Hello readers and welcome to the first chapter I have wrote in a VERY long time. I mean it took me a long time to do the editing but I am decently happy with how it ended up working out. Now I am sure that there is still errors that I missed but at least there isn't blaring plot holes (at least I don't think there are). Anyways I am a bit sad currently seeing as while I did try to go through with purchasing a home it just ended up not working out. After all where I am everyone is wanting drastically more for their homes seeing as it is a seller's market and everyone is buying due to covid. For me who is a first-time home buyer with only a moderate amount of money that just didn't mix well but oh well. I will just have to give it another try in the future and hope for the best. Course like I said before I am not forcing all of you to wait the ages for a chapter (if anyone is even waiting anymore) but will return to a somewhat normal writing schedule.

~~Chapter 79~~

~Forest; dusk~

The group of Konoha ninja were making great progress on their way towards Nadeshiko village when they finally decided to stop and rest for the night. So, they quickly set up several tents and after eating quickly went to their tents except for those that were currently on watch duty.

+Night+

'Come on just fall asleep already!' Naruto mentally complained as he tossed and turned in his sleeping bag. For while he wanted to sleep and get a break from his restless thought, they fought valiantly against his efforts making sleep nigh impossible. Sensing this Naruto finally conceded to his lose and got out of the tent to feel the cool night air hit him in a gentle breeze. He then quickly closed the tent trying his hardest to not wake up anyone else that was in the tent before walking over to the campfire they set up beforehand. Naruto then let out a heavy sigh as he sat down on a fallen log.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Jiraiya asked his student calmly sitting next to the younger man.

"No…just have too much going on in my head." Naruto admitted to his teacher.

"Heh, I know what you mean. If I was on my way to shack up with a beauty, I would be too excited to wait as well." Jiraiya told him then didn't even try to dodge the punch that slammed into his side hard enough to make him hit the ground. Though he quickly got up and sat right back down in his original position clearly not truly harmed at all.

"Baka pervert. If you are here just to bother me you might as well continue to patrol around." Naruto growled at Jiraiya.

"Mah, Mah but you aren't nearly as gloomy now that you got your mind on something else." He told Naruto with a teasing smile but quickly got serious again. "Seriously gaki you are over thinking things here. Political marriages happen all the time in this world; just be happy that you two actually know and like each other already."

"But that's just it, I don't want a political marriage! I know Shizuka-chan only is marrying me due to the stupid rules her village has…I mean she is still grieving Sagiri-san for kami sake! I just wish there was some way I could free her from this so she could find someone she truly cares for again after coming to terms with the unfortunate death."

*sigh* "Naruto I know you are truly kind and want to do your best to help your friends…but sometimes things are just out of your control. I agree that their rule of 'marriage through combat' seems insane but I also understand why they do this. As a smaller village their goal is to keep producing only the strongest ninja they can. Due to this the strongest family has only become stronger leading to the kage's family being the proper candite to take the position for the last two generations. Due to this Shizuka being able to spread the genes of their 'strength' is something the village truly is counting on." Jiraiya explains.

"Ok…but that has nothing to do with my current situation." Naruto told him.

"No…but it does mean that even if you didn't get married to Shizuka someone else eventually would. And who knows what kind of personality that man could have. Afterall the only thing they base the marriage on strength leading to a good chance that the male involved could most likely be a complete asshole that wants nothing else but to use her…in all forms of meaning." Jiraiya tells Naruto making him growl at the thought.

"And that is why their program is horrible! It let's shit heads like that do what they want…and forces a girl that doesn't wish to marry to do so." Naruto says angrily throwing another log into the fire.

"Yes it has some errors and trust me the village has ways to quickly….end…such situations after they have properly produced a child. But that is not what mean at the moment." Jiraiya tells him trying to calm the younger man down. "What I was going to say was that the best way you can help her might just end up being to follow her village's rules. For while they are forcing you to marry her, and have a child. They are NOT forcing you to do anything else. So, after appeasing the village you are free to give her all of the time that she needs to recover from her grieving." Jiraiya told Naruto making his eyes widen.

"I guess that is true…but that is another issue I have….the idea of having a child right now is just crazy to me. I mean I never thought I would even get to the point of having even a girlfriend due to my 'problem'" Naruto said placing a hand on his stomach. "Anyways I just don't know if I am truly ready to take care of a child. I mean I would hardly say I have graduated from being a child myself." Naruto admitted.

"Heh, well you don't need to worry about that much. After all the little tike will stay in Nadeshiko while you are still a working shinobi of Konoha. So, most of the raising will be up to Shizuka-san and her family." Jiraiya told Naruto with a smirk then watched as the blonde's fist was clenched as veins were becoming present on Naruto's head as he stewed in anger. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Jiraiya quickly told him. "But seriously while I know you don't feel you are ready…that has never stopped you before. The brat I trained faced whatever problem I through at him no matter how daunting without any fear of failure and instead focused on how to make sure it went right." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"Yea, but that has nothing to do with regular life. That is only when it comes to fighting." Naruto told him.

"Oh is that so? So you just want to throw away your creed huh?" Jiraiya asked making Naruto look at him in confusion.

"You gave your word that you would help this girl and just because you are scared you won't give her the best option she has?" Jiraiya asked making Naruto even more surprised.

"B-but that has to do with being a ninj-" Naruto began only to be cut off.

"What's that do I hear someone running away from their word?" Jiraiya asks making Naruto quickly shut up having no way to refute his words. "Heh, in all honesty kid while it will be a tough learning curve I am sure that you will be able to figure it out…you somehow always have shit work out for your wants anyways." Jiraiya told him while mumbling the last part.

"Oh, are you sure?" Naruto asks.

"Not at all. After all this guy will never be stuck tied down to a kid. The bachelor life forever!" Jiraiya tells Naruto with a wide goofy smile, clearly back to his goofy mode.

"Heh, thanks Jiraiya-sensei" Naruto tells the old man with a true smile before getting up from the log. "Now I guess I better get some rest" Naruto told him now that for some reason his mind felt a bit clearer. So, he quickly went back to his tent and went inside.

"Heh, darn kid. Sometimes you act as wild and sporatic as Kushina was and other times you are way to analytical like Minato-kun….you truly are their son. Though only you could get their best AND worse traits at the same time." Jiraiya muttered as he looked at the tent the blond entered. For Kushina was always thought to be dumber than she actually was simply due to her not wanting to focus on boring things and never sat still. Meanwhile Minato always thought out everything he did sometime to the point where he stressed himself out by over thinking.

Jiraiya simply stood there watching the tent for about another minute before finally deciding he should get back to his patrol and continued to watch their surroundings.

+Few days later+

After Naruto and Jiraiya's talk the rest of the trip went as smooth as possible. Though most of this was probably due to the two sannin that were currently in the middle of their group…though another big part was probably due to the Anbu that followed loyally after their Hokage. Still this didn't matter, instead what truly matter was that they finally reached the village where the current leader was waiting calmly with Shizuka standing next to her family.

"Lady Hokage-sama what a pleasure to meet you." Shizuka's mother told Tsunade kindly.

"And you as well Joseikage-sama" Tsunade replied keeping their greeting respectful.

(AN: please if you readers have ANY better idea for the leader of their village PM me your idea and the meaning. Right now I have it as "Women shadow" according to google…which personally sounds very strange but the leaders are kages. Also if there is an actual name for Shizuka's parents it would be appreciated as well seeing as I will be giving them names rather than just saying "her mother" and "her father"…gets old fast)

"I trust that your journey to our village went well." Shizuka's mother stated before looking at Naruto. "And I see that our husband to be is present as well. Young lad my name is Tsuyoi Hayomi but you may soon call me Giri no haha-sama." She tells Naruto with a smirk. (mother in law-sama)

"K-kaa-sama!" Shizuka mutters out with a blush on her cheeks due to her mother's action. Meanwhile the group from Konoha was rather surprised at just how quickly the leader of the village went from talking to the Hokage and then to one of their subjects.

"Well then please show our guests to their rooms. We will discuss plans after you are rested." Tsuyoi says completely ignoring her daughter's outburst. Tsuyoi then began to walk away from the Konoha ninja but suddenly stopped after a few steps. "Oh, and if you could please keep Lord Jiraiya from…acting up while he is in this village. Even if he is part of your group, I do warn that he will receive the appropriate punishment." She added glaring at the older man for just a moment before continuing to walk away.

This led to one of the women that were lined up with her quickly walking up to Tsunade and begin to talk to her in a respectful tone.

"If you would follow me Hokage-sama" the woman requested with Tsunade and the rest of the Konoha quickly agreeing to and doing just that. They were all then lead to a relatively high-class hotel. Their guide then quickly talked to the front desk and got several keys before leading them to the second floor. "Okay so first we apologize if our hotel is not up to your standards Hokage-sama. Due to us rarely receiving guests our village does not put much emphasis on hotels. But do not worry we will work hard to make sure that you are as comfortable as we can manage. Now you and Lord Jiraiya have rooms to yourself while the rest of your group will be roomed in pairs." The woman explained handing over all of the keys that she had to Tsunade. "The room numbers have all been marked on the keys and the rooms are all furnished the same. So feel free to pick your rooms as you feel is best…but we strongly request that you send someone to inform the front desk of Hokage-sama's room number." The woman told them then left them alone to figure things out.

After the woman left it was a quick process to sort out everyone in rooms. On one side it was Tsunade's room which she decided to share with Shizune; then a room for some of the anbu, then Jiraiya's room. Meanwhile on the other side it was the rest of the anbu, then Hinata and Haku, and finally Ino and Ayame's room. Now as for Naruto he was originally to be placed into one of the rooms with the Anbu but Jiraiya quickly decided to force Naruto to sleep in his room instead.

"Hahaha, come on now Tsunade. Even if they are supposed to be on duty all the time to keep you protected, they still need areas where they can do things without needing their masks all the time." Jiraiya explained with a smirk. 'There is NO way I can let this brat sleep in a different room…I am sure there is a very good chance of when I am 'sleeping' he will bring in one of the girls for some sexy time. Hehehe.' Jiraiya mentally explained while managing to keep his perverted cackle to only be in his head.

Hearing this Tsunade just shrugs before sending one of her Anbu to tell the receptionist which room she was in. "Anyways I am sure that I will have a meeting in an hour or two so I am going to sit my ass down and relax while I can. Jiraiya you are restricted from going anywhere without my permission; as are you Naruto seeing as I have no idea when I will have a meeting involving you so I need to know where you are as well. But otherwise, all of you girls are free to do basically anything you want until the actual wedding…just don't get in trouble." Tsunade told the girls who nodded.

"Huh? Why am I stuck here….the Anbu are more than enough to run security detail." Jiraiya asked.

"Grr. Because YOU are notorious for doing shit women hate AND just in case you forgot there are ONLY women in this village basically. So I don't want you to have any chance to create even more of a headache for me to deal with…after all the main reason we are even in this situation is because of you." She told him angrily.

"Heh, you see I am helping the village left and right. If it wasn't for me then this village would never have opened up to working with us so easily." Jiraiya tells her with a smirk.

"…if it wouldn't cause me more problems than its worth, I would have punched you into the desert already." Tsunade told him simply.

"Huh? I thought the desert wasn't anywhere near here." Ayame muttered then watched as Tsunade cracked her knuckles as she held out her fist.

"That is my point." Tsunade tells her simply. For the farther the pervert went away from her; the happier she would be.

"Oh" was all Ayame could mutter clearly a bit terrified of Tsunade.

"Heh, don't worry Ayame-chan. Tsunade-sama only treats those two idiots like that. After all she needs to keep them in line somehow." Ino tells Ayame with a smile looking at Jiraiya and Naruto.

"…and here I thought you loved me" Naruto muttered feeling a bit down.

"…I am a sannin and yet these kids don't pay me any respect anymore." Jiraiya mutters but quickly recovered.

"Oh stop acting like that Naru-kun. I do love you….but even you have to admit that you act like a baka at times." Ino tells Naruto not lighting up at all on her 'tough love' approach.

"N-Naruto-kun has been making better choices for a while now." Hinata adds trying to put Naruto in a better light but Naruto instead just fell to the floor making small circles on the ground with his finger.

"Even my Hina-chan thinks I was an idiot." Naruto mutters even more depressed.

*cough* "As much fun as this banter has been…I want to relax before this shit starts. I have given you my orders now go away." Tsunade tells the group not worried about Naruto knowing most of the two men's actions were just that; an act. With that being said they all followed her instruction and left the room.

~Naruto and Jiraiya's room~

*sigh* I still can't believe this is happening" Naruto said flopping onto his bed. "…and where do you think you are going?" Naruto adds looking at Jiraiya who was walking towards the door.

"Oh shut up brat. I may have to listen to Tsunade but I still have my trust information gathering tool to help make sure I don't miss anything important." Jiraiya tells him showing a telescope.

'Even I don't want to create the political nightmare that I made the mistake of doing last time again…but this is just too perfect of a spot for me to NOT try and get some material. Let's just hope the seals I put on this to increase its ability truly work." Jiraiya thinks then leaves Naruto alone in the room as he began his journey to the rooftop.

"…well I suppose its better than him making a peephole or something." Naruto says with a shrug deciding not to bother to try and stop Jiraiya. After all he had much bigger things on his mind. He then opened one of the books that he had sealed away and simply tried to keep him mind off of all the meetings he surely had in his future. That is until he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in" Naruto called without bothering to get up. He then looked over to the door after the person walked into the room to find that the person in question was Shizuka. "Oh S-Shizuka-chan what can I do for you?" Naruto asks awkwardly and quickly sat up and put his book away.

"Hi…I just figured we could talk a bit before this process started." She told him honestly while looking clearly uncomfortable.

"…If you don't feel comfortable with this you can back out…who cares about some damn rule that was made ages before we were even born!" Naruto told her firmly.

"No…no it's tradition. One that many of us dislike but it is still something that can't be attacked lightly" Shizuka told him knowing that her rejecting this would cause several problems with the older generations. She remembers the few times someone tried to do that only for several council women to instantly have them shut down and punished. She did not know exactly how this custom was created but enough women who support it have enough power to make sure it does.

*sigh* "You are sure there is nothing I can do for you?" Naruto asks only for her to shake her head while giving her a small smile.

"I appreciate you asking… but no there isn't at this time….but one of my goals is to become the leader here so that I can eventually change this village for the better." Shizuka tells him determined.

"Heh, well I guess all I can do is support you as a friend…but I am sorry about being part of the thing forcing you to give up your freedom." Naruto told her honestly. After all even though the time he was with her was short, he still felt like he made a good friendship with both her and Sagiri; and this just felt like stepping on both a friend's grave and a friendship all at the same time. An idea that made him have a large frown on his face. Course what truly surprised him was the fact that the girl in question simply walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun. While you are a part of this, I don't blame you in anyway. Afterall you only got wrapped up in this mess just like me. Even after you took so much effort to help me and Sagiri." She told him then began to walk back towards the door only to look back at him with a blush. "…Besides while I won't say I love you…I do feel like there is feelings we can possibly build on after I finish grieving Sagiri-kun." She told him then quickly left.

'Shizuka-chan…you truly have been dealt a shit hand at life with your chance of happiness taken away; but yet you still are a strong enough woman to focus on your future and how to make your life as good as you possibly can…Sagiri-san…I don't know where we go after death but I hope you know that Shizuka-chan clearly is a woman who won't ever let anything stop her…and I will help her as much as I can….as a friend.' Naruto thought after Shizuka left him. For while he did have to marry Shizuka it truly was just a formality rather than an actual wedding. So, other than what that formality forced them to do he fully intended to treat Shizuka just as he had before…as a good friend. Especially seeing as just like Shizuka, he couldn't say he loved her even though he did have some feelings for her simply as a normal friendship.

~Hallway~

"Oh why did I do that?" Shizuka muttered with a small blush on her face. For even though she was still grieving Sagiri and truly could say that she loved him…she also couldn't help but feel some warm feelings remembering everything Naruto did for her even with the dangers it had. Not to mention the fact that he has done nothing but support her instead of acting completely different…something that she feared he would do seeing as she found out he already was courting several other girls. She was honest when she said that she didn't love Naruto…but she was sure that with time some feeling would more than likely come.

"Psst. Over here." Shizuka heard someone quietly call out making her look to find one of the girls Naruto was dating looking right at her while motioning her to come over.

"Can I help you?" Shizuka asks the girl confused only to be surprised when her hands were grabbed and she got dragged into the room.

"Hey girls look what I found." The girl told the rest of the people in the room happily with her long blond hair waving as she turned her head from her to the group. Shizuka then looked around and saw that every girl Naruto was in a relationship with was in the room.

"U-um hello?" Shizuka muttered unsure of exsactly what was going on.

"Hello. You are Shizuka-san correct?" Ayame asked the girl who nods making her smile. "Lovely we just wanted to have some girl talk with you." She told Shizuka with the smile still on her face.

"0-ok" Shizuka answered truly not sure what to exspect at the moment…but decided to stay seeing as she would have to get to know these girls eventually. Course she also noticed that a white eyed girl was currently glaring at her. "Did I do something to you?" She couldn't help but ask seeing the glare only seemed to get worse.

"Oh don't worry…you are only taking some of MY firsts." Hinata tells her with a small amount of ki surprising her even more. Thankfully this awkward situation was quickly smothered by Ino who hit Hinata on the head with a light tap.

"Hinata we talked about this! Just because you are obsessed with 'firsts' so much doesn't mean you have be an asshole to her. Afterall not only does it NOT matter but she doesn't have much of a choice to begin with." Ino told her seeing as they had to deal with talking down the jealous Hinata for a good portion of the trip.

'Honestly Hinata is usually such a nice girl but when it comes to her fantasies she is a whole different beast.' Ino couldn't help but think with a sweat drop.

"…fine" Hinata said with a huff. "You are forgiven but only because I feel bad for what happened to you." Hinata added making Shizkua sweat drop while thinking Hinata had a few screws lose.

*sigh* "I am sorry about Hinata-chan. I promise she is normally a very sweet girl but is just FAR to caught up in her fantasies…she will calm down after a while I promise." Ayame explains.

"Suuure" Shizuka couldn't help but mutter deciding to put the craziness to the side for the moment. "Anyways why did you call for me?"

"…well besides a certain girl." Ino says looking over at Hinata "We wanted to get to know you more seeing as like it or not you will be one of our 'sisters'." Ino explained. "But like Ayame said. Hinata will get over her stupid annoyance eventually."

"Its not stupid. I have already told you that I was the first girlfriend meaning all of the first belong to me." Hinata told them firmly making the rest of the girls besides Shizuka shake their heads at Hinata's strange antics.

"Right…anyways let's just talk a bit, shall we?" Ayame said deciding to move past Hinata's strange moments. And with that being said they did just that with Hinata quickly settling down from her 'crazy' phase and was able to talk normal to Shizuka.

+A while later+

After talking for a good while with Naruto's girlfriends Shizuka actually felt a lot better about having to deal with them. For other than their special moments and quirks they all were really friendly and clearly were happy with their arrangements even with the fact that they were all dating the same person.

'Maybe dating someone with CRA won't be all bad." Shizuka couldn't help but think with a small smile staying on her face. Course yet again before she could fully exit the hotel yet another thing stopped her.

"Hey brat come here." Tsunade ordered the younger woman.

"E-exscuse me?" Shizuka mumbled stunned at the brazen statement.

"You heard me. I wish to talk to you…unless you wish to try and make a scene." Tsunade told her releasing just enough KI to make Shizuka feel some pressure. Course Shizuka normally would refuse this and simply tell the person to fuck off after trying to order her around. But with the fact that it was the hokage meant that this situation could lead to loads of troubles that she really didn't want to deal with. So, with that in mind she followed Tsunade as she walked back to her room simply hoping that this conversation wouldn't be too bad.

After they reached the room they calmly sat facing each other at the small dinning area that was provided with Shizune watching from the sideline. Tsunade then quickly placed a large bottle of sake on the table with two cups at the ready.

"Want some?" Tsunade asked the girl who gently shook her head. "Heh, fine more for me." Tsunade told her happily filling her cup and drinking the entire thing immediately. "So, I asked you to come here simply because I wanted to talk to you about this whole situation." Tsunade told her.

'Asked? More like made a scene I couldn't escape from.' Shizuka thought mildly annoyed. "Oh and what did you want to talk about?" She instead asked with a small fake smile.

"Well first I wanted to talk about the bout of bad luck that you faced with your first boyfriend." Tsunade told her with a neutral face as she watched Shizuka's expression change from shock to betrayed finally to a bit of anger.

"Heh, don't worry the brat didn't tattle on your plan…he just wasn't at a level where he could notice just how much Jiraiya was keeping an eye on him throughout his training. So don't go getting upset about him. Its not like we plan on tattling or anything seeing as it would get me nowhere. Instead I simply wanted to talk about it seeing as I had to face something mildly similar myself….but I still don't like bringing this up so you better listen this time." Tsunade told her seriously. For while she was picking at old wounds by doing this she felt that this was a way to help Naruto out in the future with this relationship even if it never ends up being 'true' love.

"W-what!?" Shizuka muttered surprised but quickly recovered thinking that it wasn't that unreasonable given that Tsunade came to fame during one of the great wars. "…does the pain ever go away?" Shizuka finally asks serious.

"…no it doesn't go away. Thankfully the pain can be dulled with time and with loved ones helping to bring your thoughts away from the worst memories." Tsunade told her forgoing the cup and taking a large swig of the sake from the glass itself. "It also helps by thinking only of the good memories you had with them rather than the bad." She adds.

"only the good memories…" Shizuka muttered going through all of the secret dates, conversations, and other events she shared with Sagiri.

"Yes…I may be a hypocrite saying this but the main thing you need to remember is that your loved ones wouldn't want to see you wallow in sadness forever but rather see you move on. So, don't let yourself fall into depression and instead live on. You never will forget your loved ones both new and old but life is all about dealing with the blows that you are dealt." Tsunade told her while taking heavy swigs of the alcohol to push away the dark thoughts of her own past. Afterall this isn't the time for her to become so depressed she can't think straight but rather time for her to try her hardest to let her brat have as good of a life as possible. And in this case that meant trying to make Shizuka push past her own nightmares. After all as much as she wanted to deny it she really did care about Naruto as if he was her own child; and owed him a lot seeing as he kept her from wasting the rest of her life.

"…thank you, Lady Tsunade…you have given me a lot to think about." Shizuka muttered out with her brain too muddled with memories. She then moved to get up but was stopped by Tsunade who quickly stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh and while I trust that you truly are friends with Naruto-kun…" Tsunade started with a smile on her face that stayed present even as she began to apply more pressure on the girls shoulder making it feel as if it was going to be crushed. "If this marriage turns out to be nothing more than some little game that your village pulled for power than I will crush you…treaty be damned." Tsunade told her honestly with the full brunt of her KI pushing down on Shizuka. Who even with all of her experience and strength stood helpless in front of as she felt herself beginning to suffocate.

'T-this is the power of the Sannin! It feels as if she could truly carry through with her threat if she so decided!' Shizuka thought with wide eyes as she experiences just what facing an upper S class ninja truly felt like. Something that truly scared her. For while she knew that if it was just Tsunade her village should be able to somehow manage to win even after taking major damage…but with all of Konoha following her they would be trampled over in an instant. Afterall their village had no true relationships with other villages let alone major ones leaving them all alone with no support from anywhere to be expected.

"…just as long as I am understood." Tsunade told her after a minute quickly releasing her KI and letting the girl catch her breath in desperate gasps.

"I-I understand Hokage-sama." Shizuka told her honestly then left the room still trying to recover from the experience she had. Then as she was walking down the hallway yet again she saw someone she actually knew for once. A single person in a mask which was their version of anbu.

"Lady Shizuka are you ok? I will immediately inform Joseikage-sama about the Hokage's assault on you." The woman told her. With the only reason that she didn't help the younger woman earlier being the fact that no attack was ever actually exchanged and leaving their village at fault…and the fact that with all of the leaf ninja around she would have NO chance at all of saving Shizuka's life from the retaliation.

"No it is fine." Shizuka told the woman.

"But-" the masked woman tried to say.

"It would only cause unneeded problems….Lady Tsunade is just showing that people are right about Konoha. They truly do care for their own with a fire of passion." Shizuka told her not worried at all. Afterall they had no plans of trying to pull something on Konoha anyways. "But if it will make you feel better, I will personally talk to my mother about it and explain my thoughts." She added.

"…understood" the woman told her before disappearing.

*sigh* 'tommorow will certainly be an interesting day' She couldn't help but think as she finally left the hotel.

~Tsunade's room~

"Tsunade-sama are you sure that was the right move to pull?" Shizune asks worried. Afterall while she fully understood why Tsunade did it; it still was the child of another village's kage.

"Of course it wasn't the proper move to pull…but I don't care." Tsunade told her simply. "They know that they aren't strong enough to truly take advantage of my little warning after all...and I owe the brat at least this much protection from hardships." Tsunade told her honestly.

"…if you wanted to protect Naruto from problems then why are we even here in the first place? After all this truly is only Jiraiya's issue not something that the village needed to join." Shizune told her. For while she was very happy that the village would get another ally she also couldn't think of how 'protecting Naruto from hardships' would have led to them doing anything but ignoring this marriage.

*sigh* "And that Shizune is due to that snake bastard" Tsunade told her taking another large chug of sake. "Whether I like it or not that bastard is brewing something truly dangerous…something that I have no idea if we will be able to face without drastic damages. So, unfortunately even my liking of the brat is trumped by the village needing every ally and source of resources it can get before that bastards plan hits us fully." Tsunade told her then looked at the smile on her students face. "What?"

"I am just happy that you truly are thinking like a proper Hokage." Shizune tells her making Tsunade actually blush a bit out of embarrassment.

"Oh shut up…I am just holding this stupid job until the brat can be strong enough to actually take it over without destroying the village. That is it." She told Shizune and tried to ignore the still smiling woman.

+Next morning+

Early in the morning after they arrived a message arrived for Tsunade notifying her that her meeting with the Joseikage finally arrived. So, she quickly forced Naruto to follow come with her and went to the meeting room that was specified.

"Good morning Lady Tsunade. Thank you for coming so promptly." Tsuyoi said happily from her side of the table as Tsunade sat down.

"Good morning to you as well Joseikage" Tsunade answered with Naruto nodding a greeting to Shizuka who sat beside her mother.

"Now I know that you are not a woman that likes long drawn-out conversations so I will try to keep the planning meetings as short as possible. Afterall we are on a rather short time frame to begin with." Tsuyoi tells her with a smile.

"Oh, and why is that?" Tsunade asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Well I am sure you have felt it as well...there is clearly something going on in this world that will drastically affect everyone's future. I may not know how, why, when, who but I just have been sensing that war is coming rapidly closer to us." She honestly explains. Afterall with all the talk of strange monsters, disappearances, random attacks how could there not be something dark brewing just behind the scene?

"…so you have felt it as well." Tsunade muttered honestly a bit surprised. "Well we must make sure to help bring our villages to be as prepared as the can be." Tsunade tells the woman who smirks.

"Yes I am glad you think so…let us make sure that this friendship leads to truly great successes." Tsuyoi tells her fully hoping to have both villages prosper from their relationship. "But now let's get back onto topic after all there is another major reason, we must have this wedding preformed as soon as possible."

"Oh?" Tsunade muttered and saw Tsuyoi nod her head.

"After all my lovely daughter will start ovulating any day now and I want my grandchild as soon as possible." She told Tsunade with her expression never changing from her smile. Meanwhile Tsunade became truly surprised by such an unexpected answer while Naruto and Shizuka turned bright red.

"WHAAT!?" they both called out with their entire faces bright red.

And this is where I am going to end this here. Now I am sure there are several things that bug people about where I am going with this idea and honestly I had a few as well. So, let me explain my reasonings now.

Rushing through the meetings of the two villages: having a kage in another village/hosting another kage is something that both takes a lot of resources and attention but also leads to a lot of risk. Thus in the world of ninja I couldn't see ANYONE wanting the leader of their village to be out longer than they have to be. So, this is why I am going to try and push along the wedding and such in order to get Tsunade back to her 'post' as soon as possible…at least I feel that is what a kage should focus on.

Shizuka and Naruto are a lot closer than they should be: to be honest I still have/want naruto to be as friendly as he is in the show. For while he does make several stupid issues because of it, it also lead to loads of surprisingly good relationships. So he truly would feel like he is a good friend with Shizuka even if there isn't necessarily love there. As for Shizuka…well she just went through heavy trauma and Naruto has done nothing but support and help her in anyway he can. Not to mention he put his life on the line to help her when he didn't have to. So, honestly I can put a slight bit of a….let's say…crush on him even before Sagiri died. Now this isn't something where I would say she would cheat on the guy for or develop anymore but she has to feel some 'warmth' from the blond…if he was still alive I would say it would turn into nothing but a strong friendship. But because sagiri died it is allowed to grow rather than be smothered.

Mentioning that Shizuka is 'ripe' to become pregnant: For this I think about what I am making the village's ideals be. And that is that Shizuka's family is the 'strongest' genes of the village leading to it being horrible if their line ends. Thus her mother is thinking that with a war coming up most likely it would be a good idea to continue the line of their family to ensure it doesn't die off even if this means that Shizuka would be unable to fight. Afterall it would mean they would still have a decent future ability even if Tsuyoi and maybe even Shizuka somehow died in the war.

Tsunade allowing a bloodline to leave Konoha: for this I thought long and hard seeing as it is just stupid for a village to give away a 'loaded weapon' to another village when they don't control said village. So my idea for that is that: 1a. at most shizuka will be able to have only 1 maybe 2 children a year and it would take years for them to grow old enough to have children themselves. 2b. the village mostly produces female children for some weird reason leading to them having no male bloodline user to spread the bloodline/keep it strong through incest (this is stated only due to genetics supposed to be around 50/50 from each parent leading to many genes disappearing/changing) 3c. Naruto is a male and is young enough that he is 'energetic'. So if they truly pushed it he could have loads of children produced and basically have a whole clan be 'grown' at the same time rather than waiting for years or decades. 4d. Naruto is the main controller of the thought to be dead bloodline and has the most information/skill with it. Stuff he can transfer to his family and if they cut ties with Shizuka and a possible kid that kid would have to start from scratch with no help at all other than normal training

I hope this giant chunk of text is enough to show that I don't want this just to be a "Oh Shizuka is cool lets bring her into this" situation but rather something I have given a decent amount of thought to….but I won't lie a big portion of why I put her in this story is simply because she isn't really used for much in many stories. I mean in the show itself she basically disappears after a couple of episodes and those episodes are filler to the max. anyways Ja Ne.