Hey everyone, sorry it's a little later than I promised, but here's chapter 7! I had it mostly finished yesterday, but I fell asleep last night before I could finish and post it. But at least it's done now, right? Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Once again, chapter 8 will be a continuation of this chapter and chapter 6. There's a little fluff, but this is starting to head more towards the serious side of the story. We do get to see how protective Hinata gets around Naruto though. So don't worry, there will still be some fluff when the action starts. Please, don't forget to review to let me know how I'm doing.
A/N: Very quickly, just let me remind everyone that this is a fanfic so not everything that is in the manga/anime will be the same. I'll try to keep the characters as close to the manga/anime as possible, but there will probably be slight differences in behavior and whatnot. No one has done this yet, but just letting everyone know ahead of time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!
Key:
"Speech"
"Kyūbi and other large beings"
Thought
"Normal Speech Emphasis on a word Normal Speech"
A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!
WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT (including eventual lemons), ETC. So don't get mad at me if you don't like that stuff because YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Ch 7: Beginnings of an Alliance
Naruto landed in front of the newly rebuilt Hokage tower, still carrying the unconscious Hinata in his arms. He looked down at her sleeping form and sighed at the unfortunate luck he seemed to have when it came to spending alone time with the Hyūga heiress.
At least this time we actually kissed. He thought with a smile and a light blush as he made his way into the tower.
He quickly made his way to the stairs to the next floor where Tsunade's office was. He had walked these stairs many times and despite the total destruction of the building during his battle with Pein, it looked the same as it always had. It was almost as if Pein had never attacked Konoha at all, and part of Naruto wished for that to be true. However Naruto knew that if Pein had never invaded, he would most likely have never found out about Hinata's love for him, at least not as soon as he did.
The thought of that scared Naruto. The past few months with Hinata had been some of the best memories he had, especially the memories from the last few minutes. He could still feel Hinata's velvety, moist lips pressed lovingly and passionately against his own, their arms wrapped possessively around one another, and the compassion and desire she held for him in her pale, lavender eyes. It had been a brief exchange, no more than a few minutes before Yamato interrupted them, but one that would forever change their lives…and he couldn't wait for more.
As he came to the top of the stairs he saw Shizune sitting at her desk just outside the Hokage's office.
"Hey Shizune nee-san, is baa-chan in there? I heard the old hag wanted something from me." Naruto said loudl, hoping Tsunade would hear him.
"Hello Naruto." Shizune said with a nervous smile, "No she's not, she's actually—" She pointed in Naruto's direction, but was interrupted before she could complete her warning to the orange-clad ninja.
"NA~RU~TO~!" Tsunade yelled from behind him, loud enough to shake the tower slightly.
Naruto was startled by Tsunade yelling directly behind him and consequently jumped about five feet in the air, almost dropping Hinata in the process. When he landed, he turned and faced the Sannin slightly nervous. He expected to see a terrifying face on Tsunade when he finally met her gaze followed by an attempt on his life in the form of a slap, punch, or a 'super noogie', but was instead greeted with a cocky smirk.
"What's with that look baa-chan?" He asked with emphasis on his nickname for her.
"Oh, I don't know brat, maybe it's because you have a very embarrassed looking Hyūga heiress in your arms. AND STOP WITH THE 'BAA-CHAN' THING!" Tsunade finished strongly.
Naruto ignored the 'baa-chan thing' comment and looked down to see a now awake, terrified, and obviously embarrassed Hinata fidgeting in his arms.
"Hey, you finally awake?" he asked with a smile.
"Y-yes…" Hinata said nervously.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, confused. After their kiss, Naruto expected Hinata wouldn't be nervous about being around him until they decided, if it ever got to that point, to explore their relationship further.
"N-nothing…" Hinata said, continuing her nervousness.
"Are you embarrassed because we kissed?" Naruto asked bluntly with a hint of concern.
"S-so… that wasn't a d-dream?" Hinata asked nervously, fearing that she had just dreamt it all up, again.
Naruto chuckled and shook his head before he decided to ease her fears in the only way he knew how. He leaned down and gave her lips a quick kiss.
"Does that answer your question, Hinata-chan?" he asked while looking into her eyes with a look that said it all.
Hinata stared into Naruto's cobalt eyes and noticed the look he was giving her was different than before. It was stronger and more defined, as if any confusion he had about the way he felt was gone. She couldn't get enough of those eyes before, she was afraid she'd never be able to stop looking into them now that they held all this passion for her in them. She inched her way forward and captured Naruto's lips in her own, passionate declaration of love for the blonde ninja.
* CLICK * * FLASH *
Naruto and Hinata were snapped out of their moment by two flashes and looked up to see Tsunade and Shizune taking pictures of their private moment.
"OI! Don't take pictures! That's so embarrassing!" Naruto said as he gently set the now crimson-faced Hinata down on the ground in an attempt to get rid of the photographic evidence.
"Lighten up, brat! This will be a great picture for your wedding day. Or as blackmail, whichever comes first." Tsunade said with a smirk.
"Sorry, but that was too cute to resist Naruto!" Shizune said with a smile as she looked over to Hinata and decided to tease her a little, "Be sure to take care of my otouto, ok Hinata-san?"
"T-take care of him?" Hinata stammered with a blush.
Tsunade decided to take Shizune's teasing one step further, "Yeah, you know, be sure to be a good wife to my Naruto-chan. If you need any advice on how to please him, me and Shizune are more than willing to offer my knowledge on the subject to you." She said with a smirk.
"W-wife? P-p-please him?" with that final bit of stuttering, Hinata literally fell into unconsciousness once again.
"Hinata-chan! Look what you guys did!" Naruto said as he tried in vain to wake the sleeping heiress.
"Oh she'll be fine, just set her on the couch and let her rest. Shizune bring the girl a damp towel and a glass of water for when she wakes up, please." Tsunade said as she made her way into her office, "Now, get in here before I have to drag you in here."
Naruto quickly picked up Hinata and set her gently on the couch. He gave her a quick peck on the lips, which was once again met with the flash of a camera and a grinning Tsunade.
"Would you stop that?" Naruto yelled embarrassed.
"Nope," Tsunade said simply as she sat down at her desk.
Shizune returned with the damp towel and glass of water, placing the towel on Hinata's forehead and the glass of water on the table next to her before leaving the room to leave the three of them alone.
"Now then, onto business." Tsunade said as she picked up a file on her desk.
"What's this all about Tsunade baa-chan? What's so urgent that you had to send Yamato-taicho to scare the crap out of Hinata and I while we were hanging out?" Naruto said in a frustrated tone.
"Che, more like making out." Tsunade said with a chuckle.
"We weren't making out!" Naruto yelled as he turned around to hide his crimson blush.
"Yeah, whatever." Tsunade said lightly before switching to a more serious tone. "Naruto, I'm not going to lie to you about this, Konoha will take action against Sasuke and the Akatsuki. There are some doubts in the other hidden villages that we are aiding the Akatsuki because Sasuke is a part of them. To keep our village and the world safe, we must officially declare Sasuke a traitor to Konoha and make him an S-class missing nin." Tsunade informed the young blonde of her intentions.
Naruto simply nodded in response, surprising the Sannin.
"That's it? No protesting? No yelling?" Tsunade asked in confusion.
"No, I agree with you. Sasuke is a traitor and should be treated as one. I understand if we didn't declare him an international threat, the other hidden villages would no longer trust us, which could lead to our defeat and the deaths of a lot of people." Naruto said, surprising Tsunade once again.
"Ok…well now that you're on board with that, I'd like for you to meet some people. Come in, please." Tsunade directed her attention to the door.
Naruto turned to see three Kumo shinobi walk through the door into the Hokage's office. The first, an attractive kunoichi, had fair skin, straight blonde hair, and blue eyes. She wore a grey low-cut top with a mesh undershirt that barely covered her sizable breasts, a skirt that went about a third of the way down her thighs, a modified Kumo flack jacket that covered her stomach, and a tantō strapped to her lower back. The look on her face was serious but respectful in its' demeanor.
The next shinobi to enter was a dark skinned, red haired, golden-eyed kunoichi. She wore a long grey dress with short sleeves, purple stockings, a Kumo flack jacket, a white bandana with a Kumo forehead protector to hold back her hair, and a long sword on her back. She was extremely flat chested, the complete opposite of her busty commander. Though she Naruto found her face to be attractive, the look on her face said she was extremely angry for whatever reason and Naruto didn't like the look she was giving him. It looked as though she was about to attack him at any moment, though he had no idea why as he'd never met her before.
The final person to enter was a dark skinned shinobi with white, spiky hair and black eyes. He wore a grey, long sleeved, hooded shirt with a Kumo flack jacket, black pants, and a black bandana with a Kumo forehead protector. He had red bandages wrapped around his wrists and forearms, as well as his shins and carried a sword on his back. He had a lollipop in his mouth and his facial expression displayed that he was deep in thought, though about what Naruto didn't know. He thought maybe he was another genius like Shikamaru, but maybe not so lazy in his behaviors or appearance. When all three were in the room, the blonde haired kunoichi spoke.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She bowed slightly to Tsunade. Her tone was extremely respectful.
"Think nothing of it," Tsunade said with a wave of her hand, "Naruto, these ninja are from Kumogakure no Sato and are guests in Konoha for the next few days before they return to their village. We are providing them with all the information we have on Sasuke and the Akatsuki as a show of good faith and cooperation in the effort of defeating them and restoring peace to the world."
"Oh?" Naruto said questioningly. "I thought Kumo hated us."
"On the contrary," the blonde haired kunoichi spoke again, "Though we may hold certain…grudges, Kumo respects Konoha greatly. We are just cautious of any nation or faction that could pose a potential threat to the safety of our village. You should understand this very well after what happened here only months ago, Naruto Uzumaki-san."
Naruto stared at the Kumo kunoichi for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I understand that very well…um…I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"My apologies, Uzumaki-san. I am Samui, this is Omoi," the male shinobi nodded, "and Karui," the red haired kunoichi nodded. "We hope you will assist us in defeating these fugitives."
"Of course, I'll help however I can. However," Naruto shifted his tone slightly, "leave Sasuke Uchiha to me."
"What?" Karui exploded, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his jacket. "You've gotta be kidding me! Why the hell would we leave that criminal to a dumbass like you?"
"Because, I'm the one who let him get away. I'm going to fix my mistake once and for all." Naruto replied simply, looking into the fiery kunoichi's eyes.
"What do you mean you let him get away?" Karui asked, still angry.
"I was on the team to try to bring him back to Konoha. I fought him at the Shūmatsu no Tani (Valley of the End). I could've beaten him, but I couldn't bring myself to kill him back then. I pulled my final attack at the last second and was defeated. But it won't happen again." Naruto said with a determined look in his eyes.
"You bastard! I should kick your ass from letting him get away like that! That guy attacked Killer Bee-sama and took him away! We don't know where he is! He could be alive or dead! If you had just done your job, this wouldn't have happened!" Karui pulled her arm back to punch Naruto in the face.
Naruto did nothing to block the attack; he just closed his eyes and waited for contact. He thought he deserved it. But he was surprised when a fist didn't connect with his face. He opened his eyes to see Hinata straddling Karui on the floor, with a kunai in her hand pressing it against the red haired kunoichi's neck. Karui was shocked that she failed to sense the young Hyūga's movements and killing intent at all while the other two Kumo ninja were too stunned by the raven-haired kunoichi's speed.
"How did you—?" Karui began to ask before she was interrupted.
"No one hurts my Naruto-kun!" Hinata said in a protective voice, activating her Byakugan. "Back down, or there will be consequences," she pressed the kunai slightly harder, drawing a drop of blood from the kunoichi's neck.
"Ah, what will we do if she kills Karui? Will we attack the girl and risk war with Konoha? But what if I fall in love with a kunoichi while we're here? I wouldn't be able to help in the invasion…" Omoi began saying increasingly unlikely scenarios for the outcome of the current circumstances the shinobi were currently in.
O…k…maybe he's not a genius… Naruto though to himself as he listened to Omoi's scenario.
Samui stood silently, watching the events unfold while pondering the strength of both Naruto and this mysterious Hyūga girl.
"ENOUGH!" Tsunade bellowed, scaring everyone in the room. "Hinata, while I understand your protectiveness of Naruto, please refrain from threatening foreign diplomats, ninja or otherwise, in my office."
Hinata disengaged her Byakugan, lowered her kunai, and stepped away from Karui. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I apologize for my behavior," she bowed to Tsunade before turning to the Kumo ninja's and bowing as well. "I apologize."
"No apologies are required, my subordinate was out of line," she said giving a look to Karui, who bowed and mumbled a quick apology to the Hyūga heiress before returning to her team.
"Karui was it? It would be best not to assault the hero who just saved Konoha from complete destruction, anger the heiress to the Hyūga clan, and anger the Hokage all at once, wouldn't you say?" Tsunade said as she raised her killing intent enough to send the message to the Kumo kunoichi.
Karui turned to look at Naruto, eyeing him up and down, "You're the guy that defeated the leader of the Akatsuki?"
"Yeah, more or less. I had a little help from some allies." Naruto said, referencing Hinata and everyone else who fought one of the paths of Pein, as well as the Kyūbi. "What of it?"
"Che, a dumbass like you could never compare to Bee-sama or Yugito Nii-sama in any way." Karui said degradingly.
"Who are these people you keep comparing me to? You don't know anything about me!" Naruto asked annoyed.
"Killer Bee-sama is the brother of the Yondaime Raikage, A-sama, and the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi no Kyogyū (Eight-tailed Giant Ox)." Tsunade began, "Yugito Nii-sama was the Jinchuriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko (Two-tailed Monster Cat), before she was captured by the Akatsuki and killed during the extraction of the Nibi."
After a moment of thought, Naruto asked with his trademark foxy grin, "So I don't compare to them in any way, even though you've never seen or heard of me before?"
"That's right, you're nothing but a dumbass wannabe who probably got lucky when you fought the leader of the Akatsuki." Karui said, assured she was right.
"Wanna make a bet on that?" Naruto asked with a smirk.
Tsunade and Hinata looked at Naruto with a confused look. Neither knew what was going on inside the mind of the number one unpredictable ninja in Konoha, but he had to be pretty confident about whatever it was.
"What do you mean?" Karui asked, confused.
"If I can prove to you that I'm equal to the Bee guy and the Cat chick—" Naruto was interrupted before he could finish.
"That's Killer Bee-sama and Yugito Nii-sama!" Karui said angrily.
"Whatever! Anyway, if I win, you let Konoha handle Sasuke's capture. Of course, you can assist in the operation, but I will be the one to take on Sasuke first. After that, if I lose against Sasuke, you can have at him." Naruto said with a smirk.
"And if I win?" Karui asked confidently.
"Kumo will take responsibility of capturing Sasuke, with Konoha's assistance in the overall operation against him and the Akatsuki." Naruto said, retaining his smirk.
After a moment of thought, Karui responded, "Deal. But all I can do is report to Raikage-sama about the conditions, it's up to him if he wants to honor the deal or not." Karui stuck out her hand.
"Fine by me." Naruto said as he shook her hand.
"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said in a worried tone.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I got this. Trust me." He smiled and planted a kiss on Hinata's cheek, much to her embarrassment, before walking over to Tsunade's desk.
"What's the challenge?" Karui asked, impatiently.
Naruto handed Karui a scroll that he took off Tsunade's desk, which caused the slug Sannin to smirk knowing full well what was contained within it.
"What's this?" Karui asked.
"A scroll." Naruto said sarcastically, trying to make the red headed kunoichi mad.
"I know that dumbass! Why are you handing me this?" Karui asked, annoyed.
"So you can read it, why else would I hand you a scroll? And people call me stupid." Naruto asked sarcastically once again.
Karui opened the scroll and began reading, even though she wanted to kill the blonde haired bastard that was insulting her. As she read however, he face paled slightly and she looked up at the blonde haired shinobi with wide eyes.
"N-no way! I don't believe it!" she said as she threw the scroll on the ground.
"What was it? Maybe it's a marriage proposal? No, he has a girlfriend who's way hotter and has much bigger breasts than yours so it can't be that…" Omoi thought out loud, confusing the Konoha shinobi.
"No, dumbass!" Karui said as she hit Omoi over the head.
Samui picked up the scroll and began to read it. After a few minutes, she rolled it back up and handed it back to Naruto, who promptly returned it to Tsunade's desk.
"Well? What did it say?" Omoi asked.
"It held some pretty cool information on the Bijū's approximate chakra levels, as discerned by Jiraya the Toad Sage. The Kyūbi no Yoko (Nine-tailed Demon Fox), which is contained within Naruto Uzumaki-sama here, is much stronger than the Nibi or the Hachibi in Yugito-sama and Bee-sama." Samui explained plainly, neither of her students noticing the change in the horrific she used for Naruto.
"Oh? I wonder how much stronger he is than me right now? Maybe he's so strong that if he'd punch the ground the Earth would change directions and—" Omoi thought out loud again.
"SHUT UP!" Karui said, slapping Omoi on the back of the head.
"That's not all." Samui said, ignoring her subordinates' antics. "It also had some pretty cool details as to the parentage of Uzumaki-sama. It appears as though he's the son of Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze."
"Konoha's Yellow Flash?" Omoi asked as he looked at Naruto. "Maybe he's just a look-a-like? Or a long lost cousin? Or a clone? Or—?"
"I don't believe it!" Kamui said angrily. "A worthless looking dumbass like you can't be the son of such a powerful ninja!"
"You don't have to believe it, but it's the truth." Naruto looked at Samui. "Can we expect your full cooperation?"
Samui looked at Naruto for a moment before responding, "Yeah. You have our cooperation. That was pretty cool of you."
"You don't actually believe this shit?" Karui asked, fuming mad.
"It's authentic," Samui said simply.
"So what? That doesn't mean that we have to hand over the rights to finding Sasuke to them!" Karui said, not understanding what Samui was doing.
"Yes, it does. You said Uzumaki-sama couldn't compare to Killer Bee-sama or Yugito Nii-sama in any way. But Uzumaki-sama is the son of a Hokage, meaning he is at least on the same level politically and militarily as Killer Bee-sama. And given time and the proper training, he will far surpass Bee-sama and Yugito-sama in strength. Therefore, you've lost this bet because you didn't think about what the bet was really about." Samui explained.
"I gotta hand it to you, brat. That was pretty smart, for you at least." Tsunade said with a teasing smirk.
"That was brilliant Naruto-kun!" Hinata said with a small smile, "I think Shikamaru would be proud of that one!"
Naruto chuckled and kissed Hinata lightly before responding, "I don't know about that, but I thought it was pretty good. But at least my gambling is better than yours Tsunade baa-chan."
"Why you little—!" Tsunade began before remembering who was in her office.
Karui turned and looked at Naruto, who currently had a very smug look on his face, and began to get very agitated for being tricked so easily. "You bastard! You tricked me! I thought you meant we were gonna fight us or at least power up or something to prove your strength! Not make me read your family tree and a power levels chart!"
"Well, it's your problem that you didn't think of all the options before we made the bet. I never said I was going to fight, I just said I would prove I'm equal to one of those people that you were praising. My sensei always taught me to expect the unexpected, maybe you should do the same before you make a deal like that." Naruto said matter-of-factly before turning to Samui, "By the way, please, just call me Naruto."
"As you wish, Naruto-sama." Samui said with a small smirk.
"I meant just Naruto, but whatever you feel comfortable with I guess. Now, what do you wanna know about Sasuke and the Akatsuki? I'll help however I can." Naruto asked seriously. He would help Konoha's newest allies in any way he could to help prevent as much death as possible as the shinobi world scrambled to battle the forces who threatened the peace of the world.
End Ch 7
Well, there's chapter 7. Hope everyone liked it. No promises when the next chapter will be up, but expect it to be up by the weekend. Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!
A/N: Just thought I'd add that with this chapter, the story has passed 25,000 words! Very excited about this. And it's not even close to being over, shooting for well over 400,000 words before everything is said and done.
Until next time,
CBM-1701