Author's Note: Hello fine readers. I know this is a bit late, considering Christmas was several weeks ago, but I suddenly had the desire to write a Christmas story, even though it had already passed. I am actually really happy with this story, and how it turned out, so I hope you all enjoy it as well! I love holiday fics, and this is my first time writing one, so I'm pretty excited to share it. That being the case, I'm not totally sold on the title, so if anyone has any comments or suggestions about it, I'd be happy to hear it. Also, this entire fic is complete. That being said, I don't want to upload it all at once, and so I will probably update it depending on how much support it gets. More support, faster updates. But don't worry! It will definitely all get uploaded eventually! Also, some chapters are shorter than others, so I might update two chapters at once at times. Anyway, I'll stop the exposition. Please Enjoy, and don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review!

DISCLAIMER: I will say this once and only once. I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. I make no money off this and merely wrote it for my reader's entertainment. Please Enjoy.

Naruto laughed heartily as he pelted another unsuspecting elf with a high velocity snowball. BAM! Right in the kisser.

"Naruto!" The loud shriek of motherly disapproval nearly lifted Naruto's soul out of his body. He loved his mother dearly but for being the holly jolly wife of Santa Claus, she was one scary woman. She always managed to have a frying pan in her hand when it was most convenient. Naruto ducked as it was thrown at him, sailing through the air and smacking another elf.

"Sorry!" she yelled before stomping over to her son. Naruto had the decency to look guilty, but Kushina knew it was all a roos. Her son was very sweet and kind hearted, but he never felt guilty about causing mischief, it was in his blood.

"Naruto, I thought I told you to go feed the reindeer? I just had Comet try to sneak into the kitchen to steal cookies." Naruto vaguely remembered such a command.

"Sorry mom, I'll go do it now," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and starting towards the stables.

"Never mind," Kushina said, waving it off. "Your father wants to see you. He's in the workshop." Naruto nodded and quickly switched course, heading for the large workshop in the center of the village. Naruto was a bit shocked his dad had called for him. Not because he and his dad weren't close, but this time of year was always extremely busy. It was only a few days after thanksgiving, and now everything was put into overdrive. It wasn't uncommon for Naruto to only see his dad once or twice over the course of the next few weeks. It was to be expected though, considering how much he needed to do. Running the North Pole was a lot of work, but he seemed to enjoy it. Naruto wasn't sure whether he would when the time came to take over. He had never been once for responsibility and work. He wasn't lazy by any means, but Naruto preferred to have fun.

"Hey Dad. Mom said you wanted to see me?" Naruto walked up to his dad, who was standing at the center of the workshop, a clipboard in his hands.

"Naruto," Minato called out with a grin. He walked over and gave Naruto a hug before getting down to business. "Yes. There is a bit of a problem. I was looking over my list and there seems to be something interfering with it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto had never heard of something interfering with the List before, nor had he ever thought that was possible.

"Well, you know that my list uses magic to monitor everyone's behavior and determine whether they have been naughty or nice, right?" Naruto nodded. He had learned about all the innerworkings of the North Pole and all of its magic. He still wasn't a master at it yet, not like his dad, but he understood how it worked.

"There is something interfering with that magic. There is an entire town that I can't see. It isn't on my list." Naruto gaped. How was that even possible? What could interfere with such old magic?

"How?"

Minato shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't have time to investigate. I need you to go to that town and figure out what's causing it. If there is something strong enough to interfere with my List's magic, then we need to know what it is." Naruto nodded. The List was a very ancient book made of very powerful, old magic. Whatever was causing this had to be extremely powerful, and could cause problems in the future.

"Okay, so which town is it?" As much as Naruto didn't like responsibility, he would do anything to help out his dad, and honestly, he was curious. Usually, the only people who could interact with the List's magic were Naruto, Minato, and Kushina.

"It's called Konoha," Minato said, handing a sheet of paper to his son. On it was a map. "The sooner you figure this out the better. If whatever this is spreads to other towns, it could be a serious problem." Naruto nodded and bid farewell, heading to his room to pack. He wasn't sure how long it would take, although he hoped it didn't take long, so he quickly packed half of his closet in his bag, not bothering to fold anything. His mom would probably frown at him for that, but it was fine. Naruto heaved his bag over his shoulder and left for the stable. Taking a reindeer would be the fastest way to get there.

"Naruto!" Naruto turned to see his mother jogging up to him. "Here. You'll need this." Naruto looked down at what his mom was handing him. It was a small plastic card.

"What's that for?" Naruto asked, holding the card up to his face.

"It's called a credit card. You'll need to pay for stuff when you get down there, and this will let you. If you need something, just pay for it with this." Naruto looked the card over and nodded. It had his name on it, as well as a bunch of numbers. Naruto had been to the human world before, but it was mostly in passing when he took trips with his dad. He remembered his dad telling him that humans used money to pay for things on one of their trips.

"Okay, thanks mom." Naruto found his reindeer of choice, Vixen, and quickly saddled up.

"Oh, and remember, the first thing you need to do when you get there is find a place to stay. I don't want my son living on the streets." Naruto laughed and nodded.

"Will do. I'll see you guys later." With that, Naruto gave Vixen a soft kick and they were soon in the air. Naruto looked back and gave an animated wave to his mom as he left, a few of the elves waving as well.

It didn't take too long for Naruto to reach the small town of Konoha. Well, it wasn't that small, but Naruto knew there were places much larger than this. Still, it clearly had a high population and the fact that none of these people were appearing on the List was troublesome. That was a lot of people to mask.

Naruto circled around until he could find a safe place to land. It was a large empty field behind an old barn just outside town. The air was chilly, though nowhere near as cold as the North Pole, and Naruto was sure it wouldn't be long until it began to snow. He would need to leave Vixen somewhere safe while he did his investigation. He could use that barn if it was empty.

Naruto quickly led Vixen down and made a soft landing. He glanced around the field one more time before jumping down and grabbing his bag.

"Alright buddy, let's see if this will work," Naruto said, leading Vixen towards the barn. As he pulled open the large wooden doors, he was met with an overwhelming emptiness. This would be perfect. Naruto just had to get Vixen some food and hay to sleep on. It would be easier just to let him wander the forest and find food, but Naruto knew it was too dangerous. If someone saw Vixen it could cause trouble. Unlike typical male reindeer, the reindeer from the North Pole kept their antlers all year, and they were much larger than typical reindeer. After all, it took a lot to make a sleigh fly.

It would also have been easier to just use his magic to get Vixen his food and hay, but it was a firm rule from his dad that no magic was to be done outside the North Pole without supervision. That was why his mom had given him the credit card.

"You sit tight, I'll go be back later. Here," Naruto said, rummaging in his bag and pulling out a sack of apples. "This should hold you over right?" Vixen nodded his head. "And no causing trouble until I get back?" Again, Vixen nodded. Naruto grinned and opened the bag, setting it down on the floor of the barn. "Enjoy!"

As Vixen munched away on the apples Naruto shut the barn door. Hopefully no one would go looking inside, but it appeared to be abandoned so Naruto thought his chances were good. "Now, where do I get food and hay?" Naruto began walking towards the town. He could ask someone there.

As Naruto walked into town he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was well decorated for the season. There were wreaths on light poles, garland on buildings, and ornaments and lights decorating the trees. It was rather nice, and made Naruto feel a bit more at home. It appeared the town really enjoyed Christmas, so Naruto was even more confused as to why they weren't appearing on his dad's list. Spotting a pretty pink haired girl with a festively green outfit, Naruto jogged over.

"Excuse me," Naruto called, smiling brightly. The girl looked up from her phone, looking at him curiously.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me where I could buy some hay and horse food?" Naruto knew Vixen wouldn't like being compared to a horse, but they ate relatively the same things, and Naruto wasn't about to say reindeer.

"Um…" the girl said, pausing as she thought. "Not really. Let me look it up." Naruto watched as she looked at her phone once more and began tapping away. Naruto looked on curiously, never having seen one used before. He had seen plenty at his father's workshop, but never felt the need to play with them. They never used phones.

"Here. There is a place a few blocks away," the girl said, showing Naruto the screen of her phone. Naruto saw the map and nodded.

"Thanks!" The girl nodded and Naruto waved as he walked away. When he reached the store, he was surprised by how small it was. It looked only slightly bigger than the other shops around it.

"Hello?" Naruto called as he walked into the store. A small bell jingled as he opened the door and a head popped out from behind a wall behind the counter.

"Hey there! Need help finding anything?" It was a man who looked around Naruto's age, which was wholly inaccurate because Naruto was pushing one-fifty. Even so, Naruto assumed he must be in his early twenties. He had wild brown hair and sported a large toothy grin. It made Naruto laugh because he looked like just the fellow who dealt with animals.

"I'm looking for some hay and some grain and oats."

"Have a horse you gotta feed?" the man asked, stepping fully from behind the wall. Naruto nodded scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, haha." The man nodded.

"Well you can follow me back here. We keep all our bulk items in back." Naruto nodded and followed the man behind the counter and back through a door. Indeed, there was a warehouse looking attachment at the back, though Naruto still didn't think it was very big. Maybe a third of the size of the stable back home.

"So are you knew in town? There aren't too many people who have horses and I know almost all of them."

"Uh, yeah, but I'm only going to be here for a little while," Naruto said, surveying the stock. It looked good quality.

"Here on business?"

"Uh…sorta, yeah." The man led Naruto to a large pile of hay wrapped up in barrels.

"So much do you think you'll need?" Naruto surveyed the barrels and nodded.

"I'll take three barrels." The man nodded before writing something down on a clipboard.

"Alright, and which brand of feed would you like. They are right over there." The man pointed to the other side of the room where a bulk stack of food sat. It was well organized in separate piles for each brand. Naruto stared at it a bit overwhelmed, not sure which to get. He didn't know there were different brands of food. Wasn't it all the same? They just had a large container of food, Naruto didn't know what kind it was. And the reindeer only ate it sometimes. Mostly they got wild greens and vegetables.

"Uh, whichever is the best one. I need a lot of it," Naruto finally said. The man gave him an odd look but nodded.

"How many horses you trying to feed?"

"Just one, but it's very big, and eats a lot." Once again, the man gave Naruto an odd look before shrugging.

"Alright, well let's get you rung up." Naruto nodded and followed him back to the counter where the man began pressing buttons while looking at his clipboard. "Alright, that all totals to $350." Naruto nodded and pulled out the card his mother gave him. He went to hand it to the man but he just shook his head. "You can just swipe it down there."

Naruto looked down at the machine he was pointing to a stared a moment before lifting the card and shaking his head.

"I've never used one of these before." The man looked at him funny but just shook his head and laughed.

"You gotta take your card, strip side down, and swipe it in that groove."

"Strip side?" Naruto asked, still confused. The laughed loudly, before grabbing the card and flipping it so Naruto's name faced him.

"Like that." Naruto nodded and did as he was told. He heard a beep so he assumed he'd done it right.

"Okay now just sign," the man said, still looking at him. Naruto looked down at the machine and saw a blank with an 'X' next to it. Once more Naruto looked to the man for guidance. He really wished his mom had told him how to use the card because now he was feeling like an idiot. It seemed these things were extremely common here.

"You're name. Take that pen and write your name on the blank." Naruto nodded and quickly did so.

"Thanks," Naruto said, giving the man a sheepish grin.

"No problem. You usually pay with cash?" the man asked, and Naruto just nodded. "Okay so where do you need it delivered?" the man asked, and Naruto's eyes widened. He hadn't thought about how he was going to get all the stuff back to the barn. Well, he had, but he had just assumed he would put it in his bag. He wouldn't be able to do that with the man there.

"Uh, it's an old abandoned barn outside of town. I don't know the address, sorry," Naruto finally said. The man looked at him in surprise.

"You bought that old barn? Man, that thing has been empty for years."

"Yeah, uh, I bought it today. You can just leave everything outside. My horse is, uh, easily startled." Naruto said.

"Are you sure? It looks like it's about to rain." Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be along soon to put it away."

The man sighed before nodding. "Alright, whatever you say. We should have it delivered in a few hours." Naruto nodded and thanked the man before leaving. Naruto sighed as he left the store. He really hoped Vixen was behaving himself. The last thing he needed was a giant reindeer startling everyone. Vixen was generally well behaved but he was a lot like Naruto and enjoyed causing mischief, especially if he was bored.

Suddenly, Naruto felt his stomach rumble harshly and he sighed. "I guess I should get something to eat." Naruto looked around, hoping there was somewhere nearby. He hadn't eaten since this morning and he was starving. Unfortunately, it didn't look like any of the nearby shops were restaurants. With a sigh and another grumble of his stomach Naruto began walking back towards where he'd spoken to the girl. He remembered seeing a few places to eat on his way to the feed store.

After another fifteen minutes of walking Naruto found a small café wedged between two clothing shops. It was well decorated for the holidays with snowflakes hanging in the window and garland and wreaths decorating the outside of the store. There was even outside seating that had lights draped above. It was very cute.

With a wide grin Naruto went inside, prepared to devour whatever they sold. However, as soon as he stepped through the door Naruto felt a chill come over him, causing a shiver to wrack his body despite the warm temperature in the café. Naruto stopped and glanced around, wondering what had caused such a thing. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary though, so he sighed and walked towards the counter. There was a line of about three people ahead of him. Naruto took this time to stare at the menu. It had a large list of drinks, most of which was coffee though they had a variety of hot chocolate and tea as well. There was also a list of food items, though not quite as extensive as their drink options. It was mostly pastries and sandwiches. Naruto caught sight of a warm turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and stuffing and felt his stomach give a loud growl. Yep, he was definitely getting that, and maybe one of those chocolate filled pastries. Those looked really good. Next, he looked back at the drinks and quickly decided on a peppermint hot chocolate.

There were still two people before him, and with his order decided, Naruto let his eyes wander. After briefly looking over the case of pastries and a few of the patrons, Naruto's eyes finally landed on the person at the counter. Naruto instantly felt another shiver run through his body but the chill was quickly overtaken by the warmth filling his cheeks.

The man at the counter was absolutely gorgeous. He had rich black hair that spiked up slightly in the back and coal black eyes to match. His skin looked as soft and pale as the snow at the North Pole, and Naruto wanted to touch it to see if it was just as cold. What made it even better though, was the adorable Santa hat he wore, adorned with little bells. Naruto wished the man would smile, knowing he would look even more amazing.

"Can I help you?" Naruto was suddenly shocked out of his starring by a deep, rich voice, which he quickly discovered was coming from the handsome man.

"Sorry!" Naruto quickly said, stepping the few feet to the counter that the people in front of him had vacated. "Uh," Naruto paused, trying to remember what he had decided to order. The man stared at him with bored eyes that were working hard to hide their irritation. "I'll have the hot turkey sandwich, the pastry with the chocolate filling, and a peppermint hot chocolate." The man paused a moment before pushing some buttons on the screen in front of him.

"That'll be $13.50. Can I have your name?" Naruto wasn't sure why the man was asking, but quickly complied as he handed him the card.

"Naruto," he said cheerily. The man nodded, typing something in and swiping the card on the side of the screen.

"Here's your receipt." The man handed Naruto a piece of paper and Naruto nodded, still smiling at the man.

"You can wait for your food over there," the man said, pointing at the counter to Naruto's right. Naruto instantly felt his cheeks heat up and he nodded.

"Right, thanks." He quickly moved over to the counter to wait for his food, watching as the man rolled his eyes and took the next customer. Suddenly, Naruto saw a name flash before his eyes.

Sasuke.

Was that the man's name? Naruto's eyes widened. It must be! Naruto grinned as he continued to watch the man. That was one of his father's abilities. Being Sant, he could know a person's name just by looking at them. Naruto hadn't experienced that ability yet, at least, not until now. Sasuke. What a pretty name, Naruto thought.

"Naruto!" Naruto jumped as he heard his name being called and turned around to see a sweet girl wearing a headband with antlers handing him his food and drink. "Have a great day," she said, and Naruto nodded before she turned away to prepare another order. Naruto was about to turn around and find a table when he caught sight of Sasuke seeming to be struggling. Naruto watched a moment, soon realizing that the customer didn't seem to speak English. Naruto listened to the broken conversation for a moment, watching as Sasuke became more frustrated.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't know which item you are pointing to," Sasuke said, and that was when Naruto walked up with a smile.

"Maybe I can help." Sasuke looked shocked at his sudden appearance but his expression quickly morphed into confusion. Instead of saying anything to Sasuke, Naruto quickly turned to the woman and began speaking in French. After a quick back and forth, Naruto turned back to Sasuke and grinned.

"She says she wants the breakfast panini and a large latte." Sasuke seemed completely thrown and in shock and it made Naruto's cheeks heat up a bit. Sasuke quickly typed at his screen before turning back to Naruto.

"That will be $9.25." Naruto turned back and quickly translated for the woman, who handed Sasuke some cash.

"And can I have her name?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nodded, although a bit confused. So Sasuke asking him for his name wasn't special.

The woman nodded and turned to Sasuke. "Marie." Sasuke nodded and handed the woman her change. The woman quickly thanked Naruto and headed off to wait for her food.

"You speak French?" Naruto suddenly heard Sasuke ask. Naruto nodded.

"Yep. I speak a lot of languages," Naruto said, hoping to impress him. If he did, Sasuke didn't show it.

"Well thanks," Sasuke said, before turning to the next customer. Naruto frowned a bit, hoping to speak with Sasuke more, but he just went and sat down. His stomach was still growling and his food was going to get cold.