Chapter 197 If I Wake Up, Will You Be Disappointed?

"I've got money and nowhere to spend it, so I buy a little of everything." Naruto answered casually, "Who knows when you might need something. It's better to be prepared."

Anko suddenly remembered that Naruto lived alone, and she looked briefly awkward, apologizing for her previous remark. Naruto paused, taking a moment to understand, and then said it was okay.

He was used to solitude and didn't mind being alone, as it was something he had grown accustomed to.

After a long time, Koyuki suddenly said something to Anko, then stood up with a calm face and began to lift her skirt at the edge of the raft.

Naruto turned his head and met Sakura's gaze directly.

Sakura was also staring at him. She then lowered her eyes and leaned closer to him, whispering into his ear, "What were you thinking when you saved me?"

Anko wasn't paying any attention to them, focusing instead on holding Koyuki's hand to prevent her from falling into the water. She stared absentmindedly at the vast, endless sea, lost in her thoughts.

Naruto felt a slight tickle in his ear as Sakura's warm breath brushed against his earlobe.

"Nothing." He replied.

"Then..." Sakura didn't shy away, glancing at Koyuki, who had already returned to her spot, before continuing softly, "Did you save me because you didn't want her to die?"

"No."

"If it was me who woke up, would you be disappointed?" Sakura asked softly, her whole body leaning against Naruto, her voice calm.

"Why would you think that?"

Sakura didn't respond, and just sit back down in silence. Her eyes were dark as ink, staring off into the distance. This made Naruto feel a bit uneasy, but he didn't know how to address it.

During the day, the sun was scorching on the sea, and they all took shelter under umbrellas. Sakura remained quiet, Naruto wasn't much of a talker, and Anko occasionally chatted with Koyuki.

The two of them mostly discussed the details from before the incident, suspecting that the captain had a problem, and thought that there might be a Shinobi among the sailors. But after talking about it, they couldn't figure out the exact cause.

Surely no one would scheme against others while including their own life in the gamble, right?

After several discussions, the two could only conclude that the accident was more likely due to natural causes than any human intervention, attributing most of the misfortune to the sea's storms and the mysterious evil god (Jashin) lurking in the background.

Listening to all this, Naruto couldn't hold back anymore and interrupted, "Isn't the sea supposed to be under the control of the sea god? What does it have to do with Jashin?"

"How would I know?" Anko turned around with a puzzled expression, responding with a rhetorical question, "Isn't that what everyone says? Why are you taking it so seriously?"

Naruto, having been retorted, didn't take it to heart and simply chuckled awkwardly, retreating back under the umbrella.

He and Sakura shared a large umbrella, while Anko and Koyuki shared another. When the wind picked up, they would put the umbrellas away, and if the wind was steady, they'd even use them as makeshift sails.

As dusk approached, the light on the sea gradually dimmed.

Naruto took a small sip of water and looked at Anko, who was sitting opposite him, and asked, "Does Konoha know we've gone missing?"

"It's hard to say." Anko dispelled Naruto's expectations with one sentence, "Our mission to the Land of Snow has a one-month deadline. If we don't return within a month, Konoha will notice."

"They'll probably search for us for quite a while, especially since your status is special." Anko added, "But right now, we don't even know where we are."

"Well, the chances of being found are pretty much zero unless we see land."

"With the way we're drifting, there might be hope." Naruto stroked his chin and reasoned optimistically, "No matter where we end up, as long as we make it to shore, we can find our way back to the Land of Fire."

"That's true." Anko agreed.

"However, if we end up closer to the Land of Snow, we might as well finish the mission there." Naruto added.

Anko didn't respond, just stared at the sea with an exasperated look, as if to say, 'You're still thinking about completing the mission at this time?'

…

Late at night, gentle waves lapped against the raft.

The three of them took turns keeping watch. Naruto sat with his chin propped on his hand, staring blankly into the darkness of the ocean.

Suddenly, he heard soft, rustling sounds from behind. A pair of arms wrapped around him gently from behind. Naruto's brow twitched slightly, but his face remained indifferent.

'Here we go again.'

"She didn't wake up, it's me." Dark Sakura whispered softly, "Actually, I could pretend to be her. After all, we are the same person, and no one would ever notice."

"My acting skills are also top-notch, even better than the Princess Fuun's. Besides, I'm going to disappear eventually. I was never really here… just a temporary existence."

"Like a product close to its expiration date on a store shelf. Apart from the expiration date, they are actually no different from normal products, right?"

Naruto brushed her hands away, turned around, and in the faint, dim light, he stared into her eyes.

Sakura's eyes were pitch black, her expression calm as she chuckled and said, "Sorry, I lied to you. How was it? Was my acting good?"

"I just suddenly wanted to try this out to see if it's fun. It's all an act. Sasuke-kun isn't coming back. Naruto, from now on, we can..."

Naruto didn't listen to the rest of her words, instead, he reached out and touched her face. In the darkness, his fingers felt large, hot tears.

For the first time, Naruto realized that Dark Sakura hadn't been lying, her acting was indeed excellent. She could cry without the slightest tremble in her voice, making it seem like she was actually laughing.

He couldn't see her face, couldn't see her expression. His vision was cut off, his hearing deceived, but the sensation of touch was real… those scalding tears etched deeply into his heart.

Naruto knew that from this moment on, even if he might not always remember Sakura, his hands would never forget Dark Sakura, the one who performed so convincingly in the darkness of the night.

But now, he didn't know what to say. The usually chatty Naruto found himself at a loss for words. He didn't know how to respond to the inevitability of a secondary personality disappearing someday.

He hated this kind of silence. He didn't know how to speak up or how to deal with the overwhelming quietness.

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