43 Chapter 43

It had been about four days since Temari came to Konoha, and those four days were some of the most enjoyable days of Naruto's life. He was off-duty, on strict orders by Tsunade. Naruto had no problem with, using his time to either train with the sand siblings, or work on his newest sealing project he found in his father's study.

Training with Temari was fun, because they hadn't trained together since chunin exams, and they both enjoyed every second of it. It was clear that Naruto held the upper hand in taijutsu due to his speed and reflexes. Temari had, on more than one occasion, suspiciously asked him and his friends, whether Naruto had a bloodline that allowed him to this fast at his age, because no other shinobi of his age was that fast.

They had spent more time together than before. They could be seen together training on one of the grounds sometimes, or just taking a walk around the village, or eating at Ichiraku's. Even though his marriage to Temari gave Naruto plenty of good reasons to spend more time with her, he unfortunately had become a victim of his friends' and worse, Jiraiya's teasing.

He had accomplished quite a bit in the four days that she and her brothers had been in Konoha. He had talked to Temari about how their relationship would progress, if they could make it work or not, followed by an extremely hot make out session.

And they had been having a lot of those recently. Most of them were either in the house when they were alone, or sometimes in the training grounds. They even had two of them in alleyways, just like any teenage couple with raging hormones. Kurama had made himself a cave in his mind to block it all out.

They had been steadily getting bolder with each other, and Naruto knew that it won't be long before the-

Naruto shook his head violently, trying to get rid of the blush that had been forming on his face. He was on an errand, quite a serious one, because he needed to talk to both Jiraiya and Tsunade about this, if his father's notes were anything to go by.

The journal was about something that Naruto would never have expected from his father. It was filled to the last page with sealing equations and math, all of which required a constant study from Naruto's clones over two days. In the end, it all came down to one thing:

Namikaze Minato had used fuinjutsu to successfully enhance the human body. Namely, his own.

Now if it were any other person, Naruto was pretty sure he would have set the book on fire with a katon jutsu, then shut the ashes in a box and then fried the box. But this was his father he was talking about here!

The Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash, one of the greatest seal masters to ever live. One can't just throw away the work of a genius like that.

On the first day, the day after they came, he had fixed Gaara's seal with Jiraiya's help. To say that the seal was a shoddy piece of work was the greatest understatement ever. When he had examined the seal after removing the Gogyo Fuin he had put over it, there was no other way to say this.

Naruto had been fucking pissed.

So pissed off he was that he had destroyed almost half of a training ground in his rage. He wanted to find whoever made that….insult to fuinjutsu and raze them into the ground. He wanted to make them suffer, because they deliberately made Gaara suffer.

The seal was designed such that it barely kept Shukaku inside Gaara, which was most probably the reason for Gaara's insomnia. Shukaku had more control over Gaara than Gaara had control of him. The seal was meant to grant Gaara all of Shukaku's abilities from the very beginning itself, even if they didn't have any friendship like his and Kurama's between them at all.

It was a process of seven hours to fix the seal. First, Naruto and Jiraiya figured out the way to safely remove the seal without setting Shukaku free. Then Naruto had, using his father's and mother's notes about seals for jinchuriki, chosen a seal that would work on Gaara. He did not even think about using the eight trigrams seal once.

The seal Naruto had chosen to replace Gaara's seal was a bit more simpler. He had asked Gaara whether he still wanted access to Shukaku's powers, because that was what he had based his selection of seal on. After a little deliberation with his siblings, Gaara had told him that he did not want any more access to that power, if it always meant losing his mind and sanity in the process. And Naruto doubted Shukaku was willing to get along with humans.

But if Gaara were to ever run out of his chakra, he would have no back up to fall back on, as is the perk for all the jinchuriki. So in the end, Naruto tweaked the seal a little, placing a limit and an additional gate on it, without compromising the rest of the seal. The gate would allow a certain amount of bijuu chakra to flow through the seal, the amount being determined by the limiter. After the limit has been reached, the limiter would shut the gate. Like that, Gaara would have a back supply to fall back on, without ever needing to interact with Shukaku.

The actual, practical part of the process only took one hour. First, Jiraiya would remove the seal, with Naruto using a weak, but temporary seal to hold Shukaku from escaping, while Jiraiya applied the new, improved seal. Since the seal was temporary and therefore, very weak, it required an enormous amount of chakra to be held in place against a tailed beast. The job was given to Naruto because he possessed those monstrous reserves of chakra.

But even for someone like Naruto, whose chakra reserves were like an ocean among ponds, the job was hard. When Jiraiya had finally finished applying the seal, Naruto had almost run out of chakra, which was a first for him.

He had fallen unconscious just as the new seal had activated.

When he had woken up, he had found himself, not for the first time, in a room in the hospital. Tsunade had proceeded to yell at him for making her worry like that, and then she almost broke him bones by hugging him to death.

She then proceeded to tell him that he had been unconscious for a good five hours, because he had nearly emptied his chakra tank. After getting released, he had then went back to his house with Temari, who had been in tears, though of joy or worry, Naruto hadn't been able to tell.

Flashback

Naruto had just flashed back to his home's living room when he was tackled by a blonde blur, straight into the couch. It took him one second to realize that the sobbing person hugging him was his soon to be wife. He just sighed in relaxation and wrapped his arms around her, returning her hug.

Temari hadn't stopped worrying about Naruto from the moment he had fallen unconscious. She had so badly wanted to rush to him, but Shizune-san held her back forcibly, telling her that Tsunade-sama wanted to make sure that Naruto was alright. Although, she assured Temari that Naruto had probably fallen unconscious due to chakra exhaustion. Even if that did little to assure her.

She failed to mention the extreme part.

For Temari, it felt like every second was as long as a minute, for Naruto showed no signs of waking up at all. Tsunade had ordered her to go back home after her fourth hour of staying in the room. She had assured her that she would be the first person Tsunade would send Naruto after she had discharged him.

"You had me completely worried, baka," she whispered as she clung to him.

Naruto placed a soft kiss on her hair. "Removing a seal is tricky business, Temari. Holding a bijuu back from escaping even more so. I told you that before we began the procedure, you know."

"But you never told me you would almost empty your chakra reserves!"

Naruto chuckled as he adjusted her on his lap so she was facing him more comfortably. Her eyes were red from crying, and tear tracks had formed on her cheeks. A lone tear made its way down, only to be kissed away by him.

"Well, I was holding a bijuu back, so my chakra reserves had to take a hit."

Temari smiled and just leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You don't get to worry me like that, Naruto."

Naruto wrapped his own arms around her. "I know, and I'm really sorry, but this is one of the times when it just can't be helped. Sometime in the future, something might happen to you, and I would lose my head and give you the same lecture you are giving me now."

After a moment of pause, he continued in a more positive tone. "Look on the bright side though. Gaara will be able to sleep to his heart's content now. I look forward to not seeing him look like an actual raccoon."

Temari couldn't help the chuckle. "You're right. He will finally be able to sleep after years of insomnia."

Naruto smiled, just nodding in reply. They just enjoyed each other's company for the moment. Gaara was under observation for now, to check if the seal holds, with Kankuro with him. There was a very slim chance of the seal breaking, though. Naruto had made sure of that.

Apparently, Temari also realized the absence of her brothers, for she leaned away from him, giving him a coy look. "I think I haven't thanked you properly enough, Naruto, for doing such a favor to Gaara."

He shivered as she leaned in and started placing kisses along his neck. His own hands roamed her body as he allowed her to do that. He enjoyed the moments where he allowed Temari to be the dominant one.

"How about we just….pass the time for now?"

Flashback end

The make out session that had followed was the most intense one they had had, and the first one in which they had reached the height of pleasure. Well, the height they could without having sex, that is. The excitement and the thrill had broke the roof that evening.

Naruto's lower had gotten really messy, along with Temari's panties.

Anyways, the day was over, with Naruto and Temari having dinner together, for Gaara was to stay at the hospital for at least one more day.

The second day is a bit of a mystery, for both you readers and Temari. Naruto had left the house very early, leaving his clones to prepare breakfast for the siblings and with a message that there was something very important that Naruto had to do and as such, he would be busy the whole day.

Temari had been quite upset about that, because she enjoyed the training sessions she and Naruto had. Every session she learned something new, either about shinobi skills, or just about Naruto himself. She had asked the clones just what was Naruto doing, but the clones said that they had been instructed to keep it a secret from her.

Temari had not been pleased, but relented. She had then gone out to find Naruto's friends, to spend some time to get to know them. The first person she had met was the pink head, Sakura. She had first spotted her on one of the training grounds.

Sakura had offered to show her around if she liked, to introduce her to Naruto's friends. Temari had accepted the offer and tagged along.

…Let's just say that it was a very long day and leave it at that.

Naruto on the other hand, had gone to conduct some extremely personal business. He figured that since he was about to get married, might as well follow the tradition.

The third day, he had introduced Temari to his summons. She had already been familiar to Raiden, but he let her get to know him a bit more. She would be seeing a lot of him, after all. Finding out that Raiden now had a new tail was a surprise, though.

He introduced to her to Raiden's brother as well. Toshi, Raiden's elder brother, who was a part of the trackers of the Kitsune. As a tracker, his size and power would be restricted to three tails, for he was not a fighter, unlike Raiden, who would grow up to be as big as his father.

Toshi had a quiet, serious personality, with a light sense of humor that shone through when he was not training or on a mission. However, he was extremely good at what he did. At first, Naruto had doubted he could form a friendship with Toshi like he had did with Raiden. But that doubt had been quickly washed away when they had bonded.

Toshi was a pretty cool guy in the short time that Naruto had known him. And he had a lot of stories to tell about his job as one of the trackers, and as the brother of Raiden. Him and Temari had not bonded as fast as he and Naruto did, but that was understandable considering Temari already had a summons.

The fourth day, that was today, Naruto had an important errand to run. He had discussed with Temari, the rules that concerned his study. Right now, he had not given her the password, because the mechanism behind it was a little tricky and took time to explain, but he would once he was done with the errand.

He arrived outside Tsunade's office, knocking the door thrice. Once he heard her permission to enter, he opened the door, finding her and Jiraiya talking, well, more like bickering.

Tsunade looked annoyed by the fact that Jiraiya kept using one of her windows to enter, while Jiraiya honestly looked insulted at the thought of using doors. But Naruto knew that no matter what happened to Jiraiya, he would never stop using windows to enter rooms.

He liked annoying people that way.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya exclaimed, briskly walking over to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, almost dragging him in front of Tsunade's table. "Tell her how insulting it is to use doors when you are a ninja!"

"No, I will not," Naruto sighed in exasperation. "Better you than me at the end of her fist."

Tsunade smirked while Jiraiya gasped, looking betrayed. "How could you, Naruto?!"

"Can we please just get to business? I'd rather finish this as quickly as possible and spend the rest of the day with Temari instead of some old people."

As he expected, Tsunade was the only one who took any offence to the "old" comment. Jiraiya on the other hand, seemed to have not heard it at all. Instead, he focused his attention on the other part of the statement. His mouth stretched into a perverted line. "Oh? Spend the day with her, how?"

A fist crashed on top of his head, courtesy of the female blonde in the room. "That is none of your business!"

Naruto gave a thankful nod to her as Jiraiya grumbled and fell in line with him, both standing in front of the Hokage table. Tsunade took her seat while he and Jiraiya stood. "So, Naruto, what is it that you want to discuss so badly?"

In answer, Naruto just took out a storage scroll from one of the pockets in his jonin vests and unsealed the contents, which was his father's journal.

The effect was instantaneous. Both the faces of the adults hardened into seriousness and quick as a flash, Tsunade flashed through hand seals that sealed the room completely. All the ANBU were outside and Jiraiya was beside him in an instant.

"Where did you get that?"

The question was asked with such gruffness that it surprised Naruto. The man had never seemed more serious than before. It seemed, however, that these two had knowledge of what was written in the journal. Tsunade also seemed equally, if not more, serious than Jiraiya.

Naruto put the journal on the desk and answered, "I found it in my study."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow, "Your study?"

Naruto deadpanned at her, "It was my father's, but since he's not here, it is now mine. But that's not relevant."

He motioned to the journal, "What do you know about that?"

He quickly got annoyed, though, when he saw the hesitation on their faces, as clear as water. He narrowed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest, "I'm waiting."

"….it was Minato's pet project, ever since he got the idea in his head that the human body could be enhanced, without any drawback."

Jiraiya's answer only increased Naruto's curiosity and irritation. "I already know that," he snapped. "You don't think I've read the journal and studied it? Ever since the delegate from Suna has arrived, I have had my clones do the studying for me, to understand one of my father's masterpieces. What I want to know, is whether he actually performed it on himself or not?"

"…..He did."

Naruto released a breath, giving them a look to continue. Tsunade continued, "Jiraiya told me that it was only a stray idea that popped into Minato's head one day. He wanted to know if seals were capable of pushing the human body beyond the peak of its highest potential."

"He wanted to create a super soldier," Naruto whispered in amazement.

Jiraiya nodded, "That's exactly what he wanted to do, but I had firmly told him that it was not possible, no matter how versatile fuinjutsu is, the seals required for what he wanted to achieve simply didn't exist. Not mention, even if he succeeded in creating such seals, hypothetically, what would he test them upon?"

He shook his head. "It was an impossible task. To create an entirely new series of seals that would work together to enhance the human body beyond its limits. But again, your father treated the word like he had never heard of it." A fond, yet impossibly proud at the same time look, came upon his face. "It took him four years of work on the seals, along with Kushina, to perfect it."

"Not only that, but he created an entirely new type of clone to test the seals out and perfect the seals."

"The blood clone," Naruto whispered.

Tsunade took off from where Jiraiya left. "Exactly. The type of clone that is entirely separate from the user, having no connection to it at all, other than being made from the user's blood and one aspect of the user's personality. When he made it, Minato had no uses for it in mind, other than using it for his tests. It was entirely useless, and too impractical. It took up way too much of the user's chakra, almost half a quarter more than the shadow clone."

Jiraiya took over from there. "But in the end, it worked very well for his trials. In the end, Minato had conducted a total of ninety-eight trials, eighty-six of which were failures, back to back. But the last twelve…"

"They were the successes Minato was desperately hoping for. After the twelfth success, Minato finally imprinted the seals on himself."

"As much as I like the tale, how were you involved in this process?"

Naruto's sarcasm wasn't missed. A guilty look came across Jiraiya's face, Tsunade sighed and looked down. "I wasn't exactly involved," Jiraiya admitted. "More like I told him that it just wasn't possible. Tsunade, on the other hand, was the medical advisor on the project."

"Since Minato was creating an entirely new set of seals, he asked me to be the advisor for this project. My knowledge of the human body and medical seals was required for him to calculate how exactly to enhance a specific part of the body and by how much," Tsunade revealed.

"And he was successful in the end," Naruto concluded.

Jiraiya nodded. "We were there, of course, when he decided to apply the seals onto himself, to intervene in any sort of an emergency. But it wasn't needed. Minato was in pain for over an hour, but when it was finally over, he had succeeded.

"He had enhanced his own body perfectly. There was a reason that only four people were involved in this project. He even kept the Hokage in the dark about this, as daring as it was," Tsunade revealed.

"Why?"

Jiraiya's face turned grim. "There was no way we could risk this project to fall into someone else's hands."

"Orochimaru," Naruto realized.

Tsunade nodded. "The rumors surrounding him at that time made us very suspicious of him. If he even got the wind of what Minato had achieved, he would have done anything to get his hands on the formulae."

Naruto nodded and slowly walked around the office, trying to think about what he should do. Jiraiya did not need to be a Yamanaka to know what was going on in Naruto's mind. "You want to perform the procedure as well, don't you?"

But Naruto wasn't listening to him anymore. 'What do you think, Kurama?'

'That you father was one smart son of a bitch,' Kurama drawled back.

Naruto gave an internal annoying sigh. 'Not that I'm against you praising my father, I am talking about another matter.'

'I'm not praising that blonde vermin!' Kurama snarled inside his mind.

Then, in a much calmer voice, he continued. 'Also, it would give you quite an advantage for you, should you undergo the procedure. I have seen it from inside your mother, and I know what the results would be.'

Naruto rose an eyebrow. 'I sense a 'but' coming.'

Kurama nodded. 'I think that you should wait for one or two years before undergoing the procedure. It would be wise if you underwent it at the same age your father did. Best not to take any chances.'

Naruto was excited, as any child of his age, when he heard that he could get stronger in a way that would be cool, but he rarely let excitement make his decisions for him. Disappointed, yet accepting of Kurama's advice, he nodded. Turning back, he saw the concerned look over the adult's faces. "What?"

Tsunade spoke up. "You alright?"

Naruto waved away her concern. "Nothing. I was just talking to the Kyuubi."

Tsunade's eyes bugged out in horror. "What?!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Ero-sennin didn't tell youthat?"

Tsunade's face twisted into one of rage and annoyance as she turned to the white haired sage, who was trembling in his place. He weakly defended himself, "I-I forgot…"

Tsunade cracked her knuckles as she walked forward menacingly. "I'll give you a dose of medicine that will strengthen your memory."

What followed next, was history repeating itself. Naruto just shrugged and took his leave.

He had another errand to do anyways.

XXXXXXX

Temari was sitting in the dining area of her soon to be home, sipping some tea she had made for herself. As she relished the hot, steaming beverage soothing her throat, she thought back to the last few days she spent with Naruto.

He was very affectionate to her, she had observed. He was very gentle when talking to her, but too much as to treat her like she was precious glass. He respected her a kunoichi in her own right, and wasn't afraid to beat her into the ground to get a point across when they trained together. He genuinely seemed to love her, if the small, but sweet gestures by him were anything to go by.

She greatly enjoyed the times when they were intimate. The hot, steamy make out sessions with him that got bolder every time were something she would always enjoy, but the occasional hug, snuggle and cuddle with him was she would never get bored of. Such sweet gestures made her love him even more.

The love between them was growing stronger steadily.

She didn't even need to say how accomplished he was as a shinobi at such a young age, however, it was how he normally acted that surprised her.

Naruto was generally a very calm person, and very observant. He was not a foolish idealist, but rather his ideals were approached with a realistic and a pragmatic approach. This was something he told her himself. He did not disapprove of having ideals to live by and accomplish, but he seemed to genuinely loath those people who blindly tried to achieve those ideals without taking the reality into account.

Naruto had told her, in a joking way, that people seemed to think he was a very patient person. And it was true, mostly on the outside though. Rarely did anyone of his friends say that they had seen Naruto get angry, but Naruto had quietly told her the truth one time when they were cuddling in the living room. He preferred not to show his rage on the outside, but keep it within him and channel it in an effective way. Naruto hated when he was not in control of things, but that did not go to say that he was a control freak. He was more than happy to let others control things for him when he deemed himself incapable to do so.

Before she could dwell on her thoughts more, she jumped a bit when the door to the gardens outside was opened, a figure stepping inside. She had almost thrown a kunai at the figure when she recognized the blonde hair of Naruto. She relaxed and let out the breath she was holding.

"At least knock before you enter, will you?" She muttered.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and raised his hands. "I just wanted to see how you would react."

Temari snorted, "I almost threw a kunai at your head."

Naruto nodded approvingly and walked around the sofa to sit with her. He wrapped an arm around her, gently pulling her into his side. "I had something to talk about with our Hokage."

Temari rested her head on his shoulder. They rested like that for a while, after which Temari muttered, "Today has been a slow day."

Naruto's hand, that was rubbing her side absently, not that she minded, stopped. "Slow as in, boring?"

Temari nodded in reply. She had been bored out of her mind. She would have trained, or explored the village, but for some reason, she was feeling quite lazy today.

"You want to go on a date?"

Her brow furrowed as she tilted her head to gaze into his azures. His eyes were twinkling with mischief, which caused her to put up her guard. From what she had seen, Naruto was not a person to pull many pranks, but she did not know that he was the resident prankster of the village.

She raised an eyebrow questioningly. "A date?"

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yeah!"

She thought about it a bit. It had been a while since they had been on one of those, in the past two days. "Sure, why not?"

Naruto grinned like the cat who got the canary. "Great! Be ready at eight in the evening! Wear something nice and casual!"

With that, he suddenly got up from the couch, whistling a random tune. Temari chuckled and shook her head fondly at his amusing antics.

Naruto was sure a peculiar person.

XXXXXXX

It was fifteen minutes to eight when Temari finished getting ready. She had taken a hot shower at eight-twenty, and then got ready. She did not usually apply makeup, but since this was a date with Naruto and not a meal after one of their training sessions, she applied a little bit of it. She had a feeling this would be special.

She had put on a sleeveless, loose white blouse with straps over her shoulders, and a blue jeans that hugged her legs nicely. She had only put on some powder and lipstick, mainly because she had no idea how to properly put it on as she never cared much for it. She exited her room and went down the stairs, into the living room and saw Naruto.

This was the first time she had seen him in a casual look and she had to say, he looked exceptionally handsome in the look. He wore a peach t-shirt inside a brown, full sleeves shirt with buttons open, and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He wore khaki pants underneath, finishing with a different pair of sport shoes than she usually saw him. He also wore a blank, black headband instead of his hitai-ate, into his usual hairstyle.

Needless to say, Temari loved the look.

Naruto on the other hand, was blown away by how exceptionally beautiful Temari looked for their date. She always looked beautiful to him, but today it looked more special than it usually did. Even her hair was tied into two ponytails, contrary to her usual four.

He smiled as she came close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, him automatically wrapping his around her waist, pushing them close. She smiled like an angel, "So, where are you taking me tonight?"

Naruto smiled as he stole a quick kiss from her. "Your look alone makes me want to ravish you here and now, forget about the wedding," he said as he planted light kisses on her neck.

Temari blushed, making her face go dark red. The blush looked darker than usual because of her makeup. But she couldn't resist the moan when Naruto began planting kisses on her neck. She pulled him closer and tilted her neck to give him more access. Much to her silent protests, he pulled away.

"As much as I would like to do that," he said with a protesting face, "we have an appointment in ten minutes. Shall we?"

She smiled and hooked her arm with his, both of them going out of the house. It was somewhat nice, Naruto mused, to walk to places sometimes instead of just teleporting. It made you notice certain things that were not possible to be noticed in flashing. Like how the people wore smiles and not so subtly pointed at them and whispering. Like how a little girl would blush when he looked at her and hid her face behind her mother's legs, peeking out to look at them.

He chuckled in amusement, drawing Temari's attention. "What is it?"

Naruto shook his head. "Just a little girl blushing at the sight of us."

Temari gave a meaningful look to him. "At the sight of you, you mean," she said in a teasing voice.

Naruto smoothly shot back at her. "I never said that. It could also be at the sight of you."

"Then why didn't you say that earlier?"

Naruto had no reply to that question, why made Temari giggle. It was rare for Naruto to not have a comeback, and she relished the few times she had been able to achieve that.

After five minutes of walking, they arrived at a fancy looking restaurant. Fancy as in the kind where most of the people could come and eat, not the one that was only attended by the most snobbish people, which turned out to be, most of the times, the rich ones. Temari could see a lot of people in the restaurant, which was fairly big.

Naruto and her walked up to the receptionist, the former addressing him. "I have an eight fifteen reservation."

The receptionist frowned and looked up. "Namikaze Naruto?"

"Yes."

The receptionist motioned one of the waiters. "He will guide you to your table, Naruto-sama."

Naruto barely kept from rolling his eyes, while Temari quietly giggled beside him. He good-naturedly elbowed her in the ribs, "Yeah, very funny."

To her surprise, the waiter led them upstairs to the roof, where the table were arranged. Few people were on the roof, chatting among themselves quietly. Temari figured that the tables up on the roof must be for the people who wanted some privacy.

The waiter sat them down on the table and they quickly gave their orders. Once he was gone, they started talking. "You know Naruto, your choice for where our date would be is commendable."

Naruto smiled and replied, "Yeah, I kind of wanted our date to be in a place where we both would be comfortable, but not so much as to come off like showing my wealth."

He spread out his arms, "This place offers great food, and privacy as well, not to mention the view from the roof is just mind blowing. It was for me, when I came here for the first time."

Temari looked around, feeling the cool breeze blowing around them. She got up and went to the railing, smiling at the view of the village that met her. Lights everywhere, it looked like the village itself was breathing with life. Not as great as the view that was offered from the Hokage mountain, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

She went back to her seat. "You chose a great place," she told him as she took his hand in hers.

Naruto smiled as he rubbed his thumb on her hand. "Funny story, actually, how I got us this seat."

Temari tilted her head in question, which he answered.

"Normally, they don't give rooftop reservations to teenagers. You must have noticed that we are the only teenagers up here."

Temari wasn't an idiot. She had noticed that particular detail, and she quickly pieced together what he was trying to say. Her lips turned upwards into a smirk. "You used your name to get this table, didn't you?"

Naruto's eyes twinkled with mischief and pride, the latter aimed at Temari. "You know, you alarm me sometimes with how sharp you are."

Temari accepted the compliment with a nod. "It wasn't exactly hard. Also, if you used your influence to get us this table, does this mean that clan heirs can come here as well?"

Naruto smirked, "You know, with some training, we can make a great detective out of you."

Temari laughed lightly, "I'm not suited for that. Maybe something little more kickass."

Both of them lightly chuckled at that. "Yes, clan heirs can come here. You need to understand that in Konoha, people who have good influence are treated a little better than those who don't. Which is not to say, the people with less influence get mediocre service."

He leaned forward, as if sharing a secret. "It's even better if you are related to the Hokage. Between us, I plan on using my influence whenever I can," he smirked at the last bit.

Temari gave him an approving look. "Good to see that you are not overly modest."

Naruto just looked to the sky with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a waiter coming their way. "Looks like our meals have arrived."

They made small talk between their meals, mostly about what they would like to become in the future. Of course, Temari already knew that Naruto's dream was to become the greatest Hokage ever. But it came as a surprise to Naruto that Temari wanted to be the greatest master of wind release there ever was. Of course, Naruto knew that she was already highly proficient with her large war fan, but had yet to begin training with the smaller ones.

That sparked an idea in his mind, but he would get to that later.

They finished their meals, paid for it and left. They were just strolling in the village with no destination in mind. Unknown to Temari, Naruto was steadily getting nervous. He had something he had to do tonight, something very important, and he did not want to mess it up.

'You won't.'

Naruto smiled a bit at Kurama's reassurance and turned his head to look at Temari. She was looking around, admiring the sights. He nudged her, causing her to face him. "How about we get somewhere private to sit down?"

She smiled, "I don't have a problem."

Suddenly, they were standing on top of Yondaime's head, overlooking the village. Naruto sat down, leaning his back against a spike of hair. Temari sat down beside him, leaning against his side. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.

Naruto always treasured the time when he just got to sit like this with Temari and enjoy the silence.

"You ever wonder about the future?"

Temari's sudden question startled him out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at her. She was still facing the village, head on his shoulder. "Sometimes I do, though I prefer to live in the present."

"Why?"

Naruto thought a bit about the answer and then replied, "I can control what I do in the present. The future I cannot."

Temari turned her head towards him with a frown. "But the actions you do, influence your future. Wouldn't you know the outcome of your actions?"

Naruto smiled as he gave his answer. "I'm not the only one influencing my future now, am I?"

Temari looked deep in thought at that. Naruto turned his gaze back to the village with a smile, but in his mind, it was like a brooding feeling. He could feel it- a storm was coming towards them, and he wasn't sure if they were prepared or not. But he would do whatever he could to ensure that whatever was his would remain safe.

But then he remembered what he came here to do. He unwrapped his arm around Temari and got up, getting a confused look from her. "Will you stand up for a second?"

When she obliged, he gently grabbed her shoulders and stared into her teal eyes. Suddenly, it seemed a lot harder, and he almost wanted to turn around, but he was an Uzumaki, dammit! They don't run away from their problems!

"Temari, I am going to ask you a question. You just need to say yes or no, got it?"

He asked it with all the seriousness he could muster. Temari frowned as she was baffled by his request, but nodded. Naruto let out a breath and removed his arms from her shoulders, putting them into his pockets. He took a deep breath and relaxed.

"I really don't know how to say this, but I'll try my best. Temari, we both are powerful shinobi of our generations, and perhaps the most loyal, considering that we are willing to marry each other to cement our alliance."

Temari stood before him, looking completely confused and a bit alarmed. Nonetheless, Naruto continued. "It was one of my happiest days when we made out in that alleyway. In fact, that may have been the foundation to our growing love."

Even though Temari was blushing, the words felt alien to his tongue. He was not used to speaking in this way. For a person who always went straight to the point, this was difficult for him. "A lot of time has passed since then, and we are about to get married in the next three days. But I felt that…..I must not break the tradition of a wedding, so…."

He took out a small box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a stunning gold ring with intricate design on its band, but she had already gotten the point. Temari gasped in surprise and delight, her eyes filling with tears. This was what he had in mind all along…

"Marry me?"

Naruto had barely asked her the question when she jumped into his arms, her own wrapping around his neck tightly. His own wrapped themselves around her waist as he gave an ear to ear smile. This probably, no, without doubt, was the happiest moment in his life.

"Yes! Yes!"

Temari hugged Naruto with all her might as her tears finally escaped. But the tears were of joy, and she was sure she had never been more happier in her life.

It was every girl's dream to be proposed by the guy she loved, and since it was a political marriage, it had never occurred to Temari that Naruto would pop the question to her. They had been extremely luck in the first place that they had gotten engaged to each other. She pulled back and held out her left hand for him to slide the ring on, which he did with the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

When she looked closer, even his eyes seemed a little wet.

It was then she got a close look at the ring. It was gold, shining like his hair. It perplexed her a little that the intricate design on it seemed to be on the inside instead of the outside. The outside was plain gold, with a, surprisingly, head of a fox. Temari already knew which fox was that and she turned to him in question.

Naruto smiled and replied. "He has been a large part of my life till now, and will continue to be. In fact, he would never leave me, so I just had to include him."

Temari smiled and brushed her tears. He continued, "You see the intricate design on the inside? Those are seals. One of them is a tiny version of my Hiraishin marker. Just channel a bit your chakra in the ring and I'll be there. Also, I incorporated a blood seal as well. Whoever tries to remove that ring by surprise will have a nasty surprise waiting for him, including cutting off your finger."

She looked at the ring on her finger in wonder. "How did you write the seals on the inside?"

Naruto shrugged. "Shadow clones are very handy. They can transform into literally anything. Including smaller versions of themselves."

Temari laughed and hugged him tightly. After what happened in the last minute, she didn't want to let go of him. She realized in this moment, and she was no longer afraid of telling him. She was completely sure.

"I love you."

Naruto was completely taken aback with those words. They were the words that he had been yearning to hear all of his life from someone. Sure, Jiraiya had his own way of saying that he cared about him, but hearing the words out loud was a different feeling entirely.

It was…..he really didn't have words for it.

"R-Really?"

His voice broke for the first time when speaking to someone, but somehow, he didn't hate himself for it. Temari smiled and just hugged him tenderly.

"Yes."

His own arms wrapped around her waist tightly, and tears flowed from his eyes for the first time in a very long time. He was able to whisper back to her.

"I love you too."

XXXXXXX

Gaara and Kankuro were sitting in the living room, just passing time. Kankuro was actually explaining to Gaara how he worked his puppets when the redhead expressed his interest in them.

They both jumped, however, when Naruto and Temari suddenly appeared in front of them, arms wrapped around each other and giggling. Kankuro immediately assumed the worst, which was, Naruto doing naughty things with his sister. But before he could act foolishly, as always, he noticed that Temari seemed to be unusually happy. In fact, she was glowing from happiness.

Gaara noticed it too, for he asked her. "What is it that you're so happy about, Temari?"

Temari stopped stopped giggling, but the huge smile didn't leave her face. "Naruto proposed to me!"

At that, Kankuro stupidly asked her. "Why? You were already going to get married. There was no need to-"

"As long as Temari is happy," Gaara interrupted, knowing that Kankuro would probably say something that would ruin Temari's mood, "I have no problem with it."

Temari smiled as she hugged Gaara. "Thank you so much, Gaara."

She made Naruto sit down with her and recounted the details of their date to them, with unusual excitement. It was the first time that Naruto had seen her acting like Ino or Sakura, though the latter had cut down on her fangirling ways.

Gaara was genuinely happy for them, while Kankuro earned himself a bashing from Temari when he told Naruto in no uncertain terms that he was to inform Kankuro when he would go out with Temari. While that left Naruto annoyed, he simply told Kankuro that he earned the bashing from his sister, and he would deliver it as well if he continued spouting bullshit.

Gaara simply shook his head at his brother's foolishness, happy that he at least had common sense that his brother seemed to eternally lack.

He congratulated the couple and retired for the night. It was a strange feeling to be asleep, and it had tickled Naruto's funny bone when Gaara had asked him if it was okay to get addicted to sleep. Naruto had laughed for an entire minute at that question, and when he stopped, he clapped Gaara on the shoulder and said, "You aren't the only one, buddy."

He also took Kankuro with him using his sand, taking care that he did not litter the house with it.

Soon enough, night came and Naruto prepared to sleep. To be truthful, he still hadn't gotten off the high that Temari had told him she loved him. He knew that he wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon due to his excitement, so he pulled out a card deck and settled himself on his bed for a few games with his clones.

Kami, he was crazy.

He was about to summon his clones when his door was knocked. He frowned and looked at the clock on the wall. Who could be knocking at eleven?

He opened the door, only for his breath to hitch slightly. Temari was leaning against his doorframe, dressed in a loose t-shirt that went down till her half thighs, exposing her long legs. Naruto seriously thought that they were the best feature about her after her eyes.

She smiled, "Hey."

He managed to return, "Hey yourself. If those are your nightclothes, I will never get tired of seeing you in that."

Temari chuckled, "So glad you like it."

Naruto found himself in an awkward position. What was he supposed to say?

"You can't sleep either?"

Temari shook her head gently, her hair moving with her. "With all the excitement you put me through today, I know I won't be able to sleep. I was wondering whether you wanted to pass the time with me."

Naruto blinked. "Sure, if you want to."

Temari smiled serenely and held out two fingers. "Choose one."

Naruto frowned. "What are these?"

"Nothing that would hurt you."

Warning: Lime scene

Naruto huffed at her vagueness and abruptly grabbed her index finger. Suddenly, her smile turned teasing and catching him off guard, she pulled him out of his room and smashed her lips against his.

He wasted no time in returning her kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist and in her hair, pulling her flush against him. In the back of his mind, he approved her way of burning of the excitement. One of her hands was wrapped around his neck and the other was fisted in his hair, making it more of a mess than it usually was.

Naruto pulled one of his hands so both of them were wrapped around her waist. He turned them around, gently slamming Temari into the wall. Neither of them cared whether the other inhabitants of the house were awake or sleeping. Both just wanted to experience the pleasure.

Naruto's left hand went down her thigh, going up the t-shirt she was wearing, and softly massaged the skin of her toned stomach. The contact of flesh spurred Temari further, as her left leg came up to wrap around Naruto's hips, his other hand instantly going to support it. Naruto's right hand was now brushing over the underside of her thigh, and his excitement only grew when his hand wasn't stopped from exploring the naked flesh of her ass. Even though she was wearing panties, Naruto's heart soared at the amount of trust she had in him. He broke off the kiss and started sucking at her pulse point. The gasp that followed his action swelled his ego a little, and he decided that he could get a little more bolder.

Temari was doing everything she could to keep her moans and gasps as quiet as possible, but it was proving to be a difficult job. She couldn't quieten the gasp when Naruto started sucking her pulse point, and it wasn't helping at all that one of his hands was massaging her waist, occasionally brushing her braless sides. The other hand was exploring the underside of the thigh that was wrapped around his hips, squeezing her ass cheek occasionally. Not to mention, she could feel his excitement poking her on her inner thigh.

She wanted some payback but before she could act on her thoughts, the hand that was massaging her sides went up, gently grabbing her breast and squeezing it.

The loud gasp that erupted from her throat would have almost woken up the other residents, had Naruto not slammed his mouth onto hers at the last second. They resumed their tongue fight, but Naruto held the advantage because of his pleasurable actions to her breast. His thumb started playing with her nipple, and it was then she decided to take action.

She knew that her hands brushing his abs made him shiver, but she was looking for something even more drastic, even bolder. Her right hand came down and went right inside his lower, wrapping around his flesh and squeezing it.

The effect was instantaneous.

His mouth opened in a gasp, and his actions faltered for a long second, in which she seized her chance. Her tongue invaded his mouth not so gently and explored every nook and corner of it, all the while, giving him a soft hand job. She had to admit, it was very long and thick. Naruto resumed his actions, while Temari continued hers. They knew that they were slowly breaking the physical boundaries between them, and whenever they did, they never spoke about it. They just did it.

And it felt good.

Suddenly, Temari stopped her ministrations and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist, so Naruto's excitement was pressed into her crotch. She could see from his expression that he was barely keeping himself from slamming her into the wall and humping her then and there.

"Temari?"

Kami, even his voice sounded sexy right now, with all the huskiness. His hands were supporting her by her ass. Both of them were breathing heavily, their faces inches from one another.

"Let's go into your room," she suggested breathlessly.

Naruto was all too happy to accept her suggestion, and carried her into his room, making sure to shut his door gently. He then laid her down on his bed, with him on top of her. The intimate contact they had was not yet broken. Temari grinned like the devil, "Let's burn off this excitement."

She then pulled him down, engaging in another heated make out session.

Lime scene end

Both of them would later admit, that the night was one for the books.