Kiba's band played the whole night. He was very pleased that he had a crowd this large, all waiting for his music to crash through the air, even audible from the outside of the shining, gold- stone walls.

"Arf!" Akamaru the second barked happily into the microphone.

Tenten plowed her way through the throng up to the stage, dragging a confused Lee, and she shouted "play something fast!" Kiba nodded. Tenten thrust Lee backwards and they started to dance.

"Tenten, you've definintely changed since the last time I saw you" Lee said over the blaring music. He was ectastic, though, to have Tenten dance with him.

Neji leaned up against the side of the stage, his hair still undone. He needed to relax after using that much Chakra.

"So," Kiba yelled, turning away from the microphone mid-lyric, "What happened between you and Hinata back there?"

Neji was about to respond, when some man roared from the crowd "Kiba, start singing!" Kiba turned back to the microphone.

Gaara watched the ants from above, at his place in the balcony. Temari and Kankurou were rigid behind him, only their eyes moving as they exchanged frantic glances, theorizing what Gaara would do.

You're probably pondering what the sand ninja were like now. Not much had changed; Temari and Kankurou still had to watch over Gaara and his boiling, murderous intent. Gaara turned and went down the stairs, while Temari and Kankurou followed anxiously.

They arrived at the dance floor. Gaara's glaring eyes sweeped the room. He did not want to set foot upon the dancefloor, so he stood near the wall.

At eight'o clock, Naruto rised form the long table at the end opposite of the door, microphone in hand.

"As you all know, we're here to celebrate my becoming the sixth Hokage!" Naruto yelled into the microphone, deafening everyone. After rubbing their ears from that, they all applauded raucously."But, we're also celebrating another important event. Sakura-chan's birhtday!" Naruto tugged Sakura's arm, hauling her to her feet."Stand up!"

Sakura stood up hesitantly, blushing a little, while pink and red streamers bloated and plummeted from the ceiling. More applause and cheers thundered from the crowd. Naruto ended the speech there, knowing everyone would rather party, and so would he.

Gaara watched all the dancing couples taciturnedly, an agitated expression on his face. Suddenly, a man asked Temari to dance, leaving Kankurou, to his dismay, alone with his brother.

"How troublesome" Shikamaru thought, listening to the music and Ino's constant chattering with other Kunoichi. He didn't like big parties, unlike Ino, but it was Naruto's inauguration. Ino clamped onto Shikamaru's wrist." Let's dance" she ordered. In the earlier years of their relationship, Shikamru would have said lazily"I'm not dancing with you", which resulted in arguments. But now he just sighed and followed Ino. Chouji sat in a chair and shared a bag of ships with his wife. Then, Hinata and Shino sat down near him.

"Are...you going to be okay?" Shino asked quietly.

"I-I'll be fine" Hinata whispered. She was still reminiscing about what had happened.

At eleven'o clock, a ten-foot high chocolate cake streamed through the doorway. "Everyone upstairs for cake!" said Naruto joyously. A tide swelled towards the stairs, and there was not one person who didn't want a piece of the towering cake, except maybe Gaara.

Upstairs, everyone was seated in a room as big as the cavernous downstairs, at tables with white tablecloths. At Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino's table, you could hear Ino saying" just a small piece" followed by Shikamaru's sigh.

At the other end of the room, Kiba and Akamaru the second buried their faces in cake, while Shino watched, disgusted, in perfect silence.

Once again, Naruto and Sakura ate at along, narrow white table at the front. Naruto pulled out a candle, plopped it into Sakura's cake, and lit it. "Happy birhtday, Sakura-chan" he said" make a wish!"

Sakura stared at the single, glowing candle. Her only wish that she ever made was to see Sasuke. Every birthday, that was her wish. She, for the ninth time, made that wish.

Gaara's merciless gaze shredded at the piece of cake.

"Are you going to eat?" exclaimed Kankurou. Temari had gone to eat with the man who had asked her to dance.

After eating, everyone came up to congratulate Naruto if they hadn't already, and if they knew Sakura they gave her presents.

First was Kakashi." Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto and Sakura had said at the same time.

"Hello" Kakashi had said."I...didn't know it was Sakura's birhtday."

"Its okay, Kakashi-Sensei-"Sakura said, before being interrupted by Naruto.

"I know what you can give Sakura!""Show us your face!"

"Alright" he said. He reached and pulled off his mask...

"Wow!" said Sakura.

"Yeah, he looks great, doesn't he?" Anko walked up and stood next to Kakashi. Iruka walked up also.

"I'm proud of you, Naruto" Iruka said, giving him a warm smile."But I'm afraid of I don't have anything for you, Sakura."

"That's okay, Iruka-Sensei"

The sand ninja came up to once again say congratulations, and then they left the party. But then, someone unexpected dropped by.

"Idate!" shouted Naruto and Sakura.

"I heard that you, Naruto, had become Hokage, and I wanted to see it for myself." he said.

"Even if it risked your freedom?""Thank you so much!" he said."I'll never forget this Idate!" Idate turned to leave, while fiddling with his knife, when Naruto said, "Wait, Idate! Since I'm Hokage, I know the perfect thing I can do for you!"

"And what is that?"

"I'm going to pardon you for what happened when you were a genin!"

"R-Really?" his eyes widened with shock. Naruto nodded."Thank you. And Sakura, I was going to give something to you for helping me out in the country of Tea. He unsheathed his knife, "I want to give this to you, it was given to me by someone important who saved me, so take good care of it." Sakura nodded. Idate stayed there until Naruto and Sakura left.

Next were Lee and Tenten, who were holding hands, which made Naruto and Sakura nearly retaste their cake.

"Sakura-chan, I wanted to give you these. He held out a bouquet of cherry blossoms and cosmos, one cosmos of which was placed in Tenten's unpinned hair.

"And I got you these" she held out old pictures of Sasuke she had found.

"Thanks" Sakura said, remembering so many memories.

Then it was Neji's turn, who had gotten her tools that were used to make ninja weapons.

Hinata, Kiba, and Shino presented Sakura with an expensive pink kimono and a short red one too.

Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino were the last to give presents. Chouji gave her free tickets to her favorite restaurant. But it was Ino's gift that stood out. She reached into her pocket and pulled out...Sakura's old bow. Sakura gasped.

"Now that we're not rivals anymore...I wanted to give this back to you." Sakura clasped it in her hands.