A backbone chapter, really fleshing out the problems that arise from time traveling and how Naruto will try to change them back. I'm not sure how long this story will be, I'm thinking it won't hit ten chapters though. I never expected it to even be this long, or have so much feedback :)

On a different note, the theme for both Cloud Age Symphony and World's End Rhapsody is ASIAN KUNG FU GENERATION! If you've ever listened to them (I mean, they've done the bleach, FMA, and Naruto openings) good! Each chapter is a different song from one of their albums--and if you're a super nerd like me, and have been to one of the concerts and flown all the way to japan just for that you'll probably know which one!


Naruto yelped in poorly concealed joy, wooping spectacularly and loud enough to make Sasuke lean to the left and cringe visibly.

In a way not unlike his usual exuberance, the blonde was grinning ear to ear until his eyes crinkled at the edges and his cheeks looked round splitting his face and creasing his brows. Sasuke, in contrary, had his arms folded and didn't look particularly happy, aside from the glint in his darkened eyes, no doubt thinking of the immense power he'd be able to learn after reaching Chuunin. Another step on the ladder. Naruto seemed to take the paper in front of him the way a dying man at sea may take the ground, flopping onto the ground in a joy unmeasurable by human standards.

The two boys were too immersed in their own desires to notice Sakura carefully brush fresco wisps of hair behind her ear, and look away, eyes averting from the Chuunin Examination forms completely.

Her eyes, settled somewhere between two buildings, flickered to her two teammates, who didn't seem to notice anything was amiss.

"I can't wait Sakura-chan!" Naruto was mock-whispering to her. "I've been learning all these new Jutsu—

At this, Sasuke snorted.

"Well it's true!" Naruto bristled. "You'd be shocked to see what I can do!"

"And what can you do?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Snort ramen out of your nose?"

"That was one time!" Naruto protested hotly.

Their banter did nothing to soothe Sakura's tender conflicting of emotions. Naruto, even though he usually had one finger in his ear and a dumb look on his face, had improved immensely ever since his Furu-sensei showed up (Sasuke was convinced that he was a figment of Naruto's imagination, and Kakashi didn't seem to worried, but Sakura was partially inclined to believe him) and, while he hadn't shown them anything that could back up his claims, he certainly didn't stumble in his kata. Not like she did, anyhow. And Sasuke, well, Sasuke was going to do just fine. He was considered the best rookie Gennin for a reason. The two had erupted into a full blown argument without Kakashi-sensei to break them up, and Sakura leaned against the bridge with her hands behind her back. It was smooth and dreadfully cold, but she sunk into it lower anyway, as it anchored her to the ground and leveled her thoughts.

Sakura shook her head.

She could do this.

She looked up to see Naruto nimbly dodge the kunai in Sasuke's hand with a gravity-defying flexible flip backwards, before tumbling into the wooden flooring of the bridge and spitting out shuriken from his pockets faster than she could blink. Sasuke deflected them and threw a fireball at Naruto, who dived over the edge of the bridge and landed perfectly on the water. Sasuke followed with unsteady steps, but got his footing and began to throw more knives at Naruto.

Or not.

–

--x--

–

Naruto frowned to himself, as he studied the forestry behind Konoha's looming gates. The guard tower was quite, seeing as though his only company was snoring in the corner. Dawn was crisping at the edges of the mountains, sunbeams crossing patterns onto the canopy of leaves. Naruto had one hand in his pocket, sleeves folded above his elbow so the edges of the fishnet shirt could be seen from underneath. The lines of his jacket covered the hidden pouches of weapons hidden in the pockets of his shirt.

Guard duty.

Naruto sighed.

He thought he was done with this.

Naruto was debating whether anything too terrible would happen if both he and his partner fell asleep, when he was alerted to fast moving presences in the trees.

He peered out of the tower just in time to see a Jounin squad twist out of the trees. He didn't have a view to see their face, but one of them pulled soft long pink hair out of her hood, and Naruto smiled. He leaped out of the tower and smiled to Sakura, who returned it quickly.

"Guard duty?" She teased gently, as if unsure whether it was still a sore topic.

But Naruto only grinned. "Yeah, it sucks. How was the mission?"

Sakura had only been gone for three days, but Naruto was clearly feeling the impact of her disappearance. Without his pink-haired teammate to keep him company, Naruto was forced to accompany Kakashi to ramen—while that not being such a bad event, Sai's appearance clearly turned the tables. Kiba was in the village on extended leave due to a sprained leg, and Neji and Shikamaru had been assigned onto the same team and were currently out in Suna. Ino would say hello every now and then, and Hinata, when not engaged in clan politics, would sometimes stutter her greeting. But Naruto had begun to understand what it felt like for Sakura to have to stay at home when he left for his months on end—even though her leave was only three days.

"Alright." Sakura shrugged, and looked away. Naruto could see the tiredness drawn onto her face.

"We ran into a bit of trouble, but no one was clearly hurt except for Tori. But she's fine now..."

Naruto supposed Tori was the woman with the bird mask, hence her name. Naruto wasn't sure when Sakura started helping ANBU out as a medic-nin, but he wasn't particularly happy.

Especially since he'd been partially demoted, no thanks to Danzou and his clear idiocy.

He didn't want to think of what would happen if Danzou was Hokage.

His eyes then narrowed as he studied Sakura's ANBU team, who were moving into Konoha with the fluent ease of a citizen of its village. Which one of them were ROOT? Could they even be trusted? How could such an organization flourish behind the scenes so easily?

"Naruto? Hello?" Sakura waved a hand in front of his face, and the scowl marring his features disappeared near completely. But Sakura caught the ends of it. "What's the face for? You don't like them?"

"It's not that." He shook his head insistently. "I just..."

He struggled for words, as Sakura's bottle green eyes looked up at him.

Could he even tell her? Tsunade had warned him that even the slightest inking of something amiss would alert Sakura, and since Tsunade was inclined not to trust his teammate he supposed he should do the same. Maybe it was some sort of sign on maturity, but he had begun to listen more to his elders since his time traveling dilemmas had cropped up their problematic roots.

"Well one of them stole my girlfriend." He decided upon, lamely.

Sakura raised a brow, but said nothing else.

She folded her arms over her chest, which was covered in the long hooded cloak she wore for her mission. "Buy me ramen?"

Naruto made a mock bow. "Of course my lady."

Ichiraku was quite, perhaps because it was the end of a slow night and not many villagers were about. Not that Naruto was complaining much. Outside of the shinobi population, he didn't socialize very much, and didn't feel inclined to either. Ichiraku wasn't there today, but Ayame greeted him with a large grin and already had his favorite Chicken Miso ramen prepared for him. Sakura slid into the seat next to him with a small smile lighting up her face, almost as if she was reminiscing.

Ah, the intoxicating smell of ramen...

By the time Sakura had begun to daintily pick at her meal, she had turned to gape at Naruto like a fish on land as he slurped through his second bowl.

The two were decomposed to heaps of chuckles and snickers, caught in memories of the times they'd done this before.

"Naruto," Sakura began with much mirth. "Remember that time when we had all fantasized what Kakahsi-sensei looked like behind his mask?"

Naruto cackled incredulously between the chopsticks in his mouth. "Oh god yeah, I remember I thought he had beaver teeth or something!"

"Or a hideous mole!"

"Or braces!"

The two erupted in laughter again, before Naruto snorted ramen out of his nose, and began all over again.

Naruto wiped it off with shaking shoulders, as Sakura howled next to him. He couldn't remember a time when he had had this much fun.

"When did that even happen?" Naruto wondered aloud.

Sakura pondered for a moment.

"Around the Chuunin Exams," She began questioningly. "Or maybe a little before then, I can't really remember."

Naruto sighed. "Oh, those Chuunin Exams. Those things are garbage. Remember how much of a big deal everyone made it out to be? I don't even watch those things anymore they're so boring..."

Sakura shook her head. "Those Exams were so stressful." She sighed. "I remember when we were all training for the exams, I felt like such an outcast all the time—

"That's not true!" Naruto interrupted quickly. "You were always better than me!"

"Better than you?" Sakura swiveled on her stool to face him with the most incredulous look she'd ever given him. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto tilted his head quizzically. "Uh, I'm talking about all the times you used to beat me down into the dirt—

"Not at all!" Sakura shook her head in disbelief. "Remember when you and Sasuke were fighting, and Sasuke used his katon jutsu on you?"

Naruto blinked. "Uh...?"

"And then you whipped back around and shot him a Karyuu Endan?! Granted, it was an outrageous disaster and you couldn't handle it at all and it ended up crashing into the water, but still, for a Gennin to be able to wield such chakra is unheard of!" And then, quieter; "Even with Kyuubi..."

Naruto's mouth fell open.

His mind raced faster then he could comprehend.

He didn't remember that at all...

But he certainly remembered teaching the Karyuu Endan to his idiotic younger self and no way in hell could that dumb ass ever be able to harness that power so young. In fact, that was the particular reason he taught it to him in the first place. But obviously with what Sakura said he had underestimated...himself.

That was a strange ironic thought.

He wanted to bang his head in the table.

Instead, he pretended to mull this over. "That really happened?"

"Of course it did." Sakura rolled her eyes, stirring her tea. "Why would I make that up?

Naruto shrugged, before plastering a large grin over his face. "Wow, I'm so cool."

Sakura slapped him upside the head.

–

--x--

–

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined to her, rolling on the back of his heels. His orange jumpsuit sleeves were rolled right below his elbow due to the smoldering heat, even with the cool river below them providing sharp relief from the humidity that sunk into Konoha's streets. "When do ya think Kakashi-sensei'll show up?"

Sakura sent him a half-hearted glare, folding her arms over her lackluster chest. "How would I know?"

Naruto groaned, and flopped onto the ground theatrically.

Sasuke scoffed from his position leaning on one of the bridges bright red ocher poles. Sakura could see a smudge of obsidian black the color of shadows right beneath the russet crest of the bridges hull that marked Sasuke, the Prussian of his shirt matching the deep shades of the sky above them. She tried not to look, and instead averted her eyes.

"Got something to say, bastard?" Naruto growled from his spot on the ground, his furious look doing nothing while his face was upside-down.

Sakura sighed, and clasped her hands behind her back as she leaned into the bridge. The two were so easy-going about the whole Chuunin Exam thing. Weren't they a bit worried at all? Like she was? Even a little?

Naruto had flipped onto his feet by then, and Sasuke had pushed off the pole with a smirk on his face.

Sakura pondered more on this as they began to fight, not bothering to break up their immature need to prove their manly abilities no doubt stemming from extra testosterone. She was more deeply concerned on the fact that the she was the only member of Team Seven who seemed even remotely concerned about the looming gates of fate, more commonly known as the Chuunin Exams, the only known way to graduate to the next level in Shinobi standard. Unless you happened to be a serious prodigy better than Sasuke and got a pass straight from the Hokage.

But if you were average—or even a little below average—like Sakura, there was no chance of that.

She brushed hair out of her emerald eyes as she focused on the floor. If she dropped out, what would Sasuke and Naruto do then? The exams—and the shinobi life in general—meant a lot more to them then it did to her, even she knew that. What would they do without a third teammate? Seeing as though the two couldn't stand each other's presence for more then six minutes until one or the other instigates a fight, and she wouldn't be there to break them up. And even worse, if she didn't participate then Sasuke and Naruto would be at an unfair advantage, and it would be all her fault. Could she live with the guilt of knowing she held them back? But if she did participate, wouldn't she just hold them back anyway?

Sakura bit the inside of her lip.

And suddenly; "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A fireball erupted from Sasuke's mouth and hurtled towards naruto.

Sakura gasped, horrified. "Sasuke!" Overkill much? She watched, frightened, and heart beating against her rib, as Naruto finally jumped out of the way with a triumphant smirk on his face.

What was that idiot playing at?

"That was lame!" He called out to the panting Uchiha. "You call that a Fire Jutsu?"

The Uchiha leaped back onto land, watching Naruto who stood on the river coolly from the river bank, obviously having upper ground. Sakura would have thought he looked quite cute, one hand fingering the kunai in his pocket and the other holding a shuriken, with his hair slicked back and his suave features twisted into a smirk. But now, she couldn't fight the wrenching whorl of butterflies in her stomach, that had once just fluttered around waiting for release, but had now turned into a whirlwind hand that ripped at her soul.

"Like you could do anything better?" Sasuke was calling to the blond, who was beginning to get riled up even more.

Sakura sighed to herself, sinking down until her cheek rested on her knees.

She was inwardly willing Kakashi-sensei to hurry up and teach her something to make her stop feeling so useless.

Her head sunk lower until streams of her hair tickled her ankles.

"Hell yeah I can!!"

What happens if they died out there? If she stayed behind and Sasuke and Naruto ended up dying because of it?

Her gut clenched again and she felt the color drain from her face.

Suddenly, the heat seemed to rise and she wanted to roll of the bridge into the water and tumble into the glistening waves, sinking lower and lower until she was right there with the rocks and the seaweed. Drifting down and down, hair a cloud of swirls above her and bubbles crawling to the surface. Her head was hot against the soft skin of her knees, and even when she pressed her hands against her forehead was she still hot.

Suddenly, her toes began to warm a little.

Sakura didn't think anything of it until a pillar of fire erupted into the delphinium blue sky above her, and her head snapped up to watch twisting, whorling hands of fire climb into the sky, before spiraling back in a haphazard dance of nature.

She stood up quickly, awed at the size of the dizzying creature, the heat burning her face and making her breath come out in short puffs.

The jagged fire unexpectedly pitched downward in an abrupt motion, and nearly crashed into the babbling water. Instead, it spun over to the bridge where it near slammed into her. She screamed and held up her hands, but the dragon had spiraled into the air, making ribbons of smoke pile from the bridges railings and a bit of her hair.

Her eyes opened wide to see Naruto standing amidst in the chaos—not really standing, he looked more like he was tumbling into the choppy waves. The dragon spun in crazy circles around him, and it looked as if he was having immense trouble controlling it. But Sakura was awed at the sight, his blonde hair shining with the fire and gold at the edges, the claret red whorls curling around him into a tornado of crimson shooting into the air.

Eventually, the fire died down and dramatically pitched into the crashing waves, and even though the dragon was more of a fantastic light show of a ridiculous amount of chakra then an actual weapon, Sasuke made no comment, only watching Naruto in a new light of near fascination.

Sakura too, didn't know what to say.

Her mouth opened, but closed just as quickly.

Kakashi took the moment to swing upside down from one of the bridges poles, with a wave and a burst of smoke.

He smiled at her, before turning to Sasuke and Naruto across from her down on the water.

He spotted Naruto's panting form and Sasuke's angered eyes, but only commented; "Goodness, was someone burning marshmallows?"

If Sakura didn't feel so useless at that moment, she probably would have made some sort of reply.

How could she not?

Now, even Naruto was better then her.

Instead, she only listened with one ear, tracing the lines of the wooden flooring with her eyes.

Kakashi reminded them that the Chuunin Exams were this Saturday, and they'd have to turn in their forms by then. Sasuke and Naruto didn't seem to think anything of it, Naruto crossing his arms childishly before mocking Sasuke, who in turn huffed and shouted something back. The two degraded into immature insults until Kakashi once again broke them up. Sakura could remember her form, gathering dust on the far corner of her dresser, there for her eyes to rove over every time she brushed her hair. In her line of sight at least six times a day. Filled in.

But not signed.

She sighed.

Naruto and Sasuke immediately began to spar, and Kakashi eased into a low level Kata, telling her to take it easy and slow.

Just another training that certainly wouldn't help her improve, especially when she couldn't even get passed the level just above the Academy.

Uzumaki Naruto triumphantly swung his legs over the bridge, hopping back onto its surface and waggling around like a wet dog. While his Karyuu Endan was more of an interesting light show then an actual technique, he was altogether proud of himself. It had taken nearly three weeks of non-stop training every day, not to mention multiple burns from riling up Sasuke enough to get the Uchiha to blast fire at him. But watching Sasuke's face from the river bank was all he needed. The Uchiha was floored.

Naruto rubbed his nose with the back of his finger.

Yup.

He was cool.

"I saw your Karyuu Endan," A voice remarked conversationally from behind.

Naruto spun around with a large grin, and was met with the visage of Furu-sensei. The older man had dark, straw colored hair in an indefinable shade of blonde and brunette combined. The sun beat down from behind him, making the edges of his spikes light up in gold. Naruto mulled over their similarities. While the height and maturity level was surely astoundingly contrasting, Naruto would pick up a couple things that they had in common. Like the way Furu rubbed the back of his head a certain way, or he'd tap his kunai on the nearest surface when irritated, or lecturing.

And some things, like the way he flipped backwards or parried knives, Naruto just picked up naturally as if it was instinct.

Naruto harrumphed, and crossed his arms. How did Furu-sensei always appear out of thin air, and disappear just as quickly?

"It looks cool," The sunny blond whined. "But it's way too hard! Why'd you have to take off like that, sensei? It's not fair! How am I supposed to learn when there's no one to teach me?"

Furu only shrugged, looking around at the familiar red bridge. He'd pass it time to time in his own world, never really bothering to remember how the sun cast blinding rays onto the claret of the bridge's paint, beautiful as monet garden paintings, and as indefinable as the stirring emotions he remembered in his gut.

"You seem to be doing fine on your own." Furu answered distantly, eyes tilted to the speckled light that hit the bridge suspenders. He could feel the water rush beneath him, shaking the wooden lines with minuscule tremors he never remembered feeling before.

"But it's too hard!" Naruto prattled on. "I've never done Katon Jutsu before, sensei! Kakashi-sensei doesn't teach me all his cool moves." The blonde then folded his arms. "He keeps them all to himself, and then he just gets up and leaves at the best part!" The Jinchuuriki glared around the empty bridge as if to prove his point.

"You really shouldn't talk bad about your teachers where they can hear you, Naruto."

Furu tensed, startled, and his eyes immediately focused to the top of the bridge where Kakashi's orange porn stood out amongst his drab Shinobi colored clothing.

Furu said nothing, but Naruto seemed completely unaware of the tension, whining and flailing his arms about, even though neither was listening to him.

"So you're the elusive Furu-sensei." Kakashi mused aloud, Naruto nothing more then a buzz in the background of a storm.

Furu made sure to shrug nonchalantly. "So they say."

"You from Konoha?"

Furu tapped his headband, in a way not unlike he had months ago on a cold spring day on the borders of Iwa, amused by Rin's throwing knives.

Kakashi, if he caught on, did not make note of it.

Or at least, he didn't. For a few moments.

"I've met someone a lot like you before," The silver-haired Jounin muttered thoughtfully, and pierced him with his only visible gray eye.

"Always avoiding the subject, and never giving straight answers." Kakashi tutted, tapping a finger to his chin.

Furu stepped back slightly, cowed by the digesting look on his face. Who was Kakashi referring to? Surely he couldn't remember... Flashes of Rin's smiling visage as she tugged Kakashi along, Minato and he discussing Jutsu and Obito floored by his excellent repertoire. But his instances with Kakashi were slight at best back then, and he doubted Kakashi could remember him past the dying face of his only friend...

Could he?

"Most Shinobi don't," He hedged.

Naruto looked at both of them, puzzled. "Well Kakashi-sensei, seeing as though you're here for once, why don't you train me?"

"Maa, maa, so feisty." Even though his tone was light as he rubbed the back of his head, Kakashi never left eyes with Furu, who's spine was straightening with every passing millisecond. "But I suppose you could go for some extra training."

Naruto yelped in joy.

"I'll be taking my leave then." Furu waved with a smile, turning quickly and leaving before Naruto could notice, and Kakashi could question him more.

Furu instead left his younger self to the hands of his true Sensei, and wandered about the other training grounds, not too far from the red bridge.

He encountered Gai and Lee, running in familiar circles on their hands, counting aloud with every smacking hand and looking quite odd making strange patters in the grass. He chuckled at the sight, the two never really stopped, and even to his time they continued their practice. Shikamaru, much like his older self, had fallen asleep atop a hill, and below him Ino was accusing Chouji of eating her food, who in turn became insulted by the notion. The Team began their sparring, and Naruto was slightly impressed. He didn't recall Ino being so rehearsed in her kata. In fact, all he could remember of Ino from their Gennin days was her ridiculous knock out with Sakura.

When he passed Team Eight, he was again surprised by their teamwork. He didn't think they had improved much from what he could scarcely recall of the Chuunin Exams, but he hadn't thought that Team Seven would be so behind.

Had they always been so divided?

No...

He shook his head. He had always been the glue of Team Seven, although only in hindsight did he realize that. Looking back on it, his presence being removed from Team Seven would require a dividing line between Sakura and Sasuke. One was entirely devoted, the other was entirely repulsed. Without him there, in his ridiculously immature and equally ridiculous poor training, the Team dynamic would be lost.

And he had accidentally done that.

Furu's jaw fell open, watching Hinata jump back to avoid a spray of shuriken with half a mind.

There was only one thought in his head;

How was he supposed to fix it?

Lots of spelling mistakes, I bet. My dumb ass computer no longer carries Microsoft word :( and I have to use open office now...which is alright, but will sometimes say that words I spell correctly aren't actually words?

Anyway, thoughts?