Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make money off this fanfiction.

Chapter 13

"WHA-" Naruto began before he found a large hand immediately over his mouth with another pressing solidly down on his head to ensure he couldn't make a single sound.

"This is quite unexpected and I speak for my godson when I say I hope you won't mind if we take time to consider this offer of such a promising and beautiful young woman as yourself before responding appropriately…" Jiraiya said quickly as he struggled to keep his godson from making a gigantic mess of a very delicate political situation.

Temari for her part looked from Naruto to the sannin and got the distinct impression the very political and non-committal response was merely to buy time for the older shinobi to speak to his… wait… GODSON?!

"Your Naruto's godfather?!" Temari practically yelled before blushing at her forwardness.

Jiraiya grinned, "Yep! And we actually have a remedial lesson that we are very very late for! Why don't the two of you get together this afternoon, once you have a chance to refresh yourself, and Naruto can give you a tour of the village and the three of us can have dinner tonight! Yes, that sounds perfect, if you'll just excuse us…" Jiraiya said as he shunshined out of the office with his struggling godson despite Temari's lack of response.

Temari, for her part, was still trying to process the fact that her betrothed was the godson and apparently apprentice of one of the legendary sannin.

The old Hokage coughed slightly to get the girls attention, "I admit my surprise by the offer and can do nothing but thank Sunagakure and the Subaku clan for their willingness and commitment to our alliance. Now, Neko could you please take Temari-san to her hotel room to allow her to refresh herself after her long journey. I am sure Naruto-kun will be by this afternoon to pick you up for your tour of the village."

Temari nodded, still trying to compute everything she had just learned. Her potential betrothed was heir to the Uzumaki clan, heir to the Namikaze clan, son of the Yondaime, godson to Jiraiya of the sannin, apprentice to the same sannin, and had an apparently unknown Kekkei Genkai that could, by itself, alter the balance of power of the elemental nations. She could just feel the headache coming on.

Konoha training ground 17 moments' later

Jiraiya released Naruto only to immediately have the boy begin his tirade, "WHAT THE HELL ERO-KYOFU! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHY DID YOU SHUT ME UP LIKE THAT! WHAT IS A MARRIAGE CONTRACT! WHY IS TEMARI BEIN-Urgh" Jiraiya had once again place his hand over the blonde's mouth as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ok, Naruto, I need you be shut up and let me explain. I stopped you in there because this is one of those very delicate political situations. Remember what I said about you and delicate political situations?" he asked him only to receive a nod as he slowly released his hold.

"You said I am terrible at them and am most likely to start a war before somehow magically turning the entire country into my best friend and creating more paperwork than even Kami would know what to do with, right?" the blonde responded.

Jiraiya chuckled and nodded, "Exactly. Now, will you let me explain what just happened or do you want to yell some more and look like a total idiot?"

Naruto glared at his godfather as he seriously considered continuing to just yell at the older man before huffing and nodding his head for the older man to continue.

Jiraiya grinned before sitting down and motioned for Naruto to do the same under the shade of a tree, this was going to take a while after all.

"Ok, so you know how Konoha and Suna have been working on a new treaty. We talked about that previously. Well, back during the time of the warring states when one side wanted to really enforce their commitment to a treaty they would marry one of their women into the other clan, usually someone of a prominent family line, and vice versa. After all, there is no greater tie than blood. Now, this practice fell out of use with the founding of the shinobi village system.

"The reason you were about to screw up is that you were going to yell and throw a fit which could insult Suna, the village offering the contract, by potentially refusing the contract without knowing what it is and if it is tied into the entire treaty. For all we know the treaty could hinge on our acceptance of the contract itself. But, more importantly, you were about to possible insult your future wife! Do you really want your first meeting with Temari to be you screaming at the top of your lungs about something to which you have zero clue about? Possibly insulting her since it's obvious she agreed to the marriage, came all the way here to present it herself, and meet you."

At this Naruto paled considerably. Jiraiya had been trying to beat some political sense into his head since the council meeting. It was his way of trying to ensure Naruto didn't do anything stupid. But what really scared the blonde was the thought of insulting Temari and making her angry. He had seen angry women, who couldn't when hanging out with Jiraiya? And he wanted to avoid that at all costs!

"Y..You d-don't think she's, um, angry. Do you?" Naruto asked with real concern lacing his voice.

Jiraiya chuckled, "Nah, I think we got out of there before she could get too mad at you."

"I see you realize why this could be bad if you had screwed it up. Ok, now let's turn this into a lesson. Temari will expect you this afternoon for a tour of the village right?" Jiraiya said. He had started throwing these real life lessons into their training throughout the day to keep Naruto on his toes and also drive home important points.

Whenever someone would show up with a political question for the Hokage or a tactical decision had to be made Jiraiya would pull Naruto to the side afterward and repeat the scenario with slight changes for his godson. Naruto would then be expected to give an answer and the two would go through why his answer was right, wrong, or both. These little quiz sessions usually didn't take long and gave Naruto some intense real world experience.

"Yeah, but she's already visited the village before. So, uh, that's not the real reason right?" Naruto said.

"Bingo, this is a chance for you two to talk and get to know each other. Just take her to the usual hot spots, the academy, hokage monument, etc. Focus more on talking, ask her about herself, her family, and Suna. I know you don't like talking about your childhood but your pranks would likely make her laugh and remember, girls like to laugh, especially at men," he was told.

"And I shouldn't bring up the contract right?" Naruto asked.

"Nope, let that be for later once sensei and I have a chance to look it over. But I want to remind you about something. You have to take at least two wives to avoid the council trying to get at your clan's inheritance. One for the Namikaze clan and one for the Uzumaki. Temari would make an excellent matriarch for the Namikaze clan. She's a strong kunoichi that has extensive political training and is highly attuned to futon. Now, why is that important?"

Naruto scrunched his face for a moment before responding, "Cause according to the village bylaws I can only hold one seat at a time. So one of my future wives will have to hold the other one during meetings and votes. Which means that once the Uzumaki clan is officially accepted into the village one of my wives will have to hold the seat for the other clan. Also the Namikaze were well known as futon users so Temari and I both having futon affinities would increase the chance our kids would have it right?"

With the mention of kids Naruto began blushing up a storm. He was a healthy 13 almost 14-year-old and hanging around Jiraiya had done wonders for his imagination of the female form. Jiraiya for his part couldn't be more proud at the rate he was cultivating Naruto's pervert side and internally grinned every time he caught Naruto glancing at the girls nearby when they were out in the village.

Yes, my godson, you shall come to the pervert side… the sannin thought to himself

Far away in a casino

"WHAT THE HELL!" a man yelled at a blonde haired woman who had just smashed the roulette wheel before her into tiny pieces.

A black haired young woman nearby stared in wide eyes at her master, "L-L-Lady Ts-Tsunade! Why?!"

The blonde haired woman with an overly generous bust glared at the table before her, "I felt as if my old teammate was corrupting someone he shouldn't be…"

Shizune felt the palm of her hand strike her face as she groaned internally at the comment.

Back in the training ground…

"Exactly right! I know it might not be exactly what you want but she's a very pretty girl, highly intelligent, and comes with a lot of political points. So don't dismiss it out of hand. I'm not saying you should take it just for those reasons, after all a loveless marriage isn't any good either, but don't dismiss it out of hand either ok?"

Naruto nodded as the duo continued discuss the marriage contract, its history, pro's, and con's through the remainder of the morning.

The Royal Leaf room 410

Temari tried once again to relax as she felt the tension seep further into her shoulders. After the Neko ANBU had shown her to her room, a rather nice suite at one of the more prestigious hotels in the Konoha, she had mechanically taken a shower. Staying under the hot water far longer than normal had allowed her mind to process everything she had learned and come to several conclusions.

First, Naruto was the son of the Yondaime, holder of an extremely valuable and powerful bloodline, and scion of two nearly destroyed but historically powerful clans. This would put a huge target on her back as the potential wife and mother of one of those clans.

Second, her betrothed had the potential to be a political powerhouse in the world. While he might be the last of both lines the Namikaze and Uzumaki were well known clans before their downfalls. If he has access to their techniques and clan secrets he could rebuild them and be the progenitor of an extremely powerful dynasty. A dynasty she could be the matriarch of.

Third, she would have to accept he would need to take a second wife. Two major clans like that couldn't be merged. It had nothing to do with blood but more to do with clan secrets, techniques, and traditions. Merging two clans was almost impossible, one would eventually be consumed in favor of the other so it made more sense to keep them separate, thus giving them two seats on the village council. Throw in her own clan from Suna and you had the potential to create another three-way alliance like the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akamichi situation.

Fourth, he was the godson of Jiraiya of the sannin. That mean he would receive anything his godfather had to give him. That could be money, techniques, summoning contracts etc. Not to mention it offered both her and her potential family a huge level of protection against previous enemies of the nearly destroyed clans.

Fifth, Naruto was obviously not trained in politics. She had seen his initial reaction filled with confusion and emotion, not to mention how his godfather had shut him down to stop a potential international incident. Likely that meant he had not been in his godfather's care long and… potentially had grown up more similar to Gaara than she originally thought.

And if he had grown up like Gaara he may have his own… issues. Although his appeared more repressed and she would have to help him deal with them as time went on.

Temari sighed again and she continued brushing her hair. It was one of the few things she did that would often relax her. When she was little her mother had brushed her hair and that memory was one of the few she cherished above all others.

"This got much more complicated in a very short time," she muttered to herself.

Most of what she had figured out wasn't too big of a problem. After all, she couldn't get out of the contract unless Naruto refused it and that wasn't likely to happen unless the Hokage and Jiraiya decided it was the best move. Sighing internally her ears caught the sound of a knock at her door.

Placing her brush on the bed she had been sitting on the blonde kunoichi moved quietly to the door and opened it. She was slightly surprised to see Naruto before her. She noticed he still wore the same orange and blue jumpsuit he had earlier, something she would be sure to fix as soon as she could. No betrothed or husband of hers would be wearing such a monstrosity!

With a quick glance to see it was barely after 1 she had to fight the urge to raise an eyebrow. Sure, it was the afternoon but she didn't expect him to be quite so early.

"Um, uh, Hi, I hope it's ok I came a bit early. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to see anything you might like and I hoped we could get to know one another better," Naruto told her as his left hand moved to the back of his head, scratching it nervously.

With a raised eye the girl in front of him responded, "Did you think of that or did Jiraiya-sama?" she asked bluntly.

Naruto blushed slightly, "Both," he responded honestly, "I wanted to get to know you better, you're Gaara's big sister after all. And once ero-kyofu explained everything to me and he recommended I come early to make sure we had plenty of time."

Temari nodded enjoying the honest response, "Very well, give me a moment to get ready and we can head out."

Authors Note: So, yep, I am back! I also want to let everyone know I have posted a prologue for a new idea called Hestia's Wish. Let me know what you think! I am also hard at work for the Uzumaki Sunrise and just didn't have the new update ready for Christmas. It's now my next priority to get it done asap! Enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone!