Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto or any of its characters, just the plot. and the OC's.

Title: Bearing an Hourglass

Language:English

Form:Multi-Chaptered

Genre:Romance/Adventue

Rating:T

Pairing: Sakura Haruno/Sasuke Uchiha, Kushina Uzumaki/Minato Namikaze

Summary: What would you do if you found out you are one of the only two people exclusively chosen to trade your existing time line for another one to fix past mistakes, so that the entire fate of the ninja word effectvely lies on your shoulders in just a single minute? That's what Sakura and Sasuke have to figure out.

Note: So, this is the shortest chapter I've ever posted, and from now on, it'll probably be this way. On the bright side, having it this way means I'll be able to update more faster than I had been, which isn't really saying much, I realize, since I have taken a year and so to update, but I'm updating this in close to just 3 months!...yeah, I'll work on bridging that gap. But I have already started to write the next one so I don't think it'll take much time.

Bearing an Hourglass

by fourthfireshadow

Act II

Chapter 10-The Instructor's Medley

Training ground 25, Sasuke had found out, was one of the few training grounds given exclusively to the Uchiha clan for their use. It was wider than most, the clearing spanning the whole area with limited greenery and trees. Which meant deception and staying out of sight was out of the question, unless of course, one got really creative. It also meant that were to be upfront with their skills; no drawing out time and using the environment to their preference. He almost smirked; it seemed the Police Force were serious with the selection process and training regimen.

He could make out about five other Uchiha's in the grounds, excluding him. He could also see their gazes directed at him, ranging from slightly curious and wary to plain baffled. The curiousness and the wariness he could understand, since he was looking at them in the same way, as well, albeit probably in a more muted manner. The bafflement, he couldn't clearly fathom. It was probably because Sasuke was the youngest one here or perhaps due to his status. It really didn't matter as such in the end.

Truthfully, Sasuke could feel how his body was thrumming with a jumble of emotions, his blood roaring in his ears and pumping furiously beneath his skin, that familiar phantom feel of rushing electricity crackling between his fingertips, and that unpleasantly chilling trickle in his spine. It was the feeling he usually got before a confrontation, and was that what this was?

A confrontation of his dreams, because his whole life from the point of turning eight had been to achieve goals, not to chase dreams, and even his declaration of becoming Hokage during the war was just that; a goal, not a dream like it was for others, or more particularly, his blond teammate from another life. His one and only original dream, was to join the Police Force and make his clan, his family, his brother, his father proud. He hadn't had a chance to do that in his original time, and truthfully, Sasuke had forced himself to push anything related to his first eight years of his life to that small haphazardly taped box pushed to the darkest crevices of his mind, never to be ripped apart and opened. But now, here he was, in the exact position the naïve child he was had so desperately, achingly hoped for. He was on the way to become an Uchiha Police Officer.

Of course, Sasuke wasn't going at this with the eagerness and naiveté that would've been apparent if this had happened before, when an actual rookie was trying out for this position. And while he ached dimly for that lost opportunity, for having what would've definitely been an entirely different experience than right now, now when he knew his standing, snatched away from his so cruelly, Sasuke could still faintly feel that childish excitement making him a little more jittery than normal because at the end of the day, he was getting to live his dream now, even it was for an ulterior motive. Because he was going to get everything he can from this; that was for damn sure.

Another reason he was practically buzzing with nervous energy, Sasuke was sure, was because his training instructor at the moment, or at least the one overseeing him, was his father. He had been avoiding his mother ever since she had decided to become best friends with Kushina of all people—which had already disturbed him plenty, because that friendship had formed on its own accord and not with any interference from Sakura or him, which meant that they had to have been friends in the original timeline as well, which meant that he couldn't have avoided the dobe even if he'd wanted to in any way; they really were well and truly stuck together either way—because it was just strange and bewildering to look at the woman who would go on to eventually give birth to him, to act like the thirteen year old she was at the moment.

Strange and bewildering and painful and relieving.

It was all the better to simply stay away than experience that pit ball of emotions in one go, even if avoiding her meant not getting to know her, the one person who he'd loved and only loved, with no other emotion tainting that pure feeling.

But now he had to face his father—the same father who was the hardest to please. The same father who held Itachi in the highest of pedestals while simultaneously holding him in the lowest. The same father who was the face of the Uchiha clan and the head of the coup. The same father who'd picked him up and named him, pride and love ringing in his voice. The same father whose last words were to look after Sasuke. The same father that he, after a lot of time, realized he never even truly knew.

Sasuke didn't really have a choice in ignoring him, since he is his instructor. So, maybe this would be the time to get to know him. Perhaps. Not as Head and Face of the Uchiha Clan, but as the seemingly pretentious Wicked Eye Fugaku.

His eyes snapped up as the whistling of a kunai alerted him, the weapon embedding itself in the few spaces before an obviously startled applicant who had just walked into the clearing. Sasuke's brows furrowed as he looked at the direction the weapon had been thrown from, cursing himself for letting his guard down even for one moment with his clan members around him. However, the self-deprecating thoughts fizzled out as soon as he glimpsed at the attacker, his mouth running dry.

"I had explicitly written in my summons that any late-comers would be immediately taken off of the considering list, and as you must be aware, you are approximately seven minutes late."

At the resounding silence, the speaker simply frowned in distaste.

"Get out of my sight."

Sasuke barely registered the wide eyes and the squeak the late comer had emitted before pivoting out of the grounds as he was too captured by the sight of who could only be a teenaged version of Fugaku Uchiha. The deep set eyes, the protruding lower jaw and intimidating shoulders were still apparent, but it was offset by the youth clearly clinging to his skin. There were no wrinkles, no grey hairs and no weary eyes; rather, a sense of youthful arrogance glimmered in his familiarly sharp eyes. This must have been the Fugaku Uchiha that didn't have the entire clan's burden as a dead weight on his shoulders, a burden that had made it seem like his skin was melting and his face was permanently melded into a scowl.

He was a tad slighted to admit that without that title defining him; his own father was more of a stranger to him than he always had been.

Though he couldn't help but wryly noting that the scowl had apparently always been there.

Sasuke stands to attention as soon as Fugaku turns to look at the rest of them, with the rest of the applicants rushing to follow his lead. It was a dormant reaction from his early childhood in response to a single glance from the very same man. He could try to deny and say the circumstances were different then than it was now, but truthfully he knew in the deepest parts of himself that he still wanted to impress this man and as Fugaku glanced at him with slight approval in his dark eyes, he realized with a startling, cutting clarity, that he probably always would.

"Alright. My name is Fugaku Uchiha and I am going to be your assessor today, and depending on your performance today, two candidates that make the cut will see me more often." Fugaku announced, the low timbre of his voice clear and loud in the silent clearing.

Sasuke could see the shuffling of feet by his side, but wasn't surprised that the man beside him didn't raise any objections. He knew the man must be a little indignant and bewildered that his assessor was clearly years younger than him, but Fugaku simply had that aura of dominance outlining him crisply that it was hard to object to. He also knew that this intimidating aura would only grow in the years to come.

"Now, each one step forward and state your name, age, and rank and step back, and then continue onwards."

"Uchiha Yakumi. Twenty one years old and Chuunin."

"Uchiha Setsuna. Seventeen, Chuunin."

"Uchiha Yashiro, twenty three, Jounin."

"Uchiha Baru, fifteen, genin."

"…Uchiha Sasuke. Eleven and genin."

Sasuke could feel that all too familiar uneasiness straightening his spine almost involuntarily as Fugaku's eyes rested on him a sort of speculative air around him.

"You're the one on Sakumo-san's team, aren't you? As well as the youngest. Who's your father?"

"…Uchiha Renjirou." He swallowed, not sure what to feel at that exact moment. After all, he'd never thought he would've been in a situation where his original father inquired about his present one.

That speculative look sharpened, but he said no more as he turned and walked to the side of the clearing. Pivoting, he looked at each one of them in the eye.

"I'm not sure if anyone's told you, but there's only a chance to receive training to enter the Police Force for two out of the five of you. Two spots are open, and it is my duty to choose the ones that seem to have the most potential to receive this training. So, each of you will fight the one next to you with any one weapon of your choice, while the fifth one will advance directly to the next round. One of the winners from the initial matches will fight the fifth one while the other fights me. In the end, the winner from the match between the other winner and the fifth will also fight me. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, because in the end, I decide who has the most potential and no one else."

At this, Sasuke spotted the corner of Fugaku's lips lifting to a ghost of a smirk.

"In the end, if I seem to think you're not wasting my time, then you've got the spot."

The smirk turned a smidge feral.

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Sakura rubber her thumb over the small length of the wire that was uncoiled and smiled slightly as beads of blood dotted the appendage with just that small contact. The cut almost immediately faded, the outer layer of skin mending perfectly until only the red dots remained. Rubbing her fingers together to get rid of the blood, she glanced at the numerous number of coils of razor wire inside the bags she held in her hands.

Wires were soon going to be her weapon of choice, she had decided way back when she had seriously thought of the usage of weapons. Truthfully, her previous fighting style never stressed upon the importance of weapons; she was a close to mid-range fighter, and as such she rarely used the standard shinobi weapons such as shuriken or kunai even, unless the situation called for it. Back then, her chakra was her ultimate weapon. Now, chakra was still her most deadly ace, but now it was all about the force rather than the control. It was admittedly, a lot different and a lot harder than she'd thought it would be, and Sakura speculated it was because it had become an unconscious habit of hers to use her chakra as efficiently as she could as her natural reserves then weren't anything as they were now. She had self-disciplined herself to spread her chakra as thinly and evenly as she could without wasting even as ingle drop, and now she really had no reason to follow that philosophy. But she still did, because even now, possessing this much chakra was simply unbelievable to her.

All this was also another reason she'd chosen wires—this weapon would help her exclusively with control over her chakra as well. There are infinite uses for wires, if you have appropriate chakra control. With that control, one has absolute possession over all of those infinite uses. Add elemental chakra to this mix, and this weapon becomes a gold-mine, which was what she needed. Truthfully, her current level of chakra control was admittedly leagues better than what Naruto's was at this age, as she still knew all the theory and experience needed as well as the memory of her natural talent at it, but it still wasn't what she'd call above average. At this point, even Sasuke had better control than her and while that wasn't in any way surprising, it was surprisingly infuriating. Sakura really couldn't help the fiery envy that always burned her insides painfully and made her taste something bitter whenever she saw him perform something that she couldn't simply because of his control, because if there was anything that Sakura could proudly, absolutely call herself to be better than both Naruto and Sasuke, it was her perfect chakra control. They couldn't have beaten her in that aspect even if they'd tried their best and she had taken great pride in that fact. It was what let her keep her head above the metaphorical water when both of them started sprouting golden flames and violet demons around them.

And now even that was taken away from her. Her family, her friends, and now her abilities. And while she could've found solace in the fact that with her as the jinchuriki, it could result in her feeling power she'd never even dreamt of feeling before, seeing that she hadn't even been able to make contact with the damn fox, her chances seemed to be dwindling right before her eyes.

So, wires. It was a necessary step and she could really see it becoming pretty damn useful in the future if she could pull it off. Which she would have to, since her team's been nominated as candidates for the upcoming Chuunin exams, and she really had to pass these exams in one go if she ever wanted to get out of the village walls more frequently. The rosette wasn't surprised as such when Jiraiya handed them the forms, since Kushina had promptly exploded in her face with the form when she had reached home that day, rubbing it in her face with all the excitement and smugness she had in getting the form first. Sakura had known an almost unhealthy form of rivalry was festering in the redhead against her, but she didn't really mind. She knew rivalry was one of the best forms of motivations a shinobi could have and if this made Kushina grow stronger than she was in her previous life in the long run, she'd only be grateful. After all, rivalry was also one of the reasons she's so determined to get her control higher than Sasuke's, like it always should've been.

Deciding to start her training as soon as she ate something, her feet automatically led her to Ichiraku's. It really wasn't healthy for her either to eat ramen as much as she does because of her sister, but it really was starting to grow on her, and Teuchi-san usually always gave her discounts due to her being the sister of his biggest money-maker.

Ducking under the jute flap of the establishment, Sakura stopped abruptly, her eyes focused on the two people already sitting at the bar, slurping ramen. By now, she could recognize that pale blue hair anywhere, even if he wasn't a regular customer at Ichiraku's, but it was the long blonde hair in pigtails that brought her up short.

Even with that deep blue long jacket and that light blush on her pale cheeks, Tsunade emitted that same aura that she always did—commanding and powerful. But that blush was really starting to throw Sakura off.

They were on…a date, she belatedly realised, her own blush starting to spill on her cheeks as embarrassment spread.

There was just something vaguely unsettling to see her past-life mentor, the strongest woman she was ever likely to meet, and the one that would gladly beat any man in gleeful pleasure, in such an outing. Feelings like stark relief, stabbing affection, crushing familiarity and warming amazement at seeing her in this life warred with uneasiness, shock, and that intrinsic need to keep something like this for future manipulation purposes as was the norm when battling with a drunken Tsunade in her past life.

Knowing that she was just standing there under the flap like a complete idiot—and became further unsettled that both Dan and Tsunade were so busy with each other in their own world that they didn't even notice her—the pinkette ducked underneath completely and made her way to a stool, setting her bags of wires on the ground quietly. However, she couldn't really help herself as she peered at the couple from her peripheral vision, or more importantly, at Tsunade. Sakura was aware Tsunade was in the village at this time, and that at this point she wasn't even the Sannin yet. However, she had never run into her until now.

Sakura reckoned, other than the fact that this was Tsunade and Dan, she also found it bemusing due to the fact that as the atmosphere of the Second Shinobi War loomed over Konoha more than ever, with reports of casualties and broken treaties filling every corner until it became a sort of threatening background noise, quiet contentment like what Sakura was witnessing at the moment was very rare. And while she was uneasy, somehow she felt warm now. Like a certain stillness had just experienced a ripple.

"The usual, Sakura-chan?"

It was Teuchi-san's jolly question that finally broke whatever bubble the couple were in previously as both of them turned to look at her. Shaking herself off of the sudden nerves at having those amber eyes on her, Sakura directed a smile at the man who always seemed happy, and nodded once.

"Sakura, what a surprise to see you here." Dan said, a smile following his words as he looked at the girl he'd bumped into quite a few times since their first meeting.

"…You're one of the Uzumaki brats, aren't you?" Tsunade drawled, eyes curiously resting on the fidgeting pinkette.

"Um, yes…You must be the person that never fails to make Dan-san blush. It's great to finally meet you, Tsunade-san." Sakura finally said, relieved she could answer without letting all that happiness from dripping all over her tone.

At the teasing, Dan predictably blushed, making Tsunade laugh in amusement before leveling her with a pleased look. "Is that so?"

"No! This kid is obviously talking nonsense Tsunade-hime." He said quickly, fixing a glare at the now innocently smiling girl, which then turned into a scowl as he continued. "She has a habit of lying, you see."

"Ugh. Will you just let it go already? It was almost two years ago!" she burst out, an annoyed frown on her face as she glared at the smiling blue haired man.

"Well, well. Looks like there's a dynamic set here already." The blonde said, an amused smirk pulling at her lips at Sakura. "I'm all in for this if it means making him turn red again."

"It's not that hard, really. For some reason, it seems he's always thinking of you." Sakura retorted cheekily, but she couldn't help her voice growing noticeably softer by the end, especially because her words made her mentor's amber eyes melt into honey. It was the first time such a thing happened with just a few words. Her ocean eyes slid to Dan's now positively burning face and for the first time, marvelled at how much power this man really had over the strongest person in her life.

The clank of piping hot miso ramen being placed in front of her knocked her off her thoughts, and she gladly let her mind focus on the food in front of her and not on the look she was sure they were sharing with each other.

Dan cleared his throat abruptly, the red now fading to a softer pastel pink. "So, Sakura, is your team participating in the Chunin Exams?"

"Mm," Sakura nodded at the appropriate topic change and swallowed a spoon of the broth, "it's in a week so I'm trying to fit in as much training as I can in that time."

"Is that why you have a supplier's worth of wire with you?" the pale-haired man asked with potent amusement, yet his tone was still gentle. That gentleness of his never failed to make her feel like a child most of the time, and she hadn't really made up her mind if she found it disconcerting or not.

"Er, yeah. I wanted to improve on my chakra control, so I thought this would be one of the most useful ways to do it."

"Hm. You're serious about becoming a chunin, aren't you?" Tsunade cut in, eyes twinkling in a way that made it seem she knew more about Sakura than she was letting on. Of course she'd know more about her, Sakura thought distantly; she was Tsunade's grandmother's blood relation as well as her teammate's student.

Moreover, she was familiar with that certain smirk—it was a challenge. "Tell you what then. If you make it to the tournament part of the exams, come and find me. I think I can teach you one or two things about upping that chakra control of yours."

"Wha—Tsunade, you don't have time as it is." Dan protested softly, eyes narrowed with exasperation. He was probably used to her pig-headed nature, Sakura thought with a stab of amusement cutting through the overwhelming joy that was flooding her at the moment. How was this even happening? Was she going to have a chance to become Tsunade's protégé once again? Realistically, she wouldn't be able to learn medical techniques from her since the control needed for that was out of the question in her current predicament. Even her chakra enhanced strength seemed like a stretch to learn at the moment, but if anyone could help in chakra control, it was undoubtedly Tsunade. At this point, she was sure the affection she felt towards this unassuming woman was making her head feel light.

"I'll make time, then. I like this girl. She's Jiraiya's student. And I want to reward her for bringing your easily blushing tendencies to my attention, that's all." The blonde explained, before smiling widely at Dan. "You're blushing again."

"No, I'm not!" he groaned in slight dismay and sighed in resignation, directing a light glare at Sakura for starting this entire thing. "Both of you together are going to be the end of me, I swear."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, sharing a look with Tsunade—almost like old times—even though she had felt that pinch when he muttered about his end; he didn't know it was close by, after all. But now that there was a chance in her future to get closer to the future Sannin, maybe she could be an instrumental part in preventing that from happening. Of course, she'd have to map out the changes that would occur if that was prevented, especially in the course of Tsunade's life, but maybe it would all work out.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

"So, what do you say, kid? But only if you make it to the last stage. I don't need anybody wasting my time."

"I'll definitely be seeing you later, then."

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