I landed unceremoniously onto a dirt road.

Which was better, I suppose, than landing into Madara's hands.

For a moment, as I laid there, face pressed up against the dirt, practically feeling the bacteria and viruses creating a home in the cuts that flowed down my face, I wondered if the jutsu had failed and I had perished and would be welcomed into the arms of my fallen friends.

A sharp, cold kunai pressed up against my jugular and a knee against my ribs, however, proved to me that I was neither in any Heaven nor Hell…But back in my own personal purgatory of the Shinobi Nations.

"Who are you and why are you trespassing?" the person, or rather ninja, demanded of me.

"Attack first, ask questions later," I muttered ruefully under my breath. Then louder, I told the ninja, "I am here to discuss business with Konoha's Hokage."

The pressure on my ribs dissipated before a hand wound itself in my hair and yanked my head up, "There have been no missions stated to have been incoming to the village. Tell the truth!"

"Idiot!" I hissed, "Look at my headband! Does it seem like that of a foreign shinobi!"

Before I knew it, my hair was released and my head slammed down onto the ground like elastic.

Damn idiots, Inner Sakura seethed.

Soon enough, I had been taken to the Hokage by teleportation jutsu. And I felt my heart pang as I stood in front of the third Hokage, five years before he was killed…the year of the Uchiha massacre.

It was like watching the ghosts of your past run circles around you; it was unsettling and down right weird.

Immediately, I bowed with a respectful "Hokage-sama!" despite my wandering and pensive thoughts about the situation.

The ninja in the room seemed a bit stunned. But that was to be expected. A random ninja appears just outside the gates of Konoha, with a headband pertaining to the village, but is not someone they can readily recognize as being in their ranks. And the person who they could even recall looking like her just started the academy and is of a first generation soon-to-be ninja, with no relatives dallying within the dangerous profession.

"What is your name, young lady?" The Hokage addressed me.

At this point, I stood back up, looking the Hokage straight in the eye. "Haruno Sakura, Hokage-sama."

His eyes seemed to widen a bit. "Sakura-san, my Chunin tells me that you have business to discuss with me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama! I am on an S-ranked mission. All necessary information is in this scroll," I said, pulling out the scroll from my kunai pouch and handing it over to the Sandaime.

I stood silently as I watched him break the seals. Tsunade had not even told me what she had put within the scroll, saying that I would soon know.

But I suppose it was the general information about my mission and what the goal of it was.

Nothing much. Save for stopping the Fourth Great Shinobi War from occurring and preventing all the remaining Uchiha from going completely insane with power or guilt.

As soon as the Sandaime finished reading the scroll, he banished his ANBU from the room and laced his hands in front of his chin. "Sakura-chan, you come from the future."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I am."

"This scroll here says that you have some…history to inform me of."

I looked him straight in the eye, nodding. "I am not sure how much I should disclose to you Hokage-sama, for fear of changing the course of time to the point that I will not be able to tell what events occur in the immediate future anymore. But I shall give you a brief outline based on what I learned in the future, a mere eight years from now. The Uchiha are massacred by Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Madara. Itachi was on orders by the council upon the impending coup. Uchiha Sasuke is the only survivor of the massacre. In the years following, Orochimaru puts the curse mark on Sasuke, Sound and Sand attack during the chunin exam and Akatsuki, a dangerous group lead by Uchiha Madara, begin hunting for Jinchuuriki.

"Uchiha Sasuke manages to kill Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi. Konoha kills many members of the group Akatsuki. However, at the Five Kage Summit, Madara appears and declares the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Of which I took part in. Madara launches his master plan. And thus the majority of the Shinobi forces who fight against him are killed in battle."

The Sandaime then stared at me, abject horror reflecting in his eyes but nothing else being reflected in his demeanor.

It was to be expected. Konoha and the entire Shinobi world went to hell. I had not even gotten to the part where he, the Sandaime, dies at the hands of Orochimaru and his Edo Tensei jutsu.

"It seems as though you have much on your hands, young Sakura," he said once the horror passed from his eyes to the more speculative look I was used to being on his face. "But tell me, what made your Hokage choose you and not someone else?"

I gave a bitter smile. He would understand if he had lived through to the War. Hell, he might of understood better if he had lived through the Sound and Sand invasion. "Perhaps the fact that I was the only kunoichi left alive, Hokage-sama."

He winced, "Yes, forgive me. What I meant was what abilities might you have that might aide you in your mission."

I ran a hand through my pink locks, sighing. I would have to spill a considerable amount of information in order to be dismissed. Hell, even this debriefing and retelling of the events that took place eight years from the current time span was taking a toll on me. I could feel tears springing to my eyes and coating them in a watery-film, but none would fall simply due to the fact that I had cried far too much as it was during the war and my eyes didn't seem to admit to the weakness that was crying.

Clenching my fists, I quickly summarized to him my abilities, "I was trained by one of the Great Sannin. I know vast medical jutsu and have pin-poin chakra control. My abilities, equal to that of Tsunade, should assist me in my mission. That is, if my knowledge of the events of the future are not sufficient enough."

He nodded gravely, and for a moment, there was a pause.

In that moment, I looked back behind the Hokage, where the windows were located. There were large buildings towering over roads, food stalls intermixing with businesses and the village market, birding on the lines that ran across the course of the village. If I squinted, I could spot the odd ninja or two leaping from the rooftops.

Maybe if I closed my eyes, I would be able to create an image of Kakashi poofing away from the Memorial Stone to meet up with Team 7, where Naruto would be glaring at Sasuke for some stupid and irrelevant reason, and Sasuke would just stare off unperturbed. Then I would crash my fist on Naruto's head, and he would go flying into a nearby tree, tears going down his face all the way there. And once Kakashi would poof in with some lame excuse, Naruto and I would yell "LIAR!" into his face while Sasuke would be all monosyllabic and say "Hn." Then…

"Sakura-san," the Hokage pulled me out of my reminiscent state of mind.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. I was pulled into a world that no longer exists in my timeline."

"No, it does not. But perhaps you may have it in this timeline, permanently. Now, Sakura-san, your Hokage has specified that to continue with you mission you are to work on you ninjutsu to further integrate yourself into this timeline."

I nodded, I had already acknowledged that I would have to be more active in battle to achieve some of my missions goals. For one, Uchiha Itachi would likely have some trouble attempting to recognize a mere medic-nin, rather, it would make more sense for him to see someone who attacked and healed instead of simply one of the other.

But then a thought occurred to me. How had the Hokage known I was genuine and not a spy? I voiced my thoughts.

"Well, Sakura-san, the sorrow withing your eyes cannot be copied with a mere jutsu. Also, a scroll such as the one you brought me could have easily been booby-trapped, however, such arduous forgery of the Hokage seal could not have been practical for an assassination mission."

I nodded, my mind processing his evaluations. They were plausible.

"Furthermore, we must arrange you some housing and…a new surname."

My jaw dropped. "A new surname? A new permanent surname?"

The Hokage nodded. "It would be very troubling to have to explain to anyone why there are two Sakura Harunos running around, seeing as the Haruno have only one child."

"Should I change my given name as well?" I asked tentatively, not really willing to give up the final bits of my life that tied me to my past. As horrible as it was, it was still my identity, something no one was allowed to steal from me.

"Although that would be a wise decision, it is unnecessary. We merely need a different surname. Try to avoid the style of dress you used when you were the age you were at this point of time."

I nodded, sighing. Quickly, I thought up of a name.

Hatake was Kakashi's name.

Uchiha I could definitely not use.

I didn't fit the characteristics nor bloodline limit of a Hyuuga, nor Yamanaka, nor Akimichi or even a Nara.

So that left me with one option.

I told the Hokage my choice and smiled. I knew it would be weird for me to have the name but with the things I had planned, it was perfect. It would probably screw up time permanently, but if I could get some more information on the clan from the Library and then play myself off as a step daughter or something, then I would be able to pull off my little role.

The Hokage smiled. "That's a fine choice Sakura-san. Now I shall just, spread…news around about you, to peak the interest of the Uchiha. Perhaps they will start hearing about you, and that way, you will have an easier time completing your mission. Perhaps you see about getting the Yamanaka to know about you, it will soon spread around and then you will have a story to back up your notoriety and powers. Is that all right with you?"

My eyes brightened up as I looked at him, my jaw dropping slightly at the amount of help he was giving him. I grew up with him, but the Hokage had never really been the one that I had bonded with. I bonded with Tsunade-shishou, not this Hokage but he was still showing this amount of cooperation to some girl who looked like a twelve-year old!

Then again, it was the fate of the village that I had on my hands.

I walked through the village road, looking around in wonder at all the buildings. To think that just a few hours ago, I was in this very same village but staring at the rubble and uncollected corpses that littered the crater where Konoha used to stand.

To think that a few years from now, if I failed my mission, it would return to the state that I remembered it to be in just this morning; in shambles…completely destroyed and devoid of any hope of survival.

I padded around the village, my eyes wide looking t everything, nostrils flaring at the familiar scent of sweet dango cooking, ramen stewing in pots and barbecue pork being made within the restaurants.

Tsunade-sama had given me some money to work with once I got here. So I suppose I would have to find some supplies and scrolls to begin learning from.

I passed the village idly, when I caught my reflection in a store window. My headband…

It stood out too much on my head. So I bit my cheek and untied it from where it held most of my hair back and instead placed it on my forehead.

Grrr…I pursed my lips. I looked more serious like this. My eyes were steely, with just a hint of warmth creeping in from seeing Konoha up and running again.

As soon as I walked out of a weapons shop with my backpack laden with stuff I could use to train, I saw a familiar blonde head streaking through the streets.

I smiled…

That is, until he crashed into me.

I fell onto the floor with a loud OOMPH, and laughed when he grasped his head in pain, rocking back and forth saying "OWWW!"

I pushed myself up to my feet and held my hand out to him. His eyes squished close, as if waiting for an inevitable blow. But after a while, he realized I was not going to strike his little form. When he opened his eyes and saw that I wasn't going to bash him in or turn him into the Chunin that were no doubt on his tail, he jaw dropped. But then he quickly took my hand when he saw my friendly smile. The same smile I loved to see and took for granted in the future.

"Thanks, nee-chan!"

"No problem. You're Naruto-kun, aren't you?"

"Ne, how did you know that nee-chan?"

I grinned this time. "Hokage-sama. I think he instructed me to be your care taker, Chibi-chan."

"What?"