Love never dies

Chapter 8

"We are here." Naruto whispered as she looked at the massive double gate towering over them. The village and its 10km radius around have been sealed off, only authorised people get to enter. She would change that later to be barrier that would alert them of intruders and keep an eye on them before acting accordingly. The group gathering at the front gate tensed when they heard leaves rustling. They moved without much of a thought, forming an almost complete circle-ish formation around Naruto to protect her. Naruto's eyes widened slightly at their protectiveness. They all treated her like their younger sister and for Itachi, the love of his life - they weren't gonna want her to get hurt anytime soon.
Sometime pounced towards them and disappeared. They looked around, still tensed and wary but Naruto had suddenly fallen to the ground. They almost panicked but they noticed it was an animal that had tackled her and was currently licking her playfully. "Noooooo!! Stop right there! I am not your mate!" Naruto yelled trying to push the overgrown creature away. The group stared at her in confusion and horror at her exclamation. Deidara, Tobi and Kisame wanted to laugh but it was a seriously confusing situation so they didn't know what to actually feel. Itachi twitched. Mate? What? WHAT?! The rest didn't know whether to help or just keep gawking. "Urusai! I-" Naruto stopped abruptly, her eyes wide as she sat there and the creature they now have identified to be an overly and abnormally large fox stared at her wagging its tail. The fox in front of them was engulfed in smoke all of a sudden, Naruto jerked as something jumped out from her and into the smoke. Itachi was next to her immediately, supporting her as she began to tip backwards, looking exhausted and weak - her face pale and eyes half opened.
When the smoke cleared, they can clearly see a couple hugging. The female has a fiery red-orange coloured hair as does the male but only slightly duller. The male has a muscular and tall build, broad shoulders but a slightly slimmer waist, the muscles in his arms moved visibly with each slight shift. He was clad in some sort of black garment that complemented his figure well. The female was lean and slightly muscular, just enough to show that she is clearly strong enough to hold her side of a fight, she has a nice curvy body that many would die for. Like Naruto... But she just chooses to hide herself in baggy clothing or if not, with a cloak or a cape depending on how she feels that day. The red-orange headed woman was dressed in a tightly fitted navy blue kimono to show off her curves.
They were hugging each other so tightly you would have thought that they have broken some bones in each other. "What the hell Kurama... Some warning would have been nice." Naruto called out weakly, shaking her fist sluggishly at the woman. "You didn't have to jump out like that just because you aren't a massive ball of chakra and is merely a soul inside me."
"Sorry, Naru." Kurama apologised sheepishly and turned to kiss the man.
"So... I am assume that is your mate, uh, Kurama-San?" Itachi asked. Kurama and the man looked at each other before she chuckled.
"Oh don't you worry boy, I am not stealing her from you." The man's deep voice rumbled, a smirk playing on his lips. Itachi willed himself not to blush as to not give himself away. He gathered Naruto in his arms and stood up, carefully treating the bundle. "I suppose you want to stay out." Naruto murmured towards Kurama who nodded eagerly.
"I'll even serve as a ninja in this village in exchange for letting me stay out." Kurama said.
"You are no longer bound to me. You do not need to exchange anything to stay out, I have told you that you are free to leave anytime." Naruto said quietly, leaning into Itachi and looking away to hide her sadness. The demon had kept her company and helped her through the toughest times - the times where she had wanted to give up and just commit suicide.
Kurama pursed her lips in annoyance and walked over to flick Naruto's forehead. "Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing her forehead.
"I told you we are not leaving! I told you I would stay by your side no matter what happens!" Kurama reminded as the child stared at her.
"Fine. I'll prepare some documents so you guys are legally a citizen."
"That's more like it uzukage-sama!" Kurama said nudging the girl whom in turn flushed bright red, still not used to being acknowledged.
"So, so! Are we gonna be Anbu or what? Or elite jonin? Or assassins? Or-" Naruto cut Tobi off with a raised hand.
"You may be whatever you wish. Think about it and come talk to me, I will write up a document to register your job." The entire group immediately volunteered to be bodyguards, being at an elite ranking they are more than suitable. Itachi somehow also ended up being the advisor of the Uzukage, Kakuzu was in charge of the finance, Konan was the ambassador, the entire group was also made the council so Naruto has multiple people to discuss to when problems arises. So basically they could all stick together and revert from role to role in seconds as they were mostly in a 10 metre radius around each other when working.

When they we entered the village, everyone greeted them with warm smiles. Naruto flinched when a few ladies were staring at her as if judging her but they squealed suddenly and dragged her into their store, she came out carrying a bag full of clothing they think would look absolutely gorgeous on their uzukage. The half the group had drifted in with her and the other half stayed outside, preferring not to go through the suffer of being asked opinions on how something looks. A little girl was squealing as to ran, chasing after a cat. Naruto was quickly next to her to catch her when she suddenly tripped over a rock. Naruto quickly set the girl down when the mother approached, out of pure instincts she backed herself away to leave plenty of distance between them. "Thank you for catching my daughter. Oh! Please stand Uzukage-sama! A beautiful lady like you should never kneel like this." The woman said, tugging Naruto to stand. Naruto had stayed kneeling with her head bowed slightly, her body just moved into that position automatically as she was berated time and again to treat everyone better than her and she was not worthy of anything, not even the dirt on the ground. "P-please, just call me Naruto, I-I haven't proven myself worthy of the position yet." The group almost wanted to gang up on her and beat some sense into her but they all knew that she wasn't treated well all her life and she was still trying to adapt.
"Don't be silly child! Everyone here has been helped by you somehow. For example, you saved my family when that building was on fire. We lost everything that day but you talked us out of our grief and told us to stand up because we can always start over again. Then you gave us a huge sum of money to start again. Therefore we owe our lives to you, Naruto-sama." The woman almost kowtow to her but Naruto refused to let people treat themselves like they were inferior to her, everyone should treat each other like friends, she dropped to her knees quickly and held the woman's shoulder to prevent her from touching her head to the ground. "Please don't do that. We are... friends after all right?" Naruto asked, a little hesitant as she wasn't sure if the woman wanted to be her friend. She beamed and nodded enthusiastically. The group smiled as the two ladies interacted and Naruto shyly entertained the little girl. She is perfect. She is the kindest and strongest person, both physically and mentally and socially -basically in all aspects. She truly deserves the title of being a kage. The one who protects the village and treats everyone equally.