ぎせい

Chapter Ten

春野サクラ

[Five months ago]

"Awesome, I'll call you later, okay?"

Although Sakura knew her best friend casually threw that lie as the pinkette departed from the flower shop, she smiled and waved goodbye to Ino. Sakura sighed and thought back to the many times Ino said she would call, but never actually did--Why get a phone when you're never gonna use it? She thought.

Sakura then fished in her kunai pouch for the device. When she took it out, she checked the time. Five thirty in the evening. Sakura then let her fingers trace over the surface of the device--wondering how did we get this far in technology? She couldn't find any answer.

Somehow, in the span of three months, people went from communicating face-to-face to speaking to a device. Sakura found it very surprising as to how they suddenly had the knowledge as to how to create cellphones. However, the device was only powered by batteries--ones she'd have to replace every two weeks or so.

As she walked home, she made sure to steer away from the angered man walking only five feet in front of her. She didn't want to be in the way of his fury--which seemed to be what other people were thinking, since they moved to the other side of the street. (A/N:I know, its weird because phones were invented after cars, but in this book, phones exist and cars don't?)

But the man slowed down to a snail pace, making Sakura slow down as well. She didn't want to be seen by the man to avoid being provoked by him and his rage. But the closer she got to him, the better she could see his features. She then realized he was just a cranky old man (in her opinion).

The man then stalked over to a garbage can and threw an object in the can. She peered over to see what the object was--she recognized it as a cell phone.

The elderly man saw her examining what he threw away and gave her a dirty look, "Keep walking, girl. And if you wanna be safe, you better throw that phone away." Although he was old, the man had a deep, gruff voice that seemed to almost scare her into following his orders.

She gave him a questioning gaze, but he only walked away. Sakura looked down at the device in her hands--do I trust him?

Of course not! Her inner scoffed. He's old, so he's crazy.

The pinkette nodded to herself and disobeyed the old man's orders before walking away.

...---...

Sakura knew this was a good thing, but she couldn't help but question. The first phones were sold only a month ago, and now we have new ones? Sakura looked down at the device that sat on her dresser. But I heard they've been improved. They don't need batteries.

But Sakura was suspicious. This new and improved phone was made only a month after the first one--I thought it'd take at least a year or so. As she walked down the street and to the nearest place to buy the new phone, she saw the old man walking the opposite way.

"Hello, girl. Did you throw away that phone like I told you to?" Sakura was taken aback. She expected the old man to have forgotten what he told her, since it had been a month since they met.

But Sakura gave a small smile and said, "Sorry, mister. But I didn't."

The old man raised a white haired eyebrow. "Why not?" He seemed to have caught on to what she was thinking. "Oh, I see, never trust an old man that you have never met before." She was cut off from protesting. "My name is Tamaki."

"Well, good morning, Tamaki-san," she started. "Although, I'd like to ask why you dislike cell phones."

"I don't dislike them, I hate 'em." With that, he walked away, leaving Sakura confused.

...---...

Present Day

Sakura started noticing some things.

The first was when she was having a friendly chat with Ino. They were in the flower shop when Sakura's alarm on her phone went off, to remind her to report back to Tsunade. Ino had raised an eyebrow and asked her about the Hokage, and so Sakura responded on how nagging she was.

When she finally got to the office, Tsunade was speaking to someone, possibly one of a high status. Sakura didn't like how her mentor sounded, she could picture the blonde nearing the edge of explosion. Whoever she was talking to, it was someone who angered her.

"I cannot do that for you!" She shouted. "I will not accept this! I thought--I thought these were for good."

"They are, Tsunade." Sakura narrowed her eyes at how the man (she could tell by his voice) didn't even address the Hokage properly. "We can tell when people are planning outrageous schemes, for example, the Uchiha coup de tat."

Sakura flinched. Whoever this man was, he was so bold to bring up the Uchiha Massacre. "We will control this place. Secretly. Whether you like it or not. This advancement can lead to something greater, something--"

"Powerful. Too powerful."

Without any warning, the man stomped out of the room. Sakura narrowly avoided the man and concealed her chakra further. From closer examination, she realized who the man was--

Danzo.

What were they talking about?

Sakura waited for two minutes before walking inside the office. The Hokage was hunched over her desk with a bottle of sake in her hand. Her other hand was clenched around a device--one Sakura could barely pinpoint.

A cellphone.

But this time, the design was different. Sakura could clouded that the device was a prototype of a new one. But why would Tsunade be so outraged about it?

"Tsunade-shishou," Sakura spoke softly. "Do you need me to do anything--"

"Why don't you just go back to the flower shop and talk about how nagging I am?" Tsunade said as she took a sip. "It seems a good enough task for you."

And then she realized what they were arguing about.

...---...

A/N: hey, sorry for the late update! School is coming up and I don't really think I'll update often. I'm really sorry about that. My priorities are to get good grades, then finish writing my books, and then the webtoons comic stuff. However, I'm planning to finish the closest one to ending here (on this account) first (which is the one with Sayuri and Sakura).

So sorry! If only there was more time and I wasn't as lazy as I am now haha. But I promise you, I will do my best to end these books. As a warning, this book isn't gonna end well...

Thank you for reading!