One shot Naruto

N/A: This is a fic where Naruto went to live in Suna after being banished following Sasuke's recovery. Once in Suna, Naruto managed to modify Gaara's seal, but in doing so he lowered his chakra reserves. Temari became the Godaime Kazekage. Naruto has a Hiraishin blood limit since he was 3 years old and learns the chakra chains at 13-14 years old, after the banishment.

Temari and Naruto married at 19 and 17 years old, respectively. As heirs to two major clans, some members of the council want multiple Namikaze Uzumaki heirs to strengthen Suna. CRA, clan repopulation program.

"I was wondering, Naruto-sama, have you ever thought about forming a harem?" the new Jonin captain asked.

Naruto actually chokes on his sake. As he coughs, Temari, the new military commander, Gaara, Kankuro, and a few squad captains sit at the low table next to him, waiting for their Anbu Captain to finish coughing and wheezing.

"No," Naruto rasps. His entire body is now tense, panic rising in his chest. Desperate to convince his wife of the truth of his statement, he looks at the female kage sitting next to him. He can say this in all honesty, as he's never thought about having a series of official lovers before. "I haven't…"

"You may not be a Kage, that's true," the Jonin captain continues, as if he hadn't encouraged Naruto to cheat on Temari in front of his brothers. "But you have every right to have girls for a harem, as well as to help the re…"

"That may be so, but I don't need a harem," Naruto replies, interrupting the Jonin, wishing Baki would remain in his previous position. "Why would I want that when I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the world?"

He reaches for Temari's hand, and she smiles. Gaara and Kankuro have smiles, one bigger than the other, both nodding slightly, proud of the blond's response.

------

Naruto is five years old, starved, bruised, homeless, and very alone.

Recently kicked out of the orphanage, Naruto's thieving skills aren't exactly where they need to be. A shopkeeper caught him stealing bread and beat the boy up for it, enlisting the support of several villagers and shinobi, punching, cutting, burning, and more. With tears streaming down his dirty face, Naruto limps to an alley, lies down on a cardboard box, and tries to rest. But soon, pain is no longer his only concern.

"Are you okay, dear?"

Naruto looks up with a start. Blocking out the sun, a woman towers over him in the alley. He vaguely recognizes her, but can't recall her name. However, the concern in her dark eyes dispels the boy's fear.

"A merchant beat me up for stealing, the villagers and shinobi joined him soon after."

"Oh, you poor thing!" She bows. "I'm Bakhtawar. What's your name?" "Uzumaki Naruto," she sniffs.

She smiles. "It's an honor to meet you." "Uh, you too."

Bakhtawar extends a gentle hand. "Why don't you come with me and I'll get you something to eat, Naruto-kun?"

He hesitates for the first time, wondering if he should reject her offer. He knows her from somewhere, but he knew the midwife always told the other children not to go off with strangers.

"Aren't you hungry?" she says softly, changing her tone and a strange look in her eyes that unnerves Naruto.

She's about to reject his offer when her stomach growls. The midwives aren't here, are they? Besides, they never taught him that lesson, did they? And if he half-recognizes Bakhtawar, then she's not really a stranger, is she?

Naruto takes her hand.

"I have bread at home," she says as they walk together hand in hand. "And ramen, chicken rice, pasta. Pizza! And sweets! Cake, cookies, pudding..." The hungry boy's mouth begins to water. "I'll give you a meal fit for a Hokage," she says with a wink.

Dizzy with hunger, he doesn't really pay attention to where Bakhtawar is taking him. But then Naruto realizes they've entered one of the poorest areas of Konoha. Now homeless, he's no stranger to unsavory characters, but the woman is leading him into the heart of the slums. Drunks stagger through the streets, and addicts waste away while smoking.

And then Bakhtawar heads straight to a brothel.

Naruto knows this place. He's run over it several times while escaping from the Anbu, but he never went in. Before he was kicked out of the orphanage, he remembers the old Hokage warning him to stay away from businesses like this. But now Bakhtawar seems to be leading him straight to the front gate. Scantily clad women pose by the door, while others lean out the windows. Stray walkers, he'd heard some of the women call them. Yes, Konoha is hot during the summer, but the women there wear barely anything. But then Naruto realizes that not all of them are women. Some are merely teenagers, and there's even a girl his own age.

"I didn't know you were starting out in the gigolo trade," a woman says with a high-pitched laugh.

"I couldn't ignore such a pretty face," Bakhtawar replies, looking at him with that strange glint in her eyes again.

Fear coiling in his stomach, Naruto stops and digs his bare feet into the dust. "Ma'am, I think-"

"Come here, Naruto-kun," Bakhtawar says sweetly, but his grip tightens on her hand. "I promised you a kage meal, didn't I?"

She pulls the boy through the door. There are more women inside, as well as a few men putting money into the low necklines of the prostitutes' dresses. Some of the women are surprised to see Naruto, and a kind-looking girl with a purple eye steps forward.

"Bakhtawar-san, what are you doing here?"

"Same as you. Get back to work!" Bakhtawar snaps and drags Naruto upstairs.

They walk down a hallway past closed doors. Each room is clearly occupied by the strange sounds coming from within, and Naruto hears a woman crying in pain. Bakhtawar pushes Naruto into the only empty room left, the only piece of furniture with a bed, and closes the door behind them.

There's an unmistakable hunger in Bakhtawar's eyes now. Frightened, Naruto backs into a corner. "Can I...?" he growls, his throat dry. "Can I eat now?"

"Later," she says. "Don't be afraid, Naruto-kun."

But terror consumes him as she towers over him. She begins to run a finger over his chest and torso, and he pushes her hand away. "Please don't—"

She grabs his arm tightly, suddenly dangerously furious. "Shut up, boy!"

Bakhtawar forces a smile. "If you're good," she says, her finger returning to her chest, "I'll feed you later. If you don't behave, I won't feed you."

Starving is better than this, she thinks, silently beginning to cry as his finger draws a line on her stomach.

"Stop," he gasps.

"Naruto-kun," a woman's voice says, but it's not Bakhtawar.

Before his hand can go down, the door opens. The prostitute with the black eye hits a guitar on Bakhtawar's head.

"Run boy, run!" the prostitute screams and he runs.

When he reaches a quiet, safe alley away from the brothel, five-year-old Naruto vomits.

----

He hears someone call his name again as fear forces him awake. Covered in sweat, Naruto realizes he's at his family estate, his wife Temari in bed next to him. He's the twenty-one-year-old Anbu captain of the hidden village of Suna, not some five-year-old stray cat about to be...

"Naruto-kun?" Temari says softly again. He realizes it was her voice he'd heard in his dream as she tried to wake him from his nightmare. There's concern in her sea-green jade eyes, but he knows it's genuine, unlike the fabricated concern Bakhtawar had displayed all those years ago.

"It was just a dream," Naruto says. "Forgive me if I woke you up, Te-chan."

The kage is unfazed. "You were talking in your sleep. You said… please stop. What were you dreaming about, my love?"

He almost says it was nothing; living such a harsh life on the streets for so long, especially as a jinchuriki, makes trusting anyone a difficult task. But this is Temari. Of anyone on earth, he knows deep down in his soul that she won't hurt him, even if irrational fear weighs on his chest.

"I was dreaming about..." His tongue is as dry as sandpaper. "I was five years old. After the matron kicked me out of the orphanage and I was alone, before the old Hokage gave me a place to live, a brothel matron... She tried to..."

He saw tears welling up in Temari's eyes. "Naruto."

"One of the prostitutes working there stopped her. The matron, I mean. And I was able to escape. But she wasn't the only pimp who hounded me. I've had quite a few offers over the years. Once, I thought about cutting my face open so I'd have a kunai scar, so everyone would leave me alone."

"Tomorrow I'll write to Tsunade to have that brothel matron arrested," the kage declares. "And every person who approached you with such offers."

"I don't remember all of them. Bakhtawar was the first, but I doubt even the Anbu will find them all."

She lifts him by the chin. "Justice will be brought to those you do remember."

"And I meant what I said today, about not wanting a harem. Only you have my heart," he swears, looking into her eyes. "But I would never force anyone into sexual servitude, even if it's customary, to repopulate a clan. What is done is not always what should be done."

"I completely agree," Temari replied softly, tears welling up in her eyes again. "I'm sorry you had to go through this. Being beaten by villagers and shinobi is terrible enough, but this..."

"I'm not the first to endure such things. And Bakhtawar didn't... Yes, she touched me, but she didn't complete her, ah, attempt."

Temari stares at Naruto. "She should never have touched you like that, period."

Her eyes soften, and he knows he can trust that jade gaze. She reaches for his shoulder, but her hand stops, hovering over his skin. "I won't touch you if you don't want me to."

"You have my permission to do so."

"Can I hug you?" she still asks.

He nods. "Yes."

Carefully, she wraps her arms around him, and he presses his face against her neck. His nightmare was vivid, but now he's here with Temari. He inhales the scent of the desert flower, a cool breeze on a nice day to convince himself of the fact.

"You're safe now, Naru-kun. No one will hurt you ever again. I'll make sure of that."

"What did I do to deserve you?" he says into her hair.

She pulls back to look at him. "Everyone deserves love. You're no different."

"But I'm just a jinchuriki, a bum, a weapon, a demo..."

"You're an Anbu captain, a shinobi from Suna," he replies quietly.

"Receiving a degree doesn't erase my past."

She cradles his face in her soft hands. "You're no less worthy of love than anyone else. That's what you taught Gaara. Is it okay if I kiss you?"

He laughs cheerfully. "You don't have to ask, Te-chan."

"I'm serious. I want to give you the option to say no."

Love surges ever more eagerly in his chest for her, almost overwhelming him with force.

He'll never deserve this woman, not even if he lives for a thousand more years. "Permission granted."

She kisses him softly, and he deepens it, trying to forget the past and focus on his future with his wife, his family, and his life in this village.