Hokage's office 2:45pm.

"Naruto you've got two more meetings this afternoon and you have to find time to go down to the research labs before 5pm. There's a mess the Hokage must deal with." Shikamaru gestured, flicking his fingers across the clip board.

Naruto could feel his sanity slowly slipping away.

"Oh and don't forget that pile of paper in the corner are amongst other things on your to do list." Shikamaru later pointed.

"Aha!" Naruto sprung into action. "I read and signed all those documents at 4 this morning!"

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru returned. "That pile is entirely new! It's the upgrade and building consent for the East Quarter."

"Haaa!?" Naruto retorted slamming his body over his desk. "Please tell me you're joking... I'm only running on 4 hours sleep here."

"Perks of being Hokage..." Shikamaru returned with an empathetic look on his face.

"Ugghhgghhh… I'm going to die in this paper tomb-tebayo!" Naruto exasperated sliding slumped back into his chair.

Suddenly there was a quiet knock on the door before the beautifully radiant Hinata kindly let herself in, yielding the stunning lacquered box almost like a peace offering.

"Oh, Hinata!" Shikamaru said surprised. "I haven't seen you in a while."

Naruto popped up both surprised and happy to see his beautiful wife, but more importantly to what was in the box.

"Good afternoon Shikamaru, I could say the same to you. I hope I'm not interrupting?"

"No no... Please, we've just finished our debrief. Did you want to quickly speak to Naruto?" Shikamaru replied trying to make her meeting quick in the nicest way possible.

Hinata glided between the desk and the door and turned to face Shikamaru politely.

"Yes... The Seventh's been working quite hard lately, it seems he has left his lunch back at home."

Naruto's ears quickly perked up at the sound of food. Though he couldn't smell anything he was almost too delusional to care. 'Hinata always makes the most delicious meals! I wonder what the special occasion is?' Cheekily he rose from his chair to try and peer over her shoulder to get a better look at the box.

"Oh, I don't think he'll be able to eat lunch at his desk today," Shikamaru said politely. "He's got several meetings to take care of this aftern.."

"No!" Hinata spoke sharply cutting him off.

Both men froze.

"Please reschedule all his appointments for today, this is very important." She continued in a softer voice, as if the harsh 'no' didn't happen. "I need to speak to the hokage... To my husband privately."

The dark aura in the room sent chills down both the men's spine. Strangely this feeling felt all too familiar to Shikamaru with Temari not far from his mind.

Both men stood there dumbfounded as what to say.

"You're a smart man Skikamaru, I would do as I say." Hinata spoke breaking the silence.

Her smile was cold and terrifying. He'd never experience Hinata like this before. Shikamaru had experienced many angry women and was wise enough not to engage in verbal combat.

"A-absolutely.. I'll leave you too it." Shikamaru returned. 'Uh-oh.. Naruto is in big trouble...' He quickly thought to himself.

As he looked up from Hinata, His eyes briefly met Naruto's. A wide eyed shell of a man stared back mouthing confused 'help me!'.

'Should I have the medical staff on standby?' Shikamaru thought as he walked out, closing the door behind him. As the lock clipped on the door the hairs on Naruto's neck stood on edge.

Himawari definitely got her scary side from her mum... That's for sure.

Hinata has rarely ever been this mean...

"Hinata, my love," Naruto spoke gently, trying to lighten the mood. "You can't rearrange my schedule like that. I have a responsibility to uphold as ho-..."

She turned slowly with her hair covering her face and placed the box on Naruto's crowded desk. Naruto's senses began to heighten. The aura in the room quickly turned murderous.

He swallowed hard.

"H-Hinata… Honey… Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Naruto slowly stood over his desk trying his best to see her face. 'Don't tell me I forgot our anniversary!' Naruto screamed in his head.

She finally mumbled a response too low for him to hear.

"What was that?"

Hinata gently crossed her arms and held onto her elbows. She looked insecure and nervous like she did as a teenager. Naruto could tell by her body language it was serious. He'd learnt over the years, he had to approach this situation carefully.

"Are the kids okay!?" he asked trying to shift the focus away from him. When she didn't respond he quickly leaped over his desk and stood in front of her.

Still on the defensive Hinata shifted back as Naruto reached out to hold her.

'What have I done?' Naruto quickly asked himself. 'If it's not the kids, she must be upset about my long hours.'

"Please honey, tell me what wro-..."

In a split second her hand struck Naruto across the face, hard enough to turn his entire body sideways. The sound was crisp and rang in the office. Naruto fell to his knees in complete and utter dismay.

What just happened?

"Sakura..." She mumbled.

Surprised Naruto quickly found her eyes. He could see her eyes welling up. His gut wrecked as his heart crept into his throat.

"No.." He responded sincerely. "Hinata..."

She flicked over one of the photos Sakura had given her of Naruto grabbing the ass of a cloaked woman. Naruto's mouth dropped.

"Explain…"

"What?" He returned in disbelief, looking up at her with fearful eyes.

"Why?"

"Please my love... Believe me. I would never..."

Without another word Naruto squeezed his eyes shut embracing a hot white flash of pain across his face. Confused and afraid to speak, Naruto silently swallowed the strike against the same cheek. As the pain slowly subsided and the ringing of his whipped flesh in his ears quietened, he realized the second strike was different from the last.

Strangely he was just as familiar with his object as he was with Hinata's hand.

A riding crop?

"Address me correctly."