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Naruto: New Adventures (Web Novel) - Chapter 158 In the Shadow of Loss: 1 Broken Bonds
Chapter 158 In the Shadow of Loss: 1 Broken Bonds
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
The air in Konoha felt heavier than usual. The village, once filled with the usual noise of merchants and shinobi training, was quiet. Everyone had heard about the failed mission — Sasuke’s defection. It was a blow to the entire village, but for two people, the pain was far more personal.
Sakura Haruno stood in front of the hospital window, watching the afternoon sun dip lower in the sky. Her heart was a knot of emotions — anger, sorrow, guilt. She had pleaded with Sasuke not to leave, had begged him to stay. But in the end, her words hadn’t been enough. She couldn’t stop him, and now he was gone, chasing after the power Orochimaru had promised him.
She clenched her fists. How could she have been so useless? So helpless?
Behind her, the door to the room slid open quietly, but she didn’t turn. She didn’t need to. She knew who it was — Naruto. He had been in and out of the hospital since returning from the failed mission to bring Sasuke back. His body was bruised and battered from the fight, but she knew the real wounds were deeper than that.
Naruto didn’t say anything at first. He simply walked in and stood beside her, looking out the same window, the silence between them heavy with shared pain. The two had always been close, but this failure had bonded them in a way nothing else could.
“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” Sakura whispered, her voice barely audible. She didn’t trust herself to speak any louder, afraid that her emotions would spill over if she did.
Naruto nodded, his face set in a grim expression. “Yeah… I tried, Sakura. I really tried.”
Her heart ached at the rawness in his voice. She knew he had given everything in that fight against Sasuke. She had seen it in his eyes when he came back — the determination, the hope, and then the crushing defeat.
“I know you did, Naruto,” she said softly, turning to face him. “It’s not your fault.”
But even as the words left her mouth, she wasn’t sure if she believed them. Couldn’t she have done more? Couldn’t they both have done something, anything, to change the outcome?
Naruto shook his head, his fists clenched at his sides. “I promised you I’d bring him back. I failed.”
Sakura’s chest tightened. She knew how much Naruto cared about his promise to her, how much he cared about Sasuke. He was always so determined, always so willing to sacrifice everything for the people he loved.
Her throat tightened as she reached out, hesitating for a moment before placing a hand on his arm. “You didn’t fail. This isn’t over. We’ll bring him back… together.”
Naruto looked at her, his blue eyes filled with a mixture of pain and hope. For a long moment, they just stood there, staring at each other, the weight of everything they’d been through hanging between them.
Sakura realized then how much Naruto had grown, how much he had changed. He wasn’t the same loud, goofy boy who had always trailed after her. He had become someone she could rely on, someone who always fought for her, no matter how impossible the odds seemed.
A lump formed in her throat, and she quickly turned away, not wanting him to see the tears forming in her eyes. But Naruto wasn’t fooled. He gently grabbed her hand, pulling her back to face him.
“Sakura… I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep my promise.”
His voice cracked, and that broke her. The tears she had been holding back flowed freely, and before she knew it, she was crying into his chest. Naruto stood there, holding her tightly, his own emotions barely in check. He had never seen Sakura this vulnerable, and it hurt him more than any battle wound.
“It’s not your fault, Naruto,” she repeated, her voice muffled against his chest. “It’s not your fault…”
Naruto said nothing, only holding her tighter, as if he could protect her from the pain they both felt. The two stood there for what felt like an eternity, lost in their shared grief, in their shared hope that somehow, one day, they could fix everything.
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Later that evening, Sakura sat on the steps outside her home, the cool night air brushing against her skin. The village was quiet, most of the shinobi recovering from the intense mission that had taken so much out of them. She felt drained, her body heavy with exhaustion, but her mind was racing with thoughts of Sasuke, Naruto, and everything that had happened.
Footsteps approached, and she didn’t need to look up to know who it was. Naruto had always been the one who stayed, even when everyone else left.
He sat beside her, not saying anything at first. They had done enough talking for one day. Instead, he just looked up at the stars, his hands resting on his knees. After a long moment, he broke the silence.
“I’ll keep trying, you know,” he said quietly. “I’ll never stop trying to bring him back.”
Sakura turned to him, her heart aching. She knew that about him — knew that Naruto would never give up, no matter how impossible the task seemed. It was one of the things she had come to admire about him. No matter how much he hurt, no matter how much he struggled, he always stood back up.
She swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper. “I know.”
They sat in silence again, but this time, it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was a silence of understanding, of shared determination.
“I… don’t know what I’d do without you, Naruto,” she admitted, her voice trembling with honesty she hadn’t expected to share.
Naruto turned to her, his expression surprised but soft. “You’ll never have to find out.”
For the first time that day, Sakura smiled. It was small and tentative, but it was real.
And in that moment, beneath the stars, the space between them seemed to shrink, the bond they shared stronger than ever.
