Here's @riojiyo131, your trusted writer.
You can now get early access to Chapter 96 of Re: Naruto Uzumaki on my Patreon. You can also read up to Chapter 32 of Naruto: Satoru Senju.
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"Happy birthday, Satooru~!" exclaimed Naruko as she jumped onto his bed... and thus, right on top of him.
Satoru half-opened his eyes, visibly annoyed, frowning and still half asleep.
"How the hell did you get in...?" he murmured, scratching his head.
Naruko, still standing on him, crossed her arms with a proud expression.
"I snuck in through the window," she replied naturally, as if it were the most logical thing in the world.
Satoru rolled his eyes but reacted immediately. He grabbed her ankle and with a tug...
"Aaah!" Naruko screamed as she lost her balance and fell backward onto the bed, bouncing like a ball.
At that moment, the bedroom door opened, and Satoru looked up to see Mikoto Uchiha, with a boy with a bored expression beside her.
"Ah, Mikoto-san, you're here too," greeted Satoru with a wave, as if the scene were nothing strange.
Mikoto, who had grown quite close to him due to her relationship with Naruko, smiled at him tenderly.
"Naruko hasn't stopped talking about you since dawn. She was very excited for your birthday," she said, covering her mouth elegantly while laughing softly.
Naruko puffed out her cheeks, embarrassed after being caught.
"I'd rather have stayed training with Itachi…" murmured the boy beside her with annoyance.
Mikoto frowned upon hearing this.
"Sasuke, you know Itachi has been very busy lately with clan matters since he left the ANBU. He wasn't going to be able to train with you anyway. At least this way you can spend time with other kids… and make friends."
"I don't need friends," Sasuke replied, crossing his arms in frustration. "I already have enough with her, she's a pain," he added, nodding toward Naruko.
Far from offended, Naruko lit up as if she'd been given the best compliment in the world.
"Ah! You admitted it! You said we're friends! Finally!"
Naruko had spent almost a year trying to get Sasuke to see her as a friend. They lived together, shared family... for her, that made them siblings, even though he refused to accept it.
Sasuke realized his mistake too late. He growled through his teeth, turning away, frustrated with himself.
On the side, Mikoto let out a light chuckle, amused by their dynamic.
"Satooru~! Open my gift!" Naruko suddenly sang, before running off down the hallway.
She returned seconds later with a box wrapped in shiny paper, way too pink and full of glitter.
Satoru raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled.
"Wait a minute... If you came in through the window, how come Mikoto and Sasuke are here too?"
Satoru realized quickly. He furrowed his brow slightly and, looking at Naruko with curiosity, asked the question he'd been holding back.
Naruko froze for a second, then slowly turned toward the door, whistling as if nothing was wrong.
But Satoru was faster. He caught her by the collar just as she tried to escape.
"Answer..." he said, raising his fist as if to hit her, though they both knew he never would.
Naruko laughed nervously, a bead of sweat running down her temple, while Mikoto and Sasuke watched silently... with some discomfort.
"I-I... made a copy of your key... Forgive me, S-Satooru~!"
Sasuke couldn't help but smile amused at the scene, while Mikoto simply sighed, resigned but clearly entertained by Naruko's antics.
"I'll make sure to watch her more carefully from now on, so she doesn't do something like this again," Mikoto assured Satoru, gently pinching Naruko's cheek.
Far from complaining, Naruko laughed, amused.
But her laughter abruptly stopped when, to everyone's surprise, Sasuke also came over and pinched her other cheek.
Naruko looked at him with a furrowed brow, completely outraged, then smacked him on the head.
"Want a fight, Sasuke?! Don't bother me! Only Mama Mikoto and Satooru~ can touch my cheeks! Mhmph!!"
She clearly thought Sasuke was just trying to annoy her, and that was enough to spark her bad mood.
Mikoto and Satoru couldn't help but burst out laughing at the scene.
Sasuke, for his part, rubbed his head with a pained expression while glaring at Naruko.
It was then that Satoru finally decided to open his gift. Inside the colorful box, the only thing he found was a wide variety of sweets: candies, chocolates, bonbons, even some rare treats you don't see every day.
Satoru loved sweets, and Naruko knew that very well.
But he suspected it wasn't just for that. He was convinced Naruko just wanted to return the favor he gave her a year ago on her birthday, when he showed up with a mountain of sweets just for her.
"Mama Mikoto wouldn't let me buy a mountain of sweets..." Naruko murmured, lowering her head with a pout.
Satoru's suspicion was right...
Mikoto sighed and shook her head.
"That's too many sweets. You all have to learn to control yourselves," she warned firmly. "If you eat that many, your teeth will fall out."
Satoru looked at her silently, completely neutral...
Without taking his eyes off Mikoto, he calmly rummaged through the box, grabbed a handful of chocolates, and stuffed them all in his mouth, one after another, as an act of silent rebellion.
A vein popped on Mikoto's forehead, a clear sign her patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Oh, right!!" exclaimed Naruko, jumping again on the bed. "Satoru's mom is coming back to the village today!"
Satoru tensed as soon as he heard Naruko mention his mother, Tsunade.
He hadn't forgotten. Not for a second. He knew perfectly well that his mother was returning that day, just in time for his birthday.
She had promised him the previous year, in that letter...
He felt his heart start pounding imagining that moment. Their reunion.
"I can't wait to meet Satoru's mom!" said Naruko, turning excitedly toward Mikoto. "Will her hair be white too?!"
Mikoto noticed Satoru's tense smile and, understanding, returned a calm smile. She knew he was nervous. And, honestly, she was nervous too.
After all, it's not every day you get to meet the legendary Princess of the Senju Clan... the famous Slug Princess, one of the Legendary Three Sannin.
"Yes..." Satoru finally murmured, in a low but firm voice. "Let's have breakfast. My mother won't arrive until the afternoon, according to Aunt Shizune."
Naruko nodded enthusiastically and quickly went downstairs, hungry as always.
When Satoru followed her, he frowned seeing that Mikoto wouldn't let him prepare breakfast.
"It's your birthday," she told him with a soft but firm smile. "Sit down and let me take care of everything."
After breakfast, Satoru spent most of the day with Naruko and Sasuke, although he never quite got along with the latter.
As his great-uncle Tobirama used to say—though Satoru never met him and was honestly making this up—the Uchiha and Senju clans would never really get along.
Though that didn't mean they had to hate each other...
Finally, in the afternoon, the four of them headed together to the village gates to wait for Tsunade and Shizune.
They waited...
And kept waiting...
And the time stretched longer than expected...
Afternoon turned to night, and with every passing minute, hope grew more fragile.
Night wrapped around them, and with it, the bitter reality: sometimes, promises aren't kept.