Bright pink hair and intelligent green eyes.

Uchiha Sasuke could not understand why he felt so instinctively drawn toward Haruno Sakura. Other than her keen intellect, there was nothing impressive about the girl. Heck, she was worse at Taijutsu than Uzumaki Naruto, and that was saying something.

Nonetheless, even if he pretended to ignore her existence, he couldn't help watching her every move when he found the opportunity to do so without being noticed. By the time they graduated from Konohagakure's Ninja Academy, he had made up his mind that she would be the one that he restored his clan with. Perhaps that was what drove him to constantly shield her from danger during their missions.

It had been mere coincidence that they had been placed on the same three-man squad, along with the aforementioned Uzumaki Naruto, but for some reason, Sasuke didn't really mind that. He certainly preferred her to any other girl in his class, and since the gender ratio of the Academy was one girl for every two boys that attended, it was pretty much a given that a three-man cell would have two guys and a girl. Better Sakura than any of the others. She might not have had much talent, but at least she had a tolerable temperament. He would not be able to put up with someone brimming with false overconfidence like Yamanaka Ino or zero confidence at all, false or otherwise, like Hyūga Hinata. Both girls were cowards (although at least Hinata had the decency to admit it on her part), but Sakura was courageous despite her naivety. She was more than willing to put herself between a client and an enemy. It just so happened that he—or occasionally Naruto—would always jump in front of her before anything could happen.

今時

Sasuke was leaving Konohagakure. He couldn't stay here anymore. He had gotten too close to his comrades on Team 7. He would never gain the strength to take down his brother like this. However, as he made his way out of the village, Sakura showed up and begged him not to go, or at least, not to leave her behind. She was so afraid of not having him in her life that she was even willing to come along. He couldn't allow that. Sakura was a delicate spring flower who would undoubtedly be crushed and ruined by the darkness he was about to enter. He wouldn't allow that.

"Don't go!" Sakura screamed as he walked away from her, "If you leave, I'll scream and—" She stopped short as Sasuke vanished from in front of her and she almost instantly felt his presence behind her instead.

"Sakura..." Sasuke began, a soft breeze blowing past the two of them as he continued to stand directly behind her, "Thank you."

Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke struck the back of her neck, and then her eyelids drooped as her legs gave out. "Sasuke... kun..." She murmured as she lost consciousness. Rather than leave her there in the street, Sasuke scooped her up and laid her on a nearby bench.

今時

Sakura stood at the A-Un Gate with tears spilling down her cheeks, having come to see Naruto off, along with the others who had been assembled to take Sasuke back from the ninja of the Hidden Sound. "Naruto...! This is a once in a lifetime request...! Please... bring Sasuke-kun back!" If only Sakura has known exactly how many times that "once in a lifetime request" had been made.

Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs up, "Yeah! Don't worry! I swear I'll bring Sasuke back!"

Though she didn't know why, as the time had passed since they'd become Team 7, Sakura had come to think of Naruto as a brother. She knew he wanted more than that, and she often reacted to those requests with violence. However, deep down, she was aware that his attraction to her was due to a need to compete with Sasuke, and so she rebuffed him not only because she was incapable of returning his feelings, but also because she possessed an awareness that he lacked about his own emotions. Besides, she knew that, unlike her, Hyūga Hinata was deeply in love with the blond, and she could never hurt Hinata by returning Naruto's affections insincerely. She couldn't hurt Naruto that way either for that matter. It would be nothing but false.

Sakura was, of course, unaware of the thousand-year-long family feud that she was swept up in, and the connection that her own scarecely known Haruno clan had to it. The cycle repeated about every three generations or so. A member of the Uchiha—always someone from the head family—would meet a member of either the Senju or the Uzumaki Clan and they would somehow become best friends. During this time, the Uchiha boy would inevitably meet a girl from the Haruno Clan and they would fall in love. However, it never failed that the Uchiha would betray both his friend and his lover, and the friend, who was also like a brother to the girl, would promise to bring her lover back to her, but would ultimately fail.

Without knowing it, perhaps this was the reason that when Naruto was brought back to Konoha, having been beaten to a pulp by Sasuke but nonetheless determined to bring him back someday, Sakura made the decision that she would go with Naruto the next time and pour her own efforts into convincing the Uchiha to return to where he belonged.

Haruka had stood by and depended on Ashura for nearly a thousand years to bring Indra back to her. It was high time that she lent him a hand.

There were many things that Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto did not know. They didn't know that Nakano Shrine, which housed the tablet that had been passed down in the Uchiha Clan, was the original home of Indra and Haruka during the early years they spent together (somewhere during the time of Haruka bringing nine children into the world, they had built a new dwelling for themselves out of necessity). They didn't know that the 44th training ground, also known as the "Forest of Death", where Sakura had put everything on the line to protect Naruto and Sasuke, was also the place where a girl named Haruka had saved the life of Ōtsutsuki Indra. They were completely unaware of the strange cycle that they were caught in, like a maelstrom they couldn't escape. Yet, perhaps that was why Naruto lived up to his name and managed to create a counter-maelstrom to free them all.

今時

Sakura had been knocked out cold by Sasuke once again; this time, by a powerful genjutsu. Despite her incredible resistance to genjutsu—people said that her strength of mind was unparalleled—she probably would've been out for several days at the very least if the Sage of Six Paths had not revived her while he was still on the battlefield following Sasuke and Naruto's departure. His time was short, but he gave Sakura a brief overview of her own part in this story (she already knew about Indra and Ashura) and chose to make one thing expressly clear: Sasuke had knocked her out to protect her, fearing that if he hadn't, she would've followed the two brothers-incarnate, gotten in between them, and inevitably gotten hurt or worse. Sakura thought back to a time when she had foolishly tried to get in between Sasuke and Naruto while they had been charging at each other with the Chidori and Rasengan. Both had realized the danger she was in, but neither had been able to stop. If Kakashi had not suddenly appeared and thrown both boys off of their original course and into objects that would catch their attacks, she likely would've died right then and there. And so, reluctantly, Sakura acknowledged Sasuke's reasoning, although she didn't approve of his methods.

It was a while before she and Kakashi—well, mostly her, because Kakashi needed her to carry him—had recovered enough to track down the two. They found them in the bottom of the now destroyed (though aptly named) Valley of the End. Sakura left Kakashi on the cliff side and went down to where they were, her eyes filled with sadness as she took in the sight of both boys having lost an arm. Without a word, she reached forward and began closing the wounds.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a smile, despite how beat up he was.

"Sakura..." Sasuke began weakly, "Never mind me..."

"For right now, shut up, so I can concentrate." Sakura told him.

Sasuke's gaze softened as he looked at the young woman. Even though she was battered herself and her right arm was badly burned, she was still beautiful.

"I'm sorry..." Sasuke said softly.

"Sorry? For what?" Sakura asked.

"For everything... up until now..."

"You should be." Sakura said flatly, although her shoulders began to shake as her tears began to fall, "Geez... Shannaro... you idiot!"

Had Sasuke just apologized to Sakura or had Indra finally apologized to Haruka? Or was it both? Neither of the two teens would ever truly know.

Whew! Finally finished! As I said before, this story is just meant to serve as a precursor to the Uchiha Clan series, which is why it is so short. Also, Ino and Hinata are obviously not cowards as the series goes on, but Hinata herself admits to having no confidence when the series begins, and it is implied during the Chunin Exams that the members of Team 10 are initially cowards who lack the courage to face strong enemies.