Chapter 10

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The future is always beginning now.

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*3rd POV*

As Haru stepped through the large gates of Konoha, she was greeted strangely.

By strangely, she meant not greeted at all.

She started at the two sleeping Chunin gatekeepers, a bit thrown by the lack of defense and patrols, especially since Konoha was a major village that people would love to infiltrate.

"Excuse me?" she said, tapping the desk lightly, patiently waiting for the two to wake up.

She waited for a few more minutes, before snapping her fingers loudly right next to their ears.

...they didn't get up.

After a few more attempts at waking the duo up, she simply decided to walk in the village and go see the Hokage herself.

The streets were littered with merchants yelling out prices, busy shoppers hastily grabbing goods, and little children that ran around with their toys. There were some shinobi here and there, all of them simply strolling by or browsing. A group of kids seemingly a bit older than her walked by with an assortment of hair colors, from an absurd pink to a common brown. Haru, however, payed little attention to them and continued to make her way down to the Hokage's office.

As she grew closer to her destination, the crowds began to steadily thin out from civilians to shinobi, the Leaf village headbands appearing more commonly on the attire that they wore.

Eventually, she reached a large red building with numerous wooden platforms that protruded from the building in a circular shape.

The Hokage Building.

*Timeskip*

Haru was standing in front of a wooden door, waiting to meet the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju.

"Come in." a voice said from inside, a loud sigh following afterward.

She grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open gently, walking inside and shutting the door behind her.

"Hokage-sama." Haru said, bowing slightly.

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork, only to see something that made her drop her pen in surprise.

"Sasuke?" she asked, her eyes widening.

She shook her head, a slightly disturbed look on her face. "Actually, my name is Haru, Lady Hokage."

Tsunade took in the girl's figure one more time, and immediately noticed the differences between the two, yet seeing the similarities at the same time. She noted that Haru also had somewhat of the duckbutt hair, but it dragged down a bit, giving it a more natural look. She also had on a light yellow kimono decorated with a floral pattern, radiating warmth, something that Sasuke would never even consider for wear.

The Senju gave one last look at Haru before giving a reply, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Now, what business do you have in Konoha?"

"Well, you see-"

The door was slammed open, revealing a panicked blonde accompanied by several others with varying degrees of the same emotion.

The blue-eyed blond, wasting no time at all, shouted, "I heard Sasuke-teme was here!"

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[Unedited]