Chapter 11

"Excuse me, Commander General? Do you have a moment?"

Naruto looked up from his desk, relieved for the distraction even if he'd never admit it. The Mizukage was leaning slightly inside the flap to his command tent, looking at him expectantly.

"Of course, Mizukage-sama. Come in."

Nodding quickly, the graceful woman moved into the tent, sealing the flap behind her and then performing a brief hand sign to enable the privacy seals. The seals were known between all of the Kage and Jonin Commanders for when they needed to make tough decisions. Unfortunately they were the only two combat-capable Kages remaining, since the others were either dead, crippled, or missing.

"We're alone now, Naruto. Since it's just the two of us, I think we know and respect each other enough that we can use our names."

One of the blond's eyebrows raised a bit as he looked at her curiously for a moment, but he decided to go along with it since there was no real reason to refuse. They were fairly close due to necessity more than any real desire to be, at least from his perspective. There was no denying that Mei was a very attractive woman, but due to the way he grew up (not to mention his mentors) he was firmly of the 'look but don't touch' mindset.

Unless they wanted to be touched, that is.

"If... that's what you desire, Mei," Naruto said, leaning back in his chair.

He waited for her to acknowledge him using her name and then explain what she wanted to talk about, but the slightly older woman was staring off into space, an almost... dreamy, he guessed... look on her face. Naruto wasn't sure what was going on, so he cleared his throat in hopes of getting her attention. When that didn't work, he shrugged and went back to checking assignments, figuring she'd talk when ready.

It was nearly a full minute later when he heard her move, and he spotted her hands resting on the other side of his desk over the edge of one of the papers he was looking at in his hands. Upon looking up, he paused for barely a moment as she was leaning over the desk and her cleavage was almost perfectly eye-level. Knowing better than to linger, he kept looking up, and almost did a double-take at the rather sensuous look she was staring at him with.

"Naruto..." she began with such a breathless voice it sent shivers down his spine, "There are many things that I desire, and hearing my name spoken by you is a simple one that you have now fulfilled. I have another desire, however, and that is to go back to Mist as I have been hearing some rumors that I feel need my attention."

The blond frowned internally, trying to keep his face impassive as he leaned back in his chair. If she went, that would pretty much leave him as one of the last remaining of the Kages. Sure, the Raikage was still around to a certain degree but since he had been crippled he had gone back to Cloud weeks ago, spending his time gathering as much intelligence as possible while shoring up the village's few remaining defenses. As the days dragged on, however, the ability to gather knowledge dwindled as more and more people succumbed to the Red Moon. Not to mention that a report from Kumo was nearly two weeks overdue.

Moving forward and propping his elbows on his desk, he rested his chin against his fists and looked up at Mei's face, trying to avoid looking at her obvious presentation. She was literally leaning halfway across his desk now, and her arms were pushing together against her chest to make it stand out even more. He was sorely tempted to stare, to hell with any consequences... but he had a sneaking suspicion that Mei would let him get away with doing almost anything. As for the reason why... he was still trying to piece that together.

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" he asked.

"As long as necessary," was her immediate response.

He couldn't help sigh. "That means I'll probably never see you again."

"Yes, that is something I had considered. I felt I should at least give you the opportunity to try to convince me out of leaving, if you feel it is necessary."

Naruto let his head tilt forward as he closed his eyes. He really couldn't think of any reason to keep her here – it was already a war of attrition, sometimes it only felt like they were delaying the inevitable. Tobi's thralls had them outnumbered one hundred to one already, and it was only going to get worse. The only real advantage they had is that they could still think for themselves, whereas the thralls pretty much had to be controlled by Tobi, and even he could only control so many at a time.

All attempts at tracking Tobi down to finish him or destroying obelisks powering the genjutsu had been fruitless. Efforts were now being made to find alternatives, and a tip from the recently desceased Tsuchikage seemed to be the best bet. The hardest thing now was getting to Uzushiogakure – the remains of it, anyway – while trying to keep hidden what they were looking for.

Opening his eyes and leaning back in his chair once again, he nodded at Mei, who had since stood up again but now had her arms folded under her breasts as she stared at him with her uncovered eye. He squelched the sudden burst of curiosity that he always got when he wondered why she kept her other eye hidden.

"Well, it will be a shame to lose one of the best and most beautiful kunoichi we have, not to mention that you're Mizukage. But I understand where you're coming from, if we were far from Konoha and I heard negative rumors I'd want to check on them too. Good luck, and hopefully we'll meet again."

Her posture changed immediately, from somewhat relaxed to rigid, and instead of staring off into space like last time, her head tilted forward enough so that he could no longer see her eye. He was about to ask if something was wrong, but she spoke before him.

"Did you... did you... what you said, did you really mean that?"

"Uhm," Naruto was trying to figure out what her problem was, if it was a problem, so honesty was likely the best approach. "Yes, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

"I'm really... beautiful?"

The blond's mouth opened and closed wordlessly for a second before he nodded, and snorted out that 'anyone who doesn't think so is obviously blind'. It didn't take much thought on the matter in the first place. They were only about a decade and a half apart in age, no big deal for shinobi - and if he actually had some free time he might have asked her to go get dinner sometime; dinner that wasn't ramen, too. The more he thought about it though, the more ironic it was, because if it wasn't for the war changing his personality and having them work together, he probably never would have met her in the first place. At least not until he made Hokage under his own merits.

Mei visibly relaxed as he mused about their current situation. She looked back up, immediately searching out his eyes. She smiled, though it was faint, and even let out a small laugh. "You're the first real man to tell me that to my face, would you believe that?"

He didn't, or at least wasn't sure what she meant by a 'real' man, and his face showed it. "You've got to be kidding."

She laughed again, though there was no humor in it. "No, I'm not. I've overheard men comment about me when they didn't think I could hear, and after threatening to kill them if they couldn't say those things to my face, it stopped completely."

Naruto could imagine that they likely didn't exactly speak tactfully when talking amongst themselves, Kiba was a prime example. Knowing how powerful she was, though... threatening them with death likely made them keep quite a distance.

"Well, with how powerful you are, threatening them with death probably scared anyone off that wanted to say it directly to you."

She nodded slowly, then began to turn away. Naruto thought she was going to leave so he leaned over to deal with the assignments again. Her footsteps sounded like she was moving away, but then they moved closer before moving away again. Looking up he saw that the Mizukage was literally pacing back and forth inside the command tent. The blond watched her for a moment with a raised eyebrow before going back to his work yet again.

He didn't bother timing how long she paced, but it didn't feel like very long before she had her hands on his desk again and was leaning forward. He looked up in surprise as she had leaned most of the way across the desk this time. Any further and their noses would be touching, so he slowly leaned back in his chair to give them some space.

"Naruto."

"Mei," He stated her name with little inflection, wondering what in the world was going on. When he actually looked at her face now, though, she wasn't meeting his eyes, and was instead looking down as she leaned over his desk. Though he couldn't tell clearly, it looked like she was blushing.

"I-I've never... thought about... you know... quite like this before. I... u-um, do you... want to?"

Naruto's mind was going a mile a minute. He had never seen Mei acting like she was now. He had an idea about what she was asking, but figured it was best to be sure.

"Do I want to... what?"

"I-idiot!" She looked back up towards his face sharply, her expression a mix between anger and want. "Are you going to make me spell it out for you?"

Naruto bit back a chuckle, but the mirth must have shown on his face because she scowled at him, but it looked rather cute because she was clearly blushing. He wasn't the obtuse teenager he used to be anymore either, war could make a person mature quickly, and the fact that he was put in charge only sped it up more. Relationships were something he was never good at, though during war it didn't really matter. Especially not when kunoichi started coming to him because they were curious just how 'powerful' he really was.

Needless to say, he lost the last of his innocence after rescuing what he thought was a rather timid Suna kunoichi from being killed by her squadmate who fell to the genjutsu mid-mission. He quickly found out that night she wasn't very timid at all – her thanks kept him quite occupied during what would have otherwise been free time for the next few days.

Bringing his mind back to the present, the fact that he was powerful enough to be able to fluster a Kage was not lost on him. After she scowled he couldn't help but smile and retort, "No, I have a rather vivid imagination. Would you like to hear what I'm imagining right now?"

Mei's visible eye widened for a moment before she let out a low giggle of her own and started to climb over the desk. "No. In fact, I think you should just shut up. Otherwise... well..." Mei licked her lips, almost to his side of the desk, "...I'll have to kill you."

The Mizukage didn't give him a chance to say anything further anyway as she leaped at him from the desktop. His chair wasn't built to support both of them and he was only vaguely aware of his back and head hitting the ground with Mei on top of him. The small flash of pain was ignored in favor of the better feeling of her lips pressing against his, followed by her tongue entering his mouth.

One of his last rational thoughts before instinct took over was that he was glad she had activated the privacy seal as she entered the tent. They were definitely going to need it. Though perhaps she had planned this all along...

"Naruto-sama, here are the files you requested."

The blond turned to acknowledge and thank his 'assistant'. "That was fast, Mei-san."

The teenager with shoulder-length auburn hair gave her 'boss' a quick smile. It might have lasted longer, but Naruto didn't bother to wait and see as he quickly shuffled through the papers he had been handed. There was currently a zoning dispute between two of the lesser-known clans that had arrived in Konoha which he was trying to resolve by pulling up the original plans.

"Well, you did ask me to file everything pertaining to the new clans, remember? It's only natural that I remember where I put things."

Naruto tossed the younger girl a brief grin before focusing on the sheets of paper once again. She had been hovering around him more than usual for some reason since he got back from his mission. He hadn't really heard any rumors surrounding himself and Mikoto yet, but that didn't mean there weren't any out there that he wasn't aware of.

Refocusing his thoughts on the papers in his hands again, sometimes he felt having to do all this stuff was a real nightmare, but unfortunately he had pretty much brought all this on himself by getting the clans into Konoha in the first place. Even though the mission was technically a success, he had to hand it for Sarutobi pulling one over on him when he had asked for Naruto to handle the arrivals.

This was a logistical nightmare.

Lately he'd found himself missing his somewhat-innocent youth, having not to worry about anything but people giving him the cold shoulder. Now though? They all wanted his attention. It wasn't even this bad when he had been Hokage briefly during the war, though to be fair at that point he had plenty of capable people under him that were able to make decisions without needing his input.

He was certainly appreciative of the Terumi clan and all the help they had provided, essentially working as an 'umbrella' clan of sorts to funnel any issues through. The other clans that had left Kiri for Konoha would present issues to the Terumi clan for a potentially-speedy resolution without needing to involve other clans of Konoha, Naruto, or the Hokage himself. Unfortunately this zoning issue was one that went over the capabilities of the Terumi to solve, therefore Naruto was called upon to deal with it. If he didn't nip it in the bud now it would have to be dealt with in Konoha's General Council, and that was a whole other mess that he was hoping to completely avoid.

Konoha's General Council was pretty much what it was described as – a Council of clans that handled a large portion of the day-to-day issues of the village. Obviously there was way too much happening in a hidden village for the Hokage to handle every single issue. The military angle was taken care of by the ANBU Commander, the head of Torture and Interrogation, Jonin Commanders and various Elite Jonin in the force.

The civilians were watched over by the General Council. While the council had no say whatsoever in military matters, it was essentially the group that handled all the requests and issues from the civilian sector. Even with that, however, the Hokage still had the final say in any matters concerning the village, civilian or otherwise. It was much the same way for the Fire Lord, who appointed Governors, Mayors, and Generals to handle other towns, villages, and the country's foot soldier military... the clans of Konoha did the same for the Hokage.

While Naruto didn't remember the lesson from the Academy, he did remember Shikaku beating the lesson into his head once he was given the position of Hokage. Though the Fire Lord and Hokage of Konoha were said to be of equal footing in the power hierarchy, it all depended on how you wanted to look at it. From a pure power perspective, the Hokage won the power struggle without a doubt. A single skilled shinobi could wipe out dozens of regular foot soldiers while barely breaking a sweat. The Hokage alone could wipe out entire armies.

Yet from another perspective, a hidden village could only last so long without proper funding. Funding that the Fire Lord was able to provide. Essentially the hidden villages were paid protection to the countries they were located in. Some may see it as a bribe, while Naruto tended to see it in a more pragmatic light. The village needed the funds to survive, and in turn protected the source where those funds came from.

It went without saying that the Lords of their respective countries were rather... dismayed... whenever armed conflict between villages happened, because the entire country got dragged into it whether they wanted to or not. No smart Lord was going to abandon their own hidden village. The only country that even came close one time was Wind, but that was mostly because Sandaime Kazekage was missing without a replacement for a long time and the Yondaime was seen as too young and incapable. More and more business had been granted to Konoha, up until the failed invasion. If not for his eventual friendship with Gaara, Naruto knew – Sunagakure may have eventually been abandoned.

Naruto looked around for a moment, heading towards one of the construction groups where the two clan representatives still looked to be bickering. The one thing he didn't really care for about representatives like these is that while they were arguing for what they felt was best for their clan, they typically weren't the leaders of said clans, nor were they in any real position of authority. They just argued to see who could get fed up first, then left to report to whoever was in charge. The same kind of things happened in General Council meetings all the time. Luckily there were some ways to stop it, especially once the higher authorities in the council got involved.

There were three levels to the General Council, though some joked that there were three and a half because of the Hokage's advisers, made up of the ANBU and Torture and Intelligence heads, the Jonin Commander, and anyone else of the Hokage's choosing. Sarutobi had chosen his old teammates and Shimura Danzo. Naruto had chosen Nara Shikamaru and Shizune. While the Hokage was at the top of the tier and had the final say in everything, those closest to the Hokage could certainly have an effect on swaying opinion.

The second tier was made up of Konoha's five strongest clans. The Uchiha, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Aburame, and the Nara. Three of the clans (Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Aburame) formed the backbone of Kononha's Hunting and Tracking division, while the Uchiha pretty much staffed two-thirds of the Konoha Military Police. The Nara were the main suppliers of over half of Konoha's medical goods stockpile thanks to the huge forest preserve they maintained.

The bottom tier was the lesser clans – they were technically the ones who handled most of the day-to-day issues. People from all walks of life from the lowest beggar to civilian entrepreneurs championed their causes before any one of the lower clans, offering things from future services to discounts to specialized goods so that the lesser clan would either deal with an issue directly or go to the General Council for resolution. The clans all managed to check each other so that no one went out of control, but just in case one did, either one of the second tier clans would step in... or in some extreme cases, even the Hokage would.

In most cases, members of the General Council were the leaders of their clan, but those that chose not to often had clan members elect from within to represent them in the council. The last clan to be promoted to the second tier was the Nara about two years ago, while the Terumi had just been added to the council on the lowest tier right before Naruto had left on his mission with Mikoto.

This little spat, however, had gone beyond anything the Terumi clan was capable of solving directly. Hence his current presence. The General Council could have solved it, certainly... but not within any reasonable time frame.

"For the last time, it had already been decided before you even showed up what our boundary would be! It isn't fair for you to come along and change it now!"

"Be that as it may, it was also stated that the boundaries would be adjusted as needed depending on population requirements. You are aware that our clan members outnumber yours by quite a margin."

"Only when you include those families who are in service to your own clan! If you only count legitimate members of the Housen, then you have less members than us!"

"Now see here-"

Naruto let their voices fade out slightly as he watched them continue to bicker. The poor construction foreman nearby was leaning against a crate which looked to have building plans scattered about on top of it. His face was covered by one of his other hands as his head slowly shook back and forth, likely getting rather upset about how this whole thing was playing out.

The two clans involved were the Housen and the Kyomizu. Both were relatively skilled with water techniques, though in different ways. The trait that the Housen clan had allowed them to manipulate water in living things, though it only worked well on plants. Many people mistook this ability as one that allowed them to control plants directly, and when they were introduced to Hiruzen, he nearly mistook them for having a bastardized version of mokuton. One of the things that they used their skills for quite often was to build boats, housing, furniture, and weapons, as they could manipulate wood in ways a carpenter could only imagine. With forests surrounding their new home, it was very easy for them to fit right in, and they were already popular with construction crews.

The Kyomizu had the ability to manipulate water in such a way as to make it 'hard', causing it to take on a rather crystalline appearance, likely making any random opponent think it was something other than water. They could essentially make it solid without having to freeze it, like the Yuki clan did. Unlike the Housen clan though, their ability was typically only combat oriented, like most of the other arrivals from Kiri.

"Excuse me, honorable representatives. May I speak?"

The two immediately stopped arguing and looked at him. The Housen representative immediately mellowed out, while the Kyomizu member simply looked even more exasperated.

"I'm sorry you had to come out here, Uzumaki-sama, but as I'm sure you heard we are having a bit of a disagreement. My colleague here feels that they aren't-"

"Hey! Don't go speaking for me! You should know that-"

"Silence!" Naruto shouted, projecting a small amount of killing intent to make sure that the order was followed. Both representatives immediately closed their mouths and turned to face him again, paling as they did so. Naruto had no idea if they were civilians or shinobi, but either way they were giving him a headache.

"Before I kindly asked if I could speak, not if someone would speak for me. This time, however, I will tell you that I am speaking. Do I make myself clear?"

The Kyomizu representative shakily nodded his head, but the Housen one opened his mouth to speak again. Naruto cut him off with a shushing gesture.

"Shh. You don't need to say anything at this point. Just shut up and listen."

When both of them remained silent, he continued.

"Since I've heard it's been nearly an hour and neither of you has been able to reach a mutual decision, and the Terumi clan cannot make a decision like this without further input from someone who is allowed to, I was called in to assist. Both of you know who I am – I'm the best you're going to get short of talking to Hokage-sama, so I'll be making your decision for you."

This time the Kyomizu member looked about ready to say something, but quickly shut his mouth again when Naruto simply stared at him. The blond offered the man a sardonic smile. "Good. If you had said anything, I may just let this whole issue go languish in council proceedings for a month or more. Then when your clan heads come to you for explanations, you can tell them why."

Grumbling, Naruto walked over to the crate where the building plans were, noticing the foreman quickly moving out of the way. The blond simply nodded at the man, who returned the gesture with a shaky smile. Pulling out two sheets of paper from his own small stack, Naruto waved them at the representatives before slamming them down on top of the wooden box. There was a slight cracking noise from one side of the crate, and Naruto had to hold back a wince. He wasn't hurt, but he hadn't meant to slam his hand down that hard. Poor box.

Making sure his features were set in a neutral mask, he turned back to look at the representatives once again. "Here are both of the original agreements, written and signed by your respective clan heads. In the event of any disputes regarding clan boundary lines, an arrangement shall be made that will not inconvenience either clan. From looking at the plans and the boundary lines that you both want adjusted, I can give you two options."

Gesturing them over, they quickly scuttled over to the the crate, with the construction foreman following. Pointing at the lines with the various boundary lines, Naruto gestured at the first one. "Now, if I'm reading this correctly, the Kyozumi want this line?"

Seeing the representative nod, Naruto continued, "Very well, then that means the Housen want the other line, which is reasonable, but not really needed as this land is technically being set aside for clan members only. Any sub-houses or clans are responsible for their own accommodations, which either have been built already or are in the process of being built now. If you want to have them in a clan-specific area, then your clan is more than welcome to buy further land or buildings in and around Konoha, as the Terumi and Kaguya have done.

"So here are your options. First, going by what I've said, you can leave the lines as they are. Secondly, you can take the area between the two specified lines and consider it joint-clan territory. How you want to run it and build things there will be up to your clan leaders, but it is an open option of no other agreement can be made. I would have ruled in favor of the Kyozumi, but since you decided to modify the boundaries as well more in your favor as a response to the Housen, I won't.

"Those are your two options gentlemen, work together, or go back to the original plan. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one to pick. Though if this issue makes its way back into my office again, I'll have all the other clans that arrived here with you decide your fate."

When he finished talking to the now-abashed representatives, he gestured for the foreman to approach. The man did, if a bit slowly. Naruto simply shot the worker a disarming smile, hoping to ease any tension. "Give them the rest of the day to figure this one out, eh? I figure they'll need to speak to their respective heads anyway. You and your men can have the rest of the day off, report back tomorrow."

The foreman immediately smiled and thanked the blond, swiftly moving off to let his workers know. Without another word, Naruto started walking away, weaving through various bits of construction and doing cursory examinations of new buildings he passed. His mind was currently a mix of thoughts, most of which were revolving around hope that he made the right decision regarding those two. He'd seen way to many circular arguments like that in the past that would get nowhere because neither side wanted to back down.

Sighing to himself, Naruto figured he might as well get something to eat since it was well past noon and he hadn't eaten yet. Maybe there was a chance he could stop by the Uchiha district later when he finished work and see if Mikoto wanted to go do something.

After a few minutes of wandering, a light breeze brought with it the sent of freshly cooked ramen, and the blond's mouth immediately started watering. From where he was approaching, he could see the stand ahead, and it looked like there was someone with red hair sitting there. Since the only person he knew of in the village with bright red hair like that was Kushina, he went ahead and called out for her.

"Hey, Kushhwaaa-"

In the middle of calling out for her, his arm was grabbed and he was pulled into one of the nearby small alleys. Shinobi instincts immediately began to kick in as he tried to twirl out of the way, but in the process of trying to move his back hit the stone wall of one of the buildings. Preparing to jump out of the way, he only stopped for a second when his eyes finally settled on just who it was that had pulled him into the alley.

"Mei-san? What are you doing?"

She still had a grip on his arm, and grabbed his other wrist without him resisting. The look on her face was one that he had seen directed at him before from her... though many years in her future.

"Naruto-sama... you were amazing back there."

"Back... back there? You mean with the representatives?"

"Yes." Mei murmured, before pressing her body up against his. Unlike Mikoto, who was the same height as he was, Mei was a few inches shorter, like Kushina, and he found himself trying not to look down at her.

"Mei-san, what are... t-this isn't right."

"It isn't?" Mei's voice sounded more amused than anything else. "I know you've been looking at me. You have a hard time being discreet. Imagine how sad I was when I realized that you stopped looking at me this past week."

Naruto found himself gritting his teeth. She had been with someone, so of course he stopped. Not only that, but he was with Mikoto now. What happened to the shy girl he had gotten to know who had been helping him out for weeks? If it was just an act... damn she was a good actress. Maybe that's how she got the Mizukage spot, her cunning in addition to her bloodline releases would make her a formidable enemy for anyone to face.

Naruto tried not to sigh, instead opting for trying to convince her to take the high ground. "Mei-san, you were with someone, I stopped looking – as you put it – when I found out. Not only that, I'm with someone now."

He heard Mei snort. "That man asked me out, thinking I was a timid little girl that he could show the ropes. Let's just say that I showed him a thing or two when he tried to go further than I was willing. As for you being with someone... well, I want to prove that I'm better."

Naruto couldn't help himself, he looked down to give the young woman an incredulous look. There was more going on here than he and Mikoto dating on a whim, and besides, he wasn't that kind of person.

As he opened his mouth to state as much, Mei took the initiative and moved forward again, pressing her lips against his in a hard kiss. Naruto could only stand there in shock, eyes wide, as he felt her tongue momentarily brush against his. As soon as he got his bearings and prepared to push her away, the pressure against his body and lips was gone, replaced by a sudden shriek that made him wince at the volume.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and then frowning, Naruto looked to see what happened. He stopped looking around, completely shocked to see a mane of red hair that was waving about in front of him, separated into nine equal parts. Terror immediately struck him, only for relief to immediately follow when he realized that she wasn't facing him. From what he could see around Kushina, Mei was staring at the redhead in mixed parts fear and anger as she rubbed the side of her head. Apparently Kushina had pulled her by the hair, at least in part.

"I heard everything! What are you doing to Naruto-aniki?" Kushina growled out.

Mei's eyes widened for a moment before she frowned. "Aniki? I wasn't aware he had any siblings."

Kushina's hair stopped waving about, and even though Naruto couldn't see her face, her voice was sounding smug. "I'm Uzumaki Kushina. You may have heard of me by another name." Once again her voice dropped down into a growl.

"Konoha's Red-Hot Habanero."

Recognition did dawn on Mei's face, though it was quickly masked by amusement. As the other young woman slowly climbed to her feet. Naruto saw her step into a stance that he recognized, it was one she often took up when she was getting ready to spew one of her bloodline techniques.

"Red hot, you say? I wonder just how hot." Mei's mouth was open slightly as she talked so that it looked like her tongue was a glowing orange color, not to mention the smoke that was starting to exit from the sides of her mouth. The smoke itself was of a bluish-green tint, so that was definitely the telltale sign of her boil technique – what the Terumi clan was known for. However she had not unlocked the lava technique yet, at least not that he knew of... so was it beginning to show itself in an unconscious manner?

He didn't get an opportunity to think upon it any further as Kushina was about ready to return the challenge. The blond could feel both Kushina's and Kurama's chakra spiking... at least until Naruto put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kushina-chan, Mei-san, stop."

Kushina's head turned to look at his hand, and then briefly at him with an upset expression before facing her opponent once again. "But Aniki!"

"No buts. Stop. You too Mei-san. We don't need a scene, and you spitting out steam will definitely cause one."

He heard Kushina gasp and mumble next to him as he took a step forward around her. Naruto stared at Mei, who was looking back and forth grumpily between him and the redhead. Growling, she shook her head before her cheeks puffed up and she spit out a reddish-brown glob onto the ground nearby. It quickly cooled, turning black; she was further along in her new technique than Naruto realized.

He was tempted to ask about it, but decided to clarify the situation instead before things got out of and. "Yes, Kushina is my little sister. She was stopping you because, like I said, I'm seeing someone now. I admitted already that I was interested in you before I saw you with someone else, but I stopped immediately after. You always struck me as shy, so I was planning on getting to know you a little better by having you as my assistant before I asked. I guess that's just how life works though."

Mei was clearly frowning and had folded her arms under her chest, pushing it up slightly. "So wait, you were interested in me before that other guy asked me?"

Naruto nodded slowly.

"Who are you with now?"

Naruto glanced over to Kushina, who was still staring at the auburn haired girl, looking aggressive. Letting his gaze drift back over to Mei, he answered her, "Uchiha Mikoto."

"An Uchiha? Seriously?"

Once again, Naruto nodded slowly. Instead of being upset, angry, or any other reaction he had expected her to have, she instead grinned and pointed at him. "Hah, I bet I can win you over from her! I know the Uchiha are strong but she can't threaten me by copying my techniques and using them against me! You tell her that she now has Terumi Mei as her competition for the heart of Naruto-sama!"

Naruto found himself gaping in disbelief, and it was up to Kushina to try to make her stop. "Naruto-aniki is already with Mikoto-nee! You can't interfere with that!"

Mei had turned to run off, but stopped short, turned around, and stuck her tongue out at Kushina. "Who cares! In my opinion, until he's married, he's still available!" When she finished, she looked at Naruto and winked. "See you tomorrow, Naruto-sama!"

Naruto could only stare, still completely dumbfounded as Mei ran around the corner. As he began to pull out of his slight stupor, he idly noted all the other people that had been around, observing the incident, and were now whispering among themselves. It wasn't too hard to notice occasional glances of pity and jealousy from both males and females.

"Well, Kushina-chan... I guess I should warn Mikoto-chan. What do you think?" When he didn't get an answer, he turned to look where she was last standing, only to see she was no longer there. "Kushina?"

Looking all around, he couldn't see her anywhere nearby. Without tapping into Sage Mode he couldn't really follow her either, as he was never really tracking her signature and even with Kurama it would take him a while to find her in the middle of the village.

Sighing, Naruto remembered where he was, and noted that there was only one empty stool left at the ramen stand. Putting everything else behind him to worry about later, he made his way forward to finally get his delayed lunch.

The next morning, Naruto drummed his fingers on his desk as he examined the scroll Hiruzen had tossed him earlier when he first arrived. Part of him was expecting this, but another part of him was both surprised and flattered at what the scroll detailed. He wasn't sure why the soon-to-be old man didn't just tell him about this personally, and could only guess that perhaps he was just too busy to handle the one on one briefing.

Following a brief note congratulating and thanking him about resolving that minor issue yesterday in an 'efficient' manner, Hiruzen wanted him to use those skills to take on a either a genin team or an apprentice sometime soon. Probably once the war 'officially' started, as Konoha's graduation period was approaching. Though he was a powerhouse, and had shown Hiruzen and Danzo privately some of what he was capable of without going into Sage Mode or Tailed Beast Mode; giving him a team meant they likely wanted to keep him out of the war itself as much as possible. He had also explained what it meant to be a sage; Hiruzen already knew because all three of his students knew about being sages. Supposedly of the three only Jiraiya had been attempting it, he had seen some results but supposedly he was still not a full sage yet. The snakes did not want to teach Orochimaru, that much his student had confirmed, but he doubted that the smartest of the three would give up on the search.

As for Tsunade... her response was that she just didn't care about it. Naruto didn't really find himself surprised, she didn't really care about anything after the loss of Dan and Nawaki. It probably wouldn't be long now before she left the village, with the next war on the horizon.

Naruto wasn't sure who he would take to train, all he knew is that he'd have to look through the class rosters first to see who was currently in school. Any further musings about who he would eventually train were interrupted when there was a knock on his door. A spike of annoyance left as quickly as it arrived; he seemed to be getting interrupted more and more often lately. It was probably worse for the Hokage... but then the Hokage had a secretary and a personal assistant. He couldn't help but belatedly chastise himself for when he was younger, as the number of times he must have barged in on the old man probably bordered the triple digits.

"Come in."

The door silently opened and an ANBU with a bird mask peered into the room.

"Uzumaki-sama, Hokage-sama requests your presence as soon as possible."

"I'll be right there." Naruto sighed as he stood up, closing the scroll as he did so. Leaving it on his desk, he wondered what he could be needed for already. He had just been there perhaps an hour ago, and it was very rare for him to be needed by Hiruzen more than once a day.

Grabbing his vest from the back of his chair, the blond headed for the exit. He'd find out soon enough.

Naruto entered the Hokage's office for the second time that day, and struggled to keep his face impassive, though he knew at least one of his eyebrows arched upward in curiosity. Upon first entering the room, his eyes automatically settled on Mikoto, who had likely turned to look at the door as it opened. She gave him a quick smile, which he returned, before she turned to face the Hokage again.

His curiosity began to skyrocket as he looked around the rest of the room. Kagami was there, standing next to Danzo, and both of them looked to be chatting quietly, perhaps with a bit more animation than he was used to seeing from either of them. There were three other elderly men in the room, standing slightly off to the side. If he had to guess, based upon those he recognized in the room, they were Uchiha as well.

Hiruzen had noticed that he entered the room, and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Naruto. Thank you for being prompt."

The blond nodded as he moved towards the Hokage's desk. He stopped in front if it, and moved his hands behind his back. "You summoned me, Hokage-sama?"

He noticed as Hiruzen's lips twitched upwards a bit before he quickly brought the impromptu smile under control. Naruto had come to appreciate their little inside joke, and enjoyed getting reactions out of Sarutobi, if only because the man in front of him often griped about wanting to hand the hat over to Naruto right now.

Nodding once, Hiruzen offered the blond a slip of paper that was in his hand. "I had a petition land on my desk this morning. Since you're part of it, I brought you here."

Accepting the slip of paper, he quickly perused the contents, trying to focus on important words and phrases. It didn't take long, as there was really only one important part to it. The Uchiha Clan wanted to move forward with the marriage between Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Naruto. Everything came sharply into focus as he realized that this was actually happening, and not some dream. Part of him wondered just how much of what happened yesterday with Mei caused this to be accelerated the way it was.

Making sure he was composed, he nodded again and handed the paper back to the Hokage. "You need me here for the discussion?"

"Yes. Kagami?" Hiruzen waved his hand at the current head, who took a couple short steps forward, leaning slightly on his cane as he stopped in front of the Hokage's desk.

"I swear I didn't see this coming when we were last here almost year ago, Hiruzen."

The Hokage leaned back in his chair as he folded his arms over his chest, chuckling. "Of course not. I don't think anyone did." His eyes flickered towards the three other Uchiha men standing off to the side, and Naruto saw Kagami nod out of the corner of his own eyes.

"Regardless of the different viewpoints expressed by members of our elder council, everyone can agree that even though Uzumaki Naruto is not born of Uchiha blood, he meets any and all requirements that would be placed on any suitor for my daughter. Though he does not have the Sharingan, he has proven his capability in combat, having single-handedly defeated a young Sanbi Jinchuuriki. "

Naruto grimaced internally. He knew each generation was supposed to surpass the last, but he barely scratched the surface of what he was fully capable of. He understood that perhaps Kagami was probably trying to make it sound like what he did was impressive – which it was, to an average shinobi – but he had long ago proved that he was anything but average. Well, in his time, anyway.

"He has also proved his abilities at diplomacy and management, being able to bring several new bloodlines into Konoha, as well as being able to assist in getting them fully integrated into the village proper. This has brought many new opportunities to both the village and our allies, and has made our enemies reconsider any plans they may have been prepared to use against us in this time of instability.

"It is for these reasons that we wish for the bonding between an Uchiha and an Uzumaki." Kagami turned slightly to look at Naruto, "Our main request is that we wish for you, the suitor, to take the Uchiha name. The reason we are here before Hokage-sama is because we need his permission since there are only two named Uzumaki left in the village, and in the absence of clan leadership Hokage-sama has final say."

Naruto hadn't heard anything about this before. He was admittedly a bit chafed about having to lose the name he had since birth, but there was something else that concerned him more at the moment. With a slight frown on his face, he looked between Kagami and Hiruzen, asking the question at the forefront of his mind, "What does this mean for Kushina?"

"Technically, nothing," Hiruzen explained, a look of understanding on his face. "Before I released you from my service, Kushina would already have been the last of the Uzumaki Clan in the village. It simply meant according to village law she was required to keep her own last name when she married and give it to her firstborn son and daughter."

Kagami continued when the Hokage finished, "Though we are willing to let any of your children who do not activate the Sharingan by their fifteenth birthday, or a second daughter or third son take the last name Uzumaki as well, if you desire it."

Naruto began to nod, but stopped short, a question popping into his mind. "What if they manage to activate it after their fifteenth and have already changed their name?"

The blond noticed as Kagami's eyes tracked over towards where the other Uchiha were who hadn't said a word yet were, before coming back to him. "I would say we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, if we ever do. In all of our clan history, no one has ever activated their Sharingan after puberty. Should something happen, I believe we can let them remain an Uzumaki, keeping our ties with the clan rather close. Though I would hope you listen to what the clan advisers have to say regarding the situation, should it arise."

Naruto's eyes tracked around the room to land on the three older Uchiha men. They stared impassively at each other for a few seconds before the blond offered them a slight incline of his head. One of the men who was standing slightly in front of the other two nodded back, and Naruto knew the face of who he'd likely be dealing with the most. Facing the Hokage once more, Hiruzen stared at him impassively for a second before stamping and signing his name on a scroll in front of him.

"I have no issues with the request. The only thing left is for you to accept, Naruto." The Hokage turned the scroll around so Naruto could read it, and pushed both it and a calligraphy brush over to the other side of his desk.

As he began looking over the scroll, he realized it was pretty much everything they had just gone over. A million things began to flash through his mind as he realized that nothing would be the same at all anymore, compared to the time he came from.

He was a bit jittery and nervous, to be sure. He was essentially making it a certainty that the Itachi and Sasuke he knew would never exist. Deep down it made him feel rather uncomfortable, but by the same token, he knew that by taking this step he would be making Konoha stronger than ever by keeping the Uchiha alive. It was, perhaps, what Itachi would have wanted all along. As for Sasuke... well... Naruto had all but given up trying to understand just what Sasuke wanted by the time they had their sixth and final fight.

Then there was Mikoto. He did feel sad that he never got to know her in his time, but he could say the same thing for his own parents. Any interactions he might have had with her in his own time may have colored his opinions of the woman she was now, be it good or bad. Much the same as it was with Kushina and Minato, getting to know them all now without having known them previously let him enjoy actually getting to know them as they really were, rather than how he could have believed they should be now.

He was glad to get to know Mikoto now, certainly. She wasn't overly sweet or hyper around him, nor was she rough and aggressive. She was at what he considered that perfect middle-ground, almost like what he had settled into with Sakura during the war. Gracious to those who deserved it, and cool to those who had in some way slighted her... but somehow without being arrogant about it like he remembered Sasuke could be. At least if she didn't want to talk to you, she would tell you why, and not just grunt and ignore you.

They had spent the last few days since their return hanging around each other as much as possible. It was more her hanging around him than the other way around, since he had plenty of work that was dumped on him upon coming back to his 'job'. He was pleasantly surprised that the very next day after she told Minato and Kushina the news about the two of them, she brought him lunch. It was ramen too, so she likely understood that the fastest way to his heart was through his stomach by using his favorite food. Not only that, but she would help him with what she could in his duties. When there was some downtime they chatted about clans, Minato and Kushina, the state of the shinobi world, and pretty much anything else they could think of. Mikoto had stated that the days she spent with him had easily surpassed any of the ones she spent with Fugaku, leaving him happy but at the same time internally scowling at the other man.

Too bad she wasn't around when Mei had advanced on him. Or maybe it was better that it was Kushina after all, who knows what Mikoto would have done. At least Kushina was willing to listen to him when he made them stop.

Naruto didn't think they were in love with each other yet, though he couldn't claim to be an expert at understanding the emotion. They had only known each other for about four months, and known each other as more than mere acquaintances for maybe half of that. At the very least, he didn't believe he was in love with Mikoto, but he couldn't speak for her feelings about him. He knew he liked her quite a lot, and enjoyed spending time with her, and definitely wanted to spend more time with her. A lotmore time.

It was at about that time his eyes finally reached the bottom of the contract. Something popped out that he had a hard time believing, and that no one had mentioned to him. He didn't mind what it said, not really – but it made him want to examine the contract again to make sure there was nothing hidden in it that he overlooked.

"We have to get married in a month? Doesn't that seem rather... I don't know, sudden?"

Kagami grunted from nearby. "Is that a problem? You're essentially taking the place of Fugaku. We even added a little extra time, otherwise it would have been happening in a little over two weeks."

"No problem," Naruto muttered, "Just didn't think I'd be getting married so soon. It's a bit of a wake up call, is all."

There was a chuckle to his right, and Kagami must have shifted over closer to him while he was reading since a hand landed heavily on his shoulder for a moment. "I'm certain Mikoto will do everything in her power to help you prepare."

Naruto turned to look at Mikoto, who had also moved slightly closer to him during his musings. Her hands were clasped behind her back much like he did when he first entered, but instead of looking at him she was busy staring a hole in the floor. Perhaps she was embarrassed, or maybe she was avoiding looking at him so he wouldn't feel guilted into anything. Perhaps she was even frustrated because of any rumors she may have heard about yesterday. He could find out later.

Taking a deep breath as he looked at the scroll one more time, he grabbed the brush, and tried to write his name a little more neatly than he normally would. This was a rather important document after all. The moment it was done and the brush had been set aside, Hiruzen grabbed the scroll and waved his hand over the ink to dry it.

Meanwhile Mikoto had grabbed his right hand with both of hers. She had moved even closer and was now pressing her body against his arm as she held his hand. He was a little surprised by her affectionate action in front of all the others, but didn't say anything.

"Naruto, I'll let you and Mikoto have the rest of the day to yourselves. I think there are a lot of things you can andshould tell her now about your work."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Do you need me for anything before we go?"

Hiruzen shook his head and waved Naruto off. As the blond was getting ready to ask Mikoto where she wanted to go, he heard her murmur near his ear that she needed to talk to her father really quick, but that she'd meet him by the entrance to the building in a minute. Nodding, he gave her hands a squeeze before heading to the door, mentally going over what to tell her, and exactly how to tell it.

After meeting up again, they decided to wander around Konoha for a little while. Naruto asked to wander around the construction area for a bit just to make sure everything was in order before he actually got the day off.

Everything seemed to be in order, in fact it seemed as if most of the construction workers had taken the day off too, and Mikoto joked that the Hokage probably gave them the day off since Naruto wouldn't be around to handle any issues. That one group of workers he had talked to yesterday were lucky again today if that was truly it. Whatever the case really was, Naruto put it out of his mind as he dragged Mikoto towards his old stomping grounds... or at least what they would be some day - Training Area Seven.

He had scoped them out not long after his arrival, just to see what it looked like. It did look much like he remembered, except for the fact that there were no training posts there yet. As one of the more open training grounds, it tended to be one of the less used than many of the others, which was always fine with him because most of his techniques required a lot of open space. Otherwise he'd be tearing up acres of forest.

Dragging her through the area, they eventually encountered a comfortable looking spot where he decided to sit down under the shade of a tree to keep them out of the glare of an early afternoon sun. Mikoto joined him, sitting close and then resting her head on his shoulder.

"I wonder where I should begin telling you about everything..."

Mikoto giggled briefly, and grabbed one of his hands in hers. "The beginning is usually a good place, or so I've heard."

Naruto nodded, agreeing, "Yeah. But it's a really long story, and will probably take a couple days to tell it all. I'm going to have to sum up a lot of things, and then I'll clarify over time."

"Huh?" Mikoto had pulled back slightly to look at him. "What have you done that could take that long to explain?"

"Well, technically my beginning doesn't happen for about another 7 years from now. I was born after the Third Shinobi War, which will be starting up sometime in the next few months."

The blond wasn't sure if he should keep going or wait to see if Mikoto would say or do something. So far she was just staring at him, blinking rapidly. When she didn't comment, or even open her mouth to speak, he pressed on.

"I was born on October 10th, the same night that the Kyuubi was ripped free from my mother. The process killed her, and then to keep the Kyuubi from rampaging in the village, my father sealed it back in me."

Now Mikoto was staring at him with wide eyes. Naruto could do nothing more than nod and offer a sad smile. "My parents in the future are Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. They died the night I was born, and the Kyuubi was sealed into me."

He wasn't sure if those were tears he started to see in her eyes, but he couldn't say anything anyway because she nearly leaped from her sitting position and crashed into him, knocking him over onto his back. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she whispered 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' in his ear over and over. Apparently her grief over the loss of his parents in the future briefly overpowered any surprise she may have felt about his time traveling.

Naruto had already been through many situations like this before during the war when he tried to comfort others, so he simply remained as calm as he could and gently rubbed her back over the vest she was wearing. It wasn't too long before she finally settled down, shifting her body to get more comfortable in a position that had her nearly half-off, half-on top of him.

"I never got to know them in the future, but I'm glad to get to know them now. I know this must be a lot to take in, and I wouldn't be surprised if you don't believe me. Or even if you still want to look at me the same way now."

He felt her nod against his shoulder, where her head was currently resting. "It... is a lot to accept. I guess Hokage-sama believes you though, otherwise you wouldn't have been doing the things you have."

"Yes." Naruto chuckled, reminded of how surprisingly easy it was to get the people in charge to believe him, mostly thanks to the Yamanaka mind-walking techniques. "I've told him about things that will happen which have come true, and have already tried so manipulate some things to our advantage. All the clans from Kiri... they never came to Konoha in my time."

"I see." Mikoto took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the corner of her lips beginning to bend down into a frown. "Have you already... manipulated me?"

Naruto stared at Mikoto until she opened her eyes. She recoiled a bit, seemingly a little surprised at just how intense his stare was. "I've done nothing that you haven't wanted me to do. I already promised nothing I know or have done will harm the Uchiha Clan in any way, and that obviously includes you. Honestly, I only saw you two or three times from my time that I can remember."

"What?" She looked completely confused. "I wasn't the leader of the clan anymore? I'm guessing that I married Fugaku after all, right?" she questioned, shivering slightly.

Naruto could tell she didn't exactly look pleased about that thought. "Yes, you and Fugaku married, and had two sons. Itachi and Sasuke."

Mikoto immediately sat up straight, eyes bright. "Can you tell me about them?" Even though she seemed excited, it quickly dimmed when Naruto didn't smile, or even seem to match her level of excitement.

"Naruto... what happened to my sons?"

The blond couldn't help but wince slightly, something she obviously noticed as her frown deepened. "Itachi was a genius. Sasuke was too, in his own way. Unfortunately some stuff happened that sort of... made things go badly for the both of them. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to say anything, honestly. Are you really sure you want to know?"

She nodded almost immediately. "As their mother one way or another, I believe I have that right."

Part of Naruto wanted to refuse, after all they were the children of a now alternate Mikoto from the one he was with. At least, that was the way he had started thinking of her. So technically she had no claim to them... but he really had no intention to upset her, so he just resigned himself to telling her the entire history from the beginning.

"In order for you to understand what happened, I need to give you a little more background. You see, after the Kyuubi was released from my mother and attacked Konoha, a lot of people began to distrust the Uchiha Clan. Those who tried to subdue the bijuu saw that its eyes were dull, and under the influence of the Sharingan. Even though many Uchiha lost their lives that night, people still wanted to place blame."

Naruto found himself struggling to press onwards as Mikoto began to pale.

"The Uchiha Clan, as I'm sure you know, has always kept itself somewhat apart from the rest of the village. This didn't help, and it only got worse with time. I don't know what would have happened if the Yondaime was still alive, but with the Sandaime back in power, things began to slide backwards. Not that it was Sarutobi-jiji's fault, but I think by the time he got back in control of the situation, things with the Uchiha had been spiraling out of control for some time since the attack."

Mikoto listened carefully as Naruto continued explaining the coup plot, which she had a hard time believing that she would have taken part in, or even condoned. Since the blond did not know her from his time, he couldn't even begin to understand what her mindset was like.

"So in order to keep the peace, Sarutobi tried to perform some sort of peace talks with the clan." Naruto waved one of his hands in an exasperated gesture. "I don't know what the outcome of them really was, but all I know is that Itachi volunteered to kill his clan when the Konoha leadership was running out of options. He was thirteen."

Mikoto's hand moved to cover her mouth after letting out a startled gasp. She was looking at Naruto with horror evident in her eyes, but the blond figured the best he could do for her was to plow through it and not dwell on any one part of it.

"I don't know how many he actually killed, but I found out later that he had help. Somehow he got in contact with Madara – or at least the man he believed was Madara – and had him help kill the clan. Itachi only killed his immediate family, his best friend, and his girlfriend... but he left Sasuke alive.

"Sasuke... is complicated. Growing up he was my rival, my best friend, and my brother in every way but blood. Itachi had a plan for him, one that hinged on Sasuke killing him to 'redeem' the clan. His plan might have worked, but Orochimaru got his hands on Sasuke, and after that he became a lost cause."

"Orochimaru? But he-"

Naruto held up a hand, stalling Mikoto's interruption. "He has already started up with his laboratories. Granted, as far as we can tell he reports everything he does and doesn't use Konoha natives or living people – yet. That will change sometime soon during the third war, and he'll start experimenting on war orphans. Hokage-sama hasn't decided how to handle it yet. Don't tell anyone, please? I'm taking a big risk just by telling you."

She nodded, somewhat meekly. After that, the two of them sat there in silence for a bit. Naruto figured that Mikoto would probably need some time to absorb everything he told her. Surprisingly, very little time was needed before she started asking for more, beginning with one of the stories he dreaded telling the most – Sasuke.

He began from their first encounters in the Academy up through their final and sixth fight during the Fourth War. How their final fight had ended with Sasuke committing suicide, pointlessly using intense techniques that were aimed anywhere and exhausting his chakra while he bled out from injuries. Naruto did his best to comfort Mikoto when she began to cry softly for the sons she never had, or hadn't had yet... it was too confusing for him to think about.

Of course the discussion around Sasuke's death brought the Fourth Shinobi War into the picture, and Naruto spent most of the remainder of that afternoon explaining a little more about some of his own personal fights leading up to the war. Then he continued with what it was like to fight alongside shinobi from the other nations, and what it was like to eventually end up leading that entire force.

When he finally finished explaining everything about that war that he could think of right then and answered all of Mikoto's questions, the sun was beginning to set, leaving the sky painted in various reddish hues. They had shifted between many different positions during the course of his storytelling, but had finally ended up to where he was sitting with his back resting against a tree trunk, while Mikoto was laying on the ground in front of him, her head in his lap. He had begun running his hands through her hair, grinning occasionally as she would let out a contented hum.

It was right after he finished the tale about how he came back in time that she tossed a question at him that he had been expecting since the very beginning.

"Naruto, when are you going to tell your parents?"

He let out a sigh, knowing that he was conflicted enough about his decision already. He had no idea what Mikoto would think, but apparently it was time to find out.

"At first, I wanted to right away... to hell with the consequences and all that. But after meeting both of them, I realized that they weren't the same people that I met very briefly in my seal when I fought Nagato. Dad... I mean, Minato was still serious, but he just seems a lot happier than he did during our brief encounter in the seal. I only got to meet him for a couple minutes though, so I can't say for sure what he was really like when he became Hokage.

"As for Kushina... she's really different. She was much more calm when we met in the seal, and I had much longer to talk to her when compared to my dad. She must have settled down a lot, because she's really hyper now. I guess between dad getting the Hokage position and me being born it must have helped her calm down. It's a bit strange now since she keeps referring to me as her big brother... every day it's been getting harder and harder to see her as my mother in the future."

"Maybe that's for the best?"

Naruto was slightly startled, he wasn't expecting Mikoto to say anything. It must have shown on his face too, because when he looked down at her, she was grinning up at him. "What do you mean?"

His future wife did a small shrug from where she was laying, and closed her eyes as he resumed playing with her hair. "Well, if you do come clean, it will be a bit odd for a man who is older than her to be calling her 'mom', don't you think? It's the same thing for Minato. I know it would be odd for me as your wife to be married to the son of my best friend."

"This is so complicated," Naruto sighed. "I wasn't planning on telling Kushina anything until she was pregnant with... well, me. As for my dad, he'll know when he becomes Hokage, even if I don't say anything. I'll probably let him find out, then talk to him if he asks. Then there is also Kurama who I have to talk to, but we both agreed it would probably be a few years before I can do anything about his situation, sadly."

"Kurama?"

"Kyuubi."

Mikoto made an 'oh' face, then let out a 'hmm' noise, shifting her weight so she could sit up. "I can't really say anything about Kyu- err, Kurama, but otherwise not telling Kushina or Minato just yet sounds reasonable. I'm also curious about your situation with how there can be two jinchuuriki for the same bijuu. We can talk about it more later, though... because I'm starving. We haven't eaten all day."

"Not to ignore what you were saying about food, but I have to ask if you're okay before we go wandering around the village."

Mikoto closed her eyes, nodding slowly. "I'm still in a bit of shock, I think... but otherwise I'm fine. The things you've said... it's a lot to take in. I really don't want to talk about it any more right now, okay? We'll have plenty of time to talk about it in the next month, and then forever beyond that."

Naruto smiled a bit, before returning the nod, knowing that they still had plenty to talk about. "You're right. Well, lets go get something. You can choose."

"I want to go to the place where you first came to get me for that mission." Mikoto giggled at the look on Naruto's face as they both rose to their feet.

"Wha- why would you want to take me there? Not that I'm complaining, but I didn't think you'd want to go somewhere that Fugaku has been with you."

"I want to show them I'm with someone better this time." His fiancee gave him a brilliant smile as she grabbed his hand in hers and began tugging him along. "Besides, we need to get you to start making a good impression on the clan as a whole. Seeing you make me happy will go a long way towards getting a lot of others to respect you. I'm sure you know that because you don't have the Sharingan that you're going to have a hard time winning everyone over. I'll make sure everyone knows that I chose you, but that still doesn't give you a free pass, unfortunately."

"So I have to work towards acknowledgment? I've done it before, I can do it again." Naruto leaned forward, pulling her close from the hand he was holding, and stole a kiss that she seemed to be more than happy to give. "I hope we didn't need to have a reservation. That looked like a pretty nice place."

Mikoto giggled, and kissed him again, this time on the cheek. If his story was affecting her at all, she was doing an excellent job of hiding it. "Silly. Remember who I am? It's in our district, so I always have a reservation there whenever I want it. Let's go."

Thirty one days later...

Even if it was a bit of a hassle, he had somehow managed to avoid Mei for an entire month, or at least had Mikoto with him when they did encounter her. Some of those encounters got intense and even rather, well... heated, but for the most part he had made it no worse for wear.

It did need to be said that Mikoto had some incredible killing intent. That he could actually feel it surprised him, as after fighting in a war so long it took a lot for him to even feel what an average shinobi would consider a large amount. Not only did she have some incredible intent, but she didn't shy away from fighting either, if that's what it took. There was more than one occasion where he had to hold her back. Thank goodness Kushina was never around at the same time.

Luckily he never had Mikoto's ire directed at him, so long as he kept himself out of Mei's grasp. It led him to being a little more aware of his surroundings in the village than he normally would have been otherwise, not to mention a rather judicious use of Shadow Clones, but he had managed.

Needless to say, he felt that he had managed to keep Mikoto happy, his unique time-travel circumstances notwithstanding. Her happiness was all that really mattered in the end. It took her most of the week after he told her where he was from for her to come to terms with things, but it spoke a lot to him that she was more looking towards the future rather than what had happened in his past. Not that she wasn't curious, she just didn't put a lot of stock in it. As she so eloquently put it, the time line was already 'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition'.

He'd have to remember that one. Maybe turn it into an acronym and use it in a witty sentence to his future students, when Hiruzen decided to officially saddle him with one or three.

"So how does it feel, being a married man at your age?"

Naruto turned his head to stare at Minato, giving him a sour look. "Just fine, thank you. It is a bit surreal, but my wife is head of one of the most powerful clans in Konoha, you know."

"Whoa there," Minato held his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "I didn't mean anything by it. I've already offered my congratulations, now as one of your still unmarried friends I get to joke about you tying the knot."

"Well, like I said, it is all a bit surreal. I mean I've only really come to know everyone over what, the last six months or so? To think that we all met just because one day I sat next to you in a ramen stand."

Minato shook his head, grinning. "I think the fact that we look strangely similar, and the fact that you are also... I mean, wereone of the last Uzumaki pretty much made us friends whether we wanted to be or not. I don't have any problems with it, you're the best sparring partner I've ever had and are the only one who can keep up with me when I can use some of my more intense techniques. Not to mention you make a good test subject."

Uchiha Naruto shot a mock glare at his best friend, but then nodded and closed his eyes, resting his head against the back of the chair he was sitting in. The legal ceremony to bind him and Mikoto together as husband and wife had just happened about an hour ago. It was a small get together, neither of them wanted to make a huge spectacle of it, which he was definitely thankful for.

As was expected, he had asked Minato to be his best man, as well as his witness. Mikoto had picked Kushina, who was bouncing off the walls with excitement the entire time, even if it was a closed ceremony. There were a few others there as well, like Hiruzen and his two old teammates, Akimichi Taichi, Danzo, Kagami, and the three Uchiha advisers that Naruto met in the Hokage's office a month ago. There were a few others there that he didn't recognize either, but his focus was stuck on Mikoto for nearly the entire time.

She had dressed up nicely, but it was tasteful and nothing exotic or extreme. It definitely showed off her figure that was typically hidden underneath her bulky Jonin attire, the figure that he had only seen for a couple days during their mission when she was wearing her night clothes. Even when they went out in Konoha over the past month, she rarely wore anything other than her shinobi garb, and if she didn't it was always something conservative.

He hadn't worn anything extraordinary, but apparently he did clean up rather well and looked good in nice clothing. When he wasn't on duty he usually only wore light t-shirts and shorts. Judging by the stares he got from Mikoto and Kushina – who was trying not to look and failing – and comments from Kagami and Minato, he did indeed look very sophisticated when he actually tried to look nice.

Other than their marriage preparations, explaining the future to Mikoto, and trying to avoid Mei... a lot had happened over the past month. Two weeks ago Earth Country formally declared war on Wind Country because Sunagakure had been using a little more effort than necessary in searching for their lost Kazekage. The skirmishes between Suna and Iwa nin along Earth Country borders and in their allies territory had finally degraded into all-out battles.

As a result of this, graduations had been pushed into fast forward, and many up-and-comers were being assigned to a rash of new Jonin instructors. Minato was one of those, and Naruto had to pretend to be surprised when Minato told their group he'd be getting a team of his own sometime soon. Naruto was still fairly curious who would be on his own team, unless he was simply given an apprentice.

"Oho, so this is where everyone is!"

Naruto immediately recognized the boisterous voice, turning to look over near the entrance to their room. Sure enough, Jiraiya was standing there with a big grin on his face, and holding a book in his right hand.

"Jiraiya-sensei!" Minato quickly stood from his chair and moved towards the door. Jiraiya met him halfway, giving his once student a handshake and a hearty pat on the shoulder. Naruto remained where he was, listening to the two of them talk about things Minato had been working on. When the conversation finally got around to what Jiraiya was doing in Konoha, Naruto decided to join in.

"You know me, Minato. Ever since you brats grew up, Sarutobi-sensei has had me running about all over the place trying to find out as much as I can about what's going on. Since Earth finally declared on Wind, we're going to have to back them up as our ally. But he's sending me towards Lightning because we don't know what they're going to do."

"They're probably going to go after Water," Naruto started with certainty, because he knew that's what they did in his time. "Especially because of how much weaker they will be due to the loss of several of their more prominent bloodline clans. Even with the Civil War there, they likely would have put aside most of their differences to defend their homes. Water tried to stay out of it, but you can't really stay completely neutral in a World War if someone doesn't want you to be."

Jiraiya nodded slowly, both as an acknowledgment and a greeting. "Naruto."

"Ero-Sennin."

"Tch, how many-" Whatever he was going to say was cut off as Minato started laughing. The white haired sage simply turned to look at his student with horror. "Not you too! I've already got Kushina-chan calling me that and Mikoto-chan doesn't try to stop her either!"

"S-sorry, sensei." Minato was trying to talk through his chuckles, "But you have to admit, it fits you. Every time I hear it... it never gets old."

Jiraiya grunted, then sighed, knowing he was now stuck with the nickname. Shaking his head, he glared briefly at Naruto before offering the book in his hand. "I should be angry with you, but Minato is right, it does fit me. I can think of worse things to be called too. Anyway, this is a new work of mine, and is still in an outline form, but I've finished the first scene. It might, uh... give you some tips for tonight, if you catch my meaning."

Naruto accepted the book, already knowing what it likely was. Flipping it open, he recognized Jiraiya's rather neat scrawl immediately. This was still his original written copy.

"Interesting. What's it called?"

"Ehhh, I haven't really thought much about that yet. I just want it to be a series of short stories. It's just something I've been working on in my spare time, anyway. I have another book that I've been working on for years already that I want to release first, I think. Do you two want to be the first to read it when it's done?"

"Of course, Sensei!"

Naruto simply nodded as he continued browsing through the manuscript of what would one day be the first of many Icha Icha books. He felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips as he remembered the many occasions where Jiraiya had stopped them during their travels to do his 'research', and the usual hilarious results when he would raise enough of a stink to get Jiraiya caught.

"Look at that Minato! See that grin? I think he likes it!"

Naruto chuckled, nodding his head as he closed the manuscript. "Yes, so far so good, Ero-Sennin. Maybe I'll show some of it to Mikoto, she might like it."

Both of the men in front of him immediately paled, and Jiraiya immediately snatched the book out of Naruto's hands. "O-on second thought, I think this book needs a lotmore work before I show it to anyone. Ta!"

Jiraiya vanished from the room, and Naruto just stared at the spot where the man was before looking at the other blond still in the room. All Minato could do was shake his head and sigh.

"Sensei has been scarred from when he was peeping on the women's hot springs and Kushina and Mikoto were hidden in there. You don't want to know the things they said they would do to him if he were ever caught with or doing something perverse by either of them."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, and think wistfully about the past. "Oh, I'm sure I can imagine."

Anything further that would have been said between the two of them was cut off by another person appearing in the doorway, though this time it was a feisty redhead.

"Minato? Naruto-aniki? What happened to Ero-Sennin? He looked at me and ran away crying."

Both blonds looked at each other and shared a look before grinning.

"I think he took a joke of mine a little too seriously," claimed Naruto. He saw Minato nodding in his peripheral, and as if that was enough for her Kushina simply hummed in agreement as she entered the room.

First she moved over to Naruto a brief hug, whispering congratulations in his ear. Then she took a step back and winked at him. "Mikoto-nee said she'd be waiting for you at home, aniki."

Naruto blinked at her owlishly for a moment before grinning, only for Kushina to blush and look away, then move towards Minato. He watched as she moved up and hugged Minato, but didn't let go, and left her head facing away from him as it rested against Minato's shoulder. Naruto pointed at her with a confused face, silently asking Minato if something was wrong.

All he got from the other blond was a small frown and a minute shake of his head, so he could only guess that either Minato didn't know or he wasn't going to say anything right now.

"You two have a good night, I'm going to follow Kushina-chan's advice and see how Mikoto is doing. See you later." He waved to them as he turned, not sure what was up with his sister, but figuring that Minato would be able to handle it. Idly registering their voiced goodbyes, his thoughts turned to his new wife, and what she would want tonight.

"Mikoto?" Naruto spoke loudly into the house as he closed the door behind him. Her father had given them their own place to live in on the head's grounds once they wed, and they could continue living there as long as they wanted, or at least until Mikoto took up the mantle as clan leader.

"Up here." He heard her voice come from near the stairs to the upper level. Their house was one of the few buildings on the Uchiha grounds that actually had more than one floor. Naruto wasn't sure if it was a matter of preference, necessity, or practicality. Having lived in an apartment for all of his life, he didn't really care one way or the other.

Making his way up the steps, he saw that the door to their room was open, and as he approached he could see her sitting on the side of the bed, watching the door and waiting for him. She didn't say a word as he entered the room, and they spent the next moment simply staring at each other. He felt a slight bit overdressed standing in front of her; she had since changed back into her baggy shinobi outfit, minus the jacket.

The moment was broken when Mikoto bowed her head forward slightly, then stood. Naruto wasn't sure if she was going to walk over to him, but she stopped about halfway between the bed and the door, then dropped down to her knees in front of him and kept her gaze focused on the ground at his feet.

"Danna-sama, I'm yours from this day forth, wholly and completely. Whatever your wish, you may command me as you see fit. My life-"

Mikoto's speech was cut off as Naruto had quickly dropped to his knees and pulled his new wife into his arms. "Mikoto, why are you saying such strange things all of a sudden?"

He heard her let out a rush of breath as her chin settled on his shoulder, and she relaxed completely as her arms returned his hug.

"I'm sorry," she began, "my father had me remember this speech back when I first got engaged to Fugaku. It's something of a tradition, or so he claimed, even if he never followed through with mother. In short, it gives the husband ultimate power, even if he was not the one born into a position of leadership."

"That's stupid," Naruto snorted. Realizing the potential insult, he quickly backpedaled. "I-I don't mean that in a bad way, but it does sound kind of silly to-"

He was cut off as Mikoto pulled back slightly to look at him as he spoke, then moved forward, pressing her lips against his. He was surprised, but pleasantly so. She didn't linger, however, and pulled back quickly while tossing him a shy smile.

"It's okay. I think it's stupid too, but our society has come a long way since the time this was made up. Regardless, even if I was heir, you would have complete control over me. I know Fugaku would have used it..."

"And you hoped I wouldn't," Naruto finished for her. Seeing her nod and hopeful look, he couldn't help but grin and kiss her again. It was about the same duration as the one she had just given him, but now it was her turn to look amused.

"I'm glad you placed your hopes in me, because I don't really care about something like that. You know more than I do about this clan business, I think all the elders just agreed with me because I make the clan look good."

While Mikoto did not respond to his comment, she simply nodded as she pulled out of his hug and rose to her feet. Offering him a hand, which he graciously accepted, she pulled him up and then tugged him towards her as she moved backwards. As a result, they both fell over onto the bed. Naruto shifted slightly to the side so that he would not fall over directly on top of her, even if he didn't think he was thatheavy.

While they had definitely become much, much closer over the past several weeks, Naruto was more than happy to let Mikoto take charge and move at the pace she felt was appropriate. Taking things slow was fairly new to him as well, and relationships during the war – if you could really even call them that – crashed and burned more often than not because of the hectic times. Physical gratification in some manner almost became a necessity later on since the slightest amount of depression could get you sucked into the red moon if you weren't careful or powerful enough to resist the pull.

Luckily he wasn't like many of the others, he was fairly powerful already, and with Kurama's chakra also in his system it worked as the ultimate genjutsu breaker, so he never really had anything to worry about. The closest he would have come to falling was after the death of Tsunade, but Kurama snapped him out of that funk fast enough. Sakura's death had been next, but he had managed to harden himself enough by that point to keep the severe, lingering grief at bay.

"Naruto?"

His mind snapping back to the present, Naruto looked down curiously at the woman who was now rolling over on top of him a little and had her forearms propped up against his chest, lifting her torso so she was looking down at him. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

Naruto stared curiously at Mikoto, waiting a second for her to elaborate, but she didn't. "Huh? I don't think you have to thank me for anything, do you?" he questioned.

"Thank you for being you, I mean." Mikoto sighed. "I'm amazed you turned out the way you did, considering your past. I'm glad I was able to find someone who was honorable and kind, and the fact that you've managed to stay that way even through a war you were losing is nothing short of amazing."

She began to shift her arms, moving them to both sides of his torso as she gradually lowered her chest against his. Her long black hair had started to come loose from the simple bun it was in, and as a result it had started hanging down along her head, framing her face.

"When I first knew about having to get married, I never thought I'd get to feel as satisfied as I am now. I always dreamed that I would get someone who, as you put it, cares about me because of who I am, not what I am." Her dark eyes flickered a faint red as the strength of her emotions was causing her Sharingan to activate unconsciously.

"I think you've proven more than once that being married to the Uchiha head doesn't really matter to you." Mikoto smiled now, her eyes dimming back down to their normal dark brown. Stretching her neck, she placed a light kiss on his chin. "I love you."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. It wasn't the first time they had mentioned love – their first was about a week ago – but it was definitely the most private setting in which it had been mentioned. She was still slightly elevated from him, so he lifted his head to press his lips against hers for a lingering kiss. Finally moving his arms now as well, he rested his hands on the back of her arms, and began slowly rubbing them.

"I love you too, Mikoto," he murmured as he pulled back from the kiss. He was thinking she'd just settle back down and they'd rest and talk after the long day, but she began to grind against him slightly as she shifted her weight up along his body.

He watched her, both curious and aroused, as she finally lowered herself to settle next to him so that their eyes met evenly. She kissed him quickly, then moved her head next to his.

"I've been waiting for tonight for weeks. I'm not wearing anything under my uniform," she whispered seductively. Nibbling on his earlobe before pulling away, Naruto couldn't remember a time where his arousal had built so steadily and reached such a high point before.

He couldn't help but grin as he turned his head and blew air at the back of her neck causing her to shiver slightly against him. "I guess it wouldn't be polite for me to keep a lady waiting, would it?"

"Definitely not," she murmured. "Now get busy, husband."

He definitely did not need to be told twice.