Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is fanfiction, after all.

Land of the Moon, April 17, AK 22

"Hanabi," Naruto said as they got off the expensive ship, "there's something I have to tell you."

Naruto almost shivered when he saw the stoic gaze from his wife. Ever since their first night together, he was always worrying about whether or not he was making her upset. Maybe this was what Shikamaru's father had meant whenever he talked about the dynamics of a marriage. The men just had something in their genes that made them completely whipped by their wives.

It may also have had to do with the fact that she looked incredibly gorgeous dressed in a traditional aqua-colored kimono and part of her hair tied back. For the most part, the women of the Uzumaki clan didn't like to wear blue since it clashed with their red hair, but Hanabi, having dark hair, didn't have such concerns.

"You're not going to be telling me that you fathered a child with Lady Haruno, right?" her voice was dangerous. Naruto actually shivered this time.

But his curiosity got the better of him. "Why do you keep asking about Sakura? They way you keep bringing her up makes it seem like you think she's alive." Sakura wasn't dead of course, but Hanabi didn't know that. "How many times do I have to tell you? We were emotionally close as teammates but we never got along too well as boyfriend and girlfriend. Sure, we had sex before on one occasion, but overall our relationship was rather dysfunctional."

Hanabi still didn't look too pleased with that. Naruto couldn't blame her, however. He'd be pretty pissed off if he found out his partner for life had already slept with someone else.

"Just once?"

"One occasion," Naruto corrected. That night was a long night. Sakura had been insatiable. "We were both drunk," Naruto added, "I'll be the first one to admit that I loved her dearly. But…I was always out on missions and well…I don't think she ever truly loved me."

He almost lost his balance as the girl jumped on him and hugged him tightly. A sweat drop appeared on the side of his head at her sudden switch in personality. "Well, that's good, because you're mine now!"

The sweat drop grew larger. "Hanabi," he said in a low tone, "you do know that we're still in public." Naruto sent an apologetic look towards his servants who were just gaping at them. He didn't blame them. Seeing a noblewoman glomp her husband was probably not something they saw everyday. In the past few weeks, Hanabi made sure to keep the displays of affection private, but for some reason, today, Hanabi threw out any sense of modesty. "If I were a psychiatrist, I would tell you that having no childhood has given birth to a rather childish side of you that manifests at the most random times."

"Oh shut up. You do it, too. You pretend to be an idiot all the time. I can pretend to be a little kid. And you know I'm cute enough to do so."

Naruto disagreed, but he nodded anyways, hoping that she'd release him.

No such luck.

"Hanabi! I'm not the one you should be imitating!" The girl now started snuggling against him. "And I do not pretend! The entire village just assumes that I'm dumb no matter what I do!"

"Whatever," she mumbled in a more serious tone, although she was still rubbing her face against his clothes. "Just shut up. I need my daily fix. I didn't get enough of you this morning when we woke up."

He developed a tic on his forehead. Naruto groaned in frustration as he started seeing his servants begin to chortle.

"Hey, all of you! I'm your master! Get this woman off of me!" he shouted, half in anger, half in jest.

"But Master! You told us to listen to Lady Hanabi first and foremost!" one of the female attendants argued.

"Lord Naruto, I don't think she would approve of us doing that."

"Lord Naruto, as your humble servant, I wish to inform you that this is something all men must endure. It is the law of life."

Naruto groaned loudly as the girl squeezed harder and as people stared and pointed. Because he knew Hanabi had grown up in a household of nobles, he had purchased slaves from across the Land of Fire. To ease his own conscience for having servants, he had decided to buy slaves from notoriously vicious slave traders who were known to abuse their charges regularly. He would have freed all of them, but they had already been branded with the mark of a slave and Naruto did need attendants for Hanabi.

So he decided to compromise with himself. He offered the ten people—three young children and their mothers and four men, including a father of one of the children—a place to stay, free food, and free education for the children as long as Hanabi was taken care of. Being a noble, Hanabi didn't know how to do the most basic of things by herself such as cook, clean, and put on formal clothing.

Fortunately, all the servants did know how to do those things and were quite adept at it so it worked out. Still, Naruto had repeatedly stressed that they were attendants and assistants and not slaves. Naruto even promised that the children of the children would not be branded with the mark of a slave even though Naruto and the Uzumaki clan were well within their rights to do so. In fact, Naruto would leave an order to have them adopted into the clan.

The eleventh "servant" was Sasame, whom he had met while tracing Orochimaru nearly a decade ago. Naruto had run into her again on one of his missions. The girl had been lost in life after the remnants of her clan sold her into slavery. She had managed to free herself and had wandered from city to city escaping the authorities. Naruto had kept in contact with her for information outside of Konoha, trained her, and had asked her to take care of a couple of orphans he had found during his missions. But now, after his marriage, he needed to start living and acting like a true clan head. Furthermore, it would only help to have associates and friends near him. His associates being in better position to protect Hanabi was just a bonus.

"Sasame! You have to help me. You're a girl, so you should know what to do about this!" He desperately turned to the girl who was wearing a white and red robe, showing her status as the lead retainer.

Naruto kept trying to push Hanabi off of him as other people who were getting off the ship whispered and chuckled as they passed by. Some people even took out cameras to take picture of them.

"Lord Naruto, unfortunately, there is no way of escaping the claws of your most beloved. It is just something you accept in life," the usually loyal orange-haired girl said with a traitorous smile.

For once, Naruto found himself regretting giving his retainers so much leeway. "I hate you all!" he called out as loud as he could.

Giggles and chuckles were his only responses.

Hanabi released him. "Now that I'm satisfied with having thoroughly embarrassed you, dear husband, you were saying?"

Naruto glared before remembering what he had to tell her. "Well, I'm going to apologize in advance."

"For?" Hanabi raised an eyebrow.

"There's going to be something that goes wrong on our trip. Probably a fight or a conspiracy or something," he sighed. "Granny Tsunade called it Kami's way of getting back to me for having the devil's luck in everything. Since this is our final spot and since nothing happened on our trip so far, I'm pretty sure something will happen here."

"So it wasn't just rumors when people said you attract trouble?"

Naruto shook his head. "It's like the rule of our universe or something. If I'm involved with something, something must go wrong so I can fix it. Murphy's Rule applied to Narutoverse or something like that. That's what the Pervy Sage said. He said I was the Chosen Child of Prophecy for a reason."

His wife laughed at him. "Get over yourself." Then she smiled sweetly. "Well," she cooed. Naruto backed up in case she tried to glomp him again. "I don't mind as long as I'm with you." She got a dreamy look in her eyes.

He wanted to smack his forehead. He groaned yet again and the spoke in a low voice, so that only she could hear. "A few weeks in bed together and now your personality has completely changed. What the hell did I get myself into?"

The girl gave no indication she heard.

Naruto shook his head when he saw the girl had red hearts shining in her eyes.

The girl had been repressed, that much was certain, but she had gotten attached to him a little too quickly in his opinion. While he cared about her, he was still very far from being in love with her, whereas she sometimes reverted to being as needy as Hinata was. He could handle that in tiny spurts, but he didn't want to be babying his wife for the rest of his life. He just hoped it was an emotional high of having just been married and enjoying the evening "benefits" of marriage. He preferred her a lot more when she acted a lot more mature.

Eh, whatever. Shikamaru was right. Women are too damn troublesome to deal with.

Naruto nodded at his male servants as he summoned the palanquin he had designed. He hated using it, but appearances had to be kept at times. He took some consolation in the fact that the damn thing was covered with seals, many of which were designed to help keep the palanquin light.

He picked up the still daydreaming girl and stepped inside.

Crescent Moon Palace, Land of the Moon – April 17, AK 22

"King Michiru," Hanabi followed along as Naruto bowed his head lightly as he stood before the throne. "It has been quite a while since this humble servant of Yours has last seen Your Grace. Your Majesty looks as healthy and bright as ever."

Hanabi threw furtive glances at the slightly plump king. The king wasn't fat by any means, but seemed to have a bright smile and exuberant energy that made him seem more round and jolly.

"Ah, Naruto!" The excited king exclaimed. "The last time you were here was three years ago right? Hikaru isn't in the kingdom right now and won't be back for another few weeks, but since you'll be here for the next month or so, you'll get to see him too. Oh right, I forgot," Michiru got a stern expression on his face. "Lord Uzumaki, We welcome you to Our kingdom. You are a friend to Us and have done Us a great service many a time and hope you find all your wishes fulfilled during your stay here in Our kingdom."

"Yes, King Michiru. Your servant is honored to have been granted permission to stay in Your kingdom and receive Your protection. Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty."

There was a pause and both Naruto and the King burst out laughing much to the chagrin of some of the more traditional advisors in the hall. "Naruto my boy, how did you manage to say all of that with a straight face?"

At the King's wave, Naruto lifted his head up and instructed her to do so as well. Hanabi was surprised but not too shocked at Naruto's familiarity with the king. No matter where her husband went, it seemed he completely turned hierarchy and social norms upside down.

"I have been improving my acting skills over the last few years," Naruto said with a smile. "I get a lot of practice every day of my life." Knowing what she did now, she was able to understand his comments. He was most likely talking about acting like an idiot in front of everyone when he was most certainly intelligent. "But where are my manners?" he led her forward, "This is my beautiful wife, the most beautiful woman in the world," Naruto said proudly, bringing her to blush, "after Queen Amayo, of course," he added.

Hanabi didn't know whether to be annoyed with Naruto for that the statement or impressed that Naruto did know how to play the game of politics.

"You flatter me, Lord Uzumaki," Hanabi turned to see a beautiful lady in a royal dress. The customs of this land were different so Hanabi found herself being fascinated by the differences in fashion. The clothes of this land were far thinner than the kimonos she was used to seeing at home. "Your wife is gorgeous. My compliments." The queen said with a smile before looking at her. "He is an amazing man, your husband. Don't ever take him for granted."

Hanabi closed her eyes and bowed her head in assent. "Yes, Queen Amayo. I shall keep your words of wisdom in my heart."

"See that you do. My apologies, but I have some other businesses to attend to," the queen smiled as she left the hall to go to somewhere else. Hanabi thought it was rather strange that the queen had just entered the room only to leave soon, but she shrugged it off as royals being fickle.

Hanabi found the king giving her an appraising look before turning to Naruto. "No offense, Naruto my boy, but I think she's a bit too elegant for someone like you. I didn't think you'd be one to take someone so calm and mild. I always imagined you taking someone more…energetic."

Hanabi didn't react despite hearing the sexual innuendo there. The man in front of her was a king and despite Naruto's friendship with him, there was a large gap in political power. She and Naruto would have to endure whatever the king said, no matter how inappropriate.

Hanabi was irate at her husband's response, however. "Oh man. King Michiru. You have no idea. That's what I thought at first too. She appears like a sweet little angel on the outside. But once you get close to her, she's a wild one. I barely can handle her. Her name's Hanabi (fireworks) for a reason."

She bumped her husband lightly. "Why the hell are you giving hints to the king about our sex life?" she hissed angrily.

Naruto ignored her as the king laughed. She wanted to growl. It was probably his way of getting back at her for her antics this morning. Tch. Who knew that Sage Naruto was so damn petty? "Well, as long as you're happy, my boy. This country and I owe you a huge debt. We can't afford to offer you a blank check this time around, but consider at least your stay here completely free of charge!"

Hanabi would have gaped if she weren't in front of the king. The resorts in the Land of the Moon were among the most expensive in the entire Elemental Nations. They had brought a tremendous amount of money with them to pay for this trip. If those funds could be allocated elsewhere…

Hanabi was a kunoichi but she was also a girl at heart. A girl who had been starved of everything a girl could want to do, including shopping, shopping, and more shopping.

"Aww. You know I can't accept that," she internally groaned at her husband's sense of morality. She resigned herself to buying only a few articles of clothing. It had been foolish of her to get her hopes up. Naruto was simply too honorable for his own good.

"Naruto!" King Michiru said sternly. "You said the last time too and when I insisted, you ended up buying nothing! Sakura and Kakashi were the only ones to take advantage of my generous offer. Sakura bought enough clothes to wear for an entire year and Kakashi cleaned out an entire adult section of a bookstore. Lee only bought a few sets of customized spandex that said 'youth' and you bought nothing! You will accept this time!"

"But…" her husband protested.

"This isn't a matter of you being rewarded, Naruto!" The king's tone became softer. "It is also for Our own conscience and honor. Our father has given Us a mission not only take care of this land but to be a just and fair ruler. To not pay Our debts to you would be an insult to Our father's memory. So if not for yourself, then do it for Us." Hanabi flushed when the king stared at her. "And do think of the wife as well." His eyes briefly flickered towards the hallway. "We think you were close to giving her a heart attack. A month's stay at some of Our resorts could completely destroy a small clan's finances."

Naruto turned and gave her a long look. Although she was skilled at reading him by now, even she couldn't interpret everything that was that look.

He turned and faced the king. "My deepest apologies, King Michiru. Your servant has never considered the pain his selfishness has brought You. Your servant shall fully accept Your generous offer. Your grace is truly immeasurable."

Hanabi felt slightly confused when the king looked incredibly relieved before giving a small nod to Naruto. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Naruto formally bowed his head in assent. "Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty."

Ceiling of Nara Clan Head Home, Konoha – April 17, AK 22

"Shikamaru, I have some matters I wish to bring up with you."

"Shino?" Shino watched as Konoha's lead strategist as his friend yawned and stretched. Shino twitched in irritation at the show. Shino was a patient man, but even he had his limits. Going through this ritual each time he met with the Nara clan head was somewhat trying.

"Shikamaru, do you not ever stop to think that a clan head such as you is too old to be playing these kinds of games?"

"Eh?" The shadow user rubbed his eyes. "Games?"

"Yes. This game where you keep up a pretense of being apathetic and unmotivated. It has been a long time since you were the lazy student you once were in the Academy. If you need proof, it is self-evident in the fact that you are the ANB—"

"I can have you killed for revealing classified information."

"I doubt that," Shino replied in his monotone voice. "As I have yet to reveal anything. You interrupted me before I could." Shino decided to sarcastically—but still in a monotone—add, "I wish to thank you for being considerate and saving my life."

In fact, Shino had been counting on Shikamaru to interrupt him. Otherwise, his friend would not have taken what he said seriously. It was his way of telling Shikamaru the information he was critical.

"That was the point, Shino," Shikamaru drawled, not at all bothered by the sarcastic remark. "It's classified for a reason. You shouldn't be saying stuff like that out loud."

"Very well," Shino nodded. He now knew that he had the ANBU Commander's full attention. "In exchange, you will hear what I have to tell you."

"Geez, what a drag."

Shino took that as his sign to begin. "I had fully intended to keep this to myself, but realized that I may be doing more harm than good. This is about Hanabi and her marriage to Naruto. You had asked about the marriage contract and her motivations."

Shino was pleased to see Shikamaru Nara disappear and ANBU Commander Dragon appear in the other's eyes. "Yes?"

"Power." Shino stated. "That was her motivation."

"I don't follow," Shikamaru frowned.

"This may become a long explanation," Shino murmured. "Around a decade and half ago, there was a man in my clan who encountered an S-rank missing ninja on a mission. When he returned, he was a changed man, fearful at every little surprise. The man became obsessed with the idea of power and crushing anything that might bring harm to him."

"So you're saying that Hanabi is the same way. So you're validating Lee's hypothesis that Hanabi married the only available S-rank so she stand behind his power. And your hypothesis is that because Hanabi knew that Naruto was the only one available, she eventually convinced herself that she wanted to marry him, thereby activating the contract."

"Correct," Shino commented. "A desire for power in itself is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. A desire to become stronger helps a person to mature and to work harder. However, in some cases, people may become obsessed and end up taking dangerous short cuts to power. The man in our clan performed many forbidden experiments on himself to develop a new type of toxic kikaichu never seen before in our clan and ended up joining a now defunct organization called Root, run by former Elder Shimura. I am not particularly worried about Naruto's marriage, but I am worried about his emotional health in the case Hanabi were to continue to relentlessly seek power. We know that he's still hurting because of Sakura's death."

Shino let Shikamaru spend a few minutes in thought at that.

"Hm…it's a little to early to say if Hanabi will end up like Sasuke. As far as we know, Hanabi has had a relatively decent life so it may be that she's just a scared girl. She has shown no signs of anxiety or fear that your ex-clansman showed."

Shino nodded. "It is why I have sought you out in private. I want to be able to keep a closer eye on her. I believe it would help if you were involved as well."

The Nara clan head frowned. "Don't you think you're letting your emotions rule your decisions, Shino?"

Shino stood there for a few seconds in though. He didn't think so. How did wanting to observe Hanabi for suspicious behavior count as emotional? He was merely acting based on the information he had.

"How so?"

"Are you sure that you're not letting your anger about Hanabi being picked over Hinata dictate your actions and thoughts regarding Hanabi's mental state?"

Shino considered that carefully. It was theoretically possible, he supposed. He didn't feel angry, necessarily, but sometimes anger worked in subtle ways.

"I admit that it may be possible," he finally said, "but I believe my argument still holds. It is one of the reasons why I have sought you out. You hold considerable power as a clan head," Shino paused to let Shikamaru know that "clan head" was not what he really meant, "and may be able to observe her in ways that I may not. I am merely here to present a warning that Hanabi may become a traitor if power is truly her goal."

"Speaking of power, what of the Hyuuga clan?" the shadow user asked. "Do you see any problems there? It is clear to anyone that the Hyuuga clan benefits from this marriage."

Shino shook his head. Shino supposed that other clans might claim the existence of a conspiracy, but Shino knew life itself was filled with competition. In a competition, someone won and someone lost. In this case, the Hyuuga clan won.

"Did not the other clans offer their daughters as well? I believe that the Aburame clan also offered a girl to Naruto even though the identity of the girl is not public knowledge within the clan. I do not see a problem with the Hyuuga clan being the ones to come out on top. I see no evidence for a conspiracy."

Shikamaru didn't look surprised at being read and merely acknowledged with a nod that he had been thinking along the lines of a conspiracy.

"Hm…thanks Shino. I'll take what you said into consideration."

Shino nodded.

He would not let Naruto be a victim of a treacherous wife. It was his duty as Naruto's friend.

Ceiling of Nara Clan Head Home, Konoha – April 17, AK 22

"Power, huh?" Shikamaru stared at the clouds as they passed by.

He ran through the recent events in his head. It had started with Sakura being attacked with a fuinjutsu that targeted the brain. After that things started to roll rapidly with two countries asking for Naruto's hand in marriage. During that time, Naruto had been sent on multiple S-rank missions, one with severe collateral damage. Naruto regularly came back with signs of mental strain and his psychological evaluations showed that he was upset. All of that was expected given his volume of missions and having his girlfriend killed just in front of his house. Hanabi also had been sent out on a mission that had gone wrong when a teammate was killed and they were attacked by an S-rank ninja who used high-speed taijutsu, space-time ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, fire ninjutsu, and had red eyes. While Hanabi was out on her mission, Naruto had requested her hand in marriage after being forced to pick someone in the village and had rejected Hinata. Hanabi accepted immediately after being told of the offer, presumably because she wanted to leave her clan.

Some other facts: Naruto was absolutely committed to Sakura and would not have seen Hanabi. Hanabi was seen sneaking out of the Hyuuga Clan Compound between the time of Sakura's death and her marriage with Naruto.

No matter how much he thought of it, it looked too much like a conspiracy. Ibiki was right in that the proper motivation wasn't there, but on the other hand, the pattern of events was indicative of a plot. They were just missing something here. Shino had then added that Hanabi's motivation was out of fear and a desire for power.

Shikamaru chuckled.

It would easily make sense if Naruto were the one who had attacked Sakura and then Naruto had been the one to attack Hanabi as Kokuten, scaring her so much that she would accept a marriage with him so he could create a dynasty like Ibiki proposed. Given the timing of Naruto's demand, it was after Hanabi had been frightened so if Naruto was the S-rank ninja, he could have used space-time ninjutsu to teleport back to Konoha in time for the general assembly. That made the most logical sense in a vacuum.

But there were facts that exonerated Naruto completely.

First of all, Naruto didn't have the skillset of this S-ranked man. Naruto didn't know space-time ninjutsu. His fuinjutsu wasn't quite at master level just yet. He wouldn't have been able to place such a strong one on Sakura or be involved with those chakra nullification seals that Team Hanabi mentioned. Naruto was only able to use fire ninjutsu during Kyuubi Mode, which would easily been identified by at least Lee, who saw it multiple times. The yellow shroud would be a dead giveaway even while wearing black robes.

Since the man wasn't using Kyuubi Mode, it couldn't possibly have been Naruto who has blue eyes under normal circumstances or orange during Sage Mode.

That wasn't even counting the fact that Naruto loved Sakura to death and would never attack her. Nor would he work with someone like Kabuto in making those seals.

And still more was the fact that the black cloaked man seemed more like Sasuke than Naruto. Sasuke was heavily obsessed with the power of his eyes and had always been making comments about how all ninjutsu were powerless before his eyes and that his eyes were powerful because of his spirit of hatred and anger. None of that seemed anything like Naruto.

Maybe there was a third party involved altogether. That would fill in some of the missing gaps, but that wasn't a pleasant thought either. Any time an unknown S-rank threat appeared, it was never good. The last time that happened, the Fourth Ninja World War broke out.

Shikamaru sighed. This might just be a puzzle he would never figure out.

"What are you thinking about?

"Troublesome woman, what did I tell you about coming up here during my nap time?"

"And how many times did I tell you that I'll only listen to you if you're at least the same rank as I am, Shikamaru? You're currently only an A-rank."

"B-rank officially," he drawled. "Dragon is A-rank, Shikamaru is B-rank."

"And here I thought you were going to chastise me for revealing classified information," Temari smirked. "Or would that have been too troublesome?"

Shikamaru groaned. Temari always tried to pick a fight over every little thing. "Look, stop making my life more complicated than it needs to be. I don't give a damn about my rank, official or not. I just wanted to live an average life, get married to an average looking female, and have one girl and one boy. And then die way before my wife. And since you came into my life, you've been completely messing everything up. First you become my opponent, forcing me to work harder than I wanted to, which leads me to become one of the rare few who manage to become chuunin on their first try in their rookie year. Then you constantly nag me until your nagging became more troublesome than becoming a jounin."

"And?" Temari growled out as she began to become red with anger. "It doesn't seem like you're done. Go on! Say it! I'm sure you'll feel better after letting it all out."

"Yeah. Yeah." He snorted, "Then you somehow make me fall in love with you, which completely ruined my plan of getting married to an average looking woman." Shikamaru would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been in hitting distance when he saw that the red on Temari's face was now a shy blush. Women were just too emotional for their own good. "You've already taken control of ninety percent of my life. So don't try to take away what little I have of my original plan. I like sitting here and looking at the clouds, okay?"

His wife didn't reply for a while and let him watch the clouds as he wanted. But despite the outward show of relaxing, his mind was working overtime trying to solve this damn conspiracy puzzle.

"You must be stressed," Temari finally said, in the softest tone he heard from her. "That was only the second time you said you love me."

He snapped out of his thoughts. Was that really true? Impossible. He had to have said it more than that.

"Tch. I love you," he said in a dull tone, not betraying his thoughts. "That makes three. I just tripled your love points in a span of two minutes. Are you going to level up any time soon?"

"Don't be silly and just tell me what's on your mind," the girl said with a smile. "I know it might be confidential information, but you, at the very least, know you can trust me with your life."

He nodded. Kakashi might not approve, but Shikamaru trusted Temari and Suna. Such things like village loyalty and boundaries meant little to him. That was one of the things he had in common with Naruto.

And speaking of Naruto…

"It's about Naruto."

"Naruto? About his marriage to that Hyuuga girl?"

He closed his eyes. It was no use looking at the clouds when he was concentrating on talking. The extra brainpower needed to process sight and hearing at the same time was troublesome to say the least.

"His marriage didn't and doesn't make sense at all. He loved Sakura and didn't know Hanabi at all. On top of that Hanabi fully accepts from the bottom of her heart, as shown when she activating a contract seal on a marriage contract."

"Perhaps Naruto just wanted to move on," Temari said as she sat down next to where was lying down. "You know as well as I do that pinky didn't love him in the way he loved her."

"You don't know Naruto as well as I do. When he does things, he does it with his entire heart. That goes for loving too. He couldn't have just moved on. There really is something going on here."

"People change, Shikamaru. You used to be a lazy bum," he turned to glare at her, "but look at you, now. You're one of the top officials in the village, married to arguably the strongest kunoichi in the world."

He chuckled. "You just had to throw that last statement in there, huh?"

She smiled at him. "Of course. If I don't compliment myself, then nobody will. Least of all my lazy husband who can't even be bothered to say the three little words I desperately want to hear most."

Shikamaru's breath hitched at that. He hadn't known she had felt that way at all. Was he being that neglectful of his wife? If so, things would have to change. And fast.

"I'm sorry, Temari," he said in an ashamed tone. He thought back at what Ino had said.

Flashback

Shikamaru gave her a sad look. "The Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself and his son. I should be able to do the same. At the very least, my children will have Temari around to take care of them."

"Y…you…you're willing to go that far?"

"It'd be troublesome to go through the process of child-rearing anyway. I always did want to end up dying much earlier than my wife," Shikamaru chuckled lightly in a lame attempt at a joke.

Ino walked up to him and slapped him. Hard.

"You bastard! You're just running away and trying to ease your guilt by dying. Instead of looking to die, you should be trying to figure a way out of this mess with that brain of yours. You don't just have a responsibility towards the village; you have a responsibility to your wife and your future kids!"

End Flashback

Shikamaru suddenly regretted volunteering yet again to go searching after Sasuke with Naruto once he came back even after the botched mission the first time around. The first time around, it appeared that Sasuke was more interested in evading them than fighting them. This time, it might be different. Shikamaru had no doubts that the Uchiha was stronger than he was. If he thought about it, Kakashi was right; their only hope might be to send Naruto. Shikamaru had initially volunteered to support his friend in what was going to be yet another painful reunion with Sasuke, but he felt his resolve wavering as he looked into Temari's green eyes.

It had been much easier to say he didn't care about his own life when he wasn't looking at the woman he loved. It was probably why he tried to keep his distance emotionally from his wife as much as possible. She made him want to live. Not for himself, but for her.

Her smile only became sad. "Not the three words I had been hoping to hear, Shika. But that'll have to do for now."

"Stop this, Temari. You know I love you," he said. He sat up and grabbed her as he embraced her forcefully. "I. Love. You. Don't you ever doubt that. Ever!" It was the first time he ever raised his voice to his wife, but he felt that it was justified. He would not have Temari doubting his love for her. He called her troublesome all the time, but she was what made life less of a drag.

She smiled brilliantly when he let her go and reached down to hold his hand. Shikamaru noticed the light blush on her face and saw that she was looking up at the clouds to avoid his gaze. "And I you. You're probably wondering what brought this troublesome conversation up. I have something to tell you, love."

"Hm?"

"You said you wanted one boy and one girl, right? And you know that I was at the hospital earlier this morning…"

His eyes widened. Is that what he thought it meant?

"Well, you have one of those on the way. I'm finally pregnant, Shikamaru."

He would never admit to anyone else later on, but at that moment, with the stress of taking care of the village and the knowledge that he was neglecting his wife, and now the revelation he was going to be a father, he fainted.

Hotel Resort, Land of the Moon – April 17, AK 22

Naruto thought back to what the king had said as he lied down on his lounger staring at the stars while sipping his drink while in Sage Mode. His feet were in the water and Naruto was somewhat unconsciously doing a chakra control exercise of trying to keep his feet from being wet by coating them with a thin layer of blunt wind nature chakra.

There had been a hidden message in his words, pleading for help. The first sign of a problem was when the king said he couldn't afford to give them a blank check. The Land of the Moon's economy was at its highest point in over a decade. Naruto had almost missed that hint. The shift to the royal we, something Naruto knew Michiru hated with a passion, might as well have been a scream for help as the king had thought Naruto missed the first hint. The obvious relief on the king's face when Naruto "accepted" the mission was only confirmation that there was something going on. The king obviously was being watched and couldn't talk or move freely. The key sentence was the last sentence before Naruto "accepted" the mission.

"…A month's stay at some of Our resorts could completely destroy a small clan's finances."

Why had King Michiru not simply used the word bankrupt? Naruto closed his eyes to think of the other clues. What else did Michiru throw out there as hints? Land? Honor? Reward? Father? Memory? Heart attack? Small clan? Michiru wasn't a ninja so the code couldn't have been too complicated, but Naruto was flying blind here.

And he had his wife to think of. King Michiru obviously thought Hanabi would be in danger if she got involved. Fortunately, Michiru didn't know that Hanabi was a ninja so it was likely that he overestimated the danger for her but the king had sounded terrified for Naruto as well even after knowing about Naruto's power. So he wasn't even going to let a fly near Hanabi without him knowing about it. It was why he was currently in Sage Mode with his eyes transformed to look how they usually did. He was keeping tabs on his wife to make sure nothing even remotely dangerous got near her.

Hanabi didn't know the king's tendencies and had probably missed the clues. Given how Sakura acted when we visited again three years ago, buying every single thing in sight, trusting a girl to have my back on this mission probably isn't the best idea. And I really don't want to screw over the honeymoon experience for Hanabi.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by his wife joining him by swimming over and joining him on the two person lounger.

"You seem to be in thoughtful mood since the meeting with the king."

"Mmm," Naruto put on a contented smile on his face, "just some old memories. Enjoying the stay here so far?"

The girl smiled. "I checked out the malls nearby. They even have an underground mall below this hotel. The selection is amazing!"

Naruto was tempted to roll his eyes as the girl talked about the different kimonos and dresses she would buy. He didn't see what the big deal was. But if it made Hanabi happy, he was all for letting her buy whatever she wanted. Running almost forty S-rank missions on top of inheriting a tremendous amount of money from both sides of his family AND from Ero-sennin made him richer than most clans. He was probably the single richest person in Konoha, even if he didn't necessarily have the richest clan. He was fairly certain that only the Hyuuga clan, with its mounds of old money, and the Akimichi clan, with all its food-related businesses, were richer than the Uzumaki clan. And even then, it was probably close. If he knew the idea of shopping made her this happy, he probably would have brought more money.

"Feel free to spend up to all the money we brought on whatever you want."

"Really?!" Naruto couldn't help but smile at the happy look on her face. "Father never lets me buy anything!"

Naruto laughed. "I'm not your father. I'm your husband and I want to spoil you, dear. Just make sure to buy things you'll actually wear and use. Remember, your attendants will be with you as well and you don't want to come off as the same kind of wasteful, thoughtless, and arrogant noble as many of the others."

Hanabi frowned. "You know, love," Naruto winced at her choice of word. He still wasn't comfortable with this idea of love, "when you're talking about the poor and needy, you get this really far-off look in your eyes and sound like an old sagely king."

Naruto thought about that. He supposed he did. He was once passionate about becoming the Hokage and being acknowledged. Now that he was acknowledged by most, or at the very least, respected by most, he was more concerned about others who had difficult lives. In a way, Naruto figured he was giving to them what he himself had always wanted. He had always wanted someone to enter and completely turn the course of life around. There was no such person for him and he somehow managed, but the path had truly been difficult. He could have turned out as isolated as Gaara, fatalistic like Neji, or as hateful as Sasuke.

Luckily, at the very least, he had people who cared for him, people who loved him.

That reminded him.

Love…

He still wasn't in love with his wife and it made him uncomfortable to see her so love-struck, even if it was socially appropriate for her to be so.

He did talk to her about this on her wedding night, but he decided to bring up the topic again. "I'm just being honest with you, but I still don't love you."

"I know," came the simple response. He was startled by the quick response but figured that she was getting better at reading him. It was only expected since she spent most of the day and night with him now.

Naruto placed his hand lightly on her face. "But I want to tell you this much at least. Even if I don't end up falling in love with you, I intend to stay committed to you. I'm sure that before we left, you heard whispers of that archaic law that people want to use to try to get me to have my own harem. I'm sure Hinata is looking at the clauses this very moment to see how she can join somehow even with you as my wife." Naruto let that sink in before going on, "Fortunately, it only applies in the village so I can't be forced into a political marriage with a foreign dignitary. That cuts down the pressure a lot. However, I don't intend to use it even for women within the village. I value commitment as much as I do love. Marrying another woman, even if I was still married to you, would be breaking that commitment to you."

The girl gave him a slightly surprised look, "But you could always just rationalize it by saying you love all your wives. I would completely understand if you married other women. You're a noble so that's something you're entitled to do. And I grew up in a royal family so I've come to accept that my husband might want to take multiple wives. You should consider it so you can revive your clan much faster."

Naruto gave her a pointed look. "So you would be perfectly fine if I ended up love another girl more than I love you?"

He saw the girl pause before looking down. "If I had to be honest, no. I want you to love me and only me. Let me amend my statement then," Hanabi insisted, "I wouldn't mind if you got concubines. You have to restore your clan somehow."

"And what if I ended up loving one of those concubines after spending so much time with them, Hanabi?" Naruto shook his head. "That would just be unfair to you. Love to me isn't about caring, isn't about feelings, or whatever. Love is about exclusivity. There is only one person in the world you care for more than any other. Think of this example: what if all my friends from my generation were taken hostage and I was given the choice to save one, but only one, what would I do? Yes, I'll probably agonize and struggle with the decision, but eventually, I have to choose one. That means that I will have valued that friendship a fraction more than my friendships with the others. Similarly, I can only care for one person more than anyone else. In short, I can only love only one person. By marrying you, I already chose that person to be you. I may or may not end up loving you. But if there's someone I do end up falling in love with, it will be you. Okay?"

There were many people that Naruto loved over the course of his life. But he knew that he would only able to truly love one person in that manner. Maybe others believed differently, but Naruto believed that the human heart was only big enough to romantically love one person at one time.

And for the longest time, he had thought that person would be Sakura.

Naruto shook his head. After her betrayal, however, he had decided to keep an open mind but a closed heart. He wasn't going to push the issue of love with himself ever again. If he fell in love with Hanabi, then good. If he didn't, then that suited him just as well.

He did suppose he could take concubines, but he didn't want to put himself in a situation where he would fall in love with another girl who wasn't his wife. It would be unfair to everyone involved and create unnecessary drama.

As Hanabi laid her head on his chest, his mind returned to more important matters.

What the hell was King Michiru trying to tell me?

Crescent Moon Palace, Land of the Moon – April 17, AK 22

Karin was pacing around, carrying her one-year-old child, as she thought about what to do. Their operation in the Land of the Moon had hit a snag. Initially, she had been assigned to threaten King Michiru for more money for their research and army and for a few weeks, the plan had been going well. With the amount of money that the Land of the Moon made, none of the other countries would suspect any unusual behavior.

They had given the king an ultimatum: support their research and army building or die. The king had been quite devious. He agreed, but had tried to send his son and his wife to get help using the secret passageways throughout the island kingdom. The plan would have worked had Karin not been the most talented sensor in the entire world. As punishment, both the son and the queen were held hostage. All the advisors were placed under genjutsu to keep them in line.

However, today, Naruto Uzumaki had landed on the island for his honeymoon. He had also come at a bad time. Sasuke was currently away on yet another training trip to the Gelel Continent. She grimaced. She should have kept a closer eye on the advisors. They had been programmed to act as normally as possible while reporting to her the movements of the king. So they had passed Naruto's application to enter the kingdom, as they would have done normally.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you," Karin warned. "I sensed Naruto's chakra the moment he stepped onto the island. You're a smart man and I'm sure you understood why I interrupted your conversation with Naruto under the guise of Queen Amayo today. Luckily, it didn't appear that you warned Naruto. Otherwise, you might not see your wife and son ever again."

There was another reason why she showed her face: to scout out the enemies. She was shocked at the tremendous power Naruto held at first before calming down when she remembered that all of his chakra would be of no use against their seals. If push came to shove, she and Juugo could set up the true Gelel sealing array rather than the paper prototypes that Sasuke had created using a small amount of chakra from the Gelel Stones to use in emergencies against powerful ninjas.

"I understand," the king nodded. "However, we're at a stalemate. If you harm my wife and son, I can pass off a message to Naruto. You may very well end up killing me as well, but it will be the end for you as well. I have heard rumors of Naruto's rivalry with your husband. He's more than a match for Sasuke Uchiha."

Karin smirked, calling the king's bluff. "You don't even believe the words coming out of your own mouth. Yes, Naruto is strong. Under normal circumstances, he may very well be a match for my husband. However, you personally had a demonstration of the power we now yield. We can easily strip Naruto of his strength at any time. A ninja without chakra is a dead ninja."

"You won't get away with this. No matter how strong you may be individually, you won't be able to stand against the combined might of the Elemental Nations."

Karin nodded. "We understand that. That's why we're going to knock them down one at a time, starting with Kiri. In any case, just shut up and your wife and son will be fine. Sasuke swore an oath on his family name that your family will be unharmed if you follow our instructions for the next year, so you have nothing to worry about."

With that, she left the hall and returned to her own room.

Even though they had the ability to negate Naruto's chakra, she had to be extremely careful. Naruto wasn't a sensor, but if he got wind of their plans, he would be able to take them out before they managed to negate his chakra. They especially had to be wary of his wife. Her eyes would easily be able to see the advanced chakra networks in her and Juugo's body.

So just in case, she was masking her chakra with her own special ability and Juugo was masquerading as a normal Getsuga ninja sent to protect the king.

It seemed like their ploy was working. Karin closed her eyes to feel the girl's chakra. The Hyuuga girl was currently with Naruto right now. And the girl had only been interest shopping. There were no signs that the girl had activated her bloodline. It was likely that Naruto would finish up his honeymoon without any problems and get out of the Land of the Moon.

Still, Karin was extremely grateful that Sasuke had the foresight to send backup early on.

"Did you decide on what you're going to do?"

Karin turned to see Juugo standing at the door of her room. "I'm not sure," she frowned, "but I have a favor to ask of you."

"Anything."

"I need to you get off this island and return to the Gelel continent."

Juugo raised an eyebrow. "Why? If Naruto is here, then shouldn't I be here as your support? You've gotten stronger over the years, but you're still not a fighter." Juugo held up a blue-green stone. He, like her, had elected not to have it implanted in his body like Sasuke had done. Too many of their techniques were chakra-based and they couldn't afford to be vulnerable for the time it took to learn how to use the Gelel flux. "Furthermore, we all just started learning how to use this new power. You're going to have to use it against Naruto and more help couldn't hurt."

Karin shook her head. "I'm not too worried about that. I'm more worried about my son."

They both turned their heads towards the cradle in the room. "I see," Juugo murmured. "You want me to take him back home in case things go wrong here."

"And stay there with him," Karin said firmly. "This mission has to go on. It's for Sasuke's ambition. However," she paused, "I don't think even Sasuke would want to risk his own son for it. Itachi takes priority and I don't trust anyone else with our son."

Juugo nodded. "I'll let Sasuke know as soon as I get there about the situation here. It'll take a few days to get back to the Gelel Continent from here even using our chakra-powered ships and some more time to find Sasuke. Just try to stall as long as possible. Sasuke will be able to use his space-time ninjutsu to get here immediately in case fight breaks out with Naruto."

Karin nodded. "Hopefully, I'm just being overly paranoid. Naruto doesn't seem to have noticed anything wrong. But there's no way I'm going to bet the life of my son on that."

She wouldn't. There was nothing more important in this world than her son. She would die a hundred times before she let anyone harm little Itachi.

AN: I'm slowly beginning to show Konoha becoming suspicious of Naruto. It'll be a while before they figure it out so you'll just have to deal with the confusion from those in Konoha for now.

More fluff in this chapter. This story is, after all, listed as romance. So you'll see it pop up here and there.

Also, Hanabi's okay with Naruto taking multiple partners! That means it's harem time!

Sakura! Hinata! Ino! Kurenai! Anko! Go harem! By your girls combined, Naruto is Captain Harem! Captain Harem, he's our hero! Gonna take monogamy down to zero!

Okay, no. Unfortunately, you won't be getting a harem. I never really understood harem stories, especially considering that most of the girls in Narutoverse would kill any other girl trying to make a move on their guy. I tried to emphasize that in the dialogue between Naruto and Hanabi. For you guys out there, ask your girlfriends if they're willing to "share" you. I guarantee the response will be a slap to the face.

And please...stop PMing me about Naruto x Hinata. Rolls eyes. There are 341,000+ Naruto stories out there. The vast majority of them are Naruto x Hinata ones.