Immortal Phoenix

Author: The Phoenix is Immortal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor am I making any profit from this work.

Chapter 12: Birthdays and Failures

Many days passed, it had been a long time since I had first met Naruto and October soon came around.

Naruto's birthday was on October tenth. So it was actually coming up soon. What do humans do on their birthday, anyway? I really did not know.

Where I came from, birthdays were not that important. What was one more year to us? Or even a hundred years?

But for humans, it was probably a different matter. Humans were mortal, having a very limited lifespan and all. So birthdays were probably important.

Since his birthday was important, I should get him something. What would Naruto like that I could afford to buy? Maybe a jutsu scroll or something? That would work. I had seen some in the bookstore.

Speaking of the bookstore, I had read the book on humans and the one on chakra, also. I could now tell the difference between a male and a female. At least, I was sure I could…I could make some mistakes though.

The book on chakra had been informative, even giving some chakra control exercises. It did not tell me what was wrong with Naruto's and my own clones, however. It did say chakra control was essential for a good ninja. Maybe I should tell Naruto about it?

The book also detailed something about elemental affinities. To find out your own affinity, you needed to buy some special paper.

Maybe I should get that for his birthday? Or should I just get him a book? Choosing presents was hard.

If I got him a scroll…I would need to see what elemental affinity he was first, also. Could I even afford that? I still had a fair amount of money…but if I kept using it, it would run out.

I could buy him some weapons…those were expensive, but he could use them. He needed some better ones anyway.

Since he needed some good weapons…weapons first. I would buy him some.

On that note…what was I going to do for his next birthday? I would not have any money by that time. I would need to talk to wrinkly human and see if there was anything I could do to make some money.

Anyway, since I needed to but some weapons as a present to Naruto, I decided to do that while Naruto was in the academy. Today was supposed to be all Taijutsu training anyway. So I could skip that.

So I told Naruto that I needed to do something while he was in school. After that, he left to go to the academy…without me.

I shifted into human form and then headed to one of the weapon stores that I had seen on one of my trips. It seemed like a good place to buy weapons.

When I entered the seller person said "hi" to me. I greeted her (yes, I am sure it was a female…I think). There were many types of weapons in the store, which were kept on racks and shelves.

What would Naruto need? He was learning how to use kunai (apparently, those were the black throwing knives) and shuriken (black star shaped…things). The store had those. It also had things called swords and daggers. And many unnamed things…Sharp things…

…On second thought, it seemed to be too dangerous to get Naruto some of these at this point. He was only turning eight, which was a miniscule age. He probably would not need these until later. One of his later birthdays maybe.

So…weapons would not work. I left the store. What should I get him? A book? Lots of ramen? The ramen would work, but he was fully capable of buying that himself.

A book on some non-affinity jutsus might work. He did not need to know jutsus with an affinity anyway yet.

I headed to the bookstore. Inside the bookstore was a seller person. He greeted me. I responded in kind and headed to the ninja scroll section.

Now I would have to find one. After perusing the scrolls, I finally found one that seemed to be good for Naruto. He would have to learn it though.

I also decided that I could check other sections of the bookstore. I was already here, so why not?

I went into the fiction section. This was the section where people made things up and wrote it down, apparently. Half the books I looked at in this section could not even be remotely true.

It was in this section that I came across an interesting book. The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja. There was only one copy in the store that I could see. It had been behind some other books that I shifted through. The main character had the same name as Naruto.

It was an interesting book, and I decided to buy the book for myself. It could be an interesting read when I was bored and in my human form.

I purchased the scroll and my book. So, now I had Naruto's birthday present. It was Naruto's birthday tomorrow, so I had to keep the scroll hidden.

When I reached Naruto's apartment, he still was not there. That was expected, the academy had not ended yet.

I decided to hide the scroll in one of the cabinets. Naruto had nothing in that cabinet, so it would work. Then I started to read the book I got for myself, choosing to sit down on the chair in the kitchen.

It was indeed an interesting book. The main character, also named Naruto…never gave up and wanted to break some "curse." Which was apparently the cycle of violence. Or something like that. Overall, quite a good read. I decided to keep the book, it would not make a bad re-read if I was ever bored and had nothing to do.

By the time I finished the book, it was almost time for Naruto to come back. Perhaps I should share this book with Naruto? He would like it. The main character reminded me of Naruto. So both Narutos reminded me of each other.

Soon Naruto got to the apartment. He was happy to see me again, it seemed.

Then he started to speak again. "What are you reading, Akarui?" Oh, I was still holding the book.

"This? Oh, it is a book about someone named Naruto. Sound familiar?"

"It's about me?" He would come to that conclusion.

"No, the main character has the same name as you." Funny Naruto. The book was older than him, I believe, so how could it be about him? There were some similarities, though.

Maybe he would want to read it? "Do you want to read it?"

"Um…maybe later!" He did not like to read…it was actually a little sad.

I nodded (a habit I picked up from Naruto), and then said, "You should read it sometime, it is not that bad. The main character reminds me of you."

"Really? Fine, I'll read it!" Or at least he would try to. Could Naruto actually finish it?

I handed the book to him. He started to read it. That was good…I had never seen Naruto actually read a book, and I had been with him for quite a while now.

After a while, I realized it was dinnertime. "Naruto, time to eat."

No answer…wait, no answer? Naruto always came running to eat when it was dinnertime. He must be really engrossed in the book. I should get him a copy.

The next day, it was Naruto's birthday. So, I woke him up by yelling the word "ramen" in his ear. That always worked. He jumped up and I wished him a "Happy Birthday." I also gave him the scroll, after retrieving it from the cabinet.

He had been really happy. I think he had been crying again. From joy. I was just happy that he liked the present.

Later that day, wrinkly human also came over. He gave Naruto a present also. It was some something that covered the eyes. Wrinkly human called it goggles. He had also bought a round food of some sort, a cake, it was called.

When I tried to eat it in my phoenix form, my beak got…cemented together…by the thing called frosting. It was annoying trying to get the frosting off.

After that, I used my human form (after wrinkly human left). It was much cleaner that way. The cake was actually quite good. It was really sweet, but I liked it anyway.

Naruto was really happy to get all the presents. He had said that this had been the best day in his life. If this had been the best day in his life…what had happened on all his past birthdays?

After Naruto's birthday, the days went on. It was now over a year since I had first met Naruto.

One day, Iruka human said, "The graduation exams have come again. Anyone who thinks they can become a genin can try and take the test."

Of course, Naruto was never one to back down from a challenge. He had jumped up, signed up for the test, and claimed that he would pass. He wanted to become a ninja, and the genin rank, while the lowest rank, still counted as a ninja.

I, though, was not sure that he could pass. He had only been in the academy for a year, and I had heard the normal time to become a genin was at age twelve. Naruto was not ready. But he was determined.

Several days after that announcement, Naruto took the test. As I had expected, he had failed.

Naruto, was understandably upset. "Why didn't I pass?" was a question that was frequently asked to me. He had taken it hard.

"You should not worry about failing. You have only been in the academy for one year. One year. None of your classmates who took it passed either. You just are not ready yet."

"Then, when will I be ready?"

"You will be ready when you are ready to do what you have to do as a ninja. What is it that you want to do as a ninja?"

"I want to become Hokage, and make people acknowledge me! Then I could protect all those close to me!" Those close to him numbered very few, so I believed he valued them even more…

"Then you will become a ninja when you are ready to protect those close to you." Yes, and Naruto would always fulfill his goals. He was too determined to fail. This had been only his first try to succeed and he had failed…but that would not be able to keep him down for long.

"I will?"

"Yes, you will." He would too. Naruto…had drive, determination. He had enough to succeed in anything.

After his first failure in the graduation exam, Naruto quickly went back to his normal self again. But, I do not think he was quite the same. He played more pranks, and I had to talk him out of some of his more outrageous ones. Well, I guessed that he probably wanted some more attention.

The problem was…the attention he wanted and the attention he was getting through the pranks was not the same thing.

But he had also poured more effort into trying to become better. He had read the scroll on jutsus that I had given him and tried to learn them. He succeeded in learning them, seemingly through effort alone. I was surprised. Yes, I had chosen the scroll because I thought it was his level. I thought he would be able to learn it. And he had.

But it was the speed in which he learned that surprised me. The scroll had advised that it would take weeks per jutsu for an academy student. Naruto had learned the jutsus…each in one week.

Naruto was certainly better than anyone gave him credit for. When I tried to learn the jutsus, just to see if I could, I still took longer than him. Naruto…was something else.

Everyone was seriously underestimating him. He only did not do well in the academy because of the written tests there. He also lacked a good Taijutsu style. He had trouble with the ones in the academy, but when it came to jutsus, he was quite good. But he still could not do the Clone Jutsu. For that matter, neither could I. I still did not know why.

Time passed like this for a while, over half a year. Naruto was still in the academy.

And it was one day while I had been flying over the village that I saw the massacre of the clan called Uchiha.

Author's note: No, this will not be a Super! Naruto fic. Akarui was bound to have some influence, so this is just his influence. This chapter seemed sorta short, but oh well.

Ok, I am seriously starting to speed up from here. I am a little bored with writing Naruto's childhood. I mean, I already wrote 13 chapters, most with Naruto still being a kid at the time. So probably in the next two or three chapters, he will reach the time when the manga starts.

To my reviewers: Thank you so, so much! I love all the reviews! They are really, really nice! Please, keep reviewing! I would love that! And also, if you are reading this…please leave your opinion on this story!