Chapter 24
Whirlpool Blade
Shikamaru was rather relieved to find that losing Naruto hadn't been as troublesome as he'd feared it had been. The spiky-haired blonde had turned up a few streets over, safe and sound, and in the company of his sensei, Hatake Kakashi. The guy had even picked up a birthday present from his teacher.
Now it seemed that Naruto had a solid game plan for what he wanted to do. He wanted to find out what everyone was doing, and then go to the Tower. Shikamaru couldn't argue with that (especially since arguing with Naruto was always so troublesome); his parents were probably over at the Tower, too. Or at least nearby the Tower. He was supposed to check in with them before dark, and this way he could kill two birds with one stone.
Hinata was using her Byakugan to help locate their scattered group. But even with that help, it was slow going. She could see in all directions and through buildings to nearby streets, but there were so many people moving about that it took a while for her to sort through all of what she was seeing. It looked like the poor girl was getting a headache from the strain but she stubbornly continued seeking their classmates.
All for a boy who barely notices her and just as blindly chases someone else. Shikamaru shook his head. Troublesome…
The Hyuuga girl had located Ino and Sakura first. The two girls had left the row of merchant booths and were now in a section where a lot of food stalls had been set up. Shikamaru found it to be something of a surprising move; Ino was always going on about diets and calories (which was stupid, she was a kunoichi and all her training should be more than enough to keep her thin regardless of what she ate) and Sakura would follow her lead.
They followed Hinata as she carefully navigated the festival crowd towards their intended targets. Rounding a bend, they spotted the two girls standing near booth that—judging by its sign and clientele—had been set up by a local bar. When they reached the pair, they found out why.
Two of the Densetsu no Sannin—Tsunade and Jiraiya—were seated at the counter, drinking. Sakura was pleading with her well-endowed teacher to ease off the sake as it wasn't quite dinner time and far too early to be getting drunk. Shizune, the senior apprentice, was also there and also pleading with Tsunade. And Ino, ironically enough, was holding Tonton the pink pig in her arms, watching the scene.
"Hey, Tsunade-baa-chan, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto yelled. "What's with all the booze?"
"Hey, it's the birthday boy!" Jiraiya laughed and tossed back another drink. "C'mere!"
Naruto squinted suspiciously at the tall, white-haired man, but edged in closer. "What?"
"Closer, closer," the man grinned, beckoning.
The blonde walked right up to the legendary ninja and folded his arms over his chest. "What is it?"
"Ha ha!" Jiraiya laughed and swept him up in a hug. "Gotcha!"
"Wah! Put me down!" Naruto howled and started to flail.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and said to Chouji and Ino: "Man, and I thought our dads got weird when they got smashed."
"Happy birthday, brat," Tsunade snorted and held out her glass to him. "You want some?"
"Baa-chan, I'm not old enough to drink!" Naruto wailed and tried to squirm away from the offending liquid and get free of Jiraiya's hug at the same time.
"One sip won't kill you," Tsunade laughed and moved the cup closer.
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune sputtered. "You can't give him that! Hokage-sama will be furious!"
"Nah, he'd just be annoyed," Jiraiya laughed. "Now if Tsunade-hime got the brat drunk—then he'd be furious!"
"Ero-Sennin let me go!" Naruto shouted and struggled harder. "I don't want any sake!"
"Fine, fine." The large man let out a gusty sigh and unceremoniously dumped Naruto onto the ground. "Maybe next year…"
"No way!" Naruto huffed and dusted himself off.
"Maybe next year," Tsunade agreed and drained her glass.
"I'm not gonna drink any of that!" Naruto scowled, punctuating his declaration with a stomp of the foot.
The two Sannin just laughed at him as if he'd told a great joke.
"Hey, another bottle!" Jiraiya called, waving his empty cup at the bartender. "Now, kid…" Jiraiya turned back to Naruto and pulled an orange book out of his pack and a pen. "Anything special you want me to write in it?"
"No!" Naruto yelped and hopped away from the book like it was on fire. "Keep your porn to yourself! I'm too young to read that anyway!"
Shikamaru blinked. "Porn?"
"That's that same dirty book that Kakashi-sensei reads all the time!" Sakura frowned.
"Ah, Kakashi…my favorite fan!" Jiraiya laughed.
Ino cocked her head. "Your fan?"
"Yeah, Ero-Sennin wrote that book!" Naruto spat, disgusted.
"I-is it r-really that bad?" Hinata squeaked.
"It's got a label on it that forbids people under eighteen from reading it," Naruto scowled.
"Here you go, Jiraiya-sama," the bartender smiled and produced a fresh bottle of booze for the white-haired man. "Some of our best…" The man's expression darkened as he caught sight of Naruto standing nearby. "Scram, brat! No minors allowed!"
"Now, now, don't you be tellin' him to scram," Jiraiya chided. "He's not a minor; he's a ninja of Konoha and my apprentice…and besides, today's his birthday! Be nice now."
Both of Shikamaru's eyebrows went up. I know that Sakura managed to get apprenticed to a Sannin…but Naruto, too? When did that happen?
"Some bars will serve anyone with a Leaf, but not this one," the bartender replied icily. "A minor is a minor, so beat it."
"Calm down," Tsunade groaned. "He's not drinking. He doesn't want any."
"All the more reason for him to go," the bartender shrugged. "Makes room for some paying customers."
Shikamaru sighed and moved to tow Naruto away. They'd found Sakura and Ino, and had no reason to stick around a bar; they had others to find. But he was interrupted.
"Let the kid stay!" someone—an adult ninja he'd never met before—from the other end of the bar counter called. "He's not totally worthless, or so I've heard. Keeps other demons away, that one!"
Naruto looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Shikamaru couldn't really blame him.
"You've been drinking too much!" Tsunade warned. "Your tongue's too loose."
"Don't you be callin' my apprentice worthless!" Jiraiya grunted. "When I'm done with him, he'll be able to trounce just about anyone!"
"Of course he will," Tsunade smirked and cracked open the fresh bottle of sake.
"I'm serious," Jiraiya pouted as his former teammate refilled his glass. "Got it all planned out. I take him on this long training trip, show him everything, and in a couple years—"
"Years?" Tsunade frowned as she poured herself more sake. "Minato's gonna let you steal the boy away for years?"
Shikamaru scowled. Years?
"Yeah, I got his permission." Jiraiya tossed back his drink. "He agreed; he knows it's for the best."
"One long training trip?" Shizune piped up hesitantly. "Couldn't you break it up into a few smaller ones, Jiraiya-sama?"
"I would if I could," Jiraiya sighed, suddenly seeming very sober and downright grim. "There's just no time… But hey!" he smiled, again the cheery half-drunk. "We'll have a lot of fun! He'll get to learn all the ninja moves he wants, and I get to work on a sequel to my book!" The man laughed and slapped his knee. "It'll be great! Won't it…kid?"
Naruto never seemed to be a very stealthy ninja—especially not with his old choice of wardrobe. And yet no one had noticed him leave. Not even Shikamaru, who had been standing near Naruto's shoulder, had noticed his comrade vanish.
"Troublesome…"
The Hokage stood outside the Tower, waiting. It was taxing to smile at everyone and be friendly, especially to people he didn't particularly like, and especially since he would prefer being with his son, celebrating his birthday. But if everything went well, Naruto would come to him this year, and he would get a short reprieve from the socializing and politicking he was obligated to do on this day.
The Hokage Tower was the exclusive heart of the festival. Representatives of all the ninja clans tended to congregate there. A little further out, on the neighboring streets, the wealthy and important civilians gathered, occasionally braving the intimidating ninjas to go speak with the Hokage for a while before retreating again. And all the best businesses set up their booths in the area, trying to attract the influential clientele.
Minato sighed and sipped at his water, wishing that his sensei hadn't ditched him, and that Kakashi wasn't out observing the festival in case of trouble. He would've loved their company, and the fact that they would have to suffer through endless polite conversations with him. He wished that she was still with him…
"Hokage-sama," Hyuuga Hiashi bowed, coming to stand beside him. "I was hoping to discuss the recent troubles with Kumogakure with you."
Swallowing a groan, Minato nodded and they withdrew close to the wall of the Tower where they could have some privacy from the crowd should their conversation slide into…sensitive territory.
"Don't you think that your personal intercession in the battle with the Nibi was a bit risky?" Hiashi asked, being surprisingly blunt.
Minato raised a questioning eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Not that I'm not grateful that you diffused the situation, but you came with only two ninja and no ANBU escort. Anything could've happened to you between the battle site and the village walls. Where would the village be without the Hokage?"
"Even though I spend my days behind a desk, I am still a powerful and experienced ninja, Hiashi; I am fully capable of protecting myself." Minato smiled to himself. "Besides, I didn't travel the long way there—I took a short-cut straight from my office."
Hiashi scowled. "Please explain."
"I sent Kakashi and Yamato on ahead with one of my specialized kunai. If they arrived on the scene and determined my presence necessary, they would summon me—and they did." The Hokage sipped at his water. "I thought about using one of the fixed seals put in place by the ANBU, but it's impossible to have predicted where between the village and the border with the Land of Lightning that the battle was taking place. So I set up something more precise…and more secure."
The Hyuuga leader grunted and took a sip of his own glass—probably some fine sake. He was silent for several long minutes before speaking again. "I did not mean to question your strength or your skill, Hokage-sama, but we both know that even the greatest of ninja are still mortal and can be killed."
Beneath his cold, stoic façade, Hyuuga Hiashi wasn't really all that bad. When they had been much younger, Minato could remember the Hyuuga cracking a smile every now and then, and tossing around a few dirty jokes. But life in the Hyuuga clan was hard, especially for one groomed to be the next clan head.
Hiashi's father was stern, humorless, and strict. He'd sealed his second son—Hiashi's identical twin—for no other reason than his birth order, and he held Hiashi to very high standards. An early rise to clan leadership, years of competition with the proud Uchiha clan, the sacrifice of his brother, and the death of his wife shortly after the birth of their second daughter—all had hardened and honed him, and made Hiashi very much like the father he had resented as a child.
Minato wondered if Hiashi even remembered how to relax and let out a smile or a laugh anymore.
"I know," the blonde nodded. "Simple bad luck can slay even the greatest of warriors. But not this time."
"Thankfully," Hiashi agreed with a grave nod.
"Was there anything else you wanted?" Minato asked. "I'm sure you didn't just want to scold me for being a naughty boy."
Hiashi paused before answering. "How are the negotiations with Kumo?"
"The Raikage swears innocence; he claims that this attempt on Hinata was not a mission he sanctioned. He pins the blame for it on a conspiracy of some his ninja clans that still hunger for the power of the Byakugan and saw an opportunity." Minato sighed and leaned against the outer wall of the Tower.
"Three of the shinobi involved in the abduction are believed to be part of this conspiracy, and the Raikage would not be offended if we decided to execute them instead of returning them; if we return them anyway, the Raikage promises they will lose their heads for their shameful actions."
"And what of the Nibi?" the Hyuuga frowned.
"She will be returned to Kumo and punished, but she's too valuable to simply kill—especially since the Raikage believes she was tricked into participating, possibly with forged documents that led her to believe that it was a legitimate mission." Minato shook his head. "I'm very tempted to believe him. No 'Kage in his right mind would send a Jinchuuriki on this kind of mission; not unless he was begging for war. And with Kumo having the honor of hosting the next Chuunin Exams, I seriously doubt they want to run off and start a war with us."
"True," Hiashi reluctantly agreed. "If he truly wished to steal the Byakugan, it would be far simpler to try something during the exams should any Hyuuga participate. It's not unusual for genin to die during the exams after all, especially during the survival test."
Minato stared into his nearly empty paper cup. "Are you going to allow Neji and Hinata to participate in the next exams?"
"Neji will do the clan proud, and he has the seal to protect him. Hinata, however, lacks such protection, and Kumo must not see any weakness in the Hyuuga."
"So you would hold her, and her teammates, back from advancement a full half year?" Minato frowned. "I don't think the Inuzuka and the Aburame will appreciate that."
"Hinata's spot can be filled by another; her team can proceed without her," Hiashi replied.
"True enough, but that leaves me with another hole to fill. I intend to invite all the genin teams that made it to the preliminaries of the last exam—excluding Yakushi Kabuto's team, of course—to participate in Kumo's exam, but with Shikamaru promoted and Sasuke suspended until further notice, two teams are incomplete. If Hinata is prohibited, that leaves three teams one man down." Minato swallowed the last of his water and sighed. "I suppose I could break one of the teams down to plug the other two holes, but I would much rather send four full teams to Kumo instead of just three."
He eyed Hiashi for a moment. "Why not send Hinata? I think she has some real potential, and she'll be better prepared now that she's experienced Konoha's exam."
"Of course she has potential," Hiashi huffed. "She simply isn't tapping into it."
"Perhaps if she wasn't crippled by self-doubt it would be more obvious of what she's truly capable of," Minato suggested. "A kind word of praise every now and then might help with that."
"I can't afford to coddle her," Hiashi scowled. "That would only make her look weaker in the eyes of the clan, and the calls to simply seal her and declare Hanabi to be my heir would be even stronger. As it is, the only way to keep both girls free of the seal is to 'keep my options open' and not declare my official heir.
"Hanabi is skilled and driven, but she is still young and I'm not entirely certain that she would be the better leader. Hinata must prove her strength on her own in order to gain the full and true respect of the clan. Keeping the position open creates competition, and the better of the two will be revealed…eventually."
Hiashi polished off the last of the cup of sake he'd been nursing. "I don't want to place the seal on either of them, but if I must I will not do so arbitrarily, as my father did with Hizashi and myself."
"If you don't want to put the Caged Bird Seal on either of them…don't do it," Minato shrugged. "You are the head of your clan, and your decisions are binding."
The Hyuuga scowled at him bitterly. "It's not that simple."
"Well what's so complicated about—"
When he first heard the jingling of little bells, he thought someone's house cat had slipped outside and gotten lost in the chaos of the festivities. He dearly hoped that it wasn't the infamous "Tora-chan" who made it a habit of escaping at least once a week without fail. But it proved not to be a cat as it got closer and then hit him from the side—proving to be much larger and heavier than any cat. Minato lurched sideways and almost bumped into Hiashi before he recovered and glanced down to see the top of a spiky yellow mop of hair.
"Naruto?" Somebody put a bell on him?!
At first, it seemed like the surprise tackle-hug was one of excitement. But when no wide grins, laughs, or excited chattering occurred, Minato grew worried. Naruto kept his face buried in Minato's coat and he was…trembling?
"Excuse me," he muttered to Hiashi and brushed past the man, not caring if it was rather rude.
He slipped into the Hokage Tower, Naruto still clinging to him, and quickly found an empty meeting room. Minato tossed his empty paper cup into a nearby trash can and lifted Naruto to sit on the edge of the round table in the middle of the room to check him over. Finding no obvious injuries—no blood, bruises, broken bones, torn or dirty clothes—he relaxed a little. But only a little.
"Naruto? Naruto, what's wrong?"
His son didn't immediately answer; he just stared down at his fists in his lap. That made Minato worry. And it made him think of various unpleasant things to do to whoever was responsible for this.
"Ero-Sennin…h-he said that…he was going to-to take me away… That you said it was okay." His small fists tightened. "That it was f-for the best."
For a minute, Minato's mind was blank as to what Naruto was talking about. Then he recalled the long, intensive training trip that Jiraiya had planned and felt rather embarrassed. Not only had he completely forgotten about it, he hadn't told Naruto about it either.
And something wasn't matching up with Naruto's reaction. Sure the boy was surprised by this unexpected bit of news, but he shouldn't panic, shouldn't be upset. Naruto loved learning new ninja skills and going to new places—he should be excited, not distraught.
"Yes," Minato nodded slowly, "I gave Jiraiya permission to take you on an extended training trip. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner." He chuckled a little in embarrassment. "I actually forgot all about it."
"Oh, okay…" Naruto wilted a little more, and then straightened up, a broad grin on his face and a hand sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head. "Ha! So that's it, huh? Sorry, I jumped you before, Jiji; I was just really startled."
Minato frowned at his son's smile. He knew it was a lie. Kushina had done that sometimes—smiled wider, or been louder, bolder—to hide what she was really feeling.
It was another subtle, painful reminder that Naruto was her son, too.
"Naruto," the Hokage sighed and rested his hands on his son's small shoulders. "What's bothering you? Even if you think it's really stupid and silly, please tell me."
"I…" The boy's false smile crumpled into something unsure and vulnerable, and then he looked away. "It's… You want me to go. …You're getting rid of me."
What?! Minato gaped for a moment, horrified. "No, no that's not true at all! Why on earth would I want to get rid you?"
"I dunno," Naruto mumbled, shrugging.
"I don't want you to go," Minato frowned. "If things were different, I'd keep you here. I'm really not looking forward to a long time of having no one to come home to. But…" He hesitated for a moment. "You remember when you and Jiraiya left to find Tsunade and Sasuke's older brother and that missing-nin from Kiri tried to abduct you?"
"Yeah," Naruto nodded timidly.
"Well, they belong to a group that calls themselves 'Akatsuki'—and every single one of them is an S-class criminal. They're so powerful that they hunt demons—why they do we don't know yet—and you're on their list. They want the Kyuubi, and they'll keep coming back until they get it."
Minato swallowed and moved to sit beside Naruto on the edge of the table.
"The purpose of this trip is for Jiraiya to keep you hidden from them and to make you stronger so that when the day comes that you confront them, you'll be able to defend yourself. I'd train you myself if I could, but unfortunately I have a village to run; Jiraiya-sensei has the freedom to give you all the attention you need to get you ready. Originally he wanted to take you as soon as you'd recovered from retrieving Sasuke, but I talked him into waiting a while."
Naruto was quiet for a few minutes, before he peered up at his father curiously. "So…when am I going to be leaving?"
"After the next Chuunin Exam," Minato answered. "Considering how well you did last time, I wanted you to have the opportunity to try again. If you'd left right away with Jiraiya-sensei there'd be no way to arrange your participation for…a long time."
The boy scratched his nose and frowned thoughtfully. "Kakashi-sensei said that the next exams will be in Kumo. Are they still going to be there after…?"
"Yes, Kumo still has the exam," the Hokage nodded. "Everything should be ironed out by the time the tests start, though it'll still probably rather tense and awkward to be there."
Naruto squirmed. "Since Sasuke isn't…well…how's it going to work?"
"Don't worry," Minato smiled. "I should have everything worked out before it's time to leave for the exam." Eager to get to a less serious (but no less important) subject, he asked: "So how has your birthday been? Besides Jiraiya-sensei freaking you out."
"It's been…nice. And weird." Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I mean…everyone but Sasuke showed up!"
Naruto's surprise that anyone would show up to a party for him (even a surprise party that he had no clue about) reminded Minato of Naruto's second-worst birthday ever. When Naruto began attending the Academy and regularly interacting with people his own age, he heard all about their birthday parties and decided he wanted to have one too. So for his seventh birthday, he got permission to have some classmates over, put together invitations and gave them out. Most kids said they couldn't come because their families already had plans for that date, but a few had said that they would come. Uchiha Itachi had volunteered to be the adult overseeing the party (as Minato was stuck at the festival) and had planned to bring his little brother along.
But then Sasuke caught the flu and couldn't come. And when Minato got home that evening after the festival, he found that none of the children, who had said that they were going to show up, had actually come. Naruto had been horribly disappointed and gloomy for a good week afterwards, and never asked to invite people over for his birthday again.
"They just came right up to the door!" Naruto continued. "And then there were all these snacks in the cabinets that weren't there yesterday…"
"Snacks are a handy thing to have when company comes calling," Minato grinned.
Naruto blinked. "…And they even gave me presents and came to the festival with me…" He squinted suspiciously at the Hokage. "Jiji, did you tell them to come over?"
"No," Minato chuckled. "They asked me if they could come over. They wanted to surprise you for your birthday. I take it that you were surprised."
"…They wanted to come over?"
"Is it really so hard to believe? They're your friends, aren't they? Why wouldn't they want to come over and help you celebrate your birthday?"
Naruto didn't answer; his eyes dropped to the floor and his hand unconsciously came to rest over his stomach.
…Might as well get this over with. "Some of them know, Naruto," he said softly. "I told them."
His son stared up at him, stricken. "You told them?!"
"They saw you stand up to the Nekomata. Either I explained it to them, or they would've come to you to find out how."
"But…" Naruto floundered.
"Some of them suspected something already. They are ninja, Naruto. They started to notice things, things that made them stop and think, and they began to look 'underneath the underneath'…"
Naruto was doing a fantastic impression of a fish the way his mouth was opening and closing, yet no sound was coming out.
"I told Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Neji, Shino, and Tenten," Minato continued. "Sasuke knows only what you've shown him. The rest know nothing. It's entirely up to you when and what to tell them."
"I don't wanna tell them—"
"Ino and Shikamaru know, and they were the main force in planning out today. All your friends came to see you today—whether they know about it or not—of their own free will. They don't care about the fox."
Naruto just looked dumbfounded.
"Now," Minato smiled, "did they show you a good time at the festival so far?"
The boy nodded mutely.
"Well, what sort of things have you done?"
Naruto didn't immediately answer, but when he had pulled himself together enough to reply, there was a knock on the meeting room door.
Minato sighed. "Yes?"
"Hokage-sama," an ANBU called through the door. "People are starting to wonder where you've gone."
"Already? But we just got in here," the Hokage muttered. "I'll be out in a few minutes!" he called to his ninja. He turned to Naruto. "Now, what were you going to say?"
"Uh…we mostly just walked around and ate junk and talked…" The boy shrugged and hopped off the table. "I'm okay now. You don't have to hide away with me back here."
"Are you sure?" Minato frowned. "I really don't mind. You're a lot more interesting than most of the people out there waiting for me."
Naruto rubbed at the back of his head, torn between being embarrassed and pleased. "I'm fine," he insisted. "I should go back out anyway. I sort of ditched everyone when I ran off to find you."
"Okay," the Hokage chuckled and followed Naruto out of the room. "You're jingling," he noted as they headed for the exit. "I thought that you were an escaped cat until you hit me."
"Kakashi-sensei gave me bells as a present," Naruto shrugged as they emerged into the waning afternoon light.
"Bells, eh?" Minato snapped his fingers. "That reminds me…" He reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a small scroll. "Here you go, Naruto. Happy birthday!"
His son eagerly took the scroll and unfurled it. Instead of finding instruction on a jutsu, like he was probably expecting, he found the complex ring of symbols and formula of a storage scroll. The kanji at the center of the circle that was supposed to identify what was sealed inside was "blade"—which was thoroughly unhelpful. Naruto scowled at it.
"Well, aren't you going to take it out and look at it?" Minato asked.
Naruto wordlessly set the scroll on the ground to get it flat, placed his palm in the middle of the circle, and pushed chakra into it to break the seal. There was a pop and a puff of white smoke, and when that cleared away the "blade" was revealed. It was a small sword—larger than the Hatake "White Fang" (which was really an oversized knife), but smaller than the sword used by the ANBU. The sheath was decorated with swirled patterns, and at the point where the blade connected to the hilt was a white spiral carved from some kind of ivory. When Naruto drew the weapon from its sheath, the metal of the blade—while not particularly shiny, as shiny was bad for ninja weapons; shiny was not stealthy—seemed to almost glow blue.
The blonde genin gaped at the sword, clearly impressed.
"Where did you get that?!"
Minato blinked and looked over to see Tenten practically drooling at the sight of the weapon in Naruto's hands. Clustered around her was the rest of Naruto's little posse, all equally awed by his new blade. Naruto jumped, apparently startled that the friends that he'd ditched had caught up with him.
"You gave him that?" Jiraiya asked, standing near the cluster of genin (and one chuunin) and clearly half-way inebriated.
"Huh?" Tsunade peered around Jiraiya's broad shoulder, a cup of sake still in her hand. "Ooh! Kushina-chan's sword!"
"Who's sword?" Kiba asked, squinting at the weapon.
"Uzumaki Kushina, his mother." Minato informed them, firmly ignoring the dull ache in his chest. He turned to Naruto, only half-forcing his smile. "Now that you're a genin, an official ninja, I think I can trust you to handle that responsibly, right?"
Naruto nodded vigorously, his eyes as round as dinner plates.
"His mother was a ninja?" Sakura asked.
"Yes," the Hokage nodded. "She didn't use that sword often, but it was very important to her. Her home country was wiped out in the wars, and that weapon was one of the only things she was able to take with her when she fled from the advancing Iwa-nin." He ruffled Naruto's hair. "She'd want you to have it."
Naruto almost looked like he was going to cry a bit. He carefully sheathed the sword and sealed it back into the scroll. After rolling it back up, he stuffed it down the front of his yukata and then gave his father's middle a crushing hug.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Naruto."
The boy lingered for a moment longer, and then broke off to vanish with his friends. Minato sighed and watched him go until he couldn't pick him out of the crowd anymore. Sighing again, he turned to his former teacher and frowned.
"Isn't it a bit early to be getting into so much sake?"
"Nah!" Jiraiya laughed.
"Loosen up, why don't you?" Tsunade snorted. "It's a festival. Enjoy it!"
"What am I going to do with you two?" Minato wondered despairingly.
"Join us?" Jiraiya offered, holding out a small bottle of rice wine.
"No, thanks," Minato grumbled and pushed the bottle away.
"You're no fun," Tsunade pouted. "Just like the brat. He didn' want any either."
Minato blinked. "…What?"
"We offered Naruto some and he didn't want any," Jiraiya shrugged.
"You did what?!"
"I'll get him next year," Jiraiya grinned, quite oblivious to his former student's darkening expression.
"You'll do what?!"
"I wonder who he's inherited his alcohol tolerance from," Tsunade mused, staring into her glass. "I'd feel sorry for him if he turns out to be like Mina-chan."
"That would be a shame," Jiraiya gravely agreed. "Under the table before the first bottle is empty…a real tragedy."
"Hey!"
"We can only hope he can hold his liquor like Kushina-chan," Tsunade sighed.
"We can only hope," Jiraiya nodded and tossed back another drink.
Minato buried his face in his hands and groaned. Why can't it be time for the fireworks already?
Naruto grinned like a maniac as another burst of fireworks exploded over his head. His dad had let him and his friends sit at the top of the Tower to watch the pyrotechnic show the closed the Kyuubi Festival, and it was awesome. It was a much better view than he'd ever managed to get the previous years when he'd stayed shut up in the house.
This was, hands down, the best birthday he'd ever had. He'd gotten cool stuff, his friends had come over, he'd gone to the festival and not started a riot, he'd hung out with his dad, and he'd gotten his mother's sword. It was so great that he didn't even mind the few little rough patches that had come up.
Dinner had been interesting. With all the eating he'd done earlier in the day he hadn't been terribly hungry, but he'd still found a few things to nibble on while he sat with his father. It was the conversation during the meal that really caught his attention.
They'd sat with several of his friends and their families—Kiba's mom and sister, Shikamaru's parents, Ino's parents, and Hinata's father and sister. Somehow his father's first meeting with his mother had come up, and apparently it involved her punching him in the face and breaking his nose. Naruto wouldn't have believed it if his father hadn't gotten horribly embarrassed and demanded a change in subject.
I gotta remember to ask Ero-Sennin about that story, Naruto decided. Maybe tomorrow…
The grand finale of the fireworks show started up, and for a full minute it was solid explosions. Every color and style of pyrotechnic flashed through the air and every window in the village rattled. Then it all stopped and there was nothing but lingering clouds of smoke and the reek of gunpowder in the air. And then came the applause.
"Awesome!" Naruto breathed.
"I take it that you enjoyed the show," his father chuckled as he came through the trapdoor.
Everyone agreed, their voices tripping over each other as they expressed how cool it was and how grateful they were for being allowed to watch it up here.
"Well I'm glad that you all had fun," the Hokage smiled and stepped aside so that they could descend down the stairs into the Tower and get back down to ground level. "But it's late and the festival is over; you should probably join up with your families and head home."
There was a chaotic round of good-byes as all his friends—a bit wound up from the rousing fireworks show—tried to get to him at once. Hinata, Neji, and Shino were polite and formal. Lee was loud and enthusiastic with at least two mentions of "Youth!" while Tenten tried to squeeze a word in edgewise. Kiba punched him in the shoulder and called him a pipsqueak while Akamaru licked his face. Ino and Sakura barely managed to fit a "bye-bye" in-between an argument they'd gotten into over something girly. Chouji probably said goodbye, but his mouth was full of chips so it was hard to tell. And Shikamaru just yawned and waved.
And then he was alone…almost.
"So was today a good day?" his dad asked.
"The best!" Naruto cried, bouncing.
The Hokage smiled. "Great!"
Naruto grinned back and cheerfully followed his father down the stairs, through the Tower, and out into the streets towards home. It was really too bad that he wouldn't be around for the next few Kyuubi Festivals. But after he came back from wandering and training with Ero-Sennin, it would be even better.
I'm glad Jiji didn't find a mission for me to do today. Staying here turned out to be a lot more fun! Too bad I never tried to come back to the Festival sooner…
"Have any plans for tomorrow?"
Naruto scratched at his cheek thoughtfully. "Do you think I could try a Katon jutsu, so I can set toad oil on fire?"
"We'll see," his dad grinned and messed up his hair. "It not tomorrow, then soon."
"Okay," Naruto agreed.
So long as he learned it before it was time to leave for the Kumo exams, he didn't mind waiting. It was a shame that he and Sakura wouldn't be able to go through the exams with Sasuke like he wanted to, but it was stupid to hold back and wait for him to get himself back together and get through his suspension and probation. That would take years and all his friends would leave him in their dust.
Besides, his dad thought he could do it, so he would.