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A sharp clatter sounded from the corner of the room, followed by a chorus of shushing noises.
“Sorry,” Naruto stage-whispered. It was the quietest he’d ever managed to be. “I don’t know why Iruka-sensei leaves his books there.”
“On the bookshelf?” Sasuke demanded in an undertone, sounding both skeptical and exasperated.
“Is that what those are for? I use them as a shelf for my cup noodles,” Naruto said, already forgetting that they were trying to be sneaky.
“Shhhh!” Sakura hissed, lifting a finger to her lips to try and impress upon the boys how important it was to keep silent. “You’ll wake Iruka-sensei!”
The two boys flinched and glanced guiltily to the other side of the room, where Iruka-sensei lay sprawled across scattered homework assignments, breathing softly. He was so deeply asleep he hadn’t even heard them crawl into his window. Which was perfect, because it meant they didn’t have to explain why they were about to start throwing streamers and confetti around his office. It had been Naruto’s idea, but Kakashi-sensei and the other two members of team seven had quickly seized upon the idea to treat Iruka-sensei to a surprise birthday party. They’d originally planned on sneaking into his office after he’d gone home, but they had underestimated just how long it took the academy instructor to grade the homework assignments he’d been handing out.
“Maybe if he gave less homework he could be home already,” Naruto mused as he carried a few presents across the room, stacking them on the edge of Iruka’s desk. He frowned, peering at the scribbled comments Iruka had left for his current batch of students. “Hey!” he exclaimed, in what was certainly closer to an outside-voice than an inside one, “How come these students get such good grades? Iruka-sensei never gave me a good score.”
Sakura, who was too far from Naruto to punch him or gag him, settled for a dark look and another shushing gesture.
Sasuke, forgetting Iruka-sensei entirely in his desire to mock Naruto, said, “That’s because these students aren’t stupid.”
“You’re the stupid one, stupid!” Naruto shot back, which really did more to prove Sasuke’s point than to dispute it.
“Can you please just finish stacking the gifts?” Sakura whispered in an undertone. She lifted the cake she held in her hands. “I’m going to put the cake next to the gifts.”
“Fine,” Naruto grumbled, and scooted some of the homework papers aside so he could add a few more gifts to the pile. They’d invited most of their classmates, and in the process had discovered that quite a few other people wanted to celebrate Iruka’s birthday, too. They still had an hour before the party started, which should be enough time to decorate, so long as they cooperated well. Things might have gone more smoothly if Kakashi-sensei was there but, well… he was late. As usual.
Sasuke sidled up beside Naruto with a smirk. “That pile looks terrible.”
Naruto scowled at Sasuke and shoved another gift on the pile. “I think it’s great,” he said, emphasizing his comment by slapping another gift onto the top of the pile, which proceeded to teeter dramatically at the edge of Iruka’s desk before surrendering to the inevitable and toppling over, sending all the gifts clattering to the floor.
“Now look what you did!” Sasuke chided, tossing aside the streamers he’d been wandering around with and bending down to pick up the gifts. “They better not be breakable.”
“They’re fine!” Naruto insisted, and began to stack the gifts on the edge of the desk again. He managed to fit 3 more on the edge before they fell back off again, bouncing off his head on their way back to the floor. This did very little to impress Sasuke, who started to laugh so hard that he had to drop the gifts he’d picked up so that he could sit down, the giggles rendering him utterly helpless.
Shaking her head in disgust, Sakura walked past the two boys with the cake, aiming for the space between where the gifts had been and where Iruka-sensei was still softly breathing, somehow sleeping through the chaos. She was nearly to the desk when Naruto made a dramatic gesture, flinging an armful of presents onto the desk. Several of them tipped back off again. One tumbled underfoot, and Sakura’s foot caught on it. She made a sharp “eep!” noise, and Sasuke turned around just in time to see Iruka’s birthday cake headed for his face. He threw his arms up, and Naruto also jumped forward. With their combined efforts, they managed to stop the cake from hitting Sasuke’s face. The whipped cream and strawberries had gone everywhere, though, leaving behind a cake with the hand imprints of the two young genin boys.
Sakura stared at the mess in disbelief. There were strawberries on the gifts, even!
Clenching her fists, she barely managed to swallow down the scream. Internally she raged at the boys, cursing and shaking her fists, calling them useless dunderheads and a bunch of pathetic wastes of space. Externally, she took a deep breath, and then retrieved the cake. She wasn’t sure if it would be salvageable, but they had to try. “Naruto,” she said, her voice sickly-sweet with the effort to not snarl, “pick up the strawberries. Sasuke, clean up the cream.”
The boys nodded, clearly sensing from the look in her eyes that any arguments would place them in incredible danger.
Sakura did her best to smooth the cream back over the cake, using one of her kunai to make a nice even edge around the cake. She carefully perched each strawberry back on the cake as Naruto handed them to her one-by-one. With that taken care of, she turned around to see Sasuke had managed to clean up the spilled cream, though he’d used up a fair amount of streamers in the process.
They tossed the mess of cream and colored paper in Iruka-sensei’s trash can, and resumed decorating. Sakura took charge of the gifts this time, stacking them in a neat and orderly way. Naruto and Sasuke turned to the streamers, and began hanging them around the room from various rafters and convenient corners.
Finally, they were able to step back and survey their hard work. The room looked very festive, and Iruka-sensei was still slumped over his desk, softly sleeping. They’d done it! They’d decorated for his surprise party, and they’d even managed to do it without waking him! After grinning at each other and exchanging high fives, the three realized that Kakashi-sensei still hadn’t arrived.
“He’s probably waiting with all the other guests,” Sasuke guessed. “He’s so lazy, he’ll probably tell us something like he wanted us to practice teamwork without him .”
Sakura and Naruto nodded in agreement. “He’ll probably say he expected it to take longer, and that he was going to come see how we did at the end,” Sakura added.
“He should have helped from the start,” Naruto grumbled, “or he shouldn’t say anything about what we do.”
The three of them sighed gustily, and as one, left Iruka’s office, quietly shutting the door behind them, leaving the window through which they’d entered wide open. A soft breeze fluttered in, teasing a lock of hair that had escaped Iruka’s usually severe ponytail.
Moments later, a lanky figure slid into the room through the same window. He glanced around the room, then noticed Iruka-sensei, still sleeping at the desk.
“Maa, Iruka-sensei,” he said, “I’m no genin. You can’t fool me with that little snore of yours.”
Iruka-sensei cracked one eye open, gazing up at Kakashi with a sly little grin. “Is there a reason why you decided to let them wreck the place instead of helping?”
Kakashi chuckled, scrubbing at the back of his neck as he felt the sharp look of the academy sensei boring into him. “Maa,” he said, “you heard them. I’m just so lazy.”
Iruka barked a quiet laugh. “I see,” he said, sitting up to survey the damage. It wasn’t too terrible. There were a few spots of cream here and there, and the sheer amount of streamers hanging from the roof made the room feel more like a forest of candy vines than a party room. The balloons were a nice touch, though Iruka felt it might have been better if they’d been tied together instead of thrown around the room at random. “When will they be back?”
“Soon,” Kakashi said. “I left a note with Asuma-sensei telling them I’d be waiting for them here.”
Iruka sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. “So you really were just avoiding the work, then? You’re a terrible jonin-sensei,” he said, but the fondness in his tone clearly belied the words.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Kakashi smirked back. “I’m clearly here as damage control.” He whipped out a handkerchief, carefully dabbing at one of the remaining whipped cream dots that Sasuke had missed.
Iruka surveyed the chaotic room. “How so?”
“Well,” Kakashi said, reaching into one of his uniform’s many pockets, retrieving a sealing scroll, “For one thing, I brought a replacement cake.” With a quick jolt of chakra, the scroll disgorged a new cake in perfect condition. He set it on the desk, and put the kunai-frosted cake on the scroll, sealing the horrific monstrosity away. Then, he popped open another pocket, revealing tape. “And I might try my hand at fixing the damaged gift wrap.”
Iruka huffed in amusement, watching Kakashi repair the battered gifts.
“Thank you,” he began, but Kakashi lifted a hand.
“Ah, ah, I’m not done yet,” he said, pulling out some ribbons and turning to the randomly scattered balloons. “Just watch.”
Within minutes, the forest of sagging streamers had been tamed into artful shapes, and the balloons were all secured with ribbons and clustered in adorable little bundles. The room actually looked like a place where people might have a birthday celebration, no longer resembling the aftermath of a party store explosion.
Kakashi surveyed the room and then winked at Iruka. “See? We all have our part to play in this surprise party. Now it’s your turn - go back to sleep and pretend to be shocked when we all come bursting in.”
Iruka obligingly flopped back down on his desk, mumbling under his breath, “I knew that.”
Kakashi tossed him a wink and a wave, and then let himself out of the office. Before long, Iruka could hear the hubbub of excited whispers, and he knew it was almost time for him to dust off his acting skills.
Somehow, despite knowing it was coming, Iruka was still startled when his door was kicked open and Naruto barrelled into the room shouting “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRUKA-SENSEIIIII!” at top volume.
“Oh!” He gasped, jerking back in his seat so hard he nearly fell out of it. He blinked a few times, looking around his transformed office. “What’s all this?” he demanded. “When… when did you…” he turned to Naruto, smiling at him and the small crowd that was gathered behind him. “Never mind,” he said. “Come in, and let all those people hiding behind you in as well.”
“Okay!” Naruto cheered, marching into the room. He beamed happily at Iruka. “Were you surprised?” he asked.
Iruka smiled. “Very.”
“Are you happy?” Naruto followed up, looking deeply serious.
Iruka met his gaze for a moment, then swept it across the room to meet the eyes of everyone who had come to wish him well. “Yes, Naruto,” he said, though it wasn’t just for him. “I’m very happy.”
“Good!” Naruto declared, placing his hands on his hips. “Then let’s eat some cake!”
Iruka laughed. “All right,” he agreed. “Let’s eat some cake.”