Naruto Primer: All
Surprise
One splendid April afternoon, Tenten, Ino, Sakura and Sasuke were stealing away into 'The Big Party', the local party store. Whatever were they doing? Let us investigate!
"What's Iruka's favorite color?" Ino said as the four of them stood in front of the rows of streamers.
"I think it's pink…" said Sakura absentmindedly.
"I don't think that's his favorite color…" said Sasuke.
"Well we have to make the streamers match the balloons!" said Tenten.
"It's not like the balloons are pink." Sasuke said. "Do we even have any pink balloons? Then again, do we even have balloons?"
"Not yet." Said Sakura. "But we'll get those next."
"So what color streamers should we get?" Ino said, still concentrated on the streamers.
"Not pink." Said Sasuke.
"What color do YOU think we should get?" asked Tenten.
"How about we get a few different colors?" Sasuke said, picking up three different rolls; green, blue and red. "And maybe some yellow…"
"That's a good idea!" agreed all the girls at the same time. They didn't know quite HOW they had all ended up with Sasuke, but they were happy. The group moved down the isles to where all the balloons were.
"How about one of these 'Over the hill' balloons?" said Sakura deviously.
"Or a candle with a grave on it!" said Tenten, picking up exactly that.
"Iruka's not THAT old." Said Sasuke. "He's only twenty-five."
"Going on twenty-six!" Ino corrected.
"He's going to be SO surprised!" said Sakura excitedly. "He's going to walk in and he's going to have no idea that we planned a birthday party for him! I bet he thinks we all forgot."
"I would have forgotten." Sasuke confessed. "Well, actually, I never really knew when his birthday was in the first place."
"Me too." Tenten admitted. The other two had to admit to this as well.
"If it wasn't for Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai and Asuma announcing that we were going to help them throw a surprise party for Iruka then it probably would have passed without my knowledge." Sighed Sakura.
"Let's just pay for this stuff and bring it home." Said Ino. They took all their new party supplies and paid for them and then took them all back to the academy where everyone else was waiting around talking about different things they could do to spruce up the place.
"Finally!" said Asuma. "Streamers and balloons!"
"That's all well and good." Said Kakashi, looking through the bags. "But… where's the cake?"
Tenten, Sasuke, Ino and Sakura looked at Kakashi blankly.
"You didn't get a cake?" said Kurenai skeptically.
"Um…no." said Sasuke.
"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO THROW IRUKA A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY IF THERE'S NO CAKE?!" yelled Gai as he went to punch them all but then he remembered that they weren't Lee so he stopped himself just before it happened.
"Well, you'll just have to go out and get a cake!" sighed Asuma.
The group of four sighed and trudged out.
"Okay, let's get to work on these streamers." Said Kakashi.
The eight students and four students began using all their mad ninja skills to blow up the balloons and make the streamers look all nice and pretty and symmetrical.
"Uh oh!" said Kiba, running over to the window. "Iruka's coming!!"
"What?!" yelled Gai as he fell off his stepladder and landed with a crash. "We're not ready!!"
"Hurry, Kiba!" said Kurenai. "Go distract him!"
"Me?!" said Kiba. "I don't know how!"
"I'll go too!" said Naruto. "I'll tell him to buy me some ramen!!" Kiba and Naruto then ran outside.
"Neji, make sure they don't mess it up because you know they will." Said Gai.
"Go with Kiba and Naruto?" said Neji, raising an eyebrow.
"That is an ORDER!" said Gai. Neji rolled his eyes and figured it wasn't worth battling with Gai so he left as well.
"Shikamaru, you go too!" said Asuma because he didn't want to be the only one who wasn't sending a student out to distract Iruka.
"That is WAY too troublesome." Said Shikamaru as he casually tied a balloon that Chouji had just handed to him after blowing it up.
"I'LL go, Shikamaru!" said Chouji. Shikamaru looked at Asuma for approval.
"Whatever." Said Asuma.
Chouji then followed after the rest of the folks who were going out to distract Iruka.
"Hey Iruka!!" yelled Naruto as he ran up to Iruka who was walking along minding his own business. "Let's go get some ramen!"
"With all of your friends here?" said Iruka, looking at Neji, Chouji and Kiba.
"Uh…" said Naruto slowly.
"Besides, I'm too busy." Said Iruka. "I've got some stuff to do. Maybe some other time then?"
Iruka walked passed the four of them and Naruto looked to the other three for help.
"Um…!" Kiba called after him, but that didn't prove much.
"Iruka!" yelled Chouji. Iruka turned around. "I've been having trouble doing the… er… Bunshin…"
"With the Bunshin?" said Iruka. "But Chouji…if I remember correctly, you did very well with that one when I was your teacher."
"Er…" said Chouji. "I forgot…how I was supposed to…since I've been away from you so long…"
"Yeah, I need some help with the Bunshin too!" said Kiba.
"Why don't you guys just ask your jounin teachers?" asked Iruka. "That's what they're there for!"
"But we need YOUR uh…well… your…" Naruto stuttered.
"Tutelage." Neji finished.
There was a slight pause.
"The…process of being tutored…" Neji said awkwardly.
"Well, I guess so." Said Iruka. "Nothing is more important than teaching young ninjas how to be better ones! I suppose I could put some time aside to teach you a thing or two!"
Hinata was looking out the window in the academy as Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and Neji led Iruka away.
"They did it!" she said.
"That was a close one!" said Lee as he blew up a balloon and tied it in record-breaking speed.
"We have to hurry up and set up these decorations!" said Hinata.
"Where did all our teachers go?" said Shikamaru suddenly.
"They left." Shino said, pointing to the door.
"Why?" said Shikamaru, looking irritated.
"They said they needed a break." Shino answered.
"Then I need a break too." Said Shikamaru, letting go of a balloon so it deflated and flew all around the room while making crazy noises.
"But Iruka could be coming back any minute!" Lee yelled. "We have to finish setting up!!" He grabbed the sign that said, 'Happy Birthday!' "Where should we hang this?! In the doorway?"
"That seems like the best spot to me!" said Hinata. "But not too low or else he might hit his head on it."
"OBVIOUSLY I wouldn't do it like that!" laughed Lee as he grabbed the stepladder and plunked it down on beside the wall so he could climb up to get maximum tack-sticking-in-the-wall effectiveness.
"We have a cake!" sang Sakura as she hurried in with a cake.
"And we ALMOST forgot the candles…" Tenten added. "But I remembered them at the last second!"
"And I couldn't resist this adorable little Big Bird candle!" said Ino.
"Let's just get this ready." Said Sasuke. "Hey, where is everyone?"
"The teachers are on a break and everyone else is distracting Iruka." Shikamaru answered.
It was then that the teachers came strolling back in.
"Oh wow!" gasped Asuma. "These decorations look marvelous!"
"What's up with this cake?" Kakashi asked. "Why is it in the shape of a grave?"
"It's an 'over the hill' cake!" said Ino.
"You…DO know that he's only turning twenty-six…" said Kurenai. "I sure hope that twenty-six isn't 'over the hill' these days…considering I'm…well, OLDER than that…"
"It's just a joke!" said Tenten.
"Where should I put the Big Bird candle?" Ino asked.
"On the skull!" giggled Sakura. She was partial to the Big Bird candle as well.
"Are we ready to get Iruka now?" asked Hinata.
"Yeah." Said Gai. "Who wants to take the responsibility of retrieving the four students and Iruka?"
"I'LL do that." Said Sasuke as he left the room before even consulting his decision with anyone else. They shrugged and just let him go.
With Iruka, the group of four was trying their best to keep Iruka busy for as long as possible. "So…if I want to do the Bunshin then I put my fingers like this?" asked Kiba as he balled his hands into a fist.
"No." said Iruka plainly. "Look at my hands. Do what I'm doing."
"I don't know…" said Kiba. "I got it before! I don't know what's going on now!"
Just then, Sasuke came strolling over. "Guys, we're ready." He said.
"Oh!" said Kiba. "Never mind. I get it now!"
"Well…" said Iruka with a sigh. "That certainly was odd. To just randomly forget it like that…what about the rest of you?"
"We're good." Said Neji. He was never too keen on pretending that he didn't know how to do the Bunshin in the first place.
"I STILL want ramen…" said Naruto.
"Me too." Chouji agreed.
"Well, I'm going back to the academy now." Said Iruka. "I've got some things to do. I'll see you all later and try to remember the Bunshin from now on!"
Iruka began walking back to the academy but didn't get very far before he started to realize that the mass of five students were following him. "Don't you five have things to do?" he asked.
"Akamaru left his favorite toy in the academy!" said Kiba quickly.
"So you're ALL coming?" Iruka asked.
"Um…yes." Said Chouji.
"Whatever." Said Iruka. It did strike him as peculiar that Sasuke, Naruto, Neji and Chouji were following Kiba to the academy to retrieve Akamaru's favorite toy. After all, he couldn't really remember those five getting along during their academy days. Well, he supposed a lot had happened in the void that he didn't have them as students anymore.
Iruka reached the door of the academy and quickly glanced in the window. "That's strange." Said Iruka. "I didn't turn off the lights when I left…"
He opened the door and the lights immediately turned on and the teachers and students jumped out of their hiding spots. "SURPRISE!!!!" they all yelled. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"
"It's your birthday, Iruka!!" yelled Gai as he put a party hat on the confused Iruka's head.
"The big 2-6!" said Asuma, wrapping his arm around Iruka as the students pulled their party poppers and blew into their noisemakers. "How's it feel?"
The sound died down as they all waited for Iruka's response.
"Well…" he said slowly, looking around. "I…wouldn't know."
"Oh, are you one of those guys who counts down to the last minute and doesn't actually say that you're not a year older until it's the exact moment you were born?" Kakashi said, looking underneath the underneath.
"Um…no." Iruka answered. "I generally wait for the right day. Or even… the right month at least."
There was utter silence.
"What?" said Kurenai. "Isn't it your birthday today?"
"Uh, no." said Iruka. "What's the date?"
"April 26th!" said Lee, pointing his finger up in the air.
"Oh." Said Iruka. "My birthday is MAY 26th."
No one said anything.
"I mean…my birthday IS April 26th!" said Iruka, feeling bad for them.
"Oh happy day!!" cheered everyone as they pulled more party poppers and then partied into the night, celebrating Iruka's ALMOST twenty-sixth birthday.