KONOHA HIGH : SOUTH OF THE BORDER

chapter twenty-four - Free

The taste of that kiss lingered on her lips all throughout the rest of prom. Even through her exams. Even till her graduation day.

"Haruno Sakura" Sakura walked with confidence upon the stage and shook hands with Tsunade then with Minato Namikaze also mayor of Konoha and Naruto's father who gave her her diploma before proceeding to stand in line. She felt proud even as she noticed her parents waves from the crowds. Despite their busy schedules they had still find time to come to her graduation ceremony and it ment alot to her as she waved back.

"Hyuuga Hinata" the girl did the same routine smiling.
"Hyuuga Neji"
"Nara Shikamaru"
"Tenten"
"Uchiha Sasuke"
"Uzumaki Naruto"
"Yamanaka Ino"

She watched with a wide smile as all her friends where called to the stage to receive their diplomas. Then it was time for the mayor to give his speech.

"Congratulations all of you for finishing your studies at Konoha Highschool. Be pleased to know that we are all proud of you for making it and even as you got out to the world continue hardworking and chasing after your dreams with passion and vengeance. Continue to make us all proud. This is just the beginning , the best is yet to come"

Minato finished his speech and Naruto even yelled "go dad! But you owe me ramen after this" to which they all just laughed. And with that they all flew there hats into the air with cheers and whistles.

After everything was done , Kakashi called his students aside. "Well it is time to give me my final answer" He said.

Naruto , Sasuke and Sakura only took one glance at each other before answering "teamwork" "oh and why is that?"

"We helped each others strengths grow and also covered our areas of weakness" Naruto started.
"We came to know each other better individually through discussions and this led more chemistry when working together" Sasuke continued.
" In other words you were trying to say it is alright to work alone at times but it's even better to work as a team and rely on each other too" Sakura finished. .

Kakashi looked proud. "seems you gues figured it out. You know your the first team to figure this out."

"Really" Naruto asked.

"Really"

With that they took a group photo, and Kakashi hugged them all before wishing them luck on their studies and encouraging them to keep in touch.

The was one last thing to do. A Konoha 11 , well now 12 as she had joined, photo. And as Sakura stood in line between Naruto and Sasuke she could not help but reminisce. In just one year she had grown from the closed girl with no friends to one that has grown more comfortable with people around.

And it was all thanks to the people standing with her now. Every single one of them. And for the first time in years she felt happy. She felt light.

And just as the camera went off , she also felt free.