Chapter Three
"Hi, Naruto!" Iruka-sensei greeted, stepping inside the apartment. Appalled, Sakura took a step back and, slowly shutting the door behind her ex-sensei, numbly followed him inside. "Oh, I see you finally cleaned up!"
"Yatta, yatta, had some free time from training," she replied, putting on an 'idiot smile'. Surprisingly enough it worked and Iruka nodded.
"I'm pretty sure you just had a bet with someone, but it doesn't matter – I wanted to talk to you before lessons start." Brunet took a sit on Naruto's bed, looking at him expectantly. "Well?"
Long pause. "Eh?"
"Did you prepare?" Sighing, elaborated Iruka to which he received an understanding 'Oh!' and vicious head nodding.
If only she knew what the hell was happening.
"You know, any other student would at least pretend being scared," he noted, rolling his eyes and standing up. "After all, today is the ninja school's graduation exam, and you failed the last two!"
Inwardly, Sakura cringed, calling Naruto 'baka' for the hundredth time and gave out a 'Naruto laugh' – a mixture of arrogance and general happiness. "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei, I gonna pass this exam and become a Hokage!"
Umino hummed to himself and soon left. Sakura didn't know how to feel about it, hence she decided to practice 'Bushin' – the technique that she didn't get to use in ages. Ever since she woke up from a slumber, she could finally feel her chakra circulating on her full; kunoichi didn't know whether it was just her luck or something Kurama did, but she finally felt like herself.
Off-handedly, she realised that she was already changing the history. This eventful morning Naruto was found drawing on Hokage's faces and was brought to the classroom by angry Iruka – she heard this story a number of times from both Naruto and the villagers. How would this affect the future? Or was she in different timeline to begin with?
Time travelling was never something serious to dwell upon – people saw it as a part of fantasy and science fiction, therefore not paying it much attention. Now, however, Sakura had to re-evaluate not only her views on travelling, but also on a number of other things. If time travelling existing, didn't it mean that other surreal things were possible as well? Was it possible to bring a person from the dead without using Edo Tensei? She had a lot of thoughts on her mind but that had to wait.
A few hours later she performed 'Bushing no Jutsu' without a struggle, receiving a thumb-up from both of her examiners and a blue headband that, Sakura knew, was very precious to Naruto. And so, she decided to celebrate this little victory by visiting 'Ichiraku'.
"Hey, old man, get me some Miso ramen!" She shouted as she took a place in her friend's favourite place. For once, it was the only bar she could stand because its owner never treated Uzumaki in a wrong way.
"Coming up, Naruto!" Teuchi replied, looking rather busy. "How was your day?"
It was weird talking to him, for she was never the one initiating their conversations – obviously, it was a loud and obnoxious blond. "Good, I passed my exam and I am now a ninja!" She proudly pointed at her headband.
The rest of the meal went relatively calm, save for a couple of customers that thought that intimidating Naruto would make them somewhat above 'the Konoha's idiot'. Poor souls had no idea that Naruto will one day become one of the greatest ninjas in history of shinobi.
Paying for the meal and shouting 'Arigato!', she finally decided to pay a visit to the present Hokage. With mild melancholy, she looked up at the faces of Leaf's Hokages, carved in the mountain. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure that saving Sarutobi would be a right decision. For once, the man was quite old, making it obvious for the majority that his time was almost up. If she allowed herself to feel emotional, she would save him, yet the girl's mind was calculating the situation. If he died, Konoha would need a new Hokage; she could pretend that she knew the great Sannin Tsunade personally and, after long persuasion, bring her here. The woman will teach her how to control chakra over again – in this body she simply wasn't able to perfectly control it as she did in her own – and be able to help with destruction of Akatsuki, as well as any other dangerous organisation.
Will she find it in her to let one of the people she greatly valued and adored die by Orochimaru? But what if she is able to stop Orochimaru beforehand and-
Shaking her head, she knocked and entered Hokage's office a second later. It was weird to see it they way Third kept it: there were no empty bottles of sake laying under the table that, by the way, didn't look that clean in years.
"Hokage-sama, I need to talk to you," she announced, closing the door behind her. The office was empty, save for the Hokage himself. He didn't yet look as old as he did days before his death, which caused her to unconsciously bite her lip. Sarutobi was now smiling at her and it always made him look younger and more innocent than he actually was; he reminded her of a kind and loving grandfather – which, as Konohomaru always told people – he was, rather then a vicious, strategic man that went through war and put his life to protect Leaf.
"Did something happen? You don't seem like yourself," he commented, motioning for her to sit but Sakura decided against it.
"Hokage-sama, the issue I need to discuss with you is very important and can cost people of this village their lives," Haruno hated people that were beating around the bush – she knew better than to waste precious time.
Sandaime's face toughened; he assessed the phrase and Sakura's – or, rather, Naruto's – appearance but still didn't look worried or at least interested, probably taking it as a joke. Sakura's fear was justified a moment later. "Naruto, I don't have time for your games."
"This is no game, God of Shinobi," she answered sternly, "so I would ask you to take a seat and listen to what I am going to say. I'm not who you think you are."
Lucklily, the man seemed intrigued enough to do as she said, and pinkette began her story.
It took her an hour of talking and 'Henge' to her original self to subsequently prove to the Hokage that she was from the future and warn him of possible threats. She didn't include a word about his death or Tsunade's position as Godaime, but she made it crystal clear that she knew the full story behind Uchiha's massacre.
While he was processing the information, Sakura went back to her now constant form in case anyone would walk in and sat on the window sill, waiting for Hokage's decision. She admitted to herself that her main reason for telling Hokage all of this wasn't her heroism but her uncertainty that she can achieve it alone and the degree to which she feared of putting all of this on herself. There was no denying it that she was a strong-minded kunoichi; nevertheless, it was wrong to assume that a 17-years-old girl can decide world's fate and deciding whether to let Sarutobi live or die reminded her of playing God.
And she was no God.
"I think it is needless to mention that I want you to keep it in secret from the village?" Sandaime asked not facing her, to which she replied with a quiet 'Hai'. The man gave out a tired sigh and his head bowed, shoulders hitching at the same time. She could only imagine what was going through his already busy mind. "You said that you don't know why you were sent here?"
"I wasn't 'sent here' at that," she said, frowning. "It happened because of, as I presume, clash of chakra's or something similar. The last thing that occupied my mind before I travelled here was Naruto and, I guess, it somehow effected where I would land."
Silence. "But you have your thoughts on it?"
"It may sound stupid, but yes, I think I know what I ought to do." Sakura fixed blue headband on her forehead and fidgeted her jumpsuit's orange sleeve. "You see, as I already explained, the next four years are gonna be incredibly tough on Konohagakure and I decided to change it. Of course, I can't change everything, thus I will only try to change key events that had a big impact on the future."
Hokage turned around and looked her straight in the eyes, his jaw sat. He didn't seem too amused with the idea. "I presume, Sasuke killing his own brother isn't what you are aiming for?"
"Yes, I want him to find out the truth," she admitted wholeheartedly. "I understand that it is risky and no way in hell is he going to believe me – we barely know each other – which will mean waiting for at least a few months. Also, we need to make sure he doesn't leave the village to seek Orochimaru's power and-"
"You mean, you need to make sure he doesn't leave," he elaborated and was met with confused gaze.
"I thought you understood the outcome of him leaving, Hokage-sama," she murmured. "Surely, I will need your help."
"You may need my help, Sakura, but you also need to remember that I am the present Hokage of this village. There are too many things I have to control and keep an eye on. Unfortunately, keeping Sasuke in Konoha is solemnly your task. I will be able to help with figuring out how to put an end to Orochimaru and Akatsuki, but it is all I can promise."
She wanted to break his table in two right now so badly her knuckles itched, but she contained herself. This was the man of strategy, the man that ruled Konoha fairly and justly, the man... that she couldn't recognise. Wasn't he almost directly related to the Uchiha massacre? Didn't he care about Sasuke one bit and simply decided that whatever is going to happen to him is meant to happen?
"I never thought of you less than a hero," she admitted suddenly. "You were always a model figure in my eyes, someone that everyone wanted to be. You always seemed to care about people, no matter the age or the country they came from. I know that you are busy – in future I helped you with a lot of this paperwork – but you never turned your back to people. What changed?"
"I think of the village, first and foremost," he said and his voice was full of sadness and grieve. "I admit that I didn't help as many people as I would like to help but at times you need to make a choice. I chose to help the greater cause; I understand that Sasuke is your close friend but you need to understand that world doesn't concentrate on him. I won't stop you from trying to change the future – interfering always seemed pointless to me, unless the cause is important – but if it happened before, what stops it from happening again?"
"Me," she said and, looking around the office one more time, turned around and walked towards the door, intending to leave before she blew up.
"I see that you are a strong person, Haruno Sakura, but strong doesn't necessarily mean smart," Sarutobi said, deep in his thoughts. "Ninjas aren't allowed to act reckless."
Entering the classroom the next morning felt weird; on her way there she was met by a number of teenage boys greeting her – otherwise, Naruto – and congratulating on 'finally passing the exam!' which felt all types of weird. For once, they looked genuinely happy for her but... didn't nearly everyone hate him at this stage?
"Settle down, I am going to announce your teams!" Iruka-sensei said and soon everyone took a free place; present Sakura resisted an urge to roll her eyes when she saw her past self promptly set next to grumpy as always Sasuke.
"Next, team Seven, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." Good, it seemed that Hokage listened to her in the end.
Hours later, when the three of them sat in an empty room, waiting for their sensei to arrive, Sakura decided to pull a trick like Naruto did, but a bit different. She snickered, receiving weird glances from both of her teammates.
"Why the hell are you laughing, baka?" Past Sakura asked in exasperated tone, sitting next to Sasuke who didn't seem to care.
"Sensei is late, so he better be prepared for a surprise," present Sakura snickered, pulling a few strings and attaching a rubber to it. "We'll see how ready he'll be."
"Why do you think it's a male sensei?" Past Sakura inquired, her left eyebrow raised.
She had to think of an answer – and fast. "Well, I'm a problematic student, hence Hokage is likely to assign some strict sensei to our group. Also, I don't know about you, Sakura-chan, but I haven't seen a single bad ass female sensei in Konoha."
"How do you know any of them? I thought they are jonins, meaning you wouldn't know them, unless of some special circumstances," past Haruno whined and then there were footsteps out side the room. Both petal-haired girls instantly became quiet, waiting while Uchiha pretended that he didn't give a damn.
The door opened but the three students didn't have a time to even blink when the strings were ripped off and the rubber flew out of the window. With her eyes wide open, Sakura opened and closed her mouth like a fish, not producing any sound.
"Hello, kids, I am your sensei now. You've gotta know that those pigs that disobey me will be failed as genins immediately and I am making rules here. Name is Morino Ibiki."
A/N: For those of you who keep up with the recent manga, accept my Internet-hug. We need it. For those who don't... well, let's just say chapter 662 has been the most emotional chapter since... ever.
Okay, folks, I know that all this thinking Sakura does can get annoying but bear with me – I'm trying to get most of the 'what if' and 'maybe' out of the way so that there's gonna be more description of actions in future. I will see you soon, and, as always, feedback is quite welcome!
