The Legends of the Fox

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never will, don't want to. But dabbling is fun!

Chapter Six: Unions

One reason that the Uzumaki clan are so famous and powerful is the existence of more than one blood limit within their family line.

Uzumaki Naruto was the vessel for the Kyuubi, the great Nine Tailed demon of legend. It is said that each of his nine children inherited a single tail of the Kyuubi's power. With that power came many gifts, but chiefly the power of healing and chakra. And each of their children in turn inherited the power of the Fox. This is the first blood limit of the Uzumaki.

From their mother the Uzumaki children also inherited the Hyuuga's bloodline – the legendary Byakugan. The power to see everything. This is the second of the Uzumaki's blood limits.

And as the children of the clan grew older and in turn married, they brought into the clan other skills and bloodlines. With a family line featuring four Hokages, and being the most respected clan in the Leaf, it would have been disrespectful for anyone to insist on an Uzumaki marrying into their clan.

But before it even formally existed, exactly that issue was a problem for the Uzumaki clan.

"No, absolutely not. This is unacceptable. My daughter must marry some one of her own station."

The speaker was one Hyuuga Hiashi, leader of the Hyuuga clan. Perhaps the second most powerful man in the village, in terms of political power. Not that his personal strength as a ninja should be underestimated, because Hiashi was one of the Leaf's most powerful warriors.

"Hello? Hokage? How am I not 'of her station'?"

Of course this would have been more impressive if he hadn't been arguing with one Uzumaki Naruto – the most powerful man in the village by whatever definition you wanted to use.

Two days before, Hyuuga Hinata – Hiashi's firstborn daughter – had been formally recognized as the Hyuuga Heir by Hiashi and the clan elders. This was quite the feat, considering just seven years ago she had been all but disowned and the title given to her five years younger sister, Hanabi. But Hinata didn't give up, and had worked and trained hard for years so she could take her place at the head of the clan that had abused her for years.

One day before the argument, Hinata had respectfully told the clan to stick their title up their collective posteriors. And confidently the young woman had walked out and asked her boyfriend to marry her.

That boyfriend was Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage, which brings us to the present. Naruto went to ask Hiashi for his blessing. The older man was a little reluctant.

"That's the problem, Hokage-sama. If my daughter were to marry you, she'd have to marry into your family – the Hokage simply cannot marry into someone else's."

"…And? How is that a problem?"

"Despite her unfortunate outburst yesterday, Hinata is the heir to this clan. She must remain part of it if she is to take her rightful position."

"Oh. Well, if I must say so, that's a pretty damn stupid reason.

"Look Hiashi – I love Hinata. And while I might question her taste on this issue, she loves me too. That's the end of the story. There is absolutely nothing you can do to stop us from getting married. In case you're forgetting, I don't just outrank your daughter – I outrank you as well. And I'm not leaving this room until you give us your blessing. For some reason it means a lot to Hinata."

"Only if your children, should they possess the Byakugan, be made part of the clan."

"No deal. My family will be my family. If you ever want to see your grandchildren then you'll agree."

There are many levels of chakra control.

There are those who have levels of chakra so low that they are barely noticeable, even without any control.

There are those who have a reasonable amount of chakra but don't know how to control it. They are very easy to sense, but to any decent ninja will pose no threat.

There are those who have a reasonable amount of chakra but excellent control – hard to sense, and potentially very dangerous.

There are those who have large amounts of chakra and poor control. Being around them can be imposing, as any ninja will be able to see just how powerful they are. However without control chakra cannot be used effectively.

There are also those who have the best of both worlds – lots of chakra and excellent control. They are the most dangerous of all. There is a confidence to them that can be frightening. Someone like this will often deliberately allow their chakra to be sensed – this will tell their opponents how powerful they are but also show that is no flaw to their control. Controlled chakra feels very different to uncontrolled.

And then there was Naruto. He had more chakra than anyone else on the planet. This was not speculation or hyperbole. This was fact. His control was not perfect. It could never be. But it was still better than 99 percent of the ninjas out there.

Right then Hiashi could feel Naruto's power, just below the surface. Coiled tightly like a deadly snake. It was one hell of bargaining chip.

"You fight a hard bargain Uzumaki-sama."

"It helps when you hold all the cards," Naruto said, nodding his head slightly at Hiashi.

"So it does." Hiashi could feel the sweat on his temples as Naruto's aura subsided slightly.

"Very well, I give my blessing to your union with my daughter. May you be good to her."

"If there were ever anything you didn't have to worry about it'd be that."

"I know. For the record Rokudaime – Naruto – I've known that Hinata loved you since she was a child." Naruto smiled. "I've always thought you would be a good husband for her."

Naruto snorted. "Since when?"

"Since you brought my nephew back to us. In one battle you did more good for him than anyone else ever had."

Naruto grinned. "Well, Neji's a great guy. I'll see you at the wedding, Hiashi."

Hiashi coughed. "We do, of course, have a meeting on Tuesday, Hokage-sama."

"…Dammit."

And so Naruto left the Hyuuga Mansion, whistling a tune of joy. Hinata was waiting for him outside, and without a word he swept her into his arms. They walked through the village like that together. The people were happy to see the grin on their beloved Hokage's face was even wider than usual.

Once a week the ninjas once known as the Rookie Nine (plus three) would get together to do something. Anything. It wasn't important what they did but just that they made the effort to stay together.

Schedules could be difficult. Often at least one of them was out of the village on a mission. But then Naruto was Hokage, and he would sometimes tweak schedules ever so slightly to make the arrangements.

They had a few rules. Outsiders weren't allowed (with the exception of the Sand Siblings, who were honorary members). That was one rule that often chafed at Kiba, who could never bring his dates. It wasn't fair, he said, on those of them who dated outside the circle. No one else seemed to care.

Another rule was that they never brought up the six years that Sasuke had spent outside the village. It wasn't that they didn't think they could joke about it – it was that Ino had threatened to kill anyone who endangered Sasuke's mental recovery. That rule had once been that they weren't to bring up Sasuke at all (a rule which had been broken many a time, since it was an endless source of amusement for the others to see Naruto, Sakura and Ino automatically descend into a cloud of gloom) but since his return changes had needed to have been made.

The final rule was that they were all equals. Even when both the Kazekage and the Hokage were regular attendees the pair of demon vessels would tolerate no deference to them due to rank. Not on those nights.

That night the group was there to celebrate Naruto and Hinata's engagement. Naruto had hired out an entire restaurant for the night, and invited the Sand Siblings. Kankurou had been reluctant, but Gaara had just glared at his older brother until he changed his mind. Which took all of three seconds. Temari, on the other hand, always enjoyed an excuse to go see "her" Shikamaru.

It was the most expensive restaurant in Konoha. In truth they'd had a lot of reservations for that night, but the owner hadn't hesitated for a moment when Naruto had come to speak with him. The people would do anything for their Hokage, especially after he had confidentially told the owner the reason for the celebration.

Naruto and Hinata had gone there on their first official date. Which was really about the third or so, if you listened to Hinata. Naruto was a little more clueless. This was the place he took her out the first time he asked her for a date. The way that they'd spent the last two days together didn't count. It was just a coincidence that she'd bumped into him, after all. And then even more of a coincidence the next day. And the picnic basket she'd brought with her was simply the biggest coincidence of all!

Naruto and Hinata had been engaged for nearly two weeks before everyone could manage to be there, and keeping it secret had not been easy. Especially since Naruto wanted to tell their friends before he officially announced it to the world (as was required of a Kage). So being that their friends were highly skilled ninjas, they were all fairly certain that something was up.

"Guys, you know me," Naruto had said. "I'm not one for speeches." There were laughs at that. "So I'll just say it simply. Hinata and I are getting married."

For a moment there was silence, but then almost the entire group burst into congratulations, screams, laughter or all of the above. Sakura chose instead to walk over to Hinata and hold a hand to her forehead. "Strange," she said. "I can't detect any genjutsus. Maybe it's a medical problem. Ino-pig! Check Hinata's mind, I'm afraid she might have gone crazy."

"Crazy? Hinata? I think you should check Naruto instead! Who'd want to get married at our age?!" Kiba came out with. This was swiftly followed by half the group glaring at him as if they wanted to rip out his intestines and strangle him with them. It was entirely possible that Gaara actually did.

Ino giggled, her arm around her lover. "No Kiba, Naruto's not crazy. Hyuugas are famous for being sexy – isn't that right, big forehead?"

Sakura blushed. Kiba chose to remark that if blushing that hard was any indication Sakura would be the next one to want to marry Naruto. After all, it did remind him so much of Hinata.

Kiba shut up pretty quickly after that one – he wasn't suicidal after all.

Lee's reaction to the events was to extol to Naruto at great length the numerous wonderful things about being married. He offered to give Naruto some advice, and probably would have launched into a lecture right then if Tenten hadn't elbowed him. "Sorry Tenten-chan! To make it up for you, I will.." he whispered into her ears, causing her to blush. ".. fifty times! And if I fail at that, I will.." he whispered something else, and Tenten had to cover her mouth with her hand. "..a hundred times!"

"Ahem." Naruto interrupted the two before Lee decided to demonstrate his marital strengths right then and there.

Chouji was keeping quiet. The truth was that he had just gotten married himself, but Shikamaru was the only one who knew. It had been a very private affair, and he had been planning to tell everyone at the next get-together. But now he didn't want to steal Naruto and Hinata's moment in the spotlight.

After the meal was done came the drinking. Lots of it, particularly from Naruto and Gaara. It was no great mystery why they drank so much – it took a lot to actually get them drunk. Especially Naruto, who could bankrupt wine sellers and only feel slightly tipsy by the end of the night.

Still, get enough alcohol in Gaara and you would see one of two things – Scary Gaara, who would threaten to kill anyone and everything, and Friendly Gaara. Friendly Gaara would sing and dance, and put on sand puppet shows with his brother.

It was probably because he was so happy for Naruto that Friendly Gaara had come out that night. Of course Friendly Gaara was a misnomer – he could still be very scary indeed. Both of these facts were evident in the sand show he'd given Hinata. A tiny sand Naruto and Hinata had danced, but then the sand Hinata had gone and kissed another sand figure, making sand Naruto cry. The final act of the little play involved a sand Gaara crushing the sand Hinata to death.

Not the most comforting of messages from a Best Man. But it was just the way he expressed his affection for Naruto.

After getting suitable smashed, a fight broke out between Temari and Shikamaru. Between the references to things the others didn't know about and the sheer level of alcohol in their bodies, it was a fairly unintelligible argument. They spent a good ten minutes screaming incoherently at each other before Temari pushed Shikamaru to the ground and kissed him.

"Oh god, here they go again," was the general sentiment. Just a typical night for those two.

They really loved each other. You'd have to be blind (or as dense on such matters as Naruto) to miss that. But they couldn't stay together. Temari was one of the Sand's most important Jounins, and the smaller village needed every one they had. The Wind Country was not as favourable to their ninja village as the Fire Country, and the Sand had to fight bitterly to maintain their strength and power.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, was Naruto's right hand man. Together they governed the village and had brought on an era of greater prosperity than the Leaf had ever seen. Shikamaru knew that he was needed there.

Neither one would abandon their village to stay with the other, and the distance was just too far for them to commute regularly. As girlfriend and boyfriend, yes. But not as anything more. That was the root of all their arguments, whatever they might have seemed to be about on the surface.

One by one, but more often in pairs, the Rookie Nine Plus Six trailed out until just Naruto and Hinata lay on the floor of the restaurant. Naruto set a number of Hi Bunshin to clean up, and Hinata giggled at the seemingly floating plates and bottles dancing around the empty room.

Naruto stroked Hinata's hair and kissed her. The touch seemed to wake her up like a shock. "Naruto-kun… I have to tell you something… I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?!?" There was a loud popping, followed by everything the Hi Bunshin had been holding smashing to the ground. "W-w-w-w-w-hat?!"

"Just kidding." And she kissed him back.

Author's Note: Well, there's another chapter done. I'm not particularly proud of this one, but I'm going away tomorrow and I don't know when I'll be able to update next. I will be working on it as much as I can, though. I'll probably find a way of updating while I'm gone. At the least I'll be writing chapters. At the very least, I'll be writing them in my head.

This chapter did show some of the other pairings (or at least hint at them), so that's the easy part over. Now to make their kids half as interesting as them!

Once more, thanks for all the reviews. And, uh, OmegaFactor – I didn't even realise I had anonymous reviews turned off! Heheh. So now I expect even more reviews, mwahaha!

okay, so I don't really. My goal is to get over 100 reviews someday though. That feels like it would be an achievement.

For the record, this chapter takes place when Naruto is 19.

So thanks everyone, and see you on Friday