Naruto wakes up to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking. His eyes feel rather gummed up and his head pounds as he crawls out of bed to find himself in his clothes from the day before. He supposes that's okay; the idea of Aratana changing him into his pajamas is embarrassing.
Of course, he had cried himself to sleep on her and the idea of having done that is also embarrassing, but when he stumbles into the kitchen he sees a brightly wrapped package and a towering pile of pancakes on the table for him next to a tall glass of water and two small white pills.
"Happy birthday, Naru-kun," Aratana says, flipping more pancakes off the grill and onto another plate. She turns to smile at him, showing no sign of disgust over his embarrassing display last night.
Naruto feels something warm and light curl in his stomach and he approaches the table, a smile forming on his face. He pulls himself onto his seat and pokes at the two little white pills before taking a gulp of his water.
"Those are for the headache, if you want," Aratana explains, pouring more pancake batter onto the grill and filling the kitchen with the sound of sizzling.
Naruto blinks at her, wondering just how she knew he had a headache.
"I always get headaches in the morning when I cry myself to sleep," Aratana says.
Naruto blinks at her, wondering when she learned to read minds. Finally, he nods and downs the two little pills with a sip of water, wrinkling his nose at the taste they leave behind.
Aratana laughs, placing another plate of pancakes on the table and taking a seat across from him. "You're rather quiet this morning, Naru-kun."
There's worry in her eyes that warms Naruto up more, though he can't explain why. "Guess I'm still waking up," he says, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks for the food!" and he digs in, not realizing how hungry he was until the first bite hit his stomach.
Aratana laughs as he devours the pancakes and bacon in front of him, pushing the second plate to him before standing up to make more. Naruto digs in with gusto, the idea that Aratana is here and making him breakfast for his birthday finally, truly, sinking in and Naruto can't believe his good fortune.
"So, Naru-kun," Aratana begins as she washes the dishes. She refuses to let Naruto help dry and put them away today, explaining that it's his birthday and he doesn't need to do any work. Naruto looks up at her from his contemplation of the brightly wrapped gift in front of him.
"Yeah, Ara-nee?" Naruto tests the nickname out, unsure how Aratana would react and fearful that maybe she wouldn't like it.
Instead, she smiles widely at him. "About time," she mutters. The statement confuses Naruto but he ignores it, waiting to see what she wanted to talk about. He watches as she dries the last dish, placing it in the cupboard before turning to face him. "What do you say I teach you to read and write properly?"
Naruto stares at her, blinking stupidly. He can feel his face heat up as the words register and he scowls at her. "What makes you think I can't read?" he demands.
Aratana smiles softly, not at all offended nor could Naruto sense any disappointment from her. "It's nothing to be ashamed of," she says. "I didn't learn until I was almost twelve."
Naruto blinks at her, feeling honestly stunned at that statement. Aratana was one of the smartest people he had ever met and the idea that she hadn't known how to read for that long of a time was strange.
"So, what do you say?" Aratana asks. She sounds hesitant again, as if afraid Naruto would say no. Naruto blinks in shock as he realizes that she isafraid he would say no.
He lets a grin split his face. "Yeah! I'd like that," he admits. It would be nice to be able to understand things better. Maybe then he'd stop failing all those written tests.
Aratana smiles back. "Good, I was hoping you'd say that. After all, writing is the basis of fuuinjutsu."
"Fun in whatsit?" Naruto asks.
"Fuuinjutsu," Aratana explains. "The art of sealing." She grins at him, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Something the Uzumaki were famous for."
Naruto feels his mouth fall open at that but can't seem to close it. There's a knock on his door, startling him out of his stupor and Naruto blinks to find Aratana is gone.
He goes to shout at her, because she couldn't just drop something like that on him and disappear, but the knock sounds again, reminding him that someone is at his door and he does not want whomever it is to find out about Aratana. With one last glance at the present still wrapped neatly on his kitchen table Naruto goes to answer the door. After all, he could always interrogate Aratana later.
~Naruto~
Naruto swirls the ramen in his bowl, watching the noodles twirl. It had been jiji at his door, come to take him to ramen for lunch before the festival began in full swing. To say Naruto was surprised was an understatement. He had thought last year when jiji had come to take him to ramen had been a fluke, merely the old man feeling bad that Naruto had been attacked on his birthday the year before and wanting to prevent another such occurrence.
But then jiji had shown up again, smiling cheerfully at the boy and inviting him to ramen. And of course Naruto couldn't say no, even if he had just finished a massive amount of pancakes not two hours ago.
"Something the matter, Naruto-kun?" Jiji's voice pulls Naruto from his thoughts. Naruto glances up with a grin, idly noting the worry in the old man's eyes.
"Nope," Naruto replies, wondering why the old man was worried before slurping up a mouthful of noodles.
"Hmm," jiji says. "You're just awfully quiet today. Nothing's happened at school, has it?"
Naruto wonders if Iruka-sensei said anything to jiji about yesterday and his failing grades but pushes those thoughts away.
"No, school's fine," Naruto says instead. He doesn't want to bring up his failing grades or his inability to read. After all, he was already getting help for the latter, which would hopefully help with the former in the future.
"Then, is something else bothering you?"
Naruto chews on his lip, debating whether to ask before shrugging. He didn't see why he couldn't ask jiji some of his questions. After all, he was the hokage and smart. He should know some things.
"What do you know of fuuinjutsu?" Naruto asks.
Jiji literally chokes on his bite of ramen, his eyes widening in shock as he turns to stare at Naruto while coughing slightly to clear his throat.
Naruto waits patiently, blinking innocently at jiji. The reaction was interesting. Obviously jiji knew about fuuinjutsu and given his reaction, maybe he knew it was related somehow to the Uzumakis.
"What do youknow about fuuinjutsu?" jiji turns the question on him.
Naruto shrugs, twirling his noodles once more. "Not much. Just that it's the art of sealing and that it's related to the Uzumakis."
He can't help but snicker a little as jiji makes another choking sound. It was so rare that he could catch the old man off guard that he had to enjoy doing so when he did.
Jiji finally seems to gain his composure as he turns to the young boy. "Who told you this?"
Naruto had not been expecting that question, but figures he should have. It only makes sense that jiji would want to know. After all, Naruto didn't figure it was common knowledge.
"Just a friend," Naruto says with a shrug.
"Oh?" jiji asks.
Naruto nods, suddenly feeling very scrutinized. "So, uh, is it true?" he asks. He doesn't want jiji to press him any further.
"Is what true?" jiji asks. Naruto is unsure if he successfully managed to distract the old man or if jiji was just humoring him.
"Is fuuinjutsu related to the Uzumakis?"
The idea that it is, that there was such a thing as Uzumakis in the plural, is strange to think about.
Jiji sighs. "Yes, Naruto. The Uzumaki line specialized in fuuinjutsu, although there aren't many seal masters left in the world."
"What happened to them?" Naruto asks. "I mean, they would be my family, wouldn't they?"
Jiji looks at him sadly. "The Uzumaki line was destroyed, Naruto. You're the last known living member."
"Oh," Naruto looks down at his now empty bowl of ramen.
"Hokage-sama!"
Jiji looks up as a chuunin bursts into the ramen stand, panting for breath. "You're going to be late for the opening ceremony."
"Of course," jiji nodded his head at the chuunin before smiling gently at Naruto. "I'm afraid our topic of conversation veered into territory best left alone. Forgive me, Naruto-kun."
Naruto pushes the information that he was the only surviving Uzumaki into the back of his mind, burying the pain that knowledge brought him, and smiles up at the hokage. It wasn't like he didn't already know he had no family.
"My fault, jiji. Anyway, thanks for the ramen!"
"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun," jiji replies before leaving the ramen stand with the chuunin.
Naruto watches him go before a presence behind makes him turn around.
"Happy birthday, Naruto," Teuchi-jii-san says. "Want another bowl of ramen?"
He's already setting the bowl in front of Naruto, even as Naruto nods and grins. "Thanks!"
~Naruto~
Aratana is waiting for him when he gets home, her quickly becoming traditional orange frosted cake sitting on the table next to the present that had been left there.
Naruto grins and blows the candles out, making his wish for family and friends (because it's worked before and now he has Aratana so maybe if he keeps wishing things will keep getting better).
It doesn't take the two of them long to devour the cake (because Aratana may be a stickler for eating healthy but Naruto knows she has just as bad of eating habits as Naruto does, he's seen the way she can inhale ramen, she just does better at hiding it) and then Naruto tears into the orange wrapping paper to reveal a simple wooden box full of papers.
"Oh," Naruto says, attempting to keep the disappointment out of his voice and failing. He doesn't want to sound ungrateful, because really, anything is better than the nothing he got before Aratana showed up, but after his awesome set of kunai and shuriken he had kind of hoped for something equally as awesome this year.
Aratana laughs lightly at his expression and ruffles his hair.
"These are seals, Naruto," she explains. "Now, I won't teach you how to make them yet, but I will teach you how to use them."
Naruto's eyes light up at that and he turns to her. "Really? These are seals? What kind?"
Aratana smiles, moving to sit next to him and picking up the neatly wrapped bundles of paper.
"These," she says, holding up the red wrapped bundle. "Are explosive tags." Naruto grins at that because those sound exciting. "And these," she holds up the blue wrapped ones, "basically dump a whole lot of water out of them. The water is clean so in addition to using the water for attacks they are handy if you ever need water for survival. Just keep in mind that if you pump too much chakra in them the water will spew out with deadly force."
Naruto nods, thinking about the survival exercise they had gone on as a class a couple of months prior. All of the academy students had learned fast that access to fresh water was top priority when stuck in the wilderness.
"These ones," she holds up a bundle wrapped in purple. "Are basic storage seals. And these," Naruto watches as she holds up the last bundle, wrapped in orange, "are barrier seals. Activate one of these and an impenetrable barrier will erect around you affecting an area equal to the amount of chakra you put in. Keep in mind with these, though, you are required to supply a continuous amount of chakra."
Naruto nods, though he doesn't quite understand completely.
"Now," Aratana continues. "There're many more different types of seals. What you can accomplish with seals is only limited by imagination and, of course, understanding. These four types are some of my basic creations. The storage and explosive seals are simple reworkings of very common seals. But, that doesn't mean these aren't harmful. You will need to learn to differentiate between each seal and learn how to activate them and when it is appropriate to activate them before I let you carry them with you. Understood?"
"So, no pranks?" Naruto asks. And he was so hoping to get a few of the teachers soaked.
"Now, I didn't say that," Aratana says, her eyes glittering with mischief. "But, you have to know how to use them properly before you can use them for pranks. And the explosive ones are not allowed to be used for any kind of prank. They're too dangerous."
Naruto nods, but he's grinning. Aratana said he could use the tags to play pranks! That was awesome!
Naruto spends the rest of the night working on learning to differentiate each seal from the other, which was complicated by the fact that each seal was a picture of swirling lines with kanji mixed in and the fact that each one had the same basic base seal.
But Naruto persists, knowing he would learn it, even if it took him time. After all, Aratana keeps telling him it's better to take time. And she promises that once he learns to read and write properly, it'll be easier to differentiate the seals and they would start learning that tomorrow.
Naruto falls asleep at the table, a grin on his face at how awesome his birthday had been.
