Chapter 275: Where Am I?
When she woke up, everything was still normal.
It just felt as if someone was pulling at her.
She tugged at her clothes. "Could it be here?" She reached her hands into her clothes and pressed them against her chest.
Then she pulled her hands out, looked at the curve of her palms, and was silent for a while.
"Let's go back!"
Haruno Sakura pouted and decided to ignore this problem.
She packed her things, and the girl's figure instantly disappeared from the ruins.
The location of the ruins of the ancient city of Rouran was not far from Konoha. She ran all the way back, and that night, she arrived near Konoha.
Crossing a small hill, the iconic, towering wooden walls of Konoha were hazy in the night, coming into Haruno Sakura's view.
"Phew... I'm home!" Sakura let out a slow breath. She didn't go through the main gate, but passed through the defensive barrier and leaped directly over the wall.
"Why has the barrier been changed to the old-fashioned entry method today? That's an antique from ten years ago, isn't it?" the girl muttered as she leaped down from the wall. She didn't pay it too much mind. After complaining, she headed straight for the center of Konoha.
"Should I go home first, or go find Tsunade first?" Sakura was conflicted.
If I go home, take a shower, and then lie in my own bed for a good night's sleep, maybe I can shake off that weird, uncomfortable feeling that started after the white light flashed?
No, if there's really a problem with that white light and energy, I should go to Tsunade immediately to get it resolved. Otherwise, if I drag it out, I might regret it for the rest of my life...
She made a decision.
"Alright, I'll go find Tsunade!" The girl slammed her fist into her palm.
As Sakura was saying this, she looked up and happened to see Kakashi, his face full of worry, walking past her, his head down, as if he hadn't seen her at all.
"Kakashi!" she called out with a pout.
This guy, he actually pretended not to see me!
"Oh?" Kakashi suddenly raised his head, glanced at Sakura, "Oh, oh! Good evening!"
He said perfunctorily, his gaze completely lacking the feeling of seeing his cutest disciple. For an instant, Haruno Sakura almost thought he was an imposter.
However, she was standing so close to him, completely within Sakura's fine perception range. Haruno Sakura was one hundred percent sure that this was Kakashi's chakra.
It wasn't someone disguised as him with a transformation jutsu.
It was just... why did it feel so strange?
The way Kakashi looked at her was exactly like looking at a stranger. And his tone of voice was also exactly the same as when people she didn't know had greeted her recently.
It was all a polite gesture, a greeting.
"Good evening, Kakashi..." she said, cautiously looking at this slightly strange masked youth. The night was gloomy, and the lights were dim. It was only when she got closer that she could see the details of Kakashi's face—his face seemed to be a little younger than she remembered.
Haruno Sakura looked a few more times. After all, she had been with Kakashi day and night in Team 7, and had seen him every day. She had seen him before the Chunin Exams. How could she not tell the change in her team leader? She was very sure—
"How did you get younger?"
Sakura's heart was full of doubt, but she only asked this question.
Kakashi had already finished greeting her and was about to walk past the girl. Hearing this, he stopped, turned his head, and said, "I've always been this way."
He looked at Sakura a couple of times, but found her face unfamiliar. Under the dim night, the moonlight was hidden and then revealed in the clouds. The occasional silver glow that sprinkled down reflected on the girl's flawless face, giving off a faint light, a beauty that was refreshing to the heart.
A girl with this level of beauty, if he had seen her, he would have had some impression.
It's really strange. A beautiful girl with pink hair, he had been in Konoha for so many years, but he had actually never seen her?
However, the other party's leisurely pace, her frank eyes, and the gentle texture of her chakra made Kakashi instinctively feel that she had no ill intentions and was not some suspicious person.
If she were a suspicious person, how could she greet him on the street with such a pretty face?
Therefore, Kakashi quickly suppressed the faint doubt in his heart. Perhaps it's just that I'm ignorant.
He didn't say any more, glanced at her again, and then turned to leave.
"It's been a little unsafe at night recently. Don't wander around on the streets."
He left this sentence as he walked away.
Sakura looked at his retreating figure, and the words "I'm Haruno Sakura" were stuck in her throat, unable to come out.
She was definitely not a stupid person, nor did she think that the strange people and things she had encountered today were her illusion, or some other genjutsu.
In fact, all these strange things, connected together, made her more and more confused.
An incredible thought had also emerged in her heart.
This place... couldn't be the Konoha of a few years ago, could it?
"That's impossible..." She tugged at the clothes on her chest. That pulling feeling was becoming more and more clear. She looked up at the sky and murmured.
"Although it's unbelievable, but..." the girl bit her lip, thought for a moment, and then her brow and nose wrinkled together. "This seems to explain everything."
The old-fashioned barrier entry method. A younger Kakashi who didn't recognize her. And...
Haruno Sakura looked up. The Hokage Rock was indistinct in the night, and their outlines were unclear. But Sakura could still see how many heads were on it.
One... two... three... four! Only four!
Tsunade's head was not on it.
The girl took a deep breath and calmed her mind.
She hesitated for a while, but still turned around, from the Hokage's residence to the Haruno house. "If my guess is true, I won't be able to find Tsunade over there right now..."
"My house has never moved. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be this way..."
Sakura's steps were a little heavy. Her heart was in a complicated state as she walked on the "way home."
She didn't walk fast. She looked around, a little apprehensive, not knowing what it would be like to meet her younger self. So she soon discovered the abnormality of the Konoha here—
"Why is there no one on the streets?"
The whole street was deserted. Although it was early summer, the air gave people a chilly feeling.
The girl had just experienced the Konoha of the festival, with its bright lights and crowds of people. And now, she saw a Konoha that was so deserted it was as if it could be haunted.
The Konoha of Sakura's time, even in the coldest part of winter, was livelier than the situation now.
Passersby were rare. She had walked for a while before she encountered a passerby who was walking over quickly with his head shrunken, a Konoha Chunin. The ninja looked up at her, then looked at her again, and said kindly, "Little girl, you'd better go home early!"
She frowned tightly. This scene, Sakura had some impression of it.
Several years ago, before the Uchiha massacre, this was the atmosphere in Konoha.
So, could it be that she had returned to that time...
Now her heart became even heavier. But this time, it was a different kind of heaviness.
The pulling feeling was becoming more and more obvious. She now gradually guessed what this strange feeling was—it was her world trying to pull her back. Perhaps, when this feeling became strong enough, it would be the time when she was pulled back.
In other words, she didn't have much time.
A certain thought in her mind was urging her on. Sakura was in no mood to continue to play the part of a melancholy and sensitive girl. Her gaze instantly became sharp.
I'll take this opportunity to investigate the secret of the Uchiha massacre!
Anyway, I'm just a passerby in this world. If there's anything, I can just ask the Third directly!
There's no need to consider too many other problems...
But before that, she had to do one thing first—
Take a look at "herself."
"Thank you for the reminder," she said faintly to the ninja. Then, with a speed he had never seen before, she disappeared with a Body Flicker.
Swish— Only an afterimage was left, and the Chunin, his mouth wide open, his face full of astonishment.
Did I just see a ghost?
The Haruno Residence.
Like many houses on the street, affected by the recent strange atmosphere in the village, this family's lights were also on, and the door was tightly closed.
The sudden, rapid knock on the door almost startled the family, who was in the middle of eating.
The three adults looked at each other in dismay. Then the younger one stood up. "Big brother, I'll get the door."
"Kizashi, be careful."
"Who is it?" Haruno Kizashi opened the door and saw a young girl in the bloom of her youth standing behind it.
"I'm looking for Haruno Kizashi. Is he home?" the girl said with a faint smile.
Without waiting for Haruno Kizashi to answer, the girl walked in as if she were the master of the house, took off her shoes, and walked straight into the main hall.
Haruno Kizashi, under the influence of her inexplicable presence, actually had no intention of stopping the girl's rude behavior.
"Kizashi," Haruno Mebuki said, seeing a figure walk in out of the corner of her eye. Then she turned her head and, only then, found that the one who had walked in was not her brother-in-law. "Hn? Who are you?"
"Big brother, she said she's looking for you," Haruno Kizashi, who was following behind, said quickly.
The girl, however, just smiled faintly. Her gentle gaze swept over Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki, and then landed on the pink-haired loli sitting in the corner.
"I'm not here to see you, Mr. Kizashi," Haruno Sakura said. "I'm here to see Haruno Sakura."
To say her own name like this, Sakura felt a little strange. She pressed down that absurd feeling, and her bright eyes looked at the somewhat surprised little girl.
The small Haruno Sakura was a little scared by her gaze and shrank into her mother's embrace. Haruno Mebuki then frowned. "What do you want with my daughter?"
"My apologies. I just want to ask her a few questions."
The older Haruno Sakura looked at the trembling loli version of herself. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, and her heart felt a little strange, and then... surprised.
She quickly realized something.
Her previous guess was not entirely correct. She had missed one thing!
This loli version of Haruno Sakura...
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