The first ray of morning sun fell, awakening the sleeping world and ushering in a beautiful new day.
Birds chirped on the branches, their crisp songs carried by the gentle breeze past Sasuke's ear, bringing with them a hint of freshness that instantly refreshed him.
He stretched with a big yawn, feeling his body expand and invigorate.
It was a rare day off today; no missions, and no super idiot yelling in his ear, making it much quieter.
He looked around his slightly messy room; lately, he had been so focused on training that he hadn't had time for chores.
Looking at the bright weather outside, Sasuke's determined gaze became serious.
Today, he would do a thorough cleaning.
Time passed, bit by bit, as dust danced in the sunlight. Sasuke stood with his hands on his hips in the spotless, sparkling room, wiping a satisfied bead of sweat from his forehead.
“Hmm, it’s clean now.”
Suddenly, an abrupt doorbell broke the silence.
“Who could it be at this hour?”
He opened the door, puzzled, and saw two familiar faces grinning foolishly at him.
“Good morning, Sasuke!” Chizhao held up the sweets she had just bought on the street and waved them at him.
“Yo! Morning!” Naruto also seemed in a good mood as he leaned closer to him.
In an instant, the cool, clean room became lively.
“Why are you two looking for me so early in the morning?”
The three sat around a round table, with the sweets Chizhao had just bought placed on it. She snapped out of her surprise at the clean floor beside her, took out documents from her backpack, and placed them on the table.
“This! This is Kakashi-sensei’s personal profile!”
Sasuke crossed his arms, his gaze shifting from Naruto’s crumb-covered face to the familiar personal profile.
“Kakashi-sensei’s profile? What about it?”
Seeing that he still didn't understand her meaning, Chizhao pointed her finger to the Kakashi’s birthday column: “The key is here.”
Naruto, who had finally finished his sweet, also leaned his head over curiously: “Nani nani? September 15th? What’s up with that?”
Chizhao was used to Naruto’s slowness, but fortunately, Sasuke reacted immediately, showing a hint of surprise:
“Could it be? Is it today?”
“Eh?! You mean Kakashi-sensei’s birthday is today?!”
Seeing that the two had finally caught on, Chizhao sat up straight: “That’s right!”
“Then… do you have a plan?”
Sasuke had no experience with such things, but at least since Chizhao came to him, she should have a plan arranged, so he went straight to the point.
“As expected of Sasuke! Then let me tell you my plan now!”
Naruto, still out of the loop: “Eh? What plan? Eh? What are you talking about?!”
…
“Kakashi-sensei! Hurry up!”
Kakashi slowly walked towards Sakura ahead, his tone a bit weak: “Why choose this time to buy Ninja tools?”
“Because… because aren’t cool Kunoichi supposed to have some powerful weapons? I also want to play a role in future missions, so I had to ask you, as my sensei, to help me with some suggestions.”
Sakura nervously twirled a strand of her long hair, her steps moving forward without stopping.
“Sakura!”
Kakashi’s lazy voice suddenly grew a few decibels louder.
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
Worried that Kakashi had discovered her flaw, Sakura nervously turned to look at his dull, dead-fish eyes.
He just pointed to the other side: “The Ninja tool shop… you seem to have walked past it.”
“Ah… haha, sorry, I didn’t notice. Let’s go take a look then!”
Sakura immediately regained her composure and walked with an awkward smile towards the Ninja tool shop.
She glanced back at Kakashi, who showed no particular reaction, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’ll keep Kakashi-sensei occupied.”
“Chizhao, you guys need to speed up!”
…
Three figures tiptoed and climbed through the window into Kakashi Hatake’s room.
Chizhao, who landed first with her shoes in hand, held streamers and balloons and carefully surveyed the not-too-big, not-too-small room.
“Kakashi-sensei’s room is surprisingly tidy.”
Sasuke landed gracefully, a cake in his hand, and looked around: “I didn’t expect him to seem so lazy usually, but his room is very clean…”
Naruto, his curiosity piqued, squatted on the windowsill, his face excited: “Let me see if Kakashi-sensei has any hidden dirty books!”
Just as Naruto was about to step out, he suddenly slipped and fell forward onto the two figures in front of him.
Instantly, the three fell together, and items scattered all over the floor.
“Ouch! What are you doing, you super idiot!” Sasuke angrily punched Naruto on the head, eliciting a cry of pain from him.
The next second, another gasp rang out.
“Ah!! The cake!!”
Sasuke and Naruto then noticed the cake that had already fallen to the ground, smashed beyond recognition.
“Idiot! It’s all your fault!”
Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s collar and yelled in dissatisfaction.
Naruto, knowing he had messed up, lost his temper for a moment: “S-sorry… I accidentally slipped…”
“As expected of Naruto, the number one for unexpected incidents!”
“Even entrusting the cake to the reliable Sasuke couldn’t prevent this from happening?”
Chizhao rubbed her forehead, sighing with a headache: “Alright, alright, what’s done is done. Let’s think about what to do next.”
“Since the cake is ruined, I’ll just go buy another one now!”
Naruto, eager to make up for his mistake, jumped up from the ground and stood in a running-in-place posture, as if he would dash out to buy a new cake as soon as Chizhao gave the command.
But Sakura was currently trying her best to stall Kakashi, and time was tight. The room decorations hadn’t even started, and if left to the two boys, who knew what a mess it would become.
However, if she stayed here to decorate the room and sent either Sasuke or Naruto to buy the cake, she worried they would buy something with a strange design due to their ‘straight man’ aesthetic.
“This is really troublesome…”
After much deliberation, she realized that no matter which part of the plan was missing her, it wouldn't work. She looked up at the time. If they sped up, perhaps the room could be decorated by noon, and then the three of them could go order a custom cake, which might still be in time.
“There’s no other way. Let’s decorate the room first, and then we’ll go order a custom cake.”
Sasuke, knowing this would be the outcome, picked up the streamers from the floor: “Then let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get moving.”
Naruto was also full of enthusiasm now, clenching his right fist: “Oh! We’ll definitely surprise Kakashi-sensei!!”
After assigning their respective tasks, Chizhao quickly cleaned up the cake on the floor and looked at the sky outside the window.
“Sakura, hang in there!”
“We’re already speeding up!”
…
Unexpectedly, Sakura felt exhausted during her first shopping trip.
She didn't know how many Ninja tool shops they had visited, but Sakura was now listlessly dragging her head, walking weakly beside Kakashi.
“This isn’t like me today.”
Before, when she went shopping with Chizhao and Ino, her steps were relentless, and she became more energetic the more they walked. Why was it like this now?
“Sakura, you’ve already visited almost six Ninja tool shops. If there’s nothing suitable, why don’t we just give up?”
Kakashi walked leisurely beside her with his hands in his pockets, his gaze involuntarily drifting back to the Jingying Hall bookstore, his heart stirring again.
Sakura looked up at the sky, remembering her “mission,” and secretly cheered herself on.
“Come on, Sakura!”
“Today is Kakashi-sensei’s birthday, you can’t mess it up.”
“Even if I have to drag him, I must keep Kakashi-sensei out until dark before we can go back!”
“What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei? This is just the beginning! Let’s continue to look at other shops~”
With that, Sakura pulled Kakashi and ran to another Ninja tool shop.
“Eh? Do we still need to keep shopping?”
His gaze lingered reluctantly on “Jingying Hall,” but he was still dragged away by Sakura’s irresistible force, unable to help but wail internally:
“Who on earth encouraged her to buy Ninja tools?!”