Blast to the Past
Chapter Three: Friendship is Bliss
I guess being in the past again isn't so bad. There isn't the gloom and dark feeling I get when I'm here. There are so many things that are different here though I already knew them. In a way, I'm glad that we are here. I get do things various things now than I couldn't do when I was this age. Now I think about it, the strongest people in the village now had to be Myself, Naruto, and Sakura. We've been and experienced just about everything that's happened so we already now how to deal with it.
The best part about being back here would be that my greatest rival and best friend from our future is here. Just like Sakura, I'm a bit happy to see him again. He is the same idiot he died as which brought me even greater happiness. It would have been hard treating him like the way the I did when we were younger. I mean, throughout all the time we've been a team all we ever did was argue and compete. Don't get me wrong, we still did that even as young adults but for a full year I hadn't been able to.
However, it wasn't like I was alone like when I was when Itachi killed everyone. I still had Sakura with me. She did a dramatic change from being a girl who obsessed over me constantly to someone who became one of my best friends and I could talk to freely. It was better to have someone to talk to rather than someone to fend off with a chair.
Even when she had been elected the 6th hokage, Sakura still remained the only person I would talk to. Though, she was still a hot head and cry baby, I still found a bit of joy when speaking to her. At the same time, I felt as if she was somewhat like Naruto and I. She too had lost her parents just like us so she knew what being lonely and not having parents was like which I didn't know when I got on her case when were kids after she called Naruto a loner.
Also, I saw that I was growing more and more, nicer towards her than I was other people. That was a reason I couldn't find no matter how hard I tried. Whenever she was sad or felt unsure about anything, I was right there to cheer her up and help her through it. Sometimes, I thought that I was just doing what any person would do in my type of situation but I felt like I was doing what only someone she was close to would. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have done it a few years before. There were times where she would fall asleep at her desk from working all night and I would be there to make sure nothing happened to her or when she would cry herself to sleep thinking about Naruto and Kakashi and I would be there to make sure she would feel totally alone.
I remembered the time where she started to drink wine to ease up the pain and would get so drunk that she would speak her mind about everything. Once, she had a heart attack and seizure which I was right there to help her recover from. I was almost scared that she would die from it but being the person she was, I knew that she wouldn't let that happen. I made her promise to come to me when she felt like drinking again. The first time she did, she fainted from sleep depravity and I stayed with her the entire time. She had horrible nightmare and woke up crying from it. It was dream that I would probably be upset about too but I helped her get over. Whenever I was with her, I just had an urge to stay with her. It wasn't something that I just couldn't explain...
The team arrived an hour after the time Kakashi had told them to come. All three had decided to eat breakfast so that they wouldn't be hungry throughout the day. They were smiling while walking towards one another. Naruto had to brightest of them all. "Good morning, you guys!"
"What's got you so happy this morning, Naruto?" Sakura asked a bit suspiciously at his tone. She gave him a devious smile. "Was it your date with Hinata?"
"You bet it was! I'm so happy to have my Hinata-Chan back that I could cry!" Naruto stated with a cheesy grin before smirking at them secretly. He wasn't going to mention their date but instead changed the subject. "And I thought we could use this time for you two to explain some things to me."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "Like what? I told you everything. Or did you forget that fast because of your little love fest?" He accused crossing his arms.
Naruto sat down while giving him a small smile. "I was hoping you could give me a bit more details than that. I want to know everything that happened to the village after I died."
Sharing a look, Sasuke and Sakura both sat down and explained about everything that happened after his demise. He was a bit shocked to hear that Sakura became the hokage but then got a bit angry hearing about the things that occurred in the village. When they finished, he was clenching the grass on the ground very tightly to hide his anger. After calming him down, they sat there silently.
"I guess that's about it." Sakura said pulling her knees to her chest with a depressed look. The boys nodded and they all let out a sigh. She turned to Naruto. "So you remember what we said about your using your power?"
He nodded calming down. "Yeah, we gotta keep it simple and not over doing it." He recited her words before grinning at Sasuke. "You hear that, Mr. Emotions? That means not losing your temper. You have a bad habit of doing that, ya know."
The Uchiha glared at him before smirking himself. "Like you should talk Sir Cries-a-lot? You could step on a bug and then activate your nine-tailed friend just like that. Don't lecture me."
"Don't argue, you two. It really annoying me. You both just have control your emotions." Sakura told him with a simple tone. They stopped and stared at her before snorting at once. She scowled at them. "Did I miss the joke?"
"You of all people are telling us to control our emotions. Sorry to tell you, but out of all of us, you got the worst temper." Sasuke said putting his elbow on his knee. "Especially that crazy split personality you got inside of you."
"Cha! Damn you, Uchiha! Damn you!" Inner Sakura shouted making a fist while Sakura's eye twitched at him. "I really don't care for you right now."
Sasuke shrugged with a light smirk. "You'll get over it." He told her before putting on a serious face. "Still, no using any jutsu that we didn't learn yet. Yes, it's disappointing but either way we have no choice. I can't use my Susanoo or my Chidori but I think I get away with using my normal Sharingan and not the Mangekyou."
Naruto sighed sadly. "Fine. I guess that means my Rasengan and Sage-Mode are out of the question also. I get to use Shadow-Clones at least." He said with pure disappointment.
"I suppose that means using my healing jutsu and all my strength from Lady Tsunade is down the drain too. That leaves me with just plain chakra control." Sakura said leaning back on the ground. "That's not fair! How am I supposed to be bad-ass without all my training?"
"You could attempt to pretend to self-teach yourself. I mean, if Grandma Tsunade could pull it off then I guess you could try." Naruto shrugged making his teammates give him a look. "What? I told you that I got smarter."
"I guess that could possibly work. I read somewhere that some people are born with medical abilities. Faking it can't be that hard." Sasuke figured crossing his arms. "We have a few hours till Kakashi gets here. We are we going do?"
Sakura put a finger to her cheek in thought before snapping her finger. "Let's see who can shoot the kunai deepest into a tree. It gets training done and wastes time." She pulled out a kunai with a light smirk. "How about it?"
"Sounds fun to me!" Naruto pipped standing up and doing a small fist pump. Using his other hand, he grabbed his kunai grinning. "I've been practicing all this time so prepare to lose."
Chuckling lightly, Sasuke stood while twirling his kunai on his index finger. "It doesn't matter how long you have been practicing. A loser is a loser for life. If anyone is going to lose, it will be you. Believe it." He smirked after quoting Naruto favorite words from when they little which made Naruto glare at him.
Once in the forest, they turned to different directions to a different tree. Putting some chakra into the blade, they focused on the large oak trees before all tossing them simultaneously. However, since they were all focused on winning the small competition, they didn't really hold back as much. Sasuke's kunai went into about 20 other trees before going straight through a boulder and stopping right at the end. Naruto's went into about the same amount before colliding with a huge rock formation, cracking it. Sakura's managed to go directly 20 amount and made a huge gap into a mountain side.
"Dammit!" They all cursed at once with a small pout/scowl. Not only couldn't they tell who won but they managed to make small slices in the trees and holes and cracks in whatever stopped their weapon. Turning slowly to each other, they shook off their looks before smirking. "Rematch!"
"Alright, let's get started." Kakashi said putting a clock on top the tree stump."There. It's set for noon." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out 2 bells. "Your assignment is simple. You just gotta take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." He shook them a bit. "If you can't get them by noon,you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those post and watch as I eat my lunch."
Their stomach grumbled loudly causing their faces to drop instantly. Since they were training so hard before he arrived, they basically burned off all the food in their stomach. "And here I thought we were going to be ready..." They thought at once.
"Now if you hadn't already noticed, there are three of you and two bells. Wanna know why that is?" Kakashi asked them hoping to get an answer from the three hungry children. "This way only one of you will end up being tied to a post and disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy. But then again...you could all flunk out too. You can use any weapons including shrieken. If you aren't prepared to kill me, you can't take the bells."
"Right!" They said at once with a nod. This was going to be a piece of cake considering they already know what to do and what to expect.
Kakashi looked at them before smiling lightly while was hidden under his mask. "You all seem to understand where I'm coming from so how can I say this..." He thought out loud for a minute. "I'm actually starting to like you guys. Get ready...Start!"
Almost instantly, they all split up and hid in trees including Naruto. Kakashi looked around muttering something to himself before pulling out his Make out Paradise book. They gave him a very dull look. Once a pervert, always a pervert.
"So how are we going to go about this, Sasuke-kun? We just can't go up to him and take the bells. He won't pass us if we do that." Sakura thought trying to make up a plan in to get them as a team.
"Not sure. If anything, we have to make sure Naruto knows it. Who knows what wildly insane thing he might do to ruin it." Stated Sasuke while thinking about how to do this and still pass. "Maybe I should add him to our mind link..."
"I'm already here. It's a shame how you leave me out of everything, you two." Naruto's voice came into their head causing them to almost fall. How the hell did he know and how was he doing it. "And I take offense to that Sasuke!"
Sasuke growled quietly. "And just how the hell are you even in this conversation right now? I never brought you into it!" He yelled at him through the link.
Naruto laughed at him a bit before answering. "Kyuubi said that I've been able to do since I activated my sage mode. I just never thought to use it till now."
"Cha, I'm just about ready to punch both of you for these lame abilities that your hiding! How do I even put up with you?" She asked before cut Sasuke off before he could answer. "That was a rhetorical question."
"Whatever. We need a plan to get those bells as a team." Sasuke stated looking at the bells hanging from Kakashi's side. A plan popped in his head. "I got an idea."
"By all means, tell us ,oh Prince of the jackassery!" Sakura giggled slightly earning a glare from Sasuke. "Just kidding. But seriously though, I'm listening."
Sasuke explained the plan as best he could in the smallest words he could before they all jumped down in front of Kakashi, who glanced up to look at them before going back to his book. "Oh? You're starting. This outta be interesting."
Sasuke and Naruto ran ahead to punch him but he jumped over them. Sakura then charged to deliver an uppercut and he dodged. She smirked and did a spin kick which he blocked which gave Sasuke the chance to straight-forward punch. Seeing it, Kakashi ducked and moved Sakura's leg before getting low and kicking the ground so they would fall but both Sakura and Sasuke flipped back to where Naruto was. Naruto made a few clones and they all went to attack Kakashi with mighty punches and kicks which gave Kakashi a bit of trouble but he still managed to defend himself and counter them all.
Putting his book away, Kakashi looked at them. "Okay...you've spiked my interest." He stated eying them carefully as they all struck a stance. A rather good one at that. He was mainly confused caused he felt as if he had recognized them. Especially, Naruto's. If he didn't know any better, then it resembled...
His thoughts were cut off by a triple attack from them. Soon he was only able to barely dodge the young ninjas' attacks because they were crazy fast. He noticed Sakura reached for the bells and automatically moved back. When he did, Sasuke did some hand-signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The hot flame of fire came hurdling towards him and he moved out the way only to dodge a high kick from Naruto along with a flying side-kick from two of his clones. Kakashi knocked them back before Sakura made a hand-sign.
Kakashi shook his head and saw that pictures of nude women flashing across his face causing his to fly back with a nosebleed. Instantly, he knew it was a genjutsu before releasing it right as Naruto went for the two bells on his side. He threw punch at him which caused Naruto to burst into smoke revealing a shadow-clone while the real one stood beside Sasuke and Sakura. The gray-haired jonin tried to catch his breath slightly. They were better than he thought.
Naruto suddenly went ahead with his comrades right behind him. They were all holding kunai while grinning. Tilting his head slightly, Kakashi pulled out his own kunai before clashing with theirs. Soon it was an all out war between him and the 3 students and the students were winning. Soon he got sent skidding back holding the kunai up.
The 3 ninja nodded at each other before sending a smile towards there Sensei. They dashed around him causing to look and various directions but soon they stopped right the bell which signaled that their time was up rang. "Well would you look at that? We have been fighting all this time and no bells."
"Actually,Kakashi-Sensei, we took the bells a long time ago." Naruto stated with a chuckle. "You're just carry two bracelets I switched when we started." Sasuke and Sakura held up their bells. "See?"
"That so..." Kakashi started with a low voice checking then seeing the two replaced objects. "And why did you give it to Sakura and Sasuke? It's impossible for someone to be the Hokage if their stuck as a genin." His arms crossed at him.
Naruto shook his head while shaking his finger too. "I gave it to them because that was teams do. If I had kept the bells, then that means my team wouldn't be to graduate. I'm willing to sacrifice myself for teammates cause I know they would do the same for me."
Sasuke nodded in agreement. "And there are three of us on the team. We work together or not at all. Despite what anyone says, the lives of your teammates are worth more than mission. We could always get another mission but you couldn't get another friend."
"They're right. Naruto gave his bells to Sasuke-Kun and I because the three of us are one." Sakura stated smiling." We once heard a saying that we are going to stick to forever. Those who breaks the rules are scum however those who abandon their friends are worst than scum."
Kakashi visible eyes widened before going right back to normal. "So that's the case...the three of you are one..." He paused for a while before smiling. Finally, a team who understands what it means by teamwork. "You pass."
"We pass?" They all asked at once. It's wasn't they didn't know but didn't think that speech would win him over.
"Yep. You are the first team to ever accomplish the real lesson of this exercise. Everyone else managed to mess it up and not work together and ended up failing the assignment. That saying you said was true. In the ninja world, those who breaks rules are scum, that true...but those who abandon their friends..are worst than scum." He said and they all smiled. "The exercise is over! Team 7 begins their first mission tomorrow!"
"Alright! We did it!" Sakura cheered happily while hugging both Naruto and Sasuke, who were also smiling from passing again. It was much easier than before but it was still a lot of fun. She missed fighting as team with them. Kakashi said that they could leave before disappearing himself.
Naruto looked at them. "Well I'll see you guys later. Hinata-Chan is coming over to my house to watch a movie! Catch you guys tomorrow!" He shouted running off in the direction of his house leaving Sasuke and Sakura there alone.
They were silent for a while before Sakura spoke. "So Sasuke-kun, what are you about to do now?" She asked with a small smile.
"I'm going to stay out here and train. I need to touch up my techniques a little more." He stated pulling out a kunai knife and made a Shadow-Clone. "What are you going to do, Sakura?"
She smiled sadly after thinking about it. "I think I'm going to go visit my parents graves. I haven't been there in a while. I'll see you later." Sakura waved to him before running off.
After buying a bouquet of roses, Sakura went to the grave site and walked slowly all the way to where he her parents stones rested. A grim smile founds it way to her face as she put the flowers down. After making the flowers were firmly in the ground, Sakura put her hand on their shared headstone.
"Hiya, Mom, Daddy. I know you can already tell that I'm not your Sakura. I'm from way in the future and everything is a bit different from here. There, you've been gone for years yet it still hard to swallow. I really miss you. Daddy, even though your jokes were lame I enjoyed hearing them and Mom, we had our share of fights that you usually won but I'd do anything to have one more with you. I've changed so much over the time that it's almost crazy how much your little cherry blossom grows up."
She was cut off by the sound of thunder. When she glanced up, she noticed dark clouds were rolling in and wind picked up.
"Sorry, Mom, Dad, I was rambling on again. Well anyway, like I said, I miss you both so much and hope you two are thinking about me wherever you are. I know, I'm the girl you raised but either way, you are still my parents and I love you both no matter what. I'll try harder to visit you more after today but no promises. I mean, I'm going to have to work harder than ever in to stay the strongest. Just you wait,I'll be stronger than everyone and protect this village with my life." She smiled again. "I bet I have said this a billion times now but still...I love you. Please watch over me."
Looking down, she placed a kiss on the stone before walking off at fast pace. She barely got out the cemetery before it poured down raining. Cursing slightly, she started to walk a but faster but slipped because it was raining.
It was loud splash heard as she hit the ground hard on her right side. Struggling slightly, she stood and tried to limp her way home but knew it was pretty far. It then struck her that Sasuke's house was around the corner. Sucking up the pain, she walked around the corner to his house before knocking on it 3 times. It was a while before he answered and when he saw her he tilted his head. "Sakura?"
"S-Sasuke-Kun...can I c-come in,please?" She asked shivering from the cold rain and her cheeks red from embarrassment. It wasn't because she was embarrassed for asking but he was shirtless and just wearing his normal white shorts and leg warmers still.
"Sure." Sasuke stated pulling her in and closing his door. She was soaking wet and had a deep cut on her arm and right cheek. After she removed her shoes, Sasuke grabbed her by the wrist through his living room to bathroom. He pointed to the close toilet seat. "Sit."
She did as he said and watched as he went into the sink cabinet and pulled out an antibiotic wipe and two band-aids. Her face went blue. "W-What are you about to d-do?" She asked before flinching slightly from the cuts.
He rolled his eyes before squatting slightly so they would be face to face. She blushed because their faces were so close but it disappeared when he put the wipe on the cut on her arm. Sakura let out small yelp and cringed. "Stop moving. You're going to make this longer."
"But it stings!" She whined with small pout while covering it with her other hand. He pried it off the hand before wiping it despite her efforts. Holding back some tears, Sakura bit her lip while he put the band-aid on carefully. "You big bully..."
"Whatever. Let me see your face." He stated going back to her face causing her to blush again. It
didn't hurt as much when did the cut on her cheek before putting on the band-aid. "Done." He stated moving towards the door. "Wait here."
"Stop telling me what do! You could at least say please, you jackass!" Sakura shouted at him. "Cha! Let's kill him now!" Inner Sakura shouted waving her fist with a determined look. Her offer was very tempting but it left when he tossed something at her. She caught before inspecting it. "What's this?"
"A plastic cup." He retorted sarcastically putting a hand on her side with a dull look which made her glare at him. "It's a shirt and shorts. You should take a shower before you catch cold."
Her glare disappeared and was replaced with a smile. She was glad to have Sasuke with her. "Thanks, Sasuke-Kun." He nodded before leaving and shutting the door behind him. After a few seconds, Sakura started to strip her clothing.
Sasuke sat on his bed with a low sigh. He was still trying to get used to his somewhat smaller body. Though he possessed great power beyond even the Hokage's at this point, being this...short was kinda hard. Not to mention, he didn't have his sword...and he loved that sword. It was used for some of his techniques so that was next on his bucket list. To find that sword again.
Not only that, he couldn't get used to seeing Sakura like he did. She looked almost the same but it wasn't till they came there, did he notice how cute she was. When they were this age before, he didn't think of her that way but now...
"Um..Sasuke-kun?"
Her voice caused him his thought to reside. Glancing up, he felt blood instantly rush to his cheeks. She looked really cute in his clothes... "W-What is it?"
She went over and sat beside him. Her face was a bit sad for his liking. "H-How...How come you...How come after everything that happened, why did you stick so close to me?" She asked in a very low tone.
Sitting up, he glanced at her. That was very out of the blue question but he did in fact have an answer for her. "You weren't the only one who was alone. Sure, I had no family left but I still had you and Kakashi, and Naruto. After they died, then I knew all I had was you left. I wasn't about to let the closest thing I had to family go pass me without a second glance." Sasuke finished looking at her. "Why do you ask?"
Sakura shrugged. "I was thinking about it while I was visiting my parents this afternoon. I was sure than my life was over when they died then everyone else started to follow. I almost thought for a minute that you were just here to pity me. Someone who became so broken that it hurt to even look at a picture. Maybe you thought I was too weak to defend the village that Itachi loved so much..."
"That's enough." He cut off while gripping her shoulders. A serious expression on his face. "This has to stop. I already told you this before but I didn't leave because we are friends! Friends don't leave each other alone when they are hurting. Did you forget that I was in that battle too? How do think I felt watching all our comrades die? It was like watching my clan being slaughtered all over again. I was felt useless until something gave me reason to fight. And that was to protect the last friend I had left. You."
"S-Sasuke-Kun..." She said with a wide and watery eyes. Her mouth had small gap from his long declaration. All her emotions were running while at once...
He hugged her tightly which made everything in the world to Sakura freeze. "It's okay now. You don't have to hold them back anymore. Go ahead. I'll stay right here." He said causing her emerald colored eyes to go wider. "All those feelings that are holding you back...let them go."
Almost 10 seconds after he finished, clear salty tears began to fall down the sides of her face. Soon her soft cries became loud sobs of hurt and agony. Putting the top of her head on Sasuke's bare chest, she let out everything. The sadness she was feeling at the grave and the pain and torture she was feeling long before. The entire time she cried, Sasuke was there listening and stroking her hair for extra comfort. This was her final breaking point...
Well, I guess that's about it! I know that was a bit depressing but just you wait things will get..somewhat bright..Please review and don't forget to check on my poll!
-Cherry