Yas! We're finally done!

I want to thank each and every single one of you for you amazing support and the undying love you've had for this story! Even though there have been some rocky points, thank you anyway. Well this is the final chapter for part I. I do hope you will enjoy this since I have been having trouble sleeping for a while since last night I went to a party last night (I can barely move my legs, let alone my fingers)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 20: Shizuka

Naruto stood on the roof of the newly renovated Hokage tower with a small smile on his face. Everything that had happened has finally brought him here. With his heroics in the war, he managed to not only fight the war almost single-handedly, but he also managed to fight the overly powerful masked Uchiha and six fully powered Bijuu; he was finally seeing his only dream coming into fruition. Not to be vain about what he was about to become, he had to admit that it would have been unfair of them not to do this.

Not wanting to sound ungrateful, Naruto turned back to the Hokage Monument and smiled at the faces carved eternally into the stone cliff-face. Chirping birds and the common sounds of a village echoed into his ears. Carts were pulled across the dirt roads and people shouted about, calling their prices and offering their goods. Children played in the streets and there of course was the occasional prankster that would anger a group of adults, or a group of children, and if they were good; piss off both.

Memories of doing such things brought another smile to the reminiscing blond. It had been ten months since the ceasefire against the Akatsuki; almost an entire year of nervous peace. Any second so far, the war could have exploded into action once again, and the prospect of having another catastrophe like that just looming on the horizon, had Naruto shiver in his cloak. But those thoughts did nothing to deter him from his memories or his beaming smile.

As of now, in the recesses of his mind, both Kushina and Kurama were arguing about menial things giving Naruto a small headache. But of course, Naruto had to deal with their constant bickering now that he had removed the cage holding the beast back. It got so bad at times that Kushina and Kurama even got into all-out fights with one another to try and prove one another's dominance. Some of these fights would break out while Naruto was asleep, giving the blond nightmares as a result. Most of those nightmares weren't pretty.

Naruto sighed as his heart beat lightly. The image before him always left him speechless, despite having been destroyed by Pein. The village wasn't a village because of its buildings, or the beauty of its architecture; the village was a village because of its people after all. While the structures looked just about the same as they did before Pein struck and destroyed everything in his wake, the people had an entirely new air about them.

The people were happier, calmer; alive. It was felt in the air, the ground, hell; just practically everywhere. Construction workers hammered away with smiles on their faces. Women hummed to themselves as they walked down the streets with their families in tow. But most of all, shinobi of Konoha and the Shinobi Alliance were simply put; joyful. Ever since the ceasefire, smiles were all that they felt. Smiles were all that were on their faces.

Shinobi were grateful for Naruto's ability to fight back against the Akatsuki. They were beyond grateful for his damn near sacrifice to save the world. But most of all, they were grateful to see him as their future leader. He was a man that they felt that they could follow. He was a man that they felt would lead the Alliance to greatness, and in the minds of a few more idealistic shinobi; Unity.

Naruto laughed for a moment and ran a hand through his golden locks of hair as the winds picked up, blowing leaves and sakura blossoms all over the village. He spun on the heel of his sole and headed towards the door with his red, high-collared Haori that Ino had bought for him. The blond felt a slight pang to his heart at the thought of the loving Yamanaka. Ino was in so many ways, a great friend and a great lover. She cared and she, in Naruto's hopeful mind, genuinely loved him. The smile almost dropped for a moment. If only he were faster, he'd tell himself over and over. If only he was just a little faster, he could have saved her.

He remembered having to deliver the news of Ino's untimely death to her father. Ino's father, Inoichi is a respected shinobi, and a powerful one in his own right, but for Naruto to see him break down and cry like he did, almost made Naruto break down as well. To receive the news of your child's death must be hard, no, beyond hard to bear. But what made Naruto feel even more respect for the man was that he nodded his head after a few minutes of crying, and stood to his feet, wiped his tears and simply gave Naruto a smile before giving the boy a hug, completely devoid of the previous emotions.

She's in a better place, he said. Naruto thought recollecting the memories. I pray to Kami that that's the truth.

Naruto skipped down the stairs with a smirk on his face. His new, Shinobi Alliance hitai-ate strap waved in the movement, giving him a complete shinobi look. His jacket was no longer orange and black, but instead, he was wearing a simple black jacket and his perfect orange jounin vest. His pants were also no longer orange, but instead, black as well. There were two kunai holsters on each leg, tied along the middle of his thighs. Naruto looked like a complete badass, but he was still the childlike teen that he chose to be.

He walked through the Hokage tower, admiring the work that was done trying to bring it back to its former glory. To say that they had done a damn good job is an understatement. Because of the Alliance, there were many things that the nations were allowed to send back and forth; shinobi, food, supplies; but the most important was the fact that their architects were now travelling back and forth through the five great villages working and building the villages up again from the destruction of the war, or just to help renovate with architecture from other places.

Naruto looked around and quickly recognized some architectural designs that could probably be traced back to Kumogakure. The material was different than what Konoha would normally use. Some of the walls were stone and carved marble making it possible that Iwa builders were also here working on the Hokage tower. Kiri builders were also here given that both Kiri and Kumo builders made the Hokage tower substantially taller and larger, just like their own Kage towers.

The most successful build that the Alliance had managed to spit out on Konoha was her new walls. With the walls standing over ninety feet into the air, cutting through the sky, they also sported intimidating watchtowers that would indefinitely deter any Akatsuki plan to invade Konoha. The blond just admired the walls and their ominous but perfect beauty. The gates were repaired and made with extra wood and metal protection. No matter how much they added, nothing could outdo the simple beauty and majesty that the village held.

Naruto nodded at Tsunade from the hall and headed over towards the stairs while giving Shizune and Ton ton a quick smile and even a hug. He was just so damn happy today. So much was happening today; especially since he had spent the last ten month studying and perfecting his skills and perfecting his bijuu mode. Not only that, but he was now politically adept using the theme for his study: Politicians are liars and cheats, so lie and cheat back.

He smirked and plowed through the door of the Hokage tower and was immediately smashed in the face with the amazing scent of the garden in the Hokage towers compound garden. Flowers of different colors and scents amassed in the garden covering it in multiple hues of beauty. The winds picked up again, waving through his spikey blond locks and through his haori, waving the flaps and the sleeves. He sighed in relief and walked through the pathway and towards the entrance gate of the compound and onto the main street of the village.

Shinobi and civilians alike from all five shinobi villages came and immediately crowded around him. Giant smiles were on their faces as they held small papers and pens in their hands. To Naruto, they were his adoring fans and adoring people that he promised to protect. After all, he had done a great job so far. Not only were they his fans, most were teenage girls just waiting to claim his heart. Naruto blushed at the mere thought of having a single night with some of the most beautiful of the crowd.

There were blondes with short wavy hair, or even long and curly. There were brunettes with short bobs and there were those that had their hair in pony-tails; but the most appealing to the blond, the redheads. There were so few redheads though and it brought a painful pang to his heart. Redheads were just so amazing to the boy and they each held their own spunk that differentiated them from the blondes and the brunettes. It was a spunk that the boy couldn't describe, nor deny.

But of all the girls that were there, none could compare to one; one that he had just started connecting with again. She was someone that he didn't want to lose. She was someone that he risked so much for to protect. It was a bit unfortunate that for a while they drifted completely only to find each other once again. Naruto smiled softly as he finished signing the papers and autographs for the different kunoichi and shinobi. There was but one more thing he wanted to do before heading off to train.

I wonder what she's doing right now. Naruto thought. It would be a nice surprise eh?

Naruto walked off from the street while smiling and waving at the different people and shinobi passing him by. Never had the village seemed so vibrant, never had he felt so genuinely loved. No longer did he feel that the villagers were kissing up to him, no longer did anyone fear him. Instead; they loved him. People loved him. Naruto felt his smile widen as a few girls ran up to him and grabbed him for a hug. It was a common thing since the ceasefire, but the boy still couldn't get used to being something of a commodity. At least that's what Kiba complained about.

He continued his path down the street, passing different people and different stores with the owners offering up free gifts and products as a way to thank Naruto. For a while, he thought that his Hero status would simply die out, but now that the war was somewhat over, he knew that it probably wasn't going to go away. Especially now with what was coming later on this day, Naruto knew that he would forever be engraved in the hearts of the world. If only it could be three in the afternoon already.

Checking his watch, he found that it was still ten in the morning, leaving him with nearly five hours of leeway to do whatever he wanted. But the question was, after he hangs out with her, what the hell was he going to do afterwards? Naruto grunted slightly but continued his smiling streak, spreading the happiness making his smiles contagious, expanding like a plague through the village.

Along the way down the street, he was passing up a small group of shinobi with one looking extremely familiar. He wore the standard attire of a Konoha jounin and wore the Alliance hitai-ate. But once the two boys passed each other, they glared intently, for a moment, ending the smiles and the happiness radiating from their bodies. Naruto glared at Takeshi as the brunet did the same. Neither trusted the other, especially since they were in love with the same woman; Karin.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the medical ninja knowing that if a fight ever broke out between the two of them, everything would go to shit if he did something wrong, like using Kurama's power and accidentally killing him, or worse; killing Takeshi without the use of Kurama's power. The two bumped shoulders, but they quickly turned it around to make it look like they were friends, making some of the people who were holding their breaths sigh in relief. Today was too good a day to be feeling anything but merry.

The blond shook his head as he sensed the medic walking on with his group. Naruto never did like how the medic appeared out of nowhere claiming to love Karin as much or even more than the blond did. Naruto remembered the day clearly.

Flashback…

Nine months ago…

Naruto awoke fearful and in a hospital bed. The world around him was a bright white with the light of the sun reflecting off of the white tiles, while walls, white ceiling and white bed sheets. He felt a great explosion of fear flow from his body. He looked up and around examining the pale complexion of the world around him so far. His sapphire blue eyes scanned the room left and right with not much thought going through his mind. He wasn't dead.

Suddenly, the door swung open revealing the entirety of the Konoha Eleven, or at least what was left of it. They barged into the room with at least four nurses crying out to the eleven chunin to calm down and go back into the waiting room. The eleven chunin turned back to the nurses screaming and shouting their dismissal of their commands. The shooed off by the fifth Hokage herself giving them looks that said let them be.

The eleven shinobi tumbled over each other with Kiba and Akamaru being the main reason behind it. Neji and Tenten shouting at Shino because his bugs started flowing from his sleeves and crawled all over their bodies, and Hinata whimpering in fear trying to calm her cousin and friends from fighting each other in Naruto's own hospital room. But as they continued to dig their elbows into each-other's faces, Karin managed to wiggle her way through and charged for the bed with tears already trickling down her cheeks.

She jumped up into the air and wrapped her arms around the wounded Uzumaki and held him tightly, nearly breaking his back and neck. At least she managed to pop his cramped neck. Karin was weeping softly as she tightened her hold on the blond boy. Naruto's eyes shot open as she continued to cry onto his shoulder. His arms were too wrapped in wires and tubes to reach up and hug her back. The boy looked at Karin was a small smile on his face. It was almost perfectly surreal.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Karin gasped. "You almost died…you don't know what would have happened to me if you did…"

"K-Karin…" Naruto was speechless.

"No wait." Karin interrupted. "Please let me speak…you need to know. I never meant to push you away like I did. I never meant for any of this to happen the way it did."

"Hey, guys, we should give Karin and Naruto their space." Hinata suddenly piped. "They need it…"

The group of built up shinobi sighed and groaned their disapproval but agreed much to the two Uzumaki's relief. Once the ten shinobi had exited the room, Karin looked back to the blond with a bright teary eyed smile and moved closer, placing herself perfectly on the bed and on his lap; her plump buttocks onto his knees making Naruto smirk softly.

"Naruto…" Karin began. "I was just so caught up in my jealousy that I couldn't see past that. I wanted to go with you and protect you, but I was just so caught up in my pride that I wasn't about to let myself look weak. Naruto, I saw you and Ino naked one day at Sunagakure after the Chunin promotions took place and I guess I just couldn't take it. I didn't know what you two had done the night before-"

"Karin." Naruto sighed. "Ino and I did have sex, and we had sex a lot have you." Karin slapped the boy on the shoulder and huffed in anger. "But…I don't know, I felt that I really did like her, I mean, after all, she was the only person that asked me out on a date y'know. She and I were already at that stage of the relationship y'know."

"But Karin…" Naruto said. "Those words that I said to you before everything went to shit, I meant it. Karin, I think you're beautiful, beyond belief and I can't say to you how sorry I am…"

"What for?" Karin asked. "I don't need apologies-"

"I wasn't fast enough." Naruto said solemnly. "I could have saved her…"

Karin was frozen in her thoughts, not expecting that response. Her crimson eyes locked with his for a moment, as she remembered why she loved him so much. His heart was on display for all to see. His caring nature and his loyal disposition simply made her adore him. So much so, that she completely forgot her entire speech. Sliding her hand down his collar bone and down onto his hard chest, receiving a small shudder from Naruto.

Her fingers slid up, motioning his head upwards to look at her. Their eyes locked once again, crimson and cerulean; ruby and sapphire. Their faces closed in with all of their built up emotions coming to a climax in this one moment. Karin leaned in her lips grazing against Naruto's own. She was parched and she wanted him so badly. Naruto, while feeling the same knew that he needed some form of self-control. Karin though didn't care as her soft breath trickled against his skin, making the hairs of his neck stand erect.

They teased, neither of them closing the remaining distance, neither of them intending to seal the deal. But the door suddenly slid open revealing a brown haired, brown eyed medic ninja. In his hand was a bouquet of roses and other flowers. Though not as beautiful as the flowers Naruto had wrapped together for Karin, it was still a great sight to see. The boy though looked beyond nervous, until his eyes landed upon the two Uzumaki holding each other, or rather the redhead he was searching for gripping another man; the Hero of the Shinobi Alliance no less.

The boy ran a hand through his hair and simply dropped the flowers and walked out of the room without a word being said. Karin was wide-eyed and her jaw was slack. Naruto was no different but he quickly changed his face and turned to face the redhead with a freaked face. Naruto kept his gaze on Karin as the girl struggled to keep her face straight to reply. She knew exactly what the blond was about to ask of her.

"H-He uhm…we uhm…" Karin struggled to get the words out.

"Oh…" Naruto said aloud. "You two…uhm…erm…"

"Y-Yeah…" Karin looked down for a moment.

"Don't worry." Naruto replied with a sigh. "It was my fault that we even drifted from one another after all y'know…heh."

"You can't take all of the blame." Karin sighed.

Flashback end…

Naruto looked up when the winds shifted again, causing the leaves to rustle in the growing breeze. He was seventeen and already a jounin, and not only that, he was going beyond what any other seventeen year old had gone before. He smiled widely as he headed off to the hospital to meet his beloved redhead. Naruto felt a skip in his heart as the thought of embracing his lady-friend. The days have been sweet and near perfect since then.

Naruto and Karin of course would make a daily pilgrimage with Chouji and Shikamaru to Ino's grave despite the fact that he body was never found. They would stand for two hours at the foot of her grave just talking about their day to the deceased girl. But once the two hours were up, the boys would go off and train or do the normal things of their daily schedule with Naruto training his butt off, Shikamaru staring at the clouds in thought and with Chouji simply stuffing his face with as much food as he could.

With the guys gone, it would usually lead to Karin being alone in the graveyard to simply talk with the deceased blonde. Karin would sometimes talk to herself and then give ambiguous questions to the dead blonde, almost as if she was expecting a response. She knew that she'd never get a response, but she had hoped that this was all just a bad dream. Some terrible trick by fate. The redhead would usually stay at the graveyard well into the night at times and even have place flowers at the blonde's grave and talk with Ino.

Thinking back to the present, Naruto was feeling slightly hungry and took off through the main street with his crimson haori waving behind him. People looked and smiled and some waved as he sped on past them. Naruto jumped over pulled carts and stalls trying to make his way towards his favorite place as soon as possible. The blond front-flipped and landed on his feet with a bright beaming smile on his face. The wind pressed against his face as he sped on.

He dug his feet into the ground and dragged his body against the dirt road kicking up rocks and dirt in his wake. In front of him was the godly gift to man; Ichiraku Ramen. With an even brighter smile spread across his face, Naruto hobbled over with a form of swagger in his step and flipped the hanging flaps out of his way and plopped onto the first stool he saw and ran his hand through his bangs throwing them about.

"Seven bowls of Miso Ramen old man!" Naruto cried out with a smile.

"Oh! Naruto!" Teuchi smiled at the boy. "Those orders will be right up!"

"Oh Naruto-kun!" Ayame smiled. "How're you and Karin?"

"We're great!" Naruto replied. "I was just on my way to see her at the hospital."

"Aw!" Ayame squealed. "Little Naruto-kun finally found the girl for him!" Ayame pinched his cheek just as the ramen bowls were dropped on the counter in front of him.

Naruto though frowned but felt a blush grow on his cheek as his eyes shut in embarrassment. The boy turned back around realizing that his ramen was indeed in front of him. Picking up the chopsticks from the container just on the side of the counter, Naruto dug into his bowl of succulent ramen. Each passing second, the broth and warmth of the noodles flooded his body, loosening his muscles and tensed body. His smile simply grew. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this day.

Elsewhere…

At the north gate of the village, there was a woman that seemed disheveled and bloodied. On her back in a shawl was what seemed to be a little blonde baby with a slight hint of whisker marks. The woman had some battle scars on her chest and back and even a few on her arms, but other than that, the woman looked like a normal travelling shinobi. Her hair was a dark black and her eyes were a gorgeous emerald. But with each passing step, her emerald eyes would drop down and her balance would stumble.

Kotetsu and Izumo looked up from their gate guarding post and quickly charged out to help the woman. The woman collapsed on her knees, but the two eternal chunin grabbed her and helped her up just in time.

"M-Ma'am, are you alright?" Kotetsu asked.

"N-No…" the woman whispered.

"Do you want us to take you to the hospital?" Izumo asked worriedly.

"N-No…" she replied once again. "J-Just take me to N-Naruto-kun-"

"Ma'am!" The two chunin shouted in surprise as the woman simply passed out on the street.

Elsewhere…

Karin and Naruto were laughing with each other as Karin enjoyed her break. The blond of the two was blabbering about his day so far and how he was excited for what was to come later today, and Karin of course was giving him her normal congratulations which consisted of kissing and more kissing. Karin was mighty friendly and once she saw Sakura and Hinata walking by, she quickly motioned for the two of them to join the Uzumaki talking.

They sat and chatted with all four of them having a lot to talk about, Hinata having a lot to talk about was a bit surprising, but the fact that Kiba and Hinata were dating, that was a bit understandable. At least it made sense to Naruto that Kiba's attitude would rub off of Hinata. And so, the four shinobi laughed and talked as the best of friends, but the lounge room door broke open revealing a sweating Izumo and Kotetsu.

"Guys, you've been requested to room 253 by Tsunade-sama." Kotetsu said with almost no breath. "Especially you Naruto."

"W-What?" Naruto asked. "What do you mean especially me?"

"Just come on!" Izumo shouted as the four were quickly filed from the room.

Once at the room, the group was surprised to see the rest of the Rookie Ten standing at the front of the door, along with the jounin senseis. Naruto sighed and wondered, what made them so important that Tsunade trusted them explicitly. He was about to ask his fellow shinobi about what was going on, but ANBU shinobi appeared from within the door of the room, revealing more ANBU blocking the window from within the room and from outside of the building.

Tsunade was standing at the foot of the bed as were the rest of the jounin council and clan council. Now Naruto was royally confused. He and the rest of the Rookie Ten were motioned into the room by Tsunade and the ANBU standing guard. Once inside of the room, there was a bed of course, but it was being covered by a large curtain covered in seals that negated the ability to sense who was in there. Karin had already tried to sense who it was.

The room was silent as their hearts raced and their muscles tensed. There was only one reason as to why Tsunade would call everyone into one room like this; Uchiha Sasuke was found and is in the bed right this instant. Naruto shook his head from the thought; it would have been too easy if that was the case. There was no way that it was Sasuke, if it was, then Naruto would have had to have been in the bed next to him.

If it's not Sasuke then who is it? Naruto thought to himself. Any ideas Kaa-chan? Kurama?

None that I can think of. Kushina replied.

Beats me.Kurama replied. I try not to associate myself with the ningen you call friends.

Dick. Naruto laughed.

"Everyone, this right now is to be held as an S class secret." Tsunade said with a stern voice. "No one can know about this, understood."

Tsunade swung the curtain away revealing a woman with an amazing chest and with dark black hair. Her emerald eyes were watching them with surprise. But they widened with happiness when they locked onto the whiskered face of Naruto Uzumaki. She painfully sat up but still held the bundle in her arms as tightly as possible. Her lips curled up into a smile as a small blush formed on her cheeks. Karin's eye twitched slightly as the redhead was about to become territorial.

"N-Naruto-kun…" The girl said softly while slowly caressing the bundle in her arms.

"S-Shizuka-chan." Naruto whispered in surprise.

Karin looked to Naruto with a look of surprise. She dropped the blonds arm from hers and backed away from the boy. The rest of the shinobi backed away as they knew that something about to happen. Karin's breath hitched as her fears were finally realized. She glared at the woman in the bed as the girl tried to sense Shizuka's chakra, only to be blocked by the massive chakra signature being held by the girl. Karin glared as red was starting to become the only color she could see.

"N-Naruto…" Karin said slowly.

"K-Karin-chan…t-this is going to be hard to explain." Naruto sighed. "I…uhm…she…"

"This is mine and Naruto-kun's baby." Shizuka said abruptly, cutting right to the chase.

The room shut out all sound. For a moment the room even dropped into freezing temperatures. Naruto looked to see Karin glaring like never before. She was beyond infuriated. Kushina and Kurama were even surprised by the declaration given by their dropped jaws. Tsunade shook her head despite already knowing the girl's predicament, and even a little secret that she was going to disclose with the rest of the shinobi present.

"Now is not the time for this, children." Tsunade sighed. "There is something more important than this."

Karin and Naruto sighed and turned to their leader with small glares on their faces. The remaining shinobi walked closer to the woman as the door behind them was covered in activated seals. Soon enough the seals spread onto the walls and the windows, covering everything in kanji. The seals glowed with a bright intensity just before the light died out and the kanji disappeared completely.

"This is Shizuka, the former leader of Nadeshiko Village, a matriarchal-" Tsunade was interrupted.

"Former?!" Naruto asked slightly appalled. "What the hell happened?"

"Uchiha Sasuke happened."

TO BE CONTINUED

Yeah, so this marks the end for Part I! Be on the look out for Uzumaki II: The Uncertain Peace coming out soon to FFN!

Here's the summary already in place:

"The Shinobi Alliance continues to lick their wounds, almost an entire year after the ceasefire of the Great War. With new leaders, new technology and an official capital, there's nothing that could stop them; other than three raging Uchiha, a human-snake hybrid and a woman hidden behind a strange mask of course. NarutoxKarin and NarutoxShizuka"

So if you want to see the continuation of this series, please review and tell me your thoughts of the series so far, it really does help on getting me to where I intend to go with this fanfiction. Again, thank you guys for all of your amazing support, but as for this story, it's officially over giving me more freedom to work on Part II and continue trying to update the Chosen Ones.

Anyway:

Ja ne!

gottahavekyuubi