Before I start I have a request of sorts. If there is anyone willing to do some art of my stories I would be most grateful. Look at the Art corner of my profile for particular images I would like. I'll be sure to link anything you make as long as you inform me. Please not I am on deviant art under the same name.
Anyhow back to the story. Slightly shorter chapter this time though beta'd by my sister Nami Navigator as usual. Please enjoy.
I own nothing but my clothes and a toothbrush.
4 months later, October 7th (1)
Things had actually gone quite smoothly for the now trio of friends. The acting wasn't all that hard for Sakura. After all it's what she had been doing already, though now she had a reason to keep anchored in reality. (2) Sayuki had a little more of an issue with it and had to stop herself from slapping, punching, or kicking various people for badmouthing Naruto and occasionally Hamano.
Speaking of Hamano, the brunette had 'talked' to the Hokage and got permission to tell Naruto of what he contained. The blonde had taken the news rather well, and much to Hamano's surprise almost immediately told Sakura. Her first reaction was to bring up the kunai and sealing scroll example Hamano had used on her mother, reassuring both boys that she did not see Naruto as the Kyuubi. Hamano however had yet to tell the pinkette about Taizen, but Naruto was letting him tell her in his own time. (3)
As for training, all three now had their combination weights that Hamano had ordered form Ryushi. They were quite ingenious actually. Each set consisted of a chest harness, a pair of wrist harness and a pair of ankle harnesses. The weights were then attached to these as you went along. Once all the weights were on chakra could be fed into the weight seals placed on them, adding to the weights further. So far none of them had more than 3 of the 6 kilo blocks attached.
So now training was even more strenuous, though they would sit out and rest when they needed, Sakura having to rest most often.
With taijutsu, they were all reasonably fluent with the basic academy style, and although Sakura's was a bit rigid and Naruto's a bit sloppy in execution it was passable. Getting Sakura to do more practical study rather than just using books had helped her immensely. They had also started on basic chakra control exercises; holding leaves to their foreheads with chakra while studying or doing other exercises. Hamano had even brought a pair of practice swords and started training with them after finding most of the scrolls Sayuki had held information on an old clan sword style.
Right now the trio were in the middle of their training. Sakura was currently running through her taijutsu, several leaves pinned to her head arms and hands with chakra, while Naruto was studying a scroll on chakra theory. He had less leaves but in the same places. Hamano was going through some basic kenjutsu stances, though he was quite slow due to the two weights he'd added to his wrists before starting, though he had a similar number of leaves to Naruto pinned to him with chakra.
After a while Sakura stopped with her practice, flopping down next to Naruto and letting the leaves fall off. "What's with the extra weights, Hamano?" She asked, grabbing one of the sealing scrolls they'd brought with them as Naruto turned away from his scroll to hear his friends answer.
Hamano let her unseal a bottle of water from the scroll to have a drink and then tip the rest over her, before he stopped and responded.
"I found something in one of the scrolls that I like the look of. Here, take a look." He said, placing the practice sword down to pick up one of his scrolls and opening it for them to see.
After a moment, to allow Naruto to adjust how he was sitting, Hamano pointed at a particular diagram on the scroll.
It was some kind of handless gauntlet or armored bracer, but what was most special about it was the special mechanism that allowed 3 claws to extend and retract from the back.
Of course Naruto spoke without thinking. "That's cool, but why would you need those if you have the swords?" The earned him a light bonk on the head from Sakura.
"Baka, think about it. The swords are too large to conceal easily and take time to draw. A set of these will act as amour and a hidden weapon. Right Hamano?"
The brunette nodded, grinning at his friend's antics. Sakura's confidence had clearly improved even in the 4 months they had known each other.
"Which explains the weights." Added Naruto.
"Yeah." Was all Hamano said, as he fiddled with another scroll: the one that contained the secret to Kazanari Chakra steel.
"You know." Piped up Naruto. "With you deciding on all this cool weaponry. I think me and Sakura need to look at getting something, Just to keep up" He said jokingly.
Sakura looked at the floor. "I don't know. I'm not that good with ninja tools." She said morosely.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan, you just need more practice. You can be good with weapons. Believe it!" Enthused Naruto to cheer her up.
Hamano rolled his eyes at them.
'Might as well get a ring for them right now. You know it's gonna happen.'
Hamano gave Taizen the mental equivalent of a loaded look.
'We'll see. But it whatever happens, it will be interesting.' He thought back before sliding back into his friends conversation.
"You know you don't have to use weapons to be unique. Making your own jutsu's works as well, but you just have to wait longer."
"Yeah, either way we can be really strong." Said Naruto, jumping to his feet.
Hamano rubbed the back of his neck. "You guys want to call it a day?" He asked, causing the other two to look at him like he'd grown another head.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Hamano?" Said Naruto.
The brunette chuckled lightly.
"I want to see Ryushi about getting a set of the claws made, maybe a pair of swords as well." He explained, fiddling with the scroll on chakra steel.
"Whew! I really did think someone had replaced you for a moment. You never let off with the training without reason." Said Naruto dramatically.
"You said it." Agreed Sakura.
Hamano raised an eyebrow at them. "Oh come on. I'm not that bad."
The pair just shot him a look.
'Really?'
'Yep.'
'Meh. It works, and it wouldn't be me otherwise.'
Hamano could feel Taizen facepalming.
"Anyhow, let's pack up." He said, ignoring the spirit.
With that they dispersed, packing up everything into storage scrolls.
When Sakura moved away from Naruto to pack up some of her taijutsu stuff, Hamano approached her.
"Sakura-san." He said in a half whisper
The pinkette gave him a quizzical look. "Yes?"
Hamano winced at how loudly she had spoken. "Keep your voice down. I don't want Naruto to hear."
Sakura decided to go along with it, for now. "Why?"
"It's about his birthday. It's in 3 days."
"R-" She managed to cut herself of before she shouted it out. "Really? Why didn't Naruto-kun say anything?"
Hamano frowned. "Think about it. What's in 3 days?"
Sakura gasped. The festival to celebrate the death of the Kyuubi was in 3 days. October the 10th. Thinking about it, birthdays for Naruto were something to be avoided.
"Exactly. I want to give Naruto a proper birthday for once. Particularly since you guys both got me stuff for my birthday last month."
"I'm going to help you, and my mum will want to help as well." Sakura's voice was full of determination as she spoke.
"That's why I told you. See you tomorrow Sakura-san."
As Sakura sighed as she watched him leave with all his equipment in storage scrolls. It was clear from how he addressed her that he didn't quite trust her yet. But she knew it would just take time.
Later.
Hamano was at Ryushi's again. However, this time he had 2 scrolls in hand.
"I was wondering when you would show up again. It gets lonely around here with Riyu now at the academy most of the time."
Hamano shrugged. "Sorry, but I'm rather busy myself. Anyhow, I have some work for you." He tossed the scroll with the retractable blade bracers in to the blacksmith.
Ryushi's eyes widened. "Well that's definitely different. It will definitely take more than one go to get the mechanism to work. Definitely something interesting for me to work on." He looked back up at the boy in front of him, noting the scroll he still held.
The brunette followed his gaze and brought the scroll up in front of him. He'd been thinking about this.
"No, not for the moment. The wrist blades are only for training, so don't worry too much about strength and sharpness."
Ryushi looked at him. "Understood. I assume you will want a working pair in the future though."
Hamano nodded putting the old scroll away.
"And the other scroll?" Continued the blacksmith.
"For later. It's not something I can easily trust someone with."
"Clan secret?" It was more of a request for confirmation than a question.
Hamano nodded. "I hope that I can one day trust you with it enough to let you have access to it."
Ryushi turned back to his forge. "I see. I will earn your full trust to see what is in that scroll." He pointed his poker at the scroll. "I assume it's ok to copy this."
Hamano nodded.
"Thank you. I'll have the wrist blades ready in 2, maybe 3 weeks."
Hamano bowed "I'll see you then Takama-san." He said ducking out the door.
3 days later. October 10th.
Naruto let out a sigh as he checked his calendar and the early morning sun streaked in through his window. Part of him hoped that Hamano and Sakura would make this day better for once. Somehow he doubted it. He hadn't told either of them that today was his birthday after all. With a final sigh he consigned himself to another birthday full of running and pain.
What he didn't expect was for someone to knock on his door just as he finished putting on his jumpsuit.
He opened the door carefully to find both Hamano and Sakura standing there. Which was strange. Normally he would head out to Hamano's house to help him with getting the days training materials together, then they would both head to the Haruno household and pick up Sakura, before heading to their training area on the Hokage monument together.
Also off was the fact that neither was wearing their training gear and there was a distinct lack of storage scrolls on Hamano's person.
"Hamano, Sakura-chan, what are you guys doing here?"
Sakura smiled at him. "Did you forget what day it is you baka?" She said good naturedly.
Naruto stared at them wide eyed. They knew it was his birthday and were here to celebrate it with him. The question running through his head was how?
It must have been pretty clear on his face because Hamano explained without him having to ask.
"Same way I learnt about the fox. I got hold of your file." Neither Naruto or Sakura questioned how he managed that. Their brunette friend had a habit of getting what he needed by what ever means possible. Most of the training scrolls they used had been 'borrowed' from the academy and both of them knew that Sayuki had Hamano empty his pockets every time he came around to prevent him from leaving with half the pens in the house. Their friend's kleptomania aside, they were here for Naruto.
"Come on." Said Sakura. "My mum's making a special breakfast for us."
Naruto felt tears in his eyes. Maybe now that he had friends this birthday wouldn't be so bad.
For some reason they'd decided to take the ground route to Sakura's house, somewhat hoping that there wouldn't be anyone out looking for Naruto this morning. No such luck.
The trio were about halfway to the Haruno household when a mob of about 20 villagers rounded a corner several buildings away and spotted Naruto. The various makeshift weapons they carried made their intent perfectly clear.
Naruto immediately froze up, fearing what they would do. However a hand on each shoulder from both of his friends reassured him.
Looking at each of them reassured him further. Sakura looked at him with an assured but sad smile as she gestured with her head, as if saying 'let's go.'
Hamano on the other hand was grinning slightly.
"Looks like it's time for some escape and evasion training then."
The brunettes comment bought a smile to his face.
"Appears so." He replied.
"Well, let's go then."
With that, the trio took off away from the mob that began running after them. Instantly it became clear that, despite the early hour, most of them were drunk.
Hamano took point with Naruto and Sakura following.
With their Ninja training, even incomplete, the villagers struggled to keep up and resorted to lobbing whatever came to hand at the trio as they dashed through the village streets.
Strangely enough, the three friends actually found themselves enjoying the chase. The villagers had poor aim for the most part, so dodging the projectiles wasn't particularly hard. It also made it become boring quite quickly. So after about 10 minutes Hamano suddenly took the trio up onto the roofs. Which nearly had Sakura and Naruto run into a wall.
"Hey, at least warn us." Snapped Sakura once they were on the roof.
Hamano chuckled. "Sorry, but it does keep you alert."
"But still…" She trailed off.
"Over the street." Barked out the brunette, almost immediately jumping over the street to the rooftops on the other side. His two friends stumbled for a moment then followed.
"Was that better?" He said smirking once they'd caught up.
"Hamano, you're being an ass." Admonished Naruto, sounding unusually mature for once.
The brunette's smirk vanished. "You're right. Sorry." They continued in silence for a moment before Hamano turned of the roof.
"Hey, where are y-. Oh." Sakura stopped when she realized Hamano had dropped into her garden and Naruto had followed. She dropped down as well, just in time for her mother Sayuki to walk out.
"There you all are." Said the older Haruno with a smile. She then noticed their slightly messy appearance. "Did something happen?" She asked.
Hamano shrugged. "Nothing serious. Just had to run from a mob. No injuries."
"As far as we know." Added Sakura looking pointedly at Naruto. They all knew the blond's habit of hiding injuries.
"I'm fine Sakura-chan." He said, holding his hands up defensively.
Hamano and Sayuki both chuckled at the pair, inciting slight blushes from both.
"Seeing as everyone is fine, come in and wash your hands. I made pancakes for breakfast."
The trio were in the house before you could say kunai.
A little while later the three had finished their breakfasts and were sitting on the couch.
"So, is this better than normal Naruto-Kun?" Asked Sakura with a bright smile.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah Sakura-Chan, it's awesome."
"Hey, stop talking like we're finished. We have the rest of the day yet." Said Hamano, pulling out two storage scrolls and unsealing them to reveal two wrapped presents.
Sakura jumped off the couch darted over to a small cupboard and pulled out a present of her own. Then Sayuki appeared holding another parcel.
Nartuo could only stare at them wide eyed.
"Can't have a birthday without presents, can we?"
The blond burst out in happy tears and proceeded to hug each of them in turn.
First Sakura, then Sayuki and finally Hamano, though that one was a little awkward seeing as Hamano still had a present in each hand.
"You know you're meant to wait till after you've got your presents to thank everyone." Commented the brunette with a slight smirk once Naruto had released him.
Naruto wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Yeah, but I can thank you for giving me a birthday I can enjoy."
Hamano's smirk grew. "True. Hmm, I think Sayuki-san should go first." The elder Haruno nodded, stepping forward to hand Naruto a large flat present wrapped in orange paper with Kunai printed on it.
Naruto took it carefully then proceeded to shred the paper off it, revealing the contents to be a ramen cookbook for beginners. "Awesome kaa-san! Now I can make Ramen rather than heat up some instant stuff."
Sayuki was slightly caught off guard buy the manner of address but was inwardly pleased with it. She only needed for Hamano to see her as the same and everything would be perfect.
The presents from Hamano and the one from Ryushi that Hamano had brought along were opened quickly, revealing a hidden Kunai mechanism and a Kaiken style Tanto respectively. They received a similar thanks, though Naruto asked to be reminded to go thank Ryushi in person later. Lastly came Sakura's present. By this point she'd retaken her seat next to him and so handed her present across.
It had the same paper as her mother's present, but was less neatly wrapped, so it was clear that Sakura had done it herself.
This one Naruto opened much more carefully, barely ripping the paper. Out of the paper he pulled a set of blue goggles. (4)
"I thought you might like something to wear until you got your forehead protector." She said, looking down at her feet as she drew imaginary patterns on the floor with the toe of her shoe nervously.
Her nervousness at her present's reception was cute, but it prevented her from seeing Naruto's thankful hug coming, causing it to catch her off guard and end up with both participants falling off the couch.
"Sorry Sakura-chan I just wanted to thank you for an awesome present." Said Naruto picking himself up.
Sakura followed him to stand smiling happily. Now she knew he liked her present.
"As long as you like it. Just be more careful next time. Baka." She said giving him a light bonk on the head.
The rest of the day passed in a flurry of fun and games plus some fantastic birthday food.
Eventually the fun came to an end and the three friends collapsed, exhausted, on the living room couch as Sayuki finished preparation for them too sleep over.
"So, how did you like your first proper birthday?" Said a truly sleepy Hamano.
Naruto tiredly turned his head to smile at his friend, Sakura having already fallen asleep on his shoulder.
"It was awesome. You are the best friends ever."
The brunette smirked.
"Believe it." He mumbled nodding off.
From the door to the room Sayuki watched them fall asleep with a smile.
(1) I know I kinda ignored it in the beginning but this story starts about the 3 or 4th of march, which has Riyu's class starting at the academy at the beginning of September and the date at the beginning of the chapter give the time skips is about October the 7th.
(2) This is actually my opinion. Sakura wanted so badly to fit in that she acted like she liked Sasuke but kept it going to the extent she lost herself to the act. Here she still has the act but also has a reason and an anchor not to loose herself in it because of Naruto and Hamano. Mainly Naruto though.
(3) I know I'm kinda rushing this a bit but to be honest it's not really worth going over in much detail. The conversation with Hiruzen would be similar to Hamano and Naruto's encounter with the Hokage in the first chapter just without Naruto. Also to be honest having Naruto and Sakura know about the Kyuubi doesn't change much when we get to the canon storyline really it just makes their relationship more solid.
(4) Thinking of presents for Naruto is a damn lot harder than I thought it would be.
Please read and review and thank you everyone who has continued to read my stories so far. And any artists check out the art corner on my profile thanks.