Chapter Eleven
Naruto didn't really know what he was expecting when Cousin Ken had picked him up from the Academy that day. Probably just another averagely awesome day of training. What he had not expected, or perhaps not allowed himself to hope for, was the news that he would get an actual birthday party this year!
All of his first year at the Academy, he'd heard his fellow students gush about their birthdays when they came up; times of presents, parties, and most importantly being surrounded by people who loved you. The closest Naruto had to any of that was when Instructor Iruka had taken him to Ichiraku's for his last birthday. Well, that and the yearly festival celebrating the Nine-Tails being beaten. But he was chased off the one time he'd tried to go to that, so it really didn't count. (And now he knew why.)
But Cousin Ken had said that this year he'd actually have a party! He'd be allowed to invite anyone he wanted from his class, too! The thought of presents did cross his mind, but it was washed away by the tide of the idea that he'd have a party, something to actually talk about this year. (Assuming anyone but Cousin Ken or Iruka would listen, but hey, details!)
At the moment, Naruto was practicing his freeform katas in the schoolyard while he waited for Ken to finish up a quick talk with Instructor Iruka. He had a feeling it was about his party — maybe Ken was inviting him personally.
Naruto was in the middle of spinning on his heel to catch an imaginary enemy in the stomach when several grey blurs rushed by him. Naruto yelped as the rush of air from their passage threatened to push him over. He was teetering, and falling, when Ken caught him and placed him on his feet.
"You okay there, kiddo?" he chuckled.
"You betcha!" Naruto affirmed. "It'll take more than a stiff breeze to keep me down, y'know!"
"I don't doubt it," Ken chuckled before taking the lead back to their house.
A few minutes later, the shadow clones that had almost knocked Naruto over went their separate ways to fulfill their purpose. Ken's talk with Iruka had been to get a list of students that seemed to hold no grudge against Naruto, a list that was depressingly short at five students.
One shadow clone stopped before the Nara clan compound and knocked on the gates. "Thank goodness Iruka is such a thorough teacher," Ken said to himself. And it was true; Iruka had made a point to visit each of his students' families in person within the first six weeks of the academic year, starting as close to the first class day as possible.
When the gates opened, Ken checked the diagram of the compound Iruka had given him and followed it to the correct house. Hoping that someone was there since classes had let out for the day, he knocked. A muffled shout emanated from the house before a very familiar figure opened the door.
"Commander Shikaku?" Ken asked, surprised at seeing the only Nara he knew.
"Ah, Uzumaki. Come for information on the upcoming Exams?" he asked with a chuckle.
Ken cast a glance at the rest of the compound and then down at the diagram again, making sure he had the right house. "Umm, your son's name wouldn't be 'Shikamaru', would it?" he asked.
Shikaku's eyebrows arched before he called into the house for someone named "Yoshino". This brought a woman, clearly Shikaku's wife, to the door.
"May I help you, sir?" she asked politely. Before Ken could answer, she cast a sidelong glance at her husband. "I hope this bum hasn't been wasting your time."
"How would I be doing that, exactly, when he came here of his own volition?" Shikaku asked with a long-suffering air, as if he knew what the answer would be.
"Knowing you, dear husband, you'd find a damn way!" Yoshino snapped. And then, like the flip of a switch, she smiled even more politely at Ken. "I'm sorry, you said you had something for Shikamaru?" she asked.
Ken hesitated for a moment at this woman's quicksilver temper, but his grandfather's timeless advice about ninja quirks helped him brush it off. "Umm, my name is Ken Uzumaki. I'm Naruto's cousin and caretaker." He removed a plain envelope from his back pocket and handed it to Yoshino, who opened it under her husband's curious eyes.
"I'm throwing Naruto a birthday party tomorrow evening, and Instructor Iruka said your son seemed to have no problem with him. I know Naruto's going to announce an open invitation tomorrow in his class, but I had hoped you would consider it yourself? I won't ask you to bring anything, especially so soon. But I know Naruto would appreciate it if you came with your boy."
Yoshino and Shikaku were silent for a moment as they each perused the admittedly simple invitation then looked at each other for a silent moment. Shikaku sighed and shook his head with a faint smirk. "I don't see why not," he agreed. "Unfortunately, I've got a meeting tomorrow evening, so my old lady will be bringing him."
"You know I don't care for that term, Kuku," Yoshino snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at her husband.
"Well, I don't like it when you call me that in front of company, so we're even," he snarked before departing with a wave at Ken.
"Ooh, that man drives me up the wall," Yoshino seethed, then chuckled. "To clarify, Shikamaru and I will definitely attend. Little Naruto could use some friends."
Ken blinked at the use of his cousin's name and smiled at the fact that this family seemed to hold no ill will toward Naruto. "Thank you, ma'am," he said, before the clone dispersed into a cloud of smoke, much to Yoshino's bemusement.
Another of Ken's shadow clones made his way to a clan compound nestled between the village's small restaurant and larger grocer's districts. He was surprised to find the gate open as he made his way in and located the home of one Choji Akimichi. As he had before, Ken knocked on the door and waited, praying just as the other had that someone was home.
The door was opened by a full-bodied woman with short-cropped black hair and small orange markings on the corner of each eye. "May I help you?" she asked kindly.
As before, the clone introduced himself and offered an invitation and explanation. Unlike before, a child who had to be the boy in question wandered to the door while they were talking and tugged on his mother's pants.
"Mom, can I have my snack now?" he asked.
Ken was ashamed to realize that his first thought was to ask if that was a good idea, but doubted that it would do any good. "Are you Choji?" he asked instead.
The boy looked up and nodded, prompting Ken to kneel to the boy's level and explain to him as well. The boy looked down as if in deep thought before looking back up with a light in his eye. "Will there be snacks?" he asked eagerly.
"Choji," his mother said in a gently chastising tone, "remember what we talked about. Food is not everything. Many times you have to do things just because it is right."
Choji nodded at his mother's words and looked Ken straight in the eye. "I'd like to come to Naruto's party," he said. The clone smiled and thanked them both before dispelling.
"Goodness, I wonder what he's in such a hurry about," the Lady Akimichi wondered.
While Ken's third, fourth, and fifth clones made their way to the compounds of the Aburame and Inuzuka clans and Ichiraku Ramen — securing four more confirmed invitations in the process — the sixth and final clone found himself staring at the elaborate Hyuga Estate, a place so large it no longer qualified as a compound.
Given his penchant for stories, Ken was aware of the rumors of the prowess and prestige of the Hyuga clan. And that reputation unnerved him. He glanced at the pair of guards manning the gates to the walls surrounding the estate, both of them glaring at him with their white eyes since he'd stopped before them.
"Umm, I have something for-" As he stepped forward, one of the guards lunged, Byakugan suddenly active, and struck him in the gut. It would have merely been a debilitating strike to a flesh-and-blood victim, but to a shadow clone it was a death sentence. The clone dispersed, leaving the invitation to flutter to the ground.
"Trouble with the wife?" the other guard asked stoically.
"Shut up," the attacker growled. He knew he had acted too rashly there; his partner didn't have to rub it in. He picked up the envelope reading "To Hinata Hyuga and her parents" and, after an examination with his Byakugan to check for explosive tags, poison tags, or any other assassination methods, he tucked it into his robes and decided to pass it along to the clan head.
Maybe he should visit the onsen when his shift was over … try to relax.
As the memories from his shadow clones intermittently appeared during their walk home, Ken couldn't shake the feeling that he or Naruto were being watched. Unwilling to reveal that he knew just yet, he used the windowpane of a bakery to see if he could catch a glimpse of whomever it may be.
It took several more store windows to catch the common denominator, and the result was … unexpected.
When they finally arrived at the assigned house, Ken passed Naruto the key. "Why don't you head inside and continue your katas in the living room?" Ken suggested. "I'll be there in a minute."
Naruto tilted his head at the request, but shrugged and did as he was told. As soon as he was gone, Ken mentally took the natural steps to convert his chakra to Yin Release form, the ratio of spiritual energy to physical energy in the mix sharply rising. With a string of hand seals, inky blackness descended upon the block.
Ken took a moment to open his mind's eye and used it to search through the artificial dark until he found the faint glow of a chakra signature utterly different from his own. He approached, the darkness muffling the sound of his steps until he came up behind the target, only then releasing his technique and closing his mind's eye.
As soon as the darkness faded away, the target started and spun around to reveal … an adorable little girl. The pale, pearly eyes marked her as a Hyuga and the unmarked forehead as a member of the main house that Iruka had explained to him. She was dressed in pale robes, her hands clasped together in fright and the swollen veins around her eyes slowly returning to normal.
"Hi there," Ken greeted, trying to be as warm as he could. He lowered himself to squat to her level, trying to keep himself as unthreatening as possible. "Your name wouldn't happen to be 'Hinata', would it?"
The little girl nodded jerkily, still clearly on edge.
"Sorry about all of that," Ken said with a wince. "I had to make sure you didn't run off. Do you mind if I ask why you were following me and my cousin?"
"C-cousin?" Hinata stuttered. "S-so it's t-true. F-father said t-there was a n-new Uzumaki." She looked back at the house, her expression almost … longing.
Ken mulled that over for a few seconds before grinning, his memories from the "encounter" at the Hyuga Estate still fresh. "You know, Naruto's having a birthday party tomorrow." Ken fished one of the spare invitations from his back pocket and handed it to her. "Would you like to come?" Hinata was trembling as she took the invitation, reading it over as she seemed at war with herself. "I'm sure he'd really like for you to attend," he added.
And just like that, the trembling stopped. Hinata took a deep breath and nodded. "I would very much like to attend Naruto's party," she replied.
"Wonderful," Ken smiled, standing up. "And for the record, when I cast that technique," he tapped his face right next to his eye, "you did great in triggering your eyes. A very smart move." He moved around her and made his way back to the house. "And one last thing," he called back, drawing the little girl's gaze.
"Naruto won't bite. You should talk to him. I think he'd really like to be your friend." And he was gone before she could bring herself to reply.
After yet another long day of dispensing missions, analyzing intelligence, and miscellaneous paperwork, Hiruzen made his way to his home in the Sarutobi clan compound. Despite popular belief, he did not in fact live in Hokage Tower — though his many late nights could make even he, himself, feel as if he did. He was really getting too old for this.
Another factor to his many late nights the last several years may have been the prospect of returning to an empty house. Since the loss of his beloved Biwako eight years hence, as of tomorrow, he had been both unwilling to find another wife and too busy to give it much effort even if he had wanted to. But tonight he was too tired to be lonely, the prospect of a late-night visit to the compound's private onsen and slipping into his own bed very attractive.
Those plans were put on the figurative backburner at the sight that greeted him at his door. His young cousin so many times removed, Tomoko, was meditating on his porch with her personal summon Yama. Upon Hiruzen's approach, the stocky monkey peeked an eye open before vanishing back to the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers, where his tribe called home.
"Good evening, Uncle," Tomoko said with a smile, slowly opening her eyes.
Hiruzen smiled back, albeit a bit more tiredly. He could almost feel the lines of his face deepening with each passing year. In the back of his mind, he determined that it may be time to search out a successor to the hat.
"Good evening, Niece," he replied. "Is there any particular reason you're on my porch at this hour? Is Kato having trouble with his arnis training?"
Tomoko chuckled. "No, nothing like that. Honestly, Uncle, you act as if we youngsters only approach you if we want something."
Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow, though his smile remained unchanged. "Isn't that what we old coots are good for? Spoiling the next generation?"
Tomoko rolled her eyes with a scoff. "It's not all you're good for. Even if you are really good at it."
Hiruzen's smile grew a bit, in width and in warmth. "So what business does a youngster like you have with an old man at this hour if you don't want something?"
"I wanted to give you something, actually," Tomoko smirked, holding out an envelope.
Hiruzen took the envelope gently and opened it to reveal a simple invitation to a party for the eighth birthday of one Naruto Uzumaki, to be held in the backyard of their assigned quarters. Hiruzen chuckled, pleased that young Ken seemed to be taking his role as caretaker so seriously.
"For the record, Red forgot the kid's birthday was so close until I mentioned it," Tomoko noted, then smirked. "Then he almost lost his head with worry over trying to do well."
Hiruzen tapped the card against his palm and made up his mind. "While I have my day full preparing for the festival tomorrow, I see no reason why I can't take a break to wish a young boy a happy birthday."
"Wonderful. I'll try to keep my mouth shut until then. I really want to see everyone's faces when the vaunted Professor shows up to a kids' party." With that, she bid her Uncle good night and started toward her own home a few houses down. But before Tomoko could make more than three steps, a thought crossed her mind.
"Uncle? Uzumaki uses shadow clones for all kinds of things. Why don't you use them for paperwork?"
The sound of dropping keys was her only warning. Most of the Sarutobi compound was then awakened by a scream that was laced with disbelief, frustration, shame, and traces of hope all rolled into a terrifying sound that lasted for a solid four minutes.
"I guess that's my answer," she said with a cringe and a sweatdrop.
Naruto could barely keep himself contained as class began the next day. As always, Instructor Iruka went through a small number of announcements before they got on with the meat of the class. "Now then, does anyone else have something they'd like to announce?" Iruka asked.
That was enough to draw most of the class's attention; Iruka never opened the floor for announcements, explained only by "bad experiences during his first year teaching". As if on cue — and those who were observant like Shikamaru or Sasuke noticed the brief smile on Iruka's face that implied that that was close to truth— Naruto's hand shot straight up. "Yes, Naruto?" Iruka asked.
"I'm having a birthday party today right after school before the festival starts! Anyone who wants to come is invited." Naruto's wide grin faded a bit as he remembered something Ken had told him last night. "Even Sasuke is invited." This earned a faint scoff from the brooding Uchiha.
"Who would want to go to a party for you?" one of the girls in the class asked meanly.
"I'm going," Kiba brazenly announced. "It'll be a good way to spend the time before the festival."
"That's enough," Iruka interrupted. "Naruto has made his announcement, and all of you can make the choice to celebrate your classmate's birthday or not." He turned and began writing names and birth/death dates of historical figures on the black board. "And for the record, I'm going too."
Over the course of the last eight years, since he had learned the Shadow Clone Technique from his grandfather, Ken had thanked the memory of Tobirama Senju for both devising the technique and sharing it with the Uzumaki. Even outside of combat it was just so damned useful!
Before team training on their final day off (the fact that the last day fell on Naruto's birthday had not gone unnoticed), Ken had conjured a number of shadow clones to pick up everything he'd need for a small-scale party — streamers, teacup candles and torches for ambiance, snacks, the cake, and so forth — and had them set up the back yard of their assigned house. Several vats of ramen were even being graciously donated by Teuchi and Ayame, which Ken was certain would make the party perfect in Naruto's eyes no matter what.
But he was still determined to do what he could for Naruto's first birthday party.
Fortunately, there was little better to take your mind off of things than a sparring session with a Sarutobi. Ken was practicing with his Adamantine Sealing Chains while Tomoko was honing her bojutsu with Yama, who was Transformed into the monkey-exclusive Adamantine Staff. Tomoko had suggested the match-up after hearing the name of Ken's technique, and openly wondered which was more resilient.
"So I forgot to ask," Ken grunted as he swung the chains extending from three sides of his arm and gripped in his fist like a whip, each of his lashes blocked by Tomoko's staff with a bell-like ring, "where's Aoba? I just figured he was late, but he doesn't seem to be coming at all."
"He's a specialized jonin," Tomoko answered. "They had a really tough nut down at T&I and they wanted his help to crack 'em. Something about strength in numbers." With that, Tomoko slid her hands down the staff to grip it at one of its golden ends and hurled it end-over-end at Ken like a giant shuriken. Ken dove away and took the chance to rush Tomoko, but a slowly rising whirring sound behind him forced him to dodge again. As he sidestepped out of his previous line of movement, he felt the air displaced by the Adamantine Staff as it whirled through where he had just been.
Tomoko caught it without much trouble and spun her weapon back into its standard position, her stance wide and ready. While Ken leapt backward for some distance to catch his breath and consider his next move, Tomoko took advantage of another facet of the Adamantine Staff Transformation.
"Any advice on this, Sir Yama?" she asked, quietly so as not to tip off Ken.
"I have little personal experience with this particular Uzumaki sealing art," Yama admitted, his voice emanating from the staff. "And in case you were wondering, those blades on the ends kind of sting."
"They actually hurt you?!" Tomoko asked, honestly surprised. The Adamantine Staff was as close to indestructible as anything could get. She had never heard of a blade sharp enough to cause the user pain while Transformed, except maybe fabled weapons like the Sword of Kusanagi.
"Well, they're not called 'adamantine' chains just for poetic reasons," the old monkey deadpanned. "Lord Enma reported that those chains bound the Nine-Tailed Fox, when it was at full strength and the user was at death's door. They are not to be underestimated."
Whatever Yama was going to say next was put on hold by a subtle rumble in the ground beneath them. Tomoko jumped to escape the chains that burst from the ground a split second later. "Hah! Seen it!" Tomoko laughed.
"Little One, above!" Yama's voice hissed. Tomoko swung the staff upward to block a set of chains interwoven into a grasping claw. She put more force into the swing and used it to knock herself away.
"Sir Yama, we need the high ground," Tomoko said. As she fell, Tomoko planted the staff vertically into the ground and firmly gripped the top. With her grip secure, the staff expanded, lengthening until it was well above the treetops of the training ground. When the staff stopped growing, Tomoko used her upward momentum to flip and perch one-footed on the tip of the staff.
"You have not asked for the high ground in quite a while," Yama noted. It was traditional for those who signed the Monkey Contract to be taught bojutsu by another signer. During training with the Transformation, "taking the high ground" was considered a move of last resort. In battle, though, it was a viable and often very effective tactic.
"Let's hope he doesn't have a seal to help him fly," Tomoko snarked, furiously thinking of what she could do next. While she enjoyed fighting, perhaps a little too much sometimes, she was even more determined to win this than usual. She was a Sarutobi — losing was not in her nature.
"Perhaps the Adamantine Prison Wall?" Yama suggested.
"No. Ken knows the Hiding Like a Mole Technique, he'd just dig his way out." Tomoko thought for another moment before she had an idea. It was a little underhanded, but they were ninjas — underhanded was their bread and butter. "I've got it. We're going to get him back into close-quarters to minimize his chains' long-range capabilities, then you're going to give him a little surprise."
"Understood," Yama said, before rapidly retracting from further down. Tomoko swept up the now standard five-foot pole and rapidly spun it above her head, channeling wind chakra down its length and slowing her fall. She had barely landed on a tree branch before she had to leap again at the sound of Ken's chains, now sporting blunt weighted ends as they smashed the branch to splinters.
Tomoko landed lightly and turned to smash away another barrage of chains that were reeled back into Ken's arms. Taking that opening, Tomoko used the staff to pole vault and close the distance. Ken smirked and summoned the chains in his arm, wrapping them around his forearm to block her overhead strike.
"Sir Yama!" she cried as a signal.
Yama's head emerged in a puff of smoke from the tip of the staff, his arms growing from the sides close to his head and he swung at Ken with one arm and used the other one to secure a hold on his forearm.
"Dammit!" Ken shouted, swinging around the staff to barely avoid Yama's grasp. "No getting out of it!" he cried out before using his other arm to summon more chains and wrapped them around the length of the staff, praying his tactic would work. Ken focused and mentally locked the chains, tightening them to bind chakra.
A second later, Yama vanished in a poof of smoke.
With nothing to support him, Ken fell back to the ground and rolled to his feet. He retracted the chains back into his arms and took a step back into a combat-ready stance in case Tomoko tried anything.
"How'd you do that?" Tomoko asked.
"The Adamantine Sealing Chains can bind chakra; it's great for neutralizing opponents. When a summon is bound like that, it represses the link between them and the summoner and returns them to their homeland."
Tomoko crossed her arms with a huff. "That's cheating," she pouted.
"And having your Adamantine Staff grow arms and a head to attack with isn't?" Ken asked.
Tomoko slumped. "Touche," she admitted. "And for the record, he could still talk to me while Transformed," she added.
"No secrets, huh?" Ken smirked.
"Only in spars," Tomoko shrugged. She glanced up to judge the time. "The Academy lets out in about two hours. We should probably go shower and check on the decorations."
"We?" Ken asked.
"Don't friends invite friends to parties?" Tomoko asked.
"I just didn't think an eight-year-old's party would interest you. I'm not even sure how many people are showing up."
"Well, then you can guarantee one," she giggled. 'Two if Uncle can come,' she silently added.
"Well, then I guess we'd better get ready," Ken agreed.
Hey, hey everybody! long time no see! Sorry about how long it took to update. I started a new job in August and have been immersed in another fandom in the weeks since (the Owl House is an AMAZING show!), but I'm hoping beyond hope that this chapter makes up for the hiatus. On the plus side, this story's up 4,422 views since the last chapter.
*Choji's mother is an anime-only character. I don't prefer using them, but I find it more tasteful than whipping up a family member from scratch when I don't have to.
*The stealth technique Ken used is [of my own creation] an Uzumaki clan technique that was based on mixing the Bringer-Of-Darkness technique that undead!Hashirama (Tobirama in the anime) used against Hiruzen. The Uzumaki combined it with elements of Hiding In The mist and found a way to generate what amounts to real, tangible darkness to conceal their movements - and they can navigate it with the Mind's Eye of Kagura. Naturally, it takes a lot of chakra to use.
*The manga was never clear on if Biwako survived Tobi's infiltration of Konoha, even if the anime put forth that she didn't. I assume she didn't for the sake of this work.
*I've seen fan theories that Minato used shadow clones to keep up with paperwork, and I honestly think it's in-character.
*I've been wanting to write a spar between the monkey staff and Uzumaki chains since I relaized they shared such similar names! And I really like how it turned out!
It's good to be back! Hopefully I can release chapters with my early consistency. At any rate, leave a review if you enjoyed it! It keeps the flames of my yout- writing spirit burning bright! And may your inspiration flow freely!