A Marriage of (In)convenience

A/N: Let me get this straight, this is AU. Mostly in recent events. For example, in this story Hinata never stepped in to fight Pain, Tsunade is not in coma and Minato wasn't the only one Naruto met when the seal nearly broke. In addition, I increased the age of Naruto a bit, he's seventeen when the story begins. Where you get the extra year from is left to your imagination. This will occasionally snap to Tayuya in a future this story is going for. And while in these future scenes Tayuya is apparently telling the tale, it will not be tied to her POV. This Naruto is also more mature, bitter and hurt than in cannon. I simply had his character undergo actual development with all the stuff he experienced up to the defeat of Pain and that is the result.

Also, I think I twisted some events around for this. I honestly don't remember when Sasuke left Orochimaru but in this story he has yet to do so and is using him. We set off right after the defeat of Pain, about two months in, and at some point the Five Kage summit will come up. From there on the war against Madara will go it's way. Kaguya will not make an appearance because that just adds more onto the twists I would have to make and I wouldn't want you to wait that long. I changed things a little so that the Ten Tails is the ultimate enemy, not Kaguya.

Note that I have already 40k words down for this, currently at the five kage summit.

If you haven't read it in the title, this is is an arranged/forced marriage fic. Said marriage being between Naruto and Tayuya. No harem.

Good, now enjoy this. If you don't... well, I won't continue it. You get the first six or seven chapters out of the 19 I have.

She'd been sitting in this bed for an hour now. Idly, she wondered when he would come back. He just went to talk to the doctor, after all. Setting her book aside she looked out of the window. It was getting dark outside, she felt it was time for lunch. But her musings were stopped when her sensitive ears picked up the coming storm that brewed, or better yet, marched through the hallways.

"Oh fuck no..." Sighing, she braced herself for what could only be the longest evening in her life. Damn being bedridden!

The door burst open with a loud bang, startling a man in a white coat that she could see outside. He glared at the offenders who were all too happy with completely ignoring him and rushing into the room.

"Aunty!"

The chorus of voices assaulted her ears. Four little shits, as she dearly called them, stood at attention around her bed. They were rapid firing questions at her, none of which she even tried to understand.

"Quiet you brats!" she shouted. It had the desired effect.

For seven seconds.

"How long will you be in here, aunty?"

"Is it time already?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Where is-?"

"I said quiet!" she hollered, so loud that the two girls jumped in fright. "I swear your parents suck at bringing up children..." She shook her head. "What the hell are all of you doing here?"

The blonde girl spoke up, hopping up and down excitedly. "Mommy said we should keep you company until... until...," She scrunched up her face, obviously trying to remember her mother's exact wording. Then her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Until that moron of a moron has gathered his dim wits about him!" She smiled proudly.

The pink haired girl nodded excitedly. "Yeah! So we gathered everyone and came here!"

"I can see that, pinky," the woman laughed, "I swear you're as bad as your mother."

The boy with brown hair and the facial markings spoke up. "Tell us a story!" he demanded.

His black haired friend nodded. "Yeah! A story!"

The woman sighed. There was no way to sway these little brats from anything if they ever set their mind upon something. "Fine. What do you brats wanna hear?"

"Oh! Oh! I know!" the blonde girl exclaimed, bouncing up and down, "Tell us how you met...," her face scrunched up again, pale blue eyes narrowed in thought, "How you met that moron of a moron!"

With a snort the woman sat up a little straighter in bed. "Fine. You better sit down then. It was like... like... How old are you again, pinky?"

The girl looked deeply offended. "Aunty! I'm five!"

The woman waved her hand dismissively. "Right, right. Then it was some seven years ago. You remember I told you how I was in a coma?" They all nodded. "Well, it was the day I woke up that I met him. Funny thing, I was married to him before I even woke up..."

The message came, with an ANBU Naruto didn't recognize, early in the morning hours just as he had finished his run. As soon as he had closed the door behind him, the ANBU appeared before him, pushed the scroll into Naruto's hand. It left him dumbfounded for about a minute as he stood there with the nondescript scroll in his hand, staring at the spot the ANBU had occupied for no longer than a second. Eventually he shrugged it off and decided to clean himself up before he even looked at the scroll.

Naruto wasn't sure why an ANBU would deliver messages to him in the first place. These special ninja were only ever on the move by orders of the Hokage and why Tsunade needed to see him now was beyond him. If it was about Jiraiya's inheritance, he didn't need it. If it was about the aftermath of Pain's attack, the seal was tightened again (or that was what he told her). She hadn't spoken a word to him ever since and she sure as hell had no real reason to do so now. Oh, he was bitter. Bitter about Nagato, about Uchiha motherfucking Madara, about the loss of Jiraiya that still burned him inside. Bitter about everyone worshiping him a hero for two days and treating him like a time bomb on the third. He had, after all, single-handedly defeated the man who crushed most of the village with one technique. Now, or so he guessed, they feared him to do the same.

It was ironic. He had longed for their recognition. Longed to be more than just the demon brat. He had that now. He now was that monster that they had defeat another monster for them. And it killed him inside that his aspirations were met with such contempt. And something became apparent to him. Something that he had mulled over for a very long time now.

Naruto learned that words meant nothing despite their necessity in the world.

He learned that no one gave a damn about what he said. They didn't care for his promises, his claims or his tales. They just judged him by action. Action they couldn't even grasp within their feeble minds. Whatever he said wouldn't matter, whatever he promised wouldn't matter if they just saw him bring down a monster. Then he was a monster to them. It was easy. For them.

He opened the scroll after his shower and scowled at the short message. He was to report to the Hokage. That was all. Nothing more. Then he reminded himself that words meant nothing. He would judge her by action, not word. Not even written word.

Still scowling down at the floor he got himself dressed. Black pants, black combat boots, tight long-sleeved shirt in a deep blue and a hooded jacket - just as blue as the shirt. No need to draw any more unwanted attention than he already got. Make no mistake, he still wanted to be acknowledged, but not like this. Not as a monster they throw at other monsters to keep them safe. He didn't want to be respected out of fear. He wanted respect because he was Naruto Uzumaki. But no one seemed willing to give him that.

He reached the tower within minutes and entered the office by means that were taught to him by Jiraiya. Through the window. If Tsunade's scowl was any indication, she wasn't the least bit happy that he had picked up on that peculiar habit of his late teacher.

"You're late," she snapped at him. Still scowling she bid him to get the hell into the office and sit lest she'd kick him right back to his apartment.

Tsunade said nothing about his change of clothing. Instead she peered into his eyes as if to discern what to do next, as if she wasn't sure how to proceed.

The awkward silence stretched for about a minute before Naruto rolled his eyes. "Geez, granny. Get this over with already." His voice wasn't as whiny as it usually was when he addressed her in impatience. He sounded genuinely annoyed.

"Fine," she said carefully and opened a folder that lay in front of her. "We have a problem."

Naruto said nothing, waiting for her to continue. His words wouldn't change anything about it, so he choose not to waste them.

"With the village's recent destruction," she continued, "other village's have set their sights on us. Not all of them allies and some far from it. Relations with Iwa had always been brittle, to say the least. We have been severely weakened and we can't let anyone take advantage of that. Not to mention the threat of Madara..."

Naruto frowned. What did any of that have to do with him?

"We need a show of strength, of power. We need to show our allies and enemies alike that we are still strong." Tsunade sighed and stood up, turning to look outside over the still vastly ruined in village. "And that's where you come in. Your clan, to be precise."

"My clan?"

Tsunade whirled around faster than any calm person should need to. The question had been too cool, too harsh for Naruto. But it was still him sitting there. But his eyes were hard, fists clenched and his face carefully and unsuccessfully kept of any anger.

"Yes," she finally said, nearly chocking on the word, "The Uzumaki were-"

"I know who the Uzumaki are, Tsunade. I just don't understand what a dead clan could do for you."

She swallowed. What was this aura he had? "Then you know that they were widely feared in all of the elemental nations." She didn't bother asking how he even knew about them. She didn't want to know. She had bigger things to worry about. "We need that image to protect Konoha."

Naruto scowled, something he did terribly often nowadays. "But they are extinct. My mother was the last of them."

Tsunade nodded, a sour expression settled in her face. "Exactly. She was your mother. You are an Uzumaki."

Things started to rotate in Naruto's head and the picture it produced was not one he was quite so fond of. If he was the last Uzumaki, that meant that Tsunade wanted him involved in the return of the clan. Now how does a clan return? Children of course, his children would be Uzumaki by default. They wanted him to restart the clan. Fuck. No.

"No," he said instantly. "You won't turn me into a fucking stud horse. I refuse. What the hell is wrong with you to even think that in the first place?" Was she seriously considering this?

Tsunade sighed. "Naruto, I wasn't about to have you knock up a whole lot of woman."

Naruto visibly deflated, the relief washed over him. Thank god Tsunade hadn't lost it yet. "Good," he sighed.

"It's just one."

Naruto nearly fell out of his chair.

"What the hell did I just tell you, granny!? I'm not going to do this!" he shouted at her, rising from his chair so fast that it toppled over backwards. The resounding crack of wood on the stone floor echoed like a bell through the office as Tsunade remained stoic.

"Naruto...," she began with a grave tone, "This is not for you to decide."

"What!?"

"You are a shinobi. One of my shinobi, to be precise. I am your Kage so you do as I order you." She stood up, her face more serious than Naruto had ever seen it. "Didn't you claim to become Hokage one day? What do you think I am doing here? What does your dumb head spit out about this? What would you do in my situation?"

Naruto bit down on his tongue and scowled. He said nothing.

Tsunade scoffed. "I thought as much. The village is weak, Naruto. The Uchiha are gone now that Sasuke is officially a missing nin with the stunt he pulled against Killer B. Our walls are torn down, our resources have taken hits so hard I don't even want to think about it. Though we had no casualties thanks to Nagato reviving everyone that died, we are weaker than we were after the Kyuubi's attack. Now tell me, Naruto. What is the Hokage's foremost task?"

Naruto mumbled something she didn't hear. "Speak up," she ordered him.

He blanched. "To protect the village."

"Exactly." Tsunade walked around the table and stood in front of him. He noted that he was taller than her. When had that happened? "And right now that's what I'm trying to do. The Hyuuga are already as strong as their reputation can get. Neither Itachi nor his brat of a brother will return to us. Neither the Yamanaka, the Nara or any other Clan for that matter have a reputation strong enough to protect us. The Senju clan can't be revived. Believe it or not but I am too old to have children." She grimaced. "We tried. You weren't the first choice. The Uzumaki are the only name left strong enough to keep us from falling into a war we would most definitely lose. Even with Yamato doing his best to rebuild the village with his Wood Release."

Naruto swallowed and continued to stare at Tsunade's unwavering gaze.

Could he do this? Revive his clan? Protect the village from yet another war? Have children- let alone make children- with some woman they would push onto him? But it was as Tsunade said. She was Hokage. And the Hokage has to do everything within her power to protect the village. Even if it is ordering the revival of a near extinct clan. Even if it was him who had to do it.

With a sigh he broke eye contact, reached for the toppled over chair and sat in front of the desk again. He waited.

Without a word Tsunade took her seat once more. "Good, you seem to understand. I am not doing this because I think it is fun or want to have grand kids before I go down." She allowed a smile at the thought and Naruto blinked.

She thought of herself as some kind of parent to him? It made him happy. The thought of a family had always made him happy. He desperately wanted one, after all, for as long as he could remember. Maybe this wasn't too bad after all. Just maybe.

"Now," Tsunade continued, "You are right that your mother was an Uzumaki, but she wasn't the last."

The blonde's eyes widened. "You mean I have a family out there?"

"A clan member, Naruto," Tsunade explained. "The Uzumaki clan was vast. Blood relations in between them are as thin as it got but that didn't make any of them any less of an Uzumaki. The girl here I am talking about isn't related to you as far as I know and-"

Naruto's fist impacted with her desk and she jumped a little as the hardwood splintered. "You what?" His voice was eerily calm. "You have another Uzumaki, a member of my clan, of my family, here and you didn't tell me?" His eyes had darkened considerably and his chakra staled the air, dropping the room temperature significantly.

"Listen!" she snapped, "I am doing things for a reason so keep yourself in check or you will just have to meet her and figure out who she is face to face with her!"

Naruto continued to glare but nodded.

"She is a prisoner of war. She was part of the invasion and one of the four that tried to escort Sasuke out of the Land of Fire. Her name is-"

"Tayuya."

Tsunade looked up in surprise. "You know?"

Naruto scoffed. "I was part of the retrieval squad. You do remember that, do you? She punched me in the face. But as far is I remember, Shikamaru told me that Temari buried her underneath the forest."

Tsunade nodded. "She did. It's just, she survived. We picked her up, put her in prison and while we made a file for her we found out she was an Uzumaki. It wasn't important back then. She was a prisoner... and a cripple."

The air grew chilly again. "And you didn't think I would at least like to know of her?"

"She was part of the team that helped Orochimaru kill Sarutobi."

Naruto's teeth ground together as his jaw clenched shut.

"Exactly what I thought," Tsunade said. She stood once more and pulled a bottle from underneath her table, taking a generous drink from it. "Now let's get this shit over with."