It was supposed to be an one shot. I played with the possibilities and tried expand it a bit. Short something. Now to say ,I absolutely suck at romance. I'm an action kind of guy who has no experience or talent in writing romance. I still tried. So some feedbacks will be appreciated. Also this is raw, so forgive my grammatical errors till I send it for editing. This is based on the One shot celebration,basically the same thing. Enjoy!
Konohagakure no sato. Village hidden in the leaves.
It wasn't really a village. More like a small city. Everything a city needs is here; an Academy, hospital, police headquarters, a big marketplace, and a big spa house. The mountains overlooking the village has five faces engraved on it. Five men , one women. The village head; more like mayor of the village. Thats the thing, the hokage weren't normal mayors, they were ninja. Greatest shinobi leaders of Konohagakure no sato so far.
" Man! Granny Tsunade's head looks good up there! "
Yeah, like I said shinobi village. This one lovable idiot who's wearing a jacket made of eye watering orange is Uzumaki Naruto. 'Future hokage'ttebyo!'. He just finished a two year training trip with his godfather Jiraiya. More like his godfather peeped on hot spas and he practiced fuuinjutsu kanjis.
" Don't make her wait too much, brat. Minato's son or not she'll yell your head off." Jiraiya grumbled. A frown marked his forehead, eyes dim.
" Man Ero-sennin, are you still mad about that? " Naruto said, running a hand through his golden locks. It was almost touching his cheeks, framing his face.
" No that was beyond forgiving. You left me in mortal peril. You ditched your godfather in his time of need. My life was in crisis! " Jiraiya told the blonde hotly, shaking a fist to emphasis his point.
" You shouldn't have peeped in the hot spring then. You were aware about the occupational hazard. It was either flee or get beaten to a pulp for your pervertness." Naruto said. Letting out a huff.
Yes, his godfather, one of the densetsu no sannin is a pervert. Hey! Thats super pervert!
" It's not that. What's the date? " Jiraiya said. Realisation dawned on Naruto's face. It was October tenth. His birthday. The day Yondaime Hokage sealed the Nine tailed demon fox into his newborn son.
It's not reason Jiraiya was upset. It was because the village made a mockery of Minato's sacrifice and holds a festival of the demons demise sixteen years ago. No one remembers about the people who died protecting the village. Hiruzen's wife, Kushina, Minato, Shishui's father and many excellent shinobis. The village forgot the blood spent to keep them safe and started celebrating. Well, he understands celebrating for surviving that kind of ordeal, but really? Every year? Thats disrespect made flesh. Civilians, here can understand but shinobis? That is irreverence.
" Their idiocy knows no bounds, eh? " Naruto said, elbowing his mentor.
" Makes me wonder how they can complete the missions with that kind of brain." His mentor shot back.
They both snickered at the lame joke. Before them the massive gates of konoha loomed. Guards all in place, patrolling the village.
" Halt! Name you-! Jiraiya-sama? And Naruto? " One of those two guys said. Jiraiya waved and Naruto muttered a low 'yo' .
" We're back from our mission and going to visit the hokage right now." Jiraiya said. Eyeing the chunin carefully. Said chunin, Kotetsu, gulped.
" No problem jiraiya-sama! Just sign the register and you're done." Izumo said. Jiraiya did that quickly and both him and his student entered the village through the main gate after two years. Konoha mostly remained unchanged, some buildings got upgraded, streets repaired and upgraded. The streets were getting ready for the festival. Banners and stalls in the street. A podium for live action stage mimicry. Naruto watched them from the nearby roof a few times. Those were quite entertaining to a young Naruto. But that was before he found that He was Minato Namikaze's son, Yondaime Hokage's son. The hero who sacrificed his life , his wife, his only newborn son to seal a rampaging demon. And the village spit on his memory by celebrating his death. It left a rather bad taste in the blonde's opinion.
Naruto raged for quite some time after Jiraiya informed him of his parentage. He blamed his father for leaving him orphan, making his life hard as it is. But in the end he understood his father's judgement. Being hokage means making tough choices, and he made the one he knew would save the village. In the end he forgave his father and pestered his godfather for stories about his dad. It didn't help that Jiraiya practically raised the man and often he'd spent galling the energetic blonde about his Hokage father.
Jiraiya didn't had children, but he loved Minato like his own. It traumatised him to bury the man he considered a son. Seeing the village shaming his memory like this enraged the man. He cooled after being shitfaced drunk passing out or punching a forest into oblivion. He shared naruto's grief and rage to the people. Maybe this time he'll take Naruto to get drunk with him.
The two shinobi arrived at the Hokage tower in silence. Lost in their own thought. Everyone gave them wide berth as the entered the Hokage's room. Tsunade was already in the desking, one hand doing paperwork and another had a sake bottle. She looked at them with red rimmed eyes, aftereffect of the alcohol.
" So you two are back, and in the worst day possible, come on give the short version and let it over. " Tsunade grumbled. Tonton oinked from the couch, a greeting maybe, and Shizune was nowhere to be seen.
Jiraiya and Naruto looked at each other. Obviously they caught her in a bad mood. Jiraiya gulped, moody Tsunade was worse than drunk Tsunade and it often ended with him bruised. Jiraiya nudged the blonde forward and retreated towards the back. Naruto shot him a dark look that promised pain but started to give his report as politely as he could.
" Jiraiya-sensei informed me of my parentage Hokage-sama. " Tsunade looked up and met his eyes.
" He did ,huh. That gone well I suppose, too well that you're calling me by my title. " Tsunade said. Sarcasm dripping in her words.
" It was as well as it could be." Jiraiya said from the couch.
" Well, brat I want you to active duty from Thursday. The next two days would be for you to reintroduce yourself to the village and settle your personal affairs."
" You got it granny! " Naruto said cheerfully. As cheerful as he can when his existence is in danger.
" I wasn't finished brat. Friday you're going to Sunagakure with a new alliance treaty with the new Kazekage. "
" There's a new Kazekage? Cool! Who is it? "
" We don't know yet. It was all a hush hush matter. No one knows who's the Godaime Kazekage is." Tsunade said and glanced at the clock.
" I won't disappoint you Granny, dattebyo!."
" Now go see Sakura or something. We have things to do." She motioned towards Jiraiya.
" Okay but aren't you two too old to do that kind of thing-" the sake bottle crashed where he stood moments ago. His laughter echoing with the Shunshin he performed.
" Stupid brat!" Tsunade muttered and looked towards a grinning Jiraiya.
" I didn't said a single thing hime."
Tsunade still cracked her fingers.
-Celebration-
Naruto ended up in Ichiraku. Sakura was apparently a medic now and working under Shizune in hospital. Her shift doesn't end still six, and it's only five in the afternoon. Ramen was a good excuse to pass time. Chopsticks in one hand he was regalling one of his adventures and gesturing animatedly. Ayame's soft laughter proved that she was indeed listening.
"...so, I hit him with a rasengan to tha face and asked ' what, I can't hear you over me being awesome?' " Naruto finished and swrooped another mouthful of ramen.
" So, you never heard his monologue? " Ayame asked. Mirth clear in her eyes.
" Nope." Naruto said. Popping the 'p' as he said.
" So, Naruto-kun,did any girl caught your eye while you were galivavanting?" Now her tone caught a teasing lilt.
Naruto turned red. And stammered to answer her.
" NNo..no-no . just me and Ero-sennin." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Ayame caught the gesture, and gained a predatory glint in her eyes. Seriously, how does girls smell this things?
" I smell a story there Naruto-kun. Can't you tell your Ayame-nee?" She pouted. Pouted
Naruto looked at the clock and jumped.
" Oh man! Sakura-chan's gonna kill me. I said I'll meet her an hour ago. It's seven now! " Panick was clear in his voice.
Ayame chuckled, " Relax Naruto-kun, look the festival is starting."
Indeed it was starting. People was out , vendors yelling and the stage was surrounded by the crowd. Naruto's mood turned sad. He got up from the counter and paid for the Ramen.
" I gotta go , Ayame-nee. I'll be back tomorrow." He said and vanished in the crowd.
Ayame watched in shock as the blonde's mood turned 180 degrees in an instant. Glancing at his bowl, she saw half of his noodles were still sitting. That wasn't good. Naruto never lefts ramen behind.
He never saw Ino noticed his departure. The kunoichi opened her mouth to call her fellow blonde and friend but he vanished before she can do it.
-Celebration-
Ino, Naruto is an enigma. The boy is honest, truthful and kinda cute. Always laughing at everything and claiming to be the Hokage. But it wasn't like this always. She once loathed the fellow blonde, back in her Academy days. He was rude, loud , brash, reckless and most of all disrespectful to Sasuke-kun. So Ino along with the rest of her Sasuke fan club members, hated him. They saw him as a jealous attention seeking brat who was too arrogant. But now, after the three year trip with one of the densetsu no sannin, Jiraiya of mount Myoboku, the blonde matured a bit. That's it, only a bit. He was still loud and headstrong but there's an air around him , gives him an air of someone who should be respected. Now , Ino thought, he could want to be the hokage. But all in her life, she never saw the blonde this down. Sad metaphorical black clouds hanging upon his head, eyes downcast and quiet,very quiet. So Ino followed him, the orange and black jacket weaving between the crowds and shops , heading towards the east.
The Hokage mountain
Today was October 10. The day Yondaime defeated the Nine tailed fox, sacrificing his own life in process. Konoha was in full celebration mode. Lights decorated the paths, paper lanterns, glittering ornaments. The village was glowing, literally. People of various ages filled the street, kids running with sweets in hand, some couples holding each others hand dressed in pretty kimono and haoris. Ino herself was in a purple kimono with matching obi, hair done in a intricate bun and flat sandals. A fan was in her hand complement to her...well..you get it. Musics of various stage shows where the battle is emulated. People's cheering was growing in ridiculous rate, sake was ordered in every bar, games and variety stores were full of people in festive mode, shinobi and civillian alike. She already met with Shikamaru and Chouji, She even saw Asuma and Kurenei, hands locked.
She never saw Naruto in the festival before. Never. Yes ,he was the village pariah but who's gonna focus on a little kid on this grand day. Surly he came to a festival once or twice? Right?
She found him sitting on the head of Yondaime, looking towards the village with a forlornly. The pandemonium of festive crowd reaching faintly in this height. She approached the blonde carefully, standing at the end of the cliff, just before she steps onto the sculptured head.
" Naruto?"
Ino's tentative voice drew his attention. Naruto glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, not revolving his head fully.
" Oh hey Ino "
His voice held no exuberance. Instead resignation and a bit of ...anger?
" What are you doing out here? "
" You look beautiful." She blushed slightly. But caught on the attempt to change the subject. She did study psychology, she's a Yamanaka after all. His posture screamed it.
" Thank you, but should you be out here, Naruto? Alone?" She pressed. A slight frown marred his face, followed by a sigh. Did she thought he's stupid and didn't notice the kunoichi following him? Nosy people.
"It's not like anyone is missing me. I should have brought a bottle of sake." Naruto said.
" You wanna drink in the celebration day? Today is the day Yondaime-sama defeated the Nine tails , and you want to disrespect that by drinking? " Ino babled without noticing her listeners ire.
Naruto's rage grew with each word. Finally settled into a cold fury. He asked in a voice cold as Ice,
" Do you know Ino, why most villagers hate me?"
" Huh? What's that got to do with it?" Came Ino's replying
" Do you know what a Jinchuriki is, Ino? " his voice was quiet and he was again looking at the village.
She knew what The human sacrifices are, humans with a demon sealed inside of them. Tailed beasts were constructions of Chakra, Spiritual and physical energy. They can't be killed in a literal way. You can't create or destroy energy. You can either seal it in a human or in a artifact. Artifacts doesn't last long so the most safe way to subdue a tailed beast to seal it in a person. Most likely a newborn baby.
" I'm one." His voice was cold as ice again.
Ino's eyes widened as his words sunk in. This blonde is a Jinchuriki.
" You're a Jin..Jinchuriki?" Her voice shook.
The boy shook his head in resignation. And said
" Today is my birthday. Sixteen years ago, the Yondaime sealed the Nine tailed demon fox in me, the day I was orphaned."
Ino stared at the boy.
Naruto continued wistfully, " The day my father died. The day Yondaime sacrifices his life ,saving the village in process." She put the two and two together.
" You're Minato Namikaze's son. You're the fourth Hokage's son. "
Ino was wide eyed now. The boy was almost a carbon copy of his father. How the hell that escaped her notice. There wasn't and still isn't many blondes in Konoha.
" I knew you were smart. " Naruto smiled. She only saw his cheeks quirked. His back was still turned towards her. " So why did you follow me up here? "
" I..uh..um I wanted to.." she stammered. He turned his head partially to glance at her again. Intrigued.
" I wanted to see if you were alright!" She winced at the blatant alibi. Naruto then turned to face her fully. His eyes were red and puffy, signalling he was crying.
" You got nosy and wanted to see where I was going, didn't you? "
Ino opened her mouth to answer but Naruto stopped her.
" I didn't wanted to be in the festival because it's my birthday, and when a demon orphaned me. I was disgusted to see the village celebrate the death of their hero and my parents. It sickened me. It sickened me to see them all stuffed up, prim and proper, celebrating the day when their supposed hero gave his life and sacrificed his own son to seal a demon and save their sorry hides." His voice was almost whispers at the end but still she heard every word of it. Every syllable seared her heart. He was right.
" Enjoy the festival Ino. Good night. " He disappeared from the monument with a flicker.
Ino stood with her head bowed in shame. Her kimono and make up was burning her skin. She quietly made her way to her house.
On her way back, Naruto plagued her thoughts , or more precisely his words. His voice was dripping with hate when he was talking about the village. The cacophony of noise around her drowned in her thoughts. How did she never noticed it? the signs were clear, the whiskermarks, villagers hates and vindictive behaviours. More than enough chakra a genin can produce and the malicious chakra he displayed on sea country. She overlooked every clue. What kind of intelligence gathering team she was part of?
Inoichi Yamanaka was sitting in his clans flowershop, overlooking the sales when his daughter isn't home and he wasn't expecting her untill it was nine. So when he found his daughter entering the shop at seven thirty and a dejected face, he was concerned.
" Ino, honey? What happened?" He asked as daughter passed him in the hall.
" The villagers hates naruto becase he has the Nine tails sealed inside him , doesn't he? " Her voice. So broken , it scared Inoichi. He just noded curtly.
Ino sighed, " we were celebrating an event that took our village leaders and countless good shinobis life. Are we really that pathetic, dad? "
Inoichi flinched.