Letters we wrote

The Ceremony

Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Rib-

Naruto smashed his frog shaped alarm, almost throwing it to the ground in the process. He sat up and took a look at the time.

7:45am

He took a deep breath and laid back down, eyes open, looking at the ceiling. Today was the day, his naming ceremony had finally come. His heart started racing, his lips pressed trying to hold back a smile, doing an awful job at it. His fists clenched on the sheets, the breathing became deeper and faster. He squealed with excitement, kicking the air and lifting himself up, running to the bathroom to take a shower.

He looked in the bedroom mirror while he was getting dressed, his new orange and black jacket, mostly orange to this point, with black stripes on the neck and at the end of the sleeves and the bottom rim, with his black pants, all cleaned and ironed thanks to Sakura. He looked at his face, he looked older, but he could still see that little boy with this big dream, that now was coming true. He looked at his hair, it was not messy or hard to handle anymore, he had cut it a few days back, way shorter, but he felt like a nice change of look wouldn't be bad for this new moment in his life. He looked down, his headband in both his hands, scratched and not as shiny as it used to be, the best prove of all the battles and challenges he's faced. He smiled at it, and taking a deep breath, closing his eyes, he put it on, opening them as he felt it in place. His smile grew bigger.

Knock, knock, knock

"Come in" he yelled from the bedroom.

"Naruto, Shikamaru asked to come get-" she fell silent as she laid eyes on him.

"So?" Naruto asked, showing off his new clothes and haircut.

Sakura held his hands together against her mouth, trying to cover her smile. But her eyes betrayed her as they watered. She shook her head and ran to give him a hug, Naruto returned it. She hadn't seen him in days, Naruto had insisted he didn't want her to look at his new cut just yet, and no wonder, it was a shock. He looked older, wiser, and even handsome. She felt a big wave of pride for her friend, who had suffered so much, and deserved this dream.

"You look awesome" she cried as she hugged him tighter. She let go after a couple of seconds, passing her fingers through Naruto's hair, or what was left of it. "So short!" she laughed, Naruto joined.

"Too much?" he asked, holding his shoulders up.

She shook her head. "Just right" she replied removing her hand.

"You look amazing too" he replied. His friend was dressed with a dark red dress. It was as long as just past her knees and it went all the way up to her neck. A white line came down from the neck and curved to the left side of the dress, straight down. Like an elegant version of her usual top piece. She also wore a white cardigan to battle the cold, since it was still a little chill outside. Wearing black sandals with a small heel. A thin dark red headband decorated the top of her head. Plus a nice shade of pink on her lips.

"I know!" she chuckled nodding her head. "So, shall we go?" she asked, Naruto took a deep breath and looked at his apartment, he was going to leave his home as simple Uzumaki Naruto, but he'd come back as Hokage. It was such a weird feeling.

"Yeah, I'm ready" he smiled back and joined Sakura on the way to the Hokage tower.

On their way there, they noticed how everyone else was going in the same direction, as soon as people saw him they all cheered and gave words of encouragement and support. Naruto was as moved as he had never been. He smiled to everyone, waving at them and cheering with them. Sakura just had a great time seeing how the village was coming together to celebrate him.