Chapter Text

Prologue – Starting it

“You two will be on light duty until further notice.”, Tsunade held up one hand to silence any protest. And boy, did they want to protest. Naruto’s mouth was opened wide, ready to shout. Ready to throw a fit. Kakashi looked up from his book. His eyes narrowed, showing her how unamused he was about the order.

Tsunade started to explain before her upheld hand could not stop them any longer. Not that it could really, “Naruto, you will assist me in my work. I will start to teach you anything you must know to be Hokage. I cannot really teach you, if you are always on missions, now, can I?” Naruto finally closed his mouth, staring, thinking, nodding. Well, the loudest obstacle was out of the way. Now Kakashi would not be that easy to please.

“We lost many valuable Jounin in the Fourth War, Kakashi.”, she waited for him to acknowledge the information, “While we are in peace with the other Great Nations, there are still many missions which require a specific skill-set which only a handful of Shinobi have.”, waiting again for his nod of understanding. Tsunade would have to offer a lot of information to make him agree to her proposal. She could force him of course, she was his superior, but she preferred his compliance. He would be a lot less annoying,”So, let’s say, there exists a ring of missing-nin abducting and selling civilians overseas. Right now, we do not know a lot about them. Only, that they exist and what they do. What would you propose, Kakashi?”

“Infiltrate, gather as much information as possible, save as many captives as possible and crush the ring as soon as possible.” Kakashi answered. He kept his expression blank.

“You would agree, that such a mission would be especially dangerous and only the most qualified Shinobi, the ones with the highest chance of coming back alive, should be allowed to undertake such a mission.”, waiting for a nod before continuing, “Well, the Five Great Nations formed a team with the most qualified Shinobi. The problem is, the Shinobi of our Nation is also a Jounin-Sensei of the newly formed Genin-Squad 3.”

“So, you want me to substitute that ‘highly qualified Jounin-Sensei’ in the infiltration?” Kakashi was a genius, but he could be stupid sometimes.

“Not exactly, unless you are a young woman specialized in Seduction and Assassination.”, Naruto laughed.

“I’m a Jounin-Sensei already.”

“And you did a marvelous job. They surpassed you, heck, they surpassed me and the other Sannin. Saved the world brought peace...and they are no longer Genin. You were their Jounin-Sensei.”

“No way, baa-chan! Kaka-sensei is still leader of Team 7! No way you could just replace him!”, Naruto shouted.

“I would not be replaced, I will replace someone else.”

“Oh.”, Naruto hesitated, “So, Kaka-sensei would teach another Genin-Squad?”

“Yes.”

“He would not stop being leader of Team 7?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

“That’s good then.”, Naruto said, nodding to himself.

Well, that was not the reaction Tsunade had anticipated.

“Kaka-sensei is a great teacher.”, Naruto reasoned, “And if Team 3 does not have a Sensei right now, I think Kakashi-sensei would be the best choice to fill that role.”

‘Oh my, did I ever see them both blushing like that?’, Tsunade thought, ‘Maybe, what I’m about to tell them is not so bad after all.’

“I told the Genin-Team to meet you at 0800 tomorrow.”, she said, “Please try not to be too late. They do not know you yet.” Kakashi nodded.

Both Naruto and Kakashi stared at Tsunade, waiting to be dismissed. More likely waiting for the real reason they had to come see her. She heaved a sigh. Light duty was not the real issue here. Their missions were not really that pressing and did not require them explicitly. Despite what Tsunade had said, she could teach Naruto everything he needed to know to become Hokage while he still took missions. It would have been more stressful for Naruto, but he would have handled it. Although Kakashi was an outstanding Jounin and teacher, there were just as good choices as well. Kurenai could have taught Team 3 or Gai…Kakashi knew that. He accepted the order just because of Naruto’s praise. The Jounin did not want to disappoint Naruto.

“There is another matter, I would like to address.”, there was no way out of it. ‘I want sake’, “I want you to marry.”

Silence again.

“WHAT?!”, Naruto shouted.

“And who should we marry?”, Kakashi asked. After yelling, Naruto seemed to go into a state of shock. His eyes were widened, mouth slightly agape, his whole posture was frigid.

“Each other.”

“WHAT?!”, both shouted suddenly. Naruto was a little louder than Kakashi – Who am I kidding? In comparison to Naruto’s voice, Kakashi’s shout seemed almost faint. And neither were trying to keep their voice down. Even Kakashi was too shocked by the revelation to keep himself in check.

“Silence!”, she hit the table. Tsunade was not annoyed by their reaction. It was understandable, really. But she had to make it clear: She was not going to back down. They were married before they set a foot out of her office and that was final.

“You must be joking, Tsunade-sama.”, Kakashi started, obviously trying to compose himself, “Naruto is my student, a comrade, a friend. Thirteen years my minor, male. The son of my Sensei, the future Hokage. You could not possibly consider…”

“I am not joking and I did consider this quite seriously.”

“But...”

“The Hatake-Clan is about to die out with you, Kakashi. And you do not seem to have any interest in continuing the line yourself”

“Yes, but...”

“The members of the Uzumaki-Clan we know of are either rogue or dead or Naruto.”

“Yes...”

“I don’t understand, baa-chan”, Naruto interjected, noticing that Kakashi was at a loss for words, “Yeah, Kakashi is the last Hatake and I’m one of the last known Uzumakis. Sure, no problem there. But why hurry us to marry anyone, not to mention each other?”

“We could not continue our respective Clans as a married couple.”, Kakashi added helpfully.

“Why’s that?”

“Because we are both male and would not be able to...procreate, Naruto” Both of them started to blush again. Before Tsunade stood two of the deadliest men known in the Five Nations. And they were blushing because they had to talk about sex.

“A surrogate mother.”, Tsunade supplied.

“What?”, they both said again. ‘Good thing, they are still to embarrassed to raise their voices. This is going to be really annoying.’

“I know of some female civilians, who had great potential but did not pursue a ninja-career. They agreed to bear the children of Shinobi. All we need to do is get some of your sperm, fertilize an ovum and wait.”

“So, we went from marriage to having children? Isn’t there missing something? Maybe our consent?”, Kakashi joked sarcastically, “Why should we agree to any of this, Tsunade-sama?”

“A year ago, the council put ‘procreation of Konoha’ on their agenda. They came up with some invaluable clans that needed protection and support to continue. Needless to say that ‘Hatake’ and ‘Uzumaki’ were on top of their list.”, Tsunade sighed, “I ignored them. A few days ago the Elders paid me a visit.”

Tsunade opened one of the drawers of her desk, got two folders and threw them on her desk. She pointed at them, disgusted.

“These contain marriage proposals either of the Land of Fire or the other Nations. You either choose one of them or tell me you are in a romantic relationship with someone or you marry each other. These are the options I can offer you.”

“But why now?”, Kakashi took the folder labeled with his name and examined its content, “Why did they come up with this idea now? “

“A year ago, Hinata and I were still together.”, Naruto whispered, “We broke up a week ago or so.” Kakashi looked up from his folder. And stared at Naruto with widened eyes. Obviously he did not know, they had broken up. Naruto avoided eye contact. He had not picked up his folder. His arms hanged there lifelessly, his whole posture was tired. Tsunade sighed. How many times did she sigh the last hour? She needed a drink. Actually, she wanted to stand up and hug her little gaki. Right after a break-up, she had to come along and tell him that the Village wanted him to marry and settle-down. No, scratch that. She wanted to go and beat the hell out of the Council and the Elders.

“Unfortunately the Council and the Elders took this as a confirmation: You two are supposedly not capable of finding a partner.”, a sigh, again. She was so sick of this conversation, this whole situation, “So, they came to help. By selecting the most fitting and...distinguished families of the five Nations. It’d be a political marriage to ensure the continuation of your respective clans and simultaneously strengthen the relations to the other villages.”

“If the main concern is the continuation of our clans, why do we have to marry?”, Kakashi had closed his folder. He did not look at Tsunade. He watched Naruto, “The option of a surrogate mother does not need marriage. If we agree to that, why do we have to choose a partner?”

“Clan-politics are especially tricky. If you are not married, any child you may have – your own or adopted – will not be acknowledged as a member of your Clan.”

“That’s stupid.”, Naruto murmured. She could practically hear him adding mentally: I will change that when I get that hat, baa-chan.

“It is.”, she replied, “But it is, what the Clans agreed on. Even the Hokage cannot change this law.”

“And if we refuse?”, Kakashi asked.

“Your clans will be reverted to civilian status. Every possession, including your personal capital will be withdrawn and any accomplishment of your Clan will be nullified. That means, any accomplishment you made in your career as a ninja will no longer be acknowledged.”

“You are saying, that Naruto would not have saved the world, just because the Uzumakis would not exist as a Clan anymore?”

“I am saying, that history books would say something along the lines: ‘Sasuke Uchiha saved the world with the help of his Genin-Team and Sensei.’ Your names would appear in a footnote or something.”

“That’s stupid”, Naruto repeated.

“We have to marry, just to keep our names for history books?”

“All your ideals, dreams and goals will vanish from history, Kakashi. Names do have a meaning in this world. Clan-politics are cruel that way. With what else can they threaten you? Only your legacy and the legacy of your ancestors. Your teachings for the next generations.” Now, she had them. They thought about the same person: Minato Namikaze. While he was born in a civilian family, he married an Uzumaki. His legacy and with it Jiaraya’s would vanish from history.

“We teach by doing! I do not need books to show everyone my dream!”, Naruto shouted, “We will find peace, it does not matter who thought about it, as long as the idea stays alive.” Tsunade smiled.

“You can try that. Konohamaru and his team live your dream already. They will carry it into the following generation. And they in turn will carry it further. Until someone misunderstands. Until someone with power and brains thinks that peace can only be achieved by killing or stasis. Without an example, without the ones, who brought us to our state of peace right now, no one will truly understand your concept of ‘peace’.”

“Sasuke...”, Naruto started.

“...shares your ideal now but is not capable of living it.”, Tsunade interrupted. “Only you are. And I think you know that, too.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And don’t forget: Although nobody talks about this, your chances to become Hokage will significantly minimize. As long as the council has a say in the matter, only someone with rank, name and family to back rank and name up will be considered seriously as Hokage.”

Silence.

Kakashi looked devasted. While Naruto had faith in the Konoha 11 to pursue peace, Kakashi knew they could not. They had not what Naruto had. Tsunade knew, Kakashi couldn’t care less for his own Clan. But he would do anything to help realizing Naruto’s legacy, his dream. Kakashi was dependent like that. He had always been. And now Tsunade had to take advantage of that.

“When do you want our answer, Tsunade-sama?”

“Right now.” Normally she would give them as much time as they needed, but the council pressed and threatened to talk to them themselves. And she really did not want that.

“I offer you to marry each other, because I know you.”, she said. Her final word, “Neither of you will be happy with a stranger. You may act nice with him or her but you will not be happy. I do not think you will learn to love a stranger you were forced to marry. I do think, you will feel guilty for keeping your distance, unable to trust that person fully. You may even feel disgusted with yourself. But...you two...You know each other, you trust each other and you care for each other. I do not say that it will be easy for the both of you, it will be different than being friends or comrades. But at least you have each other.”

Silence again.

“If...it’s okay with you, Kaka-sensei”, Naruto started hesitantly, trying to look at anything but Kakashi, “I’d rather marry you.”

Silence.

“Yes, I share that sentiment.”, Kakashi looked at Naruto.

“Well then.”, Tsunade said in a fake cheerful voice. She took a stack of papers. “Please read through these and sign on the designated lines. You will be married before you leave this room. Since this is a special situation, you’ll have a month to reconsider this liason.”