"Naruto! Satsuki! Stop right there!"
Iruka's voice, chasing after them, was filled with urgency. "You two, hurry up and come with me to apologize to Hokage-sama!"
"No way!" Naruto didn't even turn his head. "The Third Hokage isn't that petty; he definitely knows we weren't really causing trouble!"
"You problem student! Stop right now!" Iruka raised his voice in anger, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Do you two have any idea how scary that was just now? I thought you were actually going to secretly spar in the Ninja Academy! Have you forgotten all the rules of the Ninja Academy? This is outrageous!"
In the hallway of the teaching building, footsteps, shouts, and the light running and jumping of a young boy mixed together. As Iruka chased, the stone weighing on his heart quietly fell—thank goodness… they didn't actually fight.
But then, a wave of fear washed over him. What if the Third Hokage hadn't informed him in time? These two sparred without restraint; if they really started fighting, what if they set the Ninja Academy on fire? What if someone suffered an irreparable serious injury?
If something like that really happened, Iruka would never be able to forgive himself.
"Listen up!" Iruka gritted his teeth and quickened his pace. "I'll reflect on this with you! It's my responsibility for not teaching you to follow the rules properly! But you'd better stop right now! Naruto!"
"No way!"
Naruto suddenly turned into a nearby classroom. For some reason, even at this late hour, the lights in this classroom were still on—it was their class's classroom. Satsuki followed closely, also darting inside.
"You damn little…"
Iruka pushed open the classroom door, but the latter half of his scolding seemed to be caught in his throat, stopping abruptly. The scene before him was something he had never imagined—
On the connected rectangular desks in the classroom, a clean tablecloth was spread, covered with various snacks and food: brightly packaged potato chips, fruit cut into small pieces, and several boxes of what looked like exquisite pastries.
And in the very center of the table was a large cream cake, with "Iruka Sensei" written on it in jam, and several candles inserted beside it, though they hadn't been lit yet.
Naruto, Satsuki, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, the six children stood side by side behind the table. Shikamaru habitually yawned, Choji secretly clutched a bag of potato chips, Akamaru on Kiba's head wagged his tail, and Satsuki looked down slightly, a faint smile hidden at the corner of her mouth.
At the back of the classroom, a simple banner was hung, with words cut and pieced together from colored paper: [Happy Birthday, Iruka Sensei].
"Sensei! Happy Birthday!" Naruto was the first to bounce out, shouting at Iruka with full energy, his eyes shining like stars. "Didn't expect that, huh? Even asking the Third Hokage to help spread the message was my idea!"
Iruka looked at everything before him, his mouth instinctively opening, but no sound came from his throat. The food on the table emitted faint steam, and the children's smiling faces were illuminated by the lights, warm and comforting.
"Sensei, Happy Birthday," Shikamaru and the others also spoke, their voices soft but carrying genuine sincerity.
Naruto then grinned and leaned closer, teasing, "Sensei, I originally wanted to make it a surprise where the candles suddenly lit up after turning off the lights, but then I was afraid that when you were chasing us just now, you'd jump out the window and go around to the back, and the whole surprise would be ruined. You don't mind, do you?"
"Hey, hey, what's wrong? So Sensei makes that kind of face too."
Facing Iruka who was making such an expression, Kiba teased him mercilessly, and Akamaru immediately barked, as if in agreement.
Iruka then snapped back to reality, his lips moving as he stammered, "Naruto… you… so… all of that just now… was…"
"That's right! It was all a trap to lure Iruka Sensei to the classroom!" Naruto said with a smile, his tone full of triumphant pride.
The next moment, Iruka felt all the tension in his body suddenly relax. The anxiety from his frantic run, the panic of thinking they were secretly sparring, the worry that Naruto would cause trouble again and be punished—all of it vanished. It was just a prank after all, he hadn't caused trouble, thank goodness… This child just wanted to give him a surprise.
He had intended to sternly scold them a few times for "fooling around"—they even involved the Hokage. But looking at the smile in Naruto's eyes, the words on the tip of his tongue turned into a dry sentence.
"Naruto… how did you know today was my birthday?"
"It's simple! I secretly snuck into the teacher's archives! Infiltration is a ninja's essential skill, you know!"
"What?! You!…"
Hearing this, Iruka's anger, which he had just suppressed, almost flared up again—but before he could utter a reprimand, he suddenly felt a warmth in his eyes, and something warm uncontrollably welled up, clouding them with a thin layer of mist.
He had heard other teachers say that some thoughtful students would secretly remember their teachers' birthdays and prepare small surprises on that day. At the time, he always felt that such things were far from him—he always felt he wasn't a qualified teacher, had been prejudiced against Naruto, and often neglected his students. He never expected to have such a moment himself.
He looked at Naruto, who was still waiting for praise, and then scanned Satsuki and Shikamaru, who were silently smiling beside him. His heart felt as if it were soaked in warm water, both sore and soft. There were so many things he wanted to say to them, to thank them for their kindness, to apologize for his past lack of attentiveness, to tell them how surprised he was… But a thousand words clogged his throat, finally turning into a choked sentence.
"I… thank… thank you, Naruto… and everyone… thank you…"