Chapter 49: Konoha's School Season – Part One
Spring passed, autumn came, and in the blink of an eye, a full year had gone by.
Looking back on the past year, Sakura felt as though she had been living in a dream.
At first, all she wanted was to survive—to stick to the original story and safely coast her way to the ending.
But then, her long-delayed golden finger (cheat ability) finally arrived… and everything changed.
She had unknowingly stepped onto a completely different path.
Thinking about all the changes that had happened this year because of her,
Sakura couldn't help but feel a genuine sense of accomplishment.
Hiashi Hyūga was still alive, and now he and his twin brother Hizashi were actively working to reform the clan's traditions,
fighting to abolish the Caged Bird Seal.
Neji, no longer trapped in a fatalistic mindset, had stopped resenting the main family over his father's fate.
Instead of carrying a grudge, he had somehow turned into a full-blown siscon—always sticking close to Hinata,
showering her with "my sister this" and "my sister that."
His devotion was easily on par with Sasuke's infamous obsession with his brother.
Lee had already become Might Guy's student, training under him in taijutsu and the Eight Gates.
Even though he still got teased at school for being "the dead last" due to his inability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu,
having Neji and Tenten as loyal friends—and Guy as his energetic, dad-like mentor—
meant he didn't take those jeers to heart at all.
---
Tenten, thanks to Sakura's advice, had taken the ninja tool specialist route early on.
After hearing the tale of Lee's flying knife technique,
and with training from Itachi and Shisui,
she developed her own version: Tenten's Flying Daggers.
Borrowing advanced shuriken techniques from the Uchiha clan,
she quickly became one of the standout stars of the academy.
While her real combat ability still couldn't quite match Neji's,
when it came to ninja tool throwing, Tenten was without a doubt the best in her entire year.
---
Thanks to Neji's protective influence, Hinata's personality had brightened significantly.
She was no longer the chronically shy, timid girl from the original timeline.
However, she still had a problem—during training, she was unwilling to take the initiative to hurt others,
always preferring a defensive stance.
Hiashi had been pulling his hair out in frustration trying to fix that.
Meanwhile, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Shino had all started training in their respective clan secret techniques early on,
and were already beginning to show promising results.
But the biggest change had undoubtedly happened to Naruto.
No longer the lonely, rejected pariah from the original story,
Naruto now had Sakura and her friends by his side.
With the added support of Kakashi and Teuchi (from Ichiraku Ramen),
his life was much brighter than it had ever been.
Without the need to pull pranks just to get attention,
he trained seriously in taijutsu under Guy alongside Lee every day.
Over time, many villagers in Konoha had even begun to forget he was the so-called Nine-Tails demon.
Originally, Naruto had wanted to learn ninjutsu from Kakashi.
But due to the Nine-Tails' interference,
his chakra control was so unstable that it became impossible.
So, he ended up switching to training with Guy and Lee instead.
As for Sasuke, even though he hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet,
his natural talent—spurred on by the competitive energy around him—
had motivated him to train diligently.
This pleased Fugaku Uchiha, but also left him a bit conflicted.
He'd originally hoped his younger son might grow up a bit more ordinary,
so he and Mikoto could finally enjoy the feeling of raising a "normal" child.
But it turned out…
Sasuke's talent wasn't all that different from Itachi's after all.
Even though Sasuke was improving quickly in terms of strength,
his inner frustration hadn't lessened one bit.
Especially toward Sakura.
And it wasn't hard to guess the reason—Itachi.
Thanks to the combined scheming of Sakura, Sasuke, and their parents Fugaku and Mikoto,
Itachi and Izumi had finally ended up together.
While Itachi had never said anything overtly romantic,
everyone knew they were now a couple.
Their casual, unconscious public displays of affection were enough to make every single person around them feel personally attacked—
especially Kakashi, whom Sakura had privately dubbed a "forever single dog."
Of course, Sasuke's resentment wasn't because Itachi had a girlfriend.
It was because—even after finding one—Itachi still had no time for him.
If anything, he'd only gotten busier.
As she thought about it, Sakura couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Just six months ago, Itachi Uchiha had still ended up joining the ANBU.
As for the exact reasons, Fugaku Uchiha had explained them to her in private.
Although the Uchiha clan had begun to change for the better and their relationship with Konoha had eased significantly,
there were still a few stubborn old elders within the clan who refused to let things go.
These old fossils saw that many of their subordinates were leaning more and more toward Fugaku's leadership.
So instead of sitting back and accepting it, they decided to make a desperate move—
they wanted to force Itachi into ANBU to act as a spy and gather intelligence,
in preparation for a future rebellion.
Although their influence had waned,
when united, those elders still held considerable sway.
In the end, Fugaku had no choice but to let Itachi join ANBU,
though he specifically instructed him not to involve himself with clan affairs or act as a spy.
Instead, he told him to obey the Third Hokage's orders and leave the Uchiha's internal matters aside.
Even so, the past half-year in ANBU had clearly taken a toll on Itachi.
He had grown much quieter and more withdrawn.
Nobody knew exactly what kind of understanding had been reached between Danzo and those Uchiha elders,
but it was obvious that some kind of covert cooperation had begun between them.
Aside from the parties involved, no one else had any idea what was going on behind the scenes.
Itachi never spoke about it,
and neither Sakura nor anyone else could force him to.
All they could do now was watch silently from the sidelines.
Still, in her heart, Sakura added another mark to Danzo's list of crimes.
Meanwhile, Shisui had been acting increasingly strange.
He had become elusive, frequently vanishing without a trace,
and his usually upbeat demeanor had turned gloomy.
This made Sakura deeply worried that, just like in the original timeline,
Shisui might still end up being tricked and ambushed by Danzo,
ultimately taking his own life by jumping into the river.
"Uncle Kakashi, how's your Sharingan doing?"
Sakura asked, looking up at Kakashi, who was perched on a tree branch reading Make-Out Paradise.
The sight gave her yet another headache.
Ever since he discovered that the chakra drain from his Sharingan had decreased,
Kakashi had quit the ANBU altogether and become completely absorbed in training.
Thanks to years of savings and the Hatake clan's inheritance,
he didn't need to worry about money or food.
So now his daily routine consisted of intense training followed by hiding somewhere to indulge in his favorite smutty books.
His vibe was slowly morphing into the laid-back, somewhat degenerate uncle that matched his character in the original timeline.
"Well," Kakashi replied, lowering his book slightly,
"Thanks to you, Sakura, the chakra drain from the Sharingan has dropped a lot.
It's also become much easier to control!"
He lifted his forehead protector.
The three tomoe of his Sharingan spun once… and then vanished,
leaving his left eye looking no different from a normal one.
The effect didn't last long, however—
after a few seconds, the three tomoe reappeared again.
"I can now temporarily deactivate the Sharingan," Kakashi said.
"And I can feel that there's a power hidden deep inside it…
I just haven't figured out how to access it yet."