The Land of Waves mission went almost exactly as it had the first time around. There was a puddle on the ground despite there not being any rain, Zabuza attacked and Haku pretended to be a hunter-nin, and they did chakra control exercises.

While the boys were much better at climbing up surfaces, they still needed to practice for a few hours before they both got it down. Sakura, having mastered it at this point, spent her time trying to sending chakra-filled punches into nearby trees. She managed to break three relatively thick ones after a few hits.

"You're getting better at that," Kakashi observed, looking up from his book. "What gave you the idea?"

"Well, we use chakra to stick to the trees," Sakura started to explain, looking back at the boys. "Sasuke-kun releases too much chakra which ultimately breaks the bark and leaves an indent. And he did that on accident. I thought, by doing it on purpose and controlling the chakra just before impact, I could strengthen my punches."

"But your punches are already ridiculously strong!" Naruto chimed in, earning a shove from Sasuke who told him to 'Focus' on their tree climbing so they could move on from the exercise.

"Well, it's not just a theory," Kakashi told her, closing the book and walking towards the tree. "I know a woman who can break mountains with a single punch by doing exactly what you're teaching yourself. She's one of the legendary Sannin from the 2nd Great Shinobi War: Senju Tsunade."

"You mean the famous medical ninja?" Sakura's eyes widened, and though she knew all of this, she kept up the pretense of excitement.

Actually, she was excited. She missed her master dearly in this life and she knew she would have to wait until after the Chūnin exams to request the woman to train her. Again.

"You've heard of her," Kakashi commended and looked up when Sasuke scoffed.

"Sakura talked about her for hours last night, Kakashi," Sasuke told him. "You were too busy reading porn to listen to her ramble about that lady and a poison expert from Suna."

"Tsunade-sama supposedly created antidotes for every poison concocted by Chiyo-san," Sakura defended quickly, while Kakashi raised a lone eyebrow.

"Sakura's interested in becoming a medical ninja," Sasuke stated, before turning back to run up the tree when Naruto very proudly announced that he had caught up to the Uchiha's marks.

"A medical ninja," Kakashi echoed, his attention suddenly very distant and that's when Sakura remembered that his old teammate had been the healer on his genin team.

Kakashi never spoke of the girl, but Sakura heard her name in passing a few times when she trained with Guy-sensei in her old life. Rin, if she remembered correctly.

"I'm going to stop by the hospital when we get home and see if there's anyone who could help me learn the basics," Sakura told her sensei, seeing his attention slowly return back to reality.

"Good idea, especially with your affinity with chakra control," Kakashi noted, before returning to his book.

And the rest of the mission went according to plan. The only difference this time around was the fact that Sakura managed to throw Haku off their game by making it seem as though her boys were more injured than they were. It had been enough to give her boys a slight edge.

Sasuke was a bit faster this time around, so he hadn't gotten totally skewered by senbon. But using the Shunshin took a bit more out of him and for a moment, it looked like Naruto wasn't going to be able to dodge Haku's attack.

Sasuke's Sharingan awakened in that moment.

Sakura knew that this entire mission changed a lot for her boys. And she knew she really couldn't fight in the way that was needed. This mission was all about forming bonds with each other the first time around.

And this time, they didn't need to form bonds. They were already close friends despite the recent self-imposed distance. But Sasuke had reawakened his Sharingan in her old life. Naruto saw Sasuke in a new light.

Sasuke had now awakened his Sharingan for the first time in this new life. And Naruto realized the actual extent Sasuke cared for him. They were brothers. And Sakura would never take away this bonding moment for them. It ensured no one, not even themselves, could sever their bond.

And it seemed, just like her old life, Naruto and Sasuke were determined to keep her away from harm. Sasuke had still appeared in front of her and they both refused to let her step away from Tazuna to help them this time around.

Sakura had been useless when she first lived this mission. And while she was still tasked with protecting Tazuna, she managed to help a bit without stepping into the battle. Genjutsu was not a forward attack and it would be a while before Sakura relied on taijutsu and brute strength.

But she managed to keep Haku from nearly killing Sasuke. And she could call that a win, even if no one knew that was supposed to happen.

The bridge was still called The Great Naruto Bridge. And the village still showed up. All was the way it should be.

Just without Sasuke nearly dying and Sakura being totally useless.

When they journeyed back home, Sakura was pleased with herself. Time travel was incredibly tricky. And she couldn't alter events too much. She already had to deal with the newfound problems stemming from her meddling in stopping the Uchiha massacre.

Or well, Naruto's meddling. And she was desperately hoping the huge change wouldn't have dire consequences. Time would tell.


Sakura was turning 13. Their Chūnin exams were only a few weeks away at this point. And Sakura was utterly anxious.

Orochimaru had an entire clan to choose from, if he wanted the Sharingan. Of course, almost every single person with an awakened Sharingan was a part of the police force, besides a handful still too young or a part of other organizations (like the ANBU in Itachi and Shisui's case).

And if Orochimaru wanted a strong, evolved Sharingan, he'd go after Shisui. But Shisui was famous for his body flicker and Sakura doubted Orochimaru would waste his efforts on someone no one could catch.

Itachi had yet to develop the Mangekyo Sharingan and though Sakura wasn't entirely sure, she suspected Fugaku had it.

And so, Sakura doubted Orochimaru would waste his efforts on any of the older Uchiha. But he'd still want a body with strong blood ties to the Kekkei Genkai.

Which ultimately left Sasuke as the prime target.

And since Sakura was desperately trying to figure out what Orochimaru would do in this timeline, she hadn't noticed her two teammates appearing in front of her table at the library.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, breaking her out of her thoughts. She looked up, seeing her two boys looking at her expectantly.

"Sakura-chan, c'mon, it's time for your birthday dinner!" Naruto exclaimed, earning a few shushes from the other people in the library.

"My birthday's not until tomorrow," She pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "The birthday dinner my mom is making you. Like we do every year."

"Oh, right," She remembered, the past few years coming back to her.

She was not in her old timeline. Her birthday was celebrated with the Uchiha family the night before and then again with her parents and Ino the day of. She knew this.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked, eyeing her as she fumbled with putting the books in her bag.

"Just distracted lately," She replied quickly, wondering if she could blame her recent position as a non-participating nurse as the reason her head has been in the clouds the past few weeks.

"Sakura-chan, you're always distracted nowadays," Naruto complained, taking the bag she held out to him. "Jeez, how many textbooks are in here? For strength training, we should just lug your bag all over Konoha."

"Haha," She replied in a dry tone, letting Sasuke take the book out of her hands when she stood up. With her hands, she dusted off her skirt.

Today was an off day, so she was in her civilian clothes. And it was the first day she realized that she never cut her hair. All these years, she let it grow, not bothering to cut it back to the length it had been during the war.

"The History of the 2nd Great Shinobi War?" He read the title aloud and gave her a look. "I thought you already read this."

"Cross referencing a few things," She waved him off, taking the book back and forced a smile. "Well? Let's go."

Dinner with the Uchiha's was always a fun time, mainly because Naruto forwent all traditions and made it a lively time. Fugaku was usually too busy at the police station to make it to dinners, but for tonight, it seemed he was free.

Mikoto absolutely refused Sakura's help when the time came around to start preparing the table. Instead, she enlisted all of the boys, leaving her alone with Fugaku.

Sakura didn't not like Sasuke's father. She wasn't his biggest fan from the tiny bits Sasuke's told her over the years. He was a strict man and practically impossible to please unless you were Itachi.

"Sakura, I've heard you're interested in becoming a medical ninja," He told her, setting his cup of tea onto the table.

She nodded. "Yes. I've been doing chakra control exercises for years now and it seemed only natural to apply that to a skill where it is of most use."

The man considered her words, crossing his arms before speaking again. "It's a difficult skill to learn. Very few are capable of it."

She knew that especially well. She was horrendous at medicinal ninjutsu for months when she first started learning. But determination did wonders. She learned that from Naruto.

"I've heard similar things from the med-nin at the hospital," She agreed. "But I don't intend to give up when I don't pick it up right away. I'm determined to utilize my skills in any way I can."

"That's right, you're interning at the hospital," He said, his expression growing more thoughtful. Sakura wasn't exactly sure how to take his tone, either. "Well, medical ninjutsu will be an impressive skill if you learn it."

Sakura supposed that would be the closest to a compliment she would get from the man so she merely smiled and let the conversation end. Sakura could handle Sasuke. She knew Sasuke.

His father, on the other hand? Perhaps a sorta uncomfortable silence was the best she could manage.

She reached for her cup of tea, pausing for a moment to stare at it with wide eyes as the china cracked. Small and shallow, so it didn't ruin the cup nor leak, but a bad omen nonetheless.

It remained silent for the rest of the time until everyone sat down and had dinner. Sakura gushed about the food, Naruto excitedly babbled about his training, and even Sasuke said a comment or two when Naruto got a little too loud. The two would then look at each other when Naruto totally blew a story out of proportion, one mixed with amusement and exasperation.

Itachi cracked a few smiles, Shisui teased the three over their missions, and Mikoto conversed with Sakura about her internship and the things she was currently studying. Everything felt okay. No, better than okay. Dinners like this reassured her that her choices so far did more good than not.

Sakura then wondered if everything would ultimately end in a catastrophe worse than the life she left. After all, the more you loved, the more you had to lose.

An explosion interrupted dessert. Sakura hated being right.

It wasn't in the compound itself-- no, it sounded a bit further away. But the shouting that suddenly broke through the stunned silence was nearby. Sakura looked to Shisui and Itachi, who were looking at each other before they both disappeared from their seats. Fugaku looked at the kids and then to his wife.

"Get them to the safe room," He told her, standing up and moving to get his gear.

"Be safe!" Mikoto called out, watching her husband disappear just as quickly as Itachi and Shisui did. Another explosion went off, this one much closer than the last.

"Come on," Mikoto ordered, her voice taking on a hard tone-- one Sakura rarely heard her use. "Time to get somewhere safe."

"But-" Sasuke started, looking at the spots where his brother and cousin were moments ago.

"You three are only genin," Mikoto reminded them all and the three looked at each other with frowns. "We don't know what's happening out there. You are the next generation. We can't have you all get killed for picking a fight you aren't prepared for. Let's go."

Mikoto rushed them out of the house, presumably to bring them to the safe room Fugaku talked about. As they got into the pathway, Sakura was shocked by the amount of smoke in the air. For a few moments, all of them were frozen as they took in the view. She turned to her left, and was taken aback when she realized where exactly it was coming from.

The police station. What was left of it was on fire or exuding the dark smoke. She heard the shouting and the clashing of metal coming from the area, and reached for her weapons pack when the sounds grew louder.

Sakura then cursed herself for wearing her civilian clothes today. She didn't have her weapons pack.

She then felt cool metal pressed into her hand. Her eyes went from the weapon to who it came from. Sasuke wasn't looking at her. He was staring at what was left of the police station with a hardened gaze.

"Sasuke-kun," She whispered, gaining his attention.

"An attack on the police station could mean one of two things," He stated. "An attack on Konoha as a whole. Or an attack on the Uchiha specifically. That's a precaution. Stay close."

"Right," She nodded numbly, moving forward when Mikoto ordered them to continue. They began to run.

The thing was, they didn't get very far when another explosion broke through the compound's wall. It must have detonated on the wall's outward side, because the blast was far too forceful than what it should have been. It knocked all four of them off course. Sakura had been the closest to the wall, unfortunately, and the blast send her flying backwards.

She screamed in pain when the force sent her sprawling on the ground. She felt rubble scraping at her skin and her head had hit the hard surface of the ground or a piece of the wall that had been blown off. Either way, it hurt like nothing in this life has hurt before, and she had to fight to stay conscious.

Sakura knew she couldn't perform medical ninjutsu like she could in her old life, not at this stage at least, so she had to bear the pain.

Suddenly, she felt a rather dark chakra signature appear on top of the roof near her. In her groggy state, she wondered if she was merely assigning the person the chakra signature of someone she hadn't seen since the beginning of the war in her old life. But she remembered it. There's no way she could forget.

And when she looked up, with an orange masked man looking at the chaos he had caused, her eyes snapped open.

"Obito?" She breathed out, fortunately low enough that no one could hear it when she realized her mistake.

No one knew Uchiha Obito was alive in this time. He had gone by the name Tobi and then Madara before he revealed his true identity to Kakashi the first day of the war.

Sakura pushed away the debris that ultimately landed on her when she fell and tried to pinpoint the others. Naruto was easy enough to find, he was already in a standing position and looking wildly around. It looked like Mikoto and Sasuke were okay too, on the opposite side of the rubble.

Relief was soon replaced with fear as she felt the gaze of an enemy she hoped she would never meet in this life land on her.

When she looked up, she stared at the bottom of his mask. She knew she couldn't afford to look up any farther.

Shisui was teaching her how to break out of genjutsus cast by a lower level Sharingan. But this was Obito. His was not a lower level one. She couldn't risk being placed in a genjutsu, it would make her a liability.

"Oh?" He said, his voice causing her to cringe. It brought back too many memories. "You aren't an Uchiha. Good for you."

Somewhere, she heard her name being yelled out. It was terribly worried and completely unlike any tone she ever paired with Sasuke. It was desperate and afraid.

Sakura felt like ages had gone by while she had Obito's attention. He obviously didn't recognize her-- or did he?-- but the overwhelming fear and anxiety she only experienced during the war overwhelmed her. She felt like the teenage girl who saw death everyday for months. Not the little girl that was shy a single day from even being considered a teen.

Sakura felt someone appear beside her, his hands gently supporting her back and the underside of her knees as he lifted her off the ground. Sakura gasped in surprise, before the intake of breath turned into violent coughs as smoke made its way into her system.

"I've got you, imouto," Shisui assured her, and she gladly relaxed into his arms.

Sakura felt as though this was the beginning of the downfall in this life. Undoubtedly delayed, but inevitable. She didn't get to agonize over the time line; the world went dark around her as Shisui stood up straight.


"Sakura!" Sasuke screamed, not even noticing the way his mother was looking at him.

Sakura had been thrown back the opposite way the rest of them had been. And he had told her to stay close.

She looked relatively unharmed, the extent of her injuries most likely sustained from where she landed than the explosion itself. He should be glad about that.

But that's when Sasuke noticed what she was staring at, or better yet, who she was staring at. It was a man wearing a dark cloak with his face covered by an orange mask. And Sasuke didn't have to be a sensor-nin to know the absolute hatred emanating off the man.

Whoever he was, he was no friend to the Uchiha.

So he screamed her name when he saw the man's attention turn to her. She had pink hair, it was inevitable the guy would notice her. But this was different. He had cocked his head to the side and Sasuke thought he heard him say something to her.

His breath felt like it had been punched out of him and he was distantly aware that his Sharingan activated.

He tried to rush to her side, to get her out of there because for whatever reason, she wasn't making a single move to flee. Sasuke knew she was stubborn and wanted to show everyone that she could fight alongside him and Naruto, but this was not the place for her to be stubborn. He hated admitting it, but everything happening felt entirely out of their league.

But his brother appeared behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Sasuke started to protest and even went so far as to brush off his brother's hand, before Itachi nodded towards Sakura.

"Shisui has her," Itachi said, before helping their mother regain her balance. Sasuke watched as his cousin picked Sakura up, glared at the man on the roof, and promptly disappeared without a trace.

"When-"

"We heard you scream Sakura's name," Itachi answered quietly, gathering them together and swept them all away from the chaos.

"That man-" Sasuke continued as soon as they landed back on the ground. "He said something to Sakura. I-I couldn't hear what he said but I'm sure he did. Who was he?"

"I do not know," Itachi answered, his lips pulled down into a frown as he looked at his little brother. "You have two tomoe."

"What?" Sasuke asked, before his brother raised a hand and gently poked the skin underneath his eye.

"It's not surprising with what's occurred tonight," Itachi explained, dropping his hand and looking at his mother. "The police station was destroyed. No one inside could have survived."

Mikoto blanched at her son's words. "Was Izumi-chan-"

"She's on a mission outside of the village," Itachi assured his mother. "Father is trying to control the chaos. I must go back."

"Where did Shisui-nii-chan take Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked the older Uchiha before he had a chance to disappear. Sasuke took that moment to process the fact that they were in on of the Uchiha safe rooms. No one else was in it, however.

"He might have taken her to the hospital," His brother answered. "Though, I do not know that for a fact. She could be in a different safe room. Wait here until someone comes to collect you."

His brother left without saying anything else and Sasuke's hands clenched themselves tightly.

Sasuke thought he was a strong ninja. He was the number one rookie of their year and a proud Uchiha. But an actually strong ninja wouldn't have to run or hide away when disaster struck. And Sasuke wasn't even strong enough to keep Sakura by his side nor get to her in time before Shisui came and got her.

Sasuke was both thankful and resentful of his cousin. On one hand, no one was faster than Shisui. Sakura was safe. But on the other, Sakura needed someone fast enough to come and get her out of that man's sight. And Sasuke was not that person.

Sasuke stewed in his own self-hatred for being weak until Itachi came back to get them early the next morning. And when the compound came into view, with half of the buildings burned down or partially destroyed, Sasuke made a vow to never be weak again.