A/N: Happy birthday, Uzumaki Naruto! Today is October 10! Here's my celebratory one-shot dedicated to Naruto Uzumaki, the one and only. Naruto, may your days be filled with super ass-kicking coughandHinatacough. Here we go! Note: this is pre-timeskip, and before Sasuke left.
--H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y--
"One large miso ramen please..."
Naruto sat in the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, looking rather gloomy that day.
"Hey...I said-BREAK UNTIL SIX PM?!" A sign in kanji writing told him that Teuchi and Ayame were taking a little break. Apparently, nobody in the village remembered his birthday...not that the village wanted to celebrate anything. Since the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto the day he was born, today was the anniversary of its attack on the village. Everyone was probably moping off somewhere.
"I'll go see Kakashi-sensei! He's probably at the memorial stone!" Naruto said, having a bright idea. But, when he got there, there was nobody there. Naruto sighed, and checked everywhere in the village. No sign of any of his friends anywhere.
"I'll just go back to my apartment." Naruto sighed, overcome with sadness. He trudged all the way across the village, his sandals kicking up dirt and dust.
Meanwhile...
"Ugh, Naruto's apartment is filthy..."
Sakura groaned as she reluctantly picked up Naruto's boxers and put them in his dresser. All of Naruto's friends, had, been in fact, planning a surprise party for him. But first, everyone was helping in the clean-up effort. Even Kakashi and Sasuke seemed to grimace as they picked up empty ramen bowls.
"There...now it looks a lot less cramped." Kakashi commented, after all the cleanup was done. Sasuke just grunted in agreement. Suddenly, the knob of the door turned, and everyone ran to their positions behind the furniture. Naruto walked into the tiny apartment, downtrodden. He was startled by the sudden "SURPRISE!" he had received. After that, his face broke into a grin. So there was everyone, all this time, in his apartment! They didn't forget after all.
"C'mon, let's go to the ramen shop. My treat." Iruka said, everyone cheering.
"H-hello...N-Naruto-kun. I-I brought you s-something." Hinata whispered, giving Naruto a new wallet.
"Gee, thanks, Hinata!" Naruto said, putting his arm around her. Obviously, he hadn't yet sensed her crush on him.
