Chapter 5: Gearing for the Exams I

KONOHA: TWO WEEKS SINCE LAST CHAPTER

The past two weeks had been interesting for everyone in Konoha as word spread of Naruto being back. While quite a few were upset at his return, they didn't dare do anything after the first few days. Why? Well some idiots tried to intimidate Naruto and force him to be their punching bag again, only for him to use them as training dummies before leaving them broken in the middle of the street for someone else to deal with.

The Anbu got them to the hospital, though they took their sweet time doing it, but they weren't able to save some of the limbs of those idiots due to the damage done.

Complaining did no good as Minato literally threw the people who complained out his office window not caring where they landed or who cleaned them up when they did land. He did ask Naruto not to make too much of a mess if the idiots tried something again since broken bodies and blood and other bodily items on the ground didn't paint a good picture for any visitors to the village.

Naruto hadn't gotten his meeting with Tsunade yet as she was busy with the idiots he sent to the hospital and her natural work while he had his own work of getting his clan home built, training with his new team and clan members, and doing missions with his team. Both their schedules were full and thus there was no time to sit and have an in-depth talk.

Speaking of his team, despite Zabuza being the "sensei" Naruto was teaching him just as much as he was helping Naruto. Reason being was that Zabuza hadn't had a real sword fight in years, so training with Naruto, Tousen, and Geralt was getting him back into shape as well as helping him expand his skill with his sword. Naruto even further helped by making his sword adjustable via seals on it. Now he could keep it as a zanbato or reduce the size to a tanto or anything in between as he desired or wanted.

Naruto did this mainly because of two reasons: 1) a zanbato was as much a slave to its size as the opponent was and thus you could only swing it in the 4 cardinal and the 4 ordinal directions with no room to improvise and maneuver the blade. 2) a zanbato was NOT ideal for cramped spaces or close quarts combat as you needed reach and brute force to fully use it, whereas if it's shorter you can have speed and precision.

To ensure Zabuza kept his muscle mass, he added a seal that could keep the weight the same even if it was shorter, but Zabuza could control the weight. It would make for devastating attacks if he kept the blade light for speed and then just as he's about to connect with a target, he increased the weight to maximum giving plenty of extra power from gravity and the weight to his hits. Naruto also worked with him on hand to hand combat so he was prepared should he lose his blade in the middle of a fight, he also recommended keeping the blade heavy as often as he could because he'd be able to move much faster if he did lighten the blade or lost it for whatever reason.

He also got Haku in on sword training when he presented her with one of the swords his clan kept hidden: Hyōrinmaru. It was a blade of high quality and it seemed to resonate with Haku, so he gave it to her as he was supposed to since the blade always chose the wielder. He wasn't going to risk backlash by denying the sword the person it chose to wield it, thus he and the others began training her to use it effectively. Namely focusing speed and agility since she was never going to out muscle someone like Zabuza, but she could outmaneuver and dodge to get openings to strike. Some could argue Tsunade's strength technique would be helpful for Haku, but Naruto knew it wasn't as versatile as Tsunade had people believe as it wasn't natural strength and it only enhanced your strength to a certain degree.

The demon brothers were training hard as well since they wanted to show they were worthy of being part of Naruto's clan and make Konoha happy that they took them in. So they were training as hard as they could while also improving their tactics since their puddle ambush needed quite a bit of work. Naruto was adding to their arsenal beyond their claws and chains since options saved your ass on the battlefield more often than not.

His rescued people were trying to find things they could do around the village. They had decided to stay in Konoha, and mainly hung around Naruto's group, but hadn't decided on if they would join Naruto's clan, partly because a few didn't know what they would do or what pressures it would entail. So, Naruto sat down with each of them and Rukia and talked with them on what they could do, what they wanted to do, what they liked to do, etc. etc.

Cattleya was a cream skinned milf (mature not mother) of a woman with large N cup tits that once were nearly on display from the apron style dress she wore and her big bouncy ass was also practically on display as her outfit rode up her ass crack leaving her cheeks out to jiggle and bounce as she walked, though the other girls talked her into going shopping with them to change it since she could wear that at home, but wearing it in the village was going to cause problems both for her and Naruto. Now she wore attire similar to Tsunade only hers was purple in color and the tights hugged her legs and ass a lot more. She had black hair that was done up in a bun and ponytail, hazel eyes that were accentuated by a pair of cute glasses, black leather gloves on her hands, and black calf high heeled boots. Helping her was easy as she loved forging, blacksmithing, and weapons to a near fanatical level, so Naruto was helping set her up with an old forge and weapons store that had been closed down and let her do as she pleased. He even offered to set up a forge on the clan grounds so she could work at home and maybe have some apprentices in the future. Cattleya was naturally ecstatic and happy at the offer and promised to properly show her thanks in the future.

Olvia was a tanned skinned woman with flowing silver hair, piercing blue eyes, EE cup breasts, a slim figure, and tight ass with long legs. Her attire was a blue tank top that showed off her cleavage, pale green hip hugging pants with a gold loop belt, black heeled boots, a silver trench coat, and a gold bead necklace. She was interested in history, reading, and learning a variety of new things. Naruto suggested she take up a job at the village's library so she could spend time among hundreds of books. Once he had it built, she could browse Naruto's entire library except what was restricted for the main house of the clan. Olvia was grateful especially since she could read the Uzumaki history in the future as well as study their culture and ways of doing things.

Bellemere was a true to form tomboy as she practically exuded a fierceness and no shit taking attitude, but her body showed she was a woman in all the right areas. She had red hair, though there wasn't much of it as she kept the sides of her head, and most of the top shaved down for whatever reason she chose, rust colored eyes, a set of E cup breasts, slender legs, toned body, and a perky ass. Her attire was a simple blue button up shirt, jeans, and black heeled sandals. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she did confess she liked tending to plants and trees as she used to have a tangerine grove before the Gato mess. Naruto, of course, offered to set her up an area to grow whatever she wanted since he planned out a large area to use as a garden, both for normal plants and for those used in poisons, salves, and medicines. Bellemere was grateful and until she had something useful to do, she was acting as a protector/escort for Tsunami, Yumi, and Megumi since they were the only three among the entire group that weren't fighters, though Yumi and Megumi both knew how to use poisons, but that wasn't always helpful if you were attacked.

There was also a bit of reunion as Bellemere and Nami knew each other very well. Apparently Bellemere raised her until she was 16 and then Nami had set out to start her own dream of seeing the world and studying how to make maps as she wanted to create the most accurate and intricate world map that ever existed. When she wound up meeting Naruto in hot water country, she decided to tag along to help stay out of trouble and see more of the world, then she fell for him and the rest is history.

Now the two were catching up and bonding some more with Bellemere teasing Nami about Naruto.

Branwen was a gorgeous beauty with flowing auburn hair, silver eyes, tanned skin, GG cup breasts, a big bouncy ass, a fit body that showed she trained regularly, wide hips, and powerful long legs. Her attire needed changing too with the girls help since she only had a white bra with a chain across her cleavage, a fishnet corset around her midriff, and a pair of white bikini bottoms. Now she had a black sports bra, red sleeveless vest that she left partially unzipped, gold metal cuffs, black tights, heeled spartan sandals, and a simple chain choker on her neck. She was a hard one to help since she grew up as a slave fighter in underground fighting arenas. All she knew was fighting, killing, and maintaining her gear. So, Naruto had her go with Olvia to the library and to look into a variety of things and see what she enjoyed, if she didn't find anything she could work with Cattleya helping to sharpen and maintain anything she created. Until that time, she was working with Bellemere as a guard for the couple women that didn't know how to fight or she was sparring and training with the others to keep in shape.

Aya was a darker skinned woman than Olvia, but lighter skinned than Yoruichi. She was an athletic woman with braided black hair, onyx eyes, E cup breasts, a lean and fit body showing she regularly stayed in shape, and a tight ass that begged to be spanked. Her attire was a white cloth shirt and pants that she then placed a yellow shawl over her left shoulder and had a blue skirt around her waist that primarily covered the left side. She had Spartan Sandals, leather bracers, two belts crisscrossed at her waist, and pauldrons on along with a simple cord necklace that had an eagle skull hanging from it. Around her neck was a hood that looked like a simple scarf unless she pulled it up. She was similar to Branwen somewhat in that she primarily knew how to fight. Where they differed was that she knew how to maintain a home as well as perform assassinations. Aya had been tracking down and killing a group of bandits that had attacked her home one day while she was at a nearby town to get groceries. She returned to find her home destroyed and her husband and 6 year old son dead. So she began training herself as best she could and began tracking and killing the different members, only to get caught after killing a few and was then sold into slavery, luckily untouched since the leader wanted the highest price possible for her. Naruto immediately set about training her to fight better as well as helping her learn some of the arts of assassination that he learned and drilling her into the ground in how to properly fight while also promising her to have his information network looking for the other bandits for her. Naturally, she was grateful for the gesture and promised to show her thanks and prove herself worthy of the trouble.

Lilith was red haired and had said hair swooshed to her right, gold eyes, pale skin, full pink lips, and she had blue tribal markings showing on different parts of her skin. She had DD breasts, tight ass, lean and fit body, long fit legs, and wide hips. Her attire consisted of tight fitting brown leather pants, black knee high boots, red halter tank top that showed off her tits, a yellow zip up vest that she stopped just under her tits, and then a tan and black half jacket with short sleeves to finish her look. She was also a bit of a conundrum since she was actually a treasure hunter and explorer for a long time while taking up the odd bounty to hunt for money as well. She missed her shot at a bounty and got captured for it before being sold off. She liked reading, training, weapons, and gambling, which made it a bit easier to find hobbies but not really for what she could do full time. She could fight though, she had a unique bloodline that worked like Jiraiya's camouflage jutsu, the Hyuga's Gentle Fist, and a high Fire Release. She could cloak for a limited time, release bursts of chakra from her hands as concussive blasts, and could manipulate fire to a degree. She also had a thing for knives and was adequately skilled with them and was acting as a guard for the girls too while also teaching said girls how to use a knife if necessary.

As for his future clan home it was progressing well since Tazuna's skill combined with Naruto's wealth and his army of clones meant the work could be done quickly and efficiently without risking poor materials. So far they had the shrine repaired completely, the area cleared, the foundation for the main house and a few branch houses set up, and the area marked out for the wall around the area.

It was a good start but not enough as Naruto wanted several things to be done still such as an onsen; both a private one for himself and his lovers and one for the others to use, with precautions taken so no one could do any peeping; a training ground and building since some exercises needed/benefitted from the enclosed space, armory, the library, at least a dozen or so homes, and plenty of room to expand if needed since seals could allow them to make the area bigger than it really was when needed, but the bigger the area the more intricate the seals had to be. Not that that was a problem since Naruto had been studying Uzumaki grade seals for years and thus had a very intricate and detailed understanding of them and their different functions.

When he wasn't doing those items, he and his team were doing missions, C to B rank as Zabuza wasn't putting up with D rank shit not when he knew both of his students could handle combat easily enough. If there wasn't an available C or B rank mission, they stayed in the village and trained or did work for the compound.

Of course, Naruto also saw some of his people as he went on missions with Itomi's team and of course introduced them to his girls especially since he was fine with them coming to train with his group.

He saw Kurenai when they weren't busy and introduced her to the others as well as offering to help her train since she had let some of her other skills slack while she focused on her Genjutsu. It was nice to have a specialty, but you shouldn't let your other skills slack off either.

Of course, he had dinner with Mikoto and introduced her to the others and was glad to see her getting back into shape. He could also tell the Konoha girls were slightly jealous/saddened by some of his foreign girls having MUCH bigger assets than them, but Naruto ensured they knew he cared about them beyond their bodies. Naturally, he saw Hiruzen and Biwako and had dinner with the Sarutobis to catch up and talk about things, both business and not and was happy to introduce them to Rukia and a few others of his girls.

Anko, Yugao, and Hana hadn't been seen yet, which he chalked up to them being out of the village on business. While Yugao was an Anbu guard for the Hokage and Anko was one of the chief officers of the T/I department, they were still sent on missions if they were the best qualified for them or at the very least there was no one else that could do the job that was available. He had already talked with Kurenai into doing a bit of a surprise for them when they did return to the village.

Another thing he needed to get done was set up things for his current lovers since he didn't want them just laying around the compound all day and he needed to talk to Tsunade to get three of them situated since Unohana, Triss, and Megumi were planning to help at the hospital and since that was essentially Tsunade's turf they needed her permission/approval to start working there. The others would need to wait a while for him to help get things set up since some wanted a shop, some wanted to do some specific work, and some were happy maintaining the home for him and their sisters. Rukia was already busy attending meetings as regent for the Uzumaki Clan while he was busy with other things and she wasn't afraid to make her voice heard in different matters, especially when it came to putting the idiot civilians into their place as they tried to protest reintegrating the Uzumaki Clan back into the history books and classes and then further when she was pushing for more training, classes, and education for the academy.

Rukia pulled no punches when it came to the Academy especially when it came to Kunoichi: tea ceremonies, flower arranging, EXTREMELY basic sex ed for seduction, sewing, and other nonsense, were they teaching Kunoichi or concubines and housewives?! Some of those things could be useful for Kunoichi that were undercover, but there needed to be enough for them to be lethal as well as blending in.

The idiots tried protesting stating that young girls shouldn't have to train in the harsher things with Rukia countering that they shouldn't be entering the ninja program to begin with then since there are times that you don't get a say in taking a mission or not, you're ordered and you go and perform. As her lover said, they kill for money, they seduce for money, they steal for money, they do all the jobs that Samurai won't/can't do because it would draw too much attention to their lord or stain their honor if they did. The ninja career wasn't some stupid fairy tale where women were safe and protected by knights in shining armor and the men only killed the evilest of people. No, women were raped, brutalized, sold into slavery, and treated like cattle in many areas, men slaughtered entire villages when it was necessary and killed by the hundreds when war came. The latter was evidenced by the Fourth Hokage having killed over a quarter of Iwa's forces in the last war by himself. The First, Second, and Third had caused just as much damage, just not in one battle.

If the civilian children couldn't take it then they could shut up and quit otherwise all they had to look forward to was death or worse.

Finally Rukia gave the ultimatum that either the village would improve the education at the academy or she would speak with Naruto and privately fund the changes of the academy, meaning only she and he would be picking what was taught and the village would have to suck it up if they didn't like what was being taught. Naturally they tried to protest, but Rukia pointed out the fact that as a private citizen and donating money to the academy, it was at HER and NARUTO's discretion on how it was spent or they'd simply pull their funding from the academy.

Hiruzen finally broke the argument by stating the village could afford such a thing and suggested to Minato that they meet over this again after the Chunin Exams since they were coming up soon and the village needed to prepare, both for the clients and for the visiting participants. Minato had agreed and Rukia accepted while mentioning that each person there should make a list of classes that SHOULD be taught and provide reasoning and uses for having the classes implemented, which was also accepted much to the annoyance of the idiots.

The Chunin Exams being imminent also leads us to here and now as Naruto and his team were in the Hokage's office as a slight problem had occurred. "You're serious?" Naruto asked in a neutral tone as he, Zabuza, and Haku stood in front of Minato, who nodded.

"I'm afraid so. You need a third member of your team, or you won't be able to compete in the exams. Not only is it rare to unlikely for there to be a three person squad, but you and Haku could have some unfair advantages due to there only being two of you. You've still got a couple months, but you'll need to hurry since there's a cutoff point." Minato stated knowing he couldn't show any favor in this matter, teams had to be three members no more no less.

Minato also couldn't help but take in the changes Naruto had gone through since, as he had claimed it would, his hair was now a deep crimson now and his eyes a dark purple from the usual Uzumaki purple mixing with his deep cerulean blue eyes. Aside from some facial features, there really wasn't anything that showed he was even remotely related to Minato anymore. Same for his wife and children as Kushina's hair was now a very dull red and her eyes were only a slight purple while his children now had more of his looks than that of an Uzumaki.

It merely cemented what Naruto claimed about his clan and them.

Minato broke from his thoughts as Naruto sighed, "Very well, we'll try to find a third teammate before the exams deadline." Naruto stated making Minato nod before dismissing them.

He hoped they'd find someone, but Minato had no way to help them as there was no one on the roster available. Most were either on long term missions trying to advance to Chunin outside of the exams or were recovering from wounds that wouldn't heal till past the deadline. Even if some could be healed, there was still rehab and therapy to go through before they were cleared for active duty again.

Worst comes to worst, Naruto could have one of his younger companions enlist as a shinobi just for the exams and then they could resign as soon as the individual part of them started.

Of course, that decision was up to Naruto since Minato doubted he wanted any of his companions involved if it could be helped. Minato would just have to wait and see what happens.

With Naruto, he sighed as he walked with Haku to get some lunch with the civilians giving them a wide berth while some were still glaring and scowling. "So now we need to find a teammate or we can't enter the exams." Naruto stated as Haku nodded as she walked beside him wearing a more form fitting battle kimono that had a slit up the left side showing the entirety of her left leg as she walked. The kimono also showed off her CC cup creases, slim figure, and bubble butt while her hair was now in a braided bun with two chopsticks holding it in place.

Of course, Naruto knew those chopsticks were both sharpened and coated in poison for an unsuspecting weapon.

"It would appear so, Naruto-kun." Haku stated as she was happy to get to have lunch alone with him since she had developed quite the crush in her new lord over the course of the past two weeks. She was struggling a bit to not go fangirl over him.

It took her a weak to not blush or stutter in his presence, something Rukia teased her over and only used it to further embarrass her when Rukia decided to "sample" her and ensure she knew what her future husband was getting.

She apparently passed as Rukia agreed to… help her learn to relax and be comfortable with her sexuality around Naruto. It was that reason she had no underwear on at all. Rukia gave "reasons" for how it would help her, but Haku believed it was for her own fun and making sure Haku was obedient to Rukia'a orders.

Not that Haku cared, sure it was embarrassing the first few days, but Haku quickly adjusted and now enjoyed the thrill. Naruto knew she wasn't wearing any as she had flashed him several times during spars against him. Even though all he did was smirk, the smirk told her all she needed to know to get a larger thrill. Haku also believed Naruto knew about her lack of underwear from the beginning, but decided not to comment for whatever reason.

Not that it mattered since Haku now only wore panties when there was a good chance someone else could see up her dress. That was partly why she was thankful for Rukia putting a seal on her that allowed her to summon panties onto herself or remove them at a moment's notice. She could go without and if she needed them she could have them on without anyone, but Naruto, being the wiser.

Arriving at the location, Haku smiled seeing it was Ichiraku Ramen since she had a acquired her own taste for the stuff in the past two weeks. She had joked with the girls that becoming part of the Uzumaki Clan meant gaining a love of ramen as a side effect, which the girls laughed at since they found they all didn't mind eating the stuff often.

Maybe it was an Uzumaki thing or maybe Ichiraku and Naruto just knew how to make ramen that was irresistible to everyone. Given that Ichiraku had been making ramen for decades and the Uzumaki had dozens of ramen stands and near thousands of ramen recipes, either one was possible.

Entering the stand, the two smiled at Ayame Ichiraku, owner and operator of the stand. Ayame had inherited the stand from her father, who had passed away a few years ago. Ayame had been heartbroken by it, but she had support from people especially since she and her father were close to Naruto so his friends came and supported the stand. Kushina and her kids came by occasionally, but the coldness from Teuchi and Ayame kind of ruined the mood for going.

Sitting down at the bar, the two smiled as Ayame came out in her usual blouse, skirt, and heeled sandals with her bandana keeping her hair out of her face. Of course, she had two buttons undone on her blouse making her EE cup breasts stand out even more as she smiled at the two, always seeming to know when Naruto was going to stop by and look her best, and sexiest, when he was.

"Hey you two, the usual?" Ayame asked in her usual cheery tone.

"Please and thank you." The two said while giving her a smile as well and she nodded and promptly began cooking and prepping several bowls worth of ramen.

"So how's business?" Haku asked and Ayame smiled.

"Good, though I wish I had some help and a bit more room." Ayame stated as Naruto looked around and smiled.

"You know, there's plenty of room to expand here, and I have some lovely ladies who are bored and love to cook." Naruto stated as Ayame smiled at him.

"That's sweet Naruto, and appreciated, but I don't have that kind of money." Ayame stated with a bit of sadness since she wanted to make the stand into something beyond even her dada's wildest dreams.

"Which is why I'm proposing helping you." Naruto stated as they got their first bowl.

"I don't want charity, Naruto. Even if you don't consider it such." Ayame stated and Naruto chuckled a bit.

"Which is why I proposing investing in the stand instead or even buying a part of, nowhere near enough to take it from you, but enough to help your conscience about me helping financially." Naruto stated after swallowing a mouth of noodles making Ayame frown a bit as she wasn't sure.

"I… I don't know, Naruto. I feel bad taking your money in any form." Ayame stated and Naruto smiled softly.

"How about this then: I'll take you to dinner and we can talk about it in detail and you can decide then." Naruto offered making Ayame stiffen with a blush while Haku tried not to choke on a mouthful of noodles.

"I… that is… uh…" Ayame stuttered making Naruto smile.

"I don't think I've ever seen you at a loss for words before." Naruto stated with a roguish smirk on his face that only made Ayame blush harder.

"I… I'm not sure Rukia would want me to do that." Ayame stated and Naruto chuckled.

"Are you kidding? When we were talking of making a harem, she essentially ordered me to ensure you and the others I was close to had a shot at being in said harem. If I didn't give you a chance Rukia would be annoyed." Naruto stated with his smile turning gentle and more loving towards her.

"A-are you sure?" Ayame asked as she served another two bowls before Naruto grabbed her hand.

"Please, Ayame, will you please go on a date with me?" Naruto asked softly making Ayame blush even more to the point she had steam coming out of her ears and Haku was giving her a jealous look.

"Ye-yes. I'd love to." Ayame said with a small smile as Naruto smiled and kissed her hand before letting her go letting her walk over and keep preparing the ramen as Naruto began eating.

Haku looked down as she began to pick at her ramen figuring she hadn't shown she was good enough to be with him yet. However, she stiffened and blushed as his right hand began caressing her thigh under her kimono and she was getting covered in goosebumps as he gently caressed her leg with his fingers tracing her thigh all over. "N-Naruto-sama." Haku squeaked quietly as she tried not to move too much, though it was hard especially when his hand trailed up and began caressing the outside of her butt cheek.

"You'll get your chance if you want it, Haku-chan, but I've known Ayame longer, I've cared about her longer, and I've got a history with her. You're still new to me, new to my girls, so it takes time. My girls trust Ayame to a higher degree because I do. It's nothing aimed at you, it's just I don't know you as well as I know her, I know her feelings aren't a crush that may change with time or may be using her body to help secure her and her precious person a place of safety and protection against their threats." Naruto stated glancing at her and she could tell he didn't mean the last insinuation, but it was something most people would consider and based on how protective his girls were of him, they no doubt had considered it.

"I… I understand. I promise I'll be patient." Haku stated before her breath hitched as his hand traced to the inside of her thigh and he was inches from her womanhood and was getting closer and closer.

"Good, as Rukia no doubt told you, being a good girl gets good things." Naruto stated with a small smirk as Haku blushed and she felt her womanhood quiver at that statement.

"Yes sir." Haku stated before Naruto slowly withdrew his hand dragging his index finger along the entire length of her thigh as he did.

"Good girl." Naruto stated before drinking the broth of his current bowl and starting on the next one while Haku now had to rub her thighs together as she ate her food.

Once the two had finished, Naruto paid with a nice tip on top of the bill, "I'll be in touch when I have the date ready, I know you'll want time to get ready." Naruto stated with a smile as Ayame nodded with a dreamy smile and a big blush across her face.

"I'll be waiting." Ayame stated as Naruto smiled and left with Haku, but the two didn't make it far before Shizune found them.

"Naruto-kun." Shizune called as she came up making the two stop and face her. "Tsunade-sama wanted me to inform you that she's free later tonight to talk with you about whatever you wanted to discuss." Shizune stated and Naruto nodded.

"Thank you Shizune, I'll be over tonight to talk with her." Naruto stated making Shizune nod with a smile before she left with a sway in her hips making her ass bounce and jiggle in her dress as she did making Haku sigh.

"You really do attract a lot of attention." Haku stated as Naruto laughed.

"Not intentionally, just seems to be the case when I am just being me." Naruto stated as they kept walking for home.

He'd worry about a teammate later, what he had to discuss with Tsunade was more important anyway.

THAT NIGHT: SENJU RESIDENCE

Naruto was dressed casually, but still pleasantly as he had a black button up shirt with the top three buttons undone, black pants, and and closed shoes. He wanted to look nice but not be overly dressed up since this was just a casual meeting with a possibility of dinner.

Knocking on the door, he waited a long moment before the door opened showing Tsunade there in her usual outfit minus the coat and she smiled brightly at him, "You're here, great." Tsunade stated as she let him in and he smiled at her before giving her a peck on her cheek.

"Something smells good." Naruto stated as there was a smell of food in the air.

"Just some miso soup. Shizune is working at the hospital for me, but she had already got everything for it and I promised to save her some." Tsunade stated and Naruto nodded as she closed the door and they sat down in the living room. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about? You said it wasn't anything bad, but that doesn't mean it was good either." Tsunade stated as Naruto nodded with a sigh.

"When I was in Whirlpool, I found something that concerns us." Naruto stated as he looked right at her, "I found a marriage contract between the Senju and Uzumaki Clans." Naruto stated and Tsunade frowned.

"So? That was fulfilled by my grandfather and grandmother." Tsunade stated but Naruto shook his head.

"No, the contract was created by Hashirama Senju and Mako Uzumaki with Mito signing it as a witness." Naruto stated surprising her, "It states that if either or both clans are reduced to single digits, the contract will be enacted and the last child of that clan will marry the first eligible partner. Since I am now the last known male Uzumaki and you're the last Senju, the contract has been enacted between us." Naruto informed making Tsunade nod.

"I see, and you and Rukia aren't happy about this." Tsunade stated looking down before she felt Naruto move next to her and cup her face before making her look at him and see he had a small smile on his face.

"I admit, it took me by surprise and Rukia was also surprised, but neither of us were angry or upset. I care about you Tsunade, both as a friend and as family, Rukia has great respect for you from me telling her about you. Our only concern was that we didn't want to force YOU into this since there was a likelihood you had no such feelings for me. I'm not going to say that I don't love you or think of you that way, but I want to get to know you even more, except now I want to know you as a woman not just my famous godmother who loves me." Naruto stated making Tsunade look at him in shock.

"So, what you're saying is-" Tsunade started and Naruto finished.

"That unless you don't want this, I'm perfectly fine being engaged to you. The contract doesn't say how long we have to be engaged for, so we have plenty of time to get to know each other and figure out if we want to get married to each other." Naruto stated with a smile as Tsunade nodded.

"Guess I'm a cougar now." Tsunade stated and Naruto eyed her up and down making her blush a bit at the intensity of his gaze.

"You definitely have the body for it." Naruto stated licking his lips making her shiver and blush more.

"Don't tease, I'm old enough to be your grandmother." Tsunade stated before looking down causing Naruto to frown.

"What?" Naruto asked and Tsunade sighed.

"It's… I'm at the point that it's severely unlikely I'll get pregnant, and I always wanted to be a mother." Tsunade stated as some tears went down her face and Naruto smiled softly before wiping her tears away and giving her a small kiss on the lips making her widen her eyes slightly.

"Don't worry about that, There's a way to do it, I'm sure, but for now we can focus on getting closer to each other and figure things out as we go, deal?" Naruto asked and Tsunade smiled and nodded.

"Deal." Tsunade stated as Naruto smiled as well.

"Great, now how about we eat? I'm sure the soup is done by now and I want to get to know Tsunade Senju, the woman, since I know plenty of the granddaughter of the first Hokage, slug princess, and renowned medic." Naruto stated as he stood and offered his hand, which she took before the two went to the kitchen and spent several hours talking, laughing, and getting to know each other as a man and woman.

Things were looking good for a future together.

2 WEEKS LATER: HOKAGE OFFICE

Naruto was once again in the Hokage office with his team, but this time it was because of a mission. He hoped it wasn't a lengthy one since he had two dates he had to be here for. Not only Ayame and their dinner/business date scheduled for a few days from now, but Mikoto had also wanted a date and she was scheduled for a couple days before Ayame since he needed time to set some things up for their date as he had something special for Ayame planned.

He had something planned for Mikoto too, but the prep wasn't nearly as long as it was for Ayame.

Beyond that, he had no problems since Tsunade had gotten Megumi, Unohana, and Triss into the hospital, though a few patients ended up having an extended stay due to some comments that were made to the three. It ranged from some demanding sex since they were willing to fuck the demon, so they should be willing to fuck a normal person, to basically saying they'd rather die than be treated by a demon's whore or bitch. There were also the perverts who wouldn't respect them and kept trying to grope them.

Naturally the three didn't take kindly to that, and made their displeasure known along with Tsunade and Shizune. It was even worse when it was shown some nurses were purposely going against the three foreign women's orders on treatment regardless of who was being treated. The doctors were fine since Tsunade and Shizune vetted them thoroughly and even had a trusted Yamanaka doing mind screenings at times to ensure that. They didn't think the nurses would try anything since the doctors filled out their own orders and a copy always went to Tsunade to review in case there was a better treatment or maybe there was something the doctors missed so there wasn't much of a way to sabotage the doctors, but apparently those nurses didn't care if they were caught since what did some foreign sluts know about medicine?

That was nipped in the bud VERY quickly especially since with Naruto's help Tsunade now had the Shadow Clone Jutsu and thus could get her work done easier and have more time to relax. Shizune could use it too, but her reserves weren't high enough to do too many clones but it still helped cut her work down. Naruto of course warned against dispelling too many clones at once since the backlash would be a bitch.

Another item was Cattleya had her own shop though she wasn't opening it for another week since she wanted time to forge her own stock of weapons and armor in the shop.

At the here and now, they were in the office because a new mission came. Hence the extra person in the room, who was a man in his 20s with long black hair, black eyes, and a lean build. He had a green shirt, grey pants, black sandals, a kunai holster on his right leg, a simple metal pauldron on his left shoulder, and finally a headband on his head showing he was from the Hidden Waterfall village.

"Good, now that you three are here, we can begin. This is Shibuki-sama, the leader of the Hidden Waterfall Village, your mission is to escort him back home and ensure he arrives safely. There's been word of a few rogues in the area, so depending on the situation the mission may have more added to it as necessary." Minato instructed making them nod. "Very well, Shibuki-sama wishes to return today so you have an hour to prepare and head out." Minato stated and Zabuza shrugged.

"We are ready to leave right now, if Shibuki-sama is." Zabuza stated looking to the man, who nodded signaling that was fine. "Then let's go." Zabuza stated before the four left leaving Minato to his work.