Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, just like everyone else on fanfiction
Chap. 3: Surprise!!
(Naruto's P.O.V)
We got to the training grounds as quickly as possible, only to find that Kakashi and Sakura were nowhere in sight.
"Oh great…they probably got impatient and went home already. Sakura's probably mad…" I sighed.
"Maybe they went to a different spot on the grounds. We should try and look for them, Naruto." Hinata suggested.
"Good idea Hinata." I said, and then formed the seal for my Shadow Clone Jutsu. I split into five individuals, "Okay, we need to split up and search for Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei." I informed them. They nodded, and ran off into different directions. Then something caught my attention. A clone had tripped over a wire, which triggered a kunai to fly out of the trees, and cut another wire while whizzing through the air. This set off a chain of similar reactions, which lasted about a good minute.
"What the-?" before I could finish my question, a final wire was cut, which unraveled a large, yellow and orange banner. It read: "Happy 18th, Naruto!"
"Surprise!" yelled about twenty or so people that I knew.
I dispelled my clones, and looked at the group, then at Hinata. She was giggling at my confusion; she must have been in on this!
"Okay, whose idea was this?" I asked with a chuckle.
"Who do you think?" replied the voice of my pink-haired girlfriend. She stepped out from the group and had mischievous smile on her face, "Well, the whole party thing was my idea…but the kunai and wire scene was done thanks to Tenten." I heard Tenten laugh amongst the others.
I stood there, still trying to figure out why they were celebrating my birthday. It was…unusual, since no one ever did it before. Sure, I went to the Third's and had ramen with him, but that was the extent of celebrating when I was a kid. I mean, Sakura making me breakfast was enough to make my day, but this…it was, almost too much for me to comprehend.
"You guys…you didn't have to do this all for me…" I said, my voice shaking slightly.
"Hey, come on Naruto, don't go and cry on us! It's your birthday, not your funeral." I heard Kiba remark.
"H-he's right Naruto…it's the least we could do for you." Hinata added as she walked over to Kiba.
"Happy birthday Naruto…" Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around me.
'Don't cry, don't cry…'
It was at this particular moment that a certain demon fox inside of me decided to speak for the first time today, "Kit, let it out will you! I don't want to end up drowning in tears in my cage now!"
"Sure, Kyuubi…only because they're my friends though."
"Happy birthday Kit…kind of weird of me to say that, since my defeat was on the exact same day as your birth."
"I guess that's what they call irony."
I heard Kyuubi laugh at my comment, and then he was quiet again. I let a few stray tears fall from my eyes, and I leaned down to Sakura's ear, "Thank you Sakura…you're by far the best girlfriend a guy could ever ask for. No one has ever thrown a party like this for me…you're the best Sakura-chan." I whispered, holding her closer, fearing that this was only a cruel dream.
Ka-chink!
"Jiraiya, give me that camera! Who knows what you'll do with that picture of the two." Tsunade warned, taking the camera from the gray haired Sannin.
"It was for Naruto, I-I swear Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya defended, waving his arms frantically.
We had a huge lunch, and to top it all off, a huge cauldron…of ramen! I swore that I was singing with the passion of a thousand angels at the moment.
After eating, I opened my presents…I got presents!!! Real presents, and not just new clothing!!!
"Here, Naruto open this first," Jiraiya said, handing me a box. I eyed him warily, and he laughed, "It's from Tsunade, Shizune, and me. Don't worry."
I unwrapped it to pull out three different scrolls, "Wind jutsu?"
"Yeah, we figured with you having the elemental affinity to wind, we decided to give a few scrolls that involve it. Just something you can work on during training." Answered Tsunade with a smile.
Next were Kurenai and her team. Kiba and Hinata gave me a set of Fuuma Shruiken, and Shino gave me an all-you-can-eat pass to Ichiraku's. I stuffed this into my pocket for later use, and thanked the bug user graciously.
Kurenai handed me a box with a ribbon wrapped around it. I untied it, and pulled out Asuma's two trench knives that he used so often.
"I thought that with you being a wind user yourself, he would have given them to you." Said Kurenai with a slightly sad smile.
"I'll take care of them Kurenai-san, I promise." I spoke with a nod.
Among the other gifts I received were a set of weighted clothing from Lee and Gai (orange and thankfully not green), a new set of silver kunai from Tenten and Neji, and from Gaara and his brother and sister, I set of custom fit chain metal clothing from Sunagakure.
"How'd you get the measurements for this?" I asked. Gaara and Kankuro looked at Temari, who in turn looked to Sakura. Sakura smiled and waved sheepishly at me.
The last gift I opened was from Team Ten. It was a…
"A vacuum…?" I asked, looking over at the three.
"Ino's idea, not ours…" Shikamaru replied with a shrug.
"I've seen that place of yours, believe me, this will do you some good." Ino commented.
Sakura and Kakashi came to me privately while the others socialized.
"Naruto, we've both got gifts for you, but we would prefer if you open them later at home. They're more of a personal thing." Kakashi said ruffling my hair.
"Hey, cut that out! I'm eighteen now!"
"That makes me thirty-three I guess." Kakashi laughed.
Five o' clock rolled around when Jiraiya wisely suggested that we end the party before Anko and Tsunade went too far with their little drinking contest. Before I began helping take down everything, I was stopped by Iruka and a somewhat drunken Anko.
"Naruto, here, I almost forgot our gift for you." He said.
"Anko helped too?" I asked with grin.
"'Ey, I 'eard that Naruto. For your 'formation, I did help get this for 'ou." She said with a slight sway to her. Iruka held her up, and she rested her head on his shoulder. About a year ago, Iruka and Anko had done the unthinkable and started seeing each other, and now they're engaged. I know, crazy, eh?
I took the paper scroll he handed to me, and pulled back the ribbon. The scroll looked like it was the kind of thing you'd find from the Hokage's office.
I unrolled the scroll, and my jaw dropped.
"Heheh, see Iruka-kun…? I tol' you he'd like it." Anko slurred while poking at Iruka's side, "Now come on, I wan' to go home an' sleep. I 'ave a mission tomorrow." She smiled as Iruka picked her up and kissed her cheek, which she giggled to in response.
I looked at the two, "Iruka-sensei…is this really…?"
"Yep, you're officially a Jonin," He smiled, "I figured that with you having passed the Chunin exams completely with flying colors, you might as well get bumped up to Jonin."
I looked back at the document stating my official rank as a Jonin, then back at the soon-to-be couple, "Thanks you two…so when's the big day."
Anko smirked, "Well…I believe it'll be 'nother four months from now. I hope we can have it ontop of the 'okage monument."
"Good, I'll be there." I said with thumbs up.
"Well, I should hope so; it wouldn't be much of a wedding without my best man not being there." Iruka added. We then said goodbye and I headed over to help the group.
Kakashi, Sakura, and I were passing by one of the food stands on our way to my house when I felt something hit me in the back of the head…something sticky. I rice ball.
"Hey, Demon!" I turned to the source of the noise, which turned out to be a middle-aged man, "How are you still alive after all these years, huh? Why won't you keel over and die already?!" A group of people by the stand glared at me coldly.
Sakura was stepping forward when I grabbed her wrist gently, "Don't bother…don't be angry with them, okay?" I spoke. She nodded and reluctantly stood by my side as we continued walking.
Kakashi looked over at the angry group, "You do realize that this 'demon' has a name, right?"
"Yeah, it Naruto Uzumaki, and he's the Kyuubi!" a few people yelled out in agreement to the statement.
"If he was really the Kyuubi," he paused and turned to continue walking, "He would have destroyed this village years ago."
There was no reply.
"Thanks Kakashi." Sakura said for me as we headed down the road.
"No one deserves to be treated like that when they never did anything wrong." Replied the silver-haired Jonin.
The walk home was a rather quiet one after that.
End of Chap.3- Yeah, chapter 3 is complete! Well, there you go, some of the villagers are still ignorant like that. However, it's less than it used to be. Well, hope you liked this one, I'll update soon. And remember, people who review are cool! (wink)