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

Hotel Resort, Land of the Moon – April 18, AK 22

Hanabi woke up from her bed, sore from the previous night's activities, and groaned in satisfaction as she stretched her arms. The soreness in the mornings that came after their evening activities was beginning to get better each passing day, but it was still uncomfortable, although that was not nearly as unsettling as the fact that Naruto still managed to, in his words, "tame" her every single night without even trying.

She still felt rather embarrassed about it. Maybe Naruto was right when he said that she was far too infatuated with him to think properly.

She was glad that she hadn't fallen so far as to start screaming in bed for him. Hanabi flushed at that. Hanabi Uzumaki most certainly was not a screamer.

She shook her head at that and briefly wondered if the strong-willed pink-haired kunoichi used to beg as well. Her mood immediately plummeted.

Not too far in their relationship, my ass! she snorted. Naruto knows far too much about what to do in bed. If Haruno weren't already dead, I'd kill her myself for having been his first.

Shaking away that unpleasant thought, not even admitting that she probably wasn't strong enough to kill the legendary pink-haired girl, she turned to wake Naruto and found herself the lone occupant of the large bed, even though it was very early in the morning. There wasn't even a note.

Feeling slightly hurt, but figuring that Naruto was intentionally pushing her buttons after her declaration of love to test her conviction, she got up and prepared for her day. She took solace in Naruto's words the previous night. He had promised to be committed to her. For now, that was all she needed.

She could be patient until he opened up his heart.

Public streets, Land of the Moon – April 18, AK 22

Naruto frowned as he walked throughout the capital city in Sage Mode, ignoring the vendors who cried out to him to buy some of their products. He was still dressed in the traditional Japanese clothes to not tip off anyone that he was on a mission, including his own wife, but he was trying to look for some clues as to what was wrong. He could feel a couple massive signals of chakra near King Michiri, but that was expected since a few Getsuga ninjas were bound to be around him.

And if King Michiri had given him a distress signal, it was likely that all of them were traitors or unable to act.

Naruto slowly let Sage Mode die out. Naruto was slightly frustrated at this point. He had never used the sensory abilities of Sage Mode to this degree. While he could sense everyone in a certain radius, his brain still had to keep up with all the input. It was like looking at a 10 meter wide painting from a distance of ten centimeters away. Everything technically was visible, but it was hard to actually pinpoint anything unless he looked in a particular direction. At this point, he didn't have a clue where to start.

Naruto walked around for a bit longer looking for non-chakra based clues.

Naruto frowned when he still came up with nothing. None of the people seemed to think anything was wrong. Everyone seemed perfectly happy to just be outside.

Suddenly remembering that he had forgotten to leave Hanabi a note telling her to spend the day shopping with her attendants, he formed a hand sign.

"Shadow clone technique," Naruto said softly.

Hanabi would not be pleased that he had left and even less pleased that he was sending a shadow clone to deliver the message. But this mission took priority. If Michiru was that desperate to request his aid, then there was something big. Michiru had an entire village at his disposal and was either unable or unwilling to ask for its help.

Naruto turned to his clone. "You know the drill."

His clone nodded. "Yup, if Hanabi doesn't suspect that I'm a shadow clone, then I apologize for you leaving so hastily in the morning and spend the rest of the day with her shopping. In other words, I do all the apologizing for your damn mistakes. Got it."

Naruto rolled his eyes at his clone's comments. "Oh shut up. If anything goes wrong, create another clone and dispel it so I can get the memories. Just hold on for the two seconds that it'll take me to reach you." Naruto turned to leave. "Oh and don't tell her that you're a shadow clone on purpose."

"Awww, but I wanted to prank you," his clone whined.

Naruto slapped his forehead. "Something must be wrong with me if I want to prank myself. Ugh, my clones are such idiots."

"Well, I'm you after all. So if I'm an idiot, you only have yourself to blame," his clone smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm an idiot. I've come to terms with it a long time ago," Naruto said in a resigned tone and waved his hand in the air. "Just go and keep her happy."

Naruto watched as his clone disappeared.

Sage Mode was no go. Kyuubi Mode only let him feel killing intent and danger with in a certain radius. It wasn't quite as useful for wide range sensory missions. Furthermore, Naruto was not in any immediate danger and there might not be any real danger present in the entire island. So his Kyuubi Mode was probably useless. On top of that, everyone in the vicinity would feel the chakra pressure rolling off of him, which was not a good idea when he was trying to secretly find out who was causing trouble.

"I guess it's just going to have to be the old fashioned way," Naruto held his hands in a familiar sign. "Multi Shadow Clone technique!"

Naruto looked at the thousand clones he summoned. "All of you. Transform and look for anything suspicious. Feel free to use Sage Mode but don't use Kyuubi Mode! We don't want to alert the entire world we're here."

Underground Shopping Mall, Land of the Moon – April 18, AK 22

Hanabi went from store to store with a small smile on her face. She had chosen to be frugal and spend only on what she knew she would wear but also chose to be generous and all but ordered for her attendants to buy themselves and the children whatever they wanted.

The three mothers in the group protested loudly before the children squealed in delight and started demanding for different items. Smiling victoriously at the three, she motioned for them to go purchase the items.

"You're very kind, Lady Hanabi," her last female attendant, a young woman a little over three years older than her (and about a year and half younger than Naruto), said from behind her as they watched the three mothers fussing with their toddlers. "Our past experiences with nobles have not been so…pleasant."

"Thank your master, not me," Hanabi murmured honestly, "it is on his orders that I do this, Sasame. And besides, it's his money, not mine."

The older girl shook her head. "From what we have already learned about Master Naruto, he would not have married you unless you had a kind heart yourself. I do not believe you do this solely because Lord Naruto wishes it."

Hanabi appreciated the gesture, but Hanabi figured it was because her female attendants knew that she wasn't in a good mood. They had all seen that she was a bit upset in the morning when Naruto had disappeared without a word and were making attempts to be extra nice and polite to her throughout the day.

As other three female attendants were finished with the shopping, Hanabi reached into her robes and withdrew a scrolling seal to seal whatever the kids were not immediately about to use.

She held up a hand sign. "Seal!" and then labeled the scroll before handing it to Kaien, one of her male retainers.

As she walked she throughout the mall, asking her attendants for advice on what to wear and what household items to buy, she thought about Naruto's rather unusual behavior.

She would have expected him to be a lot more playful for the first few days here, but immediately after meeting the king, Naruto appeared almost as if he was on a mission.

Then there was his "apology" in case something went wrong. If Naruto was right and something did always go wrong, then perhaps there was something else in play here. No matter how much Naruto was trying to prove a point to her, disappearing for four hours without any word was a bit too much. If he had wanted to send a message that she was being too attached to him, he would have come back in an hour and used her immediate happiness at seeing him as proof of her increasing emotional dependence on him.

Hanabi frowned. There's something wrong and Naruto's hiding it from me.

She pulled her hands into a sign. Byakugan!

Hanabi's vision instantly changed from seeing colors to black and white with chakra flow. She frowned when she didn't see him anywhere in a one-kilometer radius. She switched to her telescopic view and manually scanned all around her for a few minutes to see if she could scout him out.

Nothing. Naruto wasn't in the area at all. There were many people around so she technically could have missed him, but his chakra signature was rather unique. He wasn't anywhere in a 10 kilometer radius.

She suddenly saw him appear out of nowhere and nearly jumped. Space-time ninjutsu?!

"Yo! Hanabi! How's the shopping going?"

Hanabi deactivated her Byakugan and turned to see Naruto appear around a corner and wave at her with an apologetic look.

"Good to see you, Naruto," she said as sweetly as she could. "I missed you all morning."

Despite herself, she couldn't keep the happiness out of her voice. He was her husband and she was simply happy to see him, even if she was a few moments away from letting him feel her ire.

"Sorry, I had some business I had to take care of in the morning. Something for King Michiru."

Naruto smiled and held out his hand for her to hold.

Hanabi's eyes narrowed slightly. He was being a little too nice to her for someone who was trying to prove a point. She looked at his eyes intently.

Guilt.

Hanabi mentally groaned. Did her husband simply forget to leave a note? Well, she would find out.

"Naruto dear, you could have told me that you were busy. You made me worry about you! People just don't disappear on their honeymoons like that! You could have at least left a note, you know."

More guilt. There was even panic in his eyes.

"Ah…well…about that…" Naruto started backing away in fear. "I…I was…distracted! You were so pretty that I was…um…really distracted!"

Well, well, well...

Naruto hadn't even been trying to prove a point in the first place.

That meant she had the upper hand here.

Hanabi grinned evilly as their retainers started smacking their foreheads with their hands at Naruto's pathetic attempt at appeasement. The tables have turned. She would make him pay for making her suffer all morning.

Hanabi was suddenly hit by a brilliant idea. Yes, that would do very nicely.

She gave him another sweet smile. "Well, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind doing your really pretty wife a favor," she said in the most innocent tone she could muster.

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Anything for my little firecracker! I can carry your bags," he looked around and saw no bags, "or accompany you?" he finished lamely.

She grinned evilly. "No, but you can model for me. There are certain clothes that I want to buy for you. Oh and no orange!"

The groan that came from him was music to her ears.

As Naruto turned around, Hanabi frowned, knowing there was something more to the situation. Naruto was being too compliant. And even his "panic" seemed a bit forced. And besides, if Naruto had truly forgotten to inform her that he was going somewhere, then there was something big going on. He wouldn't neglect his wife for just some silly little business.

Flashback

"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."

Flashback End

The realization hit her like a hammer.

There was something big going on.

Naruto was probably keeping her out of the loop so as to not ruin the honeymoon. This Naruto in front of her…was most likely a shadow clone.

Main Pier/Customs, Land of the Moon – April 18, AK 22

Naruto stepped up to the counter with a bright smile.

"How may I help you?" the clerk asked.

"You have records of all the people who came and out of the country for the last year, right?"

The clerk raised an eyebrow and gestured to a thick book on the counter. "Yes, that's expected since this is customs, but why are you—"

"Temple of Nirvana Technique," Naruto intoned lightly as he held up a hand sign. "Sleep."

Everyone in the building fell asleep in the next few seconds and Naruto created several transformed shadow clones to stand outside and tell people that the building was on lockdown for the next ten or so minutes because of an emergency.

As he grabbed the book, he mentally admitted to himself that his current idea was a long shot since foreign ninjas almost always used fake passports, but Naruto had no other leads at this point unless he wanted to storm King Michiru's castle.

And he wasn't exactly looking for specific names among the thousands of people who entered and left over the last year. He just wanted to confirm if there was something suspicious.

Naruto held the very thick book in his hand and made a single shadow clone while sending an apologetic look towards the unconscious workers who were now snoring lightly.

As his shadow clone immediately shadow stepped away to the nearest forest, he canceled the technique with a quick chakra pulse and disappeared to where his clone was.

In an instant, two thousand copies of himself and the book popped up into existence.

"Each of you look at a single page and memorize it before dispelling."

Never let it be said that shadow clones that popped after one hit were useless. They were the ultimate tools to speed up tasks.

Currently, Naruto was looking for one-way visitors who never left the kingdom and didn't apply for citizenship/residency in the kingdom. King Michiru seemed terrified so it was likely that he was actively being threatened. Usually, even if foreign ninjas entered, they usually used an alias instead of just using genjutsu to fool the customs workers. It made infiltration much more effective without the use of any chakra. While it did leave a paper trail to follow, it also raised fewer eyebrows.

One-by-one, the clones dispersed.

A very familiar name entered his head.

Temujin Khan

Entered: March 18

Naruto dispelled the rest of his clones, not caring that they didn't finish memorizing the rest of the names. He already had what he was looking for. Because the clones hadn't had time to process too much information, he wasn't knocked unconscious by the sudden stream of memories.

It was just his luck because he would have welcomed a nice long rest before having to think about the issue at hand.

Naruto knew who was being King Michiru's fear. He knew just who was on the Gelel Continent and it wasn't Temujin.

Tch. So THAT was the strange feeling I had yesterday.

Flashback

"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." Naruto could sense Hanabi flushing as King Michiru gaze at her before looking at him. "And do think of the wife as well." His eyes briefly flickered towards the hallway where Queen Amayo had just been. "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."

End Flashback

Naruto cursed inwardly.

The Queen Amayo he saw yesterday had been an imposter.

He wasn't a sensor outside of Sage Mode, but given that he didn't sense any chakra from Queen Amayo yesterday, it had to have been Karin. No one else but Sakura had such unreal levels of chakra control to completely mask their chakra like that while using a technique.

That didn't make him feel any better, however. He still had made a rookie mistake.

It was his job to suspect everyone and anyone. He should have known something was off the moment she avoided making eye contact with him. He should have been able to smell her fear and nervousness. He had all ignored that because he had been too focused on King Michiru.

Naruto slammed a fist into a nearby tree and watched it fall down.

Naruto took a few deep breaths to calm down.

He had to get out of honeymoon mode. He needed to be Naruto Uzumaki who had done more S-rank missions than anyone else in the history of the Elemental Nations.

Naruto sighed as he looked up at the sky as the small scrapes on his fist rapidly healed up.

"So looks like we're meeting again, Sasuke..."

Beach, Land of the Moon – April 18, AK 22

Naruto slowly walked towards Hanabi who was wearing a light blue beach dress, waiting for him.

Naruto had tried to scout Karin out with Sage Mode and even risked using Kyuubi Mode to no avail. The girl was just too skilled as masking her chakra and she wasn't releasing any sort of negative emotions at the moment he had checked. If anything, she was giving off less negative emotions than the damn merchants all over the kingdom looking to cheat unsuspecting tourists.

It was now evening and he had just replaced the shadow clone with himself and switched into the beachwear left behind by the clone. The clone and Hanabi had sent their servants back to the hotel so they could get some privacy to themselves.

Just as he reached her, she struck at him with a Gentle Fist strike.

"Wow, there firecracker," Naruto said as he sidestepped the blow and moved around her in one motion. He wrapped his arms around her waist, before jumping away when the girl tried to hit him with chakra bursts from the chakra points in her back. "Hey!" he yelled, "What's the big idea?"

"Are you a shadow clone?" Hanabi growled.

Naruto groaned. She had caught him red-handed. "No, I'm not. I just came here and dispelled my shadow clone. Although I'm sure you already knew that. You probably watched the entire switch with your Byakugan."

"At least you're honest with me. That's a point for you. It'll make your punishment lighter."

Naruto knew he could beat her down in less than a second, but he was feeling strangely intimidated by his relatively tiny 163-cm (5'4") wife and kept backing away from the advancing girl. In fact, he was backing away from her in the exact same manner when his shadow clone had first accosted her at the underground mall.

"How did you figure me out?" he asked, continuing to walk backwards.

"Because it's you."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at her curiously. "What does that mean?"

Naruto had reached a wall and couldn't back up further. He supposed he could teleport out of there, but some strange reason, he couldn't move. He groaned internally. Ugh. It's already happening. I'm so whipped…I hate whoever designed our entire race…it's painful to be a man.

"I don't think Naruto Uzumaki is the type of person to leave his wife in the morning for a few hours without even something as little as a note. People might think you're an airhead, but I know that's just a little façade you put up to deal with the villagers. The only way you would have forgotten to let me know is if you're distracted. There's something going on."

Naruto was mildly surprised by his wife's perceptiveness, but he wasn't going to give ground on this. Even though Naruto wasn't able to detect Sasuke's unique chakra signature on the island, Sasuke had access to space-time ninjutsu techniques and could arrive at any moment.

From the records, it looked like someone who had come in with "Temujin" had left earlier that morning. It was a man's name so he suspected it was Juugo. Karin was still probably on the island to take care of business while Juugo left to warn Sasuke.

Naruto quickly wracked his memories for the intelligence reports that Sai and Hokuto had provided him on the capabilities of Sasuke's forces. Naruto did some mental calculations. Sasuke's most modern ships would take a few days to get to the Gelel Continent.

So he had some time to prepare his move.

But first, he had to diffuse the situation with his wife.

He sighed. "Okay, just punish me quickly and then I can explain."

But not everything. Not a chance, dear.

It would be a cold day in hell when Naruto willingly let his wife get involved and get hurt because of Sasuke.

Naruto went on, "I really did forget. And besides," Naruto shrugged, "it looks like you had me model all day. I wanted to avoid that."

Hanabi looked murderous at that explanation. Naruto gulped at her expression. She was about to blow. "I'll give you one more try to tell me the truth."

Naruto mentally sighed. He did tell Hanabi that it was likely that there would be a problem on the island when they first got there. She was most likely suspecting something was up because of his statement. She wasn't an idiot, after all.

He found himself cursing himself for telling her in the first place. He wanted to keep her on guard, but if he had known that Sasuke was here, then he would have kept her in the dark with a shadow clone nearby to shadow step her away at a moment's notice.

He took a deep breath. With her eyes, which were now activated, she would be able to tell if he was lying to her.

Very well, then.

He wouldn't lie.

"I went to customs today to check up if any suspicious people were on the island. I did tell you yesterday that there would be a problem so I'm on the lookout in case something happens."

There. No lie. He just gave her the least amount of detail as possible.

Hanabi's eyes remained hard. "And I suppose that would explain why the advisors inside King Michiru's palace have a subtle genjutsu placed on them."

Naruto mentally smacked himself. Hanabi had been proactive and had done her own investigation with her Byakugan.

But his resolve only hardened at that.

"You're not getting involved," he said firmly, no longer caring to hide the truth from her.

She ignored him and pressed on. "Things were being run by a large man and a woman with glasses. The advisors report to the woman so I'm suspecting she's the boss behind whatever it is that's going on. I saw both of them threatening the king earlier today. The large one left today with a baby and the woman with the glasses stayed behind." She gave him a sharp look. "Shall I go on? The large man was doing a good job of suppressing his chakra so if you were using Sage Mode earlier, you might not have sensed him. The woman on the other hand appears to be a civilian. Her chakra circulatory system wasn't being used in the slightest, except for vital life functions."

That sounded like Juugo and Karin.

And his hypothesis of Juugo leaving had been right. That meant that Sasuke really wasn't on the island. Karin apparently wasn't taking any chances either because she had sent her son away as well. She was expecting a fight.

Naruto looked impassively at his wife and considered whether he should send her back home as well.

It didn't matter if he just took out Karin here and left. That would only end up pissing Sasuke off and Sasuke would come raving for revenge. That would put Hanabi at even greater risk.

Naruto sighed. This was going to be difficult. He had to take Sasuke out.

"I won't deny that there is trouble, but you're still not getting involved."

"Do you think I'm weak?" she hissed. "I'm an A-rank elite! I'm in the ranks of the hundred strongest ninjas in the world right now."

Naruto frowned. She was strong. There was no doubt about that. But even her level of strength was pitiful compared to Sasuke's level of strength. It may be unfair that he had the ultimate cheat in the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but Sasuke was one of the top hundred strongest ninjas ever to have existed. And Sasuke wasn't anywhere near the bottom of that list either. There was no way Hanabi stood a chance in a battle against Sasuke. She was pathetically weak compared to someone on his or Sasuke's level, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

But at the same time, it didn't seem like Hanabi would drop this. So Naruto would have to play along for now. "It's not about just your level of strength," Naruto wanted to wince for telling a half-truth, "I don't want to screw over our honeymoon with something like this. There is a chance that you might get involved," another half-truth, since Naruto had no intention of letting her fight Sasuke, "but I didn't want you to be sucked in this early, especially with how happy you were earlier while shopping. I promise to let you know if anything new happens."

That seemed to mollify her.

But I didn't promise to tell you what I know now. A battle is almost inevitable, so I'm going to have to keep you away once Sasuke gets here.

"You ruined my day the moment you left me alone!" she scolded. "I thought you were trying to prove a point about how I was too obsessed about you or something. Do you know how hurt I was when I woke up in a cold bed alone?"

"I…I hadn't thought about that," Naruto admitted, relaxing a little now that the situation was temporarily defused. And besides, he really hadn't thought of her feelings. He had been too concerned with figuring out what the situation on the island was. Another mistake. He really needed to be perceptive at all times. Even now, he still had a tendency to have tunnel vision when stressed. "I'm sorry."

"Even though you might view me as a cold former Hyuuga princess, I am still a girl. I'm still sensitive," his wife claimed as she leaned forward and looked at him. Naruto almost snorted at the sight of her big and sparkling eyes. The cute look might have worked if she were ten years younger. "I have my insecurities you know. I might be stronger, but Hinata is prettier and is much more feminine than I could ever hope to be. Do you know what it was like growing up with all the boys looking at her and not me? I didn't let any of it show, but it really stung when people would always comment on how pretty she was. I, on the other hand, never heard that once in my entire life. It was one of the reasons why it was so much easier to pour myself into my training."

"No one's ever had a crush on you?" Naruto asked with some interest. No matter what Hanabi thought, she was still gorgeous. Perhaps she didn't have a fragile appearance, but that was expected for a kunoichi. You really couldn't have everything in life.

"There were a few I suppose," she conceded. "One of them recently died."

"Ah, on that mission with that S-rank," Naruto said knowingly. There was more to that mission, but he didn't want to tell her what he knew just yet.

"Yeah. I never knew that S-ranked ninjas were that frightening. He didn't even kill any of us, but he made us feel helpless just by standing there."

Naruto snorted. "It doesn't seem like you're scared of me at all though. Right now, you just made me back up like a mouse cornered by a cat. And I'm an S-rank, too. Maybe you should channel some of the fear and respect towards me."

"Tch. Why should I fear and respect the person I married? Especially when I married that person to be protected? It's not like my own shield can hurt me."

Naruto laughed. Even while infatuated and falling in love, the girl was still honest with herself about why she agreed to marry him. "Don't you think that's hurtful to me? That all I'm good for is to protect you from your family and S-ranked threats?"

"Perhaps," she admitted. "There were other reasons that made the decision much easier, you know. Your compassion, your insight…there's just this mysterious aura about you. And technically, you're the one who proposed. So you're not supposed to complain about my reasons. Especially when I'm in love with you now."

"Ah yes, of course," he teased lightly. "I distinctly remember you moaning how much you loved me yesterday night in bed."

She blushed brightly at the memory. "Oh, be quiet. Like you said, it's the first time I'm in any sort of relationship. I'm entitled to acting a bit like a fangirl for some time."

Naruto chuckled. "Alright, I can live with that. As long as it's temporary."

She nodded with a bright blush. "Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I can't say I truly regret any of it, but I still feel horrible for taking you away from my sister and marrying you purely to protect myself. I thought I was strong, but after my experience with that S-rank," Naruto felt her shudder, "I realize I'm still just a little girl in a world of monsters."

Naruto couldn't help but note the irony. She was legitimately afraid of S-ranks, yet she was unknowingly demanding to get into a fight with a powerful S-rank monster.

"We're being quite open today, aren't we?" Naruto said softly, not commenting on the fact that she unintentionally implied that he was a monster as well. "No layers in your words whatsoever."

It was just the two of them. They were far away from home and away from prying eyes. It was one of the rare times they could keep their emotional guards down, even around each other.

"Too tired of it," Hanabi said as she wrapped her arms around him. "I decided to be completely honest and open with you. I stand by what I said. If you want to kill me, then I'll hand my life over to you with a smile. People might call me a fool, but I think it's even more foolish not to place your trust in the person you're using as a shield, right?"

"I suppose," Naruto agreed, once again surprised by her trust in him. "Although I hope that I'll become a bit more than your shield as we get to know one another over the next few years."

Hanabi's arms tightened. "I understand. You want us to become soul-mates. Not just lovers. You want something more. Two halves of one soul. Yeah. I hope we get there someday." She paused. "And I want to let you know that I took in what you told me yesterday. I…I wasn't…as hurt as I could have been this morning because I remembered your promise to be committed to me." Naruto felt the girl pull him forward as she swung herself around to place herself onto his back. "Still, I'm going to milk this as much as possible." She said from behind him as she positioned herself for a piggyback ride, "It's not everyday that I get to be treated like one of the girly and fragile princesses you read about in novels instead of the former princess of the Hyuuga clan."

Naruto nodded and chuckled as he walked forward. He had been insensitive, so he had no qualms about letting Hanabi have her way for some time. And it would be his way of apologizing for hiding stuff from her and keeping her out of battle later on. "Sure, why not? I guess it'll be a good excuse to pamper you. And a good master takes really good care of his beloved servant."

Naruto winced when he felt chakra blaze below his chin from his wife's arms. The message was clear. She could cut off his head at any time if she chose to. "It's princess, not servant…and unless you want to find yourself without a head, play nice."

Naruto laughed lightly as the chakra faded. "Such a fiery little one. Hanabi is such an apt name for you."

"You're really fixated on my name, aren't you? You keep mentioning it over and over again."

"Names are what give us our identity," Naruto explained sagely. "It tells us a lot about what our parents hoped we would become and how we react to those expectations. My parents named me Naruto because the Pervy Sage wrote about a character named Naruto who never gave up despite facing hopeless odds. They wanted me to become someone who fought for peace without ever stopping."

"I...I didn't know that," Hanabi admitted. "I just thought it was because your mother loved ramen. That's what my father told me, at least. He told me he was acquainted with her."

"Yeah, I'm sure that was part of it, too," Naruto laughed. "I was told many times that much of my outward personality and much of my preferences are like hers," Naruto admitted. "The only thing I inherited from my father is my appearance."

"Modest, now, are we?" Hanabi laughed. "You're not going to mention intelligence, power, talent, and kindness?"

Naruto shook his head sadly. "My father was a natural genius. I only became amazing because of my efforts. You try working the equivalent of several thousand years by spamming shadow clones. You'd get pretty strong and incredibly smart too." He paused. "You should know just how pathetic I am from that. It took me several thousand years' worth of effort to become an S-rank. If my father had the ability to abuse shadow clones like I can, I shudder to think how powerful he could have been. He probably could have brought peace to this world long ago."

There was a long silence. Naruto just walked alongside the water for a few minutes doing nothing but taking in Hanabi's presence. Her hair, her warmth, her scent, the shape of her body—he took it all in. This was the girl he was now emotionally bonded to for life. There wasn't love just yet, but perhaps he could let her into his heart little by little.

It was some time before his wife spoke. "So tell me," she asked. "What's the situation? I know you're still holding back information. I've been with you day and night for the last few weeks. I know when you're lying and when you're not being completely open with me."

A tense pause.

"Very well," he relented. If worse came to worst, he would just shadow step her out of danger. "I've spent a lot of time with Michiru before so I know his mannerisms and habits pretty well. More importantly, he knows that I know. So Michiru was able to hint to me that there was something going on," Naruto explained.

"So he told you in code because someone in the palace was watching. I'm guessing it's the girl with the glasses. By the way, she's currently holding the queen and the prince hostage."

He didn't know that. So Hikaru wasn't away from the kingdom. He and Queen Amayo were hostages.

Naruto wanted to growl. So that was how Hanabi was going to play the game. The more he explained about the situation, the more she would reveal what she knew.

He wondered what other bits of information she was currently keeping from him.

"Not code, necessarily. But just the fact that he was worried about something. He had to mix it in with his normal mannerisms, presumably for the reason that you stated. I've managed to pick out some clues from what he said though. The problem is inherently financial and from what we have learned, there is some extortion going on. Unfortunately, it's not just paying ransom or whatever to ensure his family lives. I could tell that the threat is enough to, in his words, 'completely destroy' the entire kingdom." He stopped to shift her up higher on his back. "Perhaps even enough to destroy the entire Elemental Nations," he added as an afterthought.

"That bad?" Hanabi winced. "That sounds pretty serious."

"King Michiri is extremely wealthy. The Land of the Moon has more money than three of the great villages combined. If someone is threatening King Michiru for money, it can't be for something small. And King Michiru also had elites protecting him at all times. We're most likely dealing with an S-rank threat."

He hoped that his statement would hint to her that she was outclassed here.

"Well, you're an S-rank among S-ranks so we'll be fine, right?"Naruto felt like groaning at that. She was using him as her panacea to everything that threatened her.

"Let's hope you're right. Don't forget that even S-ranks can be fooled and taken down when their guards are down." Naruto painfully remembered overlooking the fact that Karin was in disguise. And further back, he remembered being taken off guard by Sakura when she had snuck into his house. "I'm strong but I'm not infallible. I make mistakes, too."

Hanabi sobered up at that. "Well, I'll be your backup then. I know you said your Sage Mode gives you amazing sensory abilities, but my eyes can actually see things. I won't let you be taken off-guard. Let me help, Naruto."

Naruto nodded. But not for fighting. "Well then, let's spend the next few days scouting out the place with your eyes and my Sage Mode and in a few days, we'll make our move."

Raikage's Secret Study, Kumo – April 20, AK 22

"Lord Raikage, sorry to disturb you, but I have word from our Hyuuga contact," Darui said as he stepped in the Raikage's secret room.

"Oh?" Darui lowered his head formally as the Raikage turned towards him with a scowl. "What did that Sakuma say?"

Darui handed his leader the folder with the information sent to them by the traitorous Hyuuga. "I just came back from talking with Sakuma Hyuuga. He claims that he can guarantee that Hinata Hyuuga will be out of the village exactly ten days from today. It was the day we agreed upon to carry out the operation. You'll see details in the folder there."

Darui waited as the Raikage examined the information.

"I'm satisfied with the information. For all his faults, the damn kin traitor is clever. He created a dummy company in the Land of Frost and used that to request a mission that required a scouting team with a Sarutobi on it. The Sarutobi clan generally can operate anywhere there are trees, but the particular types of monkeys they are bonded with live in mountains with heavy forests. It would not be strange to request a Sarutobi for a B-rank mission in the Land of Frost. The official complaint was that unknown ninja enemies were using hit-and-run tactics to steal company goods."

Darui hadn't looked at the folder himself so he didn't understand what was so great about the idea.

"Lord Raikage, forgive my impudence, but how does that guarantee that the Hyuuga heiress is out of the village? The request only asked for a Sarutobi."

His leader snorted. "Because the Sarutobi clan members are generally not scouts. They're good at fighting and setting up ambushes but not particularly good at scouting. The Hyuuga clan are. There is also a huge bonus involved if a Hyuuga comes along. The only thing here is that despite their skilling scouting and tracking, most Hyuuga are not considered scouts. The Hyuuga clan regularly sends requests to have the Hokage's office pull Hyuuga members from scouting teams, saying that such assignments are beneath them. Konoha has no shortages of trackers—mostly members of the Aburame and Inuzuka clans—so most Hyuuga are assigned to combat teams where they fill the roles of a scout and a fighter at the same time. It is why many Konoha's teams are so well balanced and hard to ambush."

Darui was able to put the pieces together. "Hinata Hyuuga. I see! She must be the only regular scout amongst the Hyuuga."

The Raikage laughed. "What a joke! For all their talks of being the strongest fighters in Konoha, their heiress is only listed as a scout! Even their Branch House members are all listed as combatants!"

"Isn't that a problem then?" Darui frowned. Perhaps that was why the Hyuuga elder didn't mind giving up the girl. She must have a weak Byakugan.

"What are you talking about?" the Raikage roared with laughter. "I don't care if her fighting capabilities are weak; I'm much more interested in the capabilities of the Byakugan itself. Sakuma is clearly thinking that he is getting rid of trash from his clan, but he fails to see that a scout's eye is generally much better than a combatant's eye! I'm willing to bet that Hinata Hyuuga's eyes can see further than any other Hyuuga in history. Haha. What an idiot! They pride themselves on seeing the chakra points in the body but fail to realize just how invaluable seeing enemies from afar is. How ironic that his Hyuuga pride blinds him to the truth."

Darui thought about that as his leader continued to chuckle uncontrollably. If he actually thought about the situation, Sakuma also initially had planned on handing over the second heiress. So it was unlikely that there was something wrong with the first heiress' Byakugan since she hadn't been the planned "gift" to Kumo. But at the same time, it meant that Sakuma was willing to throw away both a scout's eyes and a combatant's eyes. There was something else going on here.

"What are we to do about her teammates?" Darui asked curiously. "While Sakuma may be able to create a buffer against Konoha's response to the Hyuuga heiress disappearing, the situation could become extremely messy if we kill a Sarutobi as well, especially if that Sarutobi ends up being someone important in the clan. And there's still no guarantee that the Hyuuga heiress will be sent. During the war, I recall that many Branch House members were in scouting teams even if they were officially listed as combatants."

"It's not a problem. Sakuma plans on making most of the Branch House Hyuuga members who are active ninjas request for vacation time during that entire week so they could help 'prepare for a celebration.' It's a perfect plan. Nothing would look suspicious because it would be natural for the Hyuuga clan to have a welcome home party for the second princess who is returning from her honeymoon."

"Konoha might not take the bonus to keep the first heiress safe," Darui pointed out.

The Raikage snorted. "The official mission request was written to downplay the danger as much as possible. It just appears as if a company is overreacting and wants to be completely sure. Konoha is definitely going to take what appears to be free money. They're tree-hugging idiots, but they love money as much as we do military power. It has been like that since the Third Hokage's second reign. They use that money for welfare and safety-net programs to keep their citizens happy and loyal."

Darui nodded. "Will there be any changes to our original plans?"

"No, just scout out the designated area near the Land of Frost and prepare plans for ambush. Sakuma projects that Hinata Hyuuga and Konohamaru Sarutobi will be sent with two others, most likely chuunin."

"Konohamaru Sarutobi?" Darui asked. "An elite for a B-rank mission?"

"You mentioned it yourself. Konoha will not want to risk sending the Hyuuga heiress out. But since all the Branch House members will be too busy, Hinata will be the only choice. To compensate, they will send someone fairly strong as protection."

"Konohamaru Sarutobi is more than just fairly strong, Lord Raikage," Darui said in a somewhat worried tone. "In pure power alone, he's borderline S-rank. He could cause some problems."

"Nonsense," the Raikage said loudly. "You, Karui, Omoi and Shee are more than enough to take care of them. You will have three A-ranks and an S-rank to take care of one A-rank. Even if they were to send two other elites with the Hyuuga and Sarutobi, your team should crush them." Darui stood proudly as the Raikage held up his one arm. "Darui, you're my second right hand, one that I can send away from my body and out into the world. You're the third strongest warrior in the strongest village in the Elemental Nations. I expect success."

Darui lowered his head. "Of course, Lord Raikage. You should expect nothing less."

"Good," the Raikage grunted. "Now, I want you to tell Mabui to create a list of some of our strongest men. We too have a wedding to prepare for."

"A wedding?" Darui raised an eyebrow. "Is that really necessary?"

"Of course, you dolt," the Raikage snarled. "Did you think we're barbarians? We're not going to use her as a simple breeding tool! We're going to welcome her to Kumo and start our own Hyuuga clan here. Our intelligence shows that Princess Hinata Hyuuga was neglected by her father her entire life. We will do no such thing. We will treat her like the precious princess that she is." The Raikage paused. "Actually, that stupid list might not be necessary."

"I beg your pardon, Lord Raikage?" Darui said, confused at his leader's sudden change of mind.

"Do you want to marry her, Darui?"

AN: Your second update for the day. I'm on a roll! Wheee! Remember, don't hold your breath for an epic Naruto vs Sasuke next chapter. They'll meet and they'll have words, but it'll remain unresolved for the most part.

Pay attention to the POV. Just because Naruto views Hanabi as angry doesn't mean she actually is. She could be pretending to be angry to get more out of him or Naruto may just be misreading her. That also goes the other way as well. Hanabi may think Naruto is joking around when he's actually paying attention and planning ahead.

That's the entire purpose of using third person limited.

EDIT: Oh and sorry for the minor errors (usually forgetting "s" on plural words, spacing errors, or missing words that get cut off when I copy/paste portions of text while finalizing the draft). I try to get rid of them through multiple reads, but because I know the story so well, I often read over them. I've gotten worse at finding these errors lately because I'm just trying to pump out the chapters. It's a fair trade, methinks.