Group Photo

"No, stupid. That means be there before two o'clock."

"But if it says, 'at two' then shouldn't we assume that means be there at two?!"

"God, you are so dumb. No wonder girls don't want to date you. You'd be late every time."

"I don't date girls because I don't like them. That's completely different than them not liking me."

"You don't like them?! How can you resist?"

"Very easily."

"Wow…I don't think I can ever look at you the same again."

"Shut up, Kankuro. We have to get moving, it's almost noon."

"Oh now you want to hurry. You know, it's not exactly a short trip to Leaf. We've got plenty of time to discuss this."

"Not if I'm coming you don't." The brothers looked up to see their sister joining them. She did not look happy.

"Ouch, Tema. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"You mean coffin – ah!" Gaara gasped when Temari whacked him on the head with her fan. Kankuro immediately stopped talking. He was even afraid to breath, a little bit.

"Let's just go already."

And with that, the threesome started their unusually short but not short enough to avoid awkward confrontations about Gaara's sexuality journey to the Village Hidden in the Leaves to visit their good friend Naruto.

- - -

Not every ninja hides their emotions. Actually, in the Leaf Village, at least, finding a ninja who does that on a regular basis is a difficult task indeed. Honestly, the only one I can think of is Kakashi, and even he doesn't do it all the time.

Especially if Iruka is in the room.

Aaaw, Ruka-Ru.

Anyway, the reason I'm informing you of the emotional ninjas in the Leaf Village is because our story centers around the most emotional and hyperactive ninja in the entire village: Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto is a very handsome blonde boy residing alone in his apartment on some street in the village. He used to spend a lot of time here in this apartment or pulling pranks for Iruka-sensei's attention. But now, he's got a ton of friends to help him get through the days.

There's Rock Lee and Neiji and TenTen. They're a year older and always treat him like a little brother. Something he appreciates very much.

Then there are his friends in the Village Hidden in the Sand. They used to be not-too-good guys, but now they're like, totally bff's. Plus, Gaara is really the only person he can talk to about….ya know…stuff…

A little closer to home, Naruto has Kiba and Shino and Hinata. They are all very fantastic people – they'd probably do anything for him. And vice versa, of course. Naruto made it his very own mission to protect his friends no matter what. Believe it!

There is also Ino and Shikamaru and Chojii. Admittedly, they can really be annoying some… all the time. But they are still some of his very best friends. Especially Shikamaru, when the other two aren't around. They've had tons of fun chilling out and watching clouds change and Shikamaru loves beating Naruto at board games. He's definitely one of Naruto's nearest and dearest.

Last but not least, his two very greatest friends in the entire world: Sakura and Sasuke. These two are the cream of the crop, top notch, and the prettiest skittles from the rainbow. They've been there through thick and thin and no doubt will be for the rest of eternity. Or until someone possibly decides he likes snakes better than foxes. But we won't go there yet.

Now today is a day unlike any other in Naruto's life. Well…yeah, sure he's had birthdays before. But none like this one, no siree. He knew today would be different because he's got all these great friends now. They would definitely give him a great birthday party.

It's not like he was asking for tons of presents or anything. Just their presence would be nice. (He always lawls at this joke in his head, and expects you to, too.)

Iruka-sensei has asked Naruto to meet him for lunch at the Ramen shop. Then they're going to go for a walk through the forest. Not a very eventful day, but any alone time with Iruka was very treasured lately since the guy's been practically attached to Kakashi at the hip.

"Hello, Naruto!"

"What's up?"

Naruto looked up from the counter of Ichiraku to see Rock Lee and TenTen walking toward him.

"Hey guys. I'm just waiting for Iruka-sensei. We're going to have lunch together!"

"Oh, for your birthday right? Happy Birthday!" They screamed in unison and gave him a huge hug. He was sure he'd never grinned so big in his whole life.

I guess there's something else I should explain to you. Naruto may act like a tough guy, but he's really not all that secure. He's not self conscious by any means. Anyone who goes around in an orange jumpsuit couldn't be, right? But he's not all that sure about his connections to other people. He knows who he is to himself, but doesn't always know who he is to others.

Which is why it means so much to him to have great friends like he does now. The kind who give him big birthday hugs and scream Happy Birthday in public without caring who sees them talking to the demon kid.

"Thanks guys." He smiled at them. Then, Iruka-sensei walked up and waved hello to them.

"How are you two today?" He asked. They said they were good. Then they all of a sudden got antsy and said they had to leave now.

Or, in Lee's words, "We must now continue on our journey to have a good day!"…or you know…something freaky like that.

So the two of them finally split, leaving Iruka and Naruto to their birthday lunch.

"But first," Iruka said, pulling a box out of one of his vest pockets, "Happy Birthday!"

Naruto gleamed with excitement as he tore off the paper and opened the box. He pulled out... a shining new camera!

"Whoa." Was all he could say. He didn't think anyone knew that he loved photography and taking pictures, but Iruka did. "You don't miss anything, sensei!"

Iruka chuckled and shrugged.

"What kind of teacher would I be if I did?" Naruto looked at Iruka's face and shook his head.

"You're not just a teacher, Iruka-sensei! You might as well be my dad." With that he gave Iruka the biggest hug he'd ever given anyone in all his years. He smiled when Iruka hugged him back.

"You're a very special kid, Naruto. I hope you know that." They let go of each other and Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in his trademark gesture.

"Oh, I do!"

They laughed together and then ordered their lunch. After they finished eating, they went for that walk through the forest as was promised. Naruto was going crazy with his new camera, taking pictures of everything from birds to catepillars on leaves to the side of Iruka's face. There are even some self pics in there that would make those emo girls on MySpace with the sad looking faces cry even harder for their failures.

"Is that really necessary?" Iruka asked. Naruto nodded vigorously.

"I'm putting that on Facebook!"

"Huh?"

"I dunno. Sakura said something about it. I thought it was just some Sasuke shrine or something."

"You kids are crazy."

"It's not me! Only Sakura and Ino talk about it all the time, so they're the crazy ones. Which we already knew."

"True that."

They continued down a path until Iruka saw something that caught his eye.

"Hey, aren't those the wood posts that you guys trained around that one time? Remember, when you got tied up for being selfish…or something."

"I was hungry. And yes." Naruto snapped a picture of those posts from far away. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go and see them, you know. Since you're older now, and everything. For sentimental purposes." Iruka started to walk towards them and was cut short by a remark from Naruto.

"You're such a softie, Iruka-sensei." Iruka stopped mid step and turned back around.

"Coming from the king of softies. Who is it that still sleeps with a teddy bear?"

"Well….who gave me the teddy bear?!"

"Yeah, when you were seven."

"Stu-…whatever." Naruto scoffed. He snapped a surprise picture of Iruka-sensei and then ran towards the training field…

…and right into Kakashi.

"Oh," The copy ninja said. "Hello."

Naruto sighed. "What are you doing here, sensei? Can't you see me and Iruka-sensei are trying to have fun?"

"Am I ruining your fun?"

"…Yes."

Naruto snapped another surprise picture, this time of Kakashi who, despite being such an ace ninja, actually looked surprised. Then he ran off in the direction of the three poles.

And this time, into Shikamaru.

"Come on, really?"

"Hey, we're here for you." Shikamaru responded. "Don't be so ungrateful."

Naruto tilted his head, confused. "Huh?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Iruka scratched his scar and leaned into Kakashi. "I invited all of your friends here for a little party. Sort of."

Naruto's eyes went wide and he looked around the field. His friends were popping out of the trees in every direction. Ino, Chojii, Neiji, Lee, TenTen, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, and even his friends from Sand-Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro!

"Huh?"

"Can't you say anything else, dobe?" Naruto turned around to see Sasuke and Sakura walking towards him. "We all showed up for your birthday. It's today, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember!" Naruto puffed out his cheeks and glared at Sasuke. "I just didn't know we were having a party, that's all."

Sakura giggled and kissed his cheek. "Happy Birthday, Naruto!" She said. He blushed and Sasuke huffed.

Poor, poor Uchiha. Can't even kiss Naruto on the cheek for his birthday.

Maybe later.

"Naruto, we hope you have a great birthday." Neiji and Hinata both gave Naruto a hug…or sort of, anyway. They're not really all that comfortable with human contact. So it was more like an almost hug on each side which equals one full Hyuuga hug on Naruto's calculator.

"Yeah, I guess you're not a total waste of space, Naruto." Kiba said punching his shoulder. Naruto shrugged.

"Thanks, Kiba." Naruto was greeted by the rest of his friends in relatively the same manner. They all said something nice to him for his birthday. When I say nice I mean nice in their own special way. Really, there are only so many ways for Gaara and Ino to be nice. Not an easy feat. Not at all.

Nope.

Once Naruto had seen each of his friends and everyone put their presents (real, solid presents! Not just their presence. Haha) on a table that he had not seen before next to a cake he was certain Kakashi had poofed there when he wasn't looking, he asked everyone to gather together so he could take a picture with his new camera.

"It'll be really quick." He said as they piled in. Kakashi and Iruka were standing tall in the back with everyone gathered around them. There was a perfect space in the middle for Naruto to fit, right between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Aren't you going to be in the picture?" Chojii asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I don't know how I could push the button and get everyone in it at the same time." Temari sighed.

"Really? Have you never heard of a timer?" Everyone looked at her with confusion on their faces. She sighed. "I'm surrounded."

So after Temari set up the timer and told everyone they had ten seconds before the picture would be taken, they all stood there smiling.

And stood there with drooping smiles.

Kakashi got out his book…

Gaara and Neiji started to glare at the camera…

Hinata and Sakura put their hands behind their backs and smiled shyly…

Ino crossed her arms and rolled her eyes…

Kiba got distracted by a string dangling off his hoodie and started playing with it…

Sasuke and Naruto started to fight about who had the cooler pose…

Kankuro and Shikamaru didn't hold too much of a smile in the first place, so they looked the same.

Chojii decided to sneak over to the cake, and Shino was sending bugs after him to make him stop.

And in the back of all of this chaos, Iruka-sensei was laughing. What a family I have, he thought.

"Oh, forget this!" Temari started towards the camera with a very mean look on her face when all of a sudden, the flash went off. Everyone stared at it for a second, shocked. Then Iruka and Naruto started to laugh.

"Can you imagine what that looked like?"

"It's probably perfect."

And it was. Naruto ran to the camera and looked at the picture. As you can imagine, it was something to see.

"It is perfect," Naruto mumbled to himself. He turned to see everyone talking with each other again. Laughing and playing games and attacking the cake. He saw Kakashi sneak a kiss with Iruka-sensei and smiled. "The perfect family picture."

"Dobe, come over here already. I want cake." Naruto laughed at his best friend.

"I thought you hated sweet things." Sasuke shrugged and threw an arm around Naruto's shoulders.

"If that were true, I'd hate you." He clunked his forehead against Naruto's and sort of smiled, a little bit. Naruto smiled too.

"You're a softie, just like Iruka-sensei!" Sasuke scoffed and pushed Naruto away.

"Whatever! You sleep with a teddy bear."

"So do you!"

"Do not." Sasuke looked away. "It's only a pillow shaped like a teddy bear."

Naruto rolled his eyes in disbelief, but before he could throw back a rebuttal Iruka-sensei started singing Happy Birthday and everyone joined in.

Okay, not really. Come on, all of those hard-ass ninjas singing Happy Birthday? Really. Come now, reader. I thought I told you already, ninjas aren't allowed to show emotion.

After the "song", they dug into cake and opened presents. Naruto was smiling the whole time, even when he was arguing with Sasuke. He had best friends now. They were always going to be there for him.

Always.

And this brings us to the end of Naruto's birthday day. I hope everyone had a good time. And don't forget that the people you love don't always know it. They might even feel like Naruto did in the beginning. Alone, like they have friends when they're forced to be in social situations and then after, who is still there? Maybe you should be there for them today. You might not have a tomorrow.

So make that two day journey from Sand to Leaf in two hours. Or spend your alone time taking a friend out for Ramen. Don't spend twenty-four hours a day with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Just be yourself with the people who love you for it and love them in return.

That's all the world needs, anyway. Is more love.

So, with that, hippies, I say peace out. I will be back with some "special" brownies at a later date to narrate another story of love and fluff. My favorite stuff in the world.

The End