"What do you mean I have to?! That is none of their business!" Naruto screeched at Shizune turning red.

"Naruto, Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha. Carrier of one of the most valuable bloodlines in shinobi history." Shizune added apologetically.

"What the hell does that have to do with..?!" Now Naruto stopped mid-sentence turning even more red.

Shikamaru who was sitting on the floor next to a pile of paper, leaning against a wall of the hokage office intervened. "Everything concerning him is their business. Information is a weapon, as much as a kunai is Naruto. Don't be an idiot and just ask him."

"Ehh. You ask him." Naruto pursed his lips giving Shikamaru a stubborn stare, a stare refusing to acknowledge the huge blush on his face.

Shikamaru frowned annoyed. "Fine. Get Sasuke." He commanded a young genin standing next to the door.

"Sensei." The kid responded and disappeared immediately.

A few moments after Shikamaru lazily lifted himself off the floor, approached Naruto's desk and turned towards the door of Naruto's office. That same second, the doors opened and a black haired shinobi in a jonin outfit entered the office.

"Sasuke." Shikamaru called his name. Shizune has finished gathering the papers, bowed to Naruto and left the office.

"Yes?" Sasuke responded.

"We need some information."

"..."

"What a drag." Shikamaru complained silently, as he rotated his upper torso sideways and took a file of off Naruto's desk. Sasuke could see Naruto behind Shikamaru, looking down, visibly red and uncomfortable, needlessly fumbling with a pile of paper. Right about now, Sasuke had an idea of what was going to be asked.

Shikamaru began reading the questions nonchalantly. "Are you married?"

Despite his presumption, he paused for a second before he responded. "No."

"Were you married before?"

"No."

"Are you in a romantic relationship?"

"No."

"Were you in one before?"

"No."

"Are you engaged?"

"No."

"Were you engaged before?"

"Yes."

Both Naruto and Shikamaru stopped to look at Sasuke, staring at him for a few moments.

"To whom?" Naruto asked.

"The heir of the Hyuuga clan."

"Hinata?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I don't know." Sasuke responded.

"What do you mean you don't know?! The heir is Hinata!"

"Fine dumbass." Sasuke barked back at him.

"When?" Shikamaru asked.

"One week before the massacre."

"I see... A decent political strategy." Shikamaru took a pen of Naruto's desk and started writing on the form in his hands.

"Political strategy?" Naruto turned to him confused.

"After the coup' de ta, the Uchiha planned to take the main power in Konoha. While having faced the Senju, Sarutobi, Anbu, they wouldn't be able to afford fighting the Hyuuga as well. They needed to offer truce and division of power with the Hyuuga by having the future clan leaders engaged. Itachi was already tagged as a traitor by his father, who suspected him before the massacre. That means Sasuke was surely going to become the clan leader instead. Otherwise, Hinata would have been engaged to Itachi, not Sasuke."

"How do you know all that?" Naruto stared amazed.

"Geez. I read some files, he told us he was engaged. It's 2 + 2 Naruto." Shikamaru whined lazily, indirectly refusing to explain the details he feared Naruto would demand right away. He then looked back at Sasuke.

"Have you ever engaged in sexual intercourse, or any similar sexual activity deemed as potential for pregnancy?"

Sasuke turned completely stiff, now putting in effort into keeping his face blank. "No."

"Have you made any plans when it comes to restarting the Uchiha clan in the future?"

"..." Shikamaru stared at Sasuke, Sasuke stared back, not speaking. Shikamaru finally broke the silence casually jotting down.

"Ook, we'll make that a no." Sasuke's eyebrows lowered and he seemed to be slightly blue in the face. Shikamaru added. "Ok, well the rest of this stuff doesn't apply I guess... Wait. Do you have any other known relatives?"

"...No." Sasuke could finally see who the actual source of these questions was. "What do the elders want with this?"

Shikamaru could hear the anger in his voice. It really tired him when people got emotional. He continued his writing, not looking up. "I don't meet with them Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"I suggested you take over the ANBU in Danzo's stead like we planned. Since you killed him and all, they kind of like you for that one. I thought it was gonna work." Then Naruto added grumpily. "But instead of making a damn decision already, they keep organizing meetings, voting and now this stupid form. Still, it seems they are finally running out of shit to fire my way."

Shikamaru put down the file he filled out on one pile of papers and sat back down on his spot on the floor, flipping through another tower of paperwork. "It's not shit Naruto."

"What?"

"Naruto, they won't say yes. There is a reason they sent this form."

"What?"

Shikamaru responded still going through his papers. "Look, ANBU are the right hand of the hokage. Second in command, and ANBU leader is second in power. All of history, Uchiha fought the Senju for the first place. They don't trust Sasuke. In fact they fear he might turn against Konoha and defect if he decides he doesn't like answering to you. Which he will be doing as an ANBU every step of the way. They need him to tie himself to Konoha. The big difference between Madara who repeatedly tried to destroy it, and rest of the Uchiha who wanted to take over, is that Madara had no one left. He had no one of his own. If it's a choice between another Uchiha clan they might fight, or the potential second Madara, they must have decided they would rather have Sasuke have a family they can rely on he'll be invested into, than to have him be alone, considering how powerful he is. Tsunade died a month ago. The village is unstable. Until they start believing in you as a strong new leader, they will continue to make such precautions."

Naruto's fists clenched. He appeared to be more annoyed by this assessment than Sasuke was.

"Found it." Shikamaru finally stopped his flipping through the mess, as he drew out a thick folder once hidden under the scattered paper.

"What are you looking for?" Sasuke asked.

"A way to get you in as Danzo's replacement."

"And you trust me?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Naruto does. That's all I need to know. Now, these are Hyuuga clan laws and agreements. It is a part of their ethical code. They keep it all public and honor their word above all else. It is what affords them most allies out of any of the clans in Konoha. Agreements made and how. Let's see... Engagement, e... N.. G.. Here. Out-of-clan engagements of male clan members will be fulfilled by bringing the bride into the clan. Male members can be... Ok, not this. Female... Female... Ha. Out-of-clan engagements of female clan members will be fulfilled by sealing the byakugan of the bride and sending her into the family of the groom."

"Sealing?!" Naruto stood out of his chair.

Shikamaru got confused. "It can't be Hinata then. Who would run the clan? That means Hanabi was taking her place..." Shikamaru spoke to himself as he started flipping paper to the end of the file.

Naruto just stood there tense. Shikamaru got to the name list.. "It is! She was engaged. Agreement guaranteed with the lives of Hyuuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku in the name of the Uchiha clan and the Hyuuga clan. Vitnaced by Hiruzen Sarutobi as an entirely inside village matter. Konohagakure, July 5th, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata..."

"They can't do that to Hinata! Seal her LIKE NEJI?!" Naruto now yelled angry. To Naruto's surprise, Shikamaru almost laughed, now grinning satisfied as if he was winning a game of shogi against a good opponent. "I knew it."

Naruto went silent, unsure if Shikamaru was messing with him. Shikamaru looked up at Naruto. "There is no Uchiha."

"Yes there is." Naruto contradicted spontaneously.

"No, the Uchiha clan. The clan was considered disbanded after the massacre. Sasuke as an underage kid, could not announce himself to belong to this clan, so the law dictated that the clan becomes disbanded until Sasuke comes of age and re-announces it as the new leader. Sasuke did not live in the Uchiha district, he lived a few buildings away from the academy. Naturally, the engagement agreement is void, since the clan who made the contract doesn't exist anymore. And as long as it remains that way, we can rewrite the marriage contract into whatever we like, marry Sasuke and Hinata on paper, use it to get Sasuke in as the head of the ANBU and we can even have them divorced before the elders figure out the contract has been altered. By that time you'll have enough influence Naruto and there will... What?" Shikamaru's monologue was broken by the depressing darkness on Naruto's and Sasuke's face. His eyes widened.

"What did you two do?"

"Sasuke took back the Uchiha district. Remember? Where some of us made the tougher training grounds for the genin."

"I know. Temari hasn't stopped telling me about it. And?"

"Well I kind of suggested Sasuke could restart his clan officially for us to take the Uchiha district area from Konoha's ownership. It's how we were able to build it."

Sasuke added. "I reannounced the clan last year."

Shikamaru put the papers on the floor and leaned back against the wall helplessly, closing the conversation. Slowly, he slid on the floor into a lying down position, staring at the ceiling for quite a while, before he spoke again. "You can break the contract and marry anyone you like Sasuke. It is guaranteed with your father's life. He is dead, so you are free to do what you want. But you won't be trusted, or allowed in, until you have several children, a good reputation as a veteran shinobi of Konoha and every council member we have now croacks. Especially if the Uchiha clan breaks an agreement with the Hyuuga. Hinata comes from the most respected and trustworthy clan we know. She was our.. Your golden ticket in the council. This way, they'll have enough power to mess with Naruto, preventing him from running and protecting Konoha whenever they feel like it. The fact that they don't trust him, makes them dangerous."

Naruto interrupted irritated. "What are you suggesting Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes and yawned. "I'm not suggesting anything. You're not dragging me into this."

Naruto continued. "Doing this to Hinata is out of the question! We need another solution."

Shikamaru turned his head and looked at Naruto sleepily. "Do you have one?"

Naruto remained silent with only the tension on his face to protest.

Sasuke finally responded. "We have to ask her."

Both Naruto and Shikamaru looked at him. Shikamaru put his head back down and added after a few moments of silence. "You."

"What?"

"You have to ask her. She's not marrying us."

"No! No one is asking her anything."

"Chill Naruto."

"You chill!"

"Geez."

Sasuke asked. "What does the contract say about the conditions of the marriage?"

"You can't divorce for 5 years and you have to have at least one male child. If the male child isn't born during the first 5 years, you can't divorce at all. I can't mess with this if it's in the main storage now. The moment Uchiha clan was restarted, all of this became official again."

"We'll break into the storage then."

"You may as well announce war on your own ANBU Naruto. You have no control. The elders have you on a tight leash. Touch anything and you could only make it worse."

"We can't ask Hinata this. I don't care, find another strategy." Naruto protested still appalled and angry.

"There is another strategy. Though I wouldn't even call it a strategy, more like flat out lying"

Sasuke asked. "What is it?"

"Like I said, lying. Marry, stay together in the same house for 5 years, have Hinata fake a pregnancy, adopt a male child, divorce. By law the child will belong to you and your admission into the ANBU and the Konoha council is guaranteed somewhere along that way."

Again, the room was silent as Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other. Naruto sat back down on his chair with a helpless expression on his face. "I can't order Hinata to do this. They want to seal her."

Sasuke responded. "You won't order. She'll decide herself."

Shikamaru who seemed like he was sleeping on the floor at this point called. "Mirate!"

Naruto hissed at Sasuke. "You don't know Hinata! She's a good person. She would do anything to help people."

Sasuke ignored his anger. "Good."

The same genin from before appeared in the room. Shikamaru ordered. "Bring Hinata here."

The kid looked at Shikamaru basically sleeping on the floor and asked irritated. "Teacher, you are going to train me today, right?"

"Not if you don't bring Hinata." The kid disappeared escorted by Shikamaru's smirk.

"You're not going to train him are you?"

"Why do you care Naruto?"

"I had a similar teacher." Said Naruto mimicking the annoyed expression of Shikamaru's student."

Shikamaru grinned closing his eyes. "Hey, you turned out nicely."

- 3 minutes later...-

"Naruto?"

The 3 jonin looked at the door confused by a timid call behind it.

"Come on in Hinata!"

Dark haired girl, dressed in a long sleeved purple shirt, a jonin jacket, dark purple pants and a white, split knee long skirt walked in. She was blushing and avoiding eye contact with Naruto, to whom she was speaking.

"You have a mission for me?"

"Hinata, you see... Yes, I have a missi-Request! That's it! A request. Because you don't have to do it. At all! If you don't want to.."

She looked at him confused.

"Well, where do I begin? You see... When I first became hokage, the council wouldn't let me do anything. Since Danzo died and the war started, they seized most of the the power in Konoha. And now, I can't do anything and I can't stop... The point is, my ANBU needs a captain... And that captain is Sasuke. I mean he's not the captain! That's the problem you see. We have to make him...Captain. Because the elders might pass on control on their own family and then..!"

Sasuke walked closer to Naruto's desk, faced Hinata interrupting what was becoming nonsense coming out of flustered Naruto. "I need to become the ANBU leader and get into the council. I can't do that unless I am trusted, especially by the Hyuuga councilman, your grandfather. Your family has the reputation I need. That's why I need you to marry me and stay with me as long as it takes, for the hokage office to take back control lost in the war."

Hinata's blush has faded away and she was staring at Sasuke, visibly shocked. "Marry... You?"

"Yes."

She snuck a glance in Naruto's direction as if panicking and asking for help. He looked just as nervous, even angry. Slowly, blush came back to her face as it all sunk in. "Wh-Why? Why me?"

"There is a marriage contract made between our clans with our names on it. If we use it as an excuse, I can gain trust of the Hyuuga council members, their friend and get the position of the ANBU leader, currently held by a Shimura."

Naruto intervened again. "Look Hinata! You really don't have to do it. Shikamaru read what they do to girls who marry out of the clan."

But Hinata appeared zoned out and mumbled something to herself.

"Hinata?" Naruto called her again.

"Sasuke. I don't know. Don't you have someone you…You love?" She suddenly lost her composure and looked down, her face glowing covered in red, due to her becoming all too aware of Naruto standing a few meters away from her.

"Irrelevant. I'm asking you to fake being my wife until we take back control over Konoha. The only real thing would be the ceremony."

Naruto didn't know what is it that he really wanted to hear her from her. He just knew he felt incredible guilt. "Hinata, do you know what they do to girls who marry outside of the clan?"

Her blush faded a bit. "Yes."

"And you could..?"

She smiled mildly and now looked directly at Naruto. "Neji had one too."

In this moment, their eyes locked and Hinata's became watery, filled with tears. It appeared it was provoked by the memory of her cousin. But it wasn't. It was because of Naruto. Standing there, asking her to marry his friend.

"Hinata." Sasuke called her name, breaking her out of the daze. She jerked her body sideways as if startled, first looking down at the floor simply hiding from Naruto, before lifting her eyes towards Sasuke, who was already walking. "I need to speak to you in private."

"Ah. Ok." She moved suddenly, glad strength hadn't permanently left her muscles.

Naruto got confused. "What do you mean in private? Hey. Hey! Sasuke!"

The doors were shut.

Naruto grumpily sat back down in his seat. He felt guilty. The last thing he needed was Hinata's crying face reminding him of her cousin who gave his life for her. If he knew what they were asking of her… Naruto didn't doubt Neji would have tried to kill all 3 of them. A part of him even wished Neji was alive just to have someone punish him (Naruto) for this. Maybe he didn't need Neji after all. In the end, if Sakura doesn't break his ribs if she hears what they resorted to, no one else would. But then again, she's ten times worse. Maybe I can blame it all on him if she finds out… He thought as he anxiously stared at the lazy sleeping figure on his office floor.

- …on the hokage mansion rooftop...-

Sasuke and Hinata were walking out on the rooftop. The wind circled around them. Hinata removed her hair of her face as she approached the edge of the rooftop after Sasuke. As soon as he reached the fence, he turned facing her. "Will you do it?"

She expected more time. She needed more time. Hell, moments would do. "I want to help Naruto. Yes." She confirmed insecurely.

"I'm not asking you if you want to help Naruto, I'm asking you if you want to risk your reputation, turn your back on your family, actually marry me, pretend to live a married life with me for 5 years and pretend to have a child I'll adopt and later raise after we divorce."

She looked up at him with a sort of shock and numbness in her eyes. Sasuke continued to stare directly in her eyes without pardon, or break. He wanted to force her to give up and reply honestly, in the same surrendering, emotional manner she did when she looked at Naruto just now. But the key to lifting Hinata's guards in order to see the truth inside, could never be found by means of cold, forceful stares. She has seen too many of those growing up. She knew them all too well and she had a well prepared, well-mannered response for them. Her face took up an expression of calm, humble obedience, without any emotion left… "Sasuke, I don't mind. I believe Naruto will do what is best for Konoha. If I am ready to die for, Konoha… I am, of course, ready to marry for its sake as well.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed induced by a sense of losing to this timid girl. It irritated him and he wasn't the one to let go. "I was told you're in love with Naruto."

Hinata's eyes spread wider to Sasuke's satisfaction. He continued. "Five years is a long time. If you do this for him, if all goes well, you may end up losing him, instead of your family."

She quickly looked down and sideways. She didn't believe she could hide her melancholy while responding to this. "It's really not so ironic Sasuke... I... I won't lose Naruto. I never had him in the first place. Naruto loves.."

She couldn't complete the sentence, giving herself away in the end.

Sasuke had a purpose. It was to make sure Hinata is someone who can persevere in all this. Who won't have a reason to back out. Who can keep up the act. This wasn't a mission, yet everyone involved would be at risk. Seeing her hope for Naruto's affection visibly crushed, he was pretty satisfied.

"Do you have any questions for me?"

"Well, who will know that we're lying? Besides Naruto and Shikamaru..."

"We'll discuss that with them. Let's go back."

"Wait, Sasuke. Uhm, I have one more question."

Sasuke stopped.

"Will you be..Will you be losing anyone?"

"No."

She didn't know what to respond with. She didn't know Sasuke has no family to lie to. Now, she was regretting her question. She thought she may have overstepped some boundary. Sasuke seemingly overlooked her nervousness and added. "My problems come from people refusing to leave me alone, not the opposite."

The out of character kindness on his part was not so surprising, at least not with such a pitiful creature he thought. He put his hands in his pockets and repeated what he said before. "Let's go back."

WARNING: This fanfiction contains SasuHina and NaruSaku.

I do not mind bad reviews as any review is welcome, but the only criticisms I've gotten so far have come from people dissatisfied with the pairings I've placed in brackets above. I am sorry if this story comes up when you search some other pairing, but that is out of my control.