Ah yes, the holidays. The lovely time of joy, friendship, and presents. Wait, did you say presents? Oh snap- I want to write FOTF a stunning one-shot to thank her all the wonderful things she's done for the Fanfiction Review Movement. Who better to ask what to do than the Konoha 12...right?
They were gathered in their favorite gathering spot - the dock where all the shipments were dropped off. It was generally vacant except for a few days a month, which allowed for a significant amount of mischief planning to occur without a hitch. Except this time it wasn't for mischief, it was for joy and creation and -
"You don't think I already tried that!" Sakura screamed, flopping back onto a crate and grabbing her hair in frustration.
Ino crossed her arms, glaring over at Kiba.
"We sent her a message together. We asked what her favorite ships were, but get this - she doesn't really have a favorite -"
"Who doesn't have a favorite ship?" Tenten scoffed, leaning back onto her elbows.
" - rational people, that's who." Ino groaned.
"We could do a story about rigorous training. We could do a bunch of action scenes, with a huge training montage and a wonderful ending about how hard work pays off in the end!" Lee cheered, pumping his fist in the air.
"That's too troublesome. We could just use an old thing we've already done. Maybe re-write it with a few new characters -"
"Thats lazy, Shikamaru! Fanofthisfiction deserves the best!" Naruto yelled.
"I have an idea!" Sakura cheered, flying up from her lying down position. "Why doesn't each team pick out a present and -"
"- we'll only give her the best one!" Kiba finished, jumping from his crate...straight into Sakura's punch.
"It was my idea, you dog!"
"B-but guys, who would be the judge?" Hinata twisted her fingers together.
"Our sensei's of course!" Lee pounced and fist pumped the air. "Who else would be a better judge than the absolute greatest, strongest, most thought-"
Tenten snatched Lee by the collar, dragging him back away from the crates.
"Well we better get shopping if we plan on getting the best gift." Neji nodded in agreement, following the other two off.
"A dog would be perfect. Who doesn't want a dog?"
Team Eight had made their way through the downtown seven times, not even bothering to enter a single shop because nothing seemed to call to them. Or at least not to Kiba, who had spent the entire time spouting reasons why a dog would the ideal present.
"Kiba, she may have allergies. We wouldn't want to make her sick," Hinata sighed, always one to let someone down gently. The idea really was awful. Plus, the dogs he was thinking of giving got so large and they would need an entire field to frolic around -
"Shipping would also be outrageous. An insect is much more practical."
"I - Shino - I think it would be best to not go with anything living." Hinata's eyes shifted to find the nearest most practical shop. She needed to find something fast before the boys sent something so big or scary. The present needed to be perfect. There was jewelry shop, weapons, antiques, book - a book! Fanofthisfiction is an author, she had to like books, right?
"Let's try this!" Hinata squeaked, a few octaves louder than usual. The boys shrugged in agreement, heading into the shop.
"We are not subjecting anyone else to a green jumpsuit, Lee." Neji groaned. It had been forty minutes and he was already ready to send her a nice card and call it a day.
"Plus we don't even know her size." Tenten rolled her eyes and continued to scan the shops.
Neji suddenly stopped and looked into a store-front window.
"How do you think she feels about -"
Tenten practically slammed herself into the window. "-weapons! Well these are some of the highest quality most beautiful pieces I have ever seen."
Lee soon joined her, his eyes sparkling with glee. "The artistry on these is outstanding. You are so correct, Tenten!"
The door chimed as Neji opened it as gestured to the shop. "We should head inside instead of dirtying their window."
"Food would spoil before it got there, Choji!" Ino groaned as Choji suggested the fifteenth hot food item before they rounded the corner.
They continued to pace down the stalls and Choji munched on his chips, mentioned how it would be so nice if they could share the Konoha cuisine with Fanofthisfiction. Gears started turning in Shikamaru's head.
"Choji, let me see your chips."
Choji held out the back. "Want some Shika? Theyre -"
"No, no." Shikamaru tilted up the bottom of the bag scanning for an expiration date. "I didn't think about it before but I think several of the snacks we eat don't expire for years."
"It's all those preservatives," Ino sniffed. But then a glint appeared in her eyes and she spun to face the boys. "I know! I know what to get!" She grabbed both of their hands and pulled them down the street and into a shop.
"What are we supposed to get here? I had so many ideas, but none of them will work, what will we do?" Naruto bounced from shop window to shop window and Sasuke and Sakura walked behind.
"Naruto, calm down. We'll find something, we have an entire village to look through, god." Sakura rolled her eyes, glancing around.
"We are almost at the end of the main shopping district. Though, there's always the weapons and art district." Sasuke glanced up at the fork in the road, hands stuffed in his pocket.
"We should get -" Sakura pulled Naruto's collar back from the weapons district.
"We're not running around there. Art it is!"
"Alrighty, folks! Welcome to our first annual present judging competition. The stakes are high as the winner of this competition will have their present selected to send to Fanofthisfiction! Which budding youthful group will take home the prize!" Gai spun around, speaking into the microphone.
The crates have been shifted to create a seating area and Choji had procured a table and chairs to seat the judges at.
"Now, to introduce our judges. First, we have the beautiful, mindful mistress, Kurenai -"
"Just Kurenai is fine, Gai. Thank you." She leaned into her palm
"Next is the smoking hot, youthful as always, and possible lov-" Gai coughed as he made eye contact with a pursed lip Kurenai. "- a sensei of a nice team, Asuma."
Asuma nodded, waving his hand lightly.
"Last but not least, the latest ninja I know, and my own eternal rival, Kakashi!"
"Yo." He picked up his hand in greeting, finally pocketing his book.
"Teams, present your gifts." One from each team stepped forward, placing a gift on the table.
From the first box, Kurenai lifted it and pulled out a stunning dagger. While dull due to be ornamental, it contained several stones and the craftsmanship was absolutely exquisite. The swirling design of the handle continued to being engraved in the blade.
"Usability is low," Asuma commented, earning a glare from Tenten.
"But it is stunning," Kurenai noted.
"And anything can be a weapon," Kakashi added, earning a thumbs up from Lee.
The second box, was nearly bursting at the seems. Asuma opened it and immediately glanced up at Choji. There were all of Konoha's finest snacks packed into the box. A true taste of Konoha, well, a non-perishable taste at least.
"Very practical," Asuma nodded, his co-judges nodding in agreement.
Kakashi struggled to put the top back on the box, as Kurenai opened the third box. She blinked down at it. A limited edition set of the Icha Icha series. She swatted Kakashi's hand away.
"The gift is not for you."
Asuma coughed. "I suppose it's an enjoyable gift, and the plot is -" He shut up as Kurenai pinched his thigh.
He immediately moved onto the next gift, finding another book this time.
"Oh the Konoha Art Book!" Kurenai plucked it out of the box, thumbing through a book of all the finest art pieces Konoha had ever produced.
Kakashi squinted back at his team, as Naruto picked his nose, and Sakura gawked at a brooding Sasuke. How cultured for a group so…his team always surprised him.
"Alright, folks! Who will the judges choose? Stay tuned as they talk and make their decision!"
The Konoha 12 turned and looked at each other.
"You only got one book? We got her a whole set," Kiba taunted toward Team Seven.
"Oh yeah? Well at least our books were cultured!" Naruto spat back, borrowing Sakura's reasoning for buying the gift in the first place.
"You wouldn't know culture if it bit you in the ass!"
"You're all so loud," Shikamaru groaned, flopping back on his crate.
"Plus - Obviously, a culinary experience of all of Konoha is better than just looking at Konoha stuff," Ino added.
"Well your gift is way too high in sodium," Sakura pursed her lips.
"Guys, guys, what's all the yelling about?" Iruka walked into the circle of crates, peering at the arguing judges and kids who seemed to be two seconds from pummeling each other.
"We're doing a competition to send Fanofthisfiction the present. We couldn't pick one, so the team who has the best one will send theirs," Shino summarized, popping up from behind Kiba.
Iruka turned his head and burst into a laugh.
"You guys realize you can send more than one present, right?"
A wave of realization seemed to wash over everyone in the area as the tension slipped away. Because no, it had not occurred to any of them that it was an option.
"Well, surprise guest judge, Iruka has made the decision for us! In a true holiday spirit, we're going to send all of them right on off to Fanofthisfiction! Join us next time on judge that gift!"
A/N: Fanofthisfiction has created a lovely community of the Fanfiction Review Movement. Their hard work to continually spread positivity throughout the fanfiction community is lovely. They do a wonderful job at it and I'm so happy to be apart of the movement. This little fic is one small way I can show just how appreciated everyone they do is! 3
Also, thank you to Poodie for organizing this gift-giving. It was such a lovely way to allow us to give back to Fanofthisfiction