As he stepped in, the first (and only) person he saw was the blonde Hokage sitting behind her desk, wading through stacks of paper all by herself. But, as Naruto came closer, she looked up and her face brightened. "Well well, if it isn't the head of the Uzumaki clan.", Tsunade greeted him jokingly.
Naruto swallowed hard. As unserious as Tsunade had been, she was right. He would be the head of his own clan now, wouldn't he? So that was actually a legit way of adressing him...
"Morning granny...", he tried to act casually, hiding his growing nervousness.
But Tsunade, even if she was noticing it, would not help him to relax. "I heard from Shizune that you are holding up pretty well up until now. Not bad, not bad at all... then again, I wouldn't have expected you to fail.", Tsunade said, obviously in a rather good mood today.
Was she really implying what he thought she was implying? To his own surprise, Narutos head grew so red it would have put Hinata in her earlier days to shame. "S-Shizune told me about some guests we have in the village, is that true, granny?", he asked quickly.
Tsunade laughed heartily as Naruto tried to clumsily switch the subject. "Can't wait to meet them, huh? Never had a lot of patience, Naruto.", the Hokage teased him. But then, she turned serious for business matters again. "But yes, it is true. You remember, I told you about some left-over marriage proposals. Most of them come from other countries that are not our direct allies yet, so naturally, the select few villages we had contacted about it could not respond in time for the wedding."
Naruto nodded. This made sense. So, the women would be foreigners... if only he could clear his mind and think better.
"Your timing is pretty well, too. I've invited the first potential bride for a small chat. She should arrive soo-...".
Tsunade was interrupted midsentence by a knock at the door. Naruto jumped a litte, while Tsunade looked a little disgruntled.
"Wow, her timing is flawless. Well, I suppose that is to be expected...", Tsunade muttered under her breath. Then she loudly said "Come in!" and the door creaked open.
Naruto was anxious, looking at the door opening almost in slowmotion, hoping, no, praying that he would recognize whoever was about to step into this room. |