I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS

Time To Make A Choice

After a bit of thinking, Naruto got up as he had finally made his decision. While walking through the village, he ran into Moegi with her new boyfriend, Konohamaru.

"Hey, you two," he said smiling. "When did this happen?"

"At my party," Moegi said. "Whatever Hinata and the others said to you must've rocked you because you left without saying anything to anyone."

Naruto's clones each stood faced to face with each girl after they confessed their love for him and he had one question.

"You what?" he asked.

The girls each repeated their proclamations and Naruto was hit even harder now knowing that he heard them right. Unable to process this, he asked them for some time to get a handle on things, not wanting to force the issue, they obliged and he left giving them each a kiss. While this was happening, Konohamaru was dancing with Moegi and she noticed that he was different.

"Why the hell are you paying me so much attention all of the sudden," she asked. "Nice moves, by the way."

"Well, it's just that I kinda miss you," he said awkwardly.

"Miss me? I've been here all along."

"Yeah but I miss the way we used to be, I know that I was an ass but I wasn't able to really appreciate and see that I liked you too."

She stopped completely to study his face and could see that he was serious, remembering how bad she was hurt when he rejected her and merely turned her nose up at him.

"So you like me?" she asked doubting him. "Why? As I recall, I don't even measure up to Hanabi, why don't you go ask her to dance?"

"Well, I don't think I could even if I wanted too," Konohamaru replied. "Look."

She looked and saw Moegi sitting on Udon's lap while they made out.

"Well, she did say that she liked smart men," Moegi said. "I didn't know he could kiss like that though, damn. Anyway, I'm supposed to be happy coming in a second?"

"You're not coming in second," he said. "It's just that, well, you know how I'm an asshole."

"Yeah, you are an asshole," she agreed. "A big, huge gaping, stinking, double penetrated, irregular…"

"I think we've established it."

"Not yet, impacted, I think that's it."

"Okay, A, nice," he said. "And 2, I'm serious, as cliché as it sounds, I didn't know what I had until it was gone."

"Listen," she said. "My feet are starting to hurt so…"

He could see that he was quickly losing her and, as he always did, he thought about Naruto and what he'd do, specifically his interactions with his girlfriends and only one thing came to mind.

"I saw him do this with Tenten when she pretended to be angry with him," he thought as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"Hey," she shouted until she found herself pulled in for a kiss.

It surprised her at first being her first real kiss but she soon got into it as it brought back all of the feelings she had for him and she realized what her infatuation with Naruto really was.

"I think I was really after you because you're basically the first version of Konohamaru," she told Naruto. "All of the characteristics that I liked in Konohamaru were given to him by you."

"I guess," Naruto said as he was happy that he didn't have to deal with her any longer. "But I'm still kinda surprised."

"Why?" Konohamaru asked.

"It's just that when you love Naruto you love the best," he said grinning as they laughed.

"We'll see the next time we spar," Konohamaru challenged.

"You're on," Naruto said. "Well, I've gotta run, I gotta go make a good decision…I hope."

"Good luck," Moegi said giving him a hug. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice."

As they parted ways, Ino was at her family's private garden thinking about her and Naruto.

"I wonder what he's doing right now," she thought as she looked at the same flowers that he used to leave at her hospital beside. "This is all my fault, if hadn't wasted so much time competing with Little Miss Forehead over Sasuke, maybe I could've seen him for the person he really is."

She just sat down amongst the flowers as her eyes welled up.

"I don't know what I'd do without him."

Tenten was at her home in her room staring at the dress and jewelry bought her after their first night together. She was considering the possibilities of Naruto picking or not picking her.

"Shit, I was here first," she said. "Well, really, Hinata was, but I was the one who bedded him first. But he wasn't the one that wanted to keep it a secret so that's my fault, hopefully, that mistake won't come back to bite me in the ass. He bit me on the ass once, I liked it."

At the Hyuuga Estate, Hinata was talking with her sister about her new boyfriend.

"I must say that this has come to a surprise," Hinata said. "I never knew you liked Konohamaru's friend."

"I've always liked smart men," Hanabi admitted. "But to tell you the truth, I used to have a crush on Naruto, he was smart."

"I knew."

"You did?" Hanabi asked surprised. "How?"

"I'm a Hyuuga, perception what we do," Hinata pointed out. "Not to mention the fact that you used to throw yourself at him when you were with Moegi. At least you were a little more upfront with it than I was, now there's a possibility that I'm going to miss out on him again. At least I got to be with him, I'll treasure this time with him forever even if he chooses to spend his life with someone else."

"This is me, not father," Hanabi said. "You don't have to be so prim and proper."

"I want Naruto," Hinata admitted as they laughed.

"I hope you get him, sister. You deserve it."

"I hope so too."

Kin was walking back to her home after training with Anko, after their training, they had a conversation about Naruto.

"So, you told him that you love him?" Anko asked. "What did he say?"

"He said that he needed some time to think," Kin answered. "That's understandable given the situation."

"No," Anko said. "If he loved you he'd have said it back the second he told you, this is Naruto we're talking about here."

"Exactly," Kin defended. "This is really the first time in his life that anyone's told him that, let alone four different women at once."

"I guess but if I were you, I'd have told him that either he loves me or he doesn't and that's the way it is."

Kin thought about it as she got out of the shower and she started to think that maybe Anko was right as she always had a man hanging around her.

"But when's the last time anyone's seen her in a serious relationship?" she asked. "Besides, Anko gives good advice could not be more opposite of the truth, I guess I'm just playing the waiting game."

While all of Naruto's friends from the Leaf were vacillating over him, their rival from the Sand Village entered the Village seeking resolution on her last meeting with Naruto. He had been sent to the Sand Village to assist in a legitimate mission this time, when he was finished, he was cornered by Temari before he was about to leave.

"Hey, I really have to get back to the village," he said as hearing the other girls feelings made him uncomfortable having sex with Temari again.

"This won't take long," she said with a different look in her eye than on the night they first made love. "I'll walk you to the cliffs."

As they walked, she was quiet, which was unexpected but he could see that something was going on in her head.

"Okay," he said as they finally reached the cliffs. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said. "I've been trying to find a way to put these words together, Naruto."

"Just say it, I've never known you to have trouble with words and it's not like we don't know each other."

"It's just that you've changed my life so much since you spoke those words to me the last time we saw each other and you've been the only thing on my mind since then that I've almost blown a mission," she explained. "What I'm trying to say is that I love you."

She kissed Naruto before he could say anything, when she pulled back, he looked into her eyes and saw the seriousness.

"Okay," he thought. "That just happened."

"Well?" she asked hopefully.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Naruto said. "But I'm going to need some time to work this out."

The wind blew a mini sand tornado around them as they hugged each other then she watched him walk away into the desert carrying the key to her heart with him unsure of what to do with it.

"Being the sister of the Kazekage has it's advantages," she thought. "I have enough time to settle this."

Naruto continued to walk through the village until he saw her, the woman he was going choose to be with for the rest of his life.