Time Passes, Shippuden!

Seasons passed, and the tense situation between the great villages never let down.

Kumo aggressively promoted shinobi recruitment to anyone who had a shot at being one. While it didn't help much in the long term, causing multiple problems inside as well as outside the village, including but not limited to the economy, signs of civil unrest as well as numerous diplomatic issues with neighboring smaller villages.

Something that Kumo would normally disregard, became an important issue as even the Raikage knew, The Hokage wouldn't hesitate to use them as a barrier or even worse, as a distraction to do something much… much worse.

Kiri had sent its own delegations, nothing more than an attempt at figuring out if the Hokage had any intentions in continuing his so far short but effective campaign in their direction.

Between Suna, whose negotiations had ended successfully, Iwa who had no choice whatsoever, and Kumo who decided to reinforce their army, Kiri was extending diplomatic negotiations as the Mizukage tried her best to delay the possibility of an invasion.

As the Hokage saw the response, he also made sure to cover his back, moving the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning to pull the leash on the dog that was the Raikage. It was the primary source of the civil unrest, giving him an excuse to interfere with the Raikage in the interest of the people.

Given the alliance with Suna and the geographical position of the two other great villages, he made sure to 'convince' the smaller villages.

While the ones that formed the border between Konoha, Suna, and Iwa were in no position to threaten them.

With Iwa's fall out of grace, losing the bulk of its infrastructure in the attack as well as the bulk of its military in the surprise attack of the village, the surprise attack on the border forces upon their return as well as an additional 1000 shinobi together with their Kage on the ambush towards the Hokage. A close approximation regarded Iwa's military power at around 5000-6000 strong shinobi force, with a serious lack of high-tier shinobi.

Now in the world of shinobi, 2 of the 5 great hidden villages became nothing but satrapies of the hidden leaf village… and different from the time of the previous Hokage, the Godaime Hokage's methods were much less… diplomatic.

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(MC POV – Approx 1.5 years later)

I stood up and looked out of the window.

'So our protagonist returns…' – I thought to myself as I sensed a rather great amount of chakra heading towards me.

Of course, the stench of the beast gave it away immediately once I used Sage mode. It was a little early for them to return given my estimation but they were rough estimations at best and I could always be wrong.

Naruto's chakra felt powerful… more so than it should have been at this point. It rather disturbed me as it was… much more significant than my expectations.

'Is it Jiraya again? Does he feel I'll use Naruto and has taken steps to ensure he can stand on his own? It would make sense given his apprehensions towards me… more like outright rejection.' – While thinking I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." – I acknowledged.

As I turned to the door it wasn't my rather handy secretary who entered but Hinata.

~Sorry for intruding~ - She sang chirpily with a smile as she made her way inside, a bag in her hand.

Meanwhile, I sat down in my chair and put a small smile on my face as per usual.

'Does this count as breaking the canon completely. Well, Hiashi is my biggest and strongest supporter in this village, so dinners every now and then were not a big problem as I had invested too much time in building this relationship… but Hinata changing this drastically was not something I expected or tried to alter myself. The girl had changed gradually… but drastically. Learning medical ninjutsu and excelling at it, not to mention the numerous subjects she had studied over time, something that even Hokages only bothered with after being elected to run the village, the purpose becoming aware to me only after a few days after she excelled at her 3rd subject, warfare.' – I thought to myself, Hinata having closed the door and made her way to the front of my desk.

With every new thing she learned, she had one more excuse to come and see me. She had fallen for me, a monster, and was hopeless… which worked in my favor as it ensured Hiashi's continued support. Though it did surprise me a little at the beginning, after looking at myself through the eyes of a kunoichi (As I had no lack of them after the Iwa ambush), it was rather easy to tell I was a perfect male specimen through human eyes. I was strong, politically and personally, charismatic as well as pleasing to look at. I could confidently say that with a little shifting around I could make almost any women fall for me… even women that liked women for that matter. Wonder if my body could be considered a political asset in that case.

'A valid strategy to consider… the current Mizukage should be rather desperate in that section. Now that would be recorded in the history books.' – Thinking to myself, I saw Hinata looking at me smiling.

As time passed, I grew closer with Hinata, often going out to lunch on our own. She started being far more confident with time, leading to her inviting me out most of the time, and as of late, being more revealing in front of me. It wasn't much, mostly lowering her zipper to show her cleavage with the excuse of being too hot… though the first time she did, her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she started stammering for the first time in months.

"You look happy Hinata. Can I help you with something?" – I asked with a smile on my face as per usual.

"Father told me you couldn't make it for lunch so I decided to bring you some myself. I hope I'm not bothering you." – She said smiling as she dug in her bag and brought out a rather fancy-looking box, a bento probably.

"Of course not. You make days like this bearable." – I replied, a blush creeping up Hinata's face as she turned her head to the side, but not enough to hide a corner of her lips going up.

'Every time, it's just too easy.'

"So what is going on today that has you so busy you can't have lunch with me?" – She asked while sitting on the desk, holding her lunch box in her lap and smiling.

As I rolled her question in my mind… a smile crept up to my face.

'… I have the opportunity to make this day… very interesting.' – I thought as I answered.

"Haven't you heard? Naruto is coming back today. He should be near the village already." – I said as I started eating.

People prove to be the most unpredictable when being put in certain awkward or unprepared situations. It would not only be entertaining… but also a situation that might resolve in a way I haven't even remotely thought about, something that was becoming increasingly rare.

The slight tremble of her figure proved my previous thoughts right… this day was going to be veeeery interesting.

(AN: Just to make sure you guys know, he isn't falling in love or anything, he just finds the situation amusing.)