Here's this week's chapter! I'd usually try to wait for Wednesday's if I can because that's the day Naruto updates in my area. But I couldn't wait.

This chapter isn't long today either. Don't worry, they'll get longer as the story progresses.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Naruto would at least be falling out of love with Sakura by now. Or better, not in love with her at all anymore. Then, he'd start to fall for Hinata. Besides: Kishimoto-sensei is much to great to be compared to a lowly person like me. He's way too amazing.

This =Sakura's younger inner.

This= Sakura's older inner.


Chapter 2: And It Begins…Again. Déjà Vu, Much?

Sakura POV

I stumbled, catching my bearings and feeling the weariness that my body felt after The Forest of Death and from the war. As I looked up, Hayate finished his instructions, meaningI already tried to get Sasuke to quit because of the Curse Mark. So he's not in the greatest mood.

"Any questions?" Hayate asked, looking around. As I looked behind Lord Hokage, I saw a red haired girl standing behind Anko. I realized that was Karin. The fact that she was there must mean the Time Travel changed the fact the she was picked up by Orochimaru. Or someone saved her.

"No? Then-"

"Wait!" a voice called, coming through the entrance of the room we were in.

It was Sai!

Huh. He didn't change much. Just shorter with a more child-like face.

"Who are you?" Asked our proctor.

"My name is…Sai. I am a member of the ANBU; ROOT to be precise. I am here to record the preliminaries for Lord Danzo and the other elders to see, if you don't mind. It would also be for the Kazekage and Feudal Lords to view, if they wish. Do you mind if I put up cameras and took notes as the fights go on, Lord Hokage?"

Ino immediately brightened up when she saw him. I remembered she had a crush on him.

"Go ahead, Sai." Replied the Third.

"Arigato." With that, he bowed and jumped to corners of the room and other areas, placing cameras there. "The cameras don't break easily, so when fighting, don't even think about them."

When he was done, he went to stand beside Kakashi-sensei, nodding at him respectfully. Suddenly I rememberd; Kakashi saw him around when he was in root, so that would make him Sai's senpai.

"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted Naruto.

"What? *cough*" asked Hayate.

"Why isn't that Sai guy taking the exams? He's our age right? Or has he already taken it? Does he even have a squad?"

I sighed. Geez, Naruto. He's ANBU remember? Though that was actually a pretty good question.

Hayate also sighed, but then coughed. "*cough* Sai is in ANBU's Root, the Foundation, as it's known. He could be above Chunin level, but I don't know the details. Sai, could you explain, please?"

Sai nodded. "In Root, we are trained from an early age, going through different types of tests and battles to measure our strength. Usually we are taken straight from the academy. We continue training until we reach the last and final test. The purpose of the test is to both eradicate the last of our emotions and finally prove ourselves worthy of becoming an official ROOT ANBU member."

"Were you one of the ones that attended the academy?"

"Yes, I graduate when I was 9 and was promoted to Chunin at 10. I'm 13 by the way." Gasps of surprise filled the room; people wondered how strong this kid really was, to have become Chunin at 10 only.

Throughout this whole monologue, Sai's expression didn't change. "Outer, remember, the last exam is to kill your friend(s). So Sai just lost his emotions.""Hey, who are you? An older me?"

O.M.G. I have 2 Inners! And I though one was enough. I figured it was since I came from the future, my future Inner came along for the ride.

As Older!Inner explained what the hell is going on to Younger!Inner, I was up on the rails and watching Sasuke and Yoroi Akado fight; Hayate had already begun the matches.

Nothing in the fight had changed, obviously, but I tried to act the way I did when I first saw it; surprised, and worried about Sasuke-kun.

Yes, I still call him that. And yeah, I still love him. I'm not planning on telling him. My priority is to keep Sasuke-kun here. As I watched the fight, I recalled my deal with Itachi, the one I made right before I landed here.

FLASHBACK NO JUTSU!

"Wait!" I called Itachi as I felt myself blackout.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to agree with these terms. In return, I help Sasuke-kun stay."

"And those terms are…?"

"You need to come back to Konoha and not fight Sasuke! Come and clear things up with him! You were the main contributor to his leaving! Please, if he kills you then finds out the truth-because I know it'll happen-the future will happen all over again! Our efforts will be wasted!" I looked at him, straight into his eyes of the Sharingan.

As I watched him contemplate, I began to feel myself…"wake up" . He needs to hurry!

Then, he nodded. "Alright. I will, but it won't be easy."

With that, I relaxed and let myself be pulled back to the past.

FLASHBACK NO JUTSU: RELEASE!

By the time I was back into the rest of the world, I found Hayate declaring Shino the winner in his match against Zaku. Nothing too new, I was only surprised that I spaced out that long. Then again, Shino's fight wasn't very long.

As Kankuro's fight against Misumi went on, I locked eyes with Ino. Suddenly, I heard her voice in my head.

"Hey, it works! Ready for our match, Forehead? It's too bad neither of us can win, cuz I would totally kick your butt if the outcome could change."

She was referring to the jutsu she developed in the future, allowing her to speak in other people's minds; hardly using any chakra at all. The more times she's spoken in the mind, the less chakra it'll take to do it again. She doesn't even use chakra for going into my head; she's done it enough times.

She calls it; Ninpo: Telepathy. How original.

"Yeah, right Pig. You and I both know that I'm stronger than you, but I do agree that it is too bad that I can't kick your ass."

"Oh, shove it. It's our turn now, come on!"

As I headed to the stairs, I just realized that Sai had been standing, watching the battles with me and Ino-pig's group and Lee this whole time. How did I not notice that?

As Ino headed to the stairs, Sai uttered, "Good luck" to her and she blushed. When Shikamaru saw this, he raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
I know what he's wondering. "Last I checked, she was into Sasuke. Why is she suddenly into this guy? Whom she doesn't even know?" Great Ino-pig. Way to make him suspicious of us. Or you at least.

"Are you girls ready for this?" asked Hayate.

"Ready as we'll ever be!" We said, surprisingly, in unison. Our stare-off hadn't broken, however.

"Alright. *cough**cough* Begin!"