Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is fanfiction, after all.
Ichiraku Ramen Stand, Konoha – March 19, AK22
Shino tried to stop Kiba, who had found the person he was looking for.
"Kiba, you should stop this," Shino warned.
Kiba ignored him, grabbed the other person by the cuff, dragged him out onto the street, and took a huge chakra-enhanced swing.
Wham!
Shino shook his head lightly as Kiba took a few deep breaths to calm down. His old genin teammate was way too violent and impulsive. Shin hoped that Kiba's attitude wouldn't get him, or anyone else, killed one day.
The brown-haired boy he hit suddenly poofed and reappeared as a young blond man. While Naruto almost never went out without some kind of disguise after the truth of his heritage and role in the Fourth Shinobi World War got out, Kiba had a keen nose and was able to track the village celebrity down.
"Satisfied?" Naruto asked while wiping away the small trickle of blood from his mouth.
Shino could tell that his teammate was annoyed to see that Naruto's wound had already healed and that Naruto merely had fallen to the ground instead of flying into one of the other shops.
"How dare you do that to Hinata?" Kiba growled out, ignoring the screams and shouts of all the civilians around him. It probably didn't help that they both were high profile ninjas from prominent clans and that Naruto was the village celebrity. Shino mentally sighed at the headache this would cause later.
"Hm?"
Shino observed Naruto wipe the dirt off of his back as Kiba gaped incredulously. Shino had heard rumors that Naruto was running an unreasonable amount of S-rank missions and figured that his old comrade was mentally fatigued. Even so, Shino was surprised to see that Naruto had lost a lot of the idealistic charm that had made him who he was.
Naruto merely sounded resigned.
"What do you mean 'hm'?! You bastard!"
Kiba looked ready to take another swing. The only thing preventing Naruto from getting hit was that squads of ANBU were arriving soon to see what was going on.
Not even Kiba was that stupid to attack someone right in front of ANBU. That would be a direct ticket to prison for at least a night.
"Oh, you mean my engagement to Hanabi?"
Kiba growled menacingly. "You knew that Hinata loved you for years! Mom told me that Shikamaru and Hinata's father even spelled that out for you at the meeting. You can't claim that you didn't know."
Shino frowned. He hadn't known that Tsume Inuzuka was that loose with classified information. He wasn't complaining as in this instance, the leaked information benefitted him, but a loose mouth never helped the village. Technically, the information from the general assembly was classified in name only since the civilians gossiped more than Ino did, but it was a bad habit to reveal information of any sort.
"And?" There was flash of anger in Naruto's eyes. "You're telling me that I have to marry Hinata because she loves me?"
"Well, if you had to choose, you should have chosen Hinata!" Kiba grabbed Naruto's shirt and lifted him up. "That would have been the decent thing to do! It doesn't make any difference to you either way!"
Naruto didn't seem to even notice, however, and replied just as angrily. "Where was all the support and indignation when Sakura rejected me hundreds of times despite me loving her when we were still kids? Where were the chakra-enhanced swings and threats thrown at her?"
Shino figured that Naruto had a point. In their group of friends, in the past, only Sai felt that it was unfair that Sakura kept rejecting Naruto. To the rest of them, Naruto was just being an idiot who didn't listen to what logic dictated. Even Shino had told Naruto that it didn't make…logical…sense for him to continue pursuing a girl who did not love him.
"I…"
"That's right," Naruto said angrily as he pushed Kiba back. "There was no support. Even when we became older, all of you just thought that I was being an idiot for not being able to let her go. Why doesn't the same apply for Hinata? Why were you all rooting for her to end up with me while encouraging me to get over Sakura? Was it because Hinata is sweet and soft-spoken? Or wait, let me guess…because she's a girl?"
"But…you just chose a random girl over someone who has genuine feelings for you! Like I said, it doesn't make a difference to you who you choose!" Kiba roared as his anger came back. "What makes it worse is that you chose someone close to Hinata. Are you trying to ruin any sense of goodwill between Hinata and Hanabi?"
Shino decided that it was time to interrupt before Kiba did something rash again. "Kiba. You are scaring the civilians. Also, Naruto could press charges for assault."
"Don't worry about that, Shino." Naruto returned to dusting himself off. "I'm not going to press charges. It's natural that Kiba would want to stick up for his old teammate. I don't think you're too happy with me either."
"Indeed."
To be frank, Shino was not too pleased to see a crushed Hinata cry her heart out for hours.
Naruto walked up to them and turned his head to expose the side he wasn't hit.
"You can hit me, too. It's only fair you get a shot after I let Kiba take his. I should treat everyone equally, instead of holding one person to different standards for whatever reason," Naruto said scathingly as Kiba looked slightly ashamed at that. "And besides, if that was the hardest hit that I was going to get, then I can afford to offer everyone to take a shot."
Shino almost smirked as Kiba twitched at the insinuation. It was Naruto's way of emasculating Kiba, a person who always had valued himself as, in his own words, a "badass."
Shino merely stared for a few seconds before pondering on what to do. Even though he had full control over his emotions, he did want to hit Naruto. But such acts might be considered emotional and unbecoming of an Aburame. A compromise then.
"Perhaps I may take you up on your offer later. But before that, I would like to know your reasons first."
Naruto nodded as the three of them started to walk away from the scene so people would stop being scared.
"Fair enough. You were always most rational among us. Let me ask you this. Now that Hanabi is betrothed to me, who will lead the Hyuuga?"
Shino stiffened as he realized the implications. He was so distraught about Hinata's emotional state that he hadn't even considered the political ramifications. Next to him, Kiba had also figured things out.
"So you're telling me that you intentionally chose Hanabi to clear the path for Hinata to become clan head?" Kiba asked incredulously. "Are you even capable of thinking strategically like that?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hinata is my friend and while I don't love her, I still care for her. This entire situation was lose-lose for her. Sure she's heartbroken now because she can't marry me, but if she married me, the last of the Uzumaki clan, then she would have had to give up her dreams of becoming the Hyuuga clan head."
"I see." Shino murmured. "Logically, that makes sense, especially given how the Hyuuga clan jealously guards their bloodline. Hinata would have had to be sealed to prevent the Byakugan from manifesting in your bloodline, which would mean that she would effectively be kicked out of the Hyuuga clan for being unable to produce an heir."
"Damn," Kiba muttered under his breath. "All this political crap makes my head spin."
Shino agreed but couldn't deny the logic. The Hyuuga would never stand for the Byakugan to manifest in another clan.
On the other hand, Naruto, especially given the circumstances of his own clan, would never hand any of his children over to the Hyuuga clan regardless of whether they had the Byakugan or not. Naruto needed all the children he could get to expand the clan.
The only solution would have been for Hinata to receive the bloodline limiter seal and removed from the Hyuuga clan. Hinata would still be an honorable member and would not have the caged bird seal placed on her forehead, but Hinata would never be able to bear a child with the Byakugan and would lose any claim to the position of clan head. Shino had to give Naruto credit for thinking things that far in advanced.
"I don't want to be the reason for her throwing away her lifelong dream."
"But Naruto," Kiba argued, "another one of her lifelong dreams was to marry you!" Kiba winced at how pathetic his argument sounded now, especially now that his heart wasn't in his statements. Shino knew that even Kiba had to admit that Naruto's reasoning for rejecting Hinata was solidly sound. They had once again underestimated Naruto and his ability to think about others.
"The old pervert once told me that matters of the heart can heal with time, but loss of purpose is a fatal wound that only gets worse with time. Hinata will get over me. But she will never recover if she lost the opportunity to become clan head."
"Lord Jiraiya was quite wise." Shino had always been intrigued by the former Toad Sage. Many of the women in the village decried him as a pervert, but surely a legendary man like Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin had to have more depth than that.
Shino raised his eyebrows as Naruto snorted before going on. "Wise. Right. Wise in the ways of perversion." Naruto snickered. "Anyway, no one is happy about the arrangements, but I think this was the best way to mitigate the damage. Hinata loses her lifelong love, but has a clear path to achieving her purpose in life as clan head. Hanabi loses the chance to find and marry someone she loves, but at least, she'll get the freedom to seek out her own purpose. Hanabi did say that she felt trapped by her clan and I'm willing to let her have all the freedom she desires. I have to marry someone I don't love, but I get out of a political situation that would have forced me to go marry a girl in another country AND I get a powerful ally in the Hyuuga clan for my future bid to be Hokage. Konoha manages to avert offending two rich countries. The only casualty in all this is love."
Kiba interjected rather forcefully. "Wait a minute! Do you even know Hanabi?"
"I do not recall you having gone with her on any missions." Shino added. It was true. He was not aware that Naruto even knew that Hinata had a little sister. While Naruto had always been more insightful than people gave him credit for, Naruto was quite unobservant. That was certain.
"Hey, hey, chill guys," Naruto put his hands up with a nervous smile. "I'm not making this up. I had a long chat with her a while back. We hit it off really well. She opened up and talked about how she felt confined by her clan. I even trained her for a day or two. Promise! Besides, I told the council that I'd only agree if Hanabi agreed. I made a contract seal that would activate only if Hanabi wanted the marriage. If Hanabi wanted to reject the marriage proposal for Hinata's sake, it was well within her rights to do it."
Shino raised an eyebrow at that. "Hanabi intentionally agreed to marry you when she knew that Hinata was in love with you?"
Naruto shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me. If you want to find out why she made her choice, you're going to have to seek her out. I had no say in her choice."
There was something wrong about that. Surely Hanabi would not lay claim on what was her sister's man? This would merit more observation and investigation.
"The only casualty in all of this is love, huh?" Kiba repeated, more for himself than for anyone else.
Kiba didn't say anything but Shino knew that his teammate now felt guilty about hitting Naruto. To be honest, Shino felt a bit regretful as well.
Naruto was probably not happier with this any more than Hinata was. Naruto was still trying to get over Sakura's death. To suddenly find himself married to another girl would seem like betrayal to him. Still, Naruto was going through with it to help the village and even managed to manipulate the situation to help Hinata be a step closer to achieving her dream as well. Naruto was the consummate friend, a person who never stopped thinking about others.
"Sorry Naruto," Kiba apologized, "I shouldn't have hit you like that. I should have known that this whole thing was hard on you as well."
"Life happens and gets in the way sometimes. What's important is how you play the cards that life deals to you," Naruto said sagely with a sad smile.
"Indeed. Such is the way of life," Shino murmured in a low tone. "To be a shinobi is not to obtain powerful ninjutsu or to have strength of body or even of mind, but to be a shinobi is to become one who endures."
"The wise words of our dear Fourth Hokage," Naruto remarked sadly, "which were derived from the sayings of the Pervy Sage, who valued guts in a ninja more than anything else. Anyway, I need to go change before I make an announcement to the entire village that I'm off the market." Naruto shook his head as he walked away. "I hate rumors."
It was only a couple minutes later when Shino realized something interesting. Kiba realized it the same time he did.
"Hey Shino," Kiba asked. "Since when did Naruto know fuinjutsu?"
Village Square, Konoha – March 19, AK 22
"Patamon?" Takeru looked at his flying pet and friend. "What do you think they're going to announce?"
There had been news that there would be an announcement regarding two of the village's noble clans. The news probably had nothing to do with anything relevant to Takeru, but Naruto-sensei had always told him to keep an eye out for information.
Takeru was at home and Konoha was probably a safer place than just about anywhere else, but Takeru wanted to get into the habit of learning everything he could. He was sure that it would save his life, or more importantly, Hikari's life one day.
Hikari was a kind and sweet girl, but she often placed her faith in the goodness and light of the world. With no disrespect to Hikari, Takeru decided to place his bets on his rapidly improving skills and his teachings of his teacher. He could not leave anything to chance.
Takeru clenched his fists. It was his duty to look out for Hikari. She was his best friend and he'd be damned if she got hurt.
[I don't know. Oh! Oh! Wait! Do you think that they're going to announce the building of a new candy shop?]
Patamon flapped his wing-like ears excitedly.
Takeru laughed at the excited little mammal. "Patamon, only you would think a candy shop was that important."
It had been a few days since Takeru began to be able to directly communicate with Patamon. He noticed after a training session that a tattoo appeared on his chest. It appeared like a sun wearing a large cloak. Naruto-sensei had said that the normally invisible seals around the structure looked similar to a blood seal. Takeru was confused why the tattoo appeared more like a blood seal than a summons contract seal but he wasn't complaining about being able to communicate with his pet.
Just as Takeru was told by his parents, Patamon was a ninja animal. Strangely enough, however, Patamon's abilities were greatly tied with Takeru's own. As Takeru became stronger, so did -sensei theorized the two were bonded by the strange blood seal and that a certain unknown quality and emotion was necessary to bond Takeru with Patamon even further.
Currently, all Patamon could do was talk telepathically and launch a few bursts of wind from his mouth, but Takeru suspected that Patamon would eventually be able to talk out loud and take a greater part in battles.
Patamon pouted. [Well, it's difficult to fight without any energy. It's not my fault that candy is what provides me the most amount of energy to fight with.]
"Right…" Takeru teased as he stood up on a crate to try to see over the people standing in front of him, "Because you fight so much. All I remember you doing in our last mission was distracting people by flying around their heads."
[Hey! Don't be mean! I'm trying my best. And besides, my power is tied to yours. If I'm weak, it only means that you're weak!]
It was true, but Takeru just brush off his pet's words. "At least I don't just eat and poo all day," Takeru muttered.
Patamon had the decently to look embarrassed at that.
[Sorry...wait! Look! They're starting!]
Takeru turned to look towards the front.
"The Hyuuga clan would like to thank everyone for showing up promptly. Today, we have an important announcement that will affect the Hyuuga clan as well as the future of this village."
Takeru stared at the man who spoke. His eyes were white and looked particularly familiar.
That's the Hyuuga clan head! Takeru realized. Even orphans knew of the famous Hyuuga clan. The Hyuuga clan was the most powerful and most influential clan in the village. The Hyuuga clan was the closest thing Konoha had to a royal family, especially after the Senju and Uchiha clans went extinct.
Takeru looked to the blonde standing next to the Hyuuga clan head.
"Wait! Isn't that Naruto-sensei?!" Takeru hissed at Patamon.
[It is! It is!] Patamon agreed. [And standing next to him is that pretty lady with white eyes from the other day!]
"Before we make this announcement, I would like to introduce our village hero, Naruto Uzumaki, the Golden Sun of Konoha!"
There were cheers that erupted. Takeru knew that his teacher was famous, but it seemed as if just about everyone in the village knew and loved Naruto-sensei.
[Wow, I didn't know Naruto was this popular. You'd think that more people would be angry at him given all his pranks.]
Takeru agreed. Naruto-sensei said very little about himself and Takeru, being an orphan who lived with his barely older brother, was not in the loop about the gossip in the village.
"We have decided to make this announcement because of all the rumors circulating around the village," Naruto-sensei spoke up before smiling brightly. "I start rumors about other people. No one is allowed to make rumors about the prank-master himself."
It was extremely well covered, but Takeru thought he could see the Hyuuga girl next to tense slightly at that remark.
Takeru's eyes widened. There had been rumors flying around all week that Naruto-sensei was going to get married. Daisuke had made it a little game to try to figure out just whom Naruto-sensei was sweet on. Takeru had just went along with it because Hikari had seemed excited by the prospect, but Takeru himself didn't place too much stock in rumors.
But this entire thing seemed to validate those strange rumors.
If that was Lord Hyuuga, the Hyuuga clan head, it meant that the girl with the same eyes was standing next to Naruto-sensei was the one whom Naruto-sensei was going to get married to.
Takeru whistled lowly. That was impressive. It was said that the Hyuuga clan only accepted the strongest people as potential spouses to even the Branch House members of their clan.
"That is not quite the reason we have decided to make this formal announcement," the Hyuuga clan head spoke up in a slightly strained voice. "This—"
"Oh come on! Lighten up, 'Lord' Hiashi!" Naruto-sensei smirked as the crowd cheered. "You can't bore them out with your archaic way of talking," Naruto-sensei pointed towards the crowd. "Hey everyone! You're all waiting to hear the latest scoop on the village's number one star, right?! There needs to be much more excitement!"
Naruto summoned clones, each with a boom box, and then started break-dancing in front of the crowd to the music that blasted from the boom boxes.
Takeru rolled his eyes as clan head's face twisted into a horrified expression. Naruto-sensei clearly annoyed more people than just his students.
Naruto-sensei definitely had his serious side, but tried to mask it whenever possible with a mild and immature exterior. Takeru knew that it was Naruto-sensei's way to trying to get his enemies to underestimate him, but he wondered if Naruto-sensei sometimes took it a little too far. And he seemed to enjoy it far too much.
Naruto-sensei had now taken off his Sage cape and threw it into the crowd to most people's delight.
"YEAH!" The villagers roared before chanting, "LORD NARUTO!"
"Lord Naruto is the greatest!"
"He's our hero!"
"Lord Naruto for Hokage!"
"Marry me, Lord Naruto! I want to bear your children!"
Takeru thought he could see the woman next to Naruto-sensei twitch in irritation at that last comment.
Takeru wanted to laugh out loud at that. He didn't blame her reaction and in fact, his respect for her went up a lot when he saw her successfully restraining herself.
Even a couple fireworks went off in the sky even though it was still late morning as Naruto continued to put on a show for the cheering villagers.
Eventually, after ten or so minutes, everything went quiet again.
"Now that everyone is excited and the atmosphere is appropriate for our announcement." Naruto laughed lightly as he gestured to the now stoic clan head.
The white-eyed man coughed a few times and then continued as if nothing had happened. "In any case, we would like everyone in the village to know I have given my daughter Hanabi's hand in marriage to Naruto Uzumaki, the Golden Sun of Konoha. The marriage will be in a week. You are all invited to attend."
Takeru's jaw dropped. The girl was the princess of the Hyuuga clan. And she was getting married to Naruto-sensei.
His teacher was going to be a prince.
[I'm not sure what this means, but that means your teacher can get me more candy, right?]
Takeru nodded dumbly.
"That's right! Sorry ladies," Naruto yelled out, "but that means that I'm officially off the market. So no more chasing me around the village, okay?"
A huge explosion then went off and nearly everyone found himself or herself covered in red-orange paint, shiny glitter, and something that felt like fur.
As the smoke cleared, Takeru noticed a strange noise that sounded like stomping. He turned to look towards any possible exit from the village square. In every direction, there was a stampede of thousands of male foxes running towards them.
Takeru's eyes widened again. It wasn't just paint, glitter, and fur that Naruto covered half the village in. Takeru noted with some irritation that Naruto and his wife-to-be had disappeared without a trace.
There was a huge uproar from the crowd as everyone tried to run from the rabid foxes.
The Hyuuga clan head looked especially furious.
Hokage's Office, Konoha – March 19, AK22
"So what do you think of all this?"
"On the surface, I'm just glad that it went much smoothly than it could have," the Hokage groaned. "I thought Naruto would have gone on a rampage before agreeing to get married. I'm just relieved that we came to a solution much faster than we expected. Perhaps he has matured more than we thought. And then Hanabi agreed rather quickly as well. Crisis averted!"
Shikamaru nodded in agreement. Just a few minutes ago, Naruto and Hanabi had announced their upcoming marriage in the village square.
"Well, I doubt that Hiashi would agreed. Who would have expected Naruto to do what he did? He danced in front of the entire village. That's not even mentioning that little stunt he pulled at the every end, drenching everyone in red-orange paint, glitter, fur, and fox pheromones."
Kakashi let out an annoyed sigh. "That was probably his way of getting back at all of us for this marriage. It's much better than expected though."
"I suppose," Shikamaru said slowly, not quite agreeing with the Hokage. The cleanup itself was going to take weeks and that wasn't even considering the hundreds of complaints from people claiming to be traumatized.
"Trust me," Kakashi said knowingly, "Naruto's capable of doing much worse. He held back on this one."
"Right, because burning your Icha Icha books is much worse than half the villagers and the entire village square being covered in fox semen."
"That would be a nightmare," Kakashi shuddered, "but I was worried that Naruto might have actually blown up half the village in anger."
Shikamaru frowned. Naruto wouldn't go that far, would he? There were far worse things that a political marriage to someone of his own choice.
He shook his head. Kakashi was probably just overreacting. "Still, I'm surprised that he asked for Hanabi instead of Hinata and that Hanabi actually agreed. Do they even know each other?"
"No," Kakashi's lone visible eye narrowed. "I was wondering about that. I don't recall assigning them to a mission together. Given Naruto's words about Hiashi being a father and clan head, I initially thought Naruto was trying to salvage his bad situation and get something out of it."
"Hinata becoming clan head, you mean," Shikamaru remarked. He too had come to the same conclusion. Kakashi may have suggested that the Hyuuga clan would be an asset for Naruto, but Naruto knew that the Hyuuga clan truly did not even care about Hinata. Offering Hinata had been a way for them to gain some value and return on what was a worthless asset. Naruto must have recognized that and in order to ensure the clan's support, he chose their favored heiress. It probably only helped that Hinata would probably be only too happy to help Naruto as well once she got over the fact that Hanabi got to marry the man Hinata loved for years.
"Yes, but that's clearly not enough to satisfy him if his reaction today in the village square is anything to go by. Naruto's prank shows that he is still very much angry with this situation," Kakashi theorized. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been but he's still lashing out."
"I sense a 'but' here," Shikamaru probed.
"Yes, something just doesn't seem right," the Hokage said. "Like I said, I know Naruto. If we pulled something like this a few years ago, half the village would be destroyed right now instead of covered in bodily fluids. Naruto lacks self-control when it comes to love and anger."
"I get that, but Naruto's the one who chose Hanabi."
"Only after we forced him into that situation."
Shikamaru shook his head. "Doesn't matter. He still had a choice of who to pick. Unless Naruto planned on staying single for the rest of his life, we didn't force him to do anything. We forced him to act earlier than he would like. There's a big difference. Even if he was initially angry, he should have come to terms with it after some time."
"I thought so too. But not after I saw this." Shikamaru looked to see Kakashi holding up a contract. "This is the official marriage contract signed by the parties involved. The seals on it are from an obscure branch of Sage Arts. I'm no expert at the Sage Arts, but I can tell that these seals were designed to read the heart of the signer."
Shikamaru immediately understood the implications. "So then how was the contract able to accept Hanabi when Hanabi doesn't even know Naruto? A desire for duty to the clan wouldn't have been enough to overcome her personal will as far as a seal like that is concerned."
Kakashi put the contract back into a folder. "And that's the issue."
"So you're saying that it's possible for Naruto and Hanabi to have already known each other to the point that Hanabi fell in love with him. That's why this seal activated."
The Sixth nodded. "Well, that's what I want you to find out."
Shikamaru frowned. "Just how do you want me to do that?"
Kakashi snorted. "And they call you a genius." Shikamaru merely glared at the Hokage from behind his mask. He wasn't in the mood for jokes. "I daresay that some of your friends want an explanation for what happened at the general assembly. Some of them know Hanabi on a personal level. Get to the bottom of this. And start checking the contracts from the Land of Spring and Demon Country for authenticity."
"Already ahead of you," Shikamaru said with a smirk even though he knew that Kakashi couldn't see it. "I may be lazy, but there's no way I'm going to let my friend just throw away the rest of his life because of something fake. The contracts check out. They're real."
Kakashi nodded in approval. "That's a relief then. If there was something underhanded then…"
"Yeah, it would possibly mean war," Shikamaru scowled. Everything could lead to war. He wouldn't be surprised if the next war started because the child of one Daimyo caught the child of another picking his or her nose. "But there's nothing there."
"Then our next route is to look inside Konoha." Kakashi held up the contract, "He avoided accepting Hinata by pulling that little stunt to embarrass Hiashi and chose a girl who didn't love him to delay his marriage as long as possible. This seal here was probably designed by Naruto was part of that plan. If Hanabi was unable to activate this seal, then Naruto could have chosen still another girl who wasn't Hinata and just continued the process indefinitely."
Shikamaru understood. "But since Hanabi was immediately able to activate the contract, Naruto got upset and then lashed out. He didn't lash out as much as he could have because his own plan failed."
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. There's something strange about the way that Hanabi agreed. I don't want to suspect the Hyuuga clan of something devious, but this is the union of two most powerful clans in the village, even if one of those clans is comprised of just one person. If there is evidence of a conspiracy…"
Shikamaru nodded. "Well we just so happen to be in luck. Kiba set up a dinner meeting a few days from today."
"Good. For now, I'm happy that we averted a potential international crisis, but we may have started a domestic one. At the very least, we bought a lot of time. If there is a conspiracy within the Hyuuga clan, it probably won't be fully set up until Naruto becomes Hokage. I can delay that as long as needed."
Konoha could and would not allow any attempts to shake the foundations of village.
Even if it meant wiping out the Hyuuga clan.
Just outside Kasumi Sushi, Konoha – March 19, AK 22
"Hey, look!" Daisuke pointed. "It's Naruto-sensei and that white-eyed chick!"
"That 'white-eyed chick' is Lady Hanabi, princess of the Hyuuga clan," Takeru said while bumping Daisuke in the arm. "They announced it earlier today in the village square."
Daisuke gasped in shock as Takeru shuddered in a strange manner at that. She threw him a confused look before returning to her thoughts.
Hikari didn't show any emotions, but she hadn't known that either. She had elected to practice some of her newest techniques rather than go to some formal announcement. If she had known that it was going to be about Naruto-sensei, then she might have changed her mind. To think that Naruto-sensei would be dating a noble, no, a royal! Wasn't he an orphan just like she was? Was his status as Golden Sun of Konoha worth that much?
Hikari turned to look at the two. Naruto-sensei looked dashing as always, but he always wore black. Instead of black shirt and trousers, he wore a black formal robe. Lady Hanabi, however, was absolutely stunning in her white dress with a light violet sash and ribbons. There was even a violet flower in Lady Hanabi's hair to accent her femininity. The last time Hikari had seen the princess had been during their tree-climbing session with Naruto-sensei. Back then, Lady Hanabi had been wearing loose training robes. The robes clearly showed that Lady Hanabi was someone of importance, but they did not make her look like an actual princess.
Hikari sighed. If only she was as pretty as Lady Hanabi.
Tailmon seemed to know what Hikari was thinking and mewed softly.
"Aww, Tailmon, I'm not depressed. I just thought it'd be nice if I were prettier," she said brightly. "But I'm still happy with who I am."
"Hey, Hikari, don't say that! You're already pretty enough."
Hikari had her back turned, but she didn't even need to see to figure out who had said that.
"Of course, you'd say that," Hikari retorted.
The attention was flattering, but she just didn't like the boy in that way. It was fun to flirt with him or tease him and Hikari knew she could do far worse than Daisuke, but her heart belonged to Takeru. It wasn't that Daisuke was annoying or unattractive; it was that she just couldn't force herself to like him. Given Takeru's rather cool attitude towards having a romantic relationship with her, Hikari had tried her absolute best to like someone who appreciated her instead. Daisuke was loud, but he genuinely cared for her and had a heart of gold. She was still trying to like him every day. But for whatever reason, her efforts hadn't worked and were not working.
So that was why it was shocking for her to see Naruto marrying someone so quickly. Hikari had asked Naruto a month or so before she became his student whether he was dating anyone. He was single then. How did he just rapidly develop feeling for a girl in such a short amount of time? And vice versa, of course.
"Aww, don't be like that, Hikari," Takeru added. "You would look amazing as well if you dressed up. And besides, you're only ten. Lady Hanabi is a woman. Of course she's going to look elegant."
Hikari nodded. "Well, like I told Tailmon, I don't really care too much about looks. It was just a passing fantasy. I would much rather be powerful like Naruto-sensei."
"It's still not fair how strong he is," Daisuke complained. "We train day and night to be strong and we still get our asses kicked every time we go up against him."
"There's a reason why he's a jounin," Hikari admonished lightly. "He's had over ten years to become that strong."
"Don't remind me," Daisuke groaned. "The way Naruto-sensei trains is simply ridiculous. It's enough to kill someone. We'll never catch up to him at this rate."
"And if you think Naruto-sensei is strong, just imagine how strong Lord Hokage is. The title of Hokage is given to the strongest person in the village," Takeru murmured.
That was enough to sober them up. The strongest person they knew wasn't even the strongest person in the village, let alone the world. They each had a lot of catching up to do.
"I wish he started teaching us more ninjutsu and genjutsu instead of taijutsu," Daisuke muttered. "I understand that he wants us to do basics first, but we're already skilled in that. We can take even the advanced genin teams."
"Well if you read some of the scrolls that he gave us, then you would have seen instructions on how to create your own techniques," Hikari said with a shake of her head. "I've already created multiple genjutsu and ninjutsu techniques for myself."
That was the only thing that really gave her pause about Daisuke. He really never looked beyond what was in front of his nose.
"Aww, I already read those," Daisuke insisted, "But creating techniques is too hard to do! And mine only end up being weak. I want to be able to fire off like the ones that Naruto-sensei does."
"Daisuke," Hikari groaned despite being pleased that he had looked at those scrolls. "That's because you're not as strong as sensei."
"Yeah, yeah," Daisuke responded in a sad tone. "I get it."
"Speaking of which," Hikari felt herself blushing lightly as Takeru suddenly address her, "did you manage to finish that technique?"
"Technique?" Daisuke repeated, while suddenly becoming serious. "What technique?"
Hikari shook her head. "Nope." She turned to Daisuke. "Takeru believes that I'll be able to talk to Tailmon since she has her own chakra pathway and everything. Tailmon seems like she's bonded to me, but the connection still isn't as strong as Takeru's and Patamon's."
"But can't you understand Tailmon anyway?"
Hikari nodded. "I can, but it's usually instinctual. I won't be able to ask her about the exact number of enemies or how they look. Instead, I'll only be able to know that there are a lot of enemies. Figuring out how to improve my communication with Tailmon will be critical. No offense to Patamon," she gestured to the flying guinea pig, "but Tailmon looks more like a natural animal and can spy for us."
Daisuke crossed his arms. "Can I see your progress?"
Hikari nodded before taking out her scroll. She knew that most ninjas didn't ever share information on techniques like this, but she trusted her teammates with even her life.
She rolled the large scroll out for them to see.
Takeru gasped when he looked at the contents. "This is advanced jutsu theory for fuinjutsu. There's no way you can pull off something like this alone."
She nodded. "Naruto-sensei's been helping me out with this since this is beyond what I can do myself."
"Well, from the little I know," Daisuke said thoughtfully, "it looks like you're trying to brand yourself."
Hikari was shocked he knew even that much, but she tilted her head to show that he was correct. She found herself being surprised by the boy more and more every day. "We tried to force the creation of a blood seal similar to Takeru's."
"Why mine?" Takeru asked. "And besides, don't most summons not require a seal? I thought all that was necessary was signing a contract."
"Tailmon and Patamon aren't summons. They're familiars."
"Isn't that the same thing?" Daisuke asked.
Hikari shook her head. "Familiars are able to stay indefinitely and aren't summoned from another place. They're specifically linked to one person as well."
"Wait, what about the Inuzuka?" Daisuke asked. "Remember Fuuta in the Academy? She had her puppy with her and could understand it."
"That's a bloodline technique. They don't require any seals to understand their dogs. Their blood itself gives them the ability to do so." Hikari explained. "I asked the same thing to Naruto-sensei."
Takeru frowned. "So then, why did mine appear automatically? I don't remember having to go through something elaborate like this."
"I think it has to do with the fact that Patamon was left by your parents. They must have known and branded you with a seal before they passed away," Hikari mused.
"So what's holding you up, Hikari?" Daisuke asked while pointing to the scroll. "Can't you just activate this?"
"Idiot," Takeru muttered. "You know that seals aren't just meant to be activated like that."
"Jerk, I know that," Daisuke fired back. "But if Naruto-sensei created this thing, it should be safe. Naruto-sensei's a sadist, but he'd never do anything that would kill us."
"There are things far worse than death. That reminds me. I'm going to kill him," Takeru said in an angry tone.
"What happened to you?" Daisuke asked, immediately catching the annoyed tone. "Did Naruto-sensei do something to you?"
"Nothing! Mind your own business," Takeru growled out uncharacteristically. "Let's get back to Hikari's technique."
Hikari looked at Takeru curiously. Usually, he wasn't one to be upset, but something was bothering him today.
She giggled. Naruto-sensei probably pranked Takeru again.
"Anyway, it is safe and I've technically branded myself. This scroll is just at copy of what's already here." Hikari pressed her hand on her chest. "It's just that there's something missing. The sealing array changed when we added Tailmon's blood to it and then the seal disappeared from view altogether. It's probably just invisible until I find the missing ingredient."
"So something like the 'quality' I need to deepen my connection to Patamon."
"We're not too sure about that. There's nothing saying that Tailmon is the same type of familiar as Patamon."
"So in other words, it's a dud," Takeru said in a disappointed tone. "Oh well."
"For now, at least," Hikari nodded as she put away the scroll.
They turned back to Naruto-sensei and his fiancé who were still talking.
"Oh look!" Daisuke pointed again. "They're going into that restaurant."
"Kasumi Sushi?" Takeru read with a frown. "That place is one of the most expensive places to eat!" Takeru suddenly got a vengeful look on his face. "Daisuke?"
"Yeah?" Daisuke responded.
"Let's come up with the most brutal prank we could think of. I'm in a particularly vicious mood today."
"What happened to you?" Daisuke asked again. "Come on, tell me what Naruto-sensei did to you!"
Hikari was taken aback by the angry and horrified look in his face. She had already guessed that Naruto-sensei played a prank on him, but what prank could be that bad that Takeru would be horrified.
"Don't ask. I'm just going to get Naruto-sensei back in the cruelest way possible."
Kasumi Sushi, Konoha – March 19, AK22
"I thought you only ate ramen," Hanabi said in a light tone.
She was astonished that Naruto had offered to take her out on a date to the most expensive place in the village. While he seemed like the reliable type, he definitely didn't appear to be romantic in any sense.
Furthermore, she was surprised that he actually ate well at the restaurant. She had half-expected him to order ramen even though Kasumi's was a sushi restaurant.
"Geez," her fiancé muttered, "everyone always tells me that. You don't see me saying that I'm surprised that you eat something other than bananas and milk."
Hanabi blinked at that. How had Naruto known her favorite foods?
He was much more informed and observant than even she had expected.
"Well, I'm told that you're always ate at that ramen stand," she said simply as she chewed on her final piece of salmon.
"And that's because in the past, no one else would serve me."
Hanabi nodded. "I see."
"It's not something for you to worry about. That's all in the past," Naruto said flippantly.
Hanabi fell silent after that and merely watched as Naruto paid for their food and slowly led her out the door towards the nearby lake within the village.
She still felt a bit awkward as she stood next to him as the wind blew lightly across their faces. It had been easier to talk to him earlier when they were discussing Naruto's prank on the village. He had assured her that it had nothing to do with her, but she still felt a bit annoyed that he would use the wedding announcement as an opportunity to prank the entire village for forcing him into an arranged marriage.
But now that there was nothing specific to talk about, she was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say to him after their conversation from yesterday. She all but declared her growing romantic interest in him. Something like that was a first for her.
"You're awfully quiet," Naruto remarked as he lightly squeezed her hand.
It was still early evening so they could see sun set past the trees beyond the lake. "I don't know what to say," she admitted honestly. "This is all just so new to me."
"How about we talk about our pasts then?" Naruto said wistfully. "Our experiences shape who we are and by understanding that, we can get to know each other a bit more. You already know a lot about my past so let's hear yours."
"I doubt my past is as storied as yours," Hanabi said dryly.
Naruto chuckled lightly. "Perhaps, but that doesn't make yours any less important. No experience is insignificant."
Hanabi nodded. It was better than nothing, she supposed. Anything would do to get rid of the awkward silence.
"Well, my mother passed away when I was young from an illness. She was never sickly so people originally suspected an assassination, but there was no proof suggesting that," Hanabi said softly. "I don't think my father recovered from that. He became really strict after that and even more rigid and stoic after Hinata was almost kidnapped."
"Ah," Naruto nodded. "I heard about that story. It's how Neji lost his father, right?"
"Yes. My father apparently offered himself, no doubt in part because he wanted to rejoin my mother in the afterlife, but Uncle Hizashi knocked my father out and took his place."
"Again...all to prevent war," Naruto said in a soft voice.
Hanabi looked at him curiously. "Yes, to prevent war. Why? Do you think that it was a bad choice? Do you think we should have gone to war?"
Naruto shook his head. "It's hard to say. Sometimes, it's worth fighting to prove we are in the right. But other times, things are not worth fighting over. And it's subjective and relative too. I'm sure Neji would have preferred war while most villagers are happy things turned out the way they did."
"So when is something right and when is something wrong?" Hanabi asked with a frown. "Are you saying there is no objective morality in this world?"
"No," Naruto smiled. "I'm not saying anything like that. I'm just saying that I don't know what that objective right is. The Third chose whatever benefited the majority. He used to say that 'sacrifices need to be made and that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.' So it would be just like him to ask the Hyuuga clan to make such a sacrifice. It's hard to tell whether that was the right choice or not. That's all I'm saying."
"The Hyuuga clan swore allegiance and loyalty to the village. Father says we must honor that pledge at all costs."
Her fiancé smiled. "And that sounds exactly like something your father would say. Instead of saying that it's about protecting people and saving lives, he twisted it to be about your clan's honor. So to him, honor is morality."
"I suppose," she agreed.
"So how was your childhood after that?"
"It was constant training and I became strong really quickly. I was probably genin level before entering the Academy. I got sent to the Academy late and graduated in one year because I was so skilled. But that left no time for friends, fun, or anything the clan considered useless. It was a constant struggle to become stronger. I'm surprised that I turned out like this despite all that indoctrination."
Hanabi gestured towards herself and tilted her head back as if posing for a picture.
"Are you complimenting yourself on your physical appearance or your personality?" Naruto chuckled.
She smiled slyly. "Both, of course. The Hyuuga clan tried to make me as masculine as possible and as stoic as possible, but I'm graceful, feminine, soft, and kind."
"No comment," Naruto said with a smile, showing that he was just joking.
"In any case, that was my entire life. It was daily sparring with Hinata and fighting classes with the tutors in our clan. I did learn about politics and traditional ceremonies and customs, but the Hyuuga clan always valued strength above all. None of the Branch House members would speak to me because I was considered untouchable. In that sense, I was jealous of Hinata who always seemed to be surrounded by friends."
"Life often operates like that. We often want what others have without realizing that it would cost us what we currently have. I'm willing to bet that Hinata would have traded her childhood for yours."
Hanabi nodded. "She would have. My sister wants Father's approval more than anything else."
There was a pause.
"It's sad that Hinata doesn't count herself as blessed," Naruto said in a thoughtful voice, "Friends are the most valuable things that a person can have in this world."
Hanabi smiled sadly before going on. "I agree. For my part, I was never surrounded by friends like the way she was and is. There are a few people that I know and hang out with but most of my close friends died in the past decade. My genin teammates and my jounin instructor all died in an ambush."
Naruto winced. "Ouch. It's tough losing friends. To lose them at once and to be the only survivor must have been tough on you."
Hanabi squeezed his hand tightly. "It was. It was difficult to recover from that. I've kept most people at an arm's length away to prevent myself from getting hurt like that. The extra training time helped me become as strong as I am now, but because of that, I've felt lonely a fair amount of the time."
Naruto swung her around lightly before wrapping his arms around her. Hanabi leaned her head against his chest. "I can't promise that I'll always be with you, but I promise that you won't feel lonely while you're with me."
"I know," Hanabi murmured into his chest.
"I can't promise you that I'll love you, but I will promise to be the best husband I can be," Naruto whispered.
"And I'll try to be the best wife for you," Hanabi hugged him tightly. "We were technically forced into this marriage, but I want to make the most of it and try to make it something we both enjoy."
"As do I," Naruto murmured. He suddenly pulled himself back and lifted her in his arms to look at her closely. "Where did the girl who was complaining that I was making passes at her go?"
Hanabi laughed lightly while in his arms, in part because it was one of the rare times she felt like a girl. "I guess all your flirting worked on me."
"The Pervy Sage is probably crying with joy somewhere," Naruto said in an amused tone. "Although, if I ever see him, I'll tell him that the person doing the flirting is probably more important than the flirting itself."
Hanabi stared straight into his sincere blue eyes. "I so knew it. You weren't just flirting with me to test me." She leaned closer and began to close her eyes. "You were genuinely making passes at me. You're horrible, Sage Naruto."
"Keep telling yourself that, little firecracker." Hanabi wrapped her arms around his neck. Her eyes were closed, but knew that her lips were probably a few centimeters away from Naruto's lips.
She was about to take the final leap and lean toward him when her danger senses went haywire.
Naruto responded before she could even twitch. She felt him clasp her tightly and jump towards the water.
She was about to yell at him for ruining her clothes, when she heard him whisper, "Wind Release: Divine Twister."
Instantly, Hanabi found herself inside a huge tornado of wind and water as the gusts of wind that Naruto summoned forced the water from the pond to rise up and twirl.
She was shocked to say the least. She was actually inside of a technique.
The power in the technique wasn't all that much—she suspected that Naruto greatly reduced the power—but the way the water was rising up into the air was simply breathtaking. She didn't have her Byakugan activated, but she could still see how the water followed the path of the wind in distinct streams. If it had been brighter, the technique would have created multiple rainbows around them.
As the small waterspout died out, the water started to collapse around them like falling curtains.
"Nice try," Naruto called out. "But seriously…itching powder and paint?"
Hanabi wanted to hit something. She had initially thought it was an attack, but it had been an attempt to prank them. She immediately knew who the perpetrators were.
"Naruto, your students are crazy."
His students were. While they were extremely well behaved on missions, aside from the girl, Hikari, they were probably some of the most disrespectful and undisciplined children at other times. On top of that, they were highly skilled. It wasn't close by any means, but it had been harder to detect the children because they didn't have killing intent.
Naruto laughed. "I'm guessing that one or more of them were in the village square earlier."
She looked at him with an annoyed expression. "Then this is your fault. Ugh."
"Naruto-sensei, prepare to die! I'm going to kill you!" a voice came from beyond the trees near them as small pellets flew towards them.
Judging by voice, it seemed like Takeru was the one who had been there to hear the announcement. Hanabi figured that he had not appreciated being sprayed with the reproductive fluids of foxes.
"Naïve!"
Naruto swept his arm and a huge burst of wind flew out away from them. Hanabi groaned when she saw bursts of pink paint come out from the pellets. If, by chance, any of those pellets were to hit them, then she and Naruto would have had to walk home in pink paint. They would be the laughingstock of the entire village.
"You really need to learn how to control your students. This is just ridiculous."
Hanabi wanted to jump out of his arms to be able to better protect herself but Naruto only held onto her tighter. Naruto replicated her water whip to seek out and catch the little pranksters.
A couple minutes later, three children and two mammals were caught and bound by a water rope.
"What do you have to say of yourselves?"
"Tch," Takeru muttered. "We almost had you. TWO more seconds and you'd be itching all the way home."
"It's all your fault, you idiot," Daisuke yelled. "Who cares about drenching them in paint and itching powder. We could have gotten blackmail material if you had waited! That would have been a better prank!"
Hanabi turned red at that. She had been so engrossed with Naruto's presence that she had not felt the three children nearby. Given Naruto's amused expression, he, however, had. It was just another reason why he was as skilled as he was.
"Oh shut up!" Takeru fired back. "Naruto-sensei probably knew we were already there and would have punished us for watching. He was probably waiting for that. I merely attacked when he was least likely to expect it. And if you hadn't messed up with that first throw, he might not have reacted in time."
"It's not like you to act like this Takeru," Naruto chortled. "You're usually more level-headed than this. I think Daisuke is influencing you more than you're influencing him."
"Hey!" Daisuke yelled.
Takeru scoffed at the comment and ignored the outburst from his teammate. "I'm traumatized for life, you bastard of a teacher. You covered me in fox semen."
Hikari gasped in horror. "WHAT?!" she shrieked. "SENSEI! That's gross! How could you do something like that?"
"Oh shut up," Naruto groaned. "You're probably upset because of a perceived loss of innocence or something like that."
Hikari turned red. "It's not that! I'm not thinking of getting into Takeru's pants, pervent sensei! We're only ten! We're too young for things like that! I'm just saying that you're disgusting!"
Daisuke also looked appalled. "And forget how could he do that...I'm more interested in knowing how he did manage that!"
Naruto took on a serious expression. "It was nothing personal. Takeru just happened to be in the village square. Everyone who was there got pranked. Haha. I just summoned a bunch of foxes after I sprayed everyone with fox pheromones and covered everyone in red-orange paint and fur. Foxes are also red-orange in color so it worked out." Hanabi stepped back in fear at Naruto's expression. He had a crazed expression on his face. "You prevented me from getting a kiss from my beautiful fiancé and completely ruined the mood." Hanabi blushed lightly at that despite the ridiculous look on Naruto's face. She was fairly sure he was just pretending. "This requires punishment." Naruto fumbled with something in his robes. "Aha! Here it is. I still have a vial of pheromones left and I have the perfect subjects to use them on."
Hanabi rolled her eyes as the children started crying and screaming at the same time.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
AN: I lied. I ended up posting this chapter up far faster than I thought I would. But I'm sure you all know that this blistering pace of updates is only temporary. I'll eventually have to slow down.
Anyway, I'm sure all of you noticed that this is mostly a filler chapter. I took the original chapter and split it into two and inserted a bunch of filler scenes.
The result? Faster update, but less actual relevant content. Interestingly enough, it ended up being my longest chapter so far.
I suppose giving more depth to each of Naruto's students was good even though I hadn't planned on doing so until much later. And laying out the framework for how Takeru and Hikari will fight later on will clear up any confusion when I do introduce it later on. If anyone was curious, yes, the "seal" on Takeru's chest is the Crest of Hope and as in Digimon, it will be the quality of hope that allows him to "power up." Likewise, Hikari's quality will be light or goodness. The actual style of fighting won't be important, but those qualities will be very important to the story. That's why I decided to develop their characters a bit more in this chapter (and it's the reason why I didn't write a Daisuke's POV; he's not quite as important).
Still, in spite of everything, I'm not sure if I like this chapter. Apart from the very first chapter, in terms of quality, this is probably worst chapter. I feel like it was rushed and that much of the dialogue was forced. I have no choice but to do something like this again for the next chapter since I had split up the original chapter, but I don't think I'm going to try dumping more content into a chapter that was already done for the most part. I can understand why the Naruto fillers sucked so much. It's really difficult to develop meaningless content out of nowhere.