Team 7's achievement in being the fastest to complete a great number of Missions with a perfect score, and also being the most active of the Nine Rookies, made it so their name spread across the village quite fast. Even Sasuke looked a little proud of himself for achieving such a result while becoming much fonder of his teammates.
Even Naruto, who he hated with a passion in the last timeline thanks to the knucklehead accidentally falling over and smooching this rival of his. Sakura was able to stop that incident from happening, but the Fujoshi of the future would likely still be pairing them up regardless if they wanted it or not. She hoped her disturbing the timeline won't accidentally create a future where even the knucklehead is her rival in love...
Especially since Naruto's attitude seemed to have improved compared to before. Although the prejudice around him was thick as usual, that didn't change the fact that his actions were changing their view on him. The lack of outbursts from the youth was gradually softening up the villagers.
On their time off though, Sakura took them to meet Hinata, Kiba, and Bug Guy. Kuranai, the one who was in-charge of them wasn't around, which was the perfect opportunity for her to get Naruto and Hinata together! The actions of the little future Hokage was making her waver, so she hoped to use this opportunity to make her resolution strong.
She didn't hesitate in the slightest as she decided to personally become their wingman this time.
"Naruto, that's the girl who likes you." Sakura pointed at Hinata, causing Sasuke to be surprised there was someone who would find an idiot like Naruto to be attractive. The orange-clothed youth himself was a little embarrassed since no one's actually 'liked him' before… Though the look on his face made her wonder if he truly understood...
"That's only your guess. She could just have something she wants to say to me." Naruto could sense different variations of negative emotions in others, but not anything else. Even if there WAS another girl who liked him, he still liked Sakura.
"Sasuke, you're in-charge of distracting Kiba so Naruto and her can have time to talk. Think of this as a lesson in socialising." She spoke while remembering how introverted the brooding youth was in the future. It would be better if he hanged around with people rather than earning merits and slowly becoming his sociopathic like the last time.
Why did she feel w little disgusted by the feeling as if she was 'raising' them? Well, they were technically the same age even if her mind had matured somewhat. The thought made her wonder if she was truly from the future or if she was under a Genjutsu to believe everything was the truth. It made her drumming heart beat feel frigidly cold.
Hopefully, that was just her overthinking...
Anyway, Sasuke wanted to refuse having to socialise with those weirdos, but couldn't considering how important this seemed to Sakura in her eyes. He jumped down the tree, approached, and tried his best to talk with them, but the results ended with him challenging them to a kunai throwing showdown where the loser buy's lunch.
It really seemed like there was nothing but fighting in this guy's head… Even trying to befriend people turned into gaining new rivals. Not that it mattered though since the results were what she wanted.
"You go wait nearby. I need to talk to her about something first before I give you two some alone time to talk with each other." She lightly slapped Naruto on the back while ignoring the complex look on his face…
"You really think it'll work out…?"
"Just go wait at that tree." She didn't want to wait around any longer and approached Hinata openly.
"Did your Clan refuse to let you come to that training session or were you too shy to come with us?" Sakura was the first to speak. The white-eyed girl was embarrassed about how she couldn't join them when they were training together…
"I am… not confident in Taijutsu."
"Isn't that what Training is for? No one trains if they are already confident in their abilities." Sakura refuted with a disbelieving gaze, forgetting that the Hyuga weren't a 'friendly' bunch in the past.
"My Clan wants me to stay away from Naruto."
"Is that what YOU want as well?" She looked at her deeply, causing Hinata to shake her head furiously.
"I don't want to cause him trouble… and want to cheer him on." Hinata couldn't understand why she was saying so much to a former classmate she barely knew. Although the girl knew Sakura was on Naruto's team, she couldn't understand why Sakura wanted her to confess the feelings she currently had for him so spontaneously.
Naruto would mostly use Shadow Clones for hard battles, but Sakura, on the other hand, used them to build up relationships with the people she cared about. Even as she had been going around with her team, she DID take her time befriending Hinata in the background so she could set Naruto and Hinata up quickly. This was her unique way of using Shadow Clones that drained on her stamina a lot.
Not many people would waste their mental energy trying to befriend so many people at once in a short amount of time. The pink-haired girl was fatigued, but her eyes showed no signs of it.
The first part of her plan went smoothly since she was friends with Hinata in the future as well. It was to the point that the white-eyed girl seemed to visibly become more confident in herself as she was influenced by the active and determined aura around Sakura. The friends a person picks change them deeply, and Hinata was no exception.
"Naruto is an idiot who won't understand a girl's feelings unless they're beaten into his head. You have to speak straightforwardly if you want him to understand anything." Sakura encouraged her strongly, wanting them to get together already.
But even as she was talking to her, the two Bloodline Seals in the shape of Hearts integrated into Hinata's Chakra Pathways without her noticing them at all. She didn't know how to explain things to a smart girl like Hinata, so Sakura decided this would be the best way to extend her 'gift' to her future friend without wasting words for a long explanation. She would tell her about it later...
"Thank you, Sakura."
"You're welcome! No go talk to him." Even though she was old on the inside, her pushy nature hadn't changed as she encouraged her again. Then secretly followed to see what they were going to talk about. Hopefully, this would go as expected.
Naruto was lost in his thoughts as the feeling of the girl he liked setting him up with another girl left a bad taste in his mouth. Due to the lack of socialising Sakura had done in the latter half of her life, she didn't understand that trying to force a relationship together didn't have the best effects on the people involved. Naruto, being a pubescent kid who had yet to understand what 'liking a girl' really meant, was kinda nervous by how sudden everything was, as he wasn't expecting a love confession from a girl considering circumstances.
["She is someone you will fall for. Destiny says so!"] The words Sakura said to him appeared in his heart as he shook his head. He didn't understand complicated things like destiny and stuff, all he cared about was the here and now. Stuff like fate had zero meaning to him considering his past was like a miserable fate he wouldn't give to others...
But what DID bother him was the negativity that didn't seem to leave both his teammates. He could feel the almost self-destructive anger that Sasuke was hiding from the surface and how Sakura almost seemed melancholic, trapped in a nostalgic sadness that he couldn't quite explain with words no matter how much he tried to cheer her up.
What was making her so sad all the time? She was acting so unlike herself since that day she had a near complete shift in attitude towards him and Sasuke. It was like she was 'possessed' by despair.
"Naruto." He heard Hinata call out.
"Oh hey, Sakura said you wanted to say something to me." There was a curious look on his face as he spoke.
"..." She blushed while hesitating, the brought up Her courage to say exactly what she was feeling.
"I… really admire... you…!" These words were like a paper bomb that blew away all his previous thoughts. His eyes widened as she felt a surge of pride that his previous antics had inspired others
"You admire me! Haha! You really have good taste in the people you admire! You see, I am definitely going to become the future Hokage and surprise the entire world!" Naruto was ecstatic to find another person who wanted to be his friend. What was he thinking about before? Meh, it probably wasn't that important.
Hinata was sincerely happy that he finally heard her feelings. Then talked more with him with a smile.
Sakura, who was watching from afar, gaped at how despite how she confessed her feelings, there wasn't a pink or romantic atmosphere around them. In fact, this was due to her not understanding Hinata that well despite knowing the version of the white-eyed girl who had grown up compared to her more timid younger self.
The former Hyuga Heiress she was pushing forward to meet him had a pure heart that didn't have any ulterior motives. When she said she admired Naruto's earnest efforts, that was exactly what she meant. There was no deeper meaning to her words other than genuine admiration.
As a indecisive girl with a weak will, she naturally admired someone like Naruto who never gave up no matter what was against him. She only hoped that she could one day be more like him as the pure child she was… If those feelings had been unheard for a few years like the original timeline, then perhaps she may feel some special feelings for him, but the Hinata of now had yet to become that girl she met in the future.
She watched as the two talked about many things as they took advice from each other. Who said a boy and a girl couldn't have a genuine friendship even if stronger than any other? Sakura felt her world was turning upside down after hearing their topics. The most infuriating one was the last one where she almost ran up to him to punch his head.
"Hey, you know. Do you know how I can get Sakura to like me?" Naruto brought up the subject expectantly.
"Aren't you two friends?"
"But I want her to like me more." His eyes sparkled innocently as he spoke this a little louder than he probably should. Hinata didn't seem to find anything wrong with that as gave some advice.
...If he had focused a little more, he'd have noticed that there was a scary anger being pointed at his back. Perhaps it was his unconscious refusal to sense her or just him being a blockhead as usual.
"Sakura said she liked flowers and... seemed to like it when she used to be with Ino." She remembered Sakura's earlier words and decided to give that advice to Naruto. She didn't understand what those words meant but she was sure it was probably good advice if her friend said it. Though her only assistance was in old memories...
She had yet to even understand that Sakura and Ini had been in bad terms over Sasuke for years.
"Oh?! Tell me more about this!" Naruto was inwardly taking notes as Sakura was hitting her head on a wall.
'What have I done?!' Sakura thought as things weren't going as expected. Why was she giving the knucklehead tips on getting her to like him?! Didn't future Hinata say she always liked Naruto?
The complexity of the situation was beyond what she could understand, so she decided to leave it alone.
They had got together in the future, so it was probably fine if she let their relationship blossom by itself. Since they now knew each other, it shouldn't take more than four years like the last time for them to get together.
Meanwhile, Naruto was having a lot of fun planning out his next confession and wanted to make it as elaborate as possible. After saying goodbye to Hinata, he went to the store Ino worked at for some nice flowers. The youth was preparing to make a 'Grand Gesture' to the the girl he like and get her to approve of him with his sincerity and intimacyS
"You're going to confess to Sakura?"
"I'm super duper serious this time! You have to help me pick out some flowers she would like!" Naruto begged with a really pathetic look he wouldn't ever want to show Sakura in his lifetime.
Ino, who was happy to see that there was someone who just sincerely wanted to confess to the friend got back, decided to help him out. Of course, she wasn't polite as she spoke out how dirty his clothes looked and a bunch of stuff about how girls want confessions. This was more out of genuine kindness than wanting to see him fail miserably...
Naruto also took notes of all the girly nonsense she was saying so he could find some inspiration.
"I got an idea! Thanks, Ino!"
"Your welcome. Be sure to buy more products and not cry to me after you get rejected!" Even though his feelings were sincere, Ino truly didn't have high expectations of him since girls had high standards. It would be a miracle if Naruto actually succeeded.