Jiraiya of the Legendary Sanin, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku and a writer of Great Books has a problem. A BIG problem. There is no one around who can help him, so he must solve it alone. The problem has been plaguing his mind for days, and ridding him of sleep at night. If he messes up, it will be a huge disaster. Never before has such a simple, yet complex problem caused him so much grief.
But really, what should he get Kimiko for her ninth birthday?
Jiraiya has been to a great many shops and looked at a great many things. He has looked at toys and clothing and hair accessories. He has looked at books and games and practice weapons. He cannot figure out what to get.
Jiraiya sighs. Maybe he should just get a bunch of things and hope she likes one. It worked with Naruto. But then again, Naruto is easy to please. He'd be happy with any gift if it came from someone who cares about him. Hopefully Kimiko is the same, otherwise Jiraiya will definitely upset her and ruin her birthday.
Then Jiraiya sees something in a shop window. I bet she'll like that, Jiraiya thinks. Then he remembers something. Her mother won't approve. Jiraiya is about to walk away when he remembers something else. Oh yeah, her mother is Orochimaru. Screw it, I'm getting it and Orochimaru can suck my ****. ...again. Jiraiya shudders. Now that he knows that was Orochimaru, that entire night of passionate bliss is very, very creepy. Jiraiya buys Kimiko's present and goes to a bar to drown his sorrows Tsunade-Style. Later, when he is sober again, Jiraiya has second thoughts and buys Kimiko a great many of the things he considered for her. At least this way, one of them is bound to please her.
It's a good thing Jiraiya is loaded, really.
Yashamaru places a flower on his sister's grave and steps back. "Gaara is already the Sand's favourite Kazekage," he says, smiling. "He's made peace with four of the five great nations, and soon the Stone will be added to the list because of the Stone's alliance with the Rain. It's strange, really," he continues. "We all thought Shukaku was a monster, but he really just needed a hug and a good night's sleep - kinda like Gaara." Yashamaru laughs. "You will be happy, I think, that Rasa realized he loved Gaara in the end." Yashamaru looks up at the sky as a messenger bird flies overhead. He spent the last few days at Shukaku's Temple with Gaara. Shukaku's Guards are all good people, and they are a good influence on Gaara.
Yashamaru hears Temari, Kankuro and Gaara heading towards the graveyard. They are bickering about what to have for dinner.
Yashamaru smiles. He feels as though he can rest in peace now. So, when his niece and nephews are closer, he turns to them and says, "Goodbye."
And then he leaves the world of the living for the last time.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Burifu shouts, jumping on Kimiko's bed.
"Stop!" protests Kimiko. "You'll hit your head on the ceiling."
Burifu giggles. "Happy Birthday! I can't wait to see how normal people party!"
Kimiko grins and starts jumping on her bed too. "I'm nine now! And Daddy promised he'd be back for my birthday!"
Giggling, the two girls jump down from the top bunk and run into the kitchen to get breakfast.
Naruto is already there with Iruka sensei and Kushina. Kushina is making soup and pancakes - one of her strange breakfast dishes. Naruto pounces on Kimiko and hugs the stuffing out of her. "Happy Birthday, dattebayo!" Naruto shouts, picking Kimiko and swinging her around the kitchen.
Kimiko wonders if she will ever get used to the bone-crushing hugs her new family loves giving.
Minato, Kazama and Arashi appear, still bleary from sleep. They must've been woken up by all the noise Naruto is making, Kimiko reasons. They all wish Kimiko happy birthday and set about devouring the breakfast.
After breakfast, Kazama orders everyone to get dressed already so they can get the party ready. Almost immediately, Minato and Kushina pull out a package and give it to Kimiko. "Here's our present for you," says Minato. "We thought you might like to have something new for your party."
Kimiko rips her first present of the day open. Inside is a green-grey dress with a matching red vest. On the back of the vest is the kanji for 'Oil'. Kimiko hugs Minato and Kushina and runs to put on her new dress. When everyone is dressed, they all rush around setting up for Kimiko's party. When all the decorations are up and the morning tea is laid out, everyone collapses onto the couch to take a break. They won't be using the pool until after lunch, so the morning tea is laid out in the kitchen. They decorated the pool room the previous day. All they had left to do was the kitchen.
Kimiko looks at the clock. Soon all her friends will start arriving.
Minato sees where she is looking and gets up. "I'd better go and get Namiko," he says, and vanishes.
Kimiko squeals. "Namiko's coming after all?"
"She has to be home by four, but yes," says Iruka, smiling. "My undead parents will probably tag along."
Minato returns a minute later with Namiko, Ikkaku and Kohari. Next to arrive are Jyuugo and Kimimaro, followed closely by the Konohamaru Trio. Then Kabuto appears, and a few minutes later, Tenzou drops off Aki. Last to arrive are Tachibana and Sekitei, who is off her crutches now and has a brace on her foot instead of a cast.
"Well it looks like everyone is here now!" says Kazama cheerfully. "We'll be opening the presents you all brought at the very end, so put them all over on that table." she points to a fold-up table they set up in the corner of the living room.
"Normal people party! Normal people party!" chants Burifu excitedly.
"Face painting is first," says Minato. "Then the games. Anyone who doesn't want their face painted needs to help with the painting."
"Where are the brushes?" asks Kabuto.
"We'll be off then," says Ikkaku, backing towards the door and dragging Kohari with him. "We need to consult with Lord Second about ending the reanimation jutsu. We'll be back later."
"If you are not back by four, we'll leave without you," says Namiko quite seriously.
"Old Lady! Old Lady!" chants Burifu, poking Namiko's cheek.
"Stop that," says Namiko, sticking her nose in the air and swatting Burifu's hand away.
After Iruka's undead parents make their escape, everyone sets about either getting their face painted or painting someone else's face. Kazama paints Aki's face, Arashi paints Moegi's face, Minato paints Konohamaru's face, Kushina paints Sekitei's face, Kabuto paints Kimiko's face, Kimimaro paints Burifu's face, Jyuugo paints Udon's face, Iruka paints Tachi's face and Naruto makes a couple of shadow clones, one to paint Namiko's face and one to paint his own.
When the painting is done, Kimiko has red lines on her cheeks, just like her Daddy's. The others have various designs that resemble bugs, clan symbols, kunai and… Whatever Konohamaru and Naruto have. Despite the fact that konohamaru and Naruto were at opposite ends of the room having their faces painted by different people, and had no way of knowing what the other was having painted on his face, the two boys managed to get identical blue swirls all over their hands and faces. Not just similar. No: they are exactly identical.
The moment they see each other, Naruto and Konohamaru burst out laughing.
Arashi grins. "Alright, now that everyone is all painted," he says. "Let's get on with the first game. You'll all like this one. It's called Pin the Tail on the Bijuu, and it involves throwing kunai around."
"Yay!" says Burifu, throwing her hands in the air. "Normal people parties are great, eh."
"Oh Burifu," sighs Kazama, shaking her head. "This is not a normal people party - this is a ninja people party."
Burifu frowns and thinks about that long and hard.
While she is thinking, Kazama explains the game. "Alright, so the game is fairly simple. We will all get a picture of a bijuu without any tails and ten kunai with tails attached to them. Then we will all go outside to our garden training post and take turns throwing the kunai at the post. The person who gets the most tails on their bijuu wins. And just to spice things up a little and make it more challenging: everyone will be blindfolded when it is their turn to throw."
"I see," says Tachibana, nodding.
"No you don't," says Kazama, patting his head. "You won't need a blindfold."
"I see," says Tachibana, nodding. "I won't be the only one trying to aim at something I can't see."
"Exactly," says Kazama. "Now to prevent any fighting over pictures, we're going to spread them out on the floor, face down, and we will all take turns choosing a picture starting with the youngest and working our way up to the oldest."
Arashi spreads out a stack of papers on the floor and shuffles them around, making sure that he doesn't turn one over accidentally. Then everyone takes one, starting with Aki and ending with Arashi. Once they all have a piece of paper, they turn them all over at once to see who got what. There are two pictures of each bijuu. Moegi and Kabuto have Shukaku, Aki and Jyuugo have Matatabi, Arashi and Konohamaru have Isobu, Naruto and Namiko have Son Goku, Iruka and Kazama have Kokuo, Sekitei and Udon have Saiken, Burifu and Kushina have Chomei, Kimimaro and Tachibana have Gyuuki and Kimiko and Minato have Kurama.
Minato pulls a very sad face at his picture. "I want the real one back…"