Chapter 47

It was a week before the triple wedding and Konoha was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming weddings.

The entire Hyuuga Clan were either out shopping for food, flowers, or other last-minute things that they think that they'd need to support the large crowd that were scheduled to appear for the wedding.

They were also moving things around the compound in order to have enough space to fit everyone that was supposed to come. Hinata and Neji were exiled from the Hyuuga Compound by Hanabi and the rest of the Clan until the decorations were finished so, now they were staying in the Uchiha District.

Visitors from all over were starting to file into the Village for the weddings, and Kakashi was starting to get overwhelmed by the number of requests to enter the Village that he was still receiving.

Obito and Hanare were helping him file through the requests, but even with 3 highly skilled shinobi sorting through all the requests, they were still overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

"This is ridiculous! There's just no end to these" Hanare said as she walked over to the crib that was placed in the corner of the room away from the papers.

She looked over to check the crib to see the still sleeping form of her and Kakashi's son, Kama Hatake. He was only 2 weeks old, but he was quite the handful for the 6th Hokage.

"Kama's lucky. He gets to sleep peacefully over there while I'm over here dealing with this tedious paperwork" Kakashi said sighing.

"We should have Sasuke, Neji and Naruto come sort these out since it's for their wedding" Obito suggested as he also stopped reading through the papers so that he could stretch.

Kakashi thought over that for a moment before he let out another sigh and shook his head. He stood up and walked over to stand next to Hanare. After looking at his son, he replied to Obito.

"As much as I would love to put this work off on them; I have a feeling that they have more than enough things to deal with as is. I doubt that even geniuses as capable as Sasuke and Neji will able to handle so many things at once. And lord knows that poor Naruto would be overwhelmed by this"

Obito nodded in agreement. He knew that Naruto was the least capable of juggling things, that man had a one-track mind that wasn't very capable of multitasking, but he thought that surely Sasuke and Neji would be able too.

But when he thought over how stressed and scared Kakashi was in the weeks leading to his wedding with Hanare; he understood what his best friend was saying.

"Well be that as it may, I doubt that whatever they're doing at the moment is as tedious as what we're doing now" Obito said.

Kakashi and Hanare looked at each other with an unsure expression causing Obito to look at them with a confused face.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. You're an Uchiha Obito, don't you remember what today is?" Hanare asked.

The confused face stayed on Obito's face until his eyes widened in realization, and he realized that he would much rather deal with village entry requests then what Sasuke, Naruto and Neji were currently dealing with.

"Seems like you remember now. I just hope that Sasuke and Madara will be able to keep their composure because if they lose it… well I don't want to think about what could happen" Kakashi said.

Obito couldn't help but agree with his former teammate. He could only hope to any god that would listen to keep Sasuke and Madara calm. Otherwise the whole shinobi world could be in danger.

XxXxXx

Sasuke and Madara were barely managing to keep their cool.

The Uchiha District was filled with hundreds of people, who were all there to see the soon to be married couples, but most of the shinobi there remembered Madara from the war, and he quickly became one of the centers of attention as well.

Naruto and Sakura loved the attention and were greeting all the visitors with excitement and gratitude. Hinata, Neji and Haku were clearly more reserved then them, but they also humored most of their visitors with politeness as they thanked them for showing up. Sasuke was leaning against a wall alone; his face was neutral, but he had an unapproachable aura.

And Madara was just getting annoyed at the fearful/hateful looks that he was getting from some of the people that were there.

He knew that they thought that they were being discreet with their looks, but his Rinnegan could see through anything, especially the fake greetings that he received from some of the braver shinobi in attendance.

As the head of the Uchiha, Itachi and Hana were hosting the event, but the couple hadn't been seen since near the beginning of the event.

Sasuke knew that he could attribute that to the sheer amount of people that were in attendance, but knowing Itachi; Sasuke couldn't help, but think that his older brother was planning something.

He was brought out of his musing, by the silhouette coming closer to him. He frowned at first until he sensed out the chakra and realized who it was walking towards him.

He let a smirk show on his face when he saw a nearly identical smirk looking back at him.

"I knew that this day would come since I first became friends with you after the Chunin Exams, but now that it's nearly here I almost can't believe it"

Sasuke let out a small laugh before nodding his head and getting off the wall to embrace his friend.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's almost unbelievable to think about considering what my life was before, and it's even more unbelievable to think that I get to share this moment with two out of my three closest friends… Speaking of which, when are you going to be man enough to propose to Ino?" Sasuke said with his smirk growing.

Gaara scoffed at the tease.

"I'm already betrothed to her, but since I'm Kazekage; I don't have the luxury of doing the public proposals that I heard you and Naruto did. That was cute by the way, sharing the moment with your best friend" Gaara replied causing Sasuke's smirk to turn into a growl.

"You know Gaara I'm glad you're here. I was starting to get annoyed with all these random people in my house and sparring with you would provide the distraction I need to make it through the day without strangling someone" Sasuke replied with his chakra flaring slightly.

It wasn't much but Gaara felt the challenge in Sasuke's tone and aura. He hadn't fought Sasuke since he was a young teen, and even though he knew that Sasuke was leagues stronger than everyone except for Naruto and Madara; Gaara would be lying if he said he didn't want to experience the power himself.

"As much as I would love to test my skills against you, I'm afraid the situation has been taken out of my hands" Gaara said.

Sasuke was confused by Gaara's words until slender arms wrapped around his waist, instantly alerting Sasuke to who it was.

"Sasuke did I just hear you challenge on of our guests to a sparring match? I thought you promised me that you won't be violent?" Hinata asked.

"In all fairness to me, I promised that I wouldn't be violent with Naruto or any of the delegates that came from another Village. I don't think Gaara falls into that category" Sasuke said with a smirk towards his friend.

Hinata rolled her eyes and gave Sasuke a look of annoyance.

"You don't think that the Kazekage of the Sand is considered a delegate from another Village?" Hinata asked while giving Gaara a friendly hug.

"Not when my fiancé hugs him like the long-time friend that he is" Sasuke replied as if it proved his point.

Hinata ignored him as she decided to address her long-time friend.

"It's so good to see you again Gaara, how's everything been?" Hinata asked.

"Everything has been fine. Ino and I are planning to lead the Sand into a new area of agriculture, since Ino has a history with flowers she explained how the plant-life in Suna are extremely rare, but very valuable. Adding that along with the diamond trade will advance the Sand's economy greatly" Gaara said knowing that Hinata would appreciate hearing these details more than Sasuke.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad that she's adjusting well to life in Suna. I remember before she left, she was complaining about how her skin wasn't meant for the desert" Hinata said causing a small laugh to escape from Gaara.

"Yeah, I've heard that complaint more than a few times from her, but I think she's finally adjusting to it now. Temari took her shopping for some sunscreen recently and it must work wonders for her" Gaara said.

Temari and Ino had gotten close over the years because Ino was dating Gaara and Temari had an infatuation for Shikamaru. The two blondes were nearly inseparable despite their personality clashes.

"That's great! I already talked to Temari and Shikamaru earlier and I was so excited when I found out that they were officially dating. I thought that they'd never get together due to the distance and how Shikamaru is" Hinata replied with a smile.

"Yeah well…"

Sasuke zoned out of the conversation at this point and returned to his spot on the nearby wall.

He was happy to see Gaara, but it was clear to him that Hinata had really missed him, and he was more than content to let the two catch up for as long as was needed.

His eyes wandered over the rest of the room casually, as he spotted all his important people amongst the group.

Naruto and Haku seemed to be engaged in a deep conversation with the rest of Team 8. Well more accurately, Naruto and Kiba seemed to be engaged in the conversation while Haku just smiled and Shino stood there.

Sasuke scoffed at his best friend's foolery before his eyes landed on where Neji and Sakura were. They were being surrounded by delegates from the Land of Lightning. From what he could tell they were trying to convince them to consider them allies, but Sasuke knew that that was unlikely.

While it was true that the Villages weren't at war with each other anymore, Sasuke clearly remembered Kumogakure's attempt to gain the Byakugan and its secrets by kidnapping Hinata. Sasuke was there to save her, but he couldn't imagine what would've happened if he wasn't there that day. Clearly Neji remembered these events as well and it didn't seem like he was willing to become allies at all, especially since Sakura had to subtly elbow him a few times after he probably said something rude.

Sasuke let a smirk escape his lips, until Neji's eyes met his. It only took a moment to figure out what the other genius was thinking, but once he put two and two together, Neji gave Sasuke the fiercest glare that he could manage in their public setting.

Neji turned towards him as if he was about to come stand with him on the corner, but Sakura caught his wrist before he could make any real effort to walk over to where Sasuke was, making sure that he stayed put.

Sasuke's smirk widened at this and Neji knew that this moment would be brought up later, probably around Naruto, so he did what any man would do in that situation. He wrapped his arm around Sakura and pretended to be engaged in the conversation.

Sasuke was thoroughly enjoying himself now as he continued to search through the room for more entertainment. He searched a few seconds for Itachi, but when he couldn't find him, he settled for the slightly more unpredictable of his relatives.

It didn't take long to find Madara's location because of the small fluctuations of his chakra, a clear sign of his annoyance. It was so miniscule that it wouldn't be noticeable to anyone but Naruto and Sasuke, but since Naruto was distracted, Sasuke was the only one to notice.

When he saw Madara he noticed that his arms were crossed, and he had an impassive look on his face but judging by how tightly his hand gripped his bicep; Sasuke knew that he was agitated.

Knowing how similar they were. Sasuke decided to approach Madara to diffuse him before he did something that would ruin the event and get himself in trouble.

Madara looked to the left when he noticed that Sasuke had appeared next to him in a similar stance then the one that he was currently in. He smirked at his fellow Indra incarnate.

"Let me guess, I wasn't able to properly hide my fluctuating chakra from your detection, so you're here to make sure that I don't do anything crazy" Madara said with a smirk on his face.

Sasuke frowned at the smugness that he heard in his voice as if he knew he was right. It was annoying how similar he and Madara were sometimes.

"Something like that, but I was actually wondering if you'd like to skip the rest of this idiotic event" Sasuke said.

Madara raised his eyebrow at the proposition.

"How do you propose that I do that. Since I'm your family; Itachi wouldn't allow me to skip this event so what makes you think that he'd allow me to leave prematurely?" Madara asked.

Sasuke scoffed.

Madara had a point. Itachi wouldn't allow he, or Madara to leave this ceremony without his say so. In fact, the only reason why Obito was allowed to miss it, was because Kakashi used his rank as Hokage to override Itachi. Something that Sasuke knew Itachi would get revenge for someday.

Still Sasuke couldn't pass on an opportunity to tease his fellow incarnate.

"Don't tell me that the all-powerful and mighty Madara Uchiha is stuck doing something that he doesn't want to do strictly because my big brother said that he has too" Sasuke said with a smirk.

Madara frowned at Sasuke's words. Even though he knew that Sasuke was only trying to egg him on, he couldn't help but to feel insulted by his statement.

"Just what are you insinuating there Sasuke?" Madara asked.

Sasuke smirked to himself because he could feel Madara's chakra getting riled up. If he played his cards right, he'd be able to escape this torture of a party and have a perfect sparring match. Sasuke opened his mouth ready to add more fire to the flame, but he was interrupted by the one person who could've ruined his plan.

"I'm sure what my little brother was saying is that we're so proud to see you participating in this event when we know that interaction with others is something that you'd much rather avoid" Itachi said as he walked up to them.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing that Itachi was only saying that to diffuse the situation. Everything Itachi did had a purpose, and this situation was no different.

Madara thought over Itachi's words for a moment before scoffing and turning his head. By this point Madara had already discovered that the other Uchiha was even better at manipulation than he was and trying to dissect the meaning of his words would take more effort than he wanted to admit.

He just decided to take his words at face value most of the time.

"Whatever you say Itachi. Sasuke's just lucky that I have to play nice for this event you're hosting. Insulting an Uchiha's pride is like begging to be attacked" Madara said as he walked away from the other Uchiha men.

Sasuke rolled his eyes knowing that Madara was right, but that's exactly what he would've wanted. Leave it to Itachi to show up right when Sasuke almost succeeded in his plans.

As if on cue, Itachi turned to look at Sasuke with a slight frown on his face.

"Trying to start a fight in order to avoid this ceremony is rather childish if you ask me. Good thing I noticed you walking towards Madara from across the room before you could do something foolish" Itachi said as he poked Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke grunted and rubbed his forehead before frowning right back at Itachi.

"Well I had to find something to do! You know that I'm not made for these kinds of events and you just disappeared when it started. Did you really expect me to play nice with these random people that you invited into our house?" Sasuke asked with the annoyance clear in voice.

Itachi knew that Sasuke had a point.

He had expected Hinata to force Sasuke to interact with some of the more important guests, but upon further reflection; Itachi knew that Hinata would most likely talk to them herself so that Sasuke didn't have too. She probably didn't trust Sasuke's ability to play nice with them, and he couldn't blame her if that was her reasoning behind it.

Itachi also knew that he was playing with fire by requiring Madara's presence at the ceremony as well.

Sensing that Sasuke was losing patience with his silence, he sighed and addressed his little brother.

"Very well Sasuke, we'll just have to speed things up a little bit before you or Madara decide to end the event prematurely" Itachi said before teleporting to the top of the staircase and raising his chakra in order to get everyone's attention.

Hana appeared next to Itachi moments later, and when he was sure that everybody had given him their attention; Itachi began to speak.

"Thank you all for showing up to this ceremony celebrating the couples who will be married in the next seven days. Please join me in welcoming them now, the first couple are the head of the Hyuuga Clan and his soon to be wife, Neji Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno" Itachi said.

The people in the room cheered as Neji and Sakura made their way up the spiral staircase to where Itachi and Hana were waiting for them with smiles on their faces.

When they finally arrived at the top, Itachi shook Neji's hand while Sakura and Hana shared a hug. Soon after Itachi gave the floor to Neji so that he could say a few words to the crowd.

"Thank you all for showing up, on the behalf of the Hyuuga Clan I graciously accept all of your congratulations and offers of alliance. I will think about all offers after the wedding has concluded" Neji said with a grateful smile as the room cheered.

Sakura stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Neji, causing a small blush to show on his face before she spoke as well.

"While we love all the cheers and attention that you've given us, please give more cheers to the next couple. It's the beautiful Haku, and the idiot we all love and likely the 7th Hokage, my teammate Naruto Uzumaki!" Sakura said as the room once again erupted in cheers.

Naruto grabbed Haku's hand and walked up the staircase with a giant smile on his face. This was the acknowledgement that he had been searching for as long as he could remember.

When they finally made it to the top Naruto hugged all four of the people up there much to the annoyance of Neji and Itachi, but the rest of the people at the ceremony found it amusing.

Haku spoke first knowing that she'd have considerably less to say then Naruto would.

"Thank you all for coming out today and supporting our upcoming marriage, as well as the other two couples. I look forward to seeing you all a week from now as well at the actual event. Now I'll hand the floor over to my fiancé Naruto Uzumaki" Haku said.

Another round of applause started as Naruto opened his mouth to speak. Naruto, along with Sasuke, was known as the hero of the war and many of the leaf shinobi present clearly remembered him sharing his chakra with them during the Edo Tensei attack of the Village when a powerful lightning attack fell from the sky.

They knew that the attack would've killed them if it wasn't for the nine tails cloak surrounding them. They didn't know that Sasuke was the one that fired the attack, but that information wasn't important.

When the clapping finally ceased, Naruto smiled big and yelled.

"THANK YOU ALL FOR SUPPORTING US TODAY"

Some of the people present had to cover their ears because of the loud noise, but everyone couldn't help but have smiles on their faces. Naruto's aura was brighter than the sun.

"I really am grateful for everyone who showed up today, and for all the people who helped me get to this point. It's amazing that I can share this moment with my closest friends you know. I really wouldn't have it any other way! But even though we're all getting married on the same day, I just want Neji-Baka and the Bastard to both know that Haku and I will be the first ones to have kids. BELIVE IT" Naruto said stunning almost everyone in the room.

Hinata turned red while Haku and Sakura had to be physically restrained by Itachi and Neji in order to stop them from attacking Naruto for making such a lewd comment in front of the crowd of people. Sasuke laughed silently to himself at the reactions of everyone in the room, before sighing at his best friend's idiocy.

Not seeing the problem with anything that he said; Naruto continued.

"And now let me introduce you my two first and best friends, Hinata Hyuuga and the Bast- oops I mean Sasuke Uchiha" Naruto said as it was Sasuke and Hinata's turn to ascend the spiral staircase to join the others.

The cheers were once again deafening as the two moved through the crowd. Sasuke was annoyed by the loudness of the clapping but he drowned it out when he saw the genuine happiness on Hinata's face as she held her hand out for him to take.

Sasuke looked at Hinata with a smile before grabbing her hand and walking up the staircase to join the others.

When they arrived Sasuke promptly smacked Naruto on the back of his head much to the surprise of most people of the visitors in the room, but the people who the two laughed at the familiar sight.

Hinata sighed at Sasuke's antics and took the mic from Naruto to address the crowd.

"On the behalf of the Uchiha Clan, I want to thank you all for the support and well wishes that you have given throughout the event. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and made a few new connections with delegates that I might be interested in dealing with for future endeavors. I'm beyond grateful that you all took the time out of your lives to attend this event celebrating the triple marriage and I hope that you will enjoy the festivities that Hana has prepared for you all" Hinata said sweetly.

Itachi leaned over to whisper to Sasuke.

"She's really good at the political aspect of this isn't she?"

Sasuke couldn't help but agree with him. Despite her shy demeanor, she was an excellent delegate. She knew exactly what to say to get her point across while still retaining her calm and friendly aura. It would be impossible for someone just meeting her to suspect that she'd be up to anything nefarious.

After a few more minutes of talking Hinata concluded her speech and handed the mic over to Sasuke, who received a huge amount of applause from the room.

Sasuke was regarded as just as much of a hero as Naruto was, so his reception rivaled that of his best friend. The cheer persisted for a few more moments before Sasuke cleared his throat causing the room to go silent.

Everyone gave their undivided attention to Sasuke. Even Madara gave him his attention, curious to what his descendant had to say to the people, who in his opinion, invaded their home.

All eyes were on Sasuke as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Thank you for coming, please enjoy the rest of the festivities. Oh, and if any of you even think of objecting to any of our marriages when the time comes; I will personally kill you. That is all. Loser, Madara, see me at our special training grounds if you're man enough" Sasuke said with a smirk on his face as he teleported away before Itachi or Hinata could get to him.

The crowd was stunned silent at Sasuke's claims. Most of them couldn't believe that he had threatened to kill them but for the ones that knew Sasuke a little more personally, it was hilarious.

Madara smirked before walking out and heading towards the training grounds that Sasuke was referring to.

Itachi was a little peeved but managed to retain the stoic expression on his face, Hinata had a visible frown on her face, but in the end, she just sighed knowing that Sasuke was just being Sasuke.

Naruto was being restrained by Haku so that he didn't run off to follow Sasuke, Neji had a smirk on his face, and Sakura just sighed much like Hinata did. Hana just shrugged her shoulders knowing that Sasuke leaving was bound to happen anyway.

Hinata thought about trying to ease the crowd, but in the end, she decided against it. She could try to explain Sasuke's antics to them all day, but she knew that he wasn't an easily understood person. In fact, she could count on her hands how many people really understood him.

She grabbed Itachi's shoulder with an exasperated expression. When she was sure that she had his attention, she spoke.

"At least he stayed this long. I don't think either of us could have made him stay much longer after he made the speech anyway" Hinata said trying to rationalize with her soon to be brother-in-law.

Itachi stared at Hinata for a moment before sighing and nodding in agreement, knowing that his little brother staying as long as he did without threatening someone's life was nothing short of a miracle.

"Fair enough. I still have to address the crowd since he decided to threaten them. Will you inform Kakashi that Sasuke, Madara, and possibly Naruto are going to be training soon? We don't want a repeat of what happened last time" Itachi said.

Hinata paled at the memory before nodding and teleporting away to the Hokage Tower, to warn Kakashi of what was soon to come.

XxXxXx

Sasuke's eyes opened when he heard footsteps approaching the clearing that he was waiting in. He looked up to see Madara's smirking form approaching him.

Madara shared Sasuke's cat-like footsteps, so he knew that man clearly wanted himself to be heard.

"So, what were saying back at the ceremony Sasuke? I believe this is the fight that you wanted" Madara said with his chakra flaring slightly.

Sasuke smirked back and let his chakra swell as well. His excitement was overflowing but he had to hold himself back until his best friend arrived as well.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fight Madara, but he knew that if they started without him, then he'd never here the end of Naruto's complaining.

"Madara, you know as well as I do that taunting is in an Uchiha's nature. Did you truly let my words effect you that deeply? Didn't think you was so incompetent" Sasuke said.

Madara's finger twitching was the only sign that he heard what Sasuke said though the smirk stayed on his face.

"Incompetence huh? Must I remind you who won the last of our group training?" Madara said.

Sasuke grunted and pulled out his Kusanagi and ignited it with his lightning chakra. A telltale sign that the time for talking was over.

Madara saw this and unsheathed his own blade in response, as if to tell Sasuke, 'Bring it on'.

'Screw waiting for Naruto. Madara is asking for it and I have no problem putting this ancient Uchiha back in his place' Sasuke thought to himself as he charged Madara.

Madara didn't waste anytime charging back towards Sasuke to meet him halfway. Their blades were about to clash but both swords were halted by kunai.

Naruto suddenly appeared in the middle of the two Uchiha with a grin on his face and a kunai in both hands to hold back the swords.

"I knew that you two would try to start without me. I'm glad I marked you guys with my dad's jutsu" Naruto said as he entered his Six Paths chakra mode.

Seeing this, both Sasuke and Madara's Rinnegan glowed in anticipation.

Normally they'd respond to Naruto with sarcasm or an insult but the time for talking was over.

The three disappeared and for the rest of the day tremors could be felt throughout the Hidden Leaf Village.

TBC

Hey guys its been awhile and I'm accepting the full blame for that, but there's only one more chapter left to write in this story. Hopefully I don't take too long to upload that one.

Reikan (Guest) – thank you so much! And you'll see that next chapter

LB Cat- yep only 1 more chapter to go

Epicboy355 (Guest)- Thanks bro!

IanAlphaAxel – this is one of the last

ErrorDataExpunged- I don't think anyone wants the baby to be THAT op

Saki-Hime – I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

BeastMode92- Idk if imma go that far. I have mixed feelings about the Boruto anime.

Fanfictions4ever- I honestly forgot that that was a thing… thanks for the reminder

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark – you've here since day 1 of this fanfic and its only right that you're here in its final stages.

Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews this story. Only 1 more chapter to go!