A/N: ok. This was originally chapter 9, now its chapter 6. There is one small changes here (namely having to change Kakashi's present from the into to fuinjutsu book to something a little suited to where he was

Disclaimer: I still don't own any character used not named Titokhan Drumheller. Naruto (contrary to Kishi-san's beliefs) is owned by Hinata (takes Naruto's headband off, where the stamp "Property of Hinata Hyuga" is clearly visible), see?

Two hearts, One Soul - chapter 6 'Will you…?'

Hokage's office

A few seconds after the others returned from Naruto's mindscape, Hiashi and Naruto returned as well. "Well, that was a different experience. I can say that much." Tsunade says without a lot of fanfare. "Naruto, Kakashi, Hiashi. I still have a little paperwork to do, if you'll excuse me. Hinata, I need you to stay a moment, thank you." Kakashi bows and immediately shunshin's out of the office.

"OK ba..Hokage-sama. I'm sorry, I almost did it again. I promised to take your position seriously, and I always keep my promises." Naruto sheepishily grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Hisahi-sama and I have a few other things to discuss, see you later Hina-chan" He kisses his princess on the cheek and leaves the office with Hiashi.

"Whew, I thought she was going to keep us there a while, and I wouldn't be able to give this back to you" Naruto says as they close the door, unsealing the box Hiashi gave him and taking the small box with the ring from it before re-sealing it back in the scroll, and putting the ring in his coat pocket. He then have the sealed scroll back to Hiashi "If I know baa-chan, she's going to try and plan some kind of surprise party for me. So you'll have to excuse me, I need to get some training in, and make arrangements to get the key to the seal from the toads for when the time comes".

"Why give this back to me Naruto?" Hisahi asked

"Think about it sir." Naruto started "Hina-chan has wanted nothing more than to earn your love and respect, especially since her mother died. She never really knew that many of her problems with your clan's taijutsu were never actually her fault. It would make much more sense for you to give her the scroll tonight, wouldn't it?"

"Put in those terms, you're absolutely right. It makes perfect sense." Hiashi nods knowingly, understanding that this would be one of the biggest steps in repairing the relationship with his eldest daughter (along with his blessings to their eventual marriage)

Naruto then turns and formally bows to his eventual father-in-law "There is much to do, and a few surprises of my own to prepare. I assume you'll be joining us for the party sir?"

"Naruto, I would not miss this for anything. Besides, if there is in fact some sort of celebration, think about it for a second. All of the clan heads are likely to be guests, as we are all parents of members of the Kohona 12." Hisahi answered "I know you're right about the party Naruto-san. It's been a tradition among the shinobi members of the council dating back almost to the founding of the village. But Tsunade might have a surprise for you as well."

Back in Tsunade's office

"Hinata, I know the your gaki of a boyfriend is likely going to figure this out, if he hasn't already, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm giving you an A-ranked mission." Hinata's eyes widen at that. "Don't worry, you are to gather all of the members of your class, plus Team Gai, as well as everyone's parents and your sensei's. Also, add the Konohamaru Corps, as they are his unofficial genin team, and anyone else you feel deserves to be invited for a private party we're going to have at the Akamichi's barbeque restaurant this evening for Naruto. I, or more appropriately in this case, the village is paying. If you could, ask everyone to dress formally. As this party is to recognize the newest member of the shinobi portion of the village council."

Hinata looked a little puzzled when Tsunade mentioned Naruto and shinobi council in the same grouping of sentences. "Oh, that's right, you fainted after hearing his true lineage. As part of his inheritance, Naruto has claimed the Uzumaki and Namikaze seats on the shinobi council that were held until he was of age." Upon hearing that, a smile of pure joy lit up the face of arguably the first person to truly believe in his dreams.

"Your teammates and friends, once you tell them why, will understand. Most of you are future clan heads after all" Tsunade continued, "Your parents, being clan heads, were present when Naruto was given his rightful seat on the council. This is a little bit of a shinobi council tradition. Gifts are encouraged, but not required."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, it will be done as quickly as possible. I do need to stop somewhere afterwards."

Tsunade smiled and handed her a piece of paper. Hinata opened it up to see the Namikaze clan symbol. "Sakura told me about the replacement sage coat you had commissioned to surprise him with, and I suspect this is what you might be looking for." Hinata smiled and nodded. "Well, scoot kiddo, we've got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in." As Hinata leaves, Tsunade opens a drawer on her desk, pulling out a scroll with the Uzumaki swirl with a note attached to it "To be given to Naruto, upon becoming head of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans", bearing the signatures of Minato and Kushina

Over the next several hours, the other members of the Kohona 12 in the village, and other invited guests (Iruka and the owners of Ichiraku Ramen were also invited. The latter also offered to help prepare some of the meals. Knowing that, with Naruto as the guest of honor, there would have to be 'some' ramen available. To which the Akamichi chefs had no objection to) were informed of the party at the BBQ restaurant, which closed to the public early in order to better prepare for the evening. Many guests either already had gifts in mind for their favorite blonde knucklehead, had them on order and had gone to pick them up over the course of the day (like Hinata's, after getting the slight changes she needed taken care of), or already had the gifts purchased knowing a day like this would eventually come. Meanwhile, Naruto went through a light (for him) workout. He had also summoned Gamakichi to relay the message to the elder toads about needing the key to the seal before heading back to the Namikaze estate to get cleaned up.

Early evening, Akamichi BBQ

Everyone had taken the request about formal wear seriously. The Konoha 12 and their sensei's (minus Sasuke of course, and Naruto who had yet to arrive) were all in full formal kimonos that had managed to capture their individual personalities through the use of their signature colors (They even managed to pry Guy and Lee out of their eternally worn green spandex. Though when they both arrived in kimonos that were the exact same color as the spandex, more than a few people sweat-dropped). The one person that would be otherwise be considered missing would be Hanabi. But Kurenai explained that she had graciously volunteered to babysit little Asuma so that she could attend. Another surprise was when Kakashi walked in minus his ever present mask (marking the first time pretty much everyone had seen his entire face). And instead of his headband covering his sharingan eye, he had an eyepatch over it instead.

"OK, who was supposed to tell the baka to come here, it would be a shame to get this all planned out and have him not show up because no one thought to tell him about it" Ino mused aloud.

"He knows Ino, don't worry. I told him when I saw him giving the message for the elder toads about the key to the Kyuubi's seal to Gamakichi at what would be considered his personal training grounds (the area where he worked on the first incarnation of the Fuuton: Rasen-Shurkien) earlier this afternoon. He'll be here." Kakashi replied.

"Someone looking for me?" Naruto says as he entered in his new formal wear (A/N: seen in chapter 3). Everyone turned to greet the guest of honor. The girls all looked stunned at how, well hot Naruto looked.

"N-N-Naruto-kun? I-I think I can speak for all of the girls in saying..WOW." Ino managed to stammer out, which got a few chuckles at how it resembled Hinata's nervous stuttering around Naruto growing up. The other girls nodded in agreement with Ino though. Naruto blushed uncharacteristically at the compliment.

"Speaking of Hina-chan, where is she?" Ino and Sakura couldn't resist a fair imitation of his trademark grin as they stepped aside. It isn't very often anyone gets to pull any kind of surprise on Kohona's most unpredictable ninja. Standing before Naruto in her full majestic beauty is Hinata. Her indigo hair up in a high bun atop her head, with only her bangs loose, framing her face. She had a slight dusting of makeup on, namely a little lavender eye shadow and a deep red lipstick. Two toned purple inner/lavender outer kimono that really complimented the shade of silvery lavender of her eyes. Unlike the normally bulky and concealing clothes she normally wore, the kimono emphasized her curves.

Naruto, having never gotten to see her 'dressed up' until now, did his best impression of his beloved. He turned a deep red, managed to squeak out "Hina-chan? Oh, Kami…" before a slight trickle of blood came out of his nose, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fainted. Kakashi caught him before he could hit the floor and brought him over to a table. Everyone chuckled at Naruto's predicament (knowing that up until recently, it was the other way around with the two of them).

"Didn't expect that. Looks like you broke him." Tenten chuckled "But honestly Hinata, I think the only guys you haven't affected are Shino and Kiba, mainly because they're your team-mates. Neji, because he's your cousin, and your father. You look absolutely STUNNING"

"We only expected him to stutter like you would do around him Hinata," Sakura said shyly before the grin returned "We HAVE to figure out a way to do that again sometime to someone else." Hinata smiled "Perhaps next time, it'll be you playing my part with Sasuke-kun doing the fainting" she thought to herself. The next thought to pop into her head prompted her to also mimic her boyfriend's infamous foxy grin "Or better yet, Tenten-chan playing my part and Neji-niisan being Naru-kun. That would be a sight to see. But I to need to tend to my Naru-kun." And she sets his sleeping head in her lap and to become her beloved's pillow.

Naruto opens his eyes and looks up, greeted by his girlfriend's beautiful face. "Have I died? Are you the angel welcoming me to Kami's realm?"

"Oh, Naruto-kun, whatever will I do with you my love?" Hinata purrs as she runs her fingers through his spiky blonde hair, helping him sit back up and is rewarded by a kiss. Naruto then looks around, and sees every living member of his precious people save for his beloved's sister, but when Hinata explains why Hanabi wasn't there, he understood.

Over the next little while, large quantities of food was consumed (which tends to happen with several Akamichi and the apparent bottomless pit that is Naruto are present), gifts were presented to the guest of honor..

Shikamaru gave Naruto a shoji board and instructions on the game, saying that given Naruto's unorthodox battlefield strategies he would be a natural. His father's gift was an offer to give the new clan head a full course on tactics (after giving him a base assessment to see where he needed to improve).

The Akamichi's gift was cooking lessons and a giant cookbook, ranging from basic recipies to delicacies from around the elemental nations. Ino's gift (representing her family) was an assortment of plant seeds, advanced gardening tips (having seen the windowsill garden one time in his old apartment), and a beginners guide to herbal remedies and toxins.

Team Guy presented their gift together. Open invitations to individual training in each member's specialty (weapons from Tenten, taijutsu from Neji, Lee and Guy. With additional strength/speed/endurance training from Kohona's sexy green beasts). Ebisu, Sakura and the Konohamaru Corps gave him scrolls on more advanced chakra control exercises (because let's be honest. When your chakra reserves are as large as Naruto's, more and more varied exercises on refining one's control give you more options depending on the environment you're in. And you always have to practice it.).

Iruka's gift was a matte black version of the standard Chuunin/Jounin vest, with the Uzumaki swirl on the back larger and in two toned red/orange and 10 coupons for free ramen at Ichiraku's

Shino's family offered lessons on logic, critical thinking and observation to further sharpen his abilities there, and to help make better use of the tactics lessons the Nara's offered. The Inuzuka's gift was scrolls on advanced tracking and survival skills.

Sai presented a framed portrait he had drawn of Naruto and Hinata's first kiss from several weeks ago. "I know emotions have always been hard for me to grasp, but that moment helped me understand what love really was. Thank you." he had said with a true smile on his face.

Kurenai gave him the scrolls with the wind style jutsu Asuma had accumulated over the years. "Kurenai-sensei, I cannot take these." Naruto said, handing the scrolls back. "They're Asuma-sensei's legacy to his child. I'm sure there are plenty of wind jutsu in my father's library. I will ask that should little Asuma be a wind user, that I get to teach him like his father had me though. It's the least I can do and would be my honor. If I haven't learned those jutsu by then, we'll learn them together." Kurenai accepted the scrolls back with a tear in her eye, prompting a round of 'awws' from the girls.

Kakashi's gift was a box of unmarked tri pronged kunai like his father would have used, only the wrapping on the handles was Naruto's preferred shade of orange. And a letter signed by him and Tsunade, to be presented to any seal master currently allied to Kohona for his certification exams. "The kunai are for when you're ready that stage of the Hirashin, the letter is for when you're ready to officially take up your family's heritage." he said, but was thinking "which given his current rate of progression along with how many shadow clones he has on his training, will likely be before we leave for the Gokage summit at the absolute latest."

Tsunade handed him the scroll she had pulled from her desk earlier in the day. Naruto opened the scroll to find the storage seals for scrolls containing: the katas for both the Namikaze and Uzumaki taijutsu styles, the clan head techniques for both clans (as well as the head family fuinjutsu scrolls for the Uzumaki's), a scroll that looks to be for an Uzumaki style of kenjutsu that could work with almost any style one or two handed melee weapon (sword/staff/mace/etc). He was about to wonder why that was there when he saw the storage seal locked with a blood seal. Biting his thumb and smearing some blood on the locking seal, a katana and one more scroll emerges from the seal.

If there was any doubt this is an Uzumaki forged katana, the swirling malestrom logo of the clan being present in nearly every facet of the weapon dispels any doubt. The hilt and scabbard of the katana is an ivory the purest shade of white anyone had seen, with the swirl carved into both hilt and scabbard. A hollowed out version of the symbol is used as the sword guard. Also, at what would be the points of a 5 point star were an assortment of gems of the purest shades of their colors. An emerald was at what would be considered the 'top'. Then, proceeding clockwise, were a royal blue sapphire, a naturally brown piece of agate, a diamond and a ruby (A/N: If you haven't guessed yet, the gems will be representing elemental affinities. Green for wind, blue for water, brown for earth, white for lightning, red for fire). Drawing the blade, kanji representing hand signs are engraved on both sides of the blade. The blade itself is black, with the single cutting edge a VERY familiar shade of orange and the swirl appears again near the tip of the blade on both sides. Both Tenten and her father's eyes get big as dinner plates and she starts drooling as they both recognized the blade immediately. "Naruto?" Tenten manages to get out before she faints in shock.

Everyone recognized that look and reaction, as Kohona's weapons mistress only gets this way in the presence of legendary weapons. "I take it you know this blade?" Naruto asked as Tenten was roused.

"That, unless I'm mistaken, is 'Uzu no Arashi'." (T/N: Storm of the Whirlpool I hope, at least how I'd like it to say. My ability with Japanese wording and phrasing is abysmal to say the least. If anyone can give me better wording and phrasing for it, I'll edit this later) Tenten gushed "It's rumored to be the prototype for the blades Kiricommissioned for the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist from the Whirlpool villages' legendary Uzumaki weapon smiths when Kiri was founded. It's also allegedly capable, if the wielder of the blade has the proper elemental affinities, to cast the most powerful single person barriers in existence. It was thought lost forever when the Whirlpool village was destroyed in the second shinobi war".

Looking though the scroll in his hands, he sees the barrier jutsus Tenten is talking about. "Wow, she's right. And luckily for me, I do have the proper affinities for the base version. And given my developing skills in fuinjutsu, I might be able to come up with something for the final version as well." Naruto thought to himself "Lucky for us, it wasn't. I guess I'll be able to take Team Guy up on those lessons sooner than we all thought hehe. Even though you have to assume the metal is chakra conductive, it can't hurt to see can it?"

Standing up, and after being given enough room, Naruto channels some chakra to the blade like Asuma had taught him. A visible field of greenish-blue chakra forms around the blade, while the emerald and sapphire both appear to light up. "Oi, looks like the blade can determine the users affinities as well. That being said, time for another test." Naruto sits down in the lotus position, with the sword perfectly still in his lap, and starts meditating.

"Kurama, your affinity is fire correct?" Naruto asks his tenant

"Yes kit it is. I can hear the gears spinning in that occasionally devious mind of yours. I'll give you enough of my chakra to change your eyes to something approaching mine, but your also going to add sage mode aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged. Let's see what this does"

Everyone (even the non-sensor types) can almost feel the power gathering in Naruto, and they all see the orange pigment gather around his closed eyes. When he opens them though, they aren't the yellow with horizontal slits usually associated with Sage mode. This time, they're orange, with both the horizontal pupil of the toads along with the vertical iris of the fox.

"Ok, let's try this again" Naruto says as he stands up, gets into a standard opening kenjutsu stance and channels chakra to the blade. The results were immediate. The chakra field around the blade now clearly has evolved into layers, blue closest to the blade itself, then green, and finally red. Which is echoed by the addition of the ruby glowing along with the emerald and sapphire. The sword guard is glowing a light shade of green. The kanji on the left side of the blade have also changed. "And the number of elements the user can access determines the barrier Arashi can use, and changes the blade seals accordingly" he thinks to himself. "So, the blade is also capable of processing Sage chakra, interesting. Wait a second, I feel something about the blade, I want to try something else."

He brings the end of the scabbard the blade emerges from together with the base of the hilt. A soft click is heard and the entire weapon glows a soft orange. The scabbard and hilt fuse and lengthen slightly, the blade itself also extends by a few inches and curves slightly at the tip. (A/N: think a bit like Ikkaku's shikai from Bleach) "Hmm, I can now see why that kenjutsu style is the way it is. I wonder." Putting his thumb on the carved swirl on the fused section where the hilt of the sword would be and channeled a little chakra into it. The weapon glowed again, the scabbard and blade returned to their original sizes, and the scabbard separated from the hilt with the same soft click. He then sheathed the sword and placed it back on the table and sits back down.

"You get all the cool toys, gaki" Tsunade chuckled.

Hinata was next, and she handed him a box. "Hime, you didn't have to get me anything." He said to her, but was thinking "I have you after all". He opened the box, looked at what was inside dumbstruck. "Oh Kami." and pulls the coat from the box for everyone to see. Patterned after the sage coat he wore when he returned from his training with the toads. It was short a sleeved black coat with orange flames at the base of the sleeves and bottom. The Uzumaki swirl was embroidered in white in the traditional clan location. But embroidered in orange vertically through the insignia is the kanji for 'Kohona's Orange Hurricane". Engraved metal plates were also fastened on the outside of both sleeves (A/N: Think a bit like how Shikamaru has his leaf insignia on his uniform sleeve). The Namikaze clan symbol on the right sleeve, Mt. Myoboku's oil insignia on the left.

"Hina-chan, I love it. Thank you so much." Naruto gives her a hug and kisses her on the cheek.

"Naruto, you already have my gift." Hisashi starts. To which everyone probably thinks is the beauty at his side that he draped the arm closest to her over her shoulder to bring her closer to him. But Naruto absentmindedly takes his free hand and reaches for the small box in his kimono pocket. "It's almost time." He thought to himself. "To put the exclamation point on a pretty much perfect day." Before Hiashi can continue, a puff of smoke appears at the table, and Ma and Pa toad emerge from the smoke.

"Naruto-chan, or should we say Uzumaki-dono" the toads start, bowing to him "Gamakichi brought your request to us, and we have conferred with the elder sage toad. Your request has been granted. But the elder sage has requested you appear before him first, to have your future read before the key can be released to you." They said together.

"I understand completely Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama," Naruto replied, standing and bowing to the elder toads. "I will be ready around noon to be reverse summoned. If I may ask, would you permit Hinata-chan to accompany me? I wish to show my hime the beauty of Mt. Myoboku."

"We have no issues with your request. Be ready at the appointed time. Farewell." And with that, the toads poofed back home.

"My apologies Hyuga-dono, please continue" Naruto said as he took his seat next to Hinata again.

"Like I had started, you have received my gift already, but we discovered something that Hinata might appreciate." Reaching into his kimono, Hiashi unsealed the box with the modified juken kata's Hitomi had created and handed the box to his eldest daughter. "Hinata, I know I have been a horrible father to you since your mother died. Please, open the scroll in the box." She opens the scroll and instantly understands.

"I should have recognized sooner how much you take after your mother, and given that to you then. You and your mother are the only known members of the clan to ever be water style primaries. She adapted the clan's gentle fist to make it compatible with your affinities natural grace and flexibility." As Hinata gets to the end of the scroll, she sees a blood seal locked storage seal. "Just after you were born, your mother added that storage seal to the scroll and used some of your own blood to lock it. Making you the only person who could ever open it. Your mother's weapon of choice is there. It is also not the typical choice for a Hyuga. But in her, it was devastating. She earned the title of 'the Indigo haired Elvish Assassin' with it." Biting her thumb and smearing some blood onto the seal, a case poofs out of the scroll. After opening the case, she pulls a laminated hickory longbow and quiver of arrows from it.

"Father, it's beautiful." Hinata stands, and after placing the bow and quiver back in the case walks over to her father and embraces him. "I can see why some of the elders might not 'approve' of such a weapon, or would hold Mother in very high regard it both its use and modifying the Gentle Fist." Reaching back to the scroll, she recognizes two of the techniques on it. "And I already know two techniques on it. My guardian 8 trigram/64 palms and gentle step: twin lion fists are on the scroll. Would you and Neji-niisan want to help me with these katas?"

"For you cousin, you only have to ask. " Neji replied. Hinata was about to go sit back down when Naruto stopped her.

"I know we had kind of agreed to wait for the right time to talk about this. But after what we learned a little while ago, I think this is the right time. Hinata, I love you with every fiber of my being. And I know I could never go on living without you in my life." Naruto gets down on one knee and pulls a small felt box from a pocket in his kimono and opens it for her to see. She instantly recognizes her mother's engagement ring. "He's going to ask me, isn't he? Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint." she says to herself over and over.

"Will you, Hinata Hyuga, make me the luckiest and happiest man in Kohona.. No, make that all of the elemental nations, and marry me?" He takes the ring out of the box and, still on one knee, looks up and places it on her finger.

"Oh Kami, Of course I will marry you." Hinata replies as she pulls Naruto to his feet and kisses him.

To say the party picks up from this point is an understatement. Or as I remember hearing somewhere 'and there was much rejoicing'.

AND CUT!

Edit 10/20/13: More redundancy cleaning, re-editing to keep continuity with the revisions made in condensing chapters 1-5 to 1 and 2.

Edit 4/6/14: Severe case of writers block (which this edit appears to be helping with) compounded by what could be considered ADD is holding up chapter 7 (which I swear I am working on). But I found a few glaring errors I had to correct, as well as made a few changes to Uzu no Arashi's look. The gems serve as a reminder of user's affinities (which the seals hidden in the blade use to determine the barrier capable of being cast by the kanji on the left side), where the kanji on the right will be for the jutsu absorption ability. Which I do very much have plans for. It involves the final battle, a few Uchiha, and the seal Naruto will use to gain his fuinjutsu mastery certification with (which I have gotten permission of White Angel of Auralon to use. When that time comes, you'll know what seal I will be using, but I'm sure some of you might be able to figure it out)

Again I want to apologize that this chapter took so bloody long to get done. Family issues, the fact I like reading NaruHina stories as much I enjoy writing this one, and earlier mentioned annoying case of writers block (this one induced by the monotonous repeated motherboard replacements, drawback of my job occasionally) all conspired to keep this chapter from getting written. I re-wrote the middle section (where the younger girls first see Naruto all decked out in his new duds and individually decide they wanted to take him for themselves after seeing how well he cleans up) no fewer than 4 to 5 times over this weekend. I'm tempted to make an omake of that where they all DO collectively glomp him

I'm going to try and not give any kind of set timetables for future releases. As trying to give set deadlines might not have been helping my writers block.

Anyway, thank you all again who come and read this. Please leave a review. Good, bad, indifferent. I really want to know what you think.

Next chapter will be:

The completion of the Kumo nin's tour (no, I haven't forgotten about that)

a visit to the toad sages to get the seal's key, maybe some training/sparring.

And now that they're officially engaged, perhaps that little talk with Kurama.

Later