A/N: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto's pride and joy, as far as I'm concerned.
Also, quick note - I intend to update my other fan fiction sooner or later - I have hard time finding the motivation to do things at times, but I'm trying. I have way more the ideas than I need, and really, the amount of work I'd have to do, especially seeing as I naturally feel a need to do my best, makes the amount of work almost frightening when I try to comprehend it. But, then again, I do also tend to over-exaggerate how much work something'd take to do.
Updated: Sorry this is out of season, but I hope you enjoy it anyway as I try to finish it. X) If worst comes to worst you can always wait until next Christmas - and hopefully it'll be done by then or something. X3
Also, if you're reading this I assume you already know most of the Naruto characters well. I only drop slight refreshers every now and then, whether you've seen it/read it before or not.
├ A Naruto Christmas├
Konoha - the number one elite village in all of… Earth? Japan? What the hell was this place anyway? It was divided up into five regions - the fire region, water/mist region, earth region, lightning region, and wind/sand region.
Of course there were secret countries as well, ones that were smaller and more out of the way, such as the Star country, the Demon country, and the Grass/Sound country.
As I was saying, Konoha was the number one village in whatever in the hell this place is, but due to a recent lethal outbreak of the flu virus, and an attack from a little group of toy soldiers named "Pain," all of Konoha was in a flurry of excitement, activity, destruction, ruin, and people just trying to rest so they didn't die.
Oddly though, most of the new-generation ninja had already build up an immunity to said virus, it barely affected them to begin with at all.
It was in the small building erected near the mountain after Pain's blast that acted as the center of attention. I wish I could say not a creature was stirring, but in actuality, many people and ninja alike were constantly coming and going, and a stubborn, hell-bent fifth hokage was refusing to acknowledge defeat or get some rest.
Shizune was extremely worried for Tsunade's sake as, unusually, she was hammering away at paperwork and trying to get things done as she raced around the room, sometimes sitting at the small desk, sometimes looking through whatever texts had survived, to help the rebuilding of Konoha, all while sneezing all over everything and basically just being sick as her blonde hair in the 'do of a priestess's wig continued to flip about from one area to the next.
Minato Namikaze - the blonde flash - would have been proud of her.
It was in a few moments that Tsunade would happen upon the mission request, almost stamping by mistake, whether out of habit or sheer exhaustion, before going silent for a moment and looking up at the brunette Shizune, gnawing on her thumb out of nervousness. It was her security blanket.
"Shizune!"
She called.
"Get Naruto in here on the double - he might like to hear this."
Tsunade had her right hand pointed at Shizune in a threatening manner, the bags under her eyes showing her age and exhaustion. Apparently she couldn't always cover it.
Shizune immediately stood at attention after a shocked moment, as Tsunade quickly added as an after-thought, sounding all business-like and professional…
"And gather up any ninja you see that aren't suffering at the moment."
Shizune responded loudly to Tsunade's authoritative voice, her hand snapping up to give her a salute militarily as she frowned in determination to carry out her master's orders.
"Hai, Hokage-sama!"
She quickly exited with an accidental slamming of the door out of emotion and the tense feeling of the situation, not wanting to be shown up by her sensei.
Looking around, she spied Shikamaru lazily carrying a stack of two-by-fours with the help of Chouji - who was also eating from a bag of barbequed pork rinds. Running forward as soon as she spotted them, scaring the crap out of them when she called out.
"Chouji, Shikamaru!"
The Akimichi and Nara dropped what they were doing, accidentally on their feet, and winced slightly as they sweat dropped while standing at attention. A flurry of Chouji's pork rinds also scattered about the place, much to his emotional discomfort, causing him to almost shed a tear. Thankfully there was still one more in the bag, as Shika's vision darted nervously to the 'f,' 'a,' 't,' individual on his right, clothed in mostly red and grey, with red swirls painted on his cheeks.
"Get Ino and report to the Hokage's office A.S.A.P!"
Shizune didn't know why, but she just got the vague feeling that Ino would be of help later on. She raced onward away as the two she left behind recovered, and immediately disappeared to go find their partner. Well, Shikamaru did. Chouji had something else he needed to do first, and told Shikamaru about it before running off in the opposite direction.
"I need to go check on something real quick, Shikamaru, I'll meet you at the Hokage's office!!"
He called back as he ran forward, highly considering the idea of going meat-tanking to go faster. 'Pineapple-Head' responded with a lazy but determined and responsible hand gesture over his shoulder to Chouji (as he barely missed tripping over some kids while looking behind him - cursing because of the close call), as though to say it was alright.
Having forgotten all about the pile of two-by-fours, they left, which, when somebody stubbed their toe, caused them to curse their names in a Japanese-like way of shouting. It was quite funny, really, and there were some snickers despite his misfortune.
Shizune was headed for Ichiraku's ramen shop area. She ran quickly and femininely as her long brunette flew in back of her like a streamer. Her petite yet strong face showing determination to complete her mission.
Possibly a bit too dramatic for what the situation called for, in reality.
Skidding to a halt, the first-apprentice medic-nin stopped in front of the place where Ichiraku's used to be, and could not find Naruto; although Ichiraku and Ayame were there to greet her. With Naruto's help earlier, this was the first place that got rebuilt on account of shadow clones.
It was handing out ramen to hungry people at nearly no cost, among a few other things such as bottled water and the like.
Naruto could really be extremely handy when he wanted to.
"Hello Shizune-san, what can we do for you today?"
The male Ichiraku asked with a wide, old smile.
Shizune couldn't help but smile back lightly, despite how serious she felt at the moment, and responded happily.
"I'm just here for Naruto. Have you seen him?"
She asked curiously. The old man brought his right hand up to his chin in thought, his left arm crossed over his chest as he looked up and to the side. A serious look came over his face, as he tried to remember.
"Yeah… I believe so… I think he said something about going to go train and ran off."
He brought his posture back to normal and smiled back at Shizune, happy to be of help. Sakura's voice rang out directly after Shizune said her thanks cheerily and waved goodbye, about to dash off to investigate the young man's normal training areas.
"Shizune-senpai - is that you?"
Sakura's voice sounded surprised as she hurried out from the back room - that was where the kitchen was located now. Helped keep people less antsy - food right now was more about actual food, rather than display; although there was still a little of that every now and then too for entertainment value.
Shizune turned back, her heeled ninja sandals 'skiffing' on the dirt ground as she rotated clockwise on her right foot ever so slightly.
"Sakura??"
Shizune responded to the call, surprised slightly that her equal (at least - by this point) in apprentice-ship under Tsunade was here in the back.
As for Sakura, she interpreted correctly Shizune's surprise. So she started to explain herself with a smile, holding up a 'v' sign for victory with her bare left hand, as she winked with her right eye and stuck her tongue out slightly at Shizune teasingly. Well, while she explained she was still helping as a medic.
"Well, I wanted to practice my cooking and help out at the same time. I can also always heal anybody if they ever get injured."
Sakura shrugged as she finished her explanation, inner-Sakura not wanting to share particular bits of information.
Shizune nodded, understandingly; although a few questions still plagued at her mind such as, 'why a ramen shop of all places - almost only ramen was served here.' But she let them go and decided to just move on, instead focusing on the mission at hand, believing she also understood the reasons, even if Sakura would never admit it.
"Well, report to Hokage-sama's office immediately - there's an important briefing going to take place."
"Alright - I'll go as soon as possible - could you please get one of the medics in training to help out around here?"
Sakura responded as she started to turn around, a serious expression coming onto her face as she looked over her shoulder toward Shizune.
"Alright Sakura - I'll do that. Hurry please - Tsunade-sama's been working hard lately, so she might have little patience now."
Shizune made a mental note of Sakura's request. Sakura, the younger medic nin with medium-length pink hair, hurried back into the back room to finish what she was doing, but not before uttering her response in acknowledgement.
"Hai. Wakatte."
Correct - she understood. Shizune nodded again as she turned and started to run onward, turning every now and then, heading for her next destination.
Regarding Sakura, she came out a minute later, with familiar black gloves stretched over her hands again, and jumped over the counter recklessly. Proceeding to run toward the smaller version of a hokage office, weaving in and out of people working to rebuild their home, ducking and jumping wherever she needed to. Only almost running into somebody twice - specifically when they turned corners. Thankfully her reaction time was quick, due to Tsunade's grueling dodge-training.
Not to mention she was a kunoichi.
Tsunade was busy stamping away when a fat figure opened up the door to the office, causing her to look up expectantly. Well, at least it was one of the two people she was expecting.
"I wasn't expecting you until later…"
"Kakashi!"
Shizune called out toward Team 7's old training ground with the three logs in the ground holding so many memories of so many people - in the area - side by side by side. Amazingly, the logs were still standing, despite the fact that all the trees in the area had fallen.
Maybe it was symbolic?
Kakashi turned around to look where the voice was coming from, his one uncovered eye looking cool-y toward the apprentice medic-nin at half mast. He stopped his movements for a moment against his sparring opponent after having jumped back and landing in a relaxed fighting stance, his opponent doing the same. Both turning to look at Shizune.
"Both you and Eve report to the Hokage's office immediately - she has an important mission!"
She called out, her hands cupped over her mouth. Kakashi nodded and instantly disappeared after bringing his hands together for a moment. Eve looked over to her boyfriend (who had recently almost been killed, but barely escaped demise), watching as he shunshin-ed away. She quickly looked away, a bit disappointed that her fun had been ruined. She was teasing him a bit while they fought.
"Do you have any notice on what the mission consists of?"
She questioned curiously - she always liked to have information in advance, that way she hopefully wouldn't be caught off guard - in all areas. More than the average shinobi of the hidden leaf.
Eve was a cute and petite, yet expressive woman with beautiful, deep, lively blue eyes. She had on glossy pink lipstick, but her smile was cute nonetheless. Her thick, shoulder-length hair was blonde with thin silver streaks, and seemed to fit her person very well. It looked quite cool.
Eve was about 21-23 years old, height was at close to 5'7". C-cup breasts. She wasn't muscular, but then again, to help out as a shinobi of Konoha, she didn't really need to be.
She had on a black, sleeved, tight-fitting rubber suit that covered her entire torso and shifted into a skirt around her waist which went down half-way to her knees. The skirt portion also fit snug and tight to her skin and legs, even though it was very flexible. On the end of the skirt, on the neckline, and on the ends of the sleeves (around the wrist part), was an inch-thick ring of pink metal. For footwear she had on a pair of dark-grey, rubber boots that went half-way up to her knees, and had that same pink, metal ring around the tops of the boots. Each ring was flexible for some odd reason, but not as flexible as the suit itself. Perhaps it was a different form of rubber and metal? No one asked her about it though. Around Eve's neck was a choker in the form of a dark-grey Konoha hitai-ate.
Shizune smiled lightly, not minding her question - it was like the inquisitive child.
"No, sorry - all I know is it's going to take you all over the five main shinobi nations and more."
Eve nodded in understanding, knowing it probably would've taken a bit of prodding and questioning just to get that much.
Shizune, before forgetting, quickly asked her own question.
"Ah! By the way Eve - have you seen Naruto lately? I'm looking for him."
At first Eve wondered if it had to do with a relationship, but then she realized after a moment that it probably had to do with the mission - she was still suspicious though, despite having slapped her forehead lightly with her hand, causing a small 'smack' to resonate from her being.
Shizune just ignored it and attributed it to Eve being Eve.
Quickly regaining her former, serious yet happy and cheerful posture, Eve answered.
"Oh - he was here earlier, so was mom and step-dad! But then Chouji came by and asked Naruto and us if he wanted to go visit his father in the make-shift hospital. Naruto went, but me and Ka'sh'-kun decided to stay here and train a little."
She responded with a cheerful smile on her face, fingers laced femininely behind her back as she leaned forward slightly.
"We asked Chouji to give our regards to his father, and Ka'sh'-kun promised to visit him later. And I'll go with him when he does!"
It had drained a lot of her potential power, but she'd used most of her healing evolution to save Kakashi and heal him. Her emotions were also a key factor in that.
She had originally been on a mission, like Team Gai, while Konoha was being invaded and destroyed by Pain, who left to go after Naruto after destroying the village. She came back even more hurriedly with her team as well, after hearing the huge explosion, and miraculously found Kakashi with the help of Chouji - whom she thanked graciously and with presents.
Chouji had already helped his father, and was returning to help Kakashi (the ninjas in the area were too busy fighting off Pain) when the explosion occurred.
Shizune nodded in response, seeing her off.
"Alright - thank you Eve."
Shizune bowed lightly - being on nearly equal terms with Eve, causing her to smile wider - a beautiful smile considering what she'd been through.
The woman quickly pushed her hands together with a determined; yet cheerful expression, and yelled out, 'SHUNSHIN,' in her feminine - graceful but not timid - voice.
The mitochondria-based kunoichi was still getting used to shinobi ways as her old powers seemed to diminish more and more over time - ever since she had first been taken out of that secret ANMC (Artificial Neo Mitochondrion Creature) laboratory which the government in their home country had been keeping under wraps ever since the original incident…
She also found it easier for her to surge chakra from her coils through her body when she shouted. It helped her focus and drive it in hard. Eve was also capable a few high-chakra techniques because of this; although she lacked control when she did so, and didn't necessarily have much stamina. Kakashi was helping her with that.
Under stealth operations though, she'd found out the hard way she couldn't shout, which is why she was almost killed one night on a mission, when she first tried a technique requiring high chakra.
Returning to the present moment…
Shizune turned heels and ran back in the direction she came, jumping over debris and ducking under things when necessary, also having to dodge some people every now and then - there was more rebuilding around the Hokage's office and expanding outward.
Too bad she didn't start off by asking Chouji where Naruto was…
Tsunade poked her head up while writing furiously on a scroll, looking expectantly to the door, as a fat man with a large white beard and dark circles under his kind and caring; yet extremely tired-looking blue eyes, sat in a small chair (unfortunately for him) as he waited, just taking a load off.
Tsunade, realizing it wasn't Naruto when the next group of people had started to open the door (forgetting to knock because of the supposed urgency), vented in rising anger as her tired look spoke volumes.
"DAMN IT!"
"Akimichi soudannaite-kun!!"
Naruto's voice rang out happily - obviously glad that Chouji's father, one of his loved ones, was still alive. Naruto's smile was large and expressive (quite contagious too) as his neon hair blared obnoxiously at the public, held and bunched up in a dark-blue, long fuzzy cloth hachimaki (sweatband) with the symbol for the leaf village stitched on the front in white.
It was apparent it had already soaked up quite a bit of sweat.
The two tails hung down to his shoulders - the tails of the hachimaki of course.
He wore white ninja sandals, and baggy dark-blue sweatpants (that were loose in the way of pajama pants). Covering his torso was a large white t-shirt with a thick, fire orange, clockwise-turning spiral pattern on the front that was lined on the outer-edge in blood-red. This spiral design was made of cloth that appeared stitched onto the t-shirt's fabric.
Chouza was currently in nothing more than a large hospital gown (he still hadn't recovered - it'd only been a few days), while Chouji was in his normal, mostly red and green, attire. Chouza was lying on a dusty white mattress with a few dirty white blankets pulled over him.
"Ahh, Naruto!"
Chouza bellowed, smiling cheerily - he was feeling much better by this point, but was not quite done healing yet. The larger Akimichi motioned for Naruto to come over and wrapped him in a big bear hug, which had Naruto gasping for air.
"I'm happy to see you're alright after your run in with Pain."
Naruto grinned widely and thumbed his chest hard in defiance after backing away from Chouza for a moment, his right hand on his hip masculine-like.
"Why would I? I'm the best ninja around! I wouldn't lose to Pain! Believe it!!"Chouza grinned back at his boasting, knowing he was just teasing for the most part - at least, by this point. Not to mention lightening the situation.
Naruto, despite all his faults, was a good person at heart, and he tried to be good. Chouza, in his amount of wisdom, understood that. Of course he wouldn't lose to Pain, even if he barely managed to barely get away with his soul - Pain ending up retreating.
"I see, so then that makes you better than the leaf village?"
The large ninja asked teasingly right back. Naruto calm and smoothly, throwing right back.
"Damned right - dattebayo."
He grinned and winked at Chouza as Chouji stood off to the side, waiting patiently for his turn. Truth be told, he'd already seen his father multiple times, but Chouza had asked to see Naruto for multiple reasons that the Akimichi heir thought of to be probable causes.
Chouza let out a big belly of a laugh (filling up and overflowing the large, green tent), enjoying Naruto's antics as he stood with arms crossed over his chest-masculine-like again, smiling broadly.
Naruto, just wanting to make sure that they knew he was joking (even if he was partially that egotistical - he didn't want people to not like him), he let it be known.
"Just playin'!"
He threw his arms up and laced his fingers behind his head, giving a large smile. He mainly wanted to make sure Chouji knew that he was mostly joking. Chouji understood and let out a small chuckle as he stood leaning against the wall, trying not to munch on the bag of barbequed pork rinds in the brown leather bag around his waist. Whether he was dieting or not, like the late Asuma-sensei wanted, he had to conserve food during this time.
Or at least try to.
Chouji's chuckle had caused Naruto to smile on the inside as well, relieved, as he brought his hands down and smiled lightly while taking on a more serious tone to his features; although he still had a pretty non-serious aura that leaked around the area.
"I'm really glad to know you're okay, Soudannaite."
Naruto hadn't been able to find the time to see Chouza until Chouji suggested it, also not wanting to turn down his friend - especially since he currently felt quite care-free, except for the stress of needing to be better.
"Happy to know you're okay too, Naruto."
Chouza let his head fall slightly after nodding for emphasis, whispering under his breath.
"…Extremely relieved…"
Naruto saw this and his smile dropped for a moment, thinking something was wrong or that he'd done something wrong, but he wasn't going to say anything.
The flap of the single tent started to raise and in stepped Moegi in her usual, but tattered, attire. She was holding a clipboard with pen and paper on top, her orange hair in the style of double coconuts sticking out, bobbed slightly from her movements. When she said Naruto's name, she'd given him a sly wink and said his name teasingly, but with respect.
"Sorry Naruto, Chouji - but visiting hours are over. You'll have to come back next time after we're done performing the exam."
Naruto smiled and nodded, understandingly, toward Moegi as Chouji said goodbye to his father with a big hug.
"Alright Moegi - thanks."
His gratitude confused Moegi slightly, but Naruto didn't know that. He'd meant thanks for the information, and his excuse for being polite if someone prodded him about it, whether he believed it or not, would've been 'well she could've always been meaner about it,' or some other such thing.
Chouji started to step out the door, Moegi moving to the side and nodding for him to pass as Chouza motioned to Naruto one last time, hugging him and thanking him for visiting.
"No problem Soudannaite! I did what I wanted to."
Moegi smiled happily at Naruto's back as he rubbed his head sheepishly, smiling so wide it could be considered he might accidentally split his face.
Chouza chuckled and motioned for him to leave, obviously thankful. Naruto exited in a cheery mood, but once he was out in the hallway he started to wonder if he said the right words, even if it seemed to make Chouza happy - maybe he should've said "you're welcome" or some such? Would it have made him happier. He debated on this for a moment before giving up and deciding it didn't necessarily matter unless he was going to change what he did next time.
The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki started to run off into the distance, headed for the battered, bruised, and overall just completely annihilated Hokage mountain faces.
He noticed Sai as he ran and gave a small wave, which Sai responded to with a genuine smile and a wave of his own - at least, as genuine a smile as he could manage by this point. Fortunately, Naruto hadn't screwed up the painting he was doing, paying great attention to the tiniest details and using the smallest of brushes if necessary to help create a focused portrait. It had been his hobby lately, and this was a piece of Konoha's history, whether for better or for worse.
It should be archived.
Sai watched for a moment as Naruto ran off quickly, noticing he was headed toward the shattered monuments, and just overall deducing that idea considering Naruto was staring up seriously at the hokage monuments.
It hadn't been long at all until Shizune ran into Sai next. He was still painting, obviously.
"Sai-kun!"
Sai turned, still painting for a moment, almost as though it were a subconscious thing by this point, and stood from his small stool at semi-attention.
"Hai, Shizune-san, nan desu ka."
Sai questioned with little to no emotion; although it obviously wasn't that he didn't feel it, more that he just didn't know what it was. More like an innocent sound to his voice.
Shizune proceeded to explain why she was looking for Naruto and that Sai should probably head to the Hokage's booth as soon as possible.
"Sou desu ka. Naruto-kun wa Hokage Monument ni itte imasu."
She nodded at Sai's explanation of where Naruto had headed off to, and started running that way too. As Shizune went by, Sai turned around, something tingling in the back of his head, but he shrugged it off after he saw the medic apprentice nin had disappeared without a trace, almost as though she'd vanished.
Naruto raced ahead, among debris, dirt, and rubble, so as not to get in the way of those working around. After and while climbing, by hand, to the top of the ex-monument, the nine-tailed Jinchuuriki thought long and hard about what he learned from Nagato, and about his ultimate decision, and if it was right or wrong. Especially seeing as it had affected so many people in the village.
"Hopefully they still like me…"
He thought to himself; although it was apparent Chouza souddanaite had no harsh feelings. He had to do what he felt was right, after all. Especially if he was the one who decided to protect the village in the first place. It was an overwhelming feeling of responsibility.
He also thought about Hinata-chan and her sacrifice. He didn't think it was right, but it felt good knowing he was cared about.
Being alone hurt, and no matter how many people he believed cared about him he still felt a little empty inside. Especially because he had not yet gotten Sasuke-kun back. What the Hyuuga heiress did for him, even if it was risky, caused him to not feel as empty.
Nagato's past was bad, he could admit, and he could also understand why Nagato would take his path. Naruto wasn't 100% sure he could've done anything different. It was the environment, he had concluded, that helped people to get to where they did.
Not quite knowing why, Naruto turned around and caught a glimpse of a running Shizune.
"Naruto-kun!"
She called out. Naruto greeted her, something off in the back of his mind as the sun began to set.
"Aa, Shizune-san mo! Konbanwa dattebayo!!"
He waved to her, smiling brilliantly, his eyes looking sort of sad though. Shizune, once reaching him and the stump which he was near, proceeded to speak.
"Tsunade-sensei would like to see you, Naruto-kun. A.S.A.P."
Naruto saluted, standing at attention momentarily, before starting to run back the way he came.
"Hai, Shizune-san!"
For a moment, as his familiar black ninja sandals pressed against the recuperating grass, he turned to look back where Shizune was.
When he looked he saw a few faint traces of color and then no more Shizune, as though she had dematerialized or something. A shudder was sent up his back, but he decided to not think about it too much, when he remembered Shizune had been killed. If she had been killed, then what did he see, he couldn't help but ask himself this question. The answer made him cringe, his expression one of exaggerated worry. Despite his mumblings, he kept running, believing that what he wanted and needed to do was ahead of him.