Hi there! This was a story I thought up and wrote on paper when I was sans laptop for three weeks. That seems to be a running theme for me lately. ;) In any case, this is inspired by fics where people go back in time to change things, and slightly also OP Sakura fics. Because she was supposed to be OP when I started writing this, but it just didn't end up that way. She's still gonna be stronger, just not over the top.

The next chapter's done, but I still want to go over it and make sure it's up to scratch before I post it whenever.

Disclaimer that I don't own Naruto, and enjoy, folks! :)

Crossroads

Chapter One

This was weird.

An understatement, of course, but Sakura wasn't feeling in the mood to pamper to expectations. Those expectations should have had her screaming, and possibly running in the other direction. But instead she simply stood there and stared at the strange man who claimed to be Chimata-no-kami.

"Really?" she asked eventually.

"Really," he told her. "No tricks, just a simple offer."

Sakura scoffed. "There's no such thing as a simple offer, especially from a kami," she said.

He simply shrugged. "It's as simple as I can offer," he told her. "You're at a crossroad, Sakura, something I'm sure you're aware I have influence over."

Of course she was aware. Chimata-no-kami was the Shinto god of crossroads and highways.

"You expect me to accept an offer from someone who gets offerings of a phallic nature on his shrines?" she demanded.

"Those were purely ritual offerings," he told her, and she detected a slightly defensive tone. "I was dabbling in fertility at the time."

"And you're not now?" she demanded.

"No," he said. "I was instead offered Time, since there are no other gods that truly deal in it. At least, not in this part of the world. And what part of the world you're in is important in these matters."

"So what's the deal then?" Sakura asked. "Not that I'm saying yes, I just want to know what I'll be rejecting."

Chimata-no-kami smiled serenely, but with a slightly wicked gleam in his eye that had Sakura gasping lightly in trepidation. "I will send you to three crossroads," he told her. "You will change the outcome of each, if you so desire. Once done, I will then put you into a past version of yourself, one of the points where you were at your own personal crossroad. It will be your choice which one."

"And what do you get in return?" Sakura asked, still quite suspicious.

He merely shrugged his shoulders and said rather enigmatically, "What I will get is incomprehensible to mere mortals."

She simply stared at him a moment, before asking, "Which points in my life?"

"One where you were nine, one where you were twelve, then thirteen, sixteen, and eighteen."

A brief recollection, and Sakura realised what all but one of those points in time would be. From aged twelve, she knew it was when she joined Team Seven. At thirteen, when Naruto and Sasuke left, and she'd gone to her shishou for training. At sixteen was when Naruto returned, and the two, along with Kakashi-sensei, had formed their new team. And eighteen… Well, that would be the fourth shinobi war and its aftermath.

"What's so special about when I was nine?" she asked.

He gave her a look that told her to think, so she did. When she was nine… When she was nine… Her eyes widened. That was when she'd told Ino they could no longer be friends because of Sasuke!

"Really?" she asked. "That's a crossroad for me?"

"Not all crossroads are world defining or earth shattering," Chimata-no-kami told her. "In fact, it is those small, personal ones that are the most important."

Sakura absorbed that carefully. "What points are you sending me to change?" she asked.

"You would be there when Uchiha Madara survives his fight with Senju Hashirama," Chimata-no-kami told her. "Then, during the third shinobi war, when a certain Shimura Danzou almost died. Finally and also during the third war, you would choose to either kill or save Uchiha Obito."

"No chances to kill Zetsu?" Sakura asked, disappointed.

"Zetsu is connected to Kaguya," the deity told her. "I have no jurisdiction over him. Feel free, though, to do something about it if you can once you're back in your own time-line."

Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. "Alright," she said. "I accept."

The god before her grinned and held out his hand. "Come along then," he said, and when Sakura grasped his hand, a bright light flashed, and they vanished from sight.

OoOoO

Looking around, Sakura had to blink to get her bearings. She was in a long tunnel, and Chimata-no-kami was gone. But someone else was there. Looking down, she saw a man in red armour, badly injured and on the verge of death. But she also saw that his wounds were healing, and recognized that this was Uchiha Madara. She'd heard the story from those who'd heard it directly from the man himself, that he had 'stolen' the First Hokage's DNA during their fight, and it had healed him.

But not this time. Sakura pulled a katana from a sheath on her back, stepping over to him carefully. His eyes cracked open and he stared up at her blankly.

"Who… cough… who are you?" he demanded in a voice that highlighted the severity of his wounds.

Sakura knelt down next to him, leaning forward to whisper in his ear, "I am a messenger of the gods, the harbinger of your death."

Standing back up, she brought the katana down, cleaving his head from his body. She searched her possessions and found some flammable liquids, pouring it liberally on him before placing a paper bomb on him, stepping back out of the way before it ignited. The tunnel shook and reverberated with the explosion, Sakura slapping her hands over her ears at the sound of it. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, she saw that the fluid and the bomb had done its job, Madara was nothing but a smoking, charred corpse.

As the scent of burnt flesh permeated her nostrils, Chimata-no-kami appeared before her again, hand out once more. Sakura took it, vanishing with that flash of light once more.

OoOoO

The air around her was stifling, and Sakura choked on the smoke, looking around for a man she blamed for everything that had gone wrong in her village. More than any other, despite the fact of the involvement of people like Madara and Zetsu. Finally, after searching the bloody battlefield, she found him, Shimura Danzou, lying amongst his dead allies and enemies alike. He was gasping for breath, wouldn't last too much longer without medical help.

Sakura stood over him as he reached up to her, obviously expecting her to help him. Instead, she drew her katana once more, watching as his eyes widened in realisation of her intentions.

"Why?" he rasped. "Y-you're a Konoha ninja!"

"And you're scum," she told him with a sneer, dealing the same blow to him that she'd dealt to Madara.

This time, she didn't bother to burn the body, leaving him in the sea of corpses. No one else here was alive, if he'd gotten out, he would have been the sole survivor. Still, Sakura could sense others approaching, and knew it was time to go. As she thought that, Chimata-no-kami appeared and the two left the battlefield, moments before the medical squad that was supposed to save Danzou's life leapt into the clearing.

OoOoO

The whole area was unstable, even as Sakura used her chakra enhanced strength to lift the rubble off the young Uchiha before her. She bent down, glowing green hands assessing the damage. Obito was incredibly injured, would likely die without medical intervention. That intervention came in the form of Madara before, but now, it would be Sakura. It was incredibly tempting to just let him die, after everything that he'd done. But just like with Sasuke, he'd been manipulated into it all, and had even repented right at the end.

So Sakura worked on stabilising him, pouring as much healing chakra into him as she could to make sure that he wouldn't lose his right arm or leg. His entire right side was a mess, she wasn't sure if she could do it. Still, she was determined to give it her best shot. Once it was done, she would also need to figure out how to get them both out of here.

Halfway through the healing, Obito suddenly started coughing, bringing himself to. Sakura had to shut off her chakra to hold him still before he undid what she'd already healed.

"Stay still!" she snapped at him. "You're undoing all my work!"

"Wh-who are you?" Obito demanded, stilling at her command, but remaining tense until he figured out if she were friend or foe.

"I'm a friend," she told him. "I've been healing you. You're out of immediate danger, but I need to keep going, otherwise you'll lose the use of your right arm and leg. So please, stay still and quiet while I heal you."

Obito considered her a moment, then nodded and relaxed once he'd spotted her Leaf hitai-ate. Sakura sighed and went back to healing him, repairing the damage to his crushed body. Obito was silent for awhile, then it seemed that he'd decided that he didn't want to be quiet.

"Who are you?" he asked again. "Where's Kakashi? And Rin-chan?"

"You were alone when I found you," Sakura said. "I'm a medic-nin, you don't need to worry."

"They left me?" Obito gasped, then sighed. "I did tell them to go, after all. Do you… I don't suppose you know if they're still nearby?"

"I sensed some chakras before," Sakura told him. "Not sure who they are though, could be the enemy. But maybe your team isn't far? If you sent off a chakra flare, that could let them know you're still alive."

"But it could also bring the enemy here," Obito said.

"It's a risk," Sakura admitted, then sighed. "I've almost finished stabilising you, but I honestly have no idea how to get you out of here. We may have to run the risk of the enemy finding us, but don't worry, I can handle them."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You're using a lot of chakra to heal me."

"Don't you worry about me," Sakura smiled. "I can handle myself."

Silence awhile longer, then she cut off her chakra and pulled her hands away. "There, that's all I can do," she said. "Though I have no idea what's up with your eye. It looks like it was surgically removed, though crudely."

"I gave it to Kakashi," Obito said, then frowned. "Crudely? Rin-chan's an excellent medic, I'll have you know!"

"I'm sure she is," Sakura said. "But I doubt anyone could do this at a proper surgical level in the middle of an enemy base, deep in enemy territory. Never mind that, though. Do you think you could send out a chakra flare now?"

Obito nodded, then concentrated on gathering his chakra. After a few moments, he let out a surprisingly strong flare, and Sakura unsheathed her katana, ready for any enemies that might appear. They didn't have to wait long, as two Iwa nin suddenly appeared.

"Well, lookie here," one of them sneered. "More meat for the slaughter."

Sakura didn't dawdle, didn't even let them move towards her before she was slashing with her katana at lightning speed. She ended their lives swiftly, not wanting to waste any chakra, then was immediately on the offensive when three others arrived. She dealt with them just as swiftly, then upon not sensing anymore approaching, turned back to Obito, who was staring at her, open mouthed.

"You were so fast!" he practically squawked. "I've never even seen Kakashi move that fast!"

Well, Kakashi was her initial sensei, Sakura mused to herself. Though it was the months she put into training with Gai's team that had really upped the ante for her. And of course, all the evasion techniques she'd learned studying under Tsunade-shishou made it even harder for her enemy to hit her on top of the speed she'd acquired.

Sakura grinned sheepishly. "Thanks," she said. "I'll take that as a compliment. Say, you want one of these guys eyes as a replacement? I could do it, you know."

Obito made a face, and Sakura laughed. A moment later, she was tense again, katana ready. But the three ninja who burst in weren't Iwa nins. They were…

"Minato-sensei!" Obito choked out, struggling to sit up as Sakura put her katana away. "Rin-chan! Kakashi!"

A sobbing Rin ran forward, while Minato and Kakashi stayed back. The two shinobi looked suspicious of Sakura, but it was likely the presence of her Konoha hitai-ate that kept them from attacking her. Sakura moved over to where Rin was sobbing over Obito, and placed her hands on his chest, checking that he hadn't strained anything trying to sit up. He had, of course, and Sakura let out a 'tsk-ing' noise before pushing in her chakra.

"I told you not to move, you know," she said to him. "Now I have to fix it again."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Once she was done, Sakura stood and faced Minato. "He's stable," she told the future Fourth Hokage. "You need to get him out of here, though. He's got a long road to recovery ahead of him, but with regular healing sessions and physiotherapy, he should be able to go back on the active roster in… Maybe eight months. Six, if he's lucky."

Minato nodded. "I'll have one of my summons transport him and Rin to our main camp," he said, then bit his thumb and summoned a toad to take his two students away.

"How did you get the rubble off him?" Kakashi demanded. "Rin and I couldn't move it."

Sakura could hear the suspicion in his voice, but rather than answer, she simply shrugged. She could see it annoyed him, but she really didn't care. Once Obito, Rin, and the toad summon were gone, Sakura started to get a little fidgety, wanting Minato and Kakashi to leave, but it didn't seem to be happening.

"We should all leave now," Minato said. "You should come along with us, we can all report to base camp together."

"I still have a mission to accomplish," Sakura said. "You can go on ahead without me."

"Perhaps we could be of assistance?" Minato asked, and Sakura internally groaned.

He really didn't want to let her out of his sight, obviously he was still suspicious. She realised that he realised that she was likely planning to disappear, though she doubted he knew what her reasons actually were.

"It's not necessary," she told him. "I have my orders."

Finally Minato realised that he wasn't going to be able to keep an eye on her. "Alright," he said reluctantly. "Good luck. Kakashi, let's go."

The instant they were gone, Sakura let out a sigh of relief, even as Chimata-no-kami appeared, holding out his hand. Wearily she took it, vanishing from sight. Only moments later, Minato and Kakashi were back, surprised at the sudden and utter disappearance of the strange kunoichi's chakra.

OoOoO

Sakura stood before Chimata-no-kami once more in that strange place she'd first spoken to him in.

"Interesting choice you made there on that last one," he said. "Though since others saw you, you're going to have some fall-out with that."

Sakura sighed, then shrugged. "I'll deal with it," she said. "Besides, Obito was manipulated into the things he'd done. Taking that away, he has a better chance with his life in the future."

"Soft hearted," Chimata-no-kami said, though Sakura couldn't tell if he was mocking, scoffing, complimenting, or simply stating a fact. "Have you decided which crossroad you will choose?"

Nodding, Sakura said, "You told me that personal ones were more important. So I'll go with the personal one. When I was nine."

"You realise that with your knowledge, you've the potential to influence a lot of changes to history?" Chimata-no-kami said.

"I've already changed things, haven't I?" Sakura asked.

"Not everything that happened to you before was affected by the things you changed," the deity told her. "Mostly only the Uchiha, Root ANBU, and the Fourth Hokage's destiny was changed."

"What about the Akatsuki?" Sakura wondered.

"There were other factors there as well," he reminded her. "Though they may change as a group, there were still things other than Madara and Danzou's influence there. Civil unrest, for one. And of course, Orochimaru."

"So Orochimaru is still an issue then?" Sakura wondered.

"You'll find out soon enough, I'm sure," Chimata-no-kami told her. "Are you ready, then?"

Sakura nodded, and for the final time, the Shinto god of crossroads and highways held out his hand for her to take. The last she saw of him before that brilliant white flash was the smug, smirking expression of a god.

So what did you think? Chimata-no-kami is the closest Shinto god I could find for the whole 'time travel' thing. The whole 'crossroads' thing gives it a slightly unique spin, don't you think? Also, I'm actually not entirely sure how old Sakura and Ino were when their friendship broke off, though admittedly, I didn't look too hard. I just picked an age at random, kinda, and went with it.

Also, if anyone wonders, I didn't have Sakura use anything that Tsunade taught her that was unique to her, minus the chakra strength to remove the rubble on Obito, on purpose. Just basic medical ninjutsu, done exceptionally, though, since Sakura is truly her mentor's successor.

Anyway, review please!