Chapter 479: Companions
What appeared before Haruno Sakura was a huge, depressed crater.
And within the crater, a few shabby buildings were being rebuilt one after another.
In her impression, this place... should be the most prosperous core area of Konoha.
Katsuyu had told her that Konoha suffered heavy losses in the Pain invasion incident, but the power of words was too pale, so much so that when Haruno Sakura saw the tragic state of the village, she lost her voice for a moment.
Actually forgot how to speak.
"The village... actually became like this..."
Sasuke's voice was trembling.
Looking at the scene in front of him, he imagined the tragic situation of that day, his whole body cold, as if he forgot to breathe.
Kakashi patted his shoulder and comforted: "But fortunately, Naruto persuaded him later, and Pain finally used the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to resurrect the dead."
"But this doesn't guarantee that if this happens on our side... Pain will be persuaded by Naruto." Haruno Sakura said coldly.
"Don't worry... I will give you detailed intelligence on Pain." Kakashi glanced at her and turned his head, "In this case, you can prevent the tragedy from happening."
He continued: "Because Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails have the most chakra, Akatsuki listed Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails as the last targets to collect. On your side, Akatsuki has just begun collecting Tailed Beasts, so they won't come to attack Konoha anytime soon."
Hearing this, Haruno Sakura and Sasuke felt somewhat relieved; at least they didn't have to worry about seeing a similarly ruined Konoha after returning to the original world for the time being.
Of course, the development of the two worlds was not completely consistent, and the intelligence here could only serve as a reference.
Have to find a suitable time to go to the Land of Rain to investigate Akatsuki's lair... Haruno Sakura thought in her heart.
While the girl was pondering this, a ninja dressed as an Anbu suddenly appeared in front of everyone: "Kakashi, Yamato, you finally came back! The two honorable advisors are looking for you."
Saying that, he looked at Haruno Sakura and Sasuke, who were also wearing Anbu masks, with doubtful eyes.
Strange chakra and appearance?
Looks like their strength is quite good... When did Anbu have a pink-haired girl with good strength?
Konoha had just experienced a great disaster, everyone was a bit neurotic, suspicious of any suspicious signs.
"One of us." Kakashi saw his doubts, introduced briefly, and signaled him to lead the way, "Don't waste time, let's go."
Kakashi's trip almost resulted in him being selected as the Sixth Hokage; let's not mention this for now.
On the other side.
Haruno Sakura and Sasuke followed Naruto, Lee, and others, meeting up with the idle others in a corner of the village.
Because the Mission Assignment Desk hadn't had time to be rebuilt, several young people had no work to do and no mood to practice, so they had to sit together chatting and daydreaming.
"Rarely have such leisure time after becoming a ninja..." Shikamaru lay on a few huge wooden planks, chewing on a foxtail grass, counting the white clouds in the sky, saying lazily.
"How nice!"
"According to the reconstruction progress, the main functional buildings will be completed soon, and starting tomorrow we will be very busy." Neji leaned on the side and said, "Only today can you want to be idle."
"Someone is coming..." Shino interrupted their conversation.
Everyone turned their heads and looked, Akamaru's barking came from afar.
"It's Naruto and the others!" Hinata smiled shyly, resisting the urge to hide—since the passionate public confession that day, she could restrain the feeling of blushing and fainting.
"Everyone is here..." Shikamaru's eyes swept over the people walking together, a little strange that Naruto was accompanied by two Anbu ninja, but seeing them chatting and laughing, he didn't care much.
Should be Anbu escorting Naruto back.
Thinking this, Shikamaru jumped down from the wood pile: "About Sasuke, what exactly happened?"
"Don't worry about this, leave it to me to handle." Naruto said with a straight face, "I'll deal with him alone."
Such an answer obviously wouldn't satisfy everyone.
"Sasuke's matter is a major event concerning the village, how can you handle it alone?" "We can't agree to such a willful decision!" "Are you trying to shield him under the banner of dealing with Sasuke?" "What exactly happened"...
Anxiety, doubt, and opposition immediately surged around Naruto.
"Except for me, no one can fight Sasuke... anyway, that's what I mean! Others, when I should tell you, I will say it."
Naruto's response was very stiff, appearing pale and weak.
"Lee, Kiba, and Sai, you also went with him," Neji simply ignored him, his sharp eyes sweeping over the people behind Naruto, saying in a deep voice, "Did you also agree to his nonsense? And Sakura?"
Sakura opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
Even if Naruto's decision looked absurd, what could she do?
Go up and help?
After seeing the previous battlefield, Sakura knew that in the confrontation of Naruto and Sasuke's level, she had no room to intervene at all.
The girl once again deeply felt the bitterness of powerlessness.
"Please understand Naruto." seeing this, Haruno Sakura sighed, walked up, held the mask and said, "He also has his own difficulties."
Sasuke followed a step forward, shook his head, and defended his good brother: "Actually, to put it bluntly, Naruto doesn't want you to get hurt... Your strength is too far from Uchiha Sasuke."
"Who are you? Voice... why sounds a bit familiar?" Neji frowned, staring at this straight-talking Anbu.
"Ne... Neji-nii..." Hinata activated Byakugan, looking at Sasuke with a shocked face, stammering, "This person, this person's chakra, seems to be Sasuke!"
One stone stirred up a thousand waves.
The young ninja who were lazily lying, sitting, or leaning just now stood up one after another, looking at Sasuke in surprise or even alertness!
"Sasuke? How dare you appear here!"
Neji's Byakugan opened wide, posing the Gentle Fist stance, chakra surging subconsciously!
He pushed off the ground with his toes, suddenly stepping out spiderweb-like cracks on the ground, about to rush towards Sasuke.
"Calm down, Neji."
A girl's voice came abruptly from behind.
Neji's body was frozen instantly: a plain white hand appeared on Neji's shoulder at some point, forcibly pressing down his charging momentum, pressing Neji like a big mountain, firmly suppressing him under that palm.
"...W-What!"
So fast, so much strength!
If this hand wasn't pressing his shoulder, but strangling his throat... what would happen to him?
Neji widened his eyes, shocked and horrified in his heart, body stiff, daring not to move a muscle for a moment.
"Stop!" "Release Neji quickly!" "Who exactly are you!" The unaware Konoha ninja nearby shouted hurriedly.
Hinata's voice sounded weakly.
"This person, this person seems to be... Sakura!"
The air was suddenly silent for a few seconds.
Everyone turned their heads, looked at Sakura beside Naruto, and looked at the girl wearing an Anbu mask behind Neji.
Haruno Sakura took off the mask and smiled slightly: "Hn... it's me."
"Sakura?!"
Everyone present was shocked.
"Two Sakuras, and unexpectedly appearing Sasuke..." Shikamaru posed a thinking posture, frowning tightly, starting to think hard, "And Sakura's unusual strength, what exactly is going on?!"
Shikamaru's thinking didn't last too long because Sakura also stepped forward.
"You may not believe it when I say it," Sakura subconsciously used Kakashi's phrase, "The thing is like this..."
She narrated the story that happened before.
Those present were all young people with decent acceptance ability. Without spending too much saliva, they understood the identities of Haruno Sakura and Sasuke.
However, the previous conversation of spitting on Sasuke with common hatred couldn't continue—with another Sasuke present, hearing them wanting to beat and kill Sasuke was quite awkward.
On Naruto's side, he insisted on solving Sasuke's problem himself.
The topic even turned to "why not kill Sasuke on the spot."
"Madara Uchiha's Space-Time Ninjutsu is very powerful, able to turn intangible or teleport instantly. With Madara's help, it's hard for us to kill Sasuke..." Haruno Sakura defended Naruto.
However, the truth was that the masked man could at most protect himself. Haruno Sakura and the others were fully capable of forcibly killing Sasuke.
They just wanted to give Sasuke one more chance.
Shikamaru and the others didn't believe this rhetoric: with Naruto who could defeat Pain, and the otherworld Haruno Sakura whose strength was not inferior to him according to Naruto and Sakura, present, how could Sasuke run away?
The conversation ended unhappily. Everyone had no mood to discuss the issue of the other world anymore, and soon left resentfully.
The four members of Team 7 didn't separate, walking a few rounds through the dilapidated Konoha, chatting intermittently.
Naruto was full of interest in the harmonious Team 7 of that world, asking Sasuke tirelessly many times about their daily trivial matters, as if those plain daily lives could also touch Naruto's heart.
Before long, an Anbu received Kakashi's order and called Haruno Sakura away; during dinner, the three went to Ichiraku Ramen, but unexpectedly, Naruto was suddenly reverse summoned back to Mount Myoboku by a toad.
Suddenly, only Sakura and Sasuke were left.
When the two finished ramen and walked out of the shop, the setting sun was already slanting west.
On the dusty road, it was empty, with only Sakura and Sasuke walking silently.
"That..."
"Speaking of which..."
The two suddenly spoke in unison.
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