Chapter Fifteen

Oi! Welcome back to The Son Of Two Heroes. Fifteenth time around and I've still got more to feed ya. Hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, then I would have more money, and this wouldn't be a fanfiction.

One month had passed since Naruto had taken the temporary reigns of Team Twelve. He hadn't expected their third delivery mission to Sunagakure to kick off with an ambush by Oto nin, but he supposed that was why he was there, instead of just the genin alone with no jounin.

An Oto chunin was poised to shove his kunai deep into Ryuko's chest, she stared back at him in horror. "This is it! I'm done for!" She screamed in her mind. Surprise slowly made its way onto her face though, after she watched a blue ball of chakra impact the man's torso. He was shot away from her at a high speed and slammed into a tree. She turned to see Naruto standing over him. The blond palmed a kunai and buried it in the man's chest, before he turned back to her.

"You okay?" He asked with a smile.

"U-um y-yeah I am." She answered back still shaking. It wasn't her first time in combat, but she'd never encountered an enemy that could move faster than she could react. If Naruto hadn't been there she most definitely would have died.

"Good. It's alright now, their all taken care of. Anyway let's regroup." He said to the still slightly shaken girl.

The team regrouped, before Naruto made the executive decision to double time it to Sunagakure. Upon arrival they were met with a few Suna nin. After Suna found out they had been tricked, they immediately offered to once again uptake the treaty they had before. They also offer consolidation money, along with their shinobi forces as support for the Sound War.

Messages and important war intel were commonly swapped between the villages. On many occasions a messenger hawk was too insecure for the transfer of intelligence. In turn shinobi commonly ran messages between the village on foot. Hence the very mission Naruto was currently partaking in. They had delivered the scroll they carried to the Suna council, as they still had not chosen a new Kazekage. There were many whispers around the village though, that Gaara would be chosen soon. The other whispers to be heard as Naruto and his team walked through the village were things like "that's him!" And other phrases like "no way it's…." But the thing that had most staring at the boy in awe, and what also cause his team great surprise at how widely know Naruto was, were the words, "that's who beat Gaara."

As they made their way to a hotel they had been offered, they would be staying overnight to bring Suna's return message back the next day, they ran into the man himself.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto and his team came to a halt in the street. Naruto held his hand out, keeping the team behind him. The blond stepped forward toward the sand jinchuriki, the unexpected thing about him being the smile that he held on his face.

"Gaara." The blond was standing only a few feet away when he spoke, smile still splitting his face.

Gaara stepped forward, extending his hand to the blond shinobi. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Heh, no need to thank me. You're just like me, after all." The now widely known chunin said. He took Gaara's hand, and firmly shook it. The redhead cracked a small smile at him and waved his hand in the air. Both of his siblings fell to the ground beside him. "Naruto. You enabled me to see my family as my family. And that will always mean the world to me. I have friends and bonds, that I thought I could never have. But I have them now, thanks to you." The soon to be Kazekage said.

"You gave us our brother back, and kept us alive even though you had every right to kill all three of us. Thank you." Temari said on behalf of both her and Kankuro.

"I'm glad." Naruto said back.

"Temari, Kankuro, will you please escort his team to the hotel? I'd like to have a chance to talk with Naruto."

"Of course we will Gaara, don't go getting into trouble."

"Team Twelve, please follow these two, I'll come catch up later, I need to catch up with the rumored Kazekage." The blond said winking at his team and attempting to elbow Gaara lightly in the side, only to be blocked by sand. "Damn forgot about that." He said laughing, and the two shinobi walked away down the street chatting like old friends.

"T-they haven't spoken since Gaara last tried to kill him. How can they just come off like friends!?" Roku asked.

Temari moved to voice an answer to the boy but Ryuko beat her to it. "Roku….Naruto has something special I feel like no one else has….he's just amazing, and he can change people for the better quite often."

"Well you hit that nail on the head." Temari said. "But sounds like you've got a big old crush on your captain." The blond teased the red and black haired girl. At this, Ryuko's cheeks turned bright red and she began sputtering nonsense. After a moment she just looked to the ground and stopped speaking, cheeks redder than ever. The boys and Temari all just laughed.

"So Gaara….what changed?"

"About me? Well I'd say you are what changed."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"After you beat me, and I heard your words…. it awoke inside me the desperate boy I had locked away. The boy who just wanted friends and a family. You made me realize that, at the very least, I had a family. So thank you, Naruto." The redhead said to the boy who had pushed the darkness away, the darkness that had taken hold so long ago.

"It's no problem Gaara. You're just like me, and us jinchuriki should stick together. When you are Kazekage, and I am Hokage, we will have the greatest alliance ever. A bond that won't be broken." The blond smiled at the future Kage.

"I look forward to that, Naruto." The other boy said.

"So, you got a ramen shop around here?"

"We do."

"Take me there buddy! There's ramen to be eaten!"

"Alright." The redhead said grabbing onto Naruto, and flickering them both to the little shop hidden away in the smaller side of Sunagakure. The boys ate and chatted awhile, passerbys starred in awe every time Gaara let out a chuckle. It was a sound none had heard before. Sometimes a Suna nin would walk by and almost face fault at seeing the once homicidal jinchuuriki laughing along side the boy who had single handedly beat him. Gaara listened as Naruto told stories of Team Seven's adventures, and even shared some of his own stories from when he was very young, of how he would entertain Temari and Kankuro with amazing creations with his sand.

"Wait wait wait. You can make cool stuff with it!?"

"Indeed I can."

"Aw man, your power is so cool."

Gaara laughed again, but grew a curious look when Naruto's face turned serious. "Gaara….The Shukaku...it doesn't let you sleep does it?"

"No.. it does not. I am fine with never sleeping, as long as I can protect my village by doing so."

"Gaara. I'm going on a trading trip in the coming months with Jiraiya-Sensei. I'm going to be learning a lot more about sealing. When I come back, I promise to you that I will fix your seal, so you can finally get some rest."

"Thank you… Naruto, but it's not necess-"

"I already made the promise Gaara. So it's happening."

"Alright."

Naruto looked at his fellow jinchuriki, before speaking once again. "I'm going to share and S-rank secret with you. There is an organization, a group called the Akatsuki. They are strong, made up entirely of S-rank missing nin. They have a single goal, it is to capture all of the nine tailed beasts. We don't know what they plan to do with them, but it obviously cannot be good."

"I see." The redhead responded.

"Yeah."

"It never stops for us does it?" Gaara asked.

"No….but one day it will. I swear."

"We can only continue on, and see what the future holds, I suppose."

"You got that right mister Kage. Anyways, I should probably get back to my team now Gaara." Naruto said standing from his chair and looking into the night sky.

"I bid you well then, Uzumaki Naruto."

With that they both flickered away. The quiet night then fully settled over Sunagakure.

The next day, Naruto and Team Twelve returned to Konohagakure. Settling down for a while before picking up a new mission. This pattern continued and soon, his time with Team Twelve was over. It had been only about two and a half months, and the group had grown fairly close. It would be another six and a half more months before Naruto would leave with Jiraiya. Their jounin had returned, and he was now to lead a group of chunin on what would mostly be patrols. He also popped in and out of a combat group assigned to assault some of Orochimaru's bases.

He began spending time with Team Twelve every now and then. Sometimes Sakura would join them, or someone like Kiba or Shikamaru and Choji. It was nice to have so many friends to see and it was to the point he couldn't go around the village for too long without running into one. Leading to the new situation he found himself in.

"Please go out with me!" The girl yelled as she bowed down before him.

"Eh? … eh?! What!?" Naruto replied, and the girl looked up at him sadly.

"Do you not want too…" she trailed off.

"No! I mean yes! I mean… well are you sure? I've… I've never had a girl like me before."

"Naruto, do you really think I'd ask you out if I didn't like you?" She questioned.

"Well no… but I…"

"Will you at least go on a date with me, even if you won't be my boyfriend outright."

"No! I'll be your boyfriend. I would love to be your boyfriend! You're a great person, and you're super pretty. So yes!" He replied smiling widely.

"Wait really!" She shouted happily.

"Of course Ryuko!" He said just as loudly. He then noticed people were staring at him weirdly, so he grabbed her by the shoulder, and flickered them to the Hokage mountain.

"How's this for a view?" He asked the now identified red and black haired girl known as Takarada Ryuko.

"Wow! This is amazing, I've never actually been up here!" She said.

"Heh… it's pretty great. I come here a lot."

"With how much you want to be Hokage, I'm not surprised."

"Ryuko...why do you like me?" The blond boy questioned.

"Well..you're amazing Naruto. You're so outgoing and kind. But you're also a level headed shinobi, an extremely skilled one at that. You seem to have this way of bringing out the best in people, and I enjoy seeing you do it. You're also very perceptive, and collected, as well as being very serious whenever necessary. You're an all around amazing guy, and I've liked you since we met in the forest of death. Especially because you're really funny."

"When I was assigned to your squad, one of my first thoughts about you was that you were cute. And you've turned out to be a kind and gentle person. Something I greatly enjoy. So….how does this work, exactly?" He finished asking nervously.

"We just spend more time together, and I'd like you to meet my best friend, and I suppose I'd like to meet your close friends as well?" She replied.

"Well you already sort of met Gaara, and you have met Sakura. Say wanna go on a date?" He asked with a wide smile.

"Of course!" She said, with her own smile.

"Are you alright with going to Ichiraku? We can go someplace more fancy if you'd like." He asked.

"Ichiraku is fine with me! I never really worry about that stuff, I'd just like to get to know you better."

"Perfect, let's go!" He shouted grabbing her hand and flickering them to the ramen shop.

"Oh? Just you two today? What is this, a date?" Ayame asked scandalously.

"Actually, you got it on the head Ayame!" Naruto replied

"Wait what!?" She said in shock. "Dad! Naruto is here on a date!"

A loud "congratulations!" Was heard from the back of the shop.

They sat and chatted, sharing stories of their younger days. Naruto found out that her parents had been killed on a mission about six years ago, but it didn't hit her as hard anymore. He also found out that the girl Sakura fought in the finals, Hinazuki Rikka was actually Ryuko's best friend.

"You'll have to meet her soon! I bet she'd love it. We've known each other a while now, been friends since the academy!"

"Wow that's pretty cool! You guys sound like great friends!"

"We are!" She said with a bright smile.

"Cute." He thought to himself. At this point night had settled and it was starting to get late. "Well I suppose we should be leaving. I have patrol in the morning, but I'm back by late afternoon, if you'd like to meet up?"

"Of course I would." She said laughing before turning to the blond boy. "Walk me home?" She asked.

"Gladly." With this the two nin strolled off into the street, heading for her home.

"So Ryuko, tell me some fun facts about you?"

"Sure! Well I like red, that's probably my favorite color. I like to head over to the Inuzuka animal clinic and help out Hana there. Either that or helping out at the hospital. I like to work on my medical ninjutsu. I really don't have a favorite food or anything. I like to hangout with Rikka and when we can practice our medical jutsu together."

"What do you want your future to be like?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, a confused look overtaking her face.

"Well like what's your dream. I mean I want to be Hokage, and Sakura wants to be a strong kunoichi and start a family one day."

"Ohh, I see. Well one day I'd like to be an amazing medical kunoichi on the scale of Lady Tsunade, and eventually settle down and have a family. Maybe even retire from active duty and be a housewife once kids come along." She smiled as she into the night sky while they walked.

"That does sound nice doesn't it….my very own family." Naruto said aloud. The girl looked at him sadly, concern on her face.

"Naruto…" she knew he was an orphan, and she was sad he'd never known his parents.

"It's alright. I know my mother and father loved me a lot. I don't know who my dad is, but my mother Kushina was an amazing kunoichi and I'm super proud of her." He looked at his new girlfriend, a large smile on his face. He stared at her attractive face a while, saying nothing before he suddenly blurred out, "you're beautiful."

His eyes went wide as saucers and she blushed furiously. "I just said that aloud didn't I?"

The girl laughed loudly smile spreading across her face. "Yes you did Naruto. But anyways, we're here." She said, clasping her hands together behind her back and bending slightly toward him. "Thank you for walking me home Naruto."

"Of course."

The next day, early in the evening found Naruto arriving at his home, he had gotten back from patrol much later than expected. "I hope Ryuko won't be mad." He thought, turning the key on the door and walking inside. He set his things down, and stripped before climbing into the shower. As he stepped out, he began toweling his hair. His peace and quiet was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Must be ANBU I've probably got another mission." He thought wrapping the towel around his waist and strolling to the door. He turned the handle and opened it, only to be greeted by the face of his new girlfriend.

"Hey Naruto! I heard you...got…..back from…." She trailed of seeing his state of undress.

"Ryuko...are you okay?" He asked not realizing he wasn't dressed.

"Naruto…" She squeaked out, turning around and covering her face. "You're naked!"

"Oh shit." He said calmly before it fully hit him. His eyes went wide and he immediately shouted, "OH SHIT! SORRY! Hang on real quick!" He closed the door on her, and a loud collection of bangs and crashes could be heard as he struggled to get dressed quickly in his state of embarrassment. He opened the door again, and greeted her. Now fully dressed in his black standard Konoha shinobi outfit (like what Kakashi and Iruka wear under the flak jacket), only leaving the pouches and other attachments in the house. "Heya Ryuko….sorry about that. Umm would you like to come in? I could make dinner?"

"It's alright." She said still not able to look him in the eye a massive blush still covering her face. "And you're offering to make dinner?"

"I've always cooked a lot, I had to learn pretty quickly after Iruka-Sensei told me I needed to eat more healthy food. So would you like to come in?"

"Yes! Thank you!" She said happily, entering the home as he closed the door behind them. It was a simple home, a bedroom, and a connected bathroom, along with a combined kitchen and living room. He had a small couch and a coffee table, and a simple kitchen.

"It's not much, but I try to keep it clean, and its home after all."

"Try!? This place is spotless Naruto."

"Heh, shoulda seen it during the academy days." He said laughing loudly. "What would you like to eat? I've got some fish I could cook, if you'd like."

"Yes fish sounds amazing thank you!"

"Of course." He said laughing. Naruto began cooking and continued their conversation. "So what did you do today?" He questioned.

"Well thanks to you, genin don't have super dangerous missions anymore, since we aren't in a wartime stance. Sensei had some important mission that came out of nowhere, so she was gone today. So me and my team were taken under the wing of some chunin named Ichiyo. She was nice and we ran a simple delivery mission to the Fire capital, I don't know if you've been there, but it's huge!" She said dramatically.

"Well that certainly sounds exciting." The blond commented while chuckling. "You didn't run into any trouble did you?" He asked while putting the finishing touches on the food he was cooking.

"Nothing bad, just a few bandits we found on the road. Ichiyo and our team took them out pretty fast, we just tied them up and left them. Our captain said she'd send a team to retrieve them." She sighed. "I'm so tired, but anyway, how was your mission?"

"It was nothing out of the ordinary." He said setting a plate before her a perfectly cooked fish dinner on it. "Ran into some Oto nin trying to sneak into Fire Country on the way, but we took care of them quickly."

"That's good, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. And Naruto, this looks absolutely delicious!" The girl said with a grin, the food smelled absolutely delightful.

"Thanks I try my best when cooking. It's actually kind of a hobby for me." He stared at the girl, taking in the dark black hair that slowly morphed to red as you moved to the tips, she really was stunning.

The girl looked at the food and said, "thanks for the food!" Before digging in, the taste was amazing and she was thoroughly surprised Naruto could cook so well. "This is soooo good Naruto!"

"I'm glad to hear it." He said as he began eating his food. They ate and talked about random things as they did, just happy to spend time together. They were interrupted shortly after though, by a knock at his door. He stared at the door for a moment confusion evident on his face. "Who could tha- oh shit! I forgot!"

"Forgot what?" His new girlfriend asked.

"It's Friday! Me and Shika always play shogi on Friday night! I'm sorry I'll tell him we'll have to reschedule." But before Naruto could move to the door, the girl grabbed his hand.

"Actually, you should bring him in, I'd like to watch."

"Ryuko it can get quite boring you really don't wa-"

"Naruto. It's fine really plus I have my sketchbook, and I really want to see just how exactly you manage to beat the genius Nara Shikamaru on every other game." The cute girl said in a sing song voice.

"Wait you've heard about that!?"

"Shikamaru complains to Choji about it all the time. Now go let him in." With this, Naruto moves to the door and opened it.

"Hey Shika, oh! And you brought Choji and Ino."

"Nah, I brought Choji. Ino just wouldn't leave. Troublesome woman." The bored boy replied with a light smirk.

"Well that's fine, I've got Ryuko here."

Ino chose this moment to pipe up. "What! You've got a girl in your house alone with you!? Ryuko what's the deal!?"

Naruto sweat dropped at this. "She's my girlfriend Ino."

"WHAT?!" And with that Naruto's apartment came to life for the night. Ryuko was forced to explain, while Naruto and Shikamaru started their game, Choji just happily watched while he ate his chips.

Thirty minutes later found Shikamaru with a confused look on his face, and Ryuko and Ino laughing loudly at the boy.

"I just don't get how you think of these moves. I can't figure you out." He said to the blond. The unknown legacy had just beat Shikamaru in a match, and they prepared the board for another.

"Kakashi-sensei once told me I'm an amazing tactician. It just kind of comes to me. If you haven't noticed Shika, I'm kind of good at being a ninja."

"Of course I noticed you dolt. It's starting to make me wonder if you being Hokage is such a far fetched thing."

"Eh?" Naruto said in shock. "Eh!? What did you just say!? You really think I might become Hokage?"

"Naruto. Out of our entire generation, there's not a single shinobi who can stand against you in a fight. At least not for very long. The probability is there if you look at the numbers." The Nara boy explained.

"Ah I see...well still thanks Shika."

"Don't let it go to your head." The shadow user said.

"Mahhhh, I want Rikka to be here! She needs to meet you!" Ryuko suddenly broke in, pouting.

Naruto quickly formed a clone sign and two shadow clones burst to life beside him. "Go find Rikka and invite her."

"Got it." The two said and disappeared out the door.

"Well, that works I guess" Ino commented.

Two games of shogi later, one of which Shikamaru won, and there was a knock at the door. Ryuko quickly answered it. "Rikka! How's it going!?" She asked her best friend.

"I'm doing fine, thank you Ryuko." She said calmly with a soft smile. Naruto quickly glanced over the appearance of the newcomer. She wore darker clothes, which were in complete contrast to the burnt orange scarf she wore around her neck. She had blue shoulder length hair, and red eyes, something that wasn't very common. Another outstanding feature were the red markings that come up from the side of her face, ending below her eyes. They were almost reminiscent of the Inuzuka markings, but upside down. She seemed like a fairly withdrawn and tight lipped person.

"Hello." She said to everyone simply.

"Yo." Said Shikamaru, Choji gave the girl a simple nod.

"Hey!" Ino called.

However; Naruto quickly stood and moved to the doorway and extended his hand to the girl. "Hey! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you. I'm dating your friend, so I'd like it if we could be friends as well and get along. Welcome to my home." He said laughing.

The girl shook his hand but looked at him blankly and said, "you talk to much."

Naruto face faulted and was completely blown away by the response. The rest of the people in the apartment laughed at his expense.

"Rikkkaaaa. Don't be rude." Ryuko said jokingly, knowing this was just the kind of person Rikka was. "Anyways come sit!"

"Alright."

The group enjoyed their night, having a lot of fun around the table, Naruto and Shikamaru eventually even stopped their game. The two began being social with the rest and were made fun of for a while for being so into a game like shogi. They defended with mentions of it keeping their minds sharp, and helping them with battle strategy.

Eventually everyone said their goodbyes, and it was just Naruto and Ryuko. They chatted a while as he walked her home, and upon arrival, she suddenly kissed him on the cheek, said a quick goodbye, and rushed inside. This left Naruto standing dumbly outside her house for a few minutes, but he finally composed himself and began his walk home. "Ryuko really is just too cute." He thought to himself, before he began whistling a soft tune and finishing his walk home.

The next morning Naruto slept in. It had been a while since he had the chance to do such a thing. "Man, I forgot how nice it is to sleep in." He thought to himself. He felt amazing. His whole body seemed to have needed the rest.

The boy moved to his kitchen, and fashioned himself a nice egg breakfast. He began eating as he unfurled a few scrolls on the table. They were all fuinjutsu scrolls that Jiraiya had given him, a few had been his mothers. What he was currently studying were resistance seals. These were a lot like the weights Rock Lee had worn, but these were applied to the body, or clothing. Training with these seals could quickly increase physical strength, and provide a much needed boost in speed when they were released. He was just trying to figure exactly how they would need to be applied so that he could release and apply them like flipping a switch. He was also running into trouble on how exactly he was to increase the level of resistance they had. Just like Lee, eventually his body would be used to them, so he would need to be able to increase their level in intervals.

The second seal he was studying was the paralysis seal. This had the ability to lock up every muscle in the body, causing the target to experience temporary paralysis. It's effectiveness was proportionate to the size of the target, and the amount of chakra the target had. He supposed it could be useful in a fight when you needed to temporarily immobilize your opponent. The only problem with this seal was the fact that it was indeed temporary.

The third seal he was currently studying, was the restraint seal. It was quite like the paralysis seal, but it required the target to be still while it was applied. The other drawback was that the fact that it took quite a bit of chakra, as well as some time to prepare.

He'd long ago decided that fuinjutsu was the weirdest of the shinobi arts. Sometimes, sealing jutsu required a brush and paper. Other times, seals could be created and placed by the users chakra. It was confusing, but it was the way it worked. The fire sealing method used special ink and a brush, and the seal had to be drawn. But the paralysis seal could be placed by simply doing hand seals, and then placing your palm upon the intended target.

Fuinjutsu has complicated rules, and half the time it didn't even make sense, but it just worked. However, Naruto wasn't complaining. He loved fuinjutsu, and he wished he had more time to study it. It deeply interested him, and he always enjoyed learning more about it from Jiraiya.

After a while, the boy put his scrolls away and washed his dishes. Getting properly clothed, he left his apartment to go find something to do, maybe he would drop by and see his girlfriend, but he might find Kiba or Lee for a spar. He often wished Sasuke was still in the village for the simple reason of the fact that he needed a sparring partner that could push him. Kakashi would never seriously spar him, as he could accidentally kill his student.

He also hadn't fought Sakura in a while, he wondered how much her skills had really increased. She had definitely come a long way since the academy. He was proud of his pink haired teammate. His mind often wondered to how his best friend might be doing. Sasuke was still in deep cover, but he was also training. He wondered how strong the Uchiha might be once his mission was complete. "Oh well, I'll have to wait to find out. Guess I'll go find Ryuko." The blond thought, strolling down the street in the direction of the girl's house.

Welp that's a wrap. Our boy Naru has a girlfriend now! Btw in my story, Hinata never met Naruto. But she still kind never gave up, but she still a shy wimp. I love her, but she just doesn't fit well in the plot for this story. Hope you all want to see where we go from here, but I can promise you one thing: some crazy shit gone happen soon. Anyways that's all, see ya! Darling in the Fox out!