Author's note: After months of utter bullshit, I finally have some good news. In April I'll be starting my new job! Going to enjoy that news until life inevitably bitch slaps me again; in the meantime have this little celebration fic! I had hoped to have more updates finished by today, but getting some things arranged for my new job took up more time than I thought ^^; This weekend there should be more updates, though!

Warnings: Kushina's pov; Alternate universe; A/B/O dynamics; minor NOT FOR SAKURA FANS; vague references to bullying; foul language (courtesy of Kushina); slash; somewhat fluffy

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!

All But One

At any point between one's tenth and eleventh birthday, people found out which Class they had: Alpha, Beta or Omega. There was no particular fixed point when one Presented. Sometimes it was just a couple of days after the tenth birthday; sometimes it occurred right before one turned eleven. Whenever it happened, it tended to be cause for celebration because most people were excited to find out what Class they were. A lot of people chose to throw parties, whether that be for a lot of people or keep it more private and just celebrate with their closest relatives.

Kushina's only son, Naruto, had been looking forward to finding out which Class he was for quite some time now. Presentation was always exciting, but Naruto especially had become quite fixated on his own Presentation ever since they had moved to a new town. With Kushina's husband having been offered an exciting job, they had made the decision to move to the new town a few months ago. It hadn't been easy to make such a decision when they had to consider their son, but the job was both exciting and financially more interesting. After debating it for quite some time, they had made the jump and had moved into a new home and a new town.

The place itself was quite nice; their house was on the serene, quiet outskirts but the stores were still nearby and they had managed to find a school for Naruto within walking distance. Naruto had been outgoing from basically the moment he had learnt to talk and walk, so Kushina and Minato hadn't been worried about him when they had enrolled him in his new school. Naruto had always made friends easily; of course it would be the same this time, right?

Except he was having a bit of a hard time making friends after all. Perhaps it was because he had been enrolled when the school year had been ongoing for four months already, but Naruto didn't have it easy befriending the other kids in his class. Well, it was more that while he seemed to get along with most of them just fine, he didn't quite yet manage to actually have one of them become a friend to him. He didn't seem to be that bothered by it so far, but Kushina couldn't help but worry about her baby boy. How could she not worry when Naruto sat lonely at home every weekend instead of going out to play with friends?

So when one month after his birthday he presented as an Omega, Kushina decided that this would be a great opportunity to throw a party and invite as many classmates as possible.

"Did you give the invitations to Naruto?" Minato asked; the sound of typing on a keyboard vague in the background.

"Yep, put the whole stack in his bag and told him to give it to everybody during one of their breaks," Kushina confirmed, crossing the road when the light turned green. "He was really excited about it, so I don't think he'll forget doing that."

Naruto had already been excited to discover that he was an Omega, like his mum and his grand-aunt Tsunade, but he had been absolutely ecstatic when Kushina had told him they would be throwing a party to celebrate that fact. It would be a great way to celebrate his Presentation and have the kids get to know each other better in a more relaxed setting. With a bit of luck the party would end with Naruto having at least one friend to call his own.

"Hopefully enough kids can attend the party," Minato mentioned. "Tsunade said she's thinking of coming to the party as well."

"Isn't she busy?" she asked, but was pleasantly surprised.

Tsunade was a very sought out doctor, known throughout the whole country. It was the running joke in the family that winning the lottery was more likely to happen than getting an appointment at Tsunade's office. As busy as she was, Kushina hadn't expected her to attend the party but then again, she had adored Naruto since the day he had been born so perhaps it wasn't that surprising. She always made sure to visit them at least a couple of times each month, even now that they had moved away.

"Yes, but you know she loves spending time with Naruto," Minato replied amused. "She especially doesn't want to miss his Presentation party. I think Jiraiya is also planning on coming."

"Right, and that decision doesn't have anything to do with Tsunade visiting?" she asked unimpressed. "He better behaves himself."

Honestly, even after years of knowing them, she still hadn't managed to figure out just how the dynamics between Tsunade and Jiraiya worked. He kept trying to ask her out, she kept rejecting him based on his womanising nature. The rejections never seemed to bother Jiraiya, though, and Tsunade also appeared more amused than annoyed by his never-ending attempts. Even Minato couldn't say what was really going on between those two.

"You know he behaves himself around Naruto," Minato said soothingly, but the amusement in his voice was clearly ringing through.

"Uhuh, I'm keeping an eye on him," she said warningly, quickening her pace when the school gates came into view. "All right, going to pick up Naruto now. See you tonight."

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too." She pocketed her phone, taking note of the stream of students leaving the school building when the bell started ringing loudly.

A lot of parents had already gathered in front of the gates, mostly mothers, eager to take their child home. Some were chatting quietly amongst each other while others were on the phone and yet others just stood there, waiting for their kid to spot them.

She didn't have to wait long before she spotted her son's tell-tale gold blond hair. He was looking around, clearly searching for her, as he held onto the straps of his backpack with both hands. When his eyes landed on her, they lit up and he made a beeline for her straight away, wriggling between the mass of students. As he made his way to her, though, she couldn't shake the feeling that he seemed a bit subdued in spite of the grin plastered on his face.

"Hi, mum!" he chirped, halting in front of her and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Hey, Naru, how was your day? Did you manage to give out all your invitations?" she asked, holding out her hand for him to grab it.

He latched onto her hand immediately. "It was good, mathematics was boring, but all the rest was good," he replied, holding onto the strap of his bag with his other hand. "And yeah, I gave everybody my invitations."

"Say, Naru, is something wrong?" she questioned carefully.

Given his passionate hatred for everything that had to do with numbers, she had expected more complaints about mathematics like usual, not just a comment that it had been boring.

"No, not really," he mumbled, keeping his eyes fixated on the pavement, which was as good an admission that something was wrong.

She tugged him closer to her side, rubbing his shoulder. "Hey, you know you can talk about anything to me, right?" she said gently. "Doesn't matter what it is, you can tell me."

He started gnawing on his lower lip and remained quiet all the way up until they turned the corner and entered their street.

"Sakura-chan is suddenly having a party too," he said out of the blue. "On the same day."

Sakura-chan? Wait, that was that pink haired girl, no?

"A party, what for?" she inquired bemused. Had it been the girl's birthday?

"For her Presentation."

"Oh, did she Present recently as well?" She was surprised about that, because Naruto hadn't mentioned anything of the sorts.

The last time he had mentioned anything about a classmate Presenting had to have been when one of the boys in his class presented as a Beta. What had his name been again? Shikamaru?

"No, she Presented a few months ago," Naruto answered, sounding even more subdued now.

Wait, if she had Presented a few months ago – "Then why suddenly have her party on the same day?" she asked slowly, but she started having a bad feeling about this.

Usually parties to celebrate Presentations were held at most two weeks after it had happened; nobody tended to wait several months to have a party. For the girl to suddenly throw a party as well …

"She said the day of my party was the perfect day to hold hers," Naruto explained, back to worrying his lips between his teeth. "She invited everybody without having cards ready, though. She said her mummy would make sure everybody got a card."

"Did she happen to announce her party right after you gave everybody your invitation?" she couldn't help but question suspiciously.

It couldn't have been a well thought out plan yet if the girl didn't have any cards ready. It sounded more like a spur of the moment kind of idea and the implication of why that girl would suddenly announce a party of her own didn't sit well with Kushina.

"Yeah, after I gave everybody my invitation, she said she's holding her party the same day." His eyebrows drew together in a deep frown and his blue eyes – so like his dad's – flicked towards her uncertainly. "You think anybody will come to my party now if she's throwing one? They've known her for a lot longer than they have known me, so - "

"Don't worry about it, Naruto," she instantly reassured him, ruffling his hair. "Even if she's throwing her party on the same day, I'm sure not everybody will be attending hers."

Even if Sakura had been part of the class for much longer than Naruto had, that didn't automatically mean everybody would pick her party to attend. Especially when she didn't even have any official invitations to begin with.

"I'm sure enough people will come," she went on and unearthed their house key from her pocket. "Come on, let's go make a list of all the snacks and drinks you want to have during your party, hm?"

Predictably the mention of snacks had Naruto's eyes lightening up and he was in a much better mood as he kicked off his shoes and dumped his bag on the floor before rushing into the kitchen.

As optimistic as she was, she hoped she wouldn't turn out to be wrong. She couldn't help but have somewhat of a bad feeling, though …

Her bad feeling unfortunately turned out to be correct.

As she watched Jiraiya entertain Naruto with his travel tales, Kushina couldn't help but keep sneaking glances at the clock. The clock, of which the hands were now steadily inching towards two thirty. The hour wouldn't be anything remarkable, save for the fact that Naruto's Presentation party was supposed to start at two – and so far the only ones who had shown up were Tsunade and Jiraiya.

A multitude of snacks and drinks stood waiting on the table they had specifically dragged to the side of the wall for this occasion to free up space in the room. A bunch of boardgames laid piled up next to the television and cozy spots throughout the room had been created with the aid of several pillows and soft blankets.

The living room was supposed to be filled with children's laughter and chatting, but instead the sound of the clock was almost deafeningly loud – a sharp contrast to Kushina's phone, which hadn't light up once with a single message. No kids had shown up so far and no texts had been exchanged to give her a head's up about anybody arriving late. She had even picked up the invitation herself to check if she had indeed included her phone number; she had.

"Nothing yet?" Minato murmured, sliding an arm around her waist.

"Not a single peep," she muttered, running a hand through her hair. "You think they really all went to that girl's party instead?"

His lips thinned. "Seems like it."

As the days had gone by since Naruto had divided his invitations, her son had only grown more and more nervous, becoming worried that nobody would want to attend the party of the new kid when that Sakura girl had apparently done her best to entice all their classmates with promises of a lot of sweets and two big bouncy castles. It was difficult to imagine that literally everybody would prefer to attend her party – was really nobody curious enough to get to know her son better? – but it was unfortunately becoming a reality. Or perhaps not everybody was attending her party; maybe some had chosen to remain home.

Except Naruto had mentioned several times how everybody had seemed quite excited about the parties …

"I just wanted him to have a chance at really befriending some kids, you know?" she said frustrated, keeping her voice low enough as to not attract Naruto's attention. "Are you seriously going to tell me that literally nobody is interested in attending his party? How many boys would even want to attend a girl's party at their age?"

Even if the girl really had bouncy castles available, Kushina remembered all too well that when she had been their age, none of the boys in her class had been the slightest bit interested in attending any party thrown by a girl unless they were actually friends with the girl in question.

From what Naruto had let slip about this Sakura girl, she didn't appear that immensely popular. She had several good friends, but it didn't sound like she had befriended everybody to the extent that all their classmates would prefer attending her impromptu thrown party over Naruto's.

"Still can't believe her parents just went along with her bullshit," she grumbled.

So their daughter announced a party out of the blue and they just went along with it? They didn't ask questions why she wanted a Presentation party all of a sudden, even though she had Presented months ago? Everything just fucking reeked of bullshit!

"You don't believe it's a coincidence?" Minato asked neutrally, rubbing his thumb across her hipbone.

"Coincidence, my arse," she scoffed, balling her fists before reminding herself to unclench them, not wanting to alarm her son. "We both know that bint did this on purpose. Why suddenly decide to have a Presentation party when she Presented months ago? What the fuck does she even have against our son?"

Times like these she really wished she could just drive straight over to that girl's house and set her straight if her parents weren't up for the task! She wasn't going to stand for her son getting bullied by some girl, who seemed to believe she was better than him!

"I don't even know how the hell we're going to explain this to Naru," she said frustrated, rubbing her cheeks. "He's going to notice eventually that nobody showed up. This party was supposed to give him a chance at befriending others, not find out he's apparently disliked by everybody!"

Not to mention the fucking nerve of those parents, not even texting to let her know their kids wouldn't show up. How hard was it to be fucking polite and give a head's up? How difficult was it to be a decent human being and not disappoint a kid who just wanted to make friends?

"I wish I could fucking punch every single one of those - "

The bell rang clearly, cutting off her threat. She blinked, completely taken aback, before spurring into action, catching sight of Naruto perking up on the couch before speeding into the hallway. She was aware of Minato following behind her as she hurried to the front door; her heart beating a tad quicker as she prayed that there would actually be a classmate of Naruto on the other side of the door and not just a random salesperson.

Practically flinging open the door, her eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful black haired woman standing patiently on their porch; her pale hand resting on the shoulder of a dark haired boy. The boy clearly took after the woman when it concerned his features, making it obvious that they were related.

The boy was holding a wrapped present in his hands.

"I'm sorry for the delay," the dark haired woman apologised; her cheeks faintly pink as she bowed. "The queue in the shop was a lot longer than I had expected it to be, but Sasuke is here for your son's party."

Before Kushina could reassure her that everything was fine – hell, it was even peachy because goddamn it, at least one kid had actually showed up, that was better than nobody! – Naruto's voice rang out with barely restrained excitement.

"Sasuke?"

When Kushina glanced over her shoulder, she saw Naruto's head poking around the doorframe; his eyes brimming hopefully and excitedly.

"Hn, told you I would come," the boy – Sasuke – said primly. "Good afternoon, Uzumaki-san, Namikaze-san. I'm Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto's classmate. Sorry for being late."

"It's fine, it's fine!" Kushina rushed to reassure him, beckoning him to enter. "You're not that late, don't worry."

"You can follow Naruto into the living room," Minato smiled warmly.

Sasuke momentarily clutched the present between one arm and his side as he rid himself of his jacket and his shoes.

"Thank you for having me," he said politely before following a practically buzzing Naruto into the living room.

"You want to stay as well?" Kushina suggested to Sasuke's mother.

She huffed an amused laugh. "Might as well, I guess. It took a bit before I found a spot to park and my other son and my husband won't be home for at least a few more hours anyways."

"Time to relax a bit, I'd say then," Kushina said cheerfully, lightly jabbing Minato in his stomach when he chuckled. "I'm Uzumaki Kushina and this is my husband, Namikaze Minato. Nice to meet you!"

Now that she thought about it, how on earth had Sasuke even known Minato's last name?

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto, nice to meet you too," Mikoto smiled warmly, walking into the hallway when Kushina stepped to the side. "Again, my apologies for arriving so late. We're normally very punctual."

Kushina waved her apology away. "It's all good!"

And it was. It was fucking amazing even! Maybe Sasuke would be the only kid showing up today, but that was still one more kid than Kushina had feared. Would it have been nice to have a full house? Definitely, but she wasn't going to look a gifted horse in the mouth. If Sasuke would be the only one to show up, well, they would just have to have fun with one guest then.

Besides, she didn't think Naruto really minded the lack of other classmates when she considered how much he was beaming from just having Sasuke around.

As it turned out, just one person could sometimes be enough to turn the tide. The party hadn't been a complete failure in the end. To Kushina's and Minato's secret happiness and relief, Naruto and Sasuke hit it off really well during the party – well enough for Naruto to declare Sasuke his best friend by the time the weekend was over. Sasuke ended up visiting their house a lot more after the party to the point that it almost felt strange not to see him during the days he wasn't present.

The Presentation party might have only given Naruto one friend, but that friend meant everything to him – especially when that best friend later turned into his boyfriend. Kushina liked to think it was partly thanks to her that her baby boy had snatched such a handsome guy.

After all, hadn't she been the one to come up with the idea to throw a party? She wasn't going to lord that over her son, though.

At least not that often. Maybe only during her speech on their future wedding day.

The End

AN2: Kushina might have lorded that fact over Naruto a couple of more times than just during his wedding day, but hey, that's her right as his mother!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

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