This is sadly a recurring theme, but I must start off the chapter with an apology from the bottom of my heart. I haven't updated in a long time because I had run low on creative juices to piece together this chapter and also, I have been busy with stuff in real life. I will always try my very best to continue working on this story and my goal ultimately is to reach the end. Thank you for sticking with the story and I have faith we can make it to the end together!

Mariusz1988: Partially because he is a Iwa-nin and partially because Tsunade doesn't want to give Naruto a big head though a parade would be interesting to write about.

MODdenial: This could very much so be the end of the first part of this story, and perhaps it can be seen as a halfway mark of sorts.

Xerzo LotCN: Kuro really gets the short end of the stick sometimes because she was the final of the "first time" lemons I was writing during that time period so by the time I got to her all of my interesting stuff was already used and she was left with what we got sorry hopefully, it will improve in the future!

A7XSOADfan0621: I might do a filler here and there so stay tuned for the next episode haha

Daniel2610994: Sorry the Harem is set and won't be getting any bigger it is already difficult to manage and juggle all of the current girls in the story.

AnonnymA: Thanks for your words really do inspire me to continue writing! I hope I don't disappoint! And seemingly many people do see chapter 51 as a sort of half way point or a check point of sorts.

Dragon Man 180: Hahaha if I was better at writing lemons that would be definitely something I would think about!

Sasha Shugo: It will not be the last time we see the noble, he will play a role in the next arc!

Leaf Ranger: As of now Kuro gets the short end of the stick, I will have to find ways to make it up to her!

Ryuujin96: Takeji was considered to be one of the most powerful nins in Iwa his use of a forbidden technique forced Naruto's hand.

Animaman: I will have more Hanabi in the future, the age difference is what really keeps her out of many of the scenes right now but as she grows up it will be easier to include her in different parts of the story. As for Shippuden stuff, there will definitely be stuff that you will recognize but there will also be arcs that I create to spice up the story!

To everybody else that I haven't specifically commented back on, don't think I've forgotten about you it was either that your comment wasn't really a question for me to answer or it was something I couldn't confidently answer without spoiling future chapters. Please understand I love comments and they fuel my desire to continue writing so keep them coming!

NSU Chapter 52: Together Again

For the renowned forest of death, the light chirping of the birds really didn't do its name any justice. At least that's what Naruto thought as the sunshine of the early morning sun peered in through their shades.

Regardless the most important thing to him was the fact that they were alone now, nobody knew where they were, nobody suspected them to be here this was their little secret hideout.

One of the last few remnants of their youth, a small cottage high in the trees in one of the most dangerous and least traversed areas of the Forest of Death, even during the Chunin exams in Konoha most teams steered clear of this area due to the dangerous fauna that called this area home.

Regardless it wasn't as if anybody came through the Forest of death on a daily basis anyway….

Naruto had created this during his first trip here with Hinata. Anko and Hitomi knew about the cottage but Naruto suspected they assumed it was destroyed by nature and beasts of the forest long ago.

And it was badly damaged the second time Naruto and Hinata stopped by prior to the Chunin exams, shortly after becoming Genin. Naruto had repaired it and erected powerful warding seals to deter any animals and also preservation seals to slow the deterioration of the objects inside the house. Ever since then, this little cottage was here whenever one of them wanted to hide from the world at least for briefly.

Taking a moment to think about it if they weren't shinobi this was the house that he would have wanted to live in. Not overly small, big enough to fit a small family and quaint.

Feeling a body shift next to him slightly he tilted his head to look at the sleeping face of his gorgeous wife Hinata. They were naked under the sheets, their clothes were more then likely in a puddle strewn around the floor somewhere, such objects were an inconvenience when they were in private together after so long apart.

He had been gone and away from her for too long, this morning the feeling of waking up next to her Naruto struggled to describe. This surreal feeling transcended words, or maybe as he had always chalked it up to be that his command of language wasn't as nearly sophisticated enough to describe it. The only words he could even think of to begin to convey this feeling was… love.

That was how he felt when the light from the rising sun adorned her face, he did not know whether it was the angle of the rays of the sun that was perfect or was it just her… within his heart, he knew it was the former. He was mere inches away but to him, it was too far, but he forced himself to be still. Something rather difficult for a hormone filled teenager in love.

A battle raged inside his body and his heart, ultimately, he was content with just looking, he didn't want to disturb her… he did not want this small perfect moment to end. More than anything he wished that they could stay like this forever.

So that he could watch the miniscule fluctuations of her face when she breathed or the way her bangs danced beautifully from the movement of that same breath. She had grown her hair long, her previous short hair was cute but he had to admit she personified beauty now.

Her face scrunched up in minor annoyance as a sliver of hair suddenly dislodged itself and fell over her nose irritating that cute little appendage.

Naruto tried his hardest to gently move that piece back into its former position but curse her shinobi training as the tiniest of unnatural movement woke her from her slumber.

Her pale moon eyes opened slowly as her view was momentarily obstructed by the movement of Naruto's fingers.

A moment of passiveness was all that was needed for her before a smile adorned her face. It was officially confirmed to her now. Her husband had finally returned, a slight tingle of soreness in her rear and weakness in her legs was a strong reminder of the wild night of intercourse they had.

She nearly pouted in annoyance as she saw his chest was completely unblemished, she faintly remembered raking his chest a little too hard with her nails as she rode on top of him.

Just thinking about back to that orgasmic high made her blush.

"Good morning" he said softly to her with a warm smile.

She didn't respond with words but a returning smile and a genuine loving kiss. In that moment when their lips touched a swelling arouse from within their bodies, the birds chirped and the leaves on the trees rustled in the wind. Their hearts beat as one in a moment of perfection that ended far too soon for Naruto's liking

Hinata dainty rested her forehead upon his she closed her eyes as she rubbed their faces together. Touching, feeling, everything…

Lemon warning

Ctrl+F "Lemon End" to skip

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That's what she wanted… Sensually she slid slightly down Naruto's body. Puberty had hit her husband hard and seemingly he had grown in height quite a bit.

She stopped her downward movement when she felt her rear come into contact with his erection. She gave him a lidded smile as she reached back with her hand to positioned it, so she could slide herself onto him.

She let out soothing sigh as she leaned more into him.

"Yes…." She internally moaned, at least to her she had done it internally

She bit her lips to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape her throat, there was no doubt puberty had been very kind to Naruto. Hinata took a mild pause as she completely sheathed herself onto him, before grinding her hips in a slight circular motion to allow her tightness to adjust to his size.

Naruto was contempt just to lay back and watch, he tilted his head slightly in amusement at the actions of his gorgeous wife.

It seemed almost un-Hinata like. but he wasn't going to complain one bit… no sane man would.

Using her knees and thighs she lifted herself upwards and impaled herself downwards once she reached the peak of burrowing Naruto within herself. This action caused his breath to hitch as he grinned even in this act she was refined and elegant. Her left hand was lain against her chest right above her heart in a slightly closed fist, her lashes fluttered in unpredictably.

Naruto gently placed one of hands onto her thigh and lightly stroked her soft pale thigh. This act just further inspired Hinata to hasten her movements.

Naruto bit his lips as he didn't want to in any way ruin the sight before him by making any sort of noise.

Hinata had thrown her head up towards the ceiling, breathing hard as she bounced up and down until she let out a breathy…..

"Ha.. ha…. Heh… ahh nghh!" Naruto felt her tightened as she brought her knees together with her whole body vibrated and bent together as Hinata felt the orgasmic pleasures run through her body.

Naruto watched as her high began to taper off.

It was quiet aside from her breathing, she was trying to suppress it in a very lady likely manner. But even that was sensual combined with the full view of his wives sweating body in the morning sun it took every continued ounce of his self-control not to reach up and touch her… to feel her… to press his body up against her.

Would it be so bad? He wondered to himself.

Suddenly her breath became slow and harsh, then a whimper and a sniffle. Was she weeping?

It greatly confused him, had he done something wrong? Had he become inadequate while he was gone?

A great fear rose up within him had she replaced him with somebody better.

She covered her face with her hands and whispered in an embarrassed tone it was very clearly to herself.

"Why do you keep doing this to me. I want it all to stop… I miss you so much… Please come back to me, I just want to stop dreaming…."

This was the exact dream Hinata had for so many nights now. All these years it would be the same nightmare night after night she would find herself to be with her husband again. This was torture and torment because every morning she woke up in her cold empty bed wet and disappointed with herself.

Yet this time the feel of his rough hands gliding up her naked thighs, to her hips his arms wrapping around her back pulling her frame into his chest…. It all felt so….. REAL!

With a horrified look, she spied through her fingers. His charming face with those beautiful swirling cerulean orbs.

"No… No… No… No… No" she whimpered as she shook her head, her head flew side to side looking around desperately

This was not a dream… the man in front of her was very much her loving husband.

Then she spotted her redemption and escape, with a quickness Naruto had forgotten she had, Hinata grabbed their sheets and threw them over herself covering her entire body.

Naruto let out a slight snort of amusement as he leaned back onto his hands he tilted his head slightly and gave the bundle of sheets a charming smirk.

In her embarrassment, Hinata had completely forgotten she had something called a Byakugan. So she cracked the blankets open ever so slightly to allow her to peer out, the moment she had allowed the light to flood in giving her sight to see out into the world she instantly regretted it as sitting in front of her was her beloved husband Naruto Uzumaki-Senju.

In all his heroic, charming and dashing glory, she could not be seen in the presence of him at this moment… especially not after her humiliating episode she just had now.

Oh, how she wanted to close the little crack in the sheets once again to be embraced by the darkness and allow it to forever overtake her, but it was that damned smirk he had on his face. She just couldn't pry her eyes from it.

"Na… Na.. Naruto-kun?" Kami willing, she wasn't a tiny schoolgirl hopelessly in love anymore, but for some reason, at this moment her stutter came back in full force.

"Yes, my love?" Her heart melted the moment those words came from his lips.

One delicate pale hand slowly and hesitantly reached out and reached toward his abdomen her index finger shyly tapped the seal a couple of times cautiously.

Deep in the back of her mind, she had wished so much for Naruto to pop into a puff of smoke and for her to wake up from this dream.

Even though for all the money in the world and all the fancy clothes and expensive jewelry she wanted her husband to be here… the problem was merely she had to get over this slight relapse in confidence.

"Kurama says Hi," Naruto said with a chuckle.

That was it… that was the final nail in her coffin. This was her real in the flesh husband, nobody else could talk with such wit, charm, and brashness as Naruto did.

Hinata whined and her hand attempted to vanish back inside the sheets for protection, but Naruto was ready this time.

Hinata was quick, but so was he…

Not allowing her to retreat again he grabbed her arm and with a gentle yank, he pulled Hinata out of her blanket shell causing her to tumble into his chest.

She yelped and latched onto him, holding him tightly against her.. "DON'T LOOK!" she demanded in a cute voice.

Naruto snickered again, "But I want to."

"UH-UH" Hinata said as she shook her head against his chest continuing to refuse to look up at the man she loved so much.

He bucked his hips upwards causing her to yelp loudly then came…

"Grrrr…"

Hinata's eyes opened wide like saucers "Did he just growl…" she internally ask herself. "This would not be goo….

Her internal rumblings were cut off as Naruto decided he was going to take the initiative he flipped the two over so now he was on top the sudden jerk of the movement dislodged Hinata. Her grip around his body failed and she slipped and landed onto the bed. In that moment they made eye contact.

She was exposed…

"Kami-sama" a breathless whisper escaped her throat at the sight before her.

From this angle he was so dominating hovering above her. His shoulders were so broad his chest wide and chiseled. He was slightly tanner than she remembered, but she chalked it up to him being out in the sun a lot during the war.

And when her eyes finally wandered down towards his package, suddenly all the dreams she had of him were shattered…. He had grown lot bigger then she had ever imagined.

She really hadn't gotten a chance to really look in-depth at her husband last night, in their moment of passion and lust for one another it had all turned very primal.

Now was her chance, but as her eyes snapped back to his face, least she exploded from blushing so hard. She realized something as much as she was examining him, he was examining her with just as much intensity if not more.

Her eyes widening, she wanted to instantly cover herself up, she wasn't used to such a powerful gaze on her nude body.

Yes, it was correct that this was her husband that she loved with all her being. But it had been years now that they hadn't seen each other, she needed some time to readjust!

She wanted to shift to hide herself, but she froze when she saw him lick his lips.

She whimpered as she felt his fingers reach down and open her up, "So wet…" he whispered as he leaned in towards her...

His other hand reached down and caressed the side of her face carefully stroking her cheek.

She thought he was going to kiss her but her breath hitched slightly as she felt something push up against her from the bottom.

"Tell me how much you want it…" Naruto sensually whispered.

A whine escaped her throat… "This was just unfair." She thought to herself.

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Lemon End

Later at noon

Training Field 36

They had thoroughly enjoyed each other's presence until late in the afternoon when one of the clones Naruto had stationed around Konoha had popped to notify him that their presence was requested at training field 36.

Training field 36 was known by the more elite portion of their shinobi population. Thus it was positioned further away from the city proper to lessen the potential of a rogue A-class jutsu hitting and damaging the city and its populace.

Upon arriving they were greeted by the four sensei's of the Konoha 11, Shizune, Jiraiya, Tsunade and the Sandaime Hokage.

"Quite the welcoming committee," Naruto commented to Hinata as they approached the group.

Upon reaching them Naruto and Hinata both bowed out of respect to their sensei's and elders.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask and said while putting away his book, "Quite the hero now aren't you Naruto-kun?"

"YOSH! Your flames of youth burn even more passionately then ever before!" Gai added on with a thumb up toward Naruto.

A chuckling Asuma further commented as he lit a cigarette and placed it into his mouth, "Not the little runt that used to run around with my dad anymore are you kid."

Before he was able to take a puff of his cigarette, it was swatted from his mouth by Kurenai who had an 'we've talked about this before' look on her face.

"It's nice to see you back Naruto-kun! Hinata and rest of us here missed you so much." Kurenai then said as she stomped out the cigarette on the floor.

"Thank you everybody, for your warm words." Naruto said with another short bow, "However may I ask why Konoha's most powerful shinobi are all in one training field. Surely it couldn't have just been to welcome me back…"

"Observant as ever…" the Sandaime replied as he took his pipe out of his mouth. "They are here to test you Naruto-kun!"

"Test me?" Naruto said as he raised an eyebrow in slight confusion.

"You've been gone for 3-4 years now, we are all mutually interested in how much you've grown." Jiraya said receiving a nod of agreement from the Sandaime.

"Oh… so who will be testing me then?" Naruto asked with interest in his voice.

"We all will and it won't just be you but Hinata as well, we will see how well you two can still work together!" Kakashi stated as he turned a page in his book. Asuma and Gai stepped into line with Kakashi.

The three men looked toward Kurenai who had raised her hands up in front of her as she shook her head.

"I think will sit this one out, you boys can have at it, I'm not feeling particularly well today." She finished with a slight apologetic bow.

Kakashi- sensei, Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei, three of Konoha's most powerful jonins against us two? That hardly seems fair." Naruto stated with a smile as he tilted back and turned his head to his wife who was standing just behind him.

Hinata responded to her beloved with a loving smile one that was reserved for Naruto only and responded by slapping his shoulder gently, "Be nice…"

Sarutobi chuckled slightly watching the young couple, "Ah… to be so young and so in love, he said to nobody in particular. But a snort from the Godaime clearly signaled she had heard his comment. A giggling Jiraiya also seemed to have overheard the Sandaime

Kurenai shook her head as she addressed her fellow comrades in a loud enough voice that both Naruto and Hinata heard from across the field, "I distinctly remember that Naruto-kun was supposed to be our Godaime Hokage, for him to have his wife as a partner is what hardly seems fair."

All the occupants of the field chuckled at that jab at Naruto, even Tsunade who was also at the end of that jab laughed openly.

After a minute and all the laughter had settled and a light breeze fluttered through the training field. Tsunade broke the silence as she clapped his hands together and yelled, "ALL RIGHT FOLKS, LET'S GET THIS BATTLE STARTED!"

As the team of jonin sensei's readied into a battle stance, Naruto merely turned toward Hinata and as they locked eyes he gave her the slightest of nods and the moment she nodded back in a blur of Naruto launched himself at the group three Jonin's it looked at the moment he was specifically targeting Gai, as Naruto ran toward them he drew his sword from its sheath and brandished it at the three. Which had the bonus effect of also hitting them randomly with reflections of sun light.

Kakashi who had lifted his headband up already to reveal his sharigan took a moment to process everything Naruto had just done in the battle. It was true that Naruto had been gone for 4 years now

And while his skills and tactics in fighting might have changed dramatically, there was also the glaring fact that during this time Hinata was also absent from his life meaning that they would have very little time to collaborate on new skills and styles with each other. So in order to maximize the duo's effectiveness it would make sense for Naruto and Hinata to use strategies that they were familiar with.

Thinking back to the constants of these two when they teamed with one another was that Naruto would never stray far from Hinata's side. He would leave it up to Hinata to harass their opponents from range with her jutsus and archery skills. Thereby forcing their enemies to choose to either roll the dice and duel Hinata at long range, or engaging Naruto in close proximity on his terms.

This opening move contradicted all of that which immediately concerned Kakashi as he was able to watch with his Sharigan in slow motion as Asuma stepped forward to support Gai with his trench knives.

Naruto was never flashy with his katana, going one step deeper into analyzing Naruto. Kakashi also recalled that Naruto also rarely ever drew his katana….

And Naruto had never before thrown it!

This sudden change caught all 3 jonins off guard

This also confused everybody on the field watching as even the throw of the katana was strange. It didn't fly straight directly toward them but it spun in the air toward the 3 jonin. The fact of this wasn't lost on any of them as the three instantly realized two things. It was purposely thrown so that it would miss all three of them instead opting to go into the middle of the three of them.

It didn't take a genius like Kakashi to realize Naruto was looking to hiraishin into the middle of the three of them, this led Kakashi to wonder had Naruto's success in the war really inflated Naruto's ego so much or did he actually progress to the point where he could confidently take all 3 of them on at such close range. Without Hinata's support

A sound of whirling chakra filled the area, a tell-tale sign of Naruto releasing chakra and preparing to hiraishin.

Kakashi had to be on his guard he would be upon them in a flash…

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

THUD!

The sounds echoed through the field as the spectators stood in utter shock at what just happened in front of them.

"Wha… wha.. what… How?" Kurenai stuttered out loud wide eyed.

Shizune also stuttered in shock, a hand raised partially covering her mouth, "They won… They would have won…"

The three Jonin were just as surprised as the spectators, the three of them still hadn't realized what happened as the sudden appearance of Jiraiya and the Sandaime in the middle of the battle had temporarily stunned them.

The Sandaime had blocked Naruto's arching katana slash by gripping his forearm and Jiraiya stood facing Hinata with a kunai in hand.

Kakashi turned around so he too was facing Hinata and he saw on the floor a single arrow.

In that very moment his mind raced and suddenly it all clicked… the sounds, Naruto's actions, and the sudden intervention of Jiraiya-sama and the Sandaime.

Kakashi came to the realization as everything connected… They had just lost in under a minute to Naruto and Hinata.

Their strategy was perfectly crafted; it was simple, quick and ultimately lethal.

Kakashi had always been touted as a genius, but as he slowly analyzed the battle from start to finish he only then realized how much of a fool he had been.

The battle had started with Naruto charging forward toward them flaring and expelling an enormous amount of his chakra to flood the battlefield. He had put this to the side believing it was a mere intimidation tactic. Perhaps a bad habit he might have picked up during his war in Iwa

To the naked eye you were distracted by Naruto's show of power and advance forward, he purposely feinted toward Gai as to hold the three of them in place. Naruto knew the taijutsu master would want to stand and fight thus making it a higher possibility that the other two would also stay to support Gai.

His twirling of the sword and the reflections of the sun were further distractions; it forced you to focus on Naruto or possibly it forced a momentary distraction and dared you to look away from being blinded. However this was all a set up for Hinata, all she needed was that slight moment of distraction to draw an arrow and fire it directly at the back of her husband.

All of Naruto's motions distracted them from seeing the crucial moment of the arrow being launched and once it entered into its flight it was near impossible to detect as it shadowed Naruto perfectly.

Since there was only a drop of chakra used to aid in the flight of the arrow, it would have taken an expert sensor shinobi specifically looking for it to detect the minute trace of Hinata's chakra in a sea of Naruto's to see it was even there.

Naruto then threw his katana at them and because he so obviously missed them it would lead them to an immediate assumption the only outcome was that Naruto was using the katana as an anchor to teleport to with Hiraishin.

They had rightfully assumed such an action as Naruto did in fact teleport into the middle of them, however that was the final diversion necessary, Naruto had drawn the attention of all three of them and in that moment where all three of them turned to look at him.

The arrow in flight which nobody had even noticed to begin with completely vanished, all Hinata had to do then was to incorporate it with the Arrow kage bunshin no jutsu, and 1 became 3.

Had Jiraiya not intervened all three of them would have been hit without even realizing what had happened. In that moment of agony and distraction as the arrow tore through their bodies. All Naruto had to do was swing his katana in a wide arch and he would have bisected all 3 of them easily.

Marks of true shinobi, they didn't use any big destructive fancy jutsu. Hinata and Naruto had used variations, albeit very powerful variations of basic jutsus to defeat 3 of the most powerful shinobis in Konoha.

The Sandaime released Naruto's arm with a chuckle and said to the three stunned jonin. "Why don't you three take a breather."

The three shinobi nodded and shunshined to where the other spectators were standing. Naruto sheathed his katana and only when he stood up and took a good look at the Sandaime did he realize he was now dressed in his battle attire.

"That was a good warm up wasn't it Naruto-kun? The Sandaime asked, he raised his arm and said as he move to pat Naruto on the shoulder. "So let's have me and Jiraiya-kun really test you…" Just as Hiruzen's hand was about to make contact with Naruto's shoulder. Naruto had already vanished. Immediately Hiruzen smiled and turned as he heard the impact of two figures colliding.

Turning Jiraiya had made the first move this time, by attacking Hinata. This time it was the two older shinobis who attempted to divert the attention of the younger shinobi. Naruto however had seen through it and instantly Hiraishined over toward his wife allowing him to block Jiraiya's fist with his knee.

The trust of Hinata was shown clearly as she made no move to dodge or even block Jiraiya's attack

The impact from the two created a small gust of wind that was shown as their articles of clothing respectively fluttered energetically.

Not giving the Sannin a moment to go on the offensive again, the duo of husband and wife began as Naruto arched his back and reached out toward his wife who interlaced her fingers with Naruto and as he came down from midair after parrying Jiraiya's strike, he used the momentum to yank his wife toward Jiraiya launching her forward.

The momentum of Naruto throwing her carried into a spinning roundhouse kick aimed at the Sannin's head, Jiraiya maneuvered backward attempting to catch her leg and almost immediately regretted it.

Although he didn't outwardly show it, he mentally winced as he had almost forgotten that Hinata had been trained extensively by Tsunade thus Hinata had picked up some of her super human strength.

Because Jiraiya was not able to fully grasp Hinata's leg and stop her motion, Hinata's continued on her offensive stepping forward into Jiraiya's guard Hinata attempted a chakra laced juken palm strike which Jiraiya easy dodged by leaning backwards and to the right.

With the grace of a ballerina, Hinata transferred the forward motion of her body to her feet launching herself upwards into a high somersault kick.

Once again Jiraiya was too fast and was able to back step the attack. But just as Hinata reached the pinnacle of her arc, Naruto's fist emerged underneath her, covered partially by the flowing robes of her kimono.

A good strategy Jiraiya thought as he saw Naruto advancing toward him in slow motion, but the problem is that because of Hinata's original attack he was already back pedaling he could easily keep his distance easi….

BOOMMM!

An unexpected explosion of air and pressure sent Jiraiya skipping backwards toward the Sandaime who easily caught him by the leg as he just bounced by.

Jiraiya was quick onto his feet as he rubbed the side of his neck the sudden rip lash from being thrown backwards and caught suddenly caused him a bit of discomfort.

"What in the world was that?!" Kurenai asked wide eyed, "Naruto wasn't even close to hitting Jiraiya-sama!"

"It was the Godaime's chakra enhanced strength…" Kakashi replied without taking his eye off the battle in front of him.

"But Naruto's fist didn't hit anything? How did he direct the release of his chakra in such a concentrated direction instead of it just spreading everywhere?" Asuma further questioned as he narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

"He did hit something…" Tsunade suddenly commented with a smirk. "When Hinata attacked the pervert with her juken, she released a portion of the chakra of that attack into the air when she missed. With her high affinity for water she was able to use this chakra to gather together an extremely thin sheet of water molecules from the surrounding air. She then molded that thin sheet of water and chakra into a slight curve to help in directing the force of the chakra released by Naruto"

"So like the Nidaime hokage?" an stunned Kurenai asked

"Something akin to my granduncle but even as strong as Hinata is, she is nowhere even close to his level of control and power." Tsunade assured.

"I see," Kakashi stated, "So Naruto's fist impacted that tiny cone of water and chakra, using that as a catalyst to direct the release of his attack. And even though a huge amount of the chakra was lost it didn't matter with the freakish amount of chakra Naruto possesses."

Back with the battle it had turned into an exchange of long range jutsus as Hiruzen decided it was time for him to get involved. Taking 3 shurikens out he threw them at high velocity toward Naruto and Hinata and blazed through the hand seals to the

Shuriken kage bunshin jutsu

Hinata and Naruto were quick to counter with a collaboration jutsu

SUITON / FUTON

SCATTERING BULLETS JUTSU / NORTHERN DIVINE WIND

Releasing a continuous flurry of water bullets from her mouth Hinata's jutsu was immediately frozen by Naruto's jutsu.

The attacks from the two sides collided, but with the initial wave of shurikens blocked, the second flurry of frozen water bullets continued on toward Jiraiya and Hiruzen who both responded.

"DOTON: DORYUHEKI"

Both elder shinobi released a stream of mud from their mouths which quickly hardened into a two story wall. They heard the impacts of the frozen water bullets hit the wall, then a sudden silence leading both men to immediately leapt backwards into the air.

As the bottom of the wall suddenly separated from the top and slid along the ground at a very high speed, had they not jumped they surely would have been run over by the sliding boulder.

From a different angle, those watching could see Hinata and Naruto charge forward toward the wall. Mid way Naruto would use his Futon: Vacuum wave to slice the rock wall horizontally in the middle into two pieces.

Then they both punched the bottom of the wall, almost as if they were playing jenga with giant rocks. As the top of the wall fell toward them with no support from the bottom Hinata punched upwards shattering the rock into thousands of small pieces.

"FUTON: DAITOPPA"

Releasing a powerful gust of wind Naruto turned these smaller more manageable pieces into high speed deadly projectiles aimed right at Jiraiya and Hiruzen

Jiraiya smirked and immediately ran through the hand signs, "Katon: Karyudan!"

Jiraiya exhaled a jet hot stream of flame breath from his mouth melting all the earthen projectiles launched toward them into blobs of mud that fell to the ground.

Immediately upon landing Hiruzen then supported Jiraiya with, "Doton: Kage Bunshin"

The blobs of mud that had been created by Jiraiya sudden rose up into mud clones of Sarutobi.

They then scattered and formed into a ring around Naruto and Hinata effectively surrounding them from any type of escape.

The mud clones quickly advanced toward Hinata and Naruto. Just as they entered within a 10 meter radius of the couple Naruto ducked down as Hinata entered into a stance with one arm in front of her and one behind.

"Suiton: Eight trigrams piercing palm!" she said as she spun in place 360 degrees. Every single mud clone stopped and all collapsed from being bisected.

A lull in the action descended on the field.

Hinata took a deep breath and then released it, to the spectators and the other combatants it was very strange. Was Hinata already starting to tire?

Technically she was the youngest current combatant, so she really had no excused.

Once again she took a deep breath and released it as she reached out toward Naruto and gripped his arm pulling him toward her.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her apprentice. "Was she injured or ill" Tsunade thought as it seemed like for a moment Hinata needed Naruto to support her.

Naruto turned toward his wife with a smile and took two steps toward Hinata then suddenly, they vanished!

Sarutobi chuckled as he took his pipe out and took a puff from it.

"Always the actors those two."

It was subtle, barely even noticeable their little play was merely a distraction there was no genjutsu involved just basic human psychology playing tricks on the senses and distracting the eyes.

The two senior shinobi had to admit they had missed the initial wave of mist that had suddenly crept and encompassed the entirety of the field, Sarutobi and Jiraya took steps backwards toward each other carefully listening and feeling for slight flickers of chakra inside the dense mist.

"Those two can be devilishly manipulative, can't they?" Sarutobi pondered to Jiraiya

Jiraiya paused as he suddenly heard animal noises around them.

A croak of a frog

A caw of an eagle

Chirps of crickets

Then suddenly howls of what sounded like a desperate animal in pain and suffering that was unnerving

Followed by what sounded like a menacing snarl of a large carnivore.

These noises came at random intervals. From random directions the two elder shinobi were now back to back prepared for an attack from any direction.

Flash backs of years past came to Jiraiya, Naruto had done this to him before when he was younger. While he had Hiruzen with him this time it was still as unnerving as the first time.

Naruto had really stepped it up with the sound effects.

Trying to break the tension, "For two people with no talent in genjutsu… your right sensei they really know how to mess with your mind."

The mist ebbed and flowed around them, each time it came in then pulled back out the landscaped changed a tree which you had thought was in one place was now somewhere else what used to be a grassy field had become a forest. There was a creaking sound of wood that filled the air, it sounded like the trees were uprooting themselves and moving around to reposition and with Naruto's highly proficient mokuton abilities both elder shinobi did not rule such an event out.

Suddenly the creaking stopped and was replaced by crashing, both shinobi turned toward the same direction as the sound of something crashing through the forest became louder and louder. They could see a shadow through the mist coming toward them.

They readied up for whatever came out of that mist…

…

…

…

"YIP YIP YIP!"

What came out of the mist wasn't some gigantic monster or beast it was a little brown fox who was happily bouncing about in front of them.

"Another distraction." Jiraya commented as he had predicted correctly.

A wall of water suddenly crashed through the forest and had they spent another moment watching the little fox they would have been washed away.

"DOTON: Earth-Style Rampart" Jiraya quickly ran through the hand seals causing the ground underneath him and the Sandaime to quickly rise up

The wave of water smashed violently against the earthen rampart.

Looking down from atop the ramparts Jiraiya had to let out a whistle of impressment.

The training field had been replaced by a forest of trees submerged in water and mist.

If they weren't engaged in such an epic battle he would have liked to take a moment and sit back and relish in the beautiful scene before him.

As to capture his point perfectly. A cry of "SUITON: SUIRYUDAN NO JUTSU" broke him out of his temporary musing.

From below a giant water dragon erupted out of the water it let out a ferocious roar and streamed toward the two.

Both of the elder shinobi mirrored each other in jutsu Doton: Earth flow spears

As the water dragon charged up at the two an eruption of earthen spikes interrupted it.

A splash of water filled exploded in the air as one of the giant earthen spikes pierced the head of the dragon.

As the water that made up the dragon began to fall back toward the field below. Both men felt a huge spike in chakra as a pillar of water erupted up merging with the falling water to form an even bigger water dragon.

Both men redouble their efforts to stop the water dragon as it once again sped towards them \

This time instead of being destroyed so easily, it bobbed and weaved dodging the spikes that shot out from side of the earthen ramparts.

Just as it was about to reach the two Hiruzen quickly weaved though hand signs. "Doton: Earth Flow Divide!"

Channeling his chakra into the rampart below him a slab of the earth rose up and swatted the incoming water dragon like a giant bug.

"BEHIND!" Hiruzen yelled a moment too late to warn Jiraiya as Naruto rocketed himself from behind them delivering a vicious dynamic entry to the side of Jiraiya sending him flying and careening off the earthen ramparts into the misty waves below.

Hiruzen didn't have a minute to run over and look for Jiraiya as Naruto was upon him almost immediately rolling forward from the momentum of delivering the kick to Jiraiya. Naruto rolled toward Hiruzen then using his arms he launched his legs forward toward Hiruzen's chest.

Hiruzen raised his arms up in a x-shape in front of him blocking Naruto's attack.

Using that forward motion Naruto flipped himself into a standing motion followed by dashing forward in engaging him with a very wide sweeping and graceful juken style .

This form of the gentle fist reminded him of Hinata for some odd reason, which immediately sent his mind racing.

Quickly remembering that even while holding off Naruto he still had to be worried about the possibility that Hinata would attempt a sneak attack.

True it could be that the two set up a divide and conquer tactic but the idea of Hinata fighting one on one against Jiraiya was slightly far fetched.

The young Hyuga heiress was powerful and skilled, but there was still some time to go before she could match the strength and experience of his student.

It made more sense that the two would rather momentarily separate the two elder shinobi then attempt to quickly defeat the isolated shinobi quickly before finishing off the other.

Yet in this moment Hiruzen could not detect the young Hyuga anywhere.

Hinata was in fact quick skilled in stealth and since Hiruzen's focus had to be divided fighting off Naruto. He wouldn't be surprised for her to have slipped passed his detection.

Hiruzen decided it would best to play it by ear and use his experience and many years as a shinobi to outsmart and respond to the two younger shinobi's attacks. Which at the moment was a powerful chakra laced axe kick that he back pedaled to dodge as it impacted hard with the rocks below causing it to fracture and crack.

Naruto would not let up as he stepped forward into a forward palm into a sweeping left. Hiruzen was able to parry the two strikes.

But as Naruto stepped forward and jumped forward into a aerial spinning hook kick Hiruzen finally realized what was going on as he caught Naruto's leg mere inches from his face.

Hiruzen let out a smirk.

"Quite impressive and brave of you… Hinata-chan."

Naruto's lips curled up into a kind smile that didn't fit him at all. "Now…" was all she said

A whirling of chakra and suddenly Hiruzen was caught by a sweeping kick to his chest causing him to skid backwards.

Before he could react further he heard in tandem

"YOU ARE WITHING THE RANGE OF OUR DIVINITION!"

Hinata who had dropped her henge attacked first.

"2 palms"

Naruto circled around for his turn

"4 palms"

Hiruzen's body was thrown around like a ping pong ball between the two younger shinobi

"8 palms"

"16 palms"

"32 palms"

"64 palms"

"128 palms"

The two's combined attack was seemingly too much for Hiruzen to handle as he fell onto his knees in front of the two young shinobi.

"Impressive… very impressive you two have grown so much…"

"tsk tsk tsk" he said as Hiruzen made a clicking sound with his tongue. "For you two to catch me off guard like this, really shows that I am getting old."

Naruto snorted, "With all due respect Sandaime, you can stop faking it now."

Hiruzen chuckled for a moment before he began liquefying into mud.

WHAM!

Naruto was suddenly sent flying as this time it was Hiruzen who used the diversion to get one up on the two younger shinobi.

Jiraiya had delivered a bone shattering kick to Naruto's side sending him flying toward the edge of the earthen ramparts. He hit the ground rolling with a thud.

This also had the effect of leaving Hinata alone against Jiraiya, she started off defending well against the Sannin she was able to deflect a flurry of powerful punches.

But Jiraiya's speed surprised her as he sent her skidding back with a sweeping kick to her stomach.

She was barely able to prevent herself from double overring in pain, using this opening Hiruzen reemerged and charged Hinata this time with his summon Emma in staff form.

Jiraiya also leapt forward toward her going to a synchronized attack with his sensei.

She braced herself for the hits as she knew she wouldn't be able to raise any sort of significant defense

She resisted the urge to shut her eyes but she couldn't help it as she heard a sickening crunch of the staff impacting with flesh and a loud thud almost simultaneously.

Two solid hits, yet she didn't feel anything.

She opened her eyes to the sight of her husbands back.

He had sacrificed his body to take both hits for her.

He had raised his forearms to block Hiruzen's swing but even in old age his strength was still noteworthy. Naruto couldn't fully stop the staff with his forearms leading to a huge gash across the left side of his face from his left cheek up to his forehead.

By blocking Hiruzen this left him completely vulnerable to Jiraiya who sank a solid punch into his gut.

Hinata for the first time in a long time felt fear, inadequacy and most of all weakness.

Her hands shook as she saw her husbands knees buckle and give way, the blood that was sprayed across the front of Jiraiya had clearly come from Naruto's mouth.

She couldn't imagine the pain he was in when he crumpled into a heap on the ground.

In this instant even Jiraiya and Hiruzen both had looks of remorse on their faces, had they taken it too far?

Perhaps in another existence she would have shied away and given up, but as her fear and weakness began to ebb away it was replaced by something else… something she had never really embraced before

Rage…

"HAKKESHO KAITEN!" Hinata roared as she released an immense amount of chakra outwards

This had the effect of forcing the 2 elder shinobi to leap backwards not wanting to be caught in the sphere of chakra.

The dust that was kicked up from Hinata's jutsu obscured their vision.

Hinata took the brief lull in action to reach down and tend to her husband

"You're so foolish…" she said with a tear rolling down her face.

"Aghh" Naruto moaned in pain as with the aid of Hinata struggle to pull himself up onto his knee.

Hinata placed a hand against the side of his bloody face. The damage was extensive, it would take longer time then they had for her to heal him.

"And I would be willing to endure much more if it meant protecting you."

Naruto reached up and took her hand into his, taking this brief respite to just merely enjoy her presence.

"No more holding back…"

With Jiraiya and Hiruzen they both tensed as the both felt a sudden spike in power coming from the cloud of dust.

They both reflexively sent chakra too their feet as they braced themselves as they were hit by a wave of pressure and wind. The smoke cleared revealing a snarling Naruto on all fours in his version 1 jinchuriki form with 4 tails waving menacingly through the air.

The bubbling orange shroud and craters beneath his feet were evident of how much power was being released. Yet to show Naruto was in complete control of this power, Hinata's hand came down and gently patted him on the head then ran her fingers through his hair. The lack of any pain on her face or chakra burns demonstrated how much Naruto had come in wielding the power of the Kyubi.

A single command "Go." was all that was given by Hinata

Naruto shot forward like an arrow and was upon Hiruzen and Jiraiya simultaneously, Naruto went after Hiruzen with a swipe of his claw. Hiruzen blocked with his staff this enabled Naruto to grasp the staff using it to stabilize himself and swing his tails at Jiraiya who flipped backwards knowing the potential dangers of the kyubis chakra.

It was true he saw Hinata touch the chakra cloak unscathed, but he was not going to take that same risk and inflict painful chakra burns upon himself. Naruto's tails swept toward him looking to cut him off. And just as Jiraiya was about to leap away to safety he felt something tear into his right side causing him to miss time his jump and arrow fired off by Hinata. This allowed one of Naruto's tails to wrap around his leg slamming him into the ground. Naruto was going to reel in Jiraiya like a fish caught on a hook had it not been for Hiruzen spinning his bo staff around batting away the remainder of Naruto's tails before slipping in a jab to Naruto's chest allowing Jiraiya the momentary distraction to escape from Naruto's grasp. Jiraiya attempted to return to Hiruzen's side to formulate a new plan of attack against Naruto's jinchurhiki mode. However he his path was cut off as a flurry of arrows landed in front of him, his attempts to leap over them were foiled when he saw a explosive tag that was wrapped around one of the arrows light up. Forcing him to leap even further away from Hiruzen who was engaged in a brutal battle against Naruto himself.

Jiraiya growled in annoyance as Hinata was quite satisfied with merely keeping him out of the battle from range with her bow.

She had set up a perimeter of arrows imbedded into the ground about 15 meters around her each of them with an explosive tag wrapped around it facing outwards. It would be quite dangerous to approach her at this moment.

Jiraiya might have been a master at fuinjutsu, but Naruto was not far behind and he was sure that Naruto would not spare anything in ensuring the safety of Hinata.

Jiraiya grimaced, then bit his thumb. "Looks like I have no choice…"

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" Jiraiya yelled as he slammed his hand onto the ground.

Had he not been so hasty he would have heard Hiruzen yell out, "NO JIRAIYA DON'T SUMMON THEM!"

By the time the smoke had cleared, Jiraiya had struck a pose. "BEHOLD THE GALLANT SANNIN OF KONOHA OBSERVE WITH YOUR EYES THE GREAT TOAD SAGE!"

" Jiraiya-chan…. I really hope you didn't summon us to impress young girls again…" Fukasaku said with minor annoyance in his voice seeing the beautiful young Hyuga female in front of him.

Jiraiya sputtered out, "No! No! She's…"

"Hinata-chan!" Shima said in joy as she interrupted Jiraiya mid-sentence.

Leaping off Jiraiya's shoulder she started hoping toward the young Hyuga.

Hinata smiled and lowered her bow and said in a welcoming tone that didn't match one bit what she was doing just a minute prior. "Shima-sama, its been a while."

Fukasaku turned to Jiraiya and questioned the now sweating Sannin, "Ma said her name was Hinata… as in Hinata Hyuga… Naruto-chan's wife!"

Fukasaku had never met the young Hyuga before but he had heard Shima talk about her on multiple occasions.

Before Shima could leap any closer toward Hinata she was cut off when Hiruzen hit the ground in front of her

Hiruzen in his attempt to stop Jiraiya from summoning the two great sage toads had taken his eyes off of Naruto for one second too long. Naruto had been able to slip into his guard easily off the distraction with the speed of his Jinchuriki form grasping the wizened shinobi with one claw and tossing him aside.

The throw was powerful but Hiruzen was able to readjust himself in mid air to land on one knee. He was beginning to feel the fatigue of prolonged combat. He was years past his prime and while still immensely powerful, he knew that his strength was on a steep downward trend. He had been happy to take a step back from the forefront of battle the first time he retired nearly 20 years ago. Life of a shinobi was especially taxing on one's body especially those who had fought in multiple wars.

But now after his second retirement and having a ferocious duel with the shining stars of the future generation he really had to admit that he was getting too old for this shit. In any other circumstance had Jiraiya summoned the 2 great toad sages into battle it would have been a welcomed reprieve for Hiruzen.

But he assumed that in the heat of the battle, Jiraiya had forgotten how much Shima loved Naruto.

Speaking of the great toad sage. "Hiruzen-chan?" Shima asked confused at what was going on at the moment.

Seeing her kind-hearted grand daughter-in-law had caused Shima to completely ignore the fact that she might have been summoned into a battle field.

It was now that she took a look around surveying the field around her. It was a very strange environment, it was a large barren earthen field most likely created by a jutsu, it was very clearly a battlefield complete with jinchurikki and all.

She had almost skipped past the overwhelming figure of orange chakra. But she stopped and stared at the figure for a moment her expression morphed quickly as she processed what was before her.

First came horror and awe at the sight of such power being released so liberally, to anxiety as she felt her heart rate pump up slightly in preparation to fight, then finally as she recognized the mop of untamable blonde hair and whisker marks it became great joy.

She saw the orange bubbling chakra dissipate around him as she hopped toward him and into his outstretched arms.

He had squatted down to be more toward her level, and with a final bound she lept into his arms. Embracing her grandson tightly

"Naru-chan!" Shima said with glee as she wrapped her arms around his head, he had gotten so big now it would make it very difficult for her to hug him around the body.

"Grandma." He said with great joy and love in his voice.

She growled as her hand came up and touched the side of his face near where the giant bleeding gash still existed. Shima hoped with all her might that such a wound wouldn't leave any scar as to ruin her sweet grandsons' handsome looks.

"How did this happen" she asked in a dark tone directed at everybody else on the field.

"HA, HA." Hiruzen said with a awkward laugh as he rubbed the back of his head, it was at this moment as well his bo-staff disappeared in a puff of smoke. Emma had decided to not to remain and perhaps get caught in Shima's rage. Technically it was him in staff form that inflicted that injury upon Naruto

"We were training and testing the skill of our young shinobi. Minor injuries are bound to happen." God of Shinobi he may be, but before somebody with so much more experience and wisdom then him Hiruzen suddenly felt very nervous. Though his foot-in-mouth jutsu he was doing at the very moment was quite excellent to his detriment.

Recognizing the fight was very clearly over now. Hinata quickly approached Naruto's side and began to fuss over his face. He jerked slightly and winched in pain as her hand lit up with green chakra.

"Do you want help with that." A new arrival asked.

Shima turned away from watching Hinata tend to Naruto and narrowed her eyes slight she recognized that voice, "Tsunade…"

"So the absentee finally decides to returns… she is only a couple of years too late." Shima said with scorn in her words.

"You're doing fine work my dear." Shima said in a total 180 of manner toward Hinata who was still healing the side of Naruto's face.

"He's my grandson…" Tsunade mumbled in a annoyed voice.

"Oh really… then where were you all these years!" Shima retorted.

Tsunade clenched her fists as she responded "Regardless, he is of my blood! I have every right to be concerned with him right now!"

"Oh… you want to be here now! Well what about my poor Mina-chan! You never tried to make any amends to him! Do you have any idea how many nights he spent crying for his mother to return to him!" Shima said with a shaky finger showing how infuriated she was right now.

She loved Naruto there was no doubt about that for even a moment, but Minato had a special place within Shima's heart. To Shima she was officially his mother, Tsunade had willingly of her own accord abandoned him.

It was when he was 4 years old that Minato finally realized that Shima could not have been his real mother, this pained her the most. He had become borderline obsessive with the idea of looking for any clues that would lead him to his birth mother. There were also times where he had given Shima the silent treatment, whether that was because she lied to him about being his mother or that she was keeping the identity of his real mother she wasn't sure of.

Minato did eventually come out of this phase in his life and tearfully apologized to her and from that point on their relationship only grew closer. His death had hit her hard it broke her, she had poured every ounce of love in her body into Minato, but after he passed she would find it difficult to ever open herself up like that ever again and she would have most likely spiraled uncontrollably into depression had Naruto not entered her life.

All the little mistakes that they had made when raising Minato, she had corrected when it came to raising Naruto. The biggest difference however was that she always held a little back with him, she also knew that compared to Naruto he wasn't unwanted like Minato was.

Naruto's parents had wanted him more than anything in the world, Kushina put herself in danger full well knowing the dangers of a jinchurikki giving birth. And his parents would in the end give the ultimate sacrifice to protect him and give him a chance at life.

Unlike one Tsunade Senju…

Shima had been told that Tsunade had returned to Konoha a couple of years ago and become Hokage. Thanks in no small part to Naruto, but never once did Shima bother to visit her or go see the female Senju when she had made trips to Konoha. On the contrary she had went out of her way to ensure she would not run into her.

Shima believed with every fiber of her being that when Tsunade abandoned Minato she had given away all her claims to Minato and all his future progeny. Thus her anger at the moment of seeing the blonde woman.

"I AM TRYING TO MAKE AMENDS NOW DON'T YOU SEE THAT!" Tsunade yelled as she took a step toward the trio.

It was what Shima said next that froze Tsunade in her tracks "I don't think you deserve that right…"

Ever since the two females began going at it back and forth everybody else had slowly begun to back away, some like Kakashi and Gai came up with oddly convenient excuses to leave. While others like Hiruzen found it better for his health to make himself scarce. He was sure there was some light reading to catch up on at home and with Tsunade currently occupying Shima's full attention, he hoped the elder toad sage would forget about the gash he had inflicted upon Naruto.

It was by now Hinata had mostly finished healing up Naruto's wound. Shima looked at it satisfied and said authoritatively but still with warmth in her voice directed at Naruto.

"I haven't seen you in a long time! Come to Mount Myoboku for dinner tonight, you can bring Hinata-chan."

Naruto shuffled nervously for a moment, remembering the promise he had made to Tsunade the other day that he would spend time with her tonight. His eyes shifted toward Tsunade whose mouth was still agape in shock from the verbal lashing she had taken from Shima.

Tsunade had heard Shima's demand, her eyes locked with Naruto's for a moment Tsunade saw the uncertainty in his eyes, the slight hints of pleading. He really didn't deserve this Shima wanted to hurt Tsunade but in her anger, Shima had inadvertently dragged Naruto into the crossfire.

Tsunade's eyes softened slightly as she understood the predicament Naruto was currently in. There really was no route to winning for her, and if she was going to start improving her standing in Shima's eyes then she would have to start conceding certain battles. With that Tsunade gave him the slightest of nods signaling that she knew what had to be done.

Naruto felt a weight lift off his shoulders, he would definitely have to make it up to her later, turning towards Shima Naruto smiled and simply said to her, "Okay."

Shima gave a final smug look toward Tsunade before doing the hand seals to reverse summon the 3 of them back to Mount Myoboku and with a puff of smoke, they were gone.

"Hime…" Jiraiya said in a comforting tone as he had been present through the whole interaction between the two, and it was pretty much entirely his fault for summoning the two elder toads to the field causing this to happened in the first place.

She completely ignored him and just started to walk off back toward Konoha, this silence hurt Jiraiya more than anything he would have much rather she scolded him or beat him to a pulp. At least then she would have had some sort of outlet to release some of that pent-up rage within her body.

"sigh…"

A couple of hours later…

Hokage Tower (Private Office)

Existing within the Hokage tower was a myriad of rooms allowing it to function for the current Hokage as their primary living quarters if they so choose too. Aside from the Hokage's office which everybody knows about and is often visited by those who sought counsel with the Hokage.

There were also private quarters, guest rooms, kitchens, offices and even a personal gym. Most of the time the Hokage would choose to leave the tower as they felt the need to mentally get away from it all for a moment and return to their families. But tonight, in one of the many private offices there was a single occupant.

From this room light, sobbing could be heard from the darkened room. Tsunade Senju the Godaime Hokage of Konoha, one of the three legendary Sannin and greatest medical-nin of her time had hidden herself and was sobbing her eyes out as she replayed the events that had happened early in the day.

She had come to accept the cruel words from Shima, everything she had said was true she really didn't have any right to be near Naruto or try to make amends to Minato. But what was she going to do? Run away again…

No too many people depended on her now she had come too far to leave now.

But sometimes not even the great slug Sannin could just tough it out…

She heard the door creak open halfway and light began to pour in from the hallway outside,

"I said I want to be alone… leave!" she said forcefully why trying to choke down a sob. Even if it was Shizune she didn't want to face her right now.

The figure entered the room and closed the door behind her… she felt their presence walk towards her.

When they finally reached her, she heard two things thump down softly onto the desk she was sitting at just as she was about to spare a glance toward the person who had entered, a voice that she never had expected said, "I know you don't mean that …"

She had been caught… She had lied… she really wanted somebody to be with her right now and comfort her but she would never admit it to anybody else but him.

"Naruto…" she said out in a soft voice looking up at her grandson.

He was smiling down at her like he had never done before, their relationship had been rocky since she had entered his life. Aside from his first outbursts at her when they had first met he had never openly expressed any sort of hatred or disdain toward her, however he also never showed her any sort of affection or love.

But at the moment to be the target of her grandson's smile and loving look, it suddenly wiped away all the nasty things Shima had said to her.

She tried to chuckle but all that came out was another sob, he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a silky lavender handkerchief, he gently wiped away the tears in her eyes. It very clearly smelled like lavender it was obviously Hinata's but that didn't take away from the moment one bit.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug, he made no motion to stop her in fact he began to gently run his hand through her hair comforting her.

Tsuande didn't know how long they had remained like this for but what finally broke her out of it was a loud grumbling of her stomach.

She separated herself from him and embarrassingly rubbed the back of her head. She hadn't eaten since this afternoon, so by now she was absolutely starving.

Instead of laughing at her, he had turned toward the table where he had set something down when he had first entered.

It turned out to be a giant paper bag and a bottle of sake.

One sniff of her nose quickly revealed there was food inside the paper bag.

Naruto began to unpack the bag when he noticed Tsunade was practically salivating whether that be at the bottle of sake or food, he didn't see any reason to make her wait any longer.

He took out the bowls of dried noodles, the meats and vegetables combining them before mixing them with the hot broth. He set down one of the bowls in front of Tsunade before pouring her a small cup of sake.

This wasn't quite the dinner with her grandson that Tsunade had originally imagined, but she wouldn't have it any other way…

AND FIN!

Sorry for the delay, but life really has been tiring and I couldn't find the inspiration to continue writing until very recently when I was bombarded with ideas for the chapter.

Here's to Chapter 53 and hopefully it comes quick, you will be pleased to know that I have written a portion of it already.

I have been spoiling you guys with lemons almost every chapter, that will continue for at least another 2 chapters so I'll catch y'all on the flip side!

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND REVIEW!