A/N: Honestly, I am so surprised all of you are enjoying this story so much! I never actually expected so many positive reviews with just a couple of chapters up. This was really for me since I am addicted to time-travel fics, Sakura-centric mostly but I occasionally read others. I was very happy to read all of your reviews and I hope they continue to come in. Every chapter will get a little longer since we're actually going to be getting into the plot now. I would like to point out this will feature some moments that we see during filler arcs and the last. If you don't care for that then please feel free to read something else, but I want to include as much substance as I can even if it was all canon. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I only own my computer and my brain, I guess.

Warning: Some characters might be slightly OOC but I will try to keep them as in character I can.

The next morning as Hinata was getting ready for her first day back at the academy, her mind drifted off to the event that happened last night after she returned from training.

-Flashback-

Hiashi stared at his eldest daughter for several minutes, his stern glare boring into her face as she kept eye contact.

When she had told him her resignation, Hinata had spoken with the confident poise he never thought she would have. There was no stuttering or fidgeting, no voice cracking, she sounded like a true heiress.

The Hyuuga clan head was both pleasantly surprised yet annoyed that the one time she expressed her thoughts boldly, she was telling him she no longer desired the position she had trained half of her life for.

He was about to inquire about her decision. When the young girl began to speak again.

"I feel Hanabi would be a better choice due to her courageous tenacity and I know she will lead the Hyuuga on a path of success." She declared with a fire in her eyes that Hiashi didn't miss.

The blunette had already seen the future Hanabi had built. Her younger sister is going to be one of the best heads that her clan had ever had. Hinata was just going to make sure she had more time to learn the techniques so that she might take over earlier than she had in her other life.

"Now, unfortunately I have to go to the academy early in the morning. So I am requesting permission to leave, Tous-sama."

Hiashi stared at her for a few more minutes before grunting and turning his head away. "You're dismissed."

The peral-eyed girl bowed and uttered a thank you and a farewell. She twisted around and headed off to her bathroom to shower and get ready for bed. Leaving a perplexed man staring at her back.

'Has she always walked with such self-assurance?'

-End Flashback-

'Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea to come out and say that I didn't want to be the heiress anymore. I'm honestly surprised tou-sama didn't toss me out of the house right then and there.'

With a sigh, Hinata shook her short dark blue hair and focused on her task for the day. She needed to talk to Naruto today. If she were actually the same girl at this time just the thought of talking to the boy she had been pining for since she was six would have sent her crashing to the floor a bright red blush covering her entire face. Thankfully, she out grew her awkward fainting spells. There was no way she was going to be able to befriend Naruto if she kept passing out when he was within a two foot radius. She'd probably scare him off.

The young Hyuuga girl picked up her weapons pouch and her school bag making sure she had everything she was going to need. Her pale lavender eyes glanced over to her dresser, the place she kept her picture of team 8 in her old life. She frowned slightly finally understanding that the life she once had was over.

'No! Now is not the time to lament all you have lost. You have to think positive, this is your chance to save everyone you love and make new memories.'

Her resolve back in place, Hinata took off towards the academy in a brisk walk.

In the middle of town, Sakura was in the middle of shopping for weapons, she currently had her eyes on a pair of twin Sais that she could that she could keep in her boots that she had just bought. They would typically be out of her price range, but Mebuki had given her a boost on her allowance if she promised to keep the house clean for the next month.

Sakura immediately took her up on her offer. A month of cleaning in an exchange for enough money for new weapons and some medicinal herbs to practice her medical ninjutsu was an amazing trade.

Purchasing the small swords, the pink-haired girl also grabbed a couple of shuriken and kunai as well. She now had 7 kunai and 10 shuriken, not the amount she wanted but it would do. She also had enough herbs to make some ointments and even a poison or two.

Her emerald orbs glanced at the clock behind the vender and she almost dropped the bags she was carrying. She was going to be late!

The old Sakura may not have trained as much as she should have when she was younger but she did have some of the best grades and she was always punctual and that was not going to change.

Grabbing her bag from the elderly gentleman, the Haruno girl bowed thanking him before breaking out into a run. She wouldn't have enough time to go home and put her new things away so she would just have to take them along.

Her legs burned from the running and Sakura realized just how much training she was going to need. In her old life, she could run all over Konoha without breaking a sweat, yet running less than 2 miles is already causing her to feel exhausted.

'First thing I'll do tonight is run around the village before practicing taijutsu. I need to be faster and need to build my stamina.'

Within fifteen minutes, Sakura had made it to the academy and with exactly one minute to spare. She jogged into her classroom and the first thing her eyes landed on was the young Uchiha. The boy who was lonely and seething with hatred for his elder brother who killed their family on orders. She was going to do everything in her power to help him understand that revenge wasn't the answer.

While her eyes scanned the rest of the room the blonde jinchuriki had made his way in her vision his warm smile almost blinding her.

"GOOD MORNING SAKURA-CHAN!" he shouted.

'If his smile doesn't blind me, his voice will surely deafen me,' she mused with a small giggle.

"Good morning, Naruto." Sakura replied with a smile.

Naruto blinked at her in surprise. Most of the time when he tried to talk to her, Sakura would just roll her eyes and yell at him to leave her alone before she ran to Sasuke. She had never smiled at him or even said hello.

Sakura didn't miss the questioning look the Uzumaki boy gave her. She really was a terrible person back at this time. Always ignoring him and only wanting Sasuke, could she be anymore shallow?

Grinning once more, the bubblegum haired girl asked, "would you like to sit with me and Hinata, Naruto?"

Naruto's blue eyes flitted over to the shy Hyuuga girl and he knitted his eyebrows together. Hinata never talked to anyone as far as he was concerned she was mute. But if it meant he would get to sit next to Sakura he'd sit next to the other girl as well.

"Yeah! Let's go Sakura-chan!" he hollered taking her hand and leading her over to where Hinata was sitting.

The blunette was sitting on the left side closest to the window her pearl-colored eyes flickered to the boy of her desires.

"Good Morning, Hinata. Is it alright if Naruto and I sit next to you?" Sakura asked.

The Hyuuga girl nodded with a gentle smile.

Naruto slid it next to her, his hand lightly grazing hers as he shifted to make himself comfortable. Hinata's heart was banging in her chest and her cheeks burned. Even being mentally sixteen years old she couldn't help but start to feel lightheaded at the close proximity between the two of them.

'Relax. Nothing wil accomplished if you faint right now.'

While she tried to calm her pounded heart, Naruto's cerulean eyes had begun scanning the navy-headed girl. She was currently holding a hand to her chest and her face was tomato red. She looked a little feverish.

"Good morning, Hinata. Are you okay? You look a little red." he prompted hoping for a positive response.

'Oh great. Now he thinks there's something wrong with me. C'mon gotta gather the courage to say something.'

Inhaling sharply, she turned her head to the ball of sunshine that held her heart and greeted him. "Good morning, Naruto-kun. How are you?"

The blonde boy blinked for a few moments his beautiful azure eyes boring into the iridescent ones of the Hyuuga. He had never heard Hinata without stuttering. She had a soothing voice, he could grow used to hearing her talk.

Beaming, Naruto whipped around to engage the pretty pinkette in conversation. That's when he noticed something different about her appearance. The strands of her hair were only reaching her shoulders.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR, SAKURA-CHAN?!"

The loud yelling attracted the rest of their class, including the one and only Uchiha Sasuke, and they all turned to look at what Naruto was screaming about. A second later all of the other girls were muttering about how Sasuke was never going to go for her like that, since he liked girls with long hair.

'Keep telling yourself that banshees. I tried getting his attention with long hair and it didn't work, but if you want to waste your time on hair products fine by me.' She thought with a smirk.

"I just wanted a change. We are going to be graduating in a year and something tells me my long hair might get me into trouble."

Naruto nodded his head, "well, I think it looks good on you."

"Thanks!" Sakura grinned.

"Sorry I'm late class. I got held up in a meeting." Iruka-sensei announced as he entered the room.

Sakura's attention focused on her teacher and she didn't notice how the young sharigan-user was staring at her with mild confusion. He hadn't noticed how she was almost late, or how she was carrying bags of what appeared to be weapons, or how she hadn't bothered to sit by him instead she opted to sit by the Hyuuga girl and Naruto whom she hated just yesterday.

Even her attire was slightly different. Her blue sandals had been replaced by black heeled boots and she now had on some black gloves. She looked the same for everything else, yet her eyes seemed to hold a sadness that she was trying a failing to hide. Yes, Sakura Haruno was acting very strange today. Not that he cared, Sasuke was just an observant person. Shaking his head, Sasuke steered his scrutiny to Iruka.

"Picture, it's the end of the world. Who do you want standing by your side?"

"Yeah right! That's not gonna happen Iruka-sensei stop joking around!" Naruto howled sticking his nose in the air.

"It's a hypothetical situation, Naruto. Imagine if the moon fell on this very building right now." The chuunin retorted.

"If it's the end of the world, I'd want a big piece of barbeque to fall on us rather than the moon." Chouji added sending the class into a fit a giggles.

"Well, whatever it is, it has ended the world as you know it. Who would you want to be next to you?"

'Of course I know the answer to this one. It has never changed.' Sakura thought scribbling down the name of the Uchiha boy. 'I'm sure over half the girls in class have written down his name, but it's true. No matter what we have been through I'd always want Sasuke-kun by my side if our world was falling apart.'

One seat down from the pink-haired girl a sweet blunette was writing down the name of the boy next to her. Last time they had this exercise Hinata has been thinking for a few minutes before Naruto had nonchalantly turned his paper into an airplane and flew it around the room. That was when she had written down his name.

This time Naruto's name was on her paper before Iruka had even finished talking. Rain, snow, or the burning fires of hell, Naruto would forever be the person she'd wish to spend eternity with.

After scribbling down her answer, she peeked over at the boy next to her and to her surprise the blonde boy was actually looking at her. He had an unreadable emotion on his face as her gazed at her, or rather her paper. For a moment Hinata thought her heart had stopped.

'Oh no! Did he see my paper? He probably thinks I'm very creepy now. There's no way were going to be anything more than occasionally comrades now.'

"Hey Hinata, who did you write down? I can't think of anyone."

'OH! He didn't see my answer thank goodness. He just wants to know, but I'll have to tell him something else.'

"Um, I wrote down… Hanabi, my sister's name. We're very close." She replied.

"…Ah.. I see.. I'm glad you're so close to the members in your family, I don't have any…" he trailed off sadness laced within his usual happy-go-lucky voice.

The Byakugan-user frowned and was going to say something to hopefully cheer up the kyuubi container but Iruka-sensei interrupted her before she got the chance.

"Okay everyone. Please pass up your answers, there's no need to be afraid these are anonymous so as I am reading them I will not know who wrote what."

The class began to pass up their sheets but Naruto crumpled his up and tossed it out the window next to Hinata.

"Naruto! Don't throw that out!" the brunette sensei reprimanded marching up to the troublemaker.

"Why not? It was a stupid exercise anyway." He mumbled "No one would want to spend their last days with me and I have no family so there wasn't any point in writing something down."

Iruka sighed, "I'll talk to you after class. Now you're all dismissed for a lunch break."

The students began moving around to talk to their friends and grab their lunches.

"Sakura-chan, would you like to eat with me today." The Uzumaki eleven year old asked a shy smile on his face.

Sakura shook her head, "I'm going to head home to put away my new weapons and I'll probably eat there, but I'm sure Hinata would love to eat with you."

Naruto glanced at the Hyuuga who was currently pulling out a small bento box filled with some magnificent looking rice balls.

"I'll treat you to ramen for dinner tonight at Ichiraku's." the pinkette added.

"It's a date!" Naruto clamored throwing his fist in the air.

Sakura grimaced but she didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't actually a date. "Ok, Naruto, it is a date."

"WOOHOO! I'll see you there, you better bring all your allowance because I love ramen." He said taking his seat next to Hinata once more trying to converse with her.

'Somehow I know my wallet is going to regret this.'

Pivoting around, Sakura's emerald eyes landed on Sasuke who was watching her intently. She raised a brow in confusion but the Uchiha boy turned back to his lunch as if he was never looking at her.

Stealing one last look at the black-haired boy, she broke off in a run towards her house. She only had a thirty minute lunch and she had already wasted five minutes of it convincing Naruto to stay here and eat with Hinata.

Sakura made it to her house in less than fifteen minutes she quickly placed all of her new weapons in her room and set her herbs in her window sill freshly watered. She's lucky they didn't die while she was at the academy. Grabbing an apple, Sakura made her way back to school taking bites as she went.

She was out of breath when she got back but was on time. She was also glad to see that the duo she had set-up for lunch were doing well. Naruto was probably talking Hinata's ear off but she didn't seem to mind. Sakura smiled, she really hoped the two of them would get together this time around. Hinata would be the perfect girl for Naruto, he just needed to realize that.

Sakura sat at her desk and woofed down her apple just as Iruka came back in to start the afternoon lesson. Today he talked about some of the shinobi rules regarding missions.

Neither Sakura nor Hinata paid attention, they knew these rules like the back of their hands. Instead they were both focused on what they were going to do for training tonight.

'I think I'll ask Neji-niisan if he would help me train. I don't see him agreeing but it would be worth a shot. I could always train by myself too. I did that for many years. I'll probably attempt my twin lions again before focusing on my eight trigrams sixty-four palms. It took me until the shinobi world war to actually be able to do it.' Hinata mused planning how she was going to approach her cousin to help her train.

'I'll start with running a mile around the village, then I will focus on my chakra control once again. I was able to splinter the tree but it was hard and there would be no way I could smash the ground. So I will keep practicing then I'll move onto my strength of a hundred seal. Slowly concentrating my chakra, hopefully I'll have it around the chunin exams. I was able to achieve it in 3 years during my past life, maybe I can do it in two this time.'

Both girls had their plans in motion by the time class had been dismissed for the day. Tonight would be the night the real training began. They were going to accomplish feats that took them 3 or 4 years in less than 2.

'Before the chunin exams, because that's when everything changed.'

A/N: How was it? This chapter was a bit longer than the other ones but so much went on. It was actually going to extended the whole day, training included but I was getting tired and really wanted to post it today. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave some more wonderful reviews, constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you all and the next chapter should be up in the next few days.