Dislcaimer: Naruto and all related things are property of Kishimoto, not me. Although, if I did own Naruto, Naruto would have probably been not as cool looking as he is in the recent chapters. Maybe more of a goof-off, yes, but as cool in appearance, not likely.

Chapter 28: Treaties, Diplomacy, and Maternal Leave

(Tsunade's P.O.V)

It had been close to two months since Naruto took the position as the leader of the Hidden Leaf village. His first action as the Rokudaime Hokage was to propose a treaty with the neighboring ninja villages of Otogakure and Kusagakure. Within a week's time of the two treaties being sent out, Oto replied with much enthusiasm towards the idea. The country had plummeted into hard times with the downfall of the Snake Sannin, and small factions had begun to fight over authority of controlling the village. Naruto stated that he would be more than happy to help with this issue..

Unfortunately, Kusa was not as eager for a treaty. They stated they would like to remain neutral, and Naruto respected that. However, he also made note to increase the amount of patrols near the border of Fire Country and Grass Country. He had his reasons, too.

Before I had stepped down from my position as the Hokage, many of the patrols near the northwestern border of Fire Country reported an increase in the amount of foreign ninja appearing, namely Rock-nin. It wasn't settling well with the ninja who had fought in the Third Shinobi War, and I couldn't agree more.

Naruto had decided to confront the Tsuchikage about this, and sent him a letter asking for an explanation as to why his ninja were inside the borders of Fire Country. The Tsuchikage never replied.

Shortly after this, Otogakure and Konohagakure had established an alliance together. The first order of business between the two was Otogakure's revelation to the Hidden Leaf of a possible plan of attack that Iwa and Kusa had been working on to take out a small outpost near the western border of Fire Country. A few days after this information was given to Naruto, he ordered several platoons of Chunin and two ANBU squads be sent to back up the outpost if an attack were to occur.

Sure enough, the attack happened, and luckily, the Konoha forces had been able to push them back. Naruto sent a second letter to Iwagakure, and a letter to Kusagakure as well, demanding an explanation, and if this hostile activity was intentional, more aggressive measures may need to be taken. Iwa and Kusa responded by stating they were attacked by Konoha forces in the western front, which was, unsurprisingly, a lie.

Around this time, Gaara had sent Naruto a report stating that Iwagakure had sent a small platoon into Wind Country as well, and attacked a small village in the northern border area. Naruto decided that Iwa had officially crossed the line.

I had been sitting in the rather roomy council chamber area with Jiraiya, awaiting the arrival of Naruto. With us was Homura, Koharu, and of course, Danzou. Along with the council elders were the main clan heads; Hiashi Hyuuga, Chouza Akimichi, Shibi Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Tsume Inuzuka, and a real surprise for all of us, Shikamaru Nara. Apparently, Shikaku was on a short mission in River Country, and wouldn't be back for several more days.

The entrance to the meeting room opened, and the shinobi present all stood as Naruto walked in. He gave them all a bow, and they did as well, and then everyone took a seat as Naruto spoke, "Well, I've received word from Otogakure; Kusagakure has officially declared an alliance with Iwagakure. Hidden Rain is an ally of Hidden Grass as well, so we've got three countries against us now. However, Takigakure has already sent us their word that they will provide us with aid in the northern front. There is some bad news though...Jiraiya, you have the floor."

Jiraiya nodded before speaking to the council, looking to me for a brief moment with a rare look of utter seriousness, "Kumogakure has stated they will be aiding Iwagakure..."

"What? How are you certain of this?" spoke Inoichi, who had a fist clenched, "If both Kumo and Iwa were to side against us and Suna, then this is will definitely lead to further conflict. It'll be the Third Shinobi War all over again!"

"Believe me, Inoichi, I wouldn't be saying this unless I was for certain..." Jiraiya replied to the Yamanaka clan head, who let out a sigh as he tried to calm down, "I received word from one of my contacts residing in Lightning Country; it appears that the Tsuchikage and Raikage have already signed a new treaty with each other. As of now, we've got four nations against us, two of which are among the most powerful in terms of sheer number."

Naruto again spoke, "We've been left with a rather drastic choice here; wait for the next attack, or try one last time for peace. If we cannot, then I'm afraid we'll be forced to take action. As a further insurance of our village's protection, I'm plan on going to personally have a meeting with the Mizukage himself. I wish to reestablish relations between our two shinobi villages, and I can't think of a better time than now."

There was a murmur of agreement amongst the people present as Naruto looked over to me and Jiraiya. He gave us a small grin before he returned to the others, "Though I have every right to decide this on my own, I feel the council should have a say in this; I ask for the council's permission to allow a small group to escort me to Kirigakure so that I may speak with the Hidden Mist village's leaders in hopes of making an alliance between our two villages."

The council was given a few minutes to decide while Naruto left the room. Jiraiya and I already planned on voting in favor, and I was pretty sure half of the council, if not all of them, favored Naruto as a Hokage.

"I don't like it..." Inoichi spoke as he shook his head, "The Hokage is placing too much on our village at once. We need more time to gather up our forces before he leaves for a trip across the ocean to speak with a village that may not even want to side with us. We've never had the most sociable of relations between our two countries, let alone villages. Besides...isn't Kiri dealing with another civil war?"

"That's true, Inoichi, but we don't have much of a choice. Besides, the fact remains that we're being threatened from both the northwestern and northeastern fronts, and if it wasn't for Oto and Taki, then we'd have an entire portion of our border to cover. If we can have Kiri's support, then we'll have a major ally with us. Umi's given their support, but they're still a small village with numbers under one thousand. They'd be wiped out if Kiri sent a battalion over to attack them." Hiashi pointed out, earning a grunt of understanding from the Yamanaka clan head.

Eventually Naruto reentered the room, and looked amongst the council members and clan heads, awaiting their decisions. He turned to Shibi first, who stood as he spoke.

"I'm in support of your request, Hokage-sama." spoke Shibi Aburame.

Chouza Akimichi gave a firm nod as well, "I trust your decision, Uzumaki. You're a fine kid, and I know you've got what it takes to make things right for us."

Inoichi shrugged his shoulders, "...I guess I'll put vote yes as well...you're a bit young, but so was your father when he led the village..." He gave Naruto a small smirk and nodded.

Tsume Inuzuka grinned, revealing her sharp canine teeth, "The Inuzuka clan fully supports this decision, Hokage-sama."

Shikamaru smirked, "Well, seeing as you've requested me to be your advisor, and the fact that I was planning on going with you, I favor this decision as well."

Jiraiya stood up and gave Naruto a smile, "Well, I trust your judgment on this one, Hokage-sama. I'm in favor of it."

I saw Naruto visibly flinch when Jiraiya used the honorific along with his title, but said nothing about it. I stood as well, and gave Naruto a small nod, "I know you'll do well, and you have my full support for this trip to Hidden Mist."

Koharu and Homura both gave nods of agreement, though they still seemed a bit uncertain. Homura was first to speak, "Hokage-sama, you are aware of the civil war going on in Kirigakure, correct?"

Naruto gave a somewhat sombre nod, "I am. Hidden Mist has been having a power struggle for the last decade or so, with a relatively short two year span of peace until recently. That is another reason why I wish to go there; to end this war and conflict between clans with kekkai genkai and the people against them."

Homura seemed satisfied with the answer, yet Koharu also had a question, "Just who did you plan on taking with you, aside from Shikamaru-san and yourself?"

Naruto shook, "I have some trusted friends and other shinobi who I wish to bring. As of right now, just Neji Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, ANBU squad Fifteen, and perhaps Shizune or Sakura Haruno. A few more would be appreciated, but I could do with that as well."

"I see...well, considering that you're going into foreign land, we could probably spare more shinobi for you." Koharu then took her seat as well.

Last was Danzou, who stood and faced Naruto directly, "Uzumaki...I'm curious. Who will have leadership over Konoha while you're across the ocean? Are you not worried that perhaps a spy would take advantage of this information and inform one of our enemies of your absence?"

For a brief moment, you could have seen a fierce glare in Naruto's eyes. It was so brief though that you may have just confused it as a trick of the dull lighting in the room. Naruto was well aware of Danzou's past with both Hiruzen Sarutobi and myself, and perhaps his father as well. He smiled, and I had to give the kid credit; he sure knew how to get his point across without speaking, "Danzou-san, I can assure you that my absence shall remain unknown to anyone outside the village. In the meantime, three-quarters of all missions will be internal affairs within Fire Country, and those missions can be given by our administrative staff as well as me. My ANBU will be patrolling the village on a higher alert, and I intend to let only a select few that I have my highest degree of trust in know the full details of this trip's purpose..." he paused for a minute to let the words sink in, and then continued, "As for answering your question, I would like to ask either Tsunade or Jiraiya to run Konoha in my absence, if that is not much trouble. If it is, I can always ask one of the other clan elders, such as Hiashi-san or even have one of my top Jounin to take seat, such as Kakashi Hatake."

Danzou's lips tightened, but he he managed to nod, "I see...I can rest easy knowing that our leader is able to think ahead on such matters so we can avoid repeating past incidents by less capable individuals...you have my approval."

I kept my cool, but I knew that Danzou was making personal jabs at Sarutobi-sensei and myself. Naruto sensed the tension growing, and decided to break it before it got bad, "Very well then. I thank you all for coming to this meeting. I shall inform those who will be attending this trip with me shortly, and I plan on leaving within a week or so. I therefore call and end to this meeting."

Shortly after the room was empty, aside from Jiraiya, Naruto, Shikamaru, and myself, the blond slumped into his chair and groaned, "Damn...I hate formal meetings..."

Jiraiya laughed, "Hahaha, your father wasn't much different."

Naruto scowled, "Yeah, and I can tell you just love using my title...you know I hate it when you do that..."

"Get used to it; you're the Rokudaime Hokage, and as such, people will be calling you Hokage-sama and other such titles..."

Naruto grumbled something unintelligible, but nodded, "Right...well, Shikamaru, could you deliver these to Kiba and Neji for me? They're the mission detail scrolls, and it's important they get them directly..." Naruto spoke, "...and you're welcome to having the rest of the night off. Temari has been getting mad at me for keeping you here so long lately...heheh."

That got a small smirk from the future Nara clan head, "Thanks, Naruto. You and Sakura still coming by for dinner tomorrow?"

"Of course we are! Your mother's cooking is too good to pass up!" Naruto replied, giving Shikamaru a clap on the shoulders, "Go on now, get out of here before Temari starts sending my ANBU patrols out to get her peaches with sweet and sour sauce."

"It's actually plums and melted chocolate now. That and tomato juice..."

Naruto blinked before laughing a bit, "I'll make sure to have Sakura's mother get me some fresh plums for me to send over then. These cravings of hers during the pregnancy tend to stem off of Temari's from what I noticed. A week after Temari wanted two cartons of orange juice and pears with peanut butter, Sakura was asking almost the exact thing, except she wanted caramel with her pears..."

I smiled a bit at that; Shikamaru and Temari were four months into expecting a baby. Temari actually didn't start experiencing any of the symptoms until the second trimester started. The day she asked Shikamaru to get her some celery with tofu and Tabasco sauce with a side of plain rice was the signal for him to have her checked on...she never ate tofu...never.

"Heheh, yeah, Temari's told me. How about Sakura? How's she been?"

Naruto laughed, albeit with a bit of nervousness clear in his voice, "Oh...she's fine. A bit grouchier than usual in the morning and afternoon, but otherwise still the same wonderful girl she always is."

"...she made you sleep on the couch again?"

"...she couldn't get comfortable. I'll sacrifice sleeping in my bed for her comfort if that's the case." Naruto shrugged, earning a nod from Shikamaru.

Yes...it seemed that the small group had all decided to have kids around the same time. First was Kakashi and Rin's unexpected surprise almost a week before Shikamaru and Temari learned of their new addition. Rin was a good five and a half months into her pregnancy right now. Then came Temari's pregnancy, followed two months after by Sakura's. Two weeks after Naruto's inauguration ceremony, Tenten nervously admitted she had been feeling sick, and was one month or so into hers. The Hyuuga elders seemed a bit disgruntled by this at first, but after some talking from Naruto, and a few terse words from both Hinata and Hiashi, they quieted down.

Then there was Iruka and Anko. Truth was, Anko was now six months into her pregnancy, and after their wedding, Anko had gone cold turkey with drinking. She was now on maternal leave, and Iruka had begun to take on more B-rank missions for extra money with the school year ending soon. They would prove to be great parents, I could tell.

"Hey, Baa-chan. I have a question..."

"Hm?" I turned to my successor, "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"Um...well, Sakura and I already asked Kiba and Hinata to be our child's godparents...heaven knows they're bound to get married before the year is up, so why not have the two be godparents together as well? Besides that, I wanted to know if...well, you see, I don't have any living parents...so would you and maybe Jiraiya be willing to take on the role of our child's grandparents?"

I felt my face heat up a bit, "Grandparent? Y-you mean, you want me to be the baby's grandmother figure?"

"Er...I guess. I know we're not related by blood, but then again, I don't know if I have any relatives that are alive...so-"

"I'd love to." I replied, and turned to see Jiraiya nod.

"Heheh, sure, Naruto. I guess I'll sacrifice my dignity and be called 'Jii-san' by kids." He grinned as Naruto smirked.

Shikamaru smiled while looking to Naruto, "Looks like Temari and I can expect our kids to grow up together with yours, huh? You're our neighbors, after all."

"Oh, definitely! You'll be Auntie and Uncle Nara!"

Shikamaru's smile dropped a bit before he laughed, "Man, I'm much too young to feel this old already." He continued towards the door, "Alright, Naruto. Catch you later."

Naruto gave the Nara clan-head-to-be a wave before turning to me and Jiraiya again, "Man, from the looks of it, this July is going to be bringing some real nice weather. Hopefully that will be good for sailing..."

Jiraiya gave a nod, "I remember sailing over to Kiri on more than one occasion. It's actually about a week at most. Not more than that."

"Let's hope so..." Naruto spoke, adjusting his hat a bit, "Well, I'm off. Sakura will be done with her shift in a few minutes, and I don't want to keep her waiting." With that, Naruto made a quick hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"It's still amazing to see him leading the village." I spoke, a small grin on my face, "The only thing left now is for Shizune to take my place as head medical advisor of Konoha."

"Heheh. Give it time, Tsunade. Soon we'll both be giving the youngsters advice all the time." Jiraiya replied as he headed out of the room, "Hey, care to join me for a drink?"

I rolled my eyes, but a small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, "Sure. I guess I could stand a few minutes with you." The smile never left the Toad Sage's face as we exited the room together.

Several days later...

(Naruto's P.O.V)

I stood at a less used side gate of Konoha with a group of three dozen ninja, among them being Kiba, Neji, Shino, Tenten, Ino, Shizune, Sai, and Shikamaru. It was close to daylight, and we had to leave before anyone noticed our departure.

I had said my goodbye to Sakura earlier before she went to bed, and promised to be back soon so we could have our wedding. That and I was unsure how long Tsunade would be willing to stay in that chair again in the Hokage office. Luckily Jiraiya and Sakura were there.

"Hokage-sama, whenever you're ready, we can leave." spoke one of the ANBU captains accompanying our group, along with a few Chunin and Jounin as well.

I nodded before I turned towards the forest, "Alright, I plan on making it to the Fire Country docks before late morning, so let's get a move on!" I spoke. We dashed out of the village, leaving only a whirl of leaves in our midst.

(Sakura's P.O.V)

Two weeks since the departure to Kirigakure...

I stood in the Hokage's office while Tsunade sighed, "Sakura, I want you to have a seat, alright?"

I nodded before carefully taking a seat in the chair in front of the desk. The blond woman before me folded her hands before looking up to me, "So, what did you wish to speak about, Tsunade-sama?"

"I just received a letter from Naruto via messenger toad," Tsunade replied, but before I could say anything, she held up a hand, "The negotiations were a failure."

"They were?"

"Yes. In fact, Naruto's group almost got caught up in a battle. It turns out that Kirgakure's leader is the last person to do negotiations with."

"Who? Who is the Mizukage?"

"A member of Akatsuki. Tobi, I believe was his name."

"What???" I went rigid, a feeling of dread spreading my body, "A-are they alright?"

"Thankfully. They received a tip from a shinobi in a rebel faction of Kiri's forces. The civil war is tearing the place apart, and the one's who wished to make a treaty with Konoha were not actually supportive of their Mizukage." Tsunade sighed, "Naruto said they can expect war with Kiri as well now. Well, war with the 'official' forces of Hidden Mist, to be specific."

I let out a sigh of relief, "How did they escape?"

"Naruto summoned Gamabunta while the Konoha-nin made an escape for the docks. Naruto stayed behind just long enough so they could leave the mainland before he managed to escape and meet our shinobi near a shallow beach. They're about six hours from Fire Country's shores right now. I'm a bit surprised that Akatsuki didn't put more of an effort into trying to capture him. He's lucky."

" So...Kiri's against us then."

"About half of Kiri is against us, Sakura. The other half is in full support of us; they just don't live in the village itself." Tsunade corrected before standing up, "Anyway, I just wanted you to know. I've informed everyone else who needs to know. I swear, Hinata nearly fainted when she found out it was an ambush."

I giggled a bit, "That reminds me, are you coming to my bachelorette party?"

Tsunade gave a chuckle, "That stuff is supposed to be for the younger women, Sakura."

"Please, Tsunade-sama? It would mean a lot to me."

"Fine, fine. I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing a young stud dance around you for an hour with nothing but a pair of briefs on."

I must have been blushing deeply because Tsunade began laughing, "Tsunade-sama...really now..."

"Oh, don't be so embarrassed! I'm sure the guys have the same thing planned for Naruto. In fact, I believe Kiba had been asking if Anko was going to be busy before he left for the mission..."

I felt my hands grip the handles of my chair, "Anko? Seriously? Isn't she attending my party?"

"I would imagine so...she may be a little late though; might be giving Naruto a little private dance or something." I could just hear the sarcasm trickling off of my former teacher's lips, "Even if she was, I don't think her and Naruto would do anything that you're thinking of."

"She's pregnant, Tsunade-sama. I don't think Anko would go and dance for Naruto. Sure, she's not showing that much right now as far as her belly goes, but I think that's just pure luck. The fact is that she would probably not do something like that."

"Well, geez, if it's such a big deal, I could always ask someone else. I'm sure even Shizune would-"

"Gah! Enough!" I said while shaking my head, "Alright, alright. So, I can expect you to attend the party?"

The Slug Sannin gave a chuckle before nodding, "Yes, yes, of course, Sakura."

(Naruto's P.O.V)

I let out a sigh as I stepped onto the deck of one of Fire Country's docks. This was bad for Konoha. We now had about two and a half of the five most powerful shinobi villages as enemies. If it weren't for Suna, Oto, Umi, and Taki, it'd likely be more. I rubbed my temples as I tried to suppress the headache that I'd been experiencing for the past hour.

"Naruto, just relax. There was nothing we could have done about it if Kiri had been planning on attacking us from the start." Shikamaru stated as he walked up to my side while giving a pat on my shoulder, "Besides, we have half of their support as far as shinobi go, right?"

"Yeah, but they're mostly Chunin and Genin level shinobi. I'd say only about forty or fifty of their forces were higher than Chunin. It's helpful, but I don't know if they'd be able to provide the necessary support if we had to fight in Kiri, heaven forbid." I replied as we began to make the trek home, "Not to mention that Akatsuki has a hand in all of this too."

"Yeah. Still...we've got Suna's support, and I doubt Gaara would abandon us, no matter what." the Nara replied as he looked up to the pink and orange horizon of the early evening.

"He's right, Naruto." Kiba spoke up, walking to meet us, "Hey, Naruto, you mind if we set up camp for the night? We're all kind of bushed."

I gave a weary smile, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind a bit of rest myself. Right, tell the shinobi to set up a small camp. We'll prepare two fires, and try to keep them as small as possible. Shikamaru, assign a handful of our Chunin to prepare some food for the team."

Within a half hour, we had our camp set up. Several tents were set up around a clearing in the woods while four of our shinobi stood guard at all times. We all took shifts with watch, myself included.

It was around one in the morning when I had my shift. I sat at the fire, poking at the dying coals with a stick.

"What's up, Naruto? You've been quieter than you usually are. Even with the fact we almost got attacked, I don't think you've ever been this quiet during our missions in ANBU..."

I turned to Ino, and gave her a soft smile, "Hey, Ino. Shouldn't you be on watch?"

Ino rolled her eyes while sitting by the fire, "That can wait. Talk to me; what's wrong?"

I frowned, "Just got a lot on my mind. I need to help Konoha prepare for war, make sure that the civilians of Konoha are protected, assign enough missions to collect funds for the war...that and I'll be a father soon...give or take about six months or a bit less..."

Ino gave a nod, "Yeah. Tenten will be on maternity leave soon herself, seeing as she's in ANBU. Rin's already on relaxed duty at the hospital, and soon she won't be allowed to do more than basic chakra control and limited physical exercise."

I laughed, "How about you? Is that the ring Chouji gave you?"

Ino looked to the ring tied by a necklace around her neck, and gave a small blush while looking to the side, "He asked me the night before I left for this mission, so I never got a chance to tell anyone besides everyone in our group out here."

"So...should I expect a blond haired Akimichi soon?" I joked, earning a flustered look from my former ANBU teammate.

"N-Naruto! I mean, honestly! He just proposed to me! We can't talk about that stuff until later!" Ino was grinning bashfully though as she faced me, "Although...I think a blond haired boy with blue eyes would be adorable."

"Like me?"

"Heh, you wish."

"Aw, Ino...that's cruel!"

A day and a half later we found ourselves arriving back to Konoha. I headed back to my office after dismissing the others for the day, and had a quick meeting with Homura and Koharu, as well as Tsunade and Jiraiya, and then finally got some time to myself. I let out a weary breath before slouching in my chair and setting my hat on my desk.

That's when I noticed a small slug looking up at me from the table top. I gave a smile, "Sakura have a message for me?"

The small slug gave a nod, "Yes. She wanted to know if you'll be coming home early tonight."

"Definitely." I grinned. The slug gave a nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I gave a stretch before looking at the decent sized stack of papers. I cracked my knuckles before creating two Shadow Clones. I quickly set to work with categorizing the papers into three categories; mission reports, local affairs, and international affairs.

After that was taken care of, I released one clone at a time while absorbing the information they had. I nodded before getting up from my chair, and looked out my window.

"Yeesh, it's already that close to four? I better get going."

I exited my office and headed past the assistant's office, which Shizune was currently using. In short time, she would be picking her replacement based on the applications sent in by various shinobi.

I walked through the village at a leisurely pace, waving to those who greeted me. It was still a rather unusual thing for me; talking casually with others. It wasn't that I never experienced it before; the villagers had become a lot less scornful to me for the most part quite a few years back. It was just that now I was the very man leading their village. They looked at me with an even higher degree of respect than they had before.

I reached my house in about fifteen minutes, the trees growing thick in the backyard of our land. If you looked down the road a bit, you could barely make out the Nara residence, tucked back behind a few large evergreens. In truth, the land we lived on had been sold to the village by the Nara clan. We technically were living on what had once belonged to Shikamaru's family, but it was now the official home of the Rokudaime Hokage in the records. Living here had its perks though. Shikamaru's family let their deer roam free within the woods. We often watched them when we were alone together on our back patio. They were rather tame, but still kept a safe distance from us, probably because they weren't familiar with us yet.

I opened the door to the house, and took off my sandals before shrugging off my robe and hanging it up along with my hat. As soon as I walked into the living room I was greeted by the smiling face of Sakura Haruno; my wife.

We had gotten married about three weeks after I became Hokage, and a week after Shikamaru and Temari's own wedding. It was held in the flat area of the mountain above the Hokage Faces. Tsunade married us, seeing as neither Sakura or I wanted to spend money on a priest. I technically had the power to marry any shinobi or civilian within the village, but seeing as I was getting married, I asked Tsunade to do it my steed, seeing as she was the person who worked as acting-Hokage when I was not able to or whenever I was gone from the village.

It had been relatively simple wedding. I was dressed in my robes, since they were the best clothing I had on me for the occasion, and Sakura had worn a white wedding kimono. I had been willing to pay for flowers and wedding streamers; decorations like that, but Sakura said that didn't matter to her. She told me that she wanted nothing more than for our friends and family to be there. The memories were worth more than any decorations could be, she had said. I couldn't have agreed more.

"I see you got the slug I sent." she grinned, "I was hoping that I could see you as soon as you got back, but I figured you'd be swamped in meetings and paperwork."

"You have no idea. Tsunade-baachan's getting back at me for all those years of annoying her when she was Hokage, I swear it. She's giving me almost daily requests from the hospital on increases in funds. I've granted a few of them, but I can only give so much. She knows it too." I replied while sitting next to Sakura and letting her rest her head on my shoulders.

"Naruto, we need trained medical staff with what's happening in the shinobi world right now." Sakura said with a sigh, "Besides, Konoha has a surplus of funds, doesn't it? Medical training would be great for our village."

"Yeah...but Konoha only has so much money to go towards any one thing. Don't forget that almost thirty percent of our standard issue weapons come from outside of Fire Country. We only have a few steel producers within the country, and closest one to Konoha is a good day two days' travel for an average sized caravan."

Sakura gave me a small smile, "You know, Naruto, I think Konoha lucked out with you. You're a great leader. The fact you take all things into account when deciding on things is a good sign."

I shrugged, "It's my job. Sarutobi-jiisan had it easy; Konoha was going through a relative peace when steel prices increased about ten years ago. We didn't have to buy as much steel for weaponry with no war going on. My dad had was also lucky since Konoha won most of its battles during the Third Shinobi War, so after he came into office, we had a stable amount of finances left."

"What about Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked.

I gave a hum of thought, "Her time as Hokage was probably the second most difficult one next to Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime. That guy had talent. He created our village, and managed to round up the clans we have today. I can only imagine the amount of stress he went through in getting trade going...then again, his brother Tobirama managed to get Konoha on stable footing after the Shodaime's death."

"Someone's been reading their history lately." Sakura teased. I gave her a grin while nodding.

"History helps us learn. Although...it also has a tendency to repeat itself." I replied with a somber tone, "Sakura-chan...I'm going to have to start initiating the increase in graduates per year. That will make it more likely for young Genin who aren't ready for the battlefield to be killed. I'll be sending more people's children out to fight in a war..." I felt my hands grip my pants tightly, "I don't know if I can do that to people. How do I go and face the parents of shinobi who were killed in battle? How the hell did Tsunade-baachan and Jii-san do it?"

Sakura gripped my shoulder gently, before pulling me into a hug, "Naruto, you're stronger than I think you give yourself credit for. I can't really speak like I understand, since I'm not the one with the Hokage title over my head. I think though, that despite all the stress we'll all be dealing with, you'll do fine. Konoha is a strong village, and it's not like we're fighting alone here. Gaara has more or less given us his full support, and Taki and Oto are allies with us now. Don't forget that Umi is helping us too, despite their small size. Kiri isn't completely against us either; half of their ninja are in support of peace with us."

I sighed, "Yeah, I suppose that's true. It's just...I've only been Hokage for three months, and already I'm preparing my people for war."

"At least the village is intact. Tsunade-shishou had to deal with repairing the village while maintaining the appearance as a strong force in the Elemental Countries." Sakura pointed out. I smirked while she rested her head on my chest.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan. If you weren't with me, I'd be worried about how I'm doing right now."

"Heheh, yeah, I know, I'm an amazing wife."

"...I wonder if our kid will have pink hair..."

Sakura gave me a playful slap on the arm, "Very funny, Naruto. If you must know, pink hair is a recessive trait on my mother's side of the family. I just managed to luck out I guess."

"Yeah. You and your mom are the only two I think in all of Konoha with that color hair." I tapped my chin in thought, "Then again, aside from me and the Yamanaka clan...there aren't many blonds here, either. Huh..."

Sakura laughed a bit as we continued to relax in each other's arms, "Either way, if our child takes after you at all, then I expect that they'll be a real handful."

I chuckled while kissing Sakura on the head, "Love you too, Sakura."

End of Chap. 28- Er...heheh, yeah...this story was bugging me for awhile now. I figured that if anything deserved an update right now, it was this one. I know I recall saying that there was much more to come in the story, but I think I'll just be making a third installment to this storyline. Why? Everyone loves trilogies, that's why, lol. I'll have probably one more chapter to make after this; the epilogue. I already know a bit on what I want to do for the third story, though I've got a couple of other fics to work on too, so I'm not sure WHEN I'll get around to making the third one. Needless to say, I've got one chapter left for this, which is the epilogue, and then I'll have this bad-boy finished, heheh. Thanks for reading!