"Heh, so this is how I'm going to die..."

Sakura Haruno was at the centre of the massive crater that she was thrown into after successfully diverting the crazy situation of the supposedly deadly duel from her teammates. There was an aching sight of her stomach and heart impaled by her teammates. She thought as she was uselessly sitting, watching the scene unfold. Let's stop it. Let's stop them from killing each other. It was a death wish really.

The blue lights flashed on her face; her eyes sparkled from it. Her back faced Naruto, knowing the shock on his face but was surprised to see Sasuke try to pull his hand back.

But it was too late. Her flesh was ripped and echoed in the air and she was flung across the ditch. She wanted to know how she got here. Maybe the impact from their arms literally pushed her out of the way. She could see the boys running towards her.

"...this sure is…a new sight for m-me…"

She tasted the metal, the rise of blood flooding her throat. She knew, with the toll of chakra in all of them, it's not enough. Naruto held her hand tightly against his chest. She looked towards Sasuke, with his mouth formed in a deep frown. For a moment, Sakura thought the Sasuke she was looking at was the same one that left her that night. It was such a funny sight that she chuckled, causing blood to pour out of her like a river. Sasuke tries to say something, she thought. Naruto still tries to hold on to Sakura but shakes her head. It's not enough.

She tearfully smiled, "I'm…I'm really tired."

She was scared, really.

Thrown into a fit of violent coughs had all of them flinching. Her lungs were failing. Shit, she thought. I am going to die.

She slithered one of her free hands to find Sasuke's and held both of their hands.

I don't want to be alone. Her body heat was getting lower and lower.

"...I hope…that-"

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"..was…it…?"

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.

She couldn't really feel it, but she knew Sasuke was holding her hand as well.

"... was it enough?"


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She was floating on a thin sheet of paper. Like it was touching her but barely enough to notice, but she knew. She knew it was there. The thing was that her eyes were not open, nor could she move. Was this the unknown? Wrapped in her thoughts again, she felt a force grab her entire being and fly. She screamed as fear drilled in, and her body was finally letting her move. She brought her arms in front of her face as she imagined hitting something hard. But was instead wrapped in arms.

Arms? She thought.

She tried to force whoever was touching her to move, but it was so familiar. The smell smelt like roses.

"Sakura."

Sakura lifts her head slowly, her eyes still closed.

"Sakura."

Two voices that sounded so familiar. Slowly opens her eyes.

"Sakura"

Her lips start to tremble, her eyes weakening just as she grasps that shirt. The heartbeat she could never forget when she was a baby.

"...Sakura."

Those voices, how could she ever forget those voices that made her feel so safe, so warm, so loved. Sakura cried like a baby. Her mother kissed all over her face, her father wrapped his arms around her. They all started to cry,

"I thought I would never see you again."

She hugged her mother back and held on tight, never wanting to let go.

"Sakura, as much as I want to steal you away. You're not ready yet."

Confused, she looked at her parents as they smiled sadly at her. She asked, "W-what?"

She then could feel that thin piece of paper wrapping around her body, pulling her away. She panicked, holding onto her arms as she felt the force push her back. She looked at their faces, smiling with tears falling,

"Wait..wait!"

Her mother and father held onto her hands as she was lifted and felt the slip and struggle of her hands trying to grip them both.

"No, I don't want to go!"

"We want you to know that we are so proud of you Sakura. And that no matter what happens, when you are ready… We will be here waiting for you."

Screaming and thrashing her way out was doing nothing. She was confused. She was sad at this small moment. She was angry at whoever was doing this to her. She starts to cry even harder in frustration as her fingers slip from her parents. No time to have a moment to understand.

PLEASE! She tried to say.

"No matter, wherever you go. Know that we will always love you!"

Her parents holding each other, watched her leave further and further. She could see them getting smaller and smaller. No matter how loud, how long her screams were, they could never be heard. She felt that her heart shattered into a million pieces.

Time? Why was the word in her mind?

The colours surrounded her body and reformed her soul like she was set on fire. Blue, Orange, Red, Yellow, colours she could only imagine. From afar, she could see herself in a mirror-like place, where she saw her body emit a strong aura that surrounded her entire physical being. Her hair moved in gravity and her eyes toned in the most mystical green. Instantly, it felt like someone was carving with a knife on her forehead and buckled in pain. Only to glimpse at the mirrors, where the Kanji sign of Time was inked.

And just like that. The colours exploded. There, versions of herself lept. As a child, a toddler, a teenager. When she died. They all looked back to her, emotionless. Her mind was about to explode. What was going on? Why was this happening to her? Was she dead? Was she supposed to be with her parents right now?

"You are now a story; a myth

For you have a mission to rearrange.

The story you create now, is or with

Success or Change.

a brighter future is what you atone for.

Given this as your chance, you are given only one.

you cannot ask for more.

But since you died by the hands of the Moon and Sun

What has been lost needs to be redone.

Create difference and you will see

For you and I,

her and she

Will only become

the only true me."

They all lept back into her chest; the colours dropped like rain. From there, she began to feel herself float up and her heart beating loudly in her ears. All the emotions she felt; were coming like waves crashing in her. Heartache. Happiness. Sadness. Joy. Rage.

Bloodlust.

And just like that, she woke up.


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"Damn it Sensei. Why did we take on this mission when there's nothing to do but look after this old bag?"

"Old bag? For some genin, you sure are a little shit."

Minato was already tired. It had been one month since establishing this team. It had already made him feel like it had been years with the amount of drama these prepubescent teenagers create. It had already taken a toll on him when he found out that he was taking in the Hatake kid.

"Obito-kun. That's rude, you know?"

Ah, Rin Nohara. Sane and mature. He felt a wave of gratitude over him as he saw Obito scratch his head with embarrassment and quietly whispered an apology. That will shut him up until the next hour or so.

"Don't make the mission a hassle Obito."

"Don't pipe in when no one is talking to you, Bakakashi!"

"You sure do all the talking with that stupid mouth of yours, that's for sure."

"Y-you…just you wait…!"

Nevermind. Just… never mind.

"I'm very sorry Juuko-san", Minato apologises. Juuko merely waved her hand in the air. "I'm alright. Spending most of my life with my children and grandchildren was difficult. Surprisingly, you got a lot of patience with them. If it were me, I would have gotten my handy wooden spoon and beat the shit out of them."

"Ha..ha. That was funny, Juuko-san." Minato felt sweat drip from his eyebrow.

She looked at him with utmost seriousness. "I have a spare spoon, Sensei-san".


Rin held herself back from laughing at the sight. It has only been a week being a team. The mission was to escort the high priestess back to her home village. It was near the Tanzaku quarters, remembering hearing whispers from her father.

But rarely knew what the fuss was about. At least, it was in Konoha territory, so it made it safe. She thinks.

And, not far from the village was a plus. Rin glanced at the lone wolf of their team, ignoring remarks from the troublemaker. Rin always admired from afar and always wondered.

She wondered what caused her to have this…crush.

But she was very fortunate to be a part of the team. Kakashi glanced back. Blushing behind her hair, she walked a bit further up to where Sensei and Juuko-san were talking.

Embarrassing.


Obito saw her blush and huffed in annoyance. What was so good about that stupid scarecrow? He kicked some rocks along his path and stuffed his hands in his pockets to refrain himself from saying anything. He glanced at her in the front, staring hard at her head to just turn. To turn her head towards him.

Come on, he thought. Come on, come on, come on, look at me. Look at me!

He scratched his head, blushing at his own little antics. He knew that she would find him weird.

"...…"

He scoffed at Kakashi beside him and walked past, ignoring him. Stupid Kakashi, acting cool while doing nothing.

"Sensei…! Are we even there yet? Come on, this has got to be the most boring-". Before Obito could finish his rant, an explosion was heard from afar. All tensed at the sound of men yelling. Minato held his hand enclosed in a fist. His face became serious as his little genin went into formation.

"That's near my daughter's house." Juuko stuttered with worry.

Minato started to calculate a plan in his head. "Kakashi, Obito. You head towards the incident and make a report of what happened. Rin and I will go find a safer place- Obito! OBITO!"

Minato sighed as the boy ran off with his wits. He looked towards Kakashi and saw the boy clenching his hand. Gosh, these teenagers are going to be the death of him.

"Kakashi will catch up with Obito," Minato could feel a spike of chakra in the distance, unfamiliar. "And don't get too carried away. Scatter."


Kakashi had veins popping out as he jumped along with the trees, seeing Obito not that far. Stupid idiot, he thought.

It was their first fledged mission. Yet, the idiot wanted to run before listening to Sensei's commands without even knowing the consequences.

His thoughts stopped when he felt a deadly presence coming from the explosion and saw that even his idiotic teammate stopped in front. He jumped next to him and was about to say something before he saw the look of terror on his face. He felt the chakra again and looked down.

There were bodies of men scattered around a lone figure in red. The stench of blood was revolting. He looked in the surroundings. He focused on checking that there were no civilians nearby but felt two signatures. He searched and saw them behind some bushes. One of them was holding their arm. This seems like it was an attack. He saw the figure start to stalk towards the women and felt another sense of chakra spike up. There was someone else here. He saw the figure notice, with a flick of a wrist, they caught the kunai with its hands around the blade. He watched the blood dripping from it and saw them throw it to the ground and let their arm fall beside their side. Obito grimaced, slightly disgusted.

The other person jumped out of insight, both of the boys narrowed their eyes. Iwa

"Fucking bastard...you're gonna pay for killing my men!"

The figure tilted its head.

The Iwa shinobi unshelved their Katana and charged towards the figure. Kakashi thought that the person in red was about to dodge the attack and fight. But instead, the person stood there, with their head still tilted with no conscience. Kakashi, ready to pounce and report, stopped. They stabbed them. Sure, but the tip could not be seen on the other side. It was like the figure stopped it with their own body.

The Iwa shinobi was shocked, which made him let go of the handle when he was hit by an immense intensity of bloodlust and dropped to the ground, holding his throat. The boys could feel it just as well. Kakashi felt his hands tremble from the power and glanced towards Obito, his whole body shaking with fear.

The figure stalked towards the man on the ground, pulling the sword out, blood splattered everywhere. The man tried to crawl himself away, throwing profanity like holy water. The figure just grabbed his head and crushed their skull. The figure threw the dead man like a sack of potatoes with the rest of the dead bodies. This was no enemy. This was a monster. The figure then went back in the direction of the civilians. That is where Kakashi knew to step in.

Kunai prepped in his hand, he concealed his presence and was about to signal Obito to do the same only the next second felt like his stomach was on fire. It took him a second to take a breath as he was thrown a few feet back and landed upright on a tree. He faulted as he coughed from the impact and spat out blood. He looks up and sees the figure staring at him, only to realise it had the most peculiar eye colour; green. Obito was nowhere to be found.

Good. He thought. He was in the way either way.

Kakashi threw two kunai in their direction while jumping out of the way when the figure came whilst deflecting it. Hitting the ground, he turned quickly. In a split second, his eyes widened when a bloody fist took over his vision. He brought his arms up to defend himself, only to be pushed back by the blow. He skidded, flipping to catch his balance. He felt the figure flicker above him, only with its leg up in the air, ready to come down. He jumped out of the way while unshelving his Katon. He sent through his chakra and brought his arm back to strike. But his arm was grabbed, pulling towards them. He was about to get punched again. The grip was tight. He felt like his arm was about to break. He grimaced. Shit.

Waiting for the punch because of how quick it was coming, he felt the hesitation and saw the change of emotions in their eyes. Using this opportunity, he substituted himself with a log. Hiding within the trees, he tried to recollect his plans, only to be brought out of thought when he realised that Obito reappeared in front of the enemy. That idiot!

Obito was shivering from the sight he saw. Holding his kunai in his hand, he could not forget the image of how he saw the person in front of him crush a man with their bare hands. But he had to shake that feeling away because this was not how he wanted to be. He saw Kakashi fight, but here he was running away while trying to protect himself.

He glared at the person. "You're going down!"