Three: Sad childhood and advice

"Let's go, Naruto. I know something that will cheer you up!"

Smiling slightly, she pulled up his goggles and helped him clear the tears in his face.

"I..." Not letting him finish, she held his hand and forcefully pulled him along. There was no time for chitchat. She had to cheer up her friend and then teach him not to spare an enemy!

'Hehe, Mizuki-sensei, you're so unlucky, I wish I could see the expression on your face when it happens!' Inner Sakura giggled mischievously.

...

After walking around through a narrow and crooked path along the woods, they reached a small river that went downhill. The crystal clear water reflected the light of the sun through the gaps of the canopy while fish swimmed downstream happily.

Ahead was the place where the stream broke down into a large waterfall, the edge of the mountain wall.

The clouds divided the horizon, with the sun shining above it and casting shadows in the land below.

This scene stunned Naruto, how could he not recognize it?

Many times when he was hungry he had to come here in order to fish. Back then, he would sit here silently and stare at the sunset... Who knows what he was thinking back then? Even uncle Sandaime would come to visit him from time to time.

"How did you...?"

Naruto stared at her in confusion.

Feeling a little mischievous, Sakura stuck out her tongue with a grin and explained. "I saw you here some years ago, I was out exploring the woods with Ino and the girls back then. It just stuck to my mind."

What she didn't tell was about the reason behind it, after all, they aren't supposed to remember about Yota.

Also, how could she know if that thing really happened in this world? After all, those memories were erased by Yota himself. So she was just making excuses to use her meta knowledge to her advantage.

'Hehe, why do I feel like I'm cheating in a D&D session?' Ignoring this sudden thought, Sakura shook her head. She sat down besides the water and invited Naruto to sit down as well.

"Hey, how about eating some fish?"

At the mention of eating, the gloomy atmosphere around Naruto receded a bit.

"Yoshi! Don't worry Sakura-chan, I have been doing this for a long time! I will catch some fish for us!"

With a confident smile, Naruto approached a nearby tree and climbed up to the top, in it was a hole with a bunch of stuff stored inside.

Seeing him taking out a few things, Sakura stared in surprise.

"What are those things?"

Turning back, Naruto smiled and came closer to show her.

"Isn't it cool? I made them myself! The fishing gear in the village is too expensive. So I bought the line and the hook separately and used a stick to make my own fishing rod!"

"Really? You made this all by yourself?"

"Hehe! I wasn't very old when I did it, but I have practiced a lot. Don't worry, I can catch them in a second!"

Sitting by the side, he completely forgot about the matter from before and casted the fishing hook towards the river.

Not long afer, the line began to shake and before she could react, Naruto pulled with strength and caught the fish in the air.

Soon they had two of them.

"Amazing Naruto! You really know how to fish, and it was so fast!"

"Hahaha! It's very easy once you get the hang of it, just need to aim for those who are more distracted, they always bite the hook!"

Smiling proudly he climbed up the tree again and this time, he brought out a pan.

"Sakura-chan, can you help finding some firewood? I'll grab some other ingredients!"

"Okay." Nodding, she went on the opposite way and began gathering firewood.

An hour later, the smell of cooked fish began to spread from the small corner of the forest where Naruto and Sakura were resting.

The pan hanging above the fire had a bunch of ingredients inside, wild potatos, mushrooms, fish and even some wild onions and garlic.

Looking at the dish Naruto was cooking, Sakura couldn't help but feel sad for him. This kind of stuff is very rare in the wilderness. Without plenty of experience, it's difficult to find it so easily.

"Hey, Naruto. How did you find this stuff?"

"Oh, the ingredients?" He asked without thinking much. "I have been coming here ever since I was a small kid. Back then, it was very difficult to buy things in the village, they kept calling me bad names and refused to sell food and other items for me. That's why I used to steal a lot, thankfully, grandpa Saindaime never complained, and he always brought me money every week to buy stuff. When things were too hard, he would send some Ninjas to buy the stuff for me with my money."

Naruto recalled the past with a heartache. The corner of his eyes twitched slightly as he tried to force a smile. "It was hard, but I learned many things thanks to it."

Saying this he pointed to a tree not far away.

"See that piece of wood tied to a string on the tree trunk?"

Turning towards the side he was pointing at, she saw exactly he described.

"Because I couldn't afford Kunais and Shuriken, I learned to create my own targets and used pebbles by the river to practice." Having said that, he pointed to the side, a branch of a tree. "See the markings on both ends of the branch? I practiced fast paced movements on it! I used it so many times that the shape of my hands got stuck on it, hahaha!"

Seeing Naruto laughing at this, Sakura's lips trembled slightly. How could the village treat him so horribly? She couldn't imagine herself going through such a thing, she wasn't strong enough for that.

Holding back her tears, she forced a smile.

As the silence began to set in, Naruto suddenly stood up excitedly. "Alright, it's ready!"

Putting the pan down, he took out two sets of forks he had cleaned beforehand and gave one to Sakura.

Taking a bite out of it, Sakura's eyes lit up in surprise. "So good!" She stared at the fish in disbelief, how did he cook something so delicious?

"Hehe, isn't it? I practiced it many times, now it tastes very good but at the start, it was so bland I had trouble eating."

Naruto laughed in embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

Smiling silently, Sakura continued to eat her portion.

----

In the Hokage's Office, an old man with receding hairlines, a severe case of baldness starting to take place and a rugged face was leaning back on his chair with a smoking pipe on his mouth.

Taking a deep puff from it, he spat out the smoke in his mouth and sighed in satisfaction.

Although he was very old, he couldn't help but use it every once in a while. If his wife was still alive, she would definitely scold him for doing something like that at this age.

Feeling a little regretful about the past, he looked at his smoking pipe and suddenly felt that it didn't look as good as before. Putting it down on the table, he was just about to peep at the village with his crystal ball when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Opening the door, a man wearing an animal mask in graywish armor above a set of black clothes came inside and bowed slightly towards the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, I came to report to you about Naruto's situation."

"Oh?" Hiruzen was a little surprised, usually reports were sent weakly in the form of written documents, they never came to report directly unless there was something special or different about the situation. "Alright, tell me."

Nodding, the man began to recount the recent events, from Naruto failing to graduate to his sudden closeness to a girl of civilian background.

Hearing her description, Hiruzen recognized her immediately. It was that very same girl who Naruto has been pursuing for a long time.

Knowing this, he didn't care much about this part, but the one about his failure to graduate was a bit of an inconvenience.

"Okay, I understand, you can return to your duties."

Nodding, the man turned around and left.

Being alone once again, Hiruzen stood up and walked to the back of his office, and stared at the village from the window.

Due to some reason, Naruto has always been suppressed. The council of the elders originally believed that it would be dangerous to train him as a Shinobi. They would rather have him as an easy to control Jinchuriki than one that could fend for himself.

However, as the tensions against other ninja villages began to rise and they got older and older, Hiruzen decided to ignore his old friends advice and changed his approach, he'd rather have a well trained Jinchuriki who could act on his own than one that needed a babysitter everywhere.

Perhaps he was also getting softer with age, but he also didn't want to see Naruto, the son of the talented Minato and Kushina having his talent wasted.

With a frown, he thought of how to rectify this issue when an idea come to his mind, perhaps he can use the traitor to his favor.

Taking one more puff of his smoking pipe, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

----

After they were both finished. They rested for some time until the sky gradually gained a shade of deep orange.

"I think it's time to leave."

Hearing her words, Naruto nodded silently. Thinking back on what happened today, he simply couldn't believe it. After so many years, maybe Sakura was finally noticing him? A shy and yet arrogant smile grew on his face, but even then he didn't say anything about it.

He was afraid that if he said something, he would screw up everything. As the saying goes, why try to change something that is already working?

"Alright, let's go! I will take back to your house."

Nodding Sakura followed Naruto out of the forest.

Walking through the village on the way back, Sakura thought for a moment and decided that it was a good moment to advise him.

"You know, Naruto. I think the reason you failed in the exam is because you're not ruthless enough."

"Huh?" Stopping, Naruto stared at her in confusion, what is this all of sudden?

Actually, what does being ruthless has to do with the clone technique?

Naruto was full of question marks on his face in this moment.

"Yes, you see... You had to go through all those things, but instead of expressing your real feelings, I believe you buried all of it deep inside you." Turning around, Sakura stared deeply into Naruto's eyes.

She felt confident about her words, that exactly what she experienced in her previous life, and what Sakura experienced in her childhood.

"Don't be afraid of being a little more impulsive, don't be afraid of fighting against those evil people that injured you. To be honest, in your place, I think I would have broken lots of bones already. In any case, if you can channel your emotions other than just suppressing them, I believe you will be a lot stronger. Maybe even the clone technique will become easier. That said, next time you face an enemy, be sure to let them experience hell! Break one or two of their limbs."

Staring at the firce Sakura, Naruto felt shivers going down his spine. That's right, how did he forget about this? Sakura was so kind to accompany him today, but she is still that fierce and violent girl.

With cold sweat pouring down his face, he stuttered a bit and answered. "Y-yeah, I will follow your words."

"Good!" Smiling happily, Sakura patted him on the shoulder as he shook slightly.

"Anyways, my house is right over there, so I will take my leave, thanks for taking me home!"

Smiling, Naruto nodded. "Sure! See you later, Sakura-chan!"

After waving at each other, Sakura turned around and left.

Just as she was about to enter her home, she saw a gray shadow streak past her from above.

"Huh? Was that... Mizuki-sensei?" Knowing the story of the anime, she guessed the identity of the man.

In any case, that doesn't have anything to do with her anymore.

"Hehe, I can't wait to hear the good news tomorrow." With a snort, she went inside her home happily.

What she didn't expect was to be greeted by a pair of fuming parents.

"Sakura, do you want to be grounded?! Look at the time! You didn't even tell us you would be out for so long! You're in big trouble little lady!"

Shit! She forgot about her parents!