Chapter 98: In Suna again

Naruto, Haru, and team 7 arrived in Suna after 2 days of quite uneventful travel, they encountered a small group of merchants who they saved from a bandit group and traveled with them to the border of The land of fire and the Land of Wind, from there they split up again and after a day of travel through the deserts of the Land of Wind, they arrived in Suna.

Suna had seemingly flourished since the last time Naruto had been there, it was as if you compared the slums to a wealthy area of the city, in other words, a stark contrast as many buildings had been rebuilt or renovated and many more are either being built or refurbished, Suna was going in the right direction ever since they allied themselves with Konoha and Mizu.

A group of Suna Chunin appeared in front of them, "Esteemed guests from Konoha, we have been instructed to bring you to your hotels, after we show you where your hotels are we will be meeting with the soon-to-be Kazekage and the council, please follow us." The Chunin squad didn't waste a second and immediately brought them to a luxurious hotel decorated mainly with gold.

After Naruto and team 7 dropped off their stuff which naruto didn't have much of at the hotel they headed to the Kazekage's building that was in the northern part of Sunagakure, the Kazekage building is a large cylindrical building that served as the mission center and official government building of Suna, and also the workplace of the Kazekage.

The Chunin team brought them to a meeting room inside the building where a few important people sat at a large square table.

The first person they noticed was Gaara who was sitting at the head of the table, on his right sat Chiyo, his righthand woman, on his left sat Baki, the head Jonin of the village and his lefthand man, there were a few more people but they weren't as important as those three.

Gaara smiled immediately upon seeing Naruto, "Naruto-san, it is great to see you again, please take a seat, all of you." Gaara welcomed them with a smile and pointed at the 5 empty chairs.

Naruto chuckled "It is indeed great to see you again Gaara, it seems like me fixing your raccoon problem has benefitted you a lot huh?" Naruto commented as he sat down followed by Kakashi and the rest of team 7 as each of them greeted the future Kazekage and council with respect, much unlike Naruto who practically ignored all manners.

Gaara smiled as he saw the expression on a few of the council member's faces, while Baki sweatdropped at how casual Naruto was being, "Well let us get the official business out of the way so we can have a more private meeting soon."

Kakashi handed over the documents they needed to deliver and discussed a few things about them with Gaara and Baki, after which they got a paper confirming the mission's completion.

"Well then Gaara, how about we go and have some dinner? It's on me." Naruto appeared next to Gaara and grabbed his shoulders

The two of them then disappeared for the remainder of the night going to a bunch of restaurants, both fancy ones, and street food ones, Naruto was having a great time trying the food Suna had to offer, the last time he visited he could only try a few types of Suna's dishes so he went all out and bought a bunch of food.

Gaara was also having fun, he didn't have many friends and since he was going to become the next Hokage people acted with way too much respect toward him so it was like a breath of fresh air to be around Naruto, who didn't care who you were or what position you held.

"Well Naruto, I'm glad that you're having fun but I have to go and prepare for my ceremony tomorrow, so I will bid you a good night, I hope our hotel compares in quality to those in Konoha," Gaara said with a smile and left.

Naruto stretched out his arms and sighed in relief, 'Well I'm glad the seal has held strong, right Kurama?'

The giant fox laughed loudly inside Naruto's mind "Bahaha! I'm glad that bastard is stuck in there proper now, that giant raccoon always manages to piss me off.' Kurama said.

Naruto chuckled and started walking towards the hotel he and team 7 were staying at.

Then, all of a sudden a chill he had never felt before went down his spine, a cold voice echoed through the street that seemed to have emptied out completely "Naruto-san, how nice to see you again." A voice that Naruto recognized very well sounded out.

Sabaku no Temari stood behind Naruto her arms crossed under her chest, her eyes colder than the land of snow.

Naruto then remembered everything that had happened between them a few years ago and he barely let an embarrassed look appear on his face before he was slapped in the face.

He could have avoided it, hell he could tell what she was going to do before she even had the chance to move a single muscle, but he felt like he deserved it, he had practically ignored her for the last few years after all.

Then what shocked him the most was that she grabbed the back of his head and forcibly pulled him into a kiss.

After a few heated moments the two separated and Naruto couldn't help but grin.

"Well it is indeed very nice to see you again." Naruto smiled as he hugged her waist.

Temari glared at him, "You bastard, you're lucky I like you enough that I waited so long for you."

Naruto was shocked, a warm feeling spread through his chest and he couldn't help but have a stupid smile on his face.

"Well I'm glad you like me enough to wait so long for me, I'm sorry for not coming earlier," Naruto said as the two hugged each other, a few people observing them already running to the nearest bar or restaurant to spread the news of Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Temari being together.

Temari then gained a smile on her face, she grabbed Naruto's hand and started dragging him to her favorite restaurant.

The two caught up with all the things that they had gone through and Temari was amazed at all the stories Naruto had to tell, she also told him about the reasons for Suna's growth and the two drank a few bottles of sake together, with both of their reasoning being affected by alcohol the two of them ended up in Naruto's hotel room, both having the time of their lives, hopefully not regretting waking up by each other's side in the morning.