"Huh?"
Hearing the girls' conversation, Akali turned her head before Sakura could reply.
It wasn't that she cared much about what the schoolgirls were gossipping about.
Rather, starting a conversation with "have you heard" invariably meant it was some widely circulated piece of gossip, a rumor, or simply a story.
Yet Akali had been running around the village for the past couple of days and hadn't heard any major news at all.
Sakura was clearly harboring the same confusion. "Heard what?"
"Come on, Sakura, you seriously don't know?"
A passing female classmate covered her mouth in surprise.
Then, glancing left and right to make sure no one was paying attention to them, she leaned in and whispered mysteriously to Sakura:
"It looks like someone beat Sasuke up and put him in the hospital!"
"What?!" Hearing this, Sakura froze for a split second.
Then, her emerald-green eyes widened visibly. She sucked in a sharp breath, gathered her core strength from her lower abdomen—
Seeing this, Akali quietly covered her ears!
Sure enough, the next second, Sakura let out a scream loud enough to be heard in the adjacent classroom!
"Sasuke got beaten up and sent to the hospital?!"
"Wait!" Sakura hurriedly turned to look at Sasuke, looking for evidence.
But Akali had no personal grudge against Sasuke, and naturally she hadn't aimed her blows at his face while fighting him.
Besides, young shinobi recovered their chakra quickly, so he didn't look completely drained and withered like Kakashi.
Thus, outwardly, Sasuke looked completely fine; there was no sign whatsoever that he had gotten beaten up just this past weekend.
Of course, that was before!
Because thanks to Sakura, everyone in the school now knew that Sasuke had spent the weekend in the hospital!
[Ding! Emotion value from Sasuke +9999!]
[Ding! Emotion value from Shikamaru +99!]
[Ding! Emotion value from Choji +99!]
[Ding! Emotion value from Shino +99!]
[Ding! Emotion value from a random bystander +9...]
On Akali's system panel, thanks to Sakura's roar, a dense wall of emotion values refreshed across the screen once more.
Watching how she had harvested the emotions of the entire classroom in practically a single instant, Akali lowered her hands from her ears and looked at Sakura in admiration.
Should she call her "Brother Sakura"? As expected of the sister who aggressively snatched Sasuke right out from under Naruto's nose, she certainly had guts!
Meanwhile, seeing Sasuke's face looking as dark as the bottom of a charred pot, Sakura finally realized what she had just done.
[Ding! Emotion value from Sakura +999!]
No longer caring about her female classmate, Sakura rushed over to Sasuke's desk and stammered out a panicked explanation:
"S-s-s-s-sorry, Sasuke! I-I-I didn't mean to!"
"Besides, how could Sasuke-kun possibly get beaten up and sent to the hospital?"
"Sasuke-kun is so strong, not even our instructors can get the upper hand against you!"
"So this is just a rumor... No, it has to be a rumor!"
As she spoke, Sakura's tone grew increasingly certain, successfully convincing herself.
To Sakura, who had not yet witnessed truly powerful individuals, she simply couldn't fathom the image of the invincible Sasuke defeated!
Yet, watching Sakura carry on like this, Akali slapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation.
She had to admit, early-series Sakura completely lacked any ability to read the room.
Had she really not noticed that Sasuke's expression was slowly shifting from pitch black to a dark, menacing green?
Much like Sakura, who lacked situational awareness, Sasuke never spared anyone's feelings when his temper flared!
And so, the next instant, Sakura—who was still in the middle of talking—suddenly stiffened. Her pupils dilated, her face turned pale, and her slender shoulders trembled slightly as if she were looking at something terrifying beyond belief!
Akali followed Sakura's line of sight.
Sure enough, Sasuke had already activated his Sharingan, and those eerie, crimson eyes were locked onto Sakura with a freezing, ruthless glare!
Clearly, Sakura—who had never seen the Sharingan before and had never witnessed Sasuke looking this murderous—was completely paralyzed with terror.
"Jeez." Akali sighed silently and readied herself to pull Sakura out of the fire.
Though Sakura had all sorts of flaws, the emotion values she generated were quite lucrative.
However, someone else moved even faster than Akali.
*Whoosh—*
A blur flashed past.
The next second, an orange figure materialized squarely on the desk between Sakura and Sasuke!
If it wasn't Pleakley—bah!
If it wasn't Naruto, who else could it be?
Crouching atop Sasuke's desk, Naruto stared fearlessly right into Sasuke's eyes.
"Hey, Sasuke! You're scaring Sakura!"
"Honestly, is awakening the Sharingan really that big a deal? You still got beat up by—"
Naruto wanted to blurt out the fact that Sasuke had been defeated by Akali.
Sasuke immediately realized what Naruto was about to say.
Consequently, Sasuke's expression shifted from the initial annoyance he felt toward Sakura, to surprise at Naruto's arrival, and finally into deep, profound suspicion!
He had been discovered at the hospital, so the rumor that he was sent there wasn't a huge deal.
But how on earth did Naruto get the precise intelligence that he had been defeated by Akali?
He remembered the battle with Akali very clearly, and he was certain he hadn't seen Naruto anywhere nearby at the time!
Sasuke found it completely incomprehensible.
Yet the two boys, entirely wrapped up in mutual suspicion of one another, failed to notice something else.
At that exact moment, with Naruto blocking Sasuke's glare away from Sakura, Sakura's expression underwent a dramatic shift!
Seeing Naruto present his backside directly toward her, Sakura froze for a split second, and then a wave of intense fury surged up inside her. She felt thoroughly disgusted by Naruto standing right on top of Sasuke's desk!
Seeing this, Akali stopped in her tracks as a powerful sense of déjà vu washed over her.
"Wait, no way!"
Sasuke plus Naruto crouching on a desk equaled what?
The answer: the legendary kissing scene!
Realizing that Sakura was already drawing a breath to power up, Akali hurriedly rummaged through her storage space.
Fortunately, all her belongings were kept inside the inventory, and she quickly managed to fish out a camera!
By this time, Sakura had finished charging up.
Raising her palm high behind Naruto's back, she brought it down with crushing force: "Naruto, don't you dare stand on Sasuke's desk!"
*Thwack!*
Sakura's hand slammed squarely into Naruto's back.
Instantly, propelled by an irresistible, overwhelming force, Naruto's body pitched forward out of control as he toppled headfirst!
With the exceptional dynamic vision of his newly awakened Sharingan, Sasuke watched as Naruto's flat face loomed closer and closer!
In the original story, Sasuke couldn't dodge because he genuinely lacked the time, but now that he had awakened the Sharingan, he could still maneuver out of the way.
However, how could Akali possibly allow such a historic moment to vanish?
She immediately applied her remaining blank skill points directly to the newly acquired skill, Psychokinesis!
[Psychokinesis (Level 1) —> Psychokinesis (Level 2)]
Just as Sasuke was about to successfully sidestep, an invisible wave of force struck him!
And so...
*Smack!*
*Click!*
Azure eyes and crimson eyes locked in a direct gaze.
Naruto and Sasuke engaged in a fateful summit of the century!