Author's Note: This is a fanfic they my sister, Craftygirl, and I co-wrote together. We hope you like it as much as we enjoyed writing it!

Disclaimer: Craftygirl and I do not own Naruto in any way; we just write our own stories based on the characters and story line that Masashi Kishimoto created. So, all credit goes to him!

Chapter 1: Rejected

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY—NARUTOS—PARTE!

Sasuke looked at the invitation Naruto just gave him… just a few seconds ago. He sucks at writing; he forgot the apostrophe after his name and spelled party with an "e" instead of a "y".

"So? Are you coming?" Naruto asked Sasuke, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

Sasuke replied by burning up the invitation.

Naruto could only gape as the ashes fell down to the ground. "Augh! Sasuke! Why'd you do that?!" he demanded, "I spent an hour designing that invitation! Thinking of that phrase alone fried my brain!"

"That explains why you don't have any brain," Sasuke replied coldly, "Why waste the effort when you know I could care less about trivial stuff like…this?" He said the last word as if it was too painful just to mention.

"Because it's going to be my birthday!" Naruto explained. "And you and Sakura have to come!"

"Then go ask her, not me—I'm not interested." With that, Sasuke left a fuming Naruto alone.

Naruto glared at his rival. How dare that jerk Sasuke just burn up my invitation like that and then refuse to come to my birthday party? Who does he think he is?!

He then looked down at the stack of colorful invitations in his hand. "Well, if Sasuke won't come, at least Sakura will be there!" Naruto told himself brightly, "I'm not gonna let Sasuke ruin my party. If he thinks he's 'too good' for me, he's wrong! He'll be the one missing out! And I don't care!"

And so, Naruto flounced off towards Sakura's house, a large smiled plastered across his eager face.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Sakura—instinctively thinking it was Sasuke—practically leapt to the doorway and opened it up.

Only to find an eager Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sakura furiously yelled, using her anger to mask her disappointment. "What are you going here?"

Naruto's broad grin instantly faltered. "I-I'm here to invite you to my birthday party." Naruto shoved his invitation to her face, silently hoping that she'd accept it and come.

Immediately, Sakura softened—but only a little. Still… "Is Sasuke coming?"

Naruto knew exactly where this conversation was going. Nervously, he replied with a meek, "Uh…maybe…?"

Sakura shook her head. "No," she said firmly, "If Sasuke's not coming, neither am I! You know me better than that, Naruto!"

"But, Sakura!" Naruto protested, "Who cares about Sasuke?! Besides, this way, he won't get in the way between us! You won't even have to think about him—"

Sakura's eyes flashed with fire. " 'Won't get in the way between us'?!" she repeated incredulously, "Naruto, there is no 'us'! There never was, and there never will be! And how dare you say I won't even have to think about him?!"

Abruptly, Sakura slammed the door in Naruto's face.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted, but there was no response. Naruto stared at the closed doorway, willing it to open—willing Sakura to change her mind, but he knew her too well now.

Sighing, he moved on to the next person on his list.

Kakashi.

Knock, knock!

No answer.

Knock, knock!

No answer.

Pound! POUND!

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Open up! I've got something special for you!" Naruto exclaimed through the wooden door. "Kakashi-sensei!"

At long last, an annoyed Kakashi finally opened the door, Make-Out Paradise in hand. "What is it now, Naruto?" he asked, slightly irritated, "I was in the middle of a very exciting story…"

"Yeah, yeah! That's something I've never heard before!" Naruto said sarcastically, "Anyway, I have something really important to give you!" He handed him an invitation. "Well? Well?"

Staring at the invitation in disbelief, Kakashi questioned, "This is 'important'?"

"Well… yeah," Naruto answered.

"More important than my Make-Out Paradise?!"

"Yes!!" Naruto was tired of everyone thinking his party—his birthday party—was 'no big deal'. It was!

Glaring at his student, Kakashi firmly stated, "Nothing is more important than my Make-Out Paradise…"

Naruto gulped. Kakashi was only one of the few people that intimidated him. Still, Naruto was eager for an answer. Kakashi has to come! How can he not?

"Well?" Naruto persistently asked, "Are you coming?"

Kakashi smiled, and from his fake cheeriness, Naruto already knew the answer. "Let me put it this way: n-o," Kakashi spelt out, "No."

Though he saw it coming, Naruto still hung his head in despair. "…But…why not?"

"You took me away from reading my book. That's why," Kakashi told him matter-of-factly.

"That's all?!"

Kakashi simply nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go back to my reading."

Pouting after Kakashi gently closed the door, Naruto slumped all the way to the next person he'd hope would come.

"Oh, hello, Naruto," greeted Rock Lee, "What are you doing here?"

Naruto decided to skip right to the point. "Hey, Lee! Wanna come to my birthday party?"

Lee seemed taken aback by the sudden offer, but still seemed interested. "Your birthday? Really?" He thought for a moment. "Well, I guess. Why not?" He flashed his nice-guy pose. "Is Sakura coming?"

Immediately, Naruto imagined what Lee would say when he told him the truth: "Uhh… she'll only come if Sasuke does, and since Sasuke refused…"

Lee's smile instantly transformed into a frown. "You mean she is not coming?"

Naruto sadly nodded.

Sighing, Lee regrettably said, "Then I am sorry to say that I will not, too."

Naruto's usual cheerful spirit almost crumbled. I can't tell him the truth! Or else he won't come too!

Before Naruto could take it back, he finally replied, "Of course she's coming."

Lee's eyes lit up. "She is? Great! That is awesome!" he exclaimed happily, "I will be there, you can count on it!"

As Lee went back into his house and shut the door, all happy and giddy, Naruto couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

Now what am I supposed to do? He thought regretfully. Lee's gonna expect Sakura to be there, but if she doesn't show up…he's gonna get mad at me. Darn it! The only way to win in this sort of situation…is to convince Sakura to come, which means convincing Sasuke first!

But first I'll go to someone else, before I tackle that stubborn Sasuke… Shikamaru. I'll go see if he wants to come first.

Naruto had an easy time finding Shikamaru, as he was lying on the couch.

Being his typical lazy self.

"What brings you here?" Although just because Shikamaru was lazy, doesn't mean he wasn't sharp.

Naruto couldn't contain the excitement in his voice (even after being rejected by many others), "I was just wondering if you'd be interested in the biggest, coolest, and most awesome party Konoha has ever seen!" he raved, "My—"

"Birthday party, right?" Shikamaru finished for him, grinning, "Why am I not surprised?"

Naruto was surprised. "You know?" he asked, and then instantly jerked up, "So, you must be the only one who remembered my birthday, huh? Gee, Shikamaru, if only there could be more out there like you! Finally, someone who'll definitely say yes without any catch!"

"Uh, who said anything about my saying yes?" Shikamaru questioned, raising any eyebrow, "I'm not going."

Naruto—in shock—fell onto the floor, and then hastily stood up again. "W-why not?" And you better have a good reason…

Shrugging, Shikamaru responded, "I just don't wanna get off this couch."

Shooting a death stare at Shikamaru, Naruto practically exclaimed, "That's your excuse?!"

"And everyone else gave you a better one?"

That pushed Naruto over the edge. Okay. That's it! I'm not gonna let him get away with this! "What are you talking about?!" Naruto demanded through gritted teeth. "They didn't have excuses! And that's because they didn't say no! My friends are all coming! All of Konoha's coming! Believe it!"

Shikamaru just scoffed. "Um, yeah, right…" he replied, "Not only are you a bad liar, but you're hopeless, too."

"I'M NOT LYING!!!!!"

"You just did."

That's it. I give up… no one will come to my—wait! I've got it!

Without a goodbye, Naruto left Shikamaru to his couch and sprinted to his new destination. Hinata won't reject me. She's too nice to—

Suddenly, he spotted her carrying a square box, all wrapped up. But he only took a glance at it and didn't pay much attention, because he was too hyped up at the fact that Hinata would be the first person that wouldn't reject him.

"Hey, Hinataaaaaa!" Naruto shouted from the distance, waving his invitations in the air. "Hinata, wait up!"

The quiet blue-haired girl suddenly looked up to see Naruto, her crush since the days they were both in the Academy. Her cheeks immediately flushed red. "N-Naruto…" she began, but couldn't get the words out of her mouth.

When Naruto finally caught up to her, he presented her with an invitation. "Here you go, Hinata! Come to my birthday party tonight, okay?"

Hinata glanced at the invitation, with its messy "YOU ARE INVITED TO MY—NARUTOS—PARTE!" sprawled across the paper in big fat letters. But instead of criticizing it like Sasuke had, Hinata was speechless.

Naruto scowled. "Huh? What's wrong?" He suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Oh, no! Not Hinata, too! She's the last person on the planet who'd I have thought would pass up on coming to my birthday party!

But that was the opposite of what Hinata was feeling at the moment. She was speechless because Naruto had invited her! But Hinata didn't want to sound like a total idiot by being all grateful that he'd put her on his invitation list…

So she remained silent, even though she so very badly wanted to say something to him, whose doubts only increased.

I was a fool to think Hinata would come to my birthday party… what was I thinking? She probably has 'something better to do', too…

Sighing, Naruto miserably strolled back to his house.

And that made both him and Hinata feel like they were…

Rejected.

A/N:

Princess Malika: Don't be deceived; the main point of this story is NOT based on Naruto and his b-day party. We just wanted to start off this fanfic with lots of humor—Tee-hee!

Craftygirl: Like we mentioned in the summary, this fic is all about everyone losing their powers! So…ya'll haven't seen nothing yet! You'll just have to read and see for yourselves!

Please read and reply! We would gladly accept any questions, comments, or constructive criticism! Thanks!