Chapter 80

Naruto and Hinata had checked out the gardens of Iwagakure as promised before heading out for their next village. They thanked the Tsuchikage and Kurotsuchi before they left, and as the Tsuchikage wasn't ready to give his answer they left without it.

As they walked to Kirigakure, the land of water's hidden mist village, they were uneasy. The worst part was leaving Iwagakure without an answer.

"I was hoping he would have changed his mind and given us an answer," Hinata complained. It wasn't like her to lose momentum but she felt like she put everything she could into the meeting with the Tsuchikage.

"They don't call him the great fence sitter for nothing Hinata." Naruto reassured her.

Hinata nodded her head at this and walked along in silence. She was prepared for this when they had set out on the mission, but now that it had been put into action all she wanted was success.

Naruto grabbed her hand in his as they walked in silence to Kirigakure.

Mei looked out of her office window while she paced her office back and forth. This was a usual habit for her and while other times it helped her to think, today she did nothing but day dream. The peace that came to her village after the ninja alliance had quited things down. She wasn't used to it.

And with her village not needing as much focus it left her more time to think about how she was missing something from her life. She was a strong woman and she'd need a man that wasn't easily intimidated, but also one that was mature. "Is that too much to ask for?" She said aloud.

Ao was in the room with her, standing guard. If he was being honest it was because he had nothing else to do, Mei didn't need a guard. He liked being around her, even if she did get mad at him every time he opened his mouth.

"Mei? Did you say something?" He said as he stood up to go stand next to her.

"Ao, you don't have to guard me, you know. It makes me feel like…like I'm fragile, in danger of breaking…" She never bothered to hide her tone from him.

"It's just that I don't know what else to do," he said as he walked back to the desk he was sitting at and re-opened the book he was reading.

Her complexion turned sour and she shot him a glare, "If you're bored I can think of something for you to go and do!" She yelled over at him.

He ignored her like he usually did when she was angry. Even though she was the Mizukage there were times when he had to tune her out. Times like now. He put his feet up on the desk and leaned back in his chair and Mei let out a sigh.

Chojuro came bursting into the room. Mei turned toward him with a concerned look on her face while Ao looked like he could have cared less.

"Mizukage, we have visitors from the Leaf Village."

Mei's eyebrows went up and Ao put down his book.

"Uzamaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata are here, they are requesting to see you."

"They should have written to ask to be in her company like any other village. Young people today…"

"Silence," she held up her hand to Ao and returned her attention to Chojuro. "I will see them, ask them to come up." She replied while smiling at Chojuro. She saw great potential in him and his growth as a shinobi. Chojuro headed back out to get the visitors.

It always got on Ao's nerves how much Mei favored Chojuro. Was he an advanced pupil? Yes. Was he becoming a great shinobi? Maybe so. But what did that prove, he wasn't around during the days where the village was considered the blood mist. He hadn't had to prove himself like the older members of the village had. He was greatful that things had changed under Mei's leadership, but the boy just seemed too soft sometimes. He shook his head and picked up the book again.

Mei took a seat in the sitting area of her office as she waited for her guests. Chojuro led the guests to the sitting area and got water started for some tea.

"Naruto, Hinata, what a pleasure. You're arm looks well Naruto, let me guess, Hokage Tsunade?" She said as she peered closely at Tsunade's handiwork.

"Yeah, her and Haruno Sakura."

"Thank you for seeing us Mizukage," Hinata said as she bowed her head.

"Sure." Mei smiled. "How are things in the Leaf Village?" she asked, hoping for excitment as Chojuro set the tea in front of them.

"They're going well, how about for the hidden Mist?" Naruto replied.

"Good. What did you want to see me about," she cut to the chase to the relief of Ao who was growing impatient waiting to hear what they wanted.

"We came to ask for a favor..." Hinata began as she explained the reason for their visit.

"We don't see why marriage between the villages should be forbidden any more, we're a united world now, even our visit shows that." Naruto finished.

Mei was struck by the two young lovers in front of her. She admired their courage and agreed with their point of view. In her time as Kage, she worked tirelessly to move the image of the village as far away from the blood mist as she could. Allowing outsiders to reside in the village could really help.

"Which other Kages have you seen about this matter?"

"You were our last stop before the hidden Cloud Village." Hinata replied.

"I see, and what reactions have you received so far?" Mei smiled like she knew what to expect.

"Well, Kakashi and Gaara agreed, and Onoki hasn't decided yet…" Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head. He wondered if admitting how Onoki felt would damage their case.

"That doesn't surprise me, Onoki is always like that. I am surprised by Kakashi though, I thought he would be much more likely to be against this, he is the son of the White Fang afterall." She said as she took a sip of tea.

Although Naruto had heard this before it held little meaning to him. "Uhh, yeah…so what do you think so far, could you support us during the 5kage summit?"

Ao slammed his book down, unable to take it any longer. "Don't tell me you're actually considering this Mizukage?!"

She looked in his direction and then turned her head back to her guests. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do, you have my support." She smiled at the both of them.

After what they went through in Iwagakure they thought it would be much harder to talk to Mei than it was. Naruto had a dumbfounded look on his face and Hinata was speechless. After a moment Hinata spoke.

"Thank you Mizukage." She said as she bowed her head again.

"Do you both plan to head out tonight? We have quarters available to travelers. Why don't you rest before your journey? It's a long way back and you'll need your rest."

Naruto grimaced as Hinata agreed and thanked Mei politely again.

"Ao, please see our guests to their quarters," she said as she stood up. She saw the disgusted look on his face. "I thought I was helping you out Ao, you said you had nothing to do…" she laughed as he exited the room with a grumpy look on his face.

Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other with skeptical looks on their faces.

"I promise he will be fine, he's just in one of his moods, that's all…" Mei said reassuringly.

"If you say so," Naruto replied as he grabbed Hinata's hand and followed behind Ao.

When they got to their sleeping quarters Ao opened the door for them. "If you need anything then let someone know," he said in a tone that expressed they should keep their needs to themselves as he turned and walked away.

Naruto shut the door and turned around to face Hinata, an incredulous look on his face. "Hinata, why are we staying here? I'd rather sleep in the forest than the blood mist village!"

"Shhh, keep your voice down Naruto." Hinata looked through the curtains to make sure Ao wasn't in sight.

"That Ao guy kinda gives me the creeps, I don't want to stay here."

"It's just for one night Naruto. Plus, the Mizukage gave us her support, we can't turn down her hospitality. What if she got the feeling that we didn't respect her and then didn't support us?" Hinata pulled herself from the window and went to sit on her bed.

"I think we should take shifts staying awake, I'll go first, go ahead and get some rest." Naruto started pacing the room with an alert look on his face.

"I was going to make some ramen, it's been a while since we've eaten, you're probably hungry, right?" She watched the smile appear on Naruto's face and got up to get the ramen. The room they had came with a small kitchen and supplies so it was easy to cook. When she finished she brought the ramen over to him.

"Thanks Hinata, you're the best," he said as he reached out to take the ramen and kissed her on the cheek.

She liked being with him every night like this. Soon she would have to go home and they would have to visit each other again. It would be hard going back to that after getting used to being around him everyday. She loved seeing him when she woke up in the morning. She blushed and watched as he quickly ate all his noodles and then she slid her plate over to him to finish.

"Are you sure?

"Yeah, I'm not that hungry Naruto." She lied as Naruto took the plate. The words Naruto had spoken to her before they reached Iwagakure echoed in her head and she wondered if he really meant it. Could he really be ready for that kind of commitment? "Am I?" She thought as she watched Naruto finish his plate of ramen.

He stood up and was digging through her bag in the kitchen and started cooking more ramen.

"What are you doing Naruto," she said as soon as she heard the sizzling noise. "Are you still hungry?" she asked in disbelief.

"Give me just a minute," he replied as he kept on cooking. When he was done he put the ramen on a plate and walked towards Hinata with it. "This is for you. You have to eat Hinata, just try it, okay?"

She fought back tears. They had already been through several days on their journey and recounting the story of the Gaara, Naruto, Hinata love triangle had been difficult for her. She didn't like people knowing such personal information about her, but she would do anything if it would help her friends. Through it all though, Naruto had been by her side and he was always doing things like this to lift her up.

"You didn't want this?" Naruto was puzzled by the look on Hinata's face and saw her eyes pooling up with tears. He pulled the offensive plate back and had a pensive look on his face. He moved to set the plate down and then sat down next to Hintata.

He ran his fingers through her hair and then gently brought his hand up under her chin and lifted it so that she was looking him in the eyes. "Talk to me Hintata," he whispered. His expression was confussed, he was trying to understand.

Her tears finally spilt over and ran down her face. She tried to keep her eyes open so she could look into Naruto's vivid blue eyes. His confused look only made her more emotional. "…it's just…I'm happy to be here with you Naruto." She sniffed and tried to hold her tears back. It was starting to work.

"Telling our story over and over hasn't been something I've enjoyed, but each time we tell it I love the part when you come to get me. I remember sleeping in the forest that night, I want every night to be like that. How are we going to go home and live our separate lives after this?" She sighed.

He was relieved to see that she stopped crying, he wasn't sure what to say to her so he just pulled her far shoulder into his chest and rubbed his hand on her back.

He was always comforting her. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. When Naruto kissed her back she kissed him too, each kiss was longer and more intense than the last. She finally broke the kiss and stood up, holding her hand out to Naruto. He grabbed her hand and she walked him beside the bed. Before she could ask him to sit with her he bent down and scooped her up in his arms and laid her on the bed. She was surprised when he laid down beside her and moved her bangs out of her eyes. They stared into each other's eyes for most of the night until they both drifted off to sleep together holding hands.

In the morning Naruto woke with a start. "I can't believe I fell asleep in this village," he thought. "Release" he whispered loudly while he made his hand signs. "Release" he whispered again, just to be sure he wasn't under any genjuitsu.

Hinata saw what he was doing and giggled.

Naruto looked over and saw that Hinata was awake and laughing at him and he started laughing too. He leaned back and put his arms around Hinata and pulled her closer to him until her head was snuggled on his chest under his chin. He laid his head against hers in a sweet way and then started tickling her. She was wrapped so tight that she couldn't get away.

"Aaahhh, Naruto! Let me go!" She shouted playfully while squirming away.

"Never!" He replied as he chuckled at her response. He thought about what Hinata had said last night, about not wanting to go back to their old life after having so much time together. He stopped tickling her and released his grip.

Hinata jumped up from the bed while Naruto just watched her. She quickly grabbed a pillow from the bed and held it over her head in a threatening pose while smiling.

"You wouldn't do that to me, I know you better than that…" he said as he turned his head in a show of faith. Just as he turned, Hinata swung the pillow down and smacked him repeatedly until he grabbed it out of her hands. He threw the pillow on the floor and used his shadow clone juitsu to grab her unexpectedly from behind.

When she saw his hand sign she activated her buyokigon and turned to kick the clone in the chest. When it disappeared with a poof she had turned around just in time for Naruto to be directly in front of her.

"I was hoping to sneak up on you once you were distracted, but that didn't work…"

She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. Naruto's stomach started to growl and Hinata started to giggle. "I think it's time you had some breakfast, you want to head out?"

Naruto rubbed his stomach and smiled at Hinata. "Actually I need to write to Shikamaru, can I finish the letter and then meet up with you for breakfast?"

"Yeah, see you soon Naruto," Hinata kissed him on the cheek as she headed out to grab some food.

After she shut the door Naruto started thinking about the letter he was going to write, but he wasn't writing to Shikamaru.

He grabbed his pen and paper and started.

Riakage,

I understand that I have no place to have a request of you, but could you meet me in the village hidden in the leaves in three days time? I have an urgent matter to discuss and I am calling together the 5 kages. Please respond as soon as you can. If you do come, can you bring B?

Uzamaki Naruto

He then wrote similar letters to the other 3 kages and wrote to Kakashi to let him know he had requested a summit. "I'm sure he's going to appreciate this," Naruto shook his head in disbelief. Before he left Kakashi had talked to him about being more mature and respecting him as a Hokage and he was sure this wasn't what he meant.

When he was done with his letters he summoned a shadow clone to take the letters to Ao to dispatch. He then walked through the village to find Hinata and have breakfast with her.

"Naruto," she waved when she saw him. She had a plate of food for them to share. "I've never tried this before, it's a common food here." She tried the first bite and then looked at Naruto with an encouraging look. He picked up a piece and tried it too.

"Hey, this is pretty good!" he said as he reached back for another piece.

After breakfast they started their journey back to the village hidden in the leaves.

"I'm glad we rested last night because we have a few days ahead of us still…" Hinata mentioned casually to Naruto. "Then the journey to the hidden cloud village is next, I can't believe we've done so much already!"

He couldn't tell her about the letters he had written. He had a plan that he wanted to put into motion but it wasn't one he could share with Hinata yet. "If I was smart I'd drag out this mission as long as possible to get more time with her," he thought.

"You're so quiet, what are you thinking about Naruto?"

He looked up and smiled at her. "Just wondering how things will go with the Raikage," he replied as he grabbed her hand. No matter where they met he had a feeling about what to expect from the Raikage. He was always stubborn and could be short sighted. Naruto saw him as someone who would use others for his own gain, just as he kept Bee as his jinkuriki and wouldn't let him leave the village. Saving a person as a weapon made him a dirt bag, but as Bee saw him as a brother Naruto vowed to try to be respectful. Plus, there was a lot on the line.

"Things will go how they're meant to. I saved him for last because I won't be disappointed." She said as she squeezed Naruto's hand.

"What do you mean you won't be disappointed, he's the one with the hardest heart out of the bunch of Kages!"

"And he will likely disagree altogether and throw us out for trying. I'm expecting his reaction, but if we happened to sway any of the the others it may be enough if brought to a vote.

"You never give up." Naruto stated matter of factly.

"Like someone else I know." She said as she looked into his eyes.