No, he gets there in time

For once in the last few days, Naruto actually arrived at his destination without any further distractions. After taking a shower, he went to look for a good dress for the evening, which was hard because he hardly had anything else besides his orange jumpsuits. While doing this, he had to think about all the beautiful females he would meet soon, and that made it a little complicated to put on his pants. But he also wondered how things would turn out after the marriage.

Yes, Naruto, for once, thought about the future... after all, how should he make sure that each of his wives got the attention they all deserved? Sure, Kage Bunshin seemed like an idea... but after all, it wasn't the same. Maybe he should give each of his wives a special day in the month? But more importantly, how should he handle the wedding night? Maybe he and the girls could come to an agreement, somehow? After all, there were now a total of FIFTEEN lovely ladies that would make up his clan...

He wasn't quite sure about it, but he was optimistic about it: When the time would arrive, it would work it, one way or the other. And his future wives would certainly know all this. What he worried about the most right now was if they would all be able to get along. After all, there were old tensions between some of then (say, Sakura and Ino or Temari and Tenten) and some others who the others had not yet met (like Haku or Karin). But he supposed that was what the dinner was intended for.

Finally, Naruto had decided on the only more or less suitable outfit in his wardrobe, a white shirt and black pants. It wasn't much, seeing as he had no real use for it until now, but it was better than getting there naked or in his jumpsuits. Checking his watch, Naruto had to double-check it: He would be running late if he wouldn't hurry now! He only had five minutes left, and the Mai-hime was on the other side of the town! Even with his ninja-skills, that would be a really close call.

Dashing out of the door, Naruto sped down the streets of Konoha. When he finally arrived at the Mai-hime, he panted a bit in front of the door, trying to catch his breath. He probably had never been faster in his entire life.

Entering the restaurant, he was greeted by a waitress. "Ah, welcome, Naruto-san! Tsunade-sama informed us of your gathering and your wives are waiting in the special reservation room. I believe Tsunade-sama wanted to speak to you first, she’s at the bar.", the waitress informed him with a friendly smile. Naruto smirked knowingly. "Of course she would be there...", he muttered. He walked in the barand easily spotted the familiar figure of the village leader drinking some sake. "Hey, Grandma!", Naruto yelled to get her attention.

Tsunade nearly choked on the sake. Turning around, she gave Naruto a smack for good measure. "Goddamnit! You little brat, I just took care of all that paperwork for your wedding, so show some respect!", Tsunade shouted in annoyance.

Even though the smack hurt, Naruto laughed it off. "Sorry. It’s just too much fun getting a rise out of you.” Naruto said.

Though further annoyed, Tsunade refrained from further damaging him and instead grinned. "Well, I guess my payback is going to have to wait until you're married, your wives have been waiting for you.", she said with a hint of schadenfreude in her voice that Naruto didn't quite catch.

Instead, he checked his outfit one last time. "Well then, I'm ready.", he decided as he wanted to go and join his wives, even though he had no idea where they were waiting for him.

But Tsunade held him back anyway. "They will have to wait a moment longer though, Naruto.", she said with a sly smile.

"Ummm, why?", Naruto asked dumbly. He wasn't quite sure what Tsunade wanted, but she only stepped aside, confusing Naruto even further. All he saw was a black-haired lady sitting at the bar.

In fact, she now stood up from her chair and stood in front of Naruto. "Ah, you see, Naruto-kun...", she began nervously. Only then did Naruto realize who it was: It was Shizune, Tsunades assistant. Naruto hadn't even recognized her because she looked so differently in a dress... and real make-up. Why was she wearing make-up?

Shizune looked quite uncomfortably and stumbled over her words. Eventually, Tsunade gave her a nudge in the sides. Shizune jumped a bit, but finally regained some composure. "Doyouwanttomarryme?", Shizune mumbled out.

Naruto was astonished. He had not seen that one coming. He was taken aback and didn't respond immediately. Now it was Narutos turn to be nudged by Tsunade as she leaned over and whispered into his ears. "Come on, Naruto, look at her: She's beautiful. You can't say no to her, now can you?"

True, Shizune was looking quite stunningly, even more so now that she wore a dress that showed off a bit more of her body. She was only in her mid-twenties by now... but it was only now that Naruto saw her as a woman. "O-Of course... I would be flattered, Shizune-chan.", he responded.

Shizune looked at him with a relieved look and a smile. She seemed rather shy about this whole matter, but that only made her more attractive to him. "Good. Take good care of her, Naruto. She is like a daughter to me.", Tsunade said as she took Shizunes hand and held it out for him to take, which he did. "Well then, have fun and behave, I will leave you alone with your wives, Naruto, but I'll see you afterwards.", Tsunade said as she let them go, with Shizune showing Naruto the way.

On the way there, Shizune leaned into him a bit. "I'm sorry if I surprised you. Tsunade-sama said that if I wouldn't look out for myself, I would be left all alone. Truth be told, I have to thank her for this, I wouldn't have had the courage to do this, Naruto-kun.", she whispered.

"So, she really didn't make you do this?", he asked.

"Partly yes, but I could have said no at any point. But I didn't. I hope you didn't feel pushed into taking me now. I know Tsunade-sama can be really pushy with you.", Shizune responded, making Naruto smile. "Don't worry about it. You know, I liked you ever since I met you, Shizune-chan. I just hope I can give you what you deserve...", he said, and with those words, Shizune leaned a little closer into him.

But soon, they stood in front of a big door, and behind it, Naruto could hear a lot of female voices talking. He swallowed hard once, looked at Shizune and then nodded as he opened the door. And so, they entered the room where a single table with exactly seventeen seats was build up in a circle. As they stood in the entrance, Shizune left his arm and went to her seat, but not before giving Naruto a quick kiss on the cheek.

It was now, for the first time, that Naruto saw all the women that he would marry tomorrow. A whole of sixteen was it now, and merely the look was quite a handful:

The first people on the big table sitting to the left were Kin and Tenten. They had a lively talk about... something, and seeing as they were both interested in weapons (or toys, as Tenten put it), he could only guess just what it was about.

On the other side, Karin still seemed to be a little pissed about the whole situation and did her best to ignore Ayame who simply tried to start up a friendly conversation with her.

Sakura and Haku chatted with each other, apparently Sakura was doing already what Naruto had wanted to do with Haku: Catch up with her about the time they had spent seperated. Even though Sakura was certainly as surprised as he was about Hakus survival, she took it as good as he did.

Yugito was sitting next to Isaribi, who by now looked considerably better. She was even wearing a dress, as opposed to the clinics white tunic she had to wear, and now that he had gotten so used to that dress, it was really a nice change. Isaribi noticed him staring at her for a bit and smiled shyly at the attention she got. Yugito too grinned at Naruto, but he also noticed that she shot some glares at Hana, for some reasons.

Hana herself shot a few glances back, but was mostly absorbed in a talk with Anko and Tayuya. Judging from the gestures they made and the huge blush on Hinatas face, who sat next to them and no doubt heard everything they said, it was probably quite indecent.

Ino and Shion were apparently wrapped up in argument of some sorts, seeing as they were seemingly glued together on the foreheads, staring into each others eyes intensely. They did this while leaning over the chair of Temari, who eventually got fed up by them and seperated them physically.

As the last few of the girls were noticed of his presence, they all smiled at him. The variety of smiles he got was wide: From the shy smile of Hinata to the wicked grin of Anko, from the dreamy smile of Isaribi to the seductive wink from Yugito... he got it all. Except Karin, who simply rolled her eyes.

Seeing as all eyes were now focused on him, it was Narutos turn to feel a little uncomfortable. They all seemed to wait for him to say anything. But first, he sat down. "Hey...", he began. It was only then that he realized that he probably should have thought this through beforehand.

So he did what he did best: He improvised. "I just want to say that I can't believe what happened to me. I mean, two days ago, granny told me that I had to start a clan, and now I sit here with sixteen beautiful women who all agreed to marry me. I can't describe how I feel, I just... I just want to say that I promise I will not let any of you down. I want to be the best husband you can wish for...", he spoke.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Naruto!", Hana interrupted him. "Yeah, we'll make sure you better do what we want!", Anko chiped in. Laughter erupted and the initial awkwardness was overcome... now the dinner could begin.