A little after noon, Hyuga Shinichi arrived at the Senju Clan Compound with the ninja tool pouch he had just bought in hand. He stopped in front of Nawaki's house.
He knocked and waited a while, but nobody came to answer. Is no one home? he wondered, then called out louder.
"Hello! Is anyone home?"
"Is that Shinichi? Come on in."
It was Nawaki's voice. He was home, but still hadn't come to open the door.
Hyuga Shinichi found it a little strange, but he slid open the door anyway and called out,
"Excuse me."
Why was it so quiet? The entryway was still such a mess. Something felt off.
He immediately activated his Byakugan and looked toward the living room at the end of the hallway, but something blocked his vision, keeping him from seeing what was inside.
Was it Barrier Ninjutsu? No, it hadn't been there before. As far as he knew, only Mito could create a barrier this advanced—powerful enough to block the Byakugan's vision—or even forbidden.
But why would Mito create a barrier on this scale? Unless...!
At that moment, Hyuga Shinichi had only one theory: enemies had targeted Mito, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and were holding Nawaki hostage to lure him, their guest, inside and kill them both.
He didn't think about going to find help. If there really were enemies inside, they had already spotted him and called him in.
If he ran now, Mito and Nawaki might be in danger before reinforcements arrived. He would only alert the enemy and put their lives at risk.
Damn it! Nothing like this happened in the original story! Had his arrival changed things?
Drawing the wooden sword with its broken tip from his back, Hyuga Shinichi charged toward the living room.
At that moment, he could only think that if he ran away now, he would regret it for the rest of his life. I have to go for it!
He yanked open the living room's sliding door and leaped inside, taking up a defensive sword stance.
Bang! Bang!
Had he set off Explosive Tags? What rotten luck. He hadn't even lived long enough yet.
Huh? Why were so many streamers floating down? Hyuga Shinichi took another look around the living room.
A banner reading "Happy Birthday" covered the entire wall. Everyone was smiling at him: Mito, Nawaki, Gai, Tomohiro, and even Tsunade, who had been away on a mission.
"Happy birthday!" x5
"Woof! Woof!"
Hearing everyone's congratulations and the Ninja Dog Black Charcoal barking, Hyuga Shinichi finally remembered.
Today seemed to be his birthday in this life.
Nawaki and Inuzuka Gai, who had set off party poppers on either side of Hyuga Shinichi, came over and threw their arms around his shoulders, grinning.
"Well, Shinichi? Surprised? Wasn't that unexpected?"
Hyuga Shinichi's strength drained away. He slumped to the floor as if the two of them had pushed him down, and the wooden sword clattered from his hand. He let out a breath and gave a dry laugh.
"Heh, that was unexpected, all right. You scared me half to death. I'm just glad everyone's okay."
Uzumaki Mito, the eldest among them, and Tsunade, who had more experience, saw how Shinichi was feeling. They couldn't help but think even more highly of him—and regret going along with Nawaki's antics.
"Nawaki, you idiot! You insisted we set up a barrier to block the Byakugan so Shinichi wouldn't see the living room and the surprise would work. Look how badly it backfired—you scared him!"
After scolding Nawaki, Tsunade listened as Uzumaki Mito apologized to Shinichi.
"I'm sorry, Shinichi. This old woman shouldn't have gone along with Nawaki's foolishness."
The three boys understood what had happened and immediately apologized to Shinichi.
"Sorry, Shinichi." x3
"Woof! Woof!"
"Hahaha, it's all right. You and everyone else did this for me, Mito."
Hyuga Shinichi thought for a moment, then continued,
"This is the first time anyone's celebrated my birthday since I was born. I'm really touched. Thank you, everyone."
As he said that, tears welled up in the corners of Shinichi's eyes.
His parents had died young in his previous life, just as they had in this one. He hadn't had many friends, either, so nobody had celebrated his birthday. He'd never developed the habit of celebrating it and had eventually forgotten about it altogether.
Now he had elders and friends celebrating his birthday for him. When the realization sank in, he was deeply moved.
He wanted to keep up a mature front, but the tears just wouldn't stop.
"Th... thank you, everyone... I'm really... really happy."
Inuzuka Gai and Nawaki helped Shinichi to his feet with a laugh. Aburame Tomohiro came over and handed him a tissue.
"Come on, why'd you have to get so sentimental?"
"Seriously. You almost made me cry, too."
"You're about to get snot everywhere. Wipe your face."
"Woof! Woof!"
Seeing the heartwarming scene of four boys and a dog, Uzumaki Mito and Tsunade smiled from their seats. This is what a bond looks like.
Nawaki, Inuzuka Gai, and Aburame Tomohiro said,
"All right, the star of the birthday party should sit down and get ready to celebrate."
"Yeah, we've been preparing for ages. You're in for a feast."
"Here's your birthday hat. Put it on."
"Woof! Woof!"
Hyuga Shinichi sat down and saw all kinds of delicious food spread across the table. It looked like a lavish spread, and probably hadn't come cheap.
"Sorry for making everyone spend so much on my birthday."
"We're buddies, so don't worry about it. You can treat us when it's our birthdays. Besides, you're the first one to have a birthday, so you'd better make mine even more extravagant. Otherwise, I won't show up."
Nawaki's casual joke made everyone laugh.
"By the way, why are you carrying a broken sword?"
"Oh, this is the wooden sword I borrowed from you. I accidentally broke it."
"You mean this? My grandpa just made it as a toy with Wood Style ages ago. It's been sitting in the storeroom. It's no big deal if it's broken."
"Huh? Really? The craftsmanship looked so good that I thought it was expensive. I even bought something to make it up to you."
Nawaki picked up the wooden sword and gave it a close look. He couldn't see anything special about how it was made.
"Oh? I already gave it to you. Why buy something to make up for it? Though I wouldn't turn it down if you did, hahaha!"
Hyuga Shinichi left the living room and went to fetch the ninja tool pouch he'd left in the entryway.
"I've seen you practicing shuriken throwing lately, so I got you a bigger pouch that can hold more shuriken. That way, you won't have to run around picking them up whenever you miss."
"Hey! The birthday gift I got you is a ninja tool pouch, too. Wait, who says I miss? I hit the mark every time now!"
Seeing that Nawaki had also given him a ninja tool pouch, Hyuga Shinichi joked,
"That works out perfectly. You said I didn't have to make it up to you, so I'll count this as your birthday present."
"No way! No way! You said it was to make up for breaking the sword. The birthday gift is separate."
As he spoke, Nawaki snatched the pouch from Hyuga Shinichi and put it on, turning his back to show it off to everyone. He looked pretty pleased with it.
Everyone brought out their presents for Hyuga Shinichi, too. Nawaki had given him the ninja tool pouch; Gai had brought a strap for securing a sword across his back; and Tomohiro had given him a forearm guard.
"Here, little Shinichi. This is my present for you: an iron breastplate. It might be a little big on you right now, but you can adjust the straps. Try it on and see how it fits."
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