Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

That One Day in the Year	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 3569 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make profit of it. Kishimoto owns it.

Chapter List
- 1-Part 1
- 2-Part 2
- 1
- 2
Author's note: Something random my brain came up with to celebrate Naruto's birthday today. It's going to be two parts, because I wanted to make sure I'd still be able to post it on time (yes, I do cheat like that).
Warnings: Naruto's pov; mostly made up out of short scenes detailing certain events in his life; some light angst in this one; time skips
I hope you'll like the first part!
Part 1
He doesn't know when his birthday is until he has already turned six years old and the academy needs to fill in his papers.
"Date of birth?" the Chuunin behind the desk asks bored; his half long, brown hair casting shadows over his face.
The little blond boy blinks bemused. "What's that?"
"When's your birthday, kid?" the Chuunin clarifies; dark eyes flickering towards him for a few seconds before they return to the paper in front of him.
Naruto looks away, wringing his hands together as his cheeks heat up uncomfortably. He knows what a birthday is, of course. He's witnessed several children celebrating theirs in the park he likes to visit every week. He knows it is a day when people celebrate someone else turning one year old. They usually party with a cake and balloons and presents; family and friends will cheer for the birthday girl or boy.
Everybody has a birthday, that he understands. He just doesn't know when his birthday is, because nobody has ever celebrated it with him. He has no mummy or daddy to party with him and none of the other children ever want to play with him. Even the old man has never mentioned his birthday.
Maybe he's the exception? Maybe he doesn't have a birthday because he doesn't have a mummy or a daddy?
"Don't you know when your birthday is?" The man frowns at him, looking perplexed.
Flushing a bright red, Naruto scowls down at the floor. "I know when it is!" he protests, tugging at his sleeves until they cover his hands. "It's … It's …"
But he doesn't know.
The loud sigh above him has him flinching and he bites down on his lower lip hard, suppressing the ridiculous urge to cry.
"All right, here. Take this paper to the Hokage and let him fill in the rest. You can bring it back afterwards," the Chuunin mutters, holding out the paper he'd been writing on.
He's already turning towards the child behind Naruto before the blond boy can respond.
Naruto is six years old when he's told his birthday is on the tenth of October.
Still he has nobody to celebrate it with him.
A while later he meets a dark haired boy, one with features similar to that stupid boy in his class with his duck butt hair and his annoying refusal to take Naruto seriously. The boy, clearly older than him, doesn't taunt him, doesn't look at him with that particular kind of look in his eyes that most villagers have when they stare at him.
No, instead, he talks with Naruto, shows genuine interest in what the blond has to tell him to Naruto's complete shock. When Naruto declares he's going to be Hokage one day, the black haired boy smiles, but doesn't make fun of him.
When he leaves Naruto behind at the swings, giving him encouraging words of advice, blue eyes can do nothing but stare at the retreating figure in absolute wonderment.
There and then he decides that he really likes this boy. He hopes he'll see him again soon.
At eight years old he watches, hidden behind a tree, how Uchiha Sasuke stares at the taped up entrance to his family's compound with a blank look on his face. The entire Uchiha clan has been wiped out last week; the village is abuzz with the news, rumours flying wildly about what could have caused Uchiha Itachi – a prodigy, a genius who'd been steadily rising up in the ranks, even making it to ANBU Captain – to suddenly snap and kill his entire family, leaving only his little brother alive.
People whisper, people talk, people stare at the lone survivor of the massacre as if they have the right to gawk at him.
For once nobody in the village taunts Naruto or tries to hurt him, nor do they whisper behind his back. It doesn't make him feel better, though, not as he stands here now, watching how the other boy – the one he deems his rival – is working up the courage to enter the compound after spending a week in the hospital.
Impulsively Naruto takes a step to the right, leaving the protection of the tree's shade, and stretches out his hand, Sasuke's name lingering on the tip of his tongue when he opens his mouth to call out.
Before he can find his voice, the dark haired boy has already slipped through the police tapes, disappearing behind the stone walls.
Lowering his hand, feeling oddly disappointed, Naruto stands there for a moment longer, staring up at the walls which, just two weeks ago, contained the hustle and bustle of the Uchiha clan.
Now it's silent, too silent; there won't be anybody there anymore to welcome Sasuke home.
Naruto leaves before anyone can discover him here.
He starts crushing on the pretty pink haired girl, Sakura, in his class when he's nine years old, but no matter what he does, no matter what he says or even gives her, she ignores him completely.
It hurts, a lot. Especially when he realises that while she's all too happy to ignore him, she does her best to be noticed by Sasuke.
Sasuke, who's perfect at everything he does, who always gets the perfect grades, who accomplishes every exercise in the class flawlessly, who has girls squealing and blushing by just glancing at them.
Sasuke, who's also an arrogant jerk, who still refuses to take Naruto seriously, who smirks whenever Naruto fails spectacularly at performing a particular jutsu.
Sasuke, who's so far out of Naruto's reach, he might as well be in a completely different village.
Naruto decides he hates him when Sakura throws his pink flower – he's been looking for the perfect flower all morning, wanting to pick out the best one for Sakura's birthday, hoping that she'll finally give him a smile – to the ground without even really looking at it. Instead she runs to Sasuke, calling out to him and asking shyly whether he has something for her.
Sasuke simply ignores her, walking away.
With his flower lying crushed next to him and Sakura pouting at Sasuke's back, not even seeing Naruto, not even realising he's still there, Naruto swears he'll defeat Sasuke one day.
He'll beat him once and for all, that's a promise!
He's twelve when he finally discovers why almost the entire village hates him. Why, wherever he goes, he's only met by glares and dark whispers, parents pulling their children away, warning them to stay away from the 'monster'.
It's because he has a monster inside of him.
He's a Jinchuuriki, a living container of one of the Bijuu. In his case he's carrying the Kyuubi inside of him; the nine-tailed beast which nearly destroyed the entire village twelve years ago.
The knowledge doesn't make him feel better. Instead it makes him feel worse even if the discovery is paired with Iruka-sensei stating he's not the monster, but Uzumaki Naruto. That part does make him feel fuzzy and happy, but another part feels miserable.
He's not the monster, no, but the village considers him to be one and he wonders bitterly whether there will ever be a day when the village will accept him. His resolve to become Hokage one day strengthens – if he becomes the much respected leader, people will have to acknowledge him. They won't have any other choice.
It may take years, but he'll get there, he's sure. And he'll do it without the flea infested fox inside of him. He doesn't need that bastard's help to get stronger!
Being on the same team as Sasuke is – weird.
There's no other way to describe it. The other boy is aloof at first, steadfastly refuses to cooperate with either Naruto or Sakura. The bell test has Kakashi-sensei despairing, Naruto's sure, because they're all working on their own and neither one of them is even close to getting that damn bell.
It also leaves Naruto tied up and hungry, all because he's tried to eat before. His teammates are under strict instructions to not give him any food, lest they all fail, and he can't help but stare mournfully at their bento boxes; his stomach letting out a pitiful grumble. Maybe he should have eaten more this morning, but he'd only had one cup of ramen left. That's what he gets for having been too lazy to go shopping the evening before, he guesses.
When Sasuke turns slightly towards him, it takes Naruto a couple of seconds to realise that the dark haired boy is holding out his bento box to him and his mouth drops open in shock.
"Here you go," Sasuke says bored; his chopsticks dangling in his other hand next to his knee.
Sakura nearly chokes in her rice. "W-wait a minute, Sasuke-kun! Earlier, sensei said -"
"It's fine. I don't feel his presence right now," Sasuke retorts flippantly, guessing correctly why she's panicking.
Sakura still looks like she wants to protest, but when Sasuke picks up some rice between the chopsticks and holds them out to Naruto expectantly, she pulls a face, sighs, but abruptly also offers her own bento box.
Somehow, he's not sure how it happens, but both Sasuke and Sakura end up feeding him; each taking their turn and a pleasant warmth settles in the pit of Naruto's belly. Maybe being in the same team as Sasuke won't be so horrible after all.
Then Kakashi scares the shit out of them by suddenly appearing out of nowhere, making Naruto scream in fright as the other two scramble to their knees; their bento boxes discarded on the ground, spilling their content on the grass.
Naruto braces himself, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realises that they blew it, that they disobeyed the older man yet again, and now neither one of them will become a Genin, and he'll have to do the Academy all over again and no, he doesn't want that! He doesn't want to give up his headband, doesn't want to give up the proof that he's finally a real shinobi!
He's worked so hard for this headband – is he really about to lose it already?
"You pass." Kakashi's one visible eye crinkles when he smiles cheerfully; all traces of anger gone as he leans over them and Naruto stares up at him, not sure whether he's heard the man correctly.
"What?"
"You pass," Kakashi repeats cheerfully. "In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are called trash, but those who don't treasure their companions are worse than trash." He sticks up his thumb. "With this, the practice is over!"
"All right!" Sakura cheers, jumping up and clapping her hands together.
"Let's go," Kakashi says lightly, jerking his thumb backwards.
Sakura and Sasuke immediately join him and Naruto's shoulders slump a bit as relief races through him. They got a pass, they're still Genin, thank god! He won't have to surrender his treasured headband and the damp forest air instantly smells a lot sweeter.
It's only when Naruto tries to take a step forwards that he realises he's still tied to that damn pole. "Hey! I'm still trapped here! Give me a hand!"
All he gets in return is Sakura's amused laughter and Kakashi's chuckle before their sensei takes pity on him and undoes his restraints.
Naruto promises that next time he'll set up a trap with filthy dishwater and other sorts of nasty things in it for Kakashi instead of just a dusty eraser. That'll teach him to leave him tied up like that.
Naruto spends his thirteenth birthday herding sheep and learning how to shave them. Team Seven is back to doing D ranked missions and he longs for the day that they'll finally get a higher ranked one again. They've proven that they can handle C missions, haven't they? He – okay, perhaps, they, because Sasuke helped out – kicked arse during their fight with Haku and Zabuza! There's no reason whatsoever to be stuck doing a D mission again.
But alas, the old man refused to give them anything higher than a D this morning, so here Naruto is now: trying not to get kicked in the face by the sheep he's attempting to shave. That's a surprisingly difficult task to accomplish, but he's not going to let himself be defeated by a mere sheep!
When they finally trudge back to the village, dusk is settling in and their breath escapes them in little puffs of smoke. October has been particularly chilly already and he stuffs his hands deeper into the pockets of his orange jacket.
As Sakura tries to ask out Sasuke for the umpteenth time already this month alone, Naruto finds himself wondering whether Iruka-sensei wants to go eat ramen with him. He's never had somebody to celebrate his birthday with before, so all his previous birthdays have passed by just like any other day.
Okay, that's a lie. On his birthday in the past, he tended to keep to his apartment mostly, because the villagers are more hostile on this particular day – probably remembering Kyuubi's attack. With no visible Bijuu to blame, though, they always aimed their anger at Naruto and the blond boy had taken to hiding out at his apartment, waiting for the day to change into night and then to the next day.
He couldn't hide out in his apartment today, though. Missions called and even though shaving sheep is not something he's envisioned doing on his birthday, at least a mission outside the village beats trying to hide from the villagers' scornful gazes.
Blue eyes wander over to his teammates in front of him. Sakura's latched onto Sasuke now and is still trying to convince him to go on a date with her. Sasuke's walking rather stiffly, his shoulders slightly hunched with tension, and he looks ready to push her away. Sasuke's never liked being touched and Sakura's flirting is clearly getting on his nerves.
Neither one of them know the secret Naruto's been harbouring for a year now. They don't know he's the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, don't know that that's the reason why he heals so fast. He's thought about telling them, but …
He's not brave enough to find out what happens when he tells them. According to Iruka-sensei the younger generation doesn't know about who's carrying the Kyuubi. Only the adults know, but their reactions towards Naruto have been clear enough to make him wary of confessing his huge secret.
He loves being a team with Sakura and even with Sasuke, and he doesn't want to see their faces twist ugly with disgust when he tells them what's been sealed inside of him. He doesn't want to see Sasuke turning away from him, doesn't want to see that warmth in those black eyes disappear. They're friends, even if the other boy won't admit it aloud, and Naruto's terrified of losing that friendship once the older boy knows about the Kyuubi.
Naruto thinks he can handle Sakura turning away from him – while she's now nicer to him, he knows she still likes Sasuke more. He's not blind nor stupid, even if she and Sasuke like to think that. He would be able to get over her rejection – but for some reason it'd be a lot harder to get over Sasuke's rejection.
He's not ready yet to examine why he's more afraid of Sasuke's reaction than of Sakura's, but he decides he can't tell either one of them. His list of people who tolerate him is pathetically small as it is and he doesn't want to risk making it even smaller. No, he'll keep Kyuubi a secret; he's got no other choice if he wants to keep his friends.
At the entrance of Konoha, Kakashi disappears in a cloud of white smoke and Sakura breaks away from Sasuke; disappointment visible on her face as she walks away, returning to her home for the evening. She still hasn't scored a date and oddly that makes Naruto a bit happy.
"You got any plans?"
Sasuke's deep voice startles Naruto out of his thoughts and he blinks, crossing his arms behind his head. "I'm going to Ichiraku." With a bit of luck Iruka-sensei might be there. It would be great if he is, because that'll mean he won't have to celebrate his birthday alone for the first time.
"All right." Sasuke shrugs and together they set off, making their way through the streets, bypassing several people who are still mingling around on the street.
None of them glare at Naruto this time, but that's only because they're too busy gawking at Sasuke, who ignores them as per usual. This isn't the first time Sasuke has accompanied him to the ramen stand, so Naruto has become used to the fact that he becomes invisible to the villagers when the Uchiha heir walks next to him. Any other day and he'd be offended by it, but today he's grateful.
He might not really celebrate his birthday, but that doesn't mean he wants to spend the rest of what remains of the day being glared at and taunted by other people.
The old man of Ichiraku's greets them cheerfully when they take their seats and soon both of them have a steaming bowl of delicious ramen put in front of them. Sasuke has also requested some salad with extra tomatoes and even though Naruto has eaten ramen with Sasuke plenty of times before already, he still thinks it's utterly strange to eat salad and ramen together.
Whatever, the bastard's always been a weirdo.
Iruka-sensei doesn't show up and Naruto hides his disappointment, drowning it in a second bowl of ramen. He knows the Chuunin is busy with his classes, knows he can't expect the older man to free his schedule just to eat ramen with some brat, but …
It still hurts a bit.
Just for once he'd have liked someone to celebrate his birthday with.
"You want to train together tomorrow?" Sasuke questions, breaking through his brooding thoughts.
Slurping up some noodles, Naruto nods. "Yeah, sure. The training grounds?"
Plopping a cherry tomato in his mouth, Sasuke shakes his head. "The Uchiha compound," he replies. "I found some scrolls last weekend; figured we could try them out."
"Sure," Naruto grins, perking up at the prospect of learning new jutsu with his friend. He's never thought he'd admit this one day, but training with Sasuke is actually a lot of fun. They challenge each other, force the other one to do their best, and Naruto can feel himself growing stronger and stronger after each sparring session with Sasuke.
It's going to be fun to try out the new jutsu Sasuke has found. The Uchiha compound holds a lot of interesting jutsu scrolls and Naruto can't wait to learn more of them. A lot of the scrolls are obviously focused on fire jutsu mainly, as that's the branch the Uchiha clan focusses on, but Sasuke has also discovered more 'regular' jutsu before; ones that Naruto can study as well. That's not to say he hasn't tried performing a fire jutsu before – he has, multiple times even, but fire is an element he can't seem to master at all, so he's given up on those. Healing burns, while it happens faster for him than for other people, is still a pain in the arse and he rather doesn't look anymore like he's been roasting in the sun for too long.
It doesn't matter, though. There are still plenty of other jutsu to master and sparring with Sasuke is always fun, even if he doesn't learn anything new.
When they finish eating – Sasuke having kept it to one bowl and one salad, while Naruto has stuffed himself full with four bowls – Sasuke insists on paying for everything and Naruto's not gracious enough to refuse the offer. Even though he's saving his money, he doesn't have enough with him to actually pay for everything, so he's immensely grateful that Sasuke's willing to pay for everything.
Even though he won't admit it aloud; he does promise to pay his friend back, though, not wanting to take advantage of him, but Sasuke just waves it off with a bored look on his face.
Right before they part for the night, Sasuke says, "Happy birthday, Naruto."
Immediately Naruto whirls around, gapes at the other boy. "You know my birthday?" he squeaks and feels a bit mortified, but well, he hasn't expected the Uchiha heir to know his birthday!
Black eyes blink at him. "Yes, I do. Good night." With that, he turns around and after one last wave, he leaves, making his way back to his own home leisurely.
Leaving Naruto behind as if he hasn't just turned his whole world upside with that one small sentence, that huge admission.
When Naruto slides into his bed that evening, he can't stop smiling; giddiness making him squeeze his hands into a ball and hide his blushing face into his pillow.
He has celebrated his birthday with his best friend! Sasuke told him happy birthday!
For the first time ever, Naruto actually had someone to celebrate his birthday with and that knowledge fills him with warmth and has him smiling even goofier than before.
He just celebrated his birthday with someone else – not just someone, but his best friend.
For the first time since he can remember, he finishes his birthday with a smile on his face as he gently drifts off to sleep.
Gaara's just like him.
He's just like him and that acknowledgment is like a bucket of ice water. If Naruto didn't have his bonds with the others, he might have turned out just like the red haired boy in front of him.
He might have turned into someone who hates the world, who wants nothing but destruction. Someone who's been hurt far too many times, who let the monster inside him take over just to be able to deal with the pain.
Naruto understands him. He knows all too well how it feels like to be hurt like that, remembers fury filling him during all those times the villagers turned their backs on him, recalls how helpless and upset he felt whenever children ignored him or when parents pulled their kids away, admonishing them to stay away from the freak.
He remembers wanting to hurt those people at times.
It would have been so easy for him to slip into the darkness like Gaara has, to let the beast inside of him take control.
He doesn't blame Gaara. He's just like him, after all.
But that doesn't mean he will allow the boy to rampage like that, won't stand for him hurting his friends.
He'll stop him. He'll save Sasuke and Sakura, but he will also save Gaara.
Because Gaara doesn't deserve the fate that's been forced upon him. He doesn't deserve feeling like he's nothing but a monster, like he won't ever be considered human.
He's Gaara, not the Ichibi. Naruto will help him remember that.
He will save him. That's a promise he intends to keep.
He couldn't save his best friend.
Staring down at the headband, trailing his finger across the deep gash inside the metal, Naruto bites down hard on his lower lip; some tears slipping down his cheeks.
He's still too weak. Too weak to save his friend.
If he can't even save his best friend, why does he expect he can become Hokage one day? He can't. Someone who can't save a friend isn't fit to become the leader of a village.
As Jiraiya talks to him, tries to persuade him into giving up on Sasuke, abandon his best friend, Naruto clenches his hand around the headband, feeling the metal edges dig into the vulnerable flesh of his palms and he makes a promise. No, not promise, he swears.
He won't abandon Sasuke. He won't give up on his best friend. He'll get stronger and once that day arrives, once he's strong enough, he'll get Sasuke back. He'll pull him out of the darkness, just like he helped Gaara before. Sasuke's lost, but not gone yet.
He doesn't care what Jiraiya thinks. He doesn't care that the older man considers him stupid, reckless for not giving up.
Naruto never gives up.
And he certainly won't abandon his best friend.
No matter what it takes, he'll get Sasuke back.
That's a promise.
AN2: So what do you think of it? A bit random, I know, but my brain wouldn't stop thinking about it until I started writing it, so yeah *coughs*
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 the second (and last) part!
Cuddles
Melissa
- 1
- 2
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

That One Day in the Year