★Realized★ | ★Book One★

Chapter 4

I dont own any of the characters. They all belong to Kishimoto.

                                    The Land of Iron

"Huh?", the blonde spoke. Everyone was flabbergasted by the pink haired girl. "W-what did you just, say Sakura-chan? I think I heard wrong. Could you say that again?"

The said girl wore a blush on her cheeks. She shifted her gaze shyly.

"I said...", She then put her gaze back on Naruto. "I...love you, Naruto." The air grew tense as she continued.

"I said Sasuke-kun doesn't mean anything to me anymore. I must have been crazy to carry a torch for him for so long. Listen carefully when someone is confessing their feelings for you!", She finished.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. He could tell something was not right. "But why? What for?! This isn't the place to be joking around. It's not funny Sakura-chan. What's going on...really?"

"What are you talking about Naruto? Nothing is going on.", She responded back with a shake of her head. "I just realized. Why should I love a Rogue Ninja who's a criminal? I'm not a child anymore. I can face reality."

"So Naruto, you can forget about that promise you made to me. You can stop chasing after Sasuke-kun all right?"

Naruto eyes widened in realization.

'Ah, so that's what this is about. I knew something was wrong. She must really take me for a idiot.'

"What's going on?" Yamato tried to intervene but was stopped by Kakashi.

Kiba's face was scrunched up in thought.

Flashback

The group that stayed by the construction consisted of now 5 people. Neji, Kiba, Choji, TenTen, and Sakura. The air was tense before Kiba decided to break it. "Do you think Naruto will calmly accept our decision?"

"But this is something we all decided. We have to make him understand." Choji claimed.

"We decided this, but we all know how Naruto feels about bringing Sasuke back. How are we gonna make him understand if he's too stubborn and hardheaded!", Kiba spoke a little bit louder to get his point across.

"I'll talk to Naruto about everything.", Sakura spoke in determination. The group looked a bit taken aback by her words. "Do you have a plan that'll work?", Kiba reasoned out.

She gave a small nod before continuing to speak. "Just leave everything to me. So don't say anything to Naruto. Please promise me this, everyone."

The group went silent but soon Sakura broke it again. "And..."

Flashback End

'Is this what she had in mind...', Kiba thought while looking at the fake smile on Sakura's face.

"Sakura-chan, did something happen? This is all so sudden.", Naruto's voice was low and serious as he spoke. His eyebrows were furrowed and eyes were narrowed.

"Nothing happened! It's obvious why I fell in love with you.", She tried to reason. That only made Naruto eyes and eyebrows scrunch up.

He remembered all the times she wanted Sasuke's love and how she cared about him when he was hurt.

Sakura walked forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She embraced him in a hug.

"Sasuke-kun keeps getting farther and farther away from me. But Naruto, you've always stayed by my side and cheered me up. Naruto, I finally realized...your true self. Even that time with Pain, you returned when you were needed most. The hero who protected the village. Today, everyone in the village admires you. And im simply one of them now. You used to be a prank-loving loser. But now you've became a wonderful person. And I've witnessed it all first hand."