Sakura: You Scumbag!

Morning.

"Phew... Good thing Mom didn't agree right away."

Naruto sat up, panting. Recalling what had happened in last night's dream, his heart was still beating a little too fast.

A marriage arrangement?

Having only just become a genin, the very thought of those words made his head ache.

Fortunately, his mother had politely declined the proposal in the dream. Otherwise, Naruto really would not have known how to face Hinata now.

Compared to that, though, there was something else weighing more heavily on his mind.

Naruto rolled out of bed, retrieved the rubber ball he had prepared yesterday from the corner, and weighed it in his hand.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the feeling of training in the dream and slowly poured chakra into the ball with both hands.

At first glance, nothing changed, but the inside of the ball was continuously being battered and torn apart by chakra.

Naruto stared fixedly at the ball in his hands. Sweat gradually formed at his temples, and his expression grew solemn.

One minute, two minutes...

Time passed in the silent room. Naruto's hands began to tremble slightly, and he vaguely felt himself running out of strength.

But he did not give up. Gritting his teeth, he continued recalling the technique that had succeeded in the dream.

His dream self had done this step so easily!

"Just hold on a little longer, I'm almost—"

"Pop!"

With a crisp crack, several splits suddenly appeared across the rubber ball's surface. Then, with a bang, it shattered into pieces!

He had succeeded?

Naruto froze for a moment, looking down at the torn scraps of rubber in his hands. Then an ecstatic grin bloomed across his face. "Awesome! I've completed the second stage of training!"

He pumped his fist excitedly, a powerful sense of accomplishment surging through him.

So even in reality, he could grow stronger using the experience he had gained in his dreams.

Although the process had been far more difficult than in the dream and had taken a great deal of effort, the result was good in the end.

But after calming down, Naruto also noticed a problem.

For the same training, his dream self had finished it in only half a day. In reality, it had taken much longer, and his chakra control was nowhere near as smooth as it had been in the dream.

He frowned. "Could it be that the real me... is worse than the me in the dream?"

The thought left Naruto feeling a little dejected.

But he quickly perked back up, a confident smile appearing on his lips. "It's fine! At worst, I'll just practice more in my dreams from now on!"

Having figured it out, Naruto felt relaxed again.

He casually stuffed the shattered ball beneath his bed, tidied up a little, changed into his signature orange tracksuit, and headed out full of energy.

The moment he opened his front door, the crisp morning air washed over him.

Naruto strode through the streets of Konoha Village, jogging toward the training ground where Team 7 usually gathered.

Along the way, the villagers who saw him all wore complicated looks—disgust, wariness, distance...

As though he were not a living person, but some dangerous beast.

Naruto had been used to those looks since childhood.

Naruto curled his lip. He still preferred the dream.

In the dream, those people warmly and kindly called him "Young Master Naruto," always smiling and greeting him whenever they met.

Naruto shook his head and ignored the passersby pointing and whispering about him.

He simply picked up his pace and ran toward the training ground, wanting only to see his teammates sooner.

At the training ground.

Only one girl stood there at the moment.

Her pink hair gleamed faintly in the morning light. With her arms crossed, she seemed to be waiting somewhat absentmindedly.

"Sakura!" Naruto spotted her from afar.

That annoying Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, and Naruto immediately broke into a smile as he ran over excitedly. "Morning!"

Sakura turned at the sound. When she saw Naruto, her previously calm expression immediately darkened.

Her brows knit together as she quickly backed away several steps. She stared at Naruto with blatant disdain, her eyes filled with disgust as though she could not get far enough away from him.

Naruto's enthusiastic smile froze on his face, and he stopped walking. "Sa... Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"

He scratched his head and looked at her in confusion.

Her reaction was way too strange. He had not done anything to make her angry, so why was she suddenly looking at him with such disgust?

Sakura snorted and turned her head away. "Hmph, you know exactly what you did. Stop playing dumb. You scumbag!"

"Huh?" Naruto scratched his head blankly. "Sc... scumbag? Sakura, are you talking about me?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" Sakura planted her hands on her hips, her eyes wide with a look of frustrated disappointment. "Seriously, I never would've guessed it. You usually act like such an idiot, but you're pretty fickle when it comes to those dreams, huh?"

"Dreams?" Naruto was even more confused. Could Sakura know what I dream about?

That was impossible, right?

He felt utterly wronged, but Sakura had no intention of saying more. She merely glared at him as though he were trash.

Naruto's skin crawled under her gaze. Just as he was about to press her for details, another set of footsteps sounded nearby.

The moment Sakura heard them, she immediately dropped her look of disgust and put on a smile, waving past Naruto. "Good morning, Sasuke!"

Naruto turned around at those words. Sure enough, Sasuke Uchiha's punchable face was slowly approaching.

For some reason, though, Sasuke had two prominent dark circles beneath his eyes, as if he had not slept well all night.

Sakura hurried over to him and hovered at his side, asking with concern, "Sasuke, are you okay? Did you not rest well last night?"

The concern in her voice was practically overflowing.

Naruto felt rather bitter at the sight.

He angrily followed after them, glanced at the dark circles under Sasuke's eyes, and said with glee, "Hey, Sasuke, what happened to you? Hahaha, don't tell me you dreamed about getting beaten by me and couldn't sleep?"

Sasuke frowned at first, then gave a disdainful snort. "Idiot!"

Unlike certain people who indulge in false dreams, I resisted temptation last night and trained seriously.

Behind the shadow of a wall not far from the training ground, a delicate figure was hiding and peeking out.

Hinata's slender fingers tightly gripped the corner of the wall. Her cheeks were flushed red, and her expression was incomparably nervous.

No, no... This is so embarrassing!

She secretly watched Naruto in the training ground, only to find those dream scenes from last night constantly resurfacing in her mind, making her blush and her heart race.

Although all those wild acts in the dream had been committed by the "her in the scene," she had still been the one involved. Thinking back on it now, Hinata wished she could crawl into a crack in the ground.

Originally, she had summoned the courage to come here today because she wanted to call Sakura out alone and get some answers while there were still few people around in the morning.

But before she could show herself, Naruto had suddenly appeared!

Now Hinata was even less willing to reveal herself. She could only hide behind the wall and watch.

Just as Hinata was flustered and at a loss, a familiar childish voice suddenly sounded behind her. "Hinata, you're sneaking looks at Naruto again~"

"Ah!"

Her thoughts had been exposed without warning. Hinata's small body jolted, and she turned around in panic. Her younger sister Hanabi was somehow standing behind her, looking at her with a teasing smile.

"Ha-Hanabi?"

Hinata's face instantly turned scarlet. She stammered out a denial, "I-I wasn't sneaking looks! Don't say nonsense!"

Hanabi giggled. "You say that, but your face is all red~"

"I—"

Hinata was so embarrassed and anxious that she could not find a single word to refute her. She could only grab her troublesome little sister and run off in a panic.

"D-Don't say things like that! Come home with me!"

The two sisters ran off, one after the other.

It was not until they returned to the Hyuga Residence and Hinata buried herself beneath her blankets that her wildly pounding heart gradually calmed down.

"Phew... Hanabi, honestly..."

Hinata curled up beneath the covers, leaving only her uneasy eyes exposed.

The scene from the training ground flashed through her mind—Sakura and Naruto standing side by side.

At the thought, Hinata could not help feeling a pang of sadness, along with... a tiny bit of disappointment.

She smiled self-mockingly and raised a hand to touch her burning cheek.

That dream last night... If she had not experienced it herself, Hinata would never have believed it.

As her thoughts wandered, she suddenly remembered that mysterious Dream Theater.

If I can go there again tonight, I'll ask Sakura and Kakashi-sensei about it...