Journey off the Continent

Naruto Uzumaki:

Father: Arashi- The Fourth Hokage

Mother- Unknown

Birthday: October 10

Harry Potter

Father: James Potter

Mother: Lily Evans Potter

Birthday: July 31

Things I forgot

Iruka Umino

Birthday: May 26

Kakashi Hatake

Birthday: March 15 (his actual Birthday in the Manga series is September, 15)

Haku:

Birthday: January 9

Chapter 2.

Two weeks, before Kakashi's birthday and Iruka had yet to buy, make, or even find a present that was suited for his friend. Granted, there were some complications that were currently manifesting in his life. In June, he was to start his training as a medi-witch under a distant Pomfrey, who he was to call Aunt Poppy, as their ward in a private boarding school. The letter his parents had received from grandmother, clearly commanded his mother into sending him to England. This had been the reason for his parents not allowing him into the academy. While he could pass the genin test easily, it would mean he could not enter a cell to work with teammates and in turn not pass the chuunin exam. In their mind, why waste such time when he could learn magic and the art of healing? For the long run, being held back as a shinobi for two years was not a long time. Besides, he would be more useful to the village as a healer who could perform the magical ways of healing people, than with just chakra.

Another issue that arrived with the letter was much more severe. James Potter who had only married a year and a half ago, had his first son delivered on July 31. Harry Potter was born less than a year after his uncle had wed Lily Evans, the lovely redhead that James had a crush on since his earliest years at school. Although this was supposed to be viewed as a happy occasion, it was in fact the opposite. The wizarding world in Britain and the continent of Europe, was currently engaged in another war against another dark lord, that was once again threatening to take over the world.

Seriously, if Iruka received a dollar, no, even a penny every time he read or heard of a dark lord in a wizarding text or newspaper, he would be more wealthy than all of the shinobi nations put together. Sometimes he believed, that wizards tended to over exaggerate just how dangerous a person was. If they used some of the institutions and laws that ninjas had, then there would be no dark lords because they would have been hunted down and killed. Not left in a prison, not let go of due to technicalities in the law, and not left to roam freely as they please while killing innocents and causing chaos and mayhem for the entire community.

Stopping, Iruka shook his head to clear all of the thoughts running through his mind. Why worry about the wizarding world, when the fact of the matter was that he could defend himself much better than a majority of adult wizards. Sighing he went back to his current problem of finding Kakashi an appropriate present.

Thinking out loud, Iruka began to go through his options. "I could buy him more weapons, but he has enough as is. Maybe clothes?.. Nah, he only wears his uniform for ANBU and even on his days off, the standard jounin vest and ensemble. Food?" now there was an idea that Iruka hadn't thought of. Every time Kakashi ever came to the house he always ate all of the treats that Iruka had baked.

One time, after making some pumpkin pasties, Iruka had invited Kakashi over to try them and get a second opinion on how well they turned out. Kakashi had liked them so much, that the entire batch was gone within a few moments of lowering his mouth to try one, then pigging out by eating all the others. In frustration and anger at having all of the pasties eaten, Iruka had thrown flour into the area were Kakashi's face was, but like the good ninja that he was, Kakashi dodged and an all out war with flour began in the kitchen. They cleaned up the mess afterwards to escape his Aunt Tomoe's wrath at having flour all over the kitchen. Fortunately, they finished before any of his family returned from their work or missions that day.

Frowning, Iruka just had to think about Kakashi and his own family during that string of thought. No one in his family liked Kakashi and often would glare at him whenever the saw him. Kakashi's father Sakumo had committed seppuku after failing a mission when he choose the lives of the team he was leading over the completion of the important mission. The event had happened when Iruka was a about year old, but even after almost seven years, the stain on the Hatake family name was not forgotten by his family and other shinobi clans.

It upset Iruka that a majority of the adults were not able to leave Kakashi alone about the matter. Iruka was one of the few people that Kakashi was friends with, although the number just had to include Gai. Admittedly, Gai was a good person, but his eccentric behavior often scared Iruka with his posing, flashy entrances, and rather loud voice. Most of the ninja that worked with Kakashi got along with him just fine and were polite to Iruka whenever he ran into them, even if they often teased the two on the amount of time they spent together.

Being called "Kakashi's, little friend." or Kakashi's "Pretty girlfriend." was always embarrassing, but Iruka couldn't really say anything against their ideas. After Obito's death, Kakashi was shattered to the point that Iruka would be seen with him whenever he wasn't on a mission or with Yondaime to keep him company. Although Obito and Kakashi were not terribly close, they were teammates. The violent death and the cause behind it left Kakashi in a closed off state for months until Iruka in a fit of anger and frustration, pushed him into a pile of Pakkun's recent droppings in front of Kakashi's apartment. An excellent ninja Kakashi was, but the depressed and morose state he was in left much to be desired of his reaction and balance skills when not on a mission. Needless to say, Kakashi had to go back into his apartment and clean off, but the most important thing was that he laughed the entire time getting cleaned.

Smiling at the memory of the incident, Iruka set himself in the direction of the grocery store. He would need to buy all of the ingredients for the various treats he was going to make before Kakashi's birthday. The little makeshift box that contained all of Iruka's money would be put to use in the preparation for Kakashi's present. Maybe he could even buy some wizarding candy through the owl post by using his mother's owl to pay for it through a catalog.

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It was the day before Kakashi's birthday and Iruka was slaving over the oven, trying to make all of the treats that were to go into a wicker basket and be presented to Kakashi the next day. The wizarding candy had been skillfully ordered and delivered to Iruka without his mother noticing the absence of her owl for a few days. Never having been involved in parts of Iruka's rearing, Hikari and Sano Umino didn't bother to regulate what Iruka did with his spare time, except to make sure that his training was not being neglected. This allowed Iruka a great deal of freedom, which was currently being used to bake some snicker-doodles, that Iruka was certain had never been eaten or tried by a majority of Konoha's population both civilian and ninja, excluding the Umino clan.

"Bring!"

The timer for the batch of cookies in the oven went off and Iruka went over to inspect them. Some of the cookies still needed more time in the oven, so Iruka reset the timer for 5minutes to let the cookies bake a little more. Then he sat down and went back to arranging the food in the basket. The pumpkin pasties were saran-wrapped with a blue color in the center of the basket, while the fudge in green to the right of it consisted of white chocolate fudge, dark chocolate fudge, and milk chocolate fudge with nuts. The snicker-doodles when finished, were to go on the other side with their counter parts, the sugar cookies wrapped in yellow were in back of the pasties. Iruka had also baked some peanut-butter cookies that were mixed in with some oatmeal cookies placed in front of the pasties and were wrapped in red saran. There were two bakers dozen for every type of treat, although the fudge was cut very small to ensure room for the other stuff. Currently, Iruka was trying to wrap the fudge, while making sure that the sticky substance didn't smear the saran. It was taking a bit of complex handling, but Iruka was making progress and had only the fudge with nuts in it left to wrap.

45 minutes later-

Iruka smiled as he surveyed his handiwork. Snicker-doodles done, everything wrapped and placed in the wicker basket, wizarding candy hidden beneath all of the various cookies and fudges, and last but not least, a nice bow with Iruka's favorite shade of blue placed on the handle. Opening the cupboard that his mother had charmed to keep food fresh, Iruka put the big basket on the bottom shelf and let out a sigh. Then he proceeded back to the kitchen to clean up the cookie sheets that he had used before placing everything back in their designated areas. Tomorrow was a big day and at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Iruka was already tired from his baking bonanza that had started at 4 am in the morning when everyone had left the house to report to the Hokage tower.

Yondaime and Iruka had arranged a small party to be held in the mission room with Iruka having made all of the invitations and hand delivering them to their appropriate owners. Much of the work had been done by Iruka, with the Yondaime providing the necessary signatures to let Kakashi's friends have the day off from any missions, giving money to Iruka to buy all of the food, and to schedule the use of the mission room for the party.

Iruka himself made Kakashi's favorite double chocolate cake the day of Kakashi's birthday with four layers that had orange and vanilla filling which were alternated between the layers. On the top of the cake, Iruka used the various frosting colors to create a replica of a picture he had taken with all of Kakashi's dogs and to the side wrote in blue, Happy Birthday Kakashi, with the number 14 below it.

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The cake took a total of 3 hours to create starting once again at 4 am and letting it cool down in the fridge until the time of the party. looking down at his watch, Iruka realized it was currently 2:30 and he only had an hour before Kakashi's party started in the mission room.

Hurrying to get ready, Iruka stumbled around his room trying to find the perfect outfit to wear. Winter had officially ended 2 weeks ago, but the weather was still a little nippy. Trying on his favorite pair of pants, Iruka found that they looked like high waters with his recent growth spurt. If he couldn't wear his pants, most of Iruka's wardrobe was now useless. He couldn't wear shorts because it was still chilly and all of his pants were now to short for him to wear. Getting frustrated, Iruka went to the end of his closet and found his blue kimono with a silver obi and red rope in the middle. Although he only wore it on special occasions, it wasn't a completely formal kimono because of the coloring. With time running out and limited options, Iruka decided to wear his kimono and swiftly put it on. Checking himself in the mirror to make sure everything was properly tied, Iruka ran back down the stairs and grabbed the basket, but groaned as he realized he still had to carry the cake at the same time.

As if answering his silent prayer to any kami, the door bell rang. Opening the door, Iruka found Genma and Hayate standing on the front porch.

"Getting all fancy for your little boyfriend are we Iruka-chan?" Genma asked

Starting with a cough, Hayate added, "Don't tease him Genma-kun. " looking at Iruka he continued, "Yondaime sent us to help you carry the cake in case your hands were to full, Need any help?" Hayate offered.

"Thank Merlin your here. I just realized that I couldn't carry the cake and my present for Kakashi, while making it to the party on time. Could come in and help me get it out of the fridge? I'll also need one of you to carry the box of utensils, cups, and plates that I have. Are the decorations already up in the mission room or do we need to put that up also? Has Kakashi gotten back from the c-ranked mission yet? Do you think he knows how big the party is? How many people did you see that-"

"Slow down with all of the questions and let us in to your house. Jeez. Its no wonder Hatake's so quiet, I bet he never gets the chance to even open his mouth around you and talk." Pushing his way past Iruka and followed behind buy Hayate, Genma headed towards the living room.

"Genma-san, the kitchen is in the opposite direction. And I do not talk to much. I'm just very nervous. This is Kakashi's first celebrated birthday since Obito died, I don't want anything going wrong." Pointing to the direction of the kitchen, Iruka led them through the Umino compound to the kitchen. Reaching into the preserve cupboard, Iruka once again retrieved the basket that held his present of numerous goodies.

Opening up the fridge, Genma got out the cake which had been placed in a baker's pink box and set it on the island counter. " How heavy is this thing?"

"Pretty heavy, I made it with four layers so its very thick. I plan to serve it in thin slices since they would be large portions as is. Do you think I should bring napkins or are there some already available in the mission room?" Iruka asked as he handed the brown paper bag with the utensils in it to Hayate who was using a napkin to cover his mouth as he coughed.

"Just bring what we already got in the bag. People eat in the room all the time. Besides, we still have the stuff when we tried to throw the party for Ibiki." Genma replied. Lifting the cake into both arms, Genma signaled the other two to start heading out the door. "Let's go munchkins, we need to get there in time to set everything up. The Yondaime can only give us so much time before he lets everyone in. Hopefully the Hatake brat won't be late to his own birthday party. What with all of the trouble everyone's gone through to organize it."

Leading the way, Genma was trailed behind by Iruka and Hayate who were trying to keep up with the older teen.

"Who do you think will show up to the party?" Hayate asked.

"Its going to be pretty large. Since Yondaime and I organized it, a lot of ANBU, jounin, and chuunin are coming and a few others. Jiraiya-sama is coming and I was able to convince him to sign a complete set of his books to give to Kakashi. I may not approve of the reading material, but Kakashi loves the stuff and it is his birthday."

"You convinced the senin to do that. I've seen a lot of -"..cough, cough.. "Excuse me. Adults with that book. Its pretty graphic."

"What are you two talking about? Of course its a good book. In fact I think its the greatest book in the whole world. What guy wouldn't like it? Then again neither of you aren't even 10 yet. Kakashi is a lucky guy to have Jiraiya sign and present all of the books for his birthday. How did you convince him to do that? Not many people even have one signed book." Genma looked back questioningly to Iruka and upon seeing him received a death glare from both Hayate and Iruka. "Just asking, Can't a guy ask a question?"... then muttering to himself so they could barely hear him, Genma said, "Stupid little munchkins, I'm a jounin and they think they can glare at me...Should be afraid...worshiping the ground I walk on...giving me the proper respect I deserve..."

The small group of three proceeded to continue their walk to the Hokage tower with Iruka and Hayate glaring at Genma as he muttered under his breath.

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Arriving in the mission room, Genma set the cake down on the long tale that ran across the side wall. "Well, you two start setting up. I got to go inform everyone that they should start heading over. Oh, and please don't put to much stuff up. I don't want to be coming in tomorrow and seeing balloons floating around on the floor."

As he left the room, Hayate and Iruka set to putting everything on the table and putting up the decorations.

"What is it with all of the blue and silver?" Hayate asked after he got on top of a small step ladder.

"They're Kakashi's favorite colors and don't clash with the paint on the walls. Besides the other color combinations weren't all that great." Handing the happy birthday sign to Hayate, Iruka went over to the window to look out and see if the caterer had arrived yet. "Do you think he'll like it? I tried to make sure there weren't to many decorations. He doesn't like it when room is heavily decorated."

"I'm sure he'll like it. You are the resident Hatake expert along with Yondaime-sama. Besides if he hears that you made it, he probably won't stop talking about how great it is. He likes anything that you do for him. Its the thought behind the action that counts. I like the decorations myself, last year on my 9th birthday, my mom used a horrible turquoise and yellow. I don't mind the colors by themselves, but together, I thought I was going to be sick just at the sight of them. The blue and silver are good combinations. You've got nothing to worry about Iruka-chan."

"Thanks Hayate. Its just that I'm so nervous about the whole thing. I had a hard time deciding what to get him. Most presents, Kakashi has no need for, so it was very hard. Fortunately, I came up with the perfect gift for him. I made some of his favorite cookies and fudge. I made enough so he could share it with everyone at the party. At the bottom I also put a certificate that I made so he can ask for any treat in there that he likes and I'll make it for him. Its good for a couple months before I have to leave."

"Why do you have to leave? Why can't you just study with your aunt here?" Asking this, Hayate handed the scissors to Iruka to cut the rolls of crepe paper with.

"Its a totally different style of healing than what we use with chakra. And Aunt Poppy works at a boarding school were children are taught. She can't leave for a majority of the year so I have to go stay with her to learn everything. My mom's family even has special spells and healing techniques that others don't have access to. They want me to carry on the family line and heritage by becoming their version of a medic-nin. Plus, I get to study all of their techniques, take the equivalent of their chuunin and jounin exams and get to be licensed to be an adult wizard. I'm lucky, usually starting at 11 they make you spend 7 years being schooled before you can officially become an adult."

"Wow, that is a long time, although the amount of time correlates with how long it takes to become a jounin here. Do you at least get to visit? And how long to you have to attend before they let you graduate?" Questioned Hayate with a cough at the end.

"Well I am allowed to visit during the winter and summer breaks so that isn't to much of a problem. I have to stay there for two years. Right now I am studying all of my work for the first test which is the OWLS. Once I arrive there, I have to take the tests and study with my aunt until the end of the year. Then at the end of the first year I'll be able to take the final test, the NEWTS and come back for my summer visit. The second year I'm going to be put under my aunt as an official apprentice and whoever is the potions master at the time. Potions is kind of like what the medics do when they make medicines and balms. I already know most of the material that they'll be throwing at me, but that won't be the hardest part of the entire thing. I don't like the idea of being away from everyone for so long. I won't miss my parents, but I will miss hanging out with you, Genma, Kakashi, and Ibiki. Its so different over there, everyone follows all of these stupid rules and if a majority of them are anything like my cousin I don't know I long I will last trying not to kill or permanently maim them." Finishing off with a huff, Iruka was flushed from his long winded explanation. Everything had been bottled up and pushed aside in him for a while and now he was letting everything out with just a few sentences.

Looking at him, Hayate responded, "Well if they get to much for you.." cough, "I guess we could always send Gai over to annoy them while you and Kakashi catch up with each other. You two are hardly ever separated if you can manage it."

Iruka immediately felt a blush spread across his face at hearing Hayate's last comment. Everyone always teased Kakashi and him about their close relationship and Iruka never really knew what to think about it. Many times he just let it go and ignored it, but right now of all times he just had to ponder on the subject. He cared deeply for Kakashi, but what was the difference between a childish crush and love. Still only 7 soon to be 8, he was confused about his feelings directed toward the jounin. As he was preparing to for the most part leave Konoha for 2 years, he wouldn't have time to be with Kakashi and that he guessed was the true reason for his anxiety. Unlike most children, Iruka's parents only gave him any time together to train or teach him, never to just spend time together and learn about each other. With Kakashi, Iruka would go exploring the town, visit with friends, or hang out just talking. All of their time spent together didn't revolve around learning or training, although he did spar with Kakashi to improve his skills, the basis of their relationship was built on the fact the they liked to hang out with each other.

Did he like Kakashi? Yes. Did he care for Kakashi? Yes. Did he love Kakashi?

After closely inspecting this question and what he felt.

Yes.

Yes he did love Kakashi. Not as a crush or childish attraction. Iruka loved Kakashi, it was just that this was the first time that he had ever admitted it to himself.

Looking at Hayate who appeared to have been staring at him Iruka said, "Let's finish up here the caterers will be here any minute and I want the space we used on the table to be cleared up." Taping the last piece or crepe paper to the wall, Hayate got down and joined Iruka in clearing the table. " I want this to be the best birthday party for Kakashi that he has ever had. I don't know if I'll be able to come over for next year and I want it to be special for him."

Inspecting the clock, Iruka urged Hayate into working double time with him to finish up the room. They only had 20 minutes before people started arriving and after that, and hour until Kakashi arrived ready to hand in his mission report and receive what Iruka hoped to be, the greatest and most memorable birthday party ever.