Chapter 15: Celebration
The sun rose over the Leaf Village as the repairs were finally complete and the village was restored back to it's former glory. Ryouske was looking out of his window after he had just woken up and was amazed that the village was restored so soon, he was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard someone call his name and looked down at the street to see Namito, Lukyo and Naruto waving up at him.
"Hey Ryo. Lady Tsunade is looking for ya, i think it is important," Namito called out to him, making Ryouske nod and head inside his apartment to get ready, heading out of the front door. As he and his friends wlaked down the street, Ryouske wondered what Tsunade could want with him, "I wonder what Tsunade wants with you," Naruto wondered, causing Lukyo to shrug, "Maybe she wants to thank you for bringing her back or something," he offered.
They soon reached the Hokage building and walked inside, bumping into Kotetsu and Izumo, who were moving stuff about for Tsunade. Kotetsu looked at Ryouske and smiled, "Hey, kid. Glad i saw ya, i wanna thank you for what you did for Karina. It means alot to see her up and about again," he said, causing Ryouske to rub the back of his head and shrug as if it was nothing, "Is the old bat in?," he asked only for Ryouske to get sent flying into the wall from a fist that was launched from behind him.
Everyone looked at the owner of the fist and their eyes widened when they saw Tsunade herself, looking pissed off, with a bored Shikamaru standing behind her. "Watch who you are calling old, you little bastard!" Tsunade said, a vein popping out of her head as she glared at Ryouske lying flat on the ground. She dragged Ryouske into her office with Shikamaru following and standing in front of her desk, where she then dropped Ryouske.
Shikamaru gave her his usual bored look as Ryouske stood up rubbing the back of his head, "So why did you want to see us Lady Tsunade?" Shikamaru asked, "We aren't in trouble are we?" Ryouske asked making Tsunade shake her head as she tossed them both a light green Leaf shinobi vest. "Ryouske Tenno and Shikamaru Nara. For your efforts in the Chunin exams and how well you stepped up and led your friends in defence of the village, it is my honour to hereby grant you the rank of Chunin."
Both of them stared at the Hokage, both seemed unable to respond until Ryouske took off his black jacket and put on his new Chunin vest, smirk in place, and looked at her, "Thanks for this honour, Lady Tsunade, " he said making the woman in question surprised at hearing him speak to her with such respect. Shikamaru, being the lazy bastard he was, merely sighed and put his vest on also, "This is gonna be such a drag," he said in his usual bored tone, making Ryouske sweat drop at his attitude.
Tsunade then dismissed them and they left the office to find their friends waiting for them outside, their eyes widening in wonder as they beheld the new Chunin vests that Ryouske and Shikamaru were wearing. Namito and Naruto patted Ryouske on the back, grinning, "Congrats, bro," Namito said, "Yea, you deserve it," Naruto said, both comments making Ryouske grin and rub the back of his head. Kotetsu and Izumo then came up to Ryouske with Kotetsu fist bumping the new Chunin and Izumo just giving him a neutral look and murmuring his congratulations.
They then headed out of the building, with Naruto jumping around, hyper as usual, "Hey guys, we should have a party at the academy to congratulate Ryo and Shikamaru," he offered when Ryouske was out of ear shot, receiving nods and smiles of agreement from the others. Namito smiled and leaned forward, "I'll keep Ryouske busy while you guys prepare, Choji you keep Shikamaru busy so that they can set up, sound good?" he said making them nod in agreement and for Choji to head off with Shikamaru, while Naruto went up to Ryouske.
"Hey Ryo? Can you keep Namito occupied while we set a party up at the academy for him? It's his birthday today so we wanted to surprise him," he said making Ryouske face palm, he had forgotten to get Namito a gift. Nodding his agreement, Ryouske soon went off with Namito, with either of them unaware that they were meant to keep each other occupied.
To start with, Ryouske offered the idea that they should go and get some ramen, with Namito nodding his agreement. They soon came to Ichiraku Ramen and sat at the stools, both ordered multiple bowls of Miso amen and as Teuchi, the chef and owner of the stand, set about making said bowls of ramen, Ryouske spotted, out the corner of his eye, Ino and Sakura talking with Teuchi's teenage daughter Ayame about food for the party.
Worried that Namito might see them, Ryouske quickly got his attention and smiled, "So," he started, "Do you think you will be made Chunin soon?" Namito shrugged in response and looked at his friend, "Hopefully soon, but I know it won't be easy," he said. Their ramen soon arrived and they both began to wolf down the ramen, laughing as they did so.
After the ramen, they decided to hit the shopping district and see if there would be any new weapons, scrolls and the likes that they would be interested in. First they decided to check out the weapons shop, their smiels widening when they saw the new types of shuriken and kunai on display. Browsing the selection, Ryouske came across a type of kunai that was different from the others, it looked like a claw with the way the blade was arched and then Ryouske fanned it out revealing 4 more blades underneath the first for a total of 5 claw like blades, also noticing that underneath the blades there was some sort of grip that made it look like someone wore the weapon on their hands.
Intrigued by the weapon, Ryouske bought 2 of them and also 4 packs of senbon needles, with Namito still browsing the stock near the door. As he was looking at the shelves, however, he spotted Neji and TenTen browsing the shop opposite for decorations for the party and quickly stood in front of the door, shielding it from view as he smiled nervously, "So, what do you think i should get?" he asked Ryou he raised an eyebrow in thought.
"I don't really know. Why not try and find something that suits your fighting style, like i am with these claws?" he offered to Namito, who was relieved that Neji and TenTen had moved on. Not being able to decide on anything specific, Namito just bought 4 packs of senbon as well and both of them headed out to browse the streets once more.
They then decided to head by the scroll shop to see what scrolls were on sale. As they browsed through the selection, a shelf of wind and fire scrolls caught Namito's eye and he began looking through them for new jutsu, "Cyclone strike, Phoenix flare, some of these jutsu are pretty interesting," he said as he bought 3 of each. Ryouske smiled, happy to see that Namito was focused on getting stronger and looked out of the nearby window, his thoughts turning to the invasion of the village and how he could barely do anything, knowing that he too would need to get stronger.
Broken out of his thoughts by Namito, Ryouske headed out of the shop after purchasing some lightning and water scrolls and soon headed down the street with Namito at his side. Wondering what they should do next, Namito suddenly had an idea and flashed Ryouske a mischievous grin, "Hey, wanna go to the hot springs? We haven't "gone there" in a while," he playfully said, making Ryouske return chuckle and shake his head in decline, that is until Namito held his shoulder.
"Ya know, i heard Karina was planning to visit the hot springs today," he whispered into Ryouske's ear making him tense up and began to head for the hot springs, practically dragging a grinning Namito. When they got there, they snuck around the back and, with pervy grins on their faces, pressed their heads to the wall, both staring through different holes in the wall, both blushing and grinning like idiots as they beheld the sight before them.
The women's side was filled to the brim with women soaking in the springs, but Ryouske was getting bored, until Karina walked into the hot springs, making his eyes widen and him eager to see more of her in her towel, her pale skin slick with sweat from the heat of the hot spring. Just as she was about to lower her towel however, she got the feeling of someone watching her and, when she looked at the wall, spotted eyes within the wall, proceeding to storm over and thrust her fist through the wall, grabbing Ryouske and yanking him through it to drop him on the hot spring ground.
Rubbing his head, Ryouske looked up at the terrifying sight before him, Karina cracking her knuckles and glaring down at him with the face of a demon that promised pain, "A..ah, K..k..karina chan, f..fancy meeting you here," he stammered out, but Karina just continue to glare at him, "You. Are. DEAD," she grated out as she pulled back her fist and proceeded to deliver him a vicious uppercut to his jaw, "FALCON PUUUUNCH," sending him flying out of the hot spring and towards the centre of the village, with Namito running after him in fear.
Ryouske landed with a crash right in the centre of the village, leaving a small crater, in which he was lying there, groaning in pain from the impact. He sat up, rubbing his jaw painfully, and looked up at Namito, who had just arrived at the crater, and began to stand up, swaying a little. "That looked like it hurt a lot, bro," Namito said as he looked at is injured friend, who just grinned through blood stained teeth, "Totally worth it," Ryouske said, still grinning like a madman.
They both thought that enough time had passed and decided to head to the academy, with both not realising it is where the other wanted to go. They traversed through the hallway, noting the different pictures that the students had drawn and the photos of students and past students that had been in the academy. They stopped at a certain picture that had been taken 4 years prior, smiles growing on their faces, it was a picture of their class when they were in the academy.
At the back were the students that Ryouske could not remember, but in the row before them he spotted his friends. Ino and Sakura were standing together, both smiling with their eyes looking toward Sasuke, who was stood in the row before them, looking as moody as ever. Next to those two fan girls was Shikamaru and Choji, with Shikamaru sporting his usual bored look, albeit with a smile, and Choji in his usual pose of eating a bag of potato chips, which made Ryouske laugh about how they would never change.
Next to Choji was Kiba, Hinata and Shino, with a tiny Akamaru perched on Kibas head, tongue hanging out happily. Hinata had her usual shy smile and twiddiling thumbs while, as expected of Hinata, staring shyly at Naruto with Shino standing next to her, bottom half of face covered up, as stoic as ever.
Ryouske and Namito's eyes lit up when they saw the three students in the front row, one was Naruto, his blonde hair as spiky as it is now, and on the right side was Namito, his former black markings on is cheeks and his red hair standing out among the picture. Hey both had an arm around the shoulders of someone in the middle of them and Ryouske smiled widely when he saw who it was. With red and black hair standing out the most in the picture and mismatched eyes wide with joy, the younger version of Ryouske held his arms around the shoulders of his best friends, massive grins adorning their faces.
With a happy sigh, Namito looked at Ryouske, "I remember that day, that was the first day you gave such a big smile after being so hollow," he said as he remembered how Ryouske used to be. Ryouske just nodded in response and continued walking, with Namito following behind, wondering what could be on his friends mind. They soon came to their old classroom and were surprised to find Shikamaru leaning against the wall, bored as usual, "Hey Shikamaru, what are you doing here?" Ryouske asked only for the lazy man to shrug.
"No idea. Choji just dragged me here and the disappeared," he said, looking at the confused duo. Ryouske decided to head into the classroom and all three were met with loud cheers and excitement as their friends jumped out, "SURPRISE!" Both Ryouske and Shikamaru blinked in surprise when they looked at the room, their friends had decorated it with ribbons and balloons and a table of snacks, ramen and other such sweets. Draped across the blackboard was a banner with words written on it, "CONGRATULATIONS RYOUSKE AND SHIKAMARU," the banner read.
Seeing Ryouske's shock, Namito grinned stepping forward, "We planned this party to celebrate you guys making Chunin, we hope you like it," he announced with a wide grin. Ryouske returned his grin and pointed at the banner, "It isn't just OUR party ya know. It IS the 20th of April today after all," he said, making Namito look at the banner, only for his eyes to widen at the words that were underneath the congratulations to Ryouske and Shikamaru. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAMITO."
Seeing that banner, Namito's eyes soon began to well up with tears, his surprise look turning into a happy smile, "Y..you guys remembered?" he asked, getting a bonk on the head from Ryouske, who had just walked into the actual room, "Of course we would remember idiot. We're all your friends after all." The others smiled, nodding their agreement to Ryouske's words and Naruto stepped forward, "We planned this party to help you celebrate bro, we hope you like it," he informed Namito who just nodded tearfully with a grin, "I love it!"
They soon began to get the party underway, with food, drink and laughter abound, until Naruto stepped forward with his glass of juice held high. "Alright guys. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I am proud of Ryouske and Shikamaru. If any of us had to be Chunin, I'm glad it is them, they are born leaders," he said making Ryouske rub the back of his head and for Shikamaru to look away, both embarrassed but smiling.
Naruto then continued and raised his glass high, prompting everyone to do the same, "A toast to the new Chunin. May you carry on the will of fire like everyone before you and bring honour to the village. To Ryouske and Shikamaru," he said aloud, receiving an echoing, "To Ryouske and Shikamaru," from everyone.
Ryouske decided it was his turn to make a speech and proceeded to stand in front of everyone. "I would also like to make my own speech, this one for the birthday boy," he said grinning at Namito, who smiled widely. "We have been friends for many years, ever since I was found at the village gates and permitted to join the academy. Before I regained my memories and before I met you, I was alone, hollow, empty and for want of a better word, dead." He began, "Since meeting you, however, I have had nothing but joy, laughter and fun. You have lit up my world and accepted me as a brother who you cherish and you have become the same for me." The group looked at Namito with smiles on their faces as he went bright red, smile still in place.
"Not only me either, you have become someone we all cherish and will always consider an important comrade. You are, and always will be, a vital part of our lives and this village, you are, essentially, one of the cores of our lives." Ryouske then raised his glass as everyone did the same, "To Namito, a true friend and an exceptional ninja," he said receiving a resounding, "To Namito."
The boy in question smiled widely at his friends, happiness filling his heart as his cheeks began to streak with tears once more. Ryouske wrapped his arm around Namito's shoulder to get the boys attention and smiled lovingly at him, "Happy Birthday, brother," he said making Namito grin, "Thanks, bro," he replied and with equal grins, both boys fist bumped, both happy to be friends with the other and like brothers.
Aaaaaaand chapter over. Well this chapter took a while.
As you guys can guess, this chapter was not canon but is actually a special chapter for my friend's birthday, (although late) and is my gift to him. The feeling that Ryouske has in this chapter is only a small part of how I feel about my friend, he has become more that a light in my world, he is my life line and has always been by my side through the good, bad and ugly times. I cherish him more than anything in this world and wish him nothing but happiness in his life.
Happy birthday little bro, I love ya :D