Disclaimer: If you still believe after all of my other disclaimers that I own Naruto in some way, shape, or form, then please go talk to my representative at his home office. And remember to bring some hot sauce with you, he sent me an e-mail saying that the last moron tasted too bland.

Katshuito sat by the front door facing the main steps from the street to the house in the morning light. The war had been going on for almost 3 months now and Konoha was no longer filled with jubilation that the promises of an easy victory brought. Now the village was filled with a dreary acceptance of losses, and quick lived cheer of successful missions. However, that didn't really matter too much to Katshuito at the moment. What mattered to him was the fact that Team Sazan had returned to Konoha yesterday and Rei had once again spent the night away from home. Considering what Katshuito knew about his little sister, he was almost 100 certain that Rei had been staying at Naruto's place.

Personally Katshuito didn't know how to handle this particular situation. This was in part because he didn't have enough information to make a decision. Rei could just be staying on Naruto's couch, sleeping in the same room as the boy, or even- as a brother it was best not to go down that line of thought. No matter what was actually going on, Katshuito was going to talk to Rei and figure out what to do. As long as Rei was honest about what was going on between her and Naruto Katshuito figured he would be a fairly reasonable man.

Just as Katshuito returned his mind to the present Rei came walking up the steps. Katshuito noticed that when Rei noticed that he was waiting for her she momentarily stopped walking. A more paranoid and over protective brother might take her pause as a sign of guilt, but Katshuito figured she was simply surprised to see him. Once Rei had climbed the steeps he got up and said, "Good morning little sister. Please, let's go inside and talk." Rei quickly bowed her head and followed her brother into the house.

Once the siblings were inside the house Katshuito led Rei over to the living room and gestured for her to sit down. After they had both said down Katshuito folded his hands and looked at Rei. For about a minute the room was silent as Katshuito looked into his sister's eyes as if he was trying to find something. Then he broke the silence and said, "Rei, I want you to answer my questions as truthfully as you can. Some of my questions may be difficult for you to answer, the gods know that it will be difficult for me to ask them, but I need you to be honest with me. As the acting head of the family while Grandfather is away at the main fire temple, I need to know as much as I can before I make a decision."

Rei nodded her head and nervously waited for Katshuito to start questioning her. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she had been expecting something like this for almost a month now. One doesn't need to be a ninja after all to tell if someone is sleeping in their bed at night or not.

Katshuito closed his eyes and calmly said, "Did you stay over at Naruto's place last night?" Rei calmly nodded her head and waited for the next question. With a stern look on his face Katshuito then said, "Did you sleep in the same room as Naruto?" Like before Rei nodded her head. "Were you in the same bed as Naruto?" once again Rei nodded her head. Katshuito paused for a second to mentally prepare himself to ask the next question, "Did you bed Naruto?" Time seemed to stand still for Katshuito as he watched Rei slowly nod her head with a look of fear and a slight bit of shame in her eyes.

Like any brother, Katshuito wanted to kill or at least castrate Naruto at that moment. However, now was not the time rage induced comments and promises. Very slowly in a cold tone Katshuito said, "Explain." While he might be furious at what had happened, Katshuito was not about to pass judgment on his beloved sister over this until he knew everything so he could make a fair judgment.

Rei looked down at the table and quietly said, "Last mission we had to kill a few squads of enemy soldiers in an unimportant area to misdirect enemy intelligence. Once the team came back to Konoha I headed over to Naruto's apartment as I usually do. After dinner Naruto and I got ready for bed and then I well-" Rei couldn't continue talking about what had happened last night past that point and her cheeks flamed up. A girl discussing her sex life with her brother was just not something that most girls could do.

Closing his eyes Katshuito prayed that he could have the patience to deal with this situation and which that Grandfather could have taken care of this problem. Grandfather was better able to handle these sorts of situations and had probably seen it coming while he had turned a blind eye to it. With the war going on and the two of them dating he really should have thought of this possibility. Not only that, but there was also the fact that almost of Jinchuuriki the Higurashi family had encountered in the past were linked to the family by marriage. The only reason why he and Rei didn't have a Jinchurriki ancestor was because of mere chance.

Finally finding the best solution to the situation, Katshuito opened his eyes and said, "Rei, you are to go get Naruto and if someone has power of attorney over him then that person as well. As soon as Naruto and the person with power of attorney are here we will draw up a marriage contract between you and Naruto. Once the contract is written up you and Naruto will sign it. Then Rei, you will pack your things and move into Naruto's apartment."

Katshuito looked at Rei's downcast figure and he felt a pang of sadness within him. Then he reached over and gently lifted Rei's chin so she was looking at him. In a gentle and loving manner Katshuito said, "Sis I still love you never forget that or think that I don't love you. Also I want you to know that you can still come over here any time that you want. That means that you can use the family library just like you always do. It's just that there are consequences for every action that someone does and the consequence of your actions is that you can't live here anymore."

Rei looked at her brother and then slowly nodded her head. She had been raised to accept that she was in charge of what she did with her life and thus she was in charge of her actions. This meant that the consequences of her actions whether good or bad were her responsibility. In this case she would have to accept that her home for the past 15 years could no longer be her home.

Naruto carefully set the box he was carrying down and turned to look at Rei Higur- no, it was Rei Uzumaki now and had been for three hours now. It seemed so surreal to Naruto that he was married to Rei. Part of him still expected that he was going to wake up any second now and realized that this was all a dream. However, this was real and Rei was his wife.

When he had woken up in the morning Naruto had never suspected that he and Rei would be getting married today. Around eight in the morning Rei had shown up telling him that he needed to go to her house immediately. Once Naruto got to Rei's house he found Jiraiya sitting next to Katshuito with a conflicted look on the Hokage's face. It was then that Naruto learn why he had been summoned by Katshuito. Naruto had never been as embarrassed as he had today when Katshuito revealed his new sex life to Jiraiya.

After Katshuito had explained what was going on Jiraiya and him had talked a bit about what to do about Rei and Naruto with the duo in question listening in on everything. At first Jiraiya had suggested the idea of delaying the wedding until ether the war ended or Rei had a child. This was the usual practice among ninjas in order to help protect their loved ones. However, Katshuito had held firm that Naruto and Rei needed to wed and in the end Jiraiya had capitulated. The two of them quickly wrote up a marriage contract and then had Rei and Naruto signed it.

Rei noticed the look that Naruto was sending her and figured that he was remembering what had happened today. Knowing Naruto like she did, he was probably kicking himself for not resisting her and being afraid that she would be upset at him for their jutsu wedding. She then walked over, wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, and then softly whispered, "Its okay Naruto, don't blame yourself. Everything will be just fine. I knew the consequences of bedding you and I chose to accept the consequences last night."

Naruto then turned to face Rei and he said, "Are you sure Rei? You honestly don't mind the fact that we were found out so quickly and that we're now married. I mean I wanted to marry you, but that was in the future. I never expected it to be so soon."

In answer to his question Rei gently kissed Naruto and said, "Life's never something that you can expect dear. Even with your bloodline you should have realized that."

Naruto gave a small smile at Rei's jib and then he said, "Rei, what will we do? I mean, what will we do if you end up pregnant?"

This question stopped Rei for a moment as she thought about it. In all of the excitement today she hadn't considered that possibility. After giving it a few minutes of thought Rei said, "We'll handle that when it comes up Naruto. If I become pregnant I'll transfer off of the field duty roster and teach at the academy or some other job in town. Yes it would be slightly annoying to be out of the field, but on the other hand it would help you out by giving you the parental version of the Ranseigan."

When Rei saw the look of shock on Naruto's face Rei started to smile and then she said, "Don't worry Naruto. I don't plan on becoming pregnant for a few years yet." Rei then got up and nodded to the bedroom, "Come Naruto. We can finish unpacking all of my things in the morning. For now I want you and me in our bed celebrating our wedding. After all, when the horse is out of the barn there is no reason to lock it up anymore."

Jiraiya sat in his office trying to focus on his work, but he just couldn't. His mind kept on drifting to Naruto and Rei's impromptu wedding. While Jiraiya could understand Katshuito's anger at the fact that Naruto and Rei had done the horizontal mumbo, he wasn't angry at all with either of the newlyweds. War was a deadly and stressful business. In the last war Jiraiya had seen many ninjas, some just out of the academy, seeking comfort from each other in that particular manner. It was a coping mechanism for many to deal with all the death and destruction that war brings.

There was another reason why Jiraiya didn't mind Naruto and Rei bedding each other. Jiraiya might not have put as much stock in bloodline limits as many of the people on the council did, but he did recognize that bloodline limits were a useful tool. Given the dangers inherent in war, it would be all too easy for Naruto to die and have the Ranseigan disappear forever. Now Jiraiya was not about to lock Naruto up for breeding purposes, but he would definitely try to encourage the new Uzumaki couple to start having kids.

Putting his pen down on his desk, Jiraiya just sighed and said, "Maybe I should assign Naruto and Rei to village defense for two or three years. Give them time to get use to marriage, hone their skills, and maybe have a child or two. Both of them are good ninjas, but there are still better ninjas that could be out in the field if they weren't needed to defend the village. Besides, Naruto's Ranseigan makes him even more useful then a Huyga when it comes to watching out for enemies and Konoha doesn't have too many seal masters. Regrettably the war will probably still be going on by then."

"What should I do about Iori? The boy's a good ninja, but from what I've read and seen I don't think he could take a long stint at being a village guard. I can't constantly give that kid missions to due or immediately reassign him without raising the Uzumakis' suspicions. Love those two, but I don't want them mad at me. Wait a second; one of the liaisons with Suna will be coming home next month. I'll just offer Iori the position of third liaison to Suna next month. That way I can get the most out of my ninjas without causing anyone to go stir crazy."

Pain stood before Madara in Madara's secret throne room. The supposed head of Akatsuki then said, "It has been several months Lord Madara since this current war started. All hopes that it would be quickly resolved have been pointless. Also we have underestimated the amount of revenue this war would generate for the various hidden villages. If the war somehow ended today we would have to wait almost a decade for the villages to reach the required economic levels for our plans.

Madara listened to Pain's words and wished that he could have called Pain a liar. However, Madara had learned long ago that at times things just didn't go your way and this was apparently one of those times. Oh he was frustrated beyond all measure that Akatsuki was almost useless to him now, but except for the fact that his plans had been destroyed Madara didn't care about how the war was going.

Unknown to anyone except perhaps Itachi, Madara was dying. The 'eternal' Mangekyou Sharingan had vastly prolonged Madara's life, but it had not truly granted him eternal life. There was only one way that Madara could save his own life and that was to gain a demonic body. He couldn't use Orochimaru's body swapping jutsu because of his eyes they bound him to his body. Madara had formed Akatsuki for the sole purpose of collecting the nine bijuu. Once all the demons were captured he had planed to force them to transform his body into a demonic one in exchange for their freedom thus cheating death.

Now, with this damn war, Madara had resigned himself to his death. He had spent the past few months trying to rework his calculations to try and use the three jinchuuriki only for his plans, but in the end he had given up. The King of Hell Statue, which was critical to his plan of forcing the bijuu to transform him, needed all night bijuu sealed within it in order to work.

Turning to face Pain Madara said, "Listen to me Pain. I will be leaving shortly to prepare myself for my end." On seeing the shocked look on Pain's face Madara chuckled and said, "I am old Pain, too old. By the time the Bijuu return to the mortal world I will be dead. Therefore I am leaving command of Akatsuki to you so you now truly are the leader just like everyone else believes. Before I go however, I leave you with an order and a give. My final order is to destroy Konoha. As a gift, I will use my contacts to gain official pardons for those members of Akatsuki who hail from the so called Circle Alliance. Use their pardons to incorporate Akatsuki into Ame's military as high rank officers."

In his mind Pain was crying at the lost of his father figure and cursing the very concept of war. Thanks to war he had lost his family, lost Yahiko, and now was losing the closest thing to a father he had ever had. He had stopped considering Jiraiya as a father figure long ago ever since the Toad Saninn had abandoned him and his friends. Pain nodded his head and said, "As you wish Lord Madara. I shall do exactly as you instruct and Konoha will be burnt to the ground."

THE END

Author's notes: I really hate to do this to you guys and girls, but I've got to end the story here. You see, I'm having trouble sorting out how this war is supposed to go. Yes Naruto and thus Konoha are supposed to win in the end but I can't see how I'm going to get from here to there. Also, I don't have the skills yet to write a grandiose epic battle yet and have it be the level that you people deserve. This is very unfortunate because that's mostly what I see in my head whenever I try to figure out how to write the story. So I'm ending the story here where it really starts to shift from how it was in the beginning. Maybe in a few months I'll write a sequel covering the rest of the war and the Uzumakis' new life together in a few months. If I do I will post a note on this story to alert you guys who have the story on story alert.