From Ramen with Love Chapter 15: Before The Night Falls, a naruto fanfic

A/N: Yo everyone! I know it's been a shitty long time since my last update, but blame school for making me work. Production phase of a board game is taking lots of time even outside of school. Combine that with other obligations and you've got one tight schedule. Nevertheless, I bring you guys and girls today a long chapter again, though not record breaking. Had to cut if off a bit and add the other part to the next chapter.
Anyway, It hasn't been edited and checked yet for proper grammar, nor have I had the time to make a lot proper paragraphs. Right now I'm heading to bed, cause there's another school day tomorrow. Enjoy it, people. Oh, and as for the NEXT chapter. Don't worry. Winter Break is coming. We're going to celebrate From Ramen with Love's birthday on the 29th of December with the next chapter. Leave me with your reviews again. If you're going to review anonymous, leave your email. I know I haven't replied to a few yet, so sorry for that, but I was hella busy. Anyway, enough talk from me and...

On with the story!

Chapter 15: Before The Night Falls

"Uzumaki Naruto, we've been ordered by Hokage-sama to arrest you. Resistance will be met with force. And trust me on this one, kid, right now we're more than eager to use force." The front ANBU member said.

"Wha...What?" Naruto let out, "Why?! I didn't do anything!"

"You'll hear the reason once we've arrived at the place we were ordered to bring you. Now, we will give you one minute to get dressed." The ANBU member told Naruto.

"Wait one damned minute!" Temari yelled as she dashed out of bed and towards the front door.

"That's what we plan on doing..." The ANBU member remarked.

"I'm not going to let you take Naruto away without specifying a reason!" Temari glared at the ANBU.

The ANBU turned his head towards Temari, "Temari of the Sand...This doesn't concern you. Don't get involved with our work."

Just then, a hand of sand grabbed the ANBU around his throat as Gaara walked into view, "...You're awfully loud in the morning."

"Kazekage-dono..." Another ANBU member addressed Gaara, "Even though you're the leader of Sunagakure, you are under Konoha authority here. Despite your status, you..."

The other ANBU member was held by his throat by another hand of sand as Gaara glared at him, "I don't care about that. I don't care about you being ordered to take Naruto away either."

"Gaara!" Temari let out as she slightly glared at Gaara.

"However, what I do care about is the fact that you pieces of trash came and woke me up this damned early. Instead of being good shinobi and taking Naruto away without a sound, you made more noise than when Temari kicks my brother in his nuts..."

"Gaara, release them. I'll go with them and you can go back to sleep." Naruto stated as he stepped in front of Gaara, "I'm not sure what's going, but there's no need for violence."

"Hmph..." Gaara let out and released the ANBU as he walked back to the living room.

"Two minutes..." The ANBU said as he rubbed his sore throat, "If you haven't opened the front door by then, we'll make our way into your home and drag you along with us..."

"I understand." Naruto replied and closed the door, "Damn...What is going on?"

Naruto got dressed in record time and walked back to the front door.

"Naruto, wait!" Temari said as she pulled him into the storage room.

"Temari! What are you doing? I don't have time for this!" Naruto yelled at Temari.

Temari frowned, "You can still escape..."

"What?! Are you crazy? This is escaping from Konoha's ANBU you're talking about! I don't know what is going on, but running away will just make it worse..." Naruto let out a sigh.

"I don't like this, Naruto...I don't like this at all." Temari said as she tightly hugged Naruto.

"Don't worry...It's probably nothing big." Naruto replied.

"Please come back safe and in one piece..." Temari whispered as she laid a hand on the back of Naruto's head.

"Well, I won't if you keep holding me much longer." Naruto sheepishly grinned at Temari.

Temari released Naruto from her hug and looked at him with worried eyes, "Just...Let us know what happened as soon as possible, alright?"

"Don't worry." Naruto grinned at Temari, "I'll be back before you know it! Well...Probably..."

"Hurry up and go then." Temari said as she faintly smiled at Naruto.

Naruto nodded, quickly headed out of the storage room and opened the front door, "Alright guys, I'm ready. Let's get going..."

"Heh...Right on time it seems." One of the ANBU remarked, "Ain't that a bit ironic..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto said an eyebrow at the ANBU.

"Nothing." Another ANBU replied, "Now...Please follow us quietly and without resistance..."

"Heh...It's not like I have a choice, now do I?" Naruto smirked and headed off with the ANBU.

A while later, Naruto was walking along with the ANBU towards the other side of Konoha.

"Shouldn't we be heading the other way? Tsunade-obachan's office isn't this way at all..." Naruto stated as he looked over his shoulder towards the Hokage's statues.

"We're not going to Hokage-sama's office." One of the ANBU stated.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asked as he looked at the ANBU.

"Interrogation takes place in a different building. Or did you honestly think we'd be taking you directly to Hokage-sama?" The ANBU questioned, not even bothering to face Naruto.

"Of course! 'Bachan ordered this and I want answers!" Naruto replied with a stern look on his face.

"And answers is what you will get once we've taken you to where we were ordered to..."

Naruto frowned and closed his eyes for a moment, "Normally Tsunade-obachan would ask me to come to her office if something's going on...Something's weird about this..."

Naruto eyed the ANBU suspiciously, which didn't go unnoticed by the ANBU, "What's wrong?"

"No...Nothing." Naruto said as he looked away, "Not with me at least..."

After a while, they entered a fairly normal looking building and the ANBU guided Naruto through the hallways.

"If they plan on doing anything with me, they'll do it soon...This is the moment where I absolutely can't drop my guard..." Naruto mentally stated to himself as he looked around.

"Please enter this room." One of the ANBU said as he pushed a door open.

Naruto slowly stepped into the room, which was rather dark due to the fact that there were only a bunch of small windows that let only a certain amount of light into the room.

"This must be it then..." Naruto said as he walked further into the room.

"Yo, Naruto..." Jiraiya said as he stepped into sunlight, "Looks like you're finally here."

"Ero-sennin?!" Naruto let out in surprise, "What are you doing here? Why did these guys say that I'm under arrest?!"

"Naruto!" Jiraiya raised his voice, "Be quiet for a bit. I'll explain it to you in a few moments..."

"...Hm?" Naruto gave Jiraiya a questioning look as Jiraiya looked at the ANBU behind him and nodded.

"Then..." One of the ANBU said as all of the ANBU, except for two of them, left the room.

The remaining two ANBU walked to either side of the room and disappeared in the shadows.

"Naruto...What's the last thing you remember of last night?" Jiraiya questioned as he started walking from left to right.

"Ehm...I found Temari sleeping outside, so I woke her up. She accidentally gave me a headbutt. After that we went inside and headed to bed, I think. Why?" Naruto blinked at Jiraiya.

"At what time did you go to bed?" Jiraiya asked and stared with a stern face at Naruto.

"Ehm...Probably...After midnight." Naruto said and pondered about it for a bit, "Yeah...But why do you want to know that, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya turned his head to the left and peered into the shadows for a moment before facing Naruto again, "And before you found Temari, what do you remember from that time?"

"Hmmm...Well, I was heading away from my place because I just visited Temari as...you know who." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "I needed to make some distance from my place before I could change back to myself and head back without it being suspicious..."

"And so you did just that?"

"Of course! Once I figured I had gotten far enough, I changed back and..." Naruto pondered for a moment and nodded, "Then I found Temari sleeping outside."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "Do you remember what you did before deciding to head back?"

Naruto blinked at Jiraiya, "What do you mean?"

"Well, like you said, it would be suspicious if you came back just when 'he' left...Therefor you must've done something before heading back." Jiraiya stated and raised an eyebrow at Naruto, "Also, you said you found her sleeping, right? Considering she was wide awake when you left, isn't it kind of weird that you found her sleeping when you got back?"

"Maybe she was really tired?" Naruto wondered, "Does it really matter? It doesn't tell me one bit about why I was taken here this early in the morning!"

"It's just as I thought then..." Jiraiya muttered.

"Oi! Answer me already, Ero-sennin! Why was I arrested by the ANBU?!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and stepped aside, "It's probably best if I'd show you, Naruto..."

"Hm?" Naruto let out as he stared at his mentor until the sound of wheels rolling came out of the darkness.

"Yo, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened and he pointed shakingly with a single finger at the person, "Ka...Kakashi-sensei? What happened?!"

Naruto was shocked to see his former teacher in a wheel chair, nearly entirely bandaged from head to toe.

"Jiraiya-sama, I guess it's for the best if you explain it to him..." Kakashi said as he rolled a bit to the side of the room.

"What the hell happened...?" Naruto's body trembled as he kept staring at Kakashi.

"Naruto..." Jiraiya said as he walked back in front of Naruto and drew the attention from the young blonde, "Last night...You assaulted Kakashi and nearly killed him...while being in the Three Tailed state."

"W-What...?" Naruto shivered as he stared with wide eyes at Jiraiya, "That's a lie, right? That's a lie, isn't it Ero-sennin?!"

"Kakashi saw what he saw, Naruto. There's no doubt about it that it was you that put Kakashi in this state...Well, that's not entirely true..." Jiraiya stated.

"But I'd never attack Kakashi-sensei! And I don't remember doing so either!" Naruto exclaimed and gritted his teeth.

"That's why I said it wasn't entirely true that it was you who put Kakashi in that state." Jiraiya stared straight into Naruto's eyes as Naruto let out a gasp, "The... Kyuubi?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Naruto...it looks like you've completely lost control over the Kyuubi inside of you..."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Naruto cut with his hand horizontally through the air, "We've been training for two and a half years, Ero-sennin! You know as well as I do that I can use three out of nine tails without losing control!"

"However, you can barely keep controll in that form as well. Naruto, do you realise why we've brought you here?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto took a step back, "Y-You're...going to kill me?!"

Jiraiya blinked at Naruto, who looked with wide eyes at him, and then Jiraiya burst out in to laughter, "Kill you? Naruto! You think that was what we were planning to do? Wuhahahaha!"

"Well, what else is there that you could do here in such a dark room?!" Naruto pointed at his sensei.

Jiraiya laughed for a bit more and then took a deep breath, "You idiot...We're going to keep you here for a while."

"What?" Naruto blinked, "Why?"
"You realise as well as I do, Naruto..." Jiraiya crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "Right now you're not only a danger to the citizens of Konoha and your loved ones, but also yourself..."

Naruto looked at his feet, "I know, but..." Naruto looked straight at Jiraiya again, "I'm sure I didn't lose control or anything! And even if I did, I'd never attack Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto. I know you wouldn't, but I also know that you aren't in control of your actions when the Kyuubi takes over." Jiraiya stared back into Naruto's eyes, "Just stay here for a while. Tsunade and I are going to look into the Scroll of Sealing to find out if we can reinforce your seal, if not permantly suppress the Kyuubi's chakra."

"But last time a seal was used, it..." Naruto protested but got cut off short by Jiraiya, "The seal we'll be using will be different from the one Orochimaru used on you long ago. Well...Even though I said we'd be permantly suppress the Kyuubi's chakra if possible...A small part of it has already mixed with your own, so you don't have to worry about losing your ability to heal faster than others."

Naruto sighed, "Alright, I'll just stay here. It's not like I have a choice, right? Just hurry up and get that sealing method or something..."

Jiraiya nodded at Naruto, "I'll be back soon then. Just stay here for a while and well...train a bit or something. Just don't do anything foolish."

After Jiraiya told Naruto that, he walked past him and headed out the door, leaving Naruto behind in a room filled with an awkward silence.

Naruto sat down on the floor, looked at Kakashi from the corners of his eyes and sighed, "Did I really attack Kakashi-sensei?...I can't believe it."

He looked around the room, wondering what the ANBU and Kakashi were thinking right now, "Well...I guess this is for the best. That stupid fox has been causing me nothing but trouble. And now that he attacked Kakashi-sensei, he'll..."

Naruto rose his head up and gasped as he stared with wide eyes out in front of him, "Why would that damned fox attack Kakashi-sensei in the first place? Also, why just Kakashi-sensei...?"

Naruto stared blankly in front of him for a while, "Something is weird about this...Why would a demon bent on destruction only attack one person before escaping unnoticed by anyone else?"

Naruto looked at Kakashi, "Well...Kakashi-sensei is smart enough to take the battle away from a crowded area, but even then more shinobi must've been alerted by the battle...Something's really wrong about this..."

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto spoke up and waited for Kakashi's reply.

"Hm? What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi slightly turned his head towards Naruto.

Naruto looked straight into Kakashi's eyes, "I want to know something...How did you survive 'my' assault? I'm sure the Kyuubi wouldn't really spare anyone if he went on a rampage..."

Kakashi slightly tilted his head up, "No...I was almost sure I was going to die... Then you suddenly stopped and ran away."

"Hmmm." Naruto let out and gave Kakashi a suspicious look, "Well...That could be, but it still doesn't explain how everything was calm and quiet as I moved from my place to here. I'm sure there would be an uproar amongst the villagers."

Naruto crossed his arms, closed his eyes and nodded a couple of times, "Something..."

Naruto cringed as the door behind him was suddenly slammed open. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened.

"Anko-sensei...?" Naruto let out as Anko walked into the room, "What the hell is she doing here?"

She walked past him, not saying a single word back to Naruto and headed over towards Kakashi.

Naruto cocked his head towards them as Anko bend over and whispered something to Kakashi, "Damn it...I can't hear them..."

He could vaguely see Kakashi nod his head before Anko pushed Kakashi's wheelchair into the darker part of the room.

Naruto perked his ears as he faintly heard Anko and Kakashi discuss something, "Damn it...Why do I have an awkward feeling about this..."

"Uwaaa!" Kakashi screamed, Naruto's eyes widening in surprise.

The scream didn't go unnoticed by the two ANBU in the room either and they dashed into the darker part, "Oi? What happened?"

As Naruto stood up from the ground he could hear a few punches and kicks before the two ANBU let their agony be known to Naruto as well.

"What the..." Naruto let out as he raised his fists and glared into the darkness.

A moment later, Anko stepped out of the darkness and blinked at Naruto, "Naru-chan, what's with that scary look?"

"Anko-sensei...What did you...? What about..." Naruto pointed behind Anko and the purple headed kunoichi grinned at him, "I came to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" Naruto repeated and blinked at Anko, "Why?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Anko asked as she stepped towards him and grabbed onto his wrist, "Well...Let's get going then."

"Hold up!" Naruto pulled himself free from Anko's grasp, "Are you crazy? I can't just leave! Ero-sennin still hasn't come back to reinforce my seal and..."

"You don't need it, Naruto." Anko looked straight into Naruto's eyes.

"I attacked Kakashi-sensei and I forgot about it! So..."

Anko closed her eyes, "I heard all about it..."

"Then you understand why I..." Naruto stopped as Anko shook her head and then smirked at him, "I...don't believe the story of you losing your mind enough to attack someone you care about even the slightest bit."

"Eh? But..." Naruto protested, but again got cut off by the Special Jounin, "Have you..."

"Hm?" Naruto let out and blinked at Anko as she smirked at him, "Thought about using force or violence to get me away from you?"

Naruto gasped and then pointed at Anko, "There's no way I'd do that! You might be annoying at times, but something like that is..."

Naruto paused and stared blankly in front of him as Anko grinned at him, "Something you'd never do, am I right?"

"But then why did...?" Naruto looked over his shoulder.

"I'm thinking it wasn't you who lost control, but rather that you were forced to lose complete control." Anko said and shrugged, "Either way, let's get out of here before the ol' perv comes back to use some weird sealing jutsu to mess up my Naru-chan."

Anko turned around and started heading out of the room until Naruto called out to her, "Wait...How do you know for sure it was something else that made my mind more mixed up then the mixed up ramen special and forced the Kyuubi to take over?"

"I'm not sure..." Anko said and looked over her shoulder at Naruto, "I just have a...feeling something or someone else is responsible for it."

Naruto stared at Anko for a moment until she gave him a wide smile, "Well! Let's go then!"

He nodded and quickly followed Anko out of the building.

"You realise you'll get in a lot of trouble by doing this, right?" Naruto asked Anko as they walked through the streets of Konoha, taking alleys and small roads to stay hidden.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, it's worth it." Anko smiled at Naruto, "Though, I haven't heard a thank you yet..."

"Ehehehe..." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Thank you...I guess."

Anko pulled Naruto towards her and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, "You're more than welcome."

Naruto just stopped walking and stared at Anko's back as she headed on, "God damn her..."

He took a quick sprint towards Anko and wrapped his arm around her waist before quickly pulling her back.

"Naru-..." Anko managed to bring out before Naruto passionately kissed her.

Naruto released Anko from his hold and dashed off, "Thanks a lot for saving me, sensei! See you later!"

Naruto jumped up a building and started running as fast as he could, "Oh man, maybe I overdid it a bit...I know she wanted that, but I think I just unleashed a demon within her or something."

He looked over his shoulder, hoping that Anko wouldn't chase after him at Mach 5.

Anko just stood there dazed for a moment before she started to shiver and a wide smirk crossed her face.

"KURENAI!" Naruto heard Anko yell and nearly caused him to fall over.

"Crap...Looks like I've just brought Kurenai-sensei into a bit of trouble..." Naruto looked with wide eyes in front of him, "Well...I think she likes doing things with Anko-sensei a lot though..."

Meanwhile, over at Kurenai's apartment, Anko's voice entered the genjutsu user's ears.

"Anko? At this time?" Kurenai's eyes grew wide as she quickly looked around her.

She then hastily dived into her pile of stuffed animals, pulled them towards her and covered herself entirely with them.

"Please let her think I'm on a mission, please let her think I'm on a mission..." Kurenai prayed as she peered through a small opening.

Then all of a sudden, Anko jumped on top of her and pressed the two of them against the ground, "Sorry, Nai-chan...Playtime starts early today."

Kurenai squealed loud enough for all of Konoha to hear and Naruto cringed, "Looks like Anko-sensei and Kurenai-sensei met up..."

"Oh well..." Naruto let out a sigh as he leaped through the air, "At least she'll stay away from me for a while."

Naruto closed his eyes, "That leaves me with no worries, I guess..."

His face then hit something, causing him to fall back and open his eyes.

"Yo, Naruto." Jiraiya stated as he crossed his arms in front of him.

"Ero-sennin?!" Naruto let out as he quickly jumped up, "It wasn't my idea! She just came and...!"

"I know, Naruto. There's no need to tell me." Jiraiya sighed, "Well, it's not like it matters anyway."

"Because you're taking me right back, right?" Naruto said and slightly smirked at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya grinned at Naruto, "Wipe that smirk of your face, you conceited brat. You're mistaken."

"Eh?" Naruto let out and blinked, "But I...You...I thought...You aren't going to drag me back?!"

Jiraiya closed his eyes, slightly lowered his head and smiled, "Unfortunately, the elders won't allow Tsunade or me to access the Scroll of Sealing and told Tsunade to put you under ANBU watch."

"So...I'm going to have ANBU on my tail instead?" Naruto questioned as he raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya.

"No, I told the elders that I'd take care of you." Jiraiya opened his eyes and gave Naruto a stern look, "So I'll be tagging around your house for a while..."

Naruto leered suspiciously at Jiraiya, "Why do I get the feeling you don't mind that one damned bit?"

Jiraiya sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "What makes you say that?"

"No, never mind..." Naruto said and straightened up, "Ano, Ero-sennin? Am I sort of...out of trouble now?"

Jiraiya smirked at Naruto, "Yes and no."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto put his hands on the back of his head.

"Well, you're out of trouble right now...However, tonight might be a different story." Jiraiya grinned widely at Naruto.

Naruto looked clueless at Jiraiya, causing the old hermit to grin ever wider, "Tsunade's bachelorette party."

Naruto slightly jumped up, "Ehehehe...That, huh? Well...ehm..."

"Ehm...What did Anko-sensei do to Kakashi-sensei and the ANBU anyway?" Naruto hastily tried to change the subject.

"Well...Let's just say...She hit them where it hurts...and hit rather hard...Honestly, I'm glad I wasn't there..." Jiraiya sheepishly grinned at Naruto.

"Oh man...I'm glad I have Anko-sensei on my side..." The blonde shivered at the thought of him being in Kakashi's place back then.

"Anyway, about that bachelorette party..." Jiraiya said and walked up to Naruto.

"Naruto." Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and paused for a moment as the blonde looked up at him.

The old hermit grinned and a sparkle shined in the corner of his eyes, "I expect you to come back with some great stories. I'll teach you something really cool in return."

Naruto gave Jiraiya a thumbs up along with a bad ass look, "Hehe, leave it to me..."

Jiraiya grinned widely and pushed a photo camera into Naruto's hands, "Then, I'll leave it to you."

Naruto looked at the camera in his hands as Jiraiya skipped off.

"See you later, Naruto!" Jiraiya called out and Naruto tilted his head up, glared at the hermit and pointed dramatically at him, "EH? OI! ERO-SENNIN! WAIT A GOD DAMN MINUTE! YOU WANT ME TO DO SOMETHING PERVERTED, DON'T YOU?!"

Naruto gritted his teeth as Jiraiya just grinned and waved at him before leaving Naruto's view, "Damn...Like hell I'll do something like that for you."

He then quickly headed back home, only stopping at the small balcony to the side of his apartment.

"Well...I guess I'll just put this thing over here then..." Naruto stated as he carefully placed the camera he got from Jiraiya down, "Even though I won't make any perverted pictures for Ero-Sennin, it might be fun to just take normal pictures tonight..."

A few moments later, Naruto was back inside his apartment.

He took his jacket off and called out, "I'm back!"

A flash could be seen from the living room and the next moment, Naruto was lying down on the floor.

Temari sat on top of him and inspected him with her eyes as Naruto sheepishly grinned at her, "Glad to see you too, Temari."

The wind mistress tilted Naruto's head to the left and the right before staring at him, "You're alright, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm still the same as I left...I guess." Naruto sheepishly grinned at her.

Temari pulled Naruto up and pressed him tightly against her, "I was really worried something would happen to you..."

"He was only gone for about half an hour..." Gaara stated as he stood in the entrance to the living room.

Temari turned her head towards her younger brother and threw a sharp glare towards him. Gaara shrugged and headed back into the living room.

The blonde kunoichi from Suna turned her face back towards Naruto, who she still tightly embraced, "What happened? Why did they take you away? Please tell me..."

"I would, but Temari..." Naruto's voice was slightly muffled, "You're kind of suffocating me..."

Temari slightly blushed and quickly released Naruto enough from her grasp to let him breathe freely, "Sorry about that..."

Naruto sheepishly grinned at her and slightly blushed as well, "It's alright..."

"Well?" Temari slightly threw her head back so she could look better into Naruto's eyes, "Why did those ANBU had to take you away this early in the morning?"

Naruto slightly frowned, "Don't worry, Temari...It's nothing you should worry about."

Temari slightly glared at him, "Doesn't seem like something I shouldn't worry about to me..."

"Really." Naruto grinned widely at her, "It was nothing special. Ero-sennin just want to tell me something."

"Stop lying to me." Temari glared at Naruto, "They said you were under arrest and there were TWO ANBU squads that were assigned in taking you away. Like hell if all that was just for a message from your sensei."

"Heh..Guess it's no use lying to her...Well..." Naruto slightly smirked at Temari, "Temari...Sorry, but I'd rather not tell you why they took me away..."

"What...? Why not?"

"Because..." Naruto replied and looked away from Temari.

"Don't you trust me or something?" Temari asked and forced Naruto to face her again.

"It's not that..." Naruto sighed and closed his eyes.

"I was here worrying sick about you for what they might do to you. I want to know why, Naruto!" Temari glared at Naruto.

Naruto sheepishly grinned at her, "Because you're a caring big sister?"

Temari slightly pouted, "Can you at least tell me why you won't tell me for what reason they took you away?"

Naruto looked at Temari for a moment and then hugged her, "Would it be enough if I told you that I wanted you to be able to hold me like this without a shred of fear?"

Temari tightly embraced Naruto again, "Geez...You sound like you've gone soft or something..."

Naruto grinned, "Ehehehe. Don't worry. I'm still me. Now...Let's head back to bed and get a bit more rest. I want to be well rested for tonight's party."

Temari slightly pulled away from Naruto and stared at him with wide eyes, "The Hokage's bachelorette party! I forgot all about it!"

"Eh? You did?" Naruto let out before he realised what Temari said and he stared at her with wide eyes, "Eh?! You mean you're going to that too?!"

"Of course! There's no way I wouldn't go to that." Temari stated and then frowned, "However...I don't really have any suiting clothing for tonight..."

"Why not go in what you usually wear?" Naruto blinked at Temari for a moment.

"Are you kidding me?" Temari raised an eyebrow at Naruto, "Tonight's the final battle for Nemar-kun, because tomorrow it's Valentine's Day. I've got to look as good as I can."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "You know...I don't think that Nemar guy would really mind seeing in your regular outfit."

"No..." Temari protested, "I want to show him how beautiful I can be. Besides, it's been a while since I've gone shopping for new clothes..."

"Yeah only a few days..." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"What did you just say?" Temari asked as she threw a sharp look at Naruto.

"No, nothing..." Naruto sheepishly grinned at Temari for a moment and then smiled at her, "Anyway, I think that Nemar guy will think you're beautiful either way."

Temari blushed, "N-Naruto..."

"You two should hurry up and get back to bed..." Gaara called out from the living room, "Or even better...Make me some breakfast..."

"Well...I don't really feel like sleeping anymore." Temari sheepishly grinned, "I'll make us some breakfast."

"But..." Naruto blinked at Temari, "What about being rested for tonight?"

Temari smirked at him, "You don't seem to be very tired to me."

"Well...ehm..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Damn, she's right...I'm not tired at all. And breakfast does sound really nice..."

"Or is it perhaps that you just want to me to cuddle up against you?" Temari winked at Naruto and playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"N-No! It's just that...Well..." Naruto blushed and looked with wide eyes at Temari, "I wouldn't mind that at all...but having her say it like that..."

Temari smirked, "I'll go make us breakfast."

"Eh...I'll help you out, Temari." Naruto said hastily.

"No, yesterday you made breakfast for me. Today I'll do the same for you...and Gaara, of course." Temari smiled at Naruto as she stood up, "Just be quiet and stay out of the kitchen for a few minutes."

Naruto sat down with his legs crossed and pondered, "Hmmm...What should I do after breakfast...?"

He stared ahead of him, faintly hearing the sounds of Temari gathering what she needed to prepare breakfast. Other than that, there was absolute silence in his apartment.

Naruto jumped up and stretched out, "Man...It's too quiet here. I wish it was a bit more lively..."

As if the gods heard his wish, Naruto's front door was slammed wide open, causing Naruto to jump and turn around.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Naruto-kun!" Lee and Gai cheerfully exclaimed.

"Fuzzy eyebrows?! Gai-sensei?!" Naruto slightly backed away from the duo, "What are you two doing here?!"

"Naruto-kun! Please come with us!" Gai struck his nice guy pose.

"What?! Why?" Naruto asked.

"I'll explain everything in a bit! Lee! Let's do it!" Gai exlcaimed as he looked at his student.

"Ossu!" Lee exclaimed just a second before both he and Gai tackled Naruto.

"Oi! What are you two doing?!" Naruto let out as Lee and Gai started to drag him out of the apartment, "What is this?! The 'take-Uzumaki-Naruto-out-of-his-home-early-in-the-morning' day or something?!"

"Don't worry! This is for your own good!" Gai exclaimed as he and Lee dragged Naruto out of his apartment.

"Temari! Gaara! Save meeeee...!" Naruto yelled just seconds before the front door was shut by Lee.

Temari cocked her head through the door opening for a moment, "Naruto...?"

"He left with Lee and his sensei..." Gaara stated from his usual position on the couch.

"What is he thinking? I'm preparing breakfast. Geez..." Temari let out before she quickly headed back into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been dragged onto his rooftop by Lee and Gai, who now stood across him.

"What are you guys thinking, dragging me out like that all of a sudden?!" Naruto yelled at them.

"Naruto-kun..." Gai said, looking at Naruto with a serious expression on his face, "I heard about what happened."

"Eh?"

"I told Lee about it and we both decided..." Gai closed his eyes for a moment and then struck his nice guy pose again, "Starting today, you'll receive heavy mental training from me and my cool student, Lee!"

"Eh?! Wait! What?!" Naruto yelled, "You told Fuzzy Eyebrows?!"

"Of course, Naruto-kun." Lee raised his fist up in the air, "However, don't worry! With Gai-sensei's super cool and amazingly youthful training, you'll never be crazy again!"

"I'm not crazy!" Naruto yelled.

"Lee! Listen more carefully to what I say!" Gai scolded, "Naruto-kun isn't crazy, he just went crazy and caused an accident that hurt my eternal rival Kakashi!"

"Ah! My apologies, Gai-sensei!" Lee slightly bowed and then looked at Naruto again, "My apologies to you too, Naruto-kun. However, what I've said is true! With Gai-sensei's Springtime of Youth training, you'll have a tip top mental condition!"

"Ugh...You guys..." Naruto let out and slightly twitched.

"Well then, " Gai said and struck his combat pose along with Lee, "Let the training begin."

"Ehm...Can't this wait until after I've had breakfast?" Naruto asked and slightly backed away, "Or until I've become like...Hokage..."

"Sorry, Naruto-kun! But youthful trainings do not wait!" Gai exlcaimed.
"But Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, "Didn't you always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Well...I did say that, didn't I?" Gai pondered for a moment, "My student! Did you have breakfast yet?"

"No, I didn't sir!" Lee replied and Gai frowned, "Neither did I! However! I have a magnificent and youthful idea!"

"Naruto-kun! Mind if we join you for breakfast?" Gai asked and rose an eyebrow at Naruto.

"Actually, I..." Naruto said and before he could finish his sentence, Gai spoke up again, "Great! Lee, let's have our most important meal of the day with Naruto-kun!"

"Ossu!" Lee exlcaimed and saluted his sensei.

"These guys..." Naruto twitched and then sighed, "Alright, alright...Just don't expect to get a whole lot...And try not to speak too loud, alright?"

"Ossu!" Lee and Gai exlcaimed simultaneously.

A few moments later, the three of them were back in Naruto's apartment and entered the living room.

"Oh! It's Kazekage-sama, isn't it?" Gai exclaimed as he noticed Gaara sitting on the couch.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Gaara!" Lee exclaimed, "How are you feeling today?"

Gaara turned his head around and momentarily stared at the two green clad men, "...Good."

"And then there must be..." Gai said smiling as he and Lee turned around to face Temari.

Their jaws slightly dropped open, their eyes went wide and an awkward silence fell upon everyone in Naruto's apartment.

"Uuuwaaaa!" Temari let out a war cry, which was followed up with sounds of several things breaking and people getting hit by a large fan.

Within a few seconds, Lee and Gai were litterally flying out the front door.

"And only come back when I'm properly dressed!" Temari yelled at them before slamming the door shut.

"Te-Temari...Don't you think you overdid it a bit...?" Naruto asked as he looked with scared, wide eyes at Temari.

"I don't want them to see me in my nightgown..." Temari stated as she dusted her hands off and placed her fan against the wall.

"But...Isn't it the same as me seeing you?" Naruto asked as he raised an eyebrow at Temari.

She slightly glared at him, "There's a huge difference between you and those two..."

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Ehehehehe...Well, you've got a point there."

"Anyway...I'm going to change in the bathroom. Naruto, come with me..."

"Eh? Why?" Naruto blinked at Temari.

"Come. now." Temari commanded and Naruto slightly jumped up, "Y-Yes ma'am!"

Temari grabbed her clothes and opened the bathroom door, letting Naruto go in first. She then quickly looked at Gaara and sheepishly grinned, "Sorry, Gaara. I'll fix breakfast in a few minutes, alright?"

"I can wait..." Gaara stated and closed his eyes as Temari closed the bathroom door.

As she locked the door, Naruto raised an eyebrow at her, "Why do you need me to be here anyway?"

"In case those two decide to come back in and need to go to the bathroom just when I'm standing here entirely naked..." Temari said as she walked past Naruto.

"How am I supposed to help then?" Naruto looked questioningly at Temari.

The wind mistress grabbed the young blonde's shoulders, turned him towards the door and slighlty pushed him forward, "You're going to be my human shield to obscure their view in case they come crashing through that door."

"Heh..." Naruto grinned, "I could've just stood guard outside the door, you know."

"I know..." Temari replied as she began to change her clothes, "But it's more fun to have you on this side of the door."

"This somehow feels...kind of weird..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

Temari froze in her position and stared at Naruto for a moment, "What do you mean?"

"Well...Being in a room with a girl...who's naked behind your back..." Naruto laughed sheepishly, "It feels kind of weird."

"Naruto...Maybe you didn't realise it, but..." Temari said as she stepped towards him, "Do you know that the distance between you and me here is a lot more than when we're asleep?"

"Of course I do. You have to change your clothes after all." Naruto replied and shrugged, "Does it matter?"

"Just to let you know...Usually, there are only two thin pieces of fabric separating our bodies when we're asleep..." Temari paused and smirked at Naruto, "And you feel weird if I'm standing a few feet behind you entirely naked?"

"Two?" Naruto replied and slightly tilted his head, "I'm wearing a t-shirt at night, you know..."

"Did you forget?"

Naruto crossed his arms and thought for a moment, "Forget what?"

"Most of the time I'm not wearing any underwear at all when I'm asleep..." Temari answered and her smirk widened.

Naruto gulped, "O...Oh yeah...I forgot about that, I guess..."

Temari placed her hands in front of Naruto's eyes and leaned against him, "So this is pretty much what you're used to..."

Naruto felt his cheeks flare up, "T-Temari...You're..."

"Na...ked...?" Temari whispered in Naruto's ear, causing him to shiver. Naruto gulped and shivered again, "Y-You are, aren't you?"

Temari snickered slightly and leaned her head against Naruto's, "Nope. Not fully at least."

"I-It doesn't feel like it..." Naruto blurted out and mentally slapped himself, "Oh man...Temari, you..."

"Don't worry, I'm still wearing my underwear..." Temari smiled at Naruto.

"But you said..." Naruto replied, only to get interrupted by the kunoichi from Suna, "That I don't usually wear underwear when I'm asleep. Last night was different. I was tired and didn't feel like taking it off."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief, "For a second there you had me thinking you really were naked...Don't do such things to a teenage guy."

"Hm? Why not?" Temari grinned a wicked grin at Naruto, even though he couldn't see it.

"...I don't really like getting nosebleeds." Naruto replied and slightly shivered again.

Temari pulled herself away from Naruto and smiled, "Well...I can understand that. Don't worry, in time you'll stop getting nosebleeds."

"How do you know?" Naruto questioned and Temari just reached with her hand over Naruto's shoulder, "Here. Hold onto these for me for a moment, would you?"

Naruto took what Temari gave him and gave the purple fabric a closer look when Temari pulled her arm away, "Ah! Temari! These are...!"

"You're ticket to hell if you turn around right now..." Temari playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

Naruto fossilized and just stared at the bathroom door, "Y-Yeah...Don't worry."

Temari wrapped her arms around Naruto and pressed him against her, "Here...This is what it would feel like if I were sleeping in the same bed as you without wearing a gown..."

"Te-Temari!" Naruto let out and Temari shushed him, "Ssssht...Not too loud or Gaara will hear us."

"Or Gaara will hear us?! Oh man..." Naruto started to sweat as his heart raced faster than ever before, "Are we...Is she planning..."

"And? Does it feel nice?" Temari asked as she rested her head against his, "Y-Yeah..."

"Naruto...? I want you to answer something for me and I want you to do it while looking at me..."

"Y-You mean as in right now?!" Naruto softly yelped and Temari slightly nodded, "Right now."

"Eh...Ok..." Naruto replied and Temari turned Naruto around to face her, staring straight into his eyes the instant she turned him around.

"W-Well...What do you want to ask me?" Naruto asked as he stared into her eyes and Temari smiled at him, "I'm going to ask you two questions...The first you don't have to exactly look into my eyes and answer it, but the second you do. Ok?"

He nodded in reply and Temari smirked at him, "Naruto...Do you want to look at the rest of my body right now?"

Naruto felt his entire face flare up, "Eh...? W-Well...I...Ehm..."

"I don't mind if you want to..."

"Well...I guess this is something I really shouldn't pass on..." Naruto gulped as sweat crawled down the back of his neck, "R-Really...?"

Temari nodded at him, "It's fine, Naruto..."

Naruto gulped and then slowly started to trail down with his eyes, until all of a sudden everything went black for him.

"Temari's hand..." Naruto thought as he felt that it really was Temari's hand covering his eyes, "My..."

Temari pulled Naruto towards her and whispered in his ear, "I didn't fully expect you to actually do that...You perv..."

"B-But, I thought you said..." Naruto protested and Temari tightly embraced him, slightly lifting his head up with her free hand to make him look into her eyes, "That it was fine and it was. I just wanted to see if you actually wanted to see me."

"Temari...Why would you...?" Naruto blinked at Temari as she smiled softly at him, "I'll tell you in a moment, but right now..."

Temari laid Naruto's head against her, just underneath her own head and rested her head on top of his, "Let me hold you like this for a moment."

"T-Temari...You do realise you're still naked, right?" Naruto blushed and hesitantly moved his arms past her sides.

"I know and...You can hug me Naruto, don't worry. Just keep your hands off my rear-end." Temari replied and stroked through his hair.

Naruto slightly chuckled, "Don't think I was planning to place my hands there."

"Well, I wouldn't really mind if you did it...just rather not have you do it." Temari replied and kept stroking softly with her fingertips through Naruto's hair.

"Temari? Why do you want to hold me like this?" Naruto asked as he gently traced with his fingertips over her back.

Temari slightly shivered, "I thought you knew by now that I like hugging you a lot."

Naruto sheepishly grinned, "And I like hugging you too, but this is a bit...ehm..."

"Then, time for the most important question." Temari said as she tilted Naruto's head up and pressed him tightly against her body.

"Ehm...Temari...Do you really have to hold me that tight?" Naruto asked with a blush on his face.
"I'm not going to risk you seeing parts of my body I don't want you to see." Temari replied and looked down towards her chest, "And that bit of cleavage is something you should be used to seeing from me by now."

"Er..." Naruto sheepishly grinned at her, "It's not like I'm paying a lot of attention to that right now."

"Well either way...Look in my eyes Naruto and answer me..." Temari said as she stared into Naruto's eyes and he stared back into hers, "...Can you keep a secret?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked at Temari in confusion, "Of course I can. Why? Is there something wrong, Tema-...?"

Temari held Naruto's mouth open with her hand, kissed him and let her tongue slip into his mouth, cutting the young blonde's sentence off.

Naruto's eyes momentarily widened and then they slowly closed as he returned the kiss.

When Temari broke the kiss, Naruto just stared blankly at her, "Temari...I thought you...you liked..."

Temari smiled at him, "Liked Nemar-kun? I do...But Naruto, I know about your secret...and I..."

"Eh? Y-You know?" Naruto's eyes widened.

"For some time now." Temari stroked with her hand over Naruto's cheek, "You don't have to hide it from me, Naruto..."

"How did you find out?" Naruto asked and kept staring at her, "I just can't believe it! Temari figured it out too!"

Temari smirked at him, "It's quite obvious."

"Eh?! No way!" Naruto let out, "I thought everything was going perfectly!"

Temari smiled at him, "It was and it is. I don't get why you didn't just tell me though..."

"Well...That's..." Naruto looked away from Temari, "A-Anyway...Can you please keep it a secret from the others?"

Temari nodded, "I understand...After all...I think it will be a big surprise to some."

"Heh..." Naruto smiled faintly, "Sakura-chan figured it out as well."

"Hm? You told her?" Temari asked as she slightly tilted her head to the right.

Naruto blinked at Temari, "No, she just figured it out all on her own. I didn't even tell her anything."

"But...She only saw you and me together like once and back then you weren't really..." Temari blinked at Naruto.

Naruto stared at Temari, "Wait...Wait, wait, wait 'tebayo! Temari isn't talking about me being Nemar-kun, is she?!"

Temari stared back at him for a while and then she shook her head, "So you just told her you liked someone and she figured out it was me...?"

"Ehm..." Naruto replied, sheepishly grinning, "What should I tell her? Lying is bad, but telling the truth might be bad as well. And right now I don't have the time to explain everything to her. Damn...What should I do?"

"Well...?"

"Y-Yeah...Something like that..." Naruto gulped, "Can you hurry up and get dressed? Gaara might start wondering what's taking us so long."

Temari stared at him for another moment and then smiled, "You're right."

"You know...You've surprised me, Naruto..." Temari said as she quickly turned Naruto around, holding him for a bit from behind, "I didn't expect you to well...not get a nosebleed while I'm holding you like this."

Naruto sheepishly grinned, "Ehm...well...I guess you can say I'm a bit used to stuff like this by now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Temari asked as she raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

"Ehm...Nothing..." Naruto sheepishly grinned.

"Either way..." Temari said as she moved away from Naruto to get dressed, "I want you to promise me something..."

"If it's keeping what just happened a secret from that Nemar guy, don't worry..." Naruto smirked, "It's not like I can keep it a secret from myself anyway..."

"No...Naruto..." Temari took a deep breath as she paused for a moment, "Promise me you'll always be there for me when I need a hug."

Naruto grinned widely and chuckled, "Ehehehe. Alright, I promise. If you ever need a hug, someone to talk to or just someone to keep you company, I'll be there for you."

Temari smiled, walked up to Naruto and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, "Thank you. Now, let's get some breakfast."

"Eh? You're done already?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Just give me another sec..." Temari said as she quickly made sure she had put everything on properly, "There. All done. I'll do everything else I need to do after breakfast."

Naruto turned around and smiled at her, "Hehe. Alright, I guess I'll go to Hinata then after breakfast."

"You're going to her after breakfast?" Temari raised an eyebrow at Naruto as she placed he hand on her hip.

"Yeah, she asked me to come over today, remember? I'd doubt she'd mind if I wake her up, if she isn't awake already by the time I get there." Naruto grinned widely at Temari.

"Naruto...About Hinata..." Temari said and looked with slightly worried eyes at Naruto, "You...should probably tell her...you know..."

"Hm? Why should I tell Hinata about..." Naruto blinked at Temari in confusion, "She wants me to tell Hinata I like Temari, but Temari said she liked 'Nemar-kun' and that's me, but I think she doesn't know that and she still wants me to tell Hinata that even though she said she liked Nemar-kun and not 'me'...Gaaah! This is confusing me!"

Temari faintly smiled, "You're right...It's most likely for the best if you don't tell her. I'll just have a little talk with her tonight then...I think."

"Talk? About what?" Naruto asked as Temari unlocked the bathroom door and opened it.

Temari looked over her shoulder and smirked at Naruto, "Nothing you should worry about."

Naruto scratched his head as Temari headed out of the bathroom, "Sometimes I just don't get women at all..."

He quickly followed Temari out of the bathroom, only to bump into her around the corner.

"What's wrong, Temari?" Naruto asked and stepped to her side to look at her face. When he noticed that Temari was just looking straight forward, Naruto looked in the same direction as she did.

"Can I get my breakfast yet...?" Gaara asked as he stood with his arms crossed in front of him, his left eye slightly twitching.

Temari and Naruto sheepishly grinned at the red haired Kazekage and Temari nodded vigorously at him.

"Good..." Gaara replied and walked back towards the couch.

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head as he whispered to Temari, "Gaara can be very scary when he's hungry, right?"

Temari faintly nodded and winked at Naruto, "I'll go make us some breakfast before he starts to chew on his own leg...or worse, ours."

"Hehe..." Naruto grinned nervously, "He wouldn't...would he?"

"Who knows..." Temari said as she headed towards the kitchen, "I'll take my time over making breakfast and see if he jumps on top of you..."

"I don't think he would do that." Naruto sheepishly grinned as he followed Temari, "Right?"

"No, Gaara wouldn't do that..." Temari replied, glanced sideways to Naruto and smirked at him, "I wouldn't mind to have a bite of Naruto though..."

Naruto froze on the spot and shivered for a moment, "Somehow that makes me look forward to tonight yet scared at the same time..."

When he finally unfroze and headed back into the living room, Temari was already well on her way with making breakfast for all of them and Gaara was in his usual position on the couch.

Naruto headed over to his bed and dropped himself onto it, looking out of the window at the clear blue sky and the small white clouds drifting about, "Looks like today will be a nice day."

Temari momentarily turned around and smiled at Naruto as he rolled over and stared at the ceiling, "All I have to do today is go to Hinata for a while, shop with Temari and then wait until the night falls and go to that whole party thing..."

"Well..." Gaara stared blankly into the space in front of him, "As long as you two don't make a whole lot of noise like a little while ago, this day will indeed be fine..."

Blood rushed through Temari and Naruto's face and almost instantly they leaped towards Gaara.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Gaara, believe me! Nothing happened at all!"

"I was just surprised by something, that's all!"

"I'm still your innocent older sister, you hear me!"

"Believe us!"

"Yeah! Believe us, Gaara!"

Gaara sniffed the air something, "I smell something..."

"We're not lying!" Naruto and Temari said in chorus.

"It's not that. I believe you two. However..." Gaara closed his eyes and inhaled once again, "I believe something is burning..."

Naruto and Temari slightly pulled away from Gaara, blinked at the red haired boy and then sniffed the air as well.

The eyes of both blondes went wide and they hastily turned around and yelled in unison, "Breakfast!"

A few minutes later the three of them were all sitting around the kitchen table, Gaara being the only one who was already eating his breakfast.

"So in the end it will be ramen after all, huh?" Temari hung her head in defeat and sighed.

"Even though I love ramen, I was looking forward to eating Temari's breakfast." Naruto added and momentarily hung his head in defeat as well before quickly picked up his chopsticks, "Well, whatever...Itadakimasu!"

"Oi! Wait a damned minute, Naruto!" Temari jumped up and held Naruto in a headlock, "What's up with so happily digging into the ramen when you just said you were looking forward to the breakfast I was preparing?!"

Naruto coughed, "Wh-What? G-Gaara is doing that too right?"

"Gaara is different!"

"Temari!"

"I won't let you go that easily!"

Just before he took another bunch of noodles into his mouth, Gaara stared at the two blondes for a moment and then shook his head.

"I'm starting to wonder if everyone who's blonde will act like this towards another blonde..." Gaara mused before he took the noodles in his mouth.

A while later, a bunch of empty ramen cups had filled up the trashcan and the two blondes and red head had finished breakfast.

Naruto stretched out and put his jacket on, "Well then..."

"Be sure to come back for lunch." Temari stated, causing Naruto to pause momentarily and stare at the wind mistress.

"I'll be sure that lunch won't be burned to a crisp." Temari smiled at Naruto, who grinned widely back at her after hearing that.

"Don't worry." Naruto turned around and headed for the door, "I'll never skip a meal unless there's no other way, Temari..."

The wind mistress smiled softly at him and shook her head just before he headed out the door.

"I wonder if Hinata's awake already." Naruto mused as he jumped from building to building, "Well, at least I know where her room is now so I can head straight towards it."

Naruto made haste to the Hyuuga mansion, not feeling quite safe out on the streets at the moment.

------------

Hinata lay peacefully in her bed, the blankets covering all but her head. A single shoulder where normally the cloth of her yukata would rest, now lay uncovered due to the fact that the sleeping Hyuuga heiress twisted and turned more than just a couple of times in her sleep.

"Naruto-kun..." She mumbled with a small smile on her face, "...Glad...like it..."

The blue haired girl inhaled and exhaled peacefully, enjoying every second of the dream she was currently having about the blonde love of her life.

Said blonde just arrived at Hinata's bedroom window and was doing his best to open the window's lock with his chakra.

"Come on, you..." Naruto said through gritted teeth, slightly annoyed that this wasn't really a standard window lock.

A second later, the window however opened and Naruto grinned widely, "It's not good enough to keep me out though."

Naruto peered into the room and quickly recognised Hinata's sleeping form in her bed.

The blonde smiled and crawled into the bedroom, sneaking his way towards the bed.

He couldn't help but softly snicker, "I wonder if I should wake her up with a small kiss again..."

Naruto tiptoed over to the side of the bed and quickly kneeled down in front of the bed.

"She really looks cute when she's asleep..." Naruto thought for a moment as he stroke the girl's hair out of her face.

He bend towards her face and gave her a feather light kiss before pulling away from her.

The Hyuuga girl's eyes opened and stared into Naruto's for a moment as he smiled at her.

"Good morning, H-..." Naruto was cut off as he was pinned to the floor and his lips locked with the silver-eyed girl.

When they broke the kiss and the girl sat straight up on top of Naruto, he blinked for a moment.

"Who would've thought you'd actually come for me..."

Naruto stared with wide eys at the girl and then pointed at her, "You...You're...not Hinata, are you? You're Hanabi!"

"Sssht..." Hanabi silenced Naruto, "Not too loud...My father might hear us..."

"Listen...!" Naruto whispered, yet kept his tone as fierce as possible, "This is..."

"A mistake." Hanabi smirked at Naruto, "I know that...You're here for my sister, aren't you?"

"Of course. Listen, I..." Naruto said as he tried to get back up, but was pinned back down to the floor by Hinata's younger sister.

"Want to get to Onee-san's room, right? You were wrong by just one room, she sleeps in the room next to this one...However since you're here now anyway..." Hanabi leaned forward and ran with her hands over Naruto's chest, "Why don't you join me for a little comfortable nap...? There's just enough room in my bed for the two of us..."

"Sorry, but I'm not..." Naruto again got cut off by the girl, "Or I could call my father and tell him I found this pervert trying to harm his precious daughters..."

"Tsch..." Naruto gritted his teeth, "You wouldn't dare."

Hanabi blinked for a moment and then opened her mouth, "Fa-...!"

Naruto shot up and covered her mouth, "Alright, alright...So you would dare..."

The Hyuuga girl smiled at Naruto as he removed his hand from her mouth, "Well...What is it that you want from me?"

Hanabi smirked at Naruto, "How about we start with you taking off your jacket and shirt...?"

"What...?!" Naruto hissed and slightly glared at the girl.

"It's either that or facing my father..." Hanabi threatened.

Naruto slightly growled, "Geez...This girl is supposed to be Hinata's sister? Hinata must've gotten her Mother's kindness or something and this girl here the 'evil' part of her father..."

Naruto quickly took his jacket off, followed quickly by his shirt, "That's all or what...?!"

Hanabi licked her lips and trailed with her hands over Naruto chest, "So many things to do, so little time to do it..."

The silver eyed girl took her eyes off of Naruto's body and looked him straight into his eyes, "So how about we make a deal?"

"Deal?" Naruto repeated as he blinked at Hanabi.

"I'll let you go to my sister and not tell anything to my father or alert him that you're here." Hanabi replied and smiled sweetly at Naruto.

"I'm not really liking the sound of this..." Naruto thought as he intently threw a bit of a glare towards Hinata's younger sister, "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that you..." Hanabi leaned forward and whispered something in Naruto's ear.

When she pulled away, Naruto blinked at her for a moment, "That's all?"

Hanabi turned bright red, "What do you mean 'that's all?'...?!"

Naruto sheepishly grinned at Hanabi and rubbed the back of his head, "With you demanding that I take my shirt and jacket off...Honestly, I would've expected something really bad..."

"What? I can't help it you look hot without your shirt." Hanabi looked away and blushed brighter, "Besides...I'm old and smart enough to understand certain things, you know."

Naruto grinned wickedly, "Well...Who would've known that the youngest one of the two daughters of the Hyuuga family isn't all that innocent as she appears to be..."

"Hmph..." Hanabi blew a couple of hairs out of her face crossed her arms, "Are you going to hold up to your end of the deal or not?"

"Alright, I'll do it already." Naruto said and wrapped his arms around Hanabi, tightly hugging her. Almost the instant her face made contact with Naruto's skin, Hanabi melted away in Naruto's arms, "So nice and warm..."

"Maybe Hinata and Hanabi have more in common than I thought..." Naruto thought as he looked at Hanabi melt away in his arms, "You're not going to faint, are you?"

"N-No...I'm not." Hanabi said and shyly looked at Naruto, a bright blush forming on her cheeks.

"Well, let's get you back to bed anyway." Naruto said and stood up, carrying Hanabi in his arms, "D-Do I have to?"

"Yeah, I lived up to my end of the deal, so now it's your turn to do so." Naruto said as he laid Hanabi back into her bed.

"Ah...At least I got my first kiss and hug from a really hot guy..." Hanabi sang as Naruto pulled the blankets over her.

"Eh?" He let out and blinked at Hanabi, "Y-Your...f-first kiss?"

Hanabi nodded, smiled at Naruto and quickly pulled the sheets of her bed up higher.

"Geez..." Naruto let out and rubbed the back of his head as Hanabi closed her eyes, "Looks like I've got out of this situation without much trouble. Even though she sort of made me steal her first kiss. Ah, whatever...I should hurry up and get to Hinata already."

Naruto hopped out of the room and clung onto the wall outside before closing the bedroom window. He then peered up ahead for the next window, "Let's see...Hinata's room is the next room, eh? Better check this time if it's really Hinata I'm going to wake up..."

With little effort, Naruto was able to open the window of the bedroom next to Hanabi's and he didn't even have to check if it was Hinata's room, because the Hyuuga heiress lay only a few feet away from the window, still sound asleep in her bed. Naruto crawled into Hinata's room and carefully closed the window behind him before sneaking over towards the girl.

"No doubt about it...This is definitely Hinata." Naruto thought and a smile formed on his face.

Hinata's bed was big enough to let Naruto lie down next to her, which is what he did simply because he felt like taking a different approach in waking up Hinata than he did with Hanabi.

Slowly and carefully, Naruto reached out with his hand towards Hinata's face and when his fingertips gentle touched her cheek, he carefully moved a couple of hair locks out of her face, "Hinata...Wake up..."

Hinata's eyes slowly opened and met Naruto's crystal blue eyes, "Na...ruto...kun?"

"Good morning, Hinata. Did you sleep well?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face.

"Narut-..." Hinata said once more and then her eyes grew wide, "Kyaaa!"

"Hinata! Are you alright?!" Her father knocked two times on her door as Hinata shot up from her bed.

"Oh sh..." Naruto didn't get the time to finish that line as Hinata hastily pulled her sheets up and pulled Naruto further into her bed. Before he could tell what happened, Hinata had lifted her pillow and placed it on top of his head before she crawled on top of him, covering herself entirely up with her sheets and supported herself on her arms and knees.

She managed to sleepily look towards her door just as it was opened by her father, who stood still in the door open, "Is everything alright? I thought I heard you scream..."

"I...I'm fine, father...I just had a scary dream." Hinata gave her father a sleepy smile as he eyed her.

"Shall I let breakfast be delivered to your room?" He asked her as he held tightly onto the doorpost.

"N-No...I'll get out of bed when I feel like eating breakfast..." Hinata replied and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Very well then...I'll see you at lunch." Hiashi said as he looked straight at Hinata as he closed the door behind him.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness...If father had come in the instant he knocked on my door, he would've seen Naruto-kun for..."

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata let out as she quickly rolled off the blonde and lifted her pillow up.

Naruto looked at her and sheepishly grinned, "Looks like we're safe now."

"A-Are you alright?" Hinata asked, blushing out of embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I wasn't suffocating or anything, so I'm all right." Naruto grinned widely at Hinata, "More importantly, I hope I didn't give you a heart attack or something."

Hinata pulled the sheets of her bed all the way up to her face, "N-No...I...I'm fine as well...But, why are y-you here, Na-Naruto-kun?"

"You asked me to come here, didn't you? So I came." Naruto smiled at Hinata.

"B-But right now..." Hinata blushed and looked away from Naruto. He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled a bit, "Well, I didn't know if you were awake already, but I thought you wouldn't mind."

"I...I d-don't...It's just that..." Hinata shifted uncomfortably underneath the sheets and then added in a whisper, "I'm not properly dressed..."

"Hm? What is it?" Naruto blinked at the shy Hyuuga heiress for a moment.

"W-Well...Y-You see...I-I'm wearing a yukata right now...so..."

Naruto sat up and momentarily stared at Hinata, "So what if you're wearing a yukata?"

Hinata pulled the sheets up until it reached over her nose and then softly whispered, "Be-Because I'm not wearing a-anything else...and it isn't sitting properly at the moment..."

Naruto tilted his head and blinked once at Hinata, "Ano...Hinata? I can't really hear you like this."

"C-Could y-you turn around for a m-m-moment, Naruto-kun?" Hinata blushed brightly.

"Ah, sure..." Naruto replied and turned around, "I guess she wants to adjust her clothing so she can talk normally to me..."

A few seconds later, his guess was proven right as he could hear Hinata adjust her clothing.

"Y-You can turn back around, Naruto-kun..." Hinata said a few moments later.

"Alright." Naruto turned around and stared at Hinata, who was lying in the exact same position as she was before, "Eh...? Nothing changed?"

"Th-That's not true...I adjusted my yukata so it would sit as it should..." Hinata replied, looking away from Naruto with a blush on her face, "B-But then I realised...I probably shouldn't show you it..."

"Ah...I see." Naruto laid back down next to Hinata, causing the shy girl to let out a gasp, "Well, don't think I'm not used to seeing a girl, or woman for that matter, in her nightly clothing."

"I-It's not that...It's j-just e-embarrassing...f-for me, that is..."

"Alright, I understand. Well then..." Naruto smiled at Hinata, "Any specific reason you wanted me to come over here or did you just want to hang out with me?"

"E-Ehm...Both, b-b-but...c-can th-that wait a bit?" Hinata blushed brighter.

"Sure! I don't know what else we can do right now though..." Naruto grinned widely for a moment and then stared at Hinata.

After a moment of silence and Hinata shyly looking back into Naruto's eyes, the silver-eyed girl spoke up again, "Na-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto scooted closer towards Hinata and smiled at her, "I just realised something..."

"Eh...?" Hinata let out as her face turned brighter shades of red with each passing moment that Naruto's face drew closer to her own.

When he was only an inch away from Hinata, he moved his hands towards her, "I've been in some awkward moments lately, but you know..."

Hinata shivered and looked with big eyes at Naruto as her heartbeat rapidly increased in pace.

"It's really been a while..." Naruto smiled at Hinata and then embraced her, "Since the last time I gave you a hug, hasn't it?"

The Hyuuga heiress stopped shivering and rested herself against Naruto's body, which caused the blonde to slightly worry, "Hinata? Did you pass out?"

"N-No...I...I-I'm fi-fine..." Hinata managed to bring out. Naruto sheepishly grinned and chuckled, "Sorry, Hinata. If you think you're going to pass out, let me know and I'll give you some room to breathe."

"I-It's all right...E-Even if...Even if I'd fa-faint..." Hinata replied as she deeply breathed in and out.

"Don't say that." Naruto said as he slightly moved away from Hinata, "Fainting isn't good at all. Here, let your body calm down a bit."

"It's alright..." Hinata quickly cuddled up against Naruto, "I-It's not possible t-to get used to be...being close to you, Na-Naruto-kun, by sta...staying away from you, right?"

"I guess so, but you still shouldn't push yourself too much!" Naruto replied as he held Hinata as close to him as possible.

"That may be so..." Hinata let out a yawn, "But right now everything looks like a dream..."

"Hehe! I'm no dream though!" Naruto grinned widely, "I'm real and so are you."

"Uhn...But...F-For me...for me, th-this i-is like a dream..." Hinata blushed brightly and closed her eyes as she leaned her head against Naruto.

"Any way I can prove to you that this isn't a dream?" Naruto asked as he laid one of his hands on the back of Hinata's head.

"Eh...Ehm..." Hinata looked away and thought for a moment.

"Ah, I know already." Naruto said after a moment and Hinata lifted her head up to look at Naruto, "What is it...?"

"This..." Naruto said just a second before planting a kiss on Hinata's lips.

Hinata's face went pale white for a moment and then her face burned up, steam venting from her ears.

"Ehehehe...Maybe that was a bit too much...?" Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"Like my dream...then...next in my dream...is..." Hinata muttered as she shivered and began to move restlessly in Naruto's arms.

"Your dream?" Naruto repeated and blinked at Hinata.

"Y-Yes, then...that happens..." Hinata blushed brightly as she kept moving around and evading any possible eye contact with Naruto.

"That?" Naruto questioned, "It's like I send her to her own world or something..."

Hinata froze and her face flushed crimson red as she shyly tried to look at Naruto, "Eh...Ehm...I..."

Naruto grinned his trade mark wide fox grin and slightly snickered, "Sorry, Hinata. I just thought it was fair to give you a kiss while you're awake since last time I gave you a kiss you were asleep and all..."

"Eh?" Hinata let out and stared with wide eyes at Naruto, "Na...Naruto-kun...Y--You...k...ki...k...ki..."

"You didn't realise it at all, did you?" Naruto smiled at Hinata, "Yesterday when you fell asleep after training, a little voice in my head bugged me for a while, telling me to wake you up with a kiss. So in the end, I did so and you woke up not realising a thing."

Hinata's face flared up again, sweat starting to drip from her forehead and more steam vented out of her ears.

"Ehm...Hinata? Are you...alright?" Naruto asked as Hinata bit her lower lip and breathed way faster than she normally would.

"Hina-...?" Naruto managed to bring out just before Hinata made him lay down on his back. The Hyuuga heiress quickly climbed on top of the blonde and pinned him to her bed with her hands, "Naruto-kun! Please go out on a date with me tomorrow!"

Naruto stared with wide eyes at the silver eyed girl as she hopefully looked back into his eyes, "Hinata..."

After a short moment of silence, Naruto slightly frowned and looked away from Hinata, "Sorry, Hinata, but..."

Hinata lowered her head so that Naruto couldn't see her eyes, "Naruto-kun already has a date tomorrow...?"

"It's not that and it's definitely not that I don't like you! It's just that..." Naruto paused for a moment and looked at Hinata, "You...might hate me by tomorrow..."

Hinata looked with wide eyes at Naruto, "Na-Naruto-kun...I'd never..."

"Hinata, right now, you probably don't know a couple of things about me. Things I've kept a secret from you and other people..." Naruto looked away from Hinata, not wanting to look right into her eyes, "So you see...I can't go out with you on a date tomorrow as long as I hold those secrets."

"Then...Please tell me those secrets...!" Hinata replied, causing Naruto to look at her, "I...I've always...always...l...loved you a-and...I always w-will..."

Naruto stared at Hinata with wide eyes and remained silent, expecting the girl to say more to him.

"Please...Tell me..." Hinata managed to bring out as she looked straight into his eyes, "Nothing...Nothing pains me more...than seeing you carry a burden that's too heavy for you, Na-Naruto-kun..."

"Hinata..." Naruto's eyes trembled for a moment and then he smiled at Hinata as he pulled her down towards him, tightly embracing the shy girl in a hug, "Thank you..."

"Will you tell me?" Hinata said in a whisper, "No matter what it is...I'll do my best to make Naruto-kun happy."

Naruto smiled softly, "Hehe...Somehow Temari's right I guess...I should tell you about it."

Hinata looked with wide eyes at Naruto, "T-Temari-san knows a-about it...?"

"Eh...Not really. She thought something else, which isn't far from the truth, but she did tell me that I should probably tell you. Er..." Naruto paused and sheepishly grinned, "It's a bit complicated, I guess..."

"W-What is it then...?" Hinata wondered and she slightly blushed as she realised, amongst other things, that she was resting her head on Naruto's chest.

"Ehm...Like I said, I hope you won't hate me, but..." Naruto paused and waited until Hinata slightly nodded, "Well, you see...This entire time...I've actually..."

There were two knocks on Hinata's door, followed by Neji's voice, "Hinata-sama...I'm coming in."

Both Hinata and Naruto nearly had an heart attack, causing Naruto to tightly clutch onto the belt of Hinata's yukata and Hinata to sit straight up.

"All available shinobi have been ordered by the Hokage to gather at the Chuunin Exam stadium and..." Neji said as he opened the door before everything fell into an awkward and deadly silence.

"Naruto, you..." Neji clutched his fists.

"Neji-niisan, this...!"

"Neji, this isn't what it looks like! Honestly!" Naruto quickly replied as he looked with wide eyes at the angry Neji.

"Then explain to me why Hinata-sama is half-naked!" Neji pointed at Hinata, whose yukata hung half open, revealing more than just a tiny bit of skin.

"Eh?" Hinata and Naruto let out as they both looked at Hinata's body.

"Eh?! Hinata! Since when are you?!" Naruto yelled and then noticed he was the one holding the belt of Hinata's yukata in his hands, "Whaaaat?! I did this?!"

"Kyaaaa!" Hinata screamed and quickly covered herself up as her face flushed red.

"Naruto...I'm going to kill you..." Neji's left eye twitched as he slowly stepped towards the bed.

Hinata's eyes twitched as well as she slowly turned her head towards her cousin.

"Hinata looks kind of scary..." Naruto shivered as he couldn't help but notice Hinata's eyes twitch uncontrollably.

"What were you looking at when you first came in here! You, hentai-niisan!" Hinata cried out as she jumped off Naruto and charged towards Neji.

"What the?!" Neji managed to bring out before Hinata came within striking range, "Jyuuken!"

"Get out! Out, out, out!" Hinata yelled as Naruto cringed at every painful groan Neji made when Hinata hit him.

After she had litterally send Neji flying out of her room, Hinata closed the door and barricaded it herself.

"Ehm...Hinata...Are...Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he sat up in Hinata's bed.

Hinata slightly blushed and looked at Naruto, "Y-Yes..."

Naruto turned crimson red and looked away from the Hyuuga heiress as he threw her yukata's belt at her, "E-Ehm...I...I think you c-could use this..."

Hinata flushed red as she realised she was pretty much showing everything she had to Naruto, "E-Eh...Ehm...T-Thank you, Na...Naruto-kun..."

She quickly covered herself up again and used her yukata's belt to make sure that everything stayed covered at least.

"Ehm..." Hinata hesitantly walked back towards Naruto, sitting down next to him with her face still flushed crimson red.

"We'd better get going." Naruto stated as he stood up.

"Eh...? W-Why...?" Hinata asked as she shyly looked at Naruto again.

Naruto smiled at Hinata, "Do you want to face your father's wrath then when he hears what Neji's most likely going to tell him? Besides, you heard what Neji said, right?"

"Y-Yes...All free shinobi must gather at the Chuunin Exam stadium..." Hinata replied as she looked away from Naruto.

"That includes you and me, doesn't it?" Naruto smiled as he walked to Hinata's bedroom window, "Hurry up and get dressed, Hinata. I'll be waiting for you just outside."

"Eh? A-Alright...b-but..." Hinata gulped, "Y-You d-don't necessarily h-have to w-wait outside..."

"That's what I meant with pushing yourself too far." Naruto grinned widely at Hinata, "I already saw almost all of your body on accident. You don't have to make me think it was ok by letting me watch you get dressed."

"Eh...Ehm...Na...Naruto-kun..." Hinata blushed bightly and stared at her feet as she fidgeted with her index fingers, "I...I wasn't really suggesting that you'd watch me get dressed..."

"Eh?" Naruto blushed and then sheepishly laughed, "Ah...Ahahaha. S-Sorry, Hinata. I-It's not like I was thinking about it, you know."

After a silence that seemed to last for ages, Naruto opened the bedroom window and sheepishly grinned at Hinata, "T-Then...I'll be waiting just outside of this window for you."

Hinata gave Naruto a small nod and that was enough for him to leap out the window and head outside of Hinata's room.

He sat down on the ground and let out a sigh, "Ahaa...How come I'm always the one ending up in situations like that one? Also, why does it have it end in somewhat of a bad way?"

"However, I think I'm also really lucky..." Naruto mused as rested his head against the wall behind him, "Hinata looks beautiful, she really has a body worthy of a princess."

Momentarily the image of how Hinata looked a few moments ago flashed through his mind and blush formed on his cheeks.

Naruto quickly shook his head and slightly groaned, "Thinking about it isn't going to get me anywhere though...I wonder what Hinata's thinking right now..."

If Naruto had looked into Hinata's bedroom at that exact moment, he would've seen her hugging her jacket for a moment before smiling widely and making a small dance.

"I'm sure she's embarrassed like hell..." Naruto nodded firmly and kept pondering.

"Naruto-kun saw me...It's embarrassing, but he blushed! Therefor he liked what he saw of me...And is attracted to me!" Hinata sang in her mind as she danced around with her jacket and then suddenly stopped, "But...I get the feeling I'm forgetting something..."

Hinata pondered for a moment and then shook her head, smiling once again, "If it's important I'll remember...Right now I have to hurry and join up with Naruto-kun again..."

"Ah, enough worrying about that. More importantly, I wonder what's going on that Tsunade-obachan wants all of us to gather at the Chuunin Exam stadium..." Naruto pondered and stared into the distance.

A few moments later, Hinata climbed out of her bedroom window and stood next to him, "Na-Naruto-kun...I'm ready, so...shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go." Naruto looked up at Hinata and blinked, "Hm? She somewhat seems to be a lot happier now than she was before..."

The two of them quickly jumped off just as the door of Hinata's bedroom opened again.

"Look, Hiashi-sama! Hinata-sama and Naruto are..." Neji pointed into the room and fell silent when he noticed the two were no longer present.

"Where exactly?" Hiashi asked as he walked over towards the window.

"...Not here." Neji replied and Hiashi nodded before putting his head out of the open window and looking around for a moment, "Exactly..."

As Hiashi turned around and headed out the room again, "I'll personally interrogate Hinata later. Neji, hurry up and leave already. You were called by the Fifth."

"Y...Yes sir." Neji replied and closed the bedroom door.

"Maaaaaaan! It's really been a long time ago since I've last been at the Chuunin Exam stadium." Naruto announced cheerfully as he and Hinata jumped from roof to roof.

Hinata smiled shyly at Naruto, "It's been a while for me too..."

"Come to think of it..." Naruto looked up at the sky for a moment and then back towards Hinata, "How long have you been a chuunin now, Hinata?"

"Eh...Well...ehm..." Hinata slightly blushed and looked away from Naruto for a moment, "A bit m-more than...t...two years, I guess..."

"Eh?! That long already?" Naruto blinked at Hinata, "In other words, you became a chuunin almost right after I've left?"

"Y-Yes..." Hinata blushed and looked straight ahead of her.

"Hmmmm...That's kind of amazing, Hinata." Naruto replied as he looked ahead of him again as well, "In less than half a year you became strong enough topass even the final exam. I bet it wasn't easy with people like Neji, Fuzzy Eyebrows and Kiba around."

"N-No...I think I just had a lot of luck back then..." Hinata blushed and managed to faintly smile at Naruto, "That's...That's why I trained almost every free day I had after the exams..."

"Really? Man, you must've become strong then." Naruto grinned widely at Hinata, "You were holding back on me yesterday during training, weren't you?"

"N-No! No...Not at all...other than not using cha-chakra, that is..." Hinata blushingly looked away from Naruto again.

"Hmmm...But you know...That would mean I progressed a lot..." Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and nodded a few times, "Seeing you easily beating the crap out of Neji, a Jounin, just now and me being able to keep up with you..."

"E-Ehm...That was different...Neji-niisan didn't really fight back then, so..." Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, "Ano...Na-Naruto-kun? A-About that..."

"A-Ah...We-Well, you know..." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head as a blush crawled onto his cheeks, "Why did she have to bring this p again?"

Naruto looked with big eyes at the Hyuuga heiress as she gave him the sweetest smile ever, "Ano ne...We have a tradition in our family. The first man outside of the family to see a woman from the Hyuuga naked has to marry her. You'll take responsabilities for that, right?"

"What?! Hinata! What are you talking about all of a sud-...?!"

"Naruto-kun, watch out!"

Hinata tried to warn the shocked blonde, but it was far too late as Naruto crashed against a telephone pole that obscured his way to the next rooftop.

"Damn...That hurts..." Naruto let out just before he started to fall down.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata let out as she landed on the next roof and instantly jumped off it again in order to save Naruto.

Just moments before Naruto would hit the ground, Hinata caught him and managed to bounce the two of them back up to the rooftops.

"Na-Naruto-kun..." Hinata sat Naruto down on the rooftop, "Are you alright?"

Naruto sheepishly grinned at Hinata, who was giving him a look which made the blonde feel bad inside about making her worry, "Yeah, don't worry. This isn't the first time I ran into some blasted telephone pole."

"S-Sorry...I..." Hinata blushed and looked away from Naruto. The blonde gave her a questioning look, "Ehm...Hinata...About what you said before...Is that...true?"

Hinata blushed, "N-No...I just wanted you to laugh, because...because it looked like you needed it."

Naruto grinned widely at Hinata, "Ehehehe. Thanks, but you scared the crap out of me with that. Having to suddenly marry a girl would be a pain right now. Even if it's with someone like you."

Hinata flushed crimson red and Naruto quickly ruffled through his own hair with both his hands, "Ah! What am I saying! Sorry, Hinata. Don't think too much about what I just said if we're going on a mission, it will probably bring you into danger or something."

Naruto waited a moment for the girl to respond, but apparently she was entirely speechless and thus Naruto stood up and stretched out, "Well then, let's hurry up to the Stadium."

"A-Ano...N-Naruto-kun...?" Hinata managed to bring out as she stood up, a blush still burning on her cheeks.

"Something wrong? Even though I like spending time with you, if obachan ordered us to go over there we have to at least hurry up and not be late."

"N-No...I'm alright...I, I...I just wanted to say..." Hinata moved her lips to Naruto's cheek and planted a kiss on it, "Thank you..."

The silver eyed girl then quickly headed towards the stadium, not wanting to wait and see Naruto's response to the sudden kiss.

"Heheh, you're welcome, Hinata." Naruto rubbed his cheek and grinned widely before quickly following the Hyuuga princess to the Chuunin Exam Stadium.

It wasn't long after that, that the two of them had reached the stadium and reached the main stage without trouble.

"Wow, there a lot of shinobi gathered here..." Naruto stated as he looked around, examing the large mass of both male and female shinobi that had gathered in the arena, "I wonder what's going on..."

"Sh-Shall we try to find out then...?" Hinata suggested as she scanned the crowd as well.

"I think I already know who to ask..." Naruto slightly tilted his head and then waved madly at the crowd, "Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired kunoichi cocked her head at the sound of her name and turned around to see Naruto wave energetically at her.

"Naruto! Over here, over here!" Sakura waved back at Naruto and smiled at him.

"Let's go, Hinata." Naruto smiled at Hinata before running off towards Sakura.

"Y-Yes..." Hinata let out and quickly followed the blonde.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled at the pink haired kunoichi when he had reached her.

"Hey, Naruto, Hinata." Sakura smiled at the two, "Finally here, huh?"

"Ehehehe..." Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "I guess so."

"Yo, Hinata! We're over here!" Kiba called out, accompanied by a loud bark from Akamaru.

Hinata turned her head slightly, saw her team mates and sensei standing together and threw a smile at them.

"A-Ano...Naruto-kun, my team mates are calling me so..." Hinata looked shyly at Naruto, who turned his head towards her and grinned widely, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go to them already, I'll catch up with you later."

Hinata smiled at Naruto and then ran off, "B-Bye Naruto-kun! Sakura-san!"

"So you came after all, huh?" Naruto turned around and his smile widened, "Temari! Gaara! You guys are here too, huh?"

"Of course...They came to deliver the message to you and we told them you weren't home right now and you were over at the Hyuuga mansion. They then told us we could go too and that the message would still reach you." Temari paused to raise an eyebrow and a smirk at Naruto, "Looks like it was a little late...or you were kind of busy."

"Te-Temari!" Naruto let out, causing the wind mistress to giggle and Sakura to blink at both blondes.

"Ano, Kurenai-sensei...?" Hinata let out as she eyed her sensei.

The red eyed Jounin let out a sigh and shook her head, "Something wrong, Hinata?"

"Ano...Are you feeling well? You seem...exhausted." Hinata noted.

Kurenai coughed, "Y-Yeah...I'm a bit tired, that's all..."

Hinata tilted her head and looked questioningly at her teacher before shaking her head and turning her face back towards the blonde she always looked at.

"My, my...Who would've thought I'd find you this easily..." A pair of arms wrapped around Naruto and he could almost instantly feel something soft press against his back.

"Good to see you too, Anko-sensei..." Naruto replied, not even needing to turn around to see who the voice belonged to for he recognised it all too well.

"Come on now, Naru-ch..." Anko paused mid sentence as she could feel a couple of death glares aimed at her, each of them belonging to one of the nearby girls, "aaaaa, it's been a while since we've last seen each other. You could be a bit happier."

"A while? What are you talking about? The last time we saw each other was..." Naruto stopped as he felt a nudge against his back.

"Naru..." Anko sang, "Don't you realise that every moment of your life is precious? It's been a while no matter how you look at it..."

Naruto grumbled in slight annoyance, "Damn...It's not like I can do anything about her right now..."

He looked around, searching for the blonde Hokage that should be somewhere around here to at least announce what the mission was, but he didn't find her.

Naruto did catch a glimpse of Neji meeting up with his team and he could've sworn that Neji glared at him for a split second, but Naruto just shrugged it off.

"Ano...Sakura-chan? Any idea where Tsunade-obachan is or what this is about?" Naruto asked as he kept searching the crowd.

"I have no idea...She didn't tell me what this is all about and just told me to get here as soon as possible..." Sakura said as she searched the crowd along with Naruto, "Come to think of it, I didn't see Kakashi-sensei or Jiraiya-sama at all either."

Naruto slightly shivered and looked in the opposite direction, "Well...I'm almost sure Ero-Sennin will at least show up soon."

"Ah! There's Tsunade-sama right now." Sakura announced as the entire crowd's murmur instantly died out when they spotted the Hokage heading towards them, accompanied as usual by her right hand woman, Shizune and her pet pig Tonton.

Naruto then spotted Jiraiya walking not too far behind Tsunade and soon stood along side his fiance in front of the crowd.

When all was silent, Tsunade smiled at the group, "I welcome all of you. Today, all of you are lucky...sort of, I guess."

The shinobi exchanged a few looks with each other before focussing their attention to the Hokage again. Tsunade's smile turned into a smirk, "What are we called here for?...No doubt, all of you are wondering about that right now, so I'll cut right to the case as fast as possible."

"As everyone knows, tomorrow Jiraiya and I will marry each other and therefor I've decided that we should make today as fun as possible." Tsunade said as she walked from the left to the right.

The shinobi group murmured something amongst each other and then one of them spoke up loud and clear, "What do you mean, Hokage-sama?"

"Raidou, it's really simple. Since all of you aren't assigned with missions today or at least won't have to leave today, I've invited all of you to entertain each other." Tsunade's smirk widened, "Today, we're going to have a Battle Royale."

"Battle Royale?" Naruto repeated and again a murmur was released within the crowd.

"Now, now, everyone...Calm down." Tsunade said and stood in front of the center of the crowd again, "I'll explain the rules shortly. Before I do so however, I just want to tell you all that this is just to pass time until the big party tonight each and every one of you gathered here are invited for. Or rather, the kunoichi present here will be with me and the shinobi will be at Jiraiya's bachelor party."

A few chuckles and snickers could be heard from the crowd and after it died out, Tsunade continued after momentarily closing her eyes and smiling, "Well then, I'll explain this Battle Royale to all of you."

"The rules are quite simple. You fight until you are unable to and killing your opponent is not allowed. You can combine forces with people if you'd like, but in the end there can only be one last man standing." Tsunade crossed her arms and stared at the crowd, "During the Battle Royale, you'll have to stay inside the boundries of the arena. Furthermore..."

"Man, this is going to be tough...Joining forces with someone means you still have to fight that person in the end." Naruto thought as he eyed Tsunade, who threw a sharp glance at him before she scanned over the crowd once, "Also, that person could betray you and take you out anytime when you let your guard down...Not to mention you might be stuck with multiple opponents at the same time and at any random time a new opponent might dive into a fight with you while you're still preoccupied with someone else..."

"I know that some of you...no, most of you won't like this, but...All kunoichi are prohibited from entering the Battle Royale at this time." Tsunade stated and caused an uproar in the crowd.

"What the hell did we came all the way here for then?" Temari said, her voice being louder than usual.

"Well, first of all to watch the men brawl and be entertained, second of all the kunoichi will duke it out on their own after the guys are finished." Tsunade replied and smirked at the blonde from Suna.

"I don't get it. Why should we seperate men and women for this?" Temari asked and crossed her arms. Sakura tilted her head and looked questioningly at her teacher, "That's right. We're just as strong if not stronger than the men. Why aren't we allowed to participate, sensei?"

"Well...That's because...you know..." Tsunade's eyes twitched and she then looked disgusted at the crowd, "Men are monkeys..."

"Monkeys?" Naruto along with Temari and Sakura repeated and looked questioningly at Tsunade, who nodded in reply, "No doubt about it...A lot of 'men' here would try to take advantage of the situation...right Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya, who had been grinning pervertedly for a few moments before Tsunade mentioned his name, shook his head and blinked, "Eh? What?"

"Now that you mention it..."

"It would be nice if they joined..."

"Yeah, really..."

"Aaaaah, how nice it could be..."

Tsunade twitched as most of the men in the crowd emitted a pinkish perverted aura, which send a shiver down Tsunade's spine, "That's what I'm talking about..."

Naruto snickered slightly, "Heheh, there could be some interesting situa-..."

The blonde turned his head to look at the purple headed kunoichi that still clung onto him, "...You..."

Anko had a big grin on her face as she seemed to slightly sway from the left to the right and every now and then slightly giggled while leering at Naruto.

"Ano..." Shikamaru raised his hand up in the air, "I couldn't care less whether or not women enter this thing, but there is still such a thing as difference in skill and ranks here. There are Genin, Chuunin and Jounin present here, some of which are more experienced than the others. Wouldn't that be some what...troublesome for the others?"

"That's why you are allowed to team up if you want to. Take out someone who's stronger than you by teaming up with someone else or testing your own capabilities by taking everyone on on your own." Tsunade stated and stared straight into Naruto's eyes, "It's a test of endurance, friendship, strength, speed...A test of your capabilities as a shinobi."

"It's a test, huh? How troublesome..." Shikamaru sighed and tilted his head back to look at the clouds.

"Test, she says huh?" Naruto eyed Tsunade suspiciously, "Could it be that she looked at me just now to indicate this is a test specifically for me?"

"Well then, every woman present here...Please follow me up to the tribune." Tsunade said as she turned around and left.

Naruto looked momentarily at Jiraiya, who looked back at him before following Tsunade, "Looks like it is a test for me...Well, I'm sure I won't suddenly go beserk or something..."

"...I guess we have no choice then." Temari said and let out a sigh before she walked off to follow the Hokage, "Do your best, Naruto."

Naruto grinned widely and rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks, Temari."

"Well then..." Anko slid her hands over Naruto's chest from left to right once, following the same motion with her body and kissed Naruto on his cheek, "Go get 'em, kitsune-kun..."

Naruto blinked at Anko for a moment as she headed off and then pointed at her, "Oi! What the hell was that for?!"

Anko looked over her shoulder and smirked at the blonde, "A good luck kiss."

"Uwaaaa! He's so lucky!"

"I want a good luck kiss from Anko-san too!"

"I'm jealous, really jealous!"

"Yeah, me too!"

Naruto blushed out of embarrassment and slightly growled before muttering, "Damn her...She just made me the first target of most guys..."

The blonde looked around as they all waited for Tsunade, the kunoichi and Jiraiya to reach the tribunes. He was scaling up the competition and he quickly realised he was probably in a lot of trouble if he wanted to win this thing.

"Asuma-sensei...Gai-sensei, Ino's dad, Shikamaru's dad, Chouji's dad and a lot of other Jounins too...Not to mention that all my friends are participating..." Naruto thought as he looked around, slightly twitching at the sight of Lee and Gai doing their push-ups simultaneously, "It's been two and a half years since the last time I saw most of them fight...And a lot of shinobi here are ones that I've never seen fight at all. This will really be one heck of a battle."

"A lot of them seem to be glaring at me as well...Ehehehe." Naruto grinned nervously as his eyes darted from the left to the right and back, "Well, at least there are no ANBU participating."

It wasn't long after that, that the kunoichi had filled the seats in the stadium and that Tsunade walked up to the front of the tribune.

"Well then..." Tsunade announced loud and clear as she rested her hands on the metal of the rails that lay in front of the tribune.

A soft wind blew past all of the combatants as they looked up towards Tsunade.

"Even though my eternal rival Kakashi isn't here, I'll definitely win this Battle Royale and proof to him how amazing I am! My youthfulness will shine!"

"This is my chance! Sakura-san will see how strong I am and definitely fall in love with me this time!"

"He's not here...Well, that's fine...I'll show my capabilities either way and win this..."

"Heh...This is pretty convenient...If I win this, I'll use it to my advantage and finally do that..."

"Geez, how troublesome...Why couldn't she for once give me a mission on a time like this, eh? Well...Losing is troublesome in front of all those women, so I guess I've got nothing but to do my best..."

"Just you wait...I'll show you the strength of the Korean BBQ side...And then..."

"Geez, that Naruto guy...I'll show him...I will win this thing and gain a huge amount of female fans! They'll all fall for the great, mighty Kiba-sama!"

"I see...Kiba, you are already thinking you will win, however...this team's pimp is still me...Therefor, I will definitely..."

"...Looks like all of them are excited about this...It's been a while..."

"What should I do...There's no way I'll get a chance in this battle, however...I'll give it a try and capture it anyway!"

"This is...not just something to test if I can control myself...It's also a way to show all of them what I've learned in two and a half years and how much closer I am to becoming Hokage. Everyone..." Naruto clenched his fist and rose it up in the air, pointing it towards the crowd, "I'll promise you..."

"Let the ultimate test of your abilities..." Tsunade announced.

"I won't lose!" Naruto caused several heads to turn to his direction, bringing along with then a couple of surprised faces at the sudden outburst of the young blonde.

"That Naruto..." Tsunade smirked and momentarily stared directly into Naruto's eyes, "Begin!"

Fifteen minutes later, the heat of the battle was well under way with more and more people being defeated every minute.

The battle had opened, right after Tsunade said 'begin', with Kiba using multiple smokebombs. Most shinobi used this to their advantage to either hide behind one of the trees in the arena or to attack someone.

Naruto was doing quite well, having taken out a couple of chuunin level shinobi after fifteen minutes. One could say he was lucky with so many people wanting him defeated that he only had one on one battles so far.

Naruto's battle right now wasn't any different from the previous ones in the sense of it being an one on one battle. What was different though, was the fact that he was facing someone who he didn't think he'd find here. Also, the battle was far more playful than the previous ones.

"Naruto-niichan! I won't lose to you!" Konohamaru exclaimed as he charged at Naruto.

"Hehe, bring everything you have, Konohamaru!" Naruto grinned as he headed on a collision course with Konohamaru.

"Take this!" Konohamaru said as he slapped a single handseal together, "Mirage Harem no jutsu!"

"Eh...?" Naruto let out as he instantly stopped running and as the smoke cleared up, multiple Oiroke no Jutsu Konohamaru's were standing in front of Naruto, "Ano...That jutsu won't work against me, Konohamaru...I invented it, you know. But, since when are you able to use Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Konohamaru's clones popped off and he sheepishly grinned at the blonde, "Actually, they're just regular bunshins. And I thought it would work on you now that you've been dating girls and stuff."

"Eh...? Wait! Who told you that?!" Naruto let out and ran towards Konohamaru again, who started to run away from Naruto, "I won't tell you!"

"Why you...!" Naruto grinned and increased his pace to catch up with Konohamaru.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Ino yelled from the audience.

"Eh?" Naruto let out as he instictively spun towards the right. A blue wave flew past him and hit Konohamaru's back and the boy was instantly knocked out, "Konohamaru!"

"Looks like my daughter prefers to choose your side." Inoichi said, who was standing a few feet away from Naruto, holding his hands in his family's trademark handseal.

"You! What are you doing all of a sudden?!" Naruto pointed at Ino's father.

"What am I doing? This is a battlefield right now, it's mostly every man for himself. Or have you forgotten that it isn't against the rules to attack someone who's already in combat?" Inoichi asked and raised an eyebrow at him, "As for what I'm doing...I'm passing judgment on you for what you did with my daughter!"

Naruto slightly jumped up and looked scared at Inoichi, taking a few steps away from him, "Eh...You know...Nothing really happened that night..."

"Lying won't help you...Now, Uzumaki Naruto...Fight me!" Inoichi exclaimed, shifted through two handseals and fired another blast at Naruto.

However, Naruto managed to dodge it again, "Geez...Looks like I have no other choice. Also, since this guy is a jounin, I think I'll need to start using chakra here..."

Naruto knew that everyone had been thinking the same thing as he did for the past fifteen plus minutes. In order to not tire themselves out for the most important battles came up, everyone had been strictly using taijutsu and weapons instead of chakra. This gave those who specialised in taijutsu an edge, of course and even Naruto could tell that it was best to steer clear from people like Lee and Chouji.

Now that his opponent was using chakra, Naruto had no choice but to start using his chakra for this battle as well.

"Even though I could beat him with Taijutsu, if he can fire those blasts without his mind leaving his body, then it will be hard to get close to him..." Naruto thought as he stared at Inoichi and slapped his hands in the tiger seal, "Even though I hate to make weak Kage Bunshins, right now it's important that I save up as much chakra as possible."

"Seal of the tiger...? A Katon jutsu, huh?" Inoichi quickly flashed through a couple of handselas again, "Ninpou..."

"Concentrate, concentrate..." Naruto thought as he tried to make his chakra control as precise as possible. That was until he saw Ino's father using their family's trademark handseal to launch three blasts of energy towards him.

"Crap!" Naruto thought and quickly dashed to the left, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Hmph, looks like you're underestimating me...just...a..." Inoichi closed his eyes as he was standing in the centre of a circle made entirely out of Naruto clones.

"Bit!" Inoichi said and rapidly shot multiple energy blasts at the clones, several of them unable to dodge it and instantly popping off.

"Heh." One of the Naruto's said.

"Looks like."

"It's not."

"A Yamanaka jutsu that affects the mind."

"Now is it?"

"No, it does that...So let me tell you something if you think you can keep escaping this jutsu..." Inoichi smirked, "I can use this jutsu for 4 days and 4 nights long without becoming the least bit tired."

"I see..."

"This jutsu is so that you can preserve chakra and do more than just decent damage."

"Am I right?"

"He's trying to hide his presence amongst the clones by having different ones talk all the time...However, one who specialises in techniques that affect the mind won't be so easily deceived..." Inoichi thought, "Yeah...You're right...Not only does it damage, but..."

"It also at the least dazes whoever is hit by it!" Inoichi let out as he quickly spun around and fired another salvo of energy blasts.

All of the clones popped off and the real Naruto was the only one left standing wobbly on his own feet.

"D-Damn..." Naruto let out.

"Then next I'll go through a couple of jutsu that will mess you up and knock you out for a few weeks." Inoichi stretched his finger and grinned and Naruto.

"Naruto! Don't lose to him! Keep moving around!" Ino yelled at him.

"Ino...Is it really alright for you to cheer on Naruto instead of your own father?" Sakura asked.

Ino fell back down on her seat and crossed her arms, "I know exactly why my dad is after Naruto and I don't like it one bit."

"Eh?" Sakura let out and blinked at Ino, "Well...Then let's cheer him on together."

Ino glanced at Sakura and smiled, "Yeah, let's do that."

"Get him, Naruto! You can do it! Do your best!" Ino and Sakura yelled simultaneously.

Naruto grinned as he wobbled from left to right and Ino's father slightly glared at his daughter, "Ino..."

"Then, I guess I have no choice..." Naruto grinned wider and looked at Inoichi with a wicked look in his eyes, "I'll have to use that jutsu..."

"What are you talking about...You are in no state to properly form jutsu." Inoichi replied and moved through the handseals, "I'll finish you off right here and now."

"Konohagakure Taijutsu no Oogi..." Naruto straightened up and stared directly into the eyes of Ino's father.

A moment of silence passed and then Inoichi's eyes went wider than one would think to be humanly possible, "SENNEN GOROSHI!"

Inoichi was launched into the air, tears flowing from his eyes as he was in great pain. The real Naruto, who had been hiding ever since he used his Kage Bunshins, grinned widely, "Hehe! You thought you had me, didn't you?!"

Inoichi landed a couple of yards away from Naruto, "You fell for it. It's not that hard to give a single clone more chakra and thus power compared to the others."

"M-My ass..." Inoichi cried as he held onto his rear end and Naruto's last clone popped off.

"Geez, I use this technique a gazillion times and you'd think people would be suspicious when I get caught by some jutsu." Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm starting to wonder if Ino got her skills from her mother..."

"Let's see..." Naruto said as he looked around to find anyone he could easily take on, "Who's going down next?"

"I see, Konohagakure Taijutsu no Oogi, Sennen Goroshi..." Naruto heard from his left, causing him to turn around and he gulped the instant he saw who was standing there.

"It's my eternal rival Kakashi's jutsu! I remember being hit by that once when Kakashi was drunk and I couldn't sit for a week." Gai struck his nice guy pose, "I feel a bit bad for Inoichi-san, but you did a good job, Naruto-kun! Your next opponent will be me!"

"Me too, Gai-sensei! Me too!" Lee exclaimed as he landed beside his mentor, "Naruto-kun, please show me your strength!"

"Lee! That's kind of unfair! Besides, wouldn't you be happier if you could take him on by yourself or something?" Gai asked his student.

"No. I want to see if Naruto-kun can beat our combined forces! Even keeping up with us will be a test of his strength!" Lee exclaimed and smiled at Naruto, "Naruto-kun! Please give it all you've got!"

"Aaaah! Crap!" Naruto slightly backed away from the two green clad men, "Taking both of them on right now?! I can't back out of it, but isn't that a bit too much?!"

"Well then, let's begin, Naruto-kun." Gai said as he struck his combat pose.

"Hai!" Lee copied his teacher's pose, "Your opponents will be us, Naruto-kun."

Sweat crawled down Naruto's neck, "This will be bad...I have to come up with a way to stay alive while fighting those two at the same time..."

On the other side of the arena, Asuma had finished with his next opponent and took the time to light a cigarette.

"Looks like everyone is planning to save their chakra for as long as possible. It's a shame that some really cana't fight without using chakra..." Asuma thought as he exhaled some smoke, "Well then...Let's see who's been careless enough to..."

"Ugh..." Asuma let out as his cigarette dropped out of his mouth and fell onto the ground.

"Hehe...Looks like I've caught you, Asuma-sensei..." Shikamaru grinned at his sensei.

"Shikamaru...Who would've thought a lazy guy like you would get serious in this battle." Asuma smiled, "I thought you had gone cloud watching..."

"Even though it's troublesome, being the only one left in the end is even more troublesome...Let alone hiding myself and then being found out." Shikamaru replied.

"Hmph...I see...Well then, what are you going to do now? You aren't allowed to kill anyone during this battle." Asuma grinned at Shikamaru.

"I know that...Killing someone for this would be too troublesome..." Shikamaru replied, "That's why I'm using Kagemane no Jutsu instead of Kage Shibari no Jutsu."

"And what do you plan on doing now that I'm imitating your moves?" Asuma asked as he eyed Shikamaru.

"First of all..." Shikamaru momentarily closed his eyes and the next moment he opened them again, "Let's dance like monkeys..."

Asuma gasped at Shikamaru as he began to tap with his foot on the floor and began to sing some lyrics that had been slightly altered, "Yo man, there's no need to feel down."

"Shikamaru, you..." Asuma managed to bring out as Shikamaru kept on singing, "Don't do this, Shikamaru..."

""It's fun to stay at the..." All of a sudden Shika threw his hands up in the air, "Y!"

"M!" Shikamaru bowed his arms to resemble the letter M, Asuma doing the exact same of course due to the jutsu.

"C! A!" Shikamaru sang as he arced his arms to the left before placing them together above his head to form the letter A.

"Shikamaru, stop this madness!" Asuma looked in fear and horror at Shikamaru as his body helplessly followed the same movements as Shikamaru, who cheerfully announced, "And again!"

"It's fun to at the Y! M! C! A!" Shikamaru sang as he made both him and Asuma perform the same moves again, "They have everything for young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys!"

Shikamaru then just froze and the singing and dancing stopped completely.

"Sorry, Shikamaru...But this is a battlefield. There's no time for games..."

Shikamaru let out a sigh, "I just wanted to see Kurenai-sensei's reaction when she saw Asuma do YMCA...Did you had to stop me, dad?"

Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, grinned, "Of course. You shouldn't be this playful when you're surrounded by enemies, Shikamaru. See, I was able to capture you with Kage Shibari no Jutsu..."

"Geez, how troublesome..." Shikamaru replied, frowning even though his father couldn't see it from his position behind him.

"Not if I can help it!" Chouji called out as he rolled at maximum speed towards Shikamaru's father, "Don't underestimate the power of the Food!"

"Shit..." Shikaku cursed as he saw Chouji roll towards him.

Just before he planned on realising Shikamaru, a giant hand covered his side and stopped Chouji in his tracks, "Sorry, Chouji, but if you plan on attacking Shikaku, you'll have to go through me first."

"I see..." Chouji stood on his own two legs again, "As expected, the Food is strong with you, Father..."

"That's right...Come, join me and Shikaku, Chouji...Together we'll be invincible." Choza extended his other hand towards Chouji.

"Sorry, dad, but I'm staying by Shikamaru's side." Chouji replied and clenched his fists, "Let's battle for the last part of tonight's dinner."

"It's settled then..." Choza replied and clenched his fists as well.

Shikamaru sighed again as the father and son of the Akimichi family entered combat, throwing a glance to his side, "How troublesome...Oh well, this is less troublesome than the situation Naruto is in right now..."

"Konoha! Gouriki Senpuu!" Gai exclaimed, leaping towards Naruto and followed up with a spinning kick with both legs in succession.

"Waaah!" Naruto let out as he unvoluntarily fell down on his back and barely escaped Gai's attack.

"Tenten, did you just...?" Temari asked as she raised an eyebrow at Tenten.

"What are you talking about?" Tenten grinned sheepishly as she quickly reeled in some wires and hit them underneath her shirt.

"Tenten, don't make me catch you helping out Naruto again..." Tsunade stated firmly as she didn't sit too far away from the two girls.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Tenten hastly replied and blushed out of embarrassment.

"Heehee, looks like you were caught, Tenten." Sakura smiled at Tenten, who blushed even brighter and Temari just slightly smirked.

"This time, it's my turn!" Lee exclaimed as he dashed past Naruto, "Konoha Reppuu!"

Lee sweeped with his foot over the ground, attempting to hit Naruto with a swift spinning kick. Naruto, however, managed to grab onto Lee's leg and threw himself up, trying to kick Lee in his face.

"Too slow, Naruto-kun!" Lee let out as he grabbed onto Naruto's leg, blocking the other one with the same arm.

"Haaa!" Naruto let out as he forced all his muscles to pull forward, causing him to throw Lee off him.

Gai caught Lee with a single hand and after setting his student down he struck his nice-guy pose, "Nice, Naruto-kun! Let's continue!"

"Damn it..." Naruto cursed under his breath and jumped up from the ground, only to lean back again to dodge a swift kick from Gai, "There's no way I can beat these guys at the same time!"

The blonde shinobi tried his best to evade the punches and kicks his two opponents threw at him. Naruto gritted his teeth as he countered one of Lee's punch by swatting his arm away, "Damn it, he's still wearing his weights as well!"

"How do I beat them?! How do I beat them?!" That single thought ran through Naruto's head for a whole minute as he dashed, dodged and plainly evaded most of the attacks.

"Looks like you're able to keep up with us, Naruto-kun! As expected of you!" Lee exclaimed and smiled at Naruto, "Then let's see..."

"Hm?" Naruto let out and gulped as he noticed a sudden increase in the rate Lee was throwing punches at him.

"Crap..." Naruto cursed as he had to block most the punches now and try to counter attack as much as possible, "He's attacking way faster than before..."

Naruto grunted as he blocked a punch, but it was still strong enough to send him flying back a couple of feet.

"My taijutsu isn't even near their level..." Naruto thought as he stood back up on his feet, "Just using Kage Bunshin won't help either, but I have to use chakra...Looks like I don't have much of a choice."

Naruto cracked his knuckles and grinned at Lee, "What's wrong, Fuzzy Eyebrows? That last punch felt a bit weak."

"Taunting me won't help, Naruto-kun. However, if you want more then more is what you'll get..." Lee crossed his arms in front and stared into Naruto's eyes, "First gate..."

Naruto's eyes went momentarily wide as Lee's hair waved up and down before he shouted, "KAI!"

Lee disappeared from Naruto's side and instead he could only see Gai smiling at him, "This is bad."

Naruto jumped up, only barely managing to evade a punch from Lee, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Lee jumped up between the clones and performed one of his standard spinning kicks, "Konoha Senpuu!"

When he was done spinning around, Lee felt something very light fall on top of his head.

Lee tilted his head back, only to meet the bottom of Naruto's feet that came crashing down upon him.

Naruto slapped his hands in his standard handseal position as the ground came closer to the two of them at a rather fast rate, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Lee saw the clones appear beneath them and he stretched his hand out to grab onto one of them. Unfortunately for the taijutsu specialist, he grabbed onto one of the clones Naruto wasn't going to use for his first attack.

"U!" One of the clones send Lee flying back up into the air.

"Zu!" The second one kicked Lee up higher as Naruto raced through a series of handseals.

"Ma!" The third clone hit Lee, instantly followed by a shout from the real Naruto, "Shunshin no jutsu!"

"Ki!" The fourth clone delivered the final kick and Naruto appeared above Lee and fell down in a spinning way.

"Naruto Rendan!" Naruto let out as his foot connected with Lee and instantly send him back towards the ground.

"Gotcha!" Naruto let out in joy, but he was celebrating a bit too early. Gai snatched Lee out of the air and prevented the boy from hitting the ground head first.

Naruto and his four clones started to perform the same handseals as before as Lee jumped out of Gai's hands and stood straight up again, "Impressive, Naruto-kun."

"Don't let your guard down now, Lee!" Gai warned his student as he ran towards Naruto again, who just finished the final seal.

"Then, how about this?!" Lee yelled as Naruto disappeared from his sight again.

A couple of clones appeared in front of Lee and they were destroyed almost the instant they appeared as Lee hit them each with a single punch. He followed the punches up with a spinning kick, destroying the two clones that appeared behind him, "Konoha Mouju Rendan!"

Lee gasped and instantly pulled his body up straight, three kunai nicking his bodysuit. Naruto dashed to the right, barely evading a punch from Gai, who had quickly caught up with the blonde.

Naruto then quickly jumped back in order to gain some distance between Gai and Lee, "Geez, these guys are almost invincible when working together as a team."

"Naruto-kun! Behind you!" Hinata yelled at him from the audience, causing Naruto to quickly turn around.

"You left yourself open, Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed with a grin on his face as two balls were closing in on Naruto.

"Damn you, Kiba." Naruto cursed in his mind as he quickly covered his face, knowing all too well what those balls were. Only a couple of inches away from Naruto, the balls exploded and covered a large part of the battlefield in a purple smoke.

Naruto already knew what would happen next, however this time he was able to take advantage of the situation. After all, Naruto knew he wasn't the only one present in the smokescreen, for Gai had most likely went after Naruto just moments before the smokebombs exploded.

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba shouted and Naruto smirked as he quickly flung a tagged kunai out of his kunai pouch and threw it out of the smoke, "You're too predictable, Kiba!"

Naruto ran in the direction he threw his kunai, forming handseals as fast as he could. On the final seal, he focussed as much as he could on the seal that had been placed on the tag of the kunai he had just thrown.

Just moments before Kiba and Akamaru came crushing into the cloud of smoke, Naruto flashed towards his seal and landed beside it.

"Time to get serious dattebayo!" Naruto slapped his hands in his standard handseal once again as Kiba and Akamaru came charging out of the cloud of smoke, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'

Kiba and Akamaru slowed their charge down untill they stood still. Kiba's left eye twitched, his face stuck in an exprerssion of shock as he stared at Naruto and his mass amount of clones, "Oi...Naruto...Isn't that overdoing it a little?"

"What's wrong, Kiba? You aren't scared of four hundred Kage Bunshin, right?" All of the Kage Bunshin Naruto had made simultaneously announced and grinned wickedly at Kiba.

A silence reigned the entire arena the next moment, causing Naruto to look around and wondering while all the combat had stopped, "Areh? Ehm...Something...tells me this can't be good..."

A battle cry from everyone other than Naruto roared through the entire arena just before they entered combat with Naruto and his four hundred clones.

"Damn it! Why is everyone attacking me all of sudden!" Naruto cried out as chaos errupted between him, his clones and the other shinobi. Everyone was attacking Naruto and his clones and Naruto and his army were fighting them back.

Multiple clones were taken out by people who were able to use jutsu that could hit multiple targets. Shinobi that were left vulnerable after their attack were instantly attacked by multiple clones. After the initial opening attacks, the fight got more intense.

Naruto's clones used their individual chakra to create more clones as they spread out, evaded attacks and counter attacked. The entire battle of Naruto versus everyone lasted about ten minutes, during which all the kunoichi in the audience started to cheer more and more for both sides. However, in the end it was Naruto who was left standing surrounded by the shinobi that still remained.

"Hehe...Looks like I managed to cut down the opponents by a fair amount." Naruto thought as he deeply breathed in and out, slowly turning around in a circle to eye his remaining opponents.

The audience, along with everyone else present, had fallen in complete silence. Even Anko and Kurenai, who somehow managed to get their hands on some large banners saying 'Go Naruto', weren't cheering at all.

Along their side, Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Temari and Tenten were sitting and staring at Naruto, wondering what the blonde was going to do next.

"Geez, that Naruto..." Kiba gritted his teeth and glared and Naruto.

"Looks like you realised it too, Kiba..." Shino straightened his shades, "Naruto got us in a position right now where, if anyone makes a move, it decides the next events..."

"The next move is his..." Shikamaru stated as he dully looked towards Naruto, "Troublesome..."

Naruto looked around wondering what he should do next as well, "I have to come up with something fast or I'll be done for..."

He kept slowly turning around and around, looking at each of his opponents. He caught several of them momentarily looking at the audiance and instinctively, Naruto's eyes momentarily darted towards the kunoichi as well.

Naruto then stared at Anko and the girls sitting near her and sweat dropped, "Where the hell did she get that banner all of a sudden?"

He shook his head and went on with staring at his opponents, but only momentarily for his eyes were drawn back to the kunoichi, "Wait...I could...N-No...I shouldn't...I'd end up living a short victory...Probably...Also, there's a chance that it won't work..."

"What are you doing, you idiot?! Hurry up and do something! We're getting bored up here!" Temari yelled at Naruto, causing the blonde to shake out of his thoughts and point at the wind mistress, "Shut up! I'm trying to come up with a plan here!"

"Just hurry up and do it already! You're going to be beaten anyway!"

"What?!"

"I said, whatever you do will be useless so just do it already!"

Naruto growled and turned away from the crowd, "Fine! I'll show you what I'm going to do and it's going to work!"

"You know how to get to him, don't you?" Sakura asked Temari, who only smirked in reply.

"Uzumaki Naruto Zettai Bogyo..." Naruto said as he narrowed his eyes on the opponents in front of him.

No one in the arena would've predicted the bloodshed that would follow after Naruto had said those words. It was definitely going to be in the history books of Konoha, for Uzumaki Naruto was the one who managed to take down a small army of shinobi with just one move.

Smoke surrounded Naruto and smoke appeared beside him as well and as it cleared up, Naruto released his move upon the shinobi, "Saikyou Harem no Jutsu!"

The jaws of everyone present dropped to the floor as they stood there, every single kunoichi that was in the stadium and they were entirely naked.

Simultaneously, fountains of blood errupted from the nostrils of all of Naruto's opponents and they were sent flying back. Even Jiraiya, who sat in the audiance couldn't help but drool and let the blood run freely out of his nose.

As for the kunoichi, they were speechless and staring at their naked clones.

"Alright, I did it!" Female Naruto did a little jump out of joy and then someone behind him coughed.

Naruto slowly turned around in an overly dramatic way and when he saw who was standing behind him, his eyes went wide.

"Yo..." Gaara said as he raised his hand up to greet Naruto.

"Why the hell are you still standing?!" Naruto let out and pointed at Gaara.

"To put it simply..." Gaara paused, momentarily closed his eyes and opened them again, "I don't like any of them."

"Are you sure?" The Sakura clone hugged Gaara tightly.

"Yes."

"Very, very sure?" The Ino clone hugged Gaara even tighter than the Sakura clone.

"...Yes."

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked with a dull expression on his face.

Gaara blinked at Naruto and took a moment to think it over, "Could you line them all up so I can check?"

Naruto fell back down and instantly jumped back up again, "Alright!"

The blonde lined up all of his kunoichi clones and Gaara stepped up to the first clone, who was none other than Temari's clone, "She's my sister, so no..."

Gaara sidestepped to the next clone, who was a copy of Tenten, "I've already seen her like this before...No."

"Then the next one is..." Gaara sidestepped again, this time facing the Ino clone, "...No."

The one after Ino was Naruto himself in his Oiroke no jutsu form, "Definitely not."

Gaara stepped in front of the Shizune clone, "No, not this one."

Another side step and Gaara stood in front of none other than the clone of the Hokage, "I don't like grannies."

Before Gaara could continue, a loud rumbling noise came from the audience and as he and Naruto looked towards the crowd, they saw most of them jumping down towards the arena.

"Uhuh...They don't look too happy." Naruto sheepishly grinned.

"I suggest we take cover." Gaara looked at Naruto, who could only nod in agreement.

Naruto dispelled his jutsu and started to run, "Let's run, Gaara!"

Gaara followed Naruto, "I suggested that we should take cover, not that we should run."

"Does it really matter right now?!"

"...Yes."

Gaara stopped his running and slapped his hands together. Cracks started to form on the gourd that was strapped over his back. After multiple large cracks had formed on the gourd, sand bursted out of it and the gourd it self turned into sand as well. Within almost no time at all, the sand started to shape an impenetrable sphere around Gaara.

Naruto stopped and turned around, catching a glimpse of Gaara just a moment before the sand completed surrounded him. The blonde stared for a moment at the sphere and then quickly ran towards it.

Naruto fiercely banged with his fist on the sand, "Oi! Gaara! Let me in there! Don't make them divert their attention from you to me!"

"I see no reason why I shouldn't do so..." Gaara replied and paused before adding, "After all, you thought it was best to run. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because...!" Naruto never got to finish his phrase as a pile of angered kunoichi, safe the few that didn't want to hurt him or were angry at him for what he did, jumped on top of him.

Gaara quickly created the third eye above the sphere in order to check things out. A few moments later, he closed his connection to the third eye and closed his own eyes as well.

"...Maybe I should have let him in..."

Naruto blinked, his blurry vision focussing on the faint light present directly above him. A moment later, a pink blur appeared in front of his face.

"Finally awake, huh?" Naruto was able to recognise the voice as Sakura's and a moment later his vision focussed on the pink haired kunoichi, "Sakura-chan?"

"How are you feeling, Naruto?" Ino asked as she placed her head besides Sakura's, "...I think it's like having recovered from being punched in the face by both Sakura-chan and Tsunade-obachan."

"Well, that's close to what happened..." Sakura said as she pulled out of Naruto's direct vision, "Except that Tsunade-sama was strangling the life out of you and I wasn't really doing anything at all."

"That's right and because of that we were all left in charge of looking after you until you woke up." Ino said as she too pulled herself out of Naruto's vision.

Naruto took a look around and found not only Sakura and Ino standing beside his hospital bed, but also Tenten, Hinata and, of course, Temari.

"Ino, stop lying already." Sakura nudged Ino and winked at her before turning to face Naruto again, "Truth is that Ino and I volunteered to run a check on you and heal all the bite and scratch marks on your body."

"Sakura-chan, you're a medic-nin so I can understand you volunteering, but Ino..." Naruto blinked at the blonde girl, who started to blush and instantly snapped at him, "Hey! I have my fair share of medic-nin skills as well, you know!"

"Really? Never thought you would." Naruto sheepishly grinned and then turned his attention to the other girls, "Eh...Don't tell me all of you can use medical jutsu all of a sudden as well..."

"Don't be foolish." Tenten looked away and slightly blushed, "I'm just here to help Sakura and Ino out any way I could..."

"I...ehm...Naruto-kun..." Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, "I...I just wanted to see you get well."

Naruto then turned his head to Temari, who was supporting herself on her fan and smirking at Naruto, "I just wanted to congratulate you on your victory and the...entertainment it brought to us all."

"What are you talking about? I didn't really find it entertaining to see a naked clone of myself." Tenten replied.

Temari tilted her head towards Tenten, "It's not like most of the guys know whether or not it was quite an accurate reflection of the real you."

"...We all know exactly how... accurate those clones were though..." Tenten closed her eyes and tried to supress the bright blush crawling up on her face.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah...ehm...I'm really sorry. I must have caused you quite a lot of trouble with the other guys, eh?"

"Not that much..." Sakura replied as she stretched out.

"Eh?" Naruto let out, throwing a confused look at Sakura.

"Basically, any guy that even looks at us in a funny way will be soon wishing that he didn't..." Ino replied as she tucked the ends of the sheets underneath the bed.

"Not to mention that, that Anko person managed to do a good job in scaring the heck out of the larger male population..." Temari slightly grinned.

"Anko-sensei...? Wait...She tried to scare the guys away?" Naruto looked with wide eyes at Temari.

"If I catch you looking with beady little pervert eyes at me or any of the kunoichi, then I'll make sure you guys won't be able to get any ever again." Sakura said and paused for a moment, "That's what she told the guys when they woke up. I guess it worked."

"Anko-sensei is really a scary person, isn't she?" Hinata asked nobody in specific.

"Eheheh. Tell me about it." Naruto sheepishly grinned, "Though I can't really believe she'd try to get rid of attention from guys...Maybe she is changing a bit..."

"So, Naruto...Now that you're back in the living world with us..." Temari said down on the edge of Naruto's bed, leered at the blonde and grinned widely at him, "You have to tell us how you were able to portray our bodies in such...detail."

Ino sat down on the other side of Naruto's bed and crossed her arms, "Now that you mention it..."

"Ehm...Well...I...er..." Naruto sheepishly grinned and threw a look at Sakura, who was just looking casually back at him, "Have a natural talent for these kind of things...?"

Ino narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Naruto, "Or you have been peeking at most of the kunoichi of Konoha."

"Who? Me?! N-No! Really, I just used what I already knew from my Oiroke no Jutsu!" Naruto sheepishly grinned at the girls, "Why do I don't like the feeling I'm having on where this will lead to..."

"Hmmm...Is that so?" Tenten asked as she supported herself on her arms at the end of the bed.

"I...I don't think Naruto-kun is that type of person." Hinata replied as she quickly exchanged looks with the other girls.

"I don't think so either." Temari stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"You two are too naive, Temari, Hinata..." Ino replied as she leaned towards Naruto and pinched his left cheek, "After all, this guy might be subconsciously influenced by his sensei."

"Don't be silly, Ino...Naruto just knows a woman's anatomy. It's nothing more than a normal henge, except that it takes a step beyond it by adding details one can not directly see." Sakura replied.

"Yeah, yeah...Still doesn't explain why he chose to use that to take care of his opponents." Ino flung her hand through her hair and smiled at Naruto, "Perhaps he liked to have an excuse to see every kunoichi naked at once."

"Ehm...It's not that, you know..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and sheepishly grinned, "I just saw a whole bunch of them look at all of you and then I figured out I could use that. I knew that they wouldn't be really affected if I just showed off how beautiful all of you are, so I had to take it a step further and..."

Naruto cut his sentence off as he felt that all eyes were upon him and he looked at each of the girls, all of them blushing quite a bit.

"D-...Did you say..." Ino blinked at Naruto, who couldn't help but sheepishly grin.

"That you think...we're beautiful?" Tenten finished Ino's sentence before she could do it on her own.

"Well...I'd be lying if I said any of you were ehm...not attractive to say the least..." Naruto sheepishly grinned, "I think I just scared the crap out of at least Tenten and Ino..."

"That's sweet, Naruto..." Sakura smiled softly at him before sitting next to him and turning towards the girls, "You know what I think, girls?"

The four other girls focussed their attention to the pink haired medic-nin as smiled at them, "I think Naruto deserves a group hug."

"A group hug, huh?" Temari repeated and raised an eyebrow and a smile at Sakura, "I like the sound of that."

"Eh?"

"E...Ehm...I-If it's alright with Na-Naruto-kun, then I...I don't mind it either." Hinata replied.

"Ehm, you know...I don't think that is such a..."

"Well he did apologize for getting us into a lot of trouble and told us we're good looking..." Ino replied and smiled at Naruto as well.

"Girls, really...I don't mind, but..."

"Yeah, he's been a good guy and we didn't congratulate him properly for winning that Battle Royale thing." Tenten added.

"T-There's really no need for that..."

"It's settled then." Sakura stated and smiled at the other girls.

"Ehm...Do I have any say in this...?" Naruto asked and sheepishly grinned, "Most likely, all of them will..."

Before Naruto could finish his thoughts, the girls jumped on top of him and hugged him, safe Hinata, who was a bit more gentle in joining the group hug.

"Jump on top of me and nearly kill me...Ahaaa...It feels so nice though..."

"Congratulations, Naruto." Sakura smiled sweetly at Naruto.

"Yeah, but really...Next time don't be so easily convinced in doing something just because I'm provoking you. It makes it just a bit less fun to manipulate you." Temari smirked at Naruto.

"Ah, everyone is feeling so soft and warm..." Ino commented as she cuddled up against Naruto and Sakura.

"A-Ano..." Hinata let out as she tried to get closer to hugging Naruto instead of the girls.

"Guys, you're letting Hinata out of the hug, move a bit so she can properly join us." Tenten said and pulled Hinata further up.

"Hehe, Hinata is even softer and warmer." Ino stated as she cuddled up against Hinata.

"A...A-Ano..." Hinata let out as she was being hugged by Ino.

"I-Ino! Watch out where and how you hug people!" Sakura let out.

"A-Ah! Sorry, Hinata!"

"Here, I'll help you two out a bit." Tenten said and tried to pull Hinata further into the hug.

"I guess...I can help too." Naruto said and lend Ino a helping hand.

"There we go then." Temari said as she tightened her hugging hold on the group.

"Ah!" Hinata let out just a second before her lips connected with Naruto's cheek. Hinata flushed crimson red, but didn't turn her head away from Naruto and the blonde just figured it was best not to do anything about it either.

"Hmmm...It's been a while, hasn't it?" Ino asked and smiled softly.

"Yeah..." Temari replied and slightly frowned.

"Feels quite long ago, doesn't it...?" Tenten asked and momentarily smiled before looking away from the group.

Naruto looked at Sakura and noticed her smiling softly at Naruto, but not saying a single word. Hinata slowly and carefully lowered herself a bit, removing her lips from Naruto's cheek and looking up at him with big wide eyes out of confusion. The blonde looked back at her and just stared into her eyes for a while, "Heh...I guess they're talking about being like this with 'me', eh?"

"E-Ehm..." Naruto let out, not liking the whole sudden mood change, "So, not that I mind having all of you sharing your body heat with me, but ehm...When can I leave the hospital?"

"Oh...Oh!" Sakura let out and quickly stood up from the bed, "S...Sorry, Naruto. Ehehehehe."

"Eh, y-yeah..." Ino slightly blushed and jumped up, "Enough rewarding you. It's not like you actually beat the crap out of all of them..."

Tenten coughed, "Sorry, spaced off there for a bit."

Temari smirked and sat up as well, "I suggest we'll get our lunch soon."

The only girl that didn't move an inch was the only girl that remained, Hinata. The other girls looked at her for a moment, Sakura deciding to say something first, "Ehm..Hinata? You can stop hugging Naruto too, you know?"

"Eh?" Hinata slightly tilted her head up and blushed, "O-Oh...Yes...S-Sorry, Naruto-kun...everyone...I..."

Ino grinned a wicked grin and sat down next to Hinata. She laid an arm around her and gently shook her left and right a couple of times, "It's alright, Hinata. After all..."

The blonde girl brushed some locks of hair away from Hinata's ear and then whispered something to her, which caused the Hyuuga heiress to flush crimson red and stare at her lap. Naruto sheepishly grinned as Ino playfully stuck her tongue out at Naruto, "...What the hell did she just whisper to Hinata?"

"Anyway..." Naruto coughed and turned to Sakura, grinning his trademark grin at her, "Sakura-chan, when can I leave here?"

"Well, you're physically alright, so I guess you can leave whenever you want." Sakura stated and smiled at Naruto.

"Ah. Really, huh?" Naruto grinned widely and rested his hands on the back of his head, leaning back against his pillow, "If that's the case, I'll stay here for a while. I don't really mind being treated by all of you."

Sakura grabbed him around his collar and glared at him, "Want me to give you a real reason to stay in this hospital?"

Ino joined her pink haired friend and glared at Naruto as well, "I'll be more than willingly to join you, Sakura...The fact that we volunteered to nurse him doesn't mean we'll become his slaves just because he feels like it."

"However, hurting me would keep me here in this hospital, so you guys can't really do that at all. Ehehehehe" Naruto sang and grinned widely at the girls.

"Oh yeah, but we can make sure that the treatment will be slow...and painful..." Sakura brought her face closer to Naruto's, "Very, very painful..."

Naruto blinked at her for a moment before moving his head to her ear and whispering, "So you won't admit in front of everyone else that you'd actually like to treat me, eh?"

Sakura slightly blushed and pulled away from Naruto, "Ino, we've discharged him so there's really no reason to threaten him. So let's just forget about it."

Ino turned her head around to face Sakura, staring at her for a moment before turning back towards Naruto, "I don't know what you told her, but you've got to teach me how to do that."

Naruto blinked at Ino and tilted his head, "Do...what?"

Someone knocked on the door and a moment later it was opened, drawing the attention of everyone present to the door.

"Excuse us." Gaara said as he and Tsunade stepped into the room.

"You!" Naruto and Tenten both pointed dramatically at the red haired Kazekage.

Tenten turned her head around to face Naruto and sheepishly grinned at him, "Ehm...You can go first, Naruto."

"No, no...It's alright, Tenten. You can yell at Gaara first." Naruto sheepishly grinned and waved with his hands.

"Oh, but I really don't mind if you yell at him first."

"Well, I don't mind if you go first either."

"Oh, but I insist you yell at him before me."

"You know, it's ladies first, right?"

"Alright, alright..." Tenten sighed and turned back around to face Gaara, only to find him missing from his previous location.

"So Temari, just to let you know..." Gaara said to his sister, "Kankurou left Suna yesterday along with a lot of nobles and he'll..."

"You!" Tenten snapped at Gaara and grabbed him by his shirt, "What the hell do you think you've done?!"

"...Nothing?" Gaara replied and stared blankly at Tenten.

"You claimed that you've seen me naked! If you didn't like Naruto's naked version of me, you could've just said so!" Tenten shook Gaara back and forth.

"I wasn't just claiming it... I was merely stating the truth." Gaara replied nonchalantly.

"No, you didn't! Stop lying already!"

"I'm not lying..."

Tenten stopped shaking Gaara back and forth and narrowed her eyes on him, "Proof it."

Gaara stared blankly at her for a moment before giving his reply, "Sure..."

Tenten blinked at the Kazekage and released him from her grip, "W-What? You can...?"

Gaara took his gourd off his back and placed it onto the floor, motioning Tenten to come closer. The weapons mistress obeyed the beckoning motion Gaara made and joined his side, the two of them bending over the gourd of sand.

Gaara stuck his hands into the opening and rummaged through the sand, causing almost everyone to tilt their head out of curiousity. A moment later the Kazekage took something out of his gourd that only Tenten and himself could see, "That's you, isn't it?"

A moment of silence followed in which Tenten took that, which Gaara had taken out of his gourd, out of his hands, "This? This you say, huh..."

"Well?" Gaara asked without hesitation.

"Give me another second..." Tenten said as she walked to the window and opened it, "Hmmm..."

"Is she...holding a magazine?" Naruto whispered to Ino.

"I...think so..." Ino raised an eyebrow at Tenten, who supported her head with her right arm as she looked at what appeared to be the center of a magazine.

"Oh no!" Tenten sang as the magazine flew out of the window, "It's gone...I guess we'll never find out if it really was me then..."

"Oi...Who do you you're fooling...?" Naruto sweat dropped as he stared blankly at Tenten's back.

"Really..." Sakura added, staring at Tenten with the same blank look in her eyes.

"Well then!" Tenten said cheerful and spun around, only to find Gaara's eyes locked onto her with a look that caused a shiver to run down Tenten's spine.

"It's alright." Gaara closed his eyes for a moment and then reached into his gourd again, pulling something out of it again, "I've got another one."

Tenten twitched as Gaara began flipping through the pages of the magazine, "It was near the center of it, wasn't it?"

The weapons mistress leaped towards the Kazekage, snatching the magazine out of it his hands. With one hand she tossed the magazine out of the window and with her other hand she flung a couple of kunai out of her kunai pouch, sending the sharp knives after the magazine a moment, "Take this! And that! And this! Aaaah!"

Tenten flung a final kunai out of her pouch, this one being tagged with an explosive tag and with a single fluent motion she send it after the other kunai.

The explosion which followed upon impact shook the foundations of the entire hospital.

Neji, who had just left the hospital building, didn't miss the explosion either, though he could not see the actual explosion. He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky, noticing a ripped and burned, but still partly intact, magazine fall down towards him along with a million little pieces of paper.

"What in the name of...?" Neji let out and stepped aside so that the magazine wouldn't fall on his face.

The smoldering pages turned black a moment later and Neji picked what was left from the magazine up and shook it for a moment, "Who would blow up a magazine?"

The Hyuuga prodigy then to look at the center page, which had remained mostly intact and his eyes grew wide. A moment later, Neji literally flew back into a hospital bed, blood dripping from his nose and his right hand clutching onto the magazine, which now was soaking with the red of Neji's blood.

Meanwhile, back in Naruto's hospital room, Tenten was rapidly inhaling and exhaling as she glared at Gaara.

Gaara momentarily looked at his gourd and then at Tenten again.

"Ehm..." Naruto let out as he blinked at Tenten, "Tenten? You know by that fake act from before and that whole kunai throwing frenzy just now that..."

Tenten's intent to kill suddenly filled the room, her rage towering above mainly Naruto and Gaara, "It wasn't me! Understood?!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Naruto let out as he looked with wide eyes at the flaring Tenten.

Tsunade coughed, "Matters I don't want to get involved in aside...Naruto, how are you feeling?"

Naruto turned his head to Tsunade and blinked, "Oh, you were here too, obachan?"

Tsunade twitched and narrowed her eyes on Naruto, "I asked you a question."

"Well, let's see then." Naruto said and flexed his hands, repeatedly forming a fist before finally clutching it tightly, "Looks like I'm as good as ever."

Tsunade nodded, "Then I suggest all of you get the heck out of here, you're occupying precious hospital space."

Naruto grinned widely and leaped out of bed, grinning widely at the Hokage, "Didn't plan on staying that long here, you know."

"...Liar." Ino muttered under her breath.

"Oh yeah! Baachan!" Naruto pointed dramatically at Tsunade, "Since I won the tournament, I expect to receive some grand prize or something! So when am I going to get it?"

"Reward?" Tsunade blinked at Naruto for a moment and then smirked at him, "Very well then."

"Alright!" Naruto cheered and raised his fist up in the air, only to lower it a moment later, "Wait...What am I going to get as a reward?"

Tsunade bent over and planted a kiss on the blonde's forehead, "You've made me proud by winning the tournament. Now be a good boy and go play outside or something."

Naruto twitched and grabbed the Hokage by her collar, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks, "What the hell?! I've just defeated all of the guys in Konoha and all I get is that?! At least treat me to some ramen or something!"

"You greedy brat! There wasn't even an reward to begin with! Just be glad that you aren't hospitalized for a week!"

"Well what was that whole tournament thing for then?!"

"Entertainment! En-ter-tain-ment!"

"Naruto, quit it." Sakura said as Naruto growled at Tsunade, "There's no reason for you to pick a fight with Tsunade-sama."

"Yeah...If you're hungry, stop doing useless things and let's get out of here." Temari swooped her fan up and strapped it back in it's usual position on her back, "I'll treat you to some ramen for lunch."

"Hmph, alright." Naruto replied and headed out the room, "I'll be back later to get a reward from you, Tsunade-obachan."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head as Temari and Gaara followed the blonde out the door.

"Then, I'll be leaving too, sensei. That is, if you don't need me here anymore..." Sakura looked hopeful at her teacher, who nodded in reply, "You can go, Sakura. It's not like there's a whole lot left to do and that we need more than one person with high level medical jutsu."

Ino waved at the Hokage as she left, "Good luck, Hokage-sama. Stay fit enough to party tonight."

"Oi! Wait for me!" Tenten quickly rushed after everyone else as Hinata made a short bow before the Hokage and then quickly headed after her friends as well.

"I guess I'll check up on Shikamaru and Chouji before heading home." Ino stated and the frowned, "Then again, I'm not sure if I want to face them right now..."

"If you think that's bad, just consider how much psychological treatment I need to give Lee after seeing a clone of Sakura naked..." Tenten replied and let out a deep sigh.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Sakura raised her first and glared at Tenten. The weapons mistress sheepishly grinned at Sakura, "You know lee. He'll be crying about how unyouthful it was and how shameful it was for him and everyone else to see you naked..."

Sakura sighed, "I guess I should steer clear from his room right now then. He might go crazy and yell enough to keep the other patients up for hours. Then again, I should tell him it was just a fake me."

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned widely and looked over his shoulder at the pink haired kunoichi, "My jutsu was per-..."

A whack on the back of his head cut Naruto's sentence off and Sakura instead finished the final word of his phrase for him, "-verted."

"I don't know, Sakura...I think Naruto has a..." Ino started, but got a whack around her head from her best friend as well.

Ino rubbed the back of her head with her hand and whispered to Naruto as she looked at the irritated Sakura from the corners of her eyes, "I think we should stop talking about this."

"Can't agree more with you..." Naruto replied and looked at Sakura from the corners of his eyes as well.

"Well then, I'll be heading in this hall. Lee and Gai-sensei's room is down this hall." Tenten said after a while, sighing once again, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Naruto grinned widely at Tenten as she waved goodbye to the group and ran down the hall.

"And then there were six left..." Gaara said in a just a bit too creepy voice.

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Gaara makes it sound like we're going to be killed one at a time or something..."

"NO! UNYOUTHFULNESS! SO MANY INNOCENT YOUTHS RUINED FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE! WHY! WHY?! THEY WERE STILL SO YOUTHFUL!" Lee could be heard crying out down the hall way, causing the group to freeze. Everyone in the group looked a mixture of scared and worried, their bodies not willing to move.

Gaara blinked for a moment, "Correction...And now there were only six left."

Everyone else sighed, finally being able to move again now that the tension was broken.

"Poor Tenten..." Ino looked over her shoulder towards the hall where Gai and Lee's rooms were, her eyes showing pity for her fellow kunoichi.
"I hope Tenten is alright..." Hinata let out as she moved slightly closer towards Naruto.

"I doubt Lee dared to touch Tenten, so she should be all right. At least, her body should be..." Naruto replied.

"Except that she might have gone deaf." Temari added and smirked, "Who knows..."

Ino let out a sigh, "Well, at least my teammates are fairly normal. I doubt Shikamaru or Chouji will be giving me an odd look."

Temari smirked, "Are you sure about that? I think you're too scared to even open the door to their room..."

"Tsch! I've known them for years now There's no way they'd be picturing me..." Ino said and stopped in front of their door, Temari raising an eyebrow at the blonde, "Well? Go in then if you're so sure."

"Fine then!" Ino narrowed her eyes at Temari, pushing the door open a moment later.

"And then there were five..." Gaara stated as the door closed behind Ino.

"I think she'll be alright. Don't you think so too, Temari?" Naruto asked as he looked at the wind mistress, who smirked back at him, "Ask me again in a few moments."

Said moments passed and the door went open again, Ino quickly jumping out and shutting the door behind her even faster. She panted heavily and her eyes were wide in shock.

"...She lived." Gaara stated and turned around, "So then there were still six."

"Looks like they were looking at you like that, huh?" Temari's smirk grew wider as Ino looked straight towards her.

"You don't want to know..." Ino said and gulped, "Those two...Well..."

"Shikamaru and Chouji...?" Naruto tilted his head, "You know, I've known them since we entered the Academy and I'm sure it's just that they had a mental relapse from happened earlier."

"...That's not what crossed my mind when I saw how they looked at me."

"Well, tell us then how they looked at you." Temari cocked an eyebrow at the blonde.

Ino motioned Temari to follow her and the wind mistress complied, the two blondes heading the way they came and disappearing around the corner.

"And then there were four...Good, things are speeding up..." Gaara stated and nodded a couple of times.

"Stop saying stuff like that!" Naruto yelled at the Kazekage, who paid no heed to his blonde roommate's command, "I wonder who will be next..."

A moment later, Naruto, Gaara, Sakura and Hinata could hear Temari cry out in laughter, "He actually said that?!"

"It's not funny! It scared the heck out of me!" Ino cried out.

After Temari's laughter had died out, everything went silent for at least a minute.

"Why aren't they coming back yet?" Sakura shivered and rubbed her arms.

"I...I can check if they're still there." Hinata replied and looked at Naruto for a moment.

"There's no way they would be gone, but I guess I've seen stranger things happen before..." Naruto thought and then nodded at Hinata, "Never hurts to check. Though I'm sure they're still there and just keeping their voices down."

Hinata nodded at Naruto and turned her head towards the direction Ino and Temari had gone to, "Then I'll take a look...Byakugan!"

The Hyuuga heiress slightly gasped and blinked a couple of times as she kept on staring in the same direction.

"What's wrong, Hinata? Are they gone?" Naruto placed his head in front of Hinata, obscurring her view partly.

"N-No. They're still there." Hinata let out as the veins in her temples withdrew, "I...I was just surprised at seeing all the people present in this hospital. There are a lot more than I thought there were..."

"Hm, well...It's normal to have a lot of people here, you know." Sakura stated, "After all, it's a hospital. Combine the staff and patients and you have a lot of people."

"Y-Yes, but I was just..." Hinata paused and shook her head, "I-Interested in a-all the activity around here. S-So, I was looking at what they were busy with..."

A moment later, Ino and Temari returned and Temari kept slightly snickering and looking at Ino.

"...I think I begin to see a pattern here..." Gaara stated and nodded to himself, causing everyone else to sweat drop.

"Hey, I know!" Naruto raised his fist up in the air, the rest of the group, save Gaara, looking at him in confusion.

"Know...what?" Ino asked and blinked at Naruto.

"You want to get Shikamaru and Chouji to stop thinking about that jutsu, right?" Naruto grinned widely at Ino, who slightly blushed, "Well, of course..."

Naruto grabbed Ino hand and pulled her away from the group, "I've got a great...no, brilliant idea! Come with me for a moment!"

"And then there were four again..." Gaara said and paused as Naruto and Ino went around the corner, "...Something tells me that they'll be back soon."

"Na-Naruto! What are you doing?"

"Give me a moment, I'm sure this will work!"

"W-What are you... exactly planning?"

"I'm sure this will work. Just be quiet and hear me out."

"H-Hey! Keep your pants on, Naruto!"

"There's no other way, is there?"

"What are you doing?!"

"Can't you tell? It's obvious, right?"

"W-Well...Yeah, I guess I'm getting a feeling here of what you're planning..."

"Hmmm...This skirt of yours will cause me some trouble..."

"Hey! I can do that myself, you know!"

"Sorry, just wanted to give you a hand."

"I...I have to...?"

"Yeah, other wise it will definitely be no good at all."

Gaara stared blankly into space, Temari and Sakura twitched and Hinata blushed brighty as they heard the two blondes shout all of that.

Temari clutched onto her fan and took a step forward, "Maybe we should..."

"N...Naruto-kun..." Hinata managed to bring out at the same time as Sakura hissed, "Naruto..."

"Ladies and gentlemen." Naruto announced cheerfully, "It's my honor to present to you..."

"Ino in orange!" Naruto pushed Ino back into view, wearing Naruto's jacket, pants and a bright blush on her face.

Sakura giggled a bit. Then giggled some more before falling down on the floor and rolling around, belching a loud laughter, "That's it? That's all there is to it? Oh please...!"

Naruto blinked at Sakura, "What's so funny? I just thought Shikamaru and Chouji were reminded because Ino wears clothing that reveals a lot of skin so I figured I could use my clothing to cover her up..."

"It's going a bit far, but I think it's a good idea..." Ino looked at Naruto, who was hiding behind her to cover himself up as he was wearing not much more than his boxers, socks and shoes.

Temari shook her head, "If you guys were with us, you'd understand why Sakura has gone nuts."

"N-No...I'm fine." Sakura stood up, still half laughing and wiping the tears out of her eyes, "Ah...You two had me scared there for a second."

Naruto formed a single handseal and henged into his regular outfit, "There, now I can walk freely as well."

Ino turned to Naruto, blinked and pointed with a single finger at him, "Why...Didn't I just do that?"

Naruto stared silently at Ino for a moment, "...Maybe I didn't think my brilliant plan thorough enough."

Ino slapped her forehead and took Naruto's jacket and pants off, returning them to their owner a moment later, "Here. I'll use Henge no jutsu and you'll go put your clothes back on."

"Gotcha." Naruto said and ran around the corner again.

"Well, here goes then..." Ino said a moment before she used henge no jutsu. Once the smoke had cleared up, Ino headed into the room once again and Naruto just came running back around the corner, "And? And?"

"Hey guys." Ino said as she greeted her teammates, "How are you guys feeling?"

"Yo, Ino." Shikamaru replied and raised his hand up in the air, "I'm fine, I guess."

"I'm hungry..." Chouji stated and Ino gulped for a moment, "Do you have any snacks with you, Ino?"

"Ehm...Nope. Sorry, guys, I'll be going again. I just wanted to check up on you. See you two soon." Ino said as she sheepishly grinned and headed out of the room.

"It worked!" Ino yelped and pounced on top of Naruto, pressing him against the floor.

Naruto grinned widely, "Told you it was a good idea."

Ino looked into Naruto's eyes, a blush forming on her face before she quickly pulled herself off Naruto, "Y-Yeah. Sorry for jumping you all of a sudden though."

"It's alright." Naruto sheepishly grinned as he helped himself stand up again, Temari letting out a sigh, "Shall we hurry up and get out of here already? All of this is making me really hungry for some reason..."

"Hmmm...Something is going to happen...soon..." Gaara stated and strolled away from the group.

"Really, stop it with the omnious lines already..." Temari said as she and the rest of the group followed Gaara.

Unbeknownst to the group, a certain purple headed kunoichi had seen Ino pounce on top of Naruto and schemed a diabolical idea.

After walking completely in silence and undisturbed for a while, the group of shinobi was again startled by a loud yell. Though this one didn't come from Lee, who was currently on the floor above them.

"WHY?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT! WHY, LORD?! WHY?!"

"...Another lunatic..." Temari stated.

"At least it's someone we don't really know." Sakura added as she tilted her head.

"I don't know..." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, "His voice sounds somewhat familiar to me..."

"THEY WERE HIS CLONES! HIS CLONES! YET THEY HAD THOSE UGLY FACES! AND THOSE BIG PILES OF FAT ON THEIR CHEST!"

"...What the hell is this guy talking about?" Ino wondered and Sakura shrugged in reply.

"I...I think he's talking about...Na...Naruto-kun's jutsu..." Hinata stated and fidgeted uncomfortably with her fingers, "T-Though it seems like he was one of the few that didn't...'like' it."

"WHY?! THEY LACKED PENIS! WHY DIDN'T THEY HAVE A PENIS?! IT CAN'T BE THAT HE HASN'T GOT ONE EITHER, RIGHT?!"

"...This whole thing sounds frighteningly familiar with something or someone I don't want to think about..." Naruto stated.

Temari shook her head, "He's an idiot if he can't figure out why those female clones of yours don't have a d...damned male limb."

"Well at least it's one more guy that won't think pervertedly upon seeing us..." Ino replied and then ponderd for a moment as the wails went on, "Wait...Didn't he just say...that our faces were ugly?"

"M-Maybe he wasn't talking about us..." Hinata replied and pondered about it for a moment.

"WHY DID THEY ALL HAVE TO MUTILATE HIS PERFECT BODY WITH THEIR UGLY LOOKS?! WHY?!"

Ino, Sakura and Temari's faces turned dark and an evil aura surrounded the girls.

"First one to make him lose consciousness by stabbing him wins?" Ino suggested as she raised a kunai.

"Fine with me." Sakura replied and held out her own kunai.

"You two do the stabbing, I'll do the smashing..." Temari replied and grabbed a hold of her fan.

E-Ehm...Girls? Let's not do that, alright? It will cause you trouble and I'm really longing to see a bowl of ramen so..." Naruto sheepishly grinned at the dark shades that were just your regular kunoichi just a moment ago.

"Th-That's right. Na-Naruto-kun's right. J-Just because that guy says that, d-doesn't make it the truth...right?" Hinata tried to soothe the other girls as well.

"Yeah!" Naruto threw a fist up in the air, "Even though that guy says that, doesn't mean it's true. I think you guys look great and I'm sure other guys think so too! Just look at how many people were hospitalised when they saw my jutsu!"

The girls snapped back to their normal selves and stared at Naruto with a blush on their cheeks, "Oh crap, I did it again."

Naruto momentarily looked at Gaara, pleading him to tell the girls the exact same thing, but instead the Kazekage gave Naruto a thumbs up.

"I...I guess we could leave him alone then." Sakura said and scratched her cheek. Ino copied her friends actions and stuck the tip of her tongue out as well, "I guess that guy doesn't really represent the truth, right Naruto?"

Temari closed her eyes and smiled, "Then let's hurry up and get the hell out of here before disaster strikes us again or something."

"I'm starting to feel hungry as well..." Gaara stated and again decided to take the lead by being the first to head on.

A minute or two later the group was out of the hospital and breathing in the fresh air of Konohagakure.

"To Ichiraku's Ramen!" Naruto cheerfully announced.

"Naruto's treating us a bowl of ramen because he's become the champion of the Battle Royale!" Sakura cheerfully announced.

"Yeah!" Naruto replied without thinking it over, "Wait...What?"

"Hehe. I guess I'll join then if Naruto's treating us." Ino smiled at her best friend, who gave her the same smile.

"Hey! I didn't say that! I don't even have money with me!" Naruto pointed accusingly at Sakura and Ino, who couldn't help but giggle.

"It's alright, Naruto. I'll pay for it. You'll just have to pay me back later." Temari smirked at Naruto, "Besides, eating in a larger group is always more fun."

"Eh, that's fine with me...I guess." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head before turning towards Hinata, "Hinata, are you going to join us for lunch as well or...?"

"Uh-Uhm...Y-Yes, I-I'd love to." Hinata slightly blushed and looked away with a small smile on her face.

"Let's go then!" Naruto cheered and started to march towards Ichiraku ramen, the others following closely behind him.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Ino announced on the way to the ramen stand, "How about this...After lunch, we'll help each other getting ready for the bachelor and bachelorette parties?"

"That's a nice idea, Ino! We can help make Gaara and Naruto look great..." Sakura replied and then winked at Naruto, "And they can tell us if we look cute enough."

"Heh, I was already planning the same thing with Naruto this morning. Looks like it just became even more fun." Temari smirked at Sakura and Ino before looking at Naruto while keeping that smirk on her face.

"...Why am I getting the feeling that her idea of fun isn't all that fun at all? Hmm...She's planning something...I just know it." Naruto thought as he eyed Temari suspiciously.

"Looks like I've found you. My, my...You really are hard to find these days, Naruto."

Naruto turned around and blinked at the person standing behind him, "Iruka-sensei?!"

"The one and only." Iruka smiled at Naruto and then his face turned more serious, "Naruto, the truth is I've been looking for you because I want to have a little talk with you. Under more... private circumstances then these."

"Hm?" Naruto tilted his head, "What's this all about, Iruka-sensei?"

"Well, you'll see. Let's discuss what I want to talk to you about over a few bowls of ramen over at Ichiraku's ramen." Iruka proposed.

"I won't allow it." Temari said as she stepped in front of Naruto, who blinked at her, "Temari?"

"I beg your pardon? What did you just say?" Iruka blinked out of confusion at the blonde from Suna.

"I said I won't allow it. Not after what happened this morning." Temari said, narrowing her eyes at the chuunin level teacher.

"This morning?" Sakura repeated and tilted her head.

"Naruto, can you explain this to me? What is so wrong about me wanting to talk about something with you in private?" Iruka questioned and gave Temari a questioning look.

"Temari, please. Iruka-sensei's been looking out for me ever since I entered the academy. Besides, we'll be at Ichiraku's. There's really nothing that could be bad about it...I think." Naruto replied and sheepishly grinned at Iruka.

"Naruto, I'm not going to scold you for anything..." Iruka replied and let out a sigh.

"Then what should we do? I thought we were all going to eat at Ichiraku's...together..." Temari closed her eyes for a moment.

"Well, I think we have a change in plans now." Naruto sheepishly grinned, "But we can still continue with our original plan after lunch. So can't you please take Sakura-chan and the others back to the apartment and prepare some instant ramen for them while I have a talk with Iruka-sensei?"

"Hmph..." Temari turned around and headed off, "Fine, do as you like."

"Temari..." Naruto thought as he watched the blonde head off.

"Then, we'll see you after lunch, Naruto." Sakura said, smiling at her teammate before taking a bow, "It was nice to see you again, Iruka-sensei."

Ino and Hinata followed Sakura's example and then the three of them followed Temari, Gaara moving after then.

"Alright, what's this about, sensei?" Naruto asked and grinned at Iruka.

"Let's get to Ichiraku's first. You're a far better listener while eating ramen." Iruka replied, smiling at Naruto as he let out a heartily chuckle, "I guess you're right."

Meanwhile, over at Temari's group.

"You guys go on ahead." Temari stated as the group silently headed towards Naruto's home.

"T-Temari? What are you planning?" Ino asked as everyone stopped walking.

"I'm going back and look after Naruto. That's all." Temari answered as she turned around.

"But Iruka-sensei he wanted a private conversation, so..."

"Just so you know, right now I don't trust a single shinobi from Konoha other than the ones I know at least a bit." Temari interjected and paused for a moment, "I'm not going to eavesdrop, I'm just going to make sure that Naruto comes home in one piece."

"I don't think Iruka-sensei would..." Ino replied.

"I don't care. Today I'm a bit paranoia so just let me do this. I'll be back with you soon enough." Temari stated and headed off.

"And then there were four after all..." Gaara stated and headed on, "Everyone, please follow me."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Iruka had found their way to their usual ramen stand and were served their first bowls of ramen.

"Itadakimasu!"

"So, what's this all about, sensei?" Naruto asked with a wide smile on his face as he broke his chopsticks in two, shoving down a batch of noodles into his mouth.

"The thing is, Naruto..." Iruka followed Naruto example of breaking the chopsticks, but the chuunin ate with more delicacy than his former student, "I've heard some things about you..."

"Things?" Naruto repeated and blinked at Iruka before devouring more noodles.

"It seems that you..." Iruka coughed, "Have taken an interest in girls..."

"I've always been 'interested' in them, you know." Naruto grinned widely. The Academy teacher laughed sheepishly, "Yes, yes, of course. However, this time it's different, am I right?"

"I guess you can say that." Naruto replied, sheepishly grinning and rubbing the back of his head. The blonde threw a glance towards the only girl present in the ramen stand, Ayame, who smiled at him and shook her head as she shrugged.

"Also, I've heard from the Hokage about tonight..." Iruka stated and Naruto quickly chowed down another batch of ramen noodles, "Yeah, I don't really have any other choice than just going there, right?"

"Well, I don't really have a problem with that, but..." Iruka turned his eyes towards the heavens and scratched his cheek before looking at Naruto again, "Naruto, there comes a time when a young man starts to feel the need to...reproduce and..."

"Iruka-sensei." Naruto interjected, "I don't have to hear that a third time..."

"Th-Third time?" Iruka couldn't believe his ears.

"Actually..." Naruto pondered for a moment, "I think it would be the fourth time."

"F-Fo-Fo..." Iruka stuttered and started to fall into a dark bottomless well, "Noooo! I'd be the fourth person to give Naruto the talk?! That just so...!"

Naruto blinked at Iruka, who was clutching onto the sides of his head and then the blonde looked over towards Ayame, "Did Ayame-chan accidentally tell Iruka-sensei something? Then again from the way she was looking before she seemed to be surprised as well."

Iruka noticed Naruto looking at Ayame and the girl throwing fleeting glances towards the blonde as well, faintly smiling. Iruka blinked and moved a bit closer towards Naruto, whispering, "Naruto...You and Ayame...Did you two...?"

As Iruka paused, Naruto blinked at him and then grinned widely at his sensei, letting out a heartily laugh, "Hehehe! Of course! She's been a great help to me right from the beginning!"

"T-That!" Iruka gasped and he felt like a black hole appeared behind him and sucked him and only him through the hole, "It's impossible! Naruto! Y-You lost your virginity before even I did?! Even with Ayame-chan! Nooooooooooooooooooo!"

Naruto blinked at Iruka, who was softly weeping and chowing down his ramen faster than usual, "...Does Iruka-sensei have anything against me having the talk from Ayame-chan? No doubt sensei knows some stuff, but Ayame-chan is a girl, so she'd know it better anyway..."

"Naruto?" Ayame bend over the counter and motioned him to come closer, "Since today is the 13th...Do you think you can come over tonight again?"

"Hm...I don't think that's possible." Naruto crossed his arms and pondered, "From what I know I won't have a lot of time."

"That's fine, it's not like we always need a lot of time." Ayame smiled at Naruto, "Besides, there's..."

"Naruto!" Iruka snapped and grabbed the blonde around his collar, "You're going there tonight and you're going to do everything she asks of you, you hear me? And not just a little been of time...It shall be at LEAST half an hour or I'll hunt you down and force you to write a million essays. And I can make it happen...I'm a teacher."

"Iruka-san, that's really not necessary." Ayame smiled nervously and waved with her hands.

"Oh, no! I won't allow him to just be there for a few minutes and not fullfil your every desire! He shall rock you until the morning and then some!"

"Wh-What?" Ayame and Naruto let out in surprise as a small blush crawled onto their cheeks.

Everything went silent for a moment as Iruka looked confused at the two, "Y-You two are doing...it, right?"

Ayame surpressed a giggle for a moment and then let out a heartily laugh before shaking her head and faintly smiling, "It's not like that..."

Naruto smacked himself in his face and held his hand there for a moment, "Sensei...what in the world gave you...?"

"B-But you just said that you two...!" Iruka pointed at Naruto.

"I thought you were still talking about having that talk with someone!" Naruto pointed back at Iruka, "Wha-What the hell were you thinking?!"

Iruka sighed and slomped back down on his seat, "Never mind, this was a big understanding."

"I still don't get why you wanted to bring this up all of a sudden..." Naruto said and finished what remained of his bowl of ramen.

"Ah...Well, you see...I'm kind of worried what might happen tonight with all that...female attention you've been having lately." Iruka said as he quickly dug back into his own meal as well.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Naruto asked as he handed the bowl back to Ayame.

"Well, I know for sure that there will be alcohol and I just wanted you to know what you should do when...certain matters come up." Iruka replied and stared into his ramen for a moment. (A/N: Excuse the pun XD)
"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said with a smirk on his face, "I know exactly what to do."

"Ah, yes. Of course...You've had the talk with Ayame-san. No doubt that she explained everything to you." Iruka smiled and took another bunch of noodles, then he asked Naruto a question before taking the next batch into his mouth, "But I'm curious, Naruto. If I'm the fourth one and Ayame-san is the first, who are the other two?"

"Actually Ayame-chan wasn't the first, but more like the second...I think. The first time I had 'the' talk was with Anko-sensei." Naruto answered and Iruka spat his noodles back into his bowl of ramen, "A-Anko, you say?"

"Y-Yeah..." Naruot grinned sheepishly at Iruka, "Could it be that Iruka-sensei knows how Anko-sensei's reputation...?"

"Na-Naruto lost his virginity to that woman?! There's no doubt about it if she gave him the talk...I'm sure that she didn't just give the talk then, but also the show and the know-how...I...I'm feeling so sad yet so envious!" Iruka thought as he regained his breath and stared into the void in front of him, "I...I see."

Just before Iruka wanted to take in a bunch of noodles again, he looked at Naruto, "So...I assume you found it quite...interesting?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Y-Yeah, that's one way you could put it."

"Naruto, just so you know..." Iruka said after he swallowed the noodles and ramen he had previously spit out again, "That woman is..."

"Dangerous." Naruto interjected and grinned widely at Iruka, "Not to mention really scary, but if I tell you that, sensei, you'll want to know why I think that..."

"Y-Yes...That is she is...Dangerous..." Iruka mumbled on for a moment.

The next few bowls of ramen that went down Naruto's throat didn't take too long as there was little talk between the blonde and his teacher, except for the occasional warning and random advice from Iruka.

"Aaaah...Gotzusosama." Naruto said as he patted his bloated belly, having eaten a total of nine bowls of ramen.

"Well, I guess that's it then." Iruka said as he paid Ichiraku-san, "Naruto...Please, be careful tonight."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Naruto grinned widely, "More importantly, I'll have to get back to the others. Still got a lot to do this afternoon."

"Yeah, let's get going." Iruka smiled at Naruto as he stood up from his seat.

Meanwhile, above Ichiraku's ramen stand, eveyone's favourite purple headed kunoichi was awaiting a bob of blonde hair to appear below her.

"Just a bit more...Just a bit more..." Anko looked eager in anticipation towards the spot she knew the blonde would come from.

"When he comes out I will pounce on top of him. From this height, he'll be forced against the ground and then..." Anko licked her lips, "His all belongs to me..."

Anko shivered already out of pleasure, imagining what she'd be able to do with the blonde in everyone's presence yet without anyone knowing it.

A bob of yellow hair appeared below her and she leaped down towards it, "Naru-cha...!"

Naruto froze, shivered and just before he tilted his head up to see Anko, said kunoichi disappeared into thin air.

"Hm?" Naruto blinked at the sky for a moment.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Iruka asked him.

"Sensei, did you hear anything? I was sure that I heard something just now..." Naruto replied as he looked around, but found no trace of the person he was looking for, "Maybe Anko-sensei has gotten enough into my mind to make me hallucinate...Oh well...As long as she isn't around."

Meanwhile, in an alley behind Ichiraku's Ramen, Temari was pressing Anko and herself against a wall and silencing her by covering her mouth with her hand.

"Looks like you're after Naruto, eh?" Temari asked as she had to use all her muscles to restrain the Konoha Special Jounin.

Anko narrowed her eyes, slightly smirking as a snake crawled out of her sleeve.

Some time later, Naruto was back at his apartment and loudly announced that the instant he closed the door behind him, "I'm back!"

"Welcome home, Naruto-kun." Hinata said as Naruto entered the living room.

"Welcome back, Naruto." Ino said as she and Sakura smiled at the blonde. Gaara nodded once at Naruto as he looked around the living room, "Where's Temari?"

"Ehm...She said she wanted to go out for a bit and have lunch later." Sakura scratched her cheek and smiled sheepishly at Naruto.

"Yeah, she should be back any..." Ino added with a smile, only to have her line cut off momentarily by Temari entering the living room through the balcony door, "...second now."

"Hehe, talk about timing." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head for a moment before blinking at the wind mistress from Suna, "Oi...Temari? What happened?"

"Just decided that I needed a little workout..." Temari replied, breathing deeply in and out as sweat ran down her forehead and parts of her clothing were already stained with sweat as well, "No sweat, really..."

"That is a LOT of sweat though for something that is supposed to be 'no sweat'." Naruto sheepishly grinned at Temari as she walked towards him, "Must have been bit more than just a little workout."

"Perhaps..." Temari said as she walked past Naruto and headed towards the bathroom, "I'll go refresh myself for lunch."

Naruto blinked and followed Temari with his eyes until she closed the bathroom door behind her.

A few quick steps and Naruto was in front of the bathroom door, knocking twice on it with the back of his hand, "Oi, Temari. Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, don't worry about me. Just prepare me a bowl of ramen." Temari paused, "I'll be done in less than ten minutes."

Naruto threw a glance towards Sakura, hoping to find out if she had been able to determine if something was wrong physically with Temari, but all Sakura did was exchanging slightly worried looks with Ino.

"Oi, Sakura-chan..." Naruto said as he sat down beside the pink-haired medic-nin, "Could you tell if anything was wrong with her?"

"Well, she was sweating a lot and breathing erratically..." Sakura pondered for a moment.

Ino placed her index finger just above her upper lip, supporting her chin with her rest of her hand, "Did something happen to her?"

"Naruto." Sakura turned her face towards the blonde, who in return looked back at her, "Did anything weird happen while you were at Ichiraku's with Iruka-sensei?"

"Hmmm..." Naruto pondered, "Well, as we tried to leave I could've sworn I heard Anko-sensei call out my name from above and when I looked up I think she was there for like one moment, but I thought it was my imagination..."

"Anko-sensei...you said?" Ino blinked and even before Naruto could reply, Sakura stood up and ran towards the bathroom, Ino following closely behind.

"Oi! Is something wrong?!" Naruto dashed after them and managed to reach them just as Sakura raised her fist.

A single punch and the door was turned into splinters and Sakura called out, "Temari!"

Sakura and Ino gasped, Naruto blinked and followed the girls' looks into the bathroom.

Ino, Naruto, Sakura and Temari eached flushed bright red upon seeing each other, Temari only holding a single towel in front of her.

"W-What the hell?!" Temari yelled at them and Naruto quickly ran back into the living room.

"S-Sorry, Temari...We just thought that you..." Sakura sheepishly grinned and waved apologetically at Temari.

"Y-Yeah. W-We really though that...that you were..." Ino's grin was just as sheepish as the one on Sakura's face.

"I was what?! Not really going to take a shower?!" Temari yelled at them, "How the hell am I supposed to do that now that YOU have broken the damned door?!"

"Well...Ehm..." Sakura rubbed the back of her head and laughed sheepishly.

"T-That's really a good question, ehehehe." Ino managed to bring out.

"And will you two PLEASE stop looking at..." Temari's phrase was cut off as a thick wall of sand replaced the door.

"In my mind, I just betrayed the meaning of my own name..." Gaara stated as he closed his eyes and lowered his hand.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto was currently partly hiding behind Hinata, knowing all too well that you should cover as much distance and find as much cover as you could if Temari was pissed off. Naruto had the feeling that Temari wasn't really all that happy right now.

"...I just thought 'I love how I can use my sand for practically anything'..." Gaara stated and crossed his arms.

"Oh...Well...Yeah..." Naruto sheepishly grinned as Sakura and Ino headed back into the living room, "Gaara's sand is quite useful for practically anything...Though I doubt it can be a permament bathroom door..."

"Looks like we were wrong..." Ino sighed as she sat down and supported her head with her hands.

"What were you two thinking in the first place?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at the two girls.

"Well...ehm..." Sakura managed to bring out.

"Sakura and Ino thought Temari-san had stopped Anko-sensei from something she was planning, so they figured out by Temari-san's was poisoned by Anko-sensei due to Temari-san's sudden fatigue." Hinata explained and tilted her head slightly, "O-Or am I perhaps...wrong?"

"N-No...It's just like you said..." Ino sheepishly grinned and let out an equally sheepish laugh.

"Wow, Hinata. Amazing that you could figure that all out." Naruto replied and grinned widely at the shy Hinata.

"N-No, I...I was just thinking the same thing as they were, Naruto-kun..." Hinata slightly blushed and stared at her lap, "I...I don't know any medic jutsu so I figured I should just stay here and not get in the way..."

"Geez, you're really underestimating yourself, Hinata." Sakura said as she leaned back, supporting herself on her arms, "Your Byakugan would've made it that much easier to locate any poison in her body."

"I...I don't think I can find poison in someone's body with my Byakugan..." Hinata smiled faintly at Sakura.

"Either way, we really made fools out of ourselves this time..." Ino sighed and leaned her head back, closing her eyes, "I hope it will make what we're going to do, after Temari had her bowl of ramen, not any less fun..."

"Speaking of which...Exactly what are the four of you planning to do with me and Gaara?" Naruto asked as he stood up and headed into the kitchen part of his apartment.

After a moment of silence and Naruto had grabbed a cup of instant ramen, the blonde turned around and found Sakura and Ino grinning wickedly at him while Hinata fidgeted nervously.

"Uh-oh..."

---------------

Hours later, a pitch black shoe settled down on the light brown soil of Konohagakure. The black cloth of the pants hanging just slightly above the shoe. A black tuxedo and a white shirt topped it off along with a black tie.

"Naruto...Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto let out as he gave a long side glance towards no one specific before marching forward.

He moved his hand into his tuxedo as he steadily increased his pace. When he had reached maximum running speed, he took out a small black gun, armed with a silencer on the barrel of the gun.

Soldiers came around the corner and Naruto took aim with the gun. He shot once, right into the barrel of the gun from one of the soldiers, causing the weapon to explode in the soldier's hands.

The blast bought him some time, but his target was still getting away. Naruto stopped and looked around, noticing a ladder heading up one of the buildings.

Wasting no more time, he climbed up the ladder and ran over the rooftop. Just when he started to catch up with his target, a helicopter appeared out of nowhere and starting shooting at the blonde.

Naruto jumped and spun around mid-air. The pilot only caught a glimpse of the blonde's face before his missle launch system was hit by a single bullet, blowing up the missles along with the entire helicopter.

Naruto groaned as he landed on his back, but he quickly recovered and kept on running. He was gaining in on his taget, but not fast enough. As suddenly a car came from around the corner and the target dived in it.

"I won't let you get away!" Naruto said, though his target obviously couldn't hear it. The blonde looked around and noticed a tank stationed below him. He jumped down, landing on top of the tank where he quickly kneeled down.

Strolling his sleeve up, Naruto revealed a silver watch and he quickly took it off. He aimed the end of the watch at the hatch, which led to the inner side of the tank, and pressed two buttons.

A small, focussed red laser shot out and started to melt through the hatch. Within almost no time at all, the hatch fell down into the tank, hitting an non-suspecting soldier in the head.

As the soldier collapsed, Naruto jumped down, landing on top of the soldier.

"Oops." Naruto let out as the soldier groaned in agony.

After racing to the cockpit, Naruto shot the soldier present there and took his assault rifle.

"Come on...Come on..." Naruto said as he tried to ignite the tank's engine.

"Ah!" Naruto let out as all of a sudden he was being strangled from behind. Apparently, the first soldier didn't decide to stay unconscious for a very long time.

The blonde grabbed a firm hold of the assault rifle and whacked the soldier around his head. The soldier's hold quickly faded as he fell onto the floor, Naruto jumping up and putting him out for good with the assault rifle.

He turned back to the part of the tank he was supposed to use to drive it and it didn't take much longer before he found the ignition key.

As the tank rolled onto the street, Naruto ran back and checked outside which way he needed to go.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto called out as he slapped his hands in the familiar handseal and created a bunch of clones.

"Let's go everyone!" Naruto cheered as he and his clones had succesfully turned the tank onto the street and were chasing after his target.

After firing a few missles, yet sadly missing Naruto groaned, "Damn, using this thing is hard..."

He quickly scouted the area, looking for something that he could use or blow up in order to stop his target's escape. Yet, he found none and matters got worse.

Out of one of the nearby houses another tank appeared and headed on a collision course with Naruto's.

"Shit." Naruto cursed as he could recognise the red haired, black tuxedo wearing man that was sitting near the tank's hatch.

"Gaara...Sabaku no...Gaara." Gaara said, raising an eyebrow, "Let's go..."

Gaara headed further down into the tank, closing the hatch above him and almost instantly the cannon aimed towards Naruto's tank.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Naruto called out.

"What?! Are you crazy?! With this thing?!" A bunch of his clones called out.

"Alright then just blow the crap out of his tank!" Naruto commanded and headed down into the tank as well.

Now both tanks were aiming at each other and a moment later unleashed their first missles. The explosion caused by said missles caused the two tanks to make an nearly impossible u-turn before firing the next salvo.

"You're going down, Gaara!" Naruto yelled as he crawled out of the tank again.

The hatch of the other tank opened and Gaara showed only his hair and eyes, "We'll see about that..."

The tanks once again aimed for each other and...

-----------

"Will you two put those things away already?" Temari asked and placed a hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at the two boys.

"Aw, come on, Temari." Naruto whined and pouted at the wind mistress, "These things are amazingly fun to play with!"

"I have to admit...These 'toys' are quite entertaining..." Gaara stated as he rammed his remote controlled tank into Naruto's.

"Hey! That was a cheap shot, Gaara!" Naruto pointed dramatically at the Kazekage, who rubbed his hands together and surpressed an evil laughter.

"Fun or not, it doesn't matter right now." Temari said and let out a sigh, "Let's just get those suit over to the counter, pay for them and get out of here."

Naruto tilted his head, "But...I don't remember us already finding all of you girls an outfit..."

"Don't worry...While you were playing we've taken care of it." Temari smirked at Naruto.

"That's right." Ino said as she almost jumped on top of Temari from behind the wind mistress, widely grinning at Naruto and Gaara, "Women don't really need the advice of men about clothing when they've got their girl friends around."

Naruto sheepishly grinned as Ino held up the 'peace'-sign, "Ehehehe. I guess not really."

"Come on. Hurry back to the dressing rooms where Hinata and Sakura are waiting for you two with your clothes." Temari said as she turned around, looking over her shoulder towards the two of them, "And get dressed in your regular clothing again, so we can get out of here."

Naruto checked himself out, carefully studying the black tuxedo he was currently wearing, "I don't know...I kinda like the way this looks."

"We can't run you over the counter though, so you'll have to get out of that outfit for now." Ino winked and smiled at Naruto.

"Yeah, you'll have plenty of time to wear it later." Temari stated with a smirk on her face, "Or something like that..."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I guess you're right."

Gaara stared at the remote controlled tanks for a moment as Naruto, Temari and Ino headed off and then he picked the two tanks along with their remotes up, quickly following Naruto and the others after he did.

"Which of you lovely ladies is holding onto my clothing?" Naruto asked upon seeing Sakura and Hinata.

Both blushed, Sakura only slightly and Hinata a whole lot more, but only Sakura managed to bring out a reply, "Naruto, stop joking around. Also, Hinata is holding onto your clothes."

Naruto blinked at Sakura for a moment and then grinned widely, turning towards Hinata, "Then, Hinata...Can I have my clothes back?"

"Hm?" The shy girl lifted her head up and blushed brighter, "O-Oh..Y-Yes."

"Thank you." Naruto said as Hinata pretty much shoved his clothes back into his hands. Naruto quickly checked if everything was amongst the clothes and then quickly headed into one of the empty dressing rooms.

"Here is your apparel, Kazekage-sama." Sakura said as she handed Gaara his clothes.

"No need for formality." Gaara said before disappearing into one of the dressing rooms.

"I suggest we already go to the counter and pay for our own clothes." Ino suggested as she leaned back agains a wall, winking at Sakura, "You know...In order to be sure they don't find out just yet what we're going to wear and keep the surprise if we suddenly run into them tonight."
Sakura smiled at her blonde friend and then turned towards Temari, "Temari-san, if you could be so kind..."

"Yeah, here you go." Temari said and threw a small wallet at Sakura, "There should be enough in it to cover all of it. Don't worry, Gaara will pay for all of it in the end."

Sakura grinned widely, "Being related to the Kazekage must be nice."

"Let's get going, Sakura. Those two can be done any moment now." Ino said as she picked up some of the clothing the girls had picked out and then she headed towards the counter.

"Hold up a minute, Ino." Sakura let out as she hastily picked up the remaining clothes and rushed after her friend.

When the two girls were out of hearing distance Temari placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, who had been staring towards the direction of the dressing rooms for some time now, and pulled her closer.

"If I were you, I'd wipe that drool off before he comes back. Would be quite embarassing, wouldn't you say?" Temari whispered in Hinata's ear.

Hinata looked with wide eyes at Temari, shaking a little bit, "I...I wasn't...I..."

"Really? Then what is that?" Temari raised an eyebrow at Hinata.

The Hyuuha heiress stared at Temari for a moment before she slightly started to panic. As the silver-eyed girl franctically looked all over her shirt for any traces of drool and felt whether or not the corners of her mouth were wet, Naruto walked back out of the dressing room.

"Man, it is quite annoying to get in and out of these suits though..." Naruto stated as he walked up to the girls, almost instantly noticing that Hinata was searching herself, "Hn? hinata? What's wrong? Did you lost something?"

Hinata stopped, blushed and looked at Naruto, "N-No...I was just...ehm..."

"I wonder what or if something is wrong with her..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head before grinning widely at Hinata, "Alright then. As long as you're alright, it doesn't really matter, right?"

Hinata smiled at Naruto, blushing brighter and avoiding his gaze. Naruto smiled back at her before turning his attention to the other blonde in his nearby presence.

"Temari, can we go already? I'm starting to get hungry." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"Once Gaara is done, we can go." Temari smiled at Naruto, "Though I don't think we'll start preparing dinner right away when we get home."

"Huh? Why not?" Naruto questioned.

"Because it's still too early, that's all." Temari replied nonchalantly.

Naruto tilted his head, "I wonder if she's up to something."

Before Naruto could ponder any further, Gaara emerged from the dressing rooms fully dressed and with his usual expression pasted onto his face.

He ran his eyes over the others when he was only a feet or two away from them, "Well...Shall we get going?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered and then looked around him, noticing that something wasn't right, "Hey, where did Sakura-chan and Ino go to?"

"They're waiting for us at the cash register." Temari smiled at him before turning around and heading towards said cash register, "Come on, let's go."

A while later, everyone was outside and walking on the road back towards their home.

"Man, I'm looking forward to tonight! That suit looks cool!" Naruto said with a wide grin on his face, "Though I'll have to change it a bit since I'm forced to go as 'Nemar' to that bachelorette party..."

"Hehe, I'll have to agree with you on that, Naruto." Sakura winked and playfully stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Alright..." Temari said and took a deep breath, "One...two..."

Before the blonde kunoichi even said three, Naruto could see two flashes and then they were gone again.

"Wh-What the?" Naruto let out as he frantically looked around, "Where did Sakura-chan and Ino go?!"

"They left." Temari said, smirking as she kept on walking.

"Left?! Why?!" Naruto cried out in surprise.

"I told you before, we're going to keep our outfits a secret until we head for the party. That means you won't catch a single glimpse of it." Temari explained.

"Hmmm..." Naruto replied and then turned his head to the left, "If that's the plan, then why is Hinata still here?"

"I...I didn't buy anything because I already have something, so...so..." Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, "I'm just going to walk home."

"I see." Naruto grinned at the Hyuuga heiress, "Well, I'm glad you're sticking with us 'till we reach my place. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Hinata slightly lifted her head up to face Naruto and blushed for a moment before looking away, "N-No...I'll be fine. Thank you for the offer, Naruto-kun."

"She refuses? I wonder if she's mad at me for what I did earlier today..." Naruto thought and then sheepishly grinned at the girl, "Ehm...if this is about the whole Harem no jutsu thing, then..."

"N-No, that's not it!" Hinata quickly interrupted Naruto and then looked away again, "It's just that...ehm...I...I don't want to bother you with something like that, Naruto-kun...I'll be fine if...if I go back home by myself."

"Alright. I really wouldn't mind walking you home though." Naruto grinned widely at Hinata.

"Thank you, Na-Naruto-kun..." Hinata looked up and blushed, but for some odd reason, Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking at someone other than him.

However, he did realise it was kind of pointless to try and convince Hinata, "Oh well, it's not like she needs to be protected, right?"

"Alright! Let's head home and eat dinner then!" Naruto cheered.

"You know you won't be able to eat right away when we're home, right?" Temari smirked and raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

Naruto pondered it over for a few moments and then raised his fist up in the air again, "Let's head home and wait three minutes for my instant cup-ramen to be done cooking!"

Temari shook her head, faintly smiling at the blonde as they headed on.

Not too long after that, they were back at Naruto's apartment and Naruto bid Hinata a safe trip home.

"Hope you had some fun today, Hinata...You know, even though it probably didn't go as you had hoped for." Naruto sheepishly grinned at Hinata.

"N-No, it...it was nice spending t-time with you, Na-Naruto-kun..." Hinata blushed and faintly smiled at the blonde, "I hope you will have a nice meal."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "And er...The same goes for you as well, of course."

Hinata smiled and took a slight bow before heading off, shyly looking over her shoulder at the blonde one more time before disappearing out of sight.

Naruto closed the door and grinned widely as he rested his hands on the back of his head, "Hehehe. Hinata sure is cute. I wonder why she didn't want me to walk her home though...Seems unlike her..."

"Oh well...Now it's time to finish one of the most important things in life..." Naruto said as he walked into the living room, a various amount of smells filling his nostrils, "Food!"

"Just sit down and wait, Naruto." Temari told him, who was currently preparing dinner for all of them, "The less you distract me from making dinner, the sooner you'll have it."

"Alright, alright." Naruto said and sat down on his bed, "I'll find something else to do."

Centuries later, Naruto's skin had all dried up and he was looking like a mummy of his former self.

"Temari...When are we going to have dinner...?" Naruto said in a creaking voice.

"Naruto, it's only been five minutes!" Temari retorted.

"But I'm hungry!" Naruto cried out as he turned around to face Temari.

"Yes, I know that. You on the other hand should know that preparing a GOOD meal takes time." Temari replied and Naruto grumbled, "...Ramen is a good meal and it's done in three minutes..."

Temari, who could hear the blonde mutter retorted, "Trust me when I say that things that only take three minutes aren't exactly the best things in the world."

"I didn't say ramen is the best thing in the world..." Naruto replied and looked away, Temari smirking at him, "And I didn't mention ramen as one of those things either."

"Damn...She got me there..." Naruto frowned, "How much longer untill it is done then?"

"I think it's about ten more minutes..." Temari stated as she turned back to her cooking.

"Ten minutes?!" Naruto cried out as he jumped up.

"That should be long enough..." Temari calmly stated as she kept an eye on what she was cooking.

"For what?! To let it all burn to a crisp?!"

"No, to get it all done. It is for me, anyway..."

Gaara raised his head up and didn't even bother turning around, "Temari...Tell me. We are talking about food here...right? Otherwise I think I'll head out right now..."

"Don't imagine weird things!" The two blondes yelled at the Kazekage, who slightly tilted his head.

"You know, Gaara. You seem to be thinking kind of...dirty today..." Naruto mentioned as his right eye twitched.

"What are you talking about? I'm the same always...You two are the ones who have been acting out of the ordinary all this time." Gaara replied, not even bothering to face Naruto.

"Wh-Wh-What?!" The blondes shouted in Gaara's ear, "No...Never mind..."

"You know, Gaara...You sure seem relaxed by the way. I mean...There was a reason you carried that magazine twice, right? Yet somehow you don't mind it one bit that Tenten made you lose both copies." Naruto stated as he sat down on his bed indian-style.

"That's because I still have another copy." Gaara stated and blinked, "Though it probably means I have to get more copies again somehow..."

"Three?! You were carrying three of the same magazines around and all of them had a picture of Tenten in them while she's...she's..."

"That was just a coincedence...I found two of them underneath Kankurou's bed and started reading it when I was bored. The articles were quite interesting..." Gaara paused and turned towards Naruto, "So I figured I could keep one and buy another one in case something happened to the first one. Then after buying it, I realised that I should keep the other one as well."

"I see...So that cat guy had two of them..." Naruto nodded, "He must've thought the same thing and bought an extra copy."

"I doubt that." Gaara stated, causing Naruto to blink at him, "Why?"

Gaara closed his eyes, "He only had one copy of all the other magazines. I read all of them, but this one was...probably my favourite...I think."

"Hmmm...I wonder why there were two of them then...Temari, can you think of anything?" Naruto asked the blonde as he turned his head towards the kitchen.

"N-No...W-Why would I know what my perverted brother would be doing with two of the exact same mature magazines..." Temari replied, "B-Besides...What's up with talking about this all of a sudden?!"

"Why is she stuttering? Maybe she's just embarrassed about her brothers..." Naruto thought and then grinned widely, "Well, it passes time while you're cooking. Hehehehe."

"Geez...Talk about something else, will you..." Temari replied.

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "There's nothing else I can think of..."

"Then just stay quiet and wait untill dinner is done."

"Hmmm..." Naruto fell down on his bed and closed his eyes, "How boring..."

This time, for Naruto, time passed by like it was nothing for he had fallen asleep on his bed. When he awoke from his little nap, the smell of food pretty much overwhelmed.

"Wow." Naruto shot up and turned around, his eyes growing wide, "That's our dinner?!"

"Ehehehehe..." Temar grinned widely and she rubbed arrogantly just above her lip as she beamed with pride as she presented the dining table filled with various amounts of food, "Well? What do you think of that, huh?"

"I'll tell you what I think of that!" Naruto let out as he jumped up from his bed and rushed towards the table, "Itadakimasu!"

"Oi...Don't start without us..." Temari said as she sat down on her seat, Gaara soon joining them on his own seat.

"Oh...Er...Yeah, sorry about that." Naruto sheepishly grinned, placing his chopsticks down on the table and cleaning his mouth, "I just got a little excited, ehehehehe."

Temari smiled and shook her head, "I'm glad you like it."

Naruto looked at all the food present on the table. It was far more than he thought would fit on his table and yet nothing was in danger of being knocked over or falling off the table.

"You really went out of your way to get all of this done, didn't you Temari?" Naruto asked as he looked at all the food once more.

Temari's smiled faded, her eyes saddening slightly, "That's because...you know...tonight is a special night..."

Naruto lifted his head up and looked at Temari, "What do you mean?"

"This is...probably the last night we will spend dinner with the three of us together..." Temari answered as she stared at her bowl of soup.

"To...Tomorrow, huh..." Naruto replied and slightly frowned, "Do you really have to go?"

"We're thankful for your hospitality, but as Kazekage I've already stayed away from my duties for long enough." Gaara stated as he crossed his arms, "Tomorrow, after the Hokage's wedding, we'll have to leave."

"Geez..." Naruto said and then grinned widely before he stretched himself out, "I'm going to miss you guys around here."

"Naruto..." Temari said as she looked at him.

"We'll just have to make the best of it today and tomorrow then!" Naruto grinned widely and picked his chopsticks up again, raising them in the air, "Now, let us chow down into the delicious meal Temari made us."

Temari smiled warmly at him, though there was still a hint of sadness left in her eyes as she muttered, "You idiot..."

After dinner, the trio got ready to head out towards the bachelor and bachelorette party. Eating all that Temari had prepared took them long enough, even with Naruto's big appetite.

Gaara was already dressed in his tuxedo, as was Naruto, and Temari headed towards the bathroom in order to get changed into her own outfit.

"Ehm..." Naruto said as Temari was about to head into the bathroom. The wind mistress turned around and eyed Naruto, "What's wrong?"

"I just realised I have to meet up with someone before I head to the party." Naruto turned around and sheepishly grinned at Temari, "Sorry, but I have to head off before you guys..."

"Oh...Well..." Temari said as she looked away and opened the bathroom door, "I hope you have fun and I guess I'll see you later tonight then."

"Yeah." Naruto replied and smiled at her, "Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be heading out again in time to see you before the party."

Temari faintly smiled at him, "That would be nice."

"Well then..." Naruto nodded and headed off, running part Temari just as she headed inside the bathroom.

It didn't take Naruto long to find the person he was looking for. He knew exactly where to find her. For there were only two places she could always be found.

Naruto took a guess and went for the one that was the nearest by. He molded some chakra and hung upside down on the edge of the rooftop. A moment later a window opened up and he was greeted with a smile from Ayame, "You never think about the front door to reach me, now do you?"

Naruto grinned widely for a moment and then launched himself into Ayame's room as she stepped aside. Ayame closed the window again and turned towards Naruto, who stood straight up again.

"So!" Naruto said cheerful, "Why did you want to see me?"

Ayame walked towards her bed and sat down on it, smiling at Naruto, "Tomorrow is the big day, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Naruto let out and slightly frowned.

"So you still haven't made up your mind yet, now have you?" Ayame smiled at Naruto as he looked with a look of surprise on his face at the girl, "How did you...?"

"it's written all over you, that's all." Ayame winked at him, "And that's why I wanted you to come over here."

"You're going to help me make up my mind?" Naruto asked and sat down beside Ayame.

Ayame shook her head, "No...I'm not going to do that. I can't do that."

"Then what...why?" Naruto blinked at the ramen girl, who kept smiling honestly at him.

"I wanted to let you know that I find it amazing what you've achieved within these past two weeks, Naruto..." Ayame looked straight into Naruto's eyes, "You've changed, yet you're still the same. And...I want you to know that...I'm...that I am proud of you."

Naruto grinned widely at her, "Ehehehe. Well, I did learn from the best, didn't I?"

Ayame shook her head, "I can't take all the credit for your development. It's been inside of you all along, you just needed to know how to bring it out."

Naruto grinned widely as he stood up, "Tonight I'm going to try to make up my mind. They'll all be at Tsunade-obachan's bachelorette party and it's...the final battle, I guess."

Ayame nodded, "Promise me that it's a battle you will win and that you...that you will come back here to talk to me at least once more."

Naruto stood up, struck the nice-guy pose and grinned widely, "Don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise, Ayame-chan. I'll definitely come back for you."

Ayame smiled faintly at him, "I really hope so."

After pausing for a moment, Ayame too stood up from the bed and smiled at him, "Well then. I think it's about time you become 'Nemar' for one more night."

"Well, I'll need the technique tomorrow once or twice too, but yeah, you're right." Naruto said and stepped back, forming the single handseal he needed.

"Henge!" Naruto called out and as his body was momentarily covered with smoke, Ayame looked with sadness in her eyes for a brief moment.

"Well, what do you think?" Naruto asked once the smoke cleared up, his white shirt replaced with a black one and his tuxedo being just slightly different from before.

"I'm sure it will do." Ayame smiled at him, "I guess...This is it then. You're heading off for the big battle."

Naruto blinked at Ayame for a moment and then smiled at her, "Ayame-chan...Thank you for every thing you have done for me."

Ayame looked with slightly wide eyes at him as he headed towards the window, "I really couldn't have gotten this far without you. You really are an amazing person."

"Naruto..." Ayame said as Naruto was just about to climb out of the window.

"Eh?" Naruto turned around, looking slightly surprised at Ayame as she smiled and extended her hand towards him, "Can you come here for a moment?"

Naruto slowly walked towards her as she kept looking with soft eyes at him. Once he was within reach, Ayame grabbed his hand and pulled him into her arms, tightly hugging him.

"A...Ayame..." Naruto let out as Ayame pressed herself against him.

"I just wanted to hold you like this for one more time. After all...After tomorrow, I'll probably won't be allowed to do it, right?" Ayame said smiling softly as she stroked with her fingers over his back, "So...Is it alright if I hold you like this for a few moments?"

"Yeah, sure..." Naruto replied as he wrapped his arms around Ayame and rested his head against hers.

"Thank you." Ayame said and closed her eyes for a moment.

Moments passed before she opened them again with a smile on her face as she released Naruto from her hug, "Well then, I think it's time for you to go out on the battlefield."

Naruto grinned widely at her, "I guess it is then. I'll be sure to keep all of your advice in the back of my head."

"You'd better. Other wise it would have been for nothing." Ayame said smiling at him as he headed towards the window again.

Naruto looked over his shoulder one last time, smiling at the woman who had been his support and advisor for these past two weeks one more time before heading out.

When Naruto left her sight, Ayame's smile faded and she closed her eyes.

Naruto knew he could've gone back and see Temari first, but he figured out it would be hard to get away later on and henga again. Instead, Naruto headed straight towards the Hokage Tower, the place where, not too long from now, Tsunade would hold her bachelorette party.

Naruto stood at the entrace and turned around, facing the orange sky at the horizon as the sun began to set.

Day was passing over into night within moments and when the sky darkened and the first couple of stars shined on the heavens, Naruto smiled.