Naruto's Super-Secret S-Rank Mission
Naruto was on a mission. A very important mission. A very important, and secret mission. An S-ranked mission! He couldn't believe he hadn't done something like it before. He was devastated. So much so that he abstained from ramen as punishment. Until Karin-nē decided to waft a bowl of Ichiraku's right in front of his face. So, his punishment lasted all of ten minutes. Which sucked. But back to the matter at hand. Naruto had a mission. Nothing about the Akatsuki bastards or that prick Orochimaru. No, this was more important than that. It was Ri-chan's birthday. Naruto couldn't believe that he didn't know! All those years where his sister (something which Shikamaru still didn't know about) would go out and treat him to as much ramen as he could eat, not even caring about the bill. It was very upsetting for him that Naruto never bothered to return the favour.
But no more! Thankfully, Sakura-chan made a passing remark that Ri-chan's birthday was coming up and she had asked him what he was getting her. Naruto, being the super-cool ninja he was, made some reasonable (in his mind) excuse, that fortunately Sakura-chan bought. It was after that, that Naruto had his meltdown. For all of four hours.
After he got his panicking out of the way, Naruto made a plan. Not the best of plans, but a good plan nevertheless. He could plan a surprise birthday party. He'd invite everyone one! Team Eight, Team Ten. Even Bushy-brows' team would be invited. But he would make sure Neji wouldn't upset Ri-chan. That wouldn't be good. Karin-nē would be there. And so would Haku and his friends. Who were strangely always in Konoha whenever Team Seven were not on missions. Weird.
So into his planning, Naruto didn't even register the soft thump that indicated someone landed near him.
"What are you doing?" the baritone voice of Uchiha Sasuke.
"Ah, Sasuke!" Naruto cried out, "I need your help?"
"For what?" Sasuke asked.
"It's Ri-chan's birthday next week! I'm planning a surprise birthday party!" Naruto explained, grinning widely.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his face an expression that almost suggested that he didn't believe Naruto was capable of such a thing.
"Hey, I can plan parties," Naruto pouted.
"Whatever," Sasuke snorted, "I assume you have something resembling a plan, at least."
"Yeah! I'll ask Ino if she can get lilies to decorate the Ri-chan and Karin-nē's apartment, 'cause that's where we'll have the party," Naruto began, "Shikamaru'll help with Ri-chan's favourite foods, and Chōji can help with the preparation."
Sasuke's other eyebrow joined the raised one, as he whistled, "That's a lot of thought you put into this, Usaratonkachi."
"Shut up! Kuso yarō!" Naruto yelled, "I'm perfectly capable of coming up with a plan!"
"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke drawled, "How do you plan on keeping Ri busy while you set everything up?"
"Oh, that's easy! Hinata's little sister and her team can go bug her for training," Naruto replied, "They'll have Ri-chan busy, and Ri-chan won't mind teaching them at all!"
"Is the little Hyūga even in the village at this moment, and not on a mission?" Sasuke mildly inquired.
Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but paused when found that he didn't know the answer to the question.
"Crap, I knew I was forgetting something," Naruto mumbled, "Team Ten are off-duty until Ino finishes her stint in T&I and Shikamaru finishes his reports from the Chūnin Exams. Team Eight just returned from a lengthy border patrol mission, and Busy-brows' team are on leave like us."
"Well, fortunately for you, I saw that brat pack return from a mission. So, you're safe there," Sasuke smirked, "You'd better go catch them before they get busy again."
"Right! I should also start talking to everyone! See ya, bastard!"
And with that, Naruto leaped away, roof hopping to where he knew the Yamanaka Flower Shop was. Fortunately, they were still open and Ino was manning the till.
"Hey Ino!" Naruto cheerfully greeted.
"Naruto! You don't usually come here. What brings you by?" Ino first welcomed, and then asked.
Looking over his shoulder, Naruto moved closer to Ino, and gestured for her come closer as well. Which she did, albeit with a confused look on her face.
"It's Ri-chan's birthday next week!" Naruto whispered, "I'm planning a surprise party!"
"Oh that's so sweet!" Ino squealed, before swooning, "And romantic. I didn't take you for planning something like this for your girlfriend!"
Ri-chan's not my girlfriend," Naruto denied, genuinely confused, "She's wi-"
He had to cut himself off, as he remembered that Ri-chan and Sasuke hadn't officially announced that they were a couple.
"Oh, don't deny it Naruto," Ino dismissively waved, seemingly missing the slip from Naruto, "Everyone knows that you two kissed before you left on your training mission with Jiraiya-sama."
"I…but…Oh, whatever. Look! Do you have lilies in stock?" Naruto asked, giving up the previous topic as a lost cause, "White would be fine, but if you have deep-pinkish red, that would be better."
"Oh, that's so cute!" Ino squealed once more, "You know her favourite flower already! I didn't even know you had it in you!"
"Ino…" Naruto growled, beginning to lose patience.
"Fine, fine. I'll check, but I'm pretty sure we do," Ino said, "Where am I bringing them?"
"To Ri-chan's apartment, this day next week. Around lunchtime," Naruto replied.
"Next week, at lunch time," Ino repeated, noting down the order on a pad on the desk, "Alright. I'll make sure to get an extra special present and a dress to where. You only turn sixteen once, after all."
"Heh, sure thing," Naruto grinned, he turned around and ran off, shouting over his shoulder, "Mata ne!"
Naruto's next stop was the Nara Compound. He hadn't been here in a while, but it was one of his more favourite places to come. The nature just sang deep within himself. Passing by the compound gate guards, he strode confidently towards Shikamaru's house. Predictably, outside on the veranda was the cloud-watcher himself. With him, was Asuma-sensei as the pair were playing shogi as usual. Seeing the orange clad ninja approach, Shikamaru turned away from the game that he was no doubt winning and incline his head in greeting.
"Naruto. What brings you by?" Shikamaru lazily asked.
"Ri-chan's birthday's coming up! I'm planning a surprise party! I need to know her favourite foods, so that I can ask Chōji to help prepare them!" Naruto explained. All in the space of about three seconds.
Shikamaru blinked once. Then twice. Then groaned and flopped backwards on to his back.
"Mendokusai," he groaned, "That's next week, isn't it?"
"You mean, you forgot?" Naruto dumbly asked, mystified as to how the genius Nara could forget something so important.
"I didn't forget!" Shikamaru heatedly retorted, "I just…Had other things on my mind, instead."
"Right," Naruto remained unconvinced, "Anyway! Her favourite foods!"
Shikamaru palmed his face, mumbled some obscenities under his breath. All the while, Asuma-sensei was chuckling, but was content to let Naruto and Shikamaru have their conversation.
"I'll handle the food, Naruto," Shikamaru stated, which mostly came out as a demand.
"What? No! This is my super-secret mission!" Naruto being the stubborn knucklehead he was, didn't recognise Shikamaru's words for what they were.
"Naruto. Riko is my sister. I will handle the food. You deal with decorations and guests," Shikamaru repeated, this time leaking ever so little killing intent to reinforce his words.
Shivering at the subtle threat, Naruto hastily back peddled, "Al-alright, Shikamaru. You handle the food. I handle everything else."
"Good," Shikamaru nodded.
"Right…erm…Well, I'll just leave. Gotta make sure everyone's coming. See ya!" Naruto said, and then hurried away without looking back.
If Naruto bothered to listen, he would have heard Asuma-sensei softly saying, "You're scary when you actually make an effort. You know that?"
The next couple of hours were spent coordinating with the rest of his graduating class and Bushy-brows' team. Team Eight was in. As was Team Ten. Haku and his team were present. Temari even managed to make it, having been on a regular visit to see Shikamaru. Team Headcase, as Ri-chan labelled them, was willing to distract R-chan. All in all, the S-ranked mission, 'Surprise Riko', was going ahead as expected. Even Kakashi-sensei was showing enthusiasm. Or at least, what enthusiasm that Kakashi-sensei considered as such.
Eventually, the evening of the 31st of July arrived, and Team Headcase was successful in keeping Ri-chan distracted. And much to Naruto's delight, Ri-chan didn't even suspect a thing! And now, Ri-chan and Karin-nē's apartment was fully decorated with lilies. Presents were ready, and the guests were waiting. To aid in the surprise, some sealing tags that Ero-sennin provided helped to hid the guests' chakra signature, so that Ri-chan couldn't sense anything off about the apartment.
Now all that was left was for everyone to await Ri-chan's arrival.
Everything sucked, Riko decided. It wasn't so much that it was her birthday, that made everything suck. She didn't even bother with her birthday, anyway. All those years with the Dursley's barely giving a thought about the day had deadened her to the significance of such an event. She knew her parents knew. Shikamaru probably did as well. And Ino. Nothing escaped Ino. But her parents had respected her wishes to not celebrate a birthday, normally just giving her a small cake as a gift. Shikamaru would actually put an extra amount of effort on this date.
However, was some strange reason, Riko couldn't find a single friend of hers. Shizune seemed nonplussed that none of the Konoha Twelve were present. Karin was around for all of one hour, before dashing off to parts unknown and as far as Riko knew, Sakura was working double shifts at the hospital to cover for a doctor who took maternity leave.
It bugged Riko, and she didn't know why. Today didn't matter to her. Sure, she sometimes spent the day with Ruto, before graduation, but since then she had to face a myriad of trials. Then, she was carted off to Mizu no Kuni, where she spent two years as someone else. There just wasn't time to care about her birthday. So, why was she so bothered?
Riko sighed, 'It wasn't all that bad, I suppose.'
Hanabi-chan and her team asked (Read: Begged) for training from her, as Anko had to pull an extra shift with T&I that day. Riko was fully prepared to fob the crazy genin onto someone else, most likely Genma. However, the little hellions were persistent buggers, and Riko decided that indulging them was probably the better option. Owing Genma a favour didn't seem like a wise idea. Or so her gut told her. Or maybe it was Dementia, Riko didn't know.
Other than her birthday, and the strange irritation that came with it, the other thing that was bothering her was that Ruto was on some S-ranked mission that he couldn't spill the beans on. Sasuke too, apparently. It was frustrating. Team Seven was supposed to do that sort of shit together. But no, they had to leave her behind.
Riko huffed. She'd be giving her boys a piece of her mind. If and when she found them, anyway. Deciding that moaning about the matter was useless, she stopped by a cornerstore to buy two tubs of ice cream. Hopefully, Karin was back from doing whatever, and the pair could have an ice cream session, while complaining about everything and nothing. While she was not normally known for indulging in such…frivolities, there were times when she needed blow off steam.
A short trip later, and Riko found herself standing in front of her apartment complex with a bemused look on her face.
She wasn't sure why, but her gut screamed that something was off. The problem was that the complex was normal. Like it always had been, whenever she came home. Nothing was out of place, no irregular chakra signatures.
Warily, she approached the front door, and unlocked it. Slowly, she turned the door knob and pushed the door open.
"SURPRISE!" voices from the darkness cried out in unison. Not expecting the loud noise, Riko was startled to the point that she unsealed a kunai and flung it almost wildly. A sudden yelp later, and the lights flicked on.
Within the entrance/sitting room were Riko's close friends and family, all bearing looks of various degrees of sheepishness. Save for Kiba, who was flat out on the floor from having to dodge the kunai that Riko threw.
"What the hell?" Riko murmured.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RI-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, rather exuberantly.
"Ruto?!" the red-haired unofficial Uzumaki gasped, "What is this?"
"It's my super-secret S-ranked mission!" Naruto explained, literally vibrating in excitement, "Your surprise birthday party!"
"I…Ruto, I…I don't celebrate my birthday," Riko stammered.
Naruto's usual megawatt smiled dimmed noticeably, making Riko wince.
"You don't like it?" he mumbled.
"What? No! Ruto, I…I…I love it," Riko hastened to rectify her previous statement, "I just…I just wasn't expecting it!"
"Well, yeah! Silly!" Naruto laughed, "It's supposed to be a surprise party! You ain't supposed to know about it!"
"I guess so," Riko grinned, as tears pooled in her eyes.
"I know so!" Naruto stated, "Now c'mon! Wipe your face and let this party started!"
A roar came from the others as someone started the music. Presents were opened and cake was cut, as the party kicked off in style. That being Lee and Gai-sensei challenging each other to vertical pinky push-ups. While balancing another person on their feet.
Riko smiled, wiping away the tears. For her first birthday party, this was quite the event. While people came, congratulated, and moved on, Riko was a little miffed that one person was missing. Until a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. Her smile grew as one final voice called out to her.
"Happy Birthday, Yasumin," the husky voice of her beau.
Riko squeaked, as much as she would deny it later, as Sasuke pulled her into an embrance. Only to dip her, as one might in a dance. Before she zoned out her surroundings, Riko idly heard the mortified scream from Ino (and possibly Sakura), as Sasuke leaned down to press his lips onto her own.
'I have the most insane family in the world,' Riko mused, smiling into the kiss. Only Sasuke would decide to announce their relationship in such a ridiculous manner.
Author's Note: This one-shot story is a non-canon omake from the Growing Strong series, written as a birthday present for Silencia20, who is the creator of said series. Cia is a very good friend of mine, so this story is dedicated to you! Bet you thought I forgot, huh?
Thanks for being a sound board for my ideas. And for listening to me rant about how a mutually adored series did something ridiculous. And for the many hours of hilarity that you've provided me. Oh, and for creating several of my favourite pieces of fiction on this site. I mustn't forget that. You are most definitely worthy of your fan-base.
I can't say that is one-shot is anywhere close to your masterpiece, but I hope you enjoyed reading it, all the same.
All that's left to say is that I hope this next year is as rewarding as the last! Happy Birthday Cia!