It was starting to get very cold in Kohana. And soon enough it snowed. Kids had off from the academy, while jonin and chunin had more time to admire the ice crystals growing on the ground. The students had snowball fights, sled, and had hot cocoa by the fire. But the Rookie nine and Gai's team were ignoring there duties and vasking in the glory of Christmas Eve.
"Hey! You blindsided me Naruto!" A pink haired girl with jade orbs yelled angrily. While the blonde haired ninja laughed in his victory. But as he was laughing a boy with navy hair and onyx eyes picked up a pile of snow and through it at the blonde.
"Hey that's not fair Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.
"Hey it's what you get for chucking a snowball at his girlfriend." A boy with dark hair and brown eyes explained. His dog barked in agreement.
"Eh, who asked ya?" Naruto blowed Kiba off and looked away. And again Naruto got hit with a snowball. They all turned to see a boy with a black bowl-cut hair and bushy brows hold a hand up to his head.
"I am expressing my youthfulness!" He said and everyone's sweat dropped. Everyone being Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Ten Ten, Neji, Lee, and Kanami. Ten Ten smirked and took advantage of the situation and threw a snowball at the back of Neji's head and giggled.
"Got you!" Ten Ten laughed. But Neji picked up a small pile of snow and threw it at her face. Soon enough a snowball fight emerged. After they were done they went to get a warm bowl of ramen.
"That was so funny!" Ino and everyone laughed.
" Y-Yeah w-we have t-t-to do t-that n-next y-year." Hinata said shyly. She stopped stumbling on every word and only did a few.
" Yeah that would be great!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Everyone but Hinata sighted.
" Yeah all Naruto has to do is throw a snowball." Shikamaru said lazily as they reached to ramen shop.
"Wow, full house today!" A girl with brown hair behind the counter said. An old man with a specula stepped up.
"Sorry you guys will have to use the back room." He said kindly. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
" What 'back room'? I've never gone to the back room." Naruto asked.
"We only use it for big parties. Like you guys." He said.
"What 'party'? Are you going to molest us?" Sasuke asked. They all laughed.
" No the party I meant is a large amount of people sitting at one table. Go around and you'll see a door. Go through it and take a seat." The chief said and they nodded and proceeded to the door. The door had a reef hanging down covering the window. Neji opened the door to reveal a table close to the ground with green pillows to sit on. Naruto and Hinata sat at the fist two next to each other; Sasuke and Sakura sat across the table. Ino and Shikamaru sat next to Naruto and Hinata, crossways from them were Ten and Neji and then Kiba and Akamaru, Shino, Lee, zigzagged across the table. They talked about what they wanted to eat. And sometime later the door that was at the south side slid open to reveal the same waitress from before.
"What can I get you folks!" She asked respectfully.
"Um, 1…2…3…7…9…13 bowels of ramen." Naruto counted everyone. The waitress wrote it down and looked up.
"Drinks?" She asked.
"Water, tea and sake." Naruto said. She nodded
"Alright then, I'll be back in a moment with your drinks." The waitress said and went back to the kitchen. Shino raised an eyebrow.
"Why are we getting sake?" He asked quietly. Naruto raised his head.
"Because Kanami's old enough and we should take the opportunity." Naruto explained.
" I still don't understand. If you asked lady Tsundade I'm sure she would give you some." Kanami said. Naruto looked at her like she was crazy.
"Are you nuts! GET DRUNK WITH A LADY WHO-" Naruto was cut off when the door slammed open to revel a lady in her 30's with blonde hair and auburn eyes. Another woman in her 30's also with dark hair and black eyes. A man with ashen hair and black eyes in his late 30's. And another man with white hair, and wearing a mask that covered most of his face.
"Hey you finally going to get drunk with Hinata , eh Naruto?" The man known as Jiriya nugged the blonde boy. Naruto blushed and kicked the samin.
"SHUT-UP PURVEY SAGE!" Naruto and Hinata blushed. Jiriya grabbed Naruto's foot.
"Alright I was joking. Sorry." Jirya sat down.
"Jiriya stop joking around. One day you'll get killed by that mouth of yours." Tsunade said as she sat down.
"Well I hop you don't mind if I read." Kakashi said as he opened his favorite book as he waitress came in with their food. She held two long trays, one with ramen and the other with a there drinks. She obviously had practice holding the heavy trays.
"Here's your food. Can I get you anything else?" She asked politely.
"Yes can we have four bowls of ramen?" Shizune asked. The waitress nodded and scurried off to the kitchen.
" So, what have you done so far today?" Kakashi asked, not looking up from his book.
"We had a snowball fight." Shikamaru reported. Kakashi looked up momentarily.
"And?" Tsunade asked resting her jaw in her hand.
"Nothing. We spent most of the day one the snowball fight. Then we came here." Ino said drinking water. Shizune, Tsunade, and Jiriya fell over.
"WHAT! YOU SPENT THE WHOLE DAY ON A SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!!" Tsunade yelled. Kakashi closed his book and put it away.
"Well then since it's Christmas Eve. Why don't we give each other one present until tomorrow? To make up for lost time." Neji asked. Everyone thought for a minute . Then Jiriya and Tsunade smirked.
"Alright we'll go to my office after we eat." Tsunade said as the door slid open and the waitress gave Jiriya, Shizune, Tsunade, and Kakashi their meals. Kakashi and Choji slurped it up in less than a second while everyone slowly. Tsunade eyed the sake bottle after a moment and put her bowl down with a clunk. "Hey you never told me you got sake!" Before anyone could say a word she chugged it. Shizune was horrified.
"Lady Tsunade! Should you be drinking that much so fast!" Shiizune screamed while everyone laughed. When she was finished she slammed the bottle down. As Tsunade chuckled to herself.
"I have an idea to pass time. If one of you beat me in drinking sake without getting drunk than I'll pay the bill. But if I win than the last person standing pays the bill. We have a deal." Everyone smirked then nodded. "Alright here are the rules," Tsunade put a finger up as she counted.
"1.) The last person has to pay the bill with everyone else.
2.) There are two teams. Jonin and higher and the rookie twelve.
3.) Who ever doesn't want to play raise your hand now." Hinata, Shino, Lee, Sakura, Kakashi, Ino, Shizune and Choji raised there hands. Which left Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, Ten Ten, Kanami Jiriya and Tsunade. The waitress came in, "Can we have two dozen sake bottles?" The waitress's eyes widened and surly, brang the sake bottles and quickly left. Everyone who was participating had a big bottle in front of them and sat seriously. " Shizune start it." Shizune slowly nodded.
"Alright. Start." Everyone picked up the sake bottles and started to chug them. Ten Ten went unconscious first, followed by Kiba and Neji. After his second bottle Naruto collapsed and Hinata went to his side. Shikamaru went after his second and a half and Ino was there in a second. Jiriya and Sasuke went after they were finished with there second. Shizune healed Jiriya and Sakura healed Sasuke. Tsunade and Kanami were the only ones left. They chugged bottle after bottle until Tsunade's cheeks were red as an apple. They slammed their empty bottles on the board in unison. They reached to there sides to lift up a new bottle, as they fiddled with the plug they spoke momentarily to each other.
"Not bad kid." Tsunade complimented with her auburn eyes closed, smirking. Kanami's eyes were closed also, but her face blank.
"Thank you fifth hokage-san" Kanami and Tsunade finally unplugged the troublesome cork and threw it somewhere else. By this time everyone who passed out had awoken to watch the event unfurl. Somewhere near the end of the bottle Tsunade coughed and passed out. Luckily as soon as she fell Shizune healed her and she woke up. She eyed the scene before her and groaned.
"How could I lose to a chunin?! It's disgraceful!" Tsunade slapped her forehead. And took out her wallet. The waitress had just walked in, ignoring the danger of the possibility that the ninja's could hurt her. Or worse.
"Can I do anything else for you?" She was calmer now that she knew that mostly everyone was sober. Kakashi looked up from his book he was reading since the drinking game started. Only looking up to see what people passed out.
"Yes could we have the check?" He asked. The waitress nodded and took out her ordering book. She ripped out a page and gave it to him and she scurried out of the room.
Kakashi looked back to his book and with his other hand he held the check in Tsunade's direction. Tsunade swiped the paper from his hand and left a few dollars on the table.
"Lets go." Everyone stood up. Naruto put his hands behind his head.
"Uh, ya but . . . where to again?" Naruto asked his stupid question. Everyone sighed. Even Tsunade who forgot about her anger.
" Where going to open one of our presents." Choji said as he opened a bag of chips. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
" Ya. But where exactly." A few people fell over. Shikamaru sighed.
" I guess it's my turn to explain." He sighed again " It's troublesome to explain something a second time. We're going to the hokage tower to open one present before tomorrow because we spent to much time on the snowball fight." Shikamaru explained. They began to walk out of the side door.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh." Naruto smiled. " I get it." Everyone but Kakashi, Sasuke, and Kanami lowered there heads. "Hey wha'd I miss?" On the way to the Hokage tower all the shops were lit up in beautiful arrays of green, red, and white. The villagers were saying 'merry Christmas!' as they passed each other. Kids were sledding down snowy hills waiting for there parents to be done with there last minute shopping. Groups of friends walked the streets, inhaling the aroma of pine trees that was lifting in the rain. It started to snow, not like a blizzard just flurries. The group of shinobi stopped and gazed into the bleak sky, highlighting the white crystals.
" It's snowing . . ." Ino gazed hypnotically at the white flakes as they continued there quest to the hokage tower. Half way through the cluster of shops the bleak sky became invisible. It suddenly became a blizzard. In the middle of shopping the mothers quickly paid for the various items and scrambled to there kids to hurry home. In less than five minutes they arrived at the tower. The snow was reaching the window sill on the first story. As soon as they opened the door the white snow stained the red carpet as they scurried to close the door.
" Thank goodness that I drank before we went or else I'd be freezing." Tsunade stated.
" Actually alcohol doesn't make you warm yo-" Shikamaru started but Tsunade whacked him over the head with her fist.
" Can the know-it-all attitude!" Tsunade yelled. Shizune went to her side with her hands at her hips.
" Lady Tsunade!" Shizune said in a firm, lecturing voice and gave her own little glare. Tsunade turned to the hallway that lead to the recreational room, waving her wrist back and forth.
" Yeah yeah. Let's get this started. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
" What are we doing again." Everyone hit him upside the head. Narto raised his head and held one finger up weakly. " Oh. Now I remember." Naruto unfortunately was hit again. As they walked passed him to the room Tsunade walked into. The room was decorated with red and green items. At the side of the room, right next to the window that was covered with snow was a Christmas tree. It was littered with ornaments that seemed to be in the exact right place. Under the tree were gifts that were tied on the top with different colored bows. Earlier in the week they had all placed there gifts for each other under this tree. They were having a secret Santa. They all immediately took a seat to make a circle on the red and green carpet.
" Well how are we going to start?" Shizune asked with a smile on her features. Shikamaru held his head in his hand.
" Why don't we just go in alphabetical order by last name?" He suggested.
" What about Hinata, Sasuke, Kanami and Neji. They all have the same last names?" Sakura asked.
" Then alphabetical order of first names." Shikamaru already had the answer in his head. Tsunade rolled her eyes in her eyes in the back of her head for a moment.
" Then it's Shino, Choji, Kakashi, Sakura, Hinata, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Kanami, Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, Jiriya, Lee, Shizune, Tenten and myself." Tsunade said. Shikamaru nodded.
" I'm surprised you remembered everyone's name's. I mean with all the drinking!" Again everyone took a swing at Naruto.
" Could we just get this started?" Tsunade said and looked at the bloody Naruto. "If Naruto could stop with his comments." Naruto crossed his arms like a child and puffed his cheeks.
" Fine." He said. Shino raised his head.
" Alright who got me?" He asked. Shizune raised her hand.
" I did." Shizune took a coffee box with an olive bow from the bottom of the tree. " Here." She handed the box to him
"Thank you." He united the bow and took off the lid of the bow to reveal an ant farm. Though it had no ants in it. "Thanks. I didn't have one like this since I was in the academy." Shizune smiled and nodded. Kakashi closed the book he was reading and looked up.
"Alright. I guess it's my turn." Jiriya nodded and took a rectangular object wrapped in gray paper. He handed it to Kakashi. Kakashi unwrapped it to see a new book. "Thank you master Jiriya." The sage smiled.
"No don't thank me yet." Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "It's the newest one. It's not even in stores yet." Kakashi grinned through his mask.
"Thank you. I start reading it as soon as I'm done with this one." Kakashi raised his book a bit.
" Okay it's my turn." Sakura smiled.
" I got you in the grab bag." Tsunade said giving Sakura a scarlet box with a cherry ribbon. Sakura pulled on the ribbon and loosened it. Once the bow was off she pulled off the cover and pulled out a bottle of sake, Sakura blushed and put an eccentric smile on her face.
" Um, what's this for lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked.
" It's for you and Sasuke. You two have to get drunk someday." Tsunade smiled and Sakura and Sasuke blushed crimson. " Alright Hinata you're next right?" Hinata blushed and nodded. Naruto had a dumb grin on his face and went under the tree, searching for something.
"Yes! Found it! Here ya go Hinata-chan!" Naruto gave his girlfriend a gift with golden wrapping paper. Naruto and Hinata have been going out for almost a year. So have Neji and Tenten, Sakura and Sasuke, and Ino and Shikam9aru. She unwrapped it to see a new hoodie. It was black to match her hair and two white circles were on the shoulders. Hinata blushed even more and held the shirt close to her nervously.
"T-T-Thank y-y-y-you N-N-Naruto-k-k-kun."Hinata and Naruto smiled at each other.
"No prob-lemo Hinata-chan!"
" So it's Neji's turn." Jiriya stated the obvious. Tenten made her way over to the tree and took a present. She gave it to Neji.
"Here you go Neji-kun." The box was pallid and with a russet bow. Neji undid the bow and took off the shell. He took out a white hand knitted hat.
" Thanks Tenten-chan." Neji and Tenten smiled. Kiba smirked and threw his arms in the air.
"Yahoo! It's my turn!" Akkamaru barked in agreement. Lee saluted him.
"Yes my youthful friend! It is I who got you in the secret Santa." Lee took an offering from beneath the tree. "Here." Lee finished and handed Kiba a brown package with a black bow. Kiba unwrapped it to expose a new Frisbee.
"Thanks a lot Lee!" Kiba thanked and Akkamaru barked again.
"No problem my friend." Lee said and turned to Shikamaru. "I believe it is your turn Nara-san." Shikamaru lifted his head.
"Alright who got me?" He asked and Ino reached under the tree and gave him a brown box with a black trimming. It was a shoji board. "Thanks Ino-chan." Ino smiled and Shikamaru turned to face Kanami.
"Okay who has me?" Kanami said with a blank expression. Sasuke tossed her a rectangular wrapped gift. She carefully took off the navy paper to revel a book. It was thick.
"Thanks Sasuke." Kanami said with a blank look. He shrugged.
"Who has me?" Sakura smiled and gave him a package wrapped in blue and black paper. He unraveled it to see a pair of mittens. "Thanks Sakura-chan." They smiled.
"No problem Sasuke-kun." Naruto grinned.
"Okay who has me?!" Hinata raised her hand weakly.
"M-Me Naruto-kun." Hinata gave him a yellow box with a range bow. He quickly ripped the bow off to unconcealed a dozen packs of ramen.
"Thanks Hinata-chan!" Naruto hugged her and she blushed a deep red.
"Okay my turn." Ino said. And Shikamaru gave her a purple box with a lavender bow. She unwrapped it to see a purple bow, with a lilac stitching. Ino smiled delightfully and hugged her boyfriend.
"Thanks Shika-kun!" Shikamaru blushed a bit.
"Troublesome." He said. Jiriya smirked.
"Alright who has me?" Someone threw a red box at him. The someone was Shino. After Jiriya unraveled it he sow a red toad savings pouch. "Thanks kid." Shino nodded.
"Yes! It's my turn!" Lee said and Kanami threw her present to him at his head.
"Lee you mind sitting down." Lee coughed and sat down. His gift was a new pair of leg warmers. Tears welled in his eyes.
"Thank you Kanami-san!" Lee cried on her shoulder, until Kanami gave him a tissue. He blew his mucus in it.
"Shizune it's your turn." Kanami reminded her, and Shizune nodded. Kakashi gave her a wrapped rectangular gift. She opened it to see a new poison needles.
"Thank you Kakashi-san." Shizune thanked. Kakashi nodded. "Tenten it's your turn." Neji got something from behind his back and gave it to her. It was a new pair of kunais.
"Thanks Neji-kun." Tenten and Neji smiled. Tsunade smirked.
"Alright I'm the last one then we'll call it a night." Kiba gave her a green box, she took off the lid and took out a huge bottle of sake. "Thanks Kiba." She stood up and went down the hall. "What are you idiots waiting for go to sleep." Tsunade said before she disappeared into the darkness. The place was empty. Every ninja had off that organized paper work and things here. They all went to bed in hopes of the new gifts they would have tomarrow.