Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either manga or anime!); the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns all rights. However, the plot and Namiko Uzumaki are mine!

Chapter 17: Fireworks

It was September, nearly a month after the incident with the Akatsuki, and Namiko was anxiously waiting for Naruto and Jiraiya to return. She'd been on high alert with her chakra sensing, constantly checking not only for signs of Naruto, but also for signs of Akatsuki or other potential threats.

Knowing that people were after her and Naruto made her more than a little jumpy and paranoid. Sometimes with her constantly checking the chakra signatures going in and out of her range, she'd forget about the ones closest to her. The ones she had labeled "safe" in her brain, which led to her current situation.

"Yo! Namiko!" shouted Kiba as Akamaru barreled into her from the side, knocking her over and onto the soft grass of the training ground.

She shrieked as she hit the ground before glaring up at Kiba. "Where did you two come from?"

"We came a little early for team training, like I'm assuming you did, but you were in your own little world," explained Kiba as he sat down across from her. "What's gotten into you lately? You've been majorly off your game."

"It's just stress," she said as she stroked Akamaru's soft fur.

"Stress?" Kiba raised a brow at her. "What do you have to be stressed about? Hell, we haven't even had any missions since the Chuunin Finals!"

There was a lot to be stressed about. Naruto and Jiraiya gone, Akatsuki after them, a demon living in her, no Hokage in Konoha, Kakashi and Sasuke both bedridden due to genjutsu…the list went on. But she wasn't allowed to dump half of that on her teammate, so she just settled for "I'm worried about Kakashi and Sasuke. It's been almost a month, and their prognosis isn't any better."

"They'll be fine once that Tsunade lady gets here. Ma says she was super skilled with medical ninjutsu." He clapped her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, she'll get them both back to normal and you can go back to your mutual flirting with Sasuke."

Namiko's eyes snapped to Kiba's. "Wait…WHAT? What on earth are you talking about?!" she shouted incredulously.

Kiba covered his ears and grimaced. "Who knew you could be louder than Naruto?"

She lowered her voice. "What are you talking about? We don't flirt! I don't like him like that, and Sasuke doesn't like me like that either. He's a friend, that's all."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "He's the only person you don't use honorifics with other than your own brother…and maybe Neji and Gaara when you were mad at them."

Namiko crossed her arms over her chest. "He asked me to drop it. If you haven't noticed, he never uses honorifics, not even to our teachers."

"I've noticed other things too. Like how you both defend each other. Like how he lost it on Zaku after you got hurt in the Forest of Death. Or like when he couldn't take his eyes off you during the preliminaries…" Kiba said with a shrug.

"It was a one-on-one match!" she rebutted, cheeks tinting pink.

"Yes, but Kakashi demanded Sasuke leave after his match so he could seal that curse mark, but I heard him say he wanted to watch your fight. He even said 'please'."

Namiko opened up her mouth, but no words came out. Kiba smirked. He knew that got her attention; Sasuke never said please. "I also noticed his scent all over you a week before the Chuunin Finals."

"Okay, that one I can definitely explain," she said defensively. "You see, I was training my chakra control and water walking on a pond when Sasuke startled me, and I fell in. I panicked and started drowning and he rescued me."

Kiba raised a brow. "Rescued how?"

Now she raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean? He pulled me out and that's it."

Kiba scoffed, stifling a laugh. "He didn't give you mouth to mouth and try to kiss you or anything?"

"No!" she yelled. Then Namiko's face turned bright red, suddenly remembering how close he was when she woke up. Had he tried to give her mouth to mouth? To kiss her? No way. Absolutely not. "Nothing happened at all!"

"Uh huh…suuuuure…" Kiba smirked, and he waved to Hinata as she came jogging up. "Hey, you're late! What's up with that? You and Namiko are both off your game today."

Hinata panted as she stopped in front of her teammates. "Sorry, I was training for a clan ritual, and I lost track of the time."

"Clan ritual? What kind?" Namiko asked her best friend, desperate to get Kiba's attention on someone other than her.

"It's called Senbon Sparring. You train with a partner until you reach one thousand sparring exchanges," explained Hinata, "Once you complete them, the head of the family becomes your sparring partner to pass on jutsu secrets."

"He's training you…isn't he?" Kiba sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. Hinata looked anywhere but at her friends' faces. When she turned her head, she noticeably winced in pain.

"Neji-san?!" Namiko walked over and pulled up Hinata's jacket sleeve; her arms and hands were covered in deep purple bruises. "Why would you let him train with you? He practically tried to kill you during the preliminaries!"

"I know, but I want to do this." Hinata's eyes still looked at the ground.

Namiko's eyes softened. "Hinata-chan…you don't have to push yourself past the limit to make others happy—"

"That's not why I'm doing it," interrupted Hinata. "I—I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I know I can do it if I put my mind to it…"

Namiko sighed heavily. "Okay, I can't fault you for that. Just be careful. Though if Neji-san hurts you again like he did, he'll have to answer to both me and Kiba-kun, right?"

Kiba nodded in agreement with a cocky smile. "You two ready to train?"

Both girls nodded and a couple of hours later, all three genin were sitting on the grass recovering from their training session. Even though it was September, the afternoons were still hot in Konoha. Both Kiba and Hinata had removed their usual jackets and Namiko was splashing a bit of her drinking water on her face.

Suddenly, Namiko was on high alert and jumped to her feet. "…Naruto! I sense Naruto!" Before Kiba or Hinata could even process what happened, the redhead vanished from sight.

Team 8 had been training at one of the grounds near the Hokage Building, so Namiko caught up with Naruto and Jiraiya just as they passed the library. She leapt into her brother's arms with a shout, "Nii-chan!"

Naruto stumbled for a moment before steadying himself and putting Namiko back on her feet. "Imouto, Ero-sennin taught me the coolest jutsu! I need to show you—"

"Not now, Naruto," Jiraiya cut in, "Tsunade needs to meet with the elders and…"

"—and then she's gonna fix Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and Lee!" shouted Naruto excitedly.

Namiko tilted her head to the side curiously. "Where is Tsunade-sama?"

"That'd be me," said a new and feminine voice. A busty blonde woman who appeared to be in her late twenties stepped forward with a short-haired brunette woman behind her who seemed a couple years younger than the blonde.

Namiko blinked in shock for a moment. She hadn't expected Tsunade to be so young and beautiful; she was supposed to be Jiraiya's former teammate after all! Once she snapped out of her stupor, she bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tsunade-sama! I'm Uzumaki Namiko, Naruto's little sister."

Tsunade smiled warmly at the young redhead. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, especially since you're so respectful. Naruto, why can't you act more like her?"

Naruto raised a fist, glaring at the older woman. "Why don't you?! You act more childish than me…Tsunade-baachan."

Tsunade glared back at the blond before Shizune stopped their glaring contest. "Tsunade-sama, we really do need to see the elders now."

Tsunade waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going…" The two women walked off into the Hokage Building.

Jiraiya turned to the siblings. "I need to report to the Council, so I'll see you two later." With that, he followed Tsunade and Shizune, leaving Naruto and Namiko by themselves.

"So, what is this new jutsu that Jiraiya-sama taught you?" asked Namiko.

"It's so cool! I can't wait to show yo—" Naruto's growling stomach cut off his sentence and Namiko giggled. "Can we go get Ichiraku first? I'm starving!"

Namiko sighed and smiled. "Sure, nii-chan."

The duo leisurely walked down the main street of Konoha when they bumped into Iruka coming out of the Academy. "Hey Iruka-sensei! Wanna join us for ramen?" suggested Naruto.

"I'd love to join you two and catch up some!" said Iruka with a bright smile. He followed them into Ichiraku and the three sat down and placed their orders. "How have you both been? You just got back with Jiraiya, didn't you Naruto?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it was one heckuva trip, but I did get him to teach me an awesome jutsu called Rasengan!"

Namiko leaned on the counter. "What kind of jutsu is it?"

"It's a spinning ball of my own chakra. It doesn't sound like it would be anything special, but it does a lot of damage to anything it comes into contact with." Naruto happily started eating the second Teuchi placed their orders down. "Ewo-sennen saws iss stronger dan duh Kidori!"

Namiko rolled her eyes. "Chew and swallow your food…then repeat that because I understood nothing."

Naruto did as she asked before repeating himself. "Ero-sennin says it's stronger than the Chidori!"

"I definitely want to see it sometime soon. I bet Sakura-chan and Sasuke would be interested to see it too," said Namiko.

Conversation flowed between the three for a bit about various things that had happened in the last couple of weeks. Namiko finished her gyoza and thanked Teuchi. "Speaking of Sasuke, is Tsunade-sama going to check on him and Kakashi-sensei soon?"

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Naruto's head. "You're right! We should go bug her about it!" He hurriedly finished off his third bowl of ramen and jumped up from the stool. "Let's go, imouto!" Iruka shook his head with a smile as he watched the two leave after saying their goodbyes.

Naruto burst through the door of the Hokage's office without knocking, marching right up to Tsunade's desk. "Tsunade-baachan! Why are you lazing about in here when you need to be fixing Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and Bushy Brows?!"

Tsunade looked up from the policy book that Shizune had been forcing her to read. "I haven't forgotten, Naruto, but the council had me jump right into some paperwork." She stood up from her desk, noticing Namiko standing at the door patiently. "I was just planning to take a look at them. Let's go."

As Tsunade started to head out of her office, Shizune shouted out, "You've been Hokage less than an hour and you're already trying to avoid paperwork?!" Tsunade just laughed as she followed Naruto out of her office.

As they entered the hospital, they went straight to Sasuke's room. Sakura stood up from her seat at Sasuke's bedside. Naruto ran up to her with a big smile on her face. "Sakura! Tsunade is here and she's going to make everything okay again! Don't worry, Sasuke's going to be all right now."

"Naruto…" Sakura watched carefully as Tsunade took her place next to Sasuke. "Oh, please, if there's anything you can do to help Sasuke…"

Tsunade gave the pink haired girl a warm smile. "Well, I'll see what I can do." Tsunade laid her right hand on Sasuke's head and it started glowing a light green color.

Namiko walked forward to see what Tsunade was doing, deciding to stand at the foot of Sasuke's bed and closest to her brother. Namiko glanced over to Sakura who was staring in wide-eyed wonder, and a tear slipped down Sakura's cheek and she quickly brushed it away. Tsunade's hand stopped glowing when Sasuke let out a soft groan as his eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly.

Naruto broke out into a bright grin. "Sasuke!"

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" cried out Sakura as she threw her arms around him.

Sasuke's eyes seemed unfocused and distant. Naruto enveloped both his teammates tightly and Namiko suddenly felt like she was intruding on a private team moment. She took a couple of slow steps back, trying to sneak away when Naruto called out to her, "Hey Namiko, come join the group hug!"

She froze in place as Sasuke's eyes seemed to finally slip into focus, looking directly at her standing at the end of his bed. Charcoal black locked with blue-violet. Sasuke blinked, breaking their trance, before shrugging his shoulders to get Sakura and Naruto off him. "Get off me. I'm fine now."

"Come on baa-chan! You gotta help Kakashi-sensei next!" Naruto grabbed Sakura's wrist and started dragging her out of the room.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. You're an impatient little twerp, aren't you?" muttered Tsunade as she and Shizune followed, leaving Namiko alone in the room with Sasuke.

Namiko chose to keep her eyes focused on the floor. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake…"

"Yeah…" Sasuke looked out the window. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost a month," explained Namiko. She hesitated before speaking again, "He…made you…see something again, didn't he?"

"None of your business," Sasuke said coldly. Silence filled the room for several moments before he finally asked, "How did you get out of there?"

Sasuke was staring at his hands in his lap when she turned to look at him again. "Jiraiya-sama. He used some sort of jutsu with his toads to take control and block everyone in, but Itachi and Kisame escaped using some sort of black fire to blow out of the end of the hall."

"…Amaterasu," whispered Sasuke, seemingly more to himself. After Itachi told him where to find the hidden meeting room in Naka Shrine under the tatami mats, he regularly read the family documents on the Sharingan to gain as much information as possible about their clan. Amaterasu was a strong Mangekyo ability and few had it. If that was one of Itachi's abilities…

"You're still too weak. You don't have enough hate. And you know something? You never will." Itachi's words rang over in Sasuke's mind. He clenched his fist tightly.

Namiko watched his chakra carefully. His chakra was almost boiling in irritation and anger as he was lost in thought. 'I wish I knew what he is thinking right now. I know he's probably upset about how the fight with his brother went. I shouldn't have said anything. I wish I could fix things…'

Namiko sighed, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts. "I should probably go check on the others," she said as she turned and started to walk towards the door.

"See you," Sasuke said quietly.

"See you," she said as she walked out the door.

Kakashi was doing fine after Tsunade healed him, just a little groggy much like Sasuke had been. Lee was a different story though. The damage that had been done by Gaara was extensive, but Tsunade had shooed Naruto and Namiko away before they could get details.

The next few days seemed to go by in a blur. Talk of Tsunade's Hokage ceremony was swarming through the village, and the Council had also decided that a festival to celebrate was a good idea to increase morale. Sakura made the suggestion that Teams 7 and 8 go to the festival together, mainly so she could try to get Sasuke alone. Namiko thought it was a good idea since maybe Hinata could spend some time with Naruto as well.

Hinata had successfully finished her Senbon Sparring with Neji. She injured her eyes due to the heavy strain and had to bandage her eyes closed. The Hyuuga doctors examined her and told her to just rest; however, that meant she would miss the festival and unable to watch the fireworks with Naruto. Hinata had been heartbroken.

When he realized how upset she was, Neji took it upon himself to convince Tsunade to heal her since he was the cause of her eye strain. He also helped her around the compound as she recovered her blurry vision. He did it subtly, but Namiko caught him helping Hinata when she stopped by to check on her. Knowing Neji truly cared for his cousin after all made Namiko smile; he wasn't as tough as he wanted everyone to think he was. He had done all that just so Hinata could go to the fireworks. Hinata's vision was almost back to normal after Tsunade healed her.

Tsunade had been officially inaugurated as the Godaime Hokage and the festival to celebrate was tonight. Hinata had invited Namiko to the Hyuuga compound to spend time together and get ready for the festival. "This is what I'm wearing tonight…what do you think?" Hinata held up a beautiful red yukata with white chrysanthemums scattered across the fabric that almost looked like fireworks.

"It will be beautiful on you!" Namiko gave a wistful look at the yukata as Hinata hung it up on her closet door.

Hinata didn't miss the look on Namiko's face and walked back into her closet before reemerging with a green yukata with red primroses along the bottom. "You know," said Hinata quietly, "this would be beautiful on you…would you like to wear it?"

Namiko's mouth dropped open briefly before closing again. "Oh Hinata-chan, I couldn't take the chance of messing up your yukata."

"I know you wouldn't, and it really would suit you so well…please?" suggested Hinata, a hopeful look on her face.

Namiko sighed, a soft smile gracing her face as she nodded. "Okay, but only if you're really sure you're okay with it."

"Positive! Now, let's get dressed!" Hinata seemed to bubble over with happiness. It was the most excited Namiko had seen the girl since Sakura suggested Teams 7 and 8 go together in the first place. Hinata had run around in circles when Namiko mentioned how excited Naruto was to go to the festival.

Namiko threw her hair into a messy bun to keep her hair out of the way. They helped each other into the yukatas and tied the obis. Namiko looked in the mirror and tried tucking the wayward strands of her hair back into her bun. Hinata giggled at her friend. "Namiko-chan, would you mind if I did your hair?"

Namiko gave a half-smile. "You really don't have to…"

"I want to though," said Hinata. Namiko sighed in defeat and took the hair tie out, long hair tumbling past her hips. Hinata picked up her brush and started brushing her friend's long hair. "I wish my hair was long like yours…"

Namiko looked at Hinata in the mirror. "Why don't you grow it out?"

"I've kept it short since I was a little girl, mainly because I was always so ashamed of who I was. I was supposed to be the heir to the main family, but I've always struggled so much to be worthy of the title. Hanabi can still beat me in a spar." Hinata kept her eyes focused on Namiko's hair, avoiding looking at her friend's face at all costs.

"But didn't you just finish the Senbon Sparring with Neji? That's a huge accomplishment and you worked so hard! He didn't go easy on you by any means, and you now can face your father with pride. Don't let the past hold you back."

"You're right..." Hinata bit back tears as she hugged Namiko from behind. "I'm so thankful for you. You truly are my dearest friend."

Namiko leaned back to 'return' the hug. "And you're my dearest friend too. I know I can always depend on you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata's hands worked through Namiko's hair deftly, putting it into a high ponytail before twisting it tightly, making sure to smooth any flyaway hairs. She took a green ribbon that matched Namiko's yukata perfectly and wrapped it around the bun and stood back to admire her work. Hinata gave a little hum of satisfaction, but her face didn't quite match.

Noticing the disparity, Namiko turned to face her friend to ask, "Hinata-chan, what are you thinking about?"

"Um…I was thinking…if maybe we could drop '-chan' when we talk to each other…" a faint blush tinted Hinata's cheeks.

Namiko broke into a full-blown grin that looked oddly like her brother's. "I'm fine with that! We're teammates and best friends, so I think it's appropriate." She stood up and motioned for Hinata to do so as well. "You ready to go, Hinata?" she said, emphasizing Hinata's name.

Hinata giggled as she stood up as well. "I'm ready, Namiko." The girls linked arms and headed to the festival.

"Well, don't you two look as pretty as the flowers on your yukatas!" said Kurenai as Namiko and Hinata walked up to her and Kiba. She was wearing a beautiful wine-colored yukata with a wave pattern on the bottom with a purple obi.

"You look beautiful as well, sensei," replied Namiko.

"Yes, she does," said Asuma as he walked up next to Kurenai, causing her to blush almost as dark as her yukata.

Both girls giggled and Kiba gave Asuma a thumbs-up. "Smooth, Asuma-sensei."

Asuma winked at Kurenai. "I thought so. Anyways, have any of you seen my team?"

Kiba gestured behind him. "I saw Chouji at the takoyaki stand and Ino and Shikamaru were playing Water Balloon Yo-yo."

Asuma waved goodbye but not before gently touching Kurenai's hand and leaning to whisper in her ear, "Come find me when the fireworks start."

Kurenai's blush didn't fade for quite a while afterwards and she quickly tried to distract her students. "So…where should we go first?"

Kiba's stomach growled as if on cue. "I vote food!"

Namiko laughed. "I'm good with that. That yakisoba smells so good!" Hinata nodded enthusiastically and Team 8 grabbed their food.

"Hey imouto!" called Naruto as he, Sakura, and Sasuke approached them. "You're cheating on Ichiraku?!"

"It's not cheating because I'm not in a monogamous relationship with a food unlike you, Naruto," said Namiko as she rolled her eyes.

Sakura giggled. "She's got a point. I think you'd eat it for every meal if Namiko let you."

"Which thankfully, I don't or he'd probably never eat a vegetable or fruit in his life," said Namiko as she giggled right along with Sakura.

Naruto groaned. "Come on, guys, I can stop any time I want!"

Sasuke scoffed. "The only time you stop eating ramen is when we're on a mission, and most of the time you still pack instant ramen in your go bag." Naruto shot him a glare which Sasuke fully ignored.

"Hey, you guys wanna go play some games before the fireworks start?" suggested Kiba.

"Oooh! I want to catch a goldfish!" said Sakura excitedly.

"I'm going to leave you guys to that then and I'm going to go talk to some of the other jounin for a bit," said Kurenai as she walked over towards Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. None of Team 8 missed the way Kurenai laid a hand on Asuma's upper arm as she spoke before the two jounin walked away from the main part of the festival, hand in hand.

Kiba shook his head, chuckling to himself. "She's got it bad." Namiko and Hinata both smiled and burst into happy giggles. All three loved their sensei very much and wanted her to have happiness, and they all thought Asuma was a good fit for her.

Both teams walked around the games for a while. Sakura caught quite a few goldfish thanks to her steady hands, while Kiba and Naruto ripped the paper nets almost immediately. Namiko and Hinata both chose to grab some sweet, shaved ice, strawberry for Namiko and watermelon for Hinata. Sasuke stood around watching everyone, not participating in anything but not straying too far either.

A vendor came around selling sparklers and Hinata bought some to share, holding them out for whoever wanted one. "The vendor just told me the fireworks should be starting soon in case we wanted to find a better place to watch."

Namiko paused for a moment, scanning the area. "I have an idea. There's not a lot of people near the academy. We could all watch from the rooftop, it would be the perfect spot since they're supposed to be setting off the fireworks from behind Hokage Rock."

"Let's go!" shouted Naruto as he took off running towards the academy. Everyone else walked normally and arrived at the academy's rooftop.

Hinata held out the sparklers for anyone to take one that wanted one. Sakura, Namiko, and Naruto all took one when it occurred to everyone that there was no way to light them.

"Hey Sasuke," said Naruto with a mischievous grin, "wanna help a brother out and use a fire jutsu?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, ignoring the sparkler that Naruto waved in his face. "You're not my brother." He grabbed Namiko's hand to move her sparkler away from her body, then let go and made the Tiger hand sign before blowing a small bit of fire over the sparkler, lighting it up.

Namiko stared at the sparkler in her hand for a moment before offering for the others to light their sparklers off of hers. She grabbed another sparkler and lit it off her first just before it went out. She put the burned out one down just as the first firework went off.

Sakura and Naruto both rushed to the edge of the roof to watch the fireworks and Hinata and Kiba followed behind. Namiko turned to Sasuke, smiling gently. "Thanks for lighting the sparklers."

"It's nothing," he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Namiko walked towards their friends and faced the sky, watching the brilliant fireworks display. Sasuke decided to stand about a meter away from her, watching her closely from the corner of his eye as the varying colors lit up her face. She was oblivious to his eyes' focus on her.

Sakura noticed Sasuke was standing away from them, and she walked over and leaned towards him, almost touching. Sasuke took a step away from Sakura and closer to Namiko, but Sakura followed. Naruto noticed Sakura had moved and decided to follow and try to lean on her. She quickly shoved him away, bumping Sasuke into Namiko in the process.

Namiko tripped and started to fall but Sasuke's reflexes were quicker as he grabbed her upper arm to steady her. She gave a small bow to him. "Thank you, Sasuke, the last thing I want to do is fall and ruin this yukata since Hinata let me borrow it."

"No problem," he replied as he slowly let go of her arm and turned back to the fireworks.

Kiba caught Namiko's eye and mouthed, "Told you." She quickly turned away and prayed that the light from the fireworks would obscure any blush that she could feel starting to flood her face.

The fireworks soon ended, signaling the end of the festival and everyone went their separate ways. As Namiko lay in bed that night, she kept replaying Kiba's words from earlier in the week. 'Sasuke couldn't like me, could he? Kiba is wrong about this, he has to be. He's just being friendly…right?'

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this little fluffy chapter…because next chapter is when the drama begins. Right now, there's about 3-4 more chapters before the time skip. I may take a week or so off when that happens just to give me a bit of a break, but we'll have to see. Please comment with your thoughts or questions; I love reading them! See you next week!

-Eriisu