Finally, the time for the Chunnin Exams were coming up and powerful forces made their way to the Hidden Leaf. The ripples Sakura had created throughout the time stream was negligible at the moment, but there was no telling when it'll change.
As part of the 'Village hidden in the Sand', the trio of Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were doing as they were told and keeping a low profile until the Chunnin Exams started. There was a psychotic look in Gaara's eyes as he was holding back his bloodlust to serve the Sand Village. It was just another day for him to stay in this agonising state...
"Are they the ones?" A man wearing a bamboo hat spoke to the disguised young girl who next to him.
"I'm not sure if this is a good plan." There was another older youth dressed as a black-haired girl who also spoke out. The green-eyed Gennin of the Hidden Leaf was inwardly weighing her options.
"If you consider yourselves tools, then don't doubt my intelligence. The Kazekage of the Hidden Sand will absolutely try to use the Chunnin Exams as an opportunity to try and destroy the Hidden Leaf. The lack of war means lack of food for them, so you could say our Hokages decisions that are more peaceful-loving than most have put them in a very difficult position." The pink-haired girl explained.
"You still haven't explained our purpose for being here. Who do we have to kill?" Zabuza, who had no choice but work under her after being threatened with a meaningless death, felt the conspiracies happening around them were too deep.
He didn't know what her plan of action was…
"Trying to get in the way of their plans will only lead to being besieged at all times. Instead of doing anything meaningless that will draw attention, I need your skills as a 'Ninja', and not a Swordsman.
All you have to do is not get involved with this trio and keep an eye on those from the Hidden Sound. Find out where their base is located. Other than that, do not fight unless it's to escape." After saying those words, she left them to their devices.
Zabuza and Haku were silent for a moment… It was after a long while did one of them inquired about her. The youngster who had always followed his surrogate father wasn't sure what the Rogue Ninja from the bloodthirsty Hidden Mist was thinking.
"Can she be trusted?" The androgynous youth gave Zabuza a look, silently asking for his opinion.
"She was able to single-handedly take both of us down without killing us and is now involving herself in high-level political schemes to save her village. Even though she's from the Hidden Leaf, it's my first time seeing some so monstrous in my entire life."
"That wasn't what I asked…"
"I know, but listen to me closely. Working as a tool for her is better than working for Gato. Do you know of anyone else who would give their 'tool' Gato's entire savings as payment before trusting us to do our jobs without running off? She's naive, but she can trusted."
Underneath the bandages covering his face were a mouth with a sharp set of teeth that broke into a grin after thinking about this strange pink-haired girl who 'took them in' as tools. Though she acted coldly, he found it amusing how the girl couldn't hide that she cared about their safety… The only reason he was even following her was because he thought she was VERY interesting as a leader.
Meanwhile, as they were talking, Sakura herself seemed without strength as she fell to her knees at a nearby alleyway. The memories from her released Shadow Clone with Team 7 made her will falter.
It was supposed to be a regular day as that Shadow Clone with her team had been tasked with keeping a low profile. However, what caused her to be unable to keep her Shadow Clone up was Naruto's actions. It made her emotions go haywire from the shock and fatigue that she had been experiencing over these few days due to keeping up many Shadow Clones active simultaneously.
That particular Clone had been walking to go visit the flower shop Ino was always taking care of, but to her surprise, the person she met instead was Naruto, who got her a familiar type of flowers she remembered from the past and put into a bundle.
"Hey, Sakura, I like you a lot, so please go out with me... I'm serious!" He put the bundle in front of her and asked her out with great sincerity burning in his eyes, a very big scene that even caused the nearby villagers to break out in gossip loudly.
What Sakura was thinking about at this moment wasn't her image though. As she looked at his face, the scene of Sasuke giving a flower to her in the future overlapped with him, as well as expression Naruto made just before she came back to the past.
Her thoughts were in disorder as all the good memories she had with her daughter came to mind at this moment. Some say it's bad memories that cause the greatest pain, but what she experienced pain from right now was from all the good memories of her life. Discarding the memories she held most precious was hard for to accept...
She didn't know what she was feeling, and so these emotions just turned into incomprehensible anger.
"Shut up!" This quickly lead to an extreme reaction as she slapped the bundle of flowers Naruto held into the ground, ruining them with her monstrous strength. Naruto's smile disappeared as he felt her uncontrollable emotions upon seeing her disgust.
...He wasn't surprised though. Even though the Nine Tails was being docile compared to how it was in the past, he felt she must have felt disgusted by the fact that he was a beast holding Jinchuriki.
She lifted her fist and was about to punch him, but the image of Naruto's sad face from the future overlapped with the disappointed look of the him of now. The anger she felt was blown away and was replaced with melancholy at the fact that it had always been like this... She laughed self-mockingly before letting out a sigh, ejecting out her sadness.
Naruto was surprised but was ready for a harsh rejection as he clenched his teeth, yet the punch she had thrown out ended up having zero strength put into it, resulting in only her tapping his cheek.
He could feel her negativity lessen before worsening as soon as she finally started to speak.
"I… don't even like you…! You're just an idiot with nothing going for you. Do you think your already the Hokage? That the road getting there would be all sun and rainbows? Your getting conceited because of that fox sealed inside you...! Must be nice being arrogant!" She rejected him harshly before turning to leave, only to feel a hand grab onto her wrist, stopping her from walking off.
"What?" She asked in an annoyed tone.
"..." In a contest of strength, she wasn't his match if he focused his Chakra into enhancing his physique instead of Ninjutsu. Even as she tried to run away so he wouldn't see her face change, even when depressions of their feet could be seen on the floor, he didn't let go. The perceptive kid felt that he would lose the Sakura he knew if he let go.
Sakura didn't know what he was up to as she suddenly felt herself being pulled towards him, a hand grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him. It was only then that he saw the clear irritation on her expression to hide her regrets.
"You should cry if you feel like it, ya know. Why are you eating your heart like this? Does me confessing really make you this sad? I'll stop saying I like you if it only hurts you." Even when she put up a front, he could instantly see through her deceit.
This had nothing to do with his ability to sense emotions but his gut instinct telling him that she was blatantly lying to mislead him, and that right now wasn't good idea to leave her alone.
"Just leave me alone...!" Even though he was strong, a person like Sakura could easily break out of his grip if she chose to, but the fact that she found it physically impossible to hit him put her in a tough spot. Naruto DID let go of her though considering the fact he wasn't trying to hurt her. It was just that he really wanted to talk to her.
"Sakura, can't you tell me anything?"
"I can't... So just leave me alone." Even though she once again tried to leave, Naruto would just follow.
"Why aren't you leaving me alone?"
"Because you look like me back then." These words stopped her as he looked at her back knowingly.
There was a time in his life when isolation made him feel anger towards the village. The relentless abuse and lack of attention made him so depressed that he even started to think it would be better if everything just burned to the ground when the nine-tailed fox had attacked the village, but he was saved by a small act of kindness.
Sakura didn't understand what he was saying.
No, she didn't WANT to understand a word he said to her. Sakura's hand made a Ninjutsu seal that released her Shadow Clone, and now here original self was, kneeling over in a dark alleyway after separating from Zabuza just a few seconds ago.
'I shouldn't get too close to him… The only thing I give him is pain. Never do I give him any kind of happiness.' Her mind started to recover as she leaned onto a wall, her eyes were lost in the memories what she did to him in 'her past'.
The past that she could say was only her own...
It was the promise he made with her to get Sasuke back that broke his spirit the day Team 7 had seperated, and it was those fleeting words that pushed him dangerous lengths to get him back at all costs. He suffered so much those days, but still smiled no matter what hardship came his way. He even lost his arm that day in the Fourth Great Ninja War, when she couldn't even offer any help…
"Huh?" She suddenly felt her vision blurring. Her hand wiped her eyes, and she couldn't hold back her tears.
'Stop crying. I don't have the right to cry over this kind of thing. Not ever!' She tried to control herself but found the pain to be too much. Sarada… She couldn't forget Sarada… If she wanted to see her again, then she needed to marry Sasuke. She couldn't let her heart waver like this! There was someone she had to meet in the future...!
Her heart was conflicted as various emotions mixed together. Her self-blame for losing Sarada in the war, her regret for keeping Naruto at arm's length throughout most of their time together after Sasuke left the village, her desire for that idiot despite him 'not being her type' in the past, and even the nostalgic memories of Sarada Uchiha.
Her maternal instincts were strong despite being young as the clear memories of raising a child, her child, was deeply etched into her heart to the point it became an obsession, something that she would never be able to completely escape from.
Hinata's a better partner for him anyway, right?
She's sweet, she's gentle, she's a girl with a strong heart, and the willingness to even risk her life for the people she loves. There's no need for her to worry about his future if Hinata is there... She couldn't be selfish right now and ruin everything.
"You okay?" Naruto's voice shocked her as she tried to wipe away her tears, but to no avail.
The knucklehead couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the strong and confident girl he had hung out with show such vulnerability for the first time since leaving the Academy and changing to become more mature. He didn't understand what was going on with her, but he was determined to make her smile. It was a resolution that nothing could erase.
"How did you find me?" He looked into her eyes as she spoke to him with eyes filled with nervousness.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu and my own Negative Emotion Sensing. Your sadness is pretty easy to find."
"I-"
"Forget all that and come with me, I'm sure going this favourite place of mine will make you feel better!"
He once again impulsively grabbed her arm without thinking and pulled her along to take her a place she'd like. This time she didn't resist as he brought her out of the dark alley and into the light. His smile washed away the feelings cursing her... She didn't understand where they were going until she smelt a familiar scent coming from a shop nearby.
"Ichiraku's is the best!" He lead her to a table and asked for two orders. Normally, he'd talk to the old man and female assistant who were making the ramen actively, but since now wasn't the best time and they themselves were busy with customers, he didn't.
Sakura looked at the plate before her and didn't understand why Naruto had brought her here.
"You're not going to eat? It's good, ya know?"
"I don't have the appetite." She shook her head.
"Aren't you curious why we're here?"
"Because Ramen makes people feel better?"
"Wrong!" Naruto heavily shook his head.
"I don't know how to explain it…" He continued.
"You look like me back in the day when people first started to avoid me after knowing about my Seal. I was sad as you'd expect, but most of all, I felt abandoned by the people who used to play with me as a kid. I felt jealous and sad that I couldn't have what was 'normal' to others... What 'they' would complain about." Sakura listened to this story she hadn't heard without interrupting him.
He took the time to continue meaningfully:
"At that time, people weren't even willing to let me buy their food. And the only person who did were the guys at Ichiraku's. I ate, but for some reason, I felt like all the sadness in my heart had been blown away. It was like like the emptiness was 'stuffed'.
...I realise now that it had nothing to do with the food's taste or the recipe used, and I would have still felt happy even if the ramen had no flavour. Not that their ramen ever has no flavour though!" He smiled while reminiscing about his own past.
This memory was likely the reason he was so obsessed with Ramen to the point he never grew out of eating it even as a Hokage. Even though he was tired all the time from work, he still had time to order food from Ichiraku's to eat by himself.
Regardless, Naruto empathised with her...
"Since you looked isolated as well… I thought you would feel better if you ate with others. Don't think too much and enjoy something to eat! I brought it with the little pocket money I have. You better believe it!" Naruto spoke seriously before digging in before the ramen got cold, not understanding how much his words affected her.
She looked down at the ramen in front of her and used her chopsticks to eat. Unlike Naruto, who was eating like a starved wolf, Sakura seemed much more refined even as she ate. Nobody noticed but she had unconsciously moved her seat closer to him while eating, even she herself didn't notice as her heart fluttered from this small kindness of his.
'I… Maybe just this one… I'll be a little selfish.' She couldn't help but bring herself to smile while watching him be so… 'him'. Naruto had always been a ray of sunshine, illuminating her world with simple happinesses she never got from Sasuke.
Why was she always do fixated on him, anyway?
She didn't need a grand gesture, just the fact that he was willing to stay despite her bad attitude towards him made it hard NOT to feel the affection he had for her, something she found hard to accept no matter how many times he confessed.
'I have to control myself better. I can't show this shameful side of me again.' She vowed to never become emotional like this ever again… but just for now, she'd indulge a little… since Naruto went so far. It would be a waste to reject this kindness.
Maybe just for today, she'd live her life a little...