Chapter 1: The Arrangement

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters

Far to the west in the Shinobi world lies the Land of Wind. It's a harsh land defined by hot temperatures and vast deserts. Some of the people of Wind live in a city called Sunagakure where they have acclimated to the environment. Sunagakure is one of the five major hidden villages and is home to shinobi, who make up a good portion of their population. The village is ruled by a figure called the Kazekage who is elected by the Daimyo and the village council. However, Suna currently has no Kazekage since the previous one was killed by Orochimaru. Disguised as the Kazekage, Orochimaru lead the village to betray their ally nation, Konoha. However they were defeated and now find theirself having no Kage and under scrutiny for betraying their allies.

In the heart of Suna lies the Kazekage tower, where the Kage conducts his daily business as well as where council meetings are held. Currently a council meeting is being held to discuss the aftermath of the failed invasion and what should be done in light of it. On this council sits the village elders, clan heads, and one of the top jounin of the village. Baki was the top jounin and he was currently trying to ignore the arguing between the members of the council while reading Temari's report on what happened in Gaara's fight during the Konoha invasion.

'This is why I hate council meetings' he thought a he flipped through pages of the report while listening to people twice his age bicker like children. Arriving at the page that told of how Gaara was defeated he was intrigued when it said that he was defeated by a single genin. Continuing to read he was surprised to see that it wasn't the prodigy Sasuke Uchiha who defeated him but a clanless orphan by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. Reading faster, his interest rose as he saw that Gaara was defeated while transformed as the Ichibi by Uzumaki summoning the boss of the toad clan, Gamabunta.

'I was unaware that Master Jiraiya has taken new apprentice' thought Baki. 'The last one he had was over 15 years ago and became the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze the Yellow Flash' he thought rubbing his chin. He flipped the report to the last page and froze seeing the picture attached. Naruto had bright blond hair and was wearing an orange jumpsuit while showing a wide grin to the camera. He had an odd feature of whisker marks on his face but that wasn't what gave Baki pause. 'There's no way, he couldn't be…' he thought deep in contemplation.

When he arrived at Naruto's information which included his date of birth he was convinced of his theory. Baki was trying to make sense of this information when a shout brought him out of his stupor. Looking around he saw one of the council members standing up clearly angry and saying "Temari is one of our most promising shinobi. We can't just give her away to Konoha and make ourselves even weaker!"

"What do you propose we do to prove our sincerity to Konoha then?" another member asked. "By giving one of our most valuable shinobi to them we show how much we want to make amends while also gaining the alliance of the Uchiha clan through this union."

"But will they accept such a deal?" Lady Chiyo, a village elder asked. "We also have to wonder if we even want to be associated with the Uchiha, seeing as how the last one is reported to be arrogant and doesn't have very strong ties toward his village. He could even desert his own village and then this whole alliance through marriage would fail." On that note the council once again devolved into discussion and arguments.

'It looks like they're trying to unite our villages through an arranged marriage' thought Baki. 'Not a bad idea but it sounds like they're having a hard time choosing who to use.' The gears started to turn in Baki's head and he was struck by an idea. 'It's a risk and it has a chance to backfire but this has a big potential payoff for both of our villages' he thought. Clearing his throat he got the attention of the table to present his idea.

"I might have a solution to the problem that we have" Baki said. Seeing that he had the attention of everyone he continued "Marrying Temari into Konoha is a good idea but I don't think we should use the Uchiha. Instead we should use another shinobi by the name of Naruto Uzumaki." Seeing their confused looks he started to pass around the file containing Naruto's information.

After a few people read it they started to talk and one member said "Why should we marry Temari to a clanless orphan who seemingly has no talent?" Baki then replied "While his file says he is nothing special, I have reason to believe Konoha might be hiding his true potential."

Seeing their interested looks he continued "In the first match of the Chunnin Exams Naruto beat out a fan favorite in Neji Hyuga who is said to be an unrivaled prodigy in the Hyuga clan." With the council members raising their eyebrows Baki then said "Temari has listed in her report that after the invasion started Uzumaki was the one who singlehandedly defeated Gaara."

The council members gasped in shock and Baki continued "In the report Temari said that she saw Naruto make over a thousand shadow clones to fight Gaara with." One of the elders stood up and exclaimed "Preposterous, no one has that amount of chakra!" Baki raised a hand and countered "I believe it. His file has shadow clones listed as one of his jutsu and I personally saw him use several in his battle against the Hyuga. Also Uzumaki is his last name and they were famously known for having a ridiculous amount of chakra."

Lady Chiyo spoke out "While it is true the Uzumaki's had a lot of chakra, the clan is basically extinct so he could still be viewed as clanless and a union between him and Temari does not seem very enticing." Baki argued "Yes but he did more than just show shadow clones. Gaara ended up using the feigning sleep jutsu and transformed into the Ichibi. Following this, Naruto used a summoning jutsu and managed to summon the boss toad Gamabunta."

There was silence for a while and then an elder said "That means the Uzumaki has signed the Toad Summoning Contract which is currently with the Toad Sage Jiraiya of the Sannin." Baki confirmed "The latest report I have states that Jiraiya has taken Naruto out of Konoha on a mission, so it seems that Naruto is his new apprentice. This leads me to ask the council, who was Jiraiya's last apprentice?"

No one seemed to know until Lady Chiyo said "The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze." Everyone looked wide-eyed and Baki nodded his head. "Yes Jiraiya appears to be training a second Yellow Flash and seeing as how Naruto summoned the boss toad at his age, he is just as talented. Now keeping in mind that Namikaze was Jiraiya's last apprentice, take a look at the picture of Naruto Uzumaki from this report."

Baki handed the report to Lady Chiyo who went pale as soon as she saw the picture. Passing it to the next council member that exclaimed "He looks just like the Yellow Flash!" The room broke out into shouts each member trying to look at the picture and getting shocked when they saw it.

Once everyone calmed down Baki took the report back and spoke "I believe that Naruto Uzumaki is the son of Minato Namikaze and the sole heir of both the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. Therefore I propose that we choose Naruto to be the husband for Temari to secure our alliance with Konoha."

Everyone thought for a moment until a council member asked "I think this is a good idea but will they accept the arrangement? If they're hiding his true identity would they even want to marry him to someone from another village that might split his loyalties?"

Baki nodded and replied "I'm not completely sure but I believe they might take the deal. For one we are offering our best kunoichi in Temari who is also the daughter of a kage. Also this will benefit them as any offspring made from the children of two kages are almost guaranteed to be exceptional. Finally it is in Konoha's best interest to have an alliance with us as if Suna falls then Konoha could be surrounded on two sides by Iwa."

The council started looking around and nodding to each other in approval. Then Lady Chiyo spoke up and asked "Ok this sounds like a good plan but what should we ask for in return since it feels like Konoha is gaining all the power from this? Are we also sure that the points against the Uchiha don't apply to Uzumaki as well."

Council members started to murmur to each other until Baki answered "We can add a clause to the marriage proposal saying that one of their children must be married back into Suna and we would be able to start another clan that way. We also need to be wary of adding too many stipulations in our favor since we lost the invasion and are paying reparations. We don't want to give Konoha a reason to reject our proposal and retaliate against us."

Baki waited until everyone was finished discussing and then continued "Regarding the Uchiha, it was stated that he does not have great ties with his village. Naruto Uzumaki is the opposite of him. He fought against the Ichibi by himself to protect his village and the people in it. After the invasion Gaara has appeared to have calmed down considerably and does not have near the amount of bloodlust he did before. I asked Temari and Kankuro about this and they said that when Uzumaki beat him he said that he fights for his precious people instead of himself."

Baki continued "This changed Gaara's way of thinking and he seems to want to protect his people instead." Everyone in the chamber was surprised that Gaara changed his ways and that Naruto was the one responsible for it.

"So you see that since Naruto fights for the people close to him that he would protect Suna if his wife was from here and has close ties to the village. Also with a second Yellow Flash protecting us our enemies would think twice about attacking, especially Iwa who is our biggest threat and fears the Yellow Flash" Baki finished.

The council started to think and whisper to each other and when they finished Lady Chiyo said "I think we are all in agreement and should vote for this plan of action." Baki nodded and then started the voting process. Once it was finished the votes counted out to a unanimous yes.

Baki stood up and then stated "It's settled. With Konoha's approval Temari Subaku will move to Konoha and marry Naruto Uzumaki."

To the east of the land of Wind, past the Land of Rivers, lies the Land of Fire. A lush, vibrant land that has trees taking up a majority of the land. In the Land of Fire lies the hidden village of Konohagakure. Just like Sunagakure, this village is full of shinobi who live under the rule of the Hokage. However, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, has just died in a confrontation with his former student Orochimaru. The Third Hokage had been ruling for almost 13 years since his successor, Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage, died fighting the Kyuubi. Now Konoha is currently leaderless until Jiraiya returns from his trip to retrieve Tsunade Senju, the Slug Sannin, who is supposed to take over as the Fifth Hokage. Even so, a meeting has been called in the Hokage Tower to discuss a certain message that recently arrived from Sunagakure.

In the halls of the tower you could hear the tapping of a cane as an old man walked towards where the meeting was being held. He had bandages wrapped around his head and part of his body even covering one of his eyes. His name was Danzo Shimura and he was one of the oldest living shinobi in the Konoha being the teammate of the late Third Hokage. With a frown on his face he pushed open the door to the meeting room and stepped inside.

Looking around he saw that the entire shinobi council had already arrived but the civilian council side was completely empty. Raising an eyebrow but staying silent he moved to his seat and took his place at the table. He then looked to where the hokage would normally sit and found it empty but the hokage's two advisors, Homura and Koharu, were seated to the sides of the hokage spot. With Danzo taking his seat the whispers in the room quieted down and Homura nodded and stood up.

"Seeing as how everyone is present we shall now begin this meeting" he stated. "Normally we would put off possible meetings until we have the hokage available but we received an urgent piece of news to discuss and Lady Tsunade won't be here for a few more days according to the latest correspondence from Lord Jiraiya."

Everybody nodded and he continued "I will let Shikaku inform you of the message we received from Suna and what this means for us." Homura then sat down and Shikaku, head of the Nara clan and Jounin commander, gave a sigh muttering something, but then stood up to speak.

"We recently received a message from Suna to discuss the conditions of their surrender. They have an interesting proposal to pay reparations and I can see the value in it, but we need to discuss the terms here among ourselves first." He was about to continue until Tsume, head of the Inuzuka clan, interrupted.

"Wait, if we're gonna be discussing the terms of surrender shouldn't the civilian council be here as well, not that I'm complaining they're missing" she added with a chuckle.

Shikaku nodded and added "Yes, while they would normally be here there are some village secrets that are bound to come up in this meeting and I would like to keep them as contained as possible for now. We will still have to inform them of the decisions chosen but we can use other reasoning to explain our choices instead of spilling the secrets they don't know."

Some of council members looked surprised at that since there was only a handful of secrets that the shinobi council knew but the civilian council didn't. They quickly composed theirselves and Shikaku took that as his sign to continue.

"Beginning with the standard items, they have promised to pay a certain amount of wealth, jutsu scrolls as well as having open trade and a non-aggression pact with us. It's not an absurd amount of tribute but it is reasonable for the damages we sustained in the attack. Where it gets interesting is the main item on the list they are offering us." Pausing to see he had everyone's attention he said "They are offering us a marriage contract with Temari Subaku as the bride."

Everyone but Danzo looked shocked and started to whisper to each other. When everyone calmed down Danzo spoke up "If they are offering their best young kunoichi who is a daughter of a kage then I assume they already have a groom picked out that they want for this union."

Shikaku sighed and replied "It's troublesome but yes they have picked out a shinobi and they want Naruto Uzumaki." When he said this everyone was stunned into silence for a moment until Choza, head of the Akimichi clan, spoke up "Why would they want him and not someone like Sasuke Uchiha or any other clan member?"

The council members started thinking until Shikaku answered for them "I'm not one hundred percent sure but I have a pretty good idea about why they chose Naruto. First they may have tried not to be too greedy and asked for someone like the Uchiha since we might would not let the Uchiha clan have strong ties to another village and give them the possibility of the Sharingan like one of the clauses in this contract that I will go over later." The council members discussed this and agreed that they wanted to keep the Sharingan to their village as much as possible.

Seeing that he had everyone's attention again he said "This brings me to the second point and the main reason they may have picked Naruto. I believe they may have uncovered Naruto's true lineage or at least part of it."

At those words the council became laser focused and Shibi, head of the Aburame clan, asked "What exactly do you believe Suna knows about Naruto?"

Shikaku started scratching his chin and sighed before answering "I am almost completely sure they know he is truly an Uzumaki instead of just being named after them. He is well known for using shadow clones and is was reported he used over a thousand in his battle against Gaara. This has surely been told to the council of Suna since all three of the Kazekage's children survived the battle and most likely reported the results."

No one spoke until Hiashi, head of the Hyuga clan, replied "You think they know more than just his Uzumaki lineage, don't you?"

Shikaku nodded and said "Yes, if they only knew about him being an Uzumaki then it wouldn't be as big of a deal. Suna would have either asked for someone else like Sasuke Uchiha or might have had Naruto just be an option and have other shinobi we could choose to be a groom. Since they asked specifically for Naruto and provided no other names as options, I believe that they know or at least strongly suspect who Naruto's father is."

Everyone's face darkened and Inoichi, head of the Yamanaka clan, spoke up "So you think they know that Minato is his father. Do they suspect he has the Kyuubi sealed in him as well?"

Shikaku shook his head and said "I'm not sure but I don't think it would matter to them either way. Having the son of the Yellow Flash as a possible ally would trump all other concerns especially considering how close Iwa is located to Suna and the animosity between the two countries."

Shibi then asked "So assuming that the reason they want Uzumaki for the marriage is because of his lineage, what clauses have they put in the contract for their benefit? They would want to get something else out of this union or else they wouldn't take such a big gamble on an unconfirmed hunch."

Shikaku answered his question "The only major clause is that they want one of the children from this union to be married back into Suna. I'm sure they would want the child so they can use them to start a clan of their own. Even if they think they could be wrong about Naruto's father then Suna would still gain a strong bloodline in the form of the child of an Uzumaki and their own Kage's daughter."

Seeing that everyone understood the contract and reasoning he asked "So now that we know what Suna is asking for and offering us, we must discuss what to do with these terms and whether we accept them."

While the discussion was ongoing, Danzo had thoughts going through his head of how he could take advantage of the situation. 'I failed to get the Kyuubi jinchuriki for myself to train as a weapon because of Hiruzen's interference. However, this presents a new opportunity to obtain the offspring of two Kage for Konoha's benefit not to mention the other boons we gain for having such a strong kunoichi in our ranks. I just have to find a way to keep the jinchuriki loyal to our village instead of having too many priorities to Suna.' Pondering this, Danzo began to craft an idea of how he could keep most of the power for Konoha.

Taking control of the conversation Danzo spoke up "We should accept." Seeing that the council stopped talking and listening he continued "Temari is arguably Suna's most promising shinobi. She is reported to have the strongest wind affinity Suna has seen in many years and has shown to be a very dedicated kunoichi. Then there is also the fact that she is the daughter of the last Kazekage, which makes her practically royalty, and could also have the potential to pass on the Magnet Release bloodline."

Everybody started nodding their heads agreeing with his points and Danzo said "As for the issue of relinquishing a powerful child from the union to Suna, it is a negligible point. For starters, they lose a powerful asset in Temari which hurts them in both strength and politics. It will also take many years before the child can be sent to Suna and become part of their shinobi force, not to mention the amount of time it will take for a clan to be built up."

Looking around to make sure everyone is following he continued "Meanwhile we only gain from this deal. To start we get a powerful kunoichi right away who would make a good addition to our forces. We also get the prestige of having the princess of Suna in our village as well as the revivals of both the Namikaze clan and Uzumaki clan. Finally, we can have the clans built up much faster than Suna since our clans would have a generational head-start and have the possibility of more than one child to grow them with."

With these points made, the table fell into discussion again with several members agreeing with what was said. Finally, Choza asked "I see the appeal but it could also take several years to have any meaningful payoff. Do we still think it's worth it if this takes several generations for us to see results?"

Danzo tapped his cane and replied "I do believe the results are also worth waiting for. We could also have the process speed up by adding a clause that states Temari must be with child by a certain age. Since she is older than Uzumaki, maybe by the time he is eighteen she would be required to be pregnant. This would mean that it would only be about five years before they could start rebuilding the clan. With the possibility of multiple children the effect could increase greatly before too many generations."

Before the room could once again fall into discussion and whispers, Shikaku interrupted saying "I noticed you said clan instead of clans. I assume that you didn't just misspeak and you have a reason for it?"

Danzo remained stoic and nodded saying "Yes, it is true that it would take a while to rebuild a clan, not to mention two like we are suggesting for Naruto Uzumaki. That is why I have a proposal which could alleviate this problem. The solution is to have Naruto Uzumaki take a second wife, one from our own village. This would let him build both clans at once, while having a wife from Konoha would strengthen his ties here so he is not as prone to have more allegiances to Suna."

Silence permeated the table until Tsume growled out "I don't like it! Isn't there a way to revive both clans without Naruto needing to take a second bride? Also how are we supposed to explain to people that he needs to take a second bride without exposing people to the truth of Naruto's lineage too early!"

Ignoring her temper, Danzo answered "He could revive both clans with one wife but it would take considerably longer and have a much weaker potential. It also places a much larger strain on Temari to have enough children to populate both clans and have an offspring to marry back into Suna."

Tsume begrudgingly simmered down and Shikaku took over saying "With the issue of Naruto's lineage being revealed too soon, we have options there as well. We don't have to reveal the betrothal contracts to the public until later, so we could put off the knowledge of Naruto's parents until he is strong enough to protect himself. Master Jiraiya has told me that he wishes to take Naruto on a journey for a few years after Tsunade is settled in a little while as hokage. This would give Naruto several years training under a Sannin and he should become strong enough to protect himself and his family when we announce his lineage and betrothal contracts around his sixteenth birthday."

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Inoichi spoke up "If we're delaying revealing the marriages should we even bother with choosing a second bride right now?"

Shikaku shook his head and said "No we should go ahead and choose now. Not only will we need to inform Suna of our choices for this alliance to work, we also need to know because Temari will be moving here upon completion of the deal and we don't need her to have a head-start on securing Naruto's allegiance over our choice of bride. This will also give Naruto and his brides time to get to know each other and hopefully make the marriage process run smoother when it becomes time."

Adjusting his glasses, Homura asked "So we are informing Naruto and his other bride of the situation. Would this be in our best interests?"

Shikaku answered him "Yes we should inform them of what will be happening. Temari will already know and she shouldn't have to keep the secret from the other two. Also this will give them time to learn to get along and also plan out their future together before they are required to be married."

Danzo waited a moment before speaking up "Seeing as there are no objections we now must choose who will be the bride from Konoha. It is best to choose a girl from a clan instead of a civilian since they will be an integral part in founding one of the clans. Therefore they need to not only know the inner workings of clan politics but also potential sway in political circles."

Seeing no one step forward Tsume replied "I don't think it can be from the Inuzuka clan because there is too big of an age gap between Naruto and my daughter Hana."

Agreeing with her, Shikaku turned to Inoichi and asked "What about Ino? She's the same age as Naruto and could possibly work."

Inoichi sighed and shook his head "Sorry, I don't think that will work. To start with she really doesn't like Naruto. I often hear her say how annoying and loud she thinks he is." His face then turned into a grimace before continuing "She's also has a crush on Sasuke Uchiha and is a huge fangirl of his. That could not only cause trouble with Naruto but possibly with Temari too, since she might take offense to a fangirl sharing her husband."

While this was happening, Hiashi was deep in thought 'This could possibly be the answer I've been hoping for. If I marry off Hinata and make Hanabi the clan heiress then they will both be safe from the seal. It would also play into Hinata's strength since she might not be well suited to lead a clan, she is adept at clan politics and could play a supporting role very well." He then got a smirk on his face thinking 'It would also give the Hyuga clan a powerful new ally that has close ties to us." His smirk turned into a soft smile and thought 'This would also make Hinata very happy and fulfill her greatest wish even if she does have to share.'

Coming out of his stupor he noticed that everyone had stopped talking and was looking at him in slight confusion he perked up and straightened his back. Raising his eyebrow he questioned them "Yes?"

Shikaku mumbled "Troublesome" then spoke up "Every other member has given reasoning on why they don't have an available member eligible to be a bride. As I recall you have a daughter the same age as Naruto so what do you have to say for this arrangement."

Hiashi cleared his throat and replied "Yes my eldest daughter,Hinata, is from the same age group as Uzumaki. Considering this I believe that she would be the best choice for this arrangement."

Seeing that most of the council was slightly shocked he would agree, he continued "As you may know I have another younger daughter, Hanabi, who could take the place of Hinata as heiress. She has a more aggressive personality than Hinata and would make a better choice as a future clan head. However Hinata is well versed in clan politics, even more than Hanabi, and would be a good choice to assist in starting a clan. She is also much more gentle and soft spoken which can help to support Naruto and Temari in the future, both of whom have been seen to be loud and boisterous."

The council started talking amongst each other and discussing the advantages of this before agreeing that this would be the best choice. Shikaku spoke up "We believe Hinata would make for the most optimal pairing. Are you certain this is what you wish to do, Hiashi?"

Hiashi nodded and said "Yes, I think this is the best course of action and approve the choice." He brought his hands together before continuing "I will have to speak to the Hyuga council and obtain their approval but I don't anticipate them denying it when I tell them of Naruto's true lineage and the plans we laid out here today."

With Hiashi's words, the table fell silent once again. Seeing that no one else had anything to bring up, Koharu stood up and spoke "If that is everything then we will write up the contract and prepare to send it to Suna as soon as Hiashi gets approval from the Hyugas and Lady Tsunade arrives to be informed of our decision."

Upon everyone nodding, Koharu finished "Then this council meeting is finished."

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Land of Fire, a group was traveling on the road back to Konoha. At the head of the group is an excitable blond kid wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with a wide grin on his face. He would run ahead and then walk back trying to get the other members of the group to go faster.

"Come on" he whined. "We need to get back so Baa-chan can heal my friends." Trying to tug on his master Jiraiya's sleeve his idea was shut down by a fist on his head, courtesy of Tsunade.

"Calm down brat, we'll get there in just a few days going at this pace" she exclaimed. "We don't want to waste any energy by running when there's always a possibility of an enemy ambush." She then got a sour look on her face and shouted "And stop calling me Baa-chan!"

Naruto grumbled and said "I only call you that because you hide your true age with a genjutsu."

Tsunade developed a tick mark at this and was about to shout again when Jiraiya interjected "Naruto you shouldn't criticize a woman's looks or her age. They are sensitive to it and it could lead to a lot of pain for you if you say the wrong thing." He then got a perverted look on his face and added "If you want to know all the right things to say to a woman, then you should read my book series Icha Icha."

Chiming in Shizune, apprentice of Tsunade, spoke up "Master Jiraiya, you shouldn't be corrupting his mind with the content in your books." The pet pig she was holding, Tonton, squeaked out "Oink, Oink!" In agreement.

"Yeah Pervy-Sage!" Naruto shouted. "I don't want to read that smutty trash you write!"

Feeling insulted but not backing down Jiraiya countered "It's not smut, it's adult literature that has romance and passion with a side of spicy scenes!" He calmed back down and continued "It's fine though, you'll understand when your older. Plus I have a wide female viewer base that is only growing larger. Who knows, maybe your future wife is one of my readers!" He exclaimed with a laugh.

Looking skeptical Naruto replied "I doubt it. Sakura-chan hates those books and always complains when she sees Kakashi-sensei pull it out, so I doubt she wants to read it."

Sighing but not wanting to fight Naruto over the issue of his misguided affections for Sakura again, Jiraiya merely stated "We'll see."

Trying to steer the conversation in another direction Shizune spoke up "So Naruto, what are you planning on working on now that we saw you were able to do the Rasengan?"

Naruto started scratching the back of his head and sheepishly replied "Um I'm not really sure." Turning to Jiraiya he asked "Pervy-Sage, what should I be working on?"

With a tick mark he shouted "Stop calling me that!" Calming down he answered "I have an idea but it will have to wait until we get back to the village. I plan on telling Kakashi and he can help you with it."

Piping up before Naruto had a chance to complain about not learning it now, Tsunade said "I know what you can work on in the mean time." Seeing Naruto turn to her with an expectant look she continued "You should work on being able to make your Rasengan one handed and without the use of a shadow clone."

Naruto didn't look to excited and asked "Why should I bother to do that when it works just fine like it is now?"

Feeling miffed but deciding to answer she said "Because it will help you in battle obviously! Not only will it save you chakra but it will also save time that you would spend making a shadow clone. Plus there is always the chance you won't have both hands to make a shadow clone any time you need it."

Thinking it over Naruto nodded and shouted "You got it Baa-chan! Thank you, I'll get started right away!"

He started to run ahead of the group again but before he got too far Tsunade called out "Also try to decrease the time it takes to make a Rasengan! In battle every second matters! Don't overwork yourself either because I don't want to have to heal you from chakra exhaustion!"

Turning around Naruto saluted and then started to practice his jutsu.

Tsunade sighed and said "He gives me such a headache. I hope he doesn't give me as much trouble when we get back to the village."

Jiraiya laughed but said nothing. Meanwhile Shizune gave her an uneasy smile.

Tsunade sighed and shook her head saying "I have a feeling I'm going to regret taking the hokage hat."

A.N: Well, there we go. The first chapter of Winter Lily and Desert Rose. This is my first try at writing a fanfic so let me know how it went. As for why I chose the two girls I did, well Hinata is one of my favorite characters and her and Naruto is one of my favorite pairings of all time. As for Temari, I like her character a lot and I think she would mesh very well with Naruto. Plus this gives him more ties to Suna and cements a stronger bond with Gaara which I like. So I ended up choosing both of them. A little ambitious for my first story but we'll see how it goes. With that said I want to address some points

I have ideas of where I want this story to go but I don't have everything planned out so ideas are welcome.

Speaking of ideas, I have some for other stories but I'm welcome to any that you might have. It could be a while before I get to them though.

There is a possibility I might bash Sakura and Sasuke some but I'll try to keep it to a minimum as I know it can be very jarring to see it constantly.

Again like I said, this is my first story so any tips and ways to improve are greatly appreciated. Just please try to be respectful when you go about it.