Disclaimer: Oh yes, I own Naruto! …not, how dumb are you?

A/N: Alright, this is my first Naruto fic, so please do not kill me. The characters are about 19 by now, okay? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

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Shikamaru yawned, and lazily opened one eye to look at the clock. …11:20…still can sleep 40 minutes…I deserve it anyway…

He yawned again, and rolled over. The sheets were nice and clean, the pillow was very soft, and it was…not quiet, there were irritated stomps coming from the stairs.

He groaned, and pulled the pillow over his head. Maybe if I ignore her…

The door slammed open, "Shikamaru!"

He didn't move, and made snoring noises.

The irritated stomps got closer and yanked the pillow off his head, "I know you're not sleeping, you bum!"

He lazily opened his eyes again to see blond hair, and two angry blue eyes. "How troublesome…"

Ino snorted and grabbed his arm, "It's already 11:20, and you're telling me it's troublesome? Get up already, you only have ten minutes!"

Shikamaru sat up and yawned, "What's the big rush? I already did a mission yesterday, and handed in the report, Godaime shouldn't be sending me on another mission…"

Ino pushed him, "You forgot! How could you forget!"

"Forget what?"

Ino poked him in the forehead, "We're arranging the Rokudaime's ceremony today, remember? You're the Godaime's number one strategist, you have to be there!"

…Rokudaime…ceremony…oh yeah, the troublesome thing Naruto was yelling about…

He dragged himself up, "How troublesome…alright, alright, I'm going!" he said as Ino whacked him on the head.

"Don't forget to say hello to Sasuke-kun for me!" yelled Ino as he was leaving.

Shikamaru grimaced, and chose not to answer.

--

"What took you so long!" yelled Naruto, pointing to a yawning Shikamaru as he walked into the Hokage office.

Shikamaru waved a hand in a slightly apologetic manner, "…was really tired, just got up…"

"So what I was saying was, when I'm Hokage, I'm going to make a ramen holiday, what do you think?" asked Naruto, grinning.

Sasuke snorted, "What type of holiday is that, dobe?"

Naruto glared at Sasuke, "…I'm about to become Hokage now Sasuke-teme, so who's a dobe now?"

Sasuke glared back, "I'm the captain of the Anbu dobe, so even if I take orders from you it doesn't change who's a dobe."

"I'm not dead last!"

"You can't change your school records."

"Oh yeah? Well, I got farther in the chunin exams than you did!"

"What? You got Hyuuga, I got Gaara, there's a difference. Besides, I would have finished the battle if Orochimaru hadn't interrupted!"

"Neji was just as hard as Gaara!"

"Well, at your level back then, yeah."

"Sasuke-yarou—"

Sakura stepped into the middle, and blocked the punches of them, "Knock it off you two, or do you even want to become Hokage, Naruto?"

Naruto sat back down, muttering, "Well fine, but he started it…"

"Whatever dobe."

Sakura cleared her throat, glaring at both of them, and then began speaking, "Okay then, I know the Kazekage is going to arrive sometime tomorrow, so we'll have to send some people to greet him—"

"Huh, Gaara's coming tomorrow? Alright, first thing we should do is take him to Ichiruka—"

Sakura twitched, and punched Naruto in the head, "Stop talking for one second, godamnit!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "…so you can fight with him, but I can't?"

Sakura flicked a strand of pink hair out of her eyes, "You were fighting about pointless things, I'm trying to get our future Hokage to listen. Anyway," she said, flipping another page on her clipboard, "the Kazekage will arrive tomorrow, so we'll send Naruto, Sasuke, and some other people to greet them…the other Kages should be arriving sometime too. The ceremony itself will be next week; all of the Anbu will have to be there, as well as the clan heads, and most of the other shinboi. After that, it'll just be a big party, but you've got to act like a Hokage Naruto. Remember, you're representing all of Konoha."

Naruto rubbed his head, "That hurt…act like a Hokage? That's easy!"

Everyone rolled their eyes, "Sure…"

Shikamaru stood up, "Well if that's it, I don't see why I had to come…"

Sakura looked up from her clipboard, "Yeah, but as part of the Nara clan Shikamaru, you have to get a date."

"What!"

"It's not just you," said Sakura, flipping to the list of clans in Konoha, "every member of the clans, besides the children have to get dates."

Sasuke also stood, eyes flaring menacingly, "…who came up with this idea?"

Sakura sighed, "Ino-pig did…and the council supported it, said it told all the other countries not to try and steal our clans' special bloodline techniques…"

Naruto started laughing, "Hahahahaha! So all the "I'm cooler-than-thou" bastards like Sasuke-teme and Neji have to somehow ask a girl to the ceremony? This is going to be rich!"

"Shut it dobe, besides I bet you need a date or something too," Sasuke said, nodding at Sakura.

Sakura smiled, "That's right Naruto, you also have to have a date for the ceremony!"

Naruto's jaw dropped open, "Wait, what! Why!"

"You're going to be Hokage, there's no way any of the council will want a foreign girl to smooch up to you."

Naruto scratched his head, "Okay then…why don't you be my date then, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "No thanks Naruto, don't like you that way."

"Please?"

"I just said no!"

Shikamaru, noticing that the meeting seemed more or less officially over, said, "Well, I'm going now."

"Get a date!" Sakura called out, as he left.

Sure, he thought, although the simple problem is, that girl doesn't see me as anything but a bum. It's always Sasuke this, and Sasuke that…She's too busy worshipping the almighty Anbu captain to even notice my shadow…

--

Sasuke wasn't especially happy as he walked home. First, there were the usual matters of Anbu missions, but that was nothing new. Being captain of the Anbu always meant worrying about missions, but one learned to deal with the stress in time.

Then there was the Hokage ceremony. It wasn't that he minded Naruto becoming Hokage, no matter how annoying Naruto was becoming. No, at least now he wouldn't have to deal with the Godaime who occasionally drank too much sake on the job. It wasn't even the ceremony with the endless speeches, and equally endless gawking that would most likely occur when the Uchiha clan was called, as he was the sole member.

That was all just irritating; the thing that really worried him was the matter of a date. It wasn't the lack of girls that would accept him, that hadn't changed even after the whole Orochimaru matter. It was just…that he was worried he was going insane.

Every time he looked at Sakura he had the maddening desire to go up to her, wrap his arms around her, and just bury his face into her pink hair. Not the typical behavior of the captain of the Anbu at all, and to make matters worse, he couldn't figure out why.

Why of all girls did it have to be her? Sakura, who had seen him turn his back on Konoha, she who had seen the beginning of darkness when Orochimaru had given him the curse seal, she who had fought against him to bring him back…it just didn't make any sense.

The last thing was that there were still rumors of his brother drifting around. The Akatsuki were long gone, but his brother had still lived. There had always been rumors about the user of the Mange Sharingan, but they were much more persistant this time…There wasn't much he could do about it, he still longed for revenge, but…some things change. To some degree, anyway.

--

Hinata was carefully carrying boxes of medical supplies to the Hyuuga Main House, when someone rushed past her, causing her to drop a box. She leaned down, and was about to pick it up, when someone else did, "Oh hey, sorry about that Hinata."

Hinata could feel the heat rising to her face at the sight of the familiar blue eyes and blond hair, "Na-Na-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned, "Yep, but anyway do you know where Neji is?"

Hinata stood up carefully, trying to balance the boxes, "Neji-niisan? No, Naruto-kun."

Naruto frowned, "Damn, it's hard to find him…"

"Why are you looking for him, Naruto-kun?"

"I want to see his expression when I tell him he's got to have a date for the Hokage ceremony!"

"E-eh!"

Naruto leaned back, "Yeah, all of the clan members have to get a date…even I have to," he added sourly.

"B-but Naruto-kun, you shouldn't have much of a problem, since you're going to be Hokage…"

"You really think so Hinata? Thanks!" he flashed a grin, and then sped off.

Hinata started walking again, berating herself, why did I say that? Now he'll probably go and ask any girl, and she'll say yes, and I'll…I really don't know what I'm going to do. I don't think I can get a date… She chewed her lip, I don't really like this…

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A/N: How did you like it? Constructive criticism appreciated, but all flames will be ignored. Please review!