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(I don't own any characters etc etc)
Iruka looked at Naruto as they sat side by side at Ichiraku. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Iruka raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t look like nothing,” he said, but was met with a shrug. Iruka mimicked the action and sipped his tea. They sat in silence for another moment before Naruto spoke again.
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “About your birthday.”
Iruka looked at him again and smiled. “It’s fine. I know you were unexpectedly away, it happens in our line of work. Celebrating late with you is still celebrating, so don’t beat yourself up. I’m really happy and appreciative.”
The younger shinobi sighed again. “Not that, that we’re here!”
“What?” Iruka asked. “We always eat here,” he added, laughing.
“That’s the problem,” Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. “I wanted to do something different for you. But I wasn’t sure what to give you as a gift.”
“What?” Iruka asked once more, now surprised.
Naruto nodded. “I wanted to give you a new gift, something to really wow you, but I was all out of ideas. So I started to ask around at the end of February, anyone that knows you, to see what they could suggest.” He sighed. “But it didn’t help, no one helped.”
“I…surely my friends have some idea of what I like,” Iruka posed, thanking Ayame as she brought their food over.
“Yeah, but also no,” Naruto told him as they began to eat. “Hagane-san said you’d like something useful, like a mug. But then Kamizuki-san said you should get something fun and impractical, like fun socks.”
“True.”
“But you do have a lot of mugs, and you don’t wear socks often,” Naruto pointed out, and Iruka nodded. “Anko suggested something ‘super fun and wild and groovy but also spicy’, whatever that means.”
“No formalities?” Iruka teased.
“No, she annoyed me,” Naruto told him. “Made it all about herself instead, went on and on about what she should get you, but also told me more than once that I couldn’t take any of her ideas!”
Iruka nodded. “She bought me alcohol in the end, so rest assured you couldn’t have gotten that. I hope…”
Naruto shrugged. “Well, I asked Asuma-sensei and he said I should get you something nice to eat, but when I asked him what, he said he wasn’t sure. Kurenai-sensei suggested candy, or a gift card to a bakery. But there are so many to choose from, and she admitted she and Asuma-sensei were getting you candy, so I knew I couldn’t!”
“It was some nice chocolates,” the chuunin recalled. “We should swing by my place after this and I’ll give you some to take home. Anyway, what about your own jonin sensei?” Iruka teased again.
“He just shrugged and said I’d figure it out. He’s my teacher, he should teach me!”
“I doubt I could pick out a gift for him, so I think Kakashi and I are even on that field,” the older shinobi told him.
“Well then I asked Sakura and Sasuke, since they were right there. Sakura suggested tea, and Sasuke suggested weapons. But again, you have a lot of both! And then I asked some of my other classmates that you had, but then it ended up with everyone bickering. Candy, snacks, a face mask, a plushie of a dog, a guided meditation, training with bugs, and then there was an argument that you should train with dogs and ninken instead of bugs! Everyone started arguing, so that was no help!”
“Sounds frustrating,” Iruka offered.
“I still didn’t know and was starting to run out of time, so I asked the Hokage’s ANBU, but they just ignored me!”
“I’m sure they were just busy,” Iruka assured him.
“They let me in to see the Hokage?”
“Uh…yeah, they may have passed the job onto him,” Iruka laughed. “How did that go?” he asked, for he was more intrigued than he had expected.
“The old man also said I’d figure it out myself, but that he suspected you would like anything I get you.”
“Very true, very wise,” Iruka said with a smile.
“Then I asked your boss, but he told me the academy was handling their end and that perhaps I could help you grade,” Naruto said, sticking his tongue out in clear disgust.
“They organized a nice luncheon for me,” Iruka recalled. “But, yeah, help with grading would be nice!”
“No!” Naruto shouted. “I, uh, mean, no, I couldn’t take that fun away from you,” he said in a lower volume, and Iruka sighed.
“Sure,” the teacher agreed, rolling his eyes.
“Well, then I went to other teachers but they said the same thing, or to get you time off, but I think I could only do that through a mission?”
“Probably,” Iruka agreed. He paused. “Did you get us a mission together?”
“I tried, but Kakashi-sensei was nearby with Gai-sensei and they heard ones for the teams, which was why I actually missed your birthday,” Naruto sighed.
“Oh,” Iruka offered. “Huh. Well, maybe next time,” he posed, continuing to eat.
“So I asked other shinobi at the missions office, but it was similar to the teachers. Help at work, or time off,” Naruto sighed as he slurped noodles.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Iruka muttered, shaking his head.
“And that got me a mission myself, so I wasn’t trying that again,” Naruto continued, either ignoring Iruka or having not heard, the teacher wasn’t sure which. “So,” he sighed, pushing his empty bowl away. “Two more for us, please and thank you!” he called out to Teuchi, who smiled and nodded.
“So,” Iruka repeated, finishing his own food.
“So I couldn’t think of anything but what we always do, come here for two bowls of ramen,” Naruto admitted. “I’m sorry, Iruka-sensei, I really am!”
“Naruto,” Iruka began with a smile as he pushed his bowl away and turned to the younger shinobi. “Thank you.”
Naruto shrugged. “It’s just ramen.”
“It’s not ‘just ramen’,” Iruka told him. “You gave me so much more. You reminded me of how many people in the village care about me and know me well enough to give you all those ideas, even if they were….contradictory or unhelpful. I really appreciate that.”
“Really?” the blond asked, surprised, and Iruka smiled wider and nodded. “Wow! I really did come up with a great gift!” he cheered.
Iruka laughed. “You did, but my favorite gift from you will always be ramen,” he added.
“Maybe we can get a mission together to go to a village with their own ramen stands,” Naruto began, launching into his thoughts of where they should go, and how to keep it away from jonin who would steal the mission first. Iruka just laughed and listened patiently, knowing he’d take any mission Naruto asked him to join him on.