In Konoha, Naruto lies down

That smile was hard for the young girl to understand, but she always remembered it, a smile that seemed bitter yet carried with it a boundless calmness.

Now she probably understood a little, just like she wanted to cry, but she found that she had no right to cry, as if everything would be fine if she didn't wake up.

She seemed to be drifting in the netherworld of this era that did not belong to her, filled with only endless loneliness. And this loneliness completely erupted when she returned home and found the door locked.

Sakura probably knew that her other self was used to leaving home, so her parents also used to lock the door when they saw her go out. She didn't want to knock on the door, but just squatted by the door, biting her wrist and crying.

She suppressed her tears for a while, but not even a sound came out. At this moment, she remembered an address in her mind: 404 Konoha Street.

She stood up unsteadily, and just as she raised her foot, she froze in place.

Do I really want to go find Naruto? Although I already... But I clearly like Sasuke, but Sasuke has already defected and may never come back.

Want to go?

It had already happened, and there was no way to turn back. It had already happened...it had already happened, but there was no way to blame it.

Sasuke.......

What was Sasuke doing at this time? He woke up, but something like that happened. Now he really has no choice but to...

Knock, knock, knock on the door.

Naruto was arguing with Hydrangea over a plot in a TV series while holding a glass of water, betting on a day off, while Kurama Yakumo was watching the fun.

An unexpected knock on the door broke the harmonious atmosphere. Naruto turned to look at the door and frowned slightly. The two women were also stunned for a moment, and Naruto waved to them.

The two girls quietly returned to their rooms. Naruto walked to the door in his slippers and opened it with a loud noise. The wind blew in with raindrops, and Sakura stood outside the door holding an umbrella.

Her frail body trembled slightly as she glanced up at him from the corridor. An awkward expression appeared on her face, as if she had been forced to do so.

"What are you doing?" Naruto was a little surprised. We just separated in the afternoon, and you're here in the evening? This... you figured it out so quickly, huh? Amazing.

Sakura didn't think too much about it. She was just struggling in her heart about whether she should find Naruto. She had already decided to go home and start over in the afternoon.

But......

Chapter 382 Nine-tailed Fox: Unlucky, I Met the Evil Uchiha

Naruto stood at the door, looking Sakura up and down. Before Sakura made her intention clear, he couldn't speculate and could only wait for her response.

"I can't go back." She said with her head down.

"Huh?" Naruto was a little surprised at how smoothly the progress was. Although it was pretty much as expected, but...

"I was planning to go out and take a look, and relax, but when I got back the door was locked." Sakura raised her head, looked at Naruto and said, "Can you... take me in for one night?"

Hearing this, he realized he had misunderstood. He coughed awkwardly, moved aside to make way for Sakura, and said with a smile.

"Of course, after all, our relationship..."

Naruto couldn't continue speaking, realizing that he had just gotten out of someone else's mess a few hours ago.

Now, every word I say seems to be ambiguous, and I clearly don't mean that. But in the end... forget it, forget it, I won't say it anymore.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded, lowered her head slightly and walked in sideways.

She didn't seem to notice the ambiguity in Naruto's words, or maybe she didn't care. In any case, Naruto couldn't detect anything unusual from her slightly lowered face.

At the entrance, Sakura bent down and took off her shoes very slowly.

Naruto just stood there and watched, his eyes subconsciously lingering on her feet. She started from her heels and slightly raised her tiptoes, revealing her snow-white insteps.

It is the kind of slightly fleshy and sturdy instep with faintly visible blue veins.

Things were a bit complicated, with two personalities sharing one body. The main personality had been asleep for a long time, but woke up halfway through the extraction.

Black Sakura is temporarily dormant, and the main personality Pink Sakura is online. In a sense, the memories of the two should be shared.

But now Fenying's memory remains at six years ago. Either Heiying is unwilling to share, or Fenying is unwilling to accept reality and rejects the memories of these six years.

Based on his understanding of Black Sakura, the former was unlikely. So was Pink Sakura unwilling to accept reality? After all, it was to avoid the reality of Sasuke's defection that the main personality fell into a dormant state.

Such speculation is not impossible.

"Come over here. This is probably your first time here, right?" Naruto walked in front to lead the way. "Please sit down. I'll get you a glass of water."

Sakura responded, carefully looking around the unfamiliar living room. In her memory, the impression of Naruto's home was still stuck in the old house in the center of Konoha.

The night rain rustled, and in the dim light from the other side of the balcony, all I could see was a gray mist.

Naruto was pouring water in the kitchen. She looked at the sofa, which was a bit messy and looked like someone had just stayed there. She turned her head and looked at the closed rooms. An idea suddenly came to her mind.

Avoiding the two scattered seats, Xiaoying sat down on the neat sofa on the other side, but she didn't sit down completely. She just touched the edge, as if she was about to leave.

This was a sign of insecurity. Naruto noticed this detail when he came out of the kitchen and handed Sakura a glass of water, but he didn't say anything.

No one would feel safe in this situation. After all, the phone was pulled out the moment they woke up, and they had to knock on their friend's door at night.

"Don't be too sad, ahem." Naruto sat down and smoothed the marks on the sofa with his hand. "She is used to staying in the exclusive lounge of the hospital overnight and rarely goes home."

"Your parents must have gotten used to her pace, but they might not be able to get over the psychological barrier. They haven't spent much time together in the past six years."

"Yeah, I know." Fenying fell silent, clutching the cup in her hand. After a long pause, she asked, "Is there nothing else I can do?"

"Your situation is rare. We've tried many methods." Naruto said, choosing his words carefully. "There is basically no solution. The best way is to coexist."

"coexist?"

"Personality cannot be killed; it is engraved in the soul." Naruto got down to business, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "If we compete with each other, we will only fall into an endless cycle of life."

"How about you guys communicate...divide your time, share memories, or something like that?"

"Distribute time..." Sakura was silent for a long time before she looked up and said hesitantly, "But this will conflict, right? She...she's with you, using me...our bodies."

"I don't know either. Anyway, we still need to communicate." Naruto spread his hands and said, "She has done a lot of work and made a lot of efforts over the years."

"There are many things waiting for her to complete. In the eyes of others, you and her are no different. If you don't communicate, you won't be able to access that part of your memory, right?"

"...Let me think about it again." Sakura took a sip of water, pursed her lips and frowned deeply.

"Okay." Naruto stood up and walked towards the room.

With a loud bang, a thunderstorm suddenly came.

Naruto ignored Sakura on the sofa and walked into the room and whispered to the two girls that their vacation would end early and the remaining vacation would be deferred to the next time.

As for when the next time would be, he himself didn't know. He raised his hand and skillfully placed both women into the sealed space. He turned and left the room, opening the door as he went.

As expected, Sakura looked behind him. Noticing the door was open, she couldn't help but feel puzzled. She stared at the smooth sofa and blinked.

"Normally, not many people come here, but two guests came before you." Naruto answered her doubts directly and pointed to another room.

"The bedding in that room is clean. I've tidied it up a bit. You can rest there tonight. You're welcome."

Two? Sakura was a little frightened. Could it be that he had left and found two more since then? In the past six years, Naruto seemed to have changed a lot.

Her impression of Naruto was still that of the cheerful blond boy from six years ago, but now... that scene was still lingering in her mind.

Naruto seemed to have a good relationship with Ino before, but now he's with his own body... So are they together? What's their relationship like now? Is he cheating?

"Okay." She finally didn't ask anything.

"That's the bathroom over there. I have clean bathrobes here. You can throw your clothes in there to wash before you take a shower, and then dry them while they're drying."

Naruto kept reminding him, not wasting time at a time like this.

"If you don't know how to use the dryer, I can teach you in advance. As for the washing machine, you should know how to use it. Here are the bath towels and hand towels, take them."

"Yeah." Sakura's uneasiness gradually faded. Under Naruto's constant instructions, she found a sense of stability.

bathroom.

Just as Naruto was teaching Sakura how to use the latest model of dryer, Sakura suddenly looked up at her and asked.

"Are you with Ino now?"

Under the bright light, he looked down at Sakura and was stunned for a moment.

"Why do you ask this suddenly?"

"Nothing, I'm just a little curious?" Sakura said with a smile, "After all, I've been asleep for so long, it's like traveling far away. The companions around me have all grown up."

"The relationship hasn't been confirmed yet, but it might be in the future..." Naruto replied.

"Ah."

.........

In the living room, Naruto sipped a glass of water, silently pondering what to do. If the matter was too complicated, he could only put it aside for now.

The countdown to Tsunade's departure was almost upon us, and many things remained unfinished. Danzo was still alive and well, and no one knew where Hashira was.

I just hope that Sasuke kills Uchiha Itachi sooner rather than later. Logically, the plot of Sasuke killing his brother should have already begun. However, due to the extended timeline, it has been delayed until now and I have no idea what the specific direction of the plot is.

Now that Konoha was basically cleared, it was just the end. There was no point for him to stay in the village anymore, except that only Ino was safe.

With Black Sakura suddenly going into hibernation, Hinata needed time to make plans. Time, what he lacked most right now was time.

If Sakura hadn't come to him so soon, perhaps he wouldn't have thought about it for the time being. But now... he wanted to resolve Sakura's troubles as soon as possible.

Half an hour later, Sakura came out wrapped in a bathrobe, smoothed out the wrinkles on the robe, and sat upright on the sofa.

"I have something I want to ask you about Sasuke."

"I don't know much, just ask." Naruto put down the cup in his hand.

"I want to know, what happened next?"

"Later?" He pondered for a moment. "At that time, Lady Tsunade had just taken office, and the village was short of manpower. After the failure to retrieve Sasuke, no one paid much attention to this matter."

"Sasuke probably went to Orochimaru's place. I heard that Sasuke killed Orochimaru and went to seek revenge on Uchiha Itachi. No one knows his whereabouts after that."

"Ah."

Time passed minute by minute, and the living room fell into silence.

"Is there no hope for Sasuke to return to the village?" she asked suddenly, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Do you want him to come back?" Naruto suddenly asked Sakura, his eyes sharp.

"I... I don't know, and there's nothing I can do now..." Sakura's eyes were a little evasive. After all, she was just a girl and thought everything was too simple.

After some thought, Naruto decided to take this opportunity to make things clear.

"So what if he finds it? Will Sasuke give up on revenge for the genocide of his clan? How can we persuade him? Lock him up until he gives up on revenge?"

"Don't be silly, Sasuke and we are just companions. Compared to us who have only been together for a year, his parents and family who grew up with him, the latter is obviously more important."

"The flames of revenge can completely burn away a person's faith, changing them from head to toe. No one knows what fate will lead to, or what they will do after their revenge."

"This..." Sakura was speechless.

Naruto left and went to take a shower. When he came out, he saw Sakura still sitting on the sofa, but he didn't care and went back to his room to sleep.

The next day.

Naruto simply let her rest at home, since she couldn't do anything in her current state anyway. He then went out and found Neji to discuss the caged bird issue with him.

The two met in a bamboo forest not far from the Hyuga clan. Neji looked a little hesitant and obviously had not made a decision yet.

"Let's do this, first remove the caged bird seal on the heads of the other branch families." Naruto knew Neji's upright character, so he naturally wouldn't reveal the plan in full.

"Besides you, there must be other branches willing to give it a try. You don't have to refuse so quickly. You can think about it again."

"But you just need to introduce me to a member of the branch family, and I will take care of the rest."

"This..." Seeing that Naruto had said so much, Neji found it difficult to refuse. After all, he was just hesitant, not unwilling to free the bird from the cage.

"Okay then." He gritted his teeth and agreed.

The wind rustled through the bamboo forest, and Neji's brows knitted together, unable to get over the hurdle in his heart. Hinata Hiashi treated him like his own son, treating him like a son or nephew.

Neji didn't think that his father's death was entirely the fault of Hyuga Hiashi, but he also knew clearly what kind of position the main family played in the Hyuga clan.

He was very clear about separating his personal feelings from right and wrong, and he knew that Naruto could have bypassed him and contacted the Hyuga branch, but he still didn't do that.

This was a personal bond between them, and he couldn't betray it. More importantly, he hesitated because of Hyuga Hiashi, so he couldn't stop the other branches from escaping their suffering.

The rest of the Hyuga branch families lived under the shadow of the main family, often being beaten, scolded, and ordered around, with no way to resist. The slightest sign of dissent would result in immediate punishment.

As for the protection of the caged bird, the Hyuga clan rarely left Konoha. They spent most of their time in the Hyuga garrison, and some people even never left the village in their entire lives.

If Konoha can't protect its people, then even having a bird in a cage won't be of much use.

"What about you, Neji?" Naruto asked.