Sakura saw the doubt in Sasuke’s heart and stated the essence of Naruto’s perseverance.
Inuzuka Kiba and Naruto started arguing again.
The two stubborn guys were unwilling to form the seal of reconciliation, giving Iruka a headache.
Whenever these two with similar personalities were together, trouble and farce were sure to follow.
Sakura withdrew her focus from Naruto and looked back at Sasuke, saying: “The current Kiba and Naruto are just like the current you and me.”
“The current Kiba is stronger than Naruto, the current you are stronger than me, and the current Uchiha Itachi—is stronger than Sasuke.”
“But what about the future?”
Sakura left the answer to Sasuke.
“No one can be certain of their future.”
Sasuke’s answer was not outside Sakura’s expectations.
“I actually hold a different view from Sasuke; I believe ‘the present determines the future.'”
Sakura spoke her thoughts, “Maybe the future me will be stronger than Sasuke.”
“That’s impossible.”
Sasuke dismissed Sakura’s vision of the future.
His inferiority complex only existed in front of Uchiha Itachi; in front of others, he was undoubtedly a proud Uchiha.
“Then, according to your logic, does it also mean that in your heart, you’ve long since accepted the… ‘fact’ that you’ll never be able to surpass Uchiha Itachi in your lifetime?”
This was the fundamental difference between Sasuke and Naruto.
The inferiority complex born from the inability to gain recognition from others—Naruto carried this inferiority and found ways to surpass himself, defeating powerful enemies along the way—Haku, Zabuza Momochi…
Neji, Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Madara, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and…
Sasuke.
Sasuke, however, had never broken free from the shackles brought by this inferiority.
His growth rate had already surpassed his peers by a large margin, but the inability to gain his father’s recognition and Uchiha Itachi’s pressure on Sasuke after that night caused him to never even recognize himself in his own heart while pursuing the recognition of others.
That was why he couldn’t accept the growth Naruto achieved during the Chunin Exams.
When Uchiha Itachi returned to Konoha in the mist, that intense inferiority flooded his heart once again, making him negate everything he had in Konoha and throw himself into Orochimaru’s embrace.
Even so, Sasuke never thought until the very end that he could completely defeat Uchiha Itachi.
In his initial layout for the revenge battle against Uchiha Itachi in the original series, his intention to perish together was unconcealed—because he never felt he could defeat Uchiha Itachi.
Since witnessing the ‘Tsukuyomi’ on the night of the Uchiha clan’s massacre, Sasuke knew best the gap between the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and the Mangekyo Sharingan—a gap that was actually so large it even exceeded Sasuke’s worst expectations.
Before learning the truth about Uchiha Itachi’s massacre of the clan from Uchiha Obito, Sasuke rejected Naruto’s suggestion to return to Konoha because he knew that after his revenge against Uchiha Itachi was over, there was a high probability that news of his death would reach Naruto’s ears.
“Instead of believing in yourself, you doubt yourself. On this point alone, you are simply inferior to Naruto. As long as your self-doubt exists for one day… then one day in the future, Sakura will definitely defeat Sasuke, and then Naruto, who is publicly recognized as a ‘dead last’ in everyone’s eyes, will also definitely win a fair and square victory from your hands.”
“And Sasuke will still be that guy who can’t defeat Uchiha Itachi.”
Sakura suddenly understood why, despite her changing so many “contradictions” from the original story, there was still an irreconcilable chasm between Naruto and Sasuke.
In the original story, that peculiar inferiority in Sasuke’s heart didn’t vanish until after the battle between Naruto and Sasuke at the Valley of the End was decided.
Sasuke would ultimately leave Konoha because of that inferiority in his heart.
And for someone like him, whose views on comrades and beliefs were even more pure than Naruto’s, he would still end up being tricked by Orochimaru or Uchiha Obito, falling into endless darkness and sinking into an extreme completely opposite to his current state.
She suddenly felt somewhat grateful for the argument between Naruto and Sasuke in this class, which allowed her to discover where the problem lay.
The genius boy whom everyone admired also had his own inferiority.
That inferiority was born from his family, his father, and his brother.
And Sakura felt she had an obligation, within the scope of her ability, to help Sasuke resolve this inferiority.
Sakura had her own selfish motives; her “unambitious” slacker dream required a complete Team 7 to be realized.
But besides that, during this past month in the Ninja Academy, she had truly come to regard Sasuke as her friend.
Sakura also sincerely hoped that Sasuke could escape from that painful fate in the original story…
or at least the pain should be lessened significantly.
She looked at the boy who had long since fallen into silence under her questioning.
She stood up from the boys’ line where she didn’t belong and patted the dust left on her clothes from sitting on the ground.
“I’ll go back to my own team first. If I stay any longer, Iruka-sensei will start looking for trouble with me—Sasuke, I hope you can think carefully about the future you want. If you can’t figure it out, I will help you find a future.”
Sakura said, her tone sincere: “Because we are comrades belonging to the same Konoha.”
A boy’s future should be decided by the boy himself.
The one deciding the boy’s future should not be Uchiha Itachi, nor should it be Uchiha Obito.