The Red Thread of Fate

Chapter 7: Stranger

The same thing happened as last time.

Naruto was caught stealing the bento boxes and was tied to the pole. Kakashi gave Sakura and Sasuke each a bento box and told them not to give Naruto any.

As soon as Kakashi poofed away, Sakura used her chopsticks to grab a chunk of rice and stuffed it in Naruto's mouth.

"Mmmf, Sakura-chan we would fail the test."

"But aren't you hungry?"

On cue, Naruto's stomach gave a loud rumble and his cheeks reddened.

"Besides, we need to function as a team and that includes you too." She replied while eating.

Sasuke stopped in his movement, grabbed an omelette and shoved it to Naruto as well.

"Teme, I'm not eating yours."

"Just eat it, Usuratonkachi."

"Urgh, just eat it Naruto." Sakura groaned while rubbing her temples.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of them, with thunder storms and lightning behind him as special effects.

"YOU DISOBEYED ME! YOU ALL............Pass!"

"But sensei we are a team and we- WHAT?!" Naruto's brain processed the information for 5 seconds before yelling.

"YAY WE PASSED! SAKURA-CHAN WE ARE OFFICIALLY IN A TEAM TOGETHER NOW DATTEBAYO!"

"Shut up Dobe! You are too loud!" Sasuke scolded him, even though he still had a small smile on.

"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Kakashi said to his students, smiling with a hint of sadness. It went unseen by Naruto and Sasuke, but Sakura understood the deep pain her sensei held and the meaning behind those words.

The trio nodded.

"Now you are all full fledged ninjas, tomorrow we will be starting missions, meet here on the bridge again tomorrow morning." Again, Kakashi disappeared leaving the three behind.

Sasuke started walking at a fast pace away from the training grounds, Sakura was confused with his action, she quickly caught up to his side.

His footsteps stopped.

"How did you get stronger?" His usual stoic voice had a slight shyness to it.

Sakura's surprise was beyond comprehension. Did he just complimented her strength? She had no words coming out her mouth. In her old timeline, Sasuke never complimented her, let alone asking her any questions about her.

She took a deep breath to calm down.

"I trained everyday. I wanted to catch up to him. I want to stand next to him as an equal. I want him to acknowledge me."

Acknowledge.

Sasuke both hated and loved that word so much. All he wanted when he was young was for Itachi to acknowledge him and he looked up to his brother so much.

But all of that shattered when he saw the pool of blood and his parents' bodies lied on the floor.

And the blood red eyes of his brother.

He felt bitter, he trained so much yet wasn't even at a former fan girl's level. She too want to be acknowledged by someone. Sasuke felt his frustration building up at the mention of this mysterious person.

"Is he the person you mentioned before?"

"Huh?"

"The one you said you will always-....l-love." Sasuke don't know why but he found that word very hard to be spoken out.

Sakura on the hand was relieved that Sasuke didn't press further on the matter.

"Yes."

Only if you knew.

Sasuke felt something shatter inside him. But he kept quiet and continued walking.

Sakura was just confused at his behaviour.

'I feel like we left something behind.'

'Oh well.'

Meanwhile with Naruto...

"SAKURA-CHAN HELP ME I'M SO HUNGRY. I WANT RAMEN!!!!!!! WAAHH!!!"
The blonde screamed while still being tied to the pole.

Somewhere in Konoha, the grey haired former ANBU muttered to himself while jumping from one rooftop to another.

"No, it's not possible for a Genin. Her fighting style was so identical to Tsunade's. Iruka was right about this."

His eyes looked straight ahead.

'Haruno Sakura who are you?'

It's a shorter than usual I'm sorry!

i will update again soon.

peace out readerz