"A strong person is not the one who doesn't cry. A strong person is the one who cries and sheds tears for a moment, then gets up and fights again."
Unknown
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Naruto and Sasuke saw each other often, thankfully. They were five years old, and their families were closer than they'd ever been, for some reason. In the other timeline, Minato and Kushina were friends with Mikoto and Fugaku, but in this timeline, it was like they were best friends. They relied on each other, although they were mostly brought together by Mikoto and Kushina's friendship. Naruto and Sasuke were practically raised as cousins.
No one ever would've thought that Fugaku would be friends with people. And he often wasn't, he mostly just tagged along with Mikoto to talk with Minato about things like politics or their relations with other countries. All business, all the time, as usual. Except for the fact that Minato ended up being his closest friend.
Since the boys also grew up close, Naruto and Sasuke made an unspoken pact to protect Itachi should anything happen. Sasuke still wasn't accustomed to having his family, and this would be one of the toughest adjustments he would make. He definitely didn't need to lose Itachi before something really good came from their relationship. Naruto was suffering with the same thing, and from a couple meetings with Kakashi, they deduced he was the same way. None of them were used to this, but there wasn't really anyone left to complain to but themselves.
Kakashi had already spoken with Sakura, however, Naruto and Sasuke hadn't seen her yet, since they were always under the watchful eye of Itachi. They hadn't managed to slip away, yet, but they were planning an escapade for the near future.
Now, Kakashi had organized a meeting for them. Itachi would be occupied by the academy, and Mikoto and Kushina were going out to meet with someone else. Fugaku would be at work, and the kids were going to be temporarily left under Kakashi's care, which was 'negotiated' by Minato, who was going to be at the office all day.
"Kakashi-nii, why is this taking so long?" Naruto complained. Now that Kakashi wasn't really his teacher, (yet, hopefully, he would be in the future) he was more of a big brother to Naruto, Sasuke, and even Sakura.
"We're almost there. Training Ground 44 is really hard to navigate with a bunch of four-year-olds." Kakashi replied, closing his eyes, touching the floor. He was sensing out chakra signatures. He spoke before Naruto and Sasuke could complain about being five, not four. "I already brought Sakura here, she's waiting for us there."
"ALONE?" Naruto gasped, getting a panicked look on his face. "You left Sakura-chan in this scary place BY HERSELF?"
Sasuke frowned, extending his chakra to sense for her. He wasn't as good as someone like Naruto, but all ninja had basic detection skills. "Kakashi, that wasn't a good idea."
"Sakura's quite strong, you guys don't quite know the full extent of it yet..." Kakashi looked at the two boys as if he was disappointed they hadn't noticed something important during training. Sasuke sighed, but kept walking.
"We know that, but this place isn't called the Forest of Death for nothing, ya know!" Naruto squeaked, waddling as fast as he could with his short legs. They were still small, after all.
When they finally arrived, they saw their female teammate sitting on a fallen tree stump, cleaning her kunai. Laying in a clearing behind her was a giant, disgusting centipede. It was dead, and it appeared it had its head ripped off. They assumed the severed head was lying somewhere else. "Hey boys," she cracked a grin at them, putting her kunai away, "long time no see."
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, running forward. He tripped a little, then picked himself up and ran into her arms. She laughed and squeezed him tightly. "I missed you, 'ttebayo!"
"I missed you too, Naruto." She said, rubbing his blonde hair fondly. She had a small, content smile on her face, but you could see the torment behind her eyes.
Before Kaguya had been unleashed, Sakura's job was to be a medic. The horrors she saw while saving people was unforgettable. She watched a good number of her friends die, and sometimes the wounds were so terrible, or she didn't get there in time, and she couldn't do anything about it but hold their hand as they leave. It happened with Neji.
She got there too late to save Sai. Hinata, the poor girl, got in the way of one of the tree roots that Obito shot at Naruto and ended up dying as well, right after her cousin. Sakura had been too far away at the time, but through the telepathic connection, she heard Hinata's last words. Shikamaru was too far gone when she found him, so she tried her best to ease his pain as he faded into the afterlife. Obito himself was killed in front of Sakura to save her life. Naruto died in her hands, once, as well.
She did manage to save her other friends, though. She managed to save Lee, Tenten, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Choji, Sasuke, Obito, and Shizune, (although Obito died soon after, and that was with an All-Killing Ash Bone, she couldn't do anything about that). Still, she lost five of her friends, and her parents died during the war as well. She didn't know that, and hadn't really gotten a chance to grieve, since they'd been given back to her right away.
Sakura had a first-hand spot to watch all of her friends die. And in leaving, she had sentenced everyone in that world to death. There was no one left to save them, they would be dead soon if they weren't already. Sakura wasn't actually sure if that was true, though, because that depended on whether or not time was linear, or if this was an alternate universe.
Despite being transported here by a relatively omniscient and all powerful being, Sakura hadn't exactly had much time to ask questions like that. If time was linear and team 7 had simply been ripped from their timeline, that might mean that their own world had ceased to exist once they left it. The second option was that everyone was still dying painful deaths and Kaguya had won as the team existed in an alternate universe.
Both of those thoughts were horrifying and felt distinctly like they were Team 7's fault.
All four of them had various levels of post traumatic stress from their experiences, and Sakura's were bad as well. Naruto was slowly healing with the love of his friends and his family, but he still has bad days, as everyone does. The Kyuubi was his friend, now. He had it good compared to his first life. Sasuke, also, was surrounded by love. Even Kakashi was progressing emotionally now thanks to the support of his friends. Sakura had a habit of being by herself. She didn't spend time with her parents as often as she had in her first life. She had an air that demanded respect from all the girls she knew, not friendship. She hadn't even met Ino yet.
Sakura had been alone, with only Kakashi coming by to see her for five years. She hadn't seen her boys in five years. She was alone with her parents, and often cried herself to sleep, pulling out the memories of all of her friends and how they died.
"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked, running his hands over her face, trying to find any injuries. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei left you alone here, I know this place is nasty." He looked around, then nodded at the centipede, "Although it does look like you've got it handled."
"Yes, I'm fine." She kept the smile on her expression, prying his hands from her face. She turned her simper to Sasuke, who nodded stiffly back, and she extended her hand. Sasuke shook it, holding on a little bit longer than what might be socially acceptable, but Sakura just assumed that was Sasuke's way of greeting someone. Sakura ignored it, her blushing fangirl season had been over long, long ago, with her first life. She hugged Kakashi's legs, being pretty short still, and smiled when he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her head.
"I'm sorry we took so long to find you!" Naruto said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We both missed you a lot."
"Aa." Sasuke closed his eyes and huffed. He missed her more than he would say. "Well... now that the pleasantries are over, are you guys willing to begin discussing our situation?" He asked. He didn't sound mean or sarcastic like he normally would. He just sounded at peace. Sakura smiled a little, she was happy that Sasuke was happier than he used to be. Now that he had a family and parents, and a brother, he... well, he had more discipline. Fugaku and Itachi had beat the snarkiness right out of him a long time ago. With the attitude adjustment, he was much nicer and in a better mood.
However, whenever someone upset him, he would go crazy. Someone tried to sneak into the Uchiha compound two months ago to kill Itachi, the clan heir.
Sasuke caught him before he even reached the house. The man hadn't been heard of again, and Sasuke tracked down the man who had sent the assassin and killed him and all his associates. He had unknowingly destroyed an entire ring of terrorists, out of outrage for his brother.
"Yes, let's talk," Kakashi said, sitting down on a stump. "Wow, it's so great to see you three all short and cute again."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto complained. Sakura giggled and sat next to Kakashi. Naruto proceeded in sitting on Kakashi's other side, leaving Sasuke to sit in between Naruto and Sakura.
Sakura exhaled shakily, looking around at her old genin team. "It's been a long time."
"We've established that." Kakashi laughed, removing his fingerless gloves. He lay them down on the floor beside him. "Where do we start?"
"Madara is the first thing we need to deal with," Sasuke said.
Sakura frowned. "I don't know... maybe if we get to Pain - Jiraiya-sama's students earlier, they would be powerful allies to have on our side."
"Sure, but aren't the Akatsuki probably still looking for Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his neck.
Kakashi winced, thinking about it. All of those were things to be worried about, and since Itachi hasn't up and killed the Uchiha clan yet, they don't know whether or not the Akatsuki are going to replace him with someone else, so they probably shouldn't act on that right away. But... they'd need Obito's help if they were going to track down Madara, and heaven knows he would tell Minato what they were doing. Nagato and Konan were probably still in the Akatsuki, meaning they'd still have to tangle with the criminal organization. "Okay. Which one is the more imminent threat?"
"Wait..." Naruto said quietly. "If Obito wasn't there to start the Akatsuki, how can we be sure the Akatsuki is really out there?"
"It is." Kakashi assured him. "I've heard reports of a group matching their description. They're still out there. I assume it's not under the control of Pain anymore, but I'm probably wrong. Meaning someone else must be pulling the strings. Someone that isn't Obito this time."
The group fell silent, thinking intently about this. "I'm sure you must've changed something," Sakura said, "Obito is back... there have to be a few differences."
"Sure, the leadership." Kakashi thought. "If I could, I'd just take you guys and do a recon mission of sorts." Naruto and Sakura grinned excitedly, and Sasuke smiled. There was something happy about the idea of going out and doing recon like they used to. "Although, no offense, you three aren't ready to be out on the field. When you're genin I'll reconsider, but you have to work extra hard in the academy. Can you do that?"
"Sure." Sakura shrugged. "I've been practicing the basics of my new body, and I've got chakra control down. It'll probably take me about 2 years to relearn everything, (and several years after that for my body to adjust), but I'm sure by the time we're out of the academy, I'll be ready. I'll be as good as I was before, if not better." She wasn't saying that out of determination, it was just a fact. Now that she had more time, she'd definitely be ready. She had all of Lady Tsunade's training, and already snuck into the Konoha Archives to find the personal journals of Lady Mito Uzumaki, and even grabbed a few of Lord Tobirama's journals. Sakura would be a force to be reckoned with when she was done training her young body. Plus, she had the rest of her life to learn more.
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei, I'll have this down in no time, 'ttebayo." Naruto exclaimed, giving Kakashi a thumbs up. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask.
"I'll be ready, too." Sasuke piped up, shifting his neck to tilt to the other side. His body was also ready, he still had the Eternal Mangekyo at his disposal, somehow. Kakashi had hidden the Rinnegan the minute Kakashi first saw it open. It was like their biggest power had been transferred back with their souls. Sakura and Kakashi also got a some of the Sage's chakra this time, not just the boys, since all four of them were transferred back by him. The Sage decided to be generous with them.
Kakashi and Sakura's blessings manifested differently, however, since neither of them had a kekkei genkai or blood relation to the Sage of the Six Paths. Instead of gaining a more advanced Sharingan, or impeccable control over a tailed beast, the two of them were simply granted inhuman chakra reserves, similar to that of Kisame. At a tailed beast's level, without being a tailed beast. That didn't mean they couldn't run out of chakra, but it would be significantly harder. With the wider chakra reserves, their chakra would come back to be just as much as it had been when they used it up. The four of them weren't invincible yet, but in a few years, (in their peak condition) they would be damn near untouchable.
Kakashi looked around at all three of his adorable students. They each had cute little determined looks on their faces. "Good. I'm proud of you." Kakashi informed them, because before they died he realized that he hadn't said it nearly enough and wanted to remedy that. "All of you." He told them, looking each of them in the eye. "Now, we really do need to decide which of those are the most imminent threat?"
"I don't know." Naruto shrugged. "You think we can just play things out the way we did while we were first alive? Obviously, not the same, but what if we went around taking out the Akatsuki first, then went for everyone else? Would we have time?"
"I think there are some things we can leave the way it is." Sasuke said quietly. They all knew he was talking about the Uchiha massacre. "I may not like it, but I know some things are necessary."
"Sasuke, the Uchiha massacre isn't gonna happen. Period." Kakashi shook his head. "It's too late, Minato-sensei already trusts your dad implicitly. The Uchiha have their say in government, and they haven't been pushed to the outskirts of the village. Unlike in the reign of the Sandaime, who was more inclined to listen to the Council, Minato-sensei isn't even going to entertain the idea of an entire clan massacred."
"How else is Itachi going to get his Mangekyo?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed in thought.
"Does he honestly need it?" Sakura spoke up. "It would just cause him pain. You saw him the way he was in our first life. He got power, but he was also going blind. Besides, he had to watch his best friend commit suicide to get it, right?"
"Yeah," Sasuke answered slowly, thinking about it.
"Well there you go. If he has you and Naruto guarding him, he doesn't need it. Maybe this time we can give him the life he deserves instead of the one he chose for himself." Sakura shrugged, finishing. She went back to closing her mouth.
Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "It's a nice thought, but we can't just leave him defenseless either. Naruto and I can't be around all the time, you know."
"I think you guys are seriously underestimating the power of Sasuke's older brother." Naruto pointed out. "Wasn't he hailed as a prodigy?" No one said anything. "Not to mention, he has the Sharingan. It may not seem like a lot to you anymore, Sasuke, since you have the Eternal Mangekyo, but I'd say that he's dangerous enough with just the Sharingan."
"That's true." Kakashi pointed out. "I heard he beat one of the strongest in the ROOT ANBU with just his Sharingan when he was, like, seven. Which is impressive, even for you, Sasuke." Sasuke hadn't been as good as Itachi in his past life. Of course, he'd been a natural genius, but he was never as good as Itachi was in his early years. Now that he had more knowledge and power, he was, but it was only because of that. Itachi was dangerous in his own right.
Naruto pointed at Kakashi, a grin of triumph on his face. "There you go. We don't have anything to worry about for now. The guy will probably just get stronger, too."
"Okay. But all this talk doesn't mean we ignore the more pressing issues." Sasuke huffed. "There are a few people I would like to get back in the village. And a few I would like to be rid of."
"Yeah. We have to talk about the Legendary Sannin and Danzo." Sakura said. "I'm going to have to train with Lady Tsunade again to at least pretend I got this power from her."
"That's true. We have to get Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya back. I'll talk with Minato-sensei." Kakashi said. "I don't know what to do about Orochimaru and Danzo, I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"For now, what do we do?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi. "We're still way too little to be able to sneak away so easily. At what age do you think we'd be ready to start working?"
Kakashi sighed, closing his eyes in thought. He took in everyone's height and weight, and then the maturity levels. "Three or four years from now give or take."
"I'd say we only have the time for three." Sasuke's eyes flashed. He nodded, determined. "If we're going to change things, we need to get all the bad people out of the way, and the sooner we start, the better. If the Uchiha massacre isn't going to happen in three years, I'll be damned if something else doesn't happen instead. We need to start preparing. I don't want to be caught off guard."
"You're the boss." Kakashi shrugged. Sakura grinned, and Naruto laughed. They looked at each other, then, and saw that all four of them are equals. All four of them were in this boat together, and if they didn't work together, they WOULD fail again. Failure for a second time wasn't an option.
Team 7 became somber, in memory of all the people they lost. Kakashi and his Genin weren't going to forget them. They would avenge the people they had left behind by living, by making sure they all had better lives this time. The four of them had a second chance. No one else got this. Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke would make sure not to waste it.
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There, the little into chapters are over.
Now we can get into the real story!
*sorry this one was so short...*