Chapter 578: Sakura Uchiha
After finishing this not-so-intense sparring match, Sakura Uchiha had broken out in a light sweat.
She simply went back to her room to take another shower, changed out of her training clothes, and as soon as she walked out of the bathroom, she urged Sasuke to go out and forage for food. [Note, see chapter comments]
"Let's go, let's go out and taste the Hidden Mist's breakfast! I'm so hungry!"
When she pushed open the bathroom door, her body was still carrying hot water vapor and a faint scent of shampoo. She spoke to Sasuke while towel-drying her hair.
Sasuke paused for a moment, averted his gaze, and said: "Before saying that, you should dry your hair first! Or use your Water Release, that's fine too—"
"I don't want to!" The girl retorted capriciously.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at her, quickly scanned Sakura Uchiha from head to toe, and asked: "Are you going out just like this?"
"Wait a moment, I'll be ready right away!"
She didn't waste time either. She vigorously rubbed the hair on the top of her head a few times with a dry towel, casually hung the towel up, and walked over with her hair looking half-dry, arguing plausibly: "This is fine. I like the feeling of letting my hair dry naturally in the wind."
Sasuke also didn't know where this clone, who had just separated from the existence of the original body, got so many little quirks from.
First of all, it could be confirmed that they weren't inherited from Haruno Sakura.
However, such a girl indeed had a bit more of a down-to-earth vibe. She was actually cuter than the cold original, and more like a lively and brilliant cherry blossom.
Watching Sakura Uchiha set up an ice mirror and vigorously brush her hair, trying hard to comb her frizzy, bird's-nest-like hair neatly, Sasuke sighed inexplicably for some unknown reason.
"Do you think it would look better if I added some bangs here?" The girl, who had finally finished combing her hair, raised a new question. "My forehead is too big, it needs some covering up!"
"Uh... I think it looks pretty good, no need to cover it."
"Oh my god, does the original really not know her hairline is very high?" The girl completely ignored Sasuke's response over there, smoothing all her forehead hair to the back of her head, excited as if discovering a new continent. "As the original, she doesn't go and solve the problem or invent a hair-growing secret technique, and as a result, she causes all the clones to suffer!"
Sasuke secretly rolled his eyes, thinking to himself that if Haruno Sakura heard these stupid words, Sakura Uchiha would definitely get a severe beating.
He simply sat on the table, quietly waiting for the girl's fussing.
Sakura Uchiha fiddled in front of the ice mirror for a long time, finally creating a hairstyle with slanted bangs, and simply tied a ponytail in the back, which actually looked quite elegant and beautiful.
"Phew..." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief and jumped off the table. "Is this okay now?"
He was too naive.
The new young miss of the Uchiha family twirled twice in front of the mirror like a vain little phoenix, then started to be dissatisfied with her clothes:
"Hmph~ what stupid clothes! What kind of clothes did the original bring over? Is she a thirty-year-old spinster nun? Could it be that she doesn't even have a single pretty dress in her wardrobe?"
The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched. For a moment, there were too many things to complain about, and he actually didn't know where to start complaining from.
Thirty-year-old spinster nun...?
Also, they were out performing a mission, not on vacation or attending a fashion show...
Well, putting other things aside, Sakura-kun might actually not have many dresses... It's just that she rarely dresses in such a soft and girly style.
Speaking of this, Sasuke recalled with considerable interest, and found that the images of Sakura-kun wearing dresses in his memory were indeed quite rare. Perhaps he had seen her in one during some large public celebration or holiday? However, due to the tense situation, Konoha had hardly held any large celebrations or activities in the past two years...
It's a pity. A blooming young girl with a tall and straight figure like hers would look exceptionally beautiful in a dress. At this thought, Sasuke suddenly felt a bit expectant and slightly excited.
Without waiting for long, the ninja girl walked out from the small room, wearing a red and white cross-collared ruqun (traditional skirt and blouse), skipping lightly a few steps like a butterfly.
"Ta-da~" Miss Butterfly held the hem of her skirt and curtsied to the boy, snapped her fingers with her left hand, and smiled, "How is it? I bought it in passing when I went out shopping yesterday."
Of course, she used a clone for that too. Yes, a clone of a clone.
Sasuke nodded. He also noticed that Sakura Uchiha had very calculatingly added a beauty mark under the corner of her eye, instantly making her entire pretty face look more vivid. Wearing that light and airy dress, that smiling and charming appearance was simply, simply...
Uh, it's hateful that the Ninja Academy doesn't teach how to describe a girl's beauty. Sasuke was momentarily at a loss for words, opening his mouth "ah ah ah", wracking his brains for a long time, but still hadn't figured out how to reply.
"'Ah, I'm dead!'" Sakura Uchiha patted his shoulder and said with a wink. "You just need to say that."
This meme, Haruno Sakura had told him about it; he understood it instantly.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at her, and then laughed as well.
"Alright, it's really beautiful," he said sternly. "A beauty that outshines the moon and flowers, beautiful enough to feast the eyes upon; are those the right words?"
"Passable!" Sakura Uchiha gave a thumbs up.
Before leaving, she twirled in front of the mirror once more. "Actually, it's mainly because I'm tall, have a good figure, and a pretty face; the person makes the dress look good!"
At this time, she absolutely made no mention of who passed those genes down to her.
Leaving a clone to watch the house, the two put on outdoor walking shoes and leisurely walked out of the small courtyard.
This was already Haruno Sakura's second time at the Hidden Mist. However, the first time she encountered a rebellion (see Volume Eleven: Hidden Mist Turmoil for details), and this time she came directly for a battle. Therefore, the original body's familiarity with the village was not as good as Sakura Uchiha's, who had taken the time to stroll around the Hidden Mist Village.
"That area from before was a residential zone. Starting from this street, the road section belongs to the commercial district," the girl pointed the way skillfully. "Turn left ahead and it's Ninja Tool Street. The whole street serves ninja, selling ninja tools, armor, kunai, ninja swords, sealing formulas, and whatnot."
"I heard the Hidden Mist's ninja swords are uniquely excellent, even more famous than the ninja swords of the Land of Iron? Do they sell them over there?" Mentioning ninja swords piqued Sasuke's interest.
Sakura Uchiha frowned, feeling a bit depressed: "Indeed. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the specialty of the Hidden Mist is all kinds of high-quality swords, and they do sell them there. But we shouldn't even think about it. I've been there, all the good swords are kept in the back rooms. It's not that the Hidden Mist won't let us in, but we can't even get a look at them, let alone buy them."
"Is that so." Sasuke felt a bit regretful.
Ninja who train in kenjutsu mostly have a hobby of collecting good swords, especially since ninja battles easily damage bladed tools. Although Sasuke could use Lightning Release to form a blade, having a good sword in hand could also save a lot of effort.
"Sakura-kun has some renown in this village, right? How about you go buy a sword in her name later? Maybe out of respect for her helping the Hidden Mist, they'll sell us a few." Sasuke thought for a moment and came up with a plan, wanting Sakura Uchiha to transform into a Face-Face Fruit user.
"If you really want to buy a good sword," the girl glanced at him speechlessly, "you might as well directly find Mei Terumi and ask her to find a good sword for you."
Chatting as they walked, the two passed a few streets and walked into a breakfast restaurant.
The Hidden Mist Village was a typical coastal port city, living off the sea. Its breakfast specialties inevitably included seafood, and they were mixed with characteristics from various countries. Sakura Uchiha ordered fresh shrimp wontons, while Sasuke ordered caviar with whole wheat bread (very much fitting the style of a wealthy young master). It was quite absurd for these two types of food to appear on the same dining table at the same time, with their prices and flavors being worlds apart. But in an easily accessible port city, this mix-and-match style was everywhere.
The shrimp wontons were delicious, but when the girl wanted to pack a portion to take back for Naruto, she was informed that seafood was in limited supply, restricted to one portion per person. The boss explained with an apologetic smile that the village had blockaded the coastline for some reasons these past few days, forcing fishermen to take a long detour to go out to sea. This caused the supply of fish, shrimp, and seafood to plummet, making it hard for him to do business. Truly hateful!
The two main culprits responsible for all this exchanged a glance, unanimously shook their heads, and laughed.
"We are clearly the saviors who rescued them, yet we are complained about for affecting their business. Honestly." On the way back, Sasuke couldn't help but grumble.
"Hehe," Sakura Uchiha laughed. "After all, they are just ordinary people. The information they know is limited, and they can only make judgments based on limited information. Yet they don't know that such judgments are often flawed, wrong, or even diametrically opposed to the facts."
"True."
Sasuke nodded.
Thinking about it this way, some small indignations in the boy's heart vanished into thin air.
"So to speak, making inferences relying only on limited information often fails to yield the correct result," Sasuke concluded.
He had the deepest personal experience with this kind of thing: regarding the Uchiha clan massacre, he had never obtained complete information, so he was always worried whether he had made a diametrically opposite judgment.
Actually, being able to calmly realize this, Sasuke had already progressed much more compared to the him of a few years ago.
It could even be said that he was already mentally prepared for certain things he had once firmly believed in to be completely overturned...
There was just one more thing, something that had happened recently, that had been buried in his heart for a long time, related to Haruno Sakura.
Related to this Haruno Sakura, and "that" Haruno Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto.
He had always been very doubtful... wondering if he, like that shop owner, had relied on limited intelligence and arrived at the wrong conclusion.
It was just that he couldn't find a good opportunity, and he always felt embarrassed to ask her.
Looking at the pretty girl beside him, Sasuke suddenly realized that perhaps... this was an opportunity.
"Actually..." He hesitated and slowly opened his mouth.
"Mhm?"
The girl turned her head, her bright, large eyes landing on his face. Being looked at so seriously by that face that was too familiar, Sasuke's heart suddenly tightened. The words that had reached his throat could not be spoken again.
She is not Sakura-kun. Sasuke told himself.
"Um—"
"You want to ask me some things about her, right?" Sakura Uchiha smiled. While turning her head and walking ahead, she covered her mouth and snickered, "Some things... you're embarrassed to ask her directly? So you came to ask me?"
"Don't worry, I will answer seriously!"
The girl tilted her head and winked at him.