Inoue Uzumaki loved what was left of her family. Her older brother Ryuji was a jonin in the Hidden Leaf village, and was a very skilled ninja. Her Mother and father were excellent ninja too. But for some reason, Inoue was not. She loved to watch the others train to be ninja, but she said to her brother years ago she wasn't really into that line of work. She was still thinking about what she would be.
"Oh, that's right! Today is Ryuji's birthday! I have to get him a present!" She said to herself as she walked down the streets of the Hidden Leaf. She tried to think of what her brother liked. He had a lot of handkerchiefs that he wore around his neck….. Maybe she could go to the fabric store and have them make one for him? What about a bobble head? He collected those too….. But he had so many of both….. What to do…?
She stepped into the souvenir shop and browsed for a bit, looking at the bobble heads.
"Can I help you with something?" The shopkeeper asked, walking up behind her. "Oh! Your Ryuji Uzumaki's little sister, aren't you? Looking for a bobble head for him?"
"Yeah," She told the shopkeeper. "Do you have one?"
"Well I figured his birthday was coming up, so I saved a very special one for someone that wanted to shop for him." He goes into the back and looks around for a bit making a lot of noise. He returns with a bobble head of a chibi nine-tailed fox demon.
"It's so cute! I'll get it!" The shop keeper smiled and rang Inoue up for the little kitsune. He bagged it up and she left, going out to finish buying the rest of the groceries. She hid the bobble head in one of the other bags and when she got home and took off her sandals, she started to make dinner.
After about an hour, she heard Ryuji come in, throwing his boots in a lazy pile like he usually does and hanging up his jacket.
"Inoue, I'm home!"
"I know! You sound like a rampaging herd of elephants!"
"Sorry!" he called rubbing the back of his head. "What's for dinner?"
"Octopus. Your favorite. I'm almost done."
"Awesome! I'll be waiting at the table." He left the kitchen and into the dining room humming a tune to himself. He had totally forgotten it was his birthday thanks to all of the work he's been doing. Inoue came in with the octopus on a platter and a small-ish box red with a bright blue ribbon on it. "What's that?" He asked.
"Octopus."
"No, in the box."
"Oh. Your birthday present. Happy birthday, big bro!" He smiled at her, and hugged her after taking the box from her. He opened it and his smile turned into a huge grin.
"I've been looking for this one! I had all the tailed beasts but him! Thanks, Inou-chan!"
Inoue smiled, and got another hug from her brother. Hopefully this will cancel out her parent's anniversary in two weeks. But that was merely a faint hope. Because that week, everything would change.