The Two of Them

For some reason, Sasuke subconsciously read the look in her eyes.

Feeling guilty? Or... something else?

"It's actually a very boring question."

He coughed twice, deliberately making it sound indifferent.

Sakura Uchiha smiled faintly and slowed her pace. She quietly looked at Sasuke, waiting for him to continue.

"Hmm... you inherited my memories," Sasuke said slowly, carefully choosing his words, "So you should know that a few months ago, Sakura and I went to another world, a world that's slightly different from ours..."

The world of the original work.

Of course, for Sasuke, Sakura Haruno, as a transmigrator, is the Sakura he truly recognizes, and this world is his "original world." In addition, the more fragile and delicate Sakura in that world, the more chuunibyou-ish Sasuke, and the different speeds of time passage become the main differences between the two worlds.

"I remember."

The girl responded appropriately, nodding.

Sasuke cleared his throat and continued, "There, we fought against 'us' from another world, along with Shimura Danzō and a strange man."

"I know!" Sakura Uchiha laughed. "That seems to be the first time the Clone Duplicate to fight, right?"

"Yeah, she was 'using' someone else back then, not you," Sasuke added.

"Use"...?

What are you saying, bro?

Sakura Uchiha is not some soulless tool to be manipulated at will; she is a living, breathing person! A stunningly beautiful woman standing right next to you!

The boy's ribs were directly struck by an elbow strike. It didn't hurt much, but Sasuke then realized that he had used the wrong words.

He turned his head and saw the girl's face flushed red. She glared at him, embarrassed and annoyed, and turned her face away. "Hmph!"

"Ahem..." Sasuke coughed awkwardly twice, then quickly corrected himself, "Wrong, it should be 'activate,' 'activate!'"

Another poor choice of words, this time successfully amused the annoyed girl. "'Activate' is wrong too!" Sakura raised her index finger and emphasized, "Okay... never mind, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, I'm the first independent individual with self-awareness. The previous one was just an ordinary clone, nothing special!"

"Its greatest benefit was helping you awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."

She smiled slightly, leaned closer, and turned to look into Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke happened to look back as well, and in their eye contact, he could see the girl's equally dark eyes, her pupils clearly reflecting his image, like a calm, transparent pool of water.

Her eyelashes are very long.

It trembled gently like a fawn.

"Hmm," Sasuke responded, completely unaware that he had made any sound.

Sasuke sometimes realized that he couldn't really distinguish between Sakura Haruno and Sakura Uchiha. In scenes like this, the two of them Earth Flow side by side, and she suddenly smiled slightly, turned her head to look at Sasuke, her eyes reflecting his image, as if this had happened many times in the past.

He could vividly picture in his mind the scene of the morning light casting golden outlines on the girl's hair.

Sakura's eyelashes are also very long.

The boy's feet moved mechanically. His mouth opened and closed automatically, but his mind was actually unaware of what he was thinking, "It was a little embarrassing, wasn't it? At that time, I thought Sakura was dead. That's how the Sharingan is; when you get excited, you activate the Mangekyō. You have the Sharingan too, so you should know what this feels like."

Sakura Uchiha covered her mouth and giggled.

Her eyebrows were curved, her lips were slightly upturned, and she had a very beautiful smile.

"Haha... What happened back then was such a coincidence, even more coincidental than if it had been deliberately arranged, you know? Don't let my confident and composed demeanor fool you, I was actually quite bewildered at the time. But the result was very good."

"Such a thing happened?" Sasuke snapped out of his daze and chuckled. "Sigh, it's such a shame that as someone directly involved, I didn't witness it..."

Sasuke suddenly stopped.

He pursed his lips, and the air was silent for a couple of seconds before they both turned their heads at the same time and looked at each other.

Then they laughed.

I laughed for no reason at all, but I was very happy.

"What are you laughing at?" Sasuke asked, still laughing.

"Then what are you laughing at?" the girl retorted, then started making a funny face with her elbow, trying to poke the spot where Sasuke had been bumped earlier, but he nimbly dodged it.

Her eyes curved into crescent moons as she laughed and played the hand-to-hand game with great enthusiasm, until Sasuke finally caught her. He coughed twice and said, "Alright, let's get back to business. We've completely lost track of what we're talking about."

"Ahem, okay, let's get back to business." Sakura Uchiha obediently withdrew her arm, adopting a posture of listening attentively.

"Um..."

Sasuke paused for a moment, then reorganized his thoughts.

Also, try to rein in your overly cheerful mood, so you don't burst out laughing when you need to be serious later.

"You didn't know about this. -- Oh, I, Sakura, didn't know. Because we split up back then, just before I activated my Mangekyō, I encountered Naruto and Sakura from that world."

"Oh." Sakura Uchiha nodded obediently, "And then?"

"Then--"

Sasuke still felt a lingering shock when he recalled this incident.

He took a deep breath and then began to tell the story: At that time, Sasuke was lurking outside everyone's sensory range—

Naruto... I love you!

In front of everyone, Sakura hugged Naruto tightly, completing her confession. [See Chapter 456]

After that, he was discovered by everyone, and then fled towards Sakura Haruno's direction, finally witnessing the death of his clone and awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan.

For a long time, Sasuke had wanted to ask Sakura Haruno a question.

But by some strange twist of fate, he ended up telling Sakura Uchiha about it.

"Is that so?" The girl was also somewhat surprised; Sakura from the original world had actually confessed to Naruto. "I never expected this... but..."

If she remembered correctly, the knowledge she inherited from the original Sakura clearly indicated that in the original story, Sakura liked Sasuke. So, what exactly happened? Did Sakura fall in love with Naruto again, or... was it a fake confession?

"So... you like Naruto?"

Sasuke looked at the ground beneath his feet and suddenly asked.

This section of the road through the Mist Ninja area connects to their temporary lodging. Because of its remoteness, the road is a rather uneven dirt road, with occasional pebbles lying in the middle of the road.

The boy suddenly became very interested in the pebbles. He lowered his head and kicked them one by one, looking very serious, but the pebbles flew around crookedly.

Sakura Uchiha lowered her head at some point and joined in the childish game of kicking pebbles.

"If you ask me, I'm only a few months old. I've never even spoken to Naruto, let alone liked him."

She wore a pair of delicate sandals, revealing her rounded toes and fair insteps. Her dainty feet played with pebbles with remarkable skill and agility, making her appear both adorable and lively.

"Of course... I know you want to ask about Sakura, but as for the real Sakura..."

Sasuke suddenly kicked out, sending the pebble flying diagonally to the girl's slender ankle. She instinctively released the force, her ankle twitching slightly, and with a skillful Taijutsu move, she sent the pebble back, which Sasuke then stepped on.

Sakura Uchiha looked up, glanced at Sasuke, covered her mouth with her hand, and chuckled mischievously. After a pause, she said, "She doesn't have those feelings for Naruto either."

"As a teammate, you should know this very well."

She blinked.

Sasuke's face flushed slightly.

"Cough cough," he felt like he was about to get laryngitis. "I usually don't bother with these gossip news! I just found it a little strange to see Sakura doing this in that world!"

"Oh~"

Sakura Uchiha drawled out her words with a mocking tone.

[It feels like I haven't finished writing yet, but it's too late now, my brain isn't working, and I can't express any particular feelings, so I'll leave it at that for now.]