Chapter 17: Temari and Ichibi

Naruto continued across the rooftops of Tanzuka Gai were staying at. Tsunade had woken Jiraiya and Shizune before leaving while Naruto was out getting Jiraiya's and his packs. Thus, when he went around the quick method to find Jiraiya and Tsunade coming back from the hotel he and Jiraiya had stayed at, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune had instead taken the long path to search for him so that they could leave the town quicker.

Naruto ended up meeting them back at the first hotel that he and Jiraiya had stayed at, landing on the ground between the three. "Sorry, got turned around and lost." He said as he stood to his full height. He looked to Tsunade. "I need to speak with you, privately, without Shizune or the pervert."

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow, somewhat amused. She sincerely hoped the blonde wasn't going to do something stupid. She noticed that Jiraiya hadn't moved, even though Shizune was already walking a path back to Konoha. "Private conversation Jiraiya." Tsunade said.

"I just want to congratulate my cute little apprentice. Going after Tsunade so soon after meeting her!" Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head. "I knew I'd make a pervert out of you yet." Jiraiya said with a laugh.

Naruto glared at Jiraiya, his Mangekyo Sharingan showing. "I swear by the Log if you are not moving in the next ten seconds, I will use my extensive knowledge of the human anatomy to change you into a woman before using my Mangekyo Sharingan to give you the impression that you are a woman, not a man who had been forcefully turned into one." Naruto said simply.

Tsunade crossed her arms under her bust. That was quite the threat. She had threatened Jiraiya with being turned into a woman before; the pervert said he would welcome it because that meant he could enter the female's side of the Hot Springs.

"And if that's not enough," Naruto continued. "I will have you keep your qualities of a Super Pervert, only you will have the mindset of a woman."

Jiraiya paled. His own godson and apprentice would turn him into a male-loving Super Pervert woman. "Now, now, let's not be so hasty." Jiraiya said backing up with his hands in front of his face trying to have them in a placating manner.

Naruto used a subtle Sharingan technique to make them appear to spin, the Chain links of his Mangekyo making a nice effect.

Jiraiya ran off after Shizune.

Tsunade got a few chuckles before she looked to the blonde. "Alright Gaki, lay it on me." Tsunade said wanting to know exactly what happened that he needed to talk to her about.

"Do you feel stronger, more rejuvenated, more energy, even lessened effects of a Hang over?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Tsunade rolled her shoulders a bit before shrugging. "Sure, I suppose. I guess I do feel more spring to my step."

Naruto nodded and sighed. "Okay, here's the gist of the situation. Last night, during our… private time, the Kyuubi was also drunk and she sent her chakra through me, into you."

Tsunade's eyes went wide for a moment. "I'm not about to explode am I?" she asked.

Naruto shook his head. "You got a minor dose and I acted as a filter. Besides, you're Uzumaki enough that you can hold back the Kyuubi's power in small doses. She sent it specifically to that seal." Naruto reached up and tapped it, surprising Tsunade. "She claims that it is used for a Regeneration technique you have,"

Tsunade nodded. "It is, it stores chakra into it and when I release it the seal speeds up the process of cell division in my body to the point it can be considered regeneration. The problem with it is that it literally shaves off my life span; it's hard to say by how much each time I use it. It's a Medical Kinjutsu."

Naruto nodded, understanding what she was saying. "Kyuubi says that through the seal, she was able to affect your cells. She gave you years back on your life, how much I don't know."

Tsunade ran a basic self-diagnostic on herself for a moment. "I'd say thirty years have been given back to me." She said softly. She knew that her life span was greatly reduced through the effects of her Jutsu. She would still likely live to see a hundred now, the Uzumaki Bloodline was a wonderful thing indeed, but with the thirty or so years she got back from the Kyuubi, she could honestly say she felt like she was back in her thirties.

Tsunade then noticed the blonde fidgeting in front of her. "What else" she asked. She almost dreaded the answer but at the same time, she was almost hopeful.

Naruto bit his lip. "Well, you might, now this is a might we don't know, have the Mokuton." Naruto said.

Tsunade watched Naruto for a moment. "Mokuton?" she asked.

"Mokuton." Naruto confirmed, nodding his head.

Tsunade rubbed the back of her neck. "Hell, I'll have to dig out Hashi-Jiji's scrolls on the Mokuton then." She said softly. "Anything else?"

Naruto shrugged a moment before stomping the ground, blasting a small crater around his foot. "I got the feel of your Super Strength technique, as well as the Mokuton from the Kyuubi. Blame her; she was drunk last night too."

Tsunade palmed her face for a moment. "I've made worse decisions while drunk." She said and shook her head with a sigh. "Okay, fair enough. Let's go Gaki before this day gets any stranger."

Naruto turned and walked beside Tsunade for a while. It didn't take them more than ten minutes to catch up to Jiraiya and Shizune. Tonton was in Shizune's arms, so the same went for the small pampered pig. Naruto could tell Tsunade was in thought, and if he could so soon after meeting the woman then so did Jiraiya and Shizune.

He needed to keep them both from thinking too much about why he would have needed to talk to Tsunade. He scratched his chin a bit. "Hey Ero-Sennin," he noticed the slight twitch from Jiraiya. It was so easy to rile Jiraiya up. "What are my chances of making Chunin when we get back?" he asked.

Tsunade perked up a little bit, hearing the question. She had heard the Chunin Exams had happened. Even that the little blonde walking alongside the group had decimated his competition. She was going to have to look at the videos when she got back, see what had happened and all. She needed to see who deserved a promotion.

Jiraiya scratched his chin. "Well, I'm not sure truth be told, and I'm not the Hokage who you should be sucking up to for the promotion. I'd say not answering a damned question on the first exam will hurt you, though Ibiki got a kick out of that for a little bit of time."

"Oh come on! That was such a bullshit test!" Naruto shouted. "Literally everyone but me had a method to cheat with. Hinata and Neji had their Byakugan, Tenten and Lee had the experience to do that mirror bullshit Ibiki called them out on at the end, Kiba had Akamaru, Shino had his bugs, Sakura was just that damned smart, Ino sat behind Sakura, Shikamaru is that smart, Choji got Shadow Possessed by Shikamaru," Naruto didn't know that last one for sure, but it was an educated guess, "Sasuke had his Sharingan. The fuck do I have? A giant mass of chakra sealed in my stomach and shit loads of Shadow Clones that I can't make without them being noticed in an instant? Kakashi-sensei hasn't taught us anything about stealth and infiltration."

Tsunade suppressed a faint smile at the blonde's words. He was quite smart to figure all of that out by himself and while she didn't know any of the clans most of the people were part of it wasn't hard to tell whom was part of what clan "And what did you do for the second test?" she asked. Tsunade knew that it took place in the Forest of Death; it was part of why she wanted medics on every squad.

Naruto shrugged. "That I cheated my ass off on. I picked Anko's pockets for the scrolls before the test even began. Then I just booked my ass to the tower with my team. Ji-san…" Naruto winced at the name but swallowed the pain down. "Ji-san said I was allowed to pass. He seemed to like that I thought outside the box." He said.

Tsunade was a little thoughtful. Naruto did think outside of the box and he must have had some big ass balls to try something like that with Anko. She really would have to see the videos of the various matches; she wanted to see the blonde work a bit more under pressure. She would also talk to the various Shinobi in Konoha and find out how he did under the duress of War.

But Tsunade was also thinking about her newfound youth. If the Kyuubi gave Naruto the abilities he got by way of having a sample of Chakra, then wouldn't he have gotten the Hyuuga's? Jiraiya told her who the blonde fought and as a medic she knew that residual chakra would have been pumped into his system.

She had discreetly, while scanning herself earlier, taken a sample of the Kyuubi's chakra and while it seemed manipulative even on a DNA level, how else would she be younger, the chakra didn't seem potent enough to adjust DNA purely on a foreign chakra alone. Something else was going on and she damned sure didn't know what it was. Plus, even if the Kyuubi had been able to adjust DNA on a foreign chakra alone, it would need a sample of the chakra from someone with a Mangekyo Sharingan, which to her knowledge no one outside of Madara had obtained one. Even with Naruto's cover of Kyuubi having been controlled by Madara, it still wouldn't make any sense and the 'feel' of the chakra wouldn't be enough.

Tsunade was the best damned medic in the world, but she couldn't get a fix on how the blonde was gaining these abilities. She damned sure knew he hadn't been born with him. She didn't want to confront the blonde either until she had a damned good idea as to how he did it, and possibly proof as to how he did it.

Tsunade went up to Naruto and put a hand on his head, scratching him on the top of his head, making him look up to her with a raised eyebrow. She wouldn't make mention of it until she had some proof. She liked the blonde though, she wouldn't tell him to stop. Not unless it was a security issue with the village. He was just getting stronger and as a Hokage who was she to stop one of her Shinobi from doing so?

If it became an issue though in the future, Tsunade would put her foot down on the matter.

The trip back to Konoha was relatively uneventful other than occasional craters being blasted into the country side when Tsunade helped train Naruto in her super strength technique. It was impressive that he was picking up on it, despite the fact he had such a deep well of chakra to attempt to control in his gut.

It made her wonder how vigorously he trained to keep it up.

As they made it back through the gates, Naruto looked to Jiraiya, almost begging to be let go to his own devices. The white haired super pervert waved him off. Tsunade rolled her eyes as the blonde bundle of energy sprinted off.

"I envy the Gaki, he's got a date with a cute Hyuuga girl" Jiraiya said as he walked alongside Shizune and Tsunade. "Too young for my tastes, but I can tell she'll be quite the looker in later years."

Tsunade momentarily felt jealous before she shoved the feeling down. She had just gotten drunk with the blonde and had an amazing night. She was probably his girlfriend or something. Tsunade frowned slightly, noticing Shizune looking slightly upset about the fact as well.

Shizune hadn't… Tsunade thought about the facts. Her apprentice had, now that she really thought about it. Hmm, this was an interesting facet to be thinking about. Polygamy wasn't unheard of, extremely uncommon but not unheard of.

Was the blonde playing the women in his life? Tsunade tapped her foot a bit as she kept moving further through the village. She wanted to review a few things and ask those close to the blonde.

It was… asinine to think that his powers might stem from having sex with people. It couldn't be that.

Could it?

Over the next few days, Naruto spent a great deal of time avoiding everyone he knew and had been intimate with. Word got out that he had a date with Hinata and of course several of the others were asking where theirs was. Naruto hadn't even gone on his date with Hinata yet, and they were asking about them. It made things… difficult.

Of course then there were those like Anko asking about the date, wanting details like when it was going to happen and such. Mikoto even seemed interested, trying to find out what was taking the blonde so long.

It was about ten days after they got back when an ANBU said that Tsunade was calling him to her office. He headed that way and was surprised to see Shikamaru beside him walking up. "Any ideas?" Naruto asked the genius.

"A few now that I've seen you. All of them troublesome." Shikamaru said in his usual sloth like demeanor.

When they entered Tsunade's office, Naruto was a bit surprised to see all the proctors for the Chunin Exams as well as a few important Chunin. Anko offered a wave from the wall.

Tsunade gave this speech about how they impressed several people. They showed tact, an ability to think outside the box, to plan ahead, even teamwork. Naruto was surprised when he was given his own Chunin Vest. He stared at the flak vest with a bit of awe, holding it.

Shikamaru muttered his signature word to himself before he slipped it on.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the lazy genius before he clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it Shika. It's a good position, nothing too hard, and no boring D-ranks." The blonde said as he walked out with Shikamaru.

"Yeah, but I didn't want promoted so soon. So damned troublesome." Shikamaru said.

"Gaki," Naruto felt his arm get grabbed by Anko. "You're coming with me." She made use of the Body Flicker technique.

Naruto felt his feet touch the ground at his apartment and was soon dragged inside by Anko and he was pushed onto the couch. Naruto glanced around, noting who all was there. Hana, Tsume, and Mikoto were over by his bedroom door, leaning against the wall. Karin, Kin, and Tayuya were behind him, leaning on the couch a bit. Ichibi sat on the arm of the couch, watching him. Anko, Shizune and Ayame were in front of him, watching him. Temari sat on the other arm of the couch, watching him. All eyes were on him.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking at all of them.

"So when's your date going to be with the Hyuuga girl?" Anko asked, crossing her arms under her bust.

So that was what this was about. Naruto offered a sigh and stood up. He held up one finger to Anko as he walked towards his bedroom.

The girls all followed him, with Mikoto and Tsume entering his room before him with slight frowns on their faces. Why wouldn't he just answer the question?

Naruto walked over to his closet with purposeful strides and slung the door open, revealing a sea of orange jumpsuits. "And what would you like me to wear on the date? I think the date should be nicer than me wearing my Shinobi garb" Naruto turned to his closet and pulled out one hanger. "Orange jumpsuit," he tossed it onto the bed. "Orange jumpsuit," he tossed the next one onto the bed, "Orange jumpsuit," he tossed the next one. "Orange jumpsuit," he tossed the fourth one onto the bed. "Orange jumpsuit that I use for spare parts to patch the others." This one also joined the others on the bed.

Naruto turned and leaned against his closet door. While he wouldn't treat the women in his life like shit, he wasn't about to be pushed around either, even by their show of force by all of them being in his room. "I was a Genin for the past eight months, before that I was an orphan barely having any money to my name. All my bills came out of my monthly stipend that stopped when I got my headband." Naruto inhaled and exhaled slowly. "One of those months, I was training for the Chunin Exams, so I couldn't perform missions and bring in a whole lot of money. For about another two of those months, I was on two separate missions that didn't exactly bring me a whole lot of cash. Getting Tsunade back to the village wasn't exactly a paying mission because it was a necessity. Saving Wave didn't exactly pay a lot having to be split between three Genin and an Elite Jonin."

Naruto was glad they were letting him speak and defend his position. "I'm helping support Ichi-chan, Kin-chan, Tayuya-chan, Karin-chan, and Temari-chan. Three apartments, plus utilities, are not cheap each month. The girls help, they really do and I appreciate the fact, but all my savings went into getting the other two apartments so that we weren't trying to fit six people in this small apartment on a permanent basis. When I got back from getting Tsunade, all my money that I had won gambling went into paying off the apartments, the utilities, getting supplies that I had used during the Month and a half I was gone for, getting food for the house once more. Not to mention for the past ten days I've only been able to do the occasional mission because many of them are being snatched up due to the damage Oto did during the invasion."

Naruto inhaled and exhaled. "The fact of the matter is I have no money to buy something nicer to wear for my date with Hinata. I get charged more at shops and while it's not as bad as it has been, it still happens usually when I go clothes shopping. Something relatively formal, but still casual, will cost me money, especially since I don't want to get something that's neon bright orange. I like orange, but for a date it's not that great of a color. I have enough money to take Hinata to a relatively nice restaurant." Naruto bobbed his foot up and down a bit, obviously agitated.

He saw many of the faces turn a bit more sympathetic, some murderous at the idea of the blonde being overcharged for clothes.

Tsume crossed her arms under her breasts with a pronounced frown on her face. "And why didn't you ask any of us? We would be more than willing to help." She said. Inuzuka help their pack mates and the blonde was technically her Alpha still.

Naruto looked away. 'I hate being pitied." Naruto said simply. "I hate asking for handouts, I hate asking for charity, I hate getting charity." Naruto said as he moved over to the window and leaned against the frame, looking out over the village from his spot. It wasn't a great view, not really, but if he was going to be the Hokage someday then he had to love all of Konoha.

Tsume tapped her foot a bit. She could understand where the blonde was coming from she supposed. She could see a look of understanding in the others as well. The blonde tried hard to be independent, and after practically raising himself she couldn't blame him. But he was also a nice kid, helping out others when they needed it.

Tsume shared a look with Hana and then with Mikoto and Shizune. "Hana, why don't you and Ichi-san take Kin-san, Karin-san, Tayuya-san, Temari-san, and Ayame-san out of here?" Hana gave a nod to her mother before she left, leaving Naruto with the four highest ranking women. "Alright Gaki, come on." Tsume moved over and grabbed the blonde's arm, leading him out of the room.

"Where we going?" Naruto asked watching as Shizune, Anko, and Mikoto followed.

"Shopping," Mikoto said walking at Naruto's other arm. "For you." She said simply.

Naruto bit his tongue a bit. "I don't want charity." He said sternly.

"It's not going to be charity!" Anko said cheerfully having caught onto the other women's plans. "It's a gift."

Naruto narrowed his eyes before looking at the four. "For what?"

Shizune offered a grin. "Well, you made it to Chunin and on your first time too. That to me sounds like a good enough excuse to get you something."

"So," Tsume started. "Mikoto and Anko are going to pitch in for your clothes for your big date with Hinata-chan. Shizune and I are going to pitch in for the place you will be taking her." Tsume said.

Naruto blinked a little bit. The girls were sly. It sounded quite a lot like charity to him but at the same time it was a gift. A rather oddly timed one, but a gift nonetheless. He could accept a gift better than he could accept charity.

Also realizing he had no choice in the matter, he allowed for his arms to drop and followed them out towards the market district of the village. They passed every clothing shop that Naruto had tried in the past to go for making him raise his brow a bit. Eventually they stopped in front of a rather simple looking shop with the name 'Tomoe Threads' painted in bold above the door.

Naruto was greeted with dozens upon dozens of rolls of cloth, both expensive and not, as well as various mannequins. There were racks of clothes as well; it was quite an impressive clothing store. It was… amazing really.

"Cho-san!" Tsume called out and soon enough a beautiful dark haired woman walked out. She wore a plain blue dress over her form and she had kind brown eyes. She wasn't that tall either, barely cracking five feet.

"Tsume-san, Mikoto-san, it's good to see you." The woman, Cho, said and walked over. "What can I do for you today?"

"We're getting the Gaki here some new threads." Anko said putting her hand on Naruto's head and rubbing it, making him blush a bit.

Cho smiled at Naruto. "Then you came to the right place. My name is Tomoe Cho, founder of Tomoe Threads. My husband will help you out. Sano-kun!" she called out.

Naruto watched as from the back a large, bigger than Jiraiya tall, man walked out from the back with long silver hair that was tied back into a pony tail and draped over his form. He wore a black kimono over the rippling muscles Naruto could tell were under the clothes. But it was the eyes that had Naruto's attention. One was pure green, the other a pure blue. Naruto could tell this man was a warrior.

"Tomoe Sanosuke." He said, offering Naruto one large and scarred hand. Naruto gladly shook it, the man looked him in the eyes and the blonde couldn't see any distaste, "Come to the back, we'll get you outfitted. Anything in particular you need?"

"Get him something nice, something that can be formal with a few additions to it, but semi-formal as well." Mikoto said. "Also, make it out of some nicer materials but keep it sturdy and give him plenty of room to hide his gear in it just to be on the safe side."

Sanosuke rubbed his face a bit. "Alright, I think we can do that. Come on." Sanosuke led Naruto back into the back of the shop where there was more privacy for fitting purposes.

Naruto looked around and stepped up onto the platform that Sanosuke asked him to. Naruto wasn't sure what to talk about as the man moved around him a little bit.

"So who is the lucky girl that you're getting some new clothes for? One of the four outside?" Sanosuke wasn't going to judge that the blonde was in the company of four hot women, maybe even dating one of them.

"No, my classmate Hyuuga Hinata, I have a date with her sometime soon hopefully." Naruto said as he watched Sanosuke circle him.

Sanosuke had heard of the Hyuuga girl. He supplied her cousin with his clothes. "Well good on you." Sanosuke said. "Alright, strip down to your boxers; I need to get some measurements." He got some measuring tape out of a pocket

Naruto did as he was asked and stood relatively still as the tailor made quick work of measuring. Naruto hoped what he got was awesome. "Could… could what I get have a small amount of orange? Not a whole lot but just some."

Sanosuke nodded thinking a little bit as he moved away and began to hold up some blue fabric to Naruto's face, judging the color on his eyes. "Alright, get dressed. I should have it done in a few days." Sanosuke was the best at making clothes by hand and he had written down every measurement he could think of for the blonde.

Naruto hopped off the platform and quickly got dressed once more, about to move to leave.

"Wait one second." Sanosuke said, moving down a few shelves, tapping a few boxes. "I have something here I want to give you. It was… for a friend of mine. I did a lot of work on his clothes and I had made him something special but he passed before I could give it. You remind me a lot of him." Sanosuke pulled out a sizeable box and took it over to Naruto.

Naruto accepted the box and peeled off the lid, looking down at the crimson fabric. He drew it out of the box and looked at the trench coat. It had black cuffs and black hem work, along with the edges of the lapels being done in black. It was crimson in color, but along the back and bottom it had dark orange flames.

Sanosuke leaned against the counter a bit. "I made the coats for the Yondaime Hokage." He said with a hint of pride. "This was to be the ultimate of my crafts. It is made of the highest quality of silk from the Aburame's most coveted stock. Generations of breeding of silk worms accumulating over five years, carefully bred to produce the best, fed only the best ingredients and fine chakra, this silk was near impossible to get." Sanosuke didn't even bother saying how he got it; he would respect the Aburame in not saying how he got access to it. "It's as strong as steel, unable to be pierced even by a crossbow bolt, but so very light as to not burden the wearer. If it ever gets damaged, just channel chakra into it and it will absorb any impurities such as dirt, blood, sweat, sand, etc. while at the same time fixing any tears, gashes or fraying. Fighting in a coat is a little difficult, so I would recommend holding off on it for a few months."

Naruto listened to Sanosuke's words before he carefully folded up the coat and placed it back in the box. "I can't accept this.' Naruto said. It had to be worth Sanosuke's weight in gold.

"You can and you will." Sanosuke said sharply. "I want you to have this Naruto." Sanosuke knew of his name, most merchants knew of the 'Demon Brat' though Sanosuke and his wife never thought of him like that. "The coat is meant to be an intimidation factor and it will keep you alive."

Naruto looked down to the box in his hand before looking to Sanosuke's multicolored eyes. He finally nodded his head; he would accept the coat then. "What about shark skin or fire?" Naruto asked. "Would either of those damage the coat?"

Sanosuke shrugged. "Possibly, though all you need is enough of a patch to channel chakra into as well as time." The silk could only grow so much at once.

Naruto nodded his head. "Thank you Sanosuke-san." He said and bowed his head a little bit. He was surprised when a rough hand clapped his head.

"Don't worry about it, now go on back outside. I got work to do."

Naruto turned and went out to the front of the shop where it looked like Tsume and Shizune were brainstorming an idea on where to go to eat. "We don't want him going to some place that will throw him out." Shizune said

Tsume nodded softly. "Yeah, but I'm not thinking of very many places that will let him in. He should be there as himself with Hinata, not as someone else."

Cho came out of a fitting area with Mikoto and ended up catching the last two bits of information. "Are you looking for a restaurant?" she asked politely.

Tsume looked over to the young woman. "Yes, the pup there has a date and it's going to be semi-formal, something nice but not too nice that they need to be stiff about it. They're just kids after all."

Cho tapped her chin a little bit. "My cousin Sakana runs a sushi restaurant in the village, over by one of the lakes. It's a little upscale but she charges good rates for the food she serves and the fish are caught fresh daily. It also has music for the patrons to dance to if they would like"

Shizune looked over to Naruto. "That sounds lovely." She said, it would be perfect and give Hinata plenty of time with Naruto.

Over the next few days, several things happened. One, Naruto continued his training only this time he was training in more practical arts, such as knowing how to dance. Shizune made a point of saying most people that sought to be with a woman knew at least how to dance on a basic level. Another, Naruto had sent a clone over to the Hyuuga Estate; spoke with Hiashi and getting his permission in dating Hinata. It was going to happen anyways, he even told Hiashi the fact, but Naruto wanted to at least try and ask for Hiashi's blessing. While the clone was over at the estate, he made sure to tell Hinata when the date was and that she should dress for a semi-formal affair.

Lastly, Naruto's outfit arrived for him and it fit quite wonderfully.

It was a pair of high quality fabric slack like pants that were black and didn't show in the shadows. Second was a dark blue shirt that at first Naruto had made the mistake of thinking it was one solid color. Instead, it had faint stripes through it of a slightly darker or lighter shade of blue; just enough that depending on how the light hit his shirt, Naruto's eyes would seemingly darken or brighten in blue. It was a rather nice effect. It also came with a matching black jacket, which for the sake of the date Naruto left at home. When questioned about why it was styled the way it was and not as a traditional Kimono, Sanosuke simply said that he wanted to try something different and have it look formal.

All in all, Naruto had a very nice outfit, including a pair of leather polished shoes to go with it.

The day of the date, Naruto got out of the shower and quickly dried himself off, making sure to do a thorough job so he didn't ruin anything. He forewent his headband, instead leaving it on his dresser. He combed out his hair, or tried to, the naturally spikey locks refused to be too tamed after all. He then went about pulling out the shirt and buttoning up; each movement of the long sleeved shirt caused his eyes to shirt slightly in hue in the mirror. Pants were next, followed by socks and shoes. Naruto even put on the Shodai Hokage's necklace, his necklace technically, for added measure. It was a nice necklace after all. Lastly was a slight hint of cologne on his wrists and neck, about a half spray only. It smelled like cinnamon rolls. Hana had gotten it for him saying Hinata would like it.

Naruto walked out to see Shizune, Tsume, and Mikoto sitting on his couch, all of them having wanted to see him in formal wear. "Well?" Naruto asked, turning to give them a good view.

Tsume pushed herself up from her seated position and walked over to the blonde. She grabbed his shirt and carefully un-tucked it, making sure she didn't wrinkle it. "There, semi-formal, right?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at Mikoto and Shizune.

Shizune nodded. It looked good on the blonde and she had to suppress the urge to bite her knuckle. She quite vividly remembered her own time with the blonde.

"Now remember," Mikoto started. "You don't have to run over to the Hyuuga Estate, you have plenty of time to walk and be yourself on this date."

Naruto nodded and sighed softly, patting himself. Hidden kunai pouch, check; wallet, check; hidden scroll containing his swords, check; Shinobi ID, check; It looked like he had everything he needed. Naruto gave each of the older women a hug before he headed out.

Naruto was nervous; he had slight flutters in his stomach from the prospect of a date with Hinata. He wanted it to go right for the shy girl. If it went right with Hinata, he could start planning for the other girls, the deserved a nice date every once and a while.

Naruto thought he felt someone following him, but when he glanced around he didn't see anyone really paying him all that much attention. He shrugged and continued on his way to the Hyuuga Estate.

Shizune let a small sigh of relief out threw her mouth before glaring at the stupid drunk in her arms with needles sticking out of his neck, paralyzing him temporarily. She, Tsume, Mikoto, Cat from ANBU, Anko, and even Kakashi were all running interference for the two teens tonight.

Tsunade was going to order all of ANBU but had decided against it after some deliberation. Naruto still was not quite liked in the village, but among its Shinobi forces there were plenty of people with wagers on how well this date was going to go. Tsunade herself even bet that Hinata would give a kiss by the end of the night.

Coincidentally, a good number of Shinobi moved their bets away from that spot once Tsunade placed her bet. Tsunade had put 2000 Ryo on something that now had 25:1 odds.

Shizune plucked the needles out of the civilian's neck and laid him down against the wall. He would wake up with a splitting headache and a sore neck, but nothing permanent. She then leapt away, moving quickly to watch the blonde once more.

Naruto made good time to the Hyuuga Estate and he followed the guards inside to Hiashi's study, where the clan head was apparently waiting on Naruto with a pot of tea. "Ah, good, you are quite punctual Uzumaki-san." Hiashi said, offering the boy to sit down. "And you have indeed dressed appropriately enough for such an affair." Hiashi wasn't going to expect formal wear fitting for an audience with the Daimyo unless the blonde was actually going to have a formal date with his daughter.

"Thank you Hiashi-sama." Naruto said, being polite to the father of the girl he was about to be taking on a date. Had he been dating say, Ino for example, he would be polite to Inoichi as well.

Hiashi sipped some of his tea, looking to the blonde. "I also expect that you have prepared for an emergency as well, some Shinobi supplies hidden upon your person?" he asked.

"Of course Hiashi-sama, Hinata-chan's safety is second only to her happiness." It was dinner, what was the worst that could really happen?

Hiashi nodded accepting that statement. Many might argue that her happiness should come after her safety, but for the past half a month Hiashi had watched as Hinata had gotten extraordinarily excited, then extraordinarily depressed and then back to excited. He wanted his daughter at her best, happy, and safe. It seemed that her best coincided with her happiness, so he would be patient. "I also expect that nothing… inappropriate will happen Uzumaki-san." Hiashi had heard a few rumors going on about the blonde's rather… promiscuous activities. He wasn't sure to put any weight on such rumors, but he was going to make sure that nothing happened to Hinata that was inappropriate for a young lady of her age and stature.

"Of course not Hiashi-sama." Naruto said as he drank some of the tea. "It will just be eating and perhaps dancing."

"Good," Hiashi said softly as he finished his team some. "I will lay down some ground rules Uzumaki-san. Bring her home by 2200 hours sharp. If it becomes 2201 and she is not home, I am calling upon the entirety of the clan to go out looking for you and her. You had best be dead, dying, or in pursuit of her kidnappers."

Naruto noticed that Hiashi didn't say he should be fighting. So if it ended up happening, something he prayed to every deity he could think of that it wouldn't happen, he had best end the fight fast.

"I expect you to be… polite and considerate." Hiashi added. "You will not kiss her of your own accord. If she initiates a kiss, it had better be chaste and quick. Your hands had best stay in appropriate places during any time you dance, or hug her."

Naruto committed these rules to memory. He knew someday he might have a daughter and these were good rules that he wanted memorized.

"Lastly, I expect for you to keep your eyes in appropriate places. If I find out your eyes wandered Uzumaki-san, I will castrate you with my bare hands." Hiashi said. "If you have broken any of these ground rules, I will castrate you with my bare hands."

Naruto was sufficiently terrified now. That was a hefty threat; one Naruto was going to do his best to avoid. "I will endeavor to keep in compliance with each of your rules Hiashi-sama."

"And allow me to give you one last bit of food for thought." Hiashi said. "My eyes may be white, but that does not mean I am blind. I will be watching."

Naruto gulped and nodded just as he heard a knock. He turned just as the door slide open and he forgot to breathe for a moment.

Simply put, Hinata was gorgeous.

Since Naruto had last seen Hinata, she had been growing her hair out and instead of doing something traditional with it, liking putting it up in a bun, she instead had it hanging loosely towards the middle of her shoulder blades and it framed her face. Naruto could pick up just a slight scent of vanilla and lilacs, something he usually placed with Hinata. She wore a gorgeous dark purple kimono with a black obi and on it were patterns of various butterflies done in a few blues and reds. It was just so out of character for the normally shy Hyuuga girl and Naruto could tell she went natural. He didn't see any lipstick or make-up, something he could tell by the slight blush on her face at seeing him.

"Father, Naruto-kun…" Hinata said softly, trying to keep her stuttering. She wanted this night to go perfectly.

"I will see you both later tonight. Remember Uzumaki-san, 2200." Hiashi said

Naruto inclined his head once more to Hiashi before standing up and going over to Hinata. He blushed slightly as he got closer. He was almost tripping over his tongue as he looked to her. He then offered his left arm. "Shall we Hinata-chan?" he asked looking her in the eyes.

Hinata smiled, blushing a bit more before she gave an enthusiastic nod and slipped her arm around Naruto's, leaning close. "Let's." she said softly. She bit her lip as she walked with Naruto, able to smell the slight scent of cinnamon rolls on him. Mixing with his natural scent, it was quite the combination and made her blush a little more.

Shizune nodded to herself as she saw the young couple leave the Hyuuga Estate without any followers surprisingly. She followed discreetly from the rooftops until they headed into Kakashi's sector. She hoped he was ready.

Kakashi got a visual on the young couple, Naruto was talking animatedly to Hinata, pausing a moments to let the young girl speak. Kakashi snapped his book shut and put his ANBU training to work. This night was not going to be ruined, come Hell or High Water.

They were almost out of Kakashi's sector when he noticed an incoming problem: Gai and his team.

Kakashi had nothing against Gai and his eccentrics. It was just how Gai had come to cope with being a Shinobi. Kakashi read porn, Gai shouted about Youth. Kakashi was tardy, Gai wore spandex. Kakashi made lame excuses about why he was tardy; Gai was constantly challenging himself to ridiculous challenges.

The problem was his eccentrics tended to… ruin things for other people. He was not going to risk Naruto and Hinata, who were looking to be a very cute couple all dressed in dress clothes, running into Gai and his team. Gai would start shouting, which would cause Lee to start shouting, and then the sunset came.

This meant that Kakashi was going to have to take one for the team.

With a sigh, Kakashi braced himself and moved to intercept Gai and his team. The results of him cutting them off were instant. "Kakashi, my youthful eternal rival!" Gai said jovially moving over to catch up to Kakashi with his team in tow.

"Hmm, oh Gai, did you say something?" Kakashi said, knowing how much it pissed Gai off. If he was out of hearing range of Naruto and Hinata, then they were out of range for Gai's boisterous comments.

"Blast you Kakashi!" Gai shouted, "You and your hip attitude!"

Kakashi tapped his chin. "Actually, Gai… I need your help with something." Kakashi said playing it off like it would be something helpful. He felt like cringing when he noticed he had Gai's rapt attention. "You see, my student is getting to be quite the Shinobi and to be frank I just want to make sure my skills stay sharp you see?" Kakashi had no inadequacies about his abilities truthfully. "I can't have my student surpassing me just yet, not after only eight months of being a Genin. So how about a spar tonight? Darkness will make it more challenging you know?"

"YOSH! I shall help you fan your hip flames into a raging inferno of YOUTH!" Gai shouted

Kakashi bobbed his foot. "You know, I'm actually feeling pretty good tonight Gai… why don't I spar against you and your team… at the same time? I'll use my Nin Dogs for support." Kakashi noticed Neji flash his Byakugan on behind Gai's back. The look of surprise before the narrowing of eyes told him that Neji caught onto what he was doing.

"Gai-sensei," Neji started. "I believe it would be beneficial of us to spar with Kakashi-san." Neji said. "It would enable us to get a feel for several styles that Kakashi-san no doubt uses given his Sharingan eye. At the same time, it would also give us experience in fighting a greater foe alongside you so that the team is not a hindrance but instead advantageous. As well, it would give us experience fighting a stronger Shinobi during the nighttime."

Kakashi was thankful for Neji speaking up

"YOSH!" Gai shouted. "To the training grounds!" he then made a one-eighty and began to walk towards said training grounds.

'You owe me Gaki.' Kakashi thought, knowing Naruto owed him for this.

Naruto paused in his conversation with Hinata as he turned to continue heading for the sushi restaurant. "Did you hear anything?" he asked her. "I could have sworn- no never mind. That would be preposterous."

"I haven't heard anything Naruto-kun." Hinata said and leaned into Naruto a bit more. She was too focused on the blonde and the fact he smelled so good. Maybe she could lean in and nibble on his neck… No… Bad Hinata!

Tsume watched as Naruto and Hinata entered her sector. Kuromaru came back and she quickly got the situation and sighed. "Murphy is out in force tonight." The wild looking woman said before jogging off with Kuromaru to deal with the only possible problem: Tora.

One of the Genin teams chasing the cat down must have thought using a tranquilizer would make the cat drowsy; all it ever did was piss the bastard off. Thus three teams were chasing Tora, and they were heading right for Naruto. She estimated at the current pace they would collide and Tora would mess up the two teens' clothes, something she wasn't going to let happen.

Tora was a bane to Genin and even some Chunin. But to a Jonin such as herself, it was child's play. Kuromaru leapt down in front of the brown cat growling and barking viciously. While the cat had been known to attack people twice Kuromaru's size, the cat remembered the angry looking dog.

It had been one of Kuromaru's and Tsume's first missions. The cat was the reason Kuromaru had one eye and one ear and swore a blood oath to have revenge, no matter how long Kuromaru had to wait. As the humans said, 'An eye for an eye'

The cat skidded to a halt, just inches before Kuromaru's snapping jaws before bolting the other way, slipping past the three Genin teams.

Tsume nodded to herself, the danger had been resolved and the blonde and his date were steadily making their way out of her sector.

Sakura watched with a gob smacked expression from the flower shop as her teammate of all people walked arm in arm with Hinata down the street. They were also fairly fancily dressed. "Ino…" she said softly but couldn't get the platinum blonde's attention. "Pig." Still nothing and Sakura was still staring at Naruto and Hinata. She finally grabbed Ino's arm and drew her over, turning her head to look down the street.

Ino was about to turn and lay Sakura out. Ever since she started training through Naruto's work, she had gotten stronger, faster and even had one mean right hook. But her senses for juicy gossip were going off and her sight focused in on blonde spikey hair. Naruto was out with Hinata. "Ooh." Ino said softly giving a wide grin. "Come on Forehead, let's follow them."

Naruto felt as though he and Hinata were being followed. Hinata must have noticed it as well because she moved away just a little bit, about to activate her Byakugan. Naruto shook his head a little bit; he didn't want her to give them away like that. Who knew who was working against them? They could be in front; they could be behind, to the sides… even on the rooftops that Naruto was scanning with his eyes.

He fingered the scroll that slid down his sleeve a little bit, prepared to unseal a sword at a moment's notice. But as they continued their steady pace to the sushi restaurant, Naruto noticed the feeling disappear.

This was getting strange.

Sakura and Ino looked up, terrified as they stared at the proctor of the second exam staring down at them. While Ino had come far in two and a half months, she still was not ready for a Special Jonin who had wrapped them up with snakes and then yanked them into an alleyway where she proceeded to tie them up.

Anko dusted herself off for a moment. "Don't try to follow Blondie right now." Anko said with a grin. "We're not letting anything out of the ordinary happen tonight, and we're not going to risk one of you two doing something to ruin the date."

With that, Anko tossed a kunai to the ground before taking off to the rooftops, the two should be resourceful enough to free themselves, but it would take a little bit of time.

Naruto opened the door to the restaurant, already liking the feel of the place. A beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes in a pink kimono waved them over and led them to a booth over by a window. Naruto had pointedly kept his eyes off the woman, especially given her generous assets. She was beautiful, but Naruto wanted to make a point of having all-eyes for Hinata.

Naruto sat down across from Hinata, looking to her. He could see the hint of relief in her eyes that he was focused on her, and the slight embarrassment.

"Welcome to Sakana's Sushi." The hostess said to the two of them, drawing a notepad and a pen from the apron she wore. "My name is Tomoe Sakana, proprietor and chef. Can I start you off with something to drink?" she asked.

"Tea, please." Hinata and Naruto said at the same time, causing them both to blush slightly.

Sakana smiled softly. "Tea it is. My husband will bring it out shortly. Do you need a moment to find something you'd like or could I recommend the sample platter for you both? It serves two and has a wide variety of the sushi we offer."

Naruto looked to Hinata to see what she would like. She gave a small nod and Naruto looked to Sakana, making sure he was looking to her eyes. "The sample platter please." He said.

Sakana nodded softly and jotted it down onto her notepad before tucking it back into her apron. "Please, feel free to dance on the dance floor if you would like while you wait." Sakana turned and then headed back to the kitchen, avoiding another waiter who was taking sushi to another table.

Naruto looked back to Hinata and offered a small smile. "Would you like to dance?" he asked.

Hinata smiled and blushed a little bit, nodding. "I'd love to."

Naruto stood up and offered Hinata a hand, leading her out to the dance floor soon enough. He noticed the dance floor was a floor of tempered glass that allowed the dancers and patrons to watch fish swim by underwater, giving an interesting sensation. Naruto began to move with Hinata in the dance for the song, actually knowing this one.

Hinata leaned in and rested her head on Naruto's chest. She was enjoying this, just being on a date with the blonde. She was feeling so relaxed too. "Thank you for this Naruto-kun." She had refrained from stuttering the entire night. Just being asked to the place was a huge boost in confidence for her. Having Naruto ask her out, it was an even bigger boost. She had always thought she wasn't pretty or worthwhile.

Naruto asking her out helped a little bit with her confidence.

But she could also tell he went through a great amount of effort for her, something she appreciated greatly. She had never seen Naruto dressed up, aside from the funeral after the invasion which wasn't a fair comparison. She could tell the outfit was of high quality, though different from what she was used to see that was formal or even semi-formal.

The restaurant was a good pick as well. It was not extremely fancy, but she could tell their meal was going to be of high quality and undoubtedly be a little expensive. It was good for a first date type of spot, and the music was at a steady beat for her to dance with Naruto at.

And the dancing! She had never known Naruto could dance. It was enough to make her heart flutter a little bit, though that might be from the slight smell of cinnamon rolls on him still.

They danced for two songs, though the second one had Hinata giggle a little bit as she led Naruto through the steps. She would never claim he was an expert at dancing, but he certainly could when he knew the dance.

Eventually they made their way back to their table and this time Naruto patted the spot beside him, wanting to sit beside Hinata. It was a spot she took quite happily.

That was the exact moment when a dark but short haired man came over with a serving tray. Hinata's eyes widened slightly at the size of the man. He was about built as Asuma who she had seen several times to compare to. But the startling feature of the man was the eyes. They were icy blue but held a fire to them. This was only made more apparent by the vertical scar over his left eye, along with a second scar that went over the bridge of his nose, just below the same eye. He wore a dress similar to Naruto, though his was done in solid black edged in vivid white. "Here you go, two teas." He said setting down the two steaming mugs of hot, green tea. He then placed a small kettle down as well. It would be enough to give two refills apiece. Those blue eyes turned to Naruto and his lips quirked into a smirk. "You met Sanosuke. The outfit is completely his style"

Naruto looked surprised, though he supposed if the two women were part of the same family then it wouldn't be impossible for the two men to meet. "Yes," Naruto said without denying it. He had met with the man.

"Tomoe Roy." The man said holding his hand out for Naruto to shake. "And yes, my parents were that cruel as to name me Roy." This got a grin out of Naruto. It was such a simple name, sort of like Lee's. "I'd like to thank you for not staring at my wife." Roy looked over his shoulder to Sakana and smiled softly before looking at the young blushing couple. "Well, I'll be off." He then turned and walked away to the kitchen to continue running orders.

Naruto watched the man walk off and frowned a bit. "He's… he's strange." Naruto said. Like Sanosuke had been. It was a sort of personality quirk, like they had seen so much violence and had grown tired of it that they had a sunny disposition, just to keep from moping and not having to deal with violence. Roy's entire body had been covered; even his hands were covered by gloves. The only part not covered was his head and Naruto was able to see the two scars himself. He was willing to bet an A-rank Mission's pay that Roy had several more.

It made Naruto wonder about the man and what he had been before he had been a simple waiter at a Sushi restaurant.

Shinobi didn't often have scars like what Roy had contrary to their violent life style. They were either so weak that such wounds killed them, or they were better than their opponent and killed them. There was a small middle ground where a Shinobi could get such a deep enough blow, which would scar, without dying. Most of the time a Shinobi didn't stay in this middle ground long. Either they went to the side where they were simply that good, or they met someone who had.

It was actually sort of morbid to think about.

Still, Naruto continued to enjoy Hinata's company and the tea they were given. It was really good tea surprisingly, even Hinata thought so and she had access to higher quality tea.

Roy came back out with a large platter in hand and soon set it on the table for the two. "Twenty five of our fifty different varieties of sushi, two of each variety including three of our 'Dessert' Sushi varieties, enjoy you two. Just call if you need anything more." He said before walking away

Naruto enjoyed himself as the night dragged on and he ate with Hinata. Eventually, it was time for them to go and he paid for the meal before walking arm in arm with Hinata once more towards one of Konoha's parks. He walked around with her, making sure to keep track of the time.

Hinata was a little saddened when it had to come to an end and Naruto began to escort her to the Hyuuga Estate. But she would not be upset about it, she had fun and she was hoping to do it again with the blonde sometime.

Hinata bit her lip a little bit. She had to do something that would get her noticed, that would put her firmly in the blonde's sights. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips right outside the gate inside before pulling back. It was short, chaste, but she hoped it worked. "Good night Naruto-kun." She whispered before turning to head inside quickly before he could come to his senses.

Naruto touched his lips softly, pausing a moment. He chuckled a little bit before he started to walk home, his hands up behind his head. "Good night Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he headed away.

He could almost hear Tsunade celebrating in the distance for some reason.

End.