Chapter 45: Sasuke
"Rasengan?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen, sitting behind his desk and processing official paperwork, looked up in surprise at his young student.
"Yes," Sakura nodded seriously. "I want to pass the Rasengan to Naruto."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the statement, not outright rejecting her proposal but neither accepting it immediately.
"And your reason?" he asked calmly.
"I'm not Naruto's babysitter. I can't always be by his side," Sakura said plainly. "He needs a way to protect himself."
Hiruzen sighed inwardly. It seemed his plan of pairing up Naruto and Sakura was heading nowhere.
"Rasengan for Naruto... Fine. But then why let Kakashi teach Sasuke Chidori?"
At his words, Sakura's lips twitched slightly.
This old man had definitely been spying again.
He must've started pretending to handle paperwork the moment he noticed she was coming.
"Are you really unaware of Sasuke's situation, old man?" Sakura asked with a sigh.
"If Sasuke were just an ordinary genin, then the standard village training would be sufficient."
"But he's not. He's the last Uchiha."
"You wouldn't want the last Uchiha in the village to be lured away by someone else, would you?"
Sakura poured herself a cup of water and sat down on the couch across from Hiruzen.
The old Hokage fell into a thoughtful silence. As the Hokage, he naturally had a broader perspective than most.
He didn't refute her words but instead frowned slightly and asked, "So what you're suggesting is that we fully invest in Sasuke's development?"
Sakura raised a finger and shook it slowly. "Not just invest," she said with conviction. "We must give Sasuke a reason to hope for revenge."
"If he spends his days running missions, always being told to follow orders and never seeing the light at the end of the tunnel..."
"Put yourself in his shoes—if you were Sasuke, what would you choose?"
Hiruzen remained silent.
Eventually, he stood up and, under Sakura's puzzled gaze, walked out of the Hokage's office.
A few minutes later, he returned, holding a scroll in his hands.
"Take a look," he said, placing the scroll before her. "The truth about the Uchiha."
Sighing, he leaned back.
He had never intended for Sakura to get involved in this dark part of Konoha's past. But this child—no, this shinobi—was too intelligent. Keeping her in the dark would only increase the risk of her making a catastrophic mistake. If she was truly going to be his successor, then she had to understand the truth.
Sakura's expression hardened slightly as she opened the scroll.
Time ticked by in silence.
Finally, she let out a long breath and closed the scroll.
Compared to the original story—just a few brief images—this scroll laid everything out in excruciating detail.
The tension between the Uchiha and the village.
And the events of that night, when Uchiha Itachi exterminated his clan.
The old, the young—even newborns.
No one was spared.
"Well, Sakura," Hiruzen asked after a moment, his voice low, "do you still want to support Sasuke's growth?"
Smoke curled from his pipe as he regarded her with somber eyes.
Sakura frowned at the smell, then met his gaze with clarity.
"Yes."
She had a good guess as to what the old man was planning. As long as Sasuke remained peacefully in Konoha, Itachi could also remain outside, fulfilling his role.
What happened to Sasuke didn't really matter to Hiruzen—as long as he stayed alive and stayed in the village.
"Convince me," Hiruzen said flatly. "Give me one solid reason to agree."
Sakura leaned forward slightly.
"Put yourself in Sasuke's position again," she said softly. "He's treated with this lukewarm, guarded approach every day."
"I would've lost my mind by now."
"Besides, the Sharingan doesn't allow for apathy. It's fueled by emotion—especially grief and hatred."
"When it erupts, you'll either have to clean up the mess yourself…"
"Or I'll be the one cleaning up your mess."
Hiruzen squinted through the smoke drifting from his pipe, gaze fixed on Sakura.
"You're not afraid he'll turn against the village?" he asked quietly.
Sakura calmly drank the warm tea in front of her before responding:
"That's exactly why we need to take charge of his future."
"We help him grow stronger. Help him get his revenge. Help him restore the honor of the Uchiha."
"And in the end, he'll stay here, in the village that stood by him his whole life."
"The Uchiha clan will fade into legend—remembered for their glory, but no longer a threat."
Hiruzen's hand trembled slightly as he exhaled a cloud of pale blue smoke into the room.
There was hesitation in his eyes.
"And what about Uchiha Itachi...?" he began, but never finished the sentence.
Because at that moment, Sakura's gaze turned cold, her emerald eyes gleaming with an eerie clarity.
"You think this wasn't Itachi's own choice?"
"For someone who committed a sin that great... dying at Sasuke's hands would be his salvation."
---
By the time Sakura returned to the riverbank with a large bag of water balloons, Naruto and Sasuke were already practicing walking on water.
Thanks to their tree-walking training, they had at least grasped the basic chakra control.
Although they were a bit wobbly, both boys were managing to stay afloat on the water's surface.
"Sakura!" Naruto shouted excitedly, arms flailing as he waved. "Look at me! Aren't I awesome?!"
With a loud plop, he lost his balance and splashed right into the water.
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered with a smirk, watching his soaked teammate flounder to the surface.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke without much expression.
She hadn't finished her conversation with the Third Hokage.
After Itachi died, she would personally drag Shimura Danzo before Sasuke.
Whatever Sasuke chose to do with that man—so be it.
Only by revealing the full truth could everything finally be resolved.
With just a bit of guidance, Sasuke would understand.
After all, it was all the fault of the sneaky "weasel" and the so-called "Pot Hokage."
"Hey, Sakura…" Sasuke called out to her.
Standing on the water, his face carried a hint of red, a rare trace of awkwardness.
"Thanks."
Kakashi had told him everything—how Sakura had convinced the Hokage to allow him to learn Chidori.
He had made it clear that without Sakura's involvement, he wouldn't have gone through with it.
She'd been telling the truth. Even if Kakashi refused, she would have found a way to get the Chidori training method from the Hokage.
It just would've taken a little longer.
"It's fine," Sakura smiled. "We're teammates, aren't we?"
Sasuke looked at her and nodded quietly.
His feelings toward her were complicated.
Ever since that day in the Academy—when she had knocked him from his position as top student—he had seen her as a rival.
He worked hard in secret to surpass her.
Then she skipped a grade.
And he... he lost everything.
His entire clan, gone.
Later, he challenged her, determined to beat her, only to be completely overwhelmed.
Time passed.
All this while, Sasuke had carried a single goal—defeat Sakura, his first rival.
He had never expected to be placed in the same team as her.
It made his desire to surpass her even stronger.
But today, her unexpected kindness had caught him off guard.
This was the first time he didn't know how to respond.
---
(End of Chapter)