Chapter Four

"One day left," Sakura murmured to herself as she smoothed a small wrinkle out of her nomination ballot. Glancing up at the wide blue sky, Sakura couldn't help but wonder just how mad Sasuke and Naruto would be if she did decided to skip out on the chunin exam this one time.

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"Please tell me that was a joke," Naruto begged weakly as he sank back into his chair, his face pale and worn.

Shikamaru sighed. "When have I ever joked?"

"Damnit," Naruto cursed underneath his breath as he thought about all that Shikamaru had to say. "Is there no way around this?"

Shikamaru pulled out a cigarette thoughtfully before he shook his head. "If there was I would have already told you about it."

"But the timeline," Naruto protested sadly as he thought about all the faces in Konaha that could be wiped out due to this one decision.

Naruto flinched slightly when he felt a hand rest upon his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "You're not alone in this," Shikamaru stated calmly.

Naruto smiled as he gazed upon the photos that rested upon his desk. One was a picture of a simpler time, a happy one: Team Seven all scowling affectionately at one another. The second picture was a picture of Konaha surrounding a very joyous younger looking Naruto when he was appointed Hokage. And the final picture was of him and his wife on their wedding day. Yes, Shikamaru was right. He was not alone.

Rising from his chair with renewed vigor, Naruto walked over to the center of the room and neatly created one kage bunshin. The clone listened intently as his master whispered simple but urgent instructions into his ear.

"Right, boss," the clone said with a simple salute before he ran over to the window and jumped out of it without pausing to give it a second thought.

Nodding, Naruto stared at one place in the room and bit his thumb.

"Naruto, what are you doing," Shikamaru asked with his eyebrows raised in confusion.

"I think it would be easier if you explained it to her," Naruto elucidated before he created a few simple handseals and slammed his hand down upon the ground. 'Please don't let it be the toad boss,' Naruto begged the gods silently as he watched the smoke rise up from the ground.

"Wha? Wh-where am I," Sakura stated in between racking coughs and she tried to squint around the smoke.

Naruto sighed in relief. "Sakura, it's me."

"N-Naruto," Sakura whispered in shock just as the smoke finished clearing. "Where am I," she blurted out in a panic.

Naruto's eyes tightened before he glanced back at Shikamaru with a pleading expression.

Shikamaru sighed as he put out his cigarette. "Sakura, you're at the Hokage tower about roughly twenty-three years into your future."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Huh," was her intelligent response.

Shikamaru chuckled. "I apologize for any inconvience this might have caused you, but Naruto and I felt like you needed to be briefed on a matter of great importance."

"Great importance," Sakura repeated slowly with a bewildered expression on her face.

"Yes, namely speaking: the future of Konaha and all who are in it," he said bluntly.

Sakura's eyes widened before they neatly rolled up and back into her head and she collapsed onto the floor.

Naruto frowned. "Did you have to be so blunt?"

Shikamaru shrugged as he walked over and scooped her up. "Where do you want her?"

Naruto gestured to a small couch on the opposite side of the room. "I guess I should have expected her to go into shock."

Shikamaru frowned as he laid her down onto the couch and then stood up to observe her. "And I guess I have forgotten just how young she used to be."

Naruto chuckled. "I thought the same thing."

"NARUTO! You better have a damn good reason for waking me up at two in the morning," came a loud angry shriek from down the hallway.

Shikamaru stared at the closed door in surprise. "You didn't"

Naruto sighed. "I did," he stated just as the door swung upon and a very irritated looking woman with pink hair and teal eyes glared back at him.

"Sakura," Naruto greeted with a polite nod before he gestured towards the couch. "Do me a favor while you are here and make sure you're not going into shock."

The simple request brought the older woman up short, previous argument clearly forgotten. Feeling confused, Sakura turned around and stared at the couch before her eyes widened in shock. "S-she, m-me….HOW?"

"Naruto summoned her here. We don't know how, and yes that's you or a younger version of yourself anyway," Shikamaru clarified smoothly.

Sakura nodded slowly, still in shock before she turned around and glared at Naruto with a thousand questions still swirling around her features.

Naruto sighed. "All will be explained soon enough, but until then," Naruto once again gestured towards the couch.

Sakura stared at him for one more minute, before she schooled her expression into that of a professional. "How long has she been out?"

"Two minutes, roughly speaking."

Sakura nodded as she knelt down beside the couch and gently looked her over for any sign of injury. Feeling certain of her assessment, Sakura stood up and faced Naruto and Shikamaru. "She will be fine, her brain simply shut down to protect itself from the situation. She should wake up in a few seconds."

"That's good to hear," Naruto said in relief.

Sakura nodded as she walked over and slammed her palms down upon the desk. "Alright, you baka, talk! Why am I here?"

Naruto blinked, as he stared up at her with an amused expression on his face. "That's Lord Baka the Great to you and didn't my clone already tell you…"

Sakura scowled. "No not me," she said as she slammed her hand down upon her chest and then gestured wildly behind her towards the couch. "Her."

"Oh."

"Well," Sakura muttered through gritted teeth.

"Sakura, I think it will be a lot easier to explain it all at one time," Shikamaru said as he held out a seat for Sakura to take.

Sakura scowled at Shikamaru but otherwise said nothing else as she took her seat and waited in forced silence.

"I think she is waking up," Naruto said as he looked over towards the couch to where Sakura was stirring. "Sakura, can you hear me?"

Sakura frowned as she opened her eyes slowly. "Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled at her confused expression.

"That wasn't a dream, was it," she stated with a scowl.

"Nope," Naruto said cheerfully.

Sitting up, Sakura glanced around her surroundings cautiously before he gazed rested upon Shikamaru. "You're Shikamaru Nara, aren't you?"

Shikamaru smiled and nodded his head once in acknowledgement.

Frowning, Sakura glanced back at Naruto. "So let me get this straight the class idiot became the leader of our village, and the laziest guy in the class became what… your advisor? No wonder the village is in trouble."

A small choking sound that sounded eerily like suppressed laughter erupted from a chair in front of Naruto's desk.

Sakura gazed at it curiously before she looked back up at Naruto. "Did I miss something?"

Naruto smiled down at her. "Sakura, there is someone we want you to meet," he said before his face twisted into a comical expression. "I think you will like her."

"Har Har, you're very funny," older Sakura said as she stood up from the chair and faced her younger self.

Sakura's eyes widened as her jaw dropped as the sight of her older self came into view. Her older self was tall and lean. Her once long pink hair which she prided herself on was cropped short and clipped up behind her head. She was wearing a pair of black ankle length pants and a black v neck shirt underneath a starch white medical coat. Small black heels adorned her feet and her black forehead protector was tied neatly around her head like a headband. Her bangs were now side swept and flattered her once large forehead nicely.

The older woman smiled as she also appraised her younger self with a bitter sense of nostalgia behind it. "Hello, Sakura."

"H-hi," her younger self squeaked.

"Yay! We are all friends now," Naruto joked before he walked back over to his desk and sat down just as the two Sakura's turned around to glare at him at the same time. The situation would have been amusing on any other day, Naruto noted with a sigh.

"Sakura, I think you both need to take a seat," Shikamaru stated quietly from the side of the room.

The room became deathly silent for a moment before Naruto cleared his throat loudly and began. "We are not sure yet of all of the details, in fact we know next to nothing, but what we have learned and pieced together so far is by no means pleasant."

Naruto paused for a moment while he clasped his hands underneath his chin in a thoughtful gesture and leaned forward. "Somehow Sakura, your past self managed to summon me into the past. How and what changed we have yet to determine, but we have a small hunch that it has to do with the two chunin that attacked you at the time."

"Chunins," Sakura asked with a bewildered expression as she glanced down at her younger self.

Naruto nodded. "They recognized me as the shichidaime Hokage," he stated gravely.

"Naruto, if they recognized you as Konaha's current Hokage then does that mean…" Sakura asked with wide eyes.

"We are not sure yet. They may be from our timeline, or they may have just been well informed, either way someone from our time has found their way into the past, and they want something," Shikamaru stated.

"Wow, what a mess," Sakura mumbled to herself.

Naruto nodded as he leaned back into his chair. "Exactly, we don't know who is in the past or why. That's what makes this situation so dangerous."

"What could they possibly want," Sakura murmured, deep in thought.

Everyone in the room immediately turned to look at the youngest occupant in the room.

Sakura flinched and wilted slightly underneath their gaze. "What?"

"Sakura, what possessed you to want to learn the summoning technique," Shikamaru inquired.

"I, uh, saw Kakashi Sensei summon some dogs when we went to the Wave Country, and with Sasuke and Naruto racing ahead of me, I figured it was time I learned a new jutsu," she stated, clearly flustered.

Everyone turned to look at her older counterpart who also blushed in response.

"I do remember feeling like that, but I quickly dropped the idea of wanting to learn the summoning technique because it required more chakra than I was willing to give at the time," she explained.

"What a drag," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"So what do we do now," both Sakura's inquired at the same time.

Naruto smiled. "We take the chunin exams."

The older of the two women frowned. "Excuse me?"

Naruto chuckled. "It's a stretch to be honest with you, because we aren't exactly certain yet, but we believe that something else is going to take place during this chunin exam."

"Something else," the younger girl asked clearly confused.

Everyone's face turned uncomfortable as memories flooded their mind's eye.

"Should we tell her," Shikamaru asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"That's up to Sakura," Naruto said as he gazed impassively at his old teammate.

Sakura's eyes tightened as she absentmindedly touched her cropped hair, her eyes were lost in old and painful memories. "No, the lessons I learned were necessary at the time, I could not rob myself of that even if it would make it hurt less," she said sadly.

"Would make what hurt less," the younger girl asked slowly.

"You will find out soon enough," her older self said with a forced smile.

Frowning Sakura turned around to face her summon and saw that he was just as stone faced as her future self was over the matter. "So, I guess ya'll want me to participate in this event after all," she stated reluctantly.

Naruto smiled at her. "Don't worry we will be there with you. No harm will come to you."

"What do you mean 'we' will be there with you," older Sakura asked in a sharp voice.

Naruto's smiled widened. "We are going undercover into the past to stop whatever it is from taking place, so in other words we are retaking the chunin exam as wet behind the ears genin."

"In that case, I am coming with you."

Everyone turned around in surprise to find that the Kazekage was standing in their doorway with a hint of a smile adorning his lips.

"Gaara," Naruto cheered.

Gaara smiled. "Naruto, you weren't planning on leaving me alone while you had all the fun by yourself, now were you?"

-End-

Reviews are the best thing ever! :D

A/N:

WHOA! Ok! SO I am like back for real this time. :D I know I know I have been gone for a few months but in my defense it was the computer's fault not mine lol. But seriously blame the computer. I also know I left on a bit of a cliffhanger. I actually already have started on the next chapter which will be a continuation of this one, and I hope to have it up by next week if things go down correctly : )

I know this chapter didn't have much humor in it, and I am sorry about that. But I felt it was time to get the questions answered and get it to start setting itself up into the main plot. I promise more humor to come though in future chapters! I still hope ya'll like this chapter just the same.

I would like to thank all of my lovely reviewers and those who have added me to their alerts/communities/favorites. Your support is greatly appreciated and I am glad that ya'll are enjoying my story so far.

Now time to answer questions from chapter three:

Happy Everyday Life: Thanks for the sweet reviews, I am glad you are enjoying the story so far and I have taken your suggestion into consideration for a future event. And as far as the training goes, well, you'll see : )

Soten Ni Zase Hyouketsu: Wow your name is a mouthful :P And yes that generic review was amazing lol. As far as the wife goes, she will be revealed soon enough, just have some patience cuz she won't be who you expect lol. But I guarantee you'll get a kick out of it.

Holydemonsnappendragon: I am glad you like more story so far, and I hope that you understand a little but more about what was a dream and what wasn't. In case you didn't, I promise it will be better clarified in the next chapter.

Excele Kurokami: Lol I actually do have a wife in mind : ) I am just not ready to reveal her yet as such, because the story doesn't really revolve so much around that fact just yet. I am glad that you like my story though : )

Arvarno: Your right it is not a stable time loop, and I did use your suggestion for reverse summoning her : ) As far as can the pairing change, absolutely! Will it change it depends on how it writes itself out I suppose. It's like I said the romance isn't the main main focus. I wanted to deal primarily with the friendship first and have hints of romance throughout the story, but well I guess you will just have to see on that one. Hope you like it just the same : )

To everyone else like I said before thank you SO much for all of your support : )

Posted: 9/25/11