Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

AN: The Naruto manga… Wow every week I like it less and less. I had already stopped watching the anime months ago. What does that mean for this story? It means that from now on the manga will have no effect on this story. From here on out I'm mostly going to ignore the manga in favor of my own original plot (as if I haven't already done that).

If you've read this far you know this isn't the kind of story where Naruto falls in love and never looks back. Since the beginning I've said its NaruHina or NaruIno, that basically means he will end up with one of them (or both I still haven't ruled that out). There are a few things that you should keep in mind. I have never met a couple who has never argued, or broke up (at least temporarily). Naruto is no saint in this fic, no one is.

All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. I wholly believe this…

This chapter has not been Bata'ed. When it has been this version will be replaced.

Commedia: Yeah, so young with so much physical and political power, things to mess up really fast…

Useful76: No way is Ino out of the picture. If people assume that Hinata is going to be the final paring because of the marriage you just have to think back to why they got married in the first place. Now that Naruto is the Hokage there is nothing stopping him to just cancelling the marriage if he felt like it.

Dragon Man 180: Yeah, Naruto could have easily gotten them their own home but since Hanabi has to go to the academy Hanaya would be alone sometimes and Hinata didn't want that.

fanfic789: I thank you for your compliments.

Reviewers: In fact I thank you all for reviewing my story. I get nervous and scared to read the reviews sometimes but it's an excellent feeling when I someone says they like my story. They give me the fuel to keep going. At the time of writing this I have 344 (still can't believe that), so let's try and make it to 400 (probably going to take a few chapters).

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Chapter 18: Choice of War

Naruto, whom was dressed in a Konoha uniform and a white cloak with flames at the bottom with the word Godaime on the back, was with Hinata, Tayuya, Anko, Aburame Shibi, Yamanaka Inochi, and two ANBU. They had just walked into the clearing where the Taki ninja were to welcome them to their village. The group had left Konoha immediately after receiving a reply from Taki allowing their visit and it had taken them 2 days to reach their destination.

Anko was with him as his attendant, as was Tayuya for Hinata. Shibi and Inochi were there to help with negotiation and the ANBU were there to look tough because if any fighting took place the two Chunin level Nin in the mask would probably just get in the way.

"It's an honor to have you here Hokage-sama. I'm Shibuki, the Sandaime leader of Takigakure." The young man said politely. "If you would follow me I will bring you into my village." The village leader couldn't have been much older than Naruto, maybe 15 or 16. He then led them to an area where four Taki Nin, probably Jounin were standing.

"As you probably know the location and entrance to our village is and will stay hidden. We found that to be a bit of problem when inviting guest in so we developed a way around that. A short ranged teleportation Jutsu made solely to bring guest into our village." The Taki Nin were about to start the Jutsu when two more people walked into the clearing.

The two new arrivals knew their life would probably be forfeit should they not speak quickly so they wasted no time doing so. "We are here on the behalf of Oto and Kumo. We are here on a diplomatic mission and we do not wish to fight." The man with the Kumo headband said. Even though they announced themselves as diplomats there was still a good chance that the Konoha or Taki Nin would react negatively due to their unannounced arrival.

When Hinata grabbed his hand Naruto knew this was going to be troublesome. It was not unheard of for a village to send a diplomat to another during times of war for negotiations. He just wondered why they had to arrive at the same time as him. The Hokage knew about the attempted kidnapping of Hinata and the man's arrival must have reminded her about it. Tayuya was trying her best not to be noticed by the Oto Nin, her hair had changed and with new clothes she looked different but she really hopped he didn't recognize her. Not that she recognized the man but she was fairly well known in Oto.

Shibuki looked at Naruto to see if he minded the new arrivals and the shrug he was given let him know all that he needed to know. This was actually a good chance for him to find out why Kumo was interested in Oto. After having the Oto and Kumo Nin checked for anything out of the ordinary they activated the Jutsu and was brought inside Takigakure.


Tension was high in the city of Ryoza in Ta no Kuni and it was easy to see why. First there was the army of Samurai that belong to the lords who rules the area, the Ryoza Clan. Secondly were the Taki shinobi who are in the city using it as a base of operations. Thirdly was the massive army of Konoha shinobi who are surrounding the city. The Fourth was the fact that neither group trusted the other.

Ino quickly found that she didn't like Samurai. In her mind they were weak and stupid. While only a 250 or so participated in the battle a few days ago there were probably 5000 of them in the city, probably more elsewhere and they seemed to think they were better than ninja for some reason.

She almost decapitated one of them when he called her and Hana honor less sluts under his breath. If the Inuzuka hadn't stopped her she would have, not that Hana didn't want hurt him herself but that would have caused too much trouble. Samurai didn't agree with many of the things that Shinobi did and often looked down on them for it. Among the top of the list were women and children on the battleground or that ninja would do anything to complete a mission.

"He still shouldn't have said that to me! We are helping the ungrateful bastards." Ino said to Hana.

"Get over it girl, I've been called far worse things than that. You wouldn't believe how many clients that think they own us until the mission is over. People are also afraid of Shinobi because of our strength. The fact that we're basically invading their country and occupying their city isn't helping the situation." Hana said.

"Yeah, well next person who talks me is going to become best friends with my sword." Ino said. Hana just laughed and shook her head. Some people could ignore insults and some couldn't.


Even though they all arrived at the same time they were not going to be negotiating like that. The First meeting was between Taki and the Konoha. Anko, Hinata, Tayuya and the two ANBU were currently receiving a tour around Taki, Shibi and Inochi were with Naruto in the meeting room.

"First I would like an answer as to why Taki is in Ta no Kuni." Naruto asked.

"There are many reasons but the most importantly is that we were hired by a few nobles of the country get rid of Oto and then put them in power. When we do that we will be giving an exclusive contract for the area." Shibuki said. There were other reason but there was no need to tell them.

Naruto nodded, that was a good reason for Taki to be in the area. "You probably already know but Oto attacked Konoha recently. Our goal is simple, we want Oto gone. Konoha would have no problem cooperating with Taki to achieve that. However we will not simply hand the county over to you after we've done so." Naruto said.

"What do you think Kumo is getting from supporting Oto? My opinion is that wish to keep a smaller power in-between Konoha and Kumo." Aburame Shibi said. It was quite possible that was the actual reason.

"We'll get nowhere like this, we might as well bring in the Oto and Kumo diplomats." Naruto said. Shibuki thought the same way, there is no point in asking each other when they would have a better chance of getting their answers by asking the Kumo Nin. The Taki leader then ordered one of his guards to bring in the two other ninja.

Minutes later the diplomats entered the room and sat at the table. The Oto Nin seemed a bit nervous and it was easy to tell that this was his first diplomatic mission. The same was true for Naruto and Shibuki; they were both young leaders with little experience in politics. The first of the two to speak was the Oto Nin. "I'm here to request that Taki and Konoha cease all military action within the country of Ta no Kuni immediately." He looked dead serious while saying that and when Naruto realized that he almost laughed at him.

"Your village attacked mine recently, such a request is not possible. In fact your village doesn't have the right to even ask such a thing." The Hokage said.

"You're saying that our village doesn't have the right to seek peace and safety? It was Orochimaru who wanted to attack Konoha and not one Oto shinobi returned home from there, not even Orochimaru himself. You know as well as everyone in this room that we cannot survive a war with Konoha as we are now. What you are planning is not war but a massacre." The Oto shinobi all but yelled. He wasn't a real 

diplomat but they had to find someone to do the job, and not many people wanted such a dangerous mission.

"Hokage-sama I know your village was recently attack but Kumo is now an ally of Oto and as such we cannot sit idly while they are being attacked by two or more villages and or a great nation." The Kumo Nin said. Everyone instantly noticed that he was implying that Kumo would do nothing if it was just Taki attacking Oto.

"Are you saying that if Konoha stands down Kumo will do nothing, even if Taki does not?" Shibuki said. He needed conformation.

"Kumo recently adopted a policy of having 10 ninja, 4 Jounin and 6 Chunin to be exact, support our allies whom are at war with an equal sized force. The 10 would operate under the orders of our allies and Kumo will not be responsible for the mission they undertake." The Kumo diplomat said.

Shibuki was a bit offended by him calling Kumo and Oto equal sized. This was a huge reason they were in the situation. Taki was always called the smallest and weakest of hidden villages. The reason for their small number of shinobi was because Taki no Kuni itself was home to only five million people, not nearly enough to support a large force of shinobi. If they were to gain an exclusive contract in Ta no Kuni, which was home to 34 million people, they could support far more shinobi.

'So Kumo are going to send 10 and they probably want us to do something similar. I wonder why though, 10 shinobi are hardly enough do anything.' While he was thinking Naruto noticed the Kumo Nin was looking at him as if he was waiting for him to say something. "That is a good policy. One Konoha should look into adopting." Naruto said.

Shibuki was happy how things were going because if Konoha only sent ten troops as support they wouldn't be able to claim much of anything when the war was over. The Oto Nin was happy because against Taki they would have a decent chance of winning, especially when they starting using that. The Kumo Nin was happy because Naruto understood what he was saying and went along with it. Naruto was happy because he already had a few plans in mind.


After they had left Naruto a female Taki Nin led them around the village. Even though Taki was beautiful Hinata was in a bad mood since the Kumo Nin arrived and now she wanted to go home. She should be at home with Hanabi waiting for news about her mother not sightseeing in a foreign village. She wasn't even allowed to eat, drink, or buy anything because they didn't trust Taki so what was the point of a tour. Why did she even agree to come here with him? Why did he ask her to come only to send her out of the way as soon as they arrived?

Anko wondered what was wrong with Hinata. Weather the girl noticed it or not she had been frowning a lot since they left the village a few days ago. Anko shrugged and assumed it was because of what happened to her mother. Tayuya noticed the increased frowning from Hinata as well but she herself was frowning as well. She was feeling guilty about what's happening with Oto but she pushed that aside, she had no intentions of being concerned about a lost cause, and Oto was definitely a lost cause.

They had been walking around for an hour when Naruto and the two Jounin walked out of the building they were in and met up with them. Hinata was surprised that they were leaving immediately seeing as it took them 2 days to arrive.

After they were out of the village the Kumo Nin approached them. They weren't worried about him trying anything since he was heavily out powered but they were still a bit cautious. "I wanted to give you this." He then tossed Naruto a scroll. The Hokage then opened and read its contents. Once he was done he smirked and destroyed the scroll. Then they all the Konoha ninja took off.

Now Naruto knew what Kumo was doing. It would have been a good idea if Naruto wasn't so set on getting rid of Oto. Their goal was to prolong the war in hopes for it to be a battleground to train troops in war situations. Basically the longer the war lasted the more ninja with war experience Kumo would have. The scroll was informing Naruto of this and asking for his participation. He would play along for now but soon he was going to finish what he started.


When they arrived in Konoha Naruto went directly to his office and called a council meeting. Hinata went directly to the hospital to see her mother. It been about 5 days since her mother was hospitalized and they should be able to tell her about her condition now. She just hopped things didn't get worse while she was away as she would never forgive herself for going on a trip while her mother was suffering.

When they, it was they because her second shadow was with her, finally entered the hospital they quickly got directions to Hanaya's room. When Hinata entered the woman's room she saw that her mother was awake and Hinata let of a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her mother was ok, that good.

"How are you feeling Okaa-san?" Hinata asked. The woman turned her head to see who had spoken to her and when she saw that it was Hinata her facial expression didn't change. "I'm fine Hinata-sama, thanks for visiting me." Hanaya said with little emotion.

Hinata could see this was going to be difficult as her mother didn't seem to want to see her. Even so Hinata had no intentions of leaving without talking to her. When a person attempts suicide leaving them alone is probably the worst thing a person can do. Hinata sat on a stool that was by her mother's bed, it had probably been put there by her sister.

"Naruto and I are going to be getting a bigger house soon and when we do I want you to come and live with us. Hanabi has already been staying with us since she didn't want to go back with the clan." Hinata told.

"Tell me Hinata-sama, why you and Hokage-sama would want someone like me in your home." Hanaya asked.

"What do you mean why? You're my mother! Hanabi told how bad things have been for you with the clan over the last few weeks. I'm not going to let you stay there when they treat you like that." Did her mother think she didn't care about her? Sure her opinion of the woman went down but she still cared about her.

"Exactly whose fault is that we are being treated as traitors? Not only by the Hyuuga treat us as such but almost the entire village. The fact that we're his family caused everyone to believe we are traitors. They even say we were in league with Orochimaru in planning the destruction of Konoha. You didn't receive any of the harassment because of your relationship with the Godaime. So I decided to do the Honorable thing and take my life, or at least I tried." Hanabi finding her was the only reason she lived.

Hinata didn't know what to say. Her mother doesn't know how responsible Hinata was for Hiashi being in jail. If Hanaya knew that it was Hinata who sentence Hiashi would she even want to talk to her now? Hinata took a deep breath and relaxed a little. "Even if this is our fault, you're still going to be living with us." Hinata said.


The assault force in Ta no Kuni were still waiting for orders. The tension hasn't gone away but nothing happened so far. There were a few people, like Jiraiya, who were getting annoyed at doing nothing but they would live.

Ino was currently sparring with Hana when he appeared in between their attacks and deflecting them like they were child's play. "Gather the shinobi, I have your orders." He said to Hana who nodded and took off to complete her mission. Naruto thought that he would have to figure out a method of seeing where he would appear before he does when using Hiraishin. If he didn't he just might warp into something he didn't want to.

It only took 15 minutes for the entire force of 300 plus ninja to gather in front of Naruto. They were standing tall and proud and Naruto remembered once again that his words and action effected their lives far more than his. "Senju Kagami, Inuzuka Hana, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Ryoga, Shouga Kalai, Hyuuga Shinn, Hyuuga Akio, Nara Soma, Akimichi Daichi and Tenko Akagi come forward." Naruto ordered. When they did he began to speak again. "The rest of you may return home." That got a lot of confused looks for the gather Nin. "You have your orders!" Naruto yelled and the Ninja left for Konoha as told, except for Jiraiya.

"In order to avoid a large scale war with Kumo we have agreed to limit our involvement in the war between Taki and Oto. That does not mean you 10 will stay here just to give Taki minor support. I expect each and every one of you to do as much as 10 Taki Shinobi. All of you are either Jounin or Chunin and the quality of Konoha shinobi is far higher than those of Taki. The leader of this unit will be Kagami. You all will be working with, not for, Taki to defeat Oto. For this mission you will receive A-Rank mission pay every month and as a bonus you will receive pay for a C-Rank bounty for every Oto kill and A-Rank for every Kumo kill." Naruto said.

Offering them bonus like that will motivate them better than revenge can. He didn't need to tell them not to get killed by being greedy, they were good ninja and already knew that. Naruto then took 10 scrolls from a backpack and handed one to each person. They contained supplies like food, water, pills, first aid kits, tents, tools, uniforms, ect. He would keep them well supplied. If after a month someone decides that they no longer want to be part of the mission he would have someone new replace them.

"Ino follow me, I have something to give you." He said before going into the tree line with Ino right behind him. When they were far enough from everyone he bit his finger and made a few hand seals. 

After slamming his hand to the ground he summoned a large snake whom was coiled around a large scroll. The creature looked Naruto in the eye before disappearing and leaving scroll behind.

"Ino, I want you to sign the Snake contract." He said while unrolling the scroll. She could see three names on it that she recognized, Orochimaru, Anko, and Naruto. "You have to cut your finger so you can sign it in blood." He told her. She then hesitantly signed her name in blood next to his. Once that was done the scroll with up in a puff a smoke like the snake did.

Naruto then removed a really large scroll from his back and gave it to Ino. "That scroll contains a lot of the Jutsu that go well with snake summons as well as others. A lot of them were used by Orochimaru himself. There are tons of great Jutsu in the scroll so make sure you keep it to yourself, and now for your final gift." It was something it wanted to give her but was growing attached to, it was a good sword. A small snake slithered out of his sleeve and coiled around Ino's arm before going to the back of her shirt and disappearing. "That is the Kusanagi sword, it makes the one you're using now look like a twig."

"I don't know how long this war will last but if you decide you want to return to Konoha tell Kagami and I will have someone come here and replace you." After he was done talking to her he led her back to the group.

Naruto then looked to Jiraiya and the white haired man nodded and then the two took off at speeds far greater than possible for the ten ninja that were left behind. After a few minutes of running they caught with the Konoha ninja that were going home. "Jiraiya I need you to gather some information for me."

The Sannin nodded, while he would preferred to stay with Naruto until Akatsuki was dealt with he could say that Naruto was safe by himself. Now that the boy was the Hokage he would have to stay in Konoha where Akatsuki would have to go through all of Konoha before they could get to him. If they somehow managed to do that Naruto could probably beat them or leave instantly using Hiraishin.

"I want you to take someone with you, he will be helpful." The Hokage said. Now Jiraiya didn't like that, unless the boy was sending Tsunade they would likely slow him down. "Don't act like that Jiraiya. I'm sure he can hold his own, he won't slow you down a bit." Naruto then tossed a scroll the white haired man. The scroll explained questions he would no doubt have when Itachi started traveling with him.


A few days later Hinata decided on the house she wanted to buy and now was in final phases of the purchase. Truthfully it was more of a complex than a house but to Hinata it would be perfect, well after the renovations. It was only about a 3rd of the size of the Hyuuga complex but considering that only a handful a people would be living there that was more than large enough. It was a traditional complex like the Hyuuga's home and that was half the reason Hinata wanted it, she preferred that style of building. It belongs to a clan whom only had 3 members left and they would rather have the money rather than a large house to themselves. It would cost the Uzumaki 4 million to buy the complex and the property around it and about 1.5 million to renovate it. Naruto had told Hinata that was fine if that was the house she wanted.

Hinata wished he would have been more concerned about which house she picked. He simply handed her a booklet with available large properties and told her to do the rest. Hinata had never bought 

anything remotely as large or costly as a home and the thought of spending millions on something overwhelmed her. If it were not for Tayuya's help she didn't think she would have gotten it done.

Almost immediately after the house became theirs contractors were fixing up the place. Usually it would be months before such a large project was started but this was for the Hokage and his wife. They had stalled their work in other areas of Konoha to work on the complex and they had a 24 hour schedule. Being the Hyuuga heir had its perks, she was treated like princess. Being the Hokage's wife was far beyond that, she was a practically a queen.


About a month and a half later Naruto walks into his house with two new residents behind him. So far the complex housed him, Hinata, Tayuya, Anko, Itachi (when ever he came back he would have a room), Hanabi, and Hanaya. The renovations were done pretty quickly with the work being done non-stop for a few weeks by a large staff. There are 3 different dojo, a library, a public Jutsu library, Naruto's scroll room, 5 offices, a large meeting room, and 15 bedrooms. Oh, and a large indoor hot spring which was recently added. There were a ton of other stuff but those were the best the complex had to offer.

"Welcome home Naruto-sama. Are these two guests?" Hanaya asked. She had taken on the job of taking care of the house. Cooking, cleaning, making sure they were stocked with supplies was her job, same as it been in the Hyuuga complex, well except the cooking and cleaning. She had nothing else to do and decided those would be her duties.

"Yes they are. This one is the daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage. Suna had demanded that his sister be taken care of in a nice environment since she cannot go back to Suna. Her name is Sabaku no Temari." Naruto said while gesturing to Temari.

"This is Hiruseimei Sora and she is a permanents guest in or village." Naruto said. He had made up the family name Hiruseimei about ten seconds ago. She was the girl his team had captured during the Chunin exam. Naruto then walked off, he had other things to do. Hanaya would take care of the girls.

The two girls were led into a room where they could sit and wait for Hanaya to bring them some drinks. The two hadn't met each other yet having just left their cells before coming to the house. Sore figured this was a good a time as any to get to know the other girl. "I remember you from the exam. Did they capture you in the forest as well?" Sora asked Temari.

The Suna Nin or ex-Suna Nin shook her head. "It was during the final exam. Well more like during the invasion. I was captured as a POW and was kept as a in a cell until the peace negotiations were done."

Sora's jaw almost hit the floor, there was a war going on while she was looked away and she had no idea. Just one thing didn't add up. "If the negotiations are over then why are you still here?"

"Because Suna decided to give me to Konoha as a sign of good will, basically I'm a hostage. Even though the invasion failed there are a lot of people in Konoha who resent Suna. The Hokage brought me here to make sure I'm safe, well at least that what he told me. What about you, why did they capture you during the second exam?" Temari said.

"I think they we're looking for anybody but they found out about my bloodline limit and decided to take me. I know they want my bloodline limit but I will die before I allow them to make me into some whore to push out kids for them." Sora said. Truthfully he she had suspicions that was the reason the Hokage brought her to his house. What other reason would the Hokage bother taking care of a captured Kunoichi? The fact that he brought Temari as well just made it seem more likely to the girl. If she knew about Tayuya she would convince herself that it was fact. Sora was two years older than Hinata and her experience with men had not been good.

"The worst thing is the fact that even if Kusa finds out I'm here they probably won't do anything. Neither I nor my bloodline limit is worth fighting a war over. I just….…..….…" Temari was confused as to why the girl suddenly stopped talking. Fear was written all over her face and she seemed to be looking past the Suna Nin. When Temari turned to see what she was looking at she saw Hinata.

She had not forgotten that face, not even for an instant. How could she possibly forget the face of the person who was responsible for her teammate's death, her kidnapping, her imprisonment, and the fact that she can never see her family again? While she was imprisoned all she could think about is what she would do if she ever saw her again. She wanted to inflict as much pain as possible on the girl. Now the girl was standing in front her looking helpless with no weapons and Sora couldn't even move. It wasn't because someone was restricting her movements it was simply due to fear. The instant she laid eyes on the girl her body had gone stiff and any possibility for revenge had been thrown out of the window.

Hinata didn't introduce herself to the girls as she immediately left the room to find Naruto. Why were those two girls in her house chatting as if they weren't prisoners? Why were they here in the first place? Hinata had a strong suspicion that the two would be living there. Naruto seemed to have a habit of collecting unwanted people and letting them live in his house. The most important thing was why didn't he tell her?

It didn't take long for Hinata to reach Naruto's office in the house. Naruto was sitting at his desk and seemed to be writing on a scroll. "Naruto, why are those two here? I thought they were prisoners." Hinata asked.

Naruto looked Hinata in the eyes and saw that she seemed a little angry at him. That was new. "It was decided that they would live here." He then stopped writing on the scroll and grabbed a different one from his desk and tossed it to Hinata. "Read that scroll and it will tell you everything you need to know about why they're here." He started to write again after saying that.

Hinata's eyes grew wider and wider while reading the scroll until she was finished. She dropped the scroll to the floor and was barely holding back from crying. Naruto used to a chakra string to pick up the scroll, it was kind of important. "Why would you do something like this?"

"It wasn't my decision that brought this on. Since we're not officially at war anymore a certain level of power was given back to the council. I met with them to finish the negotiations with Suna and that was one of the conditions that the council of Konoha and Suna wanted most. Sora's status was brought up by me afterwards and they decided it was best if they put her in the same situation as Temari." Naruto said, still writing.

"Even if the council has more power you still could have told them no. This isn't far Naruto, how could accept something like this?" Hinata asked.

"Yes I could have turned them down. Negotiations with Suna are tense and the situation could fall apart at any moment but since you think it isn't fair maybe I should go and void a finalized deal. Maybe I should send some troops to Suna in a preemptive strike because you're upset. Seriously I'm busy right now, come back later and we can talk about this." Naruto said. Hinata quickly left the room.

Anko then stepped out of the Genjutsu she was hiding in and raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "Don't you think that was too much? She's probably going to be crying all night." Anko said.

"Just because we're married doesn't mean I'm going to change the way I act. When she accepted to become my wife and not just the woman I happened to be married to I don't think she quite knew what she was accepting. While I'll fight anything to keep her safe I won't jeopardize the village because she's a little unhappy." Naruto said.

"Naruto, do you love her?" Anko asked. She already knew the answer but wanted to hear it from him.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto said in a half assed attempted dodge the question. The look Anko gave him told him that I didn't work. Naruto just took a deep breath and then answered. "The only person who I ever loved is my mother. Besides we're really young and we're forced to get married, that's not fair."

"You know, with all the girls you keep piling up in this house people are going to start thinking you're a pervert or something. It's just might be true, with the way you keep looking at my chest when you think I'm not looking." Anko said with a smile on her face.

"Whatever Anko, in fact don't ever where that fishnet thing again, that's an order. Now go and put on something else." He was probably going to regret that but damn it was going to be a one less big distraction. Ever since dealing with Ino and Hinata he has become more and more interested in woman and Anko bust was practically begging him to be looked at. Naruto then thought about what he said to Hinata and thought that maybe he did go overboard. It always happened around this time of year, his temper got way shorter than usual. The anniversary of his mother death was a mere 2 days away and 10 days later, his birthday. It was a horrible time of the year.