A/N: Written very early in the morning whilst waiting to see the doctor, yay! This is for the 'Cold Ramen' challenge over on Banana Pajamas in honour of Naruto-kun's birthday.

Alleviation

Alleviation- (noun) the act of aleviating. To make lighter.

Naruto stared at his reflection in the dusty mirror and felt a growl work it's way up his throat. The reflection that stared back was not one normally associated with the exuberant jinchurikki. His usual blond hair was a lurid baby pink and curled around his face in a mockery of facial hair were Ramen noodles.

Cold Ramen noodles.

Naruto tugged on the soft, pink strands and growled again, sapphire blue eyes flashing momentarily red. They were stuck fast to his face and with a chakra based adhesive if the tingling of his chin was any indication.

Iruka-nii has really gone too far this time.

And he knew it was his erstwhile adoptive brother, this had the brunette's stamp all over it. From the carefully constructed trap balloons filled with cold ramen and pink dye, to the finely tuned jutsu holding everything together, it all just screamed Iruka. Naruto quickly performed a Henge, nearly putting a fist through the wall when it did nothing to conceal his appearance. He should have known the bastard would have pulled something like this.

The blonde began to rummage through his dresser in an attempt to cobble together a disguise but found none of his normal clothing residing in the drawers. With a barely contained snarl of fury Naruto banged his head against the wall, leaving an indentation in the plaster.

Family or not, the academy-Sensei was going to pay.

A few hours later found a red chinned, noodle free* but still pink haired Naruto stealthily exiting a certain brunette's apartment. A demonic grin was plastered across his face and was radiating an air of immense smugness.

'Lets see how Iruka-nii likes it.'

He began to make his way through the many side streets, being careful to keep himself hidden but apparently not well enough as he collided with a sturdy back. The figure whirled around, dark eyes flashing momentarily red.

"Tch... Dobe."

Naruto glared at the Uchiha, who looked completely unfazed at the collision.

"What the hell Sasuke-Teme! Why did you knock me ove!"

The raven haired youth just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms his chest.

"You ran into me Dobe."

"I did not Teme!"

"Hn... Whatever."

The air crackled between them for a moment before quickly dying down.

"Anyway I was supposed to deliver a message, Sakura wants to meet you at Ichiraku ASAP."

Before Naruto could even reply the raven-haired youth took to the rooftops and hurried away. The blonde sat there a little confused but who was he to turn down an invitation to his favourite place in the world. Standing and stretching his limbs Naruto quickly took off in the direction of Ichiraku, they prospect of Ramen making his footsteps swift.

The street was quiet, too quiet and Naruto didn't like it one bit. But he remembered that he was inside the village walls and therefore was highly unlikely to be assassinated.

Theoretically.

Gulping a little he made his way toward the infamous Ramen stand and cautiously pulled back the blinds not knowing what to expect.

"SURPRIZE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

The small resturant erupted into noise as the blonde stood slack jawed at the gathering. All around him there were friends, not quite friends, acquaintances and makeshift family, all cheering, all congratulating.

It was almost too much for the Jinchurikki to bare.

Through the throng of people he spotted a bobbing brunette ponytail and instantly made a bee-line for it, tackle hugging the academy-Sensei when he was within range.

"Y-you Bastard! You did this on purpose."

"Language Naruto...Of course I did this on purpose, I thought you could do with some distraction today."

"Distraction?"

Iruka laughed softly and ruffled the pink locks.

"Yes distraction, you were so caught up in getting even that you didn't even realise what day it was and your 'youthful' new look ensured you stayed out of the public eye. Quite a successful distraction if I do say so myself."

Naruto couldn't reply to that and just hugged the older man tightly. He couldn't believe that someone would go to such lengths to try and keep his mind occupied and away from the trouble the inevitably occurs on this day.

Naruto's eyes went very wide as he remembered just what he'd done to his brothers apartment.

"Shit!"

"Naruto what did I tell you about language?"

"But your apartment... I pranked it to hell."

The brunette stared for a second before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"No you didn't Naruto."

"Yes... I did. Stop laughing it's not funny." The blonde pouted.

"No you didn't. I kinda guessed you'd want revenge so I set up a jutsu to transport you to another apartment when you entered."

The jinchurikki's jaw dropped at the information and he felt himself pale.

"Whose...?" he asked weakly.

"Kakashi-Sensei's."

"WHAT! HE'S GONNA KILL ME! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

"He won't kill you so stop being dramatic and he deserved it."

"Crazy freaking adults and their stupid mind games..."

Iruka laughed again as he leased himself from the young man's iron grip and began tugging Naruto to the centre of the room.

"Come on lets go get some birthday cake."

~END~

A/N: A little late but w00t I managed to keep it under 1000 words. Which is a freaking miracle!