Summary: Three different Sakura Haruno from three very different realities, was sent to the past, screwing up the timestream, merging with their shy, five year old self as well as forgetting everything about their individual future.
A/N: This story is sort of a fusion with Naruto and Change 123. Both of these does not belong to me and I don't make any money out of it.
PROLOGUE
Chronos, god of Time, raised an eyebrow upon noticing a significant shift in the time-stream. Waving his non-corporeal hands, his vision shifted until he found the disturbance. Three realities seem to have someone attempting to time travel at exactly the same time. Closing his eyes, the information of the who, the what, the where, and the why came to him instantly.
On one reality, a desperate Rokundaime Hokage is drawing for straws to save everyone she holds dear, thinking this last gamble would save everyone from a deranged madman before he could unleash his ultimate weapon. On the other, a swordsman bodyguard got caught in a summoning jutsu-gone-nuclear, unwillingly getting dragged through time. And on the other reality, a newly escaped test subject was just about to get her freedom when her captors used a strange device to hurl her through time just before it exploded, atomizing everything on sight in a hundred mile radius.
All three versions of the same person are about to intersect on the same junction in their past, inevitably about to destroy themselves, their past self, and their entire existence.
This will not do at all. Three realities are at its end shift. He could have easily manipulated time to make sure all three futures doesn't occur like they are but even as a God of Time, he is subjected to the rules of the Cosmos, and Human Free Will.
He decided to allow all three futures return to the time junction, a place in time just before the three alternate realities branch out and separated, with conditions, of course. All three of the person's future self will forget. Their personality will be the same as they are, but their memories will be repressed until such time he allows it.
Thus, his job done, he decides to keep an eye on the progress of this totally new reality.
~At the Time Junction~
Five years old Haruno Sakura looks back and forth between the two blond kids offering her friendship, her mind in turmoil of indecision. On one hand, there is Uzumaki Naruto, who had just tried to protect her against several other older kids trying to bully her, standing alone under the tree with a busted lip, dirty clothing, and dark bruises on his face, his hand stretched towards her in an offer of friendship.
On the other hand, there is Yamanaka Ino, standing in front of the crowd of the same kids that had tried to bully her, asking her to join her group so she could bully Naruto with them so the others wouldn't target her for the moment, allowing her to escape and apologize later to the blond boy when the others wouldn't see them.
Rather than the gods, no one else see how much this seemingly insignificant event would change their entire world.
On one hand, she could accept Ino's hand, making the others accept her, and then apologize to Naruto in private for protecting her, making the boy fall for her despite her earlier deception. They would be friends throughout their entire life in secret, allowing her to master subtlety and strategy, which would be vital in her mastery of genjutsu. Such mastery would allow her to fulfill his friend's dream in his stead after he died saving her life from a certain Rinnegan user.
On the other hand, she could accept Ino's hand, making others accept her, and hope Naruto would find other kids to be friends with, disregarding Ino's idea to apologize to Naruto in private. Ino would be disappointed in her and end their short live friendship, making sure she would be alone when her other friends leave her weeks later. As a nobody, she would be a perfect guinea pig for a certain ROOT leader, who would experiment on her, train her body in all forms of taijutsu, and inevitably break mind, making her retain no more than the social abilities of a six year old and ineffective in the battle field. She would then be imprisoned and forgotten until her escape.
And on the other hand, she could accept Naruto's hand, making her the unwilling-Kyuubi container's most precious person, and a proud Ino's best female friend, who will take a page from her(Sakura's) book and join her(Sakura) and Naruto a minute later. Through their following years in friendship, Sakura would learn inner strength and a tomboyish disposition despite being referred to as a Kyuubi-sympathizer. She would have to move a year later out of the village at her parent's request but she was already strong enough by that time so when she met a newly Mist jounin-swordman-turned-missing-nin's apprentice, she managed to talk her way of having him teach her kinjutsu. She would spend the next several years under different teachers until her family settles down in Demon Country, where she'll become the priestess' personal bodyguard and years later meet her old friends from Konoha for a great if brief reunion.
About to finally make her decision, she starts to open her mouth and speak when she suddenly have to clutch her head and scream for all she's worth. In too much agony to realize both blond kids running towards her in worry while the other kids run away, she felt like her head it's being burned, frozen, stabbed, blown up, crushed, and stretched all at the same time. But among the pain, she managed to hear not one, not two, but three other voices in her head screaming with her.
After several minutes of screaming, which felt like hours, oblivion finally claimed her and everything went black.
~7 Years Later~
Uchiha Sasuke is doing something he rarely have a chance to do, walking around town without anyone, particularly his fangirls, bothering him. It's the weekend and he had just finished his morning training. Now he's walking around browsing several restaurants, still undecided what he'll be having for lunch.
As he's passing by an alley, he heard a scared female voice. Deciding to investigate, he walks towards the noise and was greeted with the sight of three Genin teenagers ganging up on a twin-ponytails, pink haired, glasses-wearing young girl in civilian's clothing.
"P-please, j-just let m-me go. I-I didn't d-do anything to you." The girl pleaded almost in tears.
One of bigger bullies shove her non too gently against the wall, eliciting a soft grunt of pain from the girl, his posture very threatening. "And miss getting payback after what your buddies did to humiliate us with those stink bombs last week? No way, little bitch."
Sasuke recalled the incident in his mind, rumors about a bunch of genins getting stink bombed in the middle of the streets because they were stealing lunch money from academy students. Everyone knew who the bombers are, namely Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Naruto, usually referred to as the 'Blond Menaces', but no one managed to get any evidence against them.
He vaguely remembers this pink haired girl that always seems to hang out with those two blondes outside the academy. She was really shy and quite, despite how loud her two friends are.
"B-but I w-wasn't even there." She tried to reason softly but the three bullies merely scoff at her and begun to take menacing steps towards her, boxing her in.
"We don't really care, missy. But payback is payback." Another of the bullies said, leering at her.
"Yeah. It's just bad luck on your part that we happen to see you with out those two blond menaces around." The final bully said, grinning nastily at her.
Sasuke was thinking he could either leave; this wasn't any of his business anyway. On the other hand, he could be a good Samaritan and help her a bit, at least until the girl is safe enough then forget about the entire thing. Finally deciding what to do, he was about to step towards them when a sudden chakra shift was felt.
He could have sworn that the girl's hair seems to be shorter and darker than a few seconds ago. Suddenly, the bully doubled over with a grunt, the girl's right leg extended towards said bully's stomach. Said bully haven't even fallen all the way to the ground in pain before the girl moved once more, giving the one on her left a hard elbow to the chest right before using her left fist to deliver a devastating uppercut to the breathless guy.
The last one, shocked into immobility, decided to run for it, only to fly into the opposite wall courtesy of a flying kick from the smirking girl.
Seeing all of her opponents either unconscious or groaning in pain on the ground, she gave them a smirk before pulling off the ribbons keeping her hair in a twin ponytail and putting them in her pocket with her glasses. If Sasuke didn't see everything, he would have sworn it was a totally different girl from before. Even her body build seems a bit off. If before she looks like a nerdy, frail civilian, now she looks like a tomboyish, hardcore genin.
Turning around, she finally saw him standing there and her eyes widened a bit in surprise before narrowing at him. "Who are you and what did you see?" Even her voice sounds different.
HE stared at her at first, trying to gauge what she's about to do if she doesn't like his answer. Then he remembered, he's Uchiha Sasuke, and is not easily deterred by any young girl, or at all. "What's it to you?"
He was talking his long hours of training for making his body react automatically to sudden threats or else he wouldn't have managed to evade the sudden hand slash. It was almost too fast. He had felt the air rushed past his throat. It was almost like a kinjutsu attack. If she was holding a knife or sword, then he would be a head shorter.
"Damn! I missed." The girl snarled, preparing herself to attack once again.
"What the hell? Why did you attack me?" He snarled, putting himself in a defense stance.
The girl gave him a smirk. "Sorry. But I can't let you go unless I'm sure you won't be able to tell anyone about what you saw." Then she attacked once more.
Sasuke noticed that the girl was mostly using improvised taijutsu derived from kinjutsu stances, which is sloppy at best without the additional reach of a sword or even a tanto. There are several close calls but he evaded them all.
The girl snarled at his smirk, knowing she won't be able to land a hit on him unless she finds something to use as a sword, and nothing in the immediate vicinity could be found.
"I don't think you have what it takes. So what if I saw you put down three thugs like that. And really, pretending to be a terrified civilian like that to ambush them like that is despicable." His smirk widens a bit when she heard her snarl with his taunting.
"Shut up! Sakura wasn't pretending at all." She attack again but he merely jumped back out of reach. "Darn it! I won't be able to take him like this. Mikiri, incapacitate him in a hurry. Ino-chan and Naruto-kun are waiting for us at Ichiraku's."
Sasuke, hearing her, started to look around for this Mikiri person she was talking to, only to stiffen when he felt another chakra shift. He narrowed his eyes at the suddenly still girl. She closed her eyes and took something out of her other pocket. It's a small blue ribbon that she used to tie her hair in a high ponytail. Also, is it just his imagination or did she just suddenly developed some boobs? And what's with her hair. It seems to be another length shorter but a two shades lighter than her original pink.
She suddenly opened her eyes and stood in a very different taijutsu stance than she was using before, more refined, and even deadly. Even her facial feature seems to change, where before it was tomboyish, now it seems bubbly.
"Hello! Mikiri here! Sorry but Mikiri needs to make you go nighty-night now!" She smiles at him before suddenly appearing in his personal space, his quick reaction time the only thing that manage to save him from a devastating punch and kick combo.
He was sweating now. That attack was so close it wasn't funny. He would have immediately lost consciousness if it had connected.
"Wow! You very good. Mikiri will need to step it up now." She grinned and attacks once again, more fiercely this time. It took every bit of his skill and strength to avoid and block every punches and kick she gives out.
When he finally saw an opening, he took it immediately and grabs her shirt before putting her in a judo throw. His jaw almost drops upon seeing her recover herself in mid air to land softly on the ground. That kind of flexibility could only be done with years of training. He should know, he's been training for years to get that kind of body limberness and he's sad to say that he's not even half as flexible as this girl seems to be.
Instead of scowling for almost being taken down, the girl calling herself Mikiri merely gave him a huge grin before attacking once more. This time, he wasn't fast enough to evade her. She poke him several times in his chest and back before jumping back.
He snarled at her again, preparing himself to attack the girl that seems to be making fun of him with those pokes, only to suddenly stiffen when he couldn't move his body. "What the heck? What did you do to me?"
The girl smiled brightly and said in a bubbly voice, "Mikiri was told to make you sit still so that is what Mikiri did. Now Fumiko will make you forget all about us. Let's play again sometime, okay. Bye-bye!"
The girl closed her eyes once more. She took off the ribbon from her hair, using her other hand to hold her hair up. She placed the blue ribbon inside her pocket only to take out a pair of finely crafted silver oriental chopsticks. She used said chopsticks to bun her hair on the left side of her head, letting the right side to frame the right side of her face. Her pink hair is several shades darker now, almost reddish in color. He wouldn't admit it out loud but she looks quite elegant with such hairstyle. When she opened her eyes and gave him a stoic stare, her entire posture merely added how elegant she looks, as if she was quite older than before.
Failing to move, he gave the girl a glare. "What the hell is wrong with you, girl? And what the heck with the bipolar attitude?"
"That is a very good question, Uchiha Sasuke. But quenching your curiosity is not something I could allow at the moment."
"So you know who I am? Then you know how tenacious I could get when something pique my interest."
"I do, obviously. That is why I can't allow you to remember this encounter." She said emotionlessly before starting to make several hand signs. If he wasn't mistaken, those were for genjutsu. "Goodbye, Uchiha Sasuke-san, I would hope that next time we'll meet in better circumstances."
Then, for Sasuke, everything went blank.
A/N: Hope you guys like this one. I suddenly had an inspiration while I'm having write's block for my old stories. Never fear. I'll be updating/revising those as well. It's just going to take some time.
Here are some ideas for my old stories:
1. Children of Fate: I'm giving Hanabi all of Toph's(Avatar: the last airbender) skills and personality. She will be blind, rough, tough, and in charge. Also, I'm powering down everyone's powers and skills to match their age.
2. Naruto's New World: I'm revising the entire kidnapping episode to match the current manga facts, like the Tsuchikage and Raikage.
3. Naruto of the Nerima Wrecking Crew : I'm happy with it and will update soon.