A/N: First of all. Sorry for the delay. I was quite busy with a lot of stuff and this chapter was actually again longer than I expected. That's
all I have to say for now. Be sure to read the author notes at the end of this chapter!
Now on with the story!
Chapter 19: From Naruto with Love
"How..." Arashi gritted his teeth and slightly trembled out of anger, "How were you able to come back? The Kyuubi should've surely..."
"Hehehe..." Naruto grinned widely, "Who knows? You won't ever find out, at least."
------Flashback no jutsu!------
"What are you waiting for?" Naruto looked into the Kyuubi's eyes, "Hurry up and finish me. Just promise me that you'll protect Ayame and everyone I love."
"It's a promise then..." The Kyuubi's eyes glew bright red as he started to laugh maniacally.
The Kyuubi ran towards Naruto, his eyes still glow bright red as he reached with his arms extended towards Naruto's spiritual body.
"Heh..." Naruto let out and slightly grinned just mere seconds before the Kyuubi reached him.
The blonde raised his hand up towards the Kyuubi's chest as he closed in. The Kyuubi's eyes widened, but it was too late.
A sphere of rotating blue chakra struck his chest and forced him back as Naruto shouted, "Like hell if I'd give my life up to the likes of you!"
As the Kyuubi staggered back, Naruto roared and another sphere of blue chakra, this time rotating much faster than the last time, struck the Kyuubi's body, "Rasengan!"
The sphere of chakra exploded and the violently rotating chakra send the Kyuubi flying back. The demon fox bounced off the ground several times when the rotation of chakra came to an end and Naruto leaped up into the air.
"I'm going to become Hokage! I won't bring a bigger danger into the world simply for the sake of getting rid of another one!" Naruto shouted, chakra gathering in his right hand again as he raced down towards the Kyuubi's body.
"I'm going to kill you and finish the work the Fourth started!" The chakra in Naruto's hand formed a huge ball of rotating chakra, "Take this! Oodama Rasengan!"
However, Naruto's final attack never reached the Kyuubi.
The sphere of chakra disappeared and Naruto floated a few feet above the Kyuubi, who was grinning widely.
"This battle is over." The Kyuubi said.
Naruto gasped and blinked at the demon fox, "Wh-What do you mean? The battle is over?"
"It's just as I said. The battle is over. I have lost. You have won, brat."
"You're actually a-admitting defeat?!" Naruto was shocked.
"Of course..." The Kyuubi's grin widened, "That was a nice strategy you had there. Deceiving and then delivering a final blow...You seemed to be just like a kitsune."
Naruto glared at the Kyuubi, not liking the way the demon worded that last sentence.
"Listen, brat. We don't have a whole lot of time, but there still is some time. I have to tell you some things before you return to the real world, but before that I will answer any question you might have. This is probably the last time we'll talk." The Kyuubi glared at Naruto.
"Wh-what? But...Did you just give up on wanting to live all of a sudden?!" Naruto shouted, "After what seemed like ages of fighting with me, you just GAVE UP?!"
"On the contrary, brat...I'm giving up because I want to live..." The Kyuubi replied.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked, "You...I don't get it."
"There are a lot of things that you mortals can't comprehend...Let me ask you a question in return." The Kyuubi asked, "Do you know the reason why I saved you from death whenever you were about to die?"
"Because...If I die, you die as well?" Naruto replied, not entirely confident in his answer.
"That's correct. I am immortal, but when I'm bound to a mortal soul, I can die." The Kyuubi stated, "It's something that's hard to explain to someone like you, but that's the sole reason I used my strength to keep you alive."
"But...The seal is broken and I just defeated you...Doesn't that mean you'll die now? Or like disappear or whatever demons do..." Naruto wondered.
"No...It's true that the seal has been broken, however because you wanted to live on so badly, I couldn't instantly break free..." The Kyuubi replied.
"Then...What does that mean exactly?"
"The battle we had just now was indeed about who was going to live and who wasn't...Live on in your body that is."
"W-Wait! Then you're still free?!"
"...I promise you that I will tell the truth..."
"Huh? What? Are you trying to tell me you've been lying up until now?"
"No, it's just that kitsune are bound to their promises." The Kyuubi replied and shrugged, "I am free yet I am not free."
"What do you mean?! Stop talking in riddles and start making sense already!" Naruto replied and pointed at the Kyuubi, "Weren't you the one saying we don't have a lot of time?!"
"Very well then, brat..." The Kyuubi momentarily closed his eyes, "It seems that my soul will still reside in your body and mind."
"And...that means..." Naruto stared blankly at the Kyuubi.
"It means you and I will become one and the same being...sort of."
"Eh?!" Naruto let out in surprise, "What?! How?! What does that mean?!"
"We will still be seperate entities, however we'll both be present in your body..."
"Wha...I still don't get it."
"You won. That means you will have your body back. However, I can't go out...for the time being. I will still reside inside of you. I guess I'd better explain the conditions to you..."
"Why didn't you just do so in the first place...?"
"You were the one asking questions." The Kyuubi replied, grinning widely.
"Fine, fine...Just to tell me what these 'conditions' or whatever are." Naruto replied and crossed his arms.
"First, you will be able to tap into my power without restraint or...negative transformations..."
"Negative transformations?"
"Turning into a real fox of a man..."
"Now there's a lame pun if I've ever seen one..." Naruto thought and slightly twitched, "And? What else?"
"I will reside inside your mind, but I will not disturb your life unless I find it a necessity. It will be as if I don't even exist and you've obtained all of my powers."
"So what's the catch?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"You understand that your human body won't be able to withstand the force of my entire power for very long. The more of my power you use, the worse the state of your body will be afterwards. The worst double-edged sword in history, that's the curse I lay upon you." The Kyuubi told Naruto, "And then there's one more thing..."
Naruto unfolded his arms, "What is it...?"
The Kyuubi's eyes flared dangerously red, "If you ever give up on living, I will make your body mine and you will never return to the world you knew."
"Heh! That's all? I will never give up on living." Naruto grinned widely, "Sorry, but you'll never get a hold of my body."
"Is that so, eh...?" A smirk crawled onto the Kyuubi's face as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto.
The blonde shinobi pondered for a moment and then looked with wide eyes at the Kyuubi, "Wait...Why are you willing to live like that? This was your chance to freedom, so..."
"Reason? Fine...I will tell you all the reasons I have to do this." The Kyuubi grinned widely at Naruto.
"First, if we'd continue our fight...I have no doubt you would have died along with your loved ones and I would've been captured by that Akatsuki. In other words, I wouldn't have gained any freedom at all then." The Kyuubi stated, "Next, by living like that, I will have a certain degree of freedom."
"What do you mean with that? I thought you said I wouldn't even notice you being there and all..." Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Even so, I'd feel what you'd feel. I'd see what you'd see. Far more than I've did the past fifteen years. In other words, I will once again live and have some freedom. Also, I have no doubt 'I' will kill people this way. You are shinobi ater all..." The Kyuubi stated.
"I guess..." Naruto slightly frowned at the thought.
"And...finally...The most important reason of all..." The Kyuubi grinned wickedly, "You've heard the rumors, haven't you? When a single tail on my body was swung, mountains would crumble and flood would consume the land..."
"What about that? Your final reason is because that is true?" Naruto blinked at the Kyuubi.
"No, my final reason is..." The Kyuubi started to snicker.
"Your final reason is...?" Naruto wondered out loud when the Kyuubi took some time to snicker.
"Well...My maximum power should be beyond belief if used in your body." The Kyuubi laughed maniacally.
"And..." Naruto stared blankly at the Kyuubi.
The grin on the face of the demon fox grew wide as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I want to see it. My power pressed to it's maximum limit."
"Eh?! That's your final reason?!" Naruto let out, slightly surprised.
"Unfortunately, it will take a while for you to do that...But even a portion of my power should be overwhelming." Kyuubi's grin widened.
"I still don't get it...Why should your power increase if I'm using it?" Naruto wondered.
"Why do humans make Jinchuuriki? That's the question to answer your question."
"...The question to...answer..." Naruto slightly twitched and looked with a puzzled face at the Kyuubi.
"...My legendary answers give me super strength." The Kyuubi replied.
"Huh? What?" Naruto tilted his head, "Wait, the most important reason for you to actually surrender is so you can see me pull of some insane stunt with the maximum of your power?"
"I guess it comes down to that, yes..." The Kyuubi nodded.
"Ano ne..." Naruto twitched.
"Hm?"
"How the hell is that the most important reason to decide to live in my body as a 'second' being?!" Naruto yelled at the fox.
The Kyuubi coughed, "Well...There's no way I'd be able to do that by myself in your body...Probably..."
"Probably?!" Naruto shouted, "You're a big fat liar, you bastard fox!"
"...Fine. My final reason to live like that is because you seem to be getting rather lucky with the ladies these days." A sparkle appeared in the corner of the Kyuubi's eyes.
Naruto smacked himself, "...You really are a stupid fox..."
"Alright, I'm lying again."
"What?!" Naruto shouted, "Y-Y-You bastard! Why are you wasting my precious time with this stuff?!"
"We've got some time left for this and I want to enjoy mentally tormenting you while I still can." The Kyuubi nodded.
"You don't make a whole lot of sense...You know that, don't you?" Naruto twitched.
The Kyuubi grinned widely, "Well...I'll be honest then."
"I somehow find that hard to believe..." Naruto replied as he narrowed his eyes on the Kyuubi.
"In order to live on and have a chance to have my own body when the current dangers no longer exist in the world." The Kyuubi stated.
"Current...dangers...? You mean the Akatsuki?" Naruto wondered out loud as he tilted his head.
"Not just them. Right now there are enough shinobi to seal me inside something or someone again." The Kyuubi grinned wickedly, "I remember that day 15 years ago all too well to attempt something like that again for the coming 100 years..."
"Heh..." Naruto slightly smirked, "So I'm actually helping you to survive by living a long life, eh?"
"I don't know what will happen in the future, but this will do for the time being." The Kyuubi replied and grinned, "Patience is something one needs in order to be the victorious one in the very end."
Naruto silently stared at the Kyuubi and then nodded, "I guess that's all I need to know to make sure you never kill thousands of people again."
The Kyuubi grinned wickedly, "I was right...You've got the cunning of a fox. Well, that's why you should be able to do this."
Naruto grinned back at the Kyuubi, "If you think I'm an idiot, you're really stupid."
"Time's up...The time for you to kill Arashi has arrived." The Kyuubi replied, his eyes glowing bright red as his chakra started to leak out towards Naruto's body, "Remember everything I've told you...If you are reckless, you will either kill yourself or lose your body to me. I'll be the demon inside your mind for all eternity. Now go and show the world what destruction my power can bring, Uzumaki Naruto!"
Hearing the demon fox calling his name made the blonde shinobi gasp and it send a feeling of nausea through his body.
The demon's chakra flew towards him and struck his body.
From that moment on, the white walls surrounding him faded away and the scene of Konoha's main street and his enemy trying to kill his beloved Ayame returned before his eyes.
------End of Flashback no jutsu!------
"Tsch..." Arashi let out, "Well, it doesn't matter."
Naruto's grin widened, "If that's really what you think, why are you just standing there? Weren't you going to kill me and take the Kyuubi's powers?"
"K-Kyuubi's...power?" Hinata repeated.
"That...That's that demon's...?" Ino's eyes widened.
"How did Naruto..." Tenten let out.
"What? You guys didn't know?" Temari and Sakura simultaneously blinked at the other girls.
"Ano..." Naruto turned towards the girls, sheepishly grinned at them and rubbed the back of his head, "There's a lot I have to explain to all of you, but...could you leave that discussion until I've started beating the crap out of this guy? I don't really want to hear it..."
The girls stared silently at the blonde until the moment he turned his head back around again, faintly smiling at the girls as he did so.
"You're pretty confident..." Arashi replied, "Think you're all high and mighty because you've got tails made out of demonic chakra swaying behind you?"
Naruto took a look at the chakra tails and smirked, "No, not at all. These things will just be a bother anyway."
The tails shattered and disappeared, a bright, blood red chakra covering Naruto's body instead, "There. Much better. It's less impressing though."
"What in the..." Arashi narrowed his eyes at Naruto.
"Surprised already?" Naruto grinned widely, "I can't wait to see the looks on your face a few minutes from now."
"Heh...Hehehe!" Arashi laughed and grinned back at Naruto, "Really now? Let us all see the looks on your face within the following seconds then."
A blade of chakra shot out of the palm of Arashi's hand and raced towards Ayame's throat. Several inches before the blade reached her throat, it just stopped.
A hand with burning red chakra clutched onto the wrist of the Akatsuki leader.
"Sorry, but from here on out it's only you that is going to end up hurt." Naruto said as he clutched on even tighter to Arashi's wrist.
"Why you!" Arashi lashed out with his other hand.
It was only for an instant, but Naruto's intent to kill the Akatsuki leader went over the top as he countered Arashi's punch with one of his own as he pulled the black cloaked man towards him. For someone whose speed is reputed as unmatched, it was a counter faster than any other Arashi had seen before.
The fist slammed into the Akatsuki leader's face and send him flying away. Surprise was written all over his face as he placed his feet on the ground, trying to force himself to a stop. Naruto wouldn't allow the former Fourth Hokage to get a chance to do so and charged onward towards him.
Another punch. This time time it aimed for Arashi's stomach.
The Akatsuki leader's feet touched the ground only briefly, but that was enough for someone of his level of skill.
"Doton!" He called out, chakra seeped a trail onto the ground beneath him and within the blink of an eye, the earth rose up to shield him from the punch.
However, that didn't stop the raging blonde's attack. Naruto's demonic empowered punch penetrated the wall of earth. Little chunks of stone flew across his face as he raced on, creating several cuts across his cheeks, but the shinobi didn't even flinch the slightest bit.
"What's wrong?! Is that all you've got?!" Naruto roared as he threw another punch at the Akatsuki leader.
He threw a punch of his own, as fast as he could throw one.
At the last moment, Naruto's fist collided with Arashi's and for a moment the raging chakra created a silence before it's ferocity started to push the Akatsuki leader back.
Blood ran down Arashi's hand as a cracking sound could be heard. The Akatsuki leader quickly moved his fist out of the collision and raced away.
"You're not getting away." Naruto stated as he gave chase.
As the two were fighting, the girls that had previously been defending their beloved Naruto were now staring in awe at his fight.
"Damn it! I can't take it anymore!" Temari roared as she lifted up her fan with all of her might.
"T-Temari?" Tenten let out as she and the other girls looked surprised at the wind mistress.
"I don't give a crap about what you guys do or think, but I'm going to fight along with Naruto." She gritted her teeth and started to move forward.
"W-Wait one second!" Ino let out, "If we go out there, we'll just be a bother to Naruto."
"If we stay here, we might cause Naruto's defeat." Temari said as she moved onward, "That guy will definitely start to use us to get to Naruto when he notices he's no match for him."
"You're right." Sakura smirked as she held onto her hurt arm, "Let's be a bother to that guy one more time so Naruto can defeat him."
"Giving it all that's left in us..." Hinata said, slightly smiling, "I'm sure Naruto-kun would do the same in our position."
"Hehehe...We can't let Naruto take all the credit for defeating this guy, now can we?" Ino smirked.
"Let's do it...one more time." Tenten replied and the five of them readied themselves once more.
Naruto and Arashi's eyes crossed each other momentarily as they both attacked and defended themselves. The blonde shinobi was still overpowering the Akatsuki leader, but in terms of speed they were equal now.
"Looks like he's more serious now, but this still isn't that Hiraishin no Jutsu..." Naruto thought as he deflected a thrusting chakra blade from Arashi and replied with a kick as a counter measure.
The Akatsuki leader managed to block the kick with his free arm and then dashed away again. Naruto gave chase, sending out multiple chakra punches in Arashi's direction.
Arashi breathed out a big ball of fire, but that would only hinder the demonic chakra arms for a spare moment. However, that moment was enough for the Akatsuki leader to slightly alter his course and escape the chakra arms.
As their eyes locked, Naruto noticed that Arashi looked the other way for a split second. Quickly following his gaze, he noticed the girls he loved so much moving in on the battlefield as fast as possible.
A small smirk on Arashi's face made Naruto gasp and the surpise became even bigger when Naruto could only see a blurry image of the Akatsuki leader move towards the girls.
Naruto's body reacted instantly, changing it's course just as fast to give chase after the former Fourth Hokage.
"It's that jutsu! Definitely. However, I can still see him." Naruto thought as he chased the blurry image of the Akatsuki leader, "That bastard fox's chakra does some insane things to my abilities."
The blurry image stopped, becoming clear as daylight again and forming the picture of Naruto's opponent.
"Raiton..." Arashi muttered.
"He is making his move! I've got to stop him!" Naruto raced onward as Arashi formed the final few handseals.
The advance of Naruto's loved ones stopped as they noticed the Akatsuki leader in front of them.
A smirk rose on his face just seconds before Naruto's fist made an earth shattering impact on his skull. Arashi exploded with lightning, electrifying the blonde shinobi.
"Gaaaah!" Naruto let out as the lightning relentlessly struck his body.
"No matter how strong you are, you can't stop my lightning!" Arashi roared from high above the ground, "This is the end for you and your pathetic friends!"
A vortex of lightning with the width of the entire main street of Konoha shot from Arashi's body and scorched the ground as it and moved in for the kill on Naruto and his loved ones.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawh!" Naruto roared at the top of his lungs and just as the lightning reached him, an explosion of red chakra pushed the lightning away.
The girls covered their faces as the demonic chakra raced towards them as well. It stopped only a couple of meters in front of them and it's force almost knocked them away.
Momentarily, the image of a nine tailed fox formed that roared just as loud as Naruto did. The lightning shattered by the force of the demonic chakra.
The image of the demon fox was destroyed as well as Naruto raced through it, jumping up towards Arashi.
"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto's voice was darker than usual and his words were emphasized by the dangerous look in his crystal blue eyes.
At that point, time momentarily stopped for the former Fourth Hokage. He could see the red chakra beneath the blonde boy disappear as if it were never even there.
He could see the blonde shinobi called Naruto clenching his fist. But most of all, he could see death awaiting him just a few inches behind the blonde.
Time resumed at that point and Arashi gritted his teeth.
"I won't go down without a fight!" Arashi replied just moments before the first of Naruto's relentless attacks struck.
Blow after blow reigned on his body, Kage Bunshins appeared and disappeared within mere fractions of a second and Naruto's chain of attacks seemed to be without end.
A wicked grin formed on Naruto's face and his left eye became blood red as he looked into Arashi's eyes.
"How do you like my power now that it's more focused?" Naruto's voice was twisted and wicked, not like his usual voice at all.
"You..." Arashi managed to let out before a blow to his stomach send him gasping for air.
The red left eye became clear blue again and the wicked grin turned into a wide fox-like grin, "Sorry."
A fist smashed into Arashi's face a second later, "The bastard fox wanted to say his final words. He's really enjoying this after catching a glimpse of what I used his power for."
The attacks just kept on coming from Naruto's side, each more powerful and deadly than the last and it brought the two of them back down to the ground in almost no time at all.
Naruto's punches became faster and stronger with each passing second and even the blonde himself couldn't tell what the limit of his strength was right now.
However, he knew all too well that at this rate the flow of demonic chakra would destroy his body, but Naruto knew he could pull through this.
"...He has to suffer for what he has done..." Naruto thought as he relentlessly attacked the Akatsuki leader.
Anger took control of his actions, his eyes flashing between blue and red. Each blow that connected had the Akatsuki leader spitting up more and more blood.
A pain shot through Naruto's arm however and his assault had a brief break. Arashi managed to jump back and launch a single lightning bolt at Naruto during that break and gave him a moment to catch his breath as Naruto was stunned.
The wounds on the Akatsuki leader's body healed rapidly, but he was breathing heavily nonetheless.
"Damn it...The Kyuubi's chakra is starting to take it's toll on my body...I'll have to finish this right now." Naruto thought as he clutched onto his arm.
Arashi slightly grinned, "Just a bit longer and you'll destroy your own body."
Naruto grinned back at the Akatsuki leader, "You'll be dead long before that."
"Really...?" Arashi smirked.
The feeling of numbness faded from Naruto's body and he launched himself towards Arashi again. The Akatsuki leader smiled at Naruto as he was struck relentlessly by various punches and kicks from the blonde shinobi.
Arashi then suddenly started to throw his own punches and kicks at Naruto as well. The blonde was surprised, but the attacks did little to no damage to him.
An uppercut and Arashi was partly launched up in the air. A kick to his stomach came next and send the former Fourth Hokage gasping for air.
Naruto's right fist smashed into Arashi's face with full force. His left fist came next, aimed for the Akatsuki leader's chest.
Naruto gasped. The attack didn't miss, nor did Arashi dodge it. What surprised Naruto was the fact that his hand extended at the last moment and pierced straight through Arashi's chest.
Naruto shivered and looked with wide eyes at Arashi, who was miraculously still alive and grinning widely.
"What the hell am I doing?" Naruto wondered, "Is this because of the Kyuubi's...chakra? Am I becoming a ruthless demon like him?"
"It's over for you, you shitty brat." Arashi grinned as he grabbed onto Naruto's arm.
Naruto's eyes widened and he punched Arashi with his right hand, sending the Akatsuki leader flying away until he crashed into the statue he had summoned.
"No...It's over for you." Naruto let out as he breathed deeply in and out, his eyes still wide.
He relaxed as Arashi's body fell down on the ground, but he was still feeling weird about what just happened.
The blonde managed to raise a smile nonetheless and laughed a bit, "Hehehehe...Looks like I was able to save everyone."
"Save who...?"
The voice made Naruto's smile fade and turn his attention to Arashi's body, that was standing back on it's feet again.
It was silent in the entire area as the Akatsuki leader rose up from the dead once again and stared at Naruto with burning red eyes while a wicked grin crawled up on his mouth.
"What the..." Naruto let out and shook his head, "No! This isn't the time to be amazed that this guy is still alive! I've got to finish him off!"
"You're naive, Naruto." Arashi said loud and clear, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine.
Arashi's eyes looked at Naruto like he had turned insane, but that was not the case, "With you around, I'm immortal."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto shouted at the not-so-dead Akatsuki leader.
"The only way to kill me is to do it in a single attack where death is instantaneous. However, if there's still a single shred of the Kyuubi's chakra in my body...or in the attack..." Arashi's grin widened, "I'll be able to survive by just that!"
As he said that, the wound in his chest started to heal and he started laugh like a maniac.
"I see..." Naruto said smiling at Arashi, "Well...that's just the way it has to be then."
The red chakra surrounding Naruto faded away and Arashi's laughter became more manical.
"Hahahaha! You're giving up?" Arashi stretched out and grinned widely, "That's fine with me. Then..."
"Who the hell is giving up?!" Naruto shouted with a grin on his face as he slapped his hands together in a single handseal.
"What..." Arashi let out as blue chakra rose up around Naruto.
"If I can't use that bastard fox' chakra to defeat you, I'll just have to rely on my own power!" Naruto shouted as the blue chakra flared up.
Arashi began to laugh again and shook his head, "Sorry, but that won't do at all. Well...It's time to finish this once and for all. I didn't want to resort to this, but..."
Naruto noticed the chakra gathering in Arashi's hand and it started to spin around, "Damn...Of course he still has that too..."
"I have to combine them in a single attack...I don't know if I can do it, but..." The blonde shinobi took a moment to consider his next move and doubt slightly crawled up into the back of his mind.
He then felt the presence of five people standing behind him.
"Naruto, we're here to help you." Sakura said with a smile on her face.
"You used some crazy power back there, but we can finally help you out." Temari smirked.
"Everyone...did their best for you, Naruto-kun." Hinata added.
"That bastard hasn't got a chance against all of us." Ino smirked much like Temari did.
"We'll give it our all 'till the very end." Tenten nodded once and smiled at Naruto.
Naruto took a step forward and smirked as he stuck his hand out in front of him, chakra rotating in the palm of his hand, "Everyone, please get back. I'm going to defeat this guy for the sake of each and every one of you."
"I can do this..."
"What? You learned a cheap imitation of my technique?" Arashi raised an eyebrow as the blue sphere in his hand became bigger and filled with demonic red chakra, "You won't stand a chance."
"We'll see about that!" Naruto shouted as the size of the chakra sphere in the palm of his hand increased.
"You can't even complete it in time! Hahahaha! This is the end for you!" Arashi yelled as he charged forward with the sphere in his hand, "Hiraishin!"
The Akatsuki leader momentarily disappeared from Naruto's sight, but the blur of Arashi's body soon made it's way to Naruto's line of sight and it was heading straight towards him.
"Haaaaaaaaa!" Naruto let out as the sphere began to grow bright white and released an immense amount of chakra pressure just by being formed.
Naruto twisted his palm and pressed his arm forward to meet Arashi's attack ahead of him, "Uzumaki!"
The silence before the storm that came seemed to last forever for Naruto, but it was only a split second before he and Arashi were only an inch away from each other.
Their attacks were equally far away from each other and they both pressed their attacks forward towards the others' body.
"RASENGAN!" (A/N: This would have been the last cliffhanger if I could've done that XD)
"Wha---?!" Arashi let out as Naruto's Rasengan exploded moments before his own Rasengan reached Naruto.
Naruto's attack blew Arashi's attack out of the way and the giant sphere of chakra pressed the Akatsuki leader away. Naruto's Rasengan left a trail of destruction on the ground as it's power and rotation speed only kept increasing as Naruto pushed the sphere further against Arashi's body.
The Rasengan and Arashi flew off Naruto's hand and crashed into the Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin. However, the attack didn't stop there and just kept on raging as the statue let out several earth shattering cries.
The wood of the statue rapidly began to crack and within moment, the statue was destroyed and blown to pieces along with the barrier that surrounded the area.
Naruto breathed deeply in and out as he looked at the Akatsuki leader lying underneath some of the rubble of the statue.
"I won't ever lose to the likes of you." Naruto said, "Not while I'm fighting to protect the lives of the girls that I love so much."
Arashi moved underneath the rubble, but it was obvious that he would be unable to fight any longer.
"You tried to harm the people I care about. I can never forgive you for that. No matter what I have to do..." Naruto walked onward as Arashi tried to push himself up from underneath the rubble, "I'll go through any hell in order to protect them. As for you..."
Arashi tilted his head up and glared at the blonde shinobi.
"I'm going to kill you so you can never, ever harm anyone again!" Naruto straightened up and took a deep breath.
"You've...You've got to be kidding me! Wh-Who the hell do you think you are?!" Arashi shouted as loud as he could, "I'm Arashi! The Fourth Hokage! You can't beat me, you brat! No one can!"
"The Fourth Hokage is the hero that saved the village from the Kyuubi by sealing it inside of my body!" Naruto shouted, "You are nothing but the twisted remains of the hero that died to save this village! You do not even have the right to call yourself a shinobi!"
The chakra burns on Arashi's body smoked more as he tried to move, but the damage to his body was too severe and he fell right back down.
"D...Damn it...I've failed..." Arashi let out.
"You never had a chance to win." Naruto replied, "And now I'll put an end to your life for once and for all so that the real Yondaime can rest in peace as well!"
Naruto slowly moved forward, the new Rasengan he just used and the Kyuubi's chakra had taken a toll on his body.
"One final attack..." Naruto thought as he held up his hand and blue chakra started to spin around in it, "One more and this nightmare will be over."
The blonde pressed himself onward and when he was a couple of feet away from his target, he jumped up into the air.
The sphere of blue chakra rotated violently as he charged back down again, "It's over!"
The instant that the Rasengan connected with Arashi's body, he coughed up more than a decent amount of blood. The rotating chakra leveled the rubble to the ground and when the attack disappeared, Naruto stood above the lifeless body.
"I hope your body may finally rest...Yondaime..." Naruto said in a whisper before turning around and walking back towards the girls.
"Naruto!" The girls let out as they ran towards their blonde hero of the day.
"Hehe..." Naruto grinned widely as he approached them, "I did it. I protected everyone and put an end to the Akatsuki...I guess."
The blonde shinobi took one last look at his defeated opponent. Naruto's eyes widened and he blinked as a small blonde girl and a man in a black ANBU coat stood in front of Arashi's body, eyeing down on him.
"What...What in the?" Naruto let out in surprise and then smiled, "I see. Don't worry, he's already dead. You stepped in because Konoha would like to preserve the body, right?"
"My, my..." The man in the ANBU coat let out as he straightened up.
"What...is this feeling?" Naruto wondered as a shiver ran down his spine.
"You really are useless after all...Arashi." The ANBU said and delivered a kick to the fallen Akatsuki leader's stomach.
Naruto and the girls gasped, "O-Oi...What do you mean, he's useless after all...?"
"..." The ANBU remained silent for a moment and then turned his head towards the little blonde girl beside him, "Sayane, please be so kind as to remove him permanently from my sight."
"Alright, daddy!" The girl replied happily and hopped over to Arashi's body, "Should I use the clean way or the messy way, daddy?"
"Clean...There's enough to clean up for Konoha here anyway." The little girl's father replied.
"Oi! What are you doing?! You can't let a little girl...!" Naruto started but was interrupted by the man in the ANBU coat.
"Naruto." He said and turned around, showing his fox-like ANBU mask to Naruto, "I owe you an apology and my thanks."
"W-What are you talking about...?" Naruto blinked at the ANBU shinobi.
"Thank you, Naruto. Thanks to you, my experiment is complete and I'm half satisfied with the result..." The ANBU moved his hand to his mask, "And..."
"My sincerest apologies..." The man said as he removed his mask from his face, "For not facing off against you myself."
"What...What the hell is..." Naruto stared with wide eyes at the man as he lowered his hood as well.
The girls, who were still standing behind the blonde shinobi, gasped and were completely speechless when they saw the man's face.
Naruto slightly lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at the man, "Who the hell are you, bastard?"
"What? You can't tell?" The man ran a hand through his blood red spikey hair, "I am the real leader of the organisation known as Akatsuki."
"The real...Arashi?" Naruto repeated and clenched his fists.
"No, you got that wrong." The Akatsuki leader replied and shook his head, "Arashi is just a fool who wished to become the god he admired. Nothing more than a failed experiment."
Naruto gritted his teeth and glared at the Akatsuki leader, "Was everything up until now for nothing then?!"
"Honestly, he caused us a load of trouble." The Akatsuki leader shrugged, "Risking the release of the Kyuubi, torturing young women, making a mockery of my favourite techniques and even damaging our most important technique. Naturally, the only price he could pay for such insolence is death."
"Before I kill you just like I killed that Arashi guy..." Naruto slightly growled, "Let me ask you one thing..."
"Kill...me? Heh...Calm down, Naruto...I have no interest in fighting you right now." The Akatsuki leader smirked at Naruto.
"What the hell is your goal that you're going as far as sacrificing other people for your own purposes?" Naruto asked.
"Our goal is quite simple, really..." The Akatsuki leader took a deep breath before looking directly into Naruto's eye, "We wish to gather the nine most powerful beings in this world and use their powers to become stronger ourselves. After that, we'll conquer the five great Shinobi countries through manipulation of the economy by providing services way below the prices the Hidden Villages are asking for missions. Once we rule the five countries, we'll continue to take control of the world. All in a way.that would be considered 'legal'..."
Naruto stared with a dumbfounded expression on his face at the Akatsuki leader and blinked a couple of times, "No, really.What the hell do you guys plan on doing with 9 demons?"
"It basically comes down to conquering the world by means that does not go against any written law." The Akatsuki leader stated again.
"Ah, I see..." Naruto said nodding a couple of times. The blonde then pointed at the Akatsuki leader, "Hold it! That doesn't mean you can get away with it!"
"Well, my deepest apologies, Naruto Wright. The only thing you can do to try and stop us is to defeat us." The Akatsuki leader replied and shook his head, "Enough with the idle talk."
"Yeah..." Naruto shifted his position and held his arms crossed in front of him, "I can't hold back now..."
"The time for talking is over..." Red chakra began to seep out of Naruto's body and fill the surrounding air, "I'll protect everyone..."
"It's time that you pay for all the suffering you've caused." Naruto glared at the Akatsuki leader as the whisker marks on his face widened, "Because they did so much to protect me!"
Naruto charged forward, but the Akatsuki leader didn't move a muscle. That was, nothing other than what he needed in order to talk to Naruto, "Do you wish to see those girls die that badly?"
Naruto froze. The atmosphere surrounding him and the Akatsuki leader changed dramatically and it felt like anything close enough would be killed.
"What...?" Naruto let out as he glared at the Akatsuki leader.
"Those seven young women behind you...You want them to live, right?" The Akatsuki leader questioned, even though the answer was quite obvious.
"You just lay a single finger on them and..."
"And what?" The Akatsuki leader interrupted Naruto before he could finish his line, "You'll make me regret it with my life? Who do you think you're talking to?"
Naruto gritted his teeth, "This guy is serious...If I so much as try to attack him, he'll definitely kill any of them, but..."
"I see you understand the situation." The Akatsuki leader lifted his hand up in the air and tilted his head for a moment.
"You coward..." Naruto snarled, "You're going to use them to force me to come with you, aren't you?"
"What coward would do such a thing?" The Akatsuki leader smirked and shook his head once, "I still have my honor. And like I said before, I have no desire to fight you right now."
"Why?" Naruto asked, "Something's wrong...If they wanted the Kyuubi that much, wouldn't he try to do so right now?"
"I have several reasons. The first being that your comrades should soon recover from the chakra release of the barrier." The Akatsuki leader shrugged, "The other reasons are of little importance to you."
Naruto threw a glance at the girls behind him, "As much as I'd like to finish this here and now...I can't risk their lives..."
"It seems you finally realise that the only option you have is to savor our fight for another day." The Akatsuki leader stated, "Then, we're leaving."
"Wait!" Naruto let out as the Akatsuki leader turned around.
The Akatsuki leader turned his head around, "Had a change of heart already, eh?"
"No, that's not it." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Akatsuki leader, "What's your real reason for not fighting me?"
"What ever do you mean?" The Akatsuki leader asked, "I already told you, your comrades will be here soon."
"That's exactly why you should have another reason to not fight me!" Naruto replied and clutched his fists, "There wouldn't be a better time to kidnap me than now, right?"
"Heh...You almost sound like you want to be killed..." The Akatsuki leader replied and faced back forward again.
"Are you scared of fighting me in my current state, you bastard?" Naruto growled.
The Akatsuki leader remained silent for a moment and then let out a chuckle, "Not at all. Do you know what day it is today, Naruto?"
"You mean..." Naruto mused for a moment and then blinked, "Valentine's Day?"
"That's right. Today's Valentine's Day." The Akatsuki replied and walked over to his daughter.
"W-Wait...Don't tell me that you...you..." Naruto twitched, "I...I can't even say it..."
"Heh...The fangirls would wish." The Akatsuki leader replied and slightly tilted his head back, "If you want to know that badly, I do not wish to fight today because today is the day that my love told me she thought she was pregnant with my child. That's all."
Naruto was surprised to hear such a reply from someone who was after his life. The blonde was left speechless as the man walked back to his daughter.
"Sayane, you're done, right?" The Akatsuki leader asked.
The small girl nodded vigorously, "Yes, daddy! Are we leaving already then?"
"After we've sumoned everyone." The Akatsuki leader replied to the little girl.
As if on cue, the remaining eight Akatsuki members appeared in half a circle arond the Akatsuki leader and his daughter.
"It looks like Arashi was a failure after all, huh?" Itachi said when he looked at the devastation that was left in the wake of the battle.
"We're not taking the Kyuubi brat with us?" Kisame asked as he stared at Naruto.
"It will be a while until we can materialize the seal again. There's no need to hurry with the capture of the Kyuubi." The Akatsuki leader stated.
"Tsch...And we're leaving while I was in the middle of my ritual..." Hidan complained, "Jashin-sama will be pissed off."
"Your stupid rituals will kill you one day, Hidan." Kakuzu replied.
"Zetsu-san, what happened to the plant on your head?" Tobi asked as he looked at Zetsu.
The other Akatsuki members stared at Zetsu for a moment, whose eyes darted around while he was being stared at.
"What? I just felt like trying something new." Zetsu replied.
"How artistic...hn." Deidara nodded once and crossed his arms.
"Everyone...We're heading home. And then we'll do what we do every night..."
"Play a game of go fish?" Kisame asked as they started to walk away.
"No..." The Akatsuki leader replied.
"Download a bunch of licensed anime and sell them on eBay for money?" Itachi asked.
"...No, not that either."
"Count our money down to the very last penny?" Kakuzu asked.
"There's no need for that..."
"Stab ourselves and enjoy the pain?" Hidan asked and grinned widely.
"Go away, Hidan."
"Create exploding sculptures to make our secret base look more artistic and explosive at the same time, hn?" Deidara wondered out loud.
"You're on your own with that one, Deidara..." The Akatsuki leader replied.
"How about we all smoke some and just enjoy ourselves?" Zetsu rubbed his chin in thought as the two huge leaves around his head began to regrow themselves.
"We're going to send you back to the rehab clinic if you keep on trying to make us smoke that stuff..."
"We'll be good boys, right? Right?" Tobi asked and looked with anticipation at the other Akatsuki members.
"Tobi, while you can be cool at times, I'm starting to wonder why the hell you're with us..."
"Oh! Oh! I know! How about this..." A blue haired woman with a white flower in her hair said, "You guys don't do anything at all, give me a lot of screentime and let me in on the action for once."
"Who the hell are you anyway?"
"Then, what are we going to do, daddy?" The little girl wondered.
"We'll do what we do every night...except on tuesday..." The Akatsuki leader replied as he lifted the little girl up from the ground and placed her on his shoulders, "We try to take over the world."
Naruto looked dumbfounded at the organisation known as Akatsuki and slightly twitched, "...It must be true what they say...In order to be evil, you really have to be one twisted..."
"Oh..." The Akatsuki leader let out and stopped walking, the rest of the Akatsuki members followed his lead and stopped as well, "Congratulations, Naruto. You've won this battle. However, remember that the war is far from over..."
Shaken out of his thoughts, Naruto stared at the Akatsuki leader, who left just a few words before he and the other Akatsuki members disappeared.
"Remember...The dawn will always rise."
Everything remained quiet for a moment as a gentle breeze blew through Naruto's hair.
He turned around and smiled at the girls behind him, "We've won...eh?"
"They might have ran away in the end, but we've won. Next time I'll definitely defeat him." He slowly moved forward, "Damn...If we really won, why do I feel defeated...Not to mention my body feels kind of tired...Is this the double-edged sword thing that bastard fox was talking about?"
"Naruto..." Sakura let out as she looked with worried eyes at Naruto.
Everyone was silent for a moment after that, the expression on the face of each girl being a mix between happiness and concern for Naruto's well-being.
"Oh yeah...There's something I have to do. I think now's as good as any time, since everyone's here." Naruto said smiling slightly as he walked further towards the girls, "Well...I think I've got enough energy left for this...Now's a good time as any time might be..."
"You see...I have to tell all of you th-..." Before Naruto could finish his sentence, he closes his eyes and falls down on his face in front of them, "Damn it...No way!"
"Naruto!" The girls let out in unison as they rushed to his aid.
Naruto found only darkness around him. Not a single spark of light to illuminate his surroundings.
"Don't worry, Naruto. You're not dead." A warm and caring male voice tells him so.
"Where...is this?" Naruto blinked his eyes.
"Well...That's a good question..." The voice replies, "I'm not quite sure myself."
Naruto turns arounds and blinks upon the image in front of him. A blonde, spikey haired man is standing in front of him with a smile on his face.
"Y-Yondaime?!" Naruto let out in surprise.
"The one and only." Yondaime grinned widely for a moment, "Well...I guess."
"Wh...What happened?" Naruto looked around.
"You passed out." Yondaime smirked, "Being in a vortex of demonic chakra for a long time doesn't really do your body any good. Especially so if you're going to use said demonic chakra to fight someone a bit later as well."
"Oh man...I passed out right in front of everyone." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "They'll be worried about me."
"I'm sure they are. Not to mention that you were about to tell them something important." Yondaime nodded once and then looked with a more serious expression at Naruto, "Naruto, sorry, but we don't have a lot of time left together. It won't be long before I disappear."
"Eh?!" Naruto let out, "What?! Why?!"
"With the seal gone, there's nothing that keeps my soul bound to your body and this world." Yondaime replied honestly, "The Shinigami will soon be here to take my soul to the afterlife."
"What?!" Naruto shouted, "Can't they just leave your soul here, where it belongs?!"
"Don't worry, Naruto...Even though my soul won't be here anymore, my spirit will live on in everyone of Konoha." The Fourth smiled at Naruto, "Besides, I could use a rest after fighting a demon fox for over 15 years."
"I see..." Naruto smiled softly, "You must be happy that you're finally able to get some rest."
Yondaime rubbed the back of his head, "No way. Just because I need it, doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I had way too much fun seeing you grow up. You've become a good man, Naruto."
"Eh..." Naruto grinned sheepishly at Yondaime, "I'm not quite sure I understand, but thanks."
"With the little time I have left here, I would like to tell you about some matters." Yondaime stated as he crossed his arms.
"Eh? Like what?" Naruto tilted his head.
"I imbued you with the knowledge of Hiraishin no jutsu and Shunshin no jutsu. You've been practicing it yourself for quite a while now, but I figured you wouldn't mind if I gave you some techniques." Yondaime smiled at Naruto.
"Eh?! That's all I'm getting? No cool A-rank jutsu or something?" Naruto blinked at Yondaime.
"Sorry, but it's not that easy to pass on knowledge. But your body is able to do those two techniques. I helped you do so a couple of times before already." Yondaime grinned at Naruto and rubbed the back of his head.
"I see..." Naruto nodded, "Wait...how did you...?"
"It's a long story, but I managed to teach you some stuff indirectly. Also, I figured I should help you out getting my voice for when you transformed into the younger me." Yondaime grinned widely.
"Y-You did that?" Naruto blinked.
"Why else did you think my body sounded quite like 'Nemar'? It was my actual voice." Yondaime replied.
Naruto rubbed his head and pondered, "Man, that will be confusing to explain..."
"Either way, I have several things I have left to tell you, so please just listen." Yondaime stated.
"Alright, I'll listen." Naruto nodded once and then parts of Yondaime's body started to be blown away as if turned into stardust.
"There's not much time so I'll make it quick." Yondaime said, "First of all, thank you."
"Hm?" Naruto let out in surprise.
"There were times that I regretted my decision to seal the Kyuubi inside of you, but I'm glad you were able to prove to me that you carry the Will of Fire and will stick to your beliefs." Yondaime said as his knees were turned into stardust.
"Ah...Well..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I'd say 'believe it', but I don't want to go to hell when I'm dead."
Yondaime slightly laughed as the rest of his body started to disappear into thin air.
"Well, that's good. Next is a bit of a warning..." Yondaime said and took a deep breath, "Please, try to refrain from using the Kyuubi's chakra...I have a feeling that if you start to rely on it, things will turn out far worse than you wish them to be."
"I know...I shouldn't trust that bastard fox all too much, but there will be times it's needed, right?"
"Yes. That's why I forced the seal to allow mixing of Kyuubi's chakra with your own." Yondaime nodded, "There will be times when you need it' s power."
His arms started to fade away as he continued, "However, right now there's no such seal and it requires direct control in order to wield the appropriate amount of chakra."
"So I must learn to control it all by myself?" Naruto asked and slightly frowned.
"You're not alone, Naruto. I will always be with you. And you've got some lovely girls and some nice friends around you that will help you through anything." Yondaime answered, "You won't have to face this alone."
"I see." Naruto smiled widely, "Looks like I've got something to work on again."
"I'm sorry for everything I made you go through, Naruto..." The Fourth's voice slowly began to fade, "However, I know you'll become an even greater Hokage than I was..."
"I hope you never have to make...the same decision as I had to...fifteen years ago...But if you do...I hope you realise...I thought the exact same thing..." The Fourth let out as his head started to fade away, "There's no choice but to do this for the sake of the future of your own..."
Naruto's eyes lit up and he reached out with hand towards the fading Fourth Hokage, who couldn't even finish his last words.
"I promise you...I will do anything for the sake of the future of my own village."
Naruto remained silent for a moment as the stardust lingered around him. A single tear slipped from Naruto's eyes and hit the invisible dark floor beneath his feet.
"Thanks...and farewell, Yondaime Hokage-sama."
Naruto opened his eyes and found himself staring at the blue sky, his extended hand was being held by Temari and he felt a warm feeling inside his body.
"Sakura, Ino! Naruto opened his eyes." Tenten's voice rang in Naruto's head.
"I don't really think it was our healing, though..." Naruto heard Sakura say and a moment later, the face of the pink haired kunoichi popped into his sight, "Naruto, are you all right?"
"Y...Yeah..." Naruto let out as he blinked.
He sat up and looked at the girls around him, his eyes lingering on each of them for a second.
Sakura placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You shouldn't move yet, Naruto. Your body has suffered a lot of stress from the Kyuubi's power, so..."
"Alright..." Naruto nodded ocne. The motion caused his vision to fade in and out for a moment, "I can do this whether I'm lying on the ground or not."
Naruto laid back down on the ground and took a few deep breaths.
"Everyone...Please listen to me until I'm done talking." Naruto said and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the instant result of what he was going to say next.
"The truth is...Nemar-kun...He's...me. I'm him. We're one and the same person. That appearance and name was just something made up by me." Naruto said.
Everything remained silent after that. No gasps, no replies, absolutely nothing.
Naruto gulped and then decided to continue, "Everything I said and did were true, though. I was just being myself the entire time. My feelings for all of you aren't some joke either. They're really the way I feel about every one of you..."
Again there was no reply from any of the girls.
"Oh man...I have the feeling that this will turn out to be one bad Valentine's Day for me..." Naruto thought and felt sweat crawl down his spine, "I can understand if any of you hate me for lying, but I..."
"You stupid idiot!" Temari flared and lifted Naruto up by his collar.
The blonde opened his eyes and prepared to get a fist slammed into his face or worse, a steel fan. However, Naruto saw neither of those coming at him.
All he could see was Temari glaring at him with tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Why..." Temari asked him, her eyes slightly trembling, "Why didn't you just tell me so right from the start?"
"Because if that letter ended with my name, you wouldn't have come all the way here, right?" Naruto sheepishly smiled at the wind mistress.
Temari looked away and lowered Naruto back down to the ground, "That...That's..."
"It all started two weeks ago..." Naruto began to tell his tale, "Since Valentine's Day was coming up, I was wondering how I should ask Sakura-chan out and all. I must have looked kind of depressed since Ayame-chan's father...You know, the guy that runs Ichiraku Ramen...asked me if something was wrong."
Naruto took a deep breath and continued, "I told him about it and he asked Ayame-chan if she could help me out. She thought me the basics of dating and the day after that she asked me if I liked someone other than Sakura-chan. I told her I didn't think so and she then asked me what other girls I knew."
Naruto eyed each of the girls around him, "I named all of you and Ayame-chan said we were going to write each of you a letter to ask if you wanted to go out on a date with me. The original plan was to just go as myself if I got a response from any of you, but well..."
Naruto raised a smile on his face and rubbed the back of his head, "Everyone wanted to meet me. And I knew it was kind of impossible to go as myself then, so I decided to create an alter ego, but I didn't want to stray too far away from the way I really looked."
"In the end, Hinata was the only one I could be with while being myself since she already liked me." The blonde shinobi took another deep breath and smiled honestly, "There's probably a lot more for me to tell all of you, but this is all that's really important. Even though the plan was to find out who I really like during these past two weeks, I just started to like everyone more and more."
"Even right now..." Naruto dropped back down on the ground and laid his arms behind his head as he stared at the sky, "I can't say who I like the most. It's unfair if I chose any of you without telling the truth..."
"Everyone..." Sakura's voice was calm and soft as she addressed the other girls, "I think it's only fair if we tell Naruto what's on our mind right now. He already knows my feelings, so I'll leave the rest up to you."
Ino stood up from the ground and wrapped one arm around her self, holding onto her side, "I don't like it. If he really liked us from the start, he should've told us the truth...But..."
Naruto looked at Ino as she sighed, "I'd be lying if I said that I didn't fall for him, despite his disguise. Even though it turned out that Nemar-kun was in fact Naruto, he's still the same person, right? So...so..."
"There's no reason for me to hate him...After all he did for us...for me...I can say I love him." Ino blushed and stuck her nose up in the air for a moment before looking at the blonde shinobi, "I...really love you, Naruto."
"I..." Tenten spoke up.
Naruto slightly raised himself off the ground, "Tenten...I understand...You have Neji as well and..."
"Screw Neji." Tenten replied fiercely.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked in disbelief.
"Don't get me wrong...I really love him, but out of the two of you, he seemed more like the jealous ex-boyfriend than anything else..." Tenten crossed her arms and took a deep breath, "Ino's right...Nothing changes just because you told us Nemar-kun was actually you."
Naruto smiled slightly as he and Tenten stared at each other for a moment. The weapons mistress then threw a big smile at Naruto and slightly tilted her head, "My feelings stay the same for you, Naruto. You're a great guy, there's nothing to dislike."
Naruto turned his head towards Temari and smiled softly at the wind mistress, "Temari...I..."
Temari smirked and looked with wet eyes at Naruto, "You idiot...You don't even need me to tell you, right? If I can, I'd like to talk to you one on one soon, but until then..."
The wind mistress lifted her head, smiled and closed her eyes. As the fluids that had gathered in her eyes sparkled when they were thrown out into the air, she said, "I love you, Naruto. More than I love anyone else."
Naruto felt warm inside after hearing those words from everyone, but he knew there was one more girl who he had to look in the eye.
He turned torwards the timid Hyuuga heiress, who was staring at her lap.
"Hinata..." Naruto said and the girl's fingers dug into the cloth of her shirt.
"N...Na...Naruto-kun..." Hinata let out in a whisper.
Naruto could see the blush on Hinata's face and smiled, "I love you too, Hinata."
Tears fell onto Hinata's lap and she sniffled softly. Naruto blinked at the Hyuuga heiress and hesitantly spoke up, "O-Oi...Hinata...What's wrong?"
Hinata raised her head up, smiling as tears flowed down from her eyes and rolled over her cheeks, "I'll always love you, Naruto-kun."
Naruto smiled back at the girl as she wiped her tears away. The blonde let out a sigh and fell back down, "I'm glad to hear that from everyone, but this doesn't really help, does it?"
"If you can't decide and all of them love you, why not create a harem and let them all be your girlfriends until you can decide, Naru-chan?" The smiling face of the purple headed kunoichi, called Anko, popped into Naruto's view.
"Waaah!" Naruto let out in surprise and jumped up, giving a headbut against Anko's nose.
Anko stumbled back and held onto her nose as she looked with teary eyes at Naruto,"Owie! That hurts, Naru-chan!"
"Shut up! What the hell do you think you're doing by suddenly getting that close!" Naruto shouted in reply, "Besides, what the hell are you suggesting?!"
"If you have your own harem, it won't be a problem, right?" Anko said with a huge smile on her face as she lifted a single finger up in the air, "Besides, that way I can be with you as well."
"A harem, eh...?" Sakura repeated and placed a finger on her chin as she pondered.
"That's right." Anko replied, "You could even enjoy stuff like..."
Naruto jumped on top of Anko and covered her mouth with his hand, "Be quiet you!"
"I don't really like the term 'harem', but..." Tenten tilted her head.
Anko wrestled herself free from Naruto's grip and smiled, "You could all enjoy being with Naru-chan at the same time. Not to mention that it's much more interesting than a normal relationship. Also, Naru-chan is very knowledgeable. He learned almost everything I kn..."
"Haha! Don't listen to this crazy old lady! She's just trying to lure us into one some kind of weird situation!" Naruto interrupted Anko as he waved his arms energetically.
"O...Old lady?" Anko's voice sounded angry and hostile towards Naruto for the first time ever.
Naruto felt sweat trail down his spine and he hesitantly turned around to face Anko.
"I'm only in my twenties, you know!" Anko grabbed onto Naruto with both hands, "I do not have a single wrinkle on my skin! Not a single one! My skin is still firm and smooth! Who do you think I am? Hokage-sama?!"
"You're almost as old as Kakashi-sensei, right?!" Naruto replied, "That makes you old!"
"Well that makes you someone with a thing for old ladies!" Anko retorted.
"Who told you I liked you?!"
"Well, you didn't seem to mind getting up close and physical with me the other day!"
"Ano..." Ino let out as she and the rest of the girls smiled sheepishly at the two of them.
"Well?" Anko let out as she threw herself around Naruto's neck and rubbed her cheek against his, "What are you going to do?"
The girls looked at each other for a moment and then pondered.
"I don't really mind if we're all going to be Naruto's until he can make a decision..." Temari said as she looked away, "Not much will change, I guess..."
"You're right, blondie..." Ino replied with a nod, "We'll still be trying to win him over and we can freely spend time with him, I guess."
"Yeah, it sounds like the best solution for now." Tenten stated and nodded as well.
"I think it is the best option we have right now. There's no use in forcing Naruto to decide. This way, we can continue like we did before, right?" Sakura and tilted her head, "Though, we'll be officially considered his girlfriends."
"I...I don't mind if it's all right with N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata stated and slightly blushed.
"Then it's settled, right Naru-chan?" Anko said with a smile on her face and lapped Naruto's cheek with her tongue.
Naruto shivered, "Y...You're still not one of my girlfriends, Anko-sensei..."
"Are you sure you don't want me?" Anko asked with a wicked grin on her face and then kissed Naruto's neck.
"O-Oi! Leave Naruto alone!" Sakura let out as she slightly blushed.
"If you want to play with Naru-chan as well, why won't you?" Anko asked as she trailed with her fingers over Naruto's chest, "You are one of his girlfriends after all. Go ahead and do whatever you want with him."
"Damn you, Anko-sensei...I won't be defeated here by you though. Sakura-chan and the others will rescue me from your grasp once and for all!" Naruto thought as he eyed Anko from the corners of his eyes.
"Alright then, I will." Sakura replied and walked towards Naruto.
"Eh?!" Naruto let out and flushed red as Sakura's lips slowly neared his own.
"Hold it right there, forehead girl!" Ino shouted.
"I-Ino?" Sakura let out as she turned around to face her best friend.
The blonde kunoichi pointed at her friend and straightened up enough for her chest to stick out more than usual, "I won't let you get the first kiss that easily!"
"Does it really matter that much...?" Sakura wondered and turned back to face Naruto.
"Of course it does!" Ino exclaimed as she jumped onto Sakura's back, causing the two to knock into Naruto and Anko.
Sakura rolled herself and Ino off Naruto's body and smirked at the blonde, "Hehe. Feisty as usual, eh?"
Tenten bowed over to look straight into Naruto's eyes, "If they're too busy fighting each other, I guess I'll just grab my chance then."
"Objection!" Temari shouted as she wrapped her arms around Tenten's waist and started to pull the weapons mistress away from the blonde, "You're not getting away with it that easily either, Tenten."
"T-Temari!" Tenten let out as she struggled not be pulled away by the wind mistress.
"I...I thought we did the Phoenix Wright parody already..." Naruto said slightly twitching.
"E-Everyone, p-please calm down..." Hinata tried to stop the girls, "L-Let's h-ha-have Na-Naruto-kun de...Wah!"
Unwillingly, even Hinata was pulled into the struggle. Before Naruto knew what happened, the girls were on top of him and each of them were trying to give him a kiss.
"Gaaaaah!" Naruto let out as various soft body parts pressed against him, "They sure as hell are eager to kiss me all of a sudden."
"Isn't this fun, Naru-chan?" Anko said with a huge smile on her face.
"F-Fun?" Naruto repeated with a flustered face, "I'll die for real if this keeps up."
Naruto desperately tried to crawl out of the mass of laughing girls, who seemed to be enjoying themselves way too much.
"A-Ayame-chan! Save me!" Naruto called out.
When no reply came, Naruto froze and blinked, "Huh?"
The laughter of the girls slowly died out as well and they stared along with Naruto.
"Where is she?" Naruto wondered out loud as he looked around. His eyes then widened and pushed himself slightly up, "C-Could it be that...?"
"That's weird..." Anko placed a finger on her lower lip and pondered for a moment, "She was here just a few moments ago..."
"I wonder why she ran away." Ino blinked and tilted her head slightly.
"Yeah..." Naruto replied and kept scouting the surrounding area with his eyes, "Why did she run away? It doesn't really seem like her to do that..."
"Alright, everyone. Let's give Naruto some room to breathe." Sakura said as she stood up, "We don't want him dead today, now do we?"
"Hmmm...I wonder about that..." Ino sang and smirked at the blonde shinobi, who sheepishly grinned in reply.
"We should go find the others." Temari stated, "After all, we don't know if they need help, now do we?"
"Yeah. Let's go find everyone." Naruto said as he stood up along with the girls.
"Long time no see..." A voice drew the attention of Naruto and the others, "Naruto..."
Naruto gasped and narrowed his eyes slightly, "S...Sasuke..."
"The same goes for you, Sakura." Sasuke said as he turned his head towards the pink haired medic-nin, who said nothing in return.
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked.
"Don't misunderstand." Sasuke replied calmly, "I'm only back here because Orochimaru had to drag me along..."
"Orochimaru?!" Naruto let out in surprise, "He's here as well...?"
"More importantly..." Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment and then glared at Naruto, "Where's that man?"
"Hm? That man?" Naruto blinked for a moment, "You mean...Itachi?"
"Tsch...You clumsy idiot...You really think I do not know where Itachi is?" Sasuke spat on the ground, "I'm talking about is the leader of the Akatsuki."
"The...Akatsuki leader?" Naruto and the girls looked dumbfounded at Sasuke, "Why the hell are you looking for him?"
"Once I've defeated him, I'll be able to get my revenge on Itachi..." Sasuke replied and clutched his fist, "So hurry up and tell me where he is, Naruto!"
"He left...Just a while ago...Itachi went along with him as well." Naruto stated and Sasuke seemed to gasp in surprise.
A moment of silence and a soft breeze passed by.
Sasuke glared, "He...left?"
Naruto and the girls looked at each other for a moment and then nodded simultaneously.
The younger Uchiha closed his eyes and twitched, "I see...So that's how it is..."
"Oi. Sasuke. Now that you're back here anyway, how about staying here?" Naruto asked, "It's much more fun here than at that damned Orochimaru's place."
"I refuse." Sasuke replied, "I cut my bonds with Konoha. You still can't understand that, can you Naruto?"
"Sasuke..." Naruto's voice sounded more serious than before.
"I have learned more in the past two and a half years with Orochimaru than I've done in my entire life in Konoha." Sasuke stated, "There's no need for me to come back here."
"The one who can't understand the situation is you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura spoke up.
"Sakura...You're still as annoying as ever." Sasuke replied, "The one who doesn't understand the situation is none other than you."
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted and took a step forward, "Don't you realise that Orochimaru wants nothing but your body?!"
"And?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"A-And?!" Naruto twitched, "Do-...Don't tell me you swing that way..."
"I am NOT gay!" Sasuke exploded and gritted his teeth.
"Really now?" Sakura tilted her head and pondered for a moment, "You never once showed any...ehm...interest in any of us girls."
"Sakura...you..." Sasuke twitched and glared at Sakura.
"That's true, you didn't even show a single hint of being interested in even girls as beautiful as us." Ino nodded firmly.
"That's because I was busy training to gain my revenge on that bastard..." Sasuke twitched more and shook his fist in anger.
"All the other boys back then showed interest in girls. Even Neji slipped once..." Tenten tilted her head as well.
"Like I said...I..." Sasuke replied.
"Come to think of it, you were more interested in Gaara than in me back when we first met..." Temari rubbed her chin, "And even I find my little brother quite handsome, so that means..."
"I was just interested in him because he seemed to be insanely strong!" Sasuke shouted and clutched onto his sword.
"But..." Naruto slightly narrowed his eyes and stared at Sasuke, "You're living with a guy right now that used to have a woman's body, never shown interest in women either and actually has a male subordinate that's pretty much his slave...Not to mention, you're enjoying your stay there as well..."
"For the last time! I am NOT gay!" Sasuke shouted and everyone stared blankly at him in return.
About ten seconds passed before Sasuke returned to normal and lifted his head slightly.
"Just you watch, Naruto..." Sasuke said as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I'll get more girls then you do."
"Heh..." Naruto grinned widely at Sasuke, "What, Sasuke? You think the qu...kwa...amount matters more than the quality?"
"You idiot...I'm going to get more and better ones." Sasuke retorted.
"Sorry, Sasuke, but that's not possible." Naruto flashed the Uchiha another grin, "I've already got the best there are."
Sasuke then pointed at the girls behind Naruto, "I suggest you look behind you, you clumsy idiot."
Naruto slowly turned his head around and gasped, "D-Did I say something wrong...? No, I'm sure I didn't...but..."
All the girls were staring at him with big, bright shining eyes, aside from Hinata, who had just flushed red and was avoiding his gaze.
"Later, Naruto..." Sasuke said, "The next time we meet, my harem will have surpassed yours by tenfold. Ahahahahahaha!"
Naruto turned back around and stared blankly at Sasuke, who was fading away in purple flames.
"...While you're at it, you might want to try improving that laughter as well..." Naruto stated and then pointed towards himself with his thumb, "Even I could do a better evil laughter and I'm the hero."
"...I guess laughing is not really my thing." Sasuke stated before completely vanishing.
Naruto let out a sigh, "Man...He ran away again...Now I'll have to do another 'chase Sasuke' mission...Oh well."
"Ne, ne! Naruto!" The blonde shinobi heard his name being called by Ino.
Naruto turned back around again to face his girlfriends, finding them in the same way as they were a moment ago.
"Do you really think we're the best?" Tenten asked before Ino did.
Naruto blinked at them for a moment before he grinned widely and rubbed the back of his head, "Of course! I love all of you and each of you are better than any group of girls Sasuke might get. If he is straight, that is..."
The instant Naruto had finished talking, he had to cover his ears and close his eyes as all the girls squealed. When he opened his eyes again he found all the girls rolling on the floor and mumbling one thing after another.
"W-Wow...I think I might them feel a bit too good about themselves..." Naruto grinned sheepishly at the girls, "Even though they really are better than anyone else."
"Ah...I'm the best. Naru-chan thinks I'm the best..." Anko sang as she rolled back and forth on the ground.
Naruto looked dumbfounded at the purple haired Jounin, "...Who mentioned you?"
Anko's body stiffened and a moment later she was hugging her knees and had her back towards Naruto, "Naru-chan thinks I'm the worst...I'm the worst...worst..."
"I didn't say you were the worst, sensei..." Naruto grinned sheepishly as a drop of sweat rolled down the back of his head.
The girls stood up from the ground and each of them stared at Naruto with a blush on their cheeks.
On that moment, Naruto felt like he had just been pierced by a katana in his heart, "C-Cute...! It's too cute...! At this rate I'll die just by looking at them...!"
"A-Aren't you guys over reacting a bit...?" Naruto asked as he grinned sheepishly at the girls, a blush crawling onto his face as well.
"But you know..." Tenten said as she fidgeted with her fingers.
"Being called the best by the one you like gives you a good feeling, right?" Sakura added and the other girls shyly nodded in reply.
"Ehehehe..." Naruto laughed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "I have the feeling that my life will be danger a lot from now on...In more than just one way..."
"Naruto!" A voice shouted.
Naruto spun around and there in the distance he saw someone down on all fours charging towards him.
"K-Kiba?!" Naruto let out and then smiled.
"You bastard...!" Kiba shouted as he kept on running on all fours towards Naruto.
"Sorry, you missed out on the action!" Naruto grinned widely.
"How dare you get more girls than I do!" Kiba shouted when he was only a couple of hundred feet away from Naruto.
"Eh?" Naruto let out and titled his head.
"Take this! I'm going to beat you to show your girls just how cool I am!" Kiba shouted as he jumped up into the air.
He shouted as he came crashing down towards Naruto again, "And then my feelings for all those beauties will be...!"
"REJECTED!"
Before Kiba even reached Naruto, six fists hit his face and send him flying away again.
"Eh...ehehe..." Naruto let out as he stared with wide eyes in front of him, "Their combined strength makes for a scary attack..."
Kiba flew over the rest of Konoha's forces. As he did, Shino straightened his shades again and held his fingers pressed against them for a moment.
"Kiba...You didn't realise this before, but..." Shino thought as he stood still for a moment, "You're the guy in this story that will never get something like a harem...After all, this Village's ladiesman is..."
"Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted as he came running towards his student.
"Ero-sennin...What the hell took you so long?" Naruto glared at his teacher.
"Now, now...It's not like I wasn't busy or something..." Jiraiya grinned sheepishly.
"I bet you were just trying to see all of this from some perverted point of view, weren't you?" Naruto stared straight into Jiraiya's eyes.
"Wh-what?!" Jiraiya let out, "Is that something you say to your teacher after he honestly worried about your well being?!"
"Naruto, don't be too hard on that old fart." Tsunade said as she walked up to Jiraiya, holding the end of a rope in one of her hands, "He tried his best."
"Who are you calling an old fart, you old hag?" Jiraiya muttered in reply.
"What was that?" Tsunade glared in reply.
"Ehm...Weren't you two supposed to be in love with each other, get married and all that?" Naruto asked as he watched the two Sannin argue.
Jiraiya and Tsunade looked at each other and then at Naruto before bursting out in laughter.
"Don't worry, don't worry, Naruto." Tsunade said smiling, "Things wouldn't be quite the same if Jiraiya and I weren't like this towards each other."
"That's right." Jiraiya rubbed his chin, "I guess we're already sounding and looking like a couple that has been married for years."
The two Sannin laughed again and Naruto just grinned in reply, "Well...Whatever you two say, I guess?"
"More importantly..." Jiraiya said as he stopped laughing, "Naruto...How's your body?"
Naruto blinked for a moment, "A bit tired, but alright I guess. It's all thanks to Sakura-chan and Ino's medical ninjutsu."
"I see...Then we'll leave it at that for now." Jiraiya said nodding.
"Sakura, what about you? Are you alright?" Tsunade turned her attention towards her student.
"There's nothing to worry about, Tsunade-sama. Our worst injuries have all been treated already." Sakura reported and Tsunade nodded once in reply.
"Ano...Tsunade-obachan?" Naruto slightly tilted his head, "Why are you holding onto that rope?"
"Ah, this?" Tsunade slightly raised her hand containing the rope up, "We've captured Orochimaru. This is the rope that binds him."
"O-Orochimaru?!" Naruto, Anko and Sakura let out in surprise and the other girls gasped as well.
Tsunade and Jiraiya turned around as Naruto and the others ran past them to see the captured Snake sannin.
"Wait...This is..." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.
"Kukuku..." Orochimaru laughed as Naruto and the others stood in front of him.
"So you've finally been caught, eh Orochimaru?" Anko said as she took a step forward and gripped onto the base of her neck with one hand, "I'm going to repay you for what you've done to me now."
"Fear me! For I am Kabutomaru! All your souls are belong to me!" Kabuto, wearing a black wig along with white and purple make up, shouted as he raised his head up.
"Eh?!" Naruto and the girls let out in surprise.
"I'm going to combine myself with Orochimaru-sama's body and form the ultimate lifeform." Kabuto laughed like a maniac, "Thanks to you, Naruto-kun, I've finally found my life's purpose!"
"Wh-What the hell is this, Ero-sennin?!" Naruto turned his head around to face his teacher as he pointed at the laughing Kabuto.
"I'd say..." Jiraiya pondered for a moment, "It's a replacement."
"...You guys didn't use anything special to hold down Orochimaru...?" Naruto stared blankly at his teacher and the Hokage.
"Well, he was unconscious so..." Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head.
Naruto let out a sigh and turned back around. Sakura kneeled down in front of Kabuto, who was still laughing hysterically.
"Looks like Orochimaru even drugged him." Sakura stated and tilted her head, "That, or he was hit on his head."
"I wonder why he'd do that to his subordinate if he's going to use him as a replacement anyway..." Temari wondered out loud.
"That's just his nature...That bastard likes doing things like this to others." Anko stated and slightly glared towards Kabuto.
"So he managed to slither away again, huh?" Naruto slightly frowned, "That snake bastard has a thing for running away..."
Meanwhile, not too far outside of Konoha, Orochimaru sneezed and then let out a chuckle.
"Fufufufu...I managed to escape once again." Orochimaru stated as he brought his hand up to his face.
"You're as cunning as always, Orochimaru-sama." Kimimaro replied nodding.
"Kimimaro, do something about that sand around. It's not sexy enough to be near my sexy self."
"Orochimaru-sama..." Kimimaro stared at his master for a moment, "What do you mean with 'sexy'?"
Orochimaru continued to chuckle, "Now that Sasuke-kun's hidden hormones have finally been activated, I must be as alluring as I can be. No one will bring the sexy back, but me."
"Orochimaru-sama, I still don't know what this 'sexy' thing is..." Kimimaro replied, "Could you please explain it to me, Orochimaru-sama?"
"That's right. I'd probably find myself a sexy female body to switch into." Orochimaru said to himself and chuckled again.
"Orochimaru-sama, weren't you going to transfer into Uchiha Sasuke next?" Kimimaro wondered.
"Ah, you're too annoying, Kimimaro-kun..." Orochimaru waved dismissively at his resurrected follower, "Come, we must bring the sexy back before Sasuke-kun loses his puberty again."
"Puberty?" Kimimaro wondered out loud, "What is that? Is it a bloodline limit unique to Uchiha Sasuke?"
Orochimaru stared at Kimimaro for a moment before heading off, "Remind me to take personality erasers with me the next time I resurrect you, Kimimaro-kun."
"What do you mean with 'next time', Orochimaru-sama?" Kimimaro asked as he followed Orochimaru as fast as he could, "Also, I still don't know what this 'sexy' thing is..."
Orochimaru took a small note and a pen out of his pocket and wrote on it, "Be sure to give sexual education to Sasuke-kun or he might end up like Kimimaro-kun."
Back in Konoha, the remaining Konoha shinobi and their allies from Suna joined up with Naruto and the others.
"Temari...Naruto..." Gaara said as he approached the two, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Temari smiled at her younger brother, "We managed to survive without getting any serious injuries."
"Don't worry, Gaara!" Naruto grinned widely at the Kazekage, "As long as I'm around, I'll protect Temari as much as she needs it."
The blonde shinobi could see the wind mistress smile softly at him from the corner of his eyes.
"As much as she needs it...?" Gaara raised an eyebrow at Naruto.
"What? You don't think I won't be able to protect myself?" Temari placed a hand on her hip and slightly glared at Gaara.
"Ah...I see..." Gaara said nodding.
"Y-You see?! What's that supposed to mean?!" Temari shouted at her little brother.
"Sakura-san!" Lee's loud voice drew Naruto's attention away from Temari and Gaara and towards Lee and Sakura.
"Lee-san." Sakura replied and smiled politely at Konoha's beautiful green beast, "Good to see you're alright."
"Sakura-san! You're injured!" Lee stated, "Who did this to you?! I'll defeat him in honor of your name! More importantly, are you alright?!"
"L-Lee-san...Calm down." Sakura smiled sheepishly at Lee.
"But, seeing you injured and knowing the perpetrator is still out there is enough to enrage my youthful spirit!" Lee burned with flames, "Ooooooh! Wait 'till I find out who did this to you, Sakura-san!"
"Lee-san, please calm down." Sakura told Lee once more.
"There's no reason for me to calm down!" Lee exclaimed and grabbed onto Sakura's shoulders, "Are you really alright, Sakura-san?"
"Lee, you still have your gates open so..." Sakura smiled sheepishly and slightly twitched.
"Oh..." Lee backed away from Sakura and looked at himself for a moment, "I see. I totally forgot about that."
Sakura let out a sigh, "How can you forget such a thing?"
"Gai-sensei told me that a fight is just like training. And since training never ends, I forgot about it since I'm supposed to hold them open for as long as I can!" Lee exclaimed.
"The fighting has ended, Lee-san. You should take proper care of your body." Sakura slightly glared at Lee as she scolded him, "Having your the inner gates open for longer than necessary will cause a lot of strain to your body, you know!"
"Hai! I understand!" Lee saluted Sakura and turned his gates off.
Naruto smiled at the two, "Heh...Looks like Fuzzy Eyebrows is alright."
Naruto's eyes wandered over all the other shinobi present. No one he knew was missing from the scene, aside from the hospitalized Kakashi, and everyone seemed to be in no mortal danger.
Neji and Tenten seemed to be talking to each other, but Naruto wasn't quite sure if he wanted to eavesdrop on that conversation and decided to turn his attention elsewhere.
Naruto found Shikamaru staring dully at the devastation in the main street of Konoha.
"Oi, Shikamaru!" Naruto took a quick run over to the genius, "How's it going? No serious injuries?"
"Hm? Naruto?" Shikamaru blinked for a moment and then turned his attention back to the wreckage, "Yeah. Seems like everyone got at least better off than our homes did. What a pain in the ass."
"Ehehehe." Naruto grinned sheepishly and placed his hands on the back of his head, "Well, that's good to hear."
Shikamaru took a single glance at Naruto, "Please don't tell it was you who did all of this."
"Ehm..." Naruto blinked and pondered for a moment as he eyed the ruins of several buildings, "I'm not sure if I'm entirely responsible for that."
Shikamaru sighed again and turned his attention to his father, "Pops...Mom is going to kill us if she finds out what happened to our home."
"Hahaha. You're right, Shikamaru." His father laughed heartily.
"Don't take it so lightly...She'll really kill us." Shikamaru stated.
"What?" Temari walked over to Naruto and Shikamaru, "Your house was caught in that as well, Shikamaru?"
"Yeah...From the looks of it." Shikamaru sighed again, "How troublesome..."
Temari grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that. I got a little carried away."
"A little, you say?" Shikamaru replied and stared at Temari.
"Fine, it wasn't just a little bit." Temari crossed her arms and slightly frowned, "It was for Naruto's sake, you know."
Shikamaru stared dully at Naruto, who just rubbed the back of his head.
"A-Anyway...Everyone's really alright, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked while he kept a sheepish grin on his face.
"Yeah, somehow..." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, "One of those guys, that fake priest, came awefully close to killing Asuma-sensei, but Pops and I were able to stop him."
Naruto let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."
"Everyone, may we have your attention?" Jiraiya's loud voice roared above the noise of the many conversations between the shinobi.
The noise quickly died out and everyone turned their attention to the white haired hermit.
"Before all those wedding crashers came along, I believe we were about to declare two people here husband and wife." Jiraiya stated and several nods came in reply from the gathered shinobi.
"Oi, Jiraiya..." Tsunade slightly glared at her husband-to-be, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Hm?" Jiraiya blinked at the Hokage, "What are you talking about?"
"The villagers. of course!" Tsunade nodded once.
"Damn it all! I totally forgot they were locked up!" Jiraiya shouted, "Let's hurry up and save them!"
"There's no need for that." A voice replied from behind the shinobi crowd.
The shinobi crowd turned around to find out who it was that spoke up.
"Kankurou!" Temari let out as she found her other brother standing there with all the villagers standing behind him.
"Kyaaa! Kankurou-sama, you're so cool!" Several young women from Konoha squealed, "Thank you for saving us, Kankurou-sama!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know, I'm the best." Kankurou grinned widely.
"Wow..." Naruto blinked a couple of times, "The cat man actually has fangirls now."
Gaara took out a small notebook from one of his pockets along with a pen and stared at his brother and the villagers, "It's a sign of the Apocalypse."
"A sign of the what?!" Naruto let out as Gaara scribbled something down in the notebook.
Naruto leaned towards Gaara and took a peak at what was written down in the notebook, "Signs of the Apocalypse...Number one, Kankurou actually does the dishes."
"What in the...?" Naruto blinked for a moment and then continued to read up what was written down, "Number two, Kankurou actually cleans the bathroom...Number three, Kankurou manages to get a date with something other than his puppets...Number four, Kankurou gets his own set of fangirls...Number five, Kankurou lays off those weird smelling herbs he keeps hiding in his drawer."
Before Naruto could read the other 'signs' in the notebook, Gaara had closed it and placed it back into his pocket.
"What in the world is this Apocalypse?" Naruto wondered as he stared at Gaara and then looked at Kankurou again.
Jiraiya coughed to get everyone's attention again, "Well, now that that's settled...I think it's time for Tsunade and myself to exchange our vows."
"That's right." Tsunade nodded a couple of times, "We'll leave the other important talk for after our exchange of vows."
Jiraiya cleared his throat and held onto Tsunade's hands, slightly raising them up in the air, "Well, I suppose we need to get started then..."
"What? Getting nervous?" Tsunade smirked at her husband-to-be.
Jiraiya closed his eyes as he replied, "Who would get nervous over such a thing?"
Tsunade smirked, "Well, what's taking you so long then?"
The white haired frog tamer cleared his throat again and looked straight into the Hokage's eyes, "Tsunade, we've been through a lot together. As everyone very well knows, I'm a lover of women. However, there's just one woman that meant more to me than any other. That woman was ruthless and very unforgiving at times, but she was always there for me. Tsunade...I wish to live with and love you until the end of our days. Do you want me to become your husband?"
"I do." Tsunade replied with a smile on her face and then took a deep breath.
"Jiraiya, despite you being a big perverted fool at times, you were always there for me as well. Even after Dan died, you were the one that stayed by my side and tried to comfort me. Honestly, I was surprised when you proposed to me, but at the same time I felt a feeling of happiness I hadn't felt in a while. Jiraiya, do you want to take me as your wife?"
"Of course, I do." Jiraiya smirked and nodded once.
"Then, from this day forward we'll be known as..." Tsunade stated as she smiled at Jiraiya.
"Husband." Jiraiya added and smiled back at the Hokage.
"And wife." Tsunade finished the line with a nod.
Almost instantly, a roar of cheers came from the crowd that surrounded the newly wedded couple.
"It's beautiful! So beautiful!" Gai wept, tears flowing down freely over his cheeks as he tightly hugged his number one student, "True love is such a great thing, isn't it Lee?!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Lee wept just as much as his teacher, "Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama...They look truly amazing together!"
"Heh...I can't believe those two are actually crying..."Naruto smiled at the green clad man and then turned his head back towards his teacher and the Fifth Hokage, "But they truly do look great together...It's like they finally had their happy ending."
"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" Tsunade roared above the crowds cheers, "There's a lot to do, but today's a bit of a festivity so we'll postpone all that for a day. Everyone who lost their home in this battle will be granted refuge until their home has been restored. Other than that, enjoy today to the fullest. Got it?! I won't except any sad faces today!"
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" The crowd let out in unison.
"Alright..." Tsunade smiled and nodded once, "Then, everyone's dismissed. The injured will be taken to the hospital, of course."
"Oh, and Naruto..." Tsunade called out to the blonde as he was looking around on what to do next, "Please, come to my office. We've still got some things to discuss."
"Ah...Alright." Naruto blinked for a moment and watched the Hokage and his teacher head for the Hokage's office.
"Naruto." Temari walked up to Naruto and smiled softly at him.
Naruto flashed a wide grin at the wind mistress, "Hey, Temari. Something wrong?"
"No...Not really..." She held her arm and looked away for a moment, "I...I too have some things to discuss with you, but we'll do that when it's just the two of us, ok?"
"...Sure." Naruto blinked at Temari and then grinned at her again, "I'll come listen to you as soon as I'm done with talking to Tsunade-obachan and Ero-Sennin."
Temari smiled slightly at Naruto and nodded, "Then, I'll see you in a bit."
As the wind mistress ran back to her brothers, Naruto turned around and headed off towards Tsunade's office.
A while later, he arrived at the office and found Tsunade sitting behind her desk as usual and Jiraiya stood beside her.
"Naruto...Sorry to ask you about this so soon after the battle, but could you tell us everything that happened between you and that man?" The expression on Tsunade's face was dead serious.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, of course. About that Akatsuki leader guy, eh?"
Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at each other for a moment and then nodded at Naruto.
"Alright, sit back and enjoy then, because this might take a while." Naruto grinned as he sat down on the ground.
He began with Arashi claiming to be the former Fourth Hokage and that he had probably somehow forced Ayame into betraying the village. Next he told them that the seal that contained the Kyuubi had been released by that man and what Naruto went through because of that.
He then informed his teacher and the Hokage about how he kicked Arashi's ass and how it turned out that he wasn't the real Akatsuki Leader.
Finally, he told them proudly he had revealed his alter ego's true identity and that all the girls agreed to dating him for the coming time.
After telling everything to his superiors, Naruto and both Tsunade and Jiraiya remained silent for a while.
"So the seal containing the Kyuubi no longer exists?" Tsunade asked Naruto again.
"Looks like it." Naruto nodded, "That bastard fox is still inside my body, but I'm in full control of all his powers."
"Naruto, I don't think I have to tell you this, but..." Jiraiya stared at Naruto for a moment, "Don't use his powers too much."
Naruto grinned widely, "I know. Yondaime told me the same."
"Did he specifically tell you anything else?" Tsunade asked Naruto and then looked at Jiraiya, who seemed to be deep in his thoughts.
"Hmm..." Naruto tilted his head, "He pretty much wished for me to become a great Hokage and take care of the village..."
The blonde then grinned widely, "But that was already something I planned on doing anyway!"
"I see..." Jiraiya smirked, "Tsunade..."
"Yeah." Tsunade replied and nodded once before turning her attention back towards Naruto, "Naruto. That's it for now. Jiraiya and I...have a few more things to talk to you about later on, but for now you can go and get some rest. I'm pretty sure you're tired. You might want to still have a few talks with the girls as well."
"Hehehe..." Naruto grinned widely as he stood up, "Yeah, it's been a long day, but I guess I've still got a few more things to take care of."
Jiraiya raised a fist up in the air, "Go get them, Naruto! Man, I'm so proud of you, my student! Having your own harem filled with beauties at your age! I could've only wished for something like that back then."
"Ehehehe." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Ero-Sennin and Gai-sensei can be so much alike yet entirely different..."
"Listen, Naruto." The perverted hermit's eyes burned with passion, "If you ever need any advice, feel free to come and ask m-..."
Before Jiraiya could finish, Tsunade's fist hit him in the face, "Don't try to pollute his innocent mind with your ideas!"
"Well then, I'll be off..." Naruto slightly twitched and backtracked his way out of the room.
"Yeah, see you later, Naruto." Tsunade said with a smile on her face and waved at the blonde.
Once he was outside the building again, Naruto let out a sigh, "Honestly, are they really going to become a happily after ever couple? They seem still the same...Well, I guess that's reassuring."
Naruto straightened up and stretched out, "Well then! Time to go meet up with Temari, I guess. She had something to talk to me about after all."
Jumping from building to building, Naruto watched the people of the village working side by side with the shinobi to restore their destroyed homes.
Naruto slightly smiled and then looked his own hands, "That destruction is partly my fault...I should really help them out soon...But I wonder if my body really is alright..."
An image of massive red chakra in the shape of a nine tailed fox went through Naruto's mind for a moment, "I pulled out that much chakra of the Kyuubi in order to protect everyone, but I know that it must have had some bad effect on body. Like that bastard fox said, his power is the ultimate double-edged sword..."
Naruto continued on pondering as he headed back towards his home.
A while later he arrived at his apartment and, as he expected, found Temari and her two brothers near it.
"Oi, Temari." Naruto greeted the wind mistress with a smile.
"Naruto." Temari smiled back at him and both Gaara and Kankurou silently stared at him.
"What's with those two...?" Naruto blinked for a moment and then turned his attention back towards Temari, "So, you had something to talk about with me?"
Temari threw a glance at her siblings and then at Naruto again, "Yeah, but we'll talk about it later, alright? Untill then, I'm sure the others would like to talk to you as well."
"Others?" Naruto tilted his head and looked at Gaara and Kankurou.
"Not us." Gaara stated.
"Geez, Naruto." Temari let out a sigh, "I mean Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Tenten. Well, perhaps not Sakura, but I'm sure you could use a talk with the rest of them. So please do that, alright?"
"Hmm..." Naruto pondered for a moment, "Alright, then I'll be back soon, I guess."
Naruto jumped off and headed on towards his next destination, "Something's weird...Those looks on Gaara and catman's face. And the way Temari's acting...Well, she was right that I needed to talk to the others. I wonder who I should talk first with..."
Before Naruto knew it, he had unconsciously made his way to the Hyuuga estate. Apparently, Hinata just got home as well as she just headed through the front gate.
"Hinata! Wait up!" Naruto called out to the Hyuuga heiress.
"N-Naruto-kun?" She let out as she turned around to face the blonde.
Naruto grinned widely at Hinata, "I'm glad I found you. Could we have a little talk?"
"Eh?" Hinata let out, "O-Of course..."
The two of them headed into the estate and sat down onto one of the many wooden porches surrounding the rest of the mansion.
"Is...Is something wrong, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with a blush on her face.
"N-No, not really." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "It's just..."
"Just?" Hinata repeated and shyly looked at Naruto from the corners of her eyes.
"I'm sure that we need to have a talk. I think I owe you that or something." Naruto said and rested his hands on the back of his head.
"R-Really...? B-But, what do you want to t-talk about, Na-Naruto-kun?" Hinata looked questioningly at the blonde.
"I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner, Hinata." Naruto slightly frowned, "I knew you liked me, but I just couldn't tell you for some reason."
Hinata wrapped her right arm around herself and held onto her left one, "N-No, it...it's all right..."
"It's not alright, Hinata!" Naruto grabbed onto the girl's arms.
"E-Eh?" Hinata looked with wide eyes at Naruto.
"You..." Naruto's grip loosened on the girl and he looked away, "You gathered all your courage to tell me you loved me and that nothing hurts you more than seeing me carry a burden, but I thought that burden would hurt you as well, so..."
"Naruto-kun...That...That burden...It was hiding the fact that...that you were Nemar-kun, wasn't it?" Hinata asked.
Naruto slightly nodded, "I should have told you, but I was kind of afraid that it would upset you back then."
"To tell you the truth..." Hinata gulped, "I...I think I knew somehow...I wasn't really sure, but...something seemed weird about Nemar-kun...I even believed for a moment before today that it was you, but..."
"Hinata..." Naruto let out and the silver-eyed girl tilted her head up in surprise, "Are you...really fine with all of this?"
"Wh-What do you mean, N-Naruto-kun?"
Naruto took a deep breath, "You can be honest with me here. No one's around to pressure you. Are you really fine with having to compete over me and practically 'sharing' me with Sakura, Temari, Tenten and Ino?"
Hinata gasped and then smiled softly at Naruto, "I...I am...I lo-...love you, Naruto-kun. A-and I would not mind if we'd all stay your girlfriends until the end of time..."
"But what if it doesn't last forever and I don't chose you to be my only girlfriend?" Naruto stared straight into Hinata's eyes, which caused the cheeks of the Hyuuga heiress to burn up.
She smiled again a moment later, "It will hurt just as much as being rejected now or later on. The only difference is that if it's later on, that I...I have been someone very special to you, Naruto-kun."
"Heh..." Naruto smiled at Hinata, "You really are an amazing person, Hinata. I'm really happy to have someone like you as my girlfriend."
Naruto stood up and took a deep breath, "I guess I should go now and..."
"Don't go!" Hinata pulled Naruto back down and wrapped her arms around him, tightly pressing herself against him, "Pl-please...don't go just yet, N-Naruto-kun..."
"Hinata..." Naruto blinked for a moment and then wrapped his arms around the girl as well, "If there's still something you want to tell me, then you can do so. Just don't push yourself too hard with things like this. I don't like it when you faint. You might really injure yourself one day."
"N-No...I...I don't...really have...a-anything to say..." Hinata let out as she held onto the blonde shinobi.
Naruto smiled, "Hehehe. That's fine with me as well."
Hinata pulled herself slightly up and stared into Naruto's eyes for a moment, a deep crimson blush burning onto her cheeks. Her hand trembled as she slowly raised it up to Naruto's face and placed it onto his cheek.
Naruto just stared at Hinata as she slowly moved closer towards his face.
"Just...something...I must...do..." Hinata let out as the blush on her face became brighter with each passing second.
As her lips locked with Naruto's, her long silky blue hair fell forward and partly hid the kiss they shared.
Naruto's arms wrapped further around Hinata and pulled her closer towards him.
It seemed to last an eternity, but eventually the kiss ended and Hinata pretty much had melted away in Naruto's arms.
"Hinata? Are you still conscious?" Naruto asked the girl as he sheepishly grinned.
"Y-Yes..." Hinata let out in a whisper.
Naruto brushed her hair out of her face and smiled at her, "Alright then. Please, sit straight up then."
Hinata sat up and blushed brighter, if that was even possible, "S-Sorry, Narut-kun...I..."
The blonde shinobi grinned widely and slightly laughed, "Don't apologize. I just don't have a death wish. Your father would slaughter me if he saw me holding you like that."
Hinata slightly glared towards the ground, "I...I won't let that happen to you..."
Naruto laughed again and placed his hand on Hinata's head, "Don't be so serious all of a sudden. It's not like I'd go down without a fight, eh?"
The Hyuuga heiress took a deep breath and her eyes softened again, "I...I'm..."
"Don't even think about apologizing again." Naruto said and hugged Hinata tightly, "Stop worrying and smile. One of the things I really like is seeing you smile, Hinata."
"Eh?" Hinata let out and blinked at Naruto.
"Did I say something weird?" Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I mean it. I like seeing you happy."
Hinata's eyes softened and she smiled at Naruto, "...Naruto-kun..."
"No." Naruto stared at Hinata and placed a single finger against her forehead, "Not that smile. I like that one, but there's a smile I like even more."
"Eh...? I...I'm not sure...I understand." Hinata blinked at Naruto.
"Ne, Hinata..." Naruto grinned wickedly, "Are you...ticklish?"
"T-Ticklish? Why do you..." Hinata tilted her head and before she could finish her line, Naruto jumped on top of her and started to ticke her.
"Hahaha...N-Naruto-kun...ahaha...s-sto...hahaha." Hinata twisted and turned as Naruto mercilessly tickled her. The Hyuuga heiress tried to defend herself, but all her attempts were in vain.
Eventually, Naruto stopped tickling Hinata and allowed her to catch her breath.
As she lay on the floor, still half laughing and taking deep breaths to regain her breath, Naruto crawled over to her and put on his trademark fox-grin, "That smile makes you much cuter, Hinata. So like I said, stop worrying about useless things and keep that smile up. It's alright to smile for your own sake."
Hinata smiled happily at the blonde and nodded, "Th-then..."
Naruto blinked for a moment at the Hyuuga heiress as she stared for a moment into his eyes.
The blonde lowered his head and noticed Hinata's fingers moving eagerly as if they were about to receive something they really wanted.
Realising what might follow next, Naruto quickly backed away from Hinata, "N-No, Hinata...I...I'm ticklish as well...And I just tickled you to get you to smile, so..."
Hinata sat up and smiled at Naruto as she tilted her head, "Sorry, Naruto-kun. This time...This time there's no escape for you."
"Run or get tickled to death by Hinata..." Naruto's eyes quickly headed up and down Hinata's body, "To hell with running. Speaking of hell...Ero-Sennin, you're going to burn in hell for passing some of your pervertedness on to me."
Hinata's smile suddenly faded away and she stared with wide eyes as she blinked a couple of times.
"Crap. Did she suddenly get the ability to read my mind or something?" Naruto wondered as he stared at Hinata, "A-Ano...Hinata?"
Hinata blinked again and tilted her head once more, "Neji...niisan?"
"Hm?" Naruto turned his head around and found Neji not too far away from them and heading their way. He didn't seem to be in a very good mood as he completely ignored Naruto and Hinata and headed straight into the mansion.
"What's up with him?" Naruto let out when Neji disappeared from their sight.
"Neji-niisan seemed to be in a foul mood..." Hinata stated and bit her lip for a moment.
"I have the feeling that 'foul' is an understatement..." Naruto replied and sheepishly grinned.
"Yo, Naruto!" A cheerful voice entered Naruto's ears.
The blonde turned around and found Konoha's number one weapons mistress in front of him, "Tenten. You're here too?"
"Heehee..." Tenten smiled widely at Naruto, "I guess we'll be running into each other way more often now, eh?"
"I guess so." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of the head.
"Ano, Tenten-san...Do you know why Neji-niisan seemed..." Hinata looked questioningly at the weapons mistress.
"Ah, he came by here, didn't he? Well, don't worry." Tenten smirked and looked at Naruto, "He's probably just deep in thought on how to win me from you, Naruto."
"To win you from me...? Wait, that means!" Naruto blinked at Tenten, "You told him?!"
"Of course. I can't lie to him, now can I?" Tenten stuck her tongue slightly out of her mouth.
"No, but that means that he..." Naruto slightly twitched, "He might try to kill me..."
"I said you shouldn't worry, right?" Tenten sat down beside Naruto and supported her head on her hands, "I had a pretty long talk with him and he seemed to take everything quite maturely."
"Well, he practically ignored our existence when he walked past us..." Naruto crossed his arms and nodded a couple of times.
Tenten let out a small laugh, "Well, I guess he'll won't accept it for a while, though. However, I somehow have the feeling everything will turn out all right."
"I hope so. I don't want Neji as an enemy." Naruto grinned sheepishly at the weapons mistress.
"And I guess we'll have to be careful what we do in his presence." Tenten smiled slightly, "I don't want to hurt his feelings any more than I already did."
"Well, that..." Naruto let out, but before he could finish what he wanted to say, Tenten planted a kiss on his cheek.
"So we'll just have to do it like good shinobi, right?" Tenten smiled widely at the blonde.
"Hehehe...That works for me." Naruto grinned back at Tenten.
"Oh, that reminds me." Tenten slightly tilted her head to look at Hinata, "Hinata, did you kiss Naruto yet?"
"Eh?!" Naruto and Hinata let out at the same time, even though Naruto's voice overshadowed Hinata's by a couple of dozens decibel.
"Uhm...we...well...we..." Hinata fidgeted with her fingers as she blushed bright red.
"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?!" Naruto blinked at Tenten, "Hinata's my girlfriend too, so..."
"Heehee. I just wondered how cute you two would look together." Tenten stuck her tongue slightly out of her mouth as she smiled sillily at Naruto.
"W-Well...We did kiss..." Naruto scratched his cheek as he looked up towards the sky, "But, I don't think I can tell you how cute the two of us look together..."
Tenten stared at Hinata for a moment, who was still blushing and fidgeting while averting Tenten's eyes.
"Then..." Tenten looked at Naruto and smiled, "Kiss each other right now and let me be the judge."
"E-Eh?!" Naruto looked with wide eyes at Tenten and then turned his head around to face Hinata, "Well...uhm...I...I think..."
Hinata shyly looked up towards Naruto and slightly bit her lip.
"Oh man...I don't mind kissing Hinata again...Even right now, she's looking cute and beautiful, but..." Naruto thought as he looked the Hyuuga heiress, "...I have the feeling Hinata is quite embarrassed right now..."
"Hinata...Is that...alright with you?" Naruto asked the crimson blushing girl.
The silver-eyed girl slowly nodded and then slowly moved towards Naruto again. Naruto drew himself closer towards Hinata as well and closed his eyes.
Tenten crawled close to the two of them in order to see every single detail as much as she could.
Moments before their lips connected, Naruto gritted his teeth and pulled himself away from Hinata.
"I'm sorry, but I can't kiss Hinata like this." Naruto stated.
"Eh?" Hinata and Tenten let out in surprise.
"It's not that I don't want to, really..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "It's just that it feels way too forced like this. Also, it kind of feels uncomfortable with you staring that intensely at us..."
Tenten blinked at Naruto for a moment and then started to giggle, "Naruto, you really are kind of shy, aren't you?"
"It's got nothing to do with being shy!" Naruto shouted and then rubbed the back of his head again, "You're my girlfriend too, you know...I think it must feel pretty bad to see someone you like kiss someone else."
"While that usually is true, you're forgetting that we all love you and you love all of us." Tenten smiled at Naruto, "Besides, we've all kissed you before, right? Even in front of each other."
"But even so..." Naruto slightly frowned.
Tenten sighed, stood up and placed her hands on her hips as she stared at Naruto, "All you have to do is keep being yourself. Don't start worrying about what we think now that we know that you are actually Nemar-kun. You're still you and nothing has changed. Just keep believing in yourself."
Naruto sighed as well and then grinned widely, "You're right, Tenten. Thanks a lot, but...I still can't just kiss Hinata if you're going to be that up close as well..."
"Then..." Tenten took a step back and smiled happily at Naruto, "Is this far away enough?"
Naruto slightly laughed and shook his head, "Well, I guess it really doesn't matter..."
The blonde turned his head back towards Hinata and gulped, "Must...resist...huge...makeout...scene..."
Hinata slowly moved closer towards Naruto as he slowly wrapped an arm around her. The blonde pulled the Hyuuga heiress towards him and their lips met.
He unconsciously pried Hinata's mouth open with his tongue and felt her body instantly heat up several degrees. As their kiss deepened, Naruto carefully took a peek by slightly opening one of his eyes.
To the blonde's surprise, he found Tenten's face an inch or two away from his and Hinata's, "My! You two look so cute!"
"Gah?!" Taken by surprise, Naruto's eyes went wide open and he pulled away from the Hyuuga heiress, falling down on his back because he couldn't help but lose his balance.
A string of saliva hung from the blonde's mouth and he quickly wiped it away as he jumped back up, "Tenten, what the hell are you doing?!"
"I'm sorry, Naruto!" Tenten folded her hands and looked with big wet eyes and Naruto, "You two looked so cute and lovely together, that I just had to see it up close!"
"Gah...! The puppy dog eyes no jutsu!" Naruto thought as he stared nervously at Tenten, "I...I won't be defeated by it again...!"
"You aren't mad at me, are you?" Tenten slightly lowered head and placed a finger on her lips, giving Naruto her most adorable look.
The future Hokage to be felt like he had been sucker punched by the Kyuubi and fell back down. For a few seconds, his soul flew out of his mouth and held up a sign with the kanji written on it that stood for 'Complete defeat'.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata rushed to Naruto's side.
"Naruto, are you alright?" Tenten asked as she sat down beside him as well a few moments later.
"Y-Yeah...I'm fine..." Naruto slightly twitched, "Ugh...Why did that look feel strangely familiar...Like I saw it before...I think I introduced this look when I first brought sexy..."
"Back." Sasuke said as he walked out into the clearing.
"Ah, Sasuke-kun..." Orochimaru let out and chuckled, "You're just in time..."
"...Do I want to know for what?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked dully at the snake sannin.
"...No, but I'm going to tell you anyway." Orochimaru nodded.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and the snake sannin grinned widely.
"For your combat practice of course..." Orochimaru made a waving gesture with his hands, "I'm talking about dance lessons."
"Dance...lessons..." Sasuke twitched.
Orochimaru grinned widely and chuckled for a moment, "...Yes, I've created this new style using this song from some guy named Injust Laketimber. And I shall name this style..."
Sasuke unsheathed his sword and glared at Orochimaru, "Finish that line and I'll kill you right here and now..."
"The Snake!" Orochimaru said, filled with pride as he slithered from left to right.
Sasuke placed his sword back where it belonged and sighed, "Damn it, I was sure he was going to say that his new style was..."
Jumping from building to building, Naruto pondered for a moment, "Why do I have the feeling I ended up in a parody on a parody on something that I've parodied before...? Ah! Too many parodies...literally."
The blonde sighed and looked over his back in the direction of the Hyuuga estate.
He had left the weapons mistress and the Hyuuga heiress behind there, mostly because he didn't want to be caught kissing Tenten in front of Neji and because Hinata was remembering the kiss they had so often that she nearly fainted just by looking at Naruto a few times.
Naruto stopped all of a sudden and looked over his shoulder towards a certain house behind him.
He stared at it for a while and then headed towards it. He supported himself with his chakra as he sticked to the wall.
Naruto peered through a window and into a room, finding no one present, "Ayame-chan...Where did you go?"
The blonde jumped down and headed around the building, where he found Ayame's father, Ichiraku-san, locking the front door.
"Old man..." Naruto blinked at the old man for a moment and then ran towards him.
"Ah, Naruto!" He greeted the blonde cheerfully.
"Ano sa, ano sa! Do you know where Ayame-chan is, old man?" Naruto asked, eager to find out the answer.
The old man smiled at him, "She's all right, don't worry. She just needs a bit of rest right now. I'm really thankful to you for saving her, Naruto."
"She's here? And she's resting? But...she isn't in her room..." Naruto blinked at the old man.
He slightly frowned and shook his head, "She's still in a bit of a shock because of everything that happened. She just needs rest and the medic-nin promised to check up on her in a while. So she's just resting in the living room."
"Ah, I see." Naruto grinned widely, "Thanks a lot, old man!"
Naruto tried to run past the ramen stand owner, but he stopped him, "Where are you going, Naruto?"
"To see Ayame-chan, of course!" Naruto stated and gave the old man a thumbs up, "I'll get her back to her old self in no time!"
The old man smiled, but shook his head nonetheless, "Sorry, Naruto, but she really needs her rest right now. So, I'm asking you as her father to just let her rest for now."
"But..." Naruto protested and then sighed, before turning his big fox-like grin on his face, "I got it. I'll be sure to visit her later, though."
"Alright!" Ichiraku-san patted Naruto on his back, "I'm reopening my stand again, since all those people fixing the broken homes need a meal sooner or later. And, Naruto..."
"Hai?" Naruto blinked at the old man.
"I'm going to give you a free bowel of ramen of every flavor for saving my daughter!" Ichiraku-san grinned at Naruto.
Naruto's eyes became big and shiny for a moment before he screamed out in joy, "Alright! Being the hero pays off in more than one way! My ramen, wait for me! I'm going to enjoy it 'till the end!"
Ichiraku-san laughed slightly as Naruto darted off. The blonde turned around a moment later and ran back, "Come on, old man! We've got a ramen stand to reopen and I can't wait to have a bowl of every single flavor!"
"Easy there, Naruto. The ramen won't run away." Ichiraku-san smiled at Naruto and then nodded once, "However, you're right. Time still is money."
Naruto grinned widely at the old man and then headed off again, "Then, I'll go on ahead!"
The blonde shinobi ran through the main street of Konoha, where less than an hour ago he had fought one of the greatest battles in his life so far.
Left and right were villagers and shinobi alike, repairing the damage that had been caused during the fight. In the middle of the street, Gaara stood and lended them all aid by lifting things with his sand and placing them where they should be.
Naruto gritted his teeth as he kept on running, "Everyone...I'll come help all of you out soon enough."
By the time he reached Ichiraku's ramen stand, he found a familiar face in front of him.
"Yo, Naruto. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Naruto blinked for a moment, "I-Iruka-sensei?!"
"What's with the surprised look?" Iruka smiled at Naruto, "I'm hungry and almost as big a fan of Ichiraku's as you are."
"Well, I guess I just didn't expect to see you here." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. He suddenly stopped and blinked at Iruka again, "Iruka-sensei? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, of course I am." Iruka blinked at Naruto.
"Well, I don't remember seeing you at Tsunade-obachan's wedding, then the Akatsuki attacked and Iruka-sensei isn't really that strong..." Naruto stared at Iruka for a moment.
"I was at the academy. Ebisu-san, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were helping me and the other academy teachers out with a surprise for after Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama's wedding. In the end, it didn't really turn out that well..." Iruka crossed his arms and nodded. His eyes then shot wide open, "Wait...! Did you just say that I wasn't really that strong?!"
"Ehm...well...I..." Naruto grinned sheepishly at his former teacher, whose left eye was twitching uncontrollably.
"Naruto..." Iruka glared at Naruto, before pointing dramatically at the blonde, "Don't you even think I'll treat you to some ramen now!"
Naruto rested his hands on the back of his head and grinned widely, "Fine with me."
"Huh?" Iruka's jaw dropped down to the floor.
Naruto's grin widened as he pointed with his thumb towards himself, "Because I saved Ayame-chan, Ichiraku-osan is going to treat me. One bowl of ramen from every flavor there is! Hehehe!"
"Ain't that right, old man?" Naruto asked as he turned around.
The ramen stand owner came running down the street and when he reached Naruto, he hunched over and took a few deep breaths, "Geez...youngsters...these days...Too old...for this..."
"Old man are you alright?" Naruto blinked at Ayame's father, who straightened up after hearing Naruto's question.
"Y-yeah! Of course I am! I'm quite fit for my old age! Hahahaha!" The old man placed his fists against his sides and belched a loud laughter.
"No...You definitely were having trouble breathing until a second ago..." Naruto stared dully at the old man, "Ano sa! Ano sa! You're still going to treat me to all those bowls of ramen because I saved Ayame-chan, right?"
"Huh?" Ichiraku-san looked up at Naruto, "Oh! Yes, of course. I'll open the stand right away."
A few moments later, Iruka and Naruto were sitting on their usual seats at their favourite ramen stand.
"So...Let me get this straight, Naruto..." Iruka said as he straightened up, holding his bowl of ramen in one hand and his chopsticks in the other, "You defeated some kind of clone of the Akatsuki leader, then the real one appeared, who is actually the former Fourth Hokage."
Naruto nodded in reply before digging happily into his first bowl of ramen again.
"He said he didn't feel like fighting you today, despite you being at a disadvantage. He left..." Iruka paused for a moment to eat some noodles, "And you saved Ayame-chan along with a lot of other young women?"
"I guess that's about it." Naruto grinned widely before holding his empty bowl up in the air, "Old man! The next one, please!"
"Naruto, I'm sorry but I'll have to prepare some extra ingredients." Ichiraku-san slightly frowned, "You'll have to wait for a bit."
"Ah, that's alright. They're for free anyway, so I can't really complain, right?" Naruto grinned widely.
Iruka placed his bowl on the counter again and looked Naruto, "I still can't believe that your fight with someone could cause this much damage to our village."
Naruto slightly frowned, "Well, even though I didn't do all of it, I am responsible for it."
"Don't worry too much about it, Naruto..." Iruka said as he picked his bowl up again, "Everyone in Konoha is working hard right now to undo all that damage."
Naruto pondered for a moment and then stood up, "Old man, I'll be right back! Please prepare all the ingredients for my ramen while I'm gone!"
The ramen stand owner turned his head around, smiled at the blonde and gave him a single nod in reply.
"Oi, Naruto!" Iruka let out as Naruto dashed off, "Where are you going?"
"To help everyone out, of course!" Naruto shouted as he kept running.
A few moments later, Naruto was nearing the former battleground.
All of a sudden, he froze, "Yo Naru-chan."
Those words alone caused him to identify the person standing behind him. Everytime he heard her calling him like that, he just froze. Like it was a technique that froze him on the spot.
"Perhaps it really is a technique..." Naruto thought as he slightly twitched, "Sorry, Anko-sensei. I don't have time to play."
"And why not?" The purple haired jounin asked him.
"I have to help everyone with the repairs and then I've got a lot of ramen waiting for me at Ichiraku's." Naruto stated without turning around.
"Sorry, Naruto, but I really have to talk to you for a bit." Anko replied.
Naruto turned around to face the jounin and blinked, "Did you just call me...Naruto?"
"Let your Kage Bunshin help them out." Anko said as she started to walk away, "Come on. Let's find some place nice and quiet for just the two of us."
"Just the two of us...?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and slightly shivered, "She's planning something...I can just feel it in my bones."
"Could you just trust me for once and follow me already?" Anko asked the blonde when she noticed he was standing still on his spot.
"I'm not sure what you're up to, but fine." Naruto blinked at the jounin and then placed his hands in a position they've grown accustomed to over the years, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
An army of clones appeared and Naruto raised his fist up in the air, "Alright, everyone! Let's help out with the repairs!"
"Alright!" The clones cried in unison as they raised their fists up in the air as well before running onward.
Naruto walked towards Anko and placed his hands on the back of his head, "And...? Where are we going?"
Anko smiled at him, "Follow me."
A while later, the two of them were in one of the many green training areas in Konoha.
"This will do." Anko stated as she dropped down on the grass and laid down, "Come on. Lie down beside me."
"Suspicious...Very suspicious..." Naruto thought but listened to the kunoichi nonetheless.
"Well? What is it? It's not like you to call me Naruto." Naruto asked right away.
"You don't like me calling you Naru-chan and I had to show to you that I wasn't going to mess around with you this time." Anko laid her hands on the back of her head and stared towards the sky.
"It's not that I don't like it, it's just kind of embarrassing...I guess." Naruto replied as he laid his hands on the back of his head as well.
"You guess?" Anko smirked at him and then shook her head, "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you for a bit."
"Like I said, this isn't like you. So tell me what's wrong already." Naruto replied as he stared towards the sky.
"How are you feeling?" Anko asked and slightly turned her head to look at Naruto.
The blonde did the same and shrugged, "I'm fine. Thanks to that bastard fox's chakra and Sakura-chan and Ino's healing jutsu seem to have healed any wounds and broken bones I might have had."
Anko slightly laughed and shook her head, "That's not what I'm talking about. You had to go through a lot today and in the end you got a lot of girlfriends instead of just one. There must be a lot going through you right now"
"Well...I guess so. My battle, my victory...It was kind of useless, wasn't it?" Naruto blinked at the jounin.
Anko closed her eyes and sighed, "Don't be silly. If it weren't for you, I might not be alive right now. The same goes for Sakura, Ino and everyone else. Not to mention that you rid the world of at least one dangerous madman."
"But, the Akatsuki still exists. Their leader still lives and is out to hurt others." Naruto slightly frowned, "I couldn't stop him today..."
"That may be true, but you've got the strength to defeat them." Anko smiled at Naruto, "Even though some pieces of this puzzle still don't fall into place."
"Hm? What do you mean?" Naruto blinked at Anko and slightly lifted himself off the ground.
"Just things that I can't seem to put together about all of this. Well, don't worry. I've got enough troubles for a lifetime already thanks to you-know-who." Anko continued staring at the sky, "This is just probably part of one of them."
"I see..." Naruto fell back down, "Was that what you wanted to talk about?"
Anko smirked, "You haven't told me yet how you feel about being loved by so many young women."
Naruto slightly laughed, "Are you kidding me? I'm relieved it turned out this way."
"Are you really?"
"Eh?" Naruto turned his head back towards Anko again.
"Are you really happy with things are right now?" Anko smiled at Naruto.
Naruto stared at her for a moment and then smiled slightly, "Well...In the end it's nothing more than prolonging the time that I have to choose one of them. However, this time around, I won't have to go through the trouble of pretending to be myself in a different body."
"You're wrong." Anko said as she sat up.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Naruto blinked at her.
"It's not just prolonging the time that you have to chose one of them." Anko smiled at him and then placed her hand on Naruto's cheek, "Do you remember what you wanted to achieve when you started all of this?"
Naruto looked at Anko's hand for a moment before looking into her eyes again, "Of course. I wanted to have a girlfriend for Valentine's Day."
"And instead of just one, you got a lot of them." Anko smiled at him, "I could tell you were worried about what to do from here on out and I'll tell you what to do."
"What are you...?" Naruto stopped talking as Anko placed a single finger on his lips.
"There's no need to worry about them loving you just because you're no longer 'Nemar-kun'." Anko said.
"Oh man! I knew it! She was planning on doing something to me and now she is!" Naruto thought as he stared with wide eyes at Anko.
"You just have to go on loving each of them unconditionally as you did before." Anko smiled at Naruto again as she removed her finger from his lips.
"Eh?" Naruto let out, "O-Of course! But I still have to choose one of them in the end."
Anko slightly laughed and shrugged, "And I'm sure you'll know who it is by the time you need to decide. Until then, just don't worry about it or you'll end up alone again."
"You know, Anko-sensei." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the jounin, "If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say that you switched brains with Ayame-chan."
Anko then crawled on top of Naruto's body and stuck her tongue out at him, "Don't worry. I'm still me."
"I should've known." Naruto slightly let out a sigh and then stared at Anko, "Alright, bring it on. I'm going to get away from you as usual anyway."
Anko smirked at him and sang, "I wonder about that..."
"Alright...Time to prepare and make my escape...Let's see..." Naruto's eyes darted quickly around.
All of sudden, Anko dropped down on top of him and wrapped her arms around him.
"E-Eh?!" Naruto let out in surprise, "Crap! She's got me!"
"Naru-chan! Please allow me to be a member of your harem as well...!" Anko pleaded as she tightly hugged the blonde shinobi.
"Wh-What?!"
Anko slightly released the blonde from her hold and looked at him with big teary eyes, "I always wanted to be part of a harem!"
"No! Not those eyes!" Naruto's thoughts cried out, "I...I don't have a harem!"
"Yes, you do!" Anko retorted, "The other girls consider it a harem as well...!"
"N-No, they don't...They just love me and are all my girlfriends for the time being. That's all!"
Anko's lower lip began to tremble, "Pleeeaaaase?"
"N-No...And don't think you can convince me with that look on your face!" Naruto grinned nervously as he slightly twitched.
"Pretty please?" Anko rested her forehead against Naruto's.
"I-It's not like it will be easy to have five girlfriends. A sixth one that needs a whole lot of...attention, is just..."
"What if I promised you to be a good girl from now on then?"
"I can't ask you to be someone you're not." Naruto looked away from the jounin, "Besides, it's kind of unfair towards Temari, Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Tenten..."
A moment of silence followed and after it, Naruto carefully turned his head back around to look at Anko.
"I understand." She smiled at him, "However, don't even think for a moment that I've given up on you."
Naruto smiled at her for a moment, "So, can I go now?"
Anko crawled off Naruto and sighed as she crossed her arms, "You're missing out on a fine pair of double D's in your harem then."
"Ehehehe..." Naruto grinned sheepishly and slightly blushed as he stood up, "I have the feeling I won't miss them one bit."
Naruto took one step and then waited for a moment, "Can I ask you one thing?"
"Hm? What is it?" Anko asked as she stood up as well.
"Why do you want me so badly anyway?"
"Two weeks ago, when you were out on a date with Ayame-chan, I was there too." Anko told him, "I overheard most of the conversations you had with her that night and that you thought that I was the one who could help you out."
The purple haired Jounin shrugged, "I guess you were just so innocent that I decided to tease you a bit if I had the chance. However, for some reason..."
"For some reason?" Naruto repeated as Anko paused for a moment.
"It was more fun than usual and I actually found something that was..." Anko winked at Naruto, "Almost as fun as those other things I love to do. I just couldn't get enough of you, Naruto."
"Heh...It's like that after all, eh?" Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I'll be honest with you. There's something about you that I really like as well. Even though I don't really have any idea exactly what that is..."
As Anko smiled at him, Naruto turned back around and headed off, "See you later, sensei."
"By the way, you were right, Naru-chan..." Anko's voice once again caused Naruto to stop in his tracks, "It's futile for me to try to be someone else."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?" Naruto asked as he turned around.
Less than an inch away from the tip of his nose was Anko's chest.
"Oh crap..." Naruto thought as Anko's arms wrapped around him again.
"It's futile." Anko said as she pressed Naruto's face between her breasts.
"Futile! Futile! Futile! Futile! Futile! Futile! Futile!" Anko repeated the same word over and over again as she rubbed Naruto's face between her breasts.
"Take that!" Anko jumped back after one last rub and Naruto's mouth hung open.
"The world!" Anko called out, her voice echoing through the air as she lifted her netvest up in front of Naruto's eyes, exposing her chest in all it's glory to the young blonde.
"Time stops..." Anko said as she held her netvest up. She bounced up and down several times before lowering her netvest again, "And then time resumes..."
Blood shot out of Naruto's nose, sending him flying away as he passed out. (A/N: A cookie to anyone who knows where this is from)
When Naruto regained his consciousness, he found himself back at Ichiraku's Ramen.
"Naruto! You're finally awake." Iruka greeted the blonde happily, "Geez...What were you doing? Anko-san had to carry you back here because you had run into a wall."
"A wall?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Wait! Where is she right now?!"
"Huh? You mean Anko-san?" Iruka blinked at Naruto for a moment.
"Of course! Who else?!" Naruto shouted, "Did I still have all my clothes on when she brought me here?!"
"Of course...Why would you not have all your clothes on?" Iruka blinked again at his former student.
"No...Never mind..." Naruto slightly twitched, "She'll definitely end up killing me one of these days with her actions..."
"Either way, I finished preparing the ramen, Naruto." Ichiraku-san interrupted their conversation with a grin on his face, "In three minutes, most of it will be ready."
"Alright! I can't wait!" Naruto threw his fist up in the air, "Finally! My ramen!"
Three minutes later, Naruto was handed several bowls of ramen and he eagerly began chowing them down.
"Naruto, aren't you forgetting something?" Iruka let out as he stared at Naruto.
"Oh yeah." Naruto blinked for a moment at Iruka, before folding his hands together, "Itadakimasu!"
Iruka sighed, "...Not quite what I was talking about..."
Ichiraku-san laughed, "Don't worry, Iruka-san. I'll give you ten percent off on your next bowl. I'm in a generous mood today."
"You're the best, old man!" Naruto said between devouring two batches of noodles.
"Hahaha. It never gets old to hear that." Ichiraku-san laughed and then smiled at Naruto, "You're cheerful today, Naruto. I heard from Ayame what happened. All five of them, eh?"
"Excuse me, but what are you talking about?" Iruka asked as he slightly bend over the counter.
"Huh? You didn't know, Iruka-san?" The ramen stand owner raised an eyebrow, "Naruto here has five girls that love him on Valentine's Day. If I'm not mistaken, you knew he was trying to get a girlfriend and go out on a date for Valentine's Day...Which is today."
"Y-Yes...But...Five?!" Iruka's eyes widened.
"Ino, Sakura-chan, Tenten, Hinata and Temari." Naruto counted on his fingers, "That's five alright."
"But why...How is that possible?!" Iruka gasped.
"How...? Hmmm..." Naruto pondered for a moment as he continued eating his ramen, "I think I know how."
"W-Well?" Iruka let out.
Naruto grinned widely as he stirred around with his chopsticks in his ramen, "Girls...No...Women are just like ramen. There are a lot of flavors and I love all of them."
Iruka sighed and then slightly laughed as he shook his head, "Honestly...If I didn't know any better, I would say you've become an old grey haired wise man."
"However, I mean it. Everyone has a certain flavor of ramen they like and there a lot of different flavors. So far there hasn't been a ramen flavor I didn't like." Naruto blinked for a moment and then continued eating his ramen.
"I'm sure that there are several flavors you haven't tried yet and probably wouldn't want to taste." Ichiraku-san smiled at Naruto as he placed down another bowl of ramen.
Naruto eyed the bowl suspiciously, "Before I start eating that, tell me what flavor it is..."
The old man laughed heartily, "It's a secret. You won't find out if you like or dislike it until you've tried it anyway."
"Then, let's give it a try!" Naruto cheered and stuck his chopsticks into the new bowl of ramen.
A lot of time and countless bowls of ramen later, night began to fall over Konohagakure.
Naruto stretched out as he walked down the road, back towards his own apartment, "Man, I ate a lot!"
"Even so...Valentine's Day sure flew by quickly..." Naruto thought as he stared up towards the darkening sky above Konoha, "In the end, I didn't go on a date with any of the girls and I didn't even get to have a word with Sakura-chan and Ino."
Naruto let out a sigh and then smiled again, "Oh well, you can't have it all. I wonder what Temari wanted to talk about though..."
With that thought in mind, Naruto hurried on towards the apartment he called home.
"I'm home." Naruto announced as he opened the front door of his apartment.
"Welcome home." Temari's voice welcomed the blonde shinobi the instant he stepped into the apartment.
Naruto smiled and closed the door behind him before heading to the living room.
To his surprise, he only found Temari present, "Hm? Where's Gaara?"
Temari smiled at him, "He and Kankurou are spending the night somewhere else."
"You guys...didn't get into a fight, right?" Naruto blinked at the wind mistress.
Temari stared at Naruto for a moment and then laughed slightly as she shook her head, "Don't worry. It's not something like that."
"Good." Naruto nodded once, "So...What was this thing you wanted to talk about?"
"Come over here, Naruto." Temari patted the spot next to her on Naruto's bed.
Naruto sat down beside the blonde and looked at her with questioning eyes, "Is something wrong?"
"Remember when I told you when you were Nemar-kun that I couldn't stay here if you chose me...?" Temari asked and looked at Naruto from the corners of her eyes.
Naruto's eyes widened, "You...You need to leave soon?!"
Temari closed her eyes and bit her lip, "Well, about that..."
Naruto grabbed onto her sleeve, "You're not going to tell me that it's tonight, right? Please, Temari...Don't go yet."
The wind mistress turned her head around to face Naruto and smirked, "Heh...I won't be leaving tonight. It's just that I need to talk to you about it right now."
"Th-Then..." Naruto blinked, "When are you...?"
"To tell you the truth...You were the reason why I told you...I mean, Nemar-kun, that I couldn't stay here." Temari smiled at Naruto, "I couldn't bare living in the same place as you while loving another man. That's what I was thinking back then."
"Temari..." Naruto stared with wide eyes at the wind mistress for a while and then shook his head, "Then...you're staying?"
"That depends on you, really." Temari slightly shifted around to look directly into Naruto's eyes.
"On...me?" Naruto blinked for a moment and then slightly narrowed his eyes, "...Don't tell me you're going to blackmail me or something..."
"Who do you think I am?" Temari smirked at the blonde, "Naruto, if I'm going to stay here, I need a place to stay. And I don't feel like living in a hotel for a long while...So..."
The wind mistress took a deep breath, "What would you say if I kept on living together with you from here on out?"
Naruto wrapped his arms around her and tightly hugged her, "Of course you can stay here! If that's all I need to do to keep you here in Konoha, then there's no reason why I'd refuse, right?"
Temari wrapped her arms around Naruto as well and rested her head against his, "Hehehe...Don't make it sound like it's nothing at all, you idiot."
"But..." Naruto looked into Temari's eyes, "Is this really alright? What about Gaara and catman?"
Temari smiled at Naruto, "They're fine with it as long as I promised that I'd come visit them as often as possible."
"So...you really are staying here?" Naruto asked the blonde again.
Temari pulled Naruto closer and gave him a small kiss on his lips, "Right here beside you, on this bed. For a long, long time."
Naruto grinned widely at Temari, "I wouldn't want it any other way."
"I guess that's sort of my Valentine's gift to you." Temari rested her head against Naruto's again, "Happy Valentine's Day, Naruto..."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Temari..."
"So..." Temari smirked at the blonde shinobi, "Where's my gift?"
"Ehm..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I don't really know what to give you right now..."
"I guess I can think of something then..." Temari replied as she slowly pulled Naruto and herself onto the bed.
Their lips met soon after and Temari traced with her fingers over Naruto's back as they passionately kissed each other.
After they broke their kiss, Temari looked seductively into Naruto's eyes, "So...Is that a ramen bowl in your pocket or are you just really happy to see me?"
Naruto slightly blushed and grinned sheepishly, "You know that I don't do stuff like placing ramen bowls in my pocket..."
"I know...I'm just hoping that you're going to do someone here." Temari said as she moved her hands underneath Naruto's shirt.
Naruto felt his face flush bright and he could swear that he felt steam vent from his ears, "And then the halleluja chorus began to sing."
Temari pulled Naruto onto her and whispered in his ear, "Let's have an unforgettable night, Naruto..."
The wind mistress started to make a trail of kisses down Naruto's jaw and towards his lips, each kiss being more tender and sensual than the last.
A couple of sudden knocks on the front door interrupted them and Naruto looked towards the door for a moment.
"Should we...?"
"Ignore it?" Temari added as she turned Naruto's face back towards her own and smiled at him, "Definitely."
"Naruto, I know you're home." Ino's voice sounded amongst another bunch of knocks, "So hurry up and answer the door already."
"Crap...It's blondy." Temari muttered.
"Ino...?" Naruto blinked for a moment.
Temari placed a finger on Naruto's lips, "Leave her to me. We wouldn't want her to barge into us when we're getting up close and personal, now would we?"
Naruto slowly nodded and moved off of Temari, who stood up and headed for the front door afterwards.
"Oh man..." Naruto thought as normal color returned to his face for a moment, "That just now was..."
Before Naruto could finish the line in his head, his attention was drawn to Temari opening the front door.
"Yo, blondy. What's..." Temari cut off her sentence and quickly slammed the door shut, barricading it with her own body.
"What's wrong, Temari?" Naruto blinked at the wind mistress as Ino kept knocking on the door.
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!" Ino shouted, "Naruto! Please, open the door."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he walked towards Temari, "Come on, Temari. It's just Ino, right? Why are you stressing out like that?"
"W-Well..." Temari gulped, "It's nothing really. Let's just go back to the living room. Blondy can come back later, right?"
"You're acting suspicious, Temari..." Naruto said as he walked to the door, "Ino's my girlfriend too. I can't just ignore her, right?"
"N-No! Don't open the door!" Temari tried to stop the blonde shinobi, but he was already opening the door for his other blonde girlfriend.
"Hey, Ino." Naruto smiled at Ino as he opened the door.
"Yo, Naruto." Ino smiled back at him and tilted her head slightly, "Is something wrong?"
"That's my line..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Temari was freaking out for some reason, but I can't really tell why..."
"Hmmm..." Ino eyed Temari suspiciously, "Anyway, would you mind if we spend the night at your place?"
"We...?" Naruto and Temari repeated and stared at Ino.
"Everyone, come over here already." Ino said and Sakura, Tenten and Hinata appeared next to the blonde girl.
"You see...Since it's Valentine's day..." Ino scratched her cheek.
"We thought it would be a good idea if all of us spend the night together and have a lot of fun." Tenten added with a smile on her face.
"So, that's why we're here." Sakura nodded at Naruto.
"We even managed to kidnap Hinata out of the Hyuuga mansion!" Ino said as she placed her hands on Hinata's shoulders.
"E-Eh?!" Naruto let out, "You kidnapped her?!"
"Uhuh." Ino nodded, "So you'll have to let us all spend the night here, other wise we would've kidnapped her for nothing."
Naruto looked at Temari for a moment, who sighed and shrugged in reply, "Fine with me. It's not like I want you guys to have a Valentine's day without having fun with Naruto. So hurry up and get inside, I guess."
"Hehehe." Ino grinned at Temari, "Glad you think that way, blondy."
"Well, let's go inside then." Sakura said and walked into Naruto's home with a smile on her face.
When everyone had walked past Naruto and Temari, the wind mistress bend over and whispered into Naruto's ear.
"Don't worry...I promise you a continuation of what happened just before they came...When we have the chance, of course." She whispered with a smirk on her face.
Steam vented from Naruto's ears again as Temari headed back towards the living room, swaying her hips as Naruto watched her, "Damn, it's good to have a girlfriend."
Naruto shook his head for a moment and then hurried after his girlfriends into the living room.
The blonde froze as he entered the living room, finding all of the girls sitting on his bed and waiting for him.
"Ehm...so...eh..." Naruto sheepishly grinned at the girls, "Don't tell me they're expecting things like this and that"
"So, what shall we do, Naruto?" Sakura smiled at the blonde, who rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, I...I..." Naruto mused for a moment, "If I say stuff like 'let's get our freak on!' or something, I'll definitely be killed in one way or another...so..."
Naruto took a deep breath, "I don't know, really. It's kind of a surprise that you're all here now, so..."
"How about we play a game of poker?" Ino said as she held up a deck of cards, "You know, like we did when we were all together last time?"
"Good idea, Ino." Sakura smirked and pulled out a deck of cards as well, "However, I suggest we use my deck of cards instead of those marked cards of yours..."
"Wh-What makes you say mine are marked?!" Ino shouted as she slightly blushed.
Sakura chuckled and leered at her blonde friend, "Because I know you too well."
Tenten then grabbed both decks of cards out of the girls' hands and threw them away. The weapon mistress then proudly presented a deck of her own, "Those are both marked! Let's use mine instead!"
"N-No...That's fine..." Naruto slightly twitched, "We'll use the one I have in one of my drawers..."
A few moments later, the six of them were all sitting down on the ground and Naruto was shuffling the deck of cards.
"I'll definitely win this time." Sakura said as Naruto started to deal the cards.
Naruto smiled at her and continued dealing out the cards and noticed a burning fire in Temari's eyes.
"I'll definitely defeat her...No matter what...Not going out first again..." Temari muttered to herself as she picked up her cards and leered at Hinata.
"Hehehehe...I'll defeat all of you even without my hidden weapon..." Tenten snickered as she picked up her cards.
"That's my line, Tenten..." Ino replied as she picked up her cards, "There's no way that I'll be defeated."
Naruto sheepishly grinned as he dealed the last few cards to Hinata and himself, "It looks like Hinata and I are the only ones that still see this as just a game..."
The blonde then noticed that the Hyuuga heiress was staring at him and he blinked for a moment. Hinata partly hid her face behind the cards, but it was all too obvious to Naruto that she was staring intensely at him.
"M-Maybe I'm the only one playing this game just for fun..." Naruto slightly laughed as he held up his own cards, "Ehehehe..."
"Alright, let's do this." Sakura said as she took three cards out of her hand and discarded them, commencing the start of the first round.
A while later, Naruto was partly shivering and held a pillow pressed onto his crotch at all times.
"I guess it's true what they say..." Naruto slightly twitched, being the only one out of the game right now while the girls still had most of their clothing on, "Payback is a bitch..."
"Sorry, Naruto." Temari smiled sheepishly at Naruto, "I don't have a jacket to spare and keep you warm."
"Th-That's alright." Naruto replied, "I just had very bad luck for once. I won't die from it or something."
"I'd say it's more good luck for us then..." Ino replied and whistled as she stared at Naruto, "Nemar-kun's body might have been a genjutsu, but you look damn fine yourself, Naruto."
"Ah...well...Thanks." Naruto slightly blushed and rubbed the back of his head.
"And don't worry about getting cold, alright?" Sakura winked at Naruto.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Naruto sheepishly grinned, "Why do I have the feeling that I won't be wearing a whole lot for the next twelve to fifteen hours...?"
"But you know..." Tenten slightly tilted her head and blinked for a moment as she pondered, "Now that Naruto's out of the game, there's not much reason to continue playing, right?"
"Hmm...You're right." Temari replied and crossed her arms.
"Isn't there a way to make this fun again?" Ino slightly pouted as she looked at the other girls, "I kind of like playing poker with all of you."
"There is a way." Sakura held a single index finger up in the air.
"By involving Naruto, eh?" Temari wondered out loud as she slightly tilted her head.
"Exactly." Sakura smiled and nodded once, "Let's..."
"Have the winner be the one to cuddle and sleep next to Naruto tonight!" Tenten cheerfully raised her fist up in the air.
"E-Eh?!" Naruto let out in surprise, "Not that I mind being cuddled, but..."
"That's a nice plan, Tenten!" Sakura said, not even slightly trying to hide her excitement.
"Alriiiight!" Ino threw down the deck of cards, "I like that! I'm going to beat all of you then!"
"Heh...That's fine with me." Temari smirked and leered at Naruto.
"O-Oi! Don't I get a say in this?! I mean...There's other things than keeping me from sleeping for the largest part of the night..." Naruto thought as he looked at the girls.
"What do you think, Hinata?" Sakura smiled at the Hyuuga heiress.
"Hinata!" Naruto turned to the shy Hyuuga girl next to him and looked at her with hopeful eyes, "Please...Give me a reply that I expect from you..."
Hinata shyly looked at Naruto and bit her lip in an attempt to supress her blush as Naruto stared at her.
"It's alright, Hinata. Tell them what's on your mind." Naruto smiled at Hinata, "I know you won't let me down, Hinata! Just tell them what you think!"
The blush on the Hyuuga heiress' faces brightened as she eyed Naruto up and down, "Bom Chika Wah Wah."
Naruto's jaw dropped wide open, "Crap! The Naruto effect got her!"
"Heehee. I'll take that as a definite yes." Tenten said, slightly giggling.
"Then, let's keep on going until there's only one left with clothing on her body!" Ino cheered as she thrusted her fist up into the air.
"Ossu!" The other girls cheered along with her.
"O...Ou..." Naruto slightly twitched, "Ouendan!" (A/N: See end of chapter A/N for more info)
Three men in long black coats barged into Naruto's living room. One of them wore a red headband and his red hair stood high up into the air. The was also a blonde man with a mohawk and a man with black hair and an eyepatch.
"Ossu!" The three men cheered in unison as the one with the headband rose his arms up in a 'Y' formation.
Naruto and the girls stared at the three men in silence. Hesitantly, the man with the red headband lowered his hands.
"Oi...Is it me or is there no need for anyone to receive our cheering?" The man with the headband asked his companions as he pointed at Naruto and the others.
"It seems so." The one with the eyepatch replied.
"I think shouting 'ossu' alone was enough." The one with the mohawk stated and nodded towards Naruto, "Look. That guy is without his clothes and he's surrounded by beautiful young women."
"So that means..." The one with the headband narrowed his eyes at Naruto and the girls as his two companions nodded in confirmation.
"Ouen!" The three of them shouted together.
"Dai!"
"Sei!"
"Kou!"
"But man..." The one with the headband crossed his arms and glared at the group, "All we had to do was shout 'ossu' this time..."
The other two nodded in reply and the red haired leader of the group pointed at Naruto, "You!"
"Y-Yes!" Naruto shouted out of surprise as the fierce looking leader of the group walked towards him.
"Don't ever call us again unless it's for something very important." The leader said as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Like...winning a game of dodgeball to confess your love to a little girl or like...fighting against a stomachache because you're the main attraction of a concert or when you have a busy day at the office. But this? This doesn't need any cheering up. Have fun with these girls, alright?"
With a pat on Naruto's back, the red haired leader headed back to his comrades, "So what shall we do next?"
"Well, there must be some people in this town that need to be cheered up." The one with the eyepatch stated.
"Let's conquer this town with our cheering as well." The blonde guy with a mohawk nodded once.
"Ossu! Let's go!" The leader cheered, "San! Ni! Ichi!"
"Sore!" The three of them cheered together as they marched out of Naruto's apartment.
After a moment of silence, Naruto slowly nodded, "Remind me never to shout random things again."
"I think...We should forget about that and continue playing our game of poker." Sakura stated.
"Like I said..." Ino cleared her throat and raised her fist up in the air again, "Let's keep going until there's only one of us left with clothing!"
Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Well...This can't be that bad...I get to see them undress themselves after all, hehehe."
An hour or two later, all of the poker games were finished. Naruto's face was flushed bright red and he knew that it would stay like that for a while at least, for even the winner only had her panties left on.
"I...I can't believe I lost...I even had a full house..." Sakura muttered as she leaned forward in defeat, "Why did I have to add that damn rule...?"
"Man...I can't believe this!" Tenten moaned as she threw her cards down, "Just when I thought I had this round in the bag!"
"How could this have happened...?" Ino muttered as she stared blankly out in front of her, "When we were all down to one last piece of clothing..."
"I...won?" Hinata tilted her head and looked at the four queens in her hand again.
"Congratulations, Hinata." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head as the depression of the other girls thickened.
Except for one certain blonde from Sunagakure, who had a sinister look in her eyes.
Ino noticed the look in Temari's eyes and slightly tilted her head, "What the heck are you planning to do, blondie?"
"Plan? I'm not planning to do anything at all." Temari smirked, "I just remembered that I'd sleep in my usual position tonight and thus I'll be cuddling Naruto anyway...fufufu."
"What?!" Ino yelled loud enough to make Naruto and everyone else's ears ring.
"That's unfair, Temari!" Tenten protested, "How about sharing the wealth a little with the rest of us?!"
"There's nothing unfair about it." Temari's smirk widened as she swiftly crawled over to Naruto and pressed herself against his back, "Right, Naruto? After all, we've been sleeping in that same position ever since I got here in Konoha..."
"W-Well...I...I guess you're r-right about that." Naruto blushed brightly and scratched his cheek as Temari wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Don't think I'll let you win without a fight!" Sakura shouted before throwing herself with open arms towards Naruto and Temari, ready to tackle them both.
Naruto's mouth dropped wide open and his blood rushed through his face as the topless pink haired medic-nin threw herself towards him.
"Katsu!" Deidara shouted and an explosion followed his shout.
"I present to you..." Deidara pointed towards the cloud of smoke remaining after the explosion, "The Thinker by Deidara."
The other Akatsuki members applauded dully for the artistical shinobi and his work of art.
"And you again become a plotdevice..." Kisame said, slightly snickering, "Well...At least you're able to entertain us this time."
"Deidara-senpai, you're art is as cool as ever!" Tobi, the only one who applauded cheerfully for Deidara's art, shouted.
"Fufu...That's right, hn." Deidara closed his eyes and nodded once.
The artist placed a hand on Tobi's shoulder, "Do you want to become my student, Tobi? I'll even teach you the secret behind obtaining these hands, hn!"
Tobi carefully looked at Deidara's hands and then at Deidara again, "I...I don't think I'd like to have your hands, Deidara-senpai..."
"Come, come now, hn!" Deidara patted Tobi on his shoulder, "They'll make you popular with the ladies!"
Kisame chuckled, "I don't think that those hands will make anyone popular with the ladies."
"Kisama-danna...You're mistaken. The women love these hands for their artistic functionality..." Deidara said as he stuck one of his hands in his pocket and pulled something out, "Just take a close look at this, hn!"
"...Is that a cell phone made from exploding clay...?" Kisame stared at the item in Deidara's hand.
"No. Well..." Deidara took a look at the cell phone in his hands again, "Yes, it is...However, the important thing is that it's functional, hn!"
"Yeah, I'm sure the ladies just find it a blast to enter their cell phone numbers on that thing." Kisame chuckled at his own pun.
"At least they enter their numbers into my phone." Deidara retorted with a smirk on his face.
Kisame glared at Deidara, who glared back at him a moment.
"What are you all doing?" Zetsu, with his plant back on his head, asked as he rejoined the others.
"Plotdevicing." Kisame replied nonchalantly, "Speaking of which, care to explain how that plant grew back in just a few hours?"
"It's amazing what Akatsuki fertilizer can do." Zetsu replied.
"I don't remember us having our own trademark fertilizer..." Deidara remarked and then stared at Zetsu for a moment, "Wait...A while ago, after I'd gone to the bathroom, you asked me if I had taken a crap, hn? Don't tell me..."
Everyone stared at Zetsu and a heavy silence fell through out the Akatsuki hideout.
Zetsu in return eyed everyone one by one while he remained silent for a long while as well, "...No."
"Why is everyone staring at Zetsu?" Itachi, who just walked in, wondered.
"Weren't you here just a few moments ago, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked the Uchiha.
"Even I need to go to the toilet from time to time." Itachi stated calmly, "Is there a problem with that?"
"I'll return soon." Zetsu said and quickly left.
Itachi watched Zetsu leave and then turned his head back towards the others, "Explaination?"
Numerous sounds came from the Akatsuki members, though none of them could really offer an explaination to the Sharingan user.
"I see..." Itachi said when the noise died out.
"...Where's Pein?" Itachi decided to break the silence present in the room.
"Watching over the city whose name shall not be named." The Akatsuki leader said nodding.
Kisame chuckled, "Then the next step we must take is preventing the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki from collecting all the deathly holl-"
"Don't you even dare make a Rowling novel reference." Pein, who stepped out of the shadows, said in a threatening tone.
"Well if it isn't Bakura..." Kakuzu replied.
"What do you mean?" Pein stared at Kakuzu, "I do not even close resemble him. Let alone...Oh, I see."
"Either way, what are you doing here, Pein?" The Akatsuki leader looked at the man with many piercings for a moment, "Didn't I tell you to watch over that place?"
"And that's exactly what I did. Then I noticed the gathering here and figured it was time to go." Pein replied, "By the way, where did you go today? It's rare for you to leave that place."
"Just had to pay our respects to good old Valentine's day." The Akatsuki leader said and patted his daughter, who was cheerfully reading some manga, on her head, "Isn't that right, Sayane?"
The little girl vigorously nodded her head and flipped a page in her manga.
"Then, I take it none of you had to do with that statue disappearing from underneath my ass all of a sudden?" Pein asked as he looked each of the other Akatsuki members in the eye.
The Akatsuki leader cleared his throat, "Well...I guess Arashi is the one to blame for that. That reckless fool went too far and caused us quite a bit of trouble."
"...So it seems he paid the price for it." Pein replied, "Well...that's his own fault then."
"Yeah...The technique isn't quite perfect yet." The Akatsuki leader stated, "Well, it was a useful experience."
"You weren't the one falling down from a building all of a sudden." Pein replied.
"Indeed, we had some more fun than that." The Akatsuki leader replied and the other Akatsuki members nodded.
"At least the ones that got some screentime." The blue haired woman muttered all too loud.
"Don't complain. I didn't show up until the end for a plotdevice." Pein replied, "Now shut up and make me a sandwich, woman."
"...Do you have a death wish, Pein?" She asked as she threw a glare at him.
"Do you want to find out why my name is Pein?" Pein retorted.
The woman twitched for a moment as she looked at Pein with a sour face and then let out a sigh, "...I guess we could all use some snacks."
"By the way..." Hidan poked the tips of his three-bladed scythe, "If that reason involves hidden piercings, I'm going to kill myself."
"If that's the case..." Pein replied and turned his head around to face Hidan.
A moment later, Hidan stabbed himself with his scythe.
"...I didn't even say anything...yet." Pein stated as Hidan's skin turned black.
"I think he just needed another excuse to stab himself..." Kakuzu stated.
"And...?" Deidara turned his attention from Hidan and Pein to the Akatsuki leader, "Did we use up enough time yet?"
"Yeah. It's about time." The Akatsuki leader nodded once.
"It's unfortunate." Deidara slightly frowned, "I wanted to go out with a bang."
"Well, we're just being a plotdevice anyway." The Akatsuki leader replied and crossed his arms.
"Looks like there's no grand finale for us." Kisame stated and chuckled.
"Damn, in the end I only got a few lines...Well, lines are money, I guess." Kakuzu grumbled.
"Then, let this emergency plotdevice be dismissed." Pein said as he made a waving motion with his hand.
"Oi, that's my line." The Akatsuki leader replied.
Pein stared at the Akatsuki leader, "It's not your line any more."
Naruto prodded the two tissues in his nose, "Tissues seem to be life savers these days."
Sakura smiled sheepishly at Naruto, "Sorry, Naruto. I got kind of carried away..."
"Not to mention that it seemed like you didn't get any nosebleeds from things like that..." Temari nodded once as she had her arms crossed in front of her and stared at Naruto with a slight blush on her face, "I mean...You didn't get one during our game of poker, so..."
Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Trust me when I say it's hard to not get any nosebleeds in front of the five of you."
The blonde shinobi then looked at himself and blinked at the girls a moment later, "Speaking of which, none of you really seemed to be affected by seeing me practically naked...Even Hinata didn't faint..."
"Of course." Temari said, slightly smirking, "There's no way a woman would get a nosebleed from seeing a guy mostly naked."
"We do blush though..." Tenten let out in a whisper as she pointed towards the blush on her cheeks.
"I guess we just admire the male physique when seeing it and blush instead of thinking perverted things." Sakura stated and lifted a single finger up in the air.
"Screw admiring the male physique." Ino said as she swiftly crawled behind Naruto and ran her hands through his hair, "We've got a naked Naruto here."
Naruto shivered and blushed as the blonde behind him started to nibble on his ear, "Th-Then...You're trying to tell me women don't get nosebleeds?"
"I'll get myself a nosebleed if you want me to..." Ino whispered into Naruto's ear and then smirked, "Or you, for that matter."
"Of course." Tenten nodded once.
"I don't remember ever getting a nosebleed." Temari slightly tilted her head.
"That's right, we've got more decency than men." Sakura closed her eyes and nodded in agreement.
Naruto grinned wickedly, "Sorry, but I find that hard to believe."
Sakura, Temari and Tenten blinked at Naruto as he looked straight into their eyes.
"Behold! The mighty Wright pointing finger will reveal the truth behind your lies!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed forward.
"For great justice and every man in the world, I will now show you proof that women do get nosebleeds!" Naruto took a deep breath, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
One by one, the girls' mouths dropped wide open as they stared blankly at Naruto.
The clones appeared all around them and wrapped their arms around the girls, gently holding onto them.
"However, don't worry. I'll be here prevent any of you from getting hurt." Naruto said with his best bishounen smile pasted on his face.
Hinata was the first to flush bright red and pass out in Naruto's arms, followed by Sakura, Ino, Temari and Tenten with blood flowing out of their nostrils.
"Maybe I went a bit too far..." Naruto sheepishly grinned for a moment.
Naruto's eyes wandered over each of the girls and his mouth dropped wide open, "Crap! I forgot they're wearing nothing but panties!"
The still partly white tissues in Naruto's nose turned dark red as he tilted his had back, "Man, what am I going to do? I can't just leave them, me and my clones like this!"
Just then, Naruto had an idea and grinned widely, "Alright, everyone! Grab onto each others' hands! We're going to do a combi henge!"
"Eh?!" His clones let out in surprise.
"Transform into a blanket big enough to cover all of them." Naruto commanded his clones.
The clones nodded and transformed after they had grabbed onto each others' hands. Naruto crawled quickly out of the way as the blanket fell over all of the girls.
"Alright...Now all I've got to do is slightly move them...I hope." Naruto told himself as he stood up.
A while later, all of the girls were lying spread out on Naruto's bed, covered up by the huge blanket that was created by his Kage Bunshin.
"Man...They actually all fit on my bed...Though I have no idea how I'm supposed to sleep there..." Naruto muttered as he looked at the unconscious group of girls.
"Now...Let's see where my clothes are." Naruto said as he turned around to start his search through the pile of clothing that was created during their game of poker.
After searching through the clothes for a while, Naruto was dressed in his shirt, pants and of course his boxers once again.
He sat down on the ground and stared at the girls lying in his bed, "I never thought this year's Valentine's Day would be like this..."
"Even though I'm happy that no one's feelings got hurt in the end..." Naruto let out a sigh and slightly scowled, "It's a shame I couldn't do anything special for them on Valentine's Day."
"What are you saying, Naruto?" Sakura asked, causing the blonde to lift his head up in surprise.
"Eh?" Naruto let out and blinked at the five girls, who were sitting up in his bed with a smile on their face.
"If you want to do something special for us, then do it." Temari nodded at Naruto.
"There's still plenty of time left until it's midnight." Tenten added.
"I...I think N-Naruto-kun shouldn't give up that easily." Hinata bit on her lip for a moment, "Be-because, that's not something Naruto-kun would do."
"That's right! Don't give up and give us a special Valentine's Day!" Ino cheered and threw her fist up in the air.
"You're right." Naruto grinned widely as he jumped up, "There's still some time. Let's do it!"
"Before that, we need to get dressed though." Sakura stated.
"Remember, everyone. Do it slow and sensual so that Naruto will receive his divine punishment for what he just did to us." Temari smirked and leered towards Naruto.
"E-Eh..." Naruto quickly looked around and then pointed towards the balcony, "I'll be outside while all of you get dressed."
Without waiting another moment, Naruto darted towards the balcony.
Naruto took a deep breath as he leaned onto the rail of the balcony.
"Even though I said 'let's do it!'...I really have no idea how to make it a great Valentine's day for them..." Naruto muttered to himself, "These past two weeks were so fun that I forgot what to do with any of them actually on Valentine's Day..."
He let out a sigh and a moment later he lifted his head up again, "Wait...I do know what to do!"
Naruto pushed himself up and stared towards the sky, "All I've experienced these past two weeks were preparations for today! Ayame-chan's teachings, my dates with everyone...Heck, even Anko-sensei sort of helped me out! I'll definitely be able to give them a good time tonight!"
Naruto grinned widely and slightly laughed before dashing back inside.
"Everyone, I've got good news! I know what we can..." Naruto never got to finish that line as he froze on the spot.
"There is a God." Temari smirked as she and the others looked at Naruto.
"Gaaaah!" Blood shot out of Naruto's nose and send him flying back out onto his balcony, "So...much...suggestive...positions..."
He stood back up again and shook his head, "I really do have 'bad' timing for walking into rooms."
Naruto covered his eyes with one hand and moved back into his living room.
"Please tell me all of you are in less provocative positions now..." Naruto said.
"Maybe..." Even though he couldn't see it, he knew Temari was smirking when she said that.
"I guess it's as 'safe' as possible." Sakura stated.
Naruto opened his eyes and moved his hand away from his eyes and took a deep breath.
"They're still not entirely dressed, but at least they're not standing in such positions..." Naruto thought as he looked at the girls.
Less than a moment later, all of them were dressed and lined up in front of Naruto.
"So, what are we going to do?" Tenten smiled at Naruto.
Naruto returned the smile with one of his own, "Everyone, leave it all to me and let's head out!"
"You still didn't answer my question, Naruto." Tenten stuck her tongue slightly out of her mouth and winked at Naruto.
"Let's just say that I hope that all of you are hungry." Naruto grinned widely before he turned and headed towards the door.
"Ichiraku Ramen..." Sakura stated.
"It's definitely going to be ramen..." Ino added.
"Did you expect anything else from our number one ramen idiot?" Temari smirked and crossed her arms as she threw a glance at the other girls.
"It has to be ramen..." Tenten let out a sigh, "I shouldn't have asked..."
"I...I don't think ramen is that bad..." Hinata replied as fidgeted with her index fingers.
"Oi! Are you guys coming or what?!" Naruto yelled as he was already outside his apartment.
Temari, Tenten, Sakura and Ino all let out a sigh at the same time while Hinata softly bit her lower lip.
"Alright. Let's get some ramen then." Temari said and was the first out of the five of them to follow Naruto, with the others following her shortly after that.
"Eh...Let's see..." Naruto's eyes darted from the left to the right as he walked through the streets of Konoha with his five girlfriends following closely behind, "Where was it again?"
"Naruto, what's the matter?" Sakura asked as Naruto stopped walking.
"Ehm...I need to figure out which way to go..." Naruto sheepishly grinned at the girls.
"You...You forgot?!" Temari let out in surprise.
"I-It's not like I forgot, I just need to remember it a bit..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"I can't believe you forgot the route to your number one favourite place to eat just about anything..." Ino stared with wide eyes at Naruto, who blinked at her in return.
"Honestly, how can you forget the road to Ichiraku's ramen?" Tenten slightly frowned, "This is not like you, Naruto."
"We're going to Ichiraku Ramen?" Naruto blinked at Tenten.
"We are not going to Ichiraku Ramen...?" Tenten blinked back at Naruto.
"We're not going to Ichiraku Ramen." Naruto stated and stared dumbfounded at each of his girlfriends, "I never said we would, right?"
"We aren't?!" The girls let out in unison, causing the blonde shinobi to cover his ears and flinch.
"I...I think Naruto-kun told us quite clearly that we're going somewhere else..." Hinata smiled sheepishly at the others.
"Is there something wrong with me taking you girls to some place other than Ichiraku's...?" Naruto blinked at the girls.
"No, nothing's wrong." Temari shook her head and held her wrists crossed in front of her.
"We'd love to go somewhere other than Ichiraku's." Sakura replied, nodding her head feverishly.
"There's nothing wrong with Ichiraku's, but we don't go somewhere else." Ino stated.
"So just take us where ever you want." Tenten added and nodded once.
"All of you really want to go to Ichiraku's, right?" Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head as he eyed each of the girls.
"No!" Ino, Sakura, Temari and Tenten let out in unison.
"But why did you...?" Naruto couldn't even finish his question or the girls grabbed his hands and arms and guided him onward.
"It's alright, let's go." Sakura said as she pulled on Naruto's hand.
"You had a nice place in mind, didn't you Naruto?" Temari asked as she held onto his arm.
"Y-Yeah..." Naruto let out, "Even though I have several girlfriends right now...I still don't understand a single thing about what women are thinking..."
A while later, Naruto and the girls arrived at a certain restaurant and a few moments later they had their own table in a nice and quiet spot of the restaurant. Dinner arrived soon after they had ordered it.
"Itadakimasu!" They let out in unison and broke their chopsticks into two pieces.
"This restaurant is basically where it all started." Naruto raised a smile as his eyes wandered over the entire place, "Ayame-chan and I went here and we discussed our initial plan...The next day, I wrote a letter to each of you..."
Naruto then noticed that the girls were staring with soft, caring eyes at him and he grinned widely, "Oh! And the food here is great too!"
"Those letters..." Tenten smiled and slightly tilted her head, "I'm really surprised something like that could come from you. Even now, it's kind of hard to believe."
"Those were all my words, but Ayame-chan was the one that helped me form proper letters." Naruto sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "When I started to think about what there is to like about each of you, I just started to tell Ayame-chan how I felt towards each of you after giving it some more thought..."
"I still have it in my drawer." Tenten cheerfully announced.
"Oh, I still have it too." Ino replied, "Though...I can't really remember exactly where in my room I placed it..."
"I left it back home...I think..." Temari stated as she slightly tilted her head.
"It seems like ages ago since we all received those letters." Sakura smiled slightly.
"Back then, I wasn't even sure if I'd get to date any of you." Naruto grinned widely, "I'm really glad everything turned out as it did..."
"Naruto, you sound like you're about to die." Tenten said and let out a half-hearted laugh.
Naruto blinked at Tenten before he shook his head and put on his trademark fox-grin, "Sorry, but I'm finally able to tell everything to all of you, you know. No more secrets from now on."
"However, you didn't hide much from us." Sakura smiled at Naruto, "From everything you've told me, there wasn't really a whole lot that no one of us knew about. Other than Nemar-kun actually being you."
"I felt really relieved when I was able to tell you that, though." Naruto smiled as he took a bite from his meal, "So, I wanted to just let everyone know what was going on."
"Let's save that for after our meal then." Temari suggested and raised a smile at Naruto, "We wouldn't want to get carried away with talking and waste this fine meal Naruto provided us."
"That's right, Naruto did pay for this after all." Ino said and slightly stuck her tongue out of her mouth.
"Let's enjoy this while we still can then!" Tenten announced cheerfully and started to dig into her meal.
Naruto smiled at the girls and continued eating along with them.
"Even though eating dinner together with everyone is nice, I probably can't leave it at just this in order to say we had a great night." Naruto thought as he eyed the girls while eating, "No, I'll definitely have to take them somewhere after dinner."
His eyes fell upon the most silent one of his girlfriends, Hinata. Luckily for Naruto, the Hyuuga heiress didn't notice him looking at her for once.
"Come to think of it...Hinata hasn't said a whole lot tonight...Maybe she's still embarrassed about that poker game...?" Naruto wondered as he stared at her, "Or maybe she still needs to get used to this thing...I do too, so..."
Hinata then noticed Naruto's gaze lay upon her and she blushed brightly as she continued eating her meal.
"I think I know exactly what to do..." Naruto's grin widened and nodded at Hinata before continueing his meal as well.
"Ah, that was delicious!" Tenten exclaimed
"I wonder if I could get the recipe from the chef..." Temari pondered as she stared at her plate.
"Temari-san's good at cooking...?" Hinata wondered.
"Sort of. I've often enough prepared dinner for Gaara and Kankurou." Temari replied.
"It's a nice change from Ramen at least." Sakura said and nodded a couple of times.
"No way! Ramen stays the best meal ever!" Naruto retorted.
"Come on, Naruto." Ino smiled at Naruto, "You have to admit that this better than most ramen bowls."
"Where did the ramen love go?!"
"Oh, it's still here." Sakura winked at Naruto, "It just had to back off against the whirlpool of sensations we got from being out on a date with you."
"Somehow...I have the feeling Sakura-chan's making fun of me..." Naruto stared dumbfounded at the pink haired medic-nin.
"So...What are we going to do next?" Tenten wondered.
"Leave it all to me!" Naruto raised his fist up in the air.
Tenten smiled at Naruto, "I know, but I wanted to know what you had in store for us next."
"Hehehe. There's only one way you'll find out." Naruto grinned widely and then pointed towards the exit, "By following me out of here!"
A silence followed as Naruto pointed at the exit. In his mind a miniature Ayame appeared and kicked his shin, "Damn, I forgot."
Naruto cleared his throat and stepped aside, "Ladies first."
The girls looked at each other and shrugged before heading out of the restaurant.
"Alright, time to go." Naruto said and followed his girlfriends.
"Ahem...Sir?" Naruto paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder, "I do hope you did not plan on leaving without paying your bill..."
"Oh, sorry about that." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "How much is it?"
The waiter handed Naruto the check and patiently waited for Naruto to pay up.
"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Temari was the first to come running back with the others following shortly.
"No...It's nothing..." Naruto twitched as he took out his wallet, Gama-chan, "It was nice knowing you as a fat frog, Gama-chan..."
"I have to say, I'm surprised, Naruto." Sakura said as they were walking through the streets of Konoha once more.
"Having five girlfriends sure is expensive..." Naruto sighed and patted his near empty wallet before looking at Sakura, "Hm? What do you mean?"
"You've actually given all of this some thought, didn't you?" Sakura asked smiling, "I mean, taking us out for dinner and what to do after that and all."
"Y-Yeah...Sort of..." Naruto grinned sheepishly.
"Sort of?" Ino tilted her head and blinked at Naruto.
"It means he's thinking up stuff as we speak." Temari wrapped an arm around Naruto and winked at Ino.
"That's not entirely true either." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"So you're thinking ahead, eh?" Tenten closed her eyes and nodded a couple of times.
"Let's leave it at that." Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I really should give this a bit more thought, I guess."
Not too long after that, Naruto and the girls arrived at a certain quiet park. However, that it was quiet didn't mean it wasn't populated. After all, it was Valentine's day and thus there were a lot of couples present.
"Hinata..." Naruto smiled as the six of them walked through the park, "Do you remember this park?"
"O-Of course..." Hinata replied and Naruto's smile widened.
"Is there something special about this park?" Ino wondered out loud.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. This park is where I took Hinata on our first date."
"You sure have an eye for finding great spots, Naruto." Tenten commented, "I remember our date being in beautiful park like this one."
"Hey, you took me to a park as well." Ino blinked.
"Me too." Sakura added, "I guess you have a thing for finding places in nature that are befitting of romance."
"Hmmm...I guess that makes me the only one that didn't go to some park or another..." Temari pondered for a moment and then smirked, "Well, I guess that makes it a bit more special."
Naruto suddenly ran ahead of them.
"Eh? Naruto?" Sakura let out as she and the other girls stopped walking.
Naruto turned around once he had reached a clearing, "Back then, there was this concert down there. Right, Hinata?"
Hinata slowly nodded and then shyly looked at the other girls, who looked back at her.
Naruto spread his arms out and grinned widely, "Despite that, this was a really cool place and really nice. So, I thought we should all be here together some time."
"Ah...I see..." Hinata let out and looked towards the ground beneath her feet.
"Hinata." Naruto extended his hand towards the girl, "Even though you're the most silent and shy girl out of everyone, don't forget that I really do love you."
"Naruto...kun?" Hinata blinked at the smiling blonde shinobi.
"Come over here, Hinata."
Hinata slowly began to walk towards Naruto, throwing a look or two at the other girls as she moved forward.
When she was close enough, Naruto grabbed onto her hand and pulled her towards him.
The Hyuuga heiress flushed bright red as Naruto tightly hugged her.
"Don't ever forget how great that night was." Naruto said and moved around Hinata to hold her from behind, "I won't forget watching the stars from here with you either."
Hinata pretty much melted in Naruto's arms and slowly nodded, "...It's something that I remember every day."
The Hyuuga heiress rested her hands on Naruto's arms and smiled softly, "And something I'll never forget. Definitely."
Naruto smiled and rested his head against Hinata's, standing there like that and enjoying their moment for as long as they could.
That was until Naruto heard some sniffling sounds coming from behind him.
"Eh?" Naruto let out as he turned his head around.
Hinata turned her head around as well and blinked.
Naruto then started to grin nervously as he noticed the big, teary eyes of his other girlfriends, "Oh crap..."
"O-O-Oi! D-Don't cry!" Naruto quickly ran a bit towards them and waved his arms frantically around, "It's not like I don't love you anymore. I just thought Hinata could use a reminder that I really do love her as well and that she shouldn't be afraid to speak up while you guys are around!"
However, it didn't seem to quite help as the girls kept sniffling and looking at Naruto with teary eyes.
"Hi-Hinata...Please, help me out here." Naruto pleaded the Hyuuga heiress.
"E-Ehm...I...I'm not sure what I can do..." Hinata said as she walked over to join Naruto by his side.
"So...romantic." Sakura sniffled.
"I want to cuddle with Naruto too..." Ino cried.
"Naruto, you really are a good guy." Tenten added as she tried to hold back her tears.
As Temari didn't say anything, since she was biting on her trembling lower lip, Naruto eyed all of them and rubbed the back of his head.
"Man...What should I do?" Naruto wondered.
However, before Naruto could think of an answer to his own question, the girls ran to him and clutched onto him.
A few moments later, Naruto found himself in a position that he'd most likely be in often enough from that day onward.
Temari and Tenten sat behind him, Ino and Sakura by his sides and Hinata in front of him.
"Too bad there isn't a concert right now..." Naruto thought as the girls cuddled up against him.
From the corners of his eyes, he noticed a certain trio dressed in black that he had met earlier that night as well. Naruto stared at them as they silently started their cheering, assuming one weird pose after another.
A gentle breeze blew past Naruto as he caressed the girls, "I doubt it's their doing, but that's one nice breeze..."
Eventually, the girls fell asleep against Naruto and he couldn't help but smile upon seeing their sleeping faces.
"Ouen!" The trio in black shouted, causing the peacefully asleep girls to twitch.
Naruto twitched once as well before glaring at the trio and feeling the urge to kill them rise up inside of him.
"Dai-sei-ko..." They added in a whisper.
"Damn, we did the cheering properly this time, but not the shouting."
"Why are we staying here anyway?"
"Because we can bend space and time. Besides, there's nothing we've got to do until our third adventure comes out..."
"Alright, let's find some more problems here then."
Naruto watched the trio leave and shook his head, "What the hell are those guys trying to do anyway?"
He looked at the girls, each of them peacefully asleep and crawled up against him. Needless to say, he had little room and desire to move any time soon.
Naruto let out a sigh, "I really am a lucky guy. I'm surprised I haven't been killed yet for being this lucky..."
His eyes darted around, as if he anticipated an attack on his life.
When none came he just let out a sigh of relief, "I guess I really do need to relax a bit. I mean, they're able to sleep peacefully, so I shouldn't worry too much about things either."
Naruto felt his body relax and he took a deep breath, letting himself be intoxicated by the sweet scents of his girlfriends, "I still can't believe it came to be like this...It almost seems like a dream."
The blonde shinobi sat there like that for a while, listening to the calm breathing of the girls around.
Feeling their tender touch run over him from time to time
Inhaling the sweet smell of their hair.
Fighting the urge to fall asleep right then and there, Naruto shook his head.
"Alright...Time to take the sleeping beauties home before they catch a cold..." Naruto whispered to himself before carefully forming his most used handseal.
Several clones popped into existence and tried their best to not wake the girls up as they picked them up. Carrying the girls in their arms, Naruto and the clones headed back to Naruto's apartment.
A while later, all of the girls were lying on his bed, still peacefully asleep as Naruto watched them in silence.
He brushed a few locks of hair out of Hinata's face. The Hyuuga heiress smiled and moved her lips as if she wanted to say something, but no sound was produced. Seeing Tenten shiver slighty, Naruto bend over the bed and tucked the weapon mistress in.
Sakura grabbed onto Naruto's shirt as he pulled himself away again. He took her hand and placed it by her side before giving her a kiss on her cheek. Ino twisted and turned restlessly until Naruto laid a hand on her shoulder.
Naruto looked at Temari and found her staring back at him. The blonde shinobi moved closer to the wind mistress.
"What's wrong, Temari?" Naruto whispered to the blonde.
Temari smiled at him in return, "Isn't it obvious...? You're not sleeping here beside me."
Naruto smiled back at Temari, "Sorry...I'm just not that sleepy yet."
The wind mistress rolled around, laid an arm around Naruto neck and pulled him against her.
"Temari...?"
"It's alright..."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You've still got some stuff on your mind, right?"
Before Naruto could answer, Temari caressed the back of his head and added, "Don't worry. We're all going to stay here for a while. So hurry up, get those worries out of your mind and let's cuddle in our sleep like we always do, ne?"
Naruto smiled widely and then kissed Temari on her cheek, "Then you should go to sleep already. You've also got to tell me tomorrow how you learned to read my thoughts."
Temari winked at Naruto as he straightened up, "It's called love, Naruto."
The blonde shinobi smiled, "Then...I'll be back soon."
"Don't keep...all of us waiting too long." Temari whispered as she closed her eyes.
Naruto nodded once, "I won't."
Naruto stared at the girls for another moment before quickly and silently heading out of his apartment and making his way up to his rooftop. He stood at the centre of it, letting the wind gently blow through his hair.
"It's almost midnight already..." Naruto muttered and tilted his head back to look at the sky above him.
"The end of Valentine's Day..." He sighed, "Why does it feel like it shouldn't be like this?"
"I managed to save everyone...No one's feelings were hurt and I'm dating the best girls anyone could wish for..." Naruto mused as he stared at the passing clouds in the night sky, "Then why do I feel...empty?"
The images of everything that happened that day ran through his head again. Naruto tilted his head in a certain direction and muttered, "Ayame..."
The blonde shinobi slightly turned his body around and he stood in silence for a moment.
Naruto nodded, "Alright. Time to go visit her."
Naruto darted off to Ayame's place as fast he could, "I'm sure talking to her will help me at least a bit."
Within a few minutes, Naruto arrived at the bedroom he had grown accustomed to during the past two weeks. He found Ayame sitting on her bed, causing him to raise a smile.
Naruto opened the window and almost silently sneaked into the girl's room.
He sheepishly grinned and whispered, "Sorry, Ayame-chan. I know it's late, bu..."
Naruto cut himself off as he saw something sparkle. Ayame tightly hugged her legs and drew them closer to herself.
"Ayame, what's wrong?" Naruto blinked as he walked towards the girl's bed.
"N...Nothing...Please...Go home..." Ayame replied, her voice sounding sadder than Naruto has ever heard before.
"You're crying, aren't you?" Naruto asked as he sat down on the edge of Ayame's bed, "Did something happen that I need to know about?"
"Yeah..." Ayame raised her head up and looked at Naruto with tears in her eyes, "I've fallen in love with you."
Naruto was speechless. His mouth dropped open far enough to insert a bowl of ramen or two.
Ayame slightly laughed and looked away from Naruto, "I probably shouldn't even have told you that."
"You...You...love me?" Naruto asked, but no reply came from Ayame.
Naruto shook his head, trying to stay focussed, "B-But...that's no reason to cry...is it?"
Ayame leaned against Naruto and her tears started flow, "It is...because I...I can't be with you..."
"I...I'm not sure I understand." Naruto hesitantly wrapped an arm around the crying Ayame.
"Sakura...Hinata...Ino..Temari...Tenten...All of them are in love with you and you love them as well, right?" Ayame asked.
Naruto slowly nodded and Ayame took a deep breath, "I see...Then our mission was a big success, Naruto..."
"I still don't understand what you mean with not being able to be with me..." Naruto looked at Ayame from the corners of his eyes.
"Idiot...You've got five girlfriends already and they're having a hard time dealing with just that...I'm not that selfish to ask you and them to let me be with you as well."
Naruto was at a loss of words, so he just kept listening to what Ayame had to say.
"I'm partly responsible from bringing all of you together...They deserve the chance to be with you..." Ayame looked away from Naruto, "Besides...I'm more like a sister to you than anything else."
"If they deserve a chance, then so do you." Naruto managed to raise a smirk, "Besides, I've never said I considered you as my onee-chan, now did I?"
"Stop..." Ayame's tears stained Naruto's jacket, "Please...just...don't say it..."
"Sorry, Ayame-chan...but I know how I feel about you after what happened today." Naruto smiled softly, "Everytime you were hurt or in trouble...something inside of me just snapped. When that bastard threw you off the cliff, I was scared to death of losing you."
Naruto wrapped his arms around Ayame and tightly hugged her, "I love you too, Ayame. So...please, don't cry anymore."
"Do you know what you're saying?" Ayame tightly wrapped her arms around Naruto, "Don't say things like that to cheer me up."
"I'm telling the truth. I actually came here to ask for your advice again...and I was kind of worried about you." Naruto smiled and rested his head against hers, "Thanks to you, I'm now certain I really do love all of you. That includes you and heck, I think even Anko-sensei might deserve a 'shot' at winning me over."
"Even if you say that, I won't allow you to hurt those girls...I'm sure they..."
"They, out of all the girls that exist in this world, are the ones that mind extra competition the least." Naruto smiled for a moment and then slightly frowned, "Of course, I'm not sure if they really will accept it, but...I have a good feeling about it."
Ayame seemed to slightly laugh, "I think it's more likely that you become Hokage tomorrow than that they'll accept me."
"Don't say that. Anything's possible." Naruto closed his eyes for a moment.
"Then...I have one request..."
"What is it?"
"Let us be the way we were these past two weeks and continue on like that...I'm happy if we're able to do just that."
Naruto remained silent for a moment, "Are you really happy with just that...?"
"Yeah...As long as I can be with you, it's fine..."
Naruto stayed there like that with Ayame until she fell asleep in his arms. He laid her down on her bed and tucked her in.
"Oh yeah...I forgot about the other reason I came here..." Naruto whispered before bending over and placing a kiss on Ayame's cheek, "Thank you for everything, Ayame. Without you, I wouldn't have had the greatest two weeks in my life."
Ayame turned in her bed and Naruto saw a small smile form on her lips.
With that image stuck in his mind, Naruto headed back for his apartment, where 5 other amazing girls were waiting for him as well.
That night, Naruto slept like he had never slept before. There were no nightmares, no nosebleed inflicting dreams and five girls were cuddled up against him.
Sadly, to all good things must come an end and that includes peaceful nights.
It was still quite early in the morning when some knocked with all their might on Naruto's front door. Naruto slowly rose up from his bed, his girlfriends slowly waking up as well.
"Who the heck is making all that noise this early in the morning?" Temari rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"It's a group of five people." Hinata stated as she sleepily tilted her head towards the door.
"Let them shut up..." Ino yawned before falling with her head onto Naruto's back.
"Yeah, I was just getting to the best part of my sleep." Tenten yawned and shook her head.
"I'll go see who they are and make them go away as fast as possible." Naruto said after noticing that Sakura simply glared at the door in annoyance.
He carefully lay Ino down on the bed and made his way to the door.
"Yeah, yeah...I'm coming..." Naruto muttered as the knocks didn't seem to end.
Naruto opened the door and found himself staring at the masks of an ANBU squad.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you're coming with us. Hokage's orders." The front ANBU member stated.
"Eh?" Naruto let out and the girls instantly seemed to be alert.
"Throw the distraction for the woman into the room." The ANBU told his squad members.
"Distraction?" One of them asked in wonder, "What distraction are you talking abou...Oof!"
Said ANBU member got a kick in his nuts and was thrown into the living room, "Thanks for taking one for the team!"
"Now, quickly!" The ANBU squad leader exclaimed and the four remaining ANBU dived towards Naruto's feet.
"Eh?!" Naruto let out as the ANBU squad tackled him and ran out of his apartment fast enough to make Naruto's body rise up from the ground.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata let out as she and the others jumped out of bed.
"Not this again!" Temari snatched her fan from underneath the bed and stormed towards the sole remaining ANBU member.
"Where did they take Naruto?!" Tenten grabbed the ANBU by his collar.
"Ugh..." The dizzy ANBU member let out.
"If you don't start talking soon, Miss Fanny here..." Ino pointed with her thumb towards Temari.
"Hey!" Temari shouted.
"Will shove that fan of hers up somewhere you don't want it." Ino finished her line with a smirk on her face.
"Hokage's...office..." The ANBU member managed to let out as he shook his head.
Tenten dropped the ANBU member and the girls dashed out of the apartment.
"Is this really all right, Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked and arched an eyebrow at his blonde wife.
"You had a better idea?" Tsunade arched an eyebrow back at the frog hermit.
"But doing this to Naruto...Don't you think it's a little bit...?" Jiraiya crossed his arms and slightly frowned.
"It almost sounds like I have more faith in him than you do." Tsunade leaned back and crossed her arms.
Jiraiya let out a whistle and then shook his head, "It's not that. I'm just wondering if he'll be alright with something like that..."
"Don't worry, don't worry. He can handle it without a problem. It won't kill him...Now...Let's enjoy this while we still can." Tsunade replied before lowering her sunglasses on her eyes and taking a sip from her bottle of sake.
The girls bashed into the Hokage's office.
"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura and Tenten shouted in unison.
"What the hell are you thinking?! Dragging Naruto and us out of our bed this early in the morning!" Temari shouted, caring little for formalities.
"Where's Naruto?" Ino threw a glare at the back of the Hokage's chair, which was facing towards them.
"N-Naruto-kun didn't do anything bad!" Hinata stated clearly.
"Hehehe..." The chair turned around.
"Sorry, but Tsunade-obachan isn't here right now. You'll have to answer to me." Naruto, dressed in white Hokage robes, grinned wickedly at his girlfriends, "Uzumaki Naruto, substitute Hokage until Tsunade-obachan and Ero-Sennin are back from their honeymoon!"
A long moment of silence followed with Sakura, Temari, Tenten, Hinata and Ino staring in disbelief at Naruto.
"Well...Congratulate me or something?" Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.
"Naruto...You...You're..." Sakura blinked.
"Hokage!" Hinata's eyes seemed to light up with joy.
Naruto jumped over the desk and nodded once, "Substitute Hokage, but Hokage nonetheless!"
"I can't believe it..." Temari managed to let out.
"You can't believe it?" Naruto grinned at her, "Even I couldn't believe it! It's amazing, isn't it?!"
"Naruto...This is..." Tenten was at a loss of words, just like the other girls.
"Come on, we've got to let the whole village know!" Naruto ran out of the Hokage's office.
"Naruto, wait up!" Ino let out before chasing Naruto, the others following not too long after that.
Naruto ran through the entire Hokage tower until he finally reached the rooftop. There he rushed to the edge and stood still as he looked over all of Konoha.
Naruto held his fist in the air and shouted as loud as he could, "Alright! Konoha, listen up! I'm Hokage while Tsunade-obachan and Ero-sennin have their honeymoon! I'm going to protect all of you and we're all going to make the old lady and Ero-sennin proud by the time they're back!"
Everyone was staring at Naruto, who grinned as his eyes wandered over the people of Konoha that were already up and busy.
"I'll take good care of everything while they're away, but I want them to be amazed by what we all did together when they come back" Naruto shouted once more, "If you're up for it, make some noise!"
Naruto's grin widened as every person he could see on the streets of Konoha was cheering as loud as they could.
"Naruto." The blonde shinobi turned around to find Sakura, Hinata, Temari, Tenten and Ino standing behind him.
"Congratulations." They said in unison and smiled at him.
Naruto slightly blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "Hehehe...It's kind of embarrassing."
"So? What will the new Hokage do first?" Tenten winked at Naruto.
"Oh, that reminds me." Naruto blinked for a moment and then eyed each of the girls present, "You know that I love all of you."
"You don't have to remind us of that every single time we're together." Ino playfully stuck her tongue out at Naruto.
"Well, you see...Last night, I headed out for a bit. A dear friend of mine, who helped me out these past two weeks, confessed to me." Naruto smiled, "Would any of you mind extra competition, so to say?"
"Heh...Bring her on." Temari smirked at Naruto.
"We'll have to try our best either way." Sakura nodded once.
"The more, the merrier." Ino smiled at Naruto.
"Sounds like a challenge to me." Tenten smirked and placed her hands on her hips.
"Hinata...?" Naruto tilted his head at the shy Hyuuga heiress.
"I..." Hinata gulped and nodded once, "I will never give up on Naruto-kun."
"Everyone...thanks." Naruto smiled as he turned around and placed a foot on the edge of the rooftop, "I'm sure she'll be infinitely thankful to all of you."
"Naruto." Sakura's voice caused Naruto to turn his head back around again.
"Let's have a great day together again."
Naruto nodded once and then turned back around as he grinned, "Nothing but great days await us from here on out!"
Naruto jumped off and headed from roof to roof as fast as he could, enjoying the breeze that ran through his hair. He neared a certain house not too long after leaving the Hokage Tower.
Hanging out of the window that led to a certain bedroom, a hazel haired girl was looking straight into his eyes with a look of surprise.
Naruto raised a wide smile at her and she instantly smiled back at him with an equally wide smile.
"Ayame..." Naruto placed his feet against the wall and stared at her for a moment.
She silently stared back at him as he leaned forward and kissed her passionately. A moment later, he broke the kiss and smiled at her.
"From Naruto with love."
The End...?
A/N: Well, that's that. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. If not and you're one of the critics, have no fear. I too feel like chapters 17, 18 and 19 could have been better and different. Therefor, there will be a chapter 20 in due time, which will be a COMPLETE rewrite of those three chapters. Needless to say it will take me a long time to write.
Before I explain some things, it's time to reflect back if you ask me.
If you told me a year and a half ago that this story would be as popular as it is today, I wouldn't have believed you. It was supposed to be a short story for Valentine's Day and it turned out to be one heck of a long story. During the course of the story, I feel like I've grown as an author and I really liked writing every single bit of this story. Not only that, but I started to appreciate every single girl in Naruto that I wrote about. I'm really glad I was able to complete this story and even provide you with an alternate ending in due time.
I'm sure the critics(note, that's not an insult) are wondering WHY chapters 17, 18 and of course 19 turned out the way they are, because they all liked the story all in all before that. All I can say is, blame the tunnel vision I had. However, now that it's done, I'm actually beginning to see alternatives that will work better. A lot of my inspiration comes directly from the manga, as in if the current manga events aren't to my liking, then I'm feeling less like writing.
Long ranting aside now, I thank all of my readers for sticking with this story all this time and the reviewers, who all managed to make me raise a smile each morning after I posted a new chapter when I checked my emails. For those that still want more, look forward to chapter 20, but it will come out a looong time from now. Both due to it's probably size and the fact that I've got other matters to attend to. What else lies in the future? Well, first of all, I'm going to check the grammar and spelling of each chapter thoroughly. This one has it's errors as well, but they'll be sorted out in due time. I might post my new latest Naruto fic(s) soon, but probably not.
Either way, I hope we all meet in the near future again and that you'll enjoy reading my future stories just as much as (and hopefully even more than) this one.
'Till next time, folks
Ryushi.
Ouendan: A Nintendo DS rythem game. The main cast consists of a bunch of bad ass Yakuza-style male cheerleaders that cheer people up in the most weird situations. Awesome humorous game and worthy of a reference.
Phoenix Wright: Another awesome DS game. "Objection!" rules surpeme XD! It's basically the coolest visual novel currently available.