Back into the Past

Chapter 1

(Episodes 3-5)

Damn Uchiha had to attack when the village was at its weakest.

Sakura took the scroll in her arms. She ran through the fire, trying her best to avoid her former teammate.

(Former, remember that, he hurt you, he doesn't deserve your love)

Tsunade had predicted that Sasuke would attack Konoha, so she gave Sakura a mission in advance.

Go back in time and try to fix things.

(Crazy lady had too much sake again)

But going back in time? Yeah, when you're a ninja, you can do these sort of things.

When she performed the jutsu she would coexist with her younger self. Sakura went over the rules in her head. She can only tell the Hokage, Kakashi, her younger self; and if need be, all of Team 7. She sprinted to the Hokage's office and opened the door and took a step in. She stopped at the last moment, the fire roaring at her and the floor falling away. Sakura then headed to the basement, hoping that place would provide protection. Naruto joined her at the door and they entered guardedly.

Sasuke appeared in front of her.

"S-Sasuke…"

(He doesn't deserve your love!!! Don't stutter!!! NO!!!)

"Why are you in such a rush?" His Sharingan was activated and sword in hand. Sakura's face hardened in determination.

"I'm going to fix things." She whipped open the scroll and made the first hand sign, chakra whipping around her. "Naruto! Back me up!" Said ninja deflected Sasuke's sword with a kunai and forced him away from his pink-haired teammate. She focused on the scroll and performing a multitude of hand signs. A sphere of raw chakra formed around Sakura, wisps of purple, green and blue chakra making sure others kept their distance. Naruto and Sasuke paused their skirmish to watch in amazement.

(Didn't think little Sakura could be so powerful?)

"Time Travel Jutsu!" The chakra swirled so quickly that Sakura disappeared from view; a blinding light engulfed the whole village. The roof, walls and floor gave way to the powerful chakra. The noise was deafening, a ringing sound overtaking all sounds of war and fire.

Then silence.

Sakura fell to her knees. A kunai embedded itself on the wall behind her. She opened her eyes, her hair short hair clung to her sweating face. Jonin surrounded her, ready to kill. Among them were Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma.

"Wait." Sakura thought she'd never hear that voice ever again.

(It worked…the jutsu actually worked…)

It was the Third. His voice roughened and weathered by time was strangely soothing to Sakura's ears. He approached her, the Jonin parting warily, ready at a moment's notice to kill her.

"Why are you here?" Gentle yet demanding, Sakura could never figure out how he did that. The Third motioned for the Jonin to leave.

"I'm from the future, the Fifth Hokage sent me on a mission. I'm only allowed to tell you, my former sensei, my younger self, and if need be, my former team." Sakura cleared her throat and continued, shaking with exhaustion.

"From when I left, the village was in ruins and I was sent back to hopefully make things right."

"Who destroyed the village?"

"Akatsuki, mainly the leader. But then Sasuke-kun, who was a missing-nin, came back to get revenge and re-destroyed Konoha. " She grit her teeth, she didn't like talking about Sasuke's betrayal.

"I see… say, you look like Sakura Haruno."

"I am Sakura Haruno."

"Hard to believe someone like little Sakura goes through so much." He gestured to the scars the criss-crossed her arms and the big one from Sasori's poisoned blade on her stomach, visible because of her burnt shirt.

"While I carry out my mission I'll need a place to stay."

"Wait, do you have a message from the Hokage of your time?" Sakura nodded, reaching into her weapon pouch to retrieve the note. The Third skimmed over the note; and seeming satisfied, nodded. He went to his drawer and tossed Sakura some keys and wrote a quick note, giving it to Sakura as well.

"In case your former sensei has trouble believing you, give this to him."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," she said. Sakura bowed and left.

Sakura entered her new home and sat down on the couch. She sighed and took out her money pouch. She had put all her money to helping restore Konoha. Sakura was broke.

"Oh shoot!" She raced out of her house and to the academy. She peeked through the window, seeing Naruto and Sasuke have their stare down.

"Naruto! Stop staring at Sasuke-kun!" Sakura giggled, her younger self was so naïve. Naruto looked back at her younger self.

"Sasuke-kun, just beat him up!" Scratch that, all of the fan girls were naïve.

"Yeah!"

"What? For real?" That guy bumped Naruto and sent him crashing into Sasuke. They kissed. It was only now that Sakura laughed at that scene.

"Score! Front row seats!!!" Sakura cheered, instantly covering her mouth, realizing she had said that out loud.

"What was that!?" Sasuke pushed Naruto off him and jumped to the window. She crouched down and rolled to the side, hoping Sasuke hadn't seen her. The boys were at the window, wondering what that sound was. The girls on the other hand…

"Naruto!!!"

"Starting today you are all official ninjas, but… you are still new genin. It's going to get harder from here. You all will be in a group of three…" And from there Sakura zoned out. She instead focused on a butterfly flitting past

"Next, 7th group, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

The butterfly was suddenly shred to pieces.

Sakura perched herself on top of a giant yellow sphere (I don't know, I was watching the anime and I saw it. I don't even know what it is.) and watched herself and Naruto talk. Younger Sakura was being mean and immature as usual. She remembered something that Naruto had told her once, about tying Sasuke up and pretending to be him. That one time when Sakura had almost kissed "Sasuke". She headed to that same spot and masked her chakra.

"This is going to be enjoyable."

The window closed.

"Aw man!" Sakura cursed under her breath. She heard ruckus and "Sasuke" jumped out. She followed with a smile on her face.

And the rest is a repeat.

Now was an opportune time to approach Kakashi.

But Kakashi could wait.

She wanted to see the bell test.

After watching Kakashi get hit with an eraser, herself squeal over Sasuke, she went home to make some plans.

'Naruto's done so much for me, so I think I'll make a little change in history. Now, who should get tied to the pole? My younger self is so immature and could use some straightening out, but Sasuke could use a blow to his ego…Sasuke it is!'

Sakura knew Kakashi was going to be late, so she slept in. When she woke, she headed over to the training area and settled herself on a branch to watch. When Naruto charged at Kakashi, he stopped him, twisting Naruto around so that Kakashi had the advantage.

"Don't get so hasty. I didn't say "start" yet."

"He just said "start!" attack him already!" Older Sakura cheered. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise and he forgot Naruto and the rest of the group for an instant. Sasuke used this to his benefit and attacked. Kakashi turned to where Older Sakura was perched and Sasuke swung his leg at him. Kakashi easily caught his leg, looking back for a moment. When his focus returned to the strange girl, she was gone.

Sasuke and Sakura retreated into the cover of the leaves. Naruto ran at their sensei yelling

"Let's have a match, fair and square!"

"Aren't you a little weird compared to the others?"

"What's weird is your hairstyle!" Naruto stopped when Kakashi reached into his weapon pouch.

"Ninja tactic know-how number one, taijutsu. I'll teach you that first." Kakashi pulled out Icha Icha Paradise in a dramatic manner, making everyone doubt his Jonin status. Naruto resumed his attack and missed with his hook, roundhouse and punch. Kakashi sat behind him, hands in the seal of the tiger.

"Naruto, run! You're going to die!" Sakura called out. Older Sakura wrapped a piece of paper around a kunai and threw it. Kakashi stopped and looked at the kunai's note.

'Save that move for Uchiha.'

He smiled under his mask, focusing on Naruto again. He kicked Naruto into the water. Sakura watched in amusement as Naruto and Kakashi went through the shadow clones, replacement and finally when Naruto fell into Kakashi's trap. He was hanging upside down and it was funny instead of disappointing this time around.
"Blah, blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah…" Sakura ignored Kakashi's speech (she's already heard it once) and waited for Sasuke to make his move. Once he did, "Kakashi" was hit and fell, revealing a log in his place. Older Sakura decided to bruise Sasuke's ego (because honestly, who doesn't want to bruise an egotistical jerk's self-esteem?) and trailed behind him as he leapt through the trees. She used her chakra to stick to the side of the low, thick branch she was on. She positioned herself correctly and pushed her legs off the branch, using chakra as a boost. She crashed her fists into the branch Sasuke was about to land on.

It was funny watching him fall.

He fell on the ground and rubbed his head, wincing. He looked up in time to see a flash of pink.

'Sakura…' NOW he was angry. Older Sakura twisted around and leapt towards Naruto, landing in behind a bush. She prepared a kunai and slung back her hand a little bit, getting ready to toss the weapon when her younger self ran past. The kunai hand already left her control and whistled past younger Sakura's hair, catching some of it. But the hair did not alter the kunai's direction. It snapped the rope holding Naruto to the tree. She quickly sprung the other trap lying in wait with some shuriken. Naruto curled into a ball and landed on his feet, missing the shuriken by a few inches.

"I'm out! Dattebayo!" Older Sakura left and waited at the place of her next phase of her plan. Oddly, Kakashi wasn't where he should've been. Instead of getting ready to use that genjutsu on Sakura, he was back watching Naruto from a distance. When the Jinchuriki left, Kakashi went to investigate what had happened. He noticed the long pink strand of hair waving in the breeze, stuck to the kunai's tip.

"Maybe Sakura cares for more than Sasuke after all." And with that, he poofed away.

"Sakura, behind you." Kakashi cast the genjutsu. Older Sakura cast another genjutsu over Kakashi's, making it look like younger Sakura had released the genjutsu, when in reality, it was really the Older Sakura.

"Ninja tactic know-how number two, genjutsu. Sakura did good."

"Didn't she?" Older Sakura laughed. Kakashi's eye widened, his hand instinctively shot up to his headband, ready to use his Sharingan. Dojutsu in play and kunai in hand, Kakashi had his weapon at Older Sakura's neck in no time.

"Who are you?" Older Sakura slipped out of his reach and stood in front of him, face-to-face.

"You don't recognize me? I'm hurt Kaka-sensei," Sakura smiled, positioning herself so that he could see younger Sakura looking confused and hopefully would compare faces.

"Don't tell me…"

"Yes?"

"You're…"

"Mmhm?"

"It can't be!"

"So you know who I am?"

"I can't believe it! It's you!"

"Believe it." Since when did Sakura say Naruto's catch phrase?

"Rin! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"What the? No! I'm not Rin! Who's Rin?"

"Then who are you?" Sakura's blood boiled a little at her sensei's stupidity. She cleared her throat and motioned to younger Sakura.

"You honestly don't see the resemblance?!"

"You look like Sakura, but older…" Sakura held her hands in front of her, elbows bent, and rotated her wrists a bit quickly.

"Are you her mother?"

'SHANNARO!!! KAKASHI CAN'T BE THAT STUPID CAN HE!?!?!?!?'

"Y' know what? Enough beating around the bush. I'm Sakura from the future. The Fifth Hokage sent me on a mission to alter the time stream and hopefully stop the horrible things that happen."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because I have a note from the Third that says you should." She said haughtily, reaching into her weapons pouch to retrieve the note. Kakashi scanned the paper, his Sharingan recognizing the Third's handwriting.

"I'll believe you, for now."

Sakura wanted to see Sasuke get beat bad. Really bad. Leaving her younger self alone, she and Kakashi easily tracked down Sasuke's chakra signal and followed it to his location.

"But, I'm different from them." Sasuke was doing a good job on looking totally emo. She shook her head, wondering how she could ever fall for a guy like that.

"Why don't you say that after you get a bell, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi said the last part in a higher pitch, trying to imitate younger Sakura's voice. Watching them fight wasn't as fun as she had hoped. Sakura got especially irked when Sasuke touched a bell.

"Geez Sasuke, why do you have to be so good?" Sakura muttered under her breath, upset that she hadn't even come close to getting a bell. It cheered her up when Kakashi remembered her note on the kunai and used 1000 Years of Pain on Sasuke, sending him flying, his head crashing into the ground in a very Naruto-like fashion. But it cheered her up even more when Sasuke was pulled underground until only his head was visible. It's times like these when someone really appreciates an immature adult. Sakura supposed you'd have to have a sense of humor to make it through being a ninja without losing yourself.

"This is the third ninja tactics know-how, ninjutsu." Sakura left, remembering that Naruto was going to try to eat the lunches, completely ruining her plan to get Sasuke tied to a post. Naruto was approaching the lunches when she caught him from behind. She held him by the wrists with her left hand, holding the back of his head in place so he couldn't turn and see her face. She didn't want Team 7 to know she was here just yet.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why not?"

"If you try to eat the lunches, you'll end up tied to the post. Both you and I want Sasuke tied to that post, right?" Sakura left, taking cover in the leaves to make sure Naruto didn't get the lunches.

"Sasuke tied to a post? That'd be funny…" Naruto chuckled, leaving to find Kakashi. The alarm rang.

"Aww man! I didn't get a bell!" Naruto ran towards the three posts.

"None of you were able to get a bell… now who should get tied to the post?" Kakashi turned towards Older Sakura's hiding place as if to think.

"I think Sasuke should!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY NARUTO?!?!?!?!?!" An irritated Sakura shot Naruto a threatening look.

"I said I thought I should get tied to the post." He answered meekly. But Older Sakura knew Kakashi was talking to her. She decided to give him an answer and scare the genin a little. Sakura cast a genjutsu, the sky suddenly darkening, thunder cracking, lightning flashing and wind blowing harshly. He turned back to Team 7. Naruto jumped into Sakura's arms in a Scooby-Doo fashion, the girl dropping him uncaringly and moved behind Sasuke uncertainly. Said Uchiha seemed unafraid, passing it off as a regular storm. When Kakashi told him otherwise, he whipped out a kunai, but Older Sakura saw him shiver a bit.

"Sasuke…" The wind whispered, drawling it out in a way that only bad guys did it. The wind died down and the weather cleared. Kakashi closed his eye, it moved into an upward arch, meaning he was smiling.

"Sasuke it is!"

Great-almighty Uchihas tied to posts are funny. 'Nuff said.

Kakashi played his little game. The You-are-not-going-back-to-the-Academy-and-even-though-you-think-you-passed-you-are-really-being-dropped-from-the-program. But this time Sasuke wasn't able to charge at Kakashi and get stepped and sat upon. Hehe… 'upon' is a funny word. Ahem, sorry. And then he went through his teamwork speech.

After that he went to the Memorial Stone.

He mourned over whom he had lost. So did Sasuke. So did older Sakura. She lost Pervy Sage (They weren't particularly close, but still), Tsunade was in a coma, Sasuke… And among so many others.

'I won't let them die this time.' Sakura vowed to herself.

Kakashi left and older Sakura joined him.

"Are they going to break the rules?" He asked her.

"I don't know, my time around it was Naruto tied to the post and Sasuke offered his lunch to him, making me want to do the same. But this time… Naruto is too anti-Sasuke, but then again, Sasuke was anti-Naruto and still offered his food. My past self is rule-savvy, but is obsessed with Sasuke. I think they'll break the rules soon enough."

"So this time Sasuke is strapped to the log?"

"I wanted Sasuke tied to the post this time, pay-back for… something." Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

"Why are you punishing him for something he hasn't done yet?"

"YET! Yet! Yet, Kakashi-sensei, YET!!!" Sakura hissed, jabbing her finger at his chest. They looked back just in time to see a flushed Sakura feeding Sasuke, who looked absolutely humiliated.

"There's your cue Kakashi-sensei!"

Explosion.

Boom.

"YOU THREE!!!!!!!"

Scream/defensive position.

"You three broke the rule!! Are you prepared for the punishment!?"

Hand seals.

Darkening sky.

Cracking thunder.

Flashing lightning.

"Any last words?" It was so hard for older Sakura not to laugh.

"B-but…"

"?"

"But…but…but… You said…! That's why we…"

"We're a three man team right?" Older Sakura couldn't take it anymore. Either hightail it or laugh and "ruin the illusion". She got out of there and exhaled deeply.

"Whew! That was a close one!" Sakura laughed, opening her door. She knew how things would turn out for Team 7, she could save those who needed saving.

Maybe she could stop Sasuke from leaving. Kakashi poofed into her room.

"So how did Team 7 do?" Sakura asked casually, as if she didn't know.

"They passed, but I came here for something else."

"What?"

"The Hokage wants to see you right away." Sakura raised her eyebrow and left.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"I need to ask you something." Sakura cocked a brow suspiciously.

"What's the problem?"

"How'd you like to…"