Arthur approached Sakura with an amused persona. "Enjoying the scenery?"
She turned upon recognizing the voice, and her face then lit up. "Desmond? Ugh. Yeah. It's pretty peaceful here."
"Indeed it is… The flowers are beautiful because the country's rich in soil."
The two soon sat down to engage in small talk. Sakura was pleased and excited about a lot of things, such as the weather, the local customs, and the upcoming race.
To think such a little girl was hated this much on earth. Arthur understood why: as long as she remained calm and wasn't upset, she was tolerable.
More notably, there seemed to be a change in her demeanour. Like there was a sense of maturity about her—a confidence that contradicted her young age.
The Sakura he remembered was a lot shyer and a little insecure, often looking for approval. Yet the girl before him now was different; she was acting like her older self: strong, independent, and capable.
Arthur wondered if the time spent with the others—who also knew her well—had changed her behaviour. Considering Naruto had matured a little, it was reasonable to believe Sakura was also affected.
Whatever the cause, Arthur kept note of it.
As their conversation continued, he probed deeper, trying to assess her strength and abilities. Questions about her aspirations and her fears were asked.
When she openly answered, not at all suspicious because of his friendliness, he finally understood that there was no trace of her "inner Sakura." Inner Sakura was the manifestation of her inner emotions that she kept hidden, representing her actual opinion on things as opposed to letting her true feelings be known.
Arthur would have easily been able to tell, but she didn't give any signs of it. This Sakura was far too confident, almost as if she was ready to face any challenge.
Yet he was not the least bit impressed, knowing that she was still her team's weakest link.
"Hey, Sakura, why are you carrying a medical bag? I wasn't told you were in the medical corps or anything."
She casually moved her bag from sight with a nervous smile and explained, "I'd love to share, but I made a promise to my friends that I wouldn't tell anyone. You understand, right?"
Now was not the time to break character, so Arthur nodded.
There was a reason she had a medical bag, and he knew what was inside: bandages, small vials, and the sort. Only ninjas who knew how to use these items would even bother carrying them. And not just any ninjas, but medical ninjas capable of using healing techniques.
Her role as a true support character was only ever made crucial after she received her training from Tsunade.
But Tsunade wasn't in the village. That meant there was only one reason why Sakura possibly knew how to perform medical ninjutsu: her "friends" taught it to her early on.
Medical techniques, while needing refined chakra control, weren't that difficult to learn for anyone with the aptitude. If he were to guess which person passed down that information, it was likely Margaret.
"It's getting late," Arthur finally said, standing up. "We should get going."
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks so much for the company. It was nice talking to you."
"It was my pleasure," he smiled. "Perhaps we can do this again sometime."
She smiled back. "Yeah. I'd like that."
✟
The next day, the race finally commenced.
Arthur watched as the trio boarded the boat with Idate.
"We totally got this in the back, Desmond!" yelled Naruto.
"See ya when we get back!" Sakura waved from the deck.
Sasuke merely kept his eyes closed.
Once they disappeared from sight, Arthur began piecing together what would happen next.
Team Oboro (Rain ninjas from the Chūnin Exams) was more or less likely to attack their boat. That team consisted of Kagari, Mubi, and Oboro.
As such, he entered his smoke form and took to the skies in order to follow them.
After a short while, he witnessed from above as the Rain ninjas attacked. The ambush was short-lived. While Sakura remained back to protect Idate, Naruto and Sasuke easily dealt with their attackers. The latter didn't even use his Sharingan.
That wasn't at all how the original story went. Because from what Arthur remembered, their boat was destroyed. This time, however, Team Oboro was quickly defeated.
As Kagari lay there with his defeated teammates on the deck, he gasped out a question: "How were we beaten so easily?"
"We got a little tip on what you guys were planning," Sasuke smirked.
"Yeah, you guys were totally outmatched!" Naruto cheered.
Now Arthur understood why things had not transpired like he remembered: Team 7 had been told in advance of Team Oboro's ambush. And the only people in this world who would have possibly known were those from earth.
By the time the boat came to shore and the team set foot on land, Aoi Rokushō finally arrived on a rock pillaring out of the sand.
Arthur noticed that his physical appearance was exactly the same: a handsome, chiseled face with spiky dark hair.
Aoi's skills with needles and his ability to combine them with his umbrella weren't the easiest to defeat. However, it was his overreliance on the Blade of Thunder and his arrogance that ultimately led to his downfall.
Team 7 soon appeared on land and greeted their new enemy with confidence.
"You dare?" Aoi demanded in an irritable tone.
"We're protecting Idate, and we're not gonna let you hurt anyone!" declared Naruto.
Aoi sneered. "You're all just children! You can't possibly believe mere Genin can stop me."
Sasuke locked eyes with him and said, "We'll see about that, Aoi Rokushō of the Hidden Rain."
Aoi was visibly stunned for a moment. How did they know his name? The village was understandable because of his headband, but his identity wasn't something they should have had information on.
More importantly, why was it they were acting as if they also knew he was coming?
Arthur calmly watched, wondering how this battle would turn out now.
Immediately, Sakura got in front of Idate as Naruto and Sasuke ran forward. The two were planning to circle Aoi, but the latter leapt back and threw his umbrella up to the sky.
"You think you can protect him?" he sneered. The underside then opened to reveal an array of poisoned needles. "I'll crush you all like insects!"
As the barrage rained down, Naruto and Sasuke weaved around the deadly shower without a single one of them being hit.
"Don't underestimate us!" shouted Naruto.
Sasuke quickly closed the distance between Aoi and him. Seeing this, Aoi tried to pull out the Blade of Thunder until, bang!
Sasuke stopped Aoi's hand, surprising the Rain ninja.
There was no way for the Uchiha to have known about the sword, Aoi likely thought.
Just then, Sakura launched herself to punch him. But Aoi saw her coming, knocked Sasuke's hand back, and leapt backward. Before he even knew it, a swirling sphere of chakra could be heard.
"Rasengan!"
Boom!
The Rain shinobi was hurtled several paces with a clear, gaping wound on his back.
'Not bad…' Arthur commended.
When Aoi stood up, his eyes were burning with a cold fury. "You think that's all it takes to defeat me?! You're nothing but Genin, the lowest of the—"
Before he could finish, he felt a sudden jolt of pain, and his body collapsed to the ground with a thud. Such was the power of the Rasengan.
Naruto smiled, while Sasuke smirked in triumph. Sakura, her eyes filled with relief, moved to Idate's side, making sure he was unharmed.
"I'm alright thanks to you guys," Idate said.
He was clearly impressed from having witnessed the incredible display of teamwork. Rather, he had never seen such a coordinated attack from anyone before; he felt like this team could do anything.
"We're here to protect you," Naruto exclaimed.
"And that's just what we're going to do until you finish your race," added Sasuke.
To date, it felt as though this team could accomplish anything.
Truth be told, this wasn't at all like how their original fight took place. Aoi was outmatched. While his arrogance was once again his downfall, it happened a lot swifter and with no casualties.
Naruto looked over at Aoi's unconscious body. "Sure is a good thing my cousin told us everything about him."
"Yeah…" Sasuke said. "I'll go and secure his weapon."
As the Uchiha neared Aoi, he quickly fell back to his team.
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" asked Sakura.
But when they looked to see what had him so startled, they saw Arthur standing right over Aoi.
"Desmond?!" Naruto asked. "What are you doing here?"
Arthur ignored the question as he fixed his eyes on his Aoi's form. He then reached into the Rain shinobi's pouch and withdrew the Blade of Thunder.
It was surprisingly extra light in his hands. The hilt didn't even look special, hardly having any carvings on it.
Arthur neither smiled nor looked at the team. He was too mesmerized by the properties coursing through the weapon.
The group of children therefore exchanged mixed glances.
"Be careful with that weapon," Sakura said to him. "We were told to secure that at all—"
"Wait, Sakura," interrupted Sasuke. "Something feels off."
"What're ya talkin' about, Sasuke?" wondered Naruto. "You're acting like Desmond's gonna run off with it. Come on, tell them, Desmond."
Yet Arthur continued to ignore them, causing tension to rise.
"Quit playing around!" shouted Naruto.
At that, Arthur finally gazed at them. With an unreadable expression, he placed the Blade of Thunder in his weapon pouch and said, "Naruto… Sasuke… Sakura… Raise your guards, use everything you have, and don't hold back. Because if you don't, your deaths won't be remembered."
The group could not believe what they were hearing.