Background: Naruto is 17 (two years after shippuden).

There will be no harem.

I use Shion from the first Shippuden movie. It would help if you at least know the synopsis from that movie, or some parts will be confusing. This fanfiction is in the 'anime' world, consequently.

I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: 'Naruto' is owned by Kishimoto Masashi. This fanfiction is written by user jujubeeza. It was written as an exercise in creative writing. I am an amateur writer that does not profit from this piece in any fashion, with or without my knowledge. I merely seek to contribute to a site that I have spent many hours visiting. While 'Naruto' belongs to Kishimoto, this fanfiction belongs to me. I ask that my work not be plagiarized. This disclaimed will apply to every chapter in this fanfiction.

"Report, Kakashi."

Kakashi addressed his superior with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. Which was famous for being negligible. "Ah. Yes. We located the enemy stronghold and successfully infiltrated it. There were more of them than we had anticipated, but Naruto came through in the end."

Tsunade shifted her gaze from Kakashi to her unofficial son and quickly looked over his entire body. The boy looked a bit tired, but that was it. There was no damage to his clothing, and no visible wounds that she could see. She briefly made eye contact with him, and he gave her a tired grin, a further indication of how spent he was.

Then she briefly looked at Sakura. Sakura's clothing was ripped in many places, she had cuts and bruises down the entire length of her arms, and that was one ugly swollen ankle.

She looked over to her right at Shizune, who gave her a 'what?' shrug.

"Okay. Well done. Team Kakashi, you're dismissed. Report here at ten...no, nine in the morning tomorrow. We've had an influx of high-level mission requests lately, so I'm afraid that half a day's worth of rest is all you're getting. Go get the most out of it."

Sakura bowed and quickly headed towards the exit, completely leaving her team behind. Naruto was startled at how fast she left, and quickly moved to follow her. His stomach was screaming at him for nutrients, and he hated to eat alone.

"Hey Sakura-chan, want to go grab dinner before calling it a night?"

Sakura paused in her mad dash out of the office to stare at Naruto for a few seconds. Not entirely sure what to do, Naruto tried to win her over by giving her a quick smile.

Sakura responded by walking out the door.

Sighing, Naruto let her have a few seconds' head start before chasing after her.

The entire time, Kakashi watched the exchange with the same level of impassivity he always had. However, internally, he was more than a little unsettled. He had known Sakura and Naruto for years, and knew them well enough to know that something wasn't right. Well, something was always not right with those two, but this was much more than the norm.

Enough to leave him questioning his team's combat effectiveness.

"Kakashi."

He turned around to see Tsunade with her hands together supporting her chin. She didn't look pleased.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. I'll take my leave now," he said as he began to head towards the door.

"Wait."

Kakashi stopped instantly, awaiting orders.

"I think..." She began, "that we need to talk about your team."

Kakashi turned around and looked at her.

After a couple of seconds passed, she nodded. "Yup. It looks like I really need to talk to you about this. You're not even complaining."

Kakashi answered by remaining silent.

"Sakura-chan, come on, wait up," said Naruto as he hurried to catch up to her. They were walking down a street with several good-looking and delicious-smelling restaurants all offering sales of various magnitudes.

This was not making him a happy camper.

In truth, he could have caught up to her in less than a second. A simple shunshin, or a chakra-fueled leap, and poof, he was right next to her. However, it was the principle of the matter. She was power walking and had the few seconds' head start that he spotted her, and she was not allowing him to catch up. As his stomach threatened mutiny, he wondered why the heck he gave her those seconds.

It didn't take very long for hunger to kick principle's ass and he resignedly used shunshin to jump in front of her.

Sakura stopped, but only because she was forced to. He was in the way, and he didn't look like he was going to let her pass by. Which sucked, because she was so close to home.

"Sakura-chan. If I have to pass by one more restaurant offering a 50% sale on everything they have, my stomach's going to kill me. I know you're hungry too because we didn't stop once on the way back, and we ran out of ration bars yesterday. I'll pay for everything and you can order whatever you want."

He put on a gentle smile. "So, come on, Sakura-chan. Let's go get something to-"

"Listen Naruto, I'm not in the mood right now. You can go stuff your face in ramen all you want. I hate that stuff Naruto. I hate. it. All the times I ate with you were bigger chores than spring cleaning at the hospital. In the pediatric section."

Naruto's face lost whatever warmth it had as Sakura decided to set fire to the heart she just ripped out. He saw her face contorted in hatred and frustration for the first time in his life as she laid it on. "I know you like me. I do. I know you do. But guess what Naruto."

Naruto remained silent as Sakura walked up to his side and whispered in his ear as silent tears began leaking out from her eyes. Tears that he'd never see.

"I...hate you..."

Naruto kept his impassive visage in a manner that would have made Kakashi proud as Sakura ran for the peace being home would provide.

In a way, things went around full circle as she would never see the few tears he allowed to escape.

"What the fuck is with all these trees, man. There's no end to them!"

"Haha, I know. They're everywhere."

Two armored men sat helplessly fascinated by the number, volume, and height of the trees that made up the forestry that surrounded Konoha. The team of two horses carrying them and a small carriage moved slowly but surely towards the great hidden village.

One of the armored men had a revelation. "You know how they call Konoha 'The village hidden within the leaves'? They should change that to, 'The village hidden within the trees'! Bwahahahahah!"

The other man roared in agreement. "You're right! You're a genius man! You know that?"

"You two...please...be quiet. We are not allies of Konoha, and I would prefer that we not draw attention to ourselves."

The two armored men looked angrily at their ninja escort, a supposed jounin. He chose to walk along with the horses than ride with them. There was more than enough room for three, but hey, they weren't complaining. Just meant there was more room for them.

The armored man who made the joke asked the ninja a question he had. He was starting to freak out.

"We're not allies with them? Then uh, wouldn't they kill us if they found us? HEY YOU. NINJA. WE'RE NOT GETTING HAZARD PAY FOR THIS. WHAT THE HELL?"

Before his idiot partner could jump in, the ninja interrupted harshly. "We are not allies, but we are not enemies either. We are neutral. We have no relationship."

The ninja stopped for a second to ponder what he had just said. He decided he wasn't quite right. "Well, no. We have no official relationship with Konoha. They performed a mission of great difficulty for us a little over a year ago, for which our country will always be grateful. We like them, and I suppose that they like us."

This largely placated the armored idiot duo, but they still weren't sure of a few things. "If that's the case, then, uh, why do you want us to be quiet?"

The jounin shook his head in exasperation. He thanked the heavens that they had gotten here thus far without any problems. Because god knows if they ran into trouble, their precious cargo would likely have been compromised.

And that would have been worse than dying and being condemned to rot for all eternity with the idiot duo.

"Because we are ill-suited for combat. We don't know who's out here. Our group consists of you two, the horses, our cargo, and myself. As good a fighter I am, I cannot fight at maximum effectiveness if I must be protecting something during the fight. The very nature of our group is to move quickly and quietly."

This made enough sense for the armored idiots to understand, and they stopped talking to him, choosing instead to talk amongst themselves. He had no problem with that, provided they not test how loud their vocal cords can be.

The jounin performed a general scan of his immediate area. He was a seasoned veteran, and his quick scans always informed him of any possible threats in the area. After scanning the area twice, he was pleased to find that no one in the area meant them harm, and pulled out his map.

He hated traveling by moonlight, well no, he hated traveling slowly by moonlight, but his liege was adamant that they keep going until they arrived. The past few hours had been taxing, but it was worth it. They were close now. Really close. An hour at the most, probably even less.

He heard a soft knock coming from the carriage, and hurried over. An even softer voice asked him how much longer until they arrived.

"We should arrive within the hour, Shion-sama."

"So that's it, huh." Tsunade asked, tired and just sick of her job at the moment. Alcohol was her only salvation, and she knew what she had in her drawer.

"Yes," replied a despondent Kakashi. "As I see it, Sakura is getting increasingly agitated at the fact that she is falling behind Naruto."

Tsunade sighed. It was late. On any other day she would have already lost her sobriety. Hours ago.

However, there was a late emergency at the hospital and only she was available because Shizune was performing a surgery and Sakura was out on a mission.

The emergency was handled without any problems, and she came back to the tower to wrap things up for the day. Shizune had returned before she had, and did most of the daily punch-out tasks. She only had to reseal classified documentation that she was looking over and store it away.

But those days, those horrible, elongated days, just refuse to end.

Team Kakashi returned days ahead of their predicted return date. As she was walking out the door.

Teams returning early after a successful mission is something she usually looks forward to. Not this time, as it kept her in the office.

And from the look of things, she'd have to stay for at least another hour.

She looked at Shizune, who looked like she'd fall asleep within five seconds if allowed to.

She sighed again, this time escalating into a full-blown yawn. Kakashi's mouth curved upwards ever so slightly. However, it went in the other direction very quickly.

"Kakashi. That's...ridiculous. Sakura is the village's best medical ninja. And when I say that, I'm including myself. Lately, when I spar with her, I only win because of experience. She is stronger than I am, faster than I am, and smarter than I am. Heck, in a few years, I'm going to retire, and she's already being mentioned among the council as a potential Sixth Hokage."

That was news to Kakashi, though it made sense on a practical level. He felt a bit of pride in that his student was being considered for Hokage. The council asked him a year ago to accept the position of Sixth Hokage. He turned them down faster than Naruto eats a bowl of ramen.

Hokage was a cool position and all, but it wasn't for him. Too many responsibilities. No real power.

And that hat did not appeal to his fashion sense.

He knew that it appealed to Naruto though. Naruto wouldn't shut up about the stupid hat if it was brought up in a conversation.

Still, he did not know what to make of the situation. It was nice that Sakura was being acknowledged. He was happy for her. He knew Tsunade was as well.

But man, would they be making a mistake if they chose her over Naruto. Picking Sakura for her skills wouldn't be a mistake. Picking Sakura over Naruto would be.

Being the squad leader, he knew the difference between the two. Everyone else was oblivious.

Kakashi had no idea what Naruto did for training. Ever since Naruto created the rasenshuriken, he'd kept his training sessions private. Naruto perfected control over the Kyuubi's chakra while training with Bee two years ago, and mastered his wind affinity to such an extent that he could largely nullify Madara's spacetime techniques.

In their most recent mission, they had to infiltrate one of Kabuto's bases where he was mass producing ninja with curse seals and gather information on them. Naturally, the infiltration went without a problem and they learned what they needed plus acquired some interesting documentation, but they were discovered and had to fight their way out.

There were hundreds of enemy ninja, each with the full power of a level two curse seal.

Due to their overwhelming power, he was forced to use raikiri to dispose of them, and that immediately limited his combat ability to at most eight kills.

Sakura gave it her all. She was stronger and quicker than they were, but whatever advantage she had was overwhelmed by their numbers.

They would have died if not for Naruto, who shot off rasenshurikens like they were E-class jutsus.

And the council is considering Sakura. Not Naruto.

The entire scenario was ridiculous.

"Hokage-sama, I know Sakura is strong. She is among the top five ninja in the village. Her healing abilities are incredible. I don't even understand the theory behind some of them."

Tsunade smiled and felt a surge of pride. Kakashi noticed it, but continued on.

"...but, if we compare her to Naruto, well, there is no comparison."

Shizune woke up and stared at Kakashi with wide eyes.

Tsunade's smiled vanished.

"Kakashi. You know when I spar with Sakura, Naruto is almost always there as well? I spar with Naruto, and I have Sakura spar with him. I kick his cute little butt into the ground, and Sakura barely breaks a sweat."

Kakashi decided it was time. His prized student, for reasons unfathomable, was holding back. He had suspected it before, but it was obvious now. When Naruto slaughtered the enemy ninja on the mission, he was thoroughly impressed, but not surprised. Sakura on the other hand, looked like a deer caught in headlights. While under the effects of alcohol.

"A spar...is just that. A spar. It is a practical application of taijutsu, which is a strength of Sakura's and yours, Hokage-sama. The main goal of a spar is to better your taijutsu. Naruto? He's good at it, but spends nowhere near the amount of time on it that you two do."

Tsunade bristled. "I know what a spar is Kakashi. Do not lecture me right now."

Kakashi nodded. "I apologize, Hokage-sama, but please allow me to finish. There is a point that I am trying to make."

Tsunade was really getting tired. "Just make your point then."

He nodded in reply. "Sparring doesn't use any ninjutsu, excluding the shadow clones he just makes for Sakura to hit to make Sakura feel better about herself. When you spar with him, you're matching your strength against his weakness." Kakashi perked up. "On top of that, I'll bet he doesn't even use the toad taijutsu style. Or anything beyond the academy basics."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. Most of what Kakashi said was true, but some key points were false. "Fine. Let's say he's holding back. Regardless, saying he's not weak and saying he's strong are two different things."

Kakashi nodded. He was one of the last people to have to be told that. Almost every chunin falls into that category. Those who understand the difference become jounin. Those who don't, die.

"Then I suggest that we finally see what Naruto's truly capable of. I have strong suspicions that he's been hiding a significant amount of his abilities. I personally have not seen him train for over a year now, so it'll be a good lesson for me as well, being the team leader and all."

Tsunade mused over Kakashi's words, and decided that she also wanted to see whatever he was holding. Pulling rank on Naruto was going to be fun.

"Fine, Kakashi. Do whatever. I'll have Shizune schedule it sometime after your next mission." She opened her drawer at last to reveal three bottles of sake from Rice Country that Naruto stole from a mission four months ago. He gave the bottles to her for her birthday, and she rewarded him by shoving his face into her cleavage repeatedly for a good three minutes.

Of course, he had to be hospitalized immediately after due to asphyxiation symptoms, but who's to say he wouldn't have died a happy man?

Kakashi was aware of what Tsunade was doing, and could not fault her for it. All ninja have their vices. Comes with the job.

"Then, I will take my leave, Hokage-Sama."

Tsunade dismissed him with a quick wave of the hand. "Get out of here. Go alleviate yourself with Jiraiya's crap or something."

Kakashi lowered his head, shook it twice, and shunshined out of sight.

Grinning maliciously, Tsunade opened one of the bottles and reveled in the odor. Sake was at its best about six months after being made, and it looked like waiting a month before opening them was going to pay off exponentially. She looked to her right and saw Shizune sleeping on the floor.

It was time to enjoy life.

She poured herself a cup and greedily drank the contents. The taste was orgasmic. Sex didn't feel as good as that did.

Just as her day finally began to get better, she was interrupted by Izumo, one of the chunin gatekeepers.

"Hokage-sama, you have a visitor."

Tsunade went from sake-induced orgasmic bliss to righteous feminine anger. "I'M MAKING LOVE WITH MY BELOVED. LEAVE ME ALONE. AND ISN'T IT LATE? TELL THEM TO COME BACK IN THE MORNING."

Izumo really didn't need to know that his fifty-plus year old female village leader was getting some, even if she was hot. At least she was rational at the end of her tirade.

"Hokage-sama, the visitor is a head-of-state, and expressed a great desire to meet with you tonight."

That sobered her up completely. A kage came to visit her? This was an ambitious political move, especially considering the time of day. Must be something really serious.

Konoha wasn't exactly on friendly terms with Iwa, Kiri, or Kumo, and none of the smaller countries would have the balls to ask for a meeting in the middle of the night unannounced.

"Tell Gaara to come up."

Izumo was confused. "Gaara? No, Hokage-sama, the visitor is not the Kazekage."

Tsunade was now genuinely interested. "Oh really? Then who is it?"

"The visitor is claiming to be the High Priestess from the Land of Demons."

"You can't be serious Naruto."

"I'm dead serious tonight, old man. Give it to me."

Teuchi sighed resignedly as he poured Naruto a cup of the strongest sake his shop offered. He sighed again as he saw Naruto guzzle it down like it was air.

Ayame stared at Naruto with a slightly sad face, which Naruto noticed and quickly began to grow annoyed at.

"Ayame-nee, is there something on my face?"

She perked up. Normally she'd make something up and answer with a 'yes', but lately, she found herself not needing an excuse to stare at his face other than the fact he was a seventeen year old male ninja with blond hair and blue eyes, not to mention a well-conditioned body that finally lost all of its baby fat.

Summarized: He was hot.

Too bad she'll always be his older sister.

"Not today Naruto. I was actually so shocked that I was looking for something, but nope. Nothing."

Despite himself, Naruto chuckled. He could always trust Ayame-nee to cheer him up when his life sucked. Which was sadly most of the time.

As Teuchi began to fill the empty cup, Naruto waved him off. "It's okay, old man. I'm alright now."

Teuchi put on the smile that only a proud parent can do, which further pleased Naruto. He loved this place. It was his sanctuary—his salvation from the misery of everyday life.

"So what happened today Naruto? The mission not go well?"

The question knocked Naruto back down to Earth, but at least he wasn't burning in hell like he was a minute prior. "The mission went great. We learned a lot about what Kabuto was up to, and even found some really detailed documents about the curse seals. Kakashi-sensei was really happy when he found them. It sort of went bad when one of them found us, forcing us to fight our way out. But no one got really hurt and we killed a lot of them, so even that went well."

Teuchi had heard this story enough in the past year to know exactly how it was going to end. Ayame frowned, as she also knew what he was going to say next. She was about to make a retort when she noticed someone trying to hide behind a fence while stealing glances at the shop.

She grinned. She had a hunch as to who it was, and that someone was definitely glancing at someone currently eating at the shop. She subtly waved the imminent visitor over.

Teuchi sighed. That Sakura girl just...GAH. "What happened afterwards, Naruto?"

Naruto began like he usually did. "We were heading back, and Sakura wouldn't talk to me the entire time. Heck, she wouldn't even look at me. After we debriefed with the old hag I asked her out for dinner and, well..."

Naruto got angry for a split second, and clenched his fists in anger, but he stopped being angry as fast as he got angry. Looking up at two of his more favorite people in the world, he shot them a brilliant smile and laughed. "You know what? Not today. I'm here with you two, eating ramen, having fun. Not today. I'm going to enjoy this. You know baa-chan has another mission for us in nine hours?" Ayame closed her eyes as Teuchi only shook his head. "Yeah, I know, right? So...yeah. Not today. I'm going to enjoy my time with you guys."

Naruto began swallowing liberal chunks of noodles in one gulp, to which Teuchi couldn't help but look on in fascination. It was a sight that he'd seen hundreds of times, but the phenomena still was a sight to behold.

To Ayame's delight, the mystery person turned out to be who she expected. The mystery person's progress to the shop was like an average Chutes and Ladders game. Ten steps forward, twenty steps back. Thirty steps forward, fifteen steps back.

Ayame laughed inside. The poor girl was trying her best. Ayame decided she'd put her out of her misery.

"Hey Hinata! Come here!"

Naruto looked back to see a flushed Hinata, and he smiled and waved at her. He wisely chose not to try to talk, as he probably would have chocked to death on noodles.

Blushing furiously as only she can, Hinata slowly but surely walked over to the small ramen shop.

"I must say, I was not expecting you tonight."

Tsunade was determined to ride the high of the two cups of sake she had for as long as she could.

Shion could smell the sake, and was surprised that a kage would drink in her office, but chose to say nothing.

To insult the kage would not benefit the goal of her visit.

"I greatly apologize Hokage-sama, for the timing of my visit. However, I have a problem that I would appreciate your assistance on immediately."

Tsunade nodded, but internally she was banging her head against a wall. This day would just not end.

"Do you require ninja assistance."

Shion hesitated, but only for a moment. "You could say that, yes."

"You are familiar with the ninja mission ranking system, yes?" Shion nodded. "What rank would you place this problem of yours at?"

Shion did not hesitate to give her reply. "The highest. 'S'."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, but this didn't not surprise her. If anything, it placated her. Anything less than a S-level emergency was not worth discussing about at this time.

"Can you give me the background of your problem?"

Shion nodded again. "It is a month until my eighteenth birthday, Hokage-Sama."

That got Tsunade's attention. What did that have to do with anything? "Okay..."

Shion continued. "The powers of the High Priestess of Demon Country, which are demon sealing and the ability to foresee how a person will die, wear off at the end of the teenage years. Some priestesses have kept their powers as a twenty-year-old, but every priestess has completely lost her powers before her twenty-first birthday."

Tsunade nodded. Her birthday really did have to do with something. She still couldn't piece the problem together though with this information. "Is that all...or..."

Shion shook her head. "Last year, you sent several teams to my country to help us seal the greatest demon our country has ever known. We were successful. Unbelievably so. Where many former High Priestesses only succeeded in creating a temporary seal, I was able to create a seal that will in all likelihood hold him forever."

Tsunade was really confused now. "So what's the problem?"

Shion paused. She was getting to the 'problem'. She had to say this right. "I performed the same seal that all my predecessors did. It's just that, there was a Konoha ninja who helped me by using his chakra to strengthen the seal as it was forming, which resulted in some unusual side-effects."

Tsunade had a feeling she knew who this Konoha ninja was, but she'd let Shion confirm it.

Tsunade remained silent, so Shion went on. "The seal was much stronger than what I hoped to create. I'm actually very happy about the whole situation, if it weren't for something my country's chakra sensors picked up."

Shion took a deep breath. This was it.

"The seal will only break if there isn't a High Priestess of Demon Country. Which means, the seal will be broken if I lose my powers."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "That's in just over a year now, isn't it?"

Shion nodded. "Yes it is."

"Then just select a new High Priestess."

Shion stared at Tsunade. Was the Hokage this much of an idiot? Shion attributed it to it being night and alcohol. Shion hoped it was a lot of alcohol.

"It does not work like that. If it did, I wouldn't have to be here right now."

And I could be sleeping...Tsunade sadly thought.

"The powers of the High Priestess can only be passed down by the current High Priestess having a child."

Tsunade resisted the urge to facepalm. This? This is an S-Class problem?

Tsunade tried her best to fight off a grin, but failed spectacularly. She decided she was going to have fun with this. "Then I suggest that you become...fertilized," (Tsunade fought off laughter) "Quickly?"

Shion looked down and blushed, as Tsunade almost burst out laughing. Oh, this girl was going to be fun to tease.

"As one of the leading medical ninja in the world, I suggest you find yourself a healthy, good-looking, well-endowed young man who'll treat you right. Make sure he's whipped before the baby's born and make sure he knows how to change diapers. Oh, make sure he can cook and give amazing foot massages. You might want to remove his eyes so he can't ogle other women, but I've been told that's going too far. It's up to you though."

Shion paled externally, but tried to remember as much as she could. She didn't have a mother figure, so whatever advice she received was a blessing. What was that about a whip...?

Tsunade got a kick out of Shion's internal turmoil. Ah, to be so young and innocent.

"So. I understand your 'problem'. But I don't understand why you had to rush down to my village. Does Demon Country have no men or something?"

Shion committed the last of Tsunade's advice to memory and shook her head. "No, there are plenty of men in Demon Country."

"Are they ugly? Impotent? What is it?"

Shion looked at Tsunade with a touch of anger and sadness. "I don't love them." Tsunade was about to lose it. She felt bad for the girl, especially if it was going to be her first time, but the continued prosperity of a demon's seal trumped the irrational fantasies of a virgin woman.

Shion noticed that Tsunade was about to speak and interrupted her. "I understand that my duty to maintain the seal is far more important than my thoughts of love. But this is not just about me. I am to have a child with my partner. A child that will be a part of my life until I die. A child that I will not watch grow up with a mother and a father's love, with plenty of love between the mother and the father."

Tsunade was touched. A little. Okay, not much at all. If that, even. They lived in the ninja world.
Orphans are more common that children with two living parents.

Shion continued. "If there wasn't a man that I was in love with right now, yes, I would just agree to whichever suitor was suggested to me and get on with it." Shion stared Tsunade right in the eyes, impressing the older woman with the amount of passion in them. "But I do. No man in Demon Country can love me for me. I have told too many of them how their family members, friends, will die. They see me as the High Priestess. They could never see me as a woman, let alone someone they could love.

Tsunade almost snickered. Obviously Shion did not know the fantasies that young, hormonal men come up with on a regular basis. Priestesses were high up on those fantasies.

She knew how Shion's story was going to end up now. It was funny, really. At the very least, she was going to enjoy these upcoming months.

"So you fell in love with a Konoha ninja that was sent to your country a year ago." Shion nodded. "I assume this ninja also helped you form the seal?" She nodded again.

Tsunade pitied the young High Priestess. To have a kid...with him. Oh, she better learn to cook ramen.

She asked for confirmation, though she was sure who it was. "Who is he?"

Shion blushed, before replying, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Tsunade grinned.

The thing I'm most proud of is that disclaimer. It's so pretty.
Constructive criticism always appreciated.

Expect slow updates. Like really slow. Weeks, months. Sorry.