Castle Guards

Castle Guards

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Well, as much as I want to, I own nothing, yet, mwahaha. Sorry, got a bit carried away, Naruto and Harry Potter belong to their respective creators, which unfortunately aren't me.

AN: Sorry this chapter took so long and if seems to skip around a bit, it wrote itself, honestly. I also wanted to move ahead a bit in the book without putting in all the boring details (not that I find the book boring at all, it just doesn't need to be in this story).

I'm having another issue, I currently am planning on Temari and Sakura being together, but I'm not sure how to get there. Any ideas would be helpful. Also I have decided that Draco is going to be an ass, but a good guy, nonetheless. And he'll appear more in coming chapters.

On with the story.

"Blah" Japanese

Blah letter

Chapter 9: Birthday's are Always Fun, Unless You're Naruto

September finally gave way to October, and with it the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. The morning of the scheduled event, Iruka popped up at the Gryffindor table and gathered the younger generation of shinobi around him.

"Dumbledore talked with me the other day," he whispered so no one around them could hear. "He said to go to the village you all had to have signed permission from your legal guardians, as all of you are legal in our culture it seemed moot but rules here are different, so Kakashi and I went home and got permission for all of you with parents or relatives still alive, but as for the rest of you…"

"You mean I can't go?" Naruto whined piteously. "I was hoping to get something from this village."

Neji reached over and surreptitiously captured his captain's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The two of them had been closer than ever since their second kiss, though they had kept it rather discrete and casual, trying not to let anyone else know yet.

"If you would let me finish, Naruto," the chunin rubbed his neck in frustration. "That leaves only Naruto and the sand shinobi without anyone to give consent. But since you are on a mission, Tsunade gave me permission to act as your guardian for the time being. So you all have permission to go to the village. Your forms have already been turned in to your Head of House, Professor McGonagall."

"Don't do that, Iruka," the blonde punched his former sensei on the arm. "That wasn't nice at all."

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but you didn't let me finish," Iruka chuckled slightly. "Now all of you have a good time in Hogsmeade, and don't do anything to get in trouble."

Naruto and Kiba scoffed, while the others just shook their heads. After breakfast they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission from their parents or guardian to visit the village. They stayed a short distance from the Golden Trio till they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

"Hey, guys," Naruto asked casually, "what are you gonna do today?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask," Hermione shook her head, turning to look at them. "Some other students are meeting us at the Hog's Head later, would you like to come along? If that's alright with you, Harry?"

"It doesn't bother me," Harry shrugged, while giving Hermione a pointed look. "Besides, I like them."

"Well, what do you say guys?" Naruto looked at the others, who all nodded in agreement. "We'll meet ya there then. When exactly should we meet you?"

"In about half an hour," the witch replied.

"Alright, we'll be there," the blonde grinned. "I've got some shopping I want to do real quick though, anyone want to come with?"

"I'll go," Kiba bounded over to him, Akamaru running along beside him.

Naruto looked over at Neji, who met his questioning gaze unflinchingly. He gave a subtle glance in Harry's direction and his captain nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, Kib and I will see ya later."

With that the two of them bounded up the street, with Akamaru giving chase. Harry watched them go and then, when he was sure they were out of earshot, turned to Neji and Shino.

"You're just gonna let them go off on their own?" he asked curiously.

"Why wouldn't I?" Neji looked a bit confused at the wizard's questioning.

"Aren't you and Naruto together?" the black haired wizard questioned, causing all eyes to lock on the long haired Hyuuga.

"I wanted to lose him actually," the brunette sighed, knowing he'd have some explaining to do later. "Are you guys coming?"

"You guys go," Kankuro waved the others off. "Temari and I are gonna go to this pub thing. Anyway, you guys know Naruto better than we do."

Neji, Shino, and Gaara nodded and headed up the street as well. The wizards, along with Kankuro and Temari, began their way to the Hog's Head. They walked down the main street past Zonko's Joke Shop, where they were unsurprised to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, along with Kiba and Naruto, past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture upon it of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. The three wizards hesitated outside the door, while Temari and Kankuro pushed their way inside as if this was a common occurrence for them.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally entered they noticed the two siblings at the bar, apparently ordering drinks. The trio made their way over to the bar and ordered their drinks as well. Then the five of them retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down. Temari set down the four white bottles she was carrying, while Kankuro set down eight small glasses.

"So," Harry began nervously, "what was that about back on the street?"

"Oh that," Kankuro waved his hand dismissively. "Neji and Gaara wanted to get something for Naruto's birthday. They couldn't very well do that if he was tagging along with them. So they arranged for Kiba to keep him distracted for awhile."

"When is his birthday?" Hermione looked over at the puppeteer curiously.

"Tuesday," Temari smirked. "But don't worry about it. From what he's said, no one really pays attention to his birthday, except perhaps Iruka-sensei."

"Why would people do that?" Ron gaped. "I mean, Naruto's a rather hard person to miss, he's hyper and loud, why wouldn't he broadcast his birthday to the world?"

"Well," the two Sand ANBU exchanged a look.

"You see," Kankuro went on at Temari's nod, "the people in his village have always hated him, and they don't want to be reminded of his existence, especially on that day."

"Why?" Harry asked, pinning the two shinobi with his gaze.

"On the day Naruto was born," Temari sighed, "their village was attacked. Their leader sacrificed himself in the battle. His death ended the fight, but everyone blames Naruto, they think of him as a curse. He's usually not allowed out of his house on that day, or he's sent out of the village. We only know this because the last couple of years he's been coming to see us, because of his friendship with Gaara. I remember last year," she chuckled.

"Oh yeah," Kankuro shook his head, laughing slightly. "I'll never forget the wrath of Iruka when he came to pick him up the next day to take him home."

"Why would Mr. Umino get upset?" Hermione gave him another curious look, taking note of the obviously lacking information from the siblings.

"Well, Iruka sees Naruto like a little brother," Temari smiled. "They were both orphaned in the attack on their village. But anyway, he wasn't happy with the fact that he had a hungover Naruto to take home and had to get him out of the clutches of a hungover Gaara to boot. They had managed to get a hold of quite a bit of saké."

"I think that was the best birthday Naruto ever had, honestly," Kankuro poured himself a cup of the drink he'd purchased and tossed it back. "I wasn't sure, until today, that his friends even knew when his birthday was."

"That's sad," Harry sighed, knowing exactly what the blonde went through. "I never had a proper birthday until I entered Hogwarts."

"Well, you have to promise not to say anything," Temari leaned in, "but this year, we're planning on throwing him a party. You are all welcome to come. Of course, I think it's going to be in the common room, so being invited really isn't a special thing."

"Of course it is," Hermione scowled, wishing she didn't mistrust the new students but unable to help herself. "It doesn't sound like he's had it easy, and any friends that he can get sounds like a good idea."

"Don't tell him that," Kankuro chuckled darkly. "According to him, he has had it easy. But then compared with others, yeah, he has."

"You mean like Gaara?" Harry's eyes met the puppeteer's. "Tell me, Kankuro, were you and Temari among the one's that called him a monster?"

Ron and Hermione both gasped. Harry hadn't told them of his conversation with the redhead. Kankuro and Temari looked down, neither able to meet his penetrating gaze.

"Not to his face," Kankuro sighed. "But we did think it. He didn't make it easy for us to believe he wasn't. You didn't know him before he met Naruto. Naruto can joke about me still being scared of Gaara, but there are still times when I fear for my life around my younger brother. You can't suppress thirteen years of training in four, no matter how hard you try, or what happens. I know Gaara has changed, even more so in the last year, ever since…"

"Kankuro," Temari put her hand on his shoulder, drawing him into a one armed embrace, which he gladly accepted, laying his head on her shoulder while his frame was wracked with sobs. "You'll have to forgive him, he blames himself for something that happened to Gaara. In truth, I blame myself too, but there was nothing we could do to stop it. Thankfully, Naruto was able to bring him back to us."

"What happened?" Ron leaned in curiously.

The blonde kunoichi shook her head, as tears pooled in her eyes. Hermione's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You don't want to say, or is it that you can't?" she asked, risking their anger as her own boiled to the surface, tired of all the secrets surrounding the new students.

Temari snapped her head up and glared at the brunette. "You try losing your brother to the most feared people in your world, and then thinking you're too late to save him, only to have a blonde brat from another village save his life! Don't tell me we don't have the right to not talk about it because of your morbid curiosity!"

Hermione sank back in her seat, her head hung in shame. She knew she shouldn't have done that, but she couldn't help it. Harry and Ron looked between the two girls, trying to figure out whose side they should take. They finally just shrugged and decided to change the subject.

"You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with enthusiasm. "We could order anything we liked in here, I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try firewhisky—"

8888888 (AN: this section is partially dedicated to InARealPickle, who pointed out the impracticality of having Gaara, as Kazekage, on this mission.)

As soon as they had left the three wizarding students with Kankuro and Temari, Neji, Shino, and Gaara headed to one of the many shops littering the street. Their first stop was Honeydukes. Shino left the others and began looking for something to stave his boyfriend's sweet tooth while the other two began looking for something Naruto might enjoy.

"Gaara," Neji began as he eyed some chocolate fudge behind the counter, "I've been meaning to ask you but haven't had the opportunity till now, why are you on this mission? As Kazekage, wouldn't it be impractical for you to leave?"

Impassive jade orbs turned and locked with curious pale silver. He shrugged, deeming the question worthy of an answer.

"In truth, Dumbledore asked for me and my siblings specifically." The redhead pulled a box off one of the shelves and inspected it. "Why, he wouldn't say. But I believe he still thought my father was the Kazekage. At the amount he was paying, the council insisted that I take the job, saying it would be good for the village."

"Are they in charge while you are gone?" the brunette asked.

"Those old fools, no," he smirked. "I left my former sensei, Baki, in charge with a clone to keep up appearances, Tsunade is also helping. I would not leave my village unprotected for a year. I am receiving reports on a regular basis, things that need my signature and such. And besides, it gives me a break from the day to day of running a village. And I get to see Naruto."

"Fair enough," Neji nodded, finally deciding to get Naruto a package of chocolate frogs and some sugar quills.

"Are you sure you want to get those for Naruto?" Shino asked, joining them at the counter. "Isn't he hyperactive enough without adding sugar on top of it?"

"And are those not for your boyfriend?" the pale eyed teen motioned to the box of sherbet balls in his hand. "And is he not just as hyperactive as the captain?"

"Point taken," the bug ninja smirked. "So is it true? Are you and he really going out as Harry said?"

The Hyuuga nodded slightly, a blush tingeing his pale cheeks. "Shall we go now and see if there is anything else we can find for his birthday?"

8888888

First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with (Harry's stomach did a back flip, though something else reared up inside him that he couldn't quite identify) Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson, Colin and Denis Creevey, Ernie Macmillian, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name Harry did not know; three Ravenclaw boys he was pretty sure were called Anthony Goldstein, Michael Connor, and Terry Boot: Ginny, Neji, Shino, and Gaara (as soon as Kankuro saw his little brother he latched himself on his neck and began sobbing uncontrollably, causing the Kazekage to roll his eyes but he suffered the embrace after meeting his sister's tear-filled eyes), closely followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Harry recognized vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, and Naruto and Kiba, all of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.

After a rather long discussion, in which the ninja learned quite a bit about Harry Potter's exploits over the years, Hermione rummaged in her bag and produced a parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.

"I-I think everybody should write their names down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anybody else—what we're up to."

When everyone else had left, the shinobi, who had seated themselves away from the major proceedings, approached the Golden Trio.

"We didn't sign," Naruto's gaze locked on Hermione.

"Oh," she hesitated for a moment and then pulled the parchment back out. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would want to."

"We agreed to come," Neji shook his head.

"We'll sign," Gaara shrugged, "as a sign of faith between us."

"Alright," she nodded slightly, holding out the quill for Naruto.

He just shook his head, biting his thumb. He lowered his hand to the parchment and signed with his own blood. He looked up, his eyes pinning Hermione to her seat as she gaped like a fish.

"You have my word," he nodded and moved aside.

The other shinobi followed his lead, all signing in blood. Until finally, it was Gaara's turn to step forward and place his name on the paper. He reached for the quill in the witch's now limp hand.

"I cannot sign in blood at the moment," he explained quietly, "but you have my word, I shall speak of this to no one."

"Is that some strange custom of yours?" Ron asked, mortified.

"We do not give our word lightly," Kankuro stared at the redheaded wizard. "Our blood holds us to our oath."

"It is not a common occurrence," Shino added quietly, noting their stunned expressions. "But in this situation, we feel the need to take more drastic measures to ensure trust."

"But a blood bond—" Hermione began, until Neji held up his hand to silence her.

"It is necessary," he said. "Also know this, if ever there is a need for our assistance, mix your blood with ours and call, we shall be there at a moment's notice. Any one of you three, who witnessed this, can do this, no one else, we are at your service."

All eight of them bowed and then left the tavern. The three wizarding students looked down at the parchment, only to find the names of the new students fading slowly into the parchment so they were no longer visible to the naked eye.

"That's weird," Ron looked at the other two for support.

"Definitely dodgy," Hermione's eyes narrowed, which was becoming a common occurrence when discussing the new students. "It brings up too many questions. I need to look into blood bonds when we return to the castle. I don't think I've ever read about one like this before."

8888888

The rest of the weekend passed in a semblance of peace. The shinobi had gone into the forest once again for training, only this time they didn't encounter any strange creatures.

Monday morning, however, they all noticed a large sign on the notice board that made them all cringe inwardly.

—By order of—

The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.

An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

High Inquisitor

"Good thing we signed that paper like we did, though I'm not sure how she found out," Naruto shook his head. "But think about it this way, getting out to train will be much more fun, having to sneak past that old toad will be good training in and of itself."

"Naruto, we need to talk," Gaara said from behind him.

"What about, Gaara?" the blonde glanced around, making sure no students were up and in the common room yet, knowing from his tone, Gaara was in Kazekage mode.

"You and Kankuro need to change teams," the redhead crossed his arms over his chest.

"What? Why?" Naruto looked at his friend in confusion.

"Hyuuga told me," the Kazekage shrugged. "I cannot forsake the mission for your personal life."

Harry, who was on his way down the stairs, paused well out of sight as he heard the last sentence. What mission? What was up with these new students? Did Hermione have a point in not trusting them?

"We talked about this earlier, Gaara," the demon vessel shook his head. "We, as the leaders, are not safe to put on the same team. I can keep my personal life and professional life separate."

Leaders? Teams? Harry was even more confused, but he stayed where he was to listen.

"You haven't so far," green eyes locked with azure. "You and Hyuuga both have put Aburame and Inuzuka on your target more often than is necessary. I do not oppose that team as they're targets are not under the constant surveillance that ours are, and they are quite adept at keeping things controlled. You, however, are new at this. You and I shall be in charge of your target, while Hyuuga and Kankuro shall look out for ours."

Targets? Were these people assassins of some sort? Harry wondered. But if that was the case than how come no one had died yet? His head hurt just trying to piece together the cryptic conversation.

"But…"

"My decision is final, Naruto," Gaara snapped.

"Yes sir," he crossed his arm over his chest in salute and bowed his head.

"Think of it this way, Naruto," the Kazekage smirked slightly, "now if you and Hyuuga want to take off on your own, Kankuro and I shall be there to pick up the slack."

"I guess," Naruto tried to contain his smile, but didn't quite succeed.

8888888

Harry had no time to raise his questions to Hermione throughout the rest of that day, or the next. Not that he really wanted to, she was suspicious of the new students enough already. He did, however, decide to keep an eye on the shinobi. But nothing seemed too out of place, except for the fact that he now saw Gaara and Naruto hanging out more than before, as well as Neji and Kankuro, but as for their targets, he couldn't even begin to guess who they were.

It wasn't until after Quidditch practice on Tuesday that something clicked in his brain. He had been walking back up to the castle with Ron, discussing his most recent bout of scar issues, when he saw Naruto and Kankuro standing by the double doors into the castle. They were joking back and forth as usual, but he noticed their eyes kept darting to him and Ron. Harry gasped and grabbed Ron's arm, halting their progress.

"What is it, mate?" the redhead looked at him curiously.

"I just figured something out," Harry whispered furiously. "Hermione was right, there's something off about the new students."

"Oh no," Ron groaned, "not you too. I thought you liked them and trusted them, even if they did have their weird quirks."

"I do like them, but I can't ignore what I heard," he proceeded to tell Ron about the conversations he'd overheard in the past few weeks. "I just realized that their targets are us. Haven't you noticed that they're always hanging around us? Kiba and Shino must be on your brothers and sister, cause they are usually around them."

"That could just be a coincidence," Ron shrugged, not wanting to believe it. "I mean, Kiba is just like Fred and George, so of course they'd get along. And it's not like the others have many friends, they're pretty stand offish."

"Maybe they have a reason to be," Harry insisted, feeling slightly like Hermione in that moment. "I mean think about it, if they're here to assassinate someone, they wouldn't get close to anyone else, it would be harder to actually do the job."

"But Dumbledore trusts them, or did you forget that they spent some time at Headquarters on his request?" Ron's eyes suddenly went wide, as if he'd just thought of something. "Hey, maybe they're guards." He held up his hand to stop Harry from interrupting. "I mean, think about it, if they are 'targeting' us and my brothers and sister, it makes sense, I mean you are you, and me and Hermione always hang out you and get into some sort of trouble, and then Fred, George, and Ginny are the only other kids of Order members still in Hogwarts. Maybe he hired them to keep an eye on us, or maybe they're Order members in disguise."

"Or maybe they're really good spies," Harry sighed, running his hand through his messy locks in frustration.

"Yo!" a voice said from behind them.

Both boys whirled around and came face to face with a tall, masked figure. In the background they could hear Naruto bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. The laughter died immediately as the figure reached up and began to slowly lift the patch over his left eye.

Naruto had watched his former sensei appear behind the two wizards, and thought the looks on their faces had been priceless, but he knew what was coming as the jounin began lifting his eye patch, having seen this tactic used on numerous occasions.

"Kakashi! Nooo!"

But he was too late. Kakashi had caught both boys within his Sharingan. Naruto and Kankuro rushed over, arriving just in time to catch both wizards before they hit the ground.

"Don't worry, Naruto," Kakashi smiled at the younger blonde. "I didn't do anything too bad. I just blocked a certain patch of their memories. In fact, they should wake up in a few minutes. Someone has been careless, they thought you and the others were out to assassinate them, or were guards hired to protect them."

"Shit, he must have heard Gaara and me talking the other day, I thought I sensed someone approaching," the ANBU sighed. "What with one thing and another, this day just keeps getting worse and worse."

"Well, come on," the silver haired jounin put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'll take you up to your common room. Kankuro, think you can make these two walk on their own?"

"That shouldn't be too much trouble," the puppeteer grinned mischievously, lifting his hands and placing chakra strings on the two wizards.

They made their way up the winding corridors and stairways, not speaking to one another as they went. When they arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry and Ron began to stir. Kankuro released his chakra strings and leaned both of them against the wall.

Harry's eyes were the first to open. He blinked in confusion at his surroundings. Hadn't he been outside, near the Quidditch pitch? He knew he and Ron had been talking about something, and he felt that it was important, but for the life of him couldn't remember what it was. He blinked again, trying to take everything in, when his eyes landed on a familiar mop of blonde spikes.

"Naruto?" he croaked out, his voice hoarse for some unknown reason. "Wha…what happened?"

"Oh, Harry, thank god," Naruto sighed, leaning against the banister for support. "We thought something terrible had happened. Kakashi-sensei said he saw you two walking back to the castle after practice, then without warning you dropped. Luckily, Kankuro and I were close by and helped bring you up here. We thought about taking you to the hospital wing, but didn't think you'd appreciate that too much."

"Alright, Naruto, calm down," Kakashi rested his hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Let's get all of you inside and then we can discuss this further."

"Oh, right," Kankuro smirked. "Mimbulus mimbletonia."

The portrait hole swung open and the five of them entered the common room, which was surprisingly dark, considering the hour. A flash, and then the candles flickered to life, revealing all the Gryffindors and Iruka-sensei.

"Surprise!" everyone shouted, as Kakashi placed both hands on his former student's shoulders.

"Happy birthday, Naruto!" Iruka stepped forward and wrapped the blonde in a fierce hug.

"What?" he looked around in confusion. "You guys? You didn't? You shouldn't… I…"

"Shut up, Naruto," Kiba chuckled. "Yes, we know when your birthday is. Sorry if we've been real prats (1) about it but you know how things are in the village. Our parents never let us near you if they could help it, and since we've…" he caught a look from his boyfriend, "I mean, the past couple of years you weren't home, so yeah, we kinda missed it."

"Thanks guys," Naruto sniffed as Kiba and Shino moved up to give him a hug. "You don't know how much this means."

"Yes, Naruto, we do," Neji stepped forward and wrapped his arm around the blonde's shoulders.

It was the first openly public display of affection from the long haired brunette since they had secretly started 'going out', if you could call it that, and Naruto felt touched by the gesture. He settled into the embrace, causing the Hyuuga to smirk. Gaara finally stepped forward, breaking the now uncomfortable silence in the common room.

"Sit," he motioned to the couch nearest the fire.

Neji led him over and they sat down together. Kiba and Shino sank into a chair next to them, while Kankuro, Sakura, and Temari took another couch. Gaara remained standing. The remaining Gryffindors crowded around the shinobi, anxious to see some traditional birthday things.

"Drink," Gaara handed Naruto a white bottle.

The blonde grinned and took a swig, passing it to his lieutenant, who repeated the process. The bottle made it around the circle of shinobi, excluding Iruka and Kakashi, who were standing against the wall, finally ending up in Gaara's hands.

"To Naruto," he toasted and drained the bottle.

Before anyone could say anything else, however, a tapping was heard on the window. The wizards all looked over curiously. There was a faint 'oh' from Hermione as she rushed over and opened the window, admitting five owls, including Hedwig and Pigwidgeon, each with one or two parcels attached to their foot.

Hedwig dropped her parcel beside Naruto, a note held in her beak, which he took. Once the other owls had dropped their burdens they all flew off and left the blonde gaping.

"Open them," Hermione encouraged. "I took the liberty of sending a few owls out to your hometown, asking for presents from anyone willing to give them."

"Thanks Hermione," Naruto smiled, as tears pooled in his blue eyes.

He opened the note Hedwig had given him first. It was from Tsunade.

Brat,

I can't believe you didn't remind me it was your birthday! Not that I should have forgotten but that's beside the point. I managed to convince your friends to send their wishes as well. Have a happy birthday, brat.

Tsunade

P.S. Shizune and TonTon send their greetings, as they are out on assignment.

Naruto smiled and handed the letter to Neji before grabbing the package the snowy owl had brought. He chuckled as he saw the contents of the small box. Neji peered over his shoulder curiously.

"What's so funny, Naruto?" he asked quietly.

"It's just like her," the blonde lifted the piece of paper out of the box. "It's an IOU for Ichiraku's, and a bottle from her private stash. I love you, Grandma Tsunade."

He reached for the next package, which was much heavier. He peeled back the paper only about half way and a blush crept up his cheeks.

"I'm gonna kill him," he muttered, throwing the partially wrapped present down in disgust. "As if I want to read that trash. Stupid pervy sage (2)."

"Can I have it, Naruto?" Kakashi looked up excitedly.

"No," the blonde huffed, picking up the package and holding it to his chest protectively. "As if I'd let you have my exclusive, not-even-released, copy. According to him it's supposed to be a rather compelling story, with lots of action, and not the kind you're thinking Kakashi, considering he wrote it just for me."

He moved on. The next package was from TenTen, who sent him a new, rather expensive, set of kunai. From Hinata he received a bottle of her specially made healing balm. Choji and Ino's presents were packaged together, Choji had gotten him coupons from almost all the restaurants around Konoha, while Ino had sent him a crystal in the shape of a rose, with a note revealing the symbolism of both the flower and crystal.

"That leaves Shika and Lee," Naruto looked between the last two parcels. "I want to save Shika's for last, knowing how troublesome it was for him to come up with something to get me. But I don't know which is which."

"This is from Lee," Neji pointed to the smaller of the two packages, indicating the lurid wrapping paper. "You should know that, as the wrapping is probably the most youthful he could find."

Naruto chuckled and removed the horrible wrapping paper and opened the box. Neji immediately closed his eyes and let out a groan of embarrassment.

"You are not wearing that," he quickly grabbed the green thing out of the box and shoved it into Kiba's hands. "Dispose of that immediately. I will not look at that youthful thing again, it's bad enough that he wears it all the time."

Kiba grinned as he got off Shino's lap and trotted over to the fire, flinging the green spandex suit into the flames.

"Hey, that was mine," Naruto pouted.

"That wasn't very nice," Hermione frowned between the two conspirators.

"No, that's alright," Kakashi interrupted her. "You really don't want to see that thing in action," he barely repressed a shudder. "It's bad enough that Gai and Lee wear them, I won't have Naruto corrupted with it."

"Okay, so this one's from Shika," Naruto grabbed the last parcel and shook it gently, causing the contents to rattle slightly.

"You could've just broken it Naruto," Sakura scolded quietly, for her at least. "But then again, knowing Shikamaru, he would've thought of that and not sent you anything breakable."

"Oh," the blonde said sheepishly and began removing the brown paper.

Inside was one of the last things he had ever expected to receive, but was grateful for nonetheless; a shogi set. Shikamaru had been in the process of teaching him the game shortly before he left on his year-long mission, so it was touching that he had got him his very own so he could practice.

"Hey, is that like chess?" Ron looked at the game, curiously excited.

"Okay, our turn," Kiba interrupted, thrusting a bag at Naruto. "That's from both me and Shino."

"You shouldn't have," Naruto teased as he opened the bag and spilled out several Zonko items.

"Yeah, I know," the dog ninja rolled his eyes.

"Here squirt," Kankuro handed him another bag. "It's from both me and Temari, figured you could use it."

He opened it and found two more bottles of saké. He laughed as he set them in the box with Tsunade's.

"And this is from me," Sakura handed him a box of ramen. "Sorry it isn't wrapped or anything."

"Aww, Sakura, you're the best," he beamed at her as he reverently took the box and added it to his collection of presents.

"Here," Kakashi tossed him a package similar to the one Jiraiya had sent.

"Do I even have to open it?" the blonde raised a questioning brow. "Or should I just assume I know what it is and don't want these impressionable youths to see it?"

"It's up to you," the silver haired jounin shrugged.

"I'll save it then," he laid it on top of the other partially wrapped book.

"This is from me, Naruto," Iruka stepped forward and handed him a book with a Japanese title. "I got it from Tsunade a few years back, figured you might like it."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei," he bit his lip, trying not to show his pleasure over the book.

Gaara wordlessly handed him a small box. Inside on the velvet lining was a silver chain with a fox pendent. The fox had rubies set for the eyes and it was magically enhanced so instead of one tail, it had nine, flowing freely. The blonde smiled and nodded at his friend, who quirked his lip in a partial smile.

"This isn't much," Neji handed him a box. "But I didn't know what else to get you."

Naruto opened it and saw the candy first. He beamed at his lieutenant, until his eyes caught something else in the box. Underneath the packages of Honeydukes sweets was a leather bound book. He opened it curiously. His mouth fell open when he saw the moving pictures inside, taken at their time at Hogwarts.

"Colin Creevey provided the pictures," Neji admitted sheepishly, a blush tinting his cheeks. "I thought you would like it."

"I love it, Nej," he threw his arms around the brunette.

"Er," Ron stepped forward nervously, interrupting the embrace. "This is from me, Harry, and Hermione. Sorry, it's not much, but we only found out the other day."

Naruto let go of his boyfriend and accepted the brightly wrapped package from the redheaded wizard. It was a wizarding chess set.

"Now you can play two different versions," Hermione said smugly, knowing exactly what the shogi set was.

"Thanks guys," Naruto sighed, leaning back into his seat happily. "This is the best birthday I've ever had, excluding last year's of course." He shared a look with the Kazekage.

"Now that that's over with," Fred clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention.

"Let's get this party started," George chimed in, passing out butterbeers they had commandeered from Hogsmeade.

The party lasted well into the night, and Naruto couldn't think of a time he'd been happier.

(1. I figured since Kiba'd been hanging out with Fred and George so much, he'd pick up a few of their sayings)

(2. That's Jiraiya for anyone who doesn't know, that's what he's called in the dubbed anime, and if you couldn't tell, both Jiraiya and Kakashi got him Icha Icha books)