Union

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Shikamaru entered Naruto's office with a grim look on his face.

"Damn it!"

"What is it Naruto?"

"I know that look. It's the same as when we talked about fighting out that battle. You want to convince me of something I find 'troublesome' as you would say, don't you?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yes, two things actually."

"Two things?! Ah well just get it over with!"

"Do you know the ruins in the western part of the city?"

"Yes of course, that was the imperial palace once. But the place is completely destroyed. Why?"

"I want you to build a new palace. Maybe even bigger than the old one."

"What?! I don't need a palace! That would be a complete waste of time and resources."

"Naruto you need something that reminds the people of your power. Something that shows them what your empire is capable of. A palace would be perfect for that. Besides if this old town hall remains your seat of power, people might think your empire is poor and weak."

"Do you really think that is necessary?"

"Yes."

"Ah well alright. I'll ask Hinata about this and if she agrees with you we will plan this in more detail. But I'll definitely do most of the work myself with shadow clones. I don't want too much of our budget put into something, whichs sole purpose is to show off. What is the other thing?"

Shikamaru sighed shortly and took a deep breath. Naruto couldn't help but feel a strong sense of dread because of this display.

"Is your relationship with Hinata going well?"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question Naruto."

Naruto viewed him critically but started anyway.

"Well Hinata is awesome! She is always nice and it is just fun spending time with her. I mean way back in the Leaf I thought she was kinda dark and wouldn't know how to let loose. But just last week for example we pranked the Akimichi by using Genjutsu in the snack sections of all convenience stores in the city. We feigned they had only low calorie products and Hinata and I had a lot of fun."

Shikamaru was horrified. "Naruto you will soon be Emperor. What do you believe people will think of you, if they find out you are a prankster."

"Heh Hinata did say something like that, but I kinda convinced her that it would be worth the risk."

Shikamaru only rolled his eyes and Naruto continued.

"I love to make her smile and laugh. She is still quite shy sometimes, but that really only makes her cuter.

It is a bit scary how well she knows me. I mean two times after I got bad news from our operations during the war I tried to simply put on a smile, to not bother her with that. Both times she immediately knew something was wrong.

And she seems to really like just being with me and talk. Well I might be doing most of the talking but still. I think no one ever paid me as much attention to me as she does. I mean back in the Leaf people often tended to completely ignore me. But now having someone to freely talk to and knowing they are genuinely interested feels really good."

Shikamaru nodded. In hindsight he and Naruto's other classmates could have been there more for Naruto and the fact that they had been kids and didn't know better, didn't completely excuse that.

"And well... You know when I tried to get Sakuras attention I always felt like in order to really get together with her I would somehow have to change how I act: be quieter, smarter and less impulsive. You know act more like Sasuke. But Hinata likes me just the way I am. No, she likes for who I am and that is absolutely awesome."

Naruto was silent for a short while and got more serious.

"I think I really love her."

"And she is your most important advisor. You trust her even more than me."

"Well yeah, I guess. Shikamaru just tell me what you want."

"Naruto I think you should marry Hinata on the day of your coronation and rule together with her as Emperor and Empress."

"What!? Shikamaru we have only been together for four months now. I really like Hinata, but I want to do this right and not rush into things. And this is a personal thing. How can you even think of suggesting something like this?"

"Naruto you will soon be the Emperor of a great nation. Everything you do reflects on the whole country."

"Fine! Fine. I get that. But why would I have to marry her this fast? I mean I am not entirely against it, but as I said I don't want to rush things."

"Several reasons actually. First of all you won't have any problems to name her Empress now. If she is crowned together with you, her influence and power will be undisputed. But if you wait people might not recognise her status as Empress because of her character and because of the fact that she is not real royalty. She is no longer the heiress of the Hyuuga and that wouldn't even matter here.

Furthermore if you wait people will try to influence your decision who to marry because of what advantages a certain match could bring. Other nations or groups within your empire might even pressure you into a marriage. If things take a turn for the worst we might eben become dependent on their help to the point you can't refuse."

"And marrying Hinata now would prevent that? "

"Yes that's how it works. Once you are married you should be safe from something like that."

Naruto nodded, being forced to marry someone he didn't know was something he wanted to avoid.

"There is the problem that a lot of people view your grasp on the power very critically or just flat out hate you. Especially the more traditional people. They don't like the fact that a foreigner is about to be crowned as Emperor. And many people are concerned because you are very very young for leading a nation. Being married would at least make you seem older and the traditionalists might be a bit more lenient when you are married.

Then there is the question what happens if you ever get sick, injured or, god forbid, killed. You might appoint a successor or representative, but considering the current overall state of your nation, I guess everything would fall apart again. The Warlords you forced into line will try to regain their independence or to become Emperor themselves. Having a direct replacement in the form of an Empress might prevent that."

"I don't know. I mean I don't want to marry her for these stupid reasons."

"Naruto, I don't want to force you and Hinata if you are not ready for it. I just thought we could maybe hasten things a bit, because I believe you will marry her eventually anyway. You know what kinds of promises come with marriage. Would you make those to Hinata?"

"I ... yes I would."

"Then I see no problem. You not only never go back on your word, but you only make promises when you really mean them, too. Hinata knows that as well, so don't worry about her thinking you would only marry her for ulterior motives."

"Shikamaru you know we decided to make my coronation completely public. Does that mean you want us to marry in front of the whole city? "

"It is troublesome, but yeah."

"Just great. And one of my captains told me I should be absolutely serious during the ceremony and look 'regal'. Dammit if we do this, this will probably be the most unromantic wedding ever. And I don't know if Hinata would be fine with marrying in front of the whole city or simply being Empress, considering her shyness."

"I think she would go through hell just to be with you, she'll manage."

Naruto sighed. "Dammit! I want to talk with Hinata about all of this, but I guess I have to propose first. Then we can discuss if we really want our wedding used to strengthen my position."

"If you need a romantic restaurant: I talked with Ino and she recommended..."

"Shikamaru shut up! I think you have messed with my and Hinata's personal life enough for one day. I might need to punch you if you make another suggestion."

Shikamaru remained silent and nodded.

"I need to think about all of this, I'll get some fresh air."

Naruto was about to go when he stopped with a solemn look on his face.

"Sometimes I think I am not smart enough to rule a nation, because I have to be convinced to do things all the time. Maybe you should be Emperor Shikamaru, you always know what to do."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru took a few seconds to gather his thoughts before he continued. "Naruto I think I would make a terrible Emperor. Everyone will look at the one in charge for guidance and as a role model. In me they would see a lazy guy, who is rather indifferent to their respective situation. You on the other hand always work hard and try to help everyone. You make an excellent example of how people should at least try to act. Additionally the Emperor needs to be able to motivate and lead an army. I may know tactics and strategies, but I wouldn't be able to rally people like you already did.

And it's not like you are a complete idiot who needs help at everything he does. Until now Hinata and I only had to convince you of things that were far from obvious. I think even without our help you would make a good enough Emperor."

Naruto's mood had significantly improved during Shikamaru's little speech and he was grinning now.

"And how good an Emperor am I with your help?"

Shikamaru just shrugged, a very slight smile showing on his otherwise indifferent looking face.

"Thanks a lot Shikamaru, I guess I needed that."

"One more thing. I believe that the final decision should not always be for the most logical option."

Naruto just stared at Shikamaru questioningly.

"Let's just assume there is another country next to yours and there have been dozens of wars between you in the past and because of that there is a lot of bad blood between you. For some years there has been an uneasy peace, but it is only a matter of time until fighting will break out again. But then a natural disaster hits that country hard, making it temporarily weak. What would you do?"

"I guess I would send them aid to try to improve the relations between our nations."

"You know the logical choice would be to simply attack, because it is really unsure if your good intentions would be well received from a long time enemy."

"But starting a war with reasoning like that is just wrong. Just think of what this would mean for all the people living there."

" Yeah exactly, sometimes the Emperor should do things not because they are logical but because they are the right thing to do. And I think you are perfect for that."

"I don't know Shikamaru, after all we did to win the unification war, I am not sure l would always do the right things."

"Naruto as a military leader there is no way you can save everyone. Sometimes you have to do things that are at least questionable. But there is a line you must not cross and I believe you are capable to discern when a course of action does that or not."

"I hope I can. Later Shikamaru!"

Only after Naruto had left his office, Shikamaru realized that he had not left a shadow clone or one of his paths as a replacement. He guessed this was Naruto's way of getting back at him. Shikamaru slumped down in Naruto's chair and tried to get some sleep before someone came in with a request.

Two months later

It was around midnight when Hinata arrived in a teleportation circle in River Country. One of Naruto's paths expected her. He had managed to find their targets after word of their location had reached Suna. The targets were two members of the Akatsuki, the organization which had hunted Naruto in the past and would without a doubt come after Hinata once they knew she had the Kyuubi inside of her.

Everyone from the West had agreed to take the initiative against the Akatsuki and they had decided to do it silently to not cause diplomatic problems with the local Daimyo. And to Naruto's discomfort the one best suited for silent assassinations was of course no other than Hinata.

Hinata left the clearing with the teleportation seal and made her way towards the small town, where her targets were located. Once she saw the lights of the settlement she activated her Byakugan. She found the two men easily, thanks to their distinctive robes and the fact they were the only ninja in the whole town.

While moving towards her targets she found herself unconsciously playing with the engagement ring on her finger. Naruto had proposed to her about two months ago and a part of her still wondered if all of this was a beautiful dream she would wake up from soon.

She knew things weren't perfect and that their wedding would be more of a display for the people rather than a family matter. But perfection was one of the things she had never associated with Naruto and these details couldn't sour her mood one bit. Naruto loved her and they were getting married next month. That was almost too good to be true.

She stopped on a roof a few buildings away from the small tavern, where her targets had taken residence. Now that she was getting a closer look, she saw that the chakra of one of the two men looked very strange. It had a sinister glow and seemed to permeate all of his body, not just his chakra pathways. Hinata decided to avoid him, but the other person looked like an ideal target.

Kakuzu was counting his money and Hidan occupied the restroom when there was a knock on the door.

"Get the fucking door Kakuzu!"

The Akatsuki sighed and made his way over to it. He pulled the door open and in front of him stood the female owner of the tavern. It was obvious that something was up, because they had been very clear about the fact that they didn't want to be bothered. He used his threads to quickly constrain the woman before she could say anything and suspended her in midair. His senses were sharp enough to immediately know that this was not the old lady from the tavern, but someone else under a henge. He tightened his threads and sure enough the transformation faltered, revealing a dark haired girl in an Anbu uniform, staring at him with pale eyes.

Kakuzu wasn't even interested which of the nations had sent an assassin after them, so he simply twisted her neck. The girl vanished in a puff of smoke. Then a noise from the window alerted him, he spun around and he saw the same girl storming right towards him. Before Kakuzu could do anything she hit him multiple times on his chest, with each hit stinging painfully, sending him to the ground. Kakuzu wanted to get up immediately to retaliate, but somehow he collapsed, his body feeling numb and cold. There was no way she could have destroyed his five hearts this fast, was there?

"Kakuzu what the fuck was that noise?"

But Kakuzu could not answer. He was dead.

Hinata made her way back to the teleportation seal and into the West. She desperately wanted a shower now. There was one thing that made her nervous: meeting Naruto tonight.

The reason for that was that Hinata Hyuuga was a pervert. No One really knew about that, because she was very shy at the same time and had been able to hide that little fact quite well. Hardly anyone knew that she used to outright stalk Naruto back in the Leaf Village and no one knew why exactly she used to faint in front of him all the time. The truth was that she simply had a very graphic imagination of things she could do with him.

But now after being around Naruto so often, she lost more and more of her shyness and she hadn't fainted for months. That meant it was getting harder and harder for Hinata to prevent herself from simply having her way with Naruto. But she tried to restrain herself, one because she didn't want to do something he was not ready for and two because her education and training as the Hyuuga heiress urged her to just wait the remaining time until their wedding. Especially since they had started to sleep together two weeks ago, simply to spend more time together and to snuggle, Hinata had a hard time not to just rip off Naruto's remaining clothes. Naruto himself was of course completely oblivious to her predicament.

Hinata stepped out of the shower. After drying up she put on a simple pajama, put a towel around her still slightly wet hair and left the room to head towards the bedroom she shared with Naruto. But right outside the bathroom she met Naruto and she immediately recognized that he was very excited.

"Hinata! You have to see this!"

Naruto started to undress and stripped down to his boxers in front of a starring Hinata.

"Isn't this amazing?"

Only now Hinata noted that Naruto had covered his skin with complex seals. They ran along his arms and legs and along his sides. Naruto turned around to show her that the seals from both his sides formed an especially complex pattern on his shoulder blades and both of those patterns were connected by smaller lines. Basically it was one seal which spanned over his whole body to the ends of both his arms and legs.

"U-uh w-what d-does it do N-Naruto-kun?"

In his excitement Naruto didn't realize that Hinatas stutter was back or that the girl was practically drooling.

"I call it Gravity Seal. It basically makes muscle movements harder, making it an excellent training tool. You could compare it to Lee's weights, but my seal has many advantages. You don't have to adjust your movements to the actual weight and my seal trains every muscle, not just those strained by the weights. And you can release it very easily for battle or adjust its power. I mean Lee will probably always have a slight edge in strength and speed, because he spends all his time developing those, but with this we might be able to catch up quite a bit." He flexed his arms to show how the seal reacted to that.

Hinata nodded, significantly dazed by the show Naruto was giving her. To distract herself Hinata activated her Byakugan to take a look at the seal with her bloodline. But that was a mistake. Through her Byakugan eyes Naruto looked like a god. His chakra glowed unnaturally bright as usual, but now his body was covered in the glowing lines of the seal in addition to that, accentuating every bit of his muscular body.

That was the final straw. Hinata grabbed the towel on her head and threw it away, to free her hair. Then she stepped towards Naruto while unbuttoning the front of her pajama, exposing her ample breasts.

"H-h-hinata?"

Hinata silenced him with a kiss, which led to so much more.

One week later

Sai and his two teammates arrived outside of Naruto's capital. It was four am in the morning and they expected only a few guards manning the patched walls.

Danzo had been quite unhappy when Sai informed him that Ohnoki had not only not declared war against Naruto but even delivered him his birth certificate. And a few weeks later when news about Naruto's victory reached the Leaf, Danzo immediately started preparing Sai's current mission. The assassination of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

Sai signalled his men to stop right in front of the seal surrounding the whole city. He took a special grenade out of one of his pockets. It used the destruction of a chakra crystal to generate a field, which disrupted chakra. The rare crystal made this really expensive, but Danzo had allowed to use all means necessary and they wanted to avoid to compete with Naruto in the art of seals.

Sai placed the small explosive right next to the seal. After setting it off in a muffled 'plop' he and his teammates ran through the chakra induced smoke it generated and tried to hide themselves under the wall as best as they could.

They saw the light from one of the guards up on the wall, who had been alerted by the noise, first come closer and then stay above them for some time. After ten minutes of obviously not finding finding suspicious he continued his patrol.

When he was far enough away Sai attempted to climb the wall only to find it was impossible to stick to it with chakra. But luckily for them they had rope and a grappling hook with them and a short while later they were inside the city walls.

They were making their way towards the city's town hall, when approaching footsteps drove them to hide in a small alley. They had decided to avoid the rooftops because of possible sentries, but that left them trapped, because the alley was a dead end.

Sai took out paper and a brush and drew a mouse, before bringing it to life with his jutsu. The mouse exited the alley and it saw two men in their mid twenties dressed in guard uniforms. They were patrolling the streets and right now they were only a short distance away from the alley.

"So have you decided on a name already?"

"We don't know yet if it's going to be a boy or a girl. But if it's a girl I want to call her Ranmaru after my great grandmother."

"You know we should celebrate that tomorrow when we are off duty."

"I don't know. I want to be there for Nogiku as much as I can right now."

"Aw come on. You can do that when she's farther along. I'll tell the others and tomorrow we... "

He was cut off by the screech of a cat from the alley with Sai and his team. The cat had tried to get one of Sai's comrades to pet it and he shood it away a bit too forcefully.

"Is someone there?"

The two members of the night watch came closer to the dark alley. One of them pulled out a lamp.

Sai drew two snakes and brought them to life. The two men didn't notice the ink animals slipping out of the alley and then getting behind them. The snakes quickly slithered around their bodies to constrain them and around their mouths to muffle the screams of the surprised guards.

To not take any chances Sai slit their throats and then he and his companions hid the bodies in a trash can and moved along.

They made their way towards the town hall and stopped at its backside. Some windows on ground level were still illuminated, but the upper levels were completely dark. Sai climbed up to a window on the first floor and inspected the security measures. He was about to prepare another chakra disrupting charge, when suddenly a giant hand burst from the darkness behind the window and grasped him. Sai was unable to escape so he hoped his teammates could help him. But they were in trouble themselves. One was suddenly covered in insects, which had somehow managed to sneak up on them. And the other was attacked by six Narutos, who stormed out of the back door of the town hall. The Root soldier was quickly overpowered, then one of the Narutos used a technique, which seemed to drain his chakra, while the others held him in place. Sai's captor appeared in the destroyed window, revealing himself as Choji Akimichi. He jumped down on the street, next to Sai's comrades, without ever easing the grip on his captive.

Flashback: Fifteen minutes earlier

In the designated main watch room, located in the lower floor of the city hall, ten of Naruto's ninja and samurai were playing poker. In charge was an older Yamanaka, an uncle of Ino. He had lost quite a bit of his monthly wage when suddenly a small seal on the wall flared up in a bright red color. The ninja was immediately worried and for a moment there was an uneasy silence. There had been two false alarms of the other, bigger seal, which indicated when someone or something crossed the seal surrounding the city uninvited. The first time it had been a larger animal, which obviously ignored the small electrical shock the seal gave off as a deterrent, the other time it had been a drunken old man, who had gotten lost in the forest during the day for some reason.

But this other seal had not failed so far. Naruto installed it a lot later than the normal one and it was supposed to go off when someone messed with the big seal. The leader of the night watch took a brief look around the room and saw that everyone expected real trouble this time. He was sure that this had to be a small group of enemies or one of the guards on the wall would have raised an alarm. Without hesitation he activated one of the two emergency seals. Not the one alerting the whole city, but the more silent one.

Naruto and Hinata slept peacefully, the blond having his arms wrapped around Hinata's waist from behind, when they were awoken as a seal started to glow in a bright red on the ceiling of their bedroom. Hinata checked the surrounding city with her Byakugan, quickly found the intruders and informed Naruto about them. Five minutes later both were in their ninja gear and ready for combat.

In another room an emergency seal flared to life as well, waking up Shino. He quickly got dressed and hurried to the meeting point together with his father, whom he saw coming out of his parents room right as he passed it.

Shikamaru awoke when an annoyingly bright light flared to life in his room. After he had realized that the light came from the emergency seal he wondered what was going on. There were no explosions and no signs of battle to hear from the city. Since the West was completely under Naruto's control he immediately suspected Konoha, probably an assassination attempt on Naruto. But with everyone alerted by the seals he reckoned that a small group of assassins would not be able to do anything. Shikamaru covered his head and eyes with his pillow and went back to sleep.

End flashback

After Sai and his companions had been constrained, the street quickly filled with more and more ninja. Sai was put into chakra absorbing chains before Choji let him go. From inside the building came Hinata and the original Naruto to inspect their prisoners. Once Sai saw the girl he smiled at her.

"You should be dead."

Hinata ignored him and joined Naruto, who was excitedly inspecting their equipment.

Sai contemplated his position. He was captured and these people were far too experienced to allow him to escape again. The seal on his tongue prevented him from succumbing to basic torture, but this time the enemy had both a seal master to maybe break that seal and the Yamanaka clan to take a direct look at his mind. There was probably no way to protect the knowledge he had and as one of Danzo's most trusted soldiers he knew a lot of things. That meant it was his duty to protect this information at all costs and there was only one thing he could do. He sent a quick look to his companions and he was sure they had come to the same conclusion.

He could still move his mouth so he was able to angle his jaw in a way that he could bite down on a very specific tooth. The tooth cracked and Sai quickly swallowed the bitter poison mixture coming out of it, before any of his captors realized what was happening. For one minute he waited anxiously for what was about to happen.

Then he felt he was unable to breath. He gasped for air, but he could only draw in very short breaths. He would have suffocated miserably, if another part of the poison cocktail hadn't taken effect, bringing him blissful unconsciousness. The last thing Sai saw was Shizune, desperately trying to save him.

A few minutes later Shizune indicated towards Naruto that the third ninja had died as well. Naruto looked down on the corpses of the three would be assassins. He briefly wondered what could have been if Danzo had not started this whole mess by taking control of the Hokage. Maybe one of these dead men would be his friend by now? He shook himself from his thoughts and addressed all his present ninja.

"All right there will be an emergency meeting in half an hour. I want all of my captains, the clan heads and our part of the Konoha twelve there. And where the hell are Shikamaru and his father?"

It was the day of the coronation. Thousands of people gathered on the biggest plaza of the city to watch their new Emperor. Many had travelled hundreds of miles to get a look at their ruler, the one who had ended the century long bloodshed in such a short time. The fact that they would get an Empress, too, had been kept a secret.

At noon Naruto and Hinata made their way to the stage in the centre of the plaza hand in hand. Two rows of soldiers created a path for them to walk through undisturbed. All the way people cheered and waved. Hinata remained composed as they had been told. Naruto on the other hand couldn't stop himself from smiling and waving back sometimes. When they had climbed the stage an old monk started the wedding ceremony, ignoring the surprised murmurs from the crowd. Hinata and Naruto both said their vows before Shikamaru handed them their wedding rings. The old monk declared them to be husband and wife and Naruto and Hinata sealed the ceremony with a kiss.

Then the monk produced the 'crowns', two slim golden diadems or headbands rather. Naruto didn't like the idea of wearing an actual crown, but they had decided to use something for ceremonial purposes. Naruto and Hinata kneeled before the man, who declared them Emperor and Empress and put the diadems atop their heads. When the two stood up, the whole crowd kneeled to honor their new rulers.

After that the Lords of the provinces stepped forward, many of them were former Warlords Naruto had won over to fight for his cause. One after the other they swore their allegiance towards the Emperor and Empress. Naruto saw defiance in some of their faces and he knew that he would have to deal with a few of them to secure the unity of his nation.

Finally, to Naruto's and Hinata's surprise even, the four clan heads from Konoha made their way to the front. Just like the Lords each one of the clan heads swore their loyalty to the newlyweds. Their only request was, that when Konoha was liberated from Danzo, everybody who wanted to return was allowed to do so. Naruto and Hinata gladly accepted these conditions.

The rest of the day the people in streets celebrated as Naruto had provided them with lots of food and beverages to do so. Naruto and Hinata attended a more private celebration, but even there the presence of their allies from the Sand and other diplomatic representatives made it impossible to relax and really enjoy the occasion. So both of them were relieved when they could finally retire to start their wedding night.

Luckily for both their reputations nobody ever noticed that Hinata was pregnant since one month before the wedding.

A/N: The renaming of the capital would have happened in the conversation with Shikamaru if I hadn't been too lazy to write it or if I had found a name I really liked. Sorry about that.