DON'T OWN NARUTO

Thanx 4 reviews. Sorry for the lateness!

Chapter 4

The Kingdom of Uzumaki, especially its capital Uzuchio*, was in a state of jubilee for it was announced just the day before in every square of the land that their beloved High Prince was to be married to the emperor of Konoha.

Every building or structure along the road leading to Kyuubi Palace was adorned with beautiful garlands of flowers and long ribbons. The people had closed their shops and workplaces for the afternoon so they could find a good place to watch the procession headed by Konoha's emperor and followed by his trusty royal guard.

Every able person was by the side of the road or even roofs, finally those lucky enough caught a glimpse of Emperor Madara, popularly known as the Black Emperor.

No matter the occasion the monarch always was dressed in black, though sometimes his clothing would have adornments or accessories in gold or crimson. Of course his dark eyes and hair, not to mention his dark moods also helped to give him the dark nickname. When he was seen on a battle field only the most courageous or foolish of warriors dared to contest their prowess against the black armored emperor.

But all in all, the people only saw a handsome man that exuded such power and confidence that a few of them were mighty intimidated even though they knew that the man came in peace in order to get married and not make war.

Kyuubi Palace

The delegation from Konoha had just passed through the castle walls where countless people were throwing flower petals from the parapets at the visitors as a sign of welcome.

As Madara and his delegation dismounted they could see that the grand doors of the palace were wide open. Without wasting time but not in a hurry, for Uchihas do not hurry - it is beneath them, Madara entered the palace followed by his men.

Inside he was directed to the throne room were his fiancée was waiting for him along with every noble and counselor of Uzumaki who was able to get there in time after the surprising wedding news.

After the formalities were taken cared of everyone proceeded to the banquet hall were they would partake of the best food, drink and entertainment that could be provided in such short notice.

The hall was very big, with grand windows to let the fresh air in, two great silver chandeliers encrusted with sparkling gems of every color hung from the ceiling, creating a very warm comfy atmosphere with its sweet smelling beeswax candles. Full length three branched candelabras were also situated around the hall to provide light for the guests.

As entertainment there were gypsy musicians, dancers and jugglers that luckily were already on the citadel. The entertainers performed to the best of their skills in the middle of the room so that everyone could appreciate the show. The food was prepared at the palace's kitchens but because of the promptness of the banquet breads, pastries and other dishes had to be brought from the city's food establishments.

Long trestle tables of wood, covered in white tablecloths, occupied the majority of the room; with the most important guests at the front near the dais were the emperor and prince were seated on a separate table all on their own yet surrounded from the shadows by guards.

Naruto looked at the man beside him from the corner of his eyes and saw that the man had hardly touched his food. "Is the food not to your taste my lord?"

Bringing his gaze towards Naruto, Madara had a very mysterious and small smirk grazing his face. "I dare say that I find myself with little appetite for food this evening."

Naruto gritted his teeth, and sought to change the subject. "Maybe we should take care of any last details before the wedding, like the contracts between us and our nations."

Madara's face lost its smirk and turned serious. "Yes, we better get those out of the way my dear." With those words he gets up and turned to help Naruto out of his seat.

The guests and dancers stopped what they were doing to watch their respective lords as they arouse from their seats. It is Naruto as lord of Uzumaki who addresses the crowd. "Please friends, let the feast continue and enjoy the rest of the evening." With those words he and Madara abandoned the hall fallowed by some guards and some counselors who where needed for the contract proceedings.

Naruto guided everyone to a chamber where diplomatic negotiations were usually held. After everyone needed was present and accounted for the procedures started.

Naruto seated himself and with a blank face let Jiraiya and some of his other counselors take charge of the side representing Uzumaki's interests. While Madara crossed his arms over his chest and reclined himself against a wall, where he could hear and see everything especially his bride to be, allowed his own counselors to take care of the paperwork.

Finally Jiraiya, who had taken charge of the proceedings, announced, "Well gentlemen, now I will summarize all the most important points of the wedding contract:

First – None of the sides shall assume the control of their spouse's kingdom unless in case of emergency and only in a temporary manner until other arrangements can be made by the body of government of the respective land.

Second – The first male child of the marital union shall be the heir of the Empire of Konoha. Said heir shall not have any rights of inheritance over the princedom of Uzumaki.

Third – The first daughter or second son shall be the Uzumaki heir. If there is not a second child or a male heir the body of government of each land shall find an acceptable solution for all parts involved.

Fourth – Since Uzumaki shall remain an independent state from Konoha, it is require the presence on the High Prince of the princedom at least every 4 months for an unspecified amount of time to deal with his royal responsibilities towards the land and its people.

Fifth - The marriage shall only be consummated after the celebration of the second wedding ceremony in Konoha. For it will only be then that the legitimacy of the marriage shall be recognized by the two lands.

Jiraiya, after enumerating the most important points of the marriage contract, moved his gaze towards Naruto, who gave him a small nod, and Madara, who just raised an eyebrow in an arrogant manner as indication of his acceptance.

Now, with all the paperwork out of the way and properly signed by both parts, came the last most important thing that needed to be done before the wedding – the ritual of bonding.

This ritual is something that is done only in Uzumaki, mainly because every member of the royal family must go through with it before getting married. This ritual bonds their magic with that of their spouse, if said spouse were to have any. It's a very simple ritual yet it must be made with blood and performed by the High Sage.

Jiraiya continued, "Now it is a custom in Uzumaki to perform a bonding ritual between the soon to be married couple". The old sage looked towards the Konoha party to see their reactions.

He knew that as foreigners they were ignorant to the majority of Uzumaki's customs. Not only that, but Uzumaki had always been a magical land shrouded in mysteries. The Konoha people were sometimes known to be an intolerant bunch, though in recent times, under Madara's reign, such bigoted views had begun to change.

The Konoha delegation started to whisper amongst themselves, with the exception of the 2 Uchihas present: Itachi and Madara.

Madara finally moved and stepped away from the wall from where he was watching the proceedings. "Tell me sage what does this ritual entails?"

Jiraiya first glanced toward Naruto and then looked at Madara in the eyes.

"Your majesty this ritual is very simple, I as sage will say a prayer while at the same time I will use a silver dagger to cut both yours and Naruto's hand. After that I will bind the bleeding hands and the bond shall then be done".

Madara looked at Naruto, while the majority of the Konoha delegation started to protest quite loudly about witchcraft and power stealing.

Naruto just smiled at Madara and said in a very understanding and innocent tone "If my lord emperor is not comfortable with this ritual that's fine, I can understand if you do not want to go through with it. Of course, you must also understand that if the ritual is not completed then there won't be any wedding"

At this any other voice in the room died down. Madara with his arms still crossed over his chest just stared down at Naruto, who was still on his seat.

Then after a few seconds he started to smirk again and replied. "Don't worry my dear, even though I am thankful that you are so worry over my sensibilities, I think that going through with this simple ritual is a small price to pay to be with you".

Naruto only tensed his jaw a little, but still got up and walked over, closer to his groom, like he didn't have a care in the world. Bringing down the hood of his cloak, he turned his head in the direction of the old sage.

"Well Jiraiya, time's a wasting and tomorrow is going to be a long day, so let's get this over with."

Jiraiya then proceeded to arranged everything, from the soon to be married couple (who were supposed to be looking at each other face to face), to the dagger and the white silk ribbon to actually bind them.

While all this was being prepared, the few guys from Konoha present couldn't help but stared at the blond haired prince. They could finally understand their emperor's actions to secure the prince's hand in marriage.

The boy's beauty was simply exquisite, for lack of better word; long golden hair with lighter highlights and sparkling blue sapphires for eyes all on a delicate face that would make even the gods green with envy. Only the Uchiha general was not gaping at the sight of their future empress, for he had caught a glimpse of the prince a few years before during some diplomatic talks.

After the prayer and the cutting were done, Jiraiya bound the bleeding hands with the ribbon. Madara's eyes turned a fluorescent red, for his birth element was fire, while Naruto's eyes turned a fluorescent white, for his birth element was air. After a few seconds the creepy eye colors disappeared.

A contusion of air was heard while the chimney and all the candles in the room had a dangerous increase in their flames, also only for a few seconds.

Jiraiya just looked all around the area taking everything in. When all was over, he just whistled while unbinding the couple. "Wow, you two have some ridiculously and scary amount of power. Can't wait to see how your offspring will turn out."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and glared at the old sage after his comment, while Madara just continued staring and holding hands with Naruto.

Naruto finally took his glaring gaze off Jiraiya, who was smiling shamelessly, and placed it on Madara.

Madara, for once wasn't sporting his usual smirk, he had the right side of his face nearly hidden away by his long raven hair. He was looking at Naruto with a serious almost sinister look upon his face. Naruto actually froze and almost trembled at the very nearly forbidden dark expression on the other man's face.

A few seconds passed and Itachi walked closer to the couple, breaking the spell that had seem to fall between emperor and prince.

Without a word Madara turned their hands so he could kiss the back of Naruto's while still staring at him. Then as soon as he did this he freed the blonde's hand as if he was burned by it and turned to look and talk to his cousin.

To say that Naruto was baffled would be an understatement. He looked from the back of the head of the emperor to his already magically healed palm. Even Itachi seem to notice to strange vibe coming from the couple, but decided to say nothing, since it was not his place to intervene.

Naruto, with nothing more to do, nodded towards Jiraiya, who simply nodded back sensing his prince's mood as he left the chamber.

Without anyone noticing, Madara also watched as Naruto abandoned the room, with a strange almost bitter shadow on his otherwise cold face.

Sometime later

It was late and Naruto was walking through the royal garden. For once he was unseeing the beauty of the flora around him. He had too much to think about.

Finally he made it to a grandiose ancient peach tree, full of beautiful pink blossoms and sweet peaches. It was said that the tree was a sacred one to the gods and that every three thousand years it produces a special peach that grants immortality to whomever eats it.

Naruto doesn't know if such a thing was true or not, he just loved to remember the story since it was his father who told it to him. There was a small stone bench beautifully carved with flowers and vines underneath it. Naruto sat down on the bench and started to think on the day's events.

He still wasn't sure if he was making the right decision. He knew that Madara would have stopped at nothing to get what he wanted, even if it was at the costs of peace through bloodshed. What he wanted was Naruto, and Naruto he would get. He knew the man was selfish but he also knew that that was not all there was to it, tonight just assured him of it.

Madara was after something more. What exactly? He could only speculate. Before all this wedding fiasco started he had received various wedding proposals. Even Otogakure had sent one. As if Naruto would ever have anything to do with their snake of a king. The mere thought of it was preposterous if not chillingly repulsive.

Closing his eyes and turning his face upwards so as to better catch the smell of peaches on the evening breeze, his thoughts returned to Madara. The man was positively an enigma inside a conundrum.

Four years ago, after their bitterly parting, he would have never thought that he would be meeting the black haired man in these circumstances. After seeing the man he loved leave him without a backward glance he immersed himself into his studies in becoming a sage.

Of course, he didn't blamed Madara for leaving in the cold manner that he did. They both loved each other but Naruto couldn't just abandon Uzumaki, he did not have it in him to disappoint his father like that. He had a duty to his people and a sacred mission towards his land.

Funny how life works out, first he let love leave him because of his duty and now because of that same sense of duty he would marry the same man that he rejected because of his people. After the untimely death of his father the year before, Uzumaki became his sole purpose of existence and he would do anything to protect the happiness of his precious people.

The Fates must be laughing at him, because they sure have some sick sense of humor to be doing this to him. With a tired sigh, Naruto now focused on the events of this day, especially that forbidden look that Madara had on his face after the bonding ceremony.

He can't deny that Madara was a dangerous and powerful man. Naruto was concerned if not slightly frighten as he thought of him with a slight shudder. He was leaving his homeland to venture into an unknown land full of new people and customs that he only knew the basics of.

He knew that he still loved the Madara of four years ago, but what about the man now? He's honest enough with himself; he can admit that he's afraid of his future life with the man.

As if feeling a phantom pain on his heart, the blond placed a hand on his chest clutching at his robe at the same time. Now opening his eyes, though not really seeing his surroundings, Naruto was not only afraid for his people but for his own heart as well.

He had always heard about the Uchihas' ways. They are a proud, possessive, vindictive and manipulative family. He just hopes that his life with one of them will treat him kindly.

After having those sad thoughts finally Naruto gets up from the bench. It was late after all and tomorrow was going to be a long and hard day. He needed all the strength he could get and for that he needed a good night's sleeps. With a last look at the starlit sky the young prince made his way inside the palace.

With Madara

Everything was going according to plans. Tomorrow Naruto was going to be irrevocably his. Nothing was going to stopped him from possessing the one that had made his life hell only by being absent from it.

For four years he dreamt of the blond creature. Sometimes he even plagued his waking hours. He knew he was obsessed or as his ever so helpful cousin would say he was insane with longing. Of course, that was nothing new.

Every Uchiha possesses a madness that comes with their famous sharingan, a powerful technique that focuses magic on their eyes turning them red. They can see beyond human scope, they can make illusions so real that people had been known to go crazy or even to die from them and those were only a few of the things that the sharingan could do.

All Uchihas had the potential of the sharingan, but only a few of them had the strength and magic to wield it. Madara holds the most powerful sharingan in the history of the Uchihas, fallowed only by Itachi.

Because of this the other members of the family always looked at both prodigies with awe, envy and even hate. This was the principal reason that made Madara and Itachi like brothers. They knew that in their family they had no real allies, just possible enemies. They only had each other while growing up.

Of course, there had been Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother. They tried to take the boy under their wing, to get him away from the bad influences of the rest of the family but at the time Itachi's mother, Mikoto had gotten very sick after the death on her husband, so she could not bear to part from her youngest child.

Fugaku, Itachi's father had died on a raid near the border with Suna. Bandits had been attacking the border towns and he, as local lord, had gone with a small force of soldiers to take care of the bandits. At the end, even though he won the battle against the criminal band, he died from wounds inflicted during the battle. Not long after that, the war between Konoha and Suna broke out.

And so Sasuke grew up far from them, though as far as he knows, also far away from the machinations of the many greedy members of their family. As time passed, little by little, Mikoto got her health back and taught her son how to take care of their personal holdings, since Itachi was an army man through and through and had no real interest in being a landlord. It has been years since he has heard from either of them.

Even with all the family drama throughout the years only Naruto had been able bring the best and the worse in him. No matter the occasion he had always being able to maintain his stoic view of things.

No matter who he bedded or what he did Naruto was always there on his mind tormenting him. But now Naruto was in his hands, with no way to escape him. Nothing was going to get in the way of what he wanted.

Two years after he parted ways with Naruto, he finally admitted to himself at least that he couldn't stop lovingly obsessing over the sun haired prince. After that epiphany he decided to do something about it.

He was mighty surprised when a year ago news about Minato's death reached him. The reasons for the passing where kept from the people, but he knew that the man had been murdered. His spies had found out that Minato's entire convoy had been wiped out, but the only sign of a fight with traces of magic, and of the dark kind, had been near Minato.

Minato was a very powerful man and for him to have been killed, like he had been told, he was sure of two things; first the killer was extremely powerful and second the killer had to be known by Minato.

Madara knew that whoever had done Minato in would go, sooner or later, after Naruto. That was something that Madara would not allow, after all Naruto was his to do as he saw fit. So with no time to find other recourse he did what he had to do; bully Naruto into complying with his demands by threatening the same thing that had kept them apart 4 years ago – his people.

Now here he was about to lose his bachelorhood to the only being that has ever disturb his life so completely. He's still angry and bitter that Naruto choose his damn people over him years ago. He will show Naruto how an Uchiha deals with rejection and it probably won't be pretty.

Tomorrow was going to be a long and hopefully fulfilling day. With a last cruel smirk towards the starlit sky Madara made his way to bed, after all he had to be well rested if wanted to be at his best for his bride.

Next day

Since the moment he woke up Naruto had been in a bad mood. Why you may ask? Because he was a nervous wreck, that's why.

On one hand he was getting married to the most insufferable man he had ever met, the man who threaten him with war, and the same man he still loves. He will never admit the last one, especially to that dark emperor bastard.

Since they were leaving that same day for Konoha, as it seems that the mighty – insert sarcasm here – emperor needs to return to his empire, Iruka had woke him up pretty early.

Now he had about half a dozen people working on him and packing some last minute things that he needs to take with him to Konoha.

Some maids were dressing him on his long sleeves cream robes of silk with pearls and gold stitching all over the hems, while there was another working on his hair. The last maid, after brushing and combing his mane to perfection, was putting his hair in a low pony tail with a gold beret incrusted with pearls.

When he was deem ready by a very satisfied Iruka a royal crown was place on his head. The crown consisted on a simple gold coronet incrusted with 4 parallel rectangular sapphires around it and 3 pearls in vertical positions beside each of them. It also contained 2 long dangling gold ornaments with rubies and diamonds on the sides.

With his clothing and hair done, the only things left were to put a see through short white veil over the prince's head and to step into a pair of soft cream silk sandals.

After looking at himself in a long mirror Naruto was satisfied with his wedding attire and left his room, followed by his entourage, to wait for Madara's arrival so they could be married at the palace's holy chapel.

With Madara

He was dressed in almost all black, like always. His black coat had some simple red stitching lining the hems while his black pants had a long thin red line on the side. His black boots were tall and glossy. He also had a long chain with big golden links covering his shoulders and chest, hanging from it was a bit round ruby pendant. A short cape, black on the outside with a big red and white uchiwa symbol stitched in the middle and red silk lining the inside, covered his shoulders. Lastly, an elegant golden dressed sword completed the emperor's outfit. All in all he looked truly majestic and handsome.

With the emperor ready his manservant opened the door, outside was Itachi with some of the royal guards waiting for their lord to escort him to the palace's chapel where the wedding would take place.

When the royal guards saw their lord they couldn't help but being awed and so they humbly bow down, even Itachi gave his cousin a short bow as was due.

Madara gave a slight smirk. "Come on gentlemen; don't want to be late to my own wedding". With that the guards took their respective places two on front and two behind the emperor, with Itachi two steps behind Madara as befitted his status as lord general of Konoha and cousin to the emperor. With everyone in their place they finally left for the wedding of the century.

Wedding

Jiraiya as High Sage of Konoha would officiate the wedding between the prince and emperor in the holy chapel of Kyuubi Palace.

The place had high ceilings; white marble walls with great tapestries hanging on them of the god Kyuubi in different forms. On the far wall on the front was a big portrait of Kyuubi in all his glory with his nine tails for all to see in his giant fox appearance. The painting looked so fearsome, as if at any moment the great fox would jump out of it and smite anyone who would dare to acquire his wrath.

High windows with their opened glass panels let fresh air in and provided natural light to the holy place. Long pews of wood with plush seats were on the sides full of guests and in the middle an aisle with a long red carpet.

On the front was a two steps dais where Jiraiya was already waiting for the couple. The first to arrive was Madara, many a woman left and right couldn't take their appreciative and greedy gazes from such a handsome and powerful man. He took his place in the dais while Itachi was behind him a step lower since he was more or less the best man and groomsman all in one. Of course, Itachi a very good looking himself attracted the gazes of many in his also elegant dark attire.

Two long balconies could be seen on the upper sides of the chapel, on the right balcony a chorus dressed in simple white robes waited for the signal to start their harmonious songs while on the left one a small orchestra would provide background music to the soft lyrics. Finally the signal came in the form of the two great doors opening. The chorus' beautiful melodies, in harmony with the orchestra, filled the chapel while Naruto made his way through the aisle looking like a heavenly creature coming to grace the earth's lowly mortals with his godly presence.

All guests were standing with their riveted gazes on the blond haired prince. The ones from Uzumaki had soft smiles on their faces, while the ones from Konoha were staring in wonder at their beautiful future empress.

Naruto was nervous, when his eyes found the figure of Madara he couldn't help but stare at the man. No one could deny that the man was a walking wet dream. Not only was he almost impossibly handsome, he also had this dark, mysterious and powerful aura that drew you in. Of course, the moment the bastard threw him that infuriating smirk of his he just wanted to go up to the man's face, slap him and step on his foot childishly. He would never do that, at least not in front of so many people, but one could always dream.

Naruto finally made it to the dais, while Iruka took the place behind his prince exactly opposite of Itachi. While Jiraiya smiled like an indulgent grandfather, Madara took Naruto's hand and placed a kiss to the back of it. "You look positively ravishing my dear".

It was a near thing, but Naruto got his great urge to bonk Madara on the back of his head under control. It most definitely would not do for a prince to act like that in front of his subjects. He would not give Madara the pleasure of making him loose his composure. Still he couldn't stop a small smile from gracing his face; the black haired bastard was a true charmer after all.

Without further ado, Jiraiya started the ceremony that would bond Naruto to Madara body and soul forever.

"Dearly beloveds…"

After the wedding

Naruto, now without that damn veil on his head, couldn't stop staring at the ring on his left hand. It was made of gold with a big rare blue diamond cut in the princess style (like a square) with an uchiwa, the Uchiha symbol, etched in the metal on each side of the stone.

The ring was simple yet gorgeous. Yet he couldn't help but think that the ring made a powerful statement, after all it was reminder of whom he belongs now. Oh yes, he saw the inside of the ring. It had an intricate letter "M" followed by the word "and", and ending with an "N". The bastard was so sure of himself, that he had already brought a ring all prepared, it even fits his finger perfectly.

With a last sigh Naruto continued on his way to his bedroom so he could dress in much simpler and comfortable clothes more fitted for his long trip to Konoha. It would take at the very least a couple of days to get to the capital of the empire, Hokage City.

They will have to stop and camp for some nights. Well at least there was something good about this whole thing, he would finally be able to see and meet new people. He, as prince, was never able to travel to many places. His father never allowed him to go outside of Uzumaki. He would say that it wasn't safe for a young boy like him. Don't get him wrong, he loved his country, but there was just something about seeing new places and meeting new people with different cultures that always made him exited.

Now as empress of a different nation with so many unknown people and customs he not only had the opportunity, but also the responsibility to know as much of Konoha as he possibly could. They would be his subjects too and he will try to help and serve them as best he could.

With those last thoughts, Naruto was now ready to commence his travels to new lands and an unknown future beside a man who was as mysterious as his people. Good luck to him.

…

*I changed the name of the capital of Uzumaki. I find the name Uzuchio more befitting.

Again, I apologize for my lateness in updating and for any mistakes in the writing. I'm too lazy to re-read the chapters, so don't bitch about it to me.

Anyway, I hope that you liked the chapter. Don't forget to review.