As Naruto raced along the outside of the invisible line that was the Leaf's border he wondered if Sasuke really thought he could take them all. He has become arrogant, Was all the Kyubi had to say on the subject. Whatever Sasuke's thoughts and impression may be Naruto hoped that the group could pull off what he and Shikamaru had planned.

Heading towards the Northern border of the Leaf Village Naruto found some extra time to open his mind. Kabuto was too unpredictable and Naruto couldn't go into the fight with any expectations. He let the smells of the trees and last night's rain being disturbed by every step he took into the thick underbrush reach his nose, and the early morning sun tickle his eyes as he flew through the forest. He needed to start gathering senjutsu chakra and so he formed several shadow clones to begin doing so behind him.

Once he had reached his destination he simply hunkered down on his ass with his geta, muddy with dead leaves clinging to them, sticking in the mud. Naruto was never one for deep introspection; he had always just felt that he wasn't complex enough to need it. He was a simple man with simple goals. But today he had many things to consider: he was Hokage now, had found a lover, practically had a son to raise in Kama, he had even found the ruins of his own clan the Uzumaki and gone through it all not sure what he was looking for and found more than he could have ever expected. After a year of chasing Kabuto, mostly based on leads given by small townsfolk, with no success he had grown tired of the hunt and missed home too dearly to keep it up. When Sasuke or Kabuto were ready they would come, and knowing Kabuto he would come when Sasuke did. This was what he had planned for and although Kabuto thought it to be to his advantage to single Naruto and Sasuke out and capture them for his own purposes, the Uzumaki believed he could turn it around.

The nine-tails Jinchuuriki was unsure if what he was doing was right, 'selfish' is what she had called him, but that was in a dream. If saving Sasuke could not be done he would kill him himself but Kabuto would probably eradicate any such necessity himself. It was at this point in his ponderings that Naruto felt eyes on him.

Sasuke raced on the lake as fast as he could to get away from Neji and try to turn East so he could access the village but Neji was simply too fast, right on his tail in fact. Chidori seemed to do no good with Neji, as whenever the Uchiha used it against him Neji would see through it with his byakugan and perform revolving heaven while still managing to stay on Sasuke. The avenging Uchiha saw the futility in outrunning the Hyuuga and determined that using amaterasu, although taxing on his chakra, was the only option here. Sasuke pumped an enormous amount of chakra into one leg to get a good half a second lead on the pursuant and thrust it all out in a powerful kick into the lake's water sending him bolting forward and slightly turning at the same time. Neji saw his intent and did the same and before Sasuke could even finish facing him Neji reached out with a knife-sharp jyuuken penetrating past Sasuke's ribcage and got a good grip on his last rib and yanked on it, splitting it in half and pulling the back portion through the skin.

Sasuke screamed in pain and initiated his eternal Mangekyo Susanoo, blasting Neji backwards skipping across the water like a stone to be caught by Kiba with Tenten and Shikamaru not far behind. Sasuke scanned his surroundings briefly as he forced his rib back through the gaping hole in his side and pulled a couple of medicinal leaves from his coat with adhesive on them, slapped them over his wound and cursed loudly at the searing pain.

The number of enemies weren't right. Sasuke knew what that meant with Susanoo's only activate weak spot being directly below him and he was standing on water. He felt the presence before he had time to attack below him but managed to brace himself as Akamaru came flying out of the water below him and struck him right in the chest with Wolf Fang, clawing and attempting to bite at Sasuke's arms with no prevail. Sasuke blocked the fangs as best he could as he was launched through the air. He deactivated Susanoo and placed an explosive tag on the massive wolf's snout and kicked Akamaru away with extraordinary speed, throwing an explosive kunai at him for good measure.

Shino was by Akamaru's side before he hit the water and used his kikaichu to devour the smoking tag on the wolf's nose and Neji threw a kunai to knock away the other thrown at the beast. Kiba caught up with Akamaru as the Inuzuka's wolf transformed into a copy of the man next to him and both prowled after the Uchiha as he began to fall back down to the lake.

Swiftly making hand signs to summon his hawk again, Sasuke kept a close eye on the deadly accurate duo begin their fang over fang attack on the lake, leaving explosions of lake water in the air wherever they struck. However, right when Sasuke was going to hit the water with his palm outstretched a feminine, gloved fist hit him square in the back. An eruption of pain broke throughout his body as he was heaved forward, past the small group of gawking watchers. For a brief moment he thought he saw Kiba smirking. They were just a diversion, I should have known better, was all he could think before he got a glimpse of Rock Lee appear from behind and slam him in the ribcage with a leaf whirlwind kick. Once again an explosive pain blinded him as he was dashed back across the lake water. This time there were no thoughts as Sakura hammered him in the jaw.

Sasuke passed out briefly, when he came back to he was still airborne and incredibly confused but an eminently approaching tree from above him as he fell helped him to skip past the confusion. He reached out to a branch to swing from and slid along the ground to a halt and re-evaluated his circumstances. He couldn't head straight for the village, if he went South-east he would be forced north again by the Konoha elite. They stood out on the lake and looked at him in disbelief, surprised that he was still conscious, no doubt. If he attempted to kill them first he would be too worn out to take on the rest of the village on his own, yet they had no intention of killing or capturing him. They were herding him to the North, where Naruto had gone. This was maddening to Sasuke; he wanted REVENGE, not to be part of some stupid game about saving best friends.

Naruto searched the surrounding area with his sage mode and found something that didn't belong there, Kama. Naruto shot up and sent a clone to stop Kama before he reached the soon-to-be killing grounds where Naruto sat. The boy was skilled, maybe even a chunin, but certainly not capable of even being near a battle of this magnitude. A child could be swept away at the explosion of a beast bomb or who knew what Kabuto might bring to the fight.

Naruto's clone sprinted to the Southwest toward Kama, who had been following him since he left the village. Shikamaru did train him to be a master of concealment Naruto thought to himself with a sly smile. It took him a moment to spot the Hatake ninja but when he did he grabbed him out of the brush more viciously than he ever had before. "Kama, I thought I told you to stay with Konohamaru and train more on your Rasengan! You need to get your ass back into the village now!" Naruto didn't care that he was scaring the boy with the irises of the demon fox showing and chakra bubbling up around him; he had to keep Kama safe.

Before the boy had time to respond a blast was heard in what would consequently be no-man's land. The clone grabbed Kama, curled him under his arm and leapt up the tallest tree to a good vantage point. Only one glance told him that it was too late to take Kama back himself. At least a dozen figures stood along the tree line and one of his fellow clones had been destroyed with their appearance, this he could feel rather than see.

Naruto planted Kama down on the branch below him and glared deeply into the child's eyes with the fully formed eyes of the Fox. "Kama, I need you to stay here because the path back to the gate is too dangerous now. I will take care of this and then come back and I better find you here hidden to the best of your ability. If I spot you too easily when I get back you will pay dearly with every second of free time you hope to have over the next year. Do you understand me?" Kama simply gulped and nodded nervously with the puppy-dog eyes of an already punished child Naruto sprouted three chakra tails and bounded from the tree branch toward the field. Once within earshot of some conversation taking place he sprouted a fourth tail and burrowed into the dirt spinning viciously fast and heading directly under the tree line. It was at this point when Kama turned back around, checked quickly to make sure his master had left and then climbed back up the tree with a grin and chuckle.

Kabuto Yakushi sat on top of a two-headed snake, slithering through the forest headed straight for Konoha when he spotted a familiar face in a small clearing. Kabuto jumped down from the serpent's head and made hand seals as the wind fluttered the hood of his robes back. Once he landed on the ground his jutsu was finished and he simply had to make the call in order to activate it. Naruto stared him down from yards away, hand in his jacket, ready to strike.

Naruto put his hand out for his one-time team leader who took it. Yamato was pulled off the ground with a grave look on his face and a scroll in his other hand. He gave it to Naruto and said, "Naruto, the Daimyo of the Fire Country is here. The two of you need to put and end to this. It would be a great dishonor to the Daimyo if you were to welcome him while openly breaking his law!"

Naruto scoffed at this. "Sensei you should know that there are other ways for me to handle this." He put his hands together to form a shadow clone and immediately dispersed it. "That should take care of entertaining the Daimyo!" Naruto beamed at the Mokuton user.

Yamato looked to Hinata. "Hinata-sama, I implore you to reconsider. This is a very unstable time for the Hokage, whether he's aware of it or not," He glanced back to Naruto, "He needs to solidify his position in the village before trying to rewrite the rule book."

Naruto put his hand up to Hinata to signify that he would handle this. "Yamato I appreciate your concern but I will not allow anything to interfere with my time with Hinata-sama. I promise that this is something I can handle. I have dozens of clones running every aspect of the village's issues. This is like a fly compared to our money, alliance, and image issues. Not to mention those that haven't even come up yet."

Yamato sighed in failure. "Alright, Hokage, you win. Is there anything that you will need from me?"

Naruto laughed before answering. "No captain, just go back to your usual duties. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get back to talking to the lady. And next time, captain, just walk up to us. No need for the secrecy with me."

Yamato bowed and was off back to the capitol building. Hinata's head rushed with everything she had just heard. Was she threatening Naruto's position as Hokage? Yamato seemed to think so. I wonder who else feels this way. Am I being selfish? She wondered to herself.

Naruto waved his hand in the air. "There's no need to worry about that stuff, I've got the greatest tactician in the world as my right-hand man to advise me in all issues and he believes there is no real problem here as long as plans go ahead as scheduled." Naruto took her hand again. "Are you really willing to let that get in the way of this?" He asked as he gazed into her eyes.

She shook her head as he started leading her down the street once again. "I just don't want to get in the way of your dream. It's almost all you've talked about since the first day I met you. If my interfered with that, I don't think I could forgive myself."

Naruto looked down at her sternly. "I've done many things I wish I could take back, many of them in the war, but I did what I had to. The same applies here as well. I have to be with you, there is no stopping that. I also have to be Hokage, and nothing will get in the way of that either."

Naruto was surprised by her response, "Okay. So what are we doing today?" She asked with a delighted smile on her face.

Naruto felt the same determination from her, like a fire burning in her heart, feeding his fire with their connected hands. "Uh…" Naruto was lost in the sensation for a moment but regained his senses. "Oh yeah! I thought lunch would be a great way to start the day, but now that I know the Daimyo is here, maybe we better make it a picnic on the outside of the village."

Hinata smirked and blushed as a thought came to mind. "I think I know the perfect place."

Some time later Hinata led the Hokage through some dense forest when he thought he heard a rumbling noise coming from where they were headed. Hinata pulled him forward almost as though she were rushing him. Naruto could feel her anticipation and met her stride. When they finally broke through the tree line into the opening he saw what she was so excited to show him.

Soaked in sunlight was a small waterfall from a ledge thirty feet high with flowers growing along the rock formation's wall. The waterfall fed into a modest-sized pond that dispensed out to a small stream. Naruto gazed at all of this in wonderment. "How could I have not known about this before?" He asked the Hyuuga heiress.

Hinata beamed at him, "Actually you had no chance until now to see it. It was made by Pain's jutsu. I guess beauty can be hidden in the ugliest of things at times." She led him to sit down in a soft spot in the grass. "Anyway, I come here all the time to train or think. I used to come here and wonder where you were or what you were doing or if you were okay. Sometimes…" She bit her lip for a moment; "Sometimes I would hate you for leaving. Hate you for taking on so much, pushing yourself too far. I knew that you could handle it; you beat Neji-san at the Chuunin exams when the odds were stacked so highly against you. After that I never doubted you again. But I didn't think you should handle it." Everything was rushing out of her so fast that her head was spinning. "You always did things like that, leaving everyone else in the dust behind you. You risked your life for everyone, people you've only just met, or never even knew, you threw yourself at astounding disadvantages with- with no concern for who y- you might leave behind. Did you think n- no one cared for you? Did you think n- no one would notice? That's why I went out to f- f- fight Pain! I went out there to show you th- that there are people who love you, who would m- miss you if you died, d- damnit!"

Naruto looked stunned at Hinata's barrage speechless. He watched the tears roll down her face as she wiped away at them, her voice cracking and her words stuttering in places. She dropped her head to hide the tears and thrust herself onto him as she wept. He lay on the ground with her shivering on top of him, shaking with her cries. He wrapped his arms around her because for the moment he had nothing to say.

She craned her neck up to look down at him, saw the tear-stained jacket and briefly laughed before giving into the tears and shuddering. It was then that she began to kiss him. Her hands on the sides of his face gripped him madly as she pressed her face against his again and again with vicious, hungry kisses. Naruto kissed back and without knowing who opened their mouth first, a tongue entered her mouth and the two began to squirm against one another, rolling in the grass, tongues dancing at the delight of the other's presence. Naruto shed his Hokage jacket, Hinata her shoes, Naruto ripped off his shirt, Hinata unlaced her Kimono's back with a tug of a string. All of this in the twisting, writhing joy of each other's touch and never parting lips.

Hinata pulled the tie out of her hair and it fell loosely around Naruto's face when she rolled back on top of him. He immediately ran his hand through the silky lavender hair, gently rubbing his fingers along the back of her head sensually. Hinata's hands slid up and down Naruto's hard chest and abs. The lean Hokage felt like marble under her soft fingertips and Naruto shivered under her touch. Naruto's kiss strayed from his partner's mouth to her neck and Hinata moaned at the sensation of his tongue gliding past her neck to the collar and back up again. He rolled over on top of her and kicked his geta off as he buried his face in the nape of her neck and bit gently into it. Hinata bent her neck far the other way to give him better access as she swooned under the feel of his nibbling and sucking against her neck. She pulled her kimono down to display the pink bra underneath and Naruto helped pull the rest of the way down. She jumped on top of him and slid her tongue behind his earlobe and began sucking on it as she untied his pants. She kissed down his chest as she pulled his pants down, ending at his belt-line when he kicked the pants away into the pond, leaving only his boxer-briefs on.

She tilted her head up, gasping as she tried to catch her breath, and looked to Naruto. He looked back down to her as he panted like an animal, feeling a total loss of control. They stared at each other for a moment before she leapt back up to him and kissed him passionately for another moment or so, grinding up against him. Feeling his hands press her into him, those hands slowly slide down her body to her hips. The hands passed the hips and she managed enough control to pull away from his lips. He stopped all motion, fearing he had gone too far, immediately. She breathed heavily as she rested her forehead on his. Naruto did the same as he moved his hands back up to her hips, barely able to cage the animal-like want to have her right then and there, and squeezed her hips. She rolled over onto the smooth, dewy grass and they gazed into each other's eyes for a long time like that; laying there gasping for breath.

Naruto grinned at her and Hinata began laughing uncontrollably and the Uzumaki joined in. Hinata leaned on her elbow and looked him up and down when the laughing subsided. Naruto did likewise. They were both lost in the total privacy of this little paradise, the freedom it allowed them. Hinata got off the ground and said, "I think I need to cool down." She ran and jumped into the middle of the clear pond. Naruto followed her into the water and swam close to her. She teasingly swam away, giggling and splashing away from him. He laughed and ducked under the water and disappeared in the dust kicked up by the two. Hinata looked around for a moment and then decided to activate her Byakugan but it was too late. Naruto darted up from the water, gripped her hips and tossed her into the air. Hinata landed on the top of the water, without falling through. Naruto pulled himself out and also walked on the water back to the grass.

Hinata peeked over her shoulder with a concerned look as her Byakugan was deactivated. "You know, you talked about us having a picnic but we don't have anything to eat!"

Naruto held his stomach as it growled. He made a scowl at it. "So I'm not the only hungry one, that's good." He made a shadow clone, fully clothed of course, and they watched it run off back to the village.

Naruto smiled weakly at her as he gripped his stomach. "That should take care of that." He said. "He's gone off to get us some ramen and sushi. You like sushi, right?"

Hinata nodded and said, "Uh-huh" absentmindedly while she looked around on the ground for her hair tie. Finally after finding it she squeezed the water out of her and tied it back up. "I'm sorry Naruto-sama, I don't know what came over me."

Naruto chuckled and smirked, "You mean what came over us. And I think I know that that was."

Hinata blushed as she saw him look over her again and she did the same. "That's not what I mean. What I said. I didn't mean that I hated you. I could never hate you Naruto-sama. I only wanted you to hear my side of things. You are always so forward about everything and I always bottle things up and usually take them out on myself. I-"

"Don't take a word of what you said back." He said with a hand up, "I understand all of it. I felt that way when I found out my father was the Fourth. I even punched him!" Hinata didn't understand his meaning but listened to him nonetheless. Naruto sighed before saying, "I know that I can't take it back, but I hope to make up for it." He said in a regretful tone.

Hinata felt a rush of warmth at hearing the perfect words for what she needed to hear. When the clone returned he brought a large amount of food, not just what he was sent to get. "The merchants just kept throwing things at me!" The clone explained. He also brought blankets, towels, and some drinks. Neither Hinata nor Naruto wanted to put their clothes back on. They didn't even think about it. They ate and talked for some time, in near nudity. No shame or embarrassment. They simply enjoyed each other's presence.

Before long they were talking about the Nine-tails again and Hinata's expression changed to that of concern. "I think you have something to tell me. What did he really mean when he asked me if I knew you?"

Naruto stared at her for a moment and frowned. "I never intended to keep it from you, I just didn't feel like it was the right time. It's about what I told you yesterday morning on the balcony. You see, I told you that the secret to my technique is reabsorbing my clone's chakra using Sage techniques but that's not the real secret. I'm not the original, Hinata."

Hinata looked a little bothered by this as she furrowed her brows together. "You mean you sent a clone with me today?" She asked, annoyed.

Naruto shook his head. "No. I mean, there is no original anymore."