewel hanging by his right earlobe. Undoing the ornament from his ear, Madara handed it to Naruto and nodded curtly.

"Put it on her."

Naruto tucked her hair behind her ear and waited for permission, and as soon as she nodded he clicked it tightly on her free ear and smiled like there was no tomorrow. This ritual had been passed down within their family for generations, clan heads and their siblings not willing to let anyone know of their marriages in fear of outside attacks lived with each other by putting these clan ornaments on their spouses.

"You two are more or less engaged now." Madara told her, easing Mito's worries as to what it was that had taken place just now. He'd half expected her to be shocked, to even be scared a little at having been forced into it.

Instead, the redhead looked content to melt in Naruto's arms right now.

"I'll leave you two to your own devices now, I have some business to discuss with your father regarding some alliance alterations…" he told them and chucked on his trusted war fan down his back before making his way out. "So…" Naruto drawled out, his baby blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

"What is it?" Mito asked, blinking innocently.

"Let's have sex -"

Mito's palm met Naruto's cheek for another light smack, leaving behind a sulking and pouting mess of smashed male ego, "No." she huffed.

"Why not…?" he whined.

"It's ten in the morning," she was quite confused as to why Naruto's face lit up even after her blunt refusal, but she got her answer soon enough.

"It's alright in the night, then?" he hopefully asked.

Blushing madly, "NO!" she closed that door to a shut.

This time, Naruto gently took her hands in his own and kept his eyes trained on them. "Why not, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Naruto…it's just that; I'm not ready yet."

Giving a brush to her cheek, "I know, I'm just teasing you." he grinned.

Hauling her back onto his lap, Naruto started his favorite routine of rummaging through the kinks in her hair and placing random kisses on her neck. It was silent for quite a few minutes before something finally clicked in Mito's mind. "Naruto…?" she called for his attention.

"Hm…?!"

"I won't be changing my last name after marriage just so you know."

Naruto hadn't laughed as hard as he did right then to this very day.

For as far back as he could possibly remember, Madara had always had a keen eye for potential enemies; even going so far as to look for them in his own clan. Years upon years of battling in clan wars had made it a casual habit of his if one were to put it lightly. But, from the day he'd arrived here his eyes had yet to gauge a single shinobi worth his salt who could possibly give him the fun of an addicting spar on this tropical island.

Laughing, drinking, eating, playing; there had been facilities catering to each and every one of those lifestyle whims; but he had yet to see a single training ground being put to great enough use other than a couple children sparring here and there. The most he'd seen since coming here was the heiress's unprecedented attack on his brother or the usual patrolling team he'd come across every now and then, it was disappointing to say the least.

If he were to be honest, had it not been for the tight security that their mastery in sealing provided them with, he'd have no problem labeling it as a country well on it's way to welcoming spies from all over the world in his report to Hashirama back home. The clan leader's daughter, and his future sister-daughter figure, had potential he'd admit it, but it was as far of a disparity as they came.

She too was primarily raised up to be a seal mistress, secondarily an heiress; so all her combat potential had essentially been ruined in his eyes. Now, this wasn't to say that Madara was a man who was out looking for battle on a whim; well, not anymore at least. But he at least had to consider the possibility of what their allies had to offer in term of alliances, did he not…?

But as far as he could tell, the only strength sharing that would be happening here would have to be on the Leaf's part. These Uzumaki clan members were pretty affluent in combat given their homely surroundings, but take that away from them and they were easy pickings for most, if not all of the capable ninjas he'd come across throughout his journeys on the mainland.

That wasn't to say the Leaf was being ripped off in allying themselves to this nation of whirlpools in any way. Their land was as rich in mineral resources as they came, and he knew he'd have a hard time keeping those greedy suckers back at the Fire Capital from turning this into a mining/port island if push came to shove. That would be degrading for a shinobi nation and Madara for one would have none of that sham; from civilians no less.

"Ryouta-sama will see you now."

Nodding at the secretary whose voice came out more as a whimper than as a greeting, Madara had to 'Tsk." in annoyance before entering the office. "Weaklings, the lot of them." he grumbled inwardly, wondering if there was perhaps an elite group of shinobi that they kept in hiding; now that might be something to boast about. Twisting the knob open, he announced that he was coming in and went in without further ado.

Inside, much to his surprise there were a couple of unfamiliar faces already present. Their foreheads donned the classic quad wave pattern that showed their allegiances to the Land of Water. Now that made him reminisce to the times when he'd come across some capable shinobi back there.

They'd been pretty good until he'd crushed them.

Ah, good times.

"I was told you were free to talk." Madara ground out, signaling to the unwanted pests still shamelessly plastered onto the guest seats. That was all it took for those rats to scurry off, but not before they took a hesitant look back at him. He matched their eyes and smirked when they repulsed in shock at being caught so quickly.

"I'm sorry, that took longer than expected." Ryouta apologized for their tardiness. "Please, do have a seat." the man kindly offered, to which Madara nodded curtly and did as he was told.

"Who were they…?" Madara craned his neck back to signal at those who'd just left, and Ryouta blinked at his abrupt curiosity with those guests. From as much as he'd come to know the Uchiha Patriarch over the past week, he'd learnt that the man was generally reserved and much more content with living in denial to things that didn't interest him than probing something, which weren't much to begin with. "That was the team that came to escort Mito for her talks." Ryouta told him.

Madara stayed silent, motioning for him to go on. This was the first he was hearing of this, "Uh, I wasn't made aware of this myself." Ryouta sheepishly admitted, obviously embarrassed at his lack of knowledge on the matter. Madara had to frown, but he himself was content to listen to the man rather than preach advice to him on matters of leadership. "How many are there…?" Madara questioned.

"Four, one high ranking and three moderate ones."

Nodding, Madara stored away that information for later. His brother now had to deal with this complication too, but most of his time would rather be spent on dealing with the heiress - that much he knew.

"Uh, Madara-sama." Ryouta called for Madara's attention, remembering the scuffle he'd had with his daughter in the morning. "There's something I'd like to discuss before we move any further." Madara had an inkling of suspicion as to where this was heading so he raised his hand and shook his own head in denial.

"Let me go first, I have something important to discuss as well; a subtle change in alliances so to speak." Blinking, Ryouta leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. Resting his chin on crossed fingers, the elderly man motioned for him to go on. "I'd like to propose you keep the Senju clan out of question when we discuss all talks pertaining to alliances from this point on." Madara proposed.

Gobsmacked, Ryouta clearly hadn't expected that. "B-But if not for the Senju-" he started.

"Instead, we file in the Uchiha name and ally us as an alternative." Madara sliced his tirade in half.

Realization washed over Ryouta's face, the redhead's own mind going at a mile an hour. Both men knew where the other was going with this, knowing full well what their heirs were up to in their leisurely times. Plus, this would save Ryouta the shame of having to face the Senju while Mito bit their heads off admitting her love for the blonde; and he'd be in his daughter's good books from now as well.

It was a win-win for the Uzumaki on all fronts since he for one had always considered the Uchiha to be stronger than the Senju in terms of raw combating capabilities. They were precision driven killing machines on the battlefield that no one had the gall to look in the eye; no pun intended. He'd firsthand witnessed their potential years ago, something that haunted him and his daughter to this very day.

Madara smirked seeing the pure greed flash in the older man's eyes. Even through his hesitating features, Madara could see the Uzumaki clan head putting two and two together. Maybe he wouldn't have to play the engagement card on him just yet. "What say you…?" Madara asked.

"It's quite the tempting proposition, is what I'd say." Ryouta himself smirked, clearly intrigued by the endless possibilities this plan had to offer. "Since I'm here on behalf of the Leaf, and with my powers as the functioning clan head; I'd dare say my offer would be better than the Senju's." Madara smoothly stated, sweetening the deal even further.

Ryouta was about drooling by this point, "Let's talk numbers then, shall we?" the elderly man proposed, his voice filtering itself avariciously. All the while, Madara only had one thought going through his mind seeing Ryouta falling deeper and deeper for his ever so subtle manipulations.

"Hook, line and sinker."

Author's notes : I honestly wanted to make this a 10k chapter, but this just seemed like the perfect moment to end it so I decided not to stretch it. Desert Flower is in works as well, but after going through this story last night; I more or less typed this chapter in two hours so see what it says about my interest in this particular fic. But, if there are any mistakes I apologize well in advance; point them out as well in those reviews and I'll fix them as soon as humanly possible.

It pained me to see this story hitting the back burner and decided to put some work in since it had been well over a year since it's last update. I know this story doesn't have the same execution as my other one's; but this one's especially close to my heart so hope y'all like it.

To ease your worries, the story twists from next chapter onward and the relationship I've fleshed out will reach fruition when this whole Land of Water arc is said and done. Plus, I've yet to introduce several characters including the Senju brothers; I know, I'm surprised myself so look forward to action in the coming chapters. My Naruto, in this particular story is a player with women, witty in words and does all he wished on instincts alone. So, anyone looking for anything else, haul off and look somewhere else. For everyone else -

I'll see you next time, so until then keep reading and tell me how like it in reviews.

NSE signing out.

Ja Ne ;D

PS : I have a rough draft written already. So, this story is going the exact same way as I'd initially planned; all of my stories are. So, no need to worry on that accord.