Hey there everyone. Well, this chapter goes up super fast to make up for the huge wait for the last one, I hope it's still good! Please enjoy the next installment of "The Jounin Exams". Thanx to all those who reviewed and continue to review, you guys are the best.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here. We get the point.
Chapter 14: Good News: The Rookie Eight Celebrates!
"How many bowls is that now?"
"Hmm? Oh, this? I'd put this at 26."
"Tch, troublesome… this guy's enough to put me off of food for life."
"You keep saying that Shikamaru, and yet you still keep eating. Pardon me if I don't take you seriously."
"Troublesome…"
Chouji snickered at his teammate and delved into what was indeed his 26th bowl of ramen that day. The old man behind the counter literally had dollar signs in his eyes, and Shikamaru got the uneasy feeling that somehow, someway, he would be the one to end up paying for Chouji's feast… again. Shikamaru sighed and made to comment once again on Chouji's voracious appetite, but another voice beat him to it.
"Geez, you're packing it away today, aren't you pal? I don't think Akamaru has ever eaten this much before." Shikamaru looked up to find Kiba and Shino make their way to a couple vacant stools, Kiba loudly ordering himself a miso ramen, with Akamaru booming with a happy bark in response. Shikamaru chuckled and said aside to Shino, "Geez, you've got dogs in stereo now… how do you deal?"
"Patience. And the occasional aspirin." Shino said this with a creepily straight tone and face. But then again, that's how he said everything, Shikamaru noted. "So what brings you two out here today? I figured you'd be out killing more assassins or something like that…"
Kiba swallowed his ramen loudly and said, "Kurenai-sensei was sick and needed help looking after her son today. I volunteered us, seeing as everyone else seems to have had a chance to look after the kid." Shikamaru nodded, Kurenai and little Abe entering his mind. I had been an odd feeling, when Abe was born. He definitely gained a soft spoken manner from his mother, not to mention her eyes, but everything else, from his profile, his hair, to his smirk, was all…
"Asuma…"
Shikamaru practically whispered this, so it went generally unnoticed. The only one who probably would've noticed was Shino, but not being one to comment on things very often, he once again kept to himself. "Shikamaru!" Shikamaru looked up to find Ino headed their way. "Sorry I'm late! Mom had some issues at the shop today, and I couldn't worm out of helping her." He waved her off and she took the empty seat next to him. Taking one glance at Chouji, she sighed. "Please tell me he's paying for this."
"What are you worried about, I'm the one that usually ends up paying for him."
Ichiraku was definitely lively when Naruto and Hinata arrived, all smiles on their faces. Kiba looked up from wolfing his ramen and called out, "Hey, lovebirds! What's happening?" Naruto and Hinata stood behind the stools as everyone spun around to meet them. Naruto scratched the back of his head, still grinning like an idiot.
"We've got some news everyone. Don't we, Hinata-chan?"
Hinata blushed and still managed to give the brightest smile anyone had ever seen on her. Kiba got fed up after the lingering moments of silence and said, "Well, spit it out! What's the big news?" Akamaru barked in unison once again.
Hinata looked to Naruto, who gave her a nod to go ahead. She took a big breath, and with a grin to rival Naruto's, announced,
"Everyone… I'm pregnant. Naruto and I are going to have a baby."
Kiba dropped his chopsticks, as did Chouji. The only sign Shino gave of any sort of reaction to the news was a raised eyebrow and a hidden smile. Akamaru howled happily, accompanied by a painfully loud squeal courtesy of Ino, who immediately leapt from her seat and crushed Hinata in the tightest hug she could muster. "AAAAHHHH! Hinata, that's wonderful! Congratulations! AAAHHH!"
Hinata struggled out a thank you, her air supply obviously becoming restricted under Ino's iron grip. Shikamaru got up from his and carefully managed to pry Ino away before Hinata started turning blue. He then turned to Naruto and thumped him on the back. "Way to go idiot, now there's gonna be two idiots like you in this town." Shikamaru's smile destroyed his sarcasm and Naruto shook his hand with a laugh. Kiba and Akamaru were now singing/howling in unison over the good news, with Shino looking dangerously close to giving them the worst case of fleas anyone had ever seen before.
Chouji laughed heartily as only an Akimichi could, "Well, I think this calls for a little celebration! Party at my place tonight, in honor of the Uzumaki's unborn child!"
Shikamaru whistled and said aside to Naruto and Hinata, "I'd take him up on that if I were you two, when the Akimichi clan throws a party, they throw it BIG." Kiba and Akamaru both agreed, once again amidst a gale of loud barks. Shino merely nodded and continued sipping on his glass of water. Just when things seemed to finally be calming down, Naruto heard a voice from across the street.
"NARUTO, YOU OLD DOG! YOUR YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTEST OF ALL ON THIS GLORIOUS DAY OF DAYS!!!" Everybody froze and inched away from Naruto, including Hinata, knowing all to well what was coming. Naruto noticed this and slowly turned around, his worst fears confirmed.
There stood Might Gai in all his brilliant green jump-suited glory, with an equally exuberant and equally green jump-suited Rock Lee next to him. Sakura stood off to the side, looking as if she might burst out in laughter any second. Naruto noticed the look of laughter in her eyes and it all clicked. She told Lee about Hinata being pregnant, who in turn told his old sensei about it. He suddenly found himself wondering how many ribs Sakura would have to heal after Gai and Lee did what he truly feared they were about to do…
Gai and Lee, before anyone blinked, were suddenly both hugging Naruto tightly, Lee crying out praises and congratulations on Naruto and Hinata's wonderful news, and Gai just crying in general. Crying was just Gai's thing. After all, he was in a good mood, had received such wonderful news from two people he had known since they reached up to his hip, and was in his green power suit of youth. How could he not just cry for joy? ( riiiiiiight... )
Naruto could feel his air supply running short, and through some miracle of god, he managed to pull himself out of the vice grip the two taijutsu masters had on him. "Thanks guys… oh, and Sakura? Yeah, next time, could you restrain your husband so he doesn't nearly break my ribs?"
Sakura laughed out loud at that and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I couldn't resist. When Hinata came to me for the test this morning, I thought about keeping it a secret until you were ready to tell everyone, but it just slipped over breakfast this morning… besides, any excuse to see you get glomped by the green beasts of Konoha is worth it in my book."
Naruto narrowed his eyes but laughed nonetheless.
Now, when Shikamaru had told Naruto about the party, he came expecting it to be a rather big affair. After all, he had been to an Akimichi party before, and it was quite the shindig, and that was just for Naruto's ascension to chuunin more than five years ago.
This was different; a baby on the way was a much bigger deal, something Naruto knew quite well. And yet even the great Naruto Uzumaki, the number one hyperactive shinobi and self proclaimed avid party man wasn't expecting this. Something this grandiose, lively, and quite frankly crazy Naruto hadn't been expecting from the normally sane Chouji.
Everyone from the rookie eight, Team Gai, and all their teachers were just a few of the people there. Konohamaru and his team, now all chuunin themselves, had arrived as well to congratulate their "boss" and the good news, Konohamaru laughing as he asked, "So I get to name him right?"
Naruto laughed and said, "Sure, of course you can."
Konohamaru laughed again, then said, "I'm serious, can I name him?"
Tenten and Neji were off to themselves by the side, happily chatting to themselves, Tenten casting excited glances over to Hinata and giggling madly, slightly pink in the face, as could be explained by the cup of sake in her hand. Even Neji, the soberest of the soberest, was a little buzzed tonight. Naruto noticed this and laughed as he thought to himself, "Looks like Tenten pulled the stick out of his butt."
Kiba and Chouji had decided to play a nice game of "Who can eat more ramen than the other within a span of ten minutes?" The funny thing was Udon was busy refereeing the match, with Ino and Moegi cheering on both men. Somehow, Chouji managed to procure a karaoke setup, and Jiraiya (admittedly the LAST person Naruto wanted to see here) was busy belting out off-key ramblings of some song, he was too "tipsy", as he put it, to be able to sing straight. It didn't help that Gai was cheering him on.
Kakashi was content to stand by the buffet, making friendly chat with Kurenai who held her toddler son close by as he stared wide eyed at all the food. Looking over to Naruto and Hinata, who were laughing jovially as Lee congratulated them once again, a slightly tipsy Sakura giggling madly as she clung to his arm, Kurenai chuckled to herself.
"It's kinda funny, Kakashi. Those two shinobi there were once our students. They were so small… and Naruto was still loud." Kakashi chuckled. "Some things don't change completely, that's for sure. But it never ceases to amaze me how he can always seem to find a way to surprise everyone. I'm just glad they aren't drinking tonight, other wise we could see some quite frankly unnerving stuff."
Kurenai laughed, "Naruto might be a goof, but he's not an idiot. Well, not anymore at least."
Nobody was surprised when Hokage Tsunade decided to invite herself to the festivities, Shizune gawking at the sight as she trailed in right behind her. After all, Naruto and Hinata were two of Konoha's most promising shinobi. It was good PR for Tsunade. Not to mention that she believed, deep down, that Naruto was going to be the Hokage after her. She saw that as reason enough to celebrate. And she did manage to drag Jiraiya, now much more than "tipsy", off the stage, much to Gai's disappointment.
Naruto and Hinata were enjoying themselves quite a bit, that is, until a rather flat voice behind them said, "Well, I guess it's true then."
Naruto turned to find himself face to face with Hiashi Hyuuga, a rather anxious looking Hanabi by his side. "Hinata, you really are having his child?" Hinata didn't stutter, she didn't back down, she looked her father straight in the eye with a bright smile and said, "I am."
And much to Naruto's shock and confusion, Hiashi smiled ever so slightly. Picking up a small glass of sake from the table nearby, he merely said, "To you." Before downing it and walking over to chat with the Hokage. Hanabi seemed to be fighting with herself. But after a slight moment of hesitation, she reached out and hugged her sister. Hinata seemed quite lost at first, but soon smiled and turned her head to Naruto, who nodded and said, "You two go chat, I'll be fine."
Naruto looked around and for the first time, knew that he had done what he had set out to do back when he was a kid. He had true friends, a wife he would die for, and a child on the way. Even if he didn't make Hokage, he didn't care.
He had love, and quite frankly, he was content with just that.
"Oi, Naruto!"
A very familiar chuunin with a large scar across his nose appeared from the crowd, smiling brightly.
"Iruka-sensei! It's been way too long!" They both hugged like a father would hug his son. "I got the good news from Gai a few hours ago. I'm proud of you Naruto."
"Aww shucks, it's nothing really…"
"Don't say that! Having a child is one of the biggest experiences you'll ever have in your entire life. You and Hinata need to enjoy this and make the most of it. And it is my personal opinion that you will make a great father." Naruto smiled warmly at that.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei. Really, I mean it."
Naruto was called off elsewhere for more congratulations. Iruka smiled to himself and thought, "Of course he's going to be a good father, I mean, look at his own father… Yondaime, I wish you could see him now… your little boy has grown into a fine man it seems. And something tells me you knew he would the whole time. Didn't you, Yondaime?"
A/N: I apologize if this chapter seems rushed or anything, I just already had so many ideas for the party and such I just had to write it down. But at least I'm keeping good on my promise to update quickly! Well, the celebrations are done, back to business. Now for what you've all been waiting for, the baby vote! Here's your options folks…
If you want a boy, the names available are Kirusei, Kaizen, Ryu, Roka, or Arashi.
If you want a girl, the names available are Hikari, Emiko, Kira, Yuki, or Rei.
And if you want twins, tell me what gender and which names.
I DO NOT GO ABOVE TWINS.
If you want your voice to be heard, then send me a message, or better yet, REVIEW. You've been great so far, keep it up!!!