Because You Love Me.
Part 8: Butterflies.

The day of the preliminaries has arrived and we find Naruto and Anko waiting for the time limit to expire in the waiting room that was occupied with Neji and other Jounin’ including Temari who had returned after making sure that her village was secure and that her brother Gaara was doing well when she said, “I want to thank you Naruto and you too Neji for coming to help my brother, so thank you.” Even though she said it in a sincere tone there was still her usual mocking smile on her lips.  Neji just nodded his head in appreciation of the gratitude but Naruto couldn’t help but give her a little dig, “So you and Shikamaru are dating huh?!”
“Why would I want to go out with that lazy git?”
“But you have kissed him haven’t you?!” Naruto replied, enjoying the fact that this comment made Temari blush, Neji and Anko were looking over at Temari and Anko started to laugh, Neji just smiled a little even though he was laughing his ass off inside his head, and Naruto was just proud that he had guessed right.
“At least I’ve kissed someone gennin.” Temari shot back, which only made Naruto chuckle a little.
“You do know that I trained with the Legendary Pervert for over two years, you don’t think he only taught me how to fight do you?” He said completely seriously.  The other three just looked at him wondering what else he might have been taught by that pervert.
“What do you mean by that Naruto?” Anko asked in absolute curiosity.
“Well… first he just taught me how to talk to girls, then how to gently flirt, and then how to pick them up, after that I guess it was the girls that taught me stuff.” He replied with a smile remembering it all.
“And what exactly did these girls teach you?” Anko asked with a little fire in her eyes.
“Oh just this and that.” Naruto said nonchalantly.
“Give us an example.” Temari said.
“An example huh? Let me think… oh I know.” Naruto walked over to Temari and took one of her hands in his and grabbed her wrist with his free hand and looked deep into her eyes, and that’s all he did, but the feeling that Temari was experiencing and the flush that the other two could see made them believe that he was doing something else, after a minute Naruto let go and walked back to sit next to Anko.
“What did you just do?” Neji asked clearly impressed.
“What that? That was nothing, I just gave her the impression that she was the most beautiful woman in the world and that I would do absolutely anything for her, but doing that to someone you don’t actually care about is dangerous.”  Naruto said with a slight shiver.
“What do you mean dangerous.” Neji asked.
“Well, look at Temari practically the moment I let go of her she realized it was all a lie, which is why it’s dangerous, the only reason I did it to Temari at all was because she knew it was a demonstration and I felt fairly confident that she wasn’t going to kill me for lying to her.”  The other two did actually look at Temari to see if this was true, and she gave them both a slight nod to indicate that it was, “And lying to a woman about something like that is never wise, which is why I never use something like that on my friends.” Naruto said giving Anko a meaningful glance.
“So what was it like Temari?” Anko asked.
“Intense,” Temari answered breathing a little heavily still, “But as soon as he let me go I did indeed know it was a lie,” looking at Naruto she continued, “Whoever you end up with will be extremely lucky.”
“Your wrong Temari,” at his words Temari looked completely shocked, but when he continued her face calmed in realization, “It will be I who will be the lucky one to end up with someone I can love so much that I can look at them like that and not have it be a lie.”
“I can only hope that you do find someone that you can love like that.” Temari replied.
“So how many girls have you kissed in the village Naruto?” Neji asked.
“Just two and one of them fainted,” He answered with a little smile at Neji, “Hinata didn’t faint.” Neji gave a little sigh at first thinking that Naruto hadn’t kissed his cousin but then his words finally made sense.
“You kissed Hinata?” Neji said almost yelling.
“A few times,” Naruto answered calmly, “She is quite attractive you know Neji?!”
“You had better not break her heart Naruto or you’ll be the one broken.” Neji said as threateningly as possible.
“I can not promise that, I’m sorry Neji.” Naruto said a little sadly.  At his words Neji rushed Naruto preparing to punch him in the face, but before he got within arms length he found Anko’ sword blade at his throat.
“He can not promise that because we are ninja and he may die in battle, and also I don’t think he even knows his own heart at the moment,” Anko said, and then looking at Naruto with sad eyes she asked, “Who else are you confused about Naruto?”
Having not made a move to defend himself from Neji’ attack Naruto looked at Neji with a look that said he deserved to receive any pain Neji could give him and then answered, “There are two others I’m confused about, two I know love me and the other I’m not sure how she feels exactly.”
“And how do you feel about these women Naruto?” Temari asked from behind Neji who was slowly backing away from Naruto, Neji really didn’t like the look on Naruto’ face at the moment and regretted rushing him.
“I know that I would risk everything for them, I know that I care for them all deeply, and I know that I don’t deserve any of them.” At the last statement Anko cringed. “Neji, I would appreciate it if you could tell Hinata all that you’ve heard here today, and I will tell Sakura they both deserve to know where they stand.”
“What about the third woman?” Temari asked.
“She already knows.” Was Naruto’ simple answer glancing at Anko. Looking back at Neji he awaited his reply.
“Yes Naruto I will tell Hinata, I will try to tell her as gently as possible.” With Naruto’ nod of appreciation they all sat in silence for a while before making small talk to await the matches.

Walking into the hall where the preliminary matches were about to start Naruto noticed that 5 teams had made it through bringing the total number of fighters to 16 including him, he was immensely proud to see that Maru’ team had actually made it through, although they did look a little worse for wear, Naruto also saw that two Sand teams were also through, the other two teams were from Rain and Rock.  As Naruto was about to walk down to stand next to the teams Anko grabbed his hand to keep him standing up on the platform with her and when he conceded to her will she didn’t release his hand she merely entwined their finger and gave his hand a little squeeze.  Soon after Tsunade explained the meaning of the Chunnin Exam and what was going to happen and then everyone moved up to the balconies to watch the first fight, Naruto and Anko moved over to where Temari was standing with the Sand Gennin followed by Maru’ and his team, “So Temari, were any of these trained by Gaara?” Naruto asked as they approached.
Before she could answer one of the Gennin berated Naruto by saying, “Hey, don’t call him that he’s the Kazekage show some respect.”  Temari slapped the back of the head of the young Kunoichi and said, “It’s you that needs to show some respect, don’t you know who this is?” At the confused and slightly frightened look of the girl she said, “This is Uzumaki Naruto.” Upon hearing Naruto’ name the girl started to stutter.
“Y-Your U-Uzumaki N-N-Naruto?”
“Heard of me have you?” Naruto asked with a smile playing along his lips.
All the Sand Gennin nodded their heads looking up at him and then the girl who had first berated him said, “You saved Kazekage-sama, and I heard that you even beat him in a fight once.”
“I merely helped to save him it was a team effort, and the fight ended in a draw.”  Naruto said not looking embarrassed at all.
“No Naruto your wrong there that was not the first time you saved him, the first time was when you fought and he realized what true strength was,” Temari said and then continued in a softer tone, “After that fight Gaara changed, and for that I will always be grateful to you.” And to the shock of them all she hugged him.
Brushing away the somber mood Naruto repeated his first question, “So, were any of them trained by Gaara?”  After that Naruto stayed with the Sand ninja’ and talked to them while watching the fights and bringing the others that were with him into the conversation as well.  Naruto watched as Maru defeated a Rain nin, and then Moegi beat one of the Rock nin, but Udon was defeated by one of the Sand, Naruto was the last to fight and when his name was displayed on the board the Sand Gennin were shocked to realize that he was still a Gennin and that he was fighting, the ones that had made it through were also hoping that they wouldn’t have to fight him in the finals.  Naruto was matched up against a Kunoichi from Rain, before heading down to the arena he removed his sword and handed it to Anko and said, “Hold this for me for a minute please, this shouldn’t take long.” And with that said he jumped over the railing and landed without making any noise whatsoever.
“You should have kept your sword boy, your going to need it.” His opponent jeered.  Naruto didn’t say anything and just stood there looking at her with cold calculating eyes, when the match was called to start the Kunoichi charged at Naruto with a kunai in hand, Naruto stood his ground, when the woman was almost within arms reach he ducked under her arm and brought his forearm up and smashed it into her neck just under her jaw and then gave a chakra powered shove and pushed her back slamming her into the opposite wall were she fell unconscious and then he said, “That’s why I removed my sword, if I had kept it you wouldn’t have kept your head.” Picturing the move he had just executed with his sword in his hand holding it with a reverse grip he could have indeed taken her head off.  The entire audience, except Anko, was completely shocked that he had just won in less then 5 seconds and also that he could have done what he said he could do.  After hearing the confirmation that he had won he jumped backwards without looking to land right next to Anko who handed him his sword, “You took too long.” She said playfully.
“I wanted them to be actually able to see it and if I had done it at full speed I would have snapped her neck and I only needed to win not kill her.”  Naruto said in all honesty.
With the final match done there were three Konoha Nin advancing to the finals, three Sand and two Rock were also advancing.  After drawing lots to see who was fighting who in the finals Naruto found that he was matched up with Moegi, and she looked completely scared that she was going to have to fight Naruto after she had just seen what he was actually capable of.  Kneeling down in front of her to look her in the eyes he said, “You don’t have to be scared Moegi, I will keep my promise as long as you keep yours,”
After he saw her nod and a slight smile appear on her lips he gave her a little hug and said, “Just make sure you train really hard over the next month ok?”

Over the next month Naruto and Anko’ training intensified to a degree that only they could perform, because of what Naruto had done by breaking the cursed seal he had increased Anko’ maximum chakra capacity by 20%.  Naruto’ days were still the same as they had been over the passed weeks mornings with Hinata, Neji had told her about his  conversation with Naruto but she didn’t care all that much about the time he spent with the other girls as long as she got her time with him as well.  His afternoons were spent training with Anko, and at least once a week she would spend the night over at Naruto’ where all they did was hold each other while sleeping and talk long into the night, she had also asked him to resize some more clothes for her that she had bought so that they fit her as well as the others.  His early evenings were still spent with Sakura and when he told her about the other two not mentioning Anko’ name she was of course jealous but came to the same decision as Hinata had, and now they kissed each other goodnight every night.

The day before the finals when Naruto and Anko were recovering from their training session Anko suddenly said, “There is nothing else for me to teach you Naruto, you have completed your training, so here is your forehead protector.” Anko said holding it out to him, Naruto looked at it for a moment and then looked at her, he walked up to her as if to take it but kept getting closer to her, when he was mere inches from her he reached up behind her head and untied her forehead protector and stepping back from her a little he then tied it onto his sword strap so that it was running diagonally across his chest with the metal plate resting just left of center over his heart and said, “Thank you Anko, I can never repay you for what you have given me.” After she had strapped his onto her sword strap the same way he had hers, she took a step towards him closing the distance between them she looked up into his face and said motioning him down with her finger, “I have something else for you.” She then grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him into a heated kiss, Naruto knew exactly what she was about to do and so slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her body up against his, when she gasped in surprise at his actions Naruto deepened the kiss and moved his tongue into her mouth to gently caress hers with his, after her initial shock she realized that she was already kissing him back with such passion that it almost scared her.  Pulling back from the kiss after a few minutes Naruto looked at her innocently and asks, “So what was that for?”
Breathing heavily she answered, “It was for luck of course.” And blushing deeply she kissed him again before quickly pulling away and saying, “That one was because I love you.”
After she said that Naruto looked so sad it almost broke her heart, “I wish that I could say that I love you too, but I just don’t know yet, but what I can tell you that is completely true is that you are in my heart, and will always be just as Hinata and Sakura are in there as well.”
“I know Naruto, I know and I am fine with that I swear I just want you to be happy just as I know that you want us to be.”  And with that she hugged him.

Entering the arena for the finals the first thing that Naruto did was head towards where the Kage’ were sitting, although someone heading to the Kage’ would be stopped and questioned by ANBU and the Sand’ guard’ Naruto was not, he simply walked up to them and gave a slight bow to them both before receiving a hug from Tsunade and a hand shake from Gaara, “It’s good to see you again Gaara, you look better then the last time I saw you, I guess you’ve probably been able to get some decent sleep now though.” Naruto said with a little smirk.
“It’s good to see you again also Naruto, and yes without Shukaku I am now able to sleep in peace without the fear of losing control.” Gaara said in his flat voice but Naruto could still hear the amusement in it, even if no one else could.
“Good, now before I leave for the competitor’s area I have one thing to say, I want Tsunade-Kaasan to check you out before you leave, just to make sure that there are no ill effects from you being dead and all.”  And so with a smirk and a wave Naruto left them to talk amongst them selves and watch the matches to come.

The first match was between Maru and one of the Sand where Maru was beaten, but barely, for he did put up one hell of a fight, the second match was fairly typical but of no real interest to Naruto.  Naruto’ match was the third one to be fought and so he escorted Moegi down to the arena floor, while they were walking he was giving her a pep talk and telling her to show everyone just how good she was.
Once the match started the crowd noticed that Naruto was only defending himself and never attacked his opponent or even counter attacked, about 10 minutes into the fight Naruto noticed that Moegi was breathing fairly heavily and decided to pause the match for a moment so she could catch her breath, so raising his hand to her to stop her attack he said, “You’re pretty good Moegi, I can see that you’ve trained very hard, actually you’re very good at Taijutsu and I think you could become extremely good under the right trainer,” Moegi was shocked to hear him say that and she blushed a little before he continued, “Would you like me to find you a Taijutsu trainer?”  He asked.
“Yes please.” Moegi replied nodding her head emphatically.
Hearing her answer Naruto looked over to the crowd and yelled out, “Hey, Rock Lee you out there?”
“Naruto I’m over here.” Hearing a shouted response from behind him he turned around and saw the junior green beast waving his arms in the air.
Still shouting Naruto said, “Lee, I know you’re busy with missions and your own training but do you think you could help Moegi with her Taijutsu? I’m sure that with you training her, with the help of Gai of course, that she could become almost as good as you at the least.”
“I would be honored Naruto.” Lee replied with tears running down his face.
From where they were standing in the arena Naruto could hear the mutterings of the crowd with most being along the lines of ‘Is she his opponent or his student’ looking up at Lee again he yells, “Thanks Lee you two can talk after the match ok? Just do me one favor though, don’t push your fashion sense onto her.” He finished with a smile hearing the laughter of the crowd and then turned back to face Moegi and saw that she had recovered some and so indicated that they could now continue with the match.
Another 10 minutes later and Naruto raised his hand to Moegi to stop and said to her, “You’re out of chakra now Moegi, it’s time for you to uphold your promise.”  Nodding her head to him she turned to the proctor of the match and told him that she gives up, when the proctor announced Naruto was the winner there was silence in the arena until Naruto turned to the crowd and shouted, “How about a round of applause for Moegi here she did very well.” And started clapping for her, soon after the rest of the crowd joined in with him and then the shouts and cheers came not long after, walking up to her he said, “Seeing how well you did how would you like to see something beautiful?”  With her nod Naruto went through a series of hand seals and muttered ‘Ikimono-Supai Jutsu’ and there in the arena appeared tens of thousands of butterflies, all different sizes and colors, to those that witnessed the event it would always be known as the living rainbow, when the butterflies appeared the crowd fell silent in wonderment never before had they seen something like this.  After a moment the butterflies began flying amongst the crowd, but there was three that a particular target, a pink one was sent to Sakura, lavender and purple one to Hinata and a black and white one was sent to Anko, when they reached their targets they landed on their chest over their hearts and then they dissolved leaving an imprint on their clothing of the butterfly that landed on them, but what they didn’t know at the time which they would find out later that night was that they had also imprinted onto their skin like a tattoo, once he had dissipated the rest of the butterflies in a shower of sparks the crowd erupted in applause.

After Naruto had won the tournament, without even needing to draw his sword, his three girls rushed to him and hugged him together, to say that the spectators were a little shocked and amused was clearly an understatement, but Naruto bared with it and gave everyone his mischievous smirk and hugged the girls back and kissed each on the cheek.