(Voidne's POV)
Today marks my first birthday party. A lot of elderly women from the Yamanaka clan came to the house to dress me up and to prepare me for the party. According to my discussion with Hika earlier, my plan for the party is as follows. Talk to young clan heirs and befriend them, imprint a positive picture of myself in front of clan heads that are attending my birthday, and try my best to fix my relationship with my arrogant sister.
Speaking about my relationship with Ino; it has been a ride in the roller coaster. Whenever I manage to get in Ino's good side, her mother would fill Ino's head with lies. Ino, being the pure idiot that she is, always trust her mother despite me proving to her that her mother is the bad one in numerous occasions. I could have brought this to Inoichi's attention, but I decided otherwise because if I ever did that, then I would be forced to waste my precious time playing with Ino. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike to play with Ino; it is actually the opposite. I just needed the power to make sure that I would be able to fend off any assassination attempt on me, or at least, be able to run away. Since Yamanaka clan Jutsu techniques are all useless in combat, I had to find my own way to use them to protect myself.
The elderly women were discussing the suit that I should wear to my birthday party. Their taste is very weird though! The pick up clothes with purple or pink colors and then fight one another over which color is more charming. They ask for my thoughts on the dresses from time to time, in which I reply with "I don't like flashy colors". Those elderly women are hell-bent on making me dress in a flashy color, I think they want that to happen so when I grow up they could blackmail me using "You wore girlish clothes to your first birthday".
After sometime, Inoichi enters the room and ask me "How is it going Voidne? Excited for Ino's and yours first birthday?"
"I don't want to wear flashy clothes, yet the elderly are forcing me to wear them, can I pick my clothes please? Pretty please?" I asked him with a very cute voice and teary eyes. He laughed and said "Sure!". He walked to the elderly women and asked them to let me choose. They all nodded and gave me space to look in the closet.
I found a lot of clothes! Looks like Inoichi really loves me! Flipping through the clothes, I noticed the colors black and white! Those are 2 of my 3 favorite colors! Without thinking much, I started searching between the clothes that are colored black or white, looking for any combination that I could make with them. I ended up picking a white t-shirt, a black hoodie, and black pants that are not tight. I wore the black hoodie on the white t-shirt, and I looked at the mirror! I looked way too handsome! 'If only I had those looks in my previous life!'.
While the elderly women are baffled and are questioning my choices, Inoichi looked at me with amazement and said "You surely take after the Nara more than the Yamanaka! The Yamanaka usually like colors that are flashy, but the Nara like dim colors".
I laughed awkwardly and tried to change the subject "By the way, is there any etiquette that I should take note of before the birthday?".
Inoichi eyes lit up and said "As expected from our Yamanaka genius! You even thought to ask about the etiquette, such a clever boy! Come with me, while we are walking around and preparing the celebration, I will tell you about the etiquette".
Stolen novel; please report.
I nodded and I followed him around. I could see the eyes of the clansmen shining with happiness when looking at me following Inoichi around to manage the birthday. I am not a mind reader, but I could clearly read what is in their minds; it was something like 'Oh! He is taking after Inoichi! Very mature, he is managing his own birthday party! As expected from Voidne Sama!'.
Inoichi started talking about proper etiquette and I started taking mental notes so I don't look anything less than perfect in my birthday. Once we were done with the preparations, we found Ino's mother telling Ino "You will be the start of this birthday! After all it is your birthday!" Ino who heard that was excited for the birthday. To be honest, I feel bad for Ino; since I am going to strip her from the attention she would had had if I wasn't there.
Inoichi and his wife started bonding since they missed one another, but that wretched bitch could not hold her tongue "I am glad that you are dropping this birthday party for Ino! I mean, you are doing what you should, considering Ino's future as the head of the clan". Inoichi pretended not to hear anything and replied "Of course! Ino is my daughter after all" while hugging his wife passionately. On the other hand, I didn't show up my emotions, but it struck me that no matter how good I am, Inoichi would still love Ino more than me. It was clear from when he met me this morning.
Not long after, the Ino-Shika-Cho clansmen started appearing one after another. Shikaku and Choza came too. I had a very good chat with both of them over their ideologies of being a ninja. Shikaku said that his ninja way is to try his best to avoid headache. Choza said that his ninja way is to eat as much as he can and enjoy being able to eat. I nodded to both of them.
After talking to Shikaku and Choza, I started attending Shikamaru and Choji who were both 11 months old. They could walk, but couldn't speak clearly. Shikamaru speech is somewhat understandable, but Choji could on make sounds like "Aa! Oo! Aghaa!". It was satisfying that I could take the opportunity to pinch his fluffy cheeks! It felt like heaven pinching them!
People from other clans started appearing, Aburame, Inuzuka, Guy and Lee, Kakashi also came at some point. I chatted with most of them, but I noticed something; not a single person from the Uchiha or the Hyuga attended the birthday party. I expected that at least they would have sent some chunins to participate, just like the Sarutobi, but they didn't! It shows that the anime wasn't wrong to describe both of these clans as arrogant clans that place themselves above others.
As the place became more crowded, I noticed Ino on the brink of tears trying to get the attention of anyone, but they all ignored her. The elders were chatting to each other or me, while the youngsters were trying their best to approach me and make me their acquaintance. I excused myself from the group in which I am talking with currently and walked toward Ino. Ino who saw me approaching her, unconsciously started sobbing, and her tears started flooding. As she started crying, I started confronting her, and also hugged her. She hugged me back at the end and thanked me for giving her some attention when everyone else didn't. I smiled at the cute thing and wanted to reward her, so I told her that we should play a hide and seek game somewhere in the party, just me and her.
She stopped crying and nodded at me then said with a cute smile "You look, I run!". I agreed and waited for her to hide, counting numbers. I thought we agreed that the boundaries would be inside the Yamanaka compound, but Ino was mischievous and actually went outside, so I had to chase after her and pray that nothing bad happens to her.
I tried my best to sneak off without someone noticing, so I excused myself to the bathroom and sneaked outside of the compound to search for Ino.