Chapter 2: The One with the Long Explanation

Naruto was dreading the coming conversation. He knew he had to thoroughly explain the situation before word spread of his "engagement". Otherwise, misunderstandings would lead to rumors running rampant.

As Naruto, Sakura, Jiraiya, Tokiwa, and Shizuka, entered the Hokage's office, Tsunade stood up from her desk to welcome them back from their training trip.

"It's been a long time you two," she says to them with a smile. She quirks an eyebrow towards Tokiwa and Shizuka.

"I see you've also brought with you some guests."

Tokiwa took the initiative, kneeling before Tsunade as she spoke.

"Hokage-sama, it is an honor to make your acquaintance. I am Hosaka Tokiwa, a kunoichi of Nadeshiko Village and attendant to Amaya Shizuka-sama."

With a wave of her hand to Shizuka's cloaked figure she added, "This is Shizuka-sama. She is the future leader of Nadeshiko Village and betrothed to Uzumaki Naruto-dono."

Ton-ton gave a loud "Oink!" as Shizune gasped. "BETROTHED?!" she all but screamed, her face flushing red in embarrassment and surprise.

Tsunade blinked twice quickly in shock at the pronouncement, "Jiraiya's last message mentioned complications... but I would have never guessed this is what you meant!" She exclaimed towards him.

Jiraiya slowly closed his eyes while he shook his head in bemusement.

"Oh Tsunade, I keep telling you that I am loved by women far and wide and yet you still don't-" WHAM!

Tsunade leapt over her desk to smash Jiraiya face first into the floor with a single punch.

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH NARUTO BEING ENGAGED!?" She yelled at his downed form, her fist shaking with fury at him. She knew this was somehow Jiraiya's fault.

While everyone else was used to such displays of power from Tsunade, Shizuka and Tokiwa were both stunned at seeing Tsunade's legendary strength in action as the floor all but caved in from a single punch.

"If you would just let me finish explaining..." Jiraiya mumbled out loud as he slowly got up from his bodily indentation on the floor.

"It all started many years ago...I was in Nadeshiko Village doing some research when I got discovered and had to make my escape..."

Flashback

Alarms start wailing as Jiraiya hangs from under a bridge connecting two castles together on top of small hills.

"Don't lose sight of him!" He overhears a kunoichi yell above him.

"We must teach him what happens to those who infiltrate our village!"

"Damn it. I just came to do some research for my next book," Jiraiya whispers to himself as he slowly lowers himself to the ground below.

"They're so cute, but boy, they're dangerous."

He notices a kunoichi across from him after he lands on a tree branch.

"Resign yourself!" She yells at him as she unsheathes a katana from her back.

She has green eyes and, light brown chin-length hair that covers her ears and frames her face. She is tall, buxom, with a curvaceous build while wearing a reddish pink form-fitting outfit with only a long sleeve on her left side and an orange sash around her wait.

"Sorry, but I can't do that," Jiraiya explains as he bites his thumb and begins making the seals for a summoning jutsu.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Jiraiya exclaims as a giant magenta-colored toad with black markings on his face, arms, and legs appears while wearing a black kimono with a white sash and mesh armor underneath. He has a sakazuki-like shield wrapped around his back with a sasumata underneath the shield.

"Gamaken-san! Secret Technique! Exit Jutsu!"

"Please forgive me, for I am quite ungraceful," Gamaken replies as starts hopping away to escape.

The kunoichi on the bridge see the giant toad as it leaps away and calls to the other kunoichi around her, "Don't let him get away!"

"Roger!" The other kunoichi respond as they dash off in pursuit.

XXXXX

The next morning Jiraiya stops at a river to refresh himself after traveling all night.

"Brr! It's cold!" He shivers as he takes a sip with his hands cupped and splashes his face.

"This is nice!"

As he notices another person's presence, he slowly rises to face his pursuer, "I didn't expect you to follow me this far."

The women that confronted him last night is just a few steps away from him.

"Your technique last night was quite impressive," she tells him.

"You didn't just come here to tell me that, did you?" Jiraiya replies.

"I've seen your skill and would like to make a request," she answers.

"A request?" Jiraiya asks.

"Konohagakure Jonin. Jiraiya-dono. Please duel me with my hand in marriage as a reward." She explains.

End Flashback

"WHAT?!" Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura all yell in unison.

"It's true," Shizuka confirms.

"My mother is the woman in Jiraiya's story that chased him down after he escaped from our village."

Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura's eyes all turn to Shizuka in surprise at her declaration.

"Nadeshiko Village is matrilineal," Tokiwa explains.

"Only women are born into our line. Thus, candidates for leader leave the village in search of strong men and challenge them. Men who defeat us are brought back to the village to become our husbands. That is the law of our village."

"Ah, it was quite the battle..." Jiraiya reminisced.

"In the end, the match was never decided," Tokiwa added.

"Yes, after battling all day to a draw we agreed to postpone the match with a promise that if we couldn't finish at a later date that our students would take up the duel in our stead," Jiraiya concluded.

"And that leads us to my current situation thanks to stupid Ero-sennin..." Naruto starts to explain.

Flashback

Naruto, wearing his current black and orange jumpsuit, and Jiraiya are traveling down a path in a forest as dusk approaches.

"It's starting to get dark," Naruto notes.

"Are we camping out or are we staying somewhere?"

"Well, there is a village nearby that we could stay in..." Jiraiya trails off while seemingly lost in thought.

"...And? Are we going to stay there?" Naruto asks.

"It's a great spot for me to do my research! So, let's stay the night there!" Jiraiya exclaims with a thumbs-up.

"Ero-sennin..." Naruto sighs aloud.

"Don't you worry about me Naruto! I'm always discreet with my research! Ahahaha!" Jiraiya responds while laughing jovially.

As they close in on the entrance to the village Jiraiya turns to Naruto with a serious expression on his face and tells him, "Go get us a room at the inn and whatever you do, make sure you don't tell anyone that you are with me, and especially don't get into any fights while we're staying at this village either. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, Ero-sennin, I understand," Naruto mumbles back absently, already used to these types of situations with Jiraiya and his "research".

"I'll be back later tonight. Stay out trouble, alright?" Jiraiya replies with wink.

"I think you're the one most likely to get into trouble here..." Naruto muttered back.

"Man, I haven't been here in ages! I'll see you later Naruto!" Jiraiya waves off Naruto as he leaps away to who knows where to begin his "research", leaving Naruto to find a room for the night.

As Naruto reaches the entrance to the village, a tall hill encircled by castle walls with a single entrance at the front looming overhead, he notices two kunoichi standing guard outside.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" One of the guards calls out to him.

They were both dressed very similarly, with a form-fitting kunoichi uniform that is black in color, with a right shoulder-guard, grey gloves, and a dark red sash around their waist. They are both wearing black forehead protectors showing a star in the center with five petals jutting out from the five points of the star.

The first guard that called out has brown eyes and short black hair in a pixie cut with a sheathed wakizashi at her waist.

The other guard has beautiful green eyes, similar to Sakura, but darker in color, and waist-length black hair in a hime-style cut tied in a high ponytail.

She has pretty eyes. Naruto noticed as he looked into her green eyes as she approached. But not as pretty as Sakura-chan! He insisted to himself.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, of Konohagakure, and I'm on a mission for my village. I would like to stay the night at an inn here." Naruto answers.

"Please present your identification," The green-eyed guard approaches him with her hand out.

After Naruto hands her his identification card the guard asks aloud with an arched eyebrow and a small giggle at his picture, "What is a Genin doing out on his own this far from his village?"

Naruto starts chuckling nervously in response as he tells them his well-worn simple cover story, "What can I tell you? I'm just out on a delivery mission."

"A delivery mission, eh?" Says the first guard with some skepticism.

The other guard gestures to the first hilled section beyond the entrance, "Ok, you are allowed to travel freely within the confines of the civilian sector here."

"But you may only travel within the ninja sectors with an escort," she points beyond the first section towards two other hilled areas with heavier fortified castle walls and a keep in the largest middle hill.

"If you are found within the ninja sectors without an escort you will be apprehended and interrogated," she warns.

"I understand," Naruto acknowledges.

"Very well. Welcome to Nadeshiko Village," both guards intone together. The first guard has a proud smile on her face. In comparison, the second guard has a more neutral expression

With that, Naruto starts walking up the hilled slope of the civilian sector to look for a place to stay the night.

As Naruto looks around the village, he notices a good number of civilians are walking about the area with a few kunoichi mixed in with them.

While much smaller than Konoha, the civilian sector was like Konoha in layout with food stands, shops, and houses spread out everywhere, but only a couple of inns with which to stay.

After finding the first inn full with a no vacancy sign, Naruto walks over to the second inn to see if they have any rooms available. It is a simple two-story structure with brown wood paneling and a small chimney blowing smoke atop the roof. The lobby is currently empty save for a small portly old man with a pineapple of grey hair on top of his head sitting behind the reception desk.

He asks the innkeeper, "Can I get a room?"

"Yes," He replies. "I have 3 rooms available on the 2nd floor and 6 available on the ground floor."

"Ok," Naruto responds. "I'll take one on the 2nd floor please."

After paying the innkeeper for the room and taking the key, he asks him, "Do you serve any food here?"

"Sorry sir," the innkeeper apologizes. "You can try one of the food stands in the village."

"Do you have any ramen stands?" Naruto asks eagerly.

"Not that I know of sir." He advises.

Naruto curses to himself internally. What I wouldn't give for some ramen...

"Thanks anyways," Naruto tells the innkeeper as he heads up to his room to drop off his belongings before heading out to search for something to eat for dinner, hopefully ramen.

After exiting the inn, he finds the same kunoichi guard from the entrance with the green eyes walking past the inn seemingly lost in thought.

Naruto decides to ask her, "Hey, do you know of any places that serve ramen around here?"

She turns to face him, green eyes reflecting the flames of a lit torch nearby, and cooly answers, "No." Then she turns away from him and starts walking away towards the bridge to the middle shinobi section of the village.

Naruto frowns in her direction. What's her problem?

After walking a few steps away from Naruto, she briefly stops and turns her head back halfway to the right towards him and says, "There is a food stand here that serves Soba." She then quickly resumes walking away.

"Soba..." Naruto whines quietly to himself. It's not ramen but it's better than nothing...

"Could you tell me where it is?" Naruto quickly asks after her retreating back.

She turns slowly to face him fully this time, seemingly studying him briefly, before she finally says to him, "Follow me, I'll show you where it is."

After leaping away further into the village, Naruto quickly follows after her.

A few short leaps later they stop at a small food stand at the edge of the civilian section of the village with much fewer people than compared to the center area they were in.

"This is it here," The unnamed kunoichi gestures to a small stall with a few open chairs by the stand.

As she is about to leave Naruto says, "Thanks for showing me the way..."

"Shizuka," The kunoichi supplies to his unasked question.

"Thanks for your help Shizuka!" Naruto beams at her.

Shizuka briefly flashes him a small smile at his exuberance before schooling her features and answering, "You are welcome, Uzumaki-san. Good night."

With that, she turns to leave before she gets interrupted by an alarm ringing loudly throughout the village.

Hearing the sound leads Naruto to grumble a little too loudly as he shakes his head, "Damn Ero-sennin..."

Hearing this Shizuka slowly turns back to Naruto asking, "Uzumaki-san, do you know something about why the alarm is going off?"

Naruto pales, sweat drops forming all over his face as he nervously answers, "Nope! Not a clue!"

Shizuka appears unconvinced as she materializes a kunai in each hand telling him, "I am going to need to bring you in for questioning Uzumaki-san..." as she carefully begins to approach him.

Naruto visibly panics as he starts looking around for an escape route when suddenly a voice cries out.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A giant magenta-colored toad with black markings appears in the forest below the village and begins hopping away with a small white-haired ninja on this back yelling out,"Gamaken-san! Secret Technique! Exit Jutsu!"

As Jiraiya begins to make his escape, some kunoichi voices can be heard in the distance as they begin to give chase, "Isn't that Jiraiya-sama?" "After him!" "Haven't I heard that line somewhere before?" "Don't let him get away!" One after another they call out, but it's the name Jiraiya that catches Shizuka's attention as she narrows her eyes at Naruto and the leaf headband he's wearing.

"Are you traveling with the Sannin, Jiraiya?" She queries Naruto as she continues her approach.

Naruto starts acting even more nervous as he answers, "Jiraiya? Who's that?"

"You're a leaf shinobi, yet you don't know who Jiraiya of the Sannin is?" Shizuka asks him skeptically.

Naruto gives a very unconvincing sounding reply, "Ahahaha, nope! Is he supposed to be someone important?"

As if a light bulb blinks on over her head, Shizuka adopts a look of realization briefly before slowly darkening to anger as she accuses Naruto, "You're his student, aren't you? Why else would a Genin be this far out on his own doing a mission?

Naruto could not look less convincing when he replies, "I have no idea what you're talking about Shizuka!"

By this point Naruto realizes that he can't talk his way out of this situation and that the only option remaining is to flee. Otherwise, he could be trapped here for who knows how long while being interrogated.

"Sorry about this Shizuka..." Naruto apologizes to her as he makes a cross seal with both hands in front of his face before calling out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

After calling out his jutsu, a few dozen Shadow Clones appear all around Naruto as he calls out to them, "Scatter!"

With that, they all leap away in different directions in an attempt to confuse Shizuka as to which Naruto to follow after.

After a brief moment of surprise seeing so many Naruto clones appear and leap away Shizuka moves to intercept them before they get away, "Nadeshiko Style: Aerial Dance!"

Dozens of kunai start flying quickly from her hands at her targets, destroying most of the Naruto clones as the original and a few others manage to dodge and escape her.

"Damn it," She curses under her breath. "You won't escape me Uzumaki Naruto!" She yells after him.

Shizuka starts leaping towards the inn she saw him leave from in hopes of finding him there.

Since he never unpacked after arriving due to his hunger, Naruto is able to quickly gather his things from the room at the inn before leaping out the window in order to escape.

Unfortunately for him, Shizuka spots him as he leaps away from the inn and heads for the exit. She yells after him towards the guards at the gate, "Stop that ninja! He's trying to escape!"

The two ninja guards are already on high alert from the alarms blaring earlier and quickly turn to block Naruto's escape.

As Naruto skids to a halt in front of them, he starts bringing up his hands to form another cross seal before he pauses after hearing Shizuka's challenge, "Uzumaki Naruto, if you are truly Jiraiya-sama's student then listen to what I have to say. Long ago, my mother challenged Jiraiya-sama to a duel and they fought to a draw. He promised to take her up on that duel again the next time they meet, and if they couldn't battle again that their students would take up the challenge. Since my mother can no longer battle him now, I will honor her promise and duel you if you truly are his student."

Naruto turned to face her, surprise plastered all over his face at her declaration, "Your mom battled Ero-sennin to a draw!" He exclaimed.

Gotcha! She thought triumphantly.

"Yes, is Ero-sennin some kind of nickname you have for Jiraiya-sama?" She asked him.

"Yeah, but-" Naruto quickly slapped his hands over his mouth but it was too late. Shizuka caught him red handed.

"Hah! I knew it! You really are his student!" She yelled triumphantly.

Naruto knew he was trapped but decided to try to defuse the situation one more time.

"Ero-sennin told me not to get into any fights while I'm in the village..." She lamely replied.

Shizuka's face grew cold with rage.

"So, you will refuse to honor the pledge Jiraiya-sama made to my mother?"

"This is the first I've heard about it!" He defended.

"It doesn't matter. You must do your duty as his student," Shizuka answered.

"Or is the word of Jiraiya of the Sannin truly worthless?" She pressed. "Does that mean your word is also worthless?"

Naruto growled out his response, real anger starting to color his words, "I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way!"

He pulled out a kunai to hold in each hand while settling into a defensive stance adding, "Fine, if fighting me is so important to you, I accept your challenge!"

Right as they were both about to attack each other a voice interrupted them.

"Shizuka-sama, if I may, could I set up an arena so you may both fight unencumbered?"

It was a tall brown haired kunoichi wearing a short, backless, red, full-body suit over mesh armor, along with a pair of arm-length gloves and a light orange sash with a long blue green apron skirt open in the front. She was also carrying an extremely long and thin katana strapped to her back.

"Thank you, Tokiwa," Shizuka smiled at the newcomer's arrival.

Tokiwa smiled back at her.

"Very well! Follow me outside the village so no civilians are around for your battle!"

With that, she leapt away, with Naruto and Shizuka right behind her, and the two guards flanking Naruto from each side to ensure he couldn't escape.

After a few leaps through the forest Tokiwa held up her hand to them to stop, looking around her surroundings briefly before telling them, "This area will do."

After that, she began rapidly making seals calling out as she finished, "Earth Style! Iron Prison!"

The ground shook from the power of her jutsu as pillars of stone grew out of the ground in a circle around them. The ground below them sunk down several feet as the earth was molded into the pillars that now surrounded them. Each pillar was at least a couple dozen meters tall and they perfectly meshed next to each other, leaving no gaps for escape. The arena was also at least 100 meters wide in diameter, providing plenty of space to move around as they fought.

As Naruto and Shizuka stepped forward to face each other Tokiwa called out to them a dozen paces away, "The is not a battle to the death," She warned.

"It will end when one of you is incapacitated or otherwise unable to continue."

"Begin!" She yells as she begins jumping away to give them space.

Shizuka struck first, sprinting toward Naruto as she called out her technique, "Nadeshiko Style! Roaring Gale Chop!"

Her hand glowed white with chakra as she attacked Naruto with a knife hand stab.

Naruto barely avoided her attack as he leapt out of the way, shockwaves from the force of the attack causing cracks to form underneath her.

Shit! Naruto thought to himself as he sought greater distance with more leaps away from her. She's really strong!

Naruto formed his favorite seal in front of his face as he called out the stronger variant of his favorite technique, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Hundreds of Naruto clones formed all around him as they leapt to attack Shizuka.

Shizuka was ready for this technique this time, having seen it once from Naruto already. She began spinning at a very high speed like a top as she called out her counter to his technique, "Nadeshiko Style! Spinning Waltz!"

As she spun hundreds of kunai began flying out from her at all the Naruto clones causing dozens of popping sounds per second as Naruto's army of clones nearly all vanished into smoke.

What few clones remained were left frantically dodging her kunai until she finally stopped spinning. Unfortunately for him, she didn't stop there, as she quickly transitioned to a new technique to take out the remaining clones.

"Nadeshiko Style! Gale Fan!" She called out as a strong stream of wind blew out from the cupped lips of her mouth, blasting the remaining clones into puffs of smoke with its force.

Naruto was growing frustrated with the direction of the battle. The numbers advantage from his clone army meant nothing before Shizuka's large area attacks, and fighting in close was not a good idea either given the power behind her Taijutsu. He was also reluctant to try tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra, for fear that he might eventually lose control and seriously injure her, if not outright kill her by accident.

He settled for making more clones, hoping that Shizuka would eventually run out of kunai so he could surround her with his clones to defeat her. Sadly, after summoning his clones Shizuka quickly disabused him of his strategy.

"Is this all you can do Uzumaki Naruto? Make lots of clones? I can keep this up all night. I always keep thousands of kunai with me in scrolls to ensure I never run out for my techniques. Maybe you should surrender now before I accidentally kill you while striking one of your clones."

Naruto grit his teeth at her taunt. He had to change tactics soon or he would eventually lose the match once she cornered the real him from his clones. He was even starting to notice the drain on his chakra reserves after creating so many clones, despite his prodigious stamina. He decided to create more clones to buy him some time to figure out a strategy.

Meanwhile, while she wouldn't admit it out loud, Shizuka found Naruto's ability to create so many clones with actual physical bodies impressive. Naruto had far more chakra than any shinobi she had ever met before. Fortunately, she had plenty of techniques to deal with large numbers of opponents, but she was semi-bluffing when she told Naruto she would never run out kunai. She didn't carry as many on her person while in the village compared to missions so she might have to switch to more chakra intensive techniques soon. As he formed more clones around him, she starting clearing them again using her Spinning Waltz technique.

When Shizuka started spinning like a top again Naruto was struck with an idea. She probably can't see me clearly while she's spinning!

With that, he hastily started implementing a new strategy after creating the last large batch of clones he could muster with his diminishing chakra reserves.

Shizuka had to stop her attack once she realized she was all but out of kunai, luckily, she had finished off most of his clones by then. For the last few that remained in front of her she used another Gale Fan to clear them away before engaging in Taijutsu with the last dozen or so clones that had managed to escape her attack to try to surround her. Naruto's Taijutsu wasn't bad by any means, but even with the numbers advantage the clones had she was able to pop them all after a few minutes thanks to their limited durability.

As she finished stabbing the last few clones with her kunai that had tried to get at her blind spot, she nervously surveyed the field as the last of the smoke slowly cleared. But Naruto was nowhere to be found.

Did he run away? She thought to herself.

As she continued circling around nearly 360 degrees, she caught sight of Tokiwa and sent a questioning glance her way, silently asking if Naruto had run away.

As she slowly shook her head in the negative, she felt a rumble underneath her feet.

He's below me!

As she tried to leap away at the last moment, Naruto burst through the ground below, a clone following behind with its hands forming some sort of ball of chakra in his free right hand as his left hand grabbed her wrist before she could get away. As she was pulled towards him, she tried to ready a Roaring Gale Chop to hit him first or block his attack, but she was too late, as Naruto called out the name of his attack as it connected flush with her stomach.

"RASENGAN!"

She was blown back from the power of the attack all the way to one of the walls Tokiwa had constructed and slammed into it with enough force to leave an indentation against it. As she slowly collapsed to the ground, her vision blackening on the edges, she could distantly hear Tokiwa and Naruto yell out her name as darkness finally claimed her.

She awoke some unknown time later with Naruto, Tokiwa, and the two other kunoichi guards hovering over her. As she started sitting up from her prone position facing the ground, she could hear their worried voices come into focus.

"Shizuka-sama!" "Shizuka!"

"I'm ok." She reassured them.

As she started to get her bearings, the realization of her loss landed on her like a box of bricks.

"I lost," she dazedly whispered aloud.

Naruto felt a little lost looking down at her reaction and the reaction of the other kunoichi. He could understand their disappointment, he knew he would feel the same had he lost, but why did Shizuka look so depressed, as if someone had just died because she lost the fight...?

"Um, I glad you're feeling ok. You're strong. If I hadn't caught you by surprise, I don't think I would have won," he told her in a consoling tone.

Shizuka started tearing up in response, choking back a sob as she tried to avoid breaking down completely.

Naruto could never handle seeing a girl cry and started freaking out over Shizuka's reaction.

"Are you actually hurt badly?! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" He exclaimed with his hands waving around wildly in front of himself.

"No, I'm ok. I'm just angry at myself..." She confided aloud.

"It's ok Shizuka-sama," Tokiwa reassured her, putting a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "From what I have seen of Uzumaki-dono he strikes me as a good man. He seems genuinely concerned over your well-being despite having just met you. You could do a lot worse."

Shizuka nodded absently as Naruto looked at them in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

Tokiwa looked between Shizuka and Naruto, noticing Naruto's confusion, before asking Shizuka, "Did you not tell him the terms of the duel?"

"No, I was sure I would win and I didn't want to risk motivating him to try harder," Shizuka quietly responded.

"I see," Tokiwa answered neutrally.

"What do you mean by 'terms of the duel'? I thought this was just a match to satisfy Ero-sennin's promise to your mom?" Naruto asked them.

Realizing that it would fall to her to explain things to Naruto, Tokiwa rose from her position next to Shizuka and faced Naruto telling him, "Naruto-dono, in order to ensure the strength of Nadeshiko village for future generations, we have a rule that our candidates to lead the village must search for strong men to challenge, and if they lose to them, they must marry them."

"WHAT?! That's crazy! There is no way I am marrying someone I just met!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That shouldn't be a problem Naruto-dono, you can take some time to get to know her better before you marry," Tokiwa reasoned.

Naruto could only stand there with his mouth wordlessly opening and closing like a fish in stunned silence.

Tokiwa continued, "Why do you find our customs so strange? By marrying strong men, we ensure the survival of our village through their strength and the strong children we bear. Besides, you said it yourself that Shizuka-sama is strong. That strength is borne through hard work with training and the strong bloodline she inherits."

She innocently added, "Is there some other issue? Do you not find Shizuka-sama attractive?"

Naruto immediately started shaking his head. "No, she's very pretty, but-ack!" He couldn't believe he just admitted that aloud! He's supposed to be trying to dissuade them from this crazy scheme!

Shizuka hid a small smile at his compliment while Tokiwa smirked at catching him off guard.

"So, what's the problem Naruto-dono?" Tokiwa questioned.

Everything! Naruto thought to himself.

As he desperately considered some way to get out of this crazy arrangement, he finally figured out what to say to hopefully fix his predicament.

"I'm being hunted by a group of S-rank missing-nin. If I marry Shizuka it would make Nadeshiko village a target for them."

Shizuka and Tokiwa shared a worried glance between them as the other two guards nervously shifted in place.

"Naruto-dono, why are you being targeted by this group?" Tokiwa queried.

Naruto realized he might have said too much.

"I can't say," He answered.

At his reply Shizuka addressed Naruto directly for the first time since she lost her fight to him, "Is this why you are traveling with Jiraiya-sama right now?"

"That's part of the reason," He let himself confirm with a slow nod.

At his response, Shizuka and Tokiwa shared another look before Shizuka responded, "I don't want to put Nadeshiko village in danger."

Tokiwa nodded along at her statement. "Agreed. How about Shizuka-sama and I travel with you to Konohagakure and stay there until this matter is resolved? That way we keep our village out of danger, but Shizuka-sama can still spend time with you to address your concern about getting to know her before marriage?" Tokiwa proposed to both Shizuka and Naruto.

While Shizuka grudgingly nodded along to Tokiwa's plan, Naruto was much less enthused about the idea of bringing them both back with him to Konoha. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any reason why they couldn't come with, so he resigned himself to talking with Jiraiya to confirm their story and get his thoughts on the matter.

End Flashback

"After I tracked down Ero-sennin and confirmed Shizuka's story with him, he let them travel with us to 'ensure no harm befouls such beautiful women' and now we're here," Naruto finished with a touch of sarcasm in how he repeated back Jiraiya's words.

"Basically, it's all Ero-sennin's fault I'm in this mess dattebayo!" Naruto accused

"Kid, I told you not to get into any fights while we were trying to stay there and yet you still managed it anyways," He answered with a disinterested shrug of his shoulders.

At this point, multiple people were staring at Jiraiya in disbelief. Shizuka was the first to speak, asking Jiraiya archly, "Were you ever planning to keep your promise to my mother?"

Jiraiya winced at her accusation, but had an answer ready for her, "Of course! I was just waiting for this whole business with the Akatsuki to pass before telling Naruto about it," He insisted.

While still suspicious of his answer, Shizuka decided not to push the issue further.

At this point Tsunade joined in, agreeing with Naruto about Jiraiya being largely at fault.

"Jiraiya, why didn't you tell Naruto about this promise and why did you even go to the village in the first place knowing what may happen? This seems very irresponsible of you to me. Wouldn't you agree Shizune?" She added turning towards her assistant.

"Agreed Master. Tell us Jiraiya-sama, what reason did you have to go to this village anyways?

At her question, Jiraiya adopted a wise look on his face as he stated, "It was all in the name of research for my next book."

Everyone but Tsunade had sweat drops form on their heads from his response as she started shaking her fist angrily with a vein bulging from her forehead.

"You perverted old goat!" Tsunade yelled as she launched herself at Jiraiya again to slam him against the floor a second time.

"Does this happen often?" Shizuka asked the rest of the group as Tsunade returned back to her desk and Jiraiya very slowly pulled himself up from the floor again.

"Not usually," Shizune offered back apologetically.

Once Tsunade was back at her desk, she addressed the entire group, "Well, what's done is done. Shizuka and Tokiwa can stay in the village as long as they wish while Naruto resumes doing missions for the village. For our purposes we will treat this as an arranged marriage between Jiraiya and Shizuka's mother to be resolved after the Akatsuki are dealt with," Tsunade concluded.

"Did you get all that Kakashi?" Tsunade added the last part to the window on her right.

"Roger that," He answered at her prompting, poking his head out from the window's edge with a small salute of his hand.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed at seeing him for the first time.

Before Kakashi had a chance to respond a knock came at the door.

"Come in," Tsunade called.

Shikamaru and Temari walked in. While they looked around at the assembled group Shikamaru did a double take at Naruto.

"Naruto...? Hey, that is you isn't it, Naruto!" He asked.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto replied back happily at seeing another familiar face.

"So, you're back?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Yeah, I just got back this morning," Naruto confirmed as he walked up to greet him.

Kakashi decided to interject at this point since he hadn't had a chance to say hi to Naruto yet.

"Welcome back, Naruto. Congratulations on your engagement," He eye-smiled at him.

"Why Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto cried back at him. Now he had to explain things to Shikamaru too!

Shikamaru and Temari's eyebrows both shot up at Kakashi's words. They both started to really take notice of the two unknown kunoichi in the room after that.

Shikamaru turned to Naruto asking him, "You got engaged Naruto?" with an incredulous expression on his face.

"It's not what you think Shikamaru! It's an arranged marriage that Ero-sennin pushed onto me dattebayo!" Naruto insisted.

Shikamaru turned to face Shizuka, Tokiwa, and Jiraiya with a questioning expression, "Jiraiya-sama?" He prompted.

Jiraiya shrugged at his question.

Turning to Tsunade he tried again, "Hokage-sama?"

"It's true. Naruto is arranged to be married to Amaya Shizuka, a kunoichi from Nadeshiko village, due to a promise by Jiraiya," she confirmed with a nod towards Shizuka.

While still confused by Naruto's reaction, he nonetheless offered a hesitant congratulations to him, "Congratulations on your engagement, Naruto."

Naruto could only shake his head in denial.

"Why me...?" He moaned as he closed his eyes in frustration.

In response to Naruto's complaining Shizuka turned away from him with a harrumph. "I'm no more excited about this engagement than you are Uzumaki-san," She shot back.

Shikamaru had the perfect response to this complicated sounding situation.

"Troublesome..."

A/N:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This chapter is already over triple the length of the first one so I decided to finally stop here. It was also very frustrating to write as it went through tons of revisions to try to effectively setup the premise going forward.

While I do have some other flashback scenes planned, thankfully none of those should come close in length to this one.

Expect plenty of time skips through canon parts of the story going forward so I can focus on the characters and their relationships during down time between arcs.

My goal is to post at least 2 (hopefully shorter) chapters every month.

See you next year!

Dattebayo – Naruto's catchphrase to add emphasis to his statement (Official translation is "believe it" but I'm not using it like that)

Taijutsu = hand to hand combat

Konohagakure = Hidden Leaf Village

Ero-sennin = Pervy Sage