Chapter One: "Life is a Bunch of Explosives — You Never Know What Will Break You Down."

Sakura: "I just wanted to enjoy my yaoi and korean dramas in peace. What happened to me?"

—Said Every Heroine Ever "When You Have Super Strength, But Only Use it To Carry Your Yaoi Haul Home The Convention."

Sakura Haruno from previous life: I want to know what happened to me, too. When did I turn into a fujoshi?

Sarada: I'm not even in this story after this so I wanna know, too! Why is mom a pervert! GASP. Is that why she didn't mind Dad spending all his time with Naruto-Hokage-sama?!

Naruto and Sasuke: Leave me out of this!

Author: Welcome to the modern age.

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Sakura looked up at her only daughter with her usual smile despite the gaping hole where her heart was. "Sarada, it's okay. Don't blame yourself. I'm proud of you. Your father would have said the same."

"M-Mom! Please don't leave me. I can heal you! I can —" Sarada's red eyes glistened with tears as she tried to use her chakra to heal her mother's wound, but how could she heal this?! It was only due to her mother's gift in medical jutsu that she was able to live without a heart for a few seconds more. First her father died with Naruto-Hokage-sama and now her mother! Why? How could the world be so cruel?! Unbeknowest to her, her bloodline picked up on her grief and evolved. Sakura only felt relief at her daughter's change. Sarada wouldn't be easy to kill this way.

"It's time. Go to Boruto and don't look back. He needs you. Konoha needs you…" Sakura couldn't maintain her life any longer and her vision began to fade. With her last breath she held Sarada's trembling hand and whispered, "I love you."

And that was how the last legendary member of Team Seven ended her life in Konoha.

Once more the circle of life turned, and the old generation gave way to the new, but that wasn't important. Because now it was a new life awaiting the old generation…

In the distance, the author narrates as the scene of Konoha vanishes and we all emerge in reality — Modern Tokyo to be exact.

This is a story of Team Seven, reborn in the chaos that is the modern 21rst century with one twist — chakra exists, but no one knows about it save a secretive society…

And Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto are three disillussioned working adults living normal modern lives until they discovered this strange secretive world. Okay, make that just Sakura and Naruto — Sasuke is already in on the action. Once more, Team Seven will be thrust in a world of fighting and power beyond the capabilities of a normal modern man.

What is this power and why does it all feel familiar?

The New Era starts now!

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"Ahhhhh!" Sakura screamed as she woke up — With heavy breaths, she flung off her blanket and sat up as she wiped sweat off her face. "Why did I dream I was dying— and why did I have a kid named Salad? Who dreams that they die in their non-existent kid's arms?!" She looked at the clock: 7:35am. Shit! She was going to be late for work!

Forgetting the dream, she flung herself out of bed, sped into her business skirt and picked up the first unwrinkled blouse from her closet. She barely had time to do her eyebrows before she grabbed some plain bread from the kitchen and rushed out the door of her apartment. "I can't believe I slept through my alarm again!" She already set five different times for her alarm to go off and it still wasn't enough.

She skipped the busy elevator and dashed down the hall. As soon as she got to the stairwell, she simply jumped off the top of the stairs and landed perfectly on her two feet without a wince of pain. Her friends used to call her a cat since she was always able to land on her feet from high places, the highest being a flight of stairs simply because she wasn't suicidal to test anything higher. It was a useless talent, but the best when you're in a rush during rush hour.

Grinning, she jumped down the rest of the four flights of stairs and finally reached level one in under a minute. As she burst out of the apartment lobby doors, the security guard whistled from just outside, "Hey, speed! Late again?"

"Don't jinx me, Kei! By the way, I keep seeing you, but where's Jeff?"

"Ahh, he's on vacation. Lucky bastard is in Hawaii."The fresh-faced college graduate stuck out his tongue.

"What! No way — Oh my god, I'm sooo late. I'll talk to you later, 'kay?" Sakura ran down the sidewalk while waving and Kei laughed.

"Don't get fired!"

"Shut up, Kei!" Ever since she moved to Fukuoka a year ago, Kei had always been kind to her and even helped her move her packages sometimes. He was truly a nice guy.

Although she fussed over being late, she wasn't worried about running to the trains on time. Even if she woke up poorly, she always excelled physically compared to her classmates even in college. If she weren't focused on studies, she'd have joined the judo team or even track team. Like right now, what normally took forty minutes to walk, she managed in twenty. And if she ran, in five. She couldn't explain it, it was like she always had energy to spare if she was focused right.

As she sped toward the train station, she passed by a strange man dressed in a deep blue collared shirt that looked like it cost a hundred thousand yen. Normally, she didn't pay men much attention, but even she had to admit that the man had a peculiar attraction. Dark long hair ran down his back and he dressed well for his age, but the most peculiar thing was his gaze. Those dark eyes reminded her of someone, but she knew she'd never met such a person with eyes like those.

She shook her head as she ran past without looking back. Pretty man or not, she had more pressing concerns than to stare. While he certainly was an attractive man, all it did was pull curiosity out of her. She was never really in love with anybody let alone had crushes so she was surprised by her attraction. Not a romantic attraction, but more like…

"He seems like an older brother type." Sakura nodded to herself as she kept running. She had been reading a older brother seme yaoi the other day, so maybe that scandalous story was still affecting her IQ. Maybe that was why she had a weird dream. "Damn fantasies ruining my life." So she said, but she couldn't help but giggle as she thought back to the story…

Meanwhile, the well-dressed man felt a strange feeling, but when he turned all he saw was a strange lady with pink hair running past. For a moment, she reminded him of Sasuke and he didn't know why. Then his friend called out from inside the store, "Hey Itachi! I got the goods."

A very tall, dark-skinned man with bulging muscles and narrow eyes brought out a case full of packaged shuriken. "Specially crafted! It's hard to find a true craftsman these day, am I right?" He laughed, his razor sharp grin adding to his menacing aura as he lifted the heavy case with one hand.

"Hn." Itachi shook his head and soon forgot about the passing woman. Must have been a delusion. "Yes. Let's go, Kisame."

"Roger that, Boss!"

"Don't call me that. Sasuke already acts like a tyrant already, I do not need to be a boss-type as well. The boy will inflate his ego over the clan image again."

"Your brother is just super fanatic while you're super serious. I think it runs in the blood, man." He shrugged. "Reminds me of the college days…"

"Shut up." Itachi stopped him from saying anything embarrassing and the two headed for Tokyo.

After that, Sakura's day went by normally. The only trouble she had was with her manager, but the work was easy for her and she liked it that way. Moving here was the best decision she ever made.

As usual, her manager nagged her for being late although she managed to be five minutes early because she should be fifteen minutes early. Then began a series of slight annoyances, but they were petty things and Sakura just let them ago. For example, she finished the reports on time and even the manager tried to scold her for that, too. If she worked too fast, it was impossible and she had to look it over. So she made sure to pace herself, but the manager still had the balls to say that she probably rushed her job and still had to do it over. It was annoying! But compared to other stress in life, it was nothing so she smiled. She started working here because it was a simple job with good enough pay away from Tokyo.

During lunch, her co-worker Tama liked to talk story with her and gossip about the company. But today, she was surprised as she poked at Sakura's unblemished skin. "Hey, Sakura. Didn't you get hit by a bike the other day? How are your bruises healed already?"

"I don't know. I eat a lot of carrots unlike you, Tama."

"Why, you!" Tama fake punched her arm while giggling. "Oh, shoot. You're lucky lunch is almost over or I'll have to punish you for that comment!"

Sakura laughed. "Bring it on!"

As the work day went on, the clock ticked slowly as Sakura typed and made her calls. She was just a paper-pusher here and there was no urgency, no drive or ambition. It was truly a type of workplace where you settle down…and it was heaven. From the pointless gossip to the laughable pettiness of her manager, all of that was nothing compared to her past troubles. The manager would only utter a few sentences, but couldn't do much more since she was an efficient worker. If she wanted, she could have aimed to get connected with higher ups, but she didn't want to play the corporate game. Just this was enough. And when she got home, she could watch a kdrama or read a yaoi and she'd do the day all over again. She was truly happy.

By the time the clock hit 5, she was sad to see the day end. If her old friends ever found out what she did for a living, they'd laugh. The violent teen was now happily working an 8-5 going to cafes on her off days and acting tame. She didn't care.

Sakura took her time walking to the train station to go home. She even managed to grab an iced coffee and enjoy the sight of children playing in a park she passed by. She waved hi at a cute child with a puppy and the mother bowed towards her. They laughed. It was little moments like these that she secretly dreamed about ever since she was a little girl. The little pieces of happiness that she could never seem to find until she left home. Her old friends would never understand so she never kept in touch much except a few messages. Let sleeping lions sleep.

After quite some time, she got on the train and closed her eyes for a few moments. She loved listening to the train hum as she rode home. When she got off, a warm feeling flooded her heart. It had only been a year since she moved here, but everyday felt like a miracle. She even hummed to herself as she walked from the train station to her apartment. It was a hassle to wake up early everyday, but the rent here was cheap and the area was safe. Despite the work stress, it wasn't a bad life. Not compared to her childhood.

The lone twenty-seven year old office woman looked up at the stars and smiled, "I've come a long way since those times. I wish this could last forever."

And so, she made her way to the apartment lobby with a big smile on her face —

Only to have her whole world crashing down.

"Kei...?"

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Earlier on…

Naruto ducked behind a corner as men dressed in hoodies walked along casually, but kept their eyes scanning the area. It was hard to tell who was part of the group that kidnapped him since everyone was in disguise. But Naruto knew, he could feel it. He couldn't understand how, but it was like they had more…energy…than a normal person. They mentioned it sometimes when they tortured him. An energy called chakra. And apparently he had way too much of it to be normal. They even called him a fox demon.

I'm no demon! They are! This is the 21rst century! How on earth are there so many cults? For the past few weeks, his life was a nightmare. Well, a worst nightmare than usual. Some folks calling themselves the Kaguya Clan kidnapped him and the rest was a blur. A very painful blur.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he managed to hide just out of sight before running for the first apartment he could find. If he stayed in a stairwell or hid on the roof, maybe he could catch a breath. The alleys weren't safe. There were too many patrolling. He managed to rush into the apartment lobby only to be stopped by a security guard who looked like he was in his early twenties. He looked like a fresh-faced young man who looked nice and Naruto felt a sense of relief. Maybe he could help!

"Sorry, but I need help! I was kidnapped and —" Naruto's words paused. The security guard simply stood there with a calm smile and his instincts blared. "Shit."

"Shit indeed. You are an interesting specimen. Letting you out had some merits. You managed to evade us for several miles so this experiment is a success. Now, let's go back home, fox demon." The security guard's young, cheerful face morphed into something chilling. With frigid eyes that looked like they wanted to examine his organs, the young guard took out a knife. "This is our territory. You're out of chakra, you have no other skills and you're not even that smart based off our reports. Even if you run now, it's only a matter of time until we catch you. The law won't save you from us. You can't escape."

Naruto lost all feeling in his legs as his energy simply ran out. He had been running all day after using most of his power escaping from the strange prison. He barely knew what day it was let alone why he was kidnapped, but none of this had to be legal so why had no one noticed his disappearance even at work? To make matters worse, he was an orphan with no relatives and despite being twenty seven, he didn't even have a girlfriend or friends in general. He mostly kept to himself since his parents' car accident. Now, he was being treated as a human experiment. His whole life has been nothing but tragedies. He simply…didn't have the energy to fight anymore. "I don't get you people and this chakra thing, but I won't let you capture me! I will take you down with me if it's the last thing I do!" He truly had no more energy, but if he could grab that knife…

"Very well, Kitsune Spawn." Right before the guard was about to launch his attack, the door swung open and a shocked woman entered. "Kei…? Why are you holding a knife?"

Kei quickly changed his facial expression and said, "Ah, Sakura-chan! Sorry, he's a wanted criminal. He was all over the news lately so I'm capturing him."

The woman furrowed her brow, "Kei. I heard no such thing on the news. And you don't need a knife to capture an unarmed man. If you need help, I can call the police and —"

"I'm sorry. I can't let you do that, Sakura." Kei's smile fell and he clenched his knife in his grasp.

Sakura noticed the change in atmosphere immediately and took a step back. "Kei, you can't be serious. What's really going on here?"

Kei sighed. "I really liked you, you know? But my hands are tied here. No outsiders must learn of this fox demon and you calling the police will lead to an investigation. It wouldn't really hurt us, but it is a pain so it's best if I dispose of you in case. But first…"

Naruto butted in as he yelled towards Sakura, "Run! These guys kidnapped me from my house and experimented on me for some cult. RUN LADY!" Naruto tackled Kei from behind with the last of his strength. Kei dropped his knife and grabbed Naruto's neck instead. With inhuman strength, he lifted him from the ground.

Naruto choked and he struggled to break his grasp, but still his eyes went towards the innocent woman. "R—Run — Gh!" His legs kicked wildly as he tried to tear off Kei's grip around his throat, but it was no use. The man's strength was too strong!

Kei laughed. "C'mon. Knock out already or maybe I should just kill you completely? I have to deal with my dear friend next." He glanced at Sakura with cold eyes. "I've always wondered how your skin felt."

Sakura shivered. She had no idea why the cheerful Kei would suddenly try to kill a man and threatened to kill her as well, but he was clearly up to no good. It like her the past year was nothing but a dream. Kei, the guard who always asked about her day and seemed like a friend was truly a monster in disguise even fooling her. And she's seen plenty of monsters. This was both a shock and a slap to her face at her foolishness. Her entire body shook as she took in the sight of Kei strangling the beat up blonde man with one hand.

Her mind whirled fast. A complete stranger was trying to tell her to run over saving his own life. Kei was an imposter. End result: A true criminal wouldn't wish to save her life. And in that moment, she made a decision that would change the course of her normal life forever.

Her body reacted before her mind could powered by an innate rage that channeled out of body like a raging tidal wave. A familiar feeling surged around her as she raised her fist and began to ran…One second, she was near the entrance of the lobby, the next second she found herself right behind Kei's back. He only had time to look at her with shock before she poured all her energy into her fist and punched Kei to the ground. With a loud boom, Kei crashed to the ground, releasing the Naruto, and the entire tiled floor cracked. And for a brief sadistic moment, she felt a thrill hearing the crack in his skull as he hit the ground. Her bloodlust satisfied, the energy disappeared as fast as it came and that was when reality hit. Blood spilled down from Kei's head. She quickly looked behind her and no one was on the street. It was the benefit of living in a quiet neighborhood, but still very lucky.

Shocked, she looked down at her hands, trembling. "Oh god, what…how…" She checked Kei's pulse — none. What the fuck could she do now? Run? Where? She couldn't run like this, she'd be a prime suspect. The apartment was old so she could just take away the footage, but what about the body and — and — and — Sakura groaned and she wanted to cry, but there was no time for that. Quickly she turned toward Naruto and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes — " Naruto gazed at the pink-haired lady in surprise before he dropped to his knees. Kei's attack hit him bad. Not only that, he truly used up all the energy he had just now. It was a simple tackle, but he'd been running all day and fighting for his life. He couldn't hold on for much longer. His vision grew blurry and he was losing consciousness fast.

Sakura cried out, "W-We sh-should call the police. Report…the cameras would…"

Naruto could barely make out her words, but he stopped her. "No cops. I already tried that. The local cops are in their hands and the only reason he didn't want you to call them was because it was a hassle to deal with. Look at me, I wasn't even reported missing. Is that normal? My job should have noticed. But you don't want to go where they send you, trust me. It's a prison. We need to escape. If you won't kill him, then forget him. Your punch should make sure he's out cold for days maybe months. But we need to go away from here — the others will show up very soon. There's only one guard?"

"No, but Jeff's on vacation so he's doing single shift. Kei was only covering for him. Oh god, why, Kei, why?" Sakura didn't know what to do. She just attacked Kei and now a stranger was barely breathing on the ground. If what the blonde man said was true, then now what? What could she do if she couldn't call the police?! It sounded like there was a lot of them! For the first time in years, she began to panic. She just found a new life for herself and now this sort of trouble was at her doorstep. Fuck. At the very least, she should panic out of sight. Suddenly, she had an idea, but she didn't like it. It would only work because the security was lax in old apartments like these.

Due to her chatting with the guards everyday, she learned a few things especially when she questioned how safe they would keep her. She liked to know how her home was protected by reflex — from camera systems to guards and police reaction time. She never thought she'd use the info like this however. The camera system was all connected to one and they hadn't upgraded in years, but it wasn't stored by individual camera hard drives and merely stored on one computer in the security room. Even so, she grabbed Kei's knife without laying her fingerprints on the handle. Holding the handle inbetween fingers, she aimed and flung the knife directly at the camera and the glass cracked. Nobody would believe a single woman could launch a knife through glass and metal, but reality was stranger than fiction. She eyed the camera from below and didn't see anything that looked like it could hold a ssd card or any other hard drive. Finally she sighed out in relief.

Resolving herself, she said, "I'll take you to my place and deal with the cameras, but…we need to think about the future." She took in deep breaths before she dragged Kei effortlessly into the stairwell and closed the door before walking over to Naruto. She didn't have time to deal with blood or the demolished floor, but thankfully nobody came down yet. She had to hurry.

Naruto was surprised at her strength, but then again he did see her destroy the entire floor. So he nodded, but then his head throbbed and pain shot up. He reached out for her hand and with trembling lips asked, "Please…" From the day his parents died, he trusted nothing and no one. Life was cruel toward the caring and so he made sure to only rely on himself. This way, it won't hurt so much to lose someone close to him again. But now he couldn't hold on anymore. He was at his wit's end. Grasping at his last chance of survival, he looked up into the strong woman's clear emerald eyes and begged, "Please…help me…"

And he fainted.

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AUTHOR NOTE:

This is another story on top of all my other ones. Dear god. Kind of like, instead of hearing Hagrid go "you're a wizard harry" this here is about chakra. I mean, if a slug can heal your broken leg, then it might as well be magic, just saying. In this story, their unconscious remembers how to use chakra, but it's very vague. An instinct. For now. Also rare so they're like high potential shinobi status.

Since I have a lot of projects going on outside of fanfic, I won't be able to update THIS STORY as often as I can until later next year so until then, I'll post something occassionally for this story (because I want to finish the other stories first). But the idea has been here a while, so why not post? Figure I'd gauge interest and I feel like writing angsty sasusaku stuff, but to get to that sweet sadistic pleasure, Sakura needs to know he exists LOL. I'd still write this regardless because it's in my head tho so no worries either way.

Unlike a lot of my other works, this one is a SakuSasu only but ooc and more badass. I thought about the team keeping their memories, but since Sakura already married Sasuke by the time she died, it'd be boring to just see the two get together. Like, "Ugh. Let's just get married again for my baby to exist." "Hn. Sure. I'll see you once a week, that cool? Don't worry, I got your child support ready." JK! Or am I? I still prefer Itachi, but Sasuke brings out my toxic angst side so there's that.

WELP! See you once in a blue moon like Sasuke. I'll be working on the other works more regularly compared to this, but if you like this story, please review and give me Kakashi's phone number. He's single in this story hehehe :3

Loves and Kisses,

WitchySkies

P.S. Strictly a SakuSasu in this one because I like to see love suffer sometimes (it's not a tragedy no worries). Also, prob need a therapist.

P.S.S. You know, maybe I'm too harsh on Sasuke. I'd appreciate an independent husband who is busy with work since I'll be, too. But then again, I can get that with Itachi as well…good thing this aint a readerXuchiha romance fic or I'd be sailing another ship hahaha