🌻 It has been three years since Sakura left without a trace. Sure, we have been on secret missions to look for her but it was not as frequent as we would like to; Kakashi would always point out that we were far too weak to take on a searching mission which is of B rank. Soon after the registration for Chunnin exams in which Kakashi deemed us all unfit to participate in, Naruto left with Jiraiya for training; so Team 7 is only left with Kakashi, Sasuke and I. There was a point where the Hokage stopped granting us the permission to look for Sakura and of course, Sasuke and I fought with him about it. We could not win the argument.

Because we were too weak.

And it would be fruitless, a waste of time and energy.

🌸 Perhaps I spent too much time living under the roof of self-pity, hatred and desperation to become stronger that I did not notice the world is such a beautiful place. A place so beautiful, but filled with wicked and cruel beings. Such selfish and thoughtless humans, what right do they have to destroy an innocent person's life? Tears started flowing down my cheeks as I stared back to where I once called my home.

It does not take someone evil to hurt their fellow companion.

"It's time to go, Sakura." The man who took me in three years ago said.

"Yes, master."

🌻 "Both of you have significantly improved in your skills, so I have recommended you to participate in the upcoming Chunnin exam." Kakashi announced to both Sasuke and I.

Yes! I'm a step closer to finding Sakura.

I was very pleased to hear this from Kakashi and Sasuke was too, his lips immediately broke into a grin; however, I had a worry in mind.

"What about Naruto?"

Kakashi sheepishly smiled behind his mask and scratched the back of his neck while saying,"About that..."

Just then, a voice became louder and louder as if something was falling from the sky. When all of us looked up, it was not a thing, it was a person.

"HIIIIINAAAAAAAATAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

A very familiar, annoying yellow headed knucklehead dressed in a new black and orange jacket fell from the sky, then crushed the wooden bridge we stood on, creating an ugly hole.

"D-Damn it, that darn frog disappeared way too early!" He complained in pain.

All three of us sighed at his pathetic entrance, it was very embarrassing to me as well because he screamed my name so loudly. I was almost positive that the entire nation could hear him.

The yellow blob stood up, wearing his everyday grin that I knew all of us secretly missed, including myself.

"...yeah, there he is." Kakashi announced.

"I missed you, Hinata!" I could only laugh at his bold statement.

Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "You have one week until the Chunnin exam, so until then, please train with each other to enhance your teamwork."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Got it!"

"Right!"

After hearing our replies, he disappeared to smoke and left the three of us standing on the bridge. Sasuke took the lead and suggested,"Let's begin our training right now."

"You'll be surprised at how much I've improved!" Naruto muttered in glee.

"We did not spend the three years doing nothing as well." I was giggling but stopped instantly when Naruto and Sasuke looked above us in utter horror, I followed their gaze and saw a large tree falling from the sky, just like how Naruto did earlier.

"MOVE!" Sasuke yelled as Naruto called out my name and pulled me with him.

The tree crashed onto the bridge, successfully breaking both of the objects and leaving pieces of woods of various sizes running down the river.

"Whoah.."

"What happened?"

Across the river, there was a petite figure standing opposite us. He was dressed in a black cloak, the hood covering half of his face. Even so, we knew that he was staring at us, he was smiling.

"Who are you?!" Naruto demanded.

His smile broke into a grin and disappeared as if he was never there.

"Who is he..?" I muttered softly.

"Whoever he is, he isn't here to talk! We must report this to the Hokage." Sasuke said, his voice filled with anger and worry.

Was he trying to kill us? Or was he giving us a warning?

For what purpose?

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to guess his objective and the possibilities on who he could be.

Naruto grabbed my shoulders and smiled as he promised,"Don't worry, Hinata! If he harms you, I'll protect you with my life!"

Hearing those words brought a smile to my face. Oh Naruto...

🍁🍂🍁🍂

Dedicated to mhiumiYOURS for adding several of my Naruto fanfics to your reading list! I hope you'll have fun reading them although some of them are trash. haha!

After this whole "reconstruction" period thing, this chapter must be new for old and new readers, right? I have prepared a surprise which is compiling a bunch of interesting, funny comments and of course some of my favourites found in this story. :)

If your comment did not make it here, please don't feel upset! I'm very very grateful all the same to receive your comments!

Now, because there have been a significant decrease in numbers, I did not include comments from some chapters; I apologise about that!

I would like to apologise for not replying to your comments as well, but I do read all of them! I enjoy seeing your reactions, reading your theories and such, so please keep commenting! If you're an author yourself, you would understand how motivating it is to receive positive comments from your readers. :D

Thank you very much for supporting me until now! A new chapter is finally published after two years (LOL)!

~Joelle

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 16

Published: 9 May 2017