Most of this chapter can be counted as filler. As such, I'll post the next chapter right after this one. A summary of this chapter will be included at the beginning of the next chapter. I would recommend reading at least until the scene change.

I do not own Naruto, nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"

'thinking'

Chapter 18:

"It seems you have something you'd like to talk about," Kakashi said.

"Orochimaru is alive," Naruto said. "And he's become my english teacher."

"And who is this Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

"He use to hang out with the six men that… killed Dani," Naruto said. "He was always behind them and I saw the way he looked at me. He was there the night that Dani died."

"Then that guard didn't kill all of them," Kakashi said.

"I can't say how I know it, but I know that Orochimaru was apart of what happened to Dani," Naruto said. "We ran into each other several times while we were in Sound. He had a man with silver hair by his side." Naruto blushed slightly as a disgusted looked took over his face. "They used each other to... satisfy their desires."

Kakashi nodded. "And Orochimaru did something to you?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not really. He asked me to join them a few times. We got to shower once a week and Orochimaru never cared who watched him got at it with Kabuto. No one went against him, not even the leader of the six who killed Dani. I know that they raped several of the other men, but they never touched me that way. I think it was because despite everything, Orochimaru didn't want to… have sex with a kid."

"And Dani?" Kakashi asked. "Do you think Orochimaru raped him?"

Naruto shrugged. "Dani was older than me and may be was past the age that Orochimaru thought was ok to… you know." Kakashi nodded. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid that Orochimaru might do something to Kohaku or Kurama or Sasuke-san or my friends or…"

Kakashi held up a hand. "Sasuke and Kurama would never let anything happen to you, your friends, Kohaku or themselves. They have the power to protect what's theirs." Kakashi knew that Sasuke had hired a bodyguard for Naruto and he could guess that Kohaku had one as well. "Now, on a happier note, are you looking forward to your birthday? It is in week."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah. Kurama insisted that we have a big party. She already sent out invitations to Sakura-chan and the others. I heard that she thought about inviting my entire school, but Sasuke-san made her cut the list down to one page." He laughed. "So she tried to make the font really small to fit as many people as possible. Sasuke-san had to rip the list out of Kurama's hands to make it himself. It was funny to see them fight over who to and not to invite to the party. Kohaku had interrupted them, asking to be on the list. It was so cute that Kurama tossed the list into the trash and wrote in big letters Kohaku's name at the top of the new list. She even gave him an invitation. Oh! That reminds me." He grabbed his bag and went threw it, pulling out an envelope. He handed it to Kakashi. "I didn't know if it was appropriate to invite you, but Sasuke-san said it would be fine. He made the invitation."

Kakashi opened the envelope and pulled out a white and blue card. The letters with gold making it look very expensive. Inside was a small letter that Kakashi managed to catch before it slipped out. He opened it to read a note written by Sasuke. He chuckled as it basically threatened Kakashi into coming to Naruto's party. "Is it alright if I bring someone with me?"

"Sure," Naruto said. "Sasuke-san said you'd bring someone." Kakashi nodded. Sasuke was one of the few people who knew about Iruka. Being gay wasn't something Kakashi advertised as not everyone was accepting of such preferences. He had lost a friend to the haters and he wasn't ready to lose Iruka. The man was too gentle to enter the dark world of hatred. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing," Kakashi said as he put the envelope down. "There is more you'd like to tell me."

"I invited Sakura to the party," Naruto said. "But Kurama didn't seem to like that. I don't know why Kurama doesn't like Sakura."

"Women are the hardest creatures to understand," Kakashi said. "Then again, to them, we men are just as hard to understand." Naruto nodded. "The best thing to do is just watch them interact. It wouldn't be good to mettle in their relationship. Some people just won't get along." Naruto smiled. "Now then, I believe our time is up. I'll see you in a few days."

Naruto stood up. "Thank you Kakashi-san! See you at my party!" He waved at him as he left the room. Tenten told him to have a good day. Naruto had already given her an invitation. Naruto left the building bumping into Yuto. "Sorry." Yuto said nothing, only nodding and walking towards Kakashi's office. Naruto and Yuto had only met a few times, with Yuto never saying a word. Sometimes Naruto wondered if he'd ever hear Yuto's voice.

"Done?" A red-haired man stood in the same uniform Naruto wore. Despite his looks, he was over ten years older than Naruto. It amazed Naruto to find out Sasori's true age.

"Yeah," Naruto said. Sasori nodded, sending a text, most likely to the driver. The driver pulled up a few seconds later, letting them into the back seat. "Where's Shukaku?"

"He already went to pick up Matatabi-chan and Kohaku-kun," the driver said. "I dropped them off at the house."

"Ok," Naruto said. He glanced out the window. Sasori's presence made him uncomfortable despite knowing that he was his bodyguard. May be Deidara would have been better after all.

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The backyard was filled with tables, red and orange. Sasuke didn't really like the two bright colors, but it was Naruto's birthday, so he kept silent. Kurama had planned almost the entire thing. She even got Gaara and Shukaku to get Naruto out of the house while the preparations finally came together. Kohaku and Matatabi had gone with them so they wouldn't be in the way. Kakashi and Iruka had arrived early since Iruka wanted to help. It was a good thing too, since if Kakashi had his way, they would have been late. Iruka had made Naruto's birthday cake. Sai managed to get back the night before and he brought a few gallons of ice cream along with several fixings to make sundays.

The maids made food fit for more than fifty people. The food had to made ahead of time since Naruto wanted all of the workers in the mansion to join them. Three tables were set up in the shape of a U, with the biggest table being placed at the end, meeting the ends of the other two tables. Another table that sat behind the one filled with food, held the presents. Against Naruto's wish, there were already a few dozen gifts on it. Everyone had asked him what he had wanted and Naruto had told them the he simply wanted to spend the day with them. Naruto felt so blessed to have friends that anything more would be too much. He even yelled at Sasuke to return the gaming system he had bought. Kurama told Sasuke it was because he was stupid enough to ask Naruto if he liked it and if he wanted more to go with it. Sasuke returned the system only to get a better one with even more games. He made sure to hide them this time so that Naruto wouldn't get mad.

Kurama bought Naruto some new clothes, including a pair of boots, a jacket, three shirts, four pairs of pants (one being leather and the other three being jeans), two suits, and an orange sweatshirt. She threw in a giftcard to the store she bought everything from and made sure to "misplace" the receipts. Sasuke would never admit that he had been scared watching her throw them into the fireplace chanting: "burn to ashes" with an evil laugh. At least now he understood why Kurama was so perfect for Itachi.

Sai had been more laid back about his gift. He got a box of chocolates and a box of cookies. With them was a card stating them when Naruto was ready, Sai would happily plan his wedding, for a small fee.

The rest of the gifts weren't nearly as expensive as Sasuke, Kurama, and Sai's (the chocolate alone cost the same price as four of the games Sasuke had gotten Naruto, and the cookies were even more expensive). Kakashi and Iruka bought a simple board game that even Kohaku and Matatabi could play. Iruka had heard from Amaru that Naruto wanted to be a preschool teacher. Amaru gave her gift to Iruka since she couldn't make it. It was a book on caregiving. Shukaku and Matatabi's gift was phone charm. Matatabi picked it out when they went shopping. Shukaku also bought the ninja movie Naruto really liked. Kohaku had wanted to get his own gift for Naruto so Sasuke brought him to the mall where he picked out a watch. Sasuke just handed the store owner his credit card, not caring how much it was. Tsunade and the other maids put some money together and bought a necklace.

Before long, more guests came, carefully placing their gifts on the table. Most of them felt out of place in the large backyard of the Uchiha Mansion. Sakura and her friends quickly took their seats and began chatting amongst themselves. Sasuke's coworkers, the ones he deemed good enough to be his friends, found the man and began to talk. Kurama yelled at them with Iruka by her side telling them that this was no place to talk about work! They had then took their seats and started talking about their personal lives. Iruka and Kakashi joined them.

"He's back!" a maid said. Everyone who hadn't been seated took their seats, leaving only that maid standing. She disappeared into the house only to reappear with Shukaku, Matatabi, Kohaku, and Naruto behind her. Everyone yelled surprise and Naruto's eyes widened. He looked around surprised how everything was set up. He took notice of the large pile of gifts, but said nothing knowing that no matter what he said, he wouldn't win. Seeing that everyone else was already sitting, Naruto quickly sat down next to Kohaku and Kurama.

"Now that everyone is here," Kurama said. "Let's start!" She raised her glass. "Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday!" Everyone yelled. Naruto couldn't help but blush. The maid closest to the food began to pass the bowels and plates around. The maid at the other end of the U would put them back once everyone that wanted whatever it held had some. Soon, several different conversations were going on at once. Naruto wanted to talk to everyone, but decided to wait until they were done eating. Naruto and Iruka instantly got along, both discussing the path of becoming a preschool teacher. Iruka even offered an internship at his school. Naruto happily accepted since he also got along with Amaru. The relationship between Kakashi and Iruka became pretty obvious when Iruka slapped him for Kakashi's wandering hand. Naruto didn't care that the two were gay, as he was never one to judge. Love was love after all.

Once everyone had their fill, Naruto was brought to the table of gifts by Matatabi and Kohaku. With their help, everything was opened. Some maids took the bigger gifts to Naruto's room to play with later. Naruto hugged each person after he opened their gifts. Sasuke had frozen when Naruto's arms wrapped around him. He hesitantly hugged him back. When Naruto hugged Sai, Kohaku and Sasuke had to separate them. "Nawu's mine!" Kohaku had yelled, causing Naruto to blush and Sai to put up his hands in surrender. Kohaku had mastered Sasuke's glare, something Sasuke would have to tell his son he was proud of later. After that, Kohaku made sure that no one hugged Naruto for too long. Only Shukaku had dared to but Matatabi put him in his place.

The party continued as teams were formed to play various games. Matatabi and Kohaku had pulled Naruto away from the others. They agreed to share him with each other, saying that a threesome was better than a twosome. Naruto blushed as he asked where they'd heard that. Both pointed at Sai. Sai had never been more afraid for his life when he received the glares of Sasuke, Shukaku, and Naruto. Only Kurama's sudden laugh was able to stop them from attacking the raven. Sai left out a sigh of relief before looking down to make sure he hadn't peed himself. He then joined Kurama's team.

Eight teams of five were formed as the most intense game of Minute-to-Win-It ever began. Each member of the eight teams took turns as they competed against each other to complete a task. The first one to complete the task got a point for their team. Some tasks were harder than others. After fifty different rounds, Naruto's team was leading with fifteen points with Kurama's team behind them with thirteen points. The team of maids were in third with twelve points. Kakashi's team and Neji's team didn't do so well with only five points each. What really hurt Neji's pride was the fact that he lost to Kohaku not once, but twice. He also lost to Matatabi once, but then again, no one could have beaten Matatabi in that round. With a shout of ice cream from Kohaku, the game came to an end. Sasuke had to admit that Tsunade had excellent timing. She had brought the ice cream out just as Kurama was about to open her mouth to start another round. If Kurama had her way, the game would have continued until her team won. But with the arrival of ice cream, Kurama conceded defeat.

Everyone enjoyed their ice cream, especially Kohaku. Naruto laughed as he helped clean his face. A few seconds later, Matatabi came up to naruto with some chocolate smudged on her face. Shukaku frowned. Normally Matatabi ate ice cream without making a mess. He glanced at Naruto. He really hoped his sister didn't have a crush on the blond. Shukaku glanced at Sasuke who had a frown on his face. He really really hoped Matatabi didn't have a crush on Naruto. He then glanced at Kohaku and added his name to the list of people Matatabi couldn't date.

"Time for wine!" Yumi called. She pulled out the bottle she had brought with her. Kurama helped her pour some glasses. She then handed them out. Just as Naruto reached for one, Iruka grabbed it.

"You just turned eighteen," Iruka said. "Not old enough to drink." Naruto pouted, but agreed that Iruka was right.

"Don't worry Naruto," Yumi whispered. "I'll sneak you some later." Naruto just shook his head as the girl moved on to Sek-kun who was also underage. Iruka did the same thing before yelling at Yumi to stop giving alcohol to underaged people. Yumi sighed before handed the tray to Iruka letting him hand out the rest. She took one for herself and set quietly next to Sek-kun who tried to brighten her up.

Kurama then handed juice to those who couldn't have the wine. "Cheers!" She yelled before taking a sip. Everyone copied her with their own drink.

As time went on, the party died down. Sakura and her friends left a few minutes after Sasuke's coworkers. Iruka and Kakashi stayed a half hour longer, but Iruka was dragged away by the perverted psychologist. Tsunade and the maids began to clean things up as Naruto said goodbye to Gaara and his siblings. Shukaku brought Matatabi and Kohaku into the house for a dinner that was almost ready. Sai joined them soon after with Sasuke behind him, making sure the other didn't say a word. Kurama watched as Naruto hugged Gaara again. The boy boy had given the blonde a few tickets to see the sequel to that ninja movie Shukaku bought. It was obvious that the three of them would be going together.

Dinner went by quickly with Matatabi and Kohaku nearly falling asleep. Naruto put Kohaku to bed before helping Shukaku put Matatabi to bed. The two boys came down to see Kurama, Sasuke, and Sai sitting in the living room. Despite it not being very cold, a fire was blazing in the fireplace. The three were drinking a different wine than the one Yumi had brought.

"Thank you," Naruto began. "Today has been the second best day of my life!"

"What's the first?" Shukaku asked.

Naruto blushed. "The day Sasuke took me out of Sound," he mumbled. Shukaku gave the blond a knowing look before he took a seat next to Kurama. The red-head poured him a glass of wine. Naruto took a seat on the other side of Kurama. A maid handed him a wine glass filled with Orange soda. He sighed in content as the fire continued to steal the attention of the four in the room.