Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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-X-

The week was chalking up to be an odd one and by that Sakura meant her strange behaving partner. Originally she thought nothing of his quieter disposition throughout the weeks, the man wasn't a known conversationalist. But even she found it odd that he actively avoided her during the day and said little at night.

Usually he would set up shop at their small table with whatever scrolls he managed to salvage from Konoha during his weekly visits. Then he would read and read whatever was written down to see if it was at all interesting. Lately, he didn't return home before sundown and had completely stopped bringing scrolls back. In all honestly she had no idea what he did during the day anymore. If Sakura wasn't so concerned with her training she might think to follow him during the day and see exactly what he was up to. But that also went against their relationship. It went without saying that they trusted each other implicitly.

Sakura stared down into her bowl of soup, allowing the man across from her to eat his meal without the worry of her catching a glimpse of his face.

They had been living together for well over a year, had known each other much longer and his face was still a mystery to her. That was a bit of an overstatement. With the help of the Sharingan she could perfectly imagine his entire face so it wasn't much of a secret anymore. Instead she averted her eyes in respect of his wishes for her not to see behind the mask for whatever reasons he may have. That did not stop her from some friendly dinner conversation.

"So what have you been up to lately?" She began casually.

Kakashi replaced his mask allowing Sakura to finally look his way. His bowl sat empty in front of him.

He shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"During the day. What are you doing during the day?" Sakura clarified mildly annoyed because she knew he was aware of what she meant.

"I've been going through the ruins, looking for anything useful."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the way his pupils constricted and the fine muscles in his arm tensed. Her Sharingan made her an expert at picking out lies. "You haven't brought anything home in a while," she pointed out.

His eyes narrowed when he met her gaze. "Spit it out Sakura."

She didn't hesitate. "What are you hiding from me?"

He changed immediately, eyes softening, pinched face relaxing, and by habit, smoothed over his hair. Kakashi looked relieved and it annoyed her. He shocked her further by standing up from the table and walking away.

"Kakashi-"

"Give me a second."

She closed her mouth and sat as content as possible while watching him dig through his meagre possessions. He kept his ANBU uniform packed away, another item they were able to salvage, and also meant he had purposefully hidden away something in a place she would never deign to snoop. He finally pulled out a scroll and rejoined her at the table.

Sakura waited for him to explain the scroll and his odd behaviour. He quietly unravelled the aged paper and slid it across for her to read. Her eyes strained to read the well-faded print even with the Sharingan but the indents on the paper itself helped her identify the characters. The wax stamp declaring it a forbidden jutsu was in perfect condition on the page.

"This is from the Hokage's archive," she stated.

Kakashi nodded. "It was buried under most of the Hokage tower. I had to use the dogs to sniff out the mouldy pages."

Her fingers skimmed the vertical lines that detailed a very complicated jutsu that required the Sharingan to activate. A large amount of chakra and a seal using Kamui were all part of the process. Not only that, something important was outlined at the end but faded beyond recognition.

She squinted her eyes hoping to make it out. "What jutsu is this?"

"At first I didn't know. It wasn't until I unearthed more of the forbidden archives room that I found a second document to go with this one. It was more recent too," he provided her another paper. "This explains everything."

Sakura took the sheet in her hands and after a cursory glance her entire body froze.

There was no mistaking the words on the page, it was written large and bold along the side: Fragmented Time Jutsu.

There were lines and lines detailing the use of the jutsu but Sakura couldn't tear her eyes from the name. The Sharingan and Kamui and time and forbidden only meant one thing. Sakura's heart started to race.

She let the paper fall to the table. "This can't be real."

"It is. I checked with every other source of material in the archive and it all points to it being one thing."

"But…but it's ridiculous. Change time? Rewrite history? No jutsu is capable of that," she laughed it off and pushed away from the table. Her appetite was gone.

Sakura moved into the kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of water. Kakashi silently followed her.

He crossed his arms as she took small sips in an effort to avoid him. She refused to look at him and see that terrible thing in his eye because seeing him with it was worse than her feeling it.

"It's real Sakura," he insisted. "If we could perform the jutsu then we could change all of this," he gestured around with his hand. "We could go back to the Kyuubi attack or the Uchiha massacre. We could prevent the destruction of Konoha."

There it was again only it consumed his entire body this time. That stupid thing called hope. His face said it all and the fact that he hid this for god knows how long proved he thought the jutsu was legitimate. Sakura remained silent and could hardly meet his eyes.

What would it mean to change their history? She thought about it every single day. All the what-ifs plagued her, as she was sure it plagued him. What if war hadn't broken out? Then all of the people she grew up with would still be alive and she wouldn't exist day to day in an old cabin in the woods outside of where Konoha once stood.

That might be thinking too small.

If a time travelling jutsu existed then she could go all the way back and like Kakashi said, they could prevent the Kyuubi attack and Naruto's parents wouldn't have died. Or stop Itachi from murdering his clan and save Sasuke from a life focused solely on revenge.

She knew Kakashi was waiting for her response or at least some reaction besides the stony exterior she presented. She breathed deeply to erase the jarring thoughts in her mind. Instead, she focused on one lingering question.

"What if it doesn't work?"

Kakashi smiled in spite of the tension between them, "We have to at least try. We owe the dead that."

Her stomach did a nervous backflip at his words and a new type of fear settled deep in her gut. The battle was over before it even began.

"Let's try then."

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-X-

A/N: The plot thickens like good soup.