Chapter 11: Happy Birthday

-Naruto

We certainly weren't late today; in fact, we were the first ones here. Everyone had slowly gathered around, talking in little cliques of friends, including us.

"So many people have been coming through the hospital lately," Sakura said, wiping some sweat off her forehead. "I don't think I'm going to be getting a break anytime soon."

"Don't be so negative, Sakura. I thought you got a break yesterday."

"Yeah, 10 minutes isn't that long, Hinata."

"But it was something, right?"

Sakura sighed. "Easy for you to say; you haven't gotten any missions lately."

"What does that have to do with anything, Sakura-chan?" I argued.

"Oh please, Naruto. Being Hokage is a piece of cake compared to nursing broken limbs and doing surgeries all day long."

"Yeah, but we both have two crazy girls to look after," I reasoned, pointing to me and Hinata.

As if to back me up, Kiku shouted, "Hey, Daddy! Look, we're upside down!"

I looked toward the sound of her voice to see her hanging off the bottom of the highest branch, of the highest tree around, holding her slightly older sister in her hands. "Hey! Get down! Both of you before you break a bone!"

"Oh c'mon Dad! You have so not tried this! Adrenaline Rush!" Ayame shouted and they both started laughing.

"Geez, they're going to kill themselves," I muttered and went up to go fetch them.

"Oh, no. He's coming! Get down Kiki, hurry!" Kiku let go of Ayame's hands and flipped herself right-side-up before going into a freefall herself. I jumped off of the tree trunk and grabbed both their hands, landing on my feet; I set them both on the ground and let Hinata do the scolding.

I walked back to the group. "See what I mean?"

"Okay, I'll give some you credit Naruto, your daughters are crazy."

I laughed. "They sure are."

"Are you going to start them in the Academy next year?" Neji asked.

"We were thinking about it. They're five right now, today's they're birthday, and the new school year starts in a few weeks."

"Six is kind of young to start in the Academy…" Kakashi told me.

"I started when I was six and I became the Hokage."

"True…" Neji agreed, looking at everyone else. "Sakura, when did you start in the Academy?" he asked.

"My first year was when I was nine."

"Hmm…I guess starting age doesn't really matter," Kakashi observed. "Oh well. Since they're your daughters, you can start them in the Academy whenever you want."

Sakura's face lit up like she had just come up with a brilliant idea. "I thought you were going to be a teacher at the Academy next year," she sort of sneered.

"What does that have to do with anything, Sakura-chan?"

"It has everything to do with it. You want them in your class so you can look after them, don't you?"

"Fine, I'll admit it; that has something to do with it."

"I knew it! You want them in your class!"

"Geez, quiet Sakura, you're going to let everyone else in on it."

"Sorry…" she started but didn't finish her apology.

"Sorry 'bout that guys, had to do some disciplining," Hinata laughed, looking at our daughters with a serious expression. "Come on…"

Kiku and Ayame glanced at each other. "We're sorry everyone…" they started in unison.

"The truth is…we were kind of bored…" Ayame confessed.

"And climbing trees gets you a real high…" Kiku finished.

Ayame nodded at her sister. "Completely natural…"

"But we're sorry because…"

"It was the wrong thing to do…"

"Mmm, hmm." Kiku nodded in agreement.

"We're so sorry and we promise to be better in the future," they finished and gave each other an it's-finally-over look. Kiku got a sly smile on her face and looked up at me with sweet and adoring eyes.

"Daddy, since it's our birthday, can we go play?"

I sighed and looked at my watch. "I don't want you hanging off trees again…"

"Aww, c'mon dad…" Ayame complained, giving me the same look. Geez, they knew how to get to my sweet spot. "We can go play with seven-eleven," she giggled.

"You're still on that, nee-san?" She turned to look at me. "She means Lee-san and Ten-ten-san's daughter, Suzu." That helped me figure it out.

"As long as they keep an eye on you…" I gave Hinata a watch-them-carefully look and told the group, "I'm going to go see what Tsunade's up to. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Alright," she told me and watched me leave.