Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this is a fanfic based on another's hard work and ideas.

A/N: Reader responses: To Saiyanvegeta: I do not disagree with you. I think if the male can have a pluralistic marriage than the female can to. I don't have any pending ideas for any future stories for this, but I would not be opposed to it. On a personal level I do believe in love being between two individuals as well, however, this is a fanfiction and not reality and the whole point (in my opinion) is to write your ideas that do not happen or cannot happen because you are capable of making them happen in fiction. Thank you for the review and I hope you keep reading and enjoy the story for what it is.

A/N: Dedication: I would like to give proper credit where it is due. Starting in chapter 8 it will start to answer one of the questions of will Naruto get a new summons or get his toads back. I put a little twist to the idea provided by DarkGunman410 that I think you will enjoy. Small hint, I used Wikipedia for my information if you're curious about how I expanded the idea.

Chapter 7

Knock, Knock

Tsunade looked up and said, "Come in".

Kakashi and team walked in. They had just arrived from their mission to Wave.

"Team Kakashi reporting back in" Kakashi said as and the rest of the team strolled in.

"Good, I will start with thank you for going on this mission. Also, thank you for finding that battle scene in the woods. We did investigate, but nothing came from it unfortunately. Please report what you have." Tsunade said.

Kakashi stepped up, "We had a rather heated conversation from Tazuna while there. It is clear that Naruto was there. Further evidence supports this by the Hana's Nin-ken finding Naruto's scent all over the dock and Hinata finding Naruto's jacket."

"Hinata, would you mind giving me the jacket?" asked Tsunade.

Hinata just shook her head and clutched the jacket tighter.

"Ok, we are done. Hinata just stay for a minute please." Said Tsunade.

"Actually, If I could discuss something with you in private," said Shikamaru.

Looking at him quizzically Tsunade agreed, "Hinata would you please wait outside". Everyone besides Shikamaru left the office.

"What is it you wish to discuss?"

"May we get the privacy seals just in case?" Shikamaru asked.

After activating the seals she nodded for him to continue.

"I asked for the privacy seals just in case. I assume at this point that there are those that cannot be trusted and I didn't want to take any chances. I reviewed the shipping schedules at the docks. I'm making a guess here, but based on Tazuna telling us that Naruto is far from any of us I assume he took the only ship that went across the sea. From what I gather on the schedules it is a six month journey."

Tsunade thought for several minutes. "Whether that is true or not we cannot afford to send a team to search for that length of time. I also don't want to let any possible spy's know that we suspect this. For now we have to pray to Kami that he stays safe and work on bringing him home on this side. Shikamaru, I need council support. Any help you can provide in the future will be greatly appreciated."

"I will do what I can to help bring my friend home, Lady Hokage."

"Very well, and thank you. Please send in Hinata on your way out."

Hinata comes back in still clutching the orange jacket. Tsunade puts up the privacy seals. "Hinata, I promise you can keep the jacket, but may I please borrow it for a minute," Tsunade asks with tears in her eyes.

Hinata nods and hands the jacket over. Tsunade clutches the jack and starts to cry. Hinata in a bold move comes around the desk and hugs Tsunade and they cry together. Little did they know that this would be the start of a great apprenticeship.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Three months on a ship gives you a lot of time to think and a lot of time to reflect on your life. It was during that first three months Naruto finally had time to cry. Of course he wouldn't let anyone see him, but he cried. He cried during his breaks between helping out on the ship and he cried at night. Hell, he cried himself to sleep almost every night.

Subconsciously his heart shattered a little more each day and night and eventually he built up a barrier around his heart. He wasn't heartless so don't think that, but he did not let people get close to him and he just started to live his life. His sad and homeless life. Ironic really; there was a time when he was kicked out of the orphanage that he was sad and homeless and now he finds himself there again. Is it karma or did he deserve this. He surmised he would never know.

Xxxxxxxxxx

"Land Ho" said the ship look out.

Six months went by faster than he thought. Of course when all you do is lock yourself up in your room and just do chores to help out on the boat you stop paying much attention to time.

He stepped off the boat and started going into the small port town. He observed people buying and selling and noted that the money he did have on him would be accepted. That was good news. He wasn't sure what he was going to do or where he was going to go, but he decided to buy some supplies, pick a direction and just walk. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, but for now he was just going to roam. Sometimes all you can do is just put one foot in front of another until you figure out what you're supposed to do.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Back in Konoha it has been six months. For some odd reason life just seemed a little dull. The villagers couldn't place it, but the rookies knew. There wasn't a blonde knucklehead running around and smiling anymore. It seems like the village knew its 'sunshine' was gone.

A lot of things happened during the last 6 months. The civilian council were basically butt buddies with Sasuke Uchiha. He asked and he received, no questions asked. Little by little he had the civilian council eating out of the palm of his hands. He may not be an active shinobi, but he didn't stop training. He just built up his natural physical strength until the day he is able to get his chakra restraints removed.

In six months' time he basically had Sakura being his slave. She did as instructed and was happy to do it too. She was so blind to her treatment that even her best friend Ino tried to tell her, but Sakura got mad/jealous and told Ino to back off. Ino recalls that day clearly, "Back off Pig, just because you lost and I won doesn't give you a right to try to tell me what to do. Quit your jealousy and move on."

That was the last day any of the rookies ever talked directly to Sakura. She started acting as if she was an Uchiha and acting all stuck up like she deserved it. It was clear that once Sasuke reached the marrying age in 3 years that he would be claiming Sakura as a wife. Also, unbeknownst to the village Sasuke was also claiming council power from Sakura's mom who served on the civilian side (not that he really needed it since that ate out of his hands anyways). Due to the CRA (Clan Restoration Act) Sasuke would be claiming a new wife each year up to 3 max per the law. Sakura was already promised 'matriarch' which gives her all the power over the other wives (of course she has to listen to Sasuke as 'patriarch' because he is the male and the TRUE Uchiha).

Little by little the Shinobi side of the council kept getting frustrated with the civilian side of the council and how they bent over backwards to the Uchiha's whims. Seeing how the Uchiha was treating the pink haired girl the other fathers of the females were getting worried. Would this council with the civilian and elder's majority vote force their children to marry that Uchiha bastard? Hell, even some of them were wishing the Uzumaki brat was still around. Somehow he always had a way of keeping the Uchiha in check. Shikaku especially had been feeling guilty over the last few months. His own son never talked to him anymore other than needed shinobi required conversations. They never play Shogi anymore. He knew why, but he didn't know how to fix it. Hell, his bar conversations with Inoichi and Choza revealed the same thing. All the children apparently had turned their backs on their family. The only one that was surprised was Hiashi. Hinata has practically dragged Neji to the training grounds and they had been sparring non-stop. Hinata had made him proud with her growing strength and she was the apprentice to Lady Hokage. This brought great honor to the Hyuga. She still stuttered a bit, but she held her self like a head should and even started scolding Hanabi when she was acting all stuck up. Hiashi wasn't a dumb man, but he wasn't sure why his eldest daughter had advanced so much lately. The only thing that stood out to him was she avoided him like the plaque unless necessary.

Xxxxxxxxxx

In that six months of time the toad spies had gathered all kinds of information on the council. The only toads that had not shown up were the toads sent to watch and gather information on the three elders. This worried Tsunade and wanted to ask the old pervert, but he was away attending to his spy network (I mean really, the world still is moving along even if Naruto wasn't there). She kept all the spy information the toads left her in a storage seal that the old pervert put on her hip to keep it concealed and not to have to worry about it being stolen. She just needed to keep it safe until she had enough to take control away from the council. (She had just about had to put the old pervert in the hospital for that seal, but she had to have it concealed on her person and in a least likely place to be seen.)

Xxxxxxxxxx

8 months

Naruto had been traveling for 8 months. He picked up odd jobs here and there to help out locals as he came across them. He would help harvest a field here and there, make a couple of deliveries for merchants every now and then when he was traveling one way that benefitted a merchant. He did miss his ramen though, no one in any village he passed by had ramen or even knew what ramen was. One thing was for sure. He never came across another 'ninja' village. There were soldiers in various villages, but none of them seemed to be ninja. He never heard of any conversation about ninjas in this part of the world. However, he counted that as a good thing because no one would know anything about him on that level.

Passing through this particular town did peak his interest. He heard some merchants talking about weird animals up north that seemed to be able to track people. If you didn't enter their forest they left you alone, but if you entered you were never heard from again. Naruto decided to head north to this 'scary' forest and see what it was about. Honestly, what else did he have to do. I guess one could say he was getting lost on the path of life. (Somewhere in Konoha a one eye shinobi with white hair sneezed).