"No need."
"Hinata is alone too. Naruto, you should walk Hinata home."
Sakura Haruno rejected Naruto's little scheme.
"Hinata is very strong, and she is the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan. No one would dare do anything to her."
Facing Naruto's single-minded denseness, Sakura was truly speechless.
"Forget it. Hikari, let's go."
Sakura looked around. Karin and Ino had already left; only the dawdling Hikari and Sasuke, who was waiting for her, remained.
"Huh?"
Hikari, who was packing her clothes, tilted her head.
Was she really on such good terms with this pink-haired girl?
However, Sakura didn't wait for Hikari to react. She stepped forward, grabbed her arm, and forcibly dragged her away.
"Wait, wait! I still have stuff to get!"
"Oh, it's fine. Let Sasuke bring it for you."
Watching Hikari being dragged off by Sakura, Sasuke reached down and picked up the ninja tool pouch Hikari had left behind. Naruto watched the pink hair disappear into the night and couldn't help but scratch his head.
"What are you standing there for?" Sasuke asked. "Walk Hinata home."
Sasuke waved the tool pouch in front of Naruto and then began walking toward Sakura and Hikari. Even Sasuke could tell that Hinata liked Naruto. Only Naruto still had that idiot's expression on his face.
"Sasuke..."
Naruto reached out toward Sasuke, but Sasuke didn't even turn his head as he walked away.
"Na—Naruto-kun..."
Behind him, Hinata looked at Naruto nervously, her face flushing involuntarily.
"In that case, Hinata, let me walk you home."
Naruto scratched his head as he looked at the blushing Hinata. He didn't think much of her shyness; in Naruto's mind, it seemed Hinata had always been this way.
"...Mmm, thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata responded in a small voice, her translucent ears turning incredibly red.
Under the night sky, the two walked one after the other down the increasingly quiet streets. Hinata followed silently behind Naruto, her heart in total disarray. She wanted to say something to him, but being naturally poor with words, she found it even harder to speak when facing Naruto.
Walking in front with his hands behind his head, Naruto glanced back at the shy Hyuga girl with her head lowered.
"Hey, Hinata."
Naruto's voice rang out in the night. Perhaps because the silence was too heavy, Naruto took the initiative to speak.
"Yes? Oh, Naruto-kun! Is something wrong?" Hinata looked up at him.
"If the person you like doesn't like you back, what should you do?"
Hinata froze, her footsteps stopping instinctively. Noticing her odd behavior, Naruto stopped and looked back at the girl with the Byakugan, puzzled.
"What's wrong, Hinata?"
The Hyuga girl shook her head vigorously. "No, it's nothing. Does Naruto-kun... have someone he likes?"
For some reason, Hinata, who usually would have been extremely shy, was exceptionally calm at this moment.
"Ah, well, how should I put it... hehe." Faced with Hinata's question, Naruto became fidgety instead, looking embarrassed.
"It's Sakura, right?" Hinata spoke softly, her expression a bit dejected.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Naruto nodded repeatedly but then let out a sigh. "But it's just wishful thinking on my part. Sakura rejected me a long time ago."
Perhaps because they were both girls, Naruto wanted to get some advice from Hinata.
Hinata looked at Naruto under the streetlights with a complicated expression. She seemed to see that pink-haired figure standing before everyone—the one who had suppressed the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Mist until they couldn't even lift their heads. As the princess of the Hyuga clan, her access to intelligence regarding Sakura was far beyond anything Naruto possessed.
Therefore, Hinata clearly understood what kind of existence Sakura had become. In terms of combat records and achievements alone, even the Fourth Hokage could not compare to her.
"Naruto, Sakura is very exceptional," Hinata said softly.
"Hehe, I know that, of course," Naruto agreed.
"When a person is just a little bit better than others, there will naturally be envy and jealousy; people will want to pull them down," Hinata continued, making Naruto pause in surprise. "But when a person is so exceptional that they far surpass everyone else—to a degree that others can't hope to reach in a lifetime... then there is only admiration, longing, and looking up to them."
Even Hinata could see that Sakura didn't care about romance, or rather, she had no interest in it at all. Only an idiot like Naruto couldn't see it.
Naruto didn't quite understand, but he was deeply moved. Sakura really is the best!
Looking at the still-clueless Naruto, Hinata shook her head and then looked up at the boy she loved. Even if he didn't know, didn't realize, and didn't understand her feelings... this very denseness was one of the things she liked about him.
"Naruto-kun, I can walk the rest of the way by myself. It's late. You should head back."
Hinata gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at Naruto. Without waiting for a response, she vanished into the night alone, leaving the blond boy standing there stunned.
Naruto scratched his head as he watched her go. "Hinata... how strange..."
Hokage ResidenceHokage's Office
An old man stood across from Sakura.
Four days had passed since the team-building event, and Mitokado Homura had successfully returned from his meeting with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. He had brought back news.
Sakura flipped through the memorial Homura had brought back, a trace of mockery playing at the corners of her mouth. Inside was the letter from the old man nominating Sakura as the next Hokage. At the end, the word "No" had been written, stamped with the official seal of the Land of Fire's Daimyo.
This was the Daimyo's answer. Not only that, but even Koyuki Kazahana, who had voiced her support for Sakura, had been severely reprimanded by the Land of Fire.
"Sakura... what should we do?" Homura looked hesitantly at the girl, who now carried a palpable chill.
He didn't understand—what was the Daimyo thinking? Did the Daimyo not know what this Hokage candidate had done during the war? In the current Konoha, who else but her could possibly become the Hokage?!
Sakura casually tossed the memorial onto the desk.
"Since this Daimyo doesn't know what's good for him, then we just need to make him obedient. Why go through all this trouble?"
Sakura stood up, causing Homura's heart to skip a beat as a sudden sense of crisis washed over him.
"Sakura, what do you intend to do?" Homura felt that Sakura was about to do something extremely dangerous.
"It's nothing. Rest easy, Elder Homura," Sakura said, patting him on the shoulder before walking out of the Hokage's office alone. "I just want to take what rightfully belongs to me."
This caused the unease in Homura's heart to swell uncontrollably.
Hiruzen... I have to find Hiruzen Sarutobi!
No matter what Sakura wanted to do, only Hiruzen Sarutobi could stop her. If Sakura really intended to make a move against the Daimyo, then he... or rather, where would Konoha go from here?
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