It was Christmas Eve in Konoha. Three ninjas, out of place in the snowy wonderland, sat on the frost covered bench, waiting. Little children often stopped to stare at them, wondering who they were before dashing off.
"He's late." One of the ninjas muttered. His warm breath floated in the cold breeze before vanishing like smoke. A mysterious, large bundle was carried on his back. He glanced at his siblings and sighed. "Face it; we've waited for too long. We should be heading back-"
The female of the group, Temari, rolled her eyes. "Really, Kankuro, he's been known to be late. What do you expect? We can wait a little longer…right?"
Kankuro shrugged. "I guess." He frowned as he felt the bundle. "It's getting cold though. He'd better come quickly or he'll have to-"
"He's here." Unexpectedly, the last ninja of the trio, Gaara interrupted Kankuro. The other two siblings scanned the area…
"Surprise!" Uzumaki Naruto dropped down from a tree, carrying a huge packet. His mentor, Hatake Kakashi, was standing next to him, another mysterious parcel in his hand. Sasuke and Sakura soon followed.
"You're late." Temari sighed. "We sat here for over an hour! What the heck took you guys so long?"
"Um…" Naruto scratched his head. "Kakashi-sensei wanted to take a look at the new Icha Icha Paradise movie. He spent all my money…" He shot a resentful glare at Kakashi. The Jonin pretended not to notice.
"Well, are we going to get moving?" Sasuke coldly asked. "We have everything set up."
The huge group jumped from rooftop to rooftop, one destination in mind…
Ding dong…
"Wha-?" Shikamaru groggily awoke at the sound of the doorbell and slowly sat up. The book that had covered his face slipped off and fell on the floor. "Coming!" He called and took his time answering the door. This had better be good…
"Arf!" A tiny dog dashed past the sleepy ninja to see who had come.
"Hey, Akamaru!" Naruto patted the ninja dog as he entered the house. "I've finally found them, Shikamaru!"
"Oh," the genius yawned as he opened the door wider. "Come in, I guess." Almost instantly he was run over by the huge amount of people who flooded in. Ino, Neji, even Shino… "Naruto! You didn't tell me that so many people were coming!"
Naruto gave a sly snicker. "Oops. Must've slipped my mind."
Shikamaru scowled. "You are so troublesome sometimes…"
"By the way, did you get the food ready?" Kakashi was busy re-reading an Icha Icha novel.
Shikamaru blinked. A burning smell filled the air. "Damn! The food!" When he dozed off he must've forgotten to check on the yakitori! He ran off to the kitchen. Smoke filled the air. Akamaru trotted after him, hoping to snatch some meat.
"…" Sasuke looked at the festive table, neatly decorated. Everyone set their food on the table. There was countless cuisines, all delicious. Deep-fried shrimp from Chouji, oden from the three Sand Sibs…there were too many to list. What really topped all of it off was Rock Lee's. It was a huge plate of mochi of all kinds of flavors, artistically arranged. Rock Lee bragged that it only took an hour to make them. Shikamaru re-entered the room with his burnt food. Without a word, he set it in the tiny corner that was left on the table.
Everyone got seated and were about to eat when Naruto interrupted them. "Wait, wait! We forgot something!" He ran into the kitchen to get his parcel and they heard a loud pop. He came back with pint-sized, sizzling bottles of cider. He quickly passed them out to everyone, accidentally spilling one over Sasuke by accident.
"…Naruto…"
"Wha! Sorry! Sorry! Leggo, Sasuke! Ahh! Leggo! HELP!"
Everyone tried their best to ignore Naruto's cries of pain as they began to eat. It was just another holiday for them…
End of Part 1