The Orange Daimyo of Uzushiogakure

Chapter Seven – The Scratch on the Surface

"I still can't believe you did that, Naruto," Airi said, as she straightened the collar on Naruto's jacket. Airi had been back from her mission to the mainland for over a week, but she still hadn't let her charge off the hook for doing something as 'outlandish' as taking back control over the isle of Uzushio at the tender age of sixteen.

For his part, Naruto hadn't commented much on the goings on that had caused him to take such drastic action. He trusted that Airi wanted to do the right thing for him and for her country but he wasn't sure if he should trust her with the warnings that Pervy Sage had given him. Naruto didn't like the think about it, but he did know that his head tutor had ties to the leader of the council. It pained him to leave her out of the loop that had been created by himself and his godfather, but he didn't yet know who he could trust with the information.

The young ruler also suspected that part of the reason that Airi was still commenting about it so negatively was that she was hurt that he hadn't been forthcoming about his plan. It made him uncomfortable to say the least, and he was hoping that after today's announcement to the people, Airi would finally forgive him and just focus on helping him do his job properly.

Naruto's first long and in depth council meeting had gone surprisingly well. The reports that were put together by all the various councilors had been perfectly laid out and all of the council members seemed extremely eager to help him understand the documents. In fact, the demeanor of the council in general had been a complete turnaround from the previous meeting when he had made his declaration. He was thankful for their help because even with all of his specialized tutoring some of the information had been confusing, but something about the meeting still ate at him. They were almost too eager to help him. Perhaps they had a new plan that had been formulated behind his back?

Naruto didn't expect that his rallying against the council would be without consequences but so far that seemed to be the case. Initially it made him nervous. He felt as if he was in a constant state of wariness, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. This changed as the time drew closer to his public announcement. It had been a couple weeks and nothing much had happened. Maybe Pervy Sage had overestimated how dirty the council really was? Regardless, the day of the announcement was upon him and Naruto was feeling positive. In the back of his mind, he felt a little bit victorious for making it this far although he did admit he wasn't out of the clear yet.

Airi stood back from fiddling with Naruto's jacket collar, which jolted him back to reality. She looked him over. "Well, you look absolutely regal. Do you remember the speech we went over? Don't forget to do a slight bow at the end. And definitely don't leave the balcony until the council given their short speech either. It'll send the wrong impression to the people…"

Airi trailed off as she noticed her Daimyo grinning at her with an eyebrow raised. "But you already knew all that didn't you?"

Naruto nodded, feeling a little bit smug. "Yup."

A genuine smile crossed the older woman's face and she placed a hand on the blonds' shoulder. "You'll do great Naruto. I'm still not sure I agree with what you're doing – you're so young – but I want you to know that I'll support you anyway I can."

Naruto beamed at these words, but before he could respond a member of the estate staff came rushing into the room. "Only a few minutes left before the announcement, my Lord! Is my Lord ready?"

The pair of shinobi nodded at the same time and the frazzled looking lady seemed to calm down slightly. "Alright then, I wish you good luck with the speech my Lord!"

The graying woman was gone as fast as she had come. Her presence had wound Naruto up a little bit more and he felt his heart speed up in his chest. He peeked out a shuttered window and let out a small gasp. He had made a couple formal announcements in the past but obviously none as large as this. The size of the crowd showed it. The formal square and even the paved streets towards the gardens and the City of Uzu proper were filled to the brim with a talkative crowd. There was a buzzing noise from the hundreds of conversations going on outside the window.

Rather than making him more nervous, it made him excited. It was fantastic to see the amount of people that were now living in Uzushio. The return of refugees had been picking up speed in the last year and the crowd outside was living proof of this. He had read the numbers off of a list and been slightly impressed by it, but to see it with his own eyes made him proud to be officially taking on the mantle as the ruling Daimyo. He sure wasn't going to let all those people down! Straightening his collar, he stepped out onto the balcony to wild applause.

Airi was relaxed, leaning against a pillar near the exit to balcony. She could almost hear the thoughts of the crowd by the collective noise that came and went. Fear and hope battled in her brain. She trusted that Naruto would be a good leader…someday. But she was still worried that he wasn't ready yet. She smiled and rubbed her temples. She'd just have to have to believe in Naruto…and stay close by to help until he was 100% ready to stand on his own two feet.

An extra loud cheer ended Naruto's portion of the event. Airi let out a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding. It was done. Naruto was now the official Daimyo of Uzushiogakure. There was no turning back now.

The cheers of the crowds died down as the head councilors began making their speeches from next door. Airi wasn't sure exactly what they'd be speaking about, but she had heard so many speeches from the head councilors over the years that she wasn't concerned about missing anything. She had heard so many different variations of the same speech she could probably give one of them herself.

The councilor's portion of the day's announcements had been underway for about 15 minutes when a second and far less expected cheer erupted from outside. Curious, Airi poked her head through the curtain to investigate. She could only see Naruto from behind. Hideaki had finished talking, but Naruto was very still. Crouching down, she crept further out, careful to stay where the crowds below couldn't see her.

Naruto was very wide eyed and mildly white faced. A slight nod from him told her that he had noticed her. She gestured at him to smile & wave then return indoors. His training over the years had paid off, because he did what he was told well enough that the cheers from the people never faltered has the announcements ended and Naruto moved back into the palace.

His trained regal façade only lasted until he was safely out of the public eye. Once indoors, it quickly melted away in a flurry of nervous activity. "Airi! I can't do it, I can't do it! I've never even….I've never thought of….I'm too young for this, ya know!"

Airi was baffled at his sudden change in tune. "Naruto, you can hardly back down from ruling now after the last couple weeks…"

"No, no not ruling…marriage!"

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" Airi silently cursed herself for not paying attention to the previous announcements.

"The councilors…they announced our upcoming alliance with Konohagakure, which is to be strengthened by my…," he faltered "marriage to a woman from one of the Konoha clans."

The elder nin felt her brow furrow. "I see…" The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like the council was exacting revenge on Naruto for his reckless decision to take over ruling. Her lips pressed into a line. Announcing it without talking to Naruto or her first…

"Stay here."

She left the room and marched down the hallway to the other balcony room. "Hideaki! A word please?"

Her godfather did not look surprised at her, despite the lack of respect in her address. "Perhaps we can go to my study for this discussion Airi," he said bluntly.

Anger still seething under her skin, Airi nodded. The walk was a tense one, with Hideaki not bothering to make small talk. The veteran shonobi pushed open the door to his study roughly, and Airi followed him in, closing with an equal lack of care.

"What seems to be the problem, child?" Hideaki's words were made to sound caring and grandfatherly, but they didn't temper the sharpness in his eyes.

"What was that, godfather? It isn't like you to be so damn petty".

The side of the older nin's lip twitched. "You don't agree that the Daimyo needs to strengthen the alliance between our sister nation via strategic marriage? Three quarters of the previous Daimyo had such political arrangements".

Airi wasn't going to argue with that. She too had long suspected that Naruto's eventual marriage would need to be one of political strategy and not love. But once again, her opinion was that Naruto was far too young to be dealing with this.

"That wasn't my argument Hideaki," she said after a pause. "But do you honestly think someone so young should be betrothed?"

"He feels he's old enough to rule therefore he must be old enough to except the responsibilities that go with it."

The sharpened edge of the councilor's words reached Airi, and suddenly the motive fell into place. Her anger renewed itself. "So was that announcement punishment for Naruto, or to shame him in front of his people?"

Her words dripped with equal venom. Hideaki's scowl deepened. For a moment, the two shinobi glared at one another.

Hideaki broke the silence. "Naruto needed to learn that he shouldn't be crossing his valuable council".

His words hung in the air. "..and you think your actions benefited Uzushiogakure? Truly?"

"Hhn, so you stand with your charge?"

"I stand where I always have: with Uzushio".

With that, Airi left to go find one of the lower councilors to tell her more details about their plan.

"Stay here."

Airi turned on her heel and left Naruto in the announcement room. He had misbehaved enough in his youth to know the look on Airi's face meant she was seriously pissed off. She strode out of the room and slammed the door. Naruto assumed she was going to talk to the councilors. He did feel a little better knowing that Airi hadn't been one of the people planning this…marriage.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. He wasn't even comfortable thinking the word. It had been so long since he'd really thought about girls. Frankly, he'd been far too busy the last couple years to consider his er, romantic future. Naruto's crush on his pinkette teammate had faded as he'd aged, particularly because he had been sure that he wouldn't have a chance with anyone from Konoha. Now when Sakura did cross his mind, it was as a friend and trusted comrade. For a split second he wondered if the medic-nin was to be his arranged wife, but quickly discounted it. Sakura, while talented and Tsunade's apprentice, was not from one of the prominent ninja clans. The council would never have picked someone without being in the nobility.

He started pacing to dispel some of the nervous energy consuming him. He wasn't sure of the time frame before his betrothed-to-be arrived in the city. He was certain that the council had done this purposefully. It was sending a message. Naruto sighed. Him and Pervy Sage had not expected something like this as a retaliation. Worse of all, his godfather had left on another intelligence gathering trip and wouldn't be back for a few weeks. He was on his own with this one.

Try as he might, he couldn't really see a way out of this one. He hope that Airi would have a better plan than him. He tried to stay positive. Perhaps it would be nice to have someone else around from his home village. Although he had learned to love his birthright, Konoha was still his hometown. Naruto would like to have someone around to reminisce with.

Both his pacing and thoughts were interrupted as Airi came back into the room. It looked as if she had calmed down somewhat, but she also looked a little defeated. He suddenly felt younger than he had in a very long while. "Well…Airi…do…do I have to?

She looked down. "Let's head back to your quarters to discuss it Naruto".

His tension returned worse than before. The pair silently retreated to Naruto's rooms, both embroiled in their own thoughts. Upon entering, Naruto pulled off his jacket, and tossed it on the bed. He didn't really need Airi to confirm his worse thoughts. He looked up at his teacher, and sat on the edge of the bed, feeling forlorn. "There isn't a way to back out of it, is there?"

Airi's burgundy brows came together and she shook her head. "I'm sorry Naruto. The council planned this is a pretty iron-clad way."

"And I…get no say in this at all?" his frustration and disappointment were starting to distill into anger.

"There is a precedent for the council to pick consorts for Daimyo that don't have any immediate family. And as Hideaki so smugly pointed out to me, the great majority of the previous rulers have had marriages for political gain. The council isn't wrong in the sense that we do need to have a strong ally in one of the main shinobi nations to get our footing…I'm afraid they have already made a deal with one of the noble houses in Konoha. It's too late for us to stop it."

Naruto hadn't felt so defeated since before just after the chunin exams.

"We, we might be able to delay the wedding Naruto. At least until you and the lady in question are older. But I'm afraid in three weeks time the Konohagakure delegation is going to arrive and during the Festival of Tides, they're going to make it official."

The young ruler scowled. "What difference does it make to wait? There isn't really a good age to marry a complete stranger."

Airi sat down beside Naruto. "Well, in theory, Konoha could break off the engagement first. It would be highly dishonorable or course…in fact I highly doubt that any well trained maid from a noble house would do that."

"Then why even mention it?" His voice came out harshly, and Airi flinched. He jumped up off the bed.

" Naruto…"

"Just leave it Airi. I'm going out to clear my head." Without looking back at his tutor, Naruto broke into a run and hopped out of his bedroom window. He landed smoothly in a tree that grew just outside the window before dropping quietly to the ground.

His journey started out at a full tilt run. The gardens around the palace blurred as he jumped over sculptures and bushes, heading out of the palace compound. He always felt better when he expended energy. Naruto slowed as he reached town.

In the past couple years, huge progress had been made in rebuilding the city. The market district in particular looked more alive. Many of the buildings had been rebuilt and many merchants had once again taken up residence in the Uzushio core. Darkness was just starting to fall, and the lanterns in the marketplace were just starting to light the area with an orange-red glow.

He was thankful for cover of darkness, since in his haste to leave the palace and his worries behind him, he hadn't even grabbed a cloak or a hooded jacket. He wasn't sure he was up to smiling for the people just now.

He wandered though the thinning crowd, hands in his pockets and head facing down. This was it. Three weeks and he was officially a…sort of married man. He had held out some hope before that maybe the lady would be someone he knew. Someone that he could at least be friends with! But from what Airi said, it was going to be some stiff noble's daughter, who probably wouldn't know anything about shinobi ways. He sighed.

He wondered what Jiraiya would do in this situation and then made a face as he realized his pervy godfather would probably keep making passes at floozies anyway. What would his parents have done? He really wasn't sure on that. Pervy Sage hadn't told him much about his parent's relationship, but he did know that they had wed out of love, not duty. That being said, kage mostly had free reign over their choice to marry, unlike the Daimyo. His mood didn't improve much as he strolled, but he did come to the sour conclusion that he could get by without love. Hadn't he done just that for the first 12 years of his life?

It pained him to think of the times in his life when he was so devastatingly lonely. His situation had improved a lot since then. It's not like he would be without friends or companions. He still had Airi and his other tutors. Perhaps most importantly, he had his people. Looking up, he glanced around at the people in the city, all former refugees. Most went about their business, smiling, laughing, and getting some shopping done. He owed it to them to make sure the alliance with Konohagakure was strong enough that they never needed to leave again. Like the old man hokage used to say, the village and for Naruto the whole country, were an extension of his family. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he had to give up this one small part of life to help Uzushio.

Besides, he still remembered how much it stung to have Sakura pick Sasuke over him. He never wanted to experience that again. Now he would never have to. A sort of calmness washed over him as his decision to embrace this arranged marriage thing solidified in his mind. A smile crossed his lips as he turned to head back to the royal compound.

He continued his peaceful people watching as he walked back through the marketplace. Naruto had almost reached the exit when a quiet voice cried out to him. "My…Lord?"

Naruto forgot that he wasn't so hidden with his head held high. He turned, and found a woman staring at him, almost in disbelief. "Umm, yeah, that's me, ya know!" He smiled at the woman, but she didn't return it.

"Do you…do you know what happened to my boy?" The woman's eye's glittered with unshed tears.

Her heartfelt question created a rock in Naruto's stomach. "W-what?"

"You mean, they haven't talked with you about it?"

"I-I guess not. What happened?"

The tears that were previously held in erupted. "My little Nobu...my son, he's gone missing! I-I think he was kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped? Where?"

"Here…here in the city. Nobu was last seen leaving the academy…"

Naruto's heart skipped a beat. The kid wanted to be a ninja. Why would the council hide this from him? The grieving woman continued without prompt. "He hasn't been seen in over a month. I've been to the council twice, but they don't…they don't have any leads".

Naruto was confused. What possible reason would the council have for not looking into a missing person case on their very soil, especially a missing kid…unless someone on the council had a reason to not be addressing it. He wasn't sure how this fit into anything but he had an unsettling feeling that this was related to what Pervy Sage had been worried about before.

He looked at the woman. She was still weeping, and clutched something to her chest which upon closer inspection was a picture of her son, Nobu. "I promise you that I'll look into this, okay?"

The woman nodded and scribbled something down on some paper she had tucked into her coat and handed it to Naruto. It was an address. "For incase you find him…" The woman wiped her damp eyes on her sleeve and disappeared into the marketplace.

The decent mood that Naruto had worked himself up to disappeared into turmoil. He felt more in tune than ever with what Jiraiya had been saying previously about problems on his doorstep. Suddenly, the issues surrounding his impending betrothal seemed far away. He pondered his godfather's warnings and the missing child as he finished his walk back to the Daimyo compound. Maybe it was time for him to let Airi in on Pervy Sage's concerns. He was sure she'd be able to help him find out more about his missing boy…

Hinata returned to the Hyuga compound, after a short mission with her team. It was the first that she had taken after the proceedings that officially put Hanabi in place as the heiress of the Hyuga. That has been well over a week prior, but she figured that the Hokage was simply being nice and leaving Hinata some time to process the events of the past month.

Of course, Hinata was completely at peace. Hanabi was safe. She had accepted her fate as a token in the Hyuga political games. She had completed her mother's wish for at least one of her daughters. Despite the sorry looks that her friends had been giving her when they thought she wasn't looking, she was quite happy.

The dust had finally settled and things were beginning to go back to normal. Hinata came inside, and carefully removed her coat. She was just about to head into her chambers to get cleaned up when her father entered the foyer. "Hinata. I would like to speak to you in my office in the next hour. You may get cleaned up first".

Hinata's face instantly reddened. "Y-yes, f-father".

He turned and left, leaving Hinata vaguely shaken. She was certain her father must have news about her eventual husband. She had known for quite some time that she would eventually be facing an arranged marriage, but now there was a real possibility that it was just around the corner and that frightened her more than she cared to admit. Still shaking, she went to her room and poured a bath.

Normally Hinata found baths relaxing, but instead of clearing, her thoughts kept drifting back to the impending meeting with her father. She was sure that he was going to be talking to her about who the clan had chosen to wed her to. Was she really ready to give up her life as a ninja? What if she had to move to a different part of the Land of Fire, far away from all her family and friends?

Her bath turned out to be far from soothing, so Hinata ended it quicker than usual to ready herself for the meeting. She dressed herself in a plain white dress and hurried to her father's study. She knocked on the door, and her father called for her to enter. Her heart was hammering as she closed the door behind her. Hiashi's study always made her incredibly nervous. Eyes downcast, she entered the room, and knelt on the mats in front of her father. "F-father, you want-t to see me?"

"Yes Hinata, I did". He cleared his throat and had a sip of tea. He looked up at her, eyes hard. "I wanted to know why the heiress of a prestigious clan would want to throw a spar for leadership over the clan".

Hinata froze in horror. Her father knew! Her throat tightened up, and she couldn't get any words out to explain herself.

Thanks for reading! Next chapter is already complete and should be out shortly. 3 3