"I-I wish... I wish we could go back."


"This...this wasn't suppose to happen."

Blue eyes stared at the scene before them. Dead bodies, bleeding bodies, carnage in every fashion and form for as far as they could see. Naruto felt like puking. From beside him, he heard a slight gag. He looked over, it was Sasuke. His greatest friend and rival had dark circles that could rival even Gaara's and his complexion was abnormally pale for even that of an Uchiha.

"I- I didn't," the Uchiha began. A distant look clouded his eyes. "This is my fault isn't it?"

Naruto threw his arm around his teammate and pulled him into his chest, shielding him from the carnage.

"This is not your fault. The only person at fault is that monster. Him."

Naruto gritted his teeth. He couldn't even say his name! Naruto's blue eyes scanned the scene once more. No, he was wrong this, this carnage, this tragedy, it was his own fault wasn't it? It was all because he was just-

"Too weak!"

Naruto ran an Kyuubi-clawed hand through his hair, drawing blood. Sasuke grabbed it and the two stared at each, both feeling as if everything was their fault. Their self-loathing was interrupted by a sudden flare of familiar chakra.

"Sakura?" The name came out like a whisper from both young men's mouths. Was she alive?!

They both immediately ran towards the chakra, blind to their surroundings. There she was covered in dirt, mud, sweat and blood. Their blossom had been stained by war and even still she was doing what she knew best, healing. The pink haired girl refused to look up at them although she had clearly felt their approach.

"Sakura." The call was soft, gentle and came from the boy that she had come to recognize as light. She still refused to look up, continuing her pointless healing of a person long gone.

"Sakura." His was one that she hadn't heard in years. It was cautious as if unsure if he were allowed to call her by name.

She felt him place a large, calloused hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, stop."

The pinkette shook her head.

"Please Sakura. Stop."

Sakura could feel the pain in his voice and that made her refusal harsher. Then she felt a warm embrace pull her off of his body, hands still shining a dimming green. The embrace was warm and faintly smelled of home, it was Naruto.

"Sakura...Kakashi's gone. You can't save him anymore."

Sakura wanted to thrash around, violently scream, punch him with a chakra enhanced fist and demand how he could give up so easily, how he could give up on him, on their sensei. But she didn't. She couldn't. Every single word that he had just said was so cruelly, cruelly true. After all, she had been the one to helplessly watch him die over 30 minutes ago.

Sakura fell into Naruto's chest and rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder whom was beside them. The three stared at the corpse before them and all the corpses around them.

"Why?" Sakura finally began. "Why is it only us?"

And the three of them huddled closer together, closer to the only people they had left. Sakura continued her speech, her eyes dead to the world.

"I wish...I wish I could go back in time." It came out as a whisper, a whisper that only they would hear. "I would tell my parents that I loved them."

Sasuke rested his own head atop of Sakura's. He would do the same.

"And I would find you, Naruto, and you, Sasuke, and we'd all- ... We'd all be the best of friends."

The two boys smiled sadly.

"And we'd all train together and prevent all the bad things from happening. We would- we would save the world together and we would never, never ever leave any of us behind. We would stick together no matter what."

Silent tears appeared on Sakura's face once more and she struggled to continue her tangent.

"I-I wish... I wish we could go back."

Naruto nodded, "Me too Sakura. Me too."

"Me three," Sasuke whispered in a voice only he could hear.

The three of them sat there in their regret, in their wishes, unmoving, uncaring. Nothing mattered anymore. They had failed. He was still alive somewhere out there, critically wounded yes, but very much alive and everyone else... Everyone else was dead.

"You wish to go back?"

Startled, the three shinobi jumped to their feet and fell into a battle stance. Sakura had a kunai in each hand, Sasuke had a hand on his Kusanagi, and Naruto was ready to form a rasengan.

"Peace shinobi. I am no enemy."

Team 7 stared at the person before them. This person, this girl more specifically, looked like a ghost. She had snow colored hair that was longer than she, herself, ridiculously pale, gray-blue skin, large, silver-white eyes, and she wore a short, tattered white kimono as if to even more so establish her position as an undead being.

"Who are you?" the Uchiha basically threatened although, his voice lacked the usual all-commanding tone.

The girl blinked. "I have no name. I am merely known as a Ghost."

"Ghost?" Naruto repeated, skepticism with a hint of curiosity laced within his voice.

"Yes. A Ghost of Time."

"Explain." Sakura demanded. She was tired of the riddles, of thinking. She just wanted clear answers.

"The Guardian of Time is known to revive souls of diseased children to look watch over a certain period of time and assure that the time of that period is flowing correctly. I died as a stillborn and was revived by The Guardian, making me the Ghost of Time for this time period."

"Okay..." Sakura began, still very suspicious. "Then say you are some sort of Keeper of Time. Why have you appeared before us?"

The blank faced ghost tilted her head slightly to the right as if to demonstrate a sense of confusion.

"Did you all not wish to travel back in time?"

Their eyes widened unbelievably.

"W-what?" Sakura whispered in disbelief.

The ghost tilted her head almost comically further. "Was my voice unclear?" She mumbled to herself.

"Did you all not just wish to travel back in time?" Her words were slow and precise.

From behind Sakura, Naruto mumbled in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yes, very much so," The ghost answered, unaware that Naruto had simply been talking to himself. "Did you all no longer wish to go?"

"No! I mean! Yes. Yes. YES! We wish to go!" Sasuke yelled in uncharacteristic excitement that caught both Naruto and Sakura off guard.

The ghost returned her head to a normal position and nodded. "And you two?"

They quickly recovered from seeing such an excited Sasuke and yelled in unison.

"Of course!"

The blank faced ghost stared at the three silently as if deliberating something. She then spoke.

"Well alright then..."

Without so much of a warning, the ghost closed her eyes and began chanting in language unknown to the three shinobi. Seals of some sort soon began appearing from the outer corner of her eyes. They began to travel down her face, her neck, her body, her arms and leg and down into the ground forming a large circle around the four of them. The seals began to glow a bright white and clock faces of all kinds began to surround the four of them. Naruto marveled at the scene before him and his eyes widened in surprise as he watched images from their past begin to appear around them as well. The light began to become more and more blinding with each minute and then after what felt like eternity the ghost slowly opened her eyes revealing two clock faces.

"REWIND."