Three Stars chapter 3
Thank you for once again reading my work. I am UnlikelyLoveUnlimited, and this is Three Stars. I profusely apologize to anyone I kept waiting. I ran into a series of unfortunate setbacks. From now on, however, updating will likely happen on a far more regular schedule. (Barring spring midterms, or course.) Once again before we begin I would like to remind the readers that this story deals with mature and sometimes sexual themes. If you don't want anything of that nature in you reading, please hit the back button. And as always I would remind you that this is a work of fanfiction and parody. I own none of the characters. (Duh)
Above the hidden village of Konohagakure, scattered snowflakes drifted lazily from an overcast sky, blanketing the world in white and heralding a beautiful winter's day for the village's residents. Half a year had passed since the humid summer night when the Godaime Hokage and the outcast Ninja known as Uzumaki Naruto had conspired to be together as a couple, despite social convention and personal risk. So far they have done quite well. Naruto's life was slowly improving in quality, although his responsibilities grew as well.
"Hey! Naruto, you're late. You know how the hokage gets when she has to do the evening paperwork by herself." yelled a Chunnin currently standing guard at the entrance to the hokage's tower. "I know, I know!" The fair haired youth yelled out as he sped past him, into the tower. Dashing up the stairs he stopped just short of the office door. "Tell the hokage that I'm here for my lessons, will ya?" he said quickly to the Ambu stationed at the door. Nodding his head, the Ambu opened the door to announce Naruto's arrival, just in time to dodge a rather large book that came flying past. Naruto crept into the office. Papers were spilled over the floor and an extremely frustrated woman was inside digging though a pile, tossing ones she didn't need over her shoulder. The Guard quickly shut the door behind Naruto so no other scholarly projectiles could get to him. His job was no picnic, the guard reflected, but he didn't envy Naruto, either. He may have been a brat and a hassle, but even the dreaded fox child didn't deserve having to work directly under that woman every day. The guard shuddered at the thought. Still, more power to him. The guard thought. It wasn't every person who was groomed to become the next leader of Konoha…
Meanwhile said fox child approached the desk where his lover rummaged though numerous important looking documents. "Hey Tsunade-chan, its seven o 'clock, I'm here for my lessons."
"Tsunade grunted without looking up. "Sure, sure, go grab a chair; I'll be with you as soon as I grab this stupid contract."
Naruto took a seat and began organizing some of the papers on the desk. It was a good thing he was around, he thought bemusedly, ever since Shizune decided to open up her own private medical practice, Tsunade seemed lost at her job, now being without a secretary. And in the end that was what Naruto had more or less become in recent months. The village was taken in by Tsunade's deft political maneuverings, leaving the now 14 year old Naruto as the sole possible successor for hokage, for Tsunade had proclaimed that do to personal conflict between her "career and personal life" she would step down from her role in a mere three years time, leaving not enough time for another candidate, even among the Jounins, (whose ranks were still painfully thin after the Sand/Sound invasion), to present themselves in the villages ninja population, but enough time to mold Naruto into a respected leader. As such all of the civilian population and most of the ninja population no longer questioned their daily proximity to one another. This plan would of course make her protégé a young hokage of seventeen years. Almost unheard of, but not impossible to accomplish, as Gaara of the Sand had already ascended to Kazekage at the age of fourteen. To become hokage at such a young age, however, meant a lot of hard work for Naruto, who every evening would spend his time learning diplomacy and etiquette from his beloved Tsunade, who despite her closeness was quite demanding in his instruction. There were mountains of papers everyday, from mission submissions to legislation from the council, and every day, Tsunade would "save" some more of the difficult ones for her "Naruto-kun" to handle.
"Okay, I found it!" Tsunade grinned triumphantly as she went over to her now organized desk and plopped a medium scroll down.
"What's this?"
"It's a new trade agreement for this upcoming year. Namely for trading rights with some mining towns, some of which could be considered on the border with the Earth nation. So price negotiations will include them as well.
"Just great, from what I've read on the Earth Nation most of their negotiators are ancient fogies that have lived though the Leaf-Rock war. Those guys are rude as hell and impossible to negotiate with.
"Are you suggesting that I'm ancient, Naruto?" Tsunade said half jokingly, half threateningly.
"No-No-No!" Naruto quickly stammered "I'm just saying there is still bad blood between the Fire and Earth countries. And if we don't get good terms on these agreements, the priced on almost all ninja tools in Fire country could as much as double."
"Well, then. Let's have a look and see if we can't find a village on this map over here, smaller than the others that might be willing to sell cheaper. If we can set up contracts with them, the other villages will have to lower their prices to stay competitive. Of course, we will have to pretend as if we couldn't care either way, otherwise they will catch on and raise there prices to match. Pay attention, Naruto, a good hokage can to more than just deceive his opponents in battle, but at the negotiating tables as well. Manipulating supply and demand effectively can lower cost for imports..."
And so the hokage lectured her "student", as Naruto fought to keep his eyes open. Three hours latter their work was completed. Tsunade grinned with satisfaction "Well, this seems in order, I'll send it out tomorrow. Let's head home." Putting on her favorite green robe, she and Naruto walked out of the office. As they made their way to Tsunade's house, Naruto reflected on the work they had done that day. It had all bored him to tears, but he put up with it for two reasons. The first being that it was quickly shaping him into a mentally quick and savvy politician, able to memorize treaties and spot flaws in them, as well as almost instantly figuring out which of the villages available ninja were best for any missions Konoha received. The other reason for Naruto's unusual patience was that Tsunade's hard businesslike exterior would crumble as soon as work was over, and she would reward him with two of his favorite things every night after work; a home cooked ramen dinner and an intimate night together.
He had come to long for those scant few hours in the late night where they would make passionate love to each other, for as much as Naruto deemed himself a gentleman and not a pervert like Jiraiya, he had to admit to himself that he was in love with one of the most beautiful, strong, willful, kind and generous lovers a man could ever want. Every night was a little different. Sometimes slow and achingly sensual, other times rushed and frenzied. Control was also always shifting, for although Tsunade was taller and much stronger then her partner, and enjoyed being on top, she treated him as an equal in the bedroom, despite his inexperience, sometimes just laying back and allowing Naruto to experiment. She would moan and gasps as he nibbled, licked, kissed, and caressed her body, finding the best ways to please her. And in the end it didn't matter what they did in those scant few hours, or even how they did it, as long as they did it together. And so they did. The one thing that was always the same was the closeness. That would always be face to face, kissing as they went. It was a nightly ritual that had begun once they began living together on a permanent basis. Naruto's apartment had been condemned when safety inspectors examined his vandalized house and had found it unsafe to live in. Apparently when he had moved in the place was infested with cockroaches and termites and the landlord never bothered to mention the fact to him. At Tsunade's insistent urging, Naruto then moved in to his girlfriend/boss's apartment "Until you find a new place." which was tacitly understood to be never, as no landlord in the village really wanted the infamous prankster as a tenant, and Tsunade was just as happy with having her love as a housemate.
The village's reaction to their living arrangements was surprisingly indifferent. "The hokage finally has that troublesome fox on a short leash" they would say. Most were relieved that the due to some miracle on the Godaime's part, Naruto was growing up and ceasing his pranks. The initial objections of the elders at the "Kyuubi" being Tsunade's choice for student/successor, when meeting with no results from the public and fierce opposition from the hokage, eventually burned out. Now all that remained was the occasional grumble from the impotent council. To the whole village it seemed that the scoundrel monster was being molded into a fine shinobi, all due to the slug sannin's influence. There were less cold eyes as Naruto walked the streets, and more nods of acknowledgement. But naturally, the whole village was still ignorant of the extent of their relationship. They had decided to keep it a secret until Naruto became hokage, at which point he would have the prestige and influence to be with whomever he so chose, although Tsunade had once personally confided in Naruto that if it were up to her, she would drag him to the center of the market place, and make love to him in the middle of the dirt road there for all the world to see, but for now, they kept it a tightly held secret, one which only came to light in the form of late nights stretched into the pre-dawn hours by two people so very much in love.
But those nightly respites only lasted so long, before the sun began climbing the sky again and the dozing couple would have to rouse themselves and head to their work. Tsunade would go off to her office and Naruto would head to the training grounds, to his new Jounin instructor, Anko Mitarashi. She had gotten her wish when she had sent in the paperwork to become a Jounin Instructor in the late summer, and she now had her own two man "Elite" team studying under her consisting of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga, the boy being groomed to become hokage, and the heir of the Hyuuga main branch respectively, two of the most prestigious Genin in all of Konoha. The team was very effective, despite the wild difference in temperaments. Hinata for once never felt like she was being ignored, as although Anko was far more abrasive and rough the Kurenai ever could have dreamt of being, she was also active in their training, giving constant feedback, and in her own scary kind of way, encouragement. And Naruto finally had a sensei that didn't hold back giving him powerful jutsu. By the end of their first two weeks training, Naruto had mastered the shadow snakes technique and Hinata had learned to meld the speed and accuracy of her Hyuuga style juken to fiercer brawling styles. Now not only did her strikes hit fast, she also hit hard, doing far more damage per hit than even her cousin Neji could accomplish.
The students also brought out positive qualities in the teacher. Hinata was competent and responsive to directions, although sometimes too shy and apologetic for Anko's taste, but nevertheless had great combat potential, which Anko brought out of her, much to her families approval. Naruto was the opposite. Instead of shying away and following orders without question, he would often butt heads with his sensei. A typical conversation could run anywhere from a disagreement on assassination tactics to which was better; ramen or dango. They would always find something to argue about, yet neither would truly be angry with each other. Much like at the ramen shop half a year ago, Anko and Naruto's aggressiveness formed a kind of effortless communication. They were always able to understand each other's feelings. In addition, his stubborn never-say-die attitude allowed him to persevere tough any training exercise, or the toughest mission. So far, the "elite" team's success only added to Naruto's gradual acceptance by, if not the Konoha general populace, the ninja community.
The following day at the end of practice, Naruto and Hinata were exhausted as usual. Anko had worked them both to the bone using repeated exercise drills and relentless jutsu practice. Looking at the position of the sun, Naruto gasped out loud.
"Dammit, it's already six o clock already! You worked us too long today, Anko-sensei, I'm gonna be late!"
"Then be late. Get one thing straight Uzumaki, your only going to get better if you practice. I'm not sure what Hokage-sama is thinking wanting you to be her protégé, but because you are being considered the hokage must be the strongest of all the village shinobi, and by a wide margin I might add! You'll do little good to Konoha as another bureaucratic pencil pusher."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm plenty strong already! And by the time Tsunade-sama decides to retire, I'll be the greatest hokage ever!"
"Big talk, little man. Just get going. We will meet back here Tomorrow at 8 o clock sharp. More drills. I'm going to put in a request for B ranked missions for our group in about a week, so keep your body and mind sharp in the mean time."
With practice over, Naruto sped down the road toward the hokage tower at top speed. After a few minutes though, he slowed down, as he heard Hinata as she came running after him.
"Eh? What's wrong, Hinata-chan?"
"Umm….I wanted to ask you something earlier but you ran off as soon as practice ended.
"So what's up?"
At this Hinata began tapping her index fingers together "Naruto-kun, I was wondering if….if Tsunade-sama was looking to have another medical nin apprentice. I know that Sakura-san studied under her for a while, and since you are her student I was wondering…
"Ah, I get it…trying to get away from Anko-sensei, eh?"
"No, not at all! In fact, I think Anko sensei is the best teacher I've ever had. It just…She doesn't really know a lot about herbs and medicine, just poisons. And I've always been interested in medicine more than fighting, despite my family's wishes for me to be a warrior."
"Eh, I got an idea, since I'm heading to see Tsunade-chan right now; you can talk to her about it face to face!"
"Oh, no I couldn't! It wouldn't be my place to…" But before she could voice her protests, Naruto had taken her by the hand and had begun running towards the Hokage's tower again. Secretly, a part of Hinata was thrilled that Naruto was holding her hand. Although from a practical standpoint, she legitimately wanted to become a medic nin, she would have been lying to herself if it wasn't partly about being around the young man she adored all day as well., However she was also mortified that she was about to ask the Hokage for such a large favor. As they ran, a thought occurred to Hinata, as to what Naruto had said when referring to the Godaime. "'Tsunade-chan'? He calls the Hokage 'Tsunade-chan'? Weird…." And with that, Naruto, with Hinata in tow sped off to the hokage tower, trying desperately to be on time.
At the office, Naruto and Tsunade both chatted with an amicable ease that seemed be more relaxed than an average teacher and student, once or twice even finishing each other's sentences. And as it turned out, Tsunade was more than happy to hear the young Hyuga out, and agreed that even a two person group should have a medic nin in it. With a promise to meet at a later day to pound out the details, Hinata excused herself. While walking away from the tower in the direction of the Hyuga compound, Hinata stopped dead in her tracks, Her internal "Naruto Stalk-o-Meter" Was going full tilt. Turning around and sitting on a nearby bench, she activated her byakugan and watched the tower. Evening was setting in and most people were heading home for dinner. Although she would sure be lectured by her father for not coming home on time, she wanted to find out what her personal hero was learning from to most famous kunoichi in the five nations, and perhaps learn about the Godaime's teaching style.
By the time Naruto and Tsunade left together at around eleven at night, Hinata's curiosity had been roused into jealous suspicion. Perhaps it was all in her imagination, but when in the office they had acted like teacher and student, but as they walked to their house they seemed far closer. It didn't help that Tsunade's left hand was dangerously close to grabbing Naruto's rear as they walked. As she followed them at a safe distance, her suspicions heightened. In the old days, Naruto would always, always go to Ichiraku after his work was done, even if they were closing up. (She knew this through stalking Naruto extensively of course) But instead they were now heading directly back to the hokage's house, and at an almost hurried rate. She had heard that he was living in the same house as the hokage since his apartment had been torn down. Waiting fifteen minutes after they entered the house, she activated her Byakugan again, and her heart leapt to her throat as her most paranoid fear came to life.
A small heap of clothes lay on the floor. On the couch, the Godaime and Naruto were kissing each other passionately as their hands explored each other. Hinata felt like her world had just been shattered. All of Hinata's doubt and self loathing, which had been worn away by degrees since Naruto's return, came rushing back. How could she have been so blind? What had made her think for a second that she had a chance, if he was already involved with the strongest woman in the world? And the worst realization of all came when she saw the look in each of their eyes. They were, without a doubt, truly in love. Breaking into tears, Hinata ran off blindly down the road, sobbing.
Naruto's head jerked up at the sound. "Oh, crap I think someone is outside!"
Sighing and shaking her head, Tsunade got up and began dressing. "Yes, and I have a fairly good idea who, too. It was Hinata." The hokage said calmly.
"Hinata?! so she saw us?! we've got to talk to her before she tells anyone!"
"No, Naruto, you go alone. I'll stay here. If she saw me right now I think things would be made even worse."
"Why is that?"
"…You really are dense sometimes, aren't you, Naruto? She has a crush on you."
"What?" Naruto looked at Tsunade, thunderstruck.
"Right now she must hate me so much." Tsunade mused.
" Oh, Kami…I had no idea…"
Tsunade sighed deeply. "But almost everyone else in the village did, including myself, and It seems I have allowed my private life and duties as hokage to come into conflict. I mistakenly thought I could keep our relationship a secret, while simultaneously allowing hinata the benefits of becoming a medic-nin under my tutelage, but I was wrong. I guess she intuited that something was odd between us, and she followed us. So this awkward situation is really my fault."
"Don't blame yourself, Tsunade-chan. I will find Hinata and I'll convince her to keep us a secret." With that Naruto quickly dressed and headed out the door in pursuit of Hinata.
Looking around, Hinata found herself by the edge of one of Konoha's numerous wooded areas. Cold, alone and utterly miserable, she leaned up against a tree, sniffling and weeping quietly. Hearing a rustle in the nearby grass, Hinata turned and saw a figure gathering moss from the side of an adjacent tree. "Who-who's there?" Hinata squeaked out. The figure stiffened and turned in Hinata's direction.
"That voice…Hinata Hyuuga? Is that you? What are you doing out here? It's past midnight!" As the figure continued to approach, Hinata recognized the speaker.
"Shizune-sama?"
Haha! I live! I Update! Once again I've left you with a cliff hanger. Don't worry all you Hinata fans out there. This fic is officially a Naru/Tsu/Hina/Anko, so I couldn't very well have Hinata give up on Naruto, now could I? But how can this situation be saved? You see for yourselves in the next installment of Three Stars. P.S. I usually write these fanfics myself without other people to appraise them before posting, so if I've accidentally made glaring spelling or grammatical errors, let me know in your reviews so I can post a corrected version as soon as possible. Next chapter will be up this month. (Hopefully, but this is coming from a writer who promised to have THIS chapter done by christmas)