The following day, after Family Day had ended more or less without incident, Naruto sat down on his chair in the Hokage’s office and let out a long sigh. Leaning his head back against the chair, he stared vacantly up at the ceiling. The familiar ceiling. For some reason, he felt like he was seeing it now for the first time in a long time, even though he’d only been away one day. Maybe it was because he’d only been staring down at his desk lately.
He heard footsteps approaching in the hallway, a sound he was also familiar with. Shikamaru.
“You just had a day off. What’s that look for?” Shikamaru said with a wry smile when he opened the door.
Naruto stroked his cheek. “Do I have a weird look on my face?”
“It’s got ‘worn out’ written all over it. Didn’t you get any rest?“
“I was running around the whole day.” Naruto moved his hand down to the back of his neck. “That’s probably it.”
“That so?” Shikamaru smiled again and closed the door.
“What about you? You actually get any time off?”
“Nah, not a bit. In fact, not only did I not get time off, I was nearly killed by dumplings.”
“Dumplings…?” Naruto assumed this was some kind of joke, but Shikamaru was serious.
“On top of that, Temari flipped out on me when I got home, all ‘How dare you come home after losing?!’ Super scary. She nearly killed me, too. My day off was this close to being the day of my death,” Shikamaru muttered, also looking extremely tired.
“But, you know,” he continued, quietly, casually. “I guess it wasn’t a bad day off. Better than the ones where I just go home to sleep. Right?”
“Yeah,” Naruto replied, with an ear-to-ear grin. “Not only was it not too bad… It was the best day off. Believe it. It’d almost be great if we could do it once a month.”
The corners of Shikamaru’s mouth turned up ever so slightly. “In that case, I got some good news for you.” Fwup! He tossed a stack of papers onto the desk.
“What’s this?” Naruto looked up, puzzled.
“Petitions. Arrived this morning. Basically—” Shikamaru started, but was interrupted by voices outside.
And it wasn’t simply people chatting. A large crowd had gathered below the Hokage’s window, and they were shouting loudly.
Naruto and Shikamaru exchanged a doubtful look and approached the window.
“W-what is that?” the Hokage gasped.
People thronged before the office. As many as at Masuda the day before—no, even more than that.
Naruto popped his head out the window, and individual voices became clear among the noise of the crowd.
“It’s not fair! I mean, only families?!”
“Exactly! What about Couples’ Day? And we should have Sisters’ Day, too!”
“We need Singles’ Day! Some kind of thing where single people come together and talk to each other about hobbies and income and future plans…”
“That’s a matchmaking event! What we really need is Brothers’ Day!”
Every single person there had their own individual demands.
“You all need to quiet down! Couples, brothers! Please! Enough of that! You can see all of them whenever you want! What we actually need is Grandfather and Grandchildren Day! We have to have a holiday for all the old men who never get to see their grandchildren!!” a man shouted in a remarkably large voice. A remarkably large man. Akimichi Choza.
And…maybe it was just in his head. But hidden behind this massive frame, Naruto thought he saw his father-in-law, Hyuga Hiashi, also shouting about Grandfathers’ Day.
“It’s gotta be Dogs’ Daaaay!” Kiba yelled, trying very hard not to make eye contact. “You have to make a Dogs’ Daaaaay!!”
“That’s what’s in the petitions,” Shikamaru said, behind him. “So? You gonna do one a month?” He challenged the Hokage with his gaze
For a few moments, Naruto was simply dumbfounded. Then he laughed and pulled out his Hokage seal. “So it was couples and sisters and brothers…and then grandfathers and grandchildren and dogs, right?”
Family Day had indeed strengthened the bonds between parents and children. But sisters, couples, and all the other people with their own special relationships deserved the same chance. The important thing was not a name on the calendar, but spending time together and getting the chance to really talk. If they had that, they could make it through even the most difficult of duties.
“Welp! Let’s go wild! We’ll give names to all the holidays! Believe it!” Naruto brandished his seal high in the air.