Birthday Disaster

Chapter 6

A warm dry wind danced amongst the simple buildings of the village before breaking away into the sky. A stray breeze curled around a rooftop making blonde bangs sway to it's rythem. The blue eyes that were below those blonde bangs were gazing in the distance with a peaceful look in them. Yet if you looked deep within them you could barely see a sadness hidden there.

"Naruto." a deep voice steadily called gathering his attention.

Placing a soft smile on his face Naruto turned around to face his company. "Gaara, sorry I just had to get out of there! It was just too stuffy."

"I would understand, that is, if that was the real reason." Gaara walked upto the blonde. He had to admit he had been surprised when Naruto had shown up in his office as a replacement for the Konoha ambassador. The sad look in Naruto's face had been enough for Gaara to guess something had happened in Konoha that hurt his blonde friend. Gaara had a feeling it had something to do with the Uchiha and had waited for Naruto to confess on his own. That had happened about two weeks ago and Naruto had yet to say anything about it. Instead he chose to hide his pain and Gaara had had enough of it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Naruto denied looking away from the pale green eyes of his friend.

Gaara settled down next to Naruto. "I heard from my siblings that friends and family are determinede through what they share. That a true test of friendship is what that friend can trust you to tell you about his life. I know somethings wrong or else you wouldn't be here."

"You know Gaara you have improved with your human emotions to the point you surprise me." When Gaara only continued to look at him Naruto sighed. "You know I've never celebrated my birthday? Every year there is at least one party being thrown on that day but not because of me. Everyone celebrates the defeat of the Kyuubi and mourns the death of the fourth. This year was supposed to be different. I have friends, I have loved ones, so I was supposed to celebrate my one big day with them. Yet no one showed up to my party, not even Sasuke."

Uchiha. A lot of problems were caused by that name alone and a good many of them in the end hurt Naruto. At least that was what Gaara had noticed. "Uchiha went to a party that his fangirl threw?"

Naruto laughed. "I know it sounds silly right? But he did and so did Sakura-chan. Actually all of the others went to Ino-chan's party. I guess I was the silly one for thinking that I could change things."

Uchiha was just someone who was destined to die, why not today? Right after Gaara finished tying up loose ends here he was going to visit Konoha and fulfill the role of the executioner for the last Uchiha. At the moment though he needed to figure out what to say to help his friend. "Naruto you have the habit of changing everything and everyone around you by just being there for your friends. It's not silly that you would expect someone to celebrate with you." Gaara looked over at the blonde. "Coming here was a good idea. Stay here as long as you like because I will never under appreciate you. Ever."

Naruto smiled. "Gaara." He smiled and looked back into the night sky. It was the barest of winds that carried the whispered words to Gaara. "Thank you."

Gaara smiled too.

While an unsettling peace and quiet befell Konoha the opposite could be said for Suna. A normally quiet village had been corrupted by sound and surprises by a familiar ninja dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Naruto, now used to the village, knew just about everyone and those he did not know they had heard about him. Naruto spent a good deal of time meeting the people of Suna and making sure they were having a good day. Despite this Naruto spent most of his time with Gaara, trying his hardest to enlarge his friend's horizon which was not necessarily a bad thing. At least not to Temari and Konkuro. The blonde headed burst of pure energy was good for their stoic younger brother. So when Gaara wanted to do something with Naruto one of the two siblings were more than happy to fill in.

"Gaara! It's lunch time!" Naruto called out bursting into the kazekage office. Surprisingly there was someone else in the circular room with the Suna siblings. "Oops sorry."

A little old man with white hair and thick shaggy eyebrows that put Lee's to shame turned and face Naruto. After a moment the old man smiled. "It's alright."

On either side of the old man a red headed girl and boy turned around and fixed Naruto with a stare. Both were red headed, both wore it up in a tight bun with a few tendrils falling out to frame blue eyes. Naruto continued to hold eye contact with the twins feeling slightly uncomfortable. They seemed to be looking through him. As the moments of silence continued to rein over the room the twins smiled and nodded, facing each other.

"He'll do nicely, brother Toru." the girl said slyly.

"I agree, sister Nami." the boy repeated looking over towards Gaara.

"Naruto, you have rather good timing." Temari said with a smile. "These three have come in with a request of help from the land of waves. As you have previous experience dealing with people from the land of waves we thought it would be best if you went."

"Sure." Naruto looked back at the twins who were still watching him. It was a little strange how they were so fascinated by him when the elderly man had barely looked at him. Wasn't he the one who was paying for this? "When should we go?"

"As soon as possible." Gaara looked almost like he did not want to send Naruto on this mission. Which did make sense with his first real friend leaving him. "Pack your bag and meet them at the entrance. Dismissed."

Naruto nodded and left.

The twins looked over at the old man that was standing off to the side whistling a little diddy that they really did not care to know. Smirking they turned away and leaned in closely to each other as all mischievous twins do.

"I really do think he's the one." Nami said in the barest of whispers. "What do you think Toru?"

Toru was silently a moment before nodding. "He fits the best."

"Well then dear brother I think it's best we hurry this up and take him home with us." Toru was unable to answer as they felt Naruto's chakra draw near. It didn't matter anyways. The blonde's fate was already sealed the moment he said yes to their request. "Let the games begin brother."

TBC