In Konoha, Naruto lies down

Naruto stood on the balcony for a while, his thoughts in a mess, and after a long time he sighed. Tsunade's matter could only be put aside for the time being, she was not a little girl.

If I just ran over empty-handed, what else could I say besides a few goodbyes? For nearly thirty years, there was no better way to go about this except to get the reward for System Task 3.

Thinking of this, Naruto went out.

After a quick review, I realized that the only thing left to do was Hinata's. Everything else was on track. Ino would also leave the village with the project. As for Sakura.

Sakura's condition was a little tricky, so he hadn't asked much about it. After Tsunade left the village, Sakura would definitely stay with the medical team.

Konoha Hospital.

Outside the laboratory, Sakura took off her gloves and asked happily.

"How did you have time to come here?"

"Just passing by. I have nothing to do recently, so I wanted to come and see you." Naruto said with a smile, "I may have to leave the village for a while, but it shouldn't be too long."

"You said the same thing last time, and then you were out for nearly a year or two." Sakura hugged him, her hands a little restless, "Can you believe what you said?"

"I should be able to believe it. What will you do if I don't plan to return to the village in the future?" he suddenly asked, wanting to know Sakura's attitude.

"Wherever you go, I'll go. It's better than staying in the village anyway." Sakura said straightforwardly, "If you ask like that, you must have a plan in mind, right?"

"The village is too small to accommodate me." Naruto said truthfully, "I still have some things I want to do. Staying in the village will only restrict my hands."

"There will be more troubles in the future. If I stay in the village, I might be dragged into a bigger vortex. I don't want to sit and wait for death. I want to do something."

Sakura said muffledly, leaning against his chest.

"What you said to me last time...so you already knew what kind of troubles you would encounter in the future, right? Prepare in advance, and I can help you."

"Aren't you helping me now?" Naruto sucked her lips and looked at her and said, "It's just that our relationship cannot be made public, and you have been wronged."

"It's okay, I do." Sakura looked up at him and smiled, "I've said before, I've never asked for those things."

"I just want to leave some traces, not to cause you any trouble."

"Hey, is the stuff in that top-secret file I brought back from twenty years ago useful to you?" Naruto suddenly stared at her and asked.

"It's useful, but not that useful." Sakura led him to a small lounge at the end of the laboratory, where no one usually comes.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, but he took the initiative in his hands, slowing down Sakura's pace. She couldn't help but look back at him angrily.

"There's no way they can be separated. The best that can happen is they'll share a body," Sakura explained. "That file does record some top-secret experiments, but it's still not accurate enough."

"I don't dare to try. If I fail, then..."

"Let's leave it alone for now. We'll deal with it when the situation arises. I'll think of another way." Naruto picked up Sakura by the waist and his hand slid down to her fair calves.

The two of them hesitated for a while, and Naruto suddenly looked up and said.

"I'm going to put that research on hold for now. Let's fix the problems in your body first. Put everything else aside for now. They're not that important."

"Ah."

Sakura couldn't help but search for his lips and kissed them gently. The door closed tightly and the laboratory was silent.

The weather in summer is hot and it often rains without warning.

The dark clouds seemed to be blown by a gust of wind. The sky above Konoha suddenly became gloomy at some point, and after a while, a heavy rain fell.

The temperature dropped sharply, and a bright flash of lightning flashed across the sky.

With a loud bang, Sakura's pupils dilated, and her hands unconsciously gripped Naruto's back. She took a deep breath as if she had never breathed before, and her main personality suddenly woke up.

Naruto also realized that something was wrong, but the situation was a bit awkward. Sakura stared at him in a daze, and when she realized what was happening, she was about to shout out.

"Wait! It's not you who's responsible..." Naruto reached out to cover Sakura's mouth, but was bitten hard. She sobbed and cried almost in an instant.

The tears were a little cold, and the frightened look in his eyes and the depths of his pupils seemed like he had just had a nightmare.

Naruto had no choice but to withdraw. But he did not let go of his hand that was covering Sakura, instead he explained to her solemnly.

"You've been asleep for six years. This is a misunderstanding. Don't shout yet. This is the research lab of Konoha Hospital. I'll explain everything to you."

Pink Sakura was crying like a pear blossom in the rain, sobbing and yelling, she was completely terrified. She looked at Naruto, her eyes flashing with complex emotions.

Tears kept flowing, and the sobs penetrated his palms.

Naruto's mind went completely blank, and he was terrified. His first thought was, what happened to Kuroyura? Where did she go? Is she asleep?

But now that Pink Sakura's personality has awakened, he can't just ignore it. He can only comfort her first and wait until she calms down before asking about Black Sakura.

The incident happened so suddenly, and at this moment, there was no time to react. His heart was pounding, and he was increasingly worried that Hei Ying would disappear.

"Xiaoying, do you understand what I said?" he repeated.

This time, Sakura nodded gently, and Naruto slowly let go of her hand with a complicated look in his eyes.

The small lounge was in a mess. Sakura lay there in a daze. It took her a while to come to her senses and sit up.

The surroundings were quiet, the curtains were not drawn, and the wind and rain roared like crazy outside the window. Dense raindrops fell one after another, and the cold wind mixed with raindrops whimpered and blew in.

Naruto and Sakura were standing and sitting respectively, looking at each other in silence, listening to the heavy rain outside the window to calm down their emotions.

So no one moved, letting silence wander in the narrow space of the lounge. In the dim light, Naruto opened his mouth subconsciously wanting to ask Sakura if she knew about the existence of Black Sakura.

But he swallowed the words back when he saw Sakura reaching for the clothes on the ground.

Chapter 381 Sakura knocked on his door while wavering

With a click, Sakura stood up first, but she didn't face Naruto completely openly.

She leaned sideways, one hand across her chest, and squatted down to pick up the clothes. It felt strange, like she had transformed from one person into another. That Pink Sakura was back.

It was clearly the same body, yet it felt like two completely different people. Whether it was the look in their eyes or the subtle expressions, even before they spoke, a strong sense of discomfort was already evident.

.......Halfway through, someone changed people, which was really...awkward.

He looked over again and saw Sakura wiping herself with a tissue, then looking up at Naruto with a complicated expression. Her gaze only stayed above his head, not daring to look down at all.

"Naruto, can you... put on some clothes?"

A word woke Naruto up from his dream. He was still thinking about Black Sakura. When he heard Sakura talking, he quickly responded with a few "oh oh"s and put on his clothes.

He was a little distracted and almost put his clothes on backwards.

A brief silence fell until both of them had finished packing. It wasn't until a flash of lightning streaked across the night sky that Naruto couldn't help but speak.

"Since you're silent now, I'll assume you've calmed down." Naruto said, pulling a chair over and sitting down, keeping a distance between them.

Outside the window, the rain continued to fall heavily, and the white fog stirred up by the torrential rain obscured everything. The thunder continued to rumble, and the rain showed no sign of letting up.

Sakura clutched her thighs in this situation. Looking into the small, dimly lit room, she could smell an ambiguous atmosphere mixed with the smell of earth.

She knew exactly what had just happened. After all, she had felt it clearly, but Naruto's words made it difficult for her to accept the current situation. She had been asleep for six years?

"I know you're a little confused right now, and I can explain it to you. But before that, I want to ask you, can you feel your other self?"

"What?" Sakura looked up, her pupils full of confusion, just like the confused girl standing in the rain six years ago, but now everything has changed.

"I mean the other personality. She has been in control of the body for the past six years." Naruto said, "You suddenly woke up just now, so..."

"I wonder, can you sense her presence?"

"She..." Sakura's expression was a little complicated, but she vaguely understood many things.

So it was another her who was doing that with Naruto, and she just woke up now? If so, he was caring about the other one...

"I can feel it, as if...she's asleep." Sakura was a little embarrassed, and suddenly felt a little wronged. "Are you going to wake her up?"

"Um..." Naruto didn't know how to answer, so he said tactfully, "Do you still remember the medical ninjutsu? Or do you share a memory or something like that?"

"No." Sakura shook her head.

"I do need to wake her up. I'll explain slowly. It'll be good for both of you anyway," Naruto said. "Let me help you remember where to start."

"Well... let's start from when Sasuke defected. It was also from that time that you..."

So, Naruto began to tell the story from six years ago, when Sasuke defected and her personality suddenly changed. At the starting point of that dream, in Kurosakura's archive, the story slowly unfolded.

The story wasn't complicated at all; the entire six-year journey was told in about ten minutes. Sakura listened in amazement, as she learned about her journey from becoming Tsunade's disciple to becoming entangled with Naruto.

The magical relationship between the two of them, and her body, which had already been used, made her feel a little... dizzy, as if the world had changed drastically after a good night's sleep.

".......Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"He defected." Naruto said lightly, "He's now an S-rank rebel ninja, and he's on a happy road of revenge. If you want to confirm it, I won't stop you."

Sakura lowered her head and spoke.

"My mind is a little confused now. I want to go home and be alone."

"Okay." Naruto stood up and made room for Sakura, saying, "Come find me when you figure it out. I'm at 404 Konoha Street."

"Your current situation is rather special. I have a solution, but I need the help of another personality."

Sakura was completely unaware and walked out the door with a numb expression. Naruto watched from behind the door, his brows furrowed, but he let Sakura leave first.

Since Hei Ying was still asleep, it proved that she could still be awakened. Perhaps in a day or two, Hei Ying would wake up on her own, or perhaps she would come back on her own initiative.

He didn't have any solution, and if he did, he wouldn't have delayed it until now. He said that just to make Sakura willingly come back to him.

Since Pink Sakura suddenly woke up in that kind of excitement, then Black Sakura could also wake up again in the same excitement. Just like the first time, Pink Sakura fell asleep in the excitement of Sasuke's defection, while Black Sakura woke up.

He only needed to try various methods one by one, starting with verbal stimulation and then various other stimulations. If he continued in this rotation, the probability of Hei Ying waking up would be very high.

This is the principle, but whether Sakura is willing to cooperate is still unknown. However, Naruto is not completely without a solution, but he will not use it unless it is absolutely necessary.

There has been a six-year gap in time, and so many things have changed. Naruto believes that Sakura will eventually come back to find him.

.......

At the dinner table, Sakura looked at her parents who had aged a lot, and felt a little dazed.

"Xiaoying, what's wrong with you?" her mother asked.

"No...it's okay." She lowered her head to eat, her emotions churning inside.

"You rarely come home on weekdays. What happened this time?" his father asked gently, "Did you encounter difficulties at work? Or was it a breakup?"

"I didn't..." Hearing the word "broken heart", Xiaoying felt as if her heart was electrocuted. "I'm full. I'm going to take a shower first."

"How come this child..."

In the bathroom, Sakura was soaking in the bathtub, recalling the situation and feelings that happened in the afternoon, and her emotions suddenly became complicated.

She had been asleep for six whole years. This was so outrageous that it made her question her life. The job wasn't hers, and the six years of experience weren't hers either.

Even her body... With a splash, she submerged her entire head in the water. The bathroom was silent for two minutes, and then with a splash, Sakura emerged from the water, breathing in deep gulps of air.

Then slowly calmed down, her body slumped against the edge of the tub. One hand dropped down, and she thought silently about what Naruto had said, feeling distressed.

After an unknown amount of time, she walked out of the bathtub, wiped herself clean, put on her clothes, and prepared to go out for some fresh air with an umbrella.

The heavy rain lasted from the afternoon to the evening. Sakura walked out of the winding passage and stood on the strange yet familiar street of Konoha, looking at the colorful neon signs flashing in the rain.

Konoha Street is still bustling with traffic on rainy days. Unlike the old Konoha Street six years ago, colorful umbrellas are blooming on the road.

People come and go, hurrying in different directions.

Sakura clenched the handle of her umbrella and followed the crowd towards a crowded area. She became more and more panicked as she walked, as if she had come to a very unfamiliar place.

Finally, she saw Ichiraku Ramen, lit up in the rain. The familiar decor, unchanged for six years, gave her a sense of security, like finally meeting an acquaintance in a strange place.

She shook the water off her umbrella, desperately resisted the urge to run back home, and walked into Ichiraku Ramen with an almost unbearable mood.

The shop was brightly lit, and the calamus had grown into a big girl. The old man with the hand-beating skills was busy in the kitchen with his back straight. Even though it was raining, there were still a few customers sitting in the shop.

"Ha! On a rainy day like this, I really need a bowl of ramen!"

Sakura jumped at the sudden sound of voices. Two customers, one large and one small, were enthusiastically praising the ramen. Their bright smiles made her lose her focus slightly.

When she ordered her meal, she found that the set menu had also changed. The only unchanged tonkotsu ramen had been given many more ingredients. Time changed everything.

Has the popular tonkotsu ramen changed, too? She wondered silently, taking a bite. The taste felt familiar, yet something new seemed to have come to her.

"It's about time to go home?" She muttered to herself while standing under the eaves of Ichiraku Ramen, and then she went out into the rain with an umbrella, strolling along the streets of Konoha.

Stepping on the raindrops, she lowered her head and suddenly remembered something from long ago. It was her favorite female teacher in the Ninja School.

However, one day the female teacher suddenly stopped coming to class, and all kinds of speculations spread in the class until Sakura saw her on the edge of the village one afternoon.

A person was sitting on a swing in an abandoned lot, basking in the sun with a bulging belly. She glanced at Sakura and spoke in an emotionless voice.

"Teacher, I did something that was not accepted by others, and I am pregnant, so I can no longer stay in school."