Some Changes

Sakura Haruno's gaze lingered on Sasuke's face, which was trying to appear calm and whose flush had just faded.

Young people's emotions always come on strong, like a June downpour, without warning, accompanied by Hayate and thunder.

As someone who's been through it all, she understands this very well. What's more, this boy in front of her, whose family was wiped out when he was young, and whose only relative was Uchiha Itachi, and who lived in such a messed-up world as Hokage, it's already quite remarkable that he was able to grow up strong. Even if he went astray a bit along the way, becoming sensitive, extreme, narrow-minded, and immature, it's only natural.

Being able to force yourself to calm down and regain composure, instead of letting momentary anger cloud your judgment, already demonstrates a considerable degree of self-control.

Sakura was even a little surprised.

In their past lives... what happened to everyone? In the later parts of Shippuden, Sasuke became darker and more childish as he grew up. Well, she hadn't read that part, so she didn't know if it was true or not; but just looking at how Sasuke could quickly calm down and wait for an answer after touching Itachi's sore spot, it seemed that the view was somewhat biased.

Either Sasuke was framed, or she, this butterfly from another world, completely disrupted the "plot" and changed him. At least with his personality—impulsive and extreme, but able to calm down in time—he shouldn't be that unlikeable.

Thinking of this, Sakura Haruno's frustration from being yelled at by Sasuke eased considerably.

--Great, this avoids the dialogue veering into the kind of melodramatic soap opera style we see with lines like "How dare you yell at me!" "Who told you to lie to me!" "You dare yell at me again!"... Firstly, these two aren't in that kind of relationship; secondly, as a science student, our protagonist Sister Sakura Haruno, naturally resists dialogue that contains no useful information...

"Itachi's strength..." Sakura hesitated for a moment, then sat back down on the rock, hugging her knees, and said, "What do you think of my strength?"

The black-haired boy hesitated for a moment. "It feels... alright, I guess? Just so-so?"

"Hmm?" He raised his voice.

"I am very strong! Much stronger than everyone in our generation!" Sasuke quickly added seriously, "Actually, I think you might even be stronger than the Fifth Hokage."

That unnecessary remark made Sakura Haruno, who was maintaining a "go on, Sister Sakura likes it" expression, burst into laughter. [Note]

Is this... a clumsy attempt at flattery? He would only say something like that in private when he's talking to Sakura.

"Alright, don't drag my master into this." Sakura suppressed her laughter and gently kicked him with her long, white leg; however, she didn't refute Sasuke's words. It seems that in her heart, she also believed that her strength had surpassed her master's—and by a large margin.

It's best to keep such thoughts to yourself; to share them with others would make you seem frivolous and disrespectful to your elders.

"The so-called 'Kage Level' is actually just an unwritten hierarchy of strength. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what standards must be met to qualify as a 'Kage Level' ninja. However, for us ninjas who have already reached this stage, it is a very clear dividing line of strength."

"Get up, Sasuke. You can already feel the difference between 'Kage' level and ordinary Jonin, or even Elite Jonin, right? Because in terms of combat power alone, you are already one of the best Jonin, that is, an Elite Jonin. The next step forward is the 'Kage' level."

The boy nodded.

"What I'm thinking is that even at the 'Kage' level, there can still be huge differences in the strength of ninjas. You could even subdivide this level into 'Quasi-Kage,' 'newly entered Kage Level,' 'ordinary Kage Level,' 'peak Kage Level, ' and so on. This kind of division is of course foolish and pointless, but if it's just for reference..."

"I think Itachi's strength ranks in the bottom two of these sub-categories."

That's my assessment of his abilities.

Sasuke's face darkened. After a moment of silence, he spoke solemnly, "Is he really that strong?"

Sakura Haruno nodded. "It's true. Didn't you just ask me how I dealt with his Susanoo and Tsukuyomi? Those two moves aren't actually difficult. Susanoo can't completely withstand my Water Gun Technique. In fact, your Super Electromagnetic Cannon wasn't entirely ineffective, was it?"

"That's not the case." Sasuke shook his head slightly. "I used all my strength, but he still managed to block the Super Electromagnetic Cannon."

"But you also smashed half of Susanoo's arm, didn't you?" Sakura smiled slightly, patted his shoulder, and said, "There's nothing that a single Super Electromagnetic Cannon can't solve. If there is, then just fire another one!"

Sasuke was almost shocked by her missionary manifesto of the Railgun Cult.

However, Sakura Haruno was not joking. The Super Electromagnetic Cannon technique has immense potential, almost limitless, while its side effects are nearly zero. She even had the urge to specialize in Lightning Release, but a mysterious force pulled her back to Water Release — Water Release is the strongest!

"Back to business."

"I Tsukuyomi... but you don't need to worry too much. It didn't hurt you as much as you thought, did it? Besides being a little irritable and easily angered, are there any other aftereffects? When you get stronger and older, you can also withstand it."

"On the contrary, he has one move that we need to be constantly vigilant about, but fortunately, it's not without a way to deal with it. Although he doesn't need to form Hand Seals to activate that move, the fluctuations in Chakra and the movements in his eyes are traceable. If you're fast enough, you can dodge it; or something like Chakra Cloak can also block it."

--Upon closer inspection, this method in the original work actually didn't kill many well-known masters.

"In short, breaking his technique isn't that difficult. The difficulty lies in dealing with Itachi himself."

"If it were a life-or-death struggle with him, I would likely win; but to be honest, in terms of pure combat ability, I am inferior to him."

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Given Sakura Haruno's personality, she rarely speaks so highly of someone; therefore, Sasuke knows the weight of her words.

It felt heavy, like a stone pressing down on his heart.

The girl stopped speaking there, and the black-haired boy also fell silent.

Sasuke stood silently, his gaze drifting to the brilliant sunset, lost in thought; Sakura sat silently, hugging her knees, her chin resting on her knees, watching the setting sun in the distance, saying nothing.

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

The sounds of insects chirping nearby, and the crackling of burning matches.

The sound of a river flowing in the distance.

There was also the whistling wind, warm yet slightly restless, of early summer.

Suddenly, everything became noisy.

In the quiet world of this campsite, a symphony of early summer is played.

After a long while, he turned around and looked at Sakura Haruno; the afterglow of the late afternoon sun fell on her face, giving her perfect profile a brilliant golden hue.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, as if he understood something, and he laughed. No matter how strong Itachi became, it couldn't change his original intention: to become stronger, and then take revenge, or to find an explanation for everything; just as the sun sets every day without changing, just as the stone lies unchangingly by the river, just as this girl, and that boy, and his companions, will always be by his side.

That's what he believed at that moment.

"Okay, I understand."

The black-haired boy said.

Sakura Haruno was taken aback, turning to look at him, wondering where his words had come from. Looking at him closely, she sensed a slight change in him in a short time. However, Sakura also knew that while women were fickle, men were just as fickle, especially teenage boys.

Has he really changed? Perhaps not.

"Huh? What are you doing?" Sakura Haruno asked, pouting.

"I'll take care of the first half of the night's watch." Sasuke shook his head, avoiding the question.

The girl looked at him suspiciously for a few moments.

"You're much more tired than me, so you should rest first," he said firmly, walking over and pulling her up from the rock. "I slept all afternoon, and I'm feeling quite refreshed... I'll wake you up if I get tired."

"Alright." Sakura shrugged, accepting his offer. She wasn't made of iron; after so many battles, she was indeed exhausted and wouldn't push herself too hard.

As I walked back to the tent entrance, I heard Sasuke ask another question.

"So, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was captured by Akatsuki?"

"Hmm." The girl turned her head and answered calmly, "The mission failed."

"Oh," Sasuke replied. "By the way... give me the shoes, I suddenly have an idea."

Sakura Haruno raised an eyebrow.

So, her shoes were more important than the Jinchūriki whose fate was unknown?

Two days later, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke, having failed in their first mission, returned to Konoha.

[P. S. The Sasuke in this story differs from the Uchiha Sasuke in the original work... so as an important supporting character, I'll dedicate a chapter or two to highlighting this difference in his interactions with the protagonist. This chapter is to make up for last night's update. There will be one more update today.]