[Hokage] Thank you for loving me

On the way to find Masato, Sakura anxiously walked behind Sasuke, worried that she had angered him by forcing her to act with him just now.

"Sasuke-kun, do you know where Masato Sato is?" Seeing that Sasuke never talked to her, Sakura asked cautiously.

"know."

"Could it be that you found out that he was hiding in the territory of the Rainbow Kingdom early in the morning?"

"...Two days ago, when I came out of the dungeon, I noticed that there were a lot of ninjas nearby, and they were deliberately hidden, so I scouted the nearby area in advance."

"As expected of Sasuke-kun, if the enemy is too far away, I won't be able to sense him at all." Sakura knew that although he was also not a sensory ninja, Sasuke was the kind of ninja who made himself omnipotent through continuous efforts. People are veritable hardworking geniuses.Therefore, she never hesitated to praise him for his outstanding ability.Unfortunately, most of the time, Sasuke doesn't respond to her compliments, like now.After a brief awkward conversation, there was another wordless silence... Moreover, Sasuke's footsteps were quite fast, even if Sakura wanted to chat with him, she was afraid of being distracted and left behind by him.In the end, she had no choice but to give up the plan of chatting and concentrate on chasing the footsteps of the person in front of her.

After a while, the two came to the small lake where they rested the day before yesterday.Sasuke half-raised his right hand, and waved to Sakura behind him, signaling her to stop.The two hid on the spot among the branches and leaves of a big tree by the lake.Then, facing the lawn under the tree, Sasuke made a more complex cover-up mark in reverse, breaking the cover-up on the lakeshore.

Sakura looked towards the lawn under the tree, and in the lakeside open space, which was empty at first, suddenly appeared a hundred or so ninjas wearing black clothes embroidered with the Sato family crest. They were sitting or standing, as if they were resting.In the middle of the crowd, stood a burly young man with sword eyebrows, big eyes, and smooth dark skin. He was wearing a black-gold ninja costume and a golden Sato clan crest. He was giving some orders to the ninjas around him. Looking from a distance, no matter in standing posture or body shape, he looks very much like Sato, and he must be Masato Sato.

At this time, several sensory ninjas on the lawn had already sensed the invasion of Sasuke and Sakura, and they shot several kunai at them, all of which were blocked by Sasuke's sword.Soon, more than a dozen ninjas lined up tacitly, protecting Makoto behind him.

Looking up to see Sasuke and Sakura, Makoto's face first flashed a trace of surprise, then changed into an admiring expression, and said:

"You are Sasuke Uchiha? Sure enough, Uncle Fukuyama hired you as a guard, as the information said, tsk tsk, it's really a headache." He shook his head with his forehead, and then expressed disappointment: "If you can find this place, it means That kid Xinliu has already failed. Well, I knew he was unreliable."

"That's right, Xinliu-kun has already revealed all the agreements between you two." Sakura said angrily, "Mr. Sato also knows your plan, including your next plan, he has already guessed it! "

"Oh? Father actually guessed it?" Makoto put his hands around his chest and asked with interest: "Then tell me, what is my next plan?"

"You want to bring this group of people and make a big fuss at the enthronement ceremony, right?"

"Hehe, the ninjas here all have the family crest of our Sato clan printed on their clothes. Isn't it an open enemy of the people to destroy the ceremony of Rainbow City so obviously? Do you think I have been secretly deploying for so long? , would you do such a stupid thing at a critical moment?"

"This..." Mago's words made sense, but Sakura couldn't think of any other purpose besides this for a while, and was stunned for a while.

"This is not all the people in your ninja army, right?" Sasuke calmly looked around the ninjas on the lakeshore, and found that some of them had long-range walkie-talkies pinned to their arms, and the switches were turned on, so he guessed that in In other places, there may be real ninjas in ambush, and the two groups of people are talking on the phone all the time to maintain the consistency of a certain action.He frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly thought of something, and asked slowly: "Are you going to send some people to pretend to be enemies to attack Rainbow City; to save the people gathered in the city?"

"As expected of Sasuke Uchiha! In today's ninja world, there are men who are like legends, hahahaha!" Mago opened his arms exaggeratedly, and clapped heavily: "No wonder my father has always admired your family. It seems that Uchiha The bloodline of the Bo family is really excellent, not only the pupil skills are excellent, but also the IQ is not to be underestimated."

Then, he stretched out his right hand towards Sasuke, and solemnly invited: "How about it, do you want to come to my ninja army? Come with me and become a hero of the rainbow country! In a few hours, the people will be willing Support me wholeheartedly, become a daimyo, and establish a Ninja Village for the Ninja Kingdom. At that time, I can make you the first generation 'shadow' of the Ninja Village, and train the ninjas of the Ninja Nation to become the strongest army in the ninja world!"

"Sasuke-kun, don't listen to his nonsense!" Although she knew that Sasuke would never take power and status seriously, Sakura felt a little terrified by Mago's seductive and provocative persuasion. After all, Sasuke once wanted to But if he wants to start a revolution in the ninja world, Mago's last words are likely to shake him.

She held Sasuke behind her with her arm, and answered Mago instead of him: "For the sake of building Ninja Village, for your own desires, can you deceive the people like this!?"

"People? What they need are heroes, and what they need is the protection of the strong. Even if deceit is exposed, as long as it is well-intentioned, they will soon selectively forget it." Zhenxiang's eyes revealed a strong look Desire, he looked at Sasuke confidently, and said: "Look at the outstanding ninjas around me, I spent a lot of money to hire the elite jōnin from various ninja villages, and carefully trained them for me. Only such an army can You have the ability to protect the Rainbow Country. Only an outstanding talent like you can command this army!"

Why are you talking more and more vigorously!It's a pity that Sakura's eloquence is not as good as the other party's, so she can only look back at Sasuke worriedly, trying to get a glimpse of his current thoughts from his expression.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree expressionlessly, stood in front of the ready-to-go ninja army, and said coldly: "The hero that the people really need..." The figure of Itachi appeared in his mind, that The elder brother whom I have always respected and wanted to emulate, a ninja who is truly worthy of praise.

"Even if they are misunderstood and humiliated, even if they live in darkness forever, they should protect them and love them; not an ambitious man like you who plays ninja games."

"Really?" After hearing the other party's sarcasm, Masato was not angry, he sneered, and replied confidently: "Whether it is a game or a battlefield, after you have seen the power of the Sato clan's ninja army, you can make a conclusion." !" He put two fingers in his mouth and blew a sharp whistle, and all the ninja soldiers rushed towards Sasuke immediately, layer after layer of human walls, with the big tree as the center, surrounding him.

"Water escape × water dragon bomb technique!" After the twelve ninjas standing on the innermost layer and closest to Sasuke stood still, they immediately made hand seals, and dozens of water dragons rose into the sky from the lake, facing the surrounded Sasuke in the center pounces.Sasuke used the teleportation technique, flashed into mid-air, and formed the mark of Thunder Dun × Land Walking on the water dragon, and the white lightning quickly went against the direction of the water flow, and attacked the casters.The ninjas surrounded on the second floor immediately exchanged positions with the ninjas on the innermost floor, and used the technique of earth escape x earth flow city wall to keep Thunder out of the encirclement.Then, facing Sasuke who fell from the sky, the ninjas on the third floor formed the imprint of Fire Dun x Hao Fireball. In an instant, countless huge fireballs roared towards him.

"Sasuke-kun, be careful!" Since Sasuke had stated from the beginning that he wanted to fight alone, Sakura could only obediently hide in the tree, watching the battle situation in front of her nervously, not daring to intervene without authorization.

Sasuke quickly formed the seal of Fire Escape × Great Dragon Fire Art at a speed at which the trajectory of his fingers could hardly be seen. With his amazing chakra, a powerful giant fire dragon hovered and appeared, killing everyone in an instant. The fireballs were swallowed up in the stomach, and then leaped towards the enemies with claws and claws.

Never seen such a large-scale fire escape technique, the surrounded Sato Ninja had no choice but to form seals at the same time, using the gathered Chakra to form a towering wall of water formation.The fire dragon slammed into the water wall, and powerful water vapor immediately rose from the entire lakeshore. A few ninjas were not paying attention, and were blown into the lake by the violent airflow.

"Damn it! I can't see anything!" More than a dozen elite ninjas were protecting Makoto with a high degree of concentration. Hearing his complaint, one of them immediately used the wind tunnel to blow away the fog in the nearby area for him.As soon as the field of vision opened up, Masato saw a dark blue transparent giant in armor standing up in the center of the encircled battle ahead, surrounded by water vapor. weapon.Inside its head are Sasuke and Sakura. The muscles, blood vessels and bones under the armor are all made of Chakra. The moment the body is activated, the ninjas around its feet are all scared and retreat. .

"What the hell is this!" Makoto grabbed the collar of a ninja beside him, pointed at Sasuke's 'Susano' and asked furiously.

"No, I don't know." The man was also frightened by the strange scene, and said tremblingly: "Young master, this thing is too big, and the amount of chakra is amazing. Now we can only use the earth wall technique to temporarily defend. Wait until the caster's chakra is exhausted."

"Then act quickly!" Shaking off the collars of his subordinates, Magoro watched bitterly that his ninjas were frightened and fled in all directions, and hid under the raised earth walls, only to find that the giant was not there at all. Instead of attacking Sato Shinobi's plan, he spread his wings and flew up.

"This damn thing can still fly!" Mago felt his head was about to explode, "Where is it going!?" However, the ninjas under him were all busy raising their heads in amazement, and no one answered his question.

Sasuke controlled 'Susano' to fly to the mirror-like lake, then stopped and floated in mid-air.Just as all the enemies poked their heads out cautiously from behind the earth wall, wanting to spy on the giant's next move, 'Susanohu' suddenly seemed to fall, hanging upside down and swooping towards the lake.

"Uchiha Sasuke, what exactly do you want to do?" I couldn't see the intention of the action at all. Could it be that he planned to splash a big splash on the lake?Masato couldn't help scoffing at his ridiculous idea, and looked towards the lake curiously, waiting for the moment when he saw the giant fall into the water.It's a pity that there is no image of falling on the lake, not even the reflections of floating clouds in the sky, big trees on the shore, and flying water birds. spinning around, spinning around...

When Sato Masato woke up, the shore was full of sleeping ninjas lying on the shore, they were either in pain or smiling, and they seemed to be dreaming different dreams.

"Just now...was...an illusion?" Makoto rubbed his slightly painful temples, trying to remember some scenes of fainting just now, but found that he couldn't recall anything.

"Yes." Sasuke walked up to him and fixed him in place with the seal of the bondage technique.Masato looked up at Sasuke, after a fierce battle with one enemy and one hundred and consumed a lot of chakra, there was no sign of fatigue on that handsome face, nor the joy of victory, he just said to himself coldly: " Now it proves that the ninja army you planned has completely failed."

Mago's body trembled, and he had to face reality—at the beginning of the battle, the ninjas under him could respond to the enemy in an orderly manner according to tactics, but as the opponent's attacks became more and more fierce, the ninjas quickly In chaos, he lost his strategy to deal with the enemy. In the end, he was beaten and hid everywhere, and was hit by the opponent's illusion.To deal with an enemy so embarrassingly defeated, I didn't know the depth of shouting before, to make this army the strongest in the ninja world, now it seems that it is ridiculously arrogant.

Thinking of this, Mago laughed out loud at himself, and kept laughing until Sakura frowned puzzledly, then he stopped, and said to Sasuke sincerely:

"I don't have anything to regret if I lose to you, so I'll let you deal with it."

"I won't deal with you." Sasuke turned his back to him, and his tone suddenly became warmer: "Your father told me to let you go, so let's take you back first."

"Really..." Zhenxiang lowered his head, let out a long sigh of relief, filled with emotion: "I'm quite tired after playing outside for so long, I really want to see my father."

At this moment, a familiar figure came galloping from a distance, shouting "Haruno—" while running, Sakura looked intently, and it turned out to be Ikeda.

"Why are you here? Where's Yumen?"

"The enthronement ceremony is about to begin, and Yumen is guarding Lord Fukuyama." After standing still, Ikeda looked at the unconscious ninjas all over the floor, and said, "You two are really fast! Said that you are chasing the real culprit of the incident, I immediately rushed to support, I did not expect that you have already ended the battle."

"You came just in time." Sasuke pointed at Mago, and arranged for Ikeda, "You and Sakura take him back to the city first, and I'm going to clean up the remaining remnants."

Without waiting for Ikeda's answer, Sasuke closed his eyes and began to sense the similar Chakra breath of the Sato ninjun soldiers. After the positioning was completed, he disappeared in front of Sakura and the others without saying a word.

"Ah? Why does Uchiha-kun always leave as soon as he says..." Ikeda looked at the burly and immobilized Mago who was sitting on the ground in distress. Alas, it seemed that he could only carry him back by himself.

"So, Haruno, shall we go back?"

"Wait!" Sakura squatted down, looked at Masato sincerely, and asked eagerly, "Please tell me, where is your other ninja army ambushing?"

The girl's gaze is so determined, but why, those beautiful light green pupils are full of sadness and loneliness.Almost without hesitation, Zhenxiang answered her frankly: "The rest of the people are all in the cave on the mountain north of the castle."

After getting the answer, Sakura took off the golden forehead protector with the Sato family crest on Makoto's forehead, said "this, borrow it", and stood up.Then, she turned her head to Ikeda and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Ikeda, you go back to the city first, I have to go to that cave." Just like that, she strode forward without looking back.

Ikeda watched the pink figure gradually walk away, his heart sank, and he shouted loudly to her back, "Don't go, Haruno, maybe he lied to you!"

"What nonsense, I never deceive beautiful women!" Zhenxiang raised his head and gave him a blank look, and protested softly.

"It doesn't matter even if you are deceived by Sato Masato." Although she heard the dissuasion from her companions, Sakura never slowed down and ran towards the cave in the north of the city without any hesitation.

"After dealing with those remnants, Sasuke-kun will definitely not return to Rainbow City again. I don't want to leave him like this without even saying goodbye. I want to see him again. As long as I can see him again, I will be Pass your request to him, there is still hope for the travel matter!"

As if wanting to vent the uneasiness in her heart, Xiao Sakura let her heart beat violently with her faster and faster pace, as if the next second, her heart would be freed from the chest full of soreness and bitterness. out-

Like that night when I was 12,

Just like when I went to die at the age of 16,

I am always running, running after Sasuke.

I used to think that as long as I became stronger, I would no longer have to chase after his back.

But when I grow up, I realize that if the other party never stops for you,

You are doomed only to catch up...

Located in the north of Rainbow City is a cliff mountain range, although it is not high, it stretches for more than ten kilometers.The Rainbow City was built right below the peak, perfectly using the winding and long natural barrier to protect the north side of the city wall.On the cross-section not far from the top of the mountain, there is a hidden cave, which was originally stationed by warriors standing guard for the Rainbow City, but after the renovation of the Rainbow City, a watchtower was built for its own use, so this cave was also used as a guard. Obsolete.

When Sasuke moved into the cave, the more than 30 Sato ninja soldiers who stayed in the cave were startled.The group of ninjas took out Kunai one after another, surrounded Sasuke, and put on a defensive posture.

Under the premise that the mastermind behind the scenes had been arrested, Sasuke didn't want to engage in unnecessary battles. He announced to the people in the cave in a deep voice: "Masato Sato has been taken away, the plan has been suspended, you all evacuate."

This sentence immediately aroused the panic of the ninjas. The cave seemed to have exploded. They exchanged suspicious eyes with each other and started talking.

"This person said that the young master was arrested? Is it true?

"Speaking of which, the enthronement ceremony is about to begin, why hasn't the young master ordered action?"

"But if it fails, why is there no message on the intercom?"

"By the way, who is this guy who suddenly appeared?"

"Yeah, why should we believe this guy's words!"

"Could it be that he wanted to disrupt the young master's plan and deliberately deceive us?"

After the ninjas discussed in a hurry, they cast hostile looks at Sasuke, and killing intent gradually rose in the cave.Sasuke was not angry with the group of foolish and loyal people in front of him, but he didn't want to take the initiative to take action either. He stood with his hands behind his back and looked at them coldly.

"You—Sasuke-kun said to let you go!"

At this time, Xiao Ying suddenly jumped in from the entrance of the cave, holding in her right hand a huge boulder as tall as a person, which she just smashed out from the bottom of the cliff. "Why are you so ignorant!" After finishing speaking, Sakura threw the boulder at the ninjas, everyone jumped away in shock, the stone hit the middle of the cave heavily, sinking into the ground two feet deep.

Among the Sato Ninja Army, there were perception-type ninjas. They had already found that Sasuke’s Chakra was quite powerful and difficult to deal with. Now the other side came to support another ninja, and he was also a power-type ninja who was good at controlling Chakra, so he was worried. If the two joined forces, even if there were more than thirty people on their side, they might still be defeated here.

One of them cautiously asked:

"You say that the young master failed, do you have any evidence?"

"He has been taken back to Rainbow City for interrogation." Sakura took out Masato's forehead protector, "I just took it off his head."

Seeing the golden forehead protector in Sakura's hand, the man shouted, "That's right, it is indeed the young master's."

"Could it be that the plan is really aborted!"

"Then why didn't we hear from the intercom."

"Fortunately, these two people came, otherwise we would have been arrested if we went to the grand ceremony alone and made trouble."

Sakura wanted to get rid of this group of forgotten remnants quickly and get alone with Sasuke, so she interrupted their chattering discussion impatiently, and asked sharply: "Are you going to leave? Anyway, there is a rainbow below. If you don’t want to leave even if I give you a chance, then I’ll knock you out one by one, and bring you back to the city to accompany your young master!” As he said, his fists creaked and his whole body exuded Strong fighting spirit.

After the mastermind failed, he still had a chance to escape. Of course, no one wanted to be caught!The remnants in the cave chose their own way to escape, jumped out of the cave, and disappeared on the other side of the mountain top.

The operation finally ended smoothly, and there were only Sasuke and Sakura left in the cave, standing staggered and facing each other in the dark cave.

After a moment of silence, Sasuke raised his feet and walked out of the cave. When he passed by Sakura, his eyes still did not rest on her, but he said without any emotion: "The mission is over, I'm leaving first."

"Wait, Sasuke-kun." Sakura suddenly turned around and rushed to him. In desperation, she punched the cave wall behind him, blocking Sasuke between her body and the mountain wall: "I have something to say!"

Probably frightened by Sakura's aura, Sasuke was taken aback for a moment, then finally there was a wry smile on his face, and he asked, "What?"

"Please take me away..." In fact, before the words were spoken, Sakura felt faintly in her heart that she would fail.

For some requests, before asking, you can predict what answer you will get from the attitude of the other party towards you.Although Sakura usually has a bold personality, she is quite sensitive and delicate when it comes to Sasuke. She will spend a lot of time pondering and reminiscing about Sasuke's words and deeds.So, subconsciously, Sakura didn't dare to ask, she just dragged on along the way until Sasuke turned to leave...

However, before hearing Sasuke's personal refusal, she was not reconciled, and she was not reconciled that this unspoken request would be rejected.

Perhaps this is the sadness of unrequited love. Obviously the attitude of the other party has explained everything, but before being explicitly rejected, there is always hope in my heart, hoping that if one day I can muster up the courage to ask, it may be possible. Unexpectedly, I got a wonderful answer.

Holding that pathetic fluke, Sakura clenched her fists and asked in a trembling voice: "Sasuke-kun, do you still remember the promise you made to me when you left three years ago?"

"……remember."

"Then, this reunion, you..."

"Sorry, Sakura."

Did you get rejected before you could even finish your sentence...

No, don't say sorry to me, please let me finish, please listen to my request.

However, her heart seemed to be tightly grasped, her eyes became sour and hot, and hot tears poured out unconsciously, like beads with broken threads, her throat seemed to be choked badly, and she felt sore and hot. Without making any sound, if I asked, I couldn't continue talking.

"Don't cry, Sakura."

Seeing her tears burst again, this scene has been repeated countless times during his growing up.

Sasuke was a little moved, originally he planned to use a cold attitude to make Sakura give up, and then leave without saying goodbye.However, since she wants to know her answer wholeheartedly, let's settle it face to face...

Sasuke took Sakura's arm in front of him, moved it down from the stone wall, held it gently, and said to her apologetically:

"I can't keep the promise, I'm sorry."

Sakura looked up at his deep black pupils, both loving and hating——

How cruel, you speak softly to me only at the moment of parting;

How unfair that you always say sorry lightly, but it is enough to make me burst into tears!

Not reconciled, not reconciled, your gentle attitude, how can I be reconciled to being rejected like this!

"Why... didn't you take me away..." With complicated emotions, she struggled to force out a choked question, and her voice was so unfamiliar that it didn't seem to come from her own mouth.

Sasuke looked back at her tenderly, and gave the cruelest answer in a calm voice:

"Because now I... can't respond to your feelings."

It turned out that he had never had a good impression of her from the beginning to the end.

The thoughtfulness and caring at the reunion meant nothing at all, it was just an illusion.

In the distance, the enthronement ceremony seems to have begun. Those joyful musical instruments and loud cheers, in this moment of silence, sounded close and far away, as if they were laughing at their own wishful thinking during this mission. Harsh...

Sakura was so sad that she twitched her shoulders and sobbed.The tears are like cherry blossom petals, scattered all over the ground.

"It's okay..." She stubbornly made the last struggle. "Then, that's the same as before, just treat me as a companion, as long as I can be with you, I'm satisfied."

"No, you don't have to wrong yourself." Sasuke's heart ached, and he held her hand slightly tighter: "It's me who is wrong, I have no way to respond to you, I owe you everything, and there is no way to make amends to you."

Sakura's lips parted slightly, tears kept pouring out, her face lost the pink color of the past, it was as pale as a piece of paper, she looked at Sasuke in disbelief - the person she loved the most, would rather Even if you admit your mistake, you can't fall in love with yourself; you actually say that the long yearning in your heart is just adding to his debt of atonement!

Sasuke's black hair was scattered like the night, against that outstanding face, there was a cold and unruly aura, like a goshawk that would not stop for anyone.He lowered his eyes, looked at her tearful eyes, and finally couldn't help it. He reached out and stroked the corner of her eyes, but his voice was still cruelly calm:

"Thank you... for loving me."

Xiao Ying looked into the eyes full of farewell, feeling that all her love for him had been ruthlessly buried in that bottomless black pool.

Then, he turned into balls of black fireworks and disappeared before her eyes.Only those fireworks are left, burning, rising, and disillusioning in the dim cave...

Fantasy?

You can't take me on a trip, forget it...

Why thank you I loved you,

Could it be that you won't allow me to continue loving you from now on...

Sakura stretched out her hand, wanting to catch the black flame in front of her eyes, wanting to be burned by the traces left by Sasuke, and also wanting to wake herself up from this sad illusion.

However, her hand went straight through those flames, and everything in front of her eyes turned out to be an illusion.

The intangible loss made her even more sad, and she was heartbroken for those flames:

"It's fine as a companion, please let me stay by your side as a companion, even if you can't fall in love with me for the rest of your life, as long as you let me stay by your side, accompany you, watch you, support you, yes For me, that's enough..."

"Or, Sasuke-kun, are you angry? Angry that you treat me a little bit better, and I have a delusion that I can surpass the relationship with you as a companion? If that is the case, I am willing to change...I am willing to change..."

"Sasuke-kun, please take me away, please take me away...please take me away..."

She cried and shouted, the drowsiness brought by the illusion gradually invaded her, and she felt that her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.

Falling down on the cold cave floor and about to fall asleep, she suddenly felt that all this was a bit ridiculous——

During this long journey of unrequited love, she has been chasing the same figure, crying and begging him to turn back, but what she gets is always rejection.This feeling of longing is really humble...so humble...

Kind of funny.

The author has something to say:

Alas, I feel really uncomfortable after writing...

I don’t know what you think when you watch it~ Feedback is welcome, thank you~