I'm so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't kill me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so sorry. Its been like more than two months. I've been so busy with school and all. Anewayz, to make up for it, here is a nice action packed chapter. Enjoy! D

DISCLAIMER: If your happy and you know it, clap your hands. If your happy and you know it, clap hands. If your happy and you know it, and you really want to show it, if your happy and you know it clap your hands. I do not own Naruto!!!!!!!!!!!! If your happy and you know it, stomp your feet………

TITLE: A RIPPLE IN TIME

SUMMARY: Sakura and Naruto are facing Orochimaru to get back Sasuke. Naruto has been knocked out and only Sakura is left to fight. Orochimaru uses a forbidden jutsu on her and she finds herself in Konoha, when team 7 was just little kids. She experiences everything they've been through first hand and intervenes in turn, changing the future. Team 7 are best buddies and Sasuke talks to her and acknowledges her. But she is her weak old self again. After a while, she begins to regret what she did. She realizes that the only reason she became the strong person she was today was because he left. So now Sakura is pushing herself past her limits to make sure that everything turns back to normal.

CHAPTER 10:

Recap:

Sakura laid in bed and began to ponder about what happened to her. She lost all her jutsus and everything because she meddled in the past. She knew for a fact that tomorrow team 7 would be training. So she made a vow to work hard, train hard, and never give up until she was stronger. Then she would take evasive action to get everything back to the way it was. But for now she dozed off to sleep for she would need a lot of energy for tomorrow. She was going to reteach herself everything she could in the limited amount of time she had. Then she was going to fix everything, even if it meant selling her soul to the devil.

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Her breathing was heavy as she jumped up again and delivered a full blown roundhouse kick into the side of the wooden dummy. She then fell back on her feet. Before jumping up again, she rubbed the sweat off her brow and went in with a 360, followed by a back kick. She then flipped over and came back with a double kick and landed firmly on her feet. A second later, the dummy split in half and fell on the floor,

A small smirk spread across her face as she plopped on the floor and let out a sigh. It had been a week since she started training herself. She had to learn as much as she could and retain that information. She had not only trained with Team 7, but always stayed after to train for herself. And it had been paying off. She had gotten so much stronger in only a week.

This practice continued for many days as she taught herself something new each and every time. Unknown to her, her dear sensei had been watching the whole time, and was amazed by her progress as well. He jumped in one day and helped her as well.

She trained till she could take no more for three whole months and then displayed her power to the sandaime. He himself was amazed and had promoted her to a chunin. She had left his office with a smirk on her face, but kept it to a minimum. She knew the time for her to take action was coming and she had to be ready for it.

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Naruto began to fidget a bit as he began to get more anxious. He and his teammates, Shikamaru and Neji, had been assigned a mission and were waiting for their team leader, Kakashi, who had not seem to arrive yet. The sandaime just watch his actions, and let out a small laugh now and then. He then glanced at the clock. Kakashi was late as always, but so was she. She was never late, as far as he was concerned. Perhaps, Kakashi had taken the liberty of bringing the girl here himself.

By now Shikamaru and Neji were annoyed by the boy's antics and were about to bonk him on the head until two kunais came whizzing past their heads and hit the wall behind them. Almost immediately, they got into a fighting stance, until they saw who it was.

A grinning Kakashi was standing in the doorway with his orange book in hand.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?" yelled the two boys in unison.

"It wasn't me."

"Oi! How troublesome."

"Then who?" asked Neji.

"It was me."

Kakashi moved out of the doorway as the petit frame of a kunoichi entered the room. Her bubble gum hair was held nicely by the hitai-ate and her green hues had a look of determination in them. She wore a pair of black shorts and a black tanktop. Here arms and legs were wrapped in bandages. Around her waist she had a pouch as well.

"Sakura-Chan! What are you doing here?"

"Why she's coming on this mission with us." answered Kakashi.

"With all do respect, hokage -sama. You told us this was a B-rank mission, and I hardly think a genin is capable of doing such a task," said Neji.

Sakura just scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Neji just glared at her and turned his attention back to the sandaime.

"Didn't I tell you, Sakura is now a chunin as well."

A small spread of shock spread over the boy's faces while the other three shinobi smirked. Sakura stuck her tongue out at Neji before turning away.

"Now we must get down to matters. You four should consider yourselves lucky, considering your still chunin. The mission was originally suppose to be a B-rank, but is now an A-rank mission. You have to assassinate a man named Li Tang Yung. He is a wanted missing-nin from the Land of Waves. As you are all aware, Kakashi is your team leader and will fill you in on the details on the way. You will be leaving this afternoon. You're all dismissed."

The shinobi bowed and walked out of the room. On the way down, the three boys kept staring at the girl. She was a chunin now and they were not sure why. Kakashi had caught these looks and began to walk abreast to the chunin.

"Don't underestimate her, she's a lot stronger than you think."

This was all the jounin said as he walked away and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

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Noon had soon arrived and all four chunin sat waiting in front of the gates for their sensei. For Naruto and Sakura, it was nothing new. They just peacefully chatted until he arrived. Soon enough, he decided to show up and the five shinobi set off.

This was it. This was her chance to show off how strong she had become over the past three months. Then they would know not to baby her around all the time and protect her. This time she would be fighting alongside with them, and they could then watch her back.

By nightfall, the shinobi reached the Land of waves, where Li Tang had been spotted recently. It seemed a little odd that a missing-nin would come back to his country out of the all the places he could have gone to.

The four shinobi wandered around a little, until they found a place to eat. After eating a plentiful dinner, they went to a hotel and got rooms for the night.

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Morning came too soon for pleasure, as Sakura groggily got up from bed. She glanced at the clock and saw that she was running late. She hoped that the others had waited for her as she rushed to get ready. An hour later, Sakura emerged downstairs to see her teammates chowing down breakfast. When Kakashi saw her, he pulled up a seat for the girl and went back to eating.

After breakfast, the quintuple group headed out and began to scan the area. They each wore communication devices on their ears to alert the others if anything were to happen.

"Neji reporting in. Li had been spotted! I repeat, the subject has been spotted!"

"Roger that!" replied Kakashi.

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Neji delivered a blow to the head but found himself kicking a log. Damn Li! The chunin activated his byakugan and began to scan the area for any signs of the missing-nin. All of a sudden, a barrage of kunai came his way but he was able to deflect them all with his Hakkesho: Kaiten.

Neji came running back in a second later and hit the opponent with his jyuken. Li barely managed to escape the blow as it just grazed him. But it seemed to do some damage as the nin stopped for a few seconds and clutched his chest.

"Kuso you brat!"

Neji just smirked and began to run in again. A second before he could pull his attack off, Li disappeared into thin air and reappeared jabbing the Huyga in the stomach. Neji let out a gulp of air as he was sent flying. The boy braced himself for the impact but it never happened. Naruto and Shikamaru came into the battle and had grabbed him just in time. Kakashi appeared a second later.

"Where's Haruno?" asked Neji.

"How troublesome. We'll have to work without her. She at the border, it will take some time for her to return."

"Yeah, so let's try to finish this before then!" said Naruto.

A hearty laugh came from the other side of the field. Li was clutching his stomach as his sides ached form the laughter.

"Do you really think a bunch of brats like you could take me out so easily? The only one who might actually have a chance is the jounin. You're all pathetic."

"That's what you think. We're going to beat you. You better believe it!"

Naruto made a hand sign and summoned a mass of a thousand clones. They all began to pounce on the man. Li of course fought back as he destroyed countless clones. Soon they were all gone except one. Li charged at the boy and he disappeared on contact.

"Pathetic. I know you're hiding. You better not be running. If you are truly strong, you will come fight me for real."

Naruto jumped out of hiding in the three and lunged into a kick. Li grabbed his foot and threw the boy in the air. Naruto was sent flying and couldn't grab on to anything. He braced for impact but felt himself stop in mid air. He looked up Sakura firmly gripping his shoulders as she landed on the ground.

"What do we have here, a weak little kunoichi? How pathetic. To think that the likes of you can beat someone like me. Konoha shinobi are weak."

Sakura placed Naruto gently down and looked Li straight in the face. A small smirk crept on to her lips and determination flashed through her eyes.

"You want to bet?"

Li smirked as well as a small laugh escaped his lips.

"And here I thought I wasn't going to have any fun. You're spunky kunoichi, I'll give you that. Maybe I can have some fun with you."

Li took a kunai and began to charge in. Sakura grabbed a kunai of her own, and charged in as well. The clashed and broke apart. They both charged in again and clashed again. Li was the first to step back as he bit his finger and made a few hand signs. He then placed his hand on the floor, palm down.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A huge poof of smoke covered the area. When it cleared, a huge wolf was in its place. Li jumped on the back of his wolf and smirked down at the girl. To his dismay, the girl seemed unfazed. She had a smirk on her face as well.

"You seem very confident kunoichi. Show me what you got."

"With pleasure."

The wolf let out a howl and began to charge at the girl. When it was only a few feet away, Sakura hit the ground with her fist and it began to collapse and break into millions of pieces. A look of awe passed was on the boy's faces. When had Sakura learned to do that? It was amazing.

The wolf began to fall down into the crack with Li on his back. Li jumped off the animal and onto a tree branch on the other side.

"Kai!"

In a puff of smoke, the wolf disappeared and half of the field was in ruins.

"I must say, that is an impressive technique you got there kunoichi."

"That's the least of your worries."

"We'll see about that."

Li then launched a barrage of kunai with exploding tags on them. Sakura managed to evade with great agility.

"She's fast!" stated Neji.

"No more fooling around Li. This ends now. You are a wanted missing-nin. Your days on the run are over."

Sakura grabbed her hand and began to collect chakra in it until it became visible to everyone's eyes. It made a sound of a thousand birds chirping. ?Everyone quieted down and just started I awe.

"This ends now!"

Sakura charged in as fast as she could and lunged at the nin. The chidori hit the side of a cliff and part of it fell. Sakura pulled out her hand with the chidori still intact and charged once again. This time Li grabbed her hand and held her up in the air. The chidori faded and the whole field was quiet.

"Its over for you kunoichi!"

"Want to bet?"

Sakura took her right hands and smacked Li in the gut. He coughed out a little blood and the air was blown out of him. Then he went flying back a few meters crashing through trees and rocks. Soon eh stopped and the shinobi ran over to check on him. Neji used his byakugan and was amazed at what he saw. Li's bones were broken, organs were severely damaged, and he was bleeding internally. The Huyga then checked his pulse and found none.

"He's dead."

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A month after the missions, various shinobi began to see her new found strength and held respect for her. Sadly Sakura would be leaving in a few days. There was only one way out of this and that was to go to the snake himself.

Every night she rummaged through papers and books for any information on the snake that she could find. One night she slipped into the hokage's office without detection and looked around as well. She remembered to return everything back to the way it was and slipped out quietly.

Once she had felt she got all she could, she quietly packed supplies, and slipped out in the dead of night. She knew she would be declared a missing-nin and people would be looking all over for her. But this was the only way. Her next destination was the sound village and she had a feeling it wouldn't be her last.

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Just as she had suspected, the village went frantic and people were searching all over for her. Anbu was swarming the area, even in the sound. So Sakura disguised herself by changing the color of her hair and her clothes. She also stashed away her headband. She had to keep a low profile as possible.

For a while, Sakura just roamed the area trying to figure out where the snake could be hiding. Accidentally , she stumbled upon a cave hidden in the woods with genjutsu. Judging by its type, Sakura concluded that a ninja had to be an expert in genjutsu to figure it out and to break it.

Sakura made a couple of hand signs and shouted "KAI!". Sure enough, the genjutsu disappeared and she found a cave in front of her. Sakura cautiously walked in and found herself in a long and narrow passageway. Soon she came upon a halfway which branched off into three paths. Sakura, by instinct, chose the middle path and followed it down. As soon as she reached the halfway point, a kunai brushed by her face hitting the wall. The weapon had grazed her leaving a stream of warm blood on her face.

A young man with silver-colored hair appeared. He was dressed all in purple. Beside him, a pale skinned man with long and sleek black hair appeared a second later.

"My, my, Kabuto. Looks like we have an intruder."

"It does look that way indeed."

"Orochimaru," was the last words that escaped the kunoichi's lips as Kabuto began to charge at her once again.

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So what do you think? I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Please review and let me know.

Until Next Time

SEGUHA D