In Konoha, This Naruto Has Decided To Take It Easy

Chapter 313 Replacement

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After reading the note, Ino's face flushed instantly. Her heart felt like tangled wild grass, impossible to sort out or unravel.

"Who would show such an expression!" She muttered in rebuttal.

She put on the bracelet and held her hand up, examining it seven or eight times under the light streaming through the window. Blinking repeatedly, she then dove into bed, rolling around back and forth.

"He definitely knew... He must have been messing with me on purpose last night."

Feeling inexplicably frustrated for a while, Ino then recalled the sudden embrace that had snapped her awake, and her body suddenly softened again.

Hiding under the blanket, she quietly added, "Happy New Year."

…

On the street, Naruto saw Yamanaka Inoichi coming back from overtime work from afar. He looked a little exhausted. He had a few subordinates with him, but their direction didn’t seem to be toward the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

‘Strange… is the Hokage Tower really that busy during the New Year?’

He stood there and watched for a while, but he didn't have the intention to ask Tsunade’s place to inquire. After all, the busy affairs at the Hokage Tower had little to do with him.

Without any sense of duty as one of the higher-ups, Naruto strolled around in the cold wind before heading straight home.

The New Year Festival lasted for several days, and none of his friends were around, so Naruto simply stayed home. It wasn’t until three days later that Sakura invited him out.

"So, you spent the whole New Year at home?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, what else would I do?"

"What about Ino or Hinata?"

"Not much time for that. After all, big clans are very busy." Naruto replied, "It’s not like girls come over to my place anyway."

"After all, we’re not kids anymore, and we should avoid suspicion."

At this point, he paused and glanced at Dark Sakura.

"How are you?"

The two of them sat in a small snack shop.

Hearing his question, Sakura smiled while chewing on her straw, "Are you worried about me?"

"Yeah."

Naruto’s straightforward reply made Sakura stunned for a moment, but she quickly returned to her usual, unreadable smile, hiding her emotions as she always did.

"It's mostly fine. I've gotten much better since that day. Anyway, I'm not going to disappear."

"What do you mean by ‘mostly fine’?" Naruto asked, glancing at her.

"I might stay like this forever, never fully recovered." Sakura looked at him deeply, her eyes heavy with suppressed emotions, and she said in a low voice, "I’ve also thought about getting out of the current situation, but I failed. So... I guess this is fine."

"Wasn’t it you who has been in control of the body?" Naruto looked down at the worn table, "So, what’s the situation now? Do you take turns controlling it?"

"Of course, I’m the one in control," Sakura answered, "But what happened with Sasuke affected her deeply. It’s become an obsession."

"Sasuke’s not coming back, and I have no interest in finding him." Naruto said, rubbing his temples and looking out the window, "You also know that not everything in this world goes as we wish."

"I don’t have an obsession with Sasuke." Dark Sakura leaned forward slightly, though her thick winter coat muffled the effect. "You know me… I usually just have a weak personality consciousness."

"It's like a person who only knows how to stare at the electronic screen, always seeing every move of the main character's life, with no choice but to watch."

"Now that I’ve finally come out, why would I cause trouble? You don’t need to worry about that."

Naruto set his drink down, his brow furrowing as he was about to speak. Just then, the snack shop owner arrived with their food, leaving with a simple ‘Enjoy your meal’.

The rising steam blurred the distance between them, and Sakura saw a pair of bright eyes, as deep as a lake.

"Do you remember what I said before?"

"You told me not to cling to you." Sakura replied, pouting slightly.

"That's not it."

Naruto couldn’t quite recall ever saying that, but it didn’t matter now. Whether it had been out of anger or a lie, there was no need to correct it at this point, because...

"You told me to act normally and not say strange things all of a sudden." Sakura counted the words on her fingers and said carefully.

"No."

"Huh? Then what? Could it be you’re telling me not to ******?" Sakura asked with her head tilted.

"Cough… you still haven’t changed that, have you?"

"It's doesn’t matter, only Naruto-kun can hear it." She said, her eyes curving into a smile, "If it's Naruto-kun, you can do it anytime!"

Hearing this, Naruto still lazily leaned on the chair with a distracted look. His eyes showed no emotion at all, and he just stared at her coldly.

Sakura couldn’t bear the intensity of his stare, then sighed in a resigned manner and begged, "I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

Naruto slowly picked up his chopsticks and dipped them into the hot pot, letting the steam swirl around. He didn't even look at Sakura, but glanced at her with his eyelids closed the moment he lifted the chopsticks.

"I shouldn’t have said that." She stopped herself, sensing that it wasn’t the time to be playful.

Sakura felt a bit uneasy inside. According to her plan, Naruto would eventually fall into the emotional entanglement with Hinata and Ino. Since he was bound to be trapped, she could act without restraint.

At worst, she could do things secretly. After all, her thoughts weren’t entirely focused on romance. In truth, she had no real concept of what romance was, and she almost equated the idea of it with an immoral RPG involving Naruto.

Besides that, she also had other things to occupy her time, so her days weren’t exactly boring. And she knew that if she didn't train hard enough, she might be disliked.

And so, a year passed by without her realizing it.

Although, occasionally, she would have the crazy idea of ​​being Naruto's legitimate lover, even just once, she quickly convinced herself that it didn’t matter.

She felt that even if it wasn’t respectable, as long as it was thrilling, that was enough.

However, things hadn’t gone as she imagined. Ever since that incident, Naruto hadn’t been avoiding her as much. He didn’t react to her little tricks, though occasionally, he would respond to her.

But every time he gave her that cold, emotionless look, Sakura couldn’t help but cave in first.

"That’s not what I’m talking about. It seems like you’ve forgotten something." Naruto said nonchalantly, "I’ve never found you to be a bother, and there’s no need to intentionally change the subject."

"As for Sasuke, yes, it’s troublesome. I have no reason to put in all that effort to help her, but helping you? That’s different."

Sakura was stunned for a moment, and the smile on her face disappeared. She frowned and said, "You don’t need to do that. I was just joking."

"Anyway, Sasuke’s already disappeared. As long as he doesn't appear in front of her, she won't wake up. Besides, didn’t you say Sasuke doesn’t care about anyone anymore?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "But we'll run into each other sooner or later. Besides, I can't just leave you alone in this situation."

"Do you have any solutions right now?" Sakura asked.

"No." Naruto answered truthfully, "Not at the moment. But there’s plenty of time, and we should be able to figure something out later."

"No need to wait until later." Sakura stood up, then moved from the seat opposite Naruto to his side. Leaning in close, she whispered softly into his ear, "I’ve got a good solution right now."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"What solution?" He asked, feeling a slight tickle in his ear.

"Replacement." She whispered, almost pressing against him through her thick winter coat.

"Replacement? Replace what?"

"Of course, it’s replacing the obsession she has with Sasuke." Sakura smiled as she moved away from Naruto, her eyes twinkling with amusement, "I like Naruto-kun very much."

"Oh."

"Your reaction is still really cold." Sakura pouted and said somewhat dissatisfiedly.

"Go on," he said. "How exactly do you plan to replace it?"