The living room of the Nara Clan residence was unusually lively that afternoon.
Warm sunlight filtered through the paper windows, bathing the room in a comforting golden glow. The aroma of freshly brewed tea lingered in the air, mixing with the faint scent of cedar wood that always seemed to surround the quiet Nara household.
In the center of the room sat a low tea table.
At the moment, it was almost completely buried beneath a mountain of souvenirs.
Dried fruits.
Jerky.
Candied snacks.
Small ornaments.
Colorful packages from the Hidden Sand Village were stacked together until they resembled a miniature hill.
I knelt beside the pile with an expression of satisfaction.
After spending an entire month in Sunagakure, I hadn't returned empty-handed.
Traveling was one thing.
Bringing gifts home was another.
Carefully sorting everything into separate piles, I finally picked up the first present.
"Aunt Yoshino."
I held out a neatly folded shawl with both hands.
"This is for you."
She looked slightly surprised.
"For me?"
I nodded enthusiastically.
"The woven pattern is one of Sunagakure's traditional designs. The shopkeeper told me the store has been operating for over thirty years, so it's considered something of a local treasure."
Yoshino accepted it with gentle hands.
She unfolded it slowly.
The soft fabric spread gracefully through the air before draping over her shoulders.
The warm earth-colored threads shimmered beautifully beneath the afternoon sunlight, while intricate geometric patterns decorated every edge.
Her eyes immediately brightened.
Without saying anything, she walked toward the entrance hall.
A full-length mirror stood there.
Turning slightly from side to side, she admired how the shawl rested over her shoulders, absentmindedly brushing her fingertips across the delicate embroidery.
A warm smile slowly appeared on her face.
She didn't need words.
That expression alone told me everything.
She loved it.
Mission accomplished.
Feeling encouraged, I reached into my oversized backpack again.
"Uncle Shikaku."
This time I produced an elegant wooden tea box.
"I bought this especially for you."
Shikaku lazily accepted it, raising one eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"The tea merchant said it's one of Sunagakure's specialties. He claimed the flavor is refreshing and helps clear your mind after long hours of work."
Shikaku opened the lid.
A pleasant fragrance drifted into the room.
He gave a satisfied nod.
"I'll gladly accept it."
He smiled faintly.
"Our supply of tea was almost gone anyway."
Perfect.
Another successful delivery.
Now...
Only two gifts remained.
One of them...
Required special attention.
I rummaged through my enormous backpack until my fingers found a carefully wrapped gift box.
Turning toward the boy sitting nearby, I held it out.
"Shikamaru."
He lazily looked over.
"Hm?"
"This one's yours."
Although he still wore his usual uninterested expression, he quietly accepted the package.
I couldn't resist adding dramatic emphasis.
"This is a sandstone carving unique to Sunagakure."
"I searched through countless shops before I found a craftsman skilled enough."
"In fact..."
"I wasn't satisfied with any of the finished pieces."
"So..."
"I commissioned this one."
I puffed out my chest proudly.
"It's completely one of a kind."
"You'd better appreciate how thoughtful I am."
Shikamaru silently opened the box.
Inside rested a palm-sized sandstone carving.
A deer.
Every curve had been polished until the stone felt smooth and warm.
Its antlers branched gracefully.
Its posture appeared calm and elegant.
Even the tiny eyes had been carved with incredible precision.
For several quiet moments...
Shikamaru simply stared at it.
His usual lazy expression disappeared.
He reached out.
Very gently...
His finger touched the tip of one antler.
The movement was almost careful enough to be called affectionate.
Then...
Without another word...
He quietly closed the lid.
"...How unfair."
His voice was so soft that I barely caught it.
"Hm?"
I instinctively leaned closer.
"What did you say?"
Shikamaru nearly jumped backward.
"N-Nothing."
He cleared his throat.
"I said..."
"I'll treasure your thoughtfulness."
The moment the words left his mouth, he immediately stood up.
"I'm putting it in my room."
Without waiting for another response, he walked briskly toward the hallway.
Watching him leave...
I tilted my head.
Was he embarrassed?
Before I could think further...
Yoshino laughed warmly from the entrance.
"Oh my."
"Our Shikamaru is getting shy."
From halfway down the hallway came an annoyed voice.
"You guys are so troublesome..."
His footsteps noticeably quickened.
The retreating figure practically fled upstairs.
I couldn't help laughing.
He really was adorable.
Across the table...
Someone had already reached the limit of his patience.
Naruto had spent the last several minutes leaning over the tea table with sparkling blue eyes.
His entire focus rested on one object.
The last gift.
Unlike the others...
This one sat inside a noticeably larger wooden box.
Naruto's fingers gripped the edge of the table.
He practically vibrated with anticipation.
Finally...
I smiled.
"Naruto."
"This one's yours."
The instant I pushed the box toward him...
His entire face lit up.
"For me?"
"Open it."
He hurriedly lifted the lid.
Inside rested an intricately crafted wooden puppet.
Its body was painted in bright desert colors.
Tiny joints connected its arms and legs.
Small gears were visible beneath carefully carved wooden plates.
Naruto stared at it in amazement.
"So cool!"
I picked it up and demonstrated.
"This is a traditional Sunagakure puppet."
"The interesting part is that it doesn't need Chakra strings."
Instead...
I pointed toward the hidden mechanism.
"You wind this spring..."
I twisted the key.
"...and then..."
I placed the puppet onto the table.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The little puppet began walking all by itself.
Naruto's mouth slowly fell open.
"Wooooah!"
Then I pressed another hidden switch.
With a series of tiny mechanical sounds...
The puppet unfolded into an entirely different shape.
Its tiny arms extended.
Its head rotated.
Even its posture changed.
Naruto gasped.
His eyes sparkled brighter than ever.
"Can everyone in Sunagakure make things like this?"
"Not everyone."
I laughed.
"It takes skilled craftsmen."
Naruto continued watching the puppet wander around the table.
His imagination immediately ran wild.
"Can it help me practice throwing shuriken?"
I nearly dropped the puppet.
"No!"
"It's made of wood!"
"If you throw shuriken at it, it'll break apart!"
Naruto looked disappointed.
"...Really?"
"Really."
He thought seriously for several seconds.
Then his face brightened again.
"Then..."
"I'll let it cheer for me instead!"
He carefully picked up the little puppet with both hands.
Holding it close against his chest...
He lowered his head respectfully.
In a tiny voice filled with complete sincerity, he whispered,
"Please take care of me from now on."
For just a second...
The room became completely quiet.
Even though it was merely a wooden toy...
Naruto greeted it as though it were alive.
As though...
It had become another precious companion.
My chest tightened slightly.
He really treasured every bit of kindness he received.
Just then...
Shikamaru returned from upstairs.
He casually glanced toward Naruto.
Then...
Toward the walking puppet.
After several seconds of silence...
He quietly muttered under his breath.
"...Mine's better."
The words were almost inaudible.
Unfortunately...
Naruto heard them.
"What did you say?!"
Naruto instantly turned around.
His whisker-marked cheeks puffed up.
"My puppet can walk!"
Shikamaru lazily shrugged.
"Yeah."
"So amazing."
"So impressive."
His completely flat tone somehow made Naruto even more indignant.
Naruto hugged the puppet tighter.
"It transforms too!"
"Mhm."
"It walks."
"It transforms."
"How incredible."
"Hey!"
Naruto jumped to his feet.
"You're just jealous!"
"I am not."
"You are!"
"I'm really not."
"You definitely are!"
Watching the two boys argue back and forth...
I rested my chin in my hands.
A smile slowly spread across my face.
The scene somehow felt...
Comfortable.
Peaceful.
Normal.
Yoshino had already folded away her new shawl before disappearing into the kitchen.
She had insisted from the very beginning that Naruto and I stay for dinner.
Naturally...
Shikaku followed her inside to help prepare the meal.
The scent of simmering soup gradually drifted into the living room.
Meanwhile...
Naruto continued passionately explaining why his puppet was the greatest invention ever created.
Shikamaru listened with the expression of someone enduring an unavoidable natural disaster.
Eventually...
He suddenly looked toward me.
Only then did he realize...
I had been quietly watching him the entire time.
Our eyes met.
His pupils trembled slightly.
He blinked rapidly.
A faint blush slowly appeared across his cheeks.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
I smiled.
"I just think..."
"You and Naruto are both incredibly cute."
Naruto immediately scratched the back of his head.
"Hehehe..."
His grin stretched from ear to ear.
Shikamaru, however, looked toward Naruto before deadpanning,
"I don't think this guy is cute at all."
The blush disappeared almost instantly.
His usual sleepy expression returned.
Meanwhile...
Naruto recovered from his embarrassment.
A second later...
He resumed arguing.
The room immediately became noisy again.
I laughed quietly.
Naruto really was...
The definition of an energetic child.
Dinner passed amid cheerful conversation and playful bickering.
By the time Naruto and I left the Nara residence...
The sky had already darkened.
The moon hung quietly above Konoha.
Soft silver light illuminated the empty streets.
Naruto happily held my hand while walking beside me.
The moment we stepped outside...
His endless questions began.
"Did anything dangerous happen outside the village?"
"No."
"It was mostly exhausting."
"Is Sunagakure really covered in sand?"
"Almost everywhere."
"Is it super hot?"
"Very."
"What did you do every day?"
"I signed books until my hands almost fell off."
Naruto laughed loudly.
Then remembered something.
"Oh!"
"The frog in the park finally died!"
I blinked.
"...Sorry."
"I honestly thought it'd survive longer."
Naruto burst into laughter.
"Oh!"
"Old Man Teuchi gave you another ramen coupon!"
"Really?"
"Then we'll go together next time."
"Deal."
Step by step...
Conversation flowed naturally.
He excitedly told me everything that had happened during the month I had been away.
Who he had met.
What he had eaten.
Where he had gone.
Which prank had failed.
Which had succeeded.
Even tiny details that most people would never mention.
Listening quietly...
I realized something.
We were simply sharing our lives.
Nothing extraordinary.
Just...
Making up for the month we had spent apart.
Eventually...
We reached Naruto's apartment building.
He waved enthusiastically before disappearing upstairs.
"Good night, Big Sister!"
"Good night."
I stood there until the lights inside his apartment turned on.
Only then did I begin walking home alone.
The streets had grown quiet.
Moonlight stretched my shadow across the road.
With every step...
Thoughts slowly surfaced.
Without realizing it...
The people around me had become increasingly important.
Naruto.
Shikamaru.
Shikaku.
Yoshino.
Choji.
Choza.
Shiranui Genma.
Raidō Namiashi.
One name after another quietly passed through my mind.
Some relationships were deep.
Others remained shallow.
Yet compared to when I had first arrived...
Everything had changed.
Ever since meeting Naruto...
I had gradually stopped resisting the people destined to shape this world's future.
At first...
I believed they had accepted me.
But...
That wasn't completely true.
I understood now.
The one who had changed...
Was me.
This world had never rejected my existence.
I was the one who rejected it.
I didn't want to look.
I didn't want to belong.
I didn't want to build bonds.
In the beginning...
I hadn't even regarded these people as real.
They were merely characters.
Settings.
Protagonists from an anime.
Nothing more.
Time truly was frightening.
Six years.
Six entire years had passed.
Somewhere along the way...
Without noticing...
The line separating fiction from reality had quietly disappeared.
Was that a good thing?
I didn't know.
Was it bad?
Probably not.
I still wanted to return home.
I still didn't truly belong here.
Yet...
Loneliness...
Was unbearably heavy.
Could I still return?
Would I ever return?
I didn't hate these people.
Quite the opposite.
I loved them.
Anyone who had watched Naruto...
Anyone who knew their dreams...
Their pain...
Their smiles...
Their futures...
Would find it difficult to dislike them.
Now...
Six years later...
I had begun forming genuine bonds with them.
But that realization also frightened me.
If I continued walking beside them...
Would fate begin to change?
No.
It shouldn't.
I wouldn't interfere.
I wouldn't fight.
I would simply remain an observer.
Watching from the sidelines.
That should be enough.
After all...
I couldn't change anything.
I couldn't.
...Could I?
The moon silently watched over the empty streets.
My footsteps echoed alone through the quiet night.
Deep inside my heart...
I offered a prayer that no one else would ever hear.
Please...
Let me become dull enough to ignore this loneliness.
Otherwise...
One day, I may no longer have the strength to keep pretending that I don't belong here.
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