Happy Birthday
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Note: Semi-sequel to 'Glad to be wrong' but it is not necessary to read that to understand this. This is in honor of Naruto's birthday today.
Yamanaka Ino yawned cutely as she sat up in bed. There was no training today and she knew there weren't any missions for her. And this was good, because Ino had a lot of work to do today. Because today was her very loving boyfriend's birthday. Uzumaki Naruto had given her a wonderful birthday gift on her birthday a few weeks beforehand, with a beautiful dinner, a place just for them, and a necklace.
Now, Ino's father, Inoichi, had treated her like a princess her whole life. But Naruto treated her differently, like she was all that existed… The other girls had absolutely no idea that when Naruto tried, he could be the best. The 'Spa Incident' must have been a fluke. After all, Naruto had attempted serenading her again, but it was a lot better that time. That, and Ino was a bit drugged up due to having returned from a very tough mission and recovering in the hospital.
But back to the problem at hand, Ino knew exactly what Naruto wanted most of all. He had always been on a mission whenever his birthday had come around. But he was here this year. And although all of Naruto's other friends were all doing things for the festival, Naruto hadn't signed up for anything, whereas Ino skipped her normal duty of bringing flowers to spend time with him.
"Maybe we'll stop by the festival before we go to the forest…" said Ino quietly, getting up to change into her kimono. After all, it was some weird requirement for kunoichis to wear kimonos and male Shinobi to wear the uniforms.
Naruto sat atop the Hokage monument, looking over the vast village. To be more precise, atop the great Yondaime's head. He picked up a stone and stared at it, before his hand began to glow blue. Using his chakra-enhanced fist, Naruto threw the stone as hard as he could towards the ground.
A small crater formed in the academy playground where it landed. Hyuuga Hanabi would later discover it and find a lost shuriken which was made of solid gold that had been buried there, and would then proceed to blackmail Konohamaru into a date, using the shuriken as a bribe to get him to her house.
"Damn it…" muttered Naruto. "Why didn't Tsunade-baa-chan give me a mission? What the hell am I going to do today, watch the villagers and hope they don't come looking for me? Sheesh…"
Naruto bit his thumb.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu…" after performing the jutsu and slamming his hand onto the ground, there sat Gamakichi, who was staring up at Naruto.
"What's up bro?" asked Gamakichi.
"I'm gonna run down to this little village. I found it when I was a kid…" Naruto shook his head. "Well, they give me a cake on my birthday, when I'm around. And well, I don't wanna be alone…"
"What about your…?" Gamakichi simply held out his pinky. Naruto laughed.
"Ino-chan? She's… Busy at the festival." said Naruto, remembering that. The year before he had gotten back from his mission and had snuck into the festival under a henge, but unfortunately a Jonin caught him and he had had to get out.
"Well… Okay." said Gamakichi, jumping onto his favorite place - Naruto's head. Laughing at his old friend, Naruto sped down the other side of the Hokage monument, running into the forest with Konoha behind him.
Ino walked up to Naruto's house. He and the legendary Jiraiya-sama had built it, and Ino had dreamt of moving in with Naruto pretty much ever since he showed it to her. And that was only three or so weeks ago. Smiling brightly and holding her first gift in her hand, Ino used her other hand to knock on the door.
No answer. Ino's bright smile was still there, but a vein appeared on her forehead. Ino knocked once more. No answer. Ino's grin became strained as she knocked with more force. Soon she was glaring at the door, and if the Shintenshin worked on inanimate objects, she would have used it to open the door.
Instead, Ino pocketed the envelope labeled "gift1" and leapt on top of the roof, running along until she came across the window in Naruto's ceiling. Ino frowned. All signs pointed to the fact that Naruto had left and was long gone.
"Maybe he went down to the festival. Not like I told him I was gonna take him out today…" pouting, Ino leapt off the roof and sat on the ground in deep thought. "But if he's not at the festival, I'd waste half a day looking… Maybe I'll ask tou-chan…"
And with that decision made, Ino ran off to the Yamanaka flower shop. It was usually crowded on this day of the year, because of all the people that died at the hands of the Kyuubi…
Gamakichi's jaw dropped when the kind, elderly woman put the cake in front of Naruto and went back to her other customers.
"This is small?" exclaimed the orange toad, leaping off Naruto and inspecting it. Naruto blinked.
"Isn't it small? Aren't there bigger birthday cakes?" questioned Naruto. Gamakichi looked up at Naruto. Was his blonde, human brother insane!
"Three layers… Over a foot wide… Chocolate…" Gamakichi's eyes rolled into the back of his head, before he looked at Naruto. "You eat this all by yourself?"
"No, usually it lasts till right before Konohamaru's birthday…" said Naruto thoughtfully, glad he had summoned Gamakichi. He wasn't… The company of and conversation with a good, albeit strange, friend was cheering up Naruto on what would have been the worst day of the year.
"I demand you summon my brother so he can help us eat this… This masterpiece…" Gamakichi stared at Narutom who grinned brightly.
"The more the merrier! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" And now a slightly plump toad was next to Gamakichi. Immediately, Gamatatsu turned to Naruto and bowed.
"Thank you, oh great one…" whispered the toad. Naruto laughed and cut a piece of cake.
Ino frowned as the customers all stopped and looked at her. She attempted to walk past, when she accidentally bumped into a middle aged woman.
"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am…" started Ino, when the woman's face twisted into a sneer.
"Well, if it isn't the Kyuubi's bitch." spat the woman, pushing Ino aside. Inoichi began walking towards the woman from behind the counter. "If you excuse me, I have to get some flowers for my husband, who your little boyfriend kille-."
There was a loud clang and all stared at Inoichi's wife, Yuki, who held a large frying pan.
"Out of my house. Out of my store. Never come back." spat the seething woman. Ino stared, having no idea what was going on. The crowd quickly dispersed, and all potential customers decided to head over to the other flower shop. Once again, Naruto's relationship with Ino had saved Akira's shop from going out of business, not that the teenage flower selling boy knew that.
"Um… Okaa-san…?" said Ino softly. Her mother suddenly smiled.
"I'm going to make a cake. Ino, go find Naruto-kun, alright?" smiling cheerily, Yamanaka Yuki strolled into the kitchen.
'Huh. Maybe Shikamaru is right about us having mood swings… Nah, it must be just okaa-san…' deciding on that odd thought, Ino turned to her father. "Tou-chan… What was that about?"
"Only Naruto can tell you. But don't ask unless you really care about him. I trust your judgment, but that boy… Is very fragile, deep down." said Inoichi mysteriously. Ino began to get worried.
"Um… Tou-chan, what's going on?" asked Ino. Inoichi shook his head.
"Well, your mother said go find Naruto, so go find him, okay? He's probably near the Hokage monument." Inoichi walked into the kitchen, leaving Ino alone and confused. She thought back to what that witch said about Naruto.
'Naruto-kun would never kill a villager. Maybe threaten them to 'kiss his ass,' but that was when he was younger…' Ino shook her head and decided to go look for Naruto.
Gamakichi and Gamatatsu rolled onto their backs, Gamatatsu asleep and Gamakichi picking his teeth with a toothpick.
"Thanks for inviting us for cake bro." said Gamakichi. Gamatatsu poofed away, back to the summon world. "Gotta go."
Naruto smiled as his friend poofed away as well. Naruto had only gotten one piece of cake, but he didn't really care. It had been worth it to be able to not eat alone.
'Too bad Iruka-sensei always is telling the stories about the Kyuubi today to hang out with me…' thought Naruto darkly as he left the restaurant, leaving a tip for the kind woman who gave him free cake.
Naruto stared upwards. He could see the back of the Hokage monument from here. Should he go back to his own village and be thought of as a demon and a murderer, or stay in this small village for the day and be the anonymous child who spends his birthdays in a place he doesn't live?
The choice was obvious, and with that, Naruto began looking around to see if there were any children he could entertain with his skills.
Ino was no longer upset. At least, not in an angry way. And her father's tip hadn't helped, because although it was obvious Naruto had been up on the Hokage monument, who else would leave empty ramen cups there, he was definitely not there now.
"Where did he go? Damn it, he is not going to get away with giving me the best birthday ever and not let me do anything for him on his, that's for sure…" growled Ino as she began the seals for a quick jutsu that she had developed on her own. She then placed her hands on the necklace around her neck, the one Naruto had given her on her birthday, and the necklace glowed. Ino smiled. "And now, when I get close to Naruto-kun, you my friend, will glow."
Smiling, Ino took off the necklace and held it towards the village. No reaction. Ino held it towards the east. No reaction, and the same with the west. Thus, Ino turned directly around and low and behold, the necklace gave off a faint red glow. Putting the necklace back on, Ino jumped in the air and, focusing chakra to her feet, began running down the mountain.
As Ino ran, the necklace began to glow more. Soon, Ino was off the mountain and jumping through trees. She ran and ran and ran until she arrived at a small village. The necklace was glowing as much as it could, and that meant Naruto was close.
"Well then… Kai." Ino put away the necklace after deactivating the jutsu she had used on it, and began looking for Naruto. She soon heard laughter. 'Maybe he pulled some kind of prank.'
Of course, upon arriving in a tree above the source of the sound, Ino's face broke into a wide smile.
There was Naruto, in front of many many children, who were hanging on to his every word. Using bunshins under henges, it seemed he was telling stories. Apparently, he was making something up about the legendary Sannin, and Jiraiya was tied to a post of some kind. Like that had really happened.
An hour passed, but Ino's need to see Naruto was temporarily lost when she saw him so happy, playing with the little kids, letting them play with his bunshins, until eventually, mothers came and thanked Naruto for watching their children so they could go to the market, some even gave Naruto a piece of fruit or some other item. But what surprised Ino was that Naruto looked so happy by that simple guesture, he might just explode, whether into a million pieces, or perhaps tears.
Soon, the women and children left, leaving Naruto alone with a bag of various sweets, including fruits, chocolates, and other delicious delectables.
"You can come out now, Ino-chan." said Naruto quietly, but loud enough so Ino could hear. The kunzite leapt down from the trees and in front of Naruto.
"Naruto-kun... We have to talk." said Ino quietly. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" asked Naruto.
"Tou-chan told me to ask you something." said Ino, nodding to herself. "He… This woman was in the shop and she said something about the Kyuubi of all things, and that you killed her husband."
There was utter silence. Naruto has frozen and dropped the bag of food, which landed without spilling any of it's contents. His eyes revealed an untold amount of hidden pain, pain that Ino had only seen small glimpses of when they were alone and vulnerable.
"I-Ino-chan…" whispered Naruto slowly. "I…"
Naruto sighed and sat down on a bench, and Ino moved right next to him, looking at him expectantly.
"Might as well tell you before you get persistent…" muttered Naruto, more to himself rather than Ino. He turned to her, and without warning, gave her a kiss. Ino wouldn't know until later in their relationship, if there would ever be a later, that this type of kiss was reserved for when one of them might die on a mission. 'One last kiss with the woman I love… I think ero-sennin put that in his buts once…'
"So…?" said Ino, slightly flustered from the short but intense kiss. "What's this about…?"
"Years ago… On the day I was born…" started Naruto, his eyes downcast. "A terrible monster, the Kyuubi no Yoko, attacked our village… And the mighty Yondaime fought against it… He fought very hard, but no one and I mean no one could ever hope to kill that demon, not even in a million years. Especially since the bastard's immortal…"
Ino didn't like where this was headed, but knew better than to interrupt. The tone of Naruto's voice had her hanging onto his every word, or at least more so than normal.
"So he knew what he had to do…" Naruto shook slightly, before continuing. "He knew a jutsu, a forbidden one, that could make the Kyuubi's lifespan that of a human's, and make it never cause trouble again. All he needed was a newborn baby…"
Ino gulped. From the way Naruto was talking, he was most likely the newborn baby. But… But what happened to the baby?
"And so, using a forbidden sealing technique." Naruto took a deep breath. "He sealed the Kyuubi no Yoko in the baby who wasn't even an hour old, Uzumaki Naruto."
Ino's insides froze, and was about to do… Something, when Naruto began talking once more and she realized his tale wasn't over yet.
"And on the Yondaime's deathbed, he wished the child to be viewed as a hero… The hero of the village." said Naruto. "Instead, the villagers… They viewed the child as the Kyuubi, and took out all their pain and misery on him. If not for a law forbidding anyone speaking of all this, and a law forbidding me from being hurt… I would have died a long time ago… But the hatred was passed down to the children, and I… I never knew about all this…"
Ino stared at Naruto. He was lost in his own mind now, describing everything to her. It was like a flood has just burst through a dam that had been up a long time. But Naruto's last sentence made everything clearer than crystal.
"… Ino-chan, I won't hold any grudge if you hate me after this."
And so Ino did the only thing natural to her. She slapped him, and Naruto stared at her. She was fuming.
"Naruto-kun, if you think a damned fox sealed inside of you is going to change anything, well, you're wrong as hell buddy." Ino smirked. "You can't get rid of me that easily."
Naruto smiled, and it was a smile so free, so happy, that Ino tackled Naruto to the ground and began kissing him. They didn't move for hours, they just stayed there lying in the grass, holding each other. Ino's present, a special "free ramen for a month" ticket Ichiraku Teuchi had let her buy, lay forgotten in the grass.
"Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun…" whispered Ino, giving Naruto another kiss that instigated many more.
And what Naruto thought was going to be the worst day of the year ended up as one of the best of his life.
The End