Naruto thoroughly believed that he, in every single way possible, was being lenient by allowing Itachi to date Sakura after nearly fainting on the street when the latter told him about it years ago. He and Sasuke (and by extent, Ino) had already cycled through their warnings, threats, and promises of castration if he dared hurt her, but Naruto was confident that their relationship would die down sometime in the near future. Soon. 

Now, preferably. Because he still wasn't sure what was on that guy's agenda.

Until the damn bastard showed up out of the blue one day.

It was barely seven in the goddamn morning and Naruto was dreaming about a new flavor of ramen when there were a couple of soft knocks that roused him from his sleep. He would've stayed in bed and ignore the stranger if it hadn't persisted for a good five minutes straight. Now reluctantly awake and pissed at the interruption, he pulled himself out of bed, stomped to the front of his apartment, and threw open his door.

"WHAT?!"

"Naruto-kun."

The Uzumaki blinked a few times as his vision focused and landed on the particular form of a person he didn't particularly like.

"Oh. You," Naruto grumbled. "Whattya' want? It's too early for you to come here and bother me. Unless Sakura-chan's here. Did she come for a visit or-"

"Nothing of the sort," Itachi interrupted smoothly. Naruto instantly deflated at the thought of not being able to see his friend for probably the course of the next several months, so with all hopes hopes draining and sleep calling his name, he proceeded to close his door. A hand stopped him. "I came here for a reason that I think you might be... inclined to listen to, Naruto-kun. So if I may speak?"

A groan. The the full swing of the door.

"Make it quick then, like, five minutes. I wanna go back to sleep, 'ttebayo."

"Of course," Itachi said, straightening and bracing himself for the explosion he was sure to come next. "As Sakura's teammates and loyal friend, I know telling you this might not be in your best interest."

Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"You didn't break her heart, did you?" he demanded. "Because if you did I swear I'm gonna-!"

"No."

"Oh, then-"

"I'm going to ask Sakura to marry me."

...

...

...

"WHAT?!"

::

Sasuke was having a nice morning.

But it always had to be a was, didn't it? He woke up more refreshed than usual, made himself a nice breakfast with a healthy helping of cherry tomatoes, and took to meditating on a open field as he soothed his thoughts. It had been about a year now since Sakura's shinobi had been able to alleviate the effects of Orochimaru's experiments.

He felt... relieved. Like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders. And this was a feeling he could live with for the rest of the day.

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke sighed. So close to peace.

"IT'S ALL YOUR BROTHER'S FAULT!"

He sighed again. Standing and turning towards the edge of the training ground, he saw Naruto stalking over to him while stringing an apathetic looking Itachi along with him. Upon reaching Sasuke, Naruto gestured wildly to the older man at his side.

"Tell him I'm not just gonna let him do it!"

Itachi blinked at him.

"I didn't tell you to ask for your permission," he said. "I told you so you wouldn't get close to fainting when Sakura told you about us."

"... She told you about that?"

"She told everyone about that."

Naruto pouted. Sasuke looked back and forth between his friend and his sibling with a curious stare. If someone told his twelve year old self that there would come a time where the loudmouth of Konoha would be a normal fixture in his life and that he'd reconcile with his brother, he wouldn't believe a single word of it and would probably attack the person for even mentioning Uchiha Itachi.

"So what did he do this time?" Sasuke questioned, breaking out of his thoughts. Naruto looked like he was going to punch him.

"Did you hear me?! He said he was going to ask Sakura-chan to marry him!"

Oh.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. Naruto looked absolutely insulted and a flicker of appreciation flashed across Itachi's eyes. "They've been serious for a long time and the last thing Itachi would want to do is piss off his Kage. Besides, we both know Sakura's happy with him and he wouldn't be with anyone else."

"But... But..."

At the blank stares the two Uchiha were giving him, the blonde could only flub over his words for so long before he let out an incomprehensible shout towards the sky and threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine! FINE! If Sakura-chan didn't love you so much I'd beat your ass into the ground!"

Sasuke turned towards his brother, completely ignoring the tangent Naruto was starting to go off on.

"Did you come to Konoha to tell us you were going to propose or are you here on a mission? It seems kind of excessive that you'd come all this way just to tell us what your planning to do," he said. Itachi gave a small shrug.

"You two are important to Sakura. Letting you know my intentions firsthand would be better so nothing excessive happens," he explained, casting a quick glance at the man who was still going off on a tirade on the training field. "Or no one does anything excessive."

He moved his head to dodge the kunai thrown in his direction.

"I HEARD THAT!"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Do you have a ring yet?"

Itachi nodded and reached into his back pouch and pulled out a small black box. Inside was a simple silver band with a beautiful green gem residing at the top. Naruto trudged to them and looked over Sasuke's shoulder and frowned. Although the ring was simple, it was something Sakura would fawn over for days.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Before you go, tell us- what are the two things you love most about her?"

"This ring... It's an emerald, a gemstone said to provide healing of all kinds," Itachi explained as he looked down at the box. "It inspires patience, unity, compassion, and unconditional love. It also embodies vision, intuition, and wisdom. It describes her to some extent, but one thing can't describe all of her. And although she's so much more it reminded me of her eyes, though it pales in comparison to how beautiful she really is."  

He closed the box with a small snap and closed his eyes.

"If I had to pick two things, it would be her scars and the callouses on her hands. Her scars because each tells a story of how much she had to sacrifice to get where she was now and how many times she risked her life to what she thought was right. And her callouses because it shows just how much it took her to raise a village with her and her determination to be better so that people could be given a second chance. She thinks of others before herself, and even if it puts her at risk sometimes, she does it because knows she can be someone great. And she is."

When he looked up, Sasuke's eyebrows had raised to his hairline and tears were streaming Naruto's cheeks, causing him to swipe at them furiously.

"Dammit!" he shouted. "ARGH! How can I kill you after saying all of that?! Goddammit! You're so good to Sakura-chan! FUCK!"

Sasuke placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and turned him towards the direction of Konoha's gates.

"Yeah... I think you have someone you need to propose to, Itachi."

::

"Itachi!" Sakura smiled. "You're here to join me on my rounds?"

"Mm."

Under the soft light of Otogakure's autumn sun, Itachi walked with his lover as she started her walk around the village to have small chats with business owners and to note the concerns the people had and what she could improve on, what she had to change, or what worked and needed to be backed up. 

At about noon, they stopped at a food stall for a quick snack. Itachi took a quick look around him and saw the rest of his so-called friends hiding and motioning for him to hurry up and get on with it. He turned back to the Otokage.

"Sakura."

She, happily waiting for their yakitori, spun to face him.

"Hm?"

Her eyes widened as pulled out that small black box.

"Sakura," he called out again, softer, as the world quieted around them and he got down on one knee. She covered her mouth with a hand. "I love you."

He opened the box for her to see a translucent gem on a ring of sparkling silver.  

"Do you want to spend the rest our lives together?"

She couldn't bring herself to form any words. Tears leaked from her eyes and she nodded fiercely, launching herself into his arms and the people around them starting whooping and cheering. When she pulled away, she heard the several pops and pieces of confetti fell into her hair as well as seeing everyone- Kabuto, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Tobi, Kakuzu, Hidan, Marisu- with champagne poppers in their hands.

"You know, these actually came into really good use, un," Deidara said. He took another one out and popped it right in Itachi's face. "Especially when they're used at someone else's expense. For, you know, an idiot who finally got it right."

Sakura laughed.