Sakura sat alone in her room, staring blankly at the wall. She thought a lot about her past behavior toward Naruto.
Even before he lost his memories, she had always insulted him. She had always hit him.
'I always blamed him for being creepy,' she thought, looking down at her hands. 'I told myself it was fine because he was annoying and always chased me, even when I wasn't interested.'
Because of that, Sakura had never truly felt guilty.
But now, things were different. Naruto was no longer interested in her. He wasn't clingy. He didn't chase her. Yet, she had still wanted to hit him and mock him.
The problem was, whenever she tried to insult him now, Naruto fought back. And every time he did, Sakura was forced to see the massive difference in strength between them. He possessed power close to a Jonin.
Sakura looked at the scroll resting on her lap. For the past two days, she had practiced the breathing method written inside it.
The results were undeniable. Her chakra control felt smoother. She wasted far less energy during normal movements like breathing, walking, and running.
'I was so stupid,' she whispered to herself. 'Instead of staying under his guidance to gain strength, I chased temporary satisfaction. I tried to corner him just to make myself feel better for a moment... and I ruined everything.'
Her chest grew heavier with regret. Finally, she made a decision.
She would go to Naruto. She would apologize. If needed, she would even beg him to accept her as his disciple again. No matter how humiliating it felt, she had to do it.
The next day, Sakura walked deep into the forest and reached Naruto's house.
But Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Haku was standing outside.
"You are Haku, right?" Sakura asked carefully. "Have you seen Naruto?"
Haku pointed toward a small hut near the main house. "Naruto is in there. He said he wants to practice and asked me to guard him. If you want to meet him, you can come tomorrow."
Sakura stared at the hut. She had come all this way, fully prepared to lower her head, but Naruto wasn't even available to hear her. A dull ache rose inside her chest.
She nodded quietly, turned around, and walked back toward the village, completely dejected.
She didn't know that Ino was hiding in the shadows of the building. When Ino saw Sakura returning from the forest, She quickly hid herself behind a building, watching at Sakura with eyes narrowed.
'What is going on with Sakura?' Ino thought. ' She is going to forest more often,....does she working for other village or what? I need to find out.'
.............
Meanwhile, across the village, Ayame was also deep in thought. She remembered the heavy offer Naruto had made to her.
She felt helpless. She and her father were ordinary people. In a village of ninja, strength decided respect. Even a small shop like Ichiraku Ramen had to carefully please powerful people just to survive.
'If someone powerful wants to crush us, we can do almost nothing,' Ayame thought bitterly. She hated that feeling of weakness.
Her thoughts drifted to Naruto. 'If I become powerful enough, we can stay firm in our business. And when Naruto becomes stronger, I can ask him for help.'
Ayame had a strange, powerful hunch. Naruto would not remain ordinary. Deep in her heart, she felt that one day, he might rule the entire ninja world.
With her resolve hardened, she walked into the living room to meet her father.
Teuchi was sitting calmly, taking a sip of his afternoon tea.
"Dad," Ayame said clearly. "I want to be Naruto's girlfriend."
"Pffft!" Teuchi violently choked on his tea, coughing hard.
He wiped his mouth, his eyes wide with absolute disbelief. "Are you right in your mind?! Just two days back, so many things happened with that awful rumor about you and Naruto! You know how embarrassing those past two days have been. And now you say you want to be his girlfriend?"
Ayame did not look away. Her voice was steady. "I made up my mind, Dad."
Teuchi stared at her for a long time. Having raised her entirely alone without a mother, he had always been soft toward her. Seeing how serious she was, he knew he couldn't stop her.
He let out a heavy, defeated sigh. "Fine… but don't do anything that you will regret later."
"Yes, Dad," Ayame smiled softly, her resolve firmer than ever.
Inside the small hut, the air was incredibly heavy.
Naruto sat cross-legged, pulling massive amounts of natural energy into his body. Over the last few days, he had repeatedly broken his physical limits, increasing his capacity to hold the natural qi.
He converted the nature qi into demonic qi while simultaneously drawing out a portion of Kurama's violent chakra.
The Nine-Tails' chakra was heavy, hateful, and poisonous. When that dark energy mixed with the pure natural qi inside his body, the reaction was brutal.
Naruto suddenly lurched forward, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood.
A sharp agony flared through his veins. His blood felt like it was boiling, and his chakra channels felt as if they were being violently scraped from the inside. For a terrifying second, the unstable energy almost destroyed his control.
Gritting his teeth, Naruto forcefully wrestled the energies back into balance.
The process was highly dangerous, but the results were undeniable. His blood and channels were being purified.
A dark, foul-smelling layer of impurities slowly formed over his skin. Useless, tainted blood leaked from his nostrils, ears, and mouth.
Through the intense pain, his body was completely transforming. His weak frame filled out, gaining perfectly refined and firm muscles. His facial features sharpened, becoming strikingly handsome.
For Naruto, pain was just a price. And power was always worth paying for.
On the fourth day, Ayame arrived at the house in the forest.
"Is Naruto home?" she asked Haku.
"He is practicing and will come out soon," Haku replied smoothly. "You can wait here."
Ayame nodded and sat down quietly.
A little while later, Sakura emerged from the trees. She walked slowly, her mind completely focused on the apology she needed to give.
But when she saw Ayame sitting outside, she stopped dead in her tracks.
'Ayame? Why is she here?' Sakura thought in surprise.
Ayame looked up. When she saw Sakura, her face twisted in deep disgust.
"Why did you come here again, Sakura?" Ayame demanded, her voice cold and sharp. "I thought you gossiped a lot about Naruto and me, so how come you came here again?"
Sakura flinched. She stared down at the dirt, completely unable to look Ayame in the eye.
She felt terrible. For a quick moment of satisfaction to get a feeling of cornering Naruto, she had spread a damaging lie without knowing the complete truth. Now, she was seen as a terrible who broke people's relationships to Ayame. Swallowing her heavy guilt, Sakura remained completely silent.
..............
Meanwhile, hidden safely in the nearby bushes, Ino's eyes widened as she overheard Ayame's words.
Ino went to Ayame, just yesterday to find out how much truth in it, Ayame gave a gist of info about it to Ino.
"Is the rumors between you and Naruto is true, Ayame ?"
"NO! I already told many people that I am still a virgin and that is a false rumor. Soon, the rumor will subside as I shown proof of medical certi that I am still a virgin."
"It's disguistfull to hear these rumors about me."
"Don't worry, Ayame. It will subside on it's own."
Ayame nodded. "Haa"
...........
Ino thought about Ayame's own life had been pure chaos for the past two days because of a similar vicious rumor spreading about her and Naruto. Ayame father had been furious with her. It took a full examination from a medical ninja to prove that Ayame was still a virgin just to clear her name and to falsify the rumors.
Hearing Ayame's accusation, the truth finally hit Ino like a physical blow.
'It was Sakura! Sakura is the one who spread those lies about Ayame!'
Ino glared at Sakura from the shadows, her face contorting in absolute disgust. The girl she had known since childhood was nothing but a liar who casually destroyed people's reputations.
Ino scoffed quietly in her hiding spot, her gaze shifting away from Sakura to scan the area. She looked at the grand house, then to Haku, and finally back to Ayame and then to a small hut.
'Whose house is this?' Ino wondered, her thoughts racing. 'And who is that guy guarding the hut? What is actually going on here?'
Before Ino could demand any answers in her mind, the heavy wooden door of the small hut creaked open.
A suffocating wave of demonic qi rolled out into the clearing.
Along with the pressure came a terrible, overwhelming stench. It smelled of blood, potent dark qi, and rotten impurities all mixed together.
Sakura, Ayame, Ino, and even Haku immediately clamped their hands over their noses.
Through the shadows of the doorway, a young man stepped outside.
He was entirely topless. His body was flawlessly shaped, with perfectly refined muscles. Long, silk-like black hair framed a strikingly sharp and handsome face. His piercing blue eyes looked colder and more intense than ever before.
But the man standing in front of them possessed a dangerous handsomeness that easily rivaled, or even surpassed, Sasuke.
Sakura's eyes widened in utter disbelief seeing that.
Ayame froze completely in place seeing his well refined body and handsomeness.
Ino stood paralyzed in the bushes, forgetting to even blink.
All three girls were in complete shock. The person standing before them looked like Naruto, but he no longer felt anything like the boy they used to know.