Last edited:7/7/2012
Title: One Last Chance
Summary: For the first time in her life, Sakura would not be the weak link. A time-travel fict.
Author: River Flows Backwards
Beta: I don't have one yet, but I need one.
Important Notes: Ummm... wow. Forgive me?
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story by the way as well as favorited it and put it on story alerts. I am very grateful to all of you. Read on!
X.x.X
"Whoohoo!"
It was nearly eleven in the morning according to the sun, and Naruto was shouting at the top of his lungs and running around the currently empty playground. The swing he had been sitting on moments before still swung loosely on the set and Sakura watched him from her perch at the end of a slide. His wild laughter mixed with the occasional triumphant yell and whoop echoed through the air and Sakura wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or endeared by his exuberance.
She was a little bit of both.
"Did ya see that?" asked the blond, skidding to a halt before his friend. "No really! I was, like, super high 'n then when I flipped it was all whoosh! n' flip! 'n then I landed it! I landed it like BAM! I'm so awesome. Did ya see that?"
His huge blue eyes were wide with excitement as he talked, pupils dilated, face flushed. A splitting grin was stretched firmly across his whiskered cheeks and his blond hair flopped cutely into his eyes.
'Aww...' Sakura internally cooed. 'He was so cute at this age!'
Just now Naruto had performed the flip that Sakura had been teaching him (Or the "Super-Awesome-Ramen-Getting-Trick-of-Awesomeness-and-Doom" as he had happily named it at the end of the first day. Sakura just called it a flip.) for the first time.
It had taken a total of three days - "'Cause I'm just that awesome!" - for him to get the flip down. It was nothing impressive: just a single back tuck and a two footed land on the ground, but for a six-year-old, much less a Naruto... Well. The results were rather obvious, weren't they?
"Yes Naruto," Sakura said wryly. "I saw."
"Great! 'Cause now I can get the Old Man n' he can watch me do the flip and then we can get ramen!"
Sakura giggled and smiled sunnily at him.
"I know."
"I can't wait for him to meet you! 'Cause he's always tellin' me to make friends n' all and now I've made my first one!"
Naruto continued smiling hugely and laughed, he was so happy. Meanwhile, Sakura's own smile had dimmed slightly and become more forced as she processed his words.
'First friend?'
"Y-yeah..." she said slowly. Sakura bit her lip.
"Well alright then!" he said happily and leaned forward to grab her hand, smile still in place. "Let's go get 'im!"
With a firm tug, Sakura was yanked to standing and followed Naruto as he began running out of the park and in the direction of wherever it is that that the "Old Man" currently was. She tried her hardest not to think about Naruto's previous words.
"So," she said slowly as Naruto spun around a corner, "Just where are we going?"
"The Hokage Tower!" he shouted.
Sakura hopped over a shallow ditch in the sidewalk and blinked.
"Why?"
"'Cause that's where the Old Man is of course!"
They turned another corner.
"Huh?"
Naruto glanced back at her then, a sheepish grin on his face.
"Didn' I tell ya?" he asked. "The Old Man's the Hokage."
XxXxX
Sakura felt stupid.
She was sitting in a large, wooden chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Her legs dangled of the edge of the seat and were crossed neatly at the ankles, hands in her lap as she looked anywhere but at the face of the Sandaime who she just knew was smiling at her in the grandfatherly way that she always remembered him doing in the (future?) past. Beside her, the exact opposite of his pink haired friend, Naruto bounced up and down in his seat, chattering away as he told the Hokage about the "super awesome trick" that he learned in "only three days 'cause I'm just that awesome n' all" and about how he was going to show him and then the Hokage would just have to get ramen for him because the trick was just that totally amazing, and- Did he mention that he learned it in just three days? Because he did. And he didn't even know how to swing before then! So basically he learned two things, but "'cause I'm nice you can just buy me enough ramen for one of 'em." But, "Oh, ya also gotta buy some for Sakura-chan too. 'Cause she's the one who taught me."
"I just met her," Naruto continued happily. "Like... this many days ago!" he held up two fingers. "But we're already real good friends!"
The Sandaime's smile widened slightly, his eyes crinkling with the motion as he nodded in agreement to Naruto's demands.
"But only if you can actually do the flip," he told Naruto and leaned forward to ruffle his golden hair. Naruto simply beamed under the attention he was getting and Sakura shifted in her chair.
Sakura watched him in her peripheral vision, frowning as she tried not to remember the fact that the last time she'd seen him he was dead and inside a coffin, a sea of black mourners surrounding his dead body. She suppressed a shiver.
Kami. How could she have forgotten that the "Old Man" was the Hokage? Naruto had always referred to him that way, so she should have already known!
'What kind of ninja am I? Forgetting such a huge detail...' she thought with a scowl then paused. 'This time around... maybe I can make it so the Sandaime will survive? Ah, but that won't be happening for many years now. And if the Sandaime doesn't die... what about Tsunade? How could I get her to come to Konoha again? More to think about...'
This would also complicate other things because after day one of meeting little Naruto, she had decided to stay under the radar and take the role of a normal, if above average in the academic apartment, student that she had been in the last time line, in this one. That way she would rise in the ninja corps at the same rate as Naruto and possibly get placed on the same team again. If the Sandaime made it a habit of keeping a close eye on the two of them, all of the plans that she had devised over the past two weeks would become more difficult to execute because a lot of it had to be done in secret. And something told her that being Naruto's (only) friend would mean that he would be watching over her.
She would just have to work around it.
She sighed softly and pulled away from her thoughts and back to the current situation. The Hokage was sitting down now, behind his desk, leaning forward on both elbows and playing with his unlit pipe between his fingers.
"And now," he continued, turning to the nervous looking little girl that was fidgeting in the chair beside his ward, "Who might you be?"
"Well that's-" Naruto began loudly but was cut off by a look.
"I would like to hear it from her mouth, Naruto," the old man chided gently. "Be silent for now."
"But-!"
"Just for a little while, Naruto," he assured the little boy and Naruto puffed his cheeks and pouted in his seat. Sakura saw this and giggled to herself and the Sandaime chuckled slightly himself before turning his attention back to Sakura.
"Your name?" he prompted.
Sakura bit her lip and glanced up to meet his brown eyes.
'You're a child, you're a child, you're a child,' she chanted to herself as she fixed a pretty smile on her face.
"My name is Sakura," she said politely in her high, childish voice. She still hadn't gotten quite used to it yet. "Haruno Sakura."
"Haruno? You come from a civilian family?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. But..." she looked to the ground and then back up again with an even larger smile than before. "When I am older I will be a ninja."
"Oh?"
"Mmhm! Me and Naruto both!" she turned to Naruto then. "Ne, Naruto?"
The blond looked at her and blinked in surprise for a moment before grinning and nodding rapidly.
"Yeah!" he cheered, pumping a fist in the air in excitement. "Imma be Hokage, n' Sakura-chan'll be my- my..."
The blond trailed off, unsure, and gave Sakura a questioning look.
"I'll be Naruto's head medic," Sakura supplied assuredly.
"A medic?" the Hokage asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes! Oh. And his supervisor, because we all know that he'll need one."
She gave the current Hokage a serious look at this that made him chuckle and nod in understanding.
"What's a supervisor?" asked Naruto.
Sakura grinned at him.
"It's someone that keeps you from doing stupid stuff."
"Oh..."
Watching the two with an old smile the Hokage stood up and set the pipe that he had been fiddling with down. Naruto and Sakura both looked up at him then and stared in question.
"Well now you two," the old ninja said softly. "How about we go to the park so that you can show me this special trick, Naruto? And then we'll see about that ramen."
"Great!" Naruto scrambled off his seat and then practically threw himself out the door in his haste. "Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, run! The faster we get there the faster we get ramen!"
Climbing off of her chair only now, Sakura rolled her eyes at him before running after him.
"I know, I know!"
XxXxX
Naruto truly was a bottomless pit.
Those were Sakura's thoughts as she watched him down his third bowl of ramen at a disturbing speed and she voiced her opinion.
"How can you manage to eat so much?" she asked in a mixture of amusement and disgust. She herself was still on her first bowl of the salty noodles and doubted that she would be able to finish even that, as she was such a small child.
Naruto stopped to look at her, noodles still hanging out of his mouth before he slurped them up and swallowed hastily.
"Cause I got a fast meta- matabosl- uh."
"Metabolism?"
"Yeah, that! I dunno what a meta-whatever is, but that's what the Old man tells me so it's gotta be true. Right?"
He turned to his left where said Old Man sat with a half-eaten bowl of his own in front of him and poked him roughly.
"Poking people is rude, Naruto," he informed the six year old lightly, but nodded anyway. "And that is what I said."
"Told ya so!"
Behind the counter the owner of Ichiraku's laughed.
"Well, he's good for business so it had better stay that way," the ramen chef joked with a wink. Naruto grinned back at him before resuming his monstrous eating. "Now Naruto, mind telling me why you're here today? I heard it was a celebration of sorts from your little friend here."
He gestured to Sakura who nodded and smiled and decided to answer for Naruto who was still shoveling in the food. She was still trying to work out how he didn't choke.
"He learned something new and showed it to Hokage-sama, and so we came here to celebrate."
Teuchi leaned forward in interest.
"Oh?"
"Yeah!" Naruto sputtered through the food in his mouth. Sakura grimaced at the lack of manners but then grinned despite herself because it was such a Naruto thing to do, and she missed that. She'd have to work on his manners later though. "It's a flip that I did offa the swing and it's like when I get super super high on the swing I let go n' then I go whoosh and I flip n' all n' it's super cool! Oh! And Sakura taught me! N' she's better at it too. Because when Sakura does the flip, she flies n' she doesn't land like me. 'Cause I land all like BOOM! Sakura lands real soft n' she barely makes a sound at all. She's real- real... graceful about it."
Sakura grimaced when the Hokage sent her a curious look.
"Is that so?" he asked slowly and Sakura opened her mouth to deny when Naruto beat her.
"Really! And that's not all she can do! She's showed me a couple other tricks too 'cause the swings weren't always open to practice on. Like, did you know that she can nail the same spot on the lamp post by the jungle gym with a rock every time that she tries! 'Cause she can n' it's sooo cool."
"I didn't." The Sandaime turned an inquisitive gaze towards Sakura, who was trying her hardest not to cringe. So much for staying under the radar... "You must have very good aim, Sakura-chan."
The adult turned child shrugged helplessly.
"I don't know about that..."
"Based on what Naruto says, you do. I'm sure that you will make a very good ninja one day. Tell me, have your parents enrolled you to the academy yet?"
Sakura smile was forced.
"No, sir."
"I see... you'd best do that soon then. Classes start in one month after all," he told her with a smile.
"Okay..."
"I will look forward to seeing how you grow as a ninja in the future, Sakura-chan."
"T-thank you."
They finished eating quickly enough and then talked together a while after, Teuchi throwing in his own comments every now and then, and it was nice and it was pleasant, but Sakura couldn't help but suppress a flinch each and every time that the old Hokage sent another inquisitive glance in her direction. His interest had been caught by Naruto's words and thus opened up a whole world of problems for Sakura. If he wasn't planning on watching her before, he sure was now.
XxXxX
Walking back home that afternoon, Sakura sighed and tuned out the happily chattering Naruto that was walking with her. The Hokage watched them go, standing right outside of Ichiraku's, waving after them and smiling.
"Cat," he said softly and a figure appeared beside him at the word. The two children disappeared around a corner.
"Yes, Hokage-sama?" asked the ANBU.
"That little girl, the one with the pink hair... I want you to keep an eye out for anything interesting that happens to and around her. You don't have to keep watch specifically; just be aware. Spread the news to the rest of the ANBU."
"Hokage-sama? May I ask why?"
"You may. I think that we have found ourselves a little civilian prodigy."
XxXxX
Unaware of the conversation going on just behind them, Sakura and Naruto kept a steady pace as they walked back to the park where she assumed they would spend the rest of their day and then part ways and go home. Just as he always had done in the future/past and the past three days that she'd known him this timeline, Naruto filled the air with talk as Sakura listened with a small, distracted smile, her mind on something other than what the blond was saying.
It was a little after one o'clock in the afternoon now and the sun shone brightly overhead, casting shallow shadows across the ground where they walked.
She wondered where Kakashi was at this very moment in time. Or Tsunade for that matter. The two had been her teachers for so many years before they had been killed- no. Murdered, and she couldn't help but be curious about them. She needed to track those two down sometime soon. Or at least Kakashi. Was he in ANBU right now? Sakura thought so, but wasn't too sure. Kakashi-sensei didn't talk much about those days. Sakura didn't imagine that it was a happy time. But then again... what was happy about his life at all? Not much, Sakura was sure. He'd had it rough from day one, and when he'd died...
Sakura was brought back to reality by a rather painful poke and she blinked owlishly, realizing that she had stopped walking. Naruto was standing right in front of her, wide blue eyes concerned.
"Ne, you okay?" he asked and pressed a slightly sweaty hand to her pale forehead. "You're not sick, are you? 'Cause you don't feel warm. But if you are, then you need ta get home reaaal quick n' eat soup n' stuff 'cause that's what the Old Man tells me he eats when he's sick. I dunno how it makes you feel better 'cause I've never been sick before, but he says it makes him feel better, so... yeah."
Not for the first time that day, Sakura found herself internally cooing at how cute Naruto could be as a six-year-old and she smiled at him and playfully batted his hand away.
"I'm fine," she assured him, "Just thinking."
Naruto hummed in understanding but was still looking at her oddly. She still looked kind of out of it; her smile a little too plastic for his tastes.
"I'm fine! Really."
"M'kay..."
The blond still looked a little unsure, but quickly brushed it off as they resumed walking.
The rest of the day went off without a hitch and Naruto and Sakura played and played until Sakura was forced to go home by an irritated baby sitter that Sakura had escaped from earlier that day. Naruto grinned at her and waved as a giggling Sakura was dragged away by an older civilian girl.
"See ya later!" he called after her.
From her position over her babysitters shoulder (where she'd been thrown immediately to prevent her escaping again) Sakura waved back.
"See ya!" Sakura agreed.
XxXxX
Three weeks later, Naruto and Sakura were at the park again, the place that had become their official meeting spot. Since that first day she'd met him this timeline, they'd gone to see each other almost every day and play and talk until it was either dark or Sakura's babysitter found her. Naruto had no such limitations however, seeing as he was an orphan. Mixed in with their play time now - courtesy of Sakura - were training exercises. She incorporated them into the games that they would play and before she knew it both she and Naruto had built up more endurance, strength and speed than they'd had before; a good start for children their ages. Not that Naruto noticed this, of course. They were just fun games to him. But Sakura was fine with that.
'Let him be a kid,' she thought softly.
Currently, they were walking through the streets of Konoha, heading towards the very busy market that day. The colorful tops of the venders and merchants stands and tents dotted the streets. Naruto was fingering a small, brown canvas bag that held his money in it (Sakura assumed he hadn't bought his frog wallet yet) and was leading her directly towards an apple stand where a pile of bright red fruits were stacked atop one another. Lunch had been but a few hours before, but the two felt hungry and so Naruto had decided they should go get something with some money he had saved up.
"Ooh," he purred. "Those look really good! Don't you think, Sakura-chan? Maybe if I have enough, you can bring some home for your parents, and I can bring some to the Old Man!"
Sakura nodded and smiled slightly.
Along with speed, strength, and agility, she had also been working on Naruto's grammar and speech. He was doing much better than when she first met him this timeline and felt proud about how quickly he had picked it all up. Though... giving him a chakra enhanced flick on the forehead each time he said something wrong might have helped him learn it as fast as he did...
"Definitely."
"Cool! Let's go."
The two trotted up to the apple stand where an old lady stood, dogging feet and trying not to run into anyone or get stepped on. The two stood on their toes to get a better glimpse at the fragrant fruits when they got there and looked over to grin at each other.
"Now that," said Sakura, "is a good apple."
"Yeah! Hey, get the old ladies attention and I'll get out some money for the apples, kay? See how much it is for... ten. That way we can have some for us and you can bring some home to your family and me to the Old Man!"
"Okay."
While Naruto started shaking out and counting his money, Sakura walked up to the stands owner and tugged on the long skirt she was wearing. Dark brown eyes glanced down at her and a grey eyebrow rose in question.
"Excuse me," Sakura said sweetly, "How much would it cost to buy ten apples?"
The withered looking old woman gave Sakura a wrinkled smile.
"That would be 752 yen, dearie," she replied and Sakura nodded in understanding.
"Naruto!" she called to the side. "It's 752 yen for ten of them! Do you have that much?"
"Yeah!" he called back and trotted up to her, holding the exact amount between him fingers.
"Great!"
They grinned at each other before turning to look back to the old lady.
"Ten apples, please!" Sakura requested.
"Of course, dearie. Just one- Wait."
Critical brown eyes zeroed in on the other child standing next to the pink haired one and narrowed as they took in the infamous blue eyes and blond hair and - most importantly - the three whisker-like scars on each cheek.
The woman hissed.
"Leave."
Both children blinked in confusion at the sudden hostility.
"Excuse me?"
"I said," repeated the old woman, walking towards Naruto and giving him a rough push to the side, "Leave! I don't serve to your kind, demon."
Jade green eyes went wide in confusion before immediately narrowing in anger and understanding.
'That stupid lady! How dare she treat him that way!' she snarled internally. 'Just because of the Kyuubi, she would-!'
"What the heck are you doing?" she screamed at the old woman, and other shoppers and venders started to stare at the three. "He didn't do anything wrong! We just wanted some apples!"
"Little girl," the old lady- No. Hag, said to her in a soft but firm voice, "I don't think you understand what you are associating yourself with. That boy is nothing but-"
"That boy," Sakura interrupted harshly, "Is my best friend! And you have no right to treat him that way."
"Dearie, that boy is nothing but a filthy, uncivilized thief that brings nothing but bad luck and death! A sweet little girl like you shouldn't associate with such filth."
"How dare you-!"
"Sakura-chan, stop!"
Tiny, tan hands wrapped around her own then and tugged her backwards slightly. Wide blue eyes met her own, filled with a silent plea to calm down and just let it be. Heh. Fat chance at that happening...
"That's enough..." he said softly, "Let's... just go."
"Naruto, are you deaf? Can't you hear what's she's saying? She called you filth! She called you a demon."
What on earth was he thinking, trying to brush off her words as though it was nothing? What happened to the fiery blond she so well remembered? The Naruto she knew would never have accepted such treatment!
'But he's not the Naruto you knew, remember? This one's different,' her mind whispered to her.
A low murmur rippled through the growing crowd.
Naruto looked at the ground.
"You can't honestly say you're not going to stop her, are you? This stupid old woman has no right to say those things! No right at all!"
Again, silence.
"You don't deserve this."
Her whisper was soft and filled with a raw emotion that Naruto couldn't name. It made him hurt inside though.
Somewhere in the crowd, a pair of obsidian eyes flashed with interest.
Naruto smiled then and it was soft, and sad.
"It doesn't really matter, Sakura-chan. I'm used to it! Hehe. I umm... I shouldn't have come here in the first place. It's my fault. Not hers."
The old hag snorted then.
"Sure is," she muttered spitefully.
Sakura glared at her.
"Sakura-chan, I'll explain later, okay? But, for now at least, let it go. Please."
She looked from his clenched fists to his pleading, devastatingly blue eyes and crumbled.
"Okay," she agreed reluctantly. "We'll go."
She gave him a strained smile and squeezed his hand. The crowd began to part awkwardly, dozens of eyes following the two children as they went; some curious, a few piteous, and others hostile like the old hag.
"And stay away!" yelled the old hag behind them. "Never come back here, demon! And if you're going to side with him, little girl, you don't need to return either!"
Backs turned to her as they were, Sakura never saw her raise a wrinkled old hand, a large apple in it, and throw it straight at Naruto's blond head with a remarkable aim for a civilian, much less an old woman.
Sakura noticed it almost immediately, but knew that she still didn't have a fast enough reaction time to catch it before it hit her friend.
"Naruto! Watch out!"
A red blur came hurtling towards the kyuubi containers head and his eyes went wide as they turned to see the fruit flying towards him. It would hit him any moment and Naruto shut his eyes tightly as he braced himself mentally for the impact. But the apple never hit its mark because in the very next second there was a dark blur and a figure stood in between the six-year-olds and the woman who ran the fruit stand.
Naruto pried his eyes open.
The large red apple was gripped tightly in a pale hand just inches away from a terrified Naruto's face and Sakura's breath caught, looking at the red and white fan on the back of their mysterious saviors black shirt.
"Uchiha," she breathed.
"That is enough," said the boy before them.
He was no older than eleven or twelve based off of his height and voice, but she couldn't be sure. Slightly long, black hair that was trademark to the infamous clan was tied back into a ponytail at the base of the boys' neck. He was a ninja. Sakura could tell just by looking at him. The emotionless voice he used made her shiver.
"U-Uchiha-sama!" stuttered the old hag in shock and she scrambled into a bow. "How may I help you? Might you like to buy some-"
"Silence," hissed the stranger.
The crowd held its breath.
"Tell me what reason you have for treating these children like this?"
"W-well you see, that boy is-"
"Is what?"
"He- I mean, I- well..."
"Well...?"
"I... Forgive me," the hag bit out.
"Hn. Don't tell that to me. Tell them."
The boy gestured back towards the two who were watching with wide eyes; Naruto's in amazement, Sakura's in growing dread and suspicion. She still couldn't see his face, the voice… it was so familiar somehow.
The hag looked as though she had eaten something sour and looked away.
"Tell. Them."
"I apologize," she hissed.
"Hn. Good."
He then addressed the crowd with cold indifference.
"Go back to your business," he said softly, but in the stunned silence everyone heard. They obeyed.
"Uh," Sakura said nervously. "Thank you for your help, Uchiha-san. It was very much appreciated."
"Yeah!" Agreed an excited Naruto, all traces of the dejected boy from just moments before gone. "You were amazing!"
"Hn," muttered the boy, and turned to look at them finally.
Aristocratic features met the children's eyes and Sakura immediately recoiled in shock and fear.
'Itachi!'
If the future clan murderer noticed her negative reaction, he didn't show it and just gave a slight nod to the two's thanks.
He looked so much younger and less... evil than he had when she had first met him, but that was to be expected. While he still looked like he could kill someone with ease, he seemed... more relaxed than the Itachi of the future. The lines under his eyes were less defined, but his eyes were still the cold chips of obsidian she remembered. His face and voice were still without inflection.
Sakura's nails dug into her palms as she tried to calm herself.
"I believe you wanted one of these," he continued and handed the large red apple to an eager Naruto. "It is only one of the ten that you requested, but I believe you could do better anyway."
Naruto grinned hugely.
"Thanks!"
"It is nothing. I have a younger brother your age. Not helping would not be right," Itachi informed Naruto stiffly.
"Still... thanks a lot! If it weren't for you, that apple would've hit me!"
"... Hn."
"Ne, ne, You're a ninja, right? 'Cause otherwise you wouldn't have been able to move so quickly!"
"I am."
"Wow..."
A sharp tug on his sleeve broke him out of his hero-worship and he glanced back to see Sakura scowling deeply at him.
"You've thanked him," she clipped, "Now let's go. We don't need to stay here any longer."
Her harsh tone made Naruto raise his eyebrows in question and he carefully pried her hand off of his shirt and leaned forward lightly to get a better look at her.
"Sakura-chan... what's the matter?"
Jade eyes flickered from his face to the ninja beside them and then back to his in a split second. No other words were spoken, but Naruto somehow understood that his friend didn't like the man before them.
"Okay then," the conceded, uncharacteristically compliant. "We'll go back to the park then."
He turned to give Itachi one last, hundred-watt smile.
"Thanks ninja-san!"
"Hn."
And the two left.
Obsidian eyes followed their forms until they disappeared into the crowds.
RFB: So yeah. Chapter done. VERY long chapter done, actually. Haha. It's kind of slow, but it sets things up and the pace should (will?) pick up soon.
Now, click the magic button below and review!
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