The Red Thread of Fate

Chapter 1: Second chance

Sakura bolted straight up, tears falling down her face. Her vision became clear and she scanned her surroundings.

Her legs felt weaker and her hands were smaller than they were before. A strand of pink hair fell on her face, she grabbed a handful of the hair.

'WAIT WHAT?'

Sakura ran to the mirror that was in her room and stared intensely at her reflection. Her genin self with long hair, big forehead and big green eyes stared back at her, the only difference was the purple diamond on her forehead. She looked around herself.

'This is indeed how my room was arranged when I was living with my parents. But why am I here?'

'Could this be a genjutsu?!' She gasped. She made the hand signs and yelled

"Kai!"

"Kai!"

"KAI!"

'Umm, this didn't work so this is not a genjutsu. So, am I really in the past?' She thought. Everything felt so real, her body, the surroundings, everything. Sakura felt tears swelling up in her eyes again, her lips curved up. This was destiny, a second chance to fix her mistakes. She looked at the calendar, it was the day before her genin exams, meaning she's not a ninja yet. Sakura looked at the red ribbon that was on her drawer and smiled to herself.

Yamanaka Ino.

Sakura looked at her outfit in the closet and gagged.

'Did I really wear a long-sleeved DRESS when I wanted to become a kunoichi?!' She threw the dress away and chose a red shirt with the Haruno symbol in the back, black shorts with her kunai bag attached on and a pair of high heeled ninja boots. (A bit like her outfit in Shippuden.) She tied the ribbon around her wrist and slashed her long hair to its length which was just slightly above her shoulder. When she was pleased with her clothes, she turned her attention to her arms and legs.

"Wow, my legs are quite weak compared to my older self. I would need to train extra now." She sighed.

"At least my seal is still here. But I would still need to test my skills out for a bit." She whipped her head around to see the clock.

"SHOOT! I'm gonna be late for class."

The whole class turned towards the door when the pink haired girl made her entrance, she was panting with her hands on her knees. Everyone was surprised with the girl's sudden change of style. And the most surprised of them all was no other than Yamanaka Ino.

"FOREHEAD. WHY WERE YOU LATE FOR CLASS?!"

"Also don't even think that you could impress Sasuke-kun with that new look of yours, I'm way more beautiful and suitable to be his girlfriend." The class murmured about Ino's loudness and Sasuke's fangirls stared at Sakura in jealousy because she actually looked pretty good. Sakura silently stared at her friend, or rather, rival right now. She slightly cringed at the high-pitched screech that came from her blonde friend.

"Was I this loud and annoying to Sasuke when I was this age?"

At the mention of Sasuke, Sakura turned towards the window desk and saw a familiar sight.

Uchiha Sasuke

His head was resting on his intertwining hands while his face had an expression of indifference. He wore his navy blue high collared shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back, and white shorts with his weapon bag strapped around his thigh. There were several girls with heart eyes drooling at him and squealing.

Sakura felt her eyes stinging again at the sight of her love being alive and breathing. But she decided to keep her love secret and swore to protect him from harm. She will become strong to be worthy enough to stand next to him.

"I'm not trying to impress him, Ino. In fact, you can have Sasuke. I don't care about him that way anymore." She felt guilty at the harshness of her own words. The class gasped, staring at Sakura with wide eyes and she swore that Sasuke did too, but only just for one fraction of a second.

Sasuke felt a pang in his heart at her words, especially the lack of "kun" at the end of his name. He didn't know why. Sasuke stared at the petal haired girl.

"SAKURA-CHAN! COME AND SIT NEXT TO ME!" Sakura turned stiff at the yelling of the other blonde.

Uzumaki Naruto

Sasuke cringed at the loudness of the Uzumaki.

Sakura felt like her heart can't take this anymore, the scene of Naruto's body kept showing up in her mind. She kept seeing illusions of her hands that bathed in his blood. And now him being there, alive now just filled Sakura up with guilt of badly her treatment towards him around this time was. She loved the knucklehead ninja like a brother, and him got over his crush and viewed her as his sister. Their bond was tighter than any blood-related siblings, both having the same dream of uniting Team 7.

She slowly turned around and looked at Naruto. He was in his old orange and blue jumpsuit with green goggles on the top of his head, his blonde hair sticking out in every direction. The whiskers on his face and the wide grin were the same. She flashed him a smile and he instantly turned bright red.

'Oh god, I forgot that he had a crush on me.' She inwardly cursed. The class now were speechless, gaping with their mouths wide open.

"Naruto you idiot stop being so loud and annoy Sasuke-kun!" Ami yelled.

Sakura clenched her fist, Ami was one of her bullies and a fangirl of Sasuke's. She forgave her for her behaviour later on in the future. But the Ami now was Sasuke obsessed, bully but still she is only 13. 

But Sakura would never allow anyone to insult Naruto, he would grow up to be a great leader, role model and Hokage. Sakura smiled bitterly at the last thought, his dream died when he died but this time, she would do anything to keep him safe and help him achieve that dream.

She shot Ami an icy glare that rivalled the 16-year-old Sasuke's.

"Don't you dare to say that to him again." She hissed, before turning around to talk to Naruto. Ami shuddered; her legs felt weaker than ever. The red colour of humiliation was on her cheeks, she ran out of the classroom while crying. Sasuke raised one of his eyebrows at the sight.

There was a long silence before Iruka-sensei spoke up,

"Ummm, let's get this class started?"

Yo, now that was the first chapter of this story.

Hehehehehe.

Peace out ;)