Hi there! This is A Christmas Carol for Naruto, because it's never too late for the holidays!
I created this story so I can have some quick few breaks from Gone, the other story I made. If you don't know that one, you should go check it out in my profile!
It's not that I don't like writing it, I do, but sometimes I need to think about something else so I can have more inspiration, get it?
Okay, I'm rambling on about things that I don't want to ramble on, so let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto; A Christmas Carol belongs to Charles Dickens
One quick note: Since this story is just a quick get-away, I might not continue it. Sometimes I lose the inspiration, sorry!
But if I get some reviews, I might continue it.
Minato Namikaze was dead, to begin with.
So he left his business to his son, who was into business like himself, although, maybe even a bit more.
His son's name was Naruto Uzumaki, and yes, they have different last names. His last name came from his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, who died shortly after he was born. So being a single dad, he taught his young boy everything he knew. And what he knew was mostly business stuff, so he taught him how to subtract money to get change. There was how to save money, how to make a bank account, withdraw, I=PRT, and a lot of other things. Minato's favorite that he taught his son was how to get customers to come to your store. He's been teaching stuff like this to him since he was six. Every day after school, Naruto would go straight home, eager to start another lesson with his father. He liked this business talk.
Now it's been 20 years, and Naruto is a young 26-year-old bachelor. He's also a very young business man. He now owns Foxy Toys...alone. He has many staff members (about his age) who, at first, liked his leader qualities, but then soon got tired of his bossy attitude. All, that is, except for one.
"M-Merry Christmas, Mr. Uzumaki!" cried Hinata Hyuga as she shyly handed her boss a small box neatly wrapped with blue wrapper covered in snowflakes. Mr. Uzumaki snatched the present.
"Tch," he said to her. "Whatever." He was wearing a navy blue today on Christmas Eve. He always liked dark colors. Tomorrow, he was going to wear black for Christmas. He always wears black for Christmas. He never really liked Christmas.
Hinata was wearing her favorite lavender T-shirt with white sleeves and trimming on the bottom of the shirt. Over that was the red-orange vest that all the employees wear. On the back of the vest it had Foxy Toys on top and "May I Help You?" or "I'm Here to Help!" underneath it. The Foxy Toys logo had "Foxy" in boxed capital letters. The "F" is slightly slanted to the right. Coming out on the left side of the "F" is an orange plushie fox. Right under "Foxy" was "Toys". The "Toys" part was also all capitals. The "T" was a flashlight pointing up, the "O" was a car wheel, "Y" is the touchdown goal in football, and the "S" is a snake. Minato designed the logo himself. That's one of the things Naruto always brags about.
"Oh, um, okay." Hinata was always shy around her boss, and other people, but mostly her boss. Since she was little, she's always like the Foxy Toys store. She liked their mascot, Foxy, who sometimes come over to the store. He looked like the plushie fox at the "F". At first, Hinata was afraid of him, but soon she had grown to like him. Even when she's now 25 and knows Foxy isn't real, she still likes him. When Foxy comes for the Christmas Special at Foxy Toys, Hinata is always one of the first to volunteer to help set up. It's because that she liked the store so much that she decided to work here. She started working a couple years after Minato's death, and a couple years after Naruto started taking over. She'll never forget the first time they met. They shook hands as a greeting, and Hinata felt a little spark. When he smiled at her and her heart skipped a beat, she knew what that spark meant.
It was a nice morning, the sun shining brightly. The store was just about to open. She was in his office, standing at the very spot where she stood three years ago: in front of his desk. Naruto was also in his same spot, but three years ago, he was standing. Now, he just grabbed the present and set it next to his paperwork without even looking up from his work. When Naruto noticed she was still standing in his office, that's when he looked up at her. She was smiling kindly at him, but again shyly. He hated it when she began to feel shy. He let out an exasperated sigh. "You may leave," he said to her.
Hinata's smile slowly disappeared, her boss not noticing as he was back to his paperwork. This was the first time she ever gave a present to Naruto, but he didn't say anything. Just a "You may leave." It hurt. Hoping to cover up her sadness, she smiled another smile (though not as meaningful as the last) and bowed her head. She turned to leave, but then Naruto called after her. With hope filling up her heart, she turned around. "Don't forget to tell the other employees that they're still working tomorrow." Her heart dumped it all out.
"Of...Of course," she replied. Then she closed the office door. She stayed there for a while in case he called out again, but he said nothing, so she walked away to start the morning.
There were two stories in Foxy Toys, an upgrade Minato made the year before he died. The building was very fancy; the whole front was made of glass so the children can see the toys inside. It was huge, too. Inside it's noisy, because you can hear all the children playing. There was a children's area both upstairs and downstairs. During the week of Christmas, Foxy comes for two days, then comes on Chrismtas Eve. Those days are the always the busiest.
"Ugh, now I know why Mr. Uzumaki hates Christmas Eve," Shikamaru said as he stood leaning on the gate. Instead of a Santa Claus, Foxy Toys would have Foxy be the Santa Claus and do games that will get kids prizes if they won.
"Aw, lighten up, Shikamaru!" Kiba punched his friend's shoulder lightly. "It's just a few hundred screaming kids!"
"Yeah, but you don't have to be Santa Foxy's Helper Elf!" He was wearing a green elf hat with fake pointed ears. At the end of the hat was a bell. He wore a red dress-like shirt with long sleeves, and green tights. The shirt was full of glitter.
Kiba was next to his friend, but he was on the other side of the gate. The gate that separated them was the gate that separated the store with Foxy's WinterWonderland, where all the games were hosted. It was at the back of the store - the biggest part of the store. "Okay, but at least you don't have to wear this reindeer headband that lights up!" he replied as he put on his costume. "For a guy who hates Christmas, he sure does a lot of Christmas-y things!"
A snowball made out of fake snow hit Shikamaru's arm. The snow was made out of these dry flakes that when you wet it, it grows to make it look and feel like snow. The lazy employee looked over at who threw it, not that he cared. Some young boys laughed and pointed at him. Shikamaru even heard the word "Dork" coming from one of them. He sighed again.
Tenten and Hinata were the elves who helped Foxy control the kids. Tenten was at the front because she's the one with the loud voice. Hinata are with the kids in the back. Usually these were the kids that are shy like her, so they're easy to take care of. When Foxy told the girls (in a muffled voice) that he can take the kids now, she and Tenten walked over to the side. They saw Shikamaru and Kiba talking to each other across from their side.
"So he didn't even mutter a thanks?" Tenten asked. Hinata shook her head. "THAT JERK!"
"Ah, Tenten!" Hinata put her index finger to her lips. Sometimes her friend can lose her temper and start to shout. People were already staring at their direction.
"Oh, sorry," Tenten apologized. She was getting better at controling her anger, but sometimes she forgets. "But seriously, he should show his appreciation! It's not every day he gets a present from a cute girl like you!"
Hinata blushed deep red, to which Tenten laughed at (a friendly laugh).
Neji couldn't keep the two kids from screaming. Ugh, why did he have to get this job! His job was being one of the watchers on the second floor children's area.
"Ino, a little help here!" he cried over to his partner.
Ino looked up from the magazine she was reading from. "Oh right!" She got up from the couch and walked over to the two 5-year-olds. They were playing Tug-O-War with a stuffed Santa Foxy.
"I saw it first!"
"No, I did!"
Ino crouched down to the level of the little kids. "Hey, hey, look what I've got!" Out from behind her she pulled out another Santa Foxy. "Now one of you gets this one, and the other gets this." She gently took the now pulled apart Foxy. "On second thought, I'll get you another one." She ran over to the place where the Santa Foxy plushies were supposed to be, but it looked like she took the last one.
Neji saw this. He let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll get more from the back."
The only problem was that "the back" was all they way down on the first floor, and he wasn't allowed to go on the escalator.
Shino just wanted the day to end. He wanted the store to close already.
He watched as Neji got out of the back room carrying a box. Now he has to climb back upstairs. Well, at least he wasn't working on the second floor. Instead, he's on the first floor of children's area as one of the watchers. His partner was Choji.
Choji was sitting on the couch that was in the first floor children's area eating one of his many bags of chips. He just couldn't wait for a lunch break.
Nothing much happened on the first floor. It was because Santa Foxy was here also. If the parents brought their kids over to Foxy Toys just for a quick shopping, and they have no time to let their kids play, then they would send them off in the nearest children's area, which was of course on the first floor. But then the kids have a good view from there of Foxy's WinterWonderland and all the children having fun, so they go to the second floor.
Only when it's not Foxy coming over that they actually get to watch kids.
No kid was at the first floor children's area, so they watched the kids from WinterWonderland. Shino saw Kiba walk back over to his job. His job was next to Shikamaru's. While Shikamaru is Foxy's helper, Kiba is at the gift shop. The gift shop holds things that are not toys. The rest of the store is full of smaller sections controlled by other staff that are filled with toys.
Those toys usually disappear around November and December.
Night.
It was time for the Foxy Toys employee members to go home. Foxy took off his mask to reveal a man with black hair and paper-pale skin.
"Isn't it hot in there, Sai?" Tenten asked as she helped him take off the big head.
"Very," he answered.
Hinata and Shikamaru (who had changed back to their regular clothes) were picking up trash left by the kids.
Kiba was making sure all the snowglobes were still round, the keychains still have chains, and the clothes weren't ripped. Then he closed his shop.
Neji and Ino walked down the escalator (which was off) after a long, busy day.
Shino and Choji, out of boredom, checked to make sure everything was still in order, even if they knew that nothing but the wind touched them.
After everything was set, they gathered around the center of the shop. They were discussing how to greet Naruto. Should they greet him at all?
Before they could decide, Naruto came out of his office. They watched him as he walked over towards them. His office was next to the first floor children's area, but there was a thick enough wall that separated between them so he couldn't hear the kids' shouts. "What are you still doing here?" he asked in an angry but tired voice.
"We wanted to greet you a Merry Christmas!" Tenten was brave enough to answer. "So, uh, Merry Christmas!" All the employees (who cared) smiled at their boss. All of them quietly greeted him. Hinata's was softer than usual.
Naruto still had on a face that matched his voice. "Tch," he said. "Whatever."
With that, he walked to the front of the store, opened the glass doors, and then stepped outside.
Another note: I'm sure that there have been many Christmas Carol Naruto's and Sasuke's, and I'm just one of them.
But I've never read a single one, so I don't know what's happening in the other stories. If I've copied a plot or situation, I HAD NO IDEA!
Just tell me in your reviews and I will fix it as soon as I can.
Sasuke was my original Scrooge, but at the end, I couldn't see him as that happy "I love Christmas, now!" guy, so I chose Naruto.
Also, this chapter was a bit rushed, so it may not sound good. But please stick around for more! I'll try to get better!
If the chapter made no sense, it's because I was just rambling on and on about things. Please tell me in a review.
Please review!