Chapter 335: Side Story — Sakura Haruno, Part Four
"Naruto!"
"KILL SASUKE!"
The girl's grief-stricken scream echoed through the Valley of the End, drowning out every other sound.
The boy, wrapped in his tailed-beast cloak, stared at the girl named Sakura Haruno, unable to believe what he'd just heard.
Sakura... what is she saying?
Killing Sasuke. Killing a comrade — something like that, he could never...
"That's enough."
Tears fell like a broken string of pearls, one after another, striking the lake's surface, rippling outward, fragile.
"That's enough, Naruto."
"If this keeps going... if this keeps going, you're going to die!"
"Don't die."
"Please. Please don't die."
Every one of the girl's choked, sobbing words reached both Naruto and Sasuke's ears without missing a syllable, and Naruto's face twisted with something too complicated to put into words.
If Sakura had chosen to give up on Sasuke out of concern for his own safety, in any other circumstance, he'd have been happy enough to eat thirty bowls of Ichiraku ramen in celebration.
But right now, looking at Sasuke ahead of him — malice radiating off him, eyes burning with pure killing intent — there was nothing in Naruto that could feel happy about any of it.
"Seems Sakura's got more resolve than you do, Naruto."
Sasuke stepped forward, sneering at Naruto — still hesitating, even wrapped in his tailed-beast cloak.
"Naruto. You're my best friend..."
Sasuke's voice stayed calm, even — a jarring contrast to the cold, murderous chakra radiating off him.
"Wh— what..."
Naruto stared at him, unable to process it.
The black-haired boy's skin, once healthy and flushed, had gone pale and gray. Two hand-like wings of raw flesh unfurled from his back.
The Curse Mark's second stage. Heaven's Seal.
Watching Sasuke transform into something monstrous right in front of him, Naruto felt a wave of genuine sorrow wash over him.
He'd been called a monster his whole life.
And yet, standing here now, next to Sasuke, it was Sasuke who looked far more like one.
"Naruto. Since you won't do it yourself..."
"Then I won't hold back."
With that, Sasuke's foot came down, and his form vanished instantly.
What?!
This is bad!
A wave of panic Naruto couldn't put into words crashed over him.
Because Sasuke's target was—
Sakura!
Black Chidori shrieked, sharp and dense as birdsong, and Sasuke's flesh-wings beat once as he skimmed the water's surface, closing on the pink-haired girl at blinding speed.
Sakura's presence had disrupted his fight with Naruto.
Which meant—
He'd kill her.
Itachi had once told him that only by killing the person you loved most could you awaken the Uchiha clan's forbidden power.
Sasuke wasn't entirely sure whether Sakura mattered to him or not.
But of one thing he was absolutely certain.
Naruto was his most important friend.
A true, real showdown with Naruto — and then killing him.
That was how he'd awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
That was Sasuke's actual goal.
"NO!"
"Stop it, Sasuke!"
Naruto tore after him, frantic, but having lost the initiative, there was no way he could catch up to a Sasuke boosted by Lightning Release-stimulated cells and the Curse Mark's second stage, moving at a fraction of his own top speed.
Blood stained the lake's surface, and black lightning tore straight through the girl's stomach.
Blood streamed from that horrific wound, trickling down into the lake below like a small, dark river.
Sakura stared at the boy in front of her, unable to believe it.
She'd never imagined Sasuke would go this far.
Then again — she'd told Naruto to kill him, hadn't she...
In that moment, she looked at the black-haired boy in front of her.
Sakura's words came back to her, unbidden.
To him, you're nothing more than a stray dandelion on the side of the road.
The girl let out a bitter, hollow laugh.
So that's how it is, then...
All this time, it had only ever been her own wishful thinking.
She looked at Sasuke, her mouth opening — but no words came, only a rush of blood.
Her vision darkened, deeper and deeper.
As Sasuke pulled his Chidori-wreathed arm free, the girl collapsed straight into the water.
The last thing she saw was Naruto, his face twisted in despair, sprinting toward her with everything he had...
Sakura watched the girl floating on the water's surface, calm, and made no move to save her.
Just as she'd said before.
This was the path the girl herself had chosen.
Though, judging by the severity of the wound — without immediate treatment, it wouldn't be long before she was reporting in to the old Sage of the Six Paths herself.
...
Darkness. Cold. Sensation, slipping away, piece by piece.
The girl felt as though she was already, in some sense, dead.
No — closer to dying.
She could feel herself being swallowed, bit by bit, by a cold, encroaching dark.
What was this feeling?
Utter, bone-deep disappointment in Sasuke. Despair.
She couldn't make sense of his thinking.
Even for the sake of revenge — why hurt Naruto? Why hurt her?
Even if he didn't like her, even if he hated her — why go this far?
This was an emotion, a mindset, that the girl simply couldn't understand.
Which was, in a way, only natural.
Her family life, if not exactly perfect, had never really known a single real hardship growing up.
In her short twelve years, the worst thing she'd ever had to deal with was her mother, Mebuki Haruno, apparently starting menopause.
So there was no way she could understand Sasuke — no way she could grasp the pain and the scars buried inside him.
The time she'd spent with Naruto, with Sakura, with Kakashi — those painful, searing memories should have gradually begun to heal, in time.
But then he'd run into Itachi, and Itachi's Tsukuyomi had dragged him straight back to that night, soaked in death and blood, all over again.
The flames of hatred burned in his chest.
Fiercer now, more violent than ever before.
He raged at his own weakness — couldn't stand himself for indulging in this shinobi "playhouse" fantasy any longer.
He needed power!
Konoha couldn't give it to him anymore — so he'd go find it himself.
If it meant killing Itachi Uchiha, he was willing to pay any price.
His body. His soul. Everything he had.
Whatever it took to gain that power, he'd hand it over without hesitation.
None of this—
The girl could ever understand.
By now, her consciousness had already begun to dissolve.
She could feel it — she was dying, and she felt so tired, wanted so badly just to sleep.
Having only recently begun studying medical ninjutsu, she already understood, on some level, what that meant.
She knew — if she let herself fall asleep now.
She would truly die.
But with so much blood already lost, no amount of willpower could hold back her body's steady, inevitable collapse.
She died.
The girl died.
...
The girl lived.
She opened her eyes, staring blankly at a stark white ceiling, the sharp, faintly stinging smell of antiseptic filling her nose.
Is this... a hospital?
She tried to call out, her voice dry and rasping:
"Is... anyone there?"
"Sakura!"
"You're AWAKE?!"
Even that faint whisper of a sound seemed to flip a switch somewhere inside the boy in the room.
Only then did she notice Naruto had been sitting beside her bed the whole time, his head resting against the mattress, fast asleep.
And—
"Sakura... you're finally, finally awake!"
"You have no idea how long you were unconscious!"
Tears streamed unstoppably from the boy's deep blue eyes, and the girl stared at him, dazed.
Naruto...
Was crying.
He hadn't cried facing Haku. Hadn't cried facing Zabuza, facing Orochimaru, facing Gaara. Hadn't even cried facing Sasuke.
But facing her — he was crying.
Golden sunlight streamed in through the window, falling across the weeping, blond-haired boy, and for a moment, she had no idea what to do with herself.
She looked at the boy, wiping uselessly at tears that just kept coming, and wanted to reach out and brush them away herself — only to realize she didn't even have the strength left to lift her hand that far.
"Naruto. I think we should probably call a doctor."
She managed, with real effort, looking at the sobbing boy in front of her.
"R— right, right. I'll go, I'll go right now."
With that, without even bothering to wipe his face, the blond boy took off running out of the room like a gust of wind.
The instant he left—
A figure appeared in the girl's line of sight.
Sakura.
"Did you save me?"
The girl asked, with real effort.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not that kind-hearted."
"It was Shizune, arriving in time, keeping you alive long enough, then carrying your beat-up little body back to Konoha. Tsunade healed you herself, after that."
Sakura shrugged it off with a light laugh.
"I see. You really are heartless, aren't you."
The girl looked at her, her expression giving nothing away.
"So — do you finally see it clearly now?"
"Being love-struck isn't as easy as it looks."
"Especially when it's entirely one-sided."
Sakura's words stayed as sharp and cutting as ever.
The girl looked out the window at the bare, leafless cherry tree outside and said nothing.
Her jade-green eyes carried a stillness impossible to put into words.
There is no grief greater than the death of the heart.
Everything she'd witnessed with her own eyes had made it clear now — exactly as Sakura had said.
To Sasuke, as he was now, she was nothing more than an incidental passerby, one who could be there or not, and it wouldn't matter either way.
The instant Chidori had torn through Naruto's body, she'd already understood.
There was no bringing Sasuke back from where he'd gone.
Everything she'd given him, everything she'd poured into him...
Ha. What had she actually given him?
Her feelings?
Looking back now, she found her old self almost laughable.
Just like Sasuke had said, in his own way.
Clinging to an avenger, begging him to play a game of love with her.
"Sakura!"
"Granny Tsunade's here!"
Worried out of his mind about her, Naruto hadn't bothered finding a proper doctor — he'd gone straight for the source, dragging Tsunade away from her paperwork by force.
Tsunade had already explained, repeatedly, that Sakura had simply lost a lot of blood, that being conscious again meant she was fine, and that all she needed now was rest and time to replenish her strength.
But Naruto wasn't a medical ninja. None of that mattered to him.
All he knew was that Granny Tsunade was the greatest medical ninja in the entire world.
For Naruto, that fact alone was enough.
"No serious problems here. Just rest and recover for a while."
Tsunade finished her examination and ruffled the girl's hair.
"Master..."
The girl looked at Tsunade, hesitant, wanting to say something more.
"It's all right."
Tsunade didn't press further, offering her student a moment of quiet comfort before leaving.
There was still plenty of paperwork waiting for her.
Once Tsunade left, only Naruto and the girl remained in the room.
At least, that was what Naruto believed.
"Sakura..."
Naruto sat beside the bed, clumsily peeling an apple for her.
A shadow of sadness crossed his deep blue eyes.
He kept thinking about everything that had happened.
He no longer knew what to even think of Sasuke anymore.
A friend?
What kind of friend did something like that?
A brother, then?
What kind of brother tried to kill his own brother?
The hospital room fell into a brief silence, broken only by the awkward, halting sound of Naruto's knife working through the apple.
"Naruto..."
Eventually, the girl broke the silence.
"Sasuke, he..."
"Sasuke was manipulated by Orochimaru. He..."
Naruto cut her off, going against his own better judgment, trying to make excuses for Sasuke — but he couldn't even finish the sentence himself.
He kept seeing it, over and over — the moment Chidori had pierced through her body.
That moment had pierced straight through his own heart, just as surely.
His best friend in the world had tried to kill the girl he loved most.
And the girl he loved most had always loved his best friend instead.
A little melodramatic, sure.
But that was simply the truth of it.
"Next time we meet him..."
"Naruto. Kill Sasuke."
Her words made Naruto's eyes go wide, the knife in his hand freezing mid-motion.
"Sasuke — he tried to kill both you and me."
"Naruto, this isn't just about the three of us anymore. You understand what that means, don't you?"
Every word out of the girl's mouth felt like a knife driving straight into Naruto's chest.
She'd seen it clearly now.
Just as Sakura had told her.
She could never understand Sasuke — and to Sasuke, she'd only ever been a weed by the roadside, nothing more.
What had she even been thinking, before...
Utterly hopeless.
"What... do you mean?"
Naruto's chest ached with pain.
"Sasuke, attacking his own comrades."
"That already makes him... a missing-nin."
The girl looked at Naruto, her voice giving away nothing.
"..."
Naruto stayed silent.
"...I understand."
After a long while, the blond boy finally, slowly spoke.
"Naruto. Become strong."
"Stronger than anyone else."
"Only then will no one dare hurt you, ever again."
The girl looked at him.
The words were as much for Naruto as they were for herself.
"Sakura..."
"You seem... different, somehow."
Naruto looked at her, something deflated in his expression.
"If a person can't learn to change..."
"...they'll die."
"Naruto, I don't want to die."
"I want to protect you. Protect Kakashi-sensei. Protect everyone."
"So I need strength."
The girl looked at him, speaking calmly.
Naruto found no words to argue back with. He simply cut off a small piece of the peeled apple and carefully offered it to her lips.
She ate it, chewing slowly.
Crisp. Sweet.
Sakura watched the whole scene unfold quietly, a flicker of genuine relief in her eyes.
Finally, she's figured it out.
Whatever the girl chose to do from here, Sakura had no intention of stopping her — as long as she stayed clear of that particular brand of love-struck foolishness.
Even being love-struck, at the very least, ought to look something like Minato and Kushina — mutual, both sides meeting each other halfway.
Whatever the girl had been feeling for Sasuke before now, calling it "love-struck" was practically an insult to the term itself.
That had been nothing but a lovesick puppy chasing a hopeless crush.
(End of Chapter)