The courtship of Naruto Uzumaki

XI. Just another day in Konoha

Tsunade sat at her desk in her huge office in the ninja complex, but she wasn't exactly working. She lounged back in her chair drinking saki, and looking out the window. She knew that she was taking advantage of Shizune's absence to indulge in one of her vices—but damn it!—she missed Shizune. She missed them all actually. She felt like the only grown-up at a children's party. All of her experienced jônin had been gone less than two weeks. When could she possibly expect any of them back? Tomorrow would not be soon enough.

Unfortunately, she had much more on her mind besides the absent jônin. There was the strange attack in the park for one thing.

There had been nothing unusual in the report from last night's patrol except Naruto's sense of uneasiness that was easily explained away as an active imagination. It was still a mystery who or what had attacked the man, Hoshi Ishii. She'd spent the day searching the resources of the archives, and had found no mention of an animal or insect capable of making a bite consisting of two deep punctures approximately 5 cm. apart which drained over a liter of blood while leaving only the minutest traces behind. If only there had been more evidence at the scene—footprints, blood, or eye witness testimony—something that would offer a clue to the identity of the attacker or an avenue of investigation. But there was nothing except the wound on Hoshi Ishii's neck, and the strange absence of a great deal of blood.

She'd done all she could do medically to investigate the mystery. It could only be pursued if further evidence were found. Regrettably, that would necessitate another attack with some pursuable evidence. She would rather believe that this was an isolated incident, and there would be no further attacks than face the alternative. She dreaded the possibility of a serial attacker, a panicked village, and a completely inadequate cadre of mostly inexperienced ninja to handle the investigation. That circumstance was too horrifying to contemplate—so she moved her thoughts on.

Her next concern in order of importance was Naruto's would be cousin, Naomi Uzumaki.

The child was nearly a dead ringer for a Naruto of six years ago, but that made no sense. She looked like a Namikaze not an Uzumaki, but how could she be related to Minato Namikaze? He'd been the only Namikaze living in the village at the time of Naruto's birth. Had there been a Namikaze family living outside the village that Yukari Sarutobi knew about? Why weren't they asked to take care of Naruto when his parents died?

Yukari, herself, was an enigmatic figure in her memory. Tsunade remembered her as a cold, unemotional woman. How had she come to be caring for a child unrelated to her while deserting her own family?

More than that—why would Yukari leave her home and family four years before the child, Naomi's birth? Was it another Namikaze she'd accompanied to that distant village in the North? Who were Naomi's parents? Why hadn't Yukari returned to Konoha in the last 14 years especially when her husband and son had died? Why didn't even Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu the only one's old enough to have known the circumstances surrounding the events of that time not known any of this? What mystery had Yukari been hiding or protecting?

Yukari Sarutobi had been a medical kunoichi just as Tsuande was, but she had been more interested in research than the altruistic aspects of medicine. It had been hinted that Orochimaru had learned nearly as much from her as he had his official sensei, the Third. It had further been hinted that her research did not always meet the approval of the Third or the Fourth. But very little of her research had been stored in the archives. She must have destroyed or taken it all with her. What could she have been working on when she left? Had it something to do with Naruto? If only Tsunade had been in the village at the time, but she'd already left Konoha dispirited and disillusioned by the deaths of too many loved ones. She knew nothing of those times except rumors, and what she'd learned from the archives since her return.

Blood tests would only tell her so much about Naomi's origins. She very much feared this, too, would remain an unsolved mystery. However, as soon as the village was fully staffed again, she intended to send someone to Naomi's home village of Kuzu to look around, and check out the house where Yukari and Naomi had lived for 14 years. Maybe Yukari had left a clue there to her purpose in the care of Naomi. If not, they may never know the truth.

She pushed aside those two mind numbing puzzles to consider her third concern. It wasn't exactly a concern, but something she needed to approve and then propose to her advisors. She hadn't yet made up her mind about it. Again she read over the letter she'd received yesterday.

Greetings, Lady Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Village of Leaf

I wish to express my gratitude for the help your ninja provided in recovering the valuable artifact belonging to my village, and family. Its market value was considerable, but its intrinsic value was immeasurable. I wish to commend those ninja from your village involved in its recovery: Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Hinata Hyuga.

It has been a great honor, and pleasure to be allied to such a remarkable Hidden Village. In fact, it would be my great desire to cement relations even more closely. To enable and ensure future cooperation and alliance, I would like to propose setting up an embassy in the Hidden Village of Leaf. I welcome a similar embassy in the Hidden Village of Sand to consolidate the close ties of our two villages.

Please contact me if you are interested in such an exchange. I have an ambassador already under consideration to be dispatched to your village to enter into negotiations on my behalf should this proposal be of interest to you.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Gaara, Kazekage, the Hidden Village of Sand

Was this a sincere gesture or did it have something to do with the new Hidden Village they were investigating? Their current alliance with the Sand Village was over six years old, but their history had been fraught with war and distrust. She'd like to think that they could be solid allies, but she couldn't commit the village so easily. She certainly didn't want the Sand Village to know how weak Konoha was at present, or that they could be involved in a war in the near future. For now she'd stall on the request for a few weeks or even months. Once her jônin began returning with their intelligence reports, she'd know better what to make of this request.

In the meantime—she poured herself another cup of saki.

He followed behind her at a discreet distance watching as she slowly wended her way through the market stalls.

What was he doing?

Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

Why did he think he had to fix things?

She was his team mate. She was his friend. He'd always cared for her in that capacity. But recently he'd been thinking about her in romantic terms—very recently—only since she'd been sent on a mission alone with Naruto a few months ago. Suddenly, his comfort zone had been invaded. Hinata was behaving totally unlike her usual self. She was coming out of her self-imposed shyness. She was enjoying some attention. He didn't like it. He didn't like change.

Why should he feel such intense competition with Naruto? They'd always gotten along. He'd learned to respect Naruto's skill the hard way by being beaten by him. He hadn't held a grudge about that. He'd never felt threatened until recently. But why should he? He was secure in his place in life as a member of a long established Konoha family while Naruto had always been alone, shunned by others, practically friendless for a long time. He should feel sorry for Naruto not envious. Why were things changing? What had happened to change everything?

Since they were 12 after the attack on Konoha by Orochimaru, and the disappearance of Sasuke, Naruto had been growing in confidence and abilities. Somehow he'd gotten in good with the movers and shakers of Konoha. He'd been taught by Jiraiya, one of the legendary sanin; he'd been liked by the Third; he was the pet of the Fifth, another sanin; he was a friend of the Sand Village Kazekage and family; and for some reason no one had ever explained he'd been a prime target of the Atasuki as well as Orochimaru. What qualities, talents or abilities did Naruto possess that made him so interesting and desirable?

He hated himself for upsetting Hinata, but he felt he had no choice. She'd fallen under Naruto's mysterious spell. He didn't know what the consequences of that would be, but he was afraid that Naruto would hurt her. Naruto had never noticed her especially before, why should he do so now? What was Naruto's sudden interest? Why would the plain, shy Hinata suddenly attract him? Was it her family connections? Was it her family wealth? Was he trying to improve his position in the village? There had to be an angle for him in this somewhere. He'd never thought of Naruto as an opportunist, but people continually surprised him—especially Naruto. There were too many unknowns about him. He had to protect Hinata from her natural naivety. He was the only one who seemed to see the danger.

Hinata walked through the stalls of the market carrying a basket over her arm searching for choice ingredients to make dinner for Naruto. She'd visited the main house earlier that day to look through all the recipes her mother and grandmother before her had collected over the years. She wanted this first real meal she was making for Naruto to be perfect. She knew he wasn't a picky eater, but she still wanted to make the best meal possible for him especially this one. First impressions were the most important.

She intended to make every thing from scratch. She wouldn't buy any ready made products in the market. She wouldn't economize on day old products either. All the ingredients had to be completely fresh. Only the best quality was good enough for Naruto.

She enjoyed the market. She liked the bustle of people competing for the best products at the best prices. She was not a good haggler, but it was fun to listen to others barter down prices. She usually paid whatever the asking price, because she was too shy to dicker. However, her sweet smile and gentle nature often found a soft spot in the hearts of many sellers who noticed and valued her custom. Bargains therefore came her way despite her reserve.

She was placing her last purchase in her basket when she heard someone say her name. She stiffened as she recognized the voice. She did not expect good things from this encounter. She turned to find Kiba standing at her elbow.

"You're buying a lot today. Trying to impress Naruto with your cooking skills?" he asked sarcastically as he peered inquisitively into her basket pawing through its contents.

She pulled her basket out of his hands. "Hello, Kiba," she said quietly, and began to walk towards home.

"Are you?" he persisted as he stalked beside her.

"Where's Akamaru?" she asked avoiding his question. She still didn't feel comfortable saying none of your business, but that was exactly the way she felt.

He ignored her question, too. "He's no good for you. He'll hurt you. He won't appreciate you. You're wasting all your specialness on an ignoramus."

"Please stop, Kiba," she told him in a tight voice. Why couldn't he understand?

"He's been hanging around with a cute, little blonde. All day yesterday, and I've seen them together today. They seem really close," he continued his bombardment even though he watched the happiness drain from her face at every word.

"That would be his cousin. He's showing her around the village," she explained. She shouldn't engage him in any conversation. He just said one hurtful thing after another. She should just tell him to shut up, and walk away, but she just wasn't capable of hurting him no matter what he did to her.

"What cousin? When did he get a cousin? I never heard about a cousin." He scowled.

"He does have one. She's just come to the village."

"How come? Have you met her? What's she like?" he asked suspiciously.

"I haven't met her yet," she admitted in a small voice. He was bound to make something unpleasant of that information.

"Ah ah! She's probably not his cousin at all. It's just a story to keep you from asking questions. You're so gullible, Hinata."

"Kiba, the Hokage knows all about it. She's the one who introduced them."

"Unh?" he dithered for a moment digesting that unwelcome piece of information. "Yeah, well, yesterday, he had lunch with Sakura."

"They're team mates. Why shouldn't they have lunch?"

"You know how he felt about Sakura. Are you sure you can trust him? If I were you I wouldn't want the guy I was interested in seeing his old girlfriend."

"It was never like that between Naruto and Sakura."

"Are you sure?"

Was she? Mentally she shook off the thought. She would not allow Kiba to make her doubt Naruto. Not again. "Yes," she said firmly.

"I don't want to see you hurt, Hinata." He tried another tact since he hadn't been successful yet. She seemed more confident today than yesterday. He wasn't sure how to get under her guard to stir her up.

She turned on him, and said in a low accusing voice, "You're the one hurting me not Naruto. Naruto's only been sweet, and wonderful. I love him, Kiba. I've always loved him. I won't let you change my feelings with your hateful insinuations."

"Hinata! I'm not trying to—"

"Hello, Hinata. Hello, Kiba."

They both turned to the voice hailing them. Kiba's face registered annoyance, while Hinata's reflected distress.

Sakura came up beside them. She looked from one to the other. "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something? Should I go away?"

"No, Kiba was just leaving," Hinata said quickly, and pointedly.

Kiba mumbled something under his breath then put his hands in his pockets, and stalked off. He didn't know what more he could say. He needed more ammunition. He'd have to keep a watch on Naruto in between guard duty. Naruto would slip up eventually. He needed to be there when it happened.

"Kiba seems to be in a snit. Lover's quarrel?" Sakura suggested lightly.

"No. There's no love lost there," Hinata said in a tight voice.

"Sounds like Kiba's in the doghouse," she said with a laugh.

Hinata smiled at her little joke. "I think he prefers it there. How are you, Sakura? What can I do for you?"

"What makes you think I want something? I happened to see you, and thought I'd come over to say hello."

"You never have before," Hinata said simply.

She flushed. "Okay, you've got me there. I've been a little self-involved since I started dating Lee. I never realized being in love could be so engrossing. I can hardly think about anything else. I was never this bad with my first crush."

"Lee is a very nice man," Hinata told her sincerely. She'd never had much to do with Lee, but Naruto liked him. That was good enough for her.

"Yes, he is. Very nice. Say, Hinata, I was wondering—has Naruto's said anything to you about me?"

Hinata's heartbeat quickened. What did this mean? Did Kiba have something right after all? "What sort of things?"

"I don't really know. I know you had the same guard duty detail, so I wondered if you'd talked. Has he said anything?"

She shook her head. "No, he's said nothing in particular."

"What about Lee? Has he said anything about Lee?"

She shook her head again. "No, I'm sorry. He hasn't talked about either of you."

"Damn," she said and kicked a stone hard with her foot sending it 100 meters down the street.

"What's wrong? What were you hoping Naruto had said?"

"Actually, what I really wanted to know was what Lee said to Naruto. They talked about something—about me—Naruto wouldn't tell me what it was. I need to know before I talk to Lee. That's all."

"Are you and Lee having problems?"

"Yes—No—Maybe. I don't know. Something's up with Lee. I don't know what it is. I just thought if I knew what it was, I'd be better prepared the next time we talked."

"Naruto hinted at nothing when you talked to him?" Hinata felt relieved to know that Lee and Sakura were talking to Naruto about their relationship. That proved that Kiba was just trying to stir things up again for nothing. Naruto wasn't interested in Sakura or visa versa.

"Oh, he just told me to listen to Lee—as if I never listened to him. I'm engaged to him, of course, I listen to him. He's very intelligent. I listen to him all the time."

"I'm sure you do."

"Lee's said some things in the past that I know he can't mean. He's just acting all protective since we became engaged. He can't mean anything he said."

"What things?"

"Oh, like me quitting going on missions. He has some silly idea about me staying in the village and serving as a medic instead of going on missions. My skills are best suited in a mission setting. He must understand that."

"Maybe it isn't silly to him. Maybe he worries about you."

"What about him? Doesn't he think I worry when he's on a mission? Would it be fair for me to be the only one sitting at home worrying?"

"No, I don't suppose it would."

"That's right. Would you agree to quit being a ninja if Kiba asked you to?"

"Kiba and I aren't romantically involved so it wouldn't come up," she said firmly. She would hate for a rumor like that to get started. How would she explain it to Naruto?

"Well, if you were involved with him or if you were involved with another ninja. Would you quit and stay at home?"

"I don't know. If I were to marry and have children, I might consider it."

"That's different, but while you're still young and active, would you?"

"I don't know. I've worked very hard to get where I am."

"So have I. I have a lot to contribute as a ninja. I can't quit yet. I'm still young. I wouldn't even want to think about children until I'm at least 25."

"Maybe there's another way around this problem that would satisfy both you and Lee," Hinata said thoughtfully.

"If there is I haven't thought of it," she said glumly.

"What if you ask the Hokage to put you and Lee on the same team? Nobody would have to be at home worrying if you were together," she suggested. She found working with Naruto made her worries more bearable. Perhaps the Hokage would consider that solution for Sakura and Lee.

"Hinata!" Sakura squealed. "That's a brilliant idea! I wonder if the Hokage would go for it. She might not like engaged or married couples working so closely together. It could cause friction between the couple and the rest of the team."

"Has it ever been done? Maybe you and Lee could be the test case for such a measure."

"I'll ask her straight away before I even talk to Lee. You're a lifesaver with this suggestion, Hinata." She walked excitedly beside Hinata. She'd never given her much thought before. She was certainly much smarter than she appeared. Maybe she could help with a few other problems. "Hinata? Let me put another issue to you. What do you think of the name Sakura Rock?"

Hello, Himiko Masa

Do you mind--I hope it's okay if I write to you. I wouldn't want to be the cause of any problems for you.

How are you? How's your family? I know it hasn't been long since we were in Mountain Ridge, but how are things going? Have the young men come back to the village yet? Have any new strangers shown up at your door? You haven't gotten yourself engaged, have you?

I got another mission as soon as I got home. It's a very important one. I'm protecting my own village this time. I'll tell you about it when it's over. I wouldn't want this letter intercepted and valuable information stolen. It can happen, you know.

I'm thinking of visiting Mountain Ridge next summer. I thought the hot springs were great. Would it be alright if I paid you a visit? I remember the onigiri you made. It was terrific. Even better than my mom can make, but don't ever tell her that. Do you make barbeque dishes? Barbeque's my favorite.

Please write back. I'd really enjoy hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Choji Akimichi