Naruto's Popularity on the Rise

A/N: Thank you all again for reviewing. This one is a bit longer because it will probably have to last you for the week. I may get time to put up some more but I don’t know. To answer some of your questions: yes Naruto will end up with all of the girls in the harem however I am a true naruXhina fan so she will be focused on a lot.

BTW
"talk out loud"
'thinking to yourself' just in case it was hard to tell.

HOKAGE’S OFFICE

Tsunade was fast asleep in her office with a brand new bottle of sake on her desk. Why is she asleep you ask? Well there are a few reasons; one would be because as the Hokage she has to deal with a lot of stress. Two, she has been getting very little sleep for the past three years because she hasn’t stopped worrying about a certain loud mouthed ninja she sent to train with giant pervert. Finally she is asleep because that brand new bottle of sake she opened after lunch is now 3/4 empty and it is barely past dinner.

Jiraiya entered her office in his usual style of jumping through the opened window when he noticed Tsunade was asleep. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Jiraiya leaned in close to her ear and took in a deep breath.

“FREE SAKE OUTSIDE THE HOKAGE TOWER!”

In a flash she jumped out of her chair and out the window looking everywhere for the ‘free sake.’ Jiraiya fell to the floor laughing and holding his gut. Tsunade could hear him from outside the tower and realized that she had been had. The look of anger on her face made all the guards cower as she ran back up to her office. Slamming the door open she grabbed Jiraiya by the collar and punched him in the face sending him through the wall and back to the gates of the village.

He landed onto the ground making a giant crater. The two guards at the gate looked at him then to each other and said in unison, “Pissed off the Hokage again.”

‘I really should learn to stop doing things like that’ Jiraiya thought as he rubbed his face in pain trying to stop the blood that was coming out his mouth. Thankfully for him, the time it took to walk back to her office gave Tsunade enough time to calm down and let him talk.

“The training went fine, we did not run into any of the Akatsuki and Naruto was able to perfect the Rasengan. He now doesn’t need to create a shadow clone in order to use it and he can put more power into it.” Jiraiya said spitting out the last of the blood in his mouth.

“Good I am glad to hear that there weren’t any complications during the trip,” Tsunade said.

“Well, that’s not entirely true…” Jiraiya said scratching the back of his head.

Tsunade stared at him with a look of concern, “What do you mean, what happened during the training?”

Unsure how to put it Jiraiya decided to just come straight out with it. “I believe that he and the Kyuubi have completely merged.”

“WHAT?!” Tsunade screamed

“It turns out that after so much time the Kyuubi was meant to merge his chakra with Naruto’s to prevent the Kyuubi from being released into the world.”

Tsunade couldn’t believe it. She had no idea this is what the Yondaime had planned to happen.

“How can you tell that they have merged?” She asked.

“Most nights Naruto would sleep with a big grin on his face, he wouldn’t tell me why but I had to wake him up because he was trying to kiss me in his sleep and I had to put a stop to that quickly,” Jiraiya continued, “But then there were nights were he was writhing in agony and holding his stomach, I tried to wake him thinking it was a nightmare but he wouldn’t budge. He seemed to calm down after a few minutes each night it happened so I just let him sleep through the pain. He did this about nine different nights and each time he would wake up and tell me that he had a dream about the Kyuubi struggling to break free of a cage and getting smaller each time the dream occurred. The next day after the dreams Naruto would seem stronger and could go a lot farther in his training, so I believe that the Kyuubi merged with him during the night. Since there are nine tails and this happened on nine different nights, I think the Kyuubi is fully merged.”

Tsunade soaked in all the information that Jiraiya just told her, unsure of what to make of it.

“Do we have any reason to fear that something might happen to Naruto?”

“I don’t think so, when all nine were done the only difference in him was that he was stronger than ever. He said that he felt fine and more in control than before. I would just watch to see if he has learned any new skills because he started out performing his old self from before the merge in taijutsu. I don’t know if the Kyuubi gave him any ninjutsu or genjutsu because Naruto didn’t even know where the new taijutsu came from; he just started to do it.”

“I see, well then I will keep an on him and will talk to him tomorrow to see how he is doing. Thank you for the report Jiraiya.” Said the Lady Hokage.

“No problem Tsunade,” he said to his former teammate, “I’m going to go do some more research for my next book.”

“If I ever find you peeping on me or anyone in this village you will get worse than a punch in the face!” She yelled as he jumped out through the wall his body had made earlier that night.

‘Oh Naruto’, thought Tsunade while looking at a picture of the boy, ‘What have you been going through these past three years. I wish I could have been there to comfort you in your sleep. I would try to soothe your pain and comfort you until you awoke.’ During her thoughts a small blush was coming across her face as she imagined what it would be like to hold Naruto at night.

‘What am I thinking, I’m four decades his senior. What would he want with an old hag like me?’ She sighed to her self as she started to feel depressed again. She has been feeling lonely ever since her brother Nawaki and fiancé Dan died. She hasn’t allowed a man to get too close to her until she met Naruto. He looks just like her brother and has the heart and passion of her former lover. She never meant nor expected to have these feelings for him, but they appeared and realizing Naruto could never reciprocate them made her dive back into her depression, along with the bottle of sake that she hadn’t finished yet.

ICHIRAKU’S

Naruto could hear the girls giggling as they approached him and wondered what was going on.

“Hey guys, what’s so funny?”

They both looked at each other and shared another snicker before turning back to Naruto.

“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about Naruto,” Sakura said, “I’m sorry I can’t stay, but I just remembered that my Mom had asked me to stop by for something. Hinata said that she would stay with you though.” Both girls just smiled innocently at him but he could still feel like there was something they weren’t telling him.

Before he could ask anymore questions Sakura was off waving good bye to both of them as she ran. Naruto turned to Hinata to see that she back to her old habit of poking her fingers together. When he realized that it was just the two of them he found that he couldn’t look at her right in the eyes, he had to avert his gaze downwards trying to hide his slight blush. He just knew that those beautiful lavender eyes would be able to see right through him and know what he had dreamt about for the last three years.

“N-Naruto-kun”

“Yes, Hinata?” The nervous boy replied

“Would y-you maybe like to g-go for a w-walk with me?”

Naruto was surprised. Not only was she asking to do something with him, but he just now realized how adorably cute her stutter was.

‘How did I not hear that before?’ He thought, ‘she sounds so cute when she talks like that. It makes my heart jump just hearing it. There’s no way I could let her down by refusing whatever she asks.’

“Of course Hinata-chan, I would love to go for a walk with you.”

For the next ten minutes the couple could be seen walking around the village just idly talking and smiling. When you look closely though you can see that both appear to be anxious and nervous about something and their hands can’t stop fidgeting.

‘I gotta stop being so stupid, I can’t let my nerves get the best of me. I am Naruto Uzumaki and I can conquer my fears.’

With his mind made up Naruto reached his hand out and grabbed onto Hinata’s, lacing her fingers with his.

“EEEEP!” Hinata squealed at the sudden feeling of something grabbing her hand. She looked down to see what it was and instantly fainted seeing that the love of her life was now holding her hand.

Thankfully, Naruto’s new speed and reflexes he picked up from the Kyuubi allowed him to quickly catch Hinata before she hit the ground. Unsure of what to do now, he carried her into the nearby park and sat down against a tree with her in his lap. Naruto looked down at his lap and stared at the face of what he could only describe as an angel.

‘Why did I take so long to really see her? I’ve known her for a long time and yet it took me leaving for three years to see what I was missing out on. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. Wow did I really just use that corny line, oh well I can’t help it. Seeing her peaceful face now and after all those dreams I had I think I can finally say that I love this girl.’

Slowly coming to, Hinata blinked her eyes trying to refocus them. When she could see she looked up and all she saw was the full moon outlining Naruto’s smiling face as he looked upon her. She started to feel another faint coming on but Naruto quickly snapped her out of it by rubbing her arms and shaking her a little.

“Hinata-chan, you still with me?” he asked her.

“N-Naruto-kun, wh-where am I?”

“You fainted and I brought you to the park under this tree so you could realx.” He sighed knowing that she was alright.

“Oh, th-thank you Naruto-kun.” Hinata was blushing like never before because she knew she was in his lap and that he had his arms wrapped around her. All she could do was look into his piercing blue eyes and let the warmth of his smile envelope her body.

They sat there for what seemed like hours just staring into each others eyes. Really it was only a few minutes until Naruto started to take his hand from around her body and laced his fingers with Hinata’s again.

Hinata felt it and forced herself to not faint. She was not going to miss out on any more time with her Naruto-kun. Nothing could describe the joy Hinata was feeling at that moment. She was in the lap of the one she loved staring into his face and the stars while he was holding her hand. Just when she thought nothing could make her life more complete, Naruto started to lean into face at an agonizingly slow pace. She knew what was coming and had to show him that she wanted it too. With her heart beating like a humming bird she quickly closed the gap between them bringing their lips together for the first time.

Her boldness only caught Naruto off guard for a second when he returned her kiss with all his built up passion from the last three years. Both of them were in a world of their own. Nothing else in life mattered to them as long as they had this moment together. Hinata’s lips pressed deep into Naruto’s trying to bring them closer together. She brought her hands up around his neck holding on as if her life depended on it. Naruto took her bottom lip into his mouth gently sucking on it making Hinata moan in pleasure as her whole body heated up. Neither wanted to separate their lips but the lack of oxygen forced them apart so they could breath.

“Naruto-kun, I’ve missed you so much. Don’t ever leave for that long again!” Hinata exclaimed while she wrapped her arms around his body hugging him tight. She never knew she could feel this confident while being around her love. She was actually able to go for what she wanted and give him a hug. ‘If all it takes is a kiss to allow me to express my feelings and not stutter, I’m going to have to make sure we do that more often’ Hinata thought as she quickly wiped away the few drops of blood that came out of her nose.

“Hinata-chan…”

“Yes, Naruto-kun?” She said looking up seeing his nervous face.

“I know that I wasn’t always the most observant person in the past but while I was training with Jiraiya I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I thought about you every night and realized something that I should have a long time ago.” He said with small tear forming in his eye.

‘This is it! This is what I’ve always wanted!’ Hinata’s inner self screaming and her hands shaking.

“I love you Hinata-chan,” tears of joy now coming down his face and mixing in the pools of tears already forming on Hinata’s face.

“I love you too Naruto-kun!”

In an instant both were locked in the sweet embrace of a passion filled kiss. They both held onto each not daring to let go. Naruto’s mouth exploring all over Hinata’s trying to memorize every little detail. When his tongue licked her lips Hinata was more than happy to welcome it into her mouth. She licked his tongue and the inside of his mouth never wanting to be away from this man ever again.

All too soon though a loud scream was heard through the park, ending the lover’s kiss.

A/N: I know it’s a cliffhanger but I felt it was a good point to stop. I know it still doesn’t sound like a harem at all but that should change in the next chapter or so. It also doesn’t seem like Hinata will share but she will have to learn and be a little OOC for actually sharing the one she loves but that way the story can progress as a harem.