Matchmaker Hokage!
The blonde Sanin sipped her sake as she mulled over multiple plans in her head. Truth be told, she had been thinking about a way to solve this problem for months now.
It is so out of her character to get involved with something like this, but she could not take it anymore! It was painful to watch from the sidelines for so long! She would get involved! It was beneficial for everyone involved and that was just an added bonus as to why she was doing it. Actually her money depended on this! She was going to lose the bet she had going with everyone, and Tsunade did not want to lose this bet. Oh no…this bet was just too good to lose. She rubbed her chin as she continued to think about the perfect way to approach her problem. Her amber eyes looked around the room in a sad attempt to find inspiration in her office. Not much there to give her an idea, but she just needed some sort of…Hmm…what's this? She thought as she picked up the piece of paper off her desk. It was the top paper of the stack of paper work Shizune brought earlier to her, and it was the perfect thing for her to use in order to win the bet. Oh, she was going to rob those kids blind of their money with her plan. She chuckled lightly as she summoned a wolf masked ANBU to her office.
"Yes, Hokage-sama?" The male ANBU asked as he bowed with servant like respect. Tsunade let a small smirk grace her features as she reveled in her brilliant plan slowly beginning.
"Wolf, please bring me Uzumaki Naruto at once. Tell him it is urgent." Tsunade commanded with her authoritative voice in full swing.
"Hai." The ANBU answered as he disappeared from her sight without a sound. Tsunade smiled as she turned to her desk to pick up her unfinished cup of sake.
Now all she had to do was sit back and enjoy the show.
Why must life be so complicated? Naruto thought as he made his way to his favorite ramen stop. He ran his hands through his golden spikes in an attempt to calm himself down; he had never felt like this before.
He is the type of guy to blurt out anything that came to his mind. He is the type of guy to be frank and not think of the consequences of his words. He is the type of guy to talk about ANYTHING for hours on end to ANYONE. Yet, here he is walking to Ichiraku berating himself for not acting like his usual self all because of:
HER!
Naruto hung his head low.
When she was around, all coherent thoughts were shutdown. When she was around, he got butterflies in the pit of his stomach. When she was around, he became all tongue-tied. When she was around, he acted even more like an idiot instead of a highly accomplished Jonin-sensei on his way to becoming Hokage.
Naruto let out an inaudible sigh. He has been having this problem with her for a while now and it was driving him insane! He could talk for hour with a complete stranger about the weather, but he could not even form one sentence with her, the one person he REALLY wanted to talk to.
"Naruto-sensei, wait up!" A honey brown haired girl called to him. The girl is thirteen years-old and is one of the three Genin on Naruto's team. Her honey brown hair went down to right above her butt and she had bangs that cut right across her forehead above her eyebrows. Her chocolate brown eyes were filled with admiration for her sensei as she approached him. Her hands fixed her black jacket that she wore over her lavender tank-top, and straightened out her black skirt with her purple headband acting as a belt. After fixing herself she looked up at her sensei to see him smiling softly at her as he fixed his orange jacket that was similar to his father's Hokage jacket except it was orange with black flames that he wore over the typical Jonin attire.
"What is it, Kiyomi?" Naruto asked his female student. She smiled brightly before she began.
"I was wondering if you would want to watch me practice my fire style jutsus." She asked with complete innocence in her voice. Naruto looked at the girl skeptically; he knew her all too well. When she uses that tone of voice, you just knew she was up to something, but the question is what?
"Okay, Kiyomi, what are you planning?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms over his chest still with the skeptical look on his face. Kiyomi just shrugged before opening her mouth to answer.
"Well, I figured you would want to see my amazing jutsu is all…besides… Fumio and Hiroshi both wanted you to watch us train." Kiyomi put on a puppy dog face that Naruto was a major sucker for.
"Oh all right. I'll watch you all train, but you three owe me ramen then."
"Deal!" she squealed in utter delight. Naruto and she began to make their way to the training ground when the ANBU member sent to get Naruto arrived.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Tsunade-sama has requested your presence immediately." The ANBU reported in a respectful tone. Kiyomi's face fell when she heard that Tsunade wanted her sensei. No, no, no! This will ruin our whole plan! AHHH TSUNADE-SAMA WHY?! Kiyomi thought.
"Does he have to go now? Can't it wait?" Kiyomi asked in hopes that the ANBU would say it could.
"Gomen demo Tsunade-sama said it was urgent."
"Kuso." Kiyomi cursed under her breath, so much for her team's plan for their sensei. Naruto let out an audible groan but made his way to the Hokage tower after apologizing to Kiyomi for bailing on her.
"So you could not get Naruto-sensei to come?" Fumio asked in his scholarly way as he pushed his glasses upward. His short shaggy black hair blew in the wind as he sat there contemplating on what to do in order to salvage their plan. His blue eyes scanned the girl in front of him; she had a slight blush on her face, but it just seemed to make her even more cute then she already was. Fumio shook his head in an attempt to shake such thoughts out of his mind in order to think of a plan to help Naruto.
"Well, obviously she didn't, Brainiac! He isn't here, right?" a boy with very short chocolate brown hair and green eyes sarcastically replied. He lounged on the branch of the tree directly above Fumio and Kiyomi with his eyes closed.
"Oh don't be so mean, Hiroshi! Fumio's original plan was brilliant! It just that Tsunade-sama needed Naruto-sensei for something." Kiyomi came to Fumio's defense.
"Actually…our plan may not have worked, but I believe Tsunade-sama's will." Fumio answered with a smirk on his face. Hiroshi opened his right eye to look at Fumio skeptically while Kiyomi cocked her head to the side in confusion. Fumio pulled on his dark blue jacket before explaining. "I believe that Tsunade-sama has called Naruto-sensei about the same reason we called him as well."
"You mean she is going to get Naruto-sensei and…" Kiyomi began but was interrupted by a melodious voice that was soft and gentle greeting them.
"Gomen, I am so sorry that I am late. I am ready to help you with your training now." A female voice answered.
"Her." Kiyomi finished with a huge smile on her face as Fumio nodded and Hiroshi jumped down from the tree in order to give his undivided attention to the female sensei that just walked onto the training field.
"Well, I hope Tsunade-same will finally get those two together." Hiroshi whispered to his two teammates as they walked over to the soft-spoken sensei.
"Alright, Baa-chan, I am here. What do you need?" Naruto asked as he burst into the Hokage office slightly annoyed that Tsunade summoned him right when he was going to go work with his Genin team.
"Well, seeing as you are my successor I thought I might as well start your training now." Tsunade stated. Naruto smiled his infamous smile.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" He asked, eager to get started.
"Just sit next to my desk and observe how I assign missions, and only give me your opinion when I ask you for it okay?"
"Sounds good."
Tsunade smirked; the brat had no idea what he was getting himself into. She pulled out the file she looked at earlier, and decided to debrief Naruto on what it was.
"Okay, so the first mission I am going to assign is an A-Rank mission to the Land of Iron. You see there is a band of rogue ninja that are extremely dangerous, and a major threat to Konoha, based upon what Jiraiya has gathered." Tsunade began. Naruto nodded in understanding and looked to Tsunade waiting for her to continue. "The problem is that they are very difficult to track down, but there is only one opening to capture them. That is when they go to the harem every Friday. You see we need a kunoichi to go under cover as a whore from the harem, but the kunoichi has to be very good at tracking as well. What do you think?"
"Would the girl have to…you know…umm…" Naruto scratched his cheek in embarrassment as to what he was implying. Tsunade let out a small chuckle. This kid gets nervous over this? Is he Jiraiya's pupil? She thought with amusement.
"Well, hopefully she will not have to, but if it is the only way to get the info on those rogues so we can take them down, then she has to. Anyway that was not what I wanted your opinion on. I wanted to ask you who you think would make the perfect kunoichi to send on this mission?" Tsunade asked with a hint of a smile. She could barely contain her evil laughter from erupting out of her. Her plan was going so perfectly well, she would win that bet no problem.
"Don't we have a special squadron of ninja for this type of mission?" Naruto asked.
"Well, yes."
"I don't know the ninja in that squadron, so I would not be of much use for picking someone for this mission." Naruto logically stated. Tsunade smiled; Naruto grew up so much, and that is why he deserved what she was planning for him.
"No one in that squadron fits that description, so I had to ask someone else to do the mission. They are very beautiful and are amazing at tracking. In fact, you know them personally." Tsunade answered hoping Naruto would realize what she was hinting at. Of course it went right over his head.
"Oh…and they agreed to this?" Naruto asked. He did not think any of the girls he knew would actually agree to this, but then again he could never understand the female species.
"Well, not exac…" Tsunade was interrupted by an indigo haired, lavender eyed, pale skinned beauty entering her office with as much politeness that was possible.
"Ohayo, Tsunade-sama, you summoned me?" Hinata asked as her eyes met Tsunade's. Truth of the matter is that Hinata had no clue about the mission Tsunade was about to assign her, and in fact she did not ever have to. She just hoped that everything would go according to her intricate plan.
"Yes, I did, Hinata-chan, so please sit down." Tsuande pointed to the chair across form Naruto, and when Hinata looked to where she was pointing, she noticed the blonde haired ninja looking at her with an astonished expression on his tanned face.
"Ohayo, Naruto-kun." Hinata called trying to snap the boy back into reality, and it worked.
"O-ohayo, Hinata-chan." Naruto could feel the butterflies in his stomach as he looked at Hinata. He was not expecting her to be here. How was he supposed to look like Hokage material to Tsunade if he can't communicate while Hinata is around?
Tsunade smiled as she noticed the way the two ninjas looked at each other. Hinata's lavender eyes held nothing but adoration for the knuckle-headed blonde and the cerulean eyes of Naruto's held nothing but sheer amazement and love for the Hyuga Heiress. They were both so madly in love with each other, but they did not know the other shared their feelings. Hence why the bet had been made. Sasuke was actually the one to create it. At first it was just the Rookie nine (minus Naruto and Hinata, but including Sai) that knew about the bet. They were placing bets on what week Naruto would finally ask out the Heiress. Soon the bet expanded to Team Gai and the senseis. After that, Jiraiya, Shizune, Tsunade, Yamato, Hiashi, and more important ninjas started placing bets as well. Heck even Naruto's Genin team is in on the bet! This week was the week Tsunade had betted on, and she was not about to lose. Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Lee, Shizune, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, and Shino already lost the bet. Hiashi put his money on a year from now, but everyone knew he was going to lose.
But she digresses.
Tsunade picked up the mission file she just finished explaining to Naruto, so she could hand it over to Hinata. Naruto was jerked out of his stupor when he realized what mission Tsunade was going to give Hinata.
"No one in that squadron fits that description, so I had to ask someone else to do the mission. They are very beautiful and are amazing at tracking. In fact, you know them personally." Tsunade's words rang in Naruto's head. It all made sense. Hinata is drop dead gorgeous when she is not wearing her bulky clothing (which she has not worn in over two years). She is an amazing tracker, after all she came from Team Kurenai, and tracking is their specialty. Naruto knew Hinata personally…in fact he would go as far to say that he might even love this girl, and that is why his protective instincts went off at the moment Hinata went to grab the folder from Tsunade.
Naruto sprang up from his seat and snatched the file away from Hinata and through it across the room. Hinata looked dumbfound at Naruto while Tsunade smirked. "Naruto-kun, why did you throw my mission across the room?" Hinata asked confused.
"Yes, Naruto-kun, why ever did you throw the file?" Tsunade asked in a playful yet knowing tone. Naruto looked like a deer caught in head-lights. How on earth was he supposed to explain this?
Well if I told her the true reason why it would go something like this… 'I really don't want you whoring yourself, Hinata-chan, ' cause I don't want to share you. You are mine and mine alone!'… Yeah…that'll go over well…not… Naruto thought as he stared stupidly at Hinata.
"'Cause I…I…well you see…eto…" Naruto began fumbling over words trying to form a coherent sentence while Tsunade was watching thoroughly enjoying the scene developing before her. Hinata looked utterly confused. Naruto NEVER stuttered; she was the one who always used to stutter. Not Naruto. What could possibly be bothering him about this mission? "Please, Hinata-chan, don't take this mission." Naruto begged.
Does he not think I am strong enough to handle this mission? Have I not proven to him yet how strong I am? Does he still think of me as weird, shy, and weak? Hinata thought as unnoticeable tears welled up behind her lavender eyes. Her love did not think she was strong enough. Was she really still a failure?
"Why, Naruto? She is perfectly capable for this mission. She is strong and an amazing tracker. She would finish this mission no problem." Tsunade coaxed Naruto on. She needed him to admit it, so the two lovebirds could be happy…and she could win the bet.
"I know she could handle the mission! Hinata-chan is very powerful!" Naruto came to his defense. He never meant to question Hinata's power. He knew she was strong and an amazing kunoichi, but that was not the part of the mission he was averse to her doing.
"So then what is it then?" Hinata asked as her patience was slowly ebbing away. Although she had to admit it, when Naruto said she is powerful, she felt her cheeks burn a bright red. She just hoped no one noticed.
"Idon'twantyousellingyourselfforinfobecauseIdon'twanttoshareyou." Naruto answered very fast that it was not understandable. Tsunade had to cover her mouth in a vain attempt to not laugh at the poor Kyuubi holder.
"Excuse me? I could not understand you?"
"I said that 'I don't want you selling yourself for info because I don't want to share you'" Naruto reiterated with a faint blush on his cheeks. Hinata's whole face was a newly discovered shade of red when the words Naruto said sunk in.
"Wh-what d-do y-you m-mean b-by th-that?" Hinata stuttered out. She had not stuttered for years, yet here she is stuttering like a complete fool. Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he let out a couple of nervous chuckles. It's now or never…I guess… Naruto thought as he took a deep breath before continuing.
"I really really like you, Hinata-chan, no actually…I love you. So, I really don't want you to take this mission because well…I don't want anyone else to look at you…" Naruto answered honestly. Hinata's face got even redder (if that is even possible) as she looked down at the newly interesting floor. "I understand if you don't feel the same way…I'll just get going, then. Just please don't take the mission, Hinata-chan. I'll see ya around." Naruto said the last part in a defeated tone. He never expected Hinata to return his feelings, but that did not mean that it did not hurt that she didn't. Naruto was almost out the door when he felt two soft hands grab his hand and prevented in from opening the doorknob. His cerulean eyes meant her lavender ones, and in them he could see the same emotion that is in his eyes when he thought of her…love.
"Naruto-kun, I love you too. I have for a while, and I won't take that mission if you don't want me to. Besides…" Hinata's face got really red at what she was about to say. She leaned in close to Naruto's ear so she could whisper the next part. "I don't want anyone but you looking at me anyway." Naruto blushed, but was unexplainably happy. He grabbed Hinata's slender waist and pulled her close to him as possible. His other hand held her face gently as he put his lips on her soft pink ones. Hinata smiled under her kiss as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck to deepen the kiss. Naruto and Hinata could feel the electricity from their kiss course through their bodies, and it felt amazing. They did not even notice how long they stood their kissing until Tsunade cleared her throat. The two realized what they were doing and instantly jumped apart awkwardly. Tsunade smiled.
"Well, if you two lovebirds don't mind, I have to find someone to take this mission since Hinata won't." Tsunade said with an affectionate chuckle.
"Hehe…sorry about that, Baa-chan. We'll get going. Hey, Hinata-chan, you want to go to Ichiraku's with me?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Of course, Naruto-kun." Hinata answered with a cute smile on her face. Naruto took her soft hand in his rough one as they walked toward Ichiraku.
"Well that went perfectly." Tsunade sighed when they left. She felt accomplished. Now all she had to do was go collect her money.
"UCHIHA, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON'T GET THE MONEY!?" Tsunade roared as she held Sasuke by the collar. The Uchiha looked unfazed as everyone watched the exchange between the two.
"You actually picked the week that just past, so Shikamaru is the winner. He was the only one to pick this week." Sasuke answered as Tsunade slowly calmed down and let him go. If only the dobe waited one more week…I would have won. Sasuke thought as Tsunade finally let him go. Shikamaru looked at everyone then stretched out his hands with his palms facing the cloudy sky he was just watching a few minutes ago.
"Okay troublesome people, pay up." Shikamaru commanded in disinterested voice. Everyone pulled out their money to pay the lazy genius.
"How did you know that this would be the week Naruto would finally ask out Hinata?" Sakura asked after the money exchange.
"I just figured that Tsunade-sama would try to do something to get Naruto to like Hinata, and actually put the plan into action when it was too late. In other words I did some research to hypothesize the outcome." Shikamaru stated as he began to walk away with his money. After everyone left, Tsunade punched a hole in the tree and yelled.
"THIS IS THE LAST TIME I PLAY MATCHMAKER!"
Yes everyone I am still alive! I just had this idea floating in my head so I decided to do a oneshot of it lol I hope you like it. I was supposed to be working on Anima Trouble but I had major writers block for the current chapter and today was the first time I actually had time to write, so I am sorry that I did not update Anima Trouble, but it should be updated this weekend.
Also, for those of you reading I Need You, check out my profile to see the new set-up I have for it (under stories I plan to do) okay thanks and I hope you enjoyed this short story! Review por favor!