Written as a response to a challenge from Valentine Meikin:

Write a storyline segment where Sakura wakes up after a nightmare where she saw Sasuke, after defeating Naruto in some kind of wasteland, kill her. She wakes up at the start of her time at the Academy, and remembers snatches of the old timeline.

Effectively, Sakura suddenly looping back in time from a way the current chapter of the manga goes.

Bonus Points: Lee/Sakura, Naru/Hina

Warning: Depiction of character deaths, possible gore.

Check my challenge to Leonas over on their account, and Leonas' challenge to Valentine on theirs.

"Sasuke-kun… why?" Sakura asked, clenching her fist over the tear in her flesh as a faint blue aura of chakra attempted to prevent her internal organs from ceasing to be internal. "We… we had won…"

It didn't make any sense in her mind, though she had known he had long ago passed from the path of a Konoha shinobi, she had allowed her old crush on him to convince her mind to think that Naruto was right: They could bring him back and they would be a team again.

The blade currently crimson with the blood of not only herself, but of the man whom had been killed mere moments before turning against her, was slowly drawn before her vision. Under the grim reminder of betrayal, the reflective metal showed her the torn and desolate desert that had once been a lush field. "Simple Sakura… It is my path, my road to victory over those that stole my family from me…"

"It's funny, I had once thought of you as an annoyance, but now I see… both of you, you were holding me back from my potential," Sasuke stated coldly as he pulled the blade back in full view of the weakening kunoichi currently bleeding out onto the ground before her. Sending out a silent prayer to any deity that might hear her and answer, she wished for some chance to fix everything. Just to wake up from this nightmare that was her life, and once more have the innocence and happiness of her youth.

In a last, futile effort, her hand flicked out, just as the blade descended for her neck. She smiled as the kunai she'd been hiding, pierced into the traitorous red eyes before her, a moment before the world flipped around her. She barely had time to register the pain of her face planting into the ground before darkness took her from the pain, the blood, and the death around her.

Eyes snapping open, Sakura Haruno let out a gasp as her hands flew to her neck in an effort to ensure that her head was still attached to it. Finding it there, she searched frantically for some sign which hospital she was in. What she found instead was that the room was all too familiar to her. It was a simple wooden affair, with little to mark it as a girl's room. Everything was nearly perfectly drawn from her childhood, right down to the pink quilt currently folded at her feet.

After an attempt to draw on the chakra to break the genjutsu, she found something strange. She couldn't access her chakra coils at all, this shouldn't have even been possible, not even for the greatest of masters. Calming down, she found her mind flashing back to the 'dream' she had just woken up from. It had all felt far too real to just be that. She was about to leap away to report in to the Hokage to figure out what was going on, when her mother's voice called up the stairs.

"Sakura! Get up and have some breakfast, you don't want to be late for your first day at the Academy," the kindly voice of Mebuki drifted up the stairs, followed by a wave of her favorite foods. Her mother had only made anko dumplings for breakfast once in her entire life. How this genjutsu user knew of that fact when she hadn't even told Anko was worrying, but not something she couldn't deal with.

Getting out of bed, she found something else shocking, she had long hair drifting past her shoulders again. Reaching into her closet, she picked out a kunai and looked at it solemnly as she mentally prepared for what she was about to do. A swift flick of her wrist later, she found out that she was not in a genjutsu, as pain would have woken her.

Sucking on the wound, she pulled out a roll of bandaging and wrapped it around her wound, copying it over onto the other hand so no one would raise too many questions. It would seem that she had somehow gone back in time, her dying wish had been granted. And she was going to make the most of it.

Going downstairs, she hugged both of her parents tightly without a single word. She was not about to take them as for granted as she had in the previous incarnation. One rather awkward meal later, she was on her way towards the academy. She knew what was going to happen in class, but this time she wasn't going to leave Naruto in the cold.

He was like the annoying younger brother that she'd never had in real life, and she still loved him deeply. Perhaps she might try and clue him in on his cute little stalker early on, and spare the poor girl her feelings, though she still held out hope that Shino's attention after their mission together meant more than what Ino did.

But her yaoi fangirl instinct was quelched by the fact that Naruto had never shown interest in following that happy path, which was a shame.

The other thing was she wasn't going to be suckered into the fangirl sect of kunoichi life, she was going to follow the teachings her mentor Tsunade had told her would have been far better at this age. And to do that, she would have to face one of her greatest regrets head on after class let out.

Seconds after the bell had rung, she plucked a familiar blonde boy up by the back of his shirt and dragged him out to a training ground in the middle of no-where. There she found the boy she needed for this next part. "Rock Lee! I am Sakura Haruno, and this is Naruto Uzumaki, you are the best of last year's class at taijutsu, please tutor us!"

Silencing Naruto with a finger to his lips, she watched as the boy with a long ponytail continued to strike the training dummy. Without the horrible green spandex, he was kinda cute, though she could see where he might have gotten the hot-blooded nickname he dreaded so much in the past. Lowering his leg, he turned to face her in a ready taijutsu stance, indicating that she should challenge him for his acceptance.

A split second later, they were sparring, though he had speed on her from hours of practice she could only hope to copy in the coming years, she had experience with him from watching him fight before, even if her weak body couldn't hope to match him in speed or strength, she wasn't about to give up. A moment later, Naruto joined in the spar, attacking randomly from the edges, reminding her greatly of the fights they'd had in the future.

She was awake now, and her eyes were clear. This was her path to being the best ninja she could be. She would do what she could to deter Sasuke from his darkness in the future, but for now she had to focus on herself and Naruto. He was key to the bright future she knew was possible, and she wanted to support him all the way.

Even if it was a kick in the pants to get him started.