The Sakura Legend

Ninja Academy Classroom.

"Hey, hey, hey." Sakura looked at Naruto's stunned face and couldn't help but chuckle ("puchi" sound effect). She waved at Naruto and asked, "What's wrong? Are you dumbstruck?"

"Sa... Sakura-chan, were you serious just now?" Naruto asked, a little uncertain, then added embarrassedly, "But... but, I only have instant ramen at home."

"Then there's nothing for it." When Naruto heard this, his previously joyful expression quickly dimmed. Seeing Naruto like this, Sakura decided to stop teasing him and finish what she was saying in one go.

"Then there's nothing for it. I'll just have to go buy groceries and cook myself. I hope you can stomach my cooking," Sakura finished, looking at Naruto with a playful smile.

Naruto's face instantly lit up with surprise. "Really, Sakura-chan?"

"What do you think, Naruto?" Sakura couldn't resist teasing him, seeing his anxious expression.

"I... I don't know." Naruto looked at Sakura's smiling face, hesitated for a moment, and became unsure again.

"Haha, I'm not teasing you anymore. Let's go home together. I still don't know where you live, otherwise how would I get to your house on the day of the festival?" Sakura said, pulling Naruto out of the classroom.

Naruto looked at Sakura, who was pulling him along in front, and a feeling he couldn't quite describe instantly filled his heart.

The Fourth Hokage found love to fill the void in the Jinchuriki Kushina's heart. At this moment, Naruto's void was filled by Sakura's smile.

"Sakura," Naruto said tentatively, looking at Sakura walking ahead, "why are you willing to come to my house for dinner? I mean... you're a genius, always top of the class, and I... I'm a dead-last idiot... and so many people avoid me. They don't acknowledge me. You... why are you willing to talk to me?"

"Hm?" Sakura looked back at Naruto in surprise. It seems Naruto isn't as childish as I thought. He's already realized it. So he was just pretending to be like that in front of everyone. It made sense. Growing up with everyone treating him that way, Naruto wasn't oblivious to it. He just layered himself in pretense to gain everyone's acknowledgment.

"Um... why?" Sakura frowned, thinking about how to answer Naruto's question.

Naruto looked at Sakura's expression, full of anxiety, deeply afraid that this newly obtained, hard-won smile would vanish into nothing.

"Probably because on the first day of school, you said you wanted to become Hokage, right?" Sakura thought for a long time and gave Naruto an ambiguous answer. "I think the Hokage is someone who can protect everyone. I think if Naruto becomes Hokage, you'll definitely be able to protect everyone. So, I want you to protect me after you become Hokage."

Actually, on that first day of introductions, at least eight out of ten students said they wanted to become Hokage. But Sakura couldn't think of any other reason to give Naruto. And because of her recent increase in strength, she had a faint feeling that someone was monitoring her. She couldn't say anything too out of line. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was still a sensitive issue for Konoha. She could only brush Naruto off and, incidentally, deceive whoever was monitoring her.

Hearing Sakura's answer, tears welled up in Naruto's eyes and streamed down his face.

Sakura suddenly felt Naruto stop. She turned back and saw him crying on the spot.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong? Why are you crying? A crybaby can't become Hokage, you know." Sakura felt a pang of sadness seeing Naruto crying so hard. Just how much coldness has Naruto experienced to be moved to tears by a single sentence from me?

Wiping his tears, Naruto gave Sakura a smile that was uglier than crying and gave her a thumbs-up. "Sakura-chan, you're the first person to acknowledge me. In the future, I will protect you, become Hokage, and not let you get hurt. This is my lifelong promise to you."

Sakura was a little speechless, hearing Naruto's lifelong promise. She felt a bit overwhelmed. Sasuke, are you going to ignore him? Isn't this promise a bit premature? Maybe you should think about it some more.

"Haha... you crybaby. You can't even beat me, how are you going to protect me?" Regardless, seeing Naruto's happy smile emerge from that lonely darkness, thanks to a little bit of light from herself, Sakura felt like she'd finally done something good all these years.

"Let's go, don't just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up and take me to your house so I know the way."

The next day, during class break.

"Sakura-chan, what did you say? You want to invite Sasuke to my house too?" Naruto asked.

"That's right."

"Why? Sasuke is always so cool, he never talks to others. And he can't beat you, Sakura-chan, so, why do you want him to come?" Naruto asked, a bit puzzled.

"What, you don't welcome him?" Sakura asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no, it's not that... it's just... Sasuke would never pay attention to a dead-last like me," Naruto said, a little sadly.

"If you know you're a dead-last, then you should study harder. I'm just telling you. If you don't object, I'll invite him."

"Of course, I don't have any objections, but I'm just afraid he won't accept the invitation," Naruto said quickly.

"As long as you don't object, that's fine. You sit tight. I'll go talk to him."

Since Naruto had made his lifelong promise yesterday, Sakura felt it was necessary to foster a bond between Naruto and Sasuke. After all, their situations were somewhat similar. Sakura didn't want to see Sasuke go off on his own, searching for darkness. A little bit of kizuna (bonds) beforehand might have some effect in the future, though how much of an effect, Sakura couldn't guarantee.

"(??∀?)?? Hey, Sasuke, are you free on the day of the festival?" Sakura walked over to Sasuke, putting on what she thought was the cutest smile anyone could possibly have, and asked.

"...." Sasuke glanced at Sakura but didn't say anything.

"(??∀?)?? Hey, Sasuke, I was thinking, if you don't have anything special planned for the festival, I'd like to invite you to Naruto's house to hang out," Sakura continued, maintaining an awkward yet polite smile.

"...." Sasuke again ignored Sakura's question.

Sakura, not giving up, continued, "Sasuke, I'm guessing you probably don't have any plans for the festival, since you're all alone..."

Sasuke suddenly exploded, lunging at Sakura. He pinned her to the ground, choking her, and said, word by word, "Do-you-want-to-die?"

"Sakura-chan! Bastard, how dare you do that to Sakura-chan!" Naruto, seeing this, couldn't sit still any longer and threw a punch at Sasuke.

Sakura, caught off guard, was pinned to the ground by Sasuke. Then, she saw Naruto rushing towards Sasuke. "Hey, this isn't in the script," Sakura thought, a headache coming on. She quickly gathered chakra in her neck and explosively released it, sending Sasuke flying.

Sakura jumped up, grabbed Sasuke's left arm, and threw him to the ground. She twisted Sasuke's left arm behind his back and straddled him, catching Naruto's fist with her right hand. The entire sequence of movements was completed in an instant. The classmates hadn't even had time to react before they saw Sakura straddling Sasuke, his left arm twisted behind his back, her right hand gripping Naruto's fist.

"Sasuke, do-you-want-to-die?" Sakura stared at Sasuke, repeating his words back to him verbatim.