Sakura groaned as she came to, only vaguely recognizing someone muttering 'finally.' She was more concerned with the pain. It was all encompassing. As a medical ninja, she knew that her every cell shouldn't fell like it had been set on fire.
Maybe that was an exaggeration. It actually felt very similar to the time Tsunade had decided to play dodge ball with boulders as tall as her, exclaiming they should be easy to avoid because how could Sakura miss them coming.
Needless to say, that was one of the most painful days of her life, and it was just shunted into second place.
"Bout time, Sakura-chan." It wasn't the deep voice she was used to, but Sakura would never forget that voice.
"Hokage-sama!" The pinkette jerked upright, regretting it as her smaller body screamed at her, and promptly lowered herself back to the ground.
"My sentiments exactly." Naruto had actually managed to be standing and was gazing at something in the distance. Sakura didn't quite see how he sympathized with her. The Kyuubi probably healed him of all his aches and pains before he woke.
"Did it work?" Shikamaru groaned from his place near her. The dark haired boy had even attempted to sit up yet, content to lay on the ground and breathe in the refreshing scents of the forest.
"Yeah." It was said breathlessly, like even Naruto, who was well known for thinking up crazy, insane, and impossible plans, couldn't believe that it had really happened.
Sakura, at one point would have argued that a feat such as time travel was impossible. Such a thing couldn't truly exist. If one traveled through space and time with the intent to change things, then they must have always been destined to do so, and at the risk of sounding like a Hyuuga, changed nothing at all and actually brought about the event they were trying to prevent. It would be a circle. It would have never happened had they not tried to change it, but must have for them to try, which meant it was caused by their interference. You couldn't change a future you knew to be true.
But after seeing her world destroyed by a man that shouldn't have been alive, fighting for survival in a world of darkness, accepting that they had truly gone back in time was rather simple.
The bright smile that bloomed on her face was a stark contrast to her visible weariness. "We did it, guys."
"Unbelievable isn't it? But where are we?"
Shikamaru's second question put Sakura on high alert. She cautiously observed their surroundings. There wasn't anything special about the land, it was a forest, but she knew they were in Konoha. It was instinctual, she supposed, recognizing home.
That was the moment she realized Temari and Gaara were not with them. It was for the best that the group of five wasn't discovered together, because how could Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sakura explain knowing two of the Kazekage's children, let alone why the three of them were together at all? She hoped that they were coping with the transition as well as they were.
She stood with Naruto's help, wobbling slightly, feeling the familiar swish of long hair, a style she hadn't worn since the chuunin exams. Sakura absentmindedly threaded her hands through the pink locks. She would definitely need to cut it.
Shikamaru exhaled, instinctively reaching for the pack of cigarettes he carried in his weapons pouch. Skin brushed nothing but cold metal. Troublesome. He hadn't start smoking until his sensei died, and his mother would kill him if she ever caught him with a cigarette in his mouth. He would need to be diligent about not getting caught and blaming the scent of smoke on Asuma.
"We're twelve again, physically. Mentally, I just watched as you almost died."
Naruto couldn't hold back a flinch and nodded once. That was the first thing he had noticed, his future memories still as clear as day, his old bright orange jumpsuit, Shikamaru's lack of a flak vest, Sakura's long hair and old red dress, and their shorter statures, of course. He was once more the shortest person on Team Seven.
His eyes tore open at the thought of Team Seven. Kakashi! Sasuke! Both of them were still alive. One look with Sakura conveyed more than he could say with words. They had a second chance to save him.
Naruto knew that would be a task for him and Sakura. Despite Sasuke's help in the end, they rest would still see him as the man he would grow up to be; the man that destroyed Konoha. But that person wasn't the real Sasuke. If they could keep Orochimaru from giving the Curse Mark to Sasuke so much would change. He wouldn't leave the village, eventually joining up with Madara. Right now, Sasuke was a traumatized twelve year old boy who hadn't gotten the help he needed.
This time Naruto wouldn't let him leave. He would prove that Konoha was not the pit of selfishness that Sasuke viewed it as. He would be there for the man he considered his brother.
Shikamaru watched silently as his comrades communicated with just looks. It wasn't hard to understand their desire to save their teammate, but Sasuke wasn't redeemable. The man had killed everyone in the village despite knowing the true reasons behind Itachi's actions. He wouldn't stop them from trying, but he also wouldn't hesitate to kill Sasuke if he ever showed he was turning against the village again.
"What the hell do we do now?"
"Pretend that nothing has changed. We go back to the village. Contact Gaara. Make plans. Change the future."
When he ignored the ludicrous orange clothes, seeing him stand with his hands clasped behind his back and raising himself up to his last inch, it wasn't hard for Shikamaru to see the Hokage that Naruto had become. It was almost hard to believe that the boy who had failed the gennin exams three times would actually go on to become the strongest shinobi the world had seen.
With the benefit of future knowledge and experience, and the extra time they had been graced with, Naruto would rise to become a god amongst shinobi. A devastating force that no one could stand against.
Plan of action agreed upon, the three time travelers walked the well-known path back to the main gates. The site of the village, intact and teeming with life and color, took Sakura's breath away. Shikamaru had to slap her on the back to remind her to breathe. It hadn't been so vibrant in seven years, and she vowed to never see it that way again.
Slipping through the substandard patrol and pass the gate guards Izumo and Kotetsu was easy. Konoha was in peacetime currently, and only had a single jounin walking along the wall.
The three separated, each heading towards their own home to prepare for the days to follow. Tomorrow they would fall into place with their gennin routine, acting the charade of innocent gennin, seeing loved ones for the first time since they buried them.
Shikamaru was the first to give a lazy wave as he headed towards the Nara Clan compound on Konoha's eastern side, right near the forest so the deer had plenty of space to graze. He had already formed two dozen different plans that would result in a different version of the future. The only problem was every one of them involved killing Sasuke.
Shikamaru would always be loyal to the leaf, to Naruto. Naruto was his Hokage. And that was the only reason he hadn't taken the Uchiha by surprise and slit his throat in his bed. Killing Sasuke would hurt Naruto, and Shikamaru couldn't hurt him.
Nostalgia hit him from every side as he walked the cobblestone streets of Konoha. In his mind he saw its final moments. An entire village in flames. Echoing screams. He had never been close to Sasuke, and could only imagine what it would be like to lose your entire clan. Shikamaru had never wanted to experience it.
But he had. Sasuke had not been satisfied with the deaths of the ones who had ordered his clan massacred. He felt the whole village deserved to face his vengeance, for being part of the problem that brought about the Uchiha Massacre. Sasuke had become the more infamous of the Uchiha brothers that night, for slaughtering every man, woman, and child in the village.
And suddenly Shikamaru knew what it felt like to lose everyone close to you. Not only had he lost his clan, his parents, that night, but Chouji as well.
Remembering that night filled the Nara boy with nothing but bitterness, and a deep desire to thrust one of his knuckle dusters under Sasuke's throat. He was glad that it was late when he arrived home. He did not think he could handle seeing his parents alive at that moment.
Sakura was the second to enter her house. It was a simple two story building in the center of Konoha's civilian district. No doubt her parents were already asleep. Her relationship with them had been strained, like a string pulled taut, ready to snap at any moment from being stretched too thin, ever since she announced she wanted to be a kunoichi.
Her parents didn't understand ninja, and like most civilians thought them all to be cold blooded killers. It was the last profession they wanted for their only daughter, but Sakura was adamant about attending the Academy. In the end, her strong will won out.
She recalled, after the fiasco of an A-rank mission, that her parents had begged her to quit, hoping now that she had seen with her own eyes the brutality of a shinobi lifestyle that she would see reason. But Sakura didn't quit. If her parents knew what the future held, and the heinous acts she committed in the name of her village, they would have been horrified.
While she now had a chance to repair her relationship with them, Sakura knew she wasn't going to. Her parents would never understand her. And she didn't need them to. All that mattered to her was that history did not repeat itself.
This time she would not hesitate.
Naruto trudged through the poorer section of Konoha. The streets were dirty; no amount of D-rank missions could keep them clean. The villagers glared at him as he passed, not bothering to lower their whispers of 'demon boy' and 'monster.'
He felt the Kyuubi's anger stirring behind the seal, anger on his behalf. Naruto had never blamed the civilians, anyone really, for his situation. And after having met his father, he understood and agreed with sealing the Bijuu in him. He disliked having to deal with their insults, anger, and abuse again, but he could. He had lived through it once. Now their opinions didn't matter.
He loved his village. He became Hokage to protect it, everyone living in Konoha, and its future. He would earn their acceptance once more. And because he was Hokage, he would make sure it was never destroyed. Naruto would start with the combined Sand and Sound invasion. If he took out Orochimaru before the exams even began, that would solve Sasuke's defection.
The whole future hinged on Sasuke's decision to join up with the Snake Sannin. It was a scary thought, but if they could just cut off the snake's head, they could stop the problem before it existed. And there was nothing Naruto wouldn't do to protect his precious ones.
Naruto Namikaze would die before he saw his village reduced to an expanse of ashes.
That night three pairs of eyes gazed at the starry sky. The future was a world of darkness, but now they had hope. They had a chance to change everything, to ensure a brighter future.
And with two nations behind them, nothing would stop them, not even Kami himself.
That night the stars shone with an unheard of brilliance, reflecting the Will of Fire of five shinobi that dared to do the impossible.