A/N: Part one of my Story Convention entry for TMB.

Celebration

The Bellmaker

"Whoo! Another successful mission! We should so totally celebrate!" Naruto was even more enthusiastic than he was normally, quite the feat. "No, seriously, c'mon guys!" The blond was dancing excitedly around his teammates, so energetically that he was impossible to ignore, even if one were able to shut out the sound of his voice.

"Go ask Iruka-sensei! Doesn't he always treat you to ramen when you get back?" Sakura tried to wave Naruto away, but he persisted.

"Nonono, not like that! I mean really go out and celebrate, yanno? Come on! Please?" He hesitated a moment, then, "My treat!"

This last addition finally got Sasuke's attention. "Oh? And what makes this mission so special, dobe?" Naruto didn't even blink at the insult. He just stared at his teammates, in disbelief.

"You mean, you guys don't know? We just completed our tenth C-rank as a team! I mean, that's not so much, yeah, but it's a big milestone! Come on, guys! Puh-leeeeaaazzze!" The orange clad nin begged pitifully. Which is not to say he was doing it poorly, not at all! The expert combination of puppy-eyes and quivering lip was something beyond all but the most skilled at this form of manipulation: Five-year-olds. Of course, such a maneuver is typically useless against such a cold and uncaring personality as Sasuke's.

"Gah, fine, fine! Just...put away the eyes! They burn..." He gave in almost immediately, mentally vowing to himself that he would train a resistance to this horrifying technique.

"Sounds like fun!" Sakura agreed as soon as Sasuke did. "But...um, what are we going to do? You know, to celebrate?"

Naruto's devious grin immediately caused the two to question the wisdom of their decision. "There's a Karaoke bar not far from my apartment, and I figured..."

"What?! No way!" Sakura was appalled.. "We're way too young!"

"We were of age as soon as we put on these headbands." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah! Listen to the bastard! Besides, haven't you always wanted to see him singing Karaoke?"

"I will not sing." The Number Five Uchiha Death Glare was levelled at the blond. He didn't seem to notice.

"Aww...is poor little Sasuke afraid to do Karaoke? Is- ow!" Rubbing his newly bruised cheek, Naruto glared daggers at the raven-haired boy.

"I simply have dignity. A concept that I'm sure is far beyond you." This would have escalated the conflict to a full-on brawl, had Sakura not been walking in the middle. Even then, it was only thanks to her timely interruption that the two of them didn't end up beating each other into the dirt.

"Um, guys, we may technically be of age, but, um...who'd really let us drink? Or...even into a bar?" She paused, considering. "Well, except for Sensei, I mean."

"Oh. Uhh..."

"Hn. Figures you wouldn't know."

"Well! A Henge's out of the question, they'd notice, and we might slip up or something..." Having said this, the loud blond was uncharacteristically quiet and thoughtful. For just a moment. Then that grin crept back onto his face, and the way he was eyeing Sasuke made the broody genin start to inch away from his team, just in case... "Hey! Guys, guess what?" He paused, briefly, but didn't wait for an answer. however, the singsong trill of his next sentence sent a chill down the spines of Team Seven. "I know a jutsu..."

"I don't know how you managed to convince me this was a good idea, but you die tomorrow." A raven-haired beauty hissed at her blonde friend, across the red-haired young hunk they were walking with, casting an icy glare at her.

"Oh, Saki-chan!" The blonde laughed, voice bubbly, "It'll totally work! And besides, you like it, and you know it!" She stuck her tongue out at 'Saki-chan', giggling. Their red-haired companion looked down on the blonde, gently shaking her off of his arm.

"Naruko, I don't know what bothers me more. The fact that you invented a sex-change jutsu, or the fact that you are really good at being a girl."

"...Aka, you wound me!" The blonde clapped a hand to her heart. "Alas! That my own teammates should find my work upsetting! I'll have you know that this jutsu is a masterpiece in both form and function!"

"And about the names..." The brunette on the young man's other arm(figuratively speaking, that is) began, but she was quickly shushed by the blonde.

"We're here!" She gestured grandly at the building they were standing in front of. "See? Let's go!" Her friends eyed the building suspiciously.

"It's...a pretty decent looking place." Saki allowed, looking rather confused.

"Yeah..." Aka agreed, mirroring her expression.

"Guys..." Naruko huffed, not looking very surprised. "I know how to pick a good place to celebrate! Now come on!" The slender blonde tugged on the redhead's arm, but found the difference in size and weight to be too much. So she settled for pulling Saki into the building. Their male friend followed close behind. She steered them to a small table on the wall, with a small booklet on it. "Wait here, I'll be right back." It was fairly crowded, but no-one had been there long, it seemed, with most of the drinks still pretty full. Saki watched as the blonde wove her way to the bar, but Aka seemed absorbed in the booklet, which was a catalogue of the songs available for Karaoke. The darkly-clothed girl's eyes narrowed as she saw the easy familiarity with which Naruko greeted the bartender, before picking up the drinks which had presumably been the purpose of the trip.

Aka jumped as glass hit the table in front of him, and he looked up to see a grinning Naruko bearing beers. Her eyes were full of laughter, but he forced himself to ignore her amusement at catching him unaware. He smiled, and thanked her, before picking up his glass and considering it. Saki was eyeing hers like it might bite her, and the blonde was sitting there, giving them an expectant grin...

"Oh! Right, yeah, I thought we should just start off with this." She gave her own glass a little wave. It sloshed dangerously. "This place has a lot of weird drinks, so I figure we can start with this, and work our way up to the stuff that can take paint off of walls. So!" The blonde raised her beer and lowered her voice, until the two at the table with her almost had to strain to hear her words. "Sakura-chan, bastard, here's to a team milestone!" And much louder, "Kampai!" The other two echoed the toast, and took a cautious taste of their drinks. Naruko drained half her glass and gave them a disappointed look, a wordless 'see how easy it is? Why can't you do this?' Saki glared at her, lifted her drink to her lips deliberately, and simply poured it down her throat. She was immediately reduced to a fit of coughing, and flipped off Naruko, who was laughing at her misfortune.

"Ugh." Saki continued her attempts to set Naruko on fire with nothing but a sufficiently concentrated glare.

"'s what you get for rushing." Both of the young women at the table looked at Aka in surprise, surprised at his reaction to Saki's mistake. "I mean..." He was talking very deliberately. "'t wouldna happened if you had not tried to beat Naruko, there." He blinked twice. "I think...I need a new drink." Indeed, his drink had been reduced to a fine layer of foam on the inside of his glass.

"Hn." Saki watched as Naruko got up again to get more drinks. Aka took the opportunity to take a look around the room. He noticed for the first time that the entire patronage of the establishment was comprised of shinobi. Hey, that was the referee for the Chuunin Exam Finals! Oh! And the crazy proctor lady from the second part of the exams! She was with...Team Eight's Jounin sensei. He couldn't remember her name, but she was very pretty...He quickly shook his head. His thoughts were wandering down very uncomfortable paths. It was definitely the alcohol. Yes, that's all.

The blonde returned with a large jug of sake and three of those…sake drinking thingies. Aka's mind utterly failed to find him the word he was looking for. Stupid brain. He gave it a mental kick, as Naruko filled the cups. "Kampai!"

A few drinks served to loosen up Saki a bit. Which is to say, she wasn't glaring anymore, so that was nice. She was even flipping through the Karaoke catalogue, and Naruko thought that the prospects for her going up to sing later in the night were pretty good. She watched her two friends closely, glad that this was working out.

"So, Naruko…" Saki began, "You seemed pretty familiar with," she broke off to take a drink. "With the barkeep. He knew you." There was a question in there.

"Well…" Naruko rubbed the back of her head, "I, er…IreallylikeKaraoke!" It took the other two a moment to decipher this.

"You really like Karaoke…so you've done this before."

"Uhm…Regularly, actually…"

"Ugh…Naruko…" Aka sighed, and began to take another drink, but…that proctor guy from the finals was trying to get his attention. As soon as it became apparent that the redhead was looking, he gave him a big thumbs-up, and mouthed 'Nice catch!' followed by what had to be obscene gestures.

Needless to say, he almost drowned in his sake, and was reduced to a coughing fit that was slightly less harmless than Saki's earlier trouble. It certainly hurt a lot more.

"You really think he's with Naruko and that other chick? Maybe they're just friends." Raidou said, completely unconvinced by Genma's firm belief that young Naruko-chan had at last gotten a man.

"No. I'm certain. Look at them fawning over him! It's clearly deeper than simple friendship." Genma pointed with his ever-present senbon.

"I'm pretty sure they're just worried. I mean, it looks like he inhaled quite a bit of sake, thanks to your stunt, there."

"The night is young yet! I guarantee that by the end of the night, they will kiss!" even if I have to make it happen! went unsaid. Luckily, Raidou didn't suspect.

A/N: Well, after scrambling to get this finished for the deadline, FFnet's login system died on me, so I couldn't get this up. Meh. The deadline was extended thanks to the trouble, so at least it isn't late due to circumstances beyond my control. Hm. I'm also dissatisfied with the flow, but then, I always complain about my stories.