8: What It Said on the Golden Ticket
Kurenai sat at home with her legs under her kotatsu (heated table). She was enjoying a nice, relaxing cup of tea before she would try and sleep a few hours before her next mission. Younger and more inexperienced ninja were out of work for the moment, but the harsh weather and sudden snowfall provided a multitude of search and rescue missions for experienced Jounins such as Kurenai. Her body ached and she was looking forward to a nice, warm bed.
Her expectations were cut short when a loud banging came from her front door. BANG, BANG, BANG it went! Kurenai wondered who on earth would be calling at such an hour. She opened her door to find her young genin student standing in the snow, gasping for breath. "K-Kur-renai-sens-sei! Kurenai-sensei!" she said breathlessly.
"Hinata!" said Kurenai, shocked to see her, "What's the matter, c-come in, please!" she beckoned Hinata to enter.
"Thank you very much!" the girl said in the same breathless voice, she turned, bowed, then proceeded to take off her shoes.
"Hinata, what is this all about? I don't mean to sound ungracious, but you've chosen a very late hour to stop by for a visi-" her sentence was cut short as Hinata began to shout.
"Look! I've got it! Look, sensei, look! The last golden ticket! It's mine! I met Naruto on the street and we went to have some ramen and after we went to the shop and we bought some candy bars and I opened mine up and it was there inside sensei, then Naruto went to go talk to the newspaper people and I decided to tell you the wonderful news and here I am now! It's the fifth golden ticket, Kurenai-sensei, and I've found it!"
Kurenai simply stood and stared at Hinata for a very long time. There was about ten seconds of absolute silence (save for Hinata struggling to breath after such an outburst). Then, very softly, Kurenai said, "H-Hinata…you're pulling my leg, aren't you? This is some kind of joke? D-did Kiba put you up to this?"
"No, he didn't! I'm telling the truth! See!" cried Hinata. She thrust the ticket up to Kurenai's face. She took it and held it very close to her brilliant red eyes, as if studying it very carefully. She saw two, round red globes reflected in the shimmering golden paper. Hinata watched her, as if waiting for a verdict.
Then very slowly, with a slow and marvelous grin spreading all over her face, Kurenai lifted her head and looked straight at Hinata. Her face began to glow a vivid red, and her eyes were wide open, shining with joy, and in the center of each eye, right in the very middle, in the black pupil, a little spark of wild excitement was slowly dancing. Her lips quivered slightly as she began to speak, quietly and slowly:
"Hinata…this is…" she began. Hinata nodded. Kurenai suddenly threw her arms up into the air, nearly knocking Hinata over, and yelled, "YOU DID IT!" She then grabbed Hinata by the hands and started jumping up and down, screaming. Hinata felt compelled to join her (without the screaming, though). It was as if some long hidden inner child of Kurenai's had suddenly surfaced with immense presence.
"This is completely and utterly fantastic! You, Hinata Hyuuga, winning Wonka's last golden ticket! It's mind-boggling! C'mon, let's sit down and read exactly what it says!" With that, the two of them sat down under the kotatsu to examine the precious document.
It was a very beautiful thing, this golden ticket, having been made, so it seemed, from a sheet of pure gold. It was as thin as an ordinary sheet of paper, but of course, felt much stronger. On one side of it, printed (or perhaps sealed) in jet-black letters, was the invitation itself-from Wonka-san.
"Read it aloud, sensei" Hinata urged. Kurenai held up the ticket and began to read:
"'Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this golden ticket, from I, Willy Wonka-sama! I shake you firmly by the hand! Tremendous things are in store for you! I, Willy Wonka, will conduct the tour of my factory myself, where you will see first hand the marvel of it. Afterwards, you will be escorted home by a procession of large trucks. These trucks are filled with enough candy to last you for the rest of your years! Additionally, one of you five lucky finders will win a special prize of unimaginable specialness! Here are your instructions: Please arrive at my factory gates on the first of February at ten o'clock sharp. You may bring one guest or guardian with you if you'd like, but only one other! Be sure to have your ticket with you to gain entrance. Great and fantastic things await, so until then!
(Signed) Willy Wonka'"
"The first of February!" cried Kurenai as she finished, "But that's tomorrow! You've found it just in time! There's no time to lose! You've got to start preparing! Wash your face, comb your hair, wash your coat, it's quite dirty, brush your teeth, blow your nose, you've got to get ready! This could be the biggest day of your life!"
"D-daijoubu, I'll be prepared…ano, Kurenai-sensei…it says I'm allowed to bring one guest with me. I'd like…I'd like it very much if you would come with me," Hinata said warmly. Kurenai's face lit up even brighter when she mentioned this! But then it immediately fell. Her smile faded and her eyes drooped.
"H-Hinata…I'm so happy that you'd choose me as your guest…but I can't go with you" she said crestfallenly. Hinata's face fell as well.
"Why? Why can't you come? It says that I can bring a guest, it doesn't matter if you're not my guardian…"
"It's not that…believe me, I'd love to come with you…but I've been assigned an A rank mission with Kakashi and Asuma that begins early tomorrow morning. I'm afraid it's quite out of the question" she finished.
"But!" Hinata started, but Kurenai cut her off.
"I'm sorry Hinata, but there's nothing I can do," she gave a small smile and embraced her pupil "but I couldn't be happier that you'd want me to come with you" she said comfortingly. "I'm sure there is someone else you wouldn't mind taking with you…what about one of your teammates? Or perhaps…" Kurenai chuckled and stuck out her thumb (a Japanese way of implying a girl's boyfriend), "that boy from team 7?"
Hinata's face turned about a million colours before deciding on a very bright shade of scarlet. "K-Kurenai-sensei! Hidoi! I-I couldn't ask him! I-I…"
"Why couldn't you ask him?" Kurenai smiled "I'm sure he'd be overjoyed to come with you. You did say the two of you had ramen together tonight, and then went to buy the candy. I think he's a very fine choice for the occasion"
Hinata thought about it, and while she disagreed with how Kurenai had mentioned him, she couldn't disagree that she would love to go to the factory with Naruto. She finally nodded and smiled, thanking her teacher.
At that moment, there was another extraordinarily loud knock on Kurenai's front door. BANG, BANG, BANG it went. Finally the door could take no more and was beaten down by a barrage of newspaper reporters and television crews, all of them wanting to interview the finder of Wonka's last golden ticket. There was an equally loud cry of "Oi! There's too many of you! Give Hinata-chan some room! I'll show you guys! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" at which many copies of Naruto forced their way through in order to give Hinata a little more breathing room. It was complete pandemonium in the house.
Hinata didn't mention meeting a sinister man on the street called Urami H'coro who offered her ten million ryou to steal one of Wonka-san's inventions to Kurenai. With all the distractions, it had completely slipped her mind.
The sun was shining brightly on the morning of the big day, but the ground was still white with snow and the air was very cold.
Outside of the giant iron gates of Wonka's factory, enormous crowds of people had gathered to watch the five lucky ticket holders going in. the excitement was tremendous. It was just before ten o'clock. The crowds were pushing and shouting, and Konoha ninja police were trying to hold the crowd back from the gates. Everyone from all corners and countries of the world had come to see this event. Not since the last chuunin exam had there been so many foreigners inside the Hidden Leaf at one time.
Right beside the gates, in a small group that was carefully shielded from the crowds by the police, stood the five famous children, together with their guests who had come with them.
Hinata stood in line with the other children, Naruto standing right beside her. He had been overjoyed and very grateful that Hinata had chosen him to be her guest. He looked out into the crowd, and then suddenly waved towards it. "Hinata, look! Everybody came to see us off!" he pointed to part of the crowd. Sure enough, there were almost all of the Konoha rookie genins there, waving flags and carrying a large sign that read Hinata and Naruto! Konoha's Golden Genins! Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Rock lee, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke, Kiba, and even Shino were there cheering them on. The only one Hinata noticed was absent was her cousin Neji Hyuuga.
Behind her, Hinatacould hear the shoutsof the people in the crowd as they pushed and fought to catch a glimpse of the famous children.
"There's Tomoe Bulnose!" she heard someone shouting. "That's her, I can remember the face from the newspapers!"
"And you know what?" Someone else said, "She's still chewing that dreadful old piece of gum she's had for three months! Look, see her jaw moving up and down!"
"Who's the big fat girl?"
"That's Yoriko Glupu!"
"Gloop! What a fitting name. She's enormous, isn't she!"
"Completely obese!"
"Who's that shorty? The one whose face's covered by a mask!"
"I dunno. Ooh! He's wearing a head protector! That must be Souya Ikari! They say he's an Otogakure shinobi!"
"But where's his guest? There's nobody with him!"
"You're right, completely alone…that's kind of sad"
"The one I want to see is Masaru Kawasaki!" shouted another voice in the crowd. "He's the boy who's father made all those slaves open thousands of candy bars for him! His father gives him anything he wants. Absolutely anything! He's only got to scream for it and he'll get it!"
"Dreadful, isn't it?"
"Shocking!"
"Which one do you think is him?"
"Over there, the one dressed in a formal noble's clothes. He must be hella rich!"
"Which one's Hinata Hyuuga!"
"The Hyuuga? She must be that skinny little girl standing beside that blonde shorty over there. See them?"
"Why doesn't she have a coat on? It's freezing out here!"
"Maybe she can't afford to buy one"
"Really? Damn, she must be freezing. These two are Konoha ninja right?"
"You bet! Born and raised in Konoha!"
Suddenly in the distance, a clock tower bell began striking ten. Very slowly, with a loud creaking of rusty hinges, the great iron gates of the factory began to swing open. The crowd suddenly became silent. The children stopped jumping about. All these eyes were fixed upon the gates.
A loud voice called out from the factory, "Please enter!" All of the children and their guests began to step forward. As they passed the gates, the same voice called out. It was loud and statically, as if coming from a loudspeaker, "Close the gates!" It called. The gates began to close seconds after this announcement as the children continued on towards the front doors of the factory.
Before they reached their destination, a large cloud of smoke exploded in front of them. A figure stepped out of it. She had platinum blonde hair tied back in a bizarre fashion, a tight cream coloured shirt that revealed a large amount of cleavage, and a green jacket. Hinata and Naruto recognized her instantly.
"Hello, distinguished guests and winners of the golden tickets," she said, "My name is Tsunade and I'm the Godaime (Fifth Hokage) of the Konohagakure. I sent a letter to Wonka-san before today and he has allowed me to welcome you all to our village. Wonka-san assures me he will be out shortly to begin your tour. I'd like to welcome you all once again to our prestigious village"
"Tsunade-Obachan! What're you doing here?" Naruto asked stupidly, obviously not hearing a word she had just said.
"N-Naruto-kun…as I was just saying-" she started, but a voice cut her off.
"You've got really big boobs, did you know that?" a voice said beside her.
Tsunade choked on her sentence, obviously not prepared for such a statement. She turned to see a man standing right beside her. He was wearing a black top hat on his head, a long coat made of plum-coloured velvet, bottle green pants, and dark purple rubber gloves. His face was hidden behind an enormous pair of dark, round sunglasses.
"They really are quite enormous! I mean, I'm completely stumped on how you could grow them so big" he continued, absolutely fascinated "I can't believe you can stand and not fall down with breasts that size…" he trailed off. Then suddenly he turned to face the children, as if the previous statement hadn't occurred at all.
"Welcome to my factory! I'm ever so glad to meet you all! My, you're all very short, aren't you!" he said, his voice high and childlike.
"Who are you?" Tomoe Bulnose asked, a snotty look on her face.
"H-h-he's W-Willy Wonka-san!" Hinata exclaimed.
Tsunade tried to recover from failing so miserably at speaking for a moment. "I…you…b-b-b…what?" she gibbered. Willy Wonka turned to her and smiled.
"I see you're still here! Well, thanks for warming up the crowd for me! You and your absolutely enormous, scientifically baffling mammories can go home now! Bye bye!" he gave a little wave and gestured for the children and their guests to follow him. "C'mon…let's boogie!"
With that, the crowd entered the chocolate factory.
Tsunade stood outside the building for quite a while, completely dumbfounded and unsure of what to say. In the end, she decided that it was getting late and her feet were getting cold and that she best be off her office to enjoy a very large saucer of sake.