Chapter 44

A few months later, Sasuke and Hinata were walking side by side on their way back to the newly rebuilt Uchiha District.

They both had serene expressions on their faces despite the fact that the months following the conclusion of the war had been nothing short of hectic.

Flashback

When everyone was released from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, they were all instantly on guard because of the fact that they noticed Madara was still very much alive.

Sasuke and Naruto tried to explain to the other shinobi the events that had led to Madara being spared and that the war wasn't entirely his fault, but not everyone was willing to listen and accept the fact that the two had left him alive.

While most shinobi were scared motionless, they're were a select few that had the guts to attack Madara, but they were intercepted by either Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi, Obito or Hinata before they could get near him. This angered the Raikage.

"This is foolishness. That man is responsible for the destruction of my Village. I don't care what the circumstances are that led to him doing so, he must pay for his sins and it will be by my hands" A said as his lightning aura came to life around him.

Sasuke noticed this and looked at him with his Sharingan activated.

"Stand down Raikage. It'd be a shame if I'd have to kill you so soon after Madara freed you from the Infinite Tsukuyomi" Sasuke said with his threatening aura suffocating most of the shinobi in the area.

"You dare threaten a Kage!? That's a declaration of War!" A shouted outraged and the Cloud shinobi all tensed in preparation for battle in case their Kage ordered them to attack.

Everyone else saw this as well and most of the Leaf Shinobi prepared for battle as well, but Kakashi lazily spoke up to break the tension before anyone attacked.

"While its true that normally Sasuke's words would be a declaration of war, I think that you should look around for a moment and really see what you're suggesting here Raikage. Sasuke by himself would be more than enough to defeat you and the rest of the remaining Cloud shinobi with ease, but even if you can somehow defeat him, which I highly doubt, we still have Naruto, Itachi, Obito, myself and oh MADARA UCHIHA… Is this really a wise decision?" Kakashi asked.

Hearing this, the Raikage's aura fizzled out immediately. Even he wasn't foolish enough to attack with the odds so overwhelmingly stacked against him.

"Fine then, but that monster shouldn't be permitted to live without facing some type of consequences for his actions" A said.

"The Raikage does have a point. Even if he was manipulated by someone else that hardly matters at this point. He is still single handedly responsible for the death of the Tsuchikage, many good shinobi and even innocent people" Tsunade said.

Sasuke and Naruto opened their mouths to object, but Madara beat them too it.

"I'll gladly take any punishment that you can dish out if you'll allow me to regain citizenship within the Leaf Village afterwords" Madara said.

Tsunade thought over this for a moment. Having Madara as a Leaf Shinobi will be almost unfair and no one would ever challenge the Leaf with the combined might of Sasuke, Naruto and Madara, so that was a bonus, but he would be nothing short of feared in the Village and she doubted that the Village would easily accept his presence.

Eventually she decided that the pros outweighed the cons, and sighed before declaring her final verdict.

"I will allow you to become a citizen in the Leaf Village Shinobi again Madara, but only if you agree to three months in a Konoha prison with a seal placed on your eyes and chakra cuffs. You will also have to agree to keep your Rinnegan deactivated at all times within the walls of Konoha. Are these terms acceptable?" Tsunade asked.

Madara was quiet for a moment before he nodded.

"The first half of your requests will be no problem, but I cannot deactivate my Rinnegan. It's an eternal dojutsu, but if you don't believe me then you can ask Sasuke" Madara said.

Everyone turned their eyes towards Sasuke, who rolled his eyes at the attention, before he nodded his head in confirmation.

"He's right. I've been trying to deactivate mine since you all have been freed but it wont deactivate" Sasuke said.

"How do we know that he's telling the truth!?" A random cloud nin shouted.

"You imbecile, look at his other eye. It's obviously black, our natural eye color, and Uchiha's canont activate one eye at a time" Itachi snapped at the shinobi that dared to question his little brother.

Hearing this, Tsunade nodded her head in understanding and acceptance.

"Fine, Madara will be contained and after he does his time he will be allowed to live in the Leaf as a Shinobi" Tsunade said ignoring the complaints from shinobi all over the battlefield.

End Flashback

There was a memorial held for all of the shinobi that fell in the war in the Sand Village at Gaara's suggestion, since it was the closest Village to the battlefield.

A lot of tears were shed especially by the Stone Village, who lost their Kage, and their was a big celebration to celebrate the end of the war and forming of the Allied Shinobi Nation.

After they got back to the Village, Tsunade stepped down as Hokage and appointed Kakashi as the Sixth Hokage.

Sasuke still laughs to himself when he remembers the face that his sensei made when she announced it to the Village.

Sasuke truly believed that if it wasn't for the combined efforts of Hanare and Obito, then Kakashi would've been overwhelmed by the workload that being the Hokage came with; but even with all the work he had to do, he still found a way to propose to Hanare and the two got married a week ago.

Obito was upset at first since being Hokage was originally his dream, but Kakashi quickly appointed him as his advisor and the Copy Nin was more than happy to let Obito sit in the chair and do all of the work for him, so that he could spend more time with Hanare, who was nearing the end of her pregnancy.

Gai and Zabuza were both still in the hospital, but only one of them still needed to be.

Thanks to Naruto and Sakura, Zabuza's spine was mostly recovered and the doctor said that he was likely to walk again and it was possible for him to resume his shinobi life, but Gai was another story.

Even though Naruto managed to save him from dying, his leg was shattered beyond repair and the doctor told him that his career as a shinobi was over.

The news saddened many of the people close to Gai, but Gai kept a steady smile on his face and challenged Zabuza to see who would get out of their wheelchairs first.

Itachi and Hana got married immediately after the War ended much to the annoyance of Sasuke and Kiba, who didn't like the idea of being brothers in law, but they didn't have a big ceremony despite Itachi's status. They lived in a the Main House in the Uchiha District and Itachi was officially recognized as the Clan Head of the Uchiha by the Village, much to the relief and annoyance of Sasuke.

Even though he wanted to be the Patriarch of the Uchiha, he was glad that he didn't have to deal with all the political aspects that came with being a Clan Head, and Sasuke knew that it was Itachi's birthright anyway so he wasn't too mad with this development.

Speaking of Clan Heads, Neji had been sworn in as the sole Hyuuga Clan Head since he was the only one of age, much to the concern of some of the Hyuuga Elders, but Hinata and Hanabi supported him fully. With their support, the overwhelming support from the former branch family, and Sasuke's death glares; the Hyuuga Elders accepted Neji's lead with open arms.

Naruto and Haku lived together in a separate house in the Uchiha District, much to Zabuza's annoyance, but he wasn't in the condition to do anything about it, and he figured that he owed Naruto a debt anyway for saving him so he didn't complain to much when Haku first told him. However, he did threaten to castrate Naruto if he ever hurt her.

Ever since Kakashi became Hokage, Naruto has been begging him to name him as the next Hokage, but Kakashi told him that he wouldn't just hand it over to him, and that he would have to earn it, even though everyone knew that Naruto had done more than enough to earn it.

Kakashi even toyed around with the idea to make Sasuke the next Hokage, and that motivated Naruto more than ever to focus. He didn't want to lose the position that he dreamed about having to his best friend like Obito did.

Naruto has been studying Village history ever since that day, with Haku by his side keeping him focused in case he got distracted.

Madara also lived alone in a house inside of the Uchiha District. When he was first released from prison, Tsunade thought about having Anbu survey him 24/7 to make sure that he didn't do anything suspicious, but ultimately she decided against it because she didn't want to have the rest of the Uchiha Clan thinking that she was spying on them or something.

The last thing that Tsunade wanted was the Uchiha to be against the Village again, especially since the last four Uchiha that were alive were all stronger than all of the shinobi that she had in her village with the exception of Naruto, and that was assuming that Naruto even sided with the Village. Even if Naruto did fight on Konoha's side, between Madara and Sasuke… She didn't welcome the scenario.

Sasuke and Hinata finally made it to Itachi's house. They were all having a big dinner to celebrate Madara's release from prison, and Itachi's house was the biggest so it was agreed that they would meet there.

When they opened the door they saw many things that surprised them.

Lee and Kiba had already consumed half of the alcohol and were both arguing about something stupid, Kakashi had beat them there and he was glaring at Obito, who was trying to remove his mask, and Madara was in the corner talking to Anko, and it seemed like the two were having a very serious conversation.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the scene, curious as to what Madara was talking to Anko about but Itachi's voice snapped him out of his musings.

"Ahh so you finally decided to grace us with your presence little brother. I wonder what you and Hinata were doing to make you guys so late for the party" Itachi teased as he poked Sasuke's head and smirked at Hinata, making the young woman look away and blush.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but smirked at his big brother as he held up five bags of food all containing things that Hinata had made before they left the their House, Hinata shyly held up the other two that she had.

"Hinata was making food, and she didn't want to leave until she was sure that she had made enough for everybody. We had to go to the market to get enough bags to carry it all" Sasuke explained as Itachi's face brightened at the.

He loved Hana and her cooking wasn't bad at all, but he had to admit that it was nothing compared to Hinata's cooking. The smell alone was enough to make his mouth water, but he fought the urge to do so since he was a Clan Head and he didn't want to give Sasuke the satisfaction of seeing him drool.

"I'm grateful that she cooked. Hana prepared more than enough food, but I have a feeling that everyone will be happy to see that Hinata has cooked as well. Come lets eat" Itachi said as he led Sasuke and Hinata towards the large dinner table that already had all the food that

Itachi didn't have to tell anyone that it was time to eat because once Hana saw that he had made his way to the table, she made the announcement for him.

"HEY! Everyone take a seat at the table so that we can eat. I don't care where" Hana yelled as she sat down to Itachi's left with Sasuke at his right.

Nobody, not even Madara, questioned the woman as they quickly made their way to their seats. Even Lee and Kiba looked like they instantly sobered up when Hana gave them a warning growl.

The dinner went smoothly with some quiet conversations being exchanged but when they noticed that the conversation was beginning to die down, but Naruto and Sasuke stood up and banged a spoon against their glass simultaneously gaining everyone's attention.

Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other at the coincidence, but they but knew what the other was going to say because they had told each other days before. It was just that the timing was annoying.

"Are you serious you Bastard? You were talking about now? Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto hissed at Sasuke who scoffed at the question.

"It was obvious, its not my fault that your undeveloped mind wasn't able to put the clues together, but what about you? You told me that you wouldn't do it till you thought it was the 'perfect moment' and that you didn't know when they would be" Sasuke said.

"Yeah well I've decided that this is the 'perfect moment', and you're ruining it, so sit back down and let me do this" Naruto said with his chakra starting to flare in agitation.

"You're dumber than I thought you were if you think that I'm going to pass on this. I've been planning this moment for weeks. Why don't you sit back down and wait for another 'Perfect Moment' to do it" Sasuke said with his chakra rising to match Naruto's.

Sensing that his former students were getting closer to a fight then they were to explaining the reasons why they got everyone's attention; Kakashi decided that it was best if he intervened before it turned into a battle that could potentially level the Village.

"Naruto and Sasuke both of you are behaving poorly at this dinner meant to celebrate Madara's release from prison. As your Kage, I expect you to stop this foolishness and explain right now what you two wanted to say" Kakashi said.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and frowned before turning their heads away from each other, but soon after this both of their faces went from annoyed to nervous.

Simultaneously they both kneeled down in front of Hinata and Haku and pulled a little box out of their pockets.

Both of the Woman's eyes widened at their boyfriends as they opened the boxes, revealing two beautiful rings.

Sasuke and Naruto briefly made eye contact for a moment, seemingly have a silent conversation before Sasuke nodded his head in approval. Naruto smiled and spoke first.

"Haku when I first saw you, I thought that you were the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen in my life, and I still think that way, but it was more than your beauty that attracted me too you. You're fiercely loyal and you always pushing me to be the best that I can be. You put up with my less than favorable manners, and my loudness doesn't annoy you. You even come with me to eat Ramen at least once a day, even though we both know that its not the healthiest food around. You're a powerful woman with amazing aim and you managed to pierce my heart with one of your senbon and its stuck there forever. I love you…" Naruto said before trialing off.

Sasuke understood the signal and spoke up instantly.

"Hinata, its no secret that I'm not the best at expressing my emotions, but every time I look at you, I'm reminded how much you've changed me and how much I love you. I was a completely different person when we first met, but you've managed to chip away at my emotionless persona until you became the single most important thing in my life. More important than even my revenge, which manage to consume me at one point in my life. Every one here knows. How kind you are, but on top of that you're stern when I need you to be. You didn't let me make any stupid decisions, but you stuck by my side through all of my adventures. You went with me to the Sound Village to train under Orochimaru even though everyone else told you not too, you forgave Madara even though he was responsible for the death of your father and uncle and you still chose to love me even after finding out my deepest, darkest secret. You're the best thing that has happened to me and I want you to be by my side forever. Even though we're already betrothed, I want to make it official, and I don't want to wait any longer so I have to ask…" Sasuke said as stared deep into Hinata's eyes.

Then as if they practiced this before hand, Naruto and Sasuke both asked the same question at the same time.

"Will you marry me?"

The room was silent and all eyes were on Hinata and Haku eagerly awaiting their answers. Most of the males in the room had smirks on their faces while all of the females had tears in the corner of their eyes threatening to fall.

Hinata had full blown tears flowing down her cheeks as she looked at the ring that Sasuke was holding in front of her, and Haku wasn't much better off as she watched Naruto fidget in anticipation.

Both woman had a smile on their faces they both said the one word that everyone in the room was waiting to hear from them.

"Yes"

As soon as the word left their lips, Naruto grinned brightly and shoved the ring on Haku's finger before he tackled her in a bone shattering hug that broke the chair that she was sitting in, but she didn't seem to mind as she hugged Naruto back just as tightly with tears staining his shirt.

Sasuke behaved in a more dignified manner than his best friend as he gently placed the ring on Hinata's finger before he kissed her softly and smiled a real smile. Hinata looked at Sasuke's eyes as they communicated his love for her more than his words ever could.

Everyone was clapping and giving celebratory claps as the two couples embraced. Those who knew Sasuke and Naruto well couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they managed to almost ruin their marriage proposals by fighting, only to end up working together to create one of the most beautiful double proposals that any of them had ever seen.

"Well that was something" Obito said once he finished chuckling.

"Indeed, that was an interesting proposal. I'm happy that I was around to see it" Madara agreed.

"Oh man two of my three students are getting married, I'm starting to feel old" Kakashi said with a slight whine in his voice causing Hanare to chuckle and slap him playfully.

"Actually Kakashi-sensei you're wrong about that" Sakura said cryptically as she took a sip of her drink.

"How is he wrong? Sorry Sakura, but Neji-Baka isn't going to be proposing to you anytime soon with all of the Clan matters that he has to take care off" Naruto said obviously teasing.

"Even if he wasn't running the Clan, Hyuuga isn't very likely to make a grand proposal like this. Even if he does, it would be overshadowed by ours at this point, he should've proposed first. He was just too slow" Sasuke said smirking at Neji who looked at Sasuke before he slowly returned the smirk causing Sasuke's smirk to fade.

"You're half right Uchiha. I'm not the type to make grand proposals like what you and Naruto just did, but if you think I'd let you two idiots man up and propose before I did then you're a bigger fool than Naruto" Neji replied

"You mean…" Hinata started excitedly as she and the rest of the people in attendance looked at Sakura who was holding up her hand, revealing a ring that had previously gone unnoticed.

"We're getting married too!" Sakura said as the females all shrieked and congratulated Sakura as well.

Neji looked smug as Naruto and Sasuke glared at him.

"When?" Naruto asked.

"This morning before we left the Hyuuga Compound" Neji responded.

"Where?" Sasuke asked.

"In the gardens in front of the Sakura tree. Fitting don't you think?" Neji asked with a smirk.

Sasuke and Naruto both had to admit that it was a good idea and cursed Neji's genius, but while they were glaring at the smug Hyuuga, the woman were all planning.

"I think we should all get married together" Haku said.

"That makes sense because Neji, Naruto and Sasuke are all best friends" Sakura said agreeing with them.

"Not only that, but the Hyuuga Clan will likely want me and Neji to have big weddings, so it would be much more logical if our ceremonies were at the same time, and they love Naruto so they'd be more than happy to plan for his wedding as well" Hinata said.

"The Uchiha Clan will also provide a fair amount of money towards this as well. Sasuke is my little brother and Naruto is close to the family as well, so I'd be more than happy to pay whatever fee that is necessary to make that wedding grand and memorable. It will be talked about for generations to come" Itachi declared.

Neji, Sasuke and Naruto didn't really like the idea of having a joint wedding, but all of them knew better than too get involved in wedding plans. They remembered the stress that both Itachi and Kakashi went through with Hana and Hanare.

Needless to say, they didn't even want to risk angering their women while they were planning for their wedding.

"Fine Neji, you may have been first to propose, but I bet that Haku and I will be the first to have children" Naruto said.

"Once again you're being an idiot, It will be me again that is first" Neji said.

"Both of you are fools, Uchiha genes are superior so naturally it would be me who has a child first" Sasuke said as he rolled his eyes.

Neji and Naruto looked at each other for a moment before they turned and looked at Sasuke.

"Aren't you still a Virgin?" They asked simultaneously causing Sasuke to stiffen.

Normally nobody would've noticed the change is Sasuke's demeanor, but Neji and Naruto were his best friends so they noticed it instantly and knew that Sasuke was in fact still a Virgin.

They both began to laugh at their discovery, much to annoyance of Sasuke who crossed his arms as he glared at the two.

"I don't get what's so funny to you two dumbasses" Sasuke growled.

"Haha what's funny is haha the fact that you think hahaha that you'll be the one haha to have kids first when you and Hinata haven't even had sex HAHAH" Naruto said in between laughs.

"You sound prideful as usually but this time you don't have any substance to back up your claims" Neji said as he laughed along side Naruto.

Sasuke glared at the two as they continued to laugh at him, he could feel his patience slipping as his Sharingan activated out of impulse.

"You two better stop laughing at me right now or else" Sasuke said, but he was ignored as the two continued to laugh at him, not caring an ounce about the warning.

A vein protruded in Sasuke's forehead as he heard more and more laughter until he finally snapped and attacked Naruto and Neji, and even though Sasuke knew that they're would be consequences later, Sasuke thought that it would be worth it if he managed to give them both a black eye.

The resulting brawl ended the party and lasted for the rest of the day.

XxXxXx

The next day, Sasuke, Neji and Naruto were in the hospital recovering from their wounds.

They did a number on each other, but that wasn't the reason that they were currently in the hospital.

They were in the hospital thanks to the combined might of senbon needles, Chakra infused punches to the head, and Gentle fists infused with lightning chakra courtesy of Haku, Sakura and Hinata, and the worst part is that the woman were refusing to heal them as they planned their weddings, forcing them to heal naturally.

The three would be in the hospital for at least a week thanks to their injuries.

"I just want you to know that none of this would've happened if you two so called 'geniuses' just respected me as your future Hokage" Naruto said.

Neji and Sasuke looked at each other and shook their heads before they shook their heads in disbelief.

"Naruto… Shut up" they said simultaneously as the pain medication took over and put the three soon to be grooms to sleep.

XxXxXx

Elsewhere, a person was traveling quickly towards the Hidden Leaf Village. He wasn't from this planet, but that wasn't important.

He was on a mission and he was determined to complete it regardless of what he had to do to achieve it and he was resolved to kill whoever was willing to get in his way.

His goal was to destroy the world and stop the people who use chakra for evil, and in order to achieve this goal he would need a Hyuuga with a pure Byakugan and he already had one in mind.

"I will unlock the Tenseigan by any means and bring an end to this corrupt world" the man said as he continued his journey with unwavering resolve.

TBC

I know, I know, its been over a month since Ive updated and I'm very sorry about that, but I had finals to study for. I just hope that this chapter was good enough to cover for the lack of my updates (probably not right lmao) but I have something that I hope that you'll see as good news. There's only a few more chapters left of 'Trying Again' but I already have a an idea for another story and if you want I can post the first chapter to that the next time I update 'Trying Again' or possibly even sooner. Please fill free to give me ideas on a story to write. I already have one in mind but I'd love to hear your ideas and I might use it for a whole nother story, but anyway on to the reviews.

Dominiknoxi- its okay if you don't review lol, but yeah I had to mention the Hamura/Hinata connection for what happens next, and yeah its near the end but thank you for the support

GamerArtist16- I hope this chapter answered your questions and I don't think I'm that good to be famous lol but thank you for thinking so. And of course not! Thank you for the birthday wish. I really appreciate it

MarethyuQ- Thanks for the review and I hope that this chapter answers your questions.

Xhope14x- It sure has been. Thank you for reading the story

Shikara Gizzel- I'm glad that you did and thank you so much!

Splaaash-attack- Thank you!

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark- Thank you Antex and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well regardless of how long I took to post it lol.

Lucie4512- Thank you : ) and Ayyy '98 babies!

Thank you for everyone who continues to read and review! I'm grateful for all of you and I'll see you next time – Dishon 3