NOTE: So, this is my first attempt at writing therefore may not be perfect but bare with me. Im intrigued by the darker side of the series 'NARUTO' and the possibilities that brings for character development and relationships so I decided to do a time travel fic. If dark themes are a trigger for you please be warned there will be many. This story is Sakura centric but will focus on other characters like Gaara, Sasuke and itachi as well.

'Run run run run...' I chanted as if that was the only thing that mattered in the world, as I went down ally after ally. I forced my body on until I reached the main street, 'Don't stop, run!' I pushed a small amount of chakra into my legs to enhance my speed enough that people didn't see much more then a mope of pink hair and a slightly clumsy and awkward boult.

As the fifth Hokage's apprentice normally I would never run away from a battle, I would never back down from a fight and always stand my ground with confidence in my abilities, but under these circumstances It seemed it was quite necessary that I put space between me and any potential threat that could be around the corner. This was a battle that if I couldn't win, I didn't want to face. I wanted to run.

And run I did.

The sun was just starting to peek out from behind the Hokage Mountain and for the fifth time in five minutes I brought my hands up to try to release this genjutsu.
"Kai..." Nothing.

'I can't do this.' My mind went numb I narrowly avoided running into a pregnant women and felt my legs giving way a bit more as I stumbled a step or two. 'I need to get out of here.' I took a sharp right down another ally that would get me to my destination much faster, 'If this is a genjutsu then I need to move, NOW!' Logic out the window.

My legs were burning and felt on fire, 'It's to dangerous...' I gripped the only weapon I had, a kunai that was luckily laying on the table when I woke up. Not that this could possibly help in a genjutsu but it was comforting nonetheless. I was heading towards the entrance to the village as fast as my legs could carry me, passing people that I had known, people that I had talked, worked and played with. 'Now isn't the time Sakura.' I felt the burn in the back of my throat from repressing the few tears that were about to squeeze their way out of my small reluctant body, I could see the entrance now and pushed my legs to go a little faster but this genjutsu was a whole new level of realistic 'I can deal with this when I'm out of immediate danger.' All my focus was on the entrance that was approaching, so much so that I didn't take in the four figures standing lazily around until it was to late and they had already noticed me.

'Run.'

With my peripheral vision I looked for any possible escape.

"Sakura-chan?!" I skidded to a stop, I knew that voice. I locked eyes with the boy in front of me for a split second until he looked away flushed.

"Why are you still in your pajamas?" Naruto asked in slightly to high voice, embarrassed as he was, scratching the back of his head with a light blush painting his checks. I gripped my kunai a little tighter at the sound of his voice. My eyes drifted to the man next to Naruto, I knew this man. I hadn't seen him since Pain's attack and destruction of the leaf village but I knew him nonetheless. "Tazuna?..." The whisper escaped my lips without me noticing, this brought the attention of three of the four individuals to my frozen state. "Sakura?" My eyes went to the figure of a man leaning against the side of the entrance, "We were meant to leave an hour ago" Kakashi said narrowing his eye a little.
'What a hypocrite.'

I couldn't hear what he was saying anymore though, I was just watching him, inspecting him for anything out of the ordinary. "Will you please explain to me why your: One, not dressed and two not ready at all for this mission?" His voice had reached a whole new level of Monotone with just a hint of sarcasm in the back. I kept my eyes on Kakashi for a second longer, I knew he was waiting for a reply but it would never come. I let my eyes keep drifting until I settled on the very vibrant 'Naruto.'

The burn in the back of my throat was back ten fold. I waited till we locked eyes to see if anything was different about this Naruto, that is, until I heard the word "annoying..." said in a low, bored tone of voice that I knew very well. My eyes shot to Sasuke so fast my head spun, narrowing my eyes dangerously but keeping my body ridged and still as a rock, our eyes met for a second until He started letting his eye wonder down and then back up my body in a 'once over' before 'huffing' and shooting a bored smirk at Naruto. "What are you blushing about dobe? Do you like girls this undeveloped?" He said in the tone that was purely sasuke like. Naruto's face went bright red, clenching his fists he went on a rant about Sasuke being a 'Stupid Teme' and 'How could you say that about Sakura-chan?!'

I watched this whole scene without moving from my spot but I needed to break this Genjutsu now, any longer and I would be compromising everything including my sanity, which was already in question by this point.

For the first time since I'd stopped running, I moved. This brought the attention of nearly everyone straight to me, I kept my eyes locked ahead of me, waiting to see if the Genjutsu would falter, even for a second. I let my kunai drop to the ground without a second though, It went against all my instincts and training especially since it was my only weapon but that did nothing in this kind of illusion, the only reason I grabbed it was because of the sense of security it gave me in the first place. I saw kakashi's shoulders drop a little after the kunai hit the ground.

With complete slowness I lifted my now free hands up in front of me watching the eyes reflecting interest, anticipation and boredom in some cases. Slowly I grabbed one of my fingers, keeping my eyes on them I snapped it back without a second thought, breaking it, the sound echoed in the silence that followed.

Nothing... This Genjutsu was the strongest I have ever encountered or heard of. Still holding my finger I caught the faces of my old team and Tazuna their faces were in an array of emotions.

Naruto looked like he was about to come running full speed and give me an ear full as he dragged me to the hospital. Tazuna grimaced at the sound and looked at Kakashi wide eyed as if waiting to see what the teacher would do.

Kakashi did little more then widen his visible eye and then stand up in far more serious stance with an eery clam about him. Sasuke tried to hold his poker face but the widening of his eyes and the complete focus he held on my hand had just showed how much of his attention I had grabbed.

Deliberately I sharply snapped my finger back into place, still holding there eyes while watching the boys flinch at the sight of my finger moving from the back of my hand to the front of it again, 'Its time to move Sakura... Go'

Flashback

I felt nauseous and confused yet warm and comfortable, far more relaxed then I had been since the start of this war.. 'The War!' As frantic as I felt I couldn't seem to get my body to respond, my eyes weren't opening my body wouldn't move, my voice refused to come out, all I could do was breath heavily. 'I have all the symptoms of sleep paralyses' The thought struck me as odd though 'I could be wrong, I should be able to feel all my chakra if that was so.' Pushing out my chakra, I trying to sense the threat that had put me under this... This, this jutsu that was slowing my senses, lowering my chakra and making my body respond in a sluggish and disjointed way. I couldn't feel any chakra but I did sense two civilians below me. Deciding to think about that when I could move more 'freely,' I put the thought of them to the back of my mind but never quite forget about them. I started sending small bursts of chakra down my limbs and through my systems trying to get the response I was looking for, 'There!' My twitching finger was all I needed, I started stimulating nerves with light and harmless medical chakra, almost trying to coax out the same response.

I would usually only do chakra stimulation to patients that had been in comas or heavily sedated for a long time, trying to get there mind and body stimulated together speeding up the recovery of the individual, this was something a little risky but finally my body started to move more freely, my eyelids felt heavy and my vision was blurry but I could make out the shapes and colours of things. I was somewhere familiar, the roof was baby pink and the walls where a soft lavender, even without seeing the place properly I knew where I was 'My old room? But... I don't understand.' Panic hit me hard and I felt bile in the back of my throat that I swallowed, sitting up fast I thought my head would explode and I would black out but I managed to stay up long enough to see the blurred outlines of my old room.

My head dropped down to look at the floor in front of me, a habit I came by when thinking deeply on something. 'What?!' My form went even more still then it had been my eyes scanning, I saw my body, I was pale and thin with no muscles, the curtain of my hair which was reaching my waist was something I took note of as well and the little pink frilly shorts and thin matching top I wore was something I hadn't seen in years. My vision was finally starting to become clear again and everything started to come into focus, lifting my head up and looking at my old room with un-fogged eyes my head was hurting and the overload of emotions was to much for me to rationally think about anything. I briskly walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall to see a child's face starting back at me. Eyes to big for the rest of my face and a somewhat alien like appearance thanks to my forehead. Brining my hands up into the appropriate sign I whispered 'kai' under my breath as I stopped my chakra flow for a few seconds, opening my eyes everything was exactly the same... Nothing, 'Shit!'

Trying twice more and with the same result I started to feel desperate, looking around the room I just wanted to run, get as far away as possible and then figure out what to do, this would be the hardest Genjutsu I would ever have to break and I knew that. I sensed something moving around the house, footsteps that were trying to be quite while walking up the stars made something click, 'Mum..Dad..'

As fast as was humanly possible in this state I jumped up and grabbed the closest weapon, a kunai, 'This would have to do.' Looking for the fasts exit I zeroed in on the window, moving towards it with soft steps I opened it and jumped into the street below. I knew which way would lead me out of the village fasts and run like my life depended on it.

End of flashback

'Our first C-rank mission and somebody's already missing... scratch that, hasn't shown up.' With an overly lazy eye role and a quick check on his other two remotely sane students that were, of course bickering like a married couple again, Kakashi decided that he may have to have a little talk to Sakura about her tardy behavior if she ever decided to show up.

It had been over an hour now and Sakura still wasn't here. Naruto looked nervous, Sasuke looked more pissed off then usual and Kakashi felt he maintained his calm quit well, after all, he did bring reading material for compony. Plus, Tazuna wasn't horrible to be around, he wasn't the most pleasant drunk but not horrible.

This was strange for Sakura though, she was never late, she prided herself on being punctual and prepared.

After what felt like a forever of the two boys bickering, Kakashi finally felt her chakra heading towards them at full speed. He expected when she finally slowed down that they would be getting something along the lines of non-stop apologies and a detailed explanation for why she was late. Instead they got dead silence.
Kakashi kept his head down as Naruto started feverishly asking sakura why she was dressed so inappropriately this morning, which sparked his curiosity but he kept his eyes down and on the pages of his book until he head Tazuna's name whispered by a very disbelieving voice. Reluctantly Kakashi lifted his head from a particularly good chapter to see his usually 'goody-two-shoed on time student.' Standing a few meters in front of them with a very dazed and slightly scruffy looking Sakura, she was still as a rock, hair wild and unbrushed with a set of very small pink frilly shorts and a slightly more see through top on. There was NO way these boys would be able to focus on this mission now. A few different thoughts went through his head, 'God... Naruto's going to have an aneurism...Kami.. I hope I don't go to jail for seeing this.'

Slowly starting His lecture on being late for the mission Kakashi could already see that it was doing very little to spike her interest, he asked her for her explanation for this little 'stunt' of her's but got little more then a blank look and wondering eyes. Something didn't feel right, years of training had honed his senses to a level where he could feel the instability that sakura was radiating and the undeniable feeling that something was going to happen.
He was right.
Sakura had been almost inspecting the boys when suddenly she dropped the kunai that she had gripped a little to tightly earlier. Feeling a little less edgy Kakashi saw her lifting her hand up, looking at them with almost wide unseeing eyes she grabbed her finger and sharply snapped it backwards. The noise ran through his ears and made him zone in on her figure, watching her with far more intensity then before. Slowly she brought her broken finger forward again, a perplexed look on her face, she seemed to be struggling with some kind of inner battle, looking like she would ran away at any second. A moment later she looked Naruto dead in the face with a resolve it would seem, heading to him in a slightly awkward, unbalanced walk she didn't seem to see anyone but him. Stopping right in front of him she looked in his eyes, things where going through her head that where still raw and new. Kakashi knew the face of someone having a flashback.

I looked at Naruto, I looked at him as if this was the last time I would see his face and Naruto looked back, confused and unnerved under that dopy front but unwavering as always. I took one more step forward and rapped my arms around him, squeezing him a little as I stood there breathing in the sent that was Naruto Uzumaki. I could hear his breath hitch in the back of his throat, his heart beat speeding up and a light shiver run over his body. In that second it occurred to me that this might be a very rare occurrence for Naruto, to be held was something I took for granted. There was an eery silence as I stood there holding Naruto to me, no one moved an inch until my hand reached for a kunai in Naruto's pocket to replace the one I had dropped earlier. One of the first Shinobi rules I ever learned was to never be caught out without a weapon. Kakashi moved faster then the eye could see, holding my wrist like the steel blade I had just pulled form Naruto, making it fall to the ground with a clunk. It took a second to hit Naruto but the stunned look he and Sasuke had mirrored on their faces was enough to put me on edge but Kakashi just looked suspicious. I could see the hurt in Naruto's eyes and it hurt me like nothing else. "Who are you?" kakashi asked staring at me with an intensity I only saw from him on the battle field. I felt my breath start to slowly accelerate till I felt I was getting light headed. I just couldn't rationalize any of it and it was making my head spin. "Think Sakura, think!" I looked for the closest escape root forgetting completely who I was dealing with when the next thing I know everything went black..

It only took Kakashi a second to decide that taking sakura on this trip was a risky move but something in his gut told him leaving her here would lead to something worse. His mind told him to leave her but his heart told him she needed them... 'I really need to stop reading 'make out paradise'.'

"Kids, move out... We leave for wave now." He said lazily as he picked sakura up and put her on his back. Both Naruto and Sasuke stood still frozen. Naruto looking dazed and confused with an overwhelming shocked feeling about him, the hurt in his eyes still laying just beneath the surface. While Sasuke looked almost ominous, the distrust and suspicion only just peaking its head through his poker face. A sick focus on his only female student was the last thing Kakashi needed right now.
"Ne Kakashi sensei, shouldn't we take Sakura-chan to a doctor or something?" Naruto asked, concerned about the girl that occupies his thoughts and almost possibly killed him. Kakashi had faith enough that the squad could handle sakura, there was something going on and he wanted to find out before the next move was to be made. The thought didn't settle his uneasiness though and Tazuna seemed genuinely freaked out by the situation at hand. As much as Kakashi kept thinking this was the right thing to do he knew that there was more to this situation then he was seeing, which was another reason Sakura would come with them.

They had been walking now for about three and a half hours, Naruto and sasuke at the front bickering, Tazuna wobbling drunk in between talking about the old days and Sakura and I in the back. Luckily for Kakashi, Sakura was still quite light not having reached puberty yet making the whole situation less bothersome then it already was... 'I need to stop meeting the Nara's so much, they rub off on me after a while.'

Feeling a shift on his back and a very light moan from his only female student as she came steadily into consciousness he slowed right down to a stroll as he shifted her weight so he could better see her, "You know, pulling a knife on someone isn't the best way to make friends sakura, even if you don't like them." She moaned a little more and pushed her head up so she could see in front of them. "Its hard Kakashi." She mumbled, still not quit awake looking at her two teammates ahead. "Watching them all die... It's so hard." He could barely hear her now, it looked like she was fading back to a world of slumber and dreams.

Kakashi had so many thoughts running through his head he only just noticed a little puddle in a land that hadn't had rain for weeks.

BAM!...

Kakashi's clown got sliced giving two of the three of his students that where conscious more then enough of a fright. Two ninja appeared out of nowhere to the majority of the group. The Fight was short lived once Kakashi joined and that only left the question to why they where attacked by hired Ninja on a C rank mission.

Once Kakashi had tied and questioned the two ninja he knew he was in a much higher risk situation now then with just sakura acting out. Somebody was trying to kill his client and had enough money to send hired help. Not only that but his student were basically a totally mess at this point lacking basic teamwork and understanding of each other's skills and abilities...'Kami help me..'

Kakashi turned to his two standing students. "Guard Tazuna and keep alert... I'll need a few minutes." Kakashi said as he finally turned his attention back to his only female student and lay her down on her stomach in the grass, lifting her top to just under her undeveloped chest. Kakashi instantly heard Naruto scream bloody murder and come running full speed in which he just stood and caught his head before he could get any closer then arm distance. "Listen Naruto. Whatever was happening to Sakura it has now become to dangerous to just leave her unsupervised. Especially with other ninja coming after Tazuna-san." Kakashi slowly said hoping it would sink in better with Naruto who was fast to anger and slow to understand. "I'm putting a seal on her." He said. "A seal?..Bu..but why?" Naruto asked in his ever innocent way. "Because I cant have her running off or going missing especially with enemy ninja around." Kakashi said bluntly. Naruto looked slightly perplexed by this but non the less backed off and eventually turned back to a brooding Sasuke and an uncomfortable Tazuna.

Kakashi returned to sakura, bending down over her before making same of the more complex hand signs, some of which he hadn't done since his ANBU days. pushing the palm of his hand into the middle of her back he created a seal most commonly used for tracking, quite undetectable and his ninja hounds could lock on to it as well now that it was infused with his chakra. Satisfied he pulled her top back down and lifted her up and returned her to his back. "mmm.." She mumbled uneasily in her forced slumber. Kakashi turned back to his students. "We keep moving toward Wave, lets pick up the pace."

They'd been traveling for almost seven hours now, the afternoon sun was still hot and blazing down on them. Kakashi felt more on edge then he usually did, something wasn't sitting right with him. Everything was to quite, the forest was not a truly quite place but it was when predators where near. Feeling a shuffle on his back he knew Sakura was finally starting to come to again. He wasn't sure if that worried him more the comforted him. Either way, something was going to happen and kakashi only prayed he'd be able to protect them this time.

I felt fuzzy, like waking up after drinking to much, which even at the tender age of 16 I had done more then I would like to admit. 'Old enough to kill, old enough to drink.' I mused as I realized I was not just fuzzy but outside and being carried. As the thought struck me I was let down back to my own two feet feeling groggily and light headed. Looking up away from my feet finally it was deja vu. I watched as Naruto threw a kunai into a bush and out popped a very small white rabbit and along with it Zabuza.
I couldn't move. 'Why this? Why this time? Why this place.'
I stood there behind it all, watching as Kakashi battled Zabuza while Naruto and Sasuke once again came together in one of those rare moments of teamwork together. I stood there... I just stood there. There was no rationalizing it, I just didn't understand and I couldn't make my body move. As the fight came to an end I couldn't help but marvel at Naruto and Sasuke. They really were unstoppable when they were together but the fight took its toll, everyone was exhausted and Kakashi was basically immobile by the time Haku came and swept Zabuza away. Everyone was breathing heavily and on low reserves. This was my chance, my chance to run. I was rested and they were not, Kakashi had no chance of catching me in his state and wouldn't send his team away when he couldn't protect Tazuna himself. It was now or never.

I gave my boys one last look before I turned and ran, pushing a steady amount of chakra into my legs.

Kakashi felt the spike in his students chakra and whipped his head so fast to the forest it almost hurt, he saw a fraction of his student before she disappeared into the canopy. Sasuke and Naruto had followed his lead and realized Sakura was no longer with them.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi said sternly eyes not leaving the canopy in front of them. "Retrieve and secure Sakura Haruno." Kakashi said stiffly, finally turning towards Sasuke with a seriousness that Sasuke had no questions for.