Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

When I first starting writing this story, I meant for it to be a short little snippet of Hinata being happy about being Uzumaki Hinata, but my brain just went on its little tangent and this was born.

"Uzumaki-san!"

Hinata's head jerked up - Naruto-kun was here? She looked around the room, but didn't spot the blond anywhere. Again, the nurse called, "Uzumaki-san?"

Confused, Hinata stared at the nurse that was poking her head through the door. Her head raced as she thought of what could have went wrong with the files, since she knew that her husband-

Oh. Her husband.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Making her his wife.

Uzumaki Hinata.

Hinata felt a rush of giddiness and joy at the thought. She still hadn't completely processed the fact that she married Naruto, and so this simple reminder had her toes curling in happiness.

When the nurse called, "Uzumaki-san!" again, Hinata snapped to attention and stood. "Sorry! I'm here!"

The nurse gave her a slightly annoyed look that Hinata did her best to ignore. "Right this way." Hinata followed the nurse to a room and allowed the nurse to do her job - checking up on Hinata's condition, making sure she was still alright for shinobi duty.

Hinata stayed silent, but the earlier rush had her heart racing - a fact that caused the nurse to look at her in confusion. Smiling sheepishly, she explained, "Sorry, I'm not used to the last name…"

Their wedding had been a huge event in Konoha, so the nurse knew that it had been a recent event, so she just nodded knowingly. "Well other than that, you're clear for duty, Uzumaki-san. I hope I won't see you until next year."

Hinata smiled gratefully at the nurse, before leaving the hospital with a skip in her steps. She was Uzumaki Hinata!

As she passed through the busy streets, a few vendors stopped her - offering their goods - but they called her by "Uzumaki-san" as well. Hinata wondered why they changed it to that, since they used to just call her by her name before, while declining politely. What a weird change - had they been calling her by Uzumaki-san since she'd gotten back from her honeymoon, and she never responded to them?

Hinata wanted to slap herself if that was the case. The couple had gotten back a week ago! She couldn't have been that clueless, right?

She continued pondering over that as she walked to the Hokage's office to drop off a lunch for Naruto that she picked up from Ichiraku's ramen shop. Hinata didn't need to worry about possibly ignoring them, since they continued calling her by her first name.

She made her way into the Hokage tower, greeting the secretary with a smile, and walked to the office. She knocked on the doors and waited patiently for Kakashi to call a "Come in!" before she walked inside.

"Oh! 'Nata!" Naruto greeted her happily. He stood from his seat and practically glided over to her, hugging her tightly. It was all she could do to not drop the packaged ramen.

"Naruto, you saw her a few hours ago," Kakashi said with a sigh. Naruto stepped back from her, but still kept an arm around her shoulder.

He grinned at Kakashi, saying, "Is it bad for me to miss my wife?" And Hinata felt that rush of happiness again. His wife. Naruto's wife. That was her!

Hinata pushed it away, greeting Kakashi with a "Excuse my intrusion, Kakashi-sama."

He just waved her off, smiling under his mask. "No, no, hopefully Naruto will work better after he has some ramen."

Hinata giggled as Naruto gave a dirty look to Kakashi. She turned a bit to wave the bag in front of Naruto's face and watched as the dirty look melted into a look of happiness. "Man! Ichiraku's miso ramen and my wife? I'm a lucky man!"

Smiling in response, she led him back to his desk and set the bag on it. He seated himself, pushing away stacks of paper to make room for his ramen. Hinata would've been happy watching him eat, but Kakashi called her name, and she forced herself to look away.

"Hinata, I got the records from the hospital just now. So you're clear for duty?" Naruto's head perked up a little, stopping in his happy slurping.

"Yes, Kakashi-sama. Are you assigning me a mission right now?" Kakashi hummed a bit, thrifting through the stacks in front of him.

"Already? We just got back a week ago," Naruto said with noodles in his mouth. Hinata leaned in to wipe a bit of soup that was on his chin. He grinned up at her.

"Naruto-kun, we left for a month," she said scoldingly, although her heart warmed at how Naruto leaned into her touch.

Kakashi said, "Hinata's right. I do have a mission for you. An escort mission to the Land of Waves. You'll be escorting a group of merchants"

"A solo mission?" Naruto interrupted, straightening and his smile sliding off his face. Hinata could see that he didn't like the sound of that, but she was a jonin and was perfectly fine going alone.

"I'll be fine alone, Naruto-kun."

"Yes, she should be. The merchants that requested this mission are only afraid of bandits, and Hinata would be fine defending them by herself. It's a C-ranked mission."

Hinata wanted to complain slightly, feeling as if her pride was wounded by being assigned a C-rank mission, but Naruto had relaxed in his seat and she knew that she would have to start small. Naruto had a lot of strengths, but some of them were also his weaknesses. His protectiveness was one of those shared qualities - he grew stronger when he had more people to protect, but he also dreaded sending anyone into danger because he felt that he'd be enough to stop everything. Now, since he was practically reserved to desk-duty unless he was absolutely needed would leave him restless. So Hinata restrained herself. She'd just have to build up from these C-ranked missions.

"When are they planning to leave?"

"At noon. So, I'd suggest you leave to prepare right now. Meet them at the gates." Hinata nodded at Kakashi before turning back to Naruto. His face had fallen in disappointment after hearing that she was leaving so soon.

"I'll see you soon," she said softly, leaning in for a kiss. Naruto kissed her back, but she didn't feel like making out in front of Kakashi, so she pulled back quickly. At his disappointed face, she felt her gut clench. She had felt excited at the prospect of a mission at first, but now she didn't want to leave Naruto. But she steeled herself and just gave him another kiss before turning back around and leaving. Hinata only had an hour to prepare.

Jumping on the rooftops, Hinata got to their new house in minutes and she changed quickly. She made sure her weapons pouch was fully equipped and packed a few extra sets of clothes in a pack. The kunoichi also prepared a quick lunch for herself that she sealed in a summoning scroll. Ten minutes before noon, she headed out to the gates.

Hinata was met with seven merchants, all dressed similarly, and all were men. A fact that had her raising her brows internally. Were they a sexist bunch?

"Uzumaki-san," one of them greeted. Again, Hinata was hit with a wave of confusion. Usually the people they hired addressed them with their ranks, because they didn't know their names until they introduced themselves.

"Yes, I am Uzumaki Hinata. I will be escorting you to the Land of Waves," she responded with a downward tilt of her head. The merchants nodded back, but didn't bother introducing themselves. Hinata buried the ball of anger that was rising. She absolutely hated civilians like these - they hired ninjas to protect them, but didn't bother addressing them unless they needed to.

Hinata let them walk ahead of her, although she asked them to stay grouped together so it was easier for her to protect them. They merely nodded at her, before starting to walk. Hinata knew that if she was more like Naruto, she would have demanded for them to respect her in a fit of anger, but with her patient nature, she just ignored it. Hinata activated her Byakugan every half an hour, scanning the perimeter, as the group conversed with each other. With nothing else to do but eavesdrop, she heard snippets of what they were trading and things they had seen in other villages.

It all passed through one ear and out the other, until they mentioned her. "Yes, the Hero of the Allied Nations married the ninja that was assigned to us. He was a legend, but he settled for her." The one who had said it had lowered his voice, thinking she wouldn't hear, but she had trained ears that could detect changes of motion through the air. Hinata clenched her fists.

Another answered, also whispering, "Yes. She doesn't seem like much. It hurts to call her Uzumaki, she doesn't deserve that name." Hinata felt the buried anger rise, her Byakugan activating unconsciously. But even with her anger clouding her vision, it dawned on her that everyone was calling her by her last name because she had married Naruto. All of a sudden, she wasn't worth her own name - simply because she had become Naruto's wife. And that fact had her anger rising more. Hinata trained herself for years to make a name for herself, and although she would never regret marrying Naruto, she hated that change. She knew that the next time someone called her by Uzumaki, they were only seeing her as "the one that married Naruto", and she felt a rush of resent.

The group continued with their blatant insults. One said, "Yes, this is a C-ranked mission...the Hokage must not trust her enough with higher ranked missions." Another replied, "What was the hero thinking? He could've chosen someone so much better than her."

Hinata didn't realize she was starting to leak killing intent, until they all stopped - both walking and talking. They turned back to her and their faces paled with fear. Hinata forced herself to calm down, releasing her active Byakugan and stopping her killing intent. "Sorry," she said dryly, "I grew tired of listening to your useless rambling."

They all gulped. She continued, "If I am so bad, I should just leave you for the bandits." The kunoichi would never, but she felt like reinforcing the fact that these seven merchants' lives were in her hand.

The merchants all shook their heads rapidly. Hinata forced a smile. "Then, let's continue on. We have three more days of journey ahead of us. Refrain from talking about me again." They were quick to nod their heads and turn around.

Hinata took to the trees. She didn't want to be standing behind them anymore. Their stupidity could wipe off on her. Reactivating her Byakugan, Hinata hopped from tree to tree slowly, moving only slightly faster than the merchants. She'd have to keep her Byakugan active most of the time, but it wouldn't be too heavy of a drain for her.

The days passed by slowly, and Hinata barely kept her sanity intact. The merchants were fearful of her - a feat that she was proud of, but also scared of. She didn't want them telling people not to go to Konoha for missions, but she would not kiss up to them.

The day they finally arrived, after a completely silent boat ride, she was glad to be rid of them. She headed back the way she came, making the trip quickly. When she returned, she told Kakashi of her success but also the fact that they didn't like her much - leaving out the realization she had come to as well as the details of the insults. But Kakashi looked at her with wise eyes, and she knew that he knew everything. He didn't scold her for her behavior and she was quickly dismissed.

By the time she made it back home, the moon was high in the sky. She was greeted by an ecstatic Naruto that was kissing her passionately, pulling back to murmur, "Have I ever told you how good you look in your shinobi gear? Because, you're gorgeous."

While usually Hinata would blush up a storm, she could only muster up a small, "Thanks." And Naruto noticed immediately. He stopped attacking her with kisses and scanned her with his eyes worriedly. "I'm not hurt, Naruto-kun. Just tired."

"Are you sure?" His eyes were worried, but also focused, and she didn't exactly want to talk about what she had realized. But she knew she had to - if not because it also included him, but she really wanted some type of comfort.

"Yes, I'll just take a quick shower and then I'll tell you everything." He bit his lip, but still nodded reluctantly. Hinata gathered some clothes and headed into the bathroom. She indeed took a quick shower, but her mind was racing. How would Naruto respond? What could they even do about this?

When she walked out of the restroom, Naruto was sitting on the couch and a newly prepared teapot was sitting on the table in front of the couch. Hinata felt a rush of warmth - he knew her so well already. She sat herself down next to him and poured a cup of tea.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, turning to face her. His blue eyes were intense.

Hinata sighed, stalling by taking a sip of the tea. "I realized some things." He looked scared.

"What do you mean? You aren't tired of this marriage already are you?"

She set her cup down quickly, and cupped his face. "No! No, that's not it. I love you." His scared face changed to a confused one.

"Then what'd you realize?" Hinata put her hands back down.

"The day I left, the nurse called me by Uzumaki-san. And it made me really happy at first. But I realized that everybody was calling me it when they used to call me by Hinata." Naruto's face got more confused. "And then on the mission, the merchants were...talking about how you chose horribly for a wife-"

"What?" Naruto's voice was dangerously low. "Horrible? You're the most perfect person I've ever met!" While on another day, Hinata would have blushed and kissed him, she just felt a rush of tiredness.

"They didn't think that. But when they were talking, I realized that the reason everybody stopped calling me by Hinata was because in their eyes, I'm just your wife now."

There was a moment of silence as Naruto thought over what she said. His brows furrowed and he frowned. "What's wrong with being thought of as my wife?"

Hinata bit her lip. "I love being your wife, Naruto-kun. I really do. But, I'm also Hinata. And the name I've spent so long making for myself is all gone now."

Naruto's brow furrowed even more. She could sense his growing confusion, so she continued. "You're the Hero of the Allied Nations. Uzumaki Naruto. And where I used to be Hyuga Hinata, a proud shinobi of the leaf, I'm now Uzumaki Hinata, wife of the Hero of the Allied Nations. And that's all everyone's going to see."

Naruto's confusion cleared as he realized what she was saying. "Oh…" He looked down at his lap. "...I'm sorry."

Hinata shot forward and grabbed his hands. "It's not your fault, Naruto-kun. And I don't regret this marriage at all. I only told you because I don't want to keep any secrets from you." He didn't respond, so she leaned forward even more and pressed her forehead to his temple. "I love you so much and I don't blame you at all for anything."

He turned his head so their foreheads were against each other. "I love you too, Hinata."

Hinata leaned in to kiss him. If she could describe the kiss in words, it would be sweet, comforting, and warm. It was like Naruto was trying to comfort her through his lips and it was working. The stress from the past few days was slowly disappearing under his care. She pulled back so she could say, "I'll just have to work hard now to remake my own name."

He responded, "I know you can do it, hime." And the resolution in his words erased any doubts she had. She leaned in to kiss him again, smiling against his lips. Naruto nipped playfully at her bottom lip as if scolding her for smiling, but it only her smile more and soon Naruto was smiling too. Their smiles were too large for them to kiss again without knocking their teeth together, so she just leaned back so that their foreheads were touching again.

Hinata wouldn't let this new change stop her from loving her new position as Naruto's wife. She could be Uzumaki Hinata, wife of the Hero of the Allied Nations and proud shinobi of the leaf. And she knew that Naruto would be standing with her along the way.