"Urg, girls." Naruto complained the day after he had finally found the right moment to propose. "I can understand that they want to talk to Hinata about the wedding plans. But does that mean I need to be kicked out of the house as well? The wedding's not for awhile now." He sighed, figuring he mine as well get some ramen until he could get back in. "I don't care if I have to crawl in through a window to do that either."

"Naruto-sama, a message bird from Konoha has arrived." Iono said as she ran up to him, a hawk on a bracer resting on her arm. Naruto carefully removed the scroll from the holster on the bird's back.

"See that the bird rests tonight and we'll see it off in the morning. There or may not be a reply message." Naruto ordered. Iono nodded and took the bird to the office. An area for message birds had been set up at the top of the building.

Curious, he now unrolled the scroll and read the message contained within it.

Naruto,

Tsunade here. Hiashi Hyuuga has heard of your engagement to Hinata somehow already. This was news to us. Anyways, he wants to attend the wedding and to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. We stopped him from leaving right away to await your response. He's been behaving lately. It's probably the fact that he's found that he can never again take leadership of the Hyuuga Clan. We'd appreciate a fast response.

Tsunade

"Guess I have to go into the office anyway. Thought I would avoid that today." Naruto said to himself with a laugh, heading back to his house to talk with Hinata about this. Hinata quickly gave her permission, adding that she wanted someone from the main family with him just in case. After that he was promptly kicked out again.

"Raita, that won't exactly help the situation." Naruto commented, pausing by where the huge man was skulking around the corner.

"I'm watching out for her." Raita said as an excuse. "She's never had a special someone. If he hurts her, it'll be his head coming off his shoulders." Naruto knew exactly what Raita was talking about. Kimara had been spending a lot of time with Lee lately. They had been seen all over the village doing a multitude of things. Ice cream, ramen, just walking around, and even a picnic or two. This time they were eating ice cream.

"Raita, you may be as good as her big brother, but she needs her space. Besides, Lee will never hurt her. I can promise you that. Lee was raised a gentleman and his jounin instructor enforced that." Naruto told Raita. "And Kimara is too smart for that to happen anyway. How are things at the dojo?"

"They're going good." Raita replied. "The students are capable and have the strength necessary for the training. They don't make any excuses either." Naruto grinned.

"Well, that's good. Anyway, I need to get to the office to write a letter. Good luck." He wished, referring both to the dojo and the two people he was currently spying on.

Naruto reached his office. He quickly penned a response to Tsunade's message now.

Tsunade,

Got your message. As long as he has good intentions, Hinata and I will be glad to have him at the wedding. Though the wedding isn't until sometime in autumn. When we have a final date, we'll send further word. Until then, he's not to come here. And when he does come, we would like someone from the Main Branch to formally escort him here just in case. That's the only way he'll be allowed to even come to the wedding. I was wondering about something as well. Usually it's the village leader who does a ninja's wedding, right? Well, who should do the ceremony for Hinata and I? I'm the village leader and can't exactly do the ceremony and get married at the same ceremony.

Naruto

He sealed the message and placed it in the outbox on his desk. Thankfully he had finished all of his paperwork for the next few days. He still had to come in for a few hours each day though, just in case. But he did thoroughly understand Tsunade's hatred for paperwork. He grinned looking up to the ceiling of his office. Several boards of wood had been installed there, each with with a target painted on the front. When he was bored he used them for target practice. Iono had walked in one day and dropped the paperwork in her hands, something he still laughed about.

Flashback

"Naruto-sam-" Iono said, abruptly stopping, a big stack of paperwork in her hands falling to the floor around her feet.

Naruto was leaning back in his chair, a bored expression on his face. A few kunai were in both hands. "Oh, hi." He said lightly, putting his projectile weapons down on the desk. "What's wrong?" Her eyes had traveled up to the ceiling, where one of the targets had a smiley face made out of kunai stuck into it. But instead of one kunai for each eye, there were five or six them for each one in the shape of a large "X". He had been in the process of making a tongue sticking out for the mouth. "Oh." He said sheepishly, seeing what she was seeing.

"Naruto-sama, do you need more work?" Iono asked as she bent down and picked her fallen paperwork. "I can arrange that easily." Naruto went pale, drawing a laugh from his assistant. "I'm joking." She assured. "Anywhere else this would be frowned upon. But as long as you aren't trying to get of work, it's fine."

End Flashback

Naruto laughed again as he left his office to go get some ramen. "Just how long are they going to continue doing girl stuff?" He asked himself. He ran into Daishi on the way there.

"Naruto-sensei, good afternoon." He said simply. "Are you getting some ramen too?"

"You bet. I bet you and I are Kaida's best customers. Something that would be cool for this place to do is a ramen eating contest. The winner should get something special. Maybe I should talk to Kaida about this. Another thing we should do is do some training this afternoon if we're both free. This will also burn off all the calories from the ramen." Naruto laughed.

"Hey, can you teach me a new jutsu?" Daishi asked excitedly.

"I was actually thinking about that." Naruto told him. "I'm thinking about teaching you how to make shadow clones. It'll take awhile for you to become profiecient in their use. And you probably won't be able to make a lot and keep them all going. I am only able to do so many and keep them going is thanks to Kitsune. But sometimes one is all you need."

"What makes a shadow clone different from a regular clone?" Diashi asked. "Obviously they're different from elemental clones."

"Shadow clones have actual substance." Naruto explained as they walked. "Not only that, the user's chakra is split evenly. There's also another useful little thing about them. One: the experiences of the clone come into your mind when they're dispelled. So if you send one into an enemy base you can simply make it go away and still get what you came to get. It doesn't matter if it's something it's read, heard, or anything else. And two: the chakra isn't wasted. It's returned when the clone goes away. When I first learned the Rasengan, I could only do it with the help of a shadow clone."

They both decided to hurry and eat their ramen. After that, Naruto led Daishi into the forest. "First, I'd like to demonstrate something with the jutsu." He made a shadow clone. "Walk with my clone to a place far away, where I can't hear you. Tell something to my clone. After five minutes, I'll dispel it and you come back. I'll tell you what you said to the clone."

Daishi walked far away with the clone. Five minutes passed and he dispelled the clone. Daishi came running back, a grin on his face. Naruto was grinning and shaking his head. "No, Daishi, you are not yet ready to learn the Rasengan. That is one jutsu that is hard to learn and one you'll have earn that one as well, given the history of the jutsu."

"Shoot!" Daishi exclaimed. "Well, it was worth a try." He grinned. "I'm ready to learn Sensei." Naruto smiled and showed him the necessary handsigns.

"Don't try to make more than one for now." Naruto warned. Daishi set to his task eagerly.

The results of the training: Two hours later, he was completely exhausted, having made clones that were only half substance. But given how much progress he had made in such a short time, it was quite an accomplishment. Naruto ended up giving him a piggy back ride back to Hinata's place. Toushiro and Hanabi took charge of him, seeing him to his room.

"Ha, I'll climb in through my bedroom window." Naruto swore, walking up the wall to his second floor bedroom and remembering that he locked the window the night before, made a shadow clone that appeared inside the room. "Try and beat me now girls." He boasted, flopping down onto his bed, remembering the fact that he had to send some people out on missions tomorrow. Their missions requests had been coming in a lot faster than usual lately. "Aw, well. I'll deal with it tomorrow." He swore with a grin.