At Konoha Hospital, Sakura Haruno woke after three months in a coma.
Seeing her wake, Ino, who had been keeping watch at her bedside, was overjoyed. "Sakura!!!"
Sakura looked at her dazedly. "Ino...?"
Ino threw her arms around her. "You had me worried sick!! Thank goodness, you're finally awake! Does anything feel wrong?!"
Sakura pressed a hand to her sweat-damp forehead. It took a long while for her thoughts to reconnect with reality.
She remembered... long ago, Sasuke had appeared before Konoha's Memorial Stone. Nearly every Konoha ninja had mobilized to take down the rogue ninja, and she had been among them.
During the confrontation... she and Sasuke had met each other's eyes. Just one glance, and she had lost consciousness.
Sakura gazed at Ino's tearful, overjoyed face. "Ino? Have you been here with me all this time?"
Ino wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said excitedly, "Miss Shizune was looking after you at first, but then something important came up and she had to leave, so I took over... Do you know how worried everyone has been these past three months, Sakura?!"
"Three months...?"
"That's right! You were unconscious for three whole months!"
"You mean only three months have passed?!"
Sakura's words left Ino stunned. "Only... three months?"
Faced with Ino's expression, Sakura did not know how to respond.
She had had a very long dream. In it... she had lived through decades, witnessing firsthand how that man had gone from an avenger to a protector, from the man she loved to her husband and the father of her child.
She had also witnessed the Shinobi World go from an age of turmoil to prosperity, then to its final days, before returning to the present.
Yes, that dream... had been Sasuke's past and present lives,