You know what I don't own? A successful manga like Naruto
-RB-
"Sakura! Hurry up, your breakfast is getting cold!" A voice woke her with a start. Sakura shot up out of her bed, reaching for a kunai that wasn't there, chest heaving in panic. She glanced around hurriedly, wondering where she was. The room seemed vaguely familiar, and she frowned before letting out a sigh. She went to glance out of the window and tripped when she hit the ground far too late. She then noticed that the room she was in was built for a giant, as the window was at her chest level and the bed reached her ribs. She looked down at her hands and noticed how small and uncallused they were.
"What the fuck?" She whispered, and the door opened. She turned to see a woman she hadn't seen in years. A middle-aged woman with blonde hair was standing in the door, smiling at her with compassion and love. Sakura stared at the woman as she spoke.
"Honey, you aren't even dressed yet! You are going to be late for your first day!" The woman said again, and Sakura nodded slowly, and watched as the woman walked away. Sakura ran clumsily over to the mirror, not used to the body she was in. She stared into the mirror.
"What the fuck?" She said, significantly louder this time.
"HARUNO SAKURA! YOU WILL WATCH YOUR MOUTH WHILE UNDER MY ROOF!" A male voice yelled from the next room. Sakura 'eeped' and shook her head.
In the mirror was a young girl, with short pink hair, bright green eyes, and typical children's pajamas. Her hair was in her face, trying, in vain, to hide an abnormally large forehead. Sakura was now in her six year old body, and she didn't know why. She stared into the mirror as she lifted her hands and clenched her tiny fists. She was six once more. No war, no dead friends, no running away. No... Naruto.
Her hands shot to the Tiger seal, and she attempted to channel chakra. It came slow and sluggishly at first, as though her body wasn't used to using the energy. She fluctuated it wildly.
"Kai!" She said quietly, and nothing happened. She had somewhat expected the world to waver and to be back with what was left of her friends, fighting the war. She clenched her fist once more. If she had truly thrown into the past, then this was the perfect opportunity to change things. She smiled slightly. She could save everyone. Sakura turned to her dresser and grabbed her school clothes, the ones she remembered from so long ago.
She glanced around the room. It was familiar, mostly, but for the large amount of plants that were around. Most of them were flowers in pots, but there was a small bonsai tree on her desk. The flowers on the plants in the pots were brighter and more vibrant than any she had ever seen, and the bonsai tree was perfectly trimmed. She didn't remember having large amounts of plants in her room, but then again, it had been thirteen years since this moment. Maybe she had outgrown them after joining the academy.
She threw on her clothes and ran down the stairs, almost tripping down them at one point. Her mother, the blonde woman, smiled at her as she came down.
"Careful, Sakura! Wouldn't want you to get hurt on your first day!" Her mother chided, and Sakura blushed slightly. She grabbed a plate of egg rice and dumplings, and sat at the table, pouring a glass of orange juice. Her mother raised a brow. Sakura grinned at the woman.
"I'm a growing girl! Besides, don't shinobi use more energy than normal people? I need to eat." She spouted, and her mother grinned.
"You know, at first, I was afraid you were becoming a shinobi for the wrong reasons, but I am glad to see you are taking it seriously!" Her mother lauded. Sakura grinned and wolfed her food down. Her mother admonished her on her manners, but couldn't truly be angry. Sakura had been talking about diets and Sasuke, and suddenly she was eating copious amounts of food and talking about shinobi's need for energy.
"Yes. You have a lot of responsibility to uphold, Sakura-chan. I'm glad you are going to take this seriously," a man's voice sounded out from behind the newspaper to her right. She turned to see her father, red-haired and smiling. His hair was a bit redder than she remembered, almost matching Karin's in color, but she thought nothing of it. Perhaps his hair faded with age. She noticed he seemed to have stress lines on his forehead already, and he had slight bags under his eyes. She wondered what he meant by responsibility, but figured he meant the burden of protecting the village.
"Anyway. Sakura! What was that language I heard this morning?" Her father's smile disappeared into a frown she had rarely seen in her past life. She molded her face into one of being ashamed.
"Oh, sorry, Dad. I heard it out on the playground and couldn't find my ribbon this morning." She said sheepishly. Her father glared at her for a moment before relenting, sipping his coffee.
"Oh, very well. I'll let you off with a warning, but no more foul language in my house, young lady!" He said sternly, although a smile threatened to break out on his face. Sakura giggled and hugged her father.
"Of course, Daddy, anything for you!" She said, happy to have her parents back. She felt her heart bounce in elation. It had been years since she had seen her parents. Her father laughed and she giggled again, and finished her meal.
"Do you need me to walk you there, Sakura?" Her mother asked. Sakura shook her head.
"No, Mom. I know where it is. It'd be embarrassing to have my parents show up on the first day!" She said, a small whine in her voice. Her mother just shook her head and shooed her away. Sakura ran out the door, travelling a familiar path to a building she had not seen in years.
Looking back, she noticed her house seemed bigger. That wasn't something that could be misremembered, her house was definitely larger than she remembered. A lot larger, almost the size of clan compound. Had she gone back in time or translated dimensions? This was something she would have to look into.
-RB-
The Konoha Shinobi Academy, while an impressive building, was only so because it was built onto the side of the Hokage's tower. This may have been for convenience, or it may have been for an intimidation factor, to make students behave. Sakura had never been sure, but it didn't matter much now. She grinned as she watched all the students come in, most being escorted by their parents. And then, she saw him.
A little blonde boy was standing next to the tree with the swing in it, staring sadly at the parents and children. Sakura watched him sadly for a few moments before deciding to approach him. As she walked up to him, he seemed to tense up a little.
"Hiya! What are you doing over here by yourself?" She asked cheerfully. The boy looked at her with his sapphire blue eyes in awe. She saw recognition in his eyes as well, and wondered if he knew her already.
"Ano... I don't... have any parents," he muttered, and Sakura nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. You want to be friends?" She asked earnestly, pulling out every stop in her acting ability to try to seem the six year old. His eyes went wide and he began to stammer.
"Y-you want to be friends with me?" He asked, and Sakura grinned.
"Of course! You have those cute little whisker marks, I couldn't resist asking!" She said, grabbing his hand. His eyes went wider, if possible, and a slight blush appeared on his face. She almost swooned on how cute he was. "What's your name?" She asked cheerily. He smiled, and she could have sworn the sun shined behind his smile.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," He said in his grin. Sakura nodded.
"Haruno Sakura! Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun!"
In the class, Sakura spotted the other boy she had been looking for. A raven-haired boy with onyx eyes sat in the corner, by himself. Sakura pulled Naruto behind her and walked up to him.
"Hi! Can I sit next to you?" She asked, and the boy glanced at her before shrugged and gesturing to the seat. Sakura grinned and sat down next to the boy, sitting Naruto next to her. She turned back to the boy. "My name is Haruno Sakura! What's yours?" She asked in a bubbly voice. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, surprised at her forwardness, perhaps. She didn't think there was a reason for him to be surprised at her friendliness, for Sasuke in the last timeline hadn't known her until they had met in class.
"Uchiha Sasuke, nice to meet you," he said quietly, and Sakura smiled. Kid Sasuke was so adorable!
"Do you want to be friends?" She asked, and he glanced at her for a few seconds, as if trying to read her, before shrugging again.
"Why not?" he muttered, and Sakura inwardly did a victory fist-pump.
"This is Naruto! He's my friend too!" She introduced, and Naruto waved shyly. Sasuke nodded to him, and Sakura knew that things were on track already. She noticed that Ino was not sitting anywhere near her, as to be expected, although she couldn't remember if it was just before or just after the Academy started that they became friends initially.
Others began to sit and Sakura recognized all of them from her original time through, even if it had been almost ten years since she has last been in the academy. The instructor came in soon after everyone filed in, and Sakura remembered him to be the instructor before Iruka filled the position. This instructor, Akamoya, hadn't liked Naruto much, but Sakura had solutions for that.
"Welcome to the Shinobi Academy. Here, you will learn all the basics you need to be a genin level shinobi. The life of a shinobi is not easy. You will have to do things you do not want to do more often than you want, and it will push you harder than anything you can imagine. Some of you may die in the future, but I will guarantee you that, even if you do die, you will die for your village and be honored as a hero. Heck, for all we know, the next Hokage could be in this room as we speak!" The man finished his speech, and Sakura grinned as she glanced at Naruto.
Oh, he is. She thought. With that, the man did an introductory part of class, in alphabetical order. Most of the introductions were simple. Who are you, what is your favorite hobby, and why did you join the academy?
"Aburame Shino. I like looking at insects. I joined the academy to follow in my father's footsteps,"
"I'm Akimichi Chouji! I like collecting potato chip bags! I joined the academy to be like my dad!"
"My name is Haruno Sakura! My hobby is learning new things! I joined the academy to protect my loved ones!" Sakura said with a passion.
"M-my name is H-hyuuga H-hinata. I l-like making m-medicine. I-I joined the a-academy b-because my f-father required i-it."
"I'm Inuzaka Kiba! I like playing with puppies! I joined the academy to kick major butt and be an awesome shinobi!"
"Nara Shikamaru. I like watching clouds and napping. I joined the academy because my mother made me."
"Uchiha Sasuke. I like training with my older brother. I joined the academy to be a shinobi like him." Sasuke was blunt and quiet as ever. Naruto stood on his desk, gathering his courage.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it, because I'm gonna be Hokage!" He yelled, and the class laughed at his dreams, but Sakura didn't. She would support him all the way, because she couldn't think of anyone who deserved their dream more than Naruto.
"I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like doing my hair and stuff. I became a shinobi to be like my daddy."
Sakura nodded. Pretty standard introductions as per what she knew about them at this age. She was hoping to make changes to some of them early so they could reach their full potential even better. Akamoya stood and gestured outside.
"Some of you may have experience already, having shinobi for parents or being a part of a clan. Let's head outside to do an initial test of your skills." He said, and the class filed outside.
"We are going to do one on one spars, taijutsu only. Most of you can't use chakra, so jutsus aren't a factor as of yet," Sakura snorted at this. Sasuke could nearly do the fireball technique and she, herself, even with her lack luster chakra reserves, could probably pull of a clone jutsu or a henge. Most of the battles were severely one-sided, since the clan children had much more experience in shinobi arts than the regular kids. A couple of clan kids fought, such as Chouji vs Kiba, in which Chouji's larger frame had proved to be the deciding factor. Ino and Shino fought as well, although it largely was even. Shino's clans lack of taijutsu use causes his downfall.
"Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata," Sakura frowned at this. Hinata had been the dominating kunoichi for taijutsu the entirety of the academy, and while Sakura was much more experienced and knew more taijutsu than the clan heiress, she was also stuck in a small, slow body that lacked power. She didn't know if she could win this. If she remembered from last time, she had lost quickly. Hinata, strangely enough, looked worried.
Hinata's inital attacks were cautious, and it gave Sakura enough time to measure out her reflexes versus her reaction speed. She was so slow, it killed her on the inside. Sakura frowned a bit. She may have been slow, but this wasn't the speed of some untrained civilian kid that she was using to dodge Hinata's strike. She had had some training before, something she knew for a fact that she hadn't had in the previous world. While Hinata did not manage to land a blow, even after she got serious, Sakura had to work for her victory.
Hinata's form was nearly perfect, each blow coming in at precise angles that did not allow for counter attack, but Sakura was experienced in these things. She had actually spent a lot of time with Neji and Hinata in the previous timeline, and was pretty experienced with the basic Juken style. She saw the slight over-extension that Hinata made as she went through her upward strike, and the second time it came around, Sakura took advantage of it. She ducked forward, barely dodging the blow, and unleashed a powerful haymaker into Hinata's cheek. She didn't want to hurt the girl, but this was the shinobi world, and she figured she could get the Hyuuga to treat it more seriously if she knew what she was in for.
Sakura wondered how she was decent at taijutsu already. In her previous life, as much as it shamed her to admit, she had only mastered the academy style because she thought it would impress Sasuke, and that wasn't until at least third year. Hinata stumbled back onto the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. Akamoya called the match, and Sakura smiled and walked up to HInata.
"Good match! You are very good at the Jyuken!" Sakura complimented Hinata, and the smaller girl smiled through her tears and accepted Sakura's offer to help her to her feet. Next up, though, was Naruto vs Sasuke, and Sakura knew that Naruto had been thoroughly trounced during their first battle.
Sasuke charged in, his Uchiha interceptor style showing through already, Naruto barely dodged the first punch, and sheer dumb luck caused his feet to entangle to roll underneath the follow-up kick. However, something changed in that instant. When Naruto stood, the look in his eyes was different.
Sasuke noticed as well, because he faltered through a punch, and Naruto spun around the blow with startling ease. He unleashed three strong blows into Sasuke's chest in quick succession, something that caught Sakura's attention. His style looked like Frog Kata. If Sakura wasn't sure that this Naruto was not her Naruto, she would have sworn this was the same blonde from her time period. Naruto finished up with a haymaker to the jaw of Sasuke, causing the Uchiha to slump to the ground, perfectly unconscious.
There was no doubt about it. Something of her Naruto was inside of this Naruto. Was she not the only one to come back? The stern look in Naruto's eyes broke and he looked frightened for a few moments before taking off. Sakura could only watch as he left, and she knew where he was going. She would find him later. She had to contemplate the actions of what had just happened.
As she watched Naruto leave, a piercing pain rang through her head, almost as if she had been struck. She fell to her knees, the pain intensifying by the second. It felt as though she was being struck by lightning and then run over by a horse, all pushed into a point inside her head. The pain was so all consuming that she felt her vision go dark as she screamed involuntarily, and she knew nothing else.
-RB-
Cover art by Vashperado
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Next time
"I know things, Danzo. There are other powers at work besides the other villages. You think the Kyuubi attack was caused by an Uchiha. You were right, but not one loyal to the village. He is an Uchiha thought to be dead for a long time. You don't need to know more, but just know that the Uchiha in this village are free of at least that crime." She told him, and Danzo frowned. An Uchiha thought dead? Which one?
"And if I don't agree to this term?" The kunoichi laughed. It was a chilling sound, not one of happiness, but it left Danzo thinking he had little other choice.
"If you don't agree, I reveal to the Uchiha your plan. I reveal to the world the existence of ROOT. I reveal to the world that you have already stolen Uchiha Shisui's eye."
