It was early morning on the twenty-seventh day of November and the sleeping residents of Konoha were rudely awakened as a boy with black hair, thick eyebrows, and spandex burst out of his house and made an exclamation at the top of his lungs.
“I, Rock Lee, declare this wonderful day as my birthday, which I shall enjoy while I am still in the early stage of my youth!” Lee stood in the middle of the street and proudly struck a pose, tears streaming down his face as he thought about how lucky he was to have his birthday on such a beautiful day. He was even wearing a new green spandex jumpsuit for the occasion and had neatly combed his eyebrows and perfectly straightened his eyelashes.
Lee was so excited about his birthday that he was unable to sleep the night before and did two hundred push-ups to help bring on the sleeping process. Gai-sensei would be so proud of him. Come to think of it, where was Gai?
“I’m sure Gai-sensei can’t wait to wish me happy birthday!” Lee shouted gleefully. “I shall gather my fellow comrades to me and we will all celebrate together! It will be just like training, only more fun!” He ran down the street, happily shouting and disturbing the peace as he searched for his friends, if they could be called friends.
Meanwhile, Gai was at the store purchasing balloons, ribbons, and confetti, all of which were brightly colored and ridiculously garish looking. Dull colors only put a damper on youthfulness. “I am going to give Lee the greatest birthday of his life!” Gai declared, striking a thumbs up pose. “That’s a promise!” Tears sprang into his eyes as he thought of the happy look that would be on Lee’s young face, and he wiped them away and got in line so he could buy his items.
Kakashi happened to be standing in line right in front of Gai, absorbed in one of his Icha Icha books as usual. A bouquet of flowers was in his shopping basket and Gai’s eyes widened as he saw them and he pointed an accusing finger at his rival.
“Kakashi! How dare you attempt to outdo me by buying magnificent flowers for Lee! Bring it on then! I challenge you to see who can provide the best gift!”
The gray-haired jounin lowered his book from his face and stared back at Gai. “What are you talking about? These are for Obito’s grave.”
“Oh. Well, then that means you have been defeated by me, since I have bought decoration accessories for Lee’s birthday and you haven’t!” Gai broadcasted loudly, gesturing wildly at the balloons and other things he had piled up in a large shopping cart.
Kakashi turned a page of his book, ignoring all the gaudy birthday decor. “It’s Lee’s birthday?”
Gai gasped loudly. “Kakashi! I am positively ashamed of you! How can you so foolishly overlook the existence of Lee’s birth?”
Luckily, it was Kakashi’s turn to pay for his purchases and he was excused from replying to Gai. He handed some money to the man behind the check-out counter, grabbed his flowers, and got himself out of there as fast as he could, doing all of this without taking his eyes off his book.
Gai bought all of his things and managed to carry it all in six white plastic bags, and excited the store in high spirits, eagerly awaiting the reaction from Lee.
Lee was still searching for someone to announce his birthday to, but was unable to find any of his fellow genins. Were they all still in bed? It was already 5:30 in the morning! Why sleep the day away?
Lee then decided that while he waited for his friends to wake up, he would do some training. After all, there can never be enough training for someone in such a wonderful state of youth! Gai would burst into joyful tears if he could see his student working so hard on his birthday.
A few hours passed and while Lee was up a tree jumping from branch to branch with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back, Gai was wandering the village searching for him. He was still lugging around those six white plastic bags, along with a box wrapped in brightly colored spandex (so much more youthful than boring old wrapping paper!).
“WHERE OH WHERE HAS LEE GOTTEN TO?” Gai shouted at an earsplitting volume. “My young, strong eyes are unable to detect him anywhere! This is a crisis!”
Neji was standing nearby and scowled at his sensei. Why must Gai always make himself the center of attention, along with Lee? They were both a waste of Neji’s time and he pitied them.
Unfortunately for Neji, his scowling did not go unnoticed and Gai spotted him. “Ah! Neji! Luck is truly with me on this day!” If his hands were not full of grocery bags, he would have made an extravagant pose. “Neji, do you know where I can find Lee? My young student is eluding me!”
Neji raised an eyebrow. “He’s probably training. That’s what he always does.”
Gai grinned widely and his teeth absolutely sparkled with excitement. “You truly are a genius, Neji! I’m proud of you!”
“Whatever...” Neji walked away, hoping his sensei would lose interest in him and not speak to him again.
Luckily, Gai completely forgot Neji and took off running as fast as someone carrying a large amount of birthday accessories can run. “Lee, I am coming! We shall celebrate together with much delight and strength!” After running for about five minutes, Gai realized he still did not know exactly where Lee was. Too bad Neji had disappeared, because he would really come in handy at the moment. Of course, Neji would never aid Gai in locating Lee even if he was around to ask.
Gai halted and thought for a moment. Surely Lee was around somewhere. Unless he had been... gasp... kidnapped! What a horrible thing! And on his own birthday too!
“ALAS! SOMEBODY HAS ABDUCTED LEE!”
“I just saw Lee several minutes ago,” Chouji commented. He was walking down the street with Shikamaru, who was staring up at the sky in fascination as white fluffy things floated around.
Gai felt his spirits rise. Chouji was a hero! “You’ve seen Lee? Tell me where he is!”
“Why are you so obsessed with finding him?” Shikamaru wanted to know.
“Well don’t you two know? Today, on this very triumphant day, we celebrate the anniversary of Lee being brought into this world!”
“So it’s his birthday?” Chouji asked.
“Yes! Yes! And I must wish him happy birthday and give him my gifts!” Gai smiled at the bags and spandex-wrapped birthday present he carried.
“What about a cake?” Chouji asked, always thinking of food. “You can’t have a birthday without a cake.”
Gai nearly had a heart attack. And a heart attack was most certainly not something that should happen to someone in the prime of their youth. “A cake! Of course! How could I have forgotten such a drastically vital thing?”
Shikamaru sighed. “Honestly, it’s not that important.”
“Of course it is,” Chouji argued. “Everybody knows that you always have cake on a birthday. I like vanilla best, with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on it...”
“Oh, what will I do?” Gai wailed in a state of despair. “Lee will be so disappointed if I do not grant him this one thing!” He looked at Chouji and Shikamaru and an idea popped into his brain. “I know! Why don’t you two get the cake for Lee’s birthday?”
Shikamaru shook his head. “Nah. Too troublesome.”
Chouji considered saying yes, but since Shikamaru had declined he decided he would decline too. “Sorry, I’m busy today.”
Gai looked at them in disappointment. “Very well. But when I do obtain a cake, you two won’t get any.”
Chouji looked horribly dismayed at this news, but Shikamaru only shrugged. “I don’t care. My mom will just yell at me for having cake anyway.”
Gai looked down the street, as if expecting a cake to come walking across it. “Well I would chat with you boys longer, but now I must be off on my way in search of Lee’s birthday cake!” And he took off running again, still managing not to drop any of his plastic bags.
As Gai looked for a cake, Lee completed his tree jumping and was back on the ground, deciding what he would do next. He had the whole day ahead of him, just waiting to be filled up with fun. Ah, the joys of youth. Lee started walking, in search of the perfect spot to do more training, when his wide eyes became even wider as he spotted someone up ahead.
“NARUTO! GOOD DAY!”
Naruto was walking down the street and abruptly turned around at the loud sound of Lee’s voice. Oh great. What did Thick Brows want?
Lee excitedly ran up to the blonde and his eyes sparkled with glee. “Did you know that today is my birthday? I have been training extra hard to celebrate!”
Naruto rolled his eyes. Only Lee would do something like training on his birthday. “That’s great, Lee. I was going to get myself some ramen, so if you’ll excuse me...”
“Oh! I’ll come along with you!”
“Er... no, Lee. This is something I have to do alone.”
Lee’s grin did not fade away, but instead became even wider and he struck a pose. “All right! I’ll see you later then!” He sped off down the road and Naruto walked in the opposite direction, glad to be free of Lee so he could spend some serious quality time with a bowl full of ramen noodles.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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