She stepped just slightly ahead of him then, if only by half a pace, glancing back over her shoulder, her tongue slipping out. A silent challenge. She wasn’t just following anymore. Though she was also only teasing. She had packed the extra just for him.

Then, a faint smirk tugged at her lips, something a little more confident than she used to allow herself. “But if you forgot, I’m not sharing. You’ll just have to keep up on an empty stomach.”

That quiet assumption, that she would be there, settled somewhere deep in her chest. Not frustrating this time. Not entirely.

“…I did,” she answered, her tone steadying as she adjusted the strap of her bag. “I even packed extra...” A small pause.

Her steps followed his without hesitation, matching his pace as the wind stirred around them. For a second, she studied the line of his shoulders, the ease in his posture. He wasn’t looking back. He didn’t need to.

Sakura’s gaze lingered on him as he turned away, hands slipping into his pockets like he had all the time in the world. Like he wasn’t trying at all. That part still annoyed her…But it also pushed her.

She brushed a strand of pink hair behind her ear, stepping forward to close the distance between them. “Almost?” she echoed, a small huff of breath leaving her. “That still puts me ahead of Naruto.” There was a hint of pride in it, soft but present.

His comment landed, but it didn’t sting the way it might have before. Not when his tone lacked that usual edge, when it felt… lighter. Almost teasing. Almost.

A manga image of Might Gai standing in front of Rock Lee during the Chuunin exams in Naruto Shippuden, destroying Gaara's sand before it has a chance to hit a passed out Rock Lee.

One

Last

Kiss...

And this is the end of everything we see tonight.

Solo; continued below

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When her attention returned to him, he was already walking away. Sakura turned to follow him, heart thudding harder than it should have for something so simple. Not fear. Not quite admiration either. Something sharper. Something that made her want to keep up. "H-Hey wait up!"

Sakura opened her mouth, then closed it. She had practiced conversations in her head before missions, before team assignments, before moments exactly like this. None of them accounted for how easily he made words feel unnecessary. A crow called somewhere above them, drawing her gaze.

Sasuke’s gaze flicked toward her, briefly, then away again toward the training posts scattered across the field.

Sakura’s first instinct was to straighten up.Her second was to wonder if she looked foolish doing it. “You’re early,” she said quickly, too quickly, as if filling the silence would make it less heavy.

He stood a few paces away beneath the edge of a tree’s shadow, arms loose at his sides, expression unreadable in the way that seemed effortless for him. Like he didn’t need to try to look distant, it simply was how he existed.

A sudden shift in the air made her pause. She didn’t hear him approach. She just… felt it. Like the space beside her had been subtly displaced. When she turned her head, Sasuke was already there.

She adjusted the straps of her kunai pouch for the third time, pretending it was just habit rather than nerves. A genin now. Official. Real missions, real danger, none of it felt as clean and simple as the academy lectures had made it sound.

@chidoritruespear.bsky.social

The training grounds were quieter than Sakura expected, the kind of silence that made every distant rustle of leaves feel deliberate.

An image from the Naruto Shippuden manga, it shows Kisame on the ground, beaten up as he speaks to Might Gai. "That attack... Wasn't a chakra blast was it?" "And that... Blue aura..."

An image shows Might Gai from the Naruto Shippuden manga, surrounded by an aura with his eyes completely blank. He is talking to Kisame. "Don't move."

♇ᡣ𐭩

A CHARACTER WRITTEN IN A MIRROR IMAGE OF #𝓟𝓵𝓾𝓽𝓸

Minor and limitless lewd do not interact account. Will contain dead dove themes such as gore, abuse, self-hate, and other themes not suitable to minors. Mun is 27. Will contain semi-lewd themes; multi-ship w/ friends only.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips. “I was hoping I’d run into you.” She stopped just outside striking distance, emerald eyes studying them carefully, measuring, respectful. “Mind if I ask you something?”

“You’ve been aware of me since I stepped into the forest,” she said, her voice calm but edged with curiosity. “Most people wouldn’t catch that so quickly.” No response, at least, not right away. The breeze shifted.

Sakura’s expression softened, though her guard didn’t drop. She stepped forward carefully, boots brushing against the grass just enough to announce her presence without startling them.

Her gaze shifted toward the clearing ahead. There, seated beneath the low curve of an old tree, was a young shinobi, still as if carved from the earth itself. A sheathed blade rested across their lap, hands folded loosely atop it. Their eyes…unfocused. Clouded and golden like the sun.

@scentlessflower.bsky.social

The pinkette slowed her pace the moment she sensed it. Not chakra, at least, not in the way most shinobi would notice. It was subtler than that. A presence. Calm, steady… and unmoving, like a stone in the middle of a rushing river.

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