Chapter 207: What Are You Trying to Do? ...Can I?
Uchiha Itachi, for your safety, joined forces with Shimura Danzō and Uchiha Obito to carry out an indiscriminate massacre of the entire Uchiha clan.
The elderly. Children. Pregnant women. Infants. No one was spared.
All of it... could have been avoided.
But...
Sakura's words echoed in Sasuke's mind, one sentence after another.
The black-haired boy walked down the steps from the Hokage cliff with vacant eyes, each footfall mechanical.
The Uchiha weren't a clan of glory.
They were a clan branded with the mark of treason.
Sasuke didn't know what he was feeling right now. But—
The colorful world before his eyes seemed to drain into shades of grey and white.
"Sasuke."
A familiar voice called from beside him, but Sasuke didn't seem to hear it. He kept walking, step after mechanical step.
"Hey, Sasuke — did something happen?"
The voice's owner caught up from behind.
A flash of gold broke into the grey-white world.
"It's... Naruto, huh..."
Sasuke glanced at his friend, then continued walking in a daze.
"Sasuke, what's wrong?"
"Did Sakura say something to you?"
Naruto, whom Jiraiya had dragged away, hadn't actually left. He'd been waiting at the foot of the cliff the whole time.
"Naruto..."
Looking at his friend, Sasuke instinctively covered his face with one hand.
"If... someday..."
"The person who loved you most did something terrible to protect you... what would you do?"
Sasuke's muffled voice drifted out. Naruto scratched his head, puzzled.
"Hmmm..."
"Well, it depends on what they did wrong. If it's just a regular mistake, there's nothing a bowl of Ichiraku ramen can't fix!"
"And if one bowl isn't enough — then TWO!"
Looking at the upbeat blond, Sasuke pressed his lips together.
He must have been losing his mind, asking Naruto a question like this.
He didn't really expect Naruto to have an answer, but Sasuke spoke quietly anyway.
"A very serious mistake. Someone killed over a thousand people... to protect Naruto."
"Old people. Women. Children. Defenseless civilians... including Naruto's... mom and dad."
Naruto's expression froze. He looked at Sasuke — who was radiating an aura that could only be described as lost — and couldn't find any words.
Sasuke saw Naruto go rigid and sighed quietly.
He shouldn't have brought this up. Naruto and something like this existed in completely different worlds.
"Hey."
Sasuke was walking away when Naruto suddenly called out.
"What is it, Naruto?"
"Sorry — my head's in a bad place right now. Can you let me be alone for a while?"
Indescribable sorrow hung at the corners of Sasuke's eyes, and the words Naruto had been about to say died in his throat.
But even so, Naruto stiffened his neck and spoke.
"Sasuke."
"I've been an orphan my whole life."
"I don't know what it's like to have a mom and dad. But..."
"I've imagined it. If I had parents — that would be the happiest thing in the world."
"I don't know why Sasuke is asking a question like this."
"But if someone tried to kill my mom and dad—"
"Then they'd have to step over my dead body first!"
"And if Mom and Dad were already dead — even if all four of my limbs were broken, I'd drag myself with my chin and bite the person to death with my teeth!"
"No matter who they were!"
So... Uchiha Itachi has to die?
Sasuke's eyes trembled slightly as he looked at Naruto, and the image of that man rose unbidden in his mind.
The happier his memories of their time together, the more it hurt now.
"Hey, Naruto..."
Sasuke looked at the golden-haired boy and spoke.
"Yeah — I'm here!"
"I'm ALWAYS here!"
"No matter who hurts Sasuke, I'll always stand by your side!"
"And Sakura too!"
"Uh... and Ino..."
"Emmmm... and Chōji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Tenten..."
Naruto declared his pledge with full volume, then found himself listing every childhood friend he could think of, one by one.
"That's enough, Naruto."
Looking at the boy before him, Sasuke didn't even notice that the indescribable grief weighing on his heart had lightened considerably under Naruto's words.
"It's been three years. We still haven't had our match, have we?"
Sasuke had originally wanted to use combat to numb himself, but looking at this goofy, lovable idiot, he'd quietly changed "fight" to "match."
The distinction might seem trivial, but the meaning was worlds apart.
"Of course!"
"I've been dying to go all out against you!"
"I'm telling you — I'm seriously strong now!"
Naruto's eyes lit up at the challenge. He immediately threw an arm around Sasuke's shoulders.
"Idiot — too close."
Sasuke glanced at the hand on his shoulder. In the end, he didn't brush it off.
Three years later, the inseparable friends who'd once competed over everything found themselves back at the familiar Third Training Ground.
"Before we start — give me five minutes!"
Sasuke looked at Naruto, confused.
But Naruto didn't explain. He ran to a tree, split off two Shadow Clones, then sat cross-legged alongside them.
Sage chakra could only be stored in a maximum of two Shadow Clones.
Naruto had used one during his reunion with Sasuke, and the second during their joint fight against Danzō.
He hadn't returned to Mount Myōboku to replenish.
And regular-mode Naruto beating Sasuke was... honestly unlikely.
Sasuke watched without comment, waiting in silence.
Five minutes passed quickly. Naruto's original body and both clones entered Sage Mode simultaneously.
"OK!"
"Good to go!"
Orange pigment bloomed at the corners of Naruto's eyes. He sprang to his feet and grinned at Sasuke.
"You really are an idiot. If there were real enemies, nobody's going to wait five minutes for you to power up."
Sasuke looked at this ridiculous person and smiled despite himself.
"Huh?"
"That's what Sasuke is for! You can definitely stall for five minutes!"
Naruto said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're hopeless..."
"Come on, Naruto. Show me what three years of training got you."
Sarutobi Residence
"So... Danzō, he..."
Hiruzen lay in bed, his expression complicated as he looked at the two people before him.
Homura Mitokado and Sakura.
One was his friend and colleague of several decades. The other, the student he'd poured his last reserves of strength into raising.
"He's been placed in a maximum-security cell. A chakra-sealing curse mark has been inscribed on his body."
Homura spoke quietly.
"I see..."
"Homura — could you step out for a moment?"
"There are some things I'd like to discuss with Sakura alone."
The skeletal old man could barely raise his voice above a whisper.
"...Alright."
Homura looked at Hiruzen, sighed, and quietly withdrew.
Now it was just teacher and student.
Sakura said nothing.
In the mere two days she'd been away, Hiruzen had deteriorated to the point where even getting out of bed was a struggle.
"Come sit."
Hiruzen patted the edge of the bed. Sakura sat down in silence.
The dying old man studied the girl before him with careful eyes.
This was his final masterwork. His last legacy.
He remembered the first time he'd seen her — a six-year-old child.
She'd punched an upperclassman who was bullying Naruto clean across the schoolyard.
Ten years. Just ten short years, and that unremarkable little girl had become someone no one in the shinobi world dared take lightly.
Any day now, she would become the Fifth Hokage.
Not just the youngest Hokage in Konoha's history, but the first woman to hold the title.
This filled Hiruzen with pride — and with worry.
So young. Too young...
Youth meant impulsiveness. And while Sakura always projected an air of composure—
Hiruzen knew what kind of person she truly was.
"Sakura..."
The old man called his student's name softly.
"Mm. I'm here."
Looking at the old man before her, Sakura answered.
"Can you tell this old man — how do you view the Daimyo?"
The aged man fixed his eyes on his student.
Here it comes...
Sakura didn't want to lie to this man. She could deceive anyone.
But not him.
Never him.
"The Daimyo. The nobility."
"They shouldn't exist."
Words that from anyone else would constitute high treason, spoken plainly from Sakura's lips.
Silence. Long silence.
"Right now, the Daimyo resides in Konoha. Even after you become Hokage, you'll effectively have a superior sitting over your head."
"If this Daimyo leverages a thousand years of accumulated authority to oppose you—"
"What will you do next?"
Contrary to expectation, Hiruzen didn't try to talk Sakura out of her treasonous ambition. He simply asked how she planned to proceed.
Hearing the old man's words, Sakura's emerald eyes flickered.
"He won't get the chance."
"Konoha's shinobi grew up in this village. Even if the Daimyo's authority can influence them—"
"Shinobi follow the Hokage's orders."
"And besides..."
Her gaze dropped slightly. She left the rest unsaid, but Hiruzen already understood.
"Old. I really am old."
Hiruzen gave a bitter laugh and shook his head.
Sakura had already killed the previous Daimyo. What was stopping her from dealing with a child not yet twelve?
With Sakura's abilities, manipulating him would be effortless.
"I'll use the Daimyo's authority to designate Konoha as the capital of the Land of Fire."
"Concentrate the nation's financial resources to expand Konoha, then recruit and train shinobi on a national scale."
"And then—"
Sakura laid out her vision.
"Once shinobi numbers surge, even Konoha's finances — however vast — won't be able to support that many."
Hiruzen completed her thought.
"Correct."
Sakura nodded.
"But while shinobi aren't producers by trade, that doesn't mean they can't be."
"Road construction alone — a single Earth Release user can do the work of a dozen ordinary laborers in a day."
By this point, Hiruzen understood Sakura's vision completely.
She didn't just want to eliminate the nobility. She wanted to use shinobi abilities to reshape the world.
But—
"But..."
Hiruzen regarded Sakura with a complicated expression, a thread of inexpressible sorrow woven through his words.
"What about ordinary people?"
If Sakura's plan went forward, enormous numbers of civilians would face unemployment and destitution. Those unable to survive would become sources of instability.
And with shinobi in every corner, any resistance from civilians would be utterly futile.
Hiruzen seemed to glimpse, dimly, a future soaked in blood.
Sakura was silent for a long time before speaking slowly.
"Ordinary people aren't without chakra."
"I'll have the Second develop jutsu that even civilians can use — it may be more cumbersome, but it'll allow them to make a living."
"And there's Tenzō's Wood Release. I want to use it to improve crop strains — dramatically increase food yields."
Hiruzen shook his head.
"All of that takes time."
What Sakura was describing would require a decade at minimum.
"I need time too."
Sakura answered.
These initiatives required time, and scaling shinobi numbers to that level also required time.
If managed properly, the two timelines could mesh seamlessly.
"Sakura — you're attempting something very dangerous."
The girl raised her eyes to her teacher.
"Becoming a shinobi was always a dangerous thing."
Hiruzen looked at the girl before him and found himself at a loss for words.
His thoughts drifted back, unbidden, to a certain afternoon.
A little pink-haired girl standing atop the Hokage cliff, small hands spread as if cradling Konoha — cradling the entire Land of Fire — in her palms.
She'd turned to him and asked, with the utterly serious face of a child:
Lord Hokage, don't you think there are too many countries in this world?
Now he could see it. Sakura was truly following through on those words.
She was advancing, step by step, toward dominion over the world itself.
"That little pink-haired kid... she's really grown up, hasn't she..."
The old man gently held his student's hand, his voice thick with grief he couldn't quite conceal.
This path was destined to be lonely. Solitary.
This girl — who appeared steady on the surface but was sometimes reckless underneath, carrying an intelligence most people couldn't begin to fathom—
She would bear the censure of countless others. Even the people closest to her might not understand.
He'd watched her grow up, day by day. He'd long since come to think of her as his own granddaughter.
The thought of this girl walking that road alone — a road no one would ever truly understand—
Hiruzen's eyes stung with tears he didn't let fall.
Lonely. Solitary.
No one to listen. No one to understand. No one to confide in.
And even if she succeeded — achieved an unprecedented golden age—
Everyone would admire her. Worship her. Respect her. Look up to her.
But no one would understand her.
At that thought, Hiruzen wept silently.
After taking her leave of Hiruzen, Sakura paused and looked back at the modest residence.
All of this — hadn't she prepared for it long ago?
Now was the time to take the first step.
Nothing to hesitate about.
Haruno Residence
"Big Sis!"
The moment Sakura pushed open the door, a small figure came charging at her on stubby little legs.
"Slow down."
Sakura scooped Mirai into her arms and pinched her little sister's cheek with a resigned expression.
"Hehehe~~~"
Mirai wrapped her arms around Sakura's neck, clinging like a barnacle.
"Where did Big Sis go these past two days?"
"I missed you sooo much."
The little pink-head nuzzled against the big pink-head's cheek, voice gooey with affection.
"Working, obviously. Earning money for your snacks."
Holding the little pink-head with one arm, Sakura kicked off her shoes with the other hand, dropped them on the shoe rack, and padded barefoot into the house.
"You're back?"
"Everything okay?"
Haruno Mebuki looked at her eldest daughter with worry.
"I'm fine. What could possibly happen to me?"
"Relax. I've got everything handled."
Sakura responded to her mother's concern with easy confidence.
The commotion at the Hokage Building had been enormous — there was no hiding it. Even a housewife like Mebuki had caught wind of the basics.
Seeing her eldest daughter's air of total confidence, Mebuki could only suppress her anxiety.
Watching Sakura play with Mirai on the sofa, Mebuki opened her mouth to remind her daughter to be more careful—
But the words wouldn't come.
Sakura's brilliance was far beyond anything she could comprehend.
Her child had grown up long ago. She had no business interfering anymore.
Besides — what could an ordinary woman who spent her days managing a household possibly teach her daughter?
It was hard to fathom that the prodigious girl on the sofa, tickling her baby sister, was the daughter of a housewife like her.
Mebuki felt a sudden pang of inadequacy.
From the very beginning, Sakura had never seemed to need her.
"Mom, I want fish tonight."
Sakura looked up at her mother, then turned and poked Mirai's forehead with a grin.
"Does little Mirai want fish too?"
"Yeah!"
Funny — Mom's hair is blonde, Dad's is brown. How did they produce two pinkies?
Did one of the grandparents have pink hair?
"Got it, got it. All you ever think about is food."
Mebuki waved a hand with mild exasperation.
"Hehe, Mom's fish is just SO good~~~"
Hearing her daughter's cheerful voice, Mebuki sighed in resignation and headed out to buy groceries.
She didn't notice the smile that had crept onto her own face — exasperated, yet warm.
Her child was extraordinarily capable. Mebuki didn't pretend to be more capable than her own daughter.
And if that was the case — then all she had to do was make sure the girl was fed and cared for.
Night
Bathed and fed, Sakura sat cross-legged on her bed, hands pressed together.
Yang Release — Yang Clone!
Poof!
A puff of white smoke billowed before her.
An identical copy of Sakura appeared, sitting across from her.
Sakura studied the clone.
The clone tilted her head and blinked, looking at Sakura with apparent confusion.
They stared at each other. Neither spoke first.
"You can drop the act."
Sakura broke the silence.
"Well, well~ I never thought you'd voluntarily let me out."
"This is a real first."
It was none other than Inner Sakura.
Inner Sakura sat cross-legged, examining her surroundings with open curiosity.
"You know my situation. When I need you in the future, behave. Understood?"
"In exchange, I'll let you out to stretch your legs on a regular schedule."
"But NO causing trouble!"
Sakura frowned at the figure before her.
Because of Danzō's Kotoamatsukami, the Yin Release power — strong enough to alter someone's will — had suppressed the clone's consciousness, giving Inner Sakura the opening to manifest through the clone body.
Chakra was a fusion of physical and spiritual energy.
The physical was Yang. The spiritual was Yin.
Kotoamatsukami had suppressed the clone's Yin, which meant other Yin had to fill the void.
Combined with the fact that the Yang Clone was an evolution of the Shadow Clone — and the Shadow Clone's properties were bizarre even by Sakura's standards—
Through a perfect storm of coincidences, Inner Sakura had broken free.
Unless Sakura abandoned the Yang Clone technique entirely.
But that was never going to happen.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it."
Inner Sakura hopped off the bed and slipped her feet into Sakura's slippers.
Perfect fit.
"What are you doing?"
Sakura frowned at Inner Sakura, who seemed to be heading for the door.
"...Can I?"
Inner Sakura scratched her head and looked at Sakura with wide, innocent eyes.
???
!!!
###!
What the f—
What is WRONG with this creature's brain?!
Seeing the filthy implications written all over this degenerate's face, Sakura's blood pressure spiked. She hurled a pillow directly into Inner Sakura's face.
"Calm down — I don't even have the equipment."
"And even if I did, we'd just be fencing with ourselves."
"That's disgusting."
"Actually, you know what — it'd be better if we were both girls. At least that's easier on the eyes."
Sakura stared at Inner Sakura's matter-of-fact expression, mouth twitching.
This creature. Wearing her face. Spouting filth without a shred of shame.
Truly, some things never changed.
"You are NOT going out there. What if you scare Mirai?"
Sakura blocked the door as Inner Sakura reached for the handle.
"Then why'd you let me out?"
"Just to tell me the rules?"
"You think I'm some kind of on-call servant?"
"If you won't let me go outside, what am I supposed to do at this hour — sleep?"
Inner Sakura looked at the door-blocking Sakura with visible annoyance.
Before Sakura could answer, a mischievous glint appeared in those emerald eyes.
"Actually... sleeping could work."
"But~~~"
Inner Sakura turned to Sakura with an expression that was anything but innocent.
"What are you planning?"
Sakura's brow furrowed slightly.
What stunt is she trying to pull now?
The next morning.
Can't... breathe...
Sakura opened her eyes blearily, feeling distinctly oxygen-deprived. She glanced at the pink-haired octopus sprawled half on top of her.
Then, without an ounce of hesitation, delivered a kick.
The pink-head hit the floor with a shriek and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sakura sat up and rubbed her drowsy eyes.
Inner Sakura's request last night had been simple: let her hold Sakura while they slept.
The idea of the original body being cuddled by her own clone sounded ridiculous, but in the interest of keeping Inner Sakura cooperative going forward, Sakura had agreed.
They were the same person, after all. Just think of it as using yourself as a body pillow.
"Sakura, what happened?"
Mebuki, who was already up making breakfast, heard the commotion and knocked on the door.
"Nothing. Fell out of bed."
Sakura scratched her head, still groggy.
☆☆☆
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