Chapter 18 — The Protagonist of Naruto, Sakura Haruno

All these comic books shared a single title: *Naruto*.

They were merely different volumes of the same story.

With great consideration, Wang Xu had stacked them in order beside Sakura; otherwise, just finding the first volume would have taken no small amount of time.

In his exchange list, on the premise that the original plot of *Naruto* remained utterly unchanged, there were no fewer than three hundred and sixty versions distinguished solely by the angle of perspective.

The comic books presented this time were the *Naruto* version told from Sakura's first-person point of view.

They were not expensive—exchanging the entire set required less than a single resource point; there had even been a full set of proportionally scaled figures of every character thrown in as a bonus.

Sakura opened the first volume with a vacant stare and skimmed the blurb.

[My name is Sakura Haruno.]

[My master is the Fifth Hokage, one of the legendary Sannin, princess of the Senju clan of the Forest—Lady Tsunade.]

[My supervising jonin is the Sixth Hokage, a super-genius who became a jonin at twelve, the man who cut down lightning—Kakashi Hatake.]

[The idiot dead-last who has always been in love with me turns out to be the son of the Fourth Hokage, a possessor of Sage Body, the reincarnation of Ashura, second son of the Sage of Six Paths, and the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. In the end, he even defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki, saved the ninja world, and became the Seventh Hokage.]

[He could save the world, but he could not win my heart.]

[Because my heart is forever loyal only to my husband—the last bloodline of the Uchiha clan, the reincarnation of Indra, eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths, guardian of the Leaf, sealer of Kaguya Otsutsuki, master of the tailed beasts, the only headband-less independent ninja of the Five Great Nations—Sasuke Uchiha.]

[This is the story of an ordinary civilian ninja girl—my love story.]

[...Wait! Rock Lee, the strongest taijutsu user in the entire ninja world, wants to pursue me? Rejected! I don't like his eyebrows!]

Having never read a domineering-CEO novel in her life, Sakura was whipped into a fever pitch by this blurb, her heart surging with emotion; she wished she could run off and have a heart-to-heart with the author right then and there.

Unfortunately, the book and the one who had written its blurb were not in this world, and Sakura's spirit was willing but her flesh was weak.

Blushing, she glanced at Sasuke, who was not far away, then slammed the cover shut as if she were a thief caught in the act, and asked, stammering: "Is everything written in the book true?"

Her words carried both doubt and longing.

If it was all fact, then perhaps she really was the protagonist of this world, the chosen daughter of destiny whom fate smiled upon...

"Of course."

Wang Xu smiled faintly. "The original trajectory of the world line is described with perfect clarity in these comic books. The blurb at the beginning especially has been certified by the Timeline Observers' Association as one hundred percent accurate."

Emmm...

In a certain sense, these comic books told the story of *Naruto* without any modification whatsoever—only the perspective differed.

Sweeping through them with his psychic power, Wang Shenzhi spent 0.05 seconds reading the whole story from beginning to end, and could not help clicking his tongue in secret amazement.

It felt like reading the heroine of a wish-fulfillment romance...

Sakura really was the true protagonist of *Naruto*!

A female version of the invincible dragon-hero!

"Sakura, could I borrow these books to take a look?" Sasuke's face felt a little hot.

He was always ordering people about, yet the moment he saw something good he came sidling over—for someone as thin-skinned as him, it was a little embarrassing.

"Of course! Of course you can!"

Sakura was so happy she was on the verge of fainting.

(Is Teacher Wang Xu my lucky star? Sasuke actually spoke to me on his own initiative!)

Sensing the fluctuation in her thoughts, Wang Xu quietly shut down his psychic detection field.

"Thanks! Once I've finished reading, I'll definitely—"

Sasuke got half the sentence out before his gaze swept over that pile of comic books, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

Books this thick—finishing them would probably take no small amount of time...

Surely he couldn't really be so shameless?

"...Let's read them together. There are too many of these books." The tsundere's tone was as cold and aloof as ever.

Sakura clearly misread his meaning; she nodded her head like a garlic pounder, so vigorously that Wang Xu began to worry she might knock her own head off and become a headless senior.

At any other time, Naruto would surely have charged over and kicked up a fuss.

But at this very moment, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, the portrait scroll of the Fourth Hokage in his left hand and a copy of *A Crash Course in Asian Makeup Sorcery* pinched in his right, pondering with rapt attention as he strove to learn a new skill.

In this state, he did not notice the interaction between Sakura and Sasuke at all.

"What? This loser Naruto will become the Seventh Hokage? I'll become the man behind him?! I marry Sakura? My daughter is named Sarada Uchiha?"

Sasuke's hysterical shriek jolted the blond boy out of his trance.

Watching his crumbling expression, Wang Shu laughed out loud.

Sasuke's reading habits were terrible: after borrowing the comic books, he first skimmed several volumes at ten lines a glance, before finally settling down to read the first volume, first chapter, properly.

And so...

He had now experienced for himself the agony of spoiling himself.

"Huh? These books say I'll become the Seventh Hokage in the future?"

Naruto rushed over with starry eyes and squeezed in beside Sasuke to read along.

"Get lost! Dead-last! You're interfering with my reading!"

Sasuke was furious beyond measure—he had clearly gotten here first, and he was the one who had borrowed the books, so why should he have to share them with this idiot!

"I'm the future Hokage!" Naruto was smug and full of confidence.

"So what! I'm still the man behind the Hokage—"

Sasuke retorted on reflex, but halfway through his sentence he realized something; his face went black in an instant, and he wore the expression of a man who had swallowed a fly.

Sakura stood to one side, her cheeks faintly flushed, wearing an enigmatic smile that defied all understanding.

"That's it for today. Tomorrow—never mind, I'll give you three days. Three days from now, at dawn, gather here again. There's something important to announce."

Wang Xu cracked his knuckles, producing a series of pops. "I like people who are punctual."

A chill ran down the spines of all three.

...

Land of Sound, Otogakure.

The Toad Sage's [Oil Mansion].

The three former Sannin now shared the same status, which at long last allowed them to sit peacefully at the same table.

As for Orochimaru's dark history, Jiraiya had been fooled into a dizzy haze, but Tsunade could not have cared less.

What?

Orochimaru might harm the Leaf?

Please! My Senju clan is already dead and gone—who has the leisure to worry about the Leaf?

"This is a KOF invitation letter from the *King of Fighters* world. It allows the formation of a reincarnation squad with a maximum of three members. Once the team is full, every member receives a fifteen percent boost to their strength."

Tsunade-hime placed a beautifully crafted card on the table.

In the first slot on the card was written the name "Tsunade"; the other two slots remained empty.

"I've seen this invitation letter before! It costs a full thousand reward points to exchange! You haven't done any missions yet, have you?"

Jiraiya could not tell how impressive it was, but he looked thoroughly envious.