Hello all! ChilOfDivinity here! So This is my newest story. If you are reading To Mend the Soul then I apologize. I will update when I figure out what I'm doing as upon further review, I have found myself unhappy with the way it was written. Rest assured that it will be getting updated soon though. Anyways, I hope that this story is well received by all. Please review and tell me your thoughts. Constructive criticism is welcome but flamers will be penalized for their idiocy.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto's beach. I'm just building sandcastles.


Chapter 1:

Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko groaned as her eyes fluttered open only to close again against the blinding light. She must have fallen asleep in one of the upper levels of the bunker, probably the tactics room, because only the top levels had windows. She moved her hands up to wipe the grit from her eyes and froze. Her hands were tiny, unscarred and still soft with young age. That's when the realization hit her.

She remembered the fires, the sounds of battle around her. She remembered her people, the last vestiges of the once great Konoha, dying around her. She remembered Shikamaru, her dear Shikamaru, telling her to go, that the others were waiting and that he would hold the enemy off. She remembered her tears streaming down as she was pulled away by Kiba's strong arms at Shikamaru's solemn nod.

She wasn't in the bunker. She wasn't tallying the dead as war raged on around them. She was in the past. It had worked. It had worked! She buried her head in her hands as she laughed for the first time in a very long time. That laughed soon turned into a choked sob and her shoulders shook with violent emotion. They had done it and now they could fix everything!

Her head shot up. The others! Had they made it back too? Four had done the ritual. It took four to call on the Gods and reverse time.

Naruko had been one. She had summoned Byakko, The White Tiger of the West. The second had been Yamanaka Ino, the head of T&I, who called upon Suzaku, The Vermillion Bird of the South. After her was Hinata, the head of the ANBU Seduction Corps, who summoned Genbu, The Black Tortoise of the North. Lastly was Sakura, the head of the Medic Division, who summoned Seiryuu, The Azure Dragon of the East.

The four had long since been a team and known throughout the war as Konoha's Angels of Death. They were a tight knit ANBU team before the war and only ascended after it had begun. Even after they had attained their Head positions, they had stayed close to each other out of both necessity and the need for comfort that could only be found in each other. They were the most feared four women in the Elemental Nations. They had been chosen to make the trip back while their comrades held the enemy forces back because it was known that they would work together seamlessly to bring the peace that was so desired by all.

Naruko scrambled out of her bed quickly and ran to check her calendar which showed that she was a little over a week away from starting the Academy which meant that she was seven years old again. She was twenty years in the past.

She went to her bathroom and stared intently into the mirror. A soft child's face stared back at her. It was not the worn, ragged face that had met her in the mirror the day before. Naru turned her head so that she was looking at the left side of her face. Unblemished flesh stared back at her and she hesitantly ran her fingers through her silky blonde tresses that were a far cry from what she had grown used to.

In the future, she had been hit by a fire jutsu that had scarred the entire left side of her head so badly that not even Kurama could get rid of it all. The left side of her face had been permanently etched into a macabre scowl. It was only Sakura and the fox working together that had saved her sight and she was only able to gain back seventy percent of her hearing. The hair on the left side of her head had never grown back either. It was strange seeing her face so smooth with only her whisker marks to show after nearly nine years with the burn scars.

After staring at her reflection a bit longer, the woman turned girl nodded resolutely to herself before pulling her hair up into two pigtails. She washed her face and brushed her teeth before running to her closet. She bypassed the orange jumpsuit that she had worn to attract attention as a child and made her way to the back of the closet that held the clothing she never wore. All of the outfits were gifts from the Sandaime Hokage and his female advisor, Koharu. She had never worn them before because the orange jumpsuit had been better for catching attention.

Now, she pulled on a child sized, knee-length, dark blue quipao dress with a high collar along with a pair of black skintight shorts to go underneath as there were slits that went up the sides to her tiny hips. She pulled out a burnt orange obi and tied it around her waist, tying a bow in the back. She quickly stepped into her tiny sandals and ran out of her apartment, slipping her key into the front of her obi.

She ran as fast as she could, dodging and weaving through the crowds and making her way to a secluded grove close to the training grounds but far enough away that nobody but her had ever found it and she had only ever showed it to her most trusted friends. She finally reached it, panting and tired, and she marveled at the lack of strength and endurance this child's body had. She made a note to fix that as soon as she could.

She sat next to the small lake in the clearing that was fed by a small stream that branched off from the main river in Konoha. She curled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them while staring into the shadows, praying her friends would come soon. She wasn't left waiting for long as first one shadow, then another, and then a last, flew out of the trees. Naruko rose to her feet swiftly and all four girls stared at each other for one breathless moment before a dam broke and they were colliding together in a tangle of limbs and tears and the calling of each other's names and if they had been asked later they would say that nobody knew who had moved first. Tears fell and quiet words were whispered as they held each other. Finally the group pulled themselves apart and sat up, facing each other.

"We're here. We made it," Ino whispered. Naru nodded, wrapping a short arm around the older girls' shoulders.

"We have a week until we start the Academy. We need to plan this carefully," Naruko said solemnly. Sakura's tired eyes lit up with a rare spark of mischief.

"Of course, Hokage-hime," the pinkette drawled, making Ino and Hinata giggle at Naru's disgruntled scowl.

For some ridiculous reason, when the village had learned of her parentage, they had begun calling her Hime. Her comrades had heard it one day and had taken to teasing her with the name due to her dislike of it and it had only gotten worse after she took up the mantle of Hokage. Of course, then war had broken out and they had lost most cause for entertainment and joy so it was actually a relief to Naru to hear the others being playful again, even if it was at her own expense.

"Oh shut up," she growled with no real heat. "Now, I think that it won't really matter if we act differently because they don't really know us at this point. We just need to make sure that in the end I still end up Dead Last while Ra is Top Kunoichi. We have to keep the teams the same, no matter how much we might not like it. Our biggest problems will be our families and caretakers. We can't just act like innocent little brats. We need to find a good excuse for the change. Maybe because of the upcoming Academy induction?" Naru asked, getting nods of agreement from the other three. Sakura wrinkled her nose.

"I can't believe we have to deal with broody bastard Sasuke again. He was so much easier to deal with after you beat him Naru. I don't suppose you could do that a bit sooner?" She asked hopefully. Naruko laughed at Sakura's pouty face. With the heavy things out of the way, the three friends lay on their backs in the grass in a circle and just stared up at the sky until the silence was broken.

"It's so strange, being back. It's so different seeing the trees again," Naruko sighed as she watched the clouds pass by, a habit she picked up from her husband of the future. The thought made her throat tighten but she swallowed the feeling of despair down harshly. Ino snorted from beside her.

"You're telling me! I woke up this morning with both arms, firmly attached! It's a bit strange and going to take quite a bit of getting used to," the pale blonde stated as she rubbed her right arm almost reverently. In the future she had lost the arm in a battle six years before they came back to the past. A mokuton and chakra metal had been made and bound to the stump and it functioned perfectly but it wasn't the same.

"I miss my hair though," Hinata said quietly as she fingered her short locks. Hinata's hair had been her pride, usually tied up into elaborate up-do's and pinned with senbon, the hair had also been her secret weapon. Her hair had been specifically enhanced to siphon off her remaining chakra at the end of each day until it came to the point that Hinata controlled its growth and movement like another body part. It was a useful asset for the Commander of Konoha's Seduction Corps to have as even if Hinata ran out of chakra she could still utilize her hair as the hair itself was imbued with her natural chakra stores and needed only a thought for her to use it.

The three other girls laughed at their once shy friends' apparent vanity.

"Only you Hina-chan. Only you," Sakura said. "And who would have thought that sweet, shy little Hyuuga Hinata would become the Queen of ANBU-Yu. Well, you know what they say. It's always the quiet ones," she laughed as Hinata swatted at her. But it was the true.

Nobody had ever thought that Hinata, who was considered relatively weak by the masses of Konoha, would ever rise to such heights. The once shy girl had really blossomed after she had joined Ino, Sakura and Naruko's ANBU squad.

Naru was the heavy hitter, the first in and the last out. Sakura was the team medic, patching up her friends and using her chakra enhanced strength to take out anyone who got to close. Ino was their information gatherer for lack of a better term, and she wasn't too picky about the state of her informants when she was finished with them. That left infiltration to Hinata. It took her awhile to warm up to it but when she did, she flourished. She started working with the S-corps on the side much like Sakura worked at the hospital or Ino worked at T&I or Naruko worked under Tsunade. After they had all been promoted, Hinata handed control of the clan over to Hanabi, only offering her younger sister council on certain matters. Hinata was the best ANBU-Yu had to offer and it showed.

The four friends laughed together at the memories. It was good to feel so carefree again. But at the same time they weren't carefree. They had a future to save and so very many people. They were twenty years in the past. Naruko was a twenty-seven year old woman in a seven year olds body. She had given up so much to come back. They all had.

"It's going to be so hard seeing them again. So young and happy. None of them know what's coming," Naruko sighed. The other girls smiled sadly along with her, remembering their own special people that they had lost or left in that war torn future. After a moment of silence for their memories, a wicked smirk crossed Ino's face.

"Just do try not to jump Shika the moment you see him, Hime," she drawled, giggling at the bright flush that spread across her younger friends face.

"Really though," Sakura began. "Who would have thought that you and the ever lazy Nara Shikamaru would get together of all people?" She laughed

"Oh you have no room to talk, Sakura!" Naru hissed. "What about you and Shino, huh?" The rosette blushed heavily and Hinata laughed.

"I don't think that any of us wound up in relationships that anyone expected," Hinata said. And wasn't that the truth! Ino wound up with the socially awkward artist Sai, who had showered her in love the best his emotionally stunted self knew how meaning he drew many portraits of her and found new names for her that she liked. Likewise; Ino showed him how to feel and made him more comfortable in his skin.

Sakura had married Aburame Shino, the ever stoic bug user who, according to Sakura, was far more affectionate in private. After their marriage, Sakura had the choice to receive her own kikaicho colony and she had accepted the offer as the wife of the future Clan Head, until the clan had been destroyed anyways. Strangely enough, Sakura and Shino had bonded over the use of his insects in medical procedures after he had used them to assist her on the battlefield a year into the war.

Hinata had somehow managed to catch Gaara's attention and he had been awkwardly courting her until they got married three years into the war. Surprisingly, he didn't frown on her profession and actually encouraged and supported her. That could have just been the difference between ninja and civilian though.

Naruko herself had somehow wound up with the ever lazy Shikamaru and she had been the most surprised one there. She hadn't even realized the Nara liked her until she was being crushed to his chest and kissed until she was dizzy, literally. She had spent the entire time since the Academy up until said incident thinking that he didn't even like her, not realizing that 'Troublesome Woman' was almost a term of endearment in the Nara clan.

"I wonder if it will take Neji asking me out again for Shika-kun to finally confess this time. I don't think I've ever seen him as aggravated as he was that day," Naruko laughed. A smile crossed her face at the memory before flitting away as she realized that her husband wasn't here and possibly never would be.

"We'll get them back eventually," Hinata said softly. The other three nodded resolutely in agreement. They stayed together for a few more minutes before they began parting ways, knowing that parents and guardians would be looking for them as they had been gone for a matter of hours already.

After the others had departed, Naruko spent another minute staring at her reflection in the water of the lake before she too turned away and made her way back through the trees, smoothing the fabric of her dress as she went. When she broke the tree line, she felt the presence of the ANBU guard assigned to her by the Sandaime and she smiled at their familiar auras as she made her way to the Hokage Tower to meet with her grandfather figure.


End chapter! Hope you all enjoyed! Reviews welcome!

Ja Ne

COD