Hello everyone. So sorry for the late update as I will try my best to update in a reasonable time. Thank you all for your support and happy new year in advance 😊

I do not own Naruto.

I played with my bangs staring in the bathroom mirror trying to understand what happened yesterday. My straight hair is slightly resting on my shoulders as I decided not to curl my hair anymore. I really love the look, but I haven't had short hair like this in years. I feel so exposed. My face feels ten times lighter as I don't have any makeup on. Can I really go out in public like this? My shirt is button all the way up for once. I can't believe I was so indecent. It's such a dramatic change what if people don't recognize me?

I took a deep breath and pushed my red circular glasses up walking downstairs. After a long talk with Tsunade yesterday we got my eyes checked and picked out these glasses that complimented my face. I was scared at first trying on glasses, but it just felt so natural to have them again. I made my way toward the front door too nervous to stop and eat breakfast.

"Sakura are you sure you want to go to school today. It's okay to take a day off since a lot has happen to you lately. Don't push yourself." Tsunade's voiced popped out of nowhere slightly startling me. She grabbed me for a hug. I felt safe and warm with her. Honestly, I don't want to go to school today. I'm too scared to go back with my new appearance. "I thought you had work today Tsunade what are you doing here." I wondered.

She smiled playing with my hair. "I'm going in a little later today. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay this morning. You look beautiful sweetie I am so proud of you. No matter what happens at school I want to let you know that if you stick with your friends and be true to yourself you should be fine."

I quickly hugged her again. "I love you so much." I said my farewells and braced myself to school.

School grounds

Small groups of students were scattered at the front of the school casually talking to one another. I tried to find an alternative route that didn't involve me walking in the middle of the entrance, but there were students all over.

My hands start to shake and made my way toward the front doors hoping nobody will recognize me. Walking with my head down I tried not to make eye contact with anyone.

However, suddenly, I heard people whispering to each other. "Who is that?" I heard a curious girl say too loudly. "Is that a new girl?" A male voice practically yelled out.

I panicked. I started to walk a little faster keeping my head down. "Calm down Sakura, nobody is talking bad about you." I whispered to myself. "Oh, wait no look at her closely that's Sakura!" someone said.

It's the whispers again Sakura what's new? I said trying to collect myself. "No way that's not Sakura she's not giving that aura that she usually has." Another voiced popped up. I started jogging until I accidently bumped into the person in front of me.

"Ah!" I jerked back slowly looking up afraid who I ran into. My eyes grew wide as Naruto was in front of me. "Naruto." I froze in front of him as we stared at each other for a second. "Ah Sakura!" All the whispers stopped, and I felt everyone staring at us. I quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the building with me.

I lead him to the corners catching my breath before I explained myself to him. I let out a huge sigh. "I'm sorry Naruto I just had to get out of there." I looked at him and his happiness was pouring out of him. "Sakura look at you." He paused genuinely looking at me again. "I am so happy for you Sakura you look amazing. I know that it must have taken a lot of courage for you to do this and I just wanted to say that I am always here for you." His words touched my heart.

I grabbed the ends of his shirts and pulled him in for a hug. "Naruto thank you for your kind words. Honestly, I'm kind of scared to be here right now. Everybody knows me as being this huge slut at school and I don't know what they are going to think about my new sudden change. I know I shouldn't care about what everybody thinks of me anymore but I'm still self-conscious." He softly patted my head making me feel slightly better. "Sakura change is never easy so it's okay to be self-conscious. Just be true to yourself and everything will work out. People will understand change with due time. I'll be right behind you to make sure everything works out.

I was suddenly more confidence with his pep talk. "Thank you Naruto I couldn't do this without you. I'm ready for this chapter of my life." I noticed that he was holding our project in his hand. I was too busy freaking out to noticed it. "Naruto is that the project?" I pointed at the sculpture.

He brought it in front of me and nodded. "It is Sakura do you like it?" It was exactly like the picture he sketched out in the beginning but better. An actual human heart with bandages and beautiful hands holding it. "I love it Naruto and as I promised I also brought something to contribute to the project. You just have to wait and see." We walked side by side to our classroom noticing the looks we got.

I opened the door and entered the classroom. A couple heads turn to see who walked in. The idle chatter completely stopped as now everyone turned their head to look at me. "It's okay you got this Sakura." Naruto whispered as I slowly walked to the back to where my seat was.

I walked passed by Sasuke hoping that he wouldn't blurt anything out loud knowing that he would do so. He cleared his throat in a cocky way. Fuck don't say anything Sasuke. I cursed in my head.

"Woah hold up. Not even a hello Sakura?" I froze and slowly turned my head to him. "Um hello Sasuke." I managed not to sound hostile. "Hmm. I'm loving the simple and plain look. You cleaned up nice." He said checking me out. I stuck my middle finger at him walking away not giving him my attention. "Sasuke really?" I heard Naruto call out. He really knows how to boil my blood. I sat down on my chair hearing the whispers again.

"Oh, wow that is Sakura. She looks completely different." I put my head down to drown out all the sounds. I must stay strong. My isolation suddenly was interrupted by a paper ball hitting my head. I shot my head up and saw Ino blankly staring at me.

That's right I've been ignoring her for a week now not telling her why. I should have just told her that I needed some time away from everything. I don't know if she's mad at me or not. Honestly, If I was her I would be, so I should take the initiative and say something first but what? "Oh, hey I impulsively changed my whole look because I actually met Rock Lee and was told the truth on what happened that day." Or "Hey I'm sorry that I been ignoring you for a while, but I found out the truth."

I was lost in my thoughts until I felt another paper ball hit my forehead this time. I saw Ino leaning her hand on her chin softly smiling at me. "Good morning Sakura long time no talk. Her tone was soft but sounded sad at the same time. However, I knew that everything was going to be fine between us.

"Ino, I promise that I will explain everything later. What I did wasn't right, but things are going to be different this time. I am truly sorry." I managed to not choke up while spilling my words out. "Whatever happened Sakura I'm really happy for you. I think you look great and I am always here for you." This is why Ino is my best friend.

I gave Ino sweet smile but in the corner of my eye I caught Kiba looking at me. I made eye contact with him and waved hi which startled him. He awkwardly waved back and turned his head to the front. I decided that the whole situation with Kiba was my fault I shouldn't have yelled at him. I need to have a proper conversation with him and apologize.

Mr. Hatake shortly walked in making him way to the chalkboard. "Attention students I hope you remembered to bring your projects in. You will all turn them in before heading to lunch today. I am looking forward to seeing all your artistic creations. I saw Naruto look at me and I gave him a thumb up to not to worry.

After a couple of hours of lecture, the bell rang for lunch. "All right everyone it's lunch time. I want everyone to drop their project off at my desk before you leave." I waited for everyone to get up, so I could be the last person to talk to him. Everybody dropped their project off and Naruto and I were the last ones.

Naruto nervously looked at me as he handed the sculpture to the teacher. I then decided to say something. "I'm going to be completely honest Mr. Hatake, I didn't contribute to any of the sculpture. Naruto ended up doing the whole thing, and I know that's not fair for him, but something that we both worked on is me. I awkwardly pointed at myself hoping I explained it correctly. I noticed Mr. Hatake raised his eyebrow and Naruto face started to turn red. "Please explain yourself Sakura." Mr. Hatake said smirking. "Sakura you should rephrase that It sounded perverted." Naruto whispered in my ear.

I thought about what I said. "Ah! What I mean is that the other part of the project is myself both physically and mentally. Naruto helped me discover who I really am as a person and thanks to him I can find peace within myself. He helped me cut my hair and I changed my looks to represent that someone who was broken can be healed." I felt confident telling him the facts.

Mr. Hatake nodded his head and smirked again. Well done you two. I didn't expect this to happen in my years of teaching, but I am very proud of your interpretation. Be expecting an A in this project. Naruto and I jumped in joy. I was happy that this all worked out.

"Thank you so much." We both said in unison. We exited the classroom radiating positive energy. "I was so worried that he wasn't going to like it." I said laughing. "Sakura, I was probably the most worried one. You didn't tell me anything, so I just had to go with the flow. I trust you, so I knew I shouldn't be worried at all." Naruto and I happily made our way to the cafeteria.

However, I accidently got knocked down by a tall figure who I walked into who kept on walking like nothing happened. I was startled by the contact and I couldn't get a good look at his face. Did he not see me? Naruto reached his hand out asking if I was okay. "I'm fine Naruto I guess I didn't see him while walking." I noticed a folded piece of paper on the floor right in front of me. "I wonder if he dropped this." I grabbed Naruto's hand curious to find out what's inside. "Hmm doesn't hurt to read it right?" I carefully opened it up and read the contents. Naruto and I were both shocked in what we just read. In big bright red letters, it said:

Once a slut, always a slut Sakura.