Kakashi, suddenly alone, looked up at the dark sky with a hint of melancholy.
Is he alone again?
He's used to it, isn't he?
Birthdays, they don't matter anymore.
Sighing softly, Kakashi walked slowly home with his hands in his pockets.
The passersby seemed to walk in the opposite direction, hurrying past without any lingering attachment.
Yes, on this path, he was already alone.
He thought he had adapted to this feeling of being alone, but why, at times like these, did he involuntarily think of them?
Father, Obito, Rin...
"Sorry, I was a step late, but heroes always make a late appearance!"
Kakashi suddenly stopped, Obito's youthful face abruptly appearing before his eyes. In his memory, he was still that self-important idiot.
"I'm about to die, but I can still be your eye and continue to see the future. Will you be my eye and make me believe there's a future?"
He lightly touched his left eye, hidden by his forehead protector; for some reason, he felt a faint stinging pain there.
Resuming his walk home, Kakashi tried to suppress the sharp pain in his chest, as if each step required more effort than the last.
Sorry, Obito.
I showed you a future you didn't want to see.
I'm not a hero, nor am I a genius.
I'm just an idiot who couldn't protect anything.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
A clear voice suddenly pulled Kakashi out of his reverie. He saw Chizhao standing at his doorstep, looking at him breathlessly.
"Chizhao? Didn't you go eat ramen with Naruto and the others? Why are you here?"
Inside the room, three figures were still nervously decorating. Chizhao had come down early to intercept Kakashi to buy time.
Not having thought of an excuse yet, she nervously scratched her cheek: "I... I have something I want to tell Kakashi-sensei."
"What is it?"
Under the flickering Gekko, Chizhao exhaled softly, a smile on her face as she looked at Kakashi Hatake.
On this special day, she had to say something.
"Thank you, truly, for everything."
"Eh?" Kakashi was slightly stunned, not understanding why the girl suddenly said these things.
"Um... actually, even before joining the Anbu, I knew Kakashi-sensei, you were always protecting me, like that time with Mizuki-sensei. So, in a way, Kakashi-sensei is an important person to me."
"And I want to say, I really like Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei is a wonderful person!"
The cool Gekko shone in the girl's bright eyes. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly; he wasn't quite sure what kind of meaning that sentence held.
And what kind he was hoping for.
A confession?
Simple admiration?
But no matter which it was, his heart was now stirring with a pleasant emotion.
This is not good...
While Kakashi was in a daze, Chizhao saw Naruto's thumbs-up silhouette through Kakashi's window.
It seemed everything was ready; now it was time for the main character to appear!
Snapping out of his thoughts, Kakashi was about to say something when he was suddenly interrupted by a surprised cry from Chizhao.
"Ah! I think I saw a kitten run into Kakashi-sensei's house!"
Chizhao then followed Kakashi to his doorstep. Kakashi looked back at the smiling Chizhao, asking again, unsure: "Did you really see a cat run into my house?"
"Really! I saw a cat run into your house!"
Following Chizhao's thinly veiled words, a cat's meow suddenly came from behind Kakashi's door.
"Meow~"
"See! There's a cat's sound."
A helpless Kakashi finally inserted the key into the lock, slowly placed his hand on the doorknob, and with a click, opened the door.
The room was pitch black. Kakashi walked in, and suddenly the lights instantly brightened. "Bang, bang" several consecutive pops sounded, and countless streamers and confetti floated down from the ceiling.
Kakashi stared in shock at the colorful room before him, and the large "Happy birthday!" sign on the wall. He felt quite dazed.
"Happy birthday, Kakashi-sensei!!!"
"You guys..."
The three familiar faces before him smiled. As for why there were three, it was because Sasuke was a bit more composed than the other two.
"Hey, hey, hey! Kakashi-sensei, we put in a lot of effort to decorate this! How is it! Isn't it a surprise?"
Naruto circled Kakashi as if asking for praise, like a golden retriever puppy begging for compliments.
Sasuke, unable to watch any longer, immediately intercepted his path: "You have the nerve to say that. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have finished so late."
Sakura pushed Kakashi into the room, laughing: "I kept Kakashi-sensei busy all day! But Kakashi-sensei really helped me choose seriously, so I'm still very happy."
On the other side, Chizhao pushed out the cake, a radiant smile on her face: "Everyone worked really hard today to give Kakashi-sensei a surprise!"
Kakashi, deeply moved, was at a loss for words to express his feelings. He suddenly gave a somewhat embarrassed smile.
"I see. I thought you guys hated me."
"Eh? How could we hate Kakashi-sensei! You always take us on missions..." Naruto suddenly pinched his chin, deep in thought.
"Speaking of which, Kakashi-sensei is always late..."
"And he often leaves us to slack off and rest," Sasuke added subtly from the side.
"He even keeps his 18X novels close at hand," a helpless Sakura also stated the fact.
Kakashi, being judged like this on his birthday, suddenly felt utterly mortified:
"Hey, hey, hey... today's my birthday, you know. Can't you say something good, like how handsome I am?"
"Well... it's precisely these things that make up the Kakashi-sensei we know! Let's not talk about that for now; let's look at today's cake!"
Kakashi also stepped forward expectantly. When the cake box was opened, the two main characters chasing each other from the familiar make-out paradise novel cover were standing steadily on top of the cake.
The atmosphere suddenly filled with 18X vibes.
Sakura's mouth twitched, and she yelled: "What is going on?!"
Kakashi also tilted his head helplessly: "As expected... even the cake is like this?"
A famished Naruto eagerly stepped forward: "The cake!! It smells so good!"
Seeing him pounce like a hungry tiger, Sasuke immediately grabbed his collar: "Idiot! Don't just rush over!"
Naruto felt his foot slip, realizing he had stepped on a streamer. Losing his balance, he pulled Sasuke along with him.
"Oh no!!"
Sakura quickly grabbed Naruto's clothes, but her strength wasn't enough, and she was pulled along. Chizhao, with alarm bells ringing in her heart, quickly picked up the cake, ready for emergency avoidance, but she was still a step too slow. The cake in her hands had already flown out.
Kakashi, about to save the day, felt a sudden weight on him. Chizhao, who had fallen, was now pressed against him, unable to move.
"The cake!"
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Suddenly, a puff of smoke exploded, and a Naruto steadily caught the cake. The few people who had fallen in a heap on the ground finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"You scared me to death..." Naruto patted his chest, still shaken.
"You super, incredibly huge idiot!"
Looking at the messy scene before him, Kakashi suddenly started to laugh.
"Puhahaha..."
Then Chizhao, who had sat up, also laughed.
Laughter is contagious. In an instant, the colorful room was filled with joy.
Kakashi gazed gently at everything before him, feeling an unprecedented sense of fulfillment in his heart.
Sorry, Obito.
I'm really not a hero or a genius.
I'm just an ordinary Team 7 sensei.