Summary

There's something wrong with Inner. Sakura can tell that much, but she cannot afford to address it. Not while facing Zaku on the preliminary phase of the chuunin exams.

…

A.N: This is just a one-shot I've been writing for the past few months while reading tons of BAMF Sakura and Time Travel Sakura AUs. It may develop into a multichapter in the future, but that would require me to think how this changes things on a greater scale. Let me know if you think it's worth it. Also, I've tried to be realistic —as realistic as time travel prompts can be— but I wanted Sakura to kick some ass for a change, so this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

In a Lifetime

Berated, bruised, ugly, sweaty. That's how Sakura felt after leaving the goddamned Forest of Death. No amount of therapy was going to fix whatever derived from her experience in there. No amount of dango was going to make her forget about what had transpired in there. Because, if anything had been real, it was the fear. Pure, raw, unadulterated fear. It wasn't the first time she felt it, of course. Little Haruno Sakura was no stranger to fear. It hadn't been her first time experiencing it. It had happened before, when she was being bullied before meeting Ino, or while facing Zabuza. That kind of fear came from self-preservation, from the certainty that she was going to die or that others were doing her wrong.

This fear, however, was another matter entirely. Because she wasn't important, because they had been there specifically to retrieve Sasuke, and they had hurt Naruto. And she was just the lapdog. For all she knew, she could have stepped aside and save her neck, but…

"Those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash."

At that time, it looked as if she could hear Kakashi-sensei's voice in her mind and couldn't quite sake it. For the first time in her life, Sakura wasn't scared of what might happen to her, but of what was to happen to her teammates while depending on her. She was terrified for whatever that snake weirdo did to Sasuke and Naruto, for what was to happen if the sound ninja had their way. And so, she fought pathetically, with nothing but desperation, somehow forgetting what little she knew about being a ninja. Anyone with a sense of strategy would have levelled her as stupid and nothing else. She knew she had no possibility against three shinobi that clearly outclassed her, but it didn't matter at the time, because she wasn't thinking at all. Instead, she used her own body as bait, because it was just the only thing she felt she could do. It was kind of prosaic how she was beaten to a pulp, how they bruised what had mattered to her most until then: her body, her only possibility of appealing to Sasuke. Looking at it now, it seemed like a proper punishment to her stupidity.

Ironically, while she was being punched to death, with her teeth sank in Zaku's arm, she distantly recalled all the diets she had been through and how they would go to waste if Sasuke were to die there, or if her nose broke. What's a slim body with a horrendous face? Hilarious. Now, she thought bitterly, she had a huge forehead and a broken nose. Fitting. At least the swelling had receded.

"Stop it. Concentrate."

Then there was the matter of Inner. Ever since Sakura fought Zaku, Inner's voice sounded deeper, demanding. In the distant blur of her memories, she could pinpoint her voice when she was drifting between consciousness and blankness:

"Stand up! Come on, wake up! Or else, they're going to die. Don't you dare give up on them now!"

"But it hurts…"

"You have no idea how it will hurt when you wake up to find Naruto dead and Sasuke missing. If you're going to be like that, we might as well die here and now."

When she was standing up, nearly dragging herself out of her slumber, that's when the rest of the Rookie 9 arrived, and she somehow knew they were saved. Relief washed over her, but was short lived, as Sasuke woke up consumed by the seal, his own hatred flaring his skin. The sight of him alone terrified her, while Inner was more like fidgeting with desperation.

"Pay attention, damn it!"

She raised her head. There, in the board where matches were sorted, anyone could read:

Haruno Sakura vs. Abumi Zaku

Honestly, she felt like laughing. She had hoped she wouldn't have to face them again, but team 7's infamous luck was on her side today, so she should have seen it coming. When her name was called to the arena, she felt every single gaze on her, like a heavy weight on her shoulders. Naruto's, Sasuke's, Kakashi's and the entirety of the Rookie 9 at that. As if she could hear her thoughts already: "poor girl", "she's gonna lose", "she better forfeit".

Suddenly, a hand grasped her wrist. She turned around and saw blue oceans staring back at her worriedly. "Sakura-chan…"

"It's alright, Naruto. When this is over, let's go get some ramen, okay?" That seemed to do the trick, because he beamed at her like the ever-happy-go-lucky dork he was. "Yeah! Team 7's gonna pass today, Sakura-chan! Believe it!"

She nodded and landed one last glance at Sasuke who seemed oddly concerned. His brows were knitted together with worry and he was looking straight at her. He had been the one who regained consciousness first and thus the only one out of her two teammates who could have an idea of what had transpired between Zaku and her. Nevertheless, she smiled reassuringly and strode towards the arena without looking back.

"I think you need motivation."

"This battle is lost, Inner… I think I should forfeit."

"Well, it would give us time to interfere the day of the invasion…"

"What? Invasion? What invasion!?"

"I'll explain in due time. For now, just fight. Or do you want him getting to Sasuke? He attempted to kill you. He is a threat. Take this opportunity to end him."

"End him? But that's…"

"That's what shinobi do when someone threatens their loved ones. Is it not? Endure it, Sakura."

"Inner…"

"Now, for the basic rules. You're expected to fight until the other is incapacitated or dead. When I give the call the match will end, understood? It will be over with no exceptions. Anyone who keeps fighting after that will be severely punished. Any questions?" Silence. "Now then, begin!"

For a brief moment, Sakura crossed gazes with Zaku. The bastard had a self-satisfied grin plastered on his face. Frowning, she grabbed a kunai from her pouch and adopted an offensive position. She knew him already and was sure no amount of defense was going to help her with the sound currents that came from his palms. In a total amount of exactly three seconds, both of them rushed to the other.

"If you give him range, you're done for. Keep it close."

"But my taijutsu…"

"Who said anything about taijutsu?"

They engaged in close combat, Sakura using the kunai to try and pierce his skin while defending herself with her free forearm. That proved to be futile, for Zaku was both faster and stronger than her.

"I can't keep this up much longer… I should forfeit now."

"Listen up. Hit him with the back of the kunai to block his muscle response. Repeat with me: shins, collar bone, tiger's mouth, elbow."

"Wha…"

That few seconds were enough for Zaku to send her flying through the arena with a painful blow to her stomach, strengthened with the sound emanating off his hands. She tried to steel herself by stamping her ankles to the ground as she gripped her middle section for a while, gasping for air. On the back of her mind she recognized a few gasps coming from the rows, and a faint "Sakura-chan!" in the distance, but her ears were ringing and she might as well be imagining things.

"It's a pity they paired you up with me. Where you really hoping to pass the exam with that lame way of fighting?!" He laughed to his heart content, pointing at her, his head held high. "Is this what Konoha has to offer? Pathetic."

Sakura seethed under her breath, Inner tagging subconsciously at her memories.

"Shins, collar bone, tiger's mouth, elbow."

"I have another one that's much better."

"Larynx… Spine, lungs, liver, jugular, artery, kidney… Heart." She muttered under her breath, and couldn't help but think of Zabuza and Haku, how they had once mattered to one another. How they died, how Orochimaru wanted to hurt her precious ones. How he had scared Sasuke to the point of no return, how he had rendered Naruto unconscious, how he lured Sasuke out of the village, how Naruto had promised to retrieve him, how they learned of Itachi's affiliation to Akatsuki, how Team 7 went out of their way to retrieve whatever was left of Sasuke, how she lived afraid of his ex-teammate becoming a container to the snake freak, how a succession of actions had escalated to war, how she had lost everything she cared about and travelled back in time to retrieve it. How she had failed Kakashi-sensei.

It all started in the Forest of Death. Not only in this lifetime, but also in her previous one… Again, it has started in the Forest of Death… A lifetime hadn't been enough to atone for her lack of ability, for her negligence. A simple haircut and a pitiful fight hadn't changed anything back then, but she had managed to gain some strength, some advantage from all that senseless suffering. And it was all in her chakra, in the Byakugou seal, which had granted her another opportunity to redeem herself.

"So I'll be damned if things remain the same!!"

Zaku strode to her for the finishing blow, but stopped dead in his tracks, alarmed by a sudden spike of killing intent. A heart-piercing cry startled everyone in the audience and all eyes turned to the pink-haired weakling. Suddenly, Sakura raised in her frenzy state while screaming, and to the surprise of those present, a series of black, thick lines soared her body from a point in her forehead. Sakura felt her body burning, as if fire was tracing the skin and leaving her raw beneath the black ink.

In the back of her mind, somewhere in her past timeline, a woman with blond pigtails was dying on her hands, a content smile playing on her lips while drawing her last breath: "I'll leave the rest to you, Sakura. You carry my will now; my fire is within you. I know I can go now."

"Shishou…"

She lashed at Zaku at an unhuman speed, chakra pulsing through her feet. The source of her own chakra was far from depleting. In fact, it came out of her in waves of pure rage, as her killing intent blew up in a series of punches that left Zaku with no option but to dodge and cover himself. She was not pushing her chakra through them because, despite having regained forces from her past lifeline, she found herself struggling to put into practice what had been learned. She was concentrating it on her right arm, figuring out how the propulsion would flow smoothly from her fist to his core, but it was an unnatural process and Zaku was catching up with her put some distance between them and released the waves of wind from inside his hands full force, so Sakura had to reel back again. Without losing her concentration, she directed all the chakra she could muster again to her right arm, and without thinking much, she ran to him with a battle cry.

Zaku raised a kunai in the last possible moment, and Sakura having little time to dodge and wanting desperately to land her chakra-fueled punch, raised her left hand and intercepted the kunai with it. Fresh blood damped her forearms and fell to the ground as the knife went right through her palm. There was a fragment of a second, when Sakura saw the smile in Zaku's face, that her killing intent went wild, so she bit her lip hard, drawing blood and preventing any cry of pain. Zaku's smile despaired quickly as understanding dawned on him. Her punch landed on his collar bone, sending him to the other side of the arena and creating a hole on the wall.

It was then that Sakura notice the extent to what her genin body affected her abilities. While she had landed a decent punch, she had not controlled the propulsion of chakra well enough to avoid self-damage, and thus her bones had cracked inside her own flesh. She took the kunai impaling her left hand, painfully regretting her decisions and threw it away. Inmediately, her Byakugou shot a pulse of chakra that mended her bones and closed the gash of her other arm.

She stared amazed at her own hands, not yet accustomed to the feeling and yet thinking it was strangely familiar. Her memories were there and at some points they seemed surreal; but there regardless.

"Collar bone, done." She mused to herself while watching Zaku emerge from the debris. His arm had gone limp and was strangely turned to the side, as if it was a dead limb. She recalled a distant explanation from Tsunade:

"Listen, Sakura. While I teach you to land a punch properly, we're gonna work on chi-blocking." Tsunade pulled a book from her personal self and landed it on her lap. "If you hit with enough force these four points, it will block the nerves that link the muscle with the brain, and they will go numb for a short time."

"Like the Huuga do with chakra points?"

"Sort of. While chakra works on a deeper level, chi-blocking is more related to the nervous system and can be achieved in a shorter time. However, is less effective than chakra blocking and will only last for a while, but it will give you enough leisure to end the fight. These are the four points I was mentioning…" She pointed to a specific line on the book.

"Collar bone, tiger's mouth, above the elbow and… Shins." She shivered, imagining taking a blow to that part of her legs.

"You bitch!" His roar sounded hysterical, but it fueled Sakura's resolve. "What have you done to my fucking arm?!"

She didn't grant him with a response. Instead, she razed again towards him, fist raised.

"Oh no, you don't!" He shot her another current from his good arm (the one which was bandaged because of Sasuke's outburst in the forest), but she circled around it, so he braced himself for another punch, but it never came. Instead, he felt his right shin bone shattering under the force of a full-fledged kick. She was aware she was not following exactly the teachings of chi-bloking, because rather than poking the places with enough force, she was shattering them, but his cries of pain were absolutely worth it.

The force also disturbed his balance, so he fell to the ground on his knees, and before he could even think of sending another sound shot at her, she incapacitated his other arm with a jab to the skin on top of his elbow, blocking his conducts and rendering him useless.

"It seems I won't have to block the last point…"

"How… How can I lose to someone as pathetic as you?!"

She grabbed the last kunai remaining on her pouch. "You thought I was defenseless, and that's your weak point, actually. It seems gloating is the only thing that you're good at…" She tilted her head to the side. "Last chance. Will you leave Sasuke-kun alone? Or are you going after him again?"

His only answer was spitting to her toes.

"Thought so…" She raised her kunai, fully intending to stab him on the heart and leave him leaking his blood dry like a pig, however, a myriad of voices from the crowd prevented her from doing anything.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke, Naruto… They probably looked at her as if she was a monster. But it couldn't be helped, right? This wasn't her choice. She had travelled back in time to save them, to save herself… And Zaku, as harmless as he seemed, was just a piece in the chessboard that were the enemies she was to face. A simple pawn in a long bloody race, but meant to be killed regardless to avoid farther inconveniences. So, painfully aware of her teammates' gazes burning holes on the back of her neck, she grabbed Zaku's spiky hair and yanked his head forward to stab his cerebellum quickly with the kunai. Blood blurted out of him, spilling along the floor, and on her once lovely red dress. It shot out so furiously that in nothing but seconds there was a deep puddle of sticky crimson that showed her reflection like a mirror. She was muddy from the forest, her hair was a hot mess, damped by spots of red goo, and her hands were stained by blood, both hers and Zaku's. Her dress was torn, missing a few pieces, and as her Byakugou receded to a diamond shape on her forehead, she almost chucked. She looked like a monster, like having come from hell and back.

Perhaps that was exactly what had happened.

"The match's over. Winner is Haruno Sakura, from the Leaf." To that claim there was only deafening silence. She expected that much. None of them would have expected any bloodshed from her, and she hadn't expected it either until her Inner —aka future— self had shattered her memories with her own.

Despite it all, having eliminated a threat felt good, and as she gazed to the crowd, purposely avoiding the rest of Team 7's members, her gaze came to a halt when she encountered The Third's. Sarutobi had a hint of recognition and horror to his face that spoke volumes of what he was thinking. He might have seen Tsunade in her.

That's okay. She carried her shishou's Will of Fire now, and even if she had to become a monster, she might as well be the worst of them. The fiercest of them.

She would do it for her team.

Even if she had needed two lifetimes to realize the extent of her love for them.

A.N: So, a couple of things to mention. Firstly, Inner Sakura in this lifetime is Sakura Haruno from another lifetime BUT in that same lifetime Inner was just as we knew her. Sakura's time travel jutsu took advantage of the existence of Inner and the Byakugou to trespass her knowledge and abilities to Sakura when the time was right. On that note, there will be no longer an Inner, so to speak. From now on, it's only Sakura's thoughts. Secondly, I apologize for the fight and I hope I did it decently, because I am not accustomed to describing them as smoothly as I should. Lastly, if you liked it —or didn't—, leave a review; also, do not forget to mention whether you think this is worth continuing or not.

Rose-Colored Amy.