Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, own nothing. But that's okay...I'm...trying to convince myself it's okay T-T...

Warnings: Cursing. Angst.

This is my first fanfic ever, so bear with me! Hopefully it doesn't suck as much as I think it does.

Chapter One: Ready?

Haruno Sakura woke up two feet shorter and in need of a weight on her chest. She only had enough time to flash a quick grin directed to herself before rushing into the bathroom and throwing up.

"Honey? Are you okay?"

Hearing the voice, Sakura couldn't help but grin more. It looked like everything was in place. Her mother was alive, her house was still standing, and she still had a bed to sleep in. It was a lucky thing that she didn't end up among the Great Ninja War like Sasuke thought they would. Oh god, she thought suddenly, Sasuke…

After a glance and sneer at her attire, Sakura dashed to her closet and pulled out a white blouse that looked like the top part of her former dress with red lace and a short red fighting skirt that had her white, circular signature on the front. Maybe I'll leave my hair long this time.

"Bye, mom! I'm going to the academy, see you tonight." It was only halfway there that Sakura realized she had forgotten her hitai-ite at home. Home, it sounded so unfamiliar to her.

"What's the rush, Billboard Brow?"

She couldn't help but abruptly stop at the voice. That voice had haunted her dreams for almost two years now, ever since its owner took up an infiltration mission and ended up missing in action for months until her corpse was finally found floating in Nanako River. It took Sakura five seconds and two gulps of saliva to finally get her voice back. "Hey, Ino-pig. Heading for the academy, you? Let me guess, going shopping…again?"

It hurt Sakura to talk to an old, long lost friend as if she was her enemy, but that was who Ino was at the moment. Why had they even become rivals in the first place? Oh yeah, Sasuke. The ironic thing was that she gave him up for Lee, someone she considered disgusting at one point. Sakura instinctively felt at her ring finger. Yup, there was no stunning diamond ring there. She tried to not be hurt by that fact.

Ino scoffed, deciding to finally step out of the shade of her family's flower shop. "I'm surprised the let you in. Did they start getting desperate for extra ninjas?"

"It would hardly be wise for that. After all, most of us that actually deserve to pass won't even live to the age of thirty. The weak would just slow the village down," Sakura said darkly, immediately regretting it when Ino looked at her with large, horrified eyes. She hadn't meant to say that, it just slipped out. Hinata, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba all died at around age twenty seven. The rest had perished in the attack from Amegakure a year later. Ino had died four years before that. Even Naruto only lasted until after he turned thirty one, leaving Sasuke and her to cope.

That's why they were here, back in time and grudgingly small; to fix everything.

"Sakura…?"

Sakura loved how Ino pronounced her name, emphasizing the "u" and making it sound frustratingly cute. Nobody else could say it like her, it was always "Sakura-chan" from Naruto, "Sakura-san" from Lee, and "Sakura-sama" from all her lower medics, patients, and admirers. Growing up and being respected wasn't as great as it seemed like when she was little-er, now. Turning to her former and hopefully soon to be reinstated best friend, Sakura grinned the sweet beam she was known for in the past…or, in this case, future.

"Sorry, I was trying to joke around and intimidate you, but I guess you're too stupid to even realize that, aren't you?"

Immediately, Ino's face turned red with embarrassment and rage. "YEAH RIGHT! And to think I was worried about you for a second there."

The grin turned coy. "Aw, it's so nice to know you care."

Ino sped up of few steps to catch up to Sakura's semi-quick pace and made sure to keep at least a foot ahead of her. Sakura remember this competition they had, they always tried to get ahead of the other, even though everybody knew Ino was by far the strongest kunoichi of the year and Sakura was only smart, nothing else. It would be only a few months later that Sakura would be looking down at Ino's panting body and encouraging her to continue her medic training.

"Now who's rushing, Ino?" Taunting Ino was fun, she realized. Much more fun than it was when she was younger. Maybe it was because this time Sakura didn't feel the frustration of an actual competition. She did, after all, have a twenty year advantage.

Instead of entertaining the blonde by starting a race, Sakura instead opted to keep behind Ino. It was ninja instinct to stay behind a group, for they never knew if someone could be a spy or traitor. Ino would learn that soon enough once she became chunin and started C and B rank missions that forced her outside of Konoha's boundaries and into the true shinobi world.

Ino seemed to smirk at Sakura, maybe because she thought that the pinkette had finally stood down and gave up a challenge, and continued on. The rest of the walk continued in mutual silence.

Sasuke, once again, went over the design of his recent work. In the future, the last Uchiha would be an excellent, though far from trusted, blacksmith, head of the ANBU, and a valued member of the Interrogation Department, but right now he was still in the academy with supposedly mediocre skill and little knowledge of the real, outside world.

He had been here since the crack of dawn after training for an hour or two to sketch his ideas for the device in private. If one of his fangirls walked in and saw him drawing with a thoughtful face on, who knows what she would assume and spread all over the village. Sasuke could see it now: Extra extra, heartthrob Uchiha has a soft, solicitous artsy side. The thought made him want to barf. Yeah, his greatest masterpiece: a two sided scythe that configured his black flamed Ameterasu into a demonic form. Not exactly the kind of art people would like to see, though it would support the Grim Reaper look that little kids thought of when they heard his name.

Instead of the navy blue shirt he usually wore, Sasuke was wearing a plain black T-shirt with a considerably lower collar and –gasp- no overdramatic Uchiha fan symbol on the back. He instead wore his clan's pride on a customized necklace around his neck, the handle of the fan connected to a slight chain that made the image hang upside down. Around his wrists were bandages that cover his still healing weapon summoning seals that he had recreated this morning. It was a lot more complicated and hard to make without Kabuto's, but he had managed, though his wrists had sustained some minor damage in the process. Hidden in a pouch on his hip was a scroll that contained his Kusanagi, the only weapon he managed to remake so far, which was pretty impressive in such a short time. His white shorts remained the same.

When Sasuke looked in the mirror after he changed, he had only one thought. Man, I look even more emo. But he definitely looked less prideful and less likely to be recognized as the esteemed sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre, which was the whole point of the new outfit.

Sasuke was not wearing his hitai-ite. He took one look at it in the morning and was reminded of all the things that he did and all the horrible costs of his actions. It made him sick. Even when he returned to Konohagakure in his original timeline, he couldn't make himself to put the withered blue cloth and ruined slate of metal on his forehead. No, Sasuke did not think he would ever wear a sign of loyalty to anything other than his clan ever again.

His bangs fell limply onto his forehead, making him look even more solitary. Sasuke didn't remember his hair being this spiky and blue.

The door to the right of him opened and surprisingly soft footsteps approached him. Sasuke's blood almost froze when he saw Naruto Uzumaki sitting only one seat away from him. It seemed like only yesterday that he was holding his Hokage's limp body to his chest, crying with Sakura in the rain. His fists clenched a little at the thought. The war with Ame had been far more brutal than what he had expected after Hanzou's student took control in the absence of the villager's god, Pein. Konoha had only gotten a year to rebuild the destroyed village and dreams before another attack came. Those attacks proceeded at unpredictable times until finally, after almost ten stressful years, an all-out war had started. It was horrifying, to say the least.

Sasuke hadn't known he opened his mouth. The word flowed off his tongue even after a year of not using the reserved insult. "Dobe." He put his notebook away.

Naruto snapped around and glared at Sasuke, not knowing there wasn't any malice behind the name. "Teme!"

Bliss. That was what Sasuke was feeling. Even after waking up in his own apartment and walking into the academy building that had once upon a time been nothing but a pile of ash and scraps he couldn't connect that he was actually in the past. But that one word, the name he hadn't been called for far too long in his opinion, brought the gravity of the situation crashing down on Sasuke. Here he was, young and in the past with knowledge and skills beyond his years. He could stop everything. His friends wouldn't feel the pain his betrayal had caused them and they wouldn't die the horrible deaths they were destined to experience. Sasuke could defy fate and time; he could already bend space before with his jutsus; and, with Sakura's help, they could make their cursed lives everything they imagined it would be when they were little and stupid. The pressure of all this was great, crushing him to the ground, but it felt amazingly energizing; giving Sasuke the hope he had lost when Naruto died.

Sasuke was ready; there was no other way to describe what he felt at that moment.

"Sasuke, may I sit next to you?"

"Why are you even trying, Billboard Brow? Everybody knows he wants to sit next to me!"

"No. I was here first; I should sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

"Then why did you sit in that seat? Your chance is gone, loser."

"I was here before all of you, so move it!"

Sakura grinned at the slowly but surely increasing number of angered females in the classroom. All she had to do was mutter on question and the rest just snowballed out of control.

Or right into my control, she though wickedly. Nobody had even noticed that she had dropped the "kun" suffix at the end of her "crush's" name.

On the way to the academy with Ino, Sakura had remembered exactly what happened today. How could she not? It was one of the most saddening moment of her life, right next to Sasuke leaving Konoha, Lee being reported missing in action, and Naruto dying. Today was the day that Sasuke would lose his first kiss.

Well, it wasn't technically his first kiss, but either way he was still going to lose it to the same person. If she was the same fangirl she once was, Sakura would've done anything to stop it from happening. She had married Lee, however, so this seemed more like an amusing event she wanted to replay over again to enjoy at the cost of other's pride. Oh, she was evil.

Sakura could visibly see Naruto getting more and more mad at the fact his rival was getting all the attention. She thought she smelled smoke coming out of the blonde's ears. "Move, Naruto."

That last sentence did it. Naruto did move, though not in the way her other classmates expected. With two sure feet and some attention grabbing clicks, Naruto kneeled on the desk in front of Sasuke. His eyes were squinty and his mouth was set in a firm frown.

Sakura grinned in anticipation and Sasuke's eyes widened at realizing what was going to happen, scooting back a little to get up from his seat.

"Aw, man!" Too late.

Naruto's eyes widened and he fell forward. The world seemed to freeze.

As if in slow motion, Naruto and Sasuke's lips collided, their eyes widening to an impossible diameter. Sasuke, unfortunately, was in the middle of getting up, so Naruto brace both his unsteady hands on the raven's shoulders and found his mouth gliding from his lips to his neck. Naruto screamed and clenched his teeth in surprise, effectively biting down on Sasuke's pale neck, exactly where Orochimaru had put his cursed seal. It seemed like that, even back in time, that joint between Sasuke's left shoulder and neck was very sensitive, for he gasped and his eyes glazed over for a second. Sasuke vaguely thought that it was a very bad idea to get a lower collar, everybody in the class could see what was happening. Somewhere in the background, the two disoriented boys could here Sakura hiss a "SCORE AND BONUS!"

Sasuke fell back into his seat and Naruto unlatched from him. He animatedly started spitting, saying things like "Ew!" and "I've been poisoned!" while the other, quieter boy gazed at him dazedly, his hand clutching where Naruto had bit him.

Suddenly, Naruto crouched straighter…if that's even possible. "Hm? Trouble." Bingo.

Slowly creaking his neck to the right, Naruto found himself looking a lion in the mouth, or in this case, at a mob of pissed fangirls. "Narutoooo…"

"Gah! Um, it…was an accident?" The alibi didn't help the beating.

Sakura happily sat down next to Sasuke, who had regained his composure, and enjoyed the show with a magnificent view.

"You are an evil witch-doctor," he said darkly.

Her grin never faded. "Oh, I know," Sakura didn't look away from Naruto's bruising body, "But I got my seat in the end, didn't I?"

Didn't she?

"Alright class, settle down," said an amused Iruka, pointedly trying to ignore Naruto's damaged body that was slouching halfway off his desk. "Now, you are all counted as genin today…"

"…And now I wish you all luck. Here are your teams."

"Huh? What did he say?" Sakura asked Sasuke. She remembered that she would hang onto Iruka's every word in the past, thinking that if she ever got in trouble all she had to do was depend on theories and already made strategies that any rookie could see through. Now she barely listened to a word he said.

"Basically that we shouldn't get cocky 'cause we're still snot-nosed brats and that ninja life sucks badly."

Sakura scoffed. "Ain't that the truth."

"Hey, Ino," said blonde looked curiously at Sakura, "Let's make a bet. If I get on a team with Sasuke, you have to give me all the books your family has on jutsus that I want that isn't a clan secret. If Sasuke doesn't get on my team, I'll give up on him and you'll have one less competitor for his affections."

Ino grinned, the chances of Sakura the Forehead getting her precious Sasuke was a million to one. If anything, Ino was sure that she would be in a team with him. "You're on."

Little did she know that this was actually a win-win deal for Sakura. The Yamanaka clan was skilled at reading minds and their books were probably full of different techniques they had gathered over the years. The only thing that would be grander than their jutsu knowledge would probably the Uchiha clan's library, and there was no way in hell that Sasuke would let her touch that. It was exactly what she needed this time around. And on the impossible note that she lost, Sakura could finally stop pretending to be in love with Sasuke. All she had to do was wait.

"Team 7 will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno-"

"YEAH!"

"-And Sasuke Uchiha."

"I'm doomed…"

Sakura glanced up at Ino, grinning once again. "Better ask your dad about that library of his, Ino-pig." In her mind, Sakura knew this would be the first step to regain her friendship with the blonde.

After all the teams were given, Sasuke and Sakura decided to go for a walk around the village to discuss their plans.

"What happened today, anyway?"

Sasuke looked at her bemusedly. "What?"

"Back in the old timeline, I remember you coming up to me and," she blushed at the words she was going to say, "Started to flirt with me, then ran away. After that, you came back looking for Naruto and kind of knocked me to my senses on how I treated him. And I say kind of as in I stopped beating him up every time I saw him, nothing else. Then Naruto came and looked like he was about to fight me when I started being nice to him but ran off after a few seconds."

Sasuke scoffed. "Now I remember. Naruto henged into me after he beat me and tied me up. He was probably the one who flirted with you. I escaped afterwards and started searching for him, found him in the bathroom. That's probably why he ran off, because he had to go again."

Sakura stared at Sasuke for a second, then burst out laughing. "What?" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in exasperation.

"Naruto…the current knuckleheaded Naruto Uzumaki…beat you up…and tied you up? What, did he have to resort to bondage to get your pretty ass?" she said between breaths. After Sasuke came back to Konoha and was off probation, Sakura had developed a teasing side where she insisted that he and Naruto had a relationship going on since both of them were still single at the age of twenty five, have never dated, and spend all their time together. They, of course, always denied this claim. That didn't stop all of Konoha to find out though, unfortunately. Ever since then, Sakura has continued her teasing as proof that gossip triumphs over all, even the words of the Hokage. "Okay, okay I'm good. Seriously, though, he managed to beat you? This Naruto, the weakest of the weak?"

Sasuke sighed. "And also the most spontaneous. I didn't know he could use Kage Bunshin at the time. It was pretty surprising. He launched a combo of Kawarimi and that to trick me. Naruto may be an idiot, but he's the master of simple strategies that most people overlook."

Flashes came into Sakura's head of the first time she saw Kage Bunshin during their bell test with Kakashi and the amazement she felt at the jutsu. Then she remembered the time when Naruto and Sasuke formed the Shadow Shuriken Kawarimi strategy to save Kakashi from Zabuza by just looking at each other. Sasuke was right, Naruto was a genius when he wanted to be one, which meant when people's lives were at stake and all hope was lost. Exactly when they didn't expect a solution to a problem, Naruto goes and fixes it, he's proved it a million times and then some.

"That doesn't explain why he wanted to fight me, though."

"You were being nice to him, right? He probably thought it was actually me in disguise."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense now, I wonder why I didn't figure this out before?"

"We kind of had other things to worry about."

Sakura laughed at that. "Yeah, like boring mind-numbing D-rank missions-oh crap."

Sasuke stopped. "What?" he asked.

The sole kunoichi paled and turned an angry red at the same time, again, how is that possible? "I just realized we have to do other people's chores again."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

Naruto sat on a tall water tower alone, spying on Team 10, who were beneath him. He sighed. It was just another boring, lonely day. He couldn't even find his so-called teammates after Iruka dismissed them. He really hoped things would get better from this point on. He had completed step one of his dream, after all. Naruto Uzumaki was finally a ninja.

"Hey, Naruto!"

The voice almost made him fall off where he was lying. Jumping up, Naruto frenzied around, wondering if we was caught stalking. "NARUTO!"

He finally looked down to see Sakura in her pretty, new outfit waving at him, Sasuke on tow behind her. But that didn't bother him. Sakura, his long time crush, has smiling at him. This had to be some kind of dream. He pinched his arm. "Ow!"

"What are you doing, you idiot? Come on, it's almost time to meet our sensei. Sasuke even stopped to buy you a lunch!"

Naruto looked closer and, to his utmost joy, saw Sasuke standing straight and proud with a white and red bowel in his hands that could only belong to one place: Ichiraku Ramen.

"RAMEN!"

Naruto climbed down and ran to his team, all of them smiling with joy as they made their way to the not-so-unpredictable future.

Well, except for Sasuke, he's too cool to smile.

Well, what do you think? Please Review! I actually have no clue as to how this story is going to continue and end, so bear with me!

-OY