The next day, Sakura was early to her training session. She arrived before anyone and took time to stretch her limbs before sitting down under a tree and meditating. She needed to clear her mind if she was to stay in the past without blabbering nonsense that could probably change history. Plus she needed to balance her chakra between her normal reserves and the Byakugo no In. She had changed her attire to more appropriate clothing. She wore fishnet tights which covered her legs entirely with a white medic's skirt on top which reached just above her knees. She wore a sleeveless white top with a high collar reminiscent of the Uchiha dress code. A deep red obi was tied around her waist, making it seem as the medic skirt and top were one, just separated by the obi. There was red lining around the collar and across her shoulders. Black wrist protectors and black knee length boots with open toes and low heels finished the attire. All in all, she looked pretty decent in comparison to her attire from yesterday.

Her ninja senses kicked in and she jumped away to avoid the fireball which had been launched her way. She felt another presence on top of her and she twister her body to the side, avoiding the katana that was just inches away from slicing her into half. As soon as her feet touched the ground, several shuriken were sent flying at her. Performing a quick substitution jutsu, she landed a few trees away on the highest branch. However, they wouldn't let her rest as Kakashi assaulted her with taijutsu in which she had the upper hand. He sent a fist flying at her and she dodged it with practised ease before grabbing his arm with her left hand and elbowed him in the gut with her right elbow. Using the momentary shock of pain to her advantage, she grabbed his torso and tossed him over her shoulder to the ground below.

Her moment of peace was shortlived as Obito appeared in front of her. She jumped back from the tree branch, allowing gravity to take its course with her body. Sakura landed on another branch before speeding off deep into the forest with Obito hot on her trail. More than once had his shuriken nicked her exposed shoulders. At least her attire was still in one piece. Her eyes moved calculatively as she scanned the tress. She threw a backwards glance at the Uchiha who was closing in on her. She counted to ten, making sure he was close enough.

She veered off course, jumping into the opposite tree. Using the momentum she had gained coupled with her reflexes as a kunoichi and a medic trained personally by the Slug Princess, she grabbed the trunk of the tree so that she was vertical and pivoted herself around the tree in a 270 angle and flung herself towards the shocked chunin. Both of her feet slammed into his middle, sending him flying backwards and breaking several branches in the forest. He finally crashed on the ground into the open forest. She was upon him as soon as his back touched the ground, straddling his hips and fists held together as she prepared to hammer him however thin wire wrapped around her wrists, rendering her immobile.

She lept to the side to avoid Obito's uppercut. Hauling all the strength she had without using chakra, which was plenty by the way, she pulled the wires forward and Rin erupted from the canopy of trees, her eyes wide with fear and awe. She was a little to late to detach herself from the wires, had it not been for Kakashi who threw his katana and cut the wires, the female genin was going to receive a severe concussion from being on the receiving end of Sakura's headbutt. Rin dropped unceremoniously to the ground before rolling away to avoid Sakura's high kick which was been aimed at her head. The impact caused a little crater to form but the observation was soon lost as the kunoichi was a second too late to notice the clone which had been planted by Sakura, dragging the kunoichi underground leaving her head above the ground with a simple earth jutsu.

The original Sakura was involved in a kenjutsu battle with Kakashi and they were evenly matched. If it were the older Kakashi, her sensei, he would have beaten her ages ago but this was an even younger Kakashi with no Sharingan, albeit a jounin at a tender age. And so she had an upper hand. Though she hadn't trained much with the Hatake but she had trained enough to know his blindspots without using a Sharingan. She completely allowed herself to miss swiping at his neck which caused the jounin to step back and retaliate with an upward slice. That was perfect. Her sensei's upward blade strikes weren't as strong as his usual strikes. Taking it as the opportune time, she grabbed the blade with her bare hands and ripped it out of his hands, taking pleasure in the shocked expression of his face. She kicked him in the stomach and sent him barreling into Obito who was trying to sneak up on her.

"I would've broken it into two but that seemed a bit overkill, don't you think?" she said with a smile as she tossed the blade to the two boys, making sure not to wipe her bloodied hands on her white skirt. "Who are you?" Obito said with an awestruck expression. "You don't remember? We met just yesterday," she said, her voice laced with confusion. Realization dawned upon him just as Rin joined her two teammates. "Midori!" the Uchiha exclaimed. "It's Sakura at your service," she said with a mock salute. "How are you able to do that?! That was awesome! Are you sure you aren't a jounin?" Rin said as she gaped at the girl.

"You really think I'm that good?" she said as she let out an embarrassed chuckle, wiping her hands with a cloth she had taken from her weapons' pouch. She was receiving too much praise. "You're not. That was just a fluke, we were going easy on you," Kakashi huffed out, displeasure evident in his voice as he sheathed his katana. "From what I've seen, I think you went all out especially for a spar," Minato said as he dropped down beside them. "Sensei!" Rin and Obito exclaimed. He waved casually at them. "Good morning sensei," Sakura chirped happily.

"I see someone's in a good mood," the blonde said with a smile. "Obviously. I regrew my hair and my attire is pretty decent," she said as she spun around, her long ponytail slapping Kakashi's face in the process. "If you're going to be assaulting people with your hair, why do you even keep it?" the chunin didn't bother to hide the bite in his voice. "Sorry, I forgot to cut it," the pinkette said with a sheepish smile. "You're hair is really pretty. In fact, you're really pretty, right sensei?" Minato blinked owlishly at the question Rin had thrown at him. It was unexpected. He looked at the children to see them looking at him curiously. He turned to Sakura who was also looking at him expectantly. Well, it wouldn't hurt to compliment another female.

"She's pretty alright."

And just then, Kushina Uzumaki appeared. 'For the love of Kami, why?' he cried inwardly as the redhead approached him, red tendrils of hair waving in the air. "Kushina, how are you?" he greeted in the most normal way possible. He began to count all the possible ways he could try to calm her down even if he didn't know why she seemed angry. "I didn't know you had a fetish for weirdly colored hair," the kunoichi said, her angry demeanor disappearing entirely. "F-Fetish?" he repeated, somewhat lost. "Doesn't matter. Midori was it?" she said as she turned to the pinkette who had frozen at the sight of the redhead. "It's Sakura at your service ma'am!" the younger girl said as she snapped to attention. "No need to be so formal around me. I didn't mean to scare you," Kushina said with a good natured smile.

Sakura relaxed visibly. "I just don't want you getting any ideas. Hands off the golden merchandise, dattebane," she spoke as towered over the girl. Her eyes were cold and unwavering, making them appear like violet ice shards. "You got it ma'am! No ideas, none at all," Sakura said with a cower. She didn't want to get on the bad side of Naruto's possible mom and change history. Plus she was a jounin if her chakra reserves which were almost as large as Naruto's were anything to go by. Kushina would kill her before she could bat an eyelash. She had to play her cards well.

"Though there isn't much to begin with," the medic added with a glance at the older jounin who visibly deflated at the comment.

Kushina burst out laughing. "Hey, that's not fair," Minato whimpered. "You got me good Sakura. You're one of the few kunoichi who don't throw themselves at my boyfriend the first chance they get. I like you. You've earned my trust and I hope you keep," the Uzumaki said with a genuine smile. The view was breathtaking. "Thank you ma'am," Sakura breathed out in relief, her smile matching the older kunoichi. "No need to call me ma'am. Kushina is good enough, now let's chat over a bowl of ramen how you were able to tie all of that hair into a killer ponytail. Minato is a sucker for long hair so cutting it is not an option." The two kunoichi walked away from Team Minato, their laughter drowning out the rest of their conversation.

"What just happened?"

Their confusion was just as evident on their sensei's face.

"I think sensei just avoided a near death experience."

Kushina had left her roughly twenty minutes into their meal after being called to the Hokage Tower. "Sorry to cut our meal short Sakura but duty calls. Let's have another date when I'm back okay? See you later!" With that, the redhead took off. She was left alone at Ichiraku's and a half finished bowl of miso ramen. She had allowed her mind to wander, reminiscing her days when Team 7 was still complete when her keen ears caught the sound of her name.

"I'm telling you, Sakura is the best!"

"I'd really like to meet this Sakura of yours, how old is she anyways?"

"Sixteen, I think. Or maybe fifteen. But she's so talented, gosh! She's my newest idol!"

"Bah, that's a bunch of crap! If this teammate of yours doesn't show fear to my snakes then I'll start considering her as a human being."

"Did you say she's good at breaking out of genjutsu?"

"Good?! She's the best! She broke out of seven genjutsus in a span of thirty seconds! It took me three tries before I was able to get out of the second one!"

"Now now, Rin, I think you're just exaggerating."

The voice she recognized the most was Rin's. She bid farewell to Teuchi and Ayame before looking for the girls who were talking about her. They were sitting outside at a dango shop which two shops to the left of Ichiraku's. "Rin!" she called as she made her way to their table. The brunette stopped her talking and gestures, turning to look at the pinkette who was approaching their table.

"Do you see how beautiful she is?" Rin sighed dreamily. "I think Kushina's prettier in my opinion," Kurenai spoke. The medic arrived at their table sending each of them a smile. "Hey guys. I'm Sakura, mind if I take a seat?" she introduced herself. Rin stood up and offered her seat before going to look for another chair.

Sakura stared at the three chunin sitting in front of her, familiar faces she had gotten used to and idolized in her genin days. And now she was looking at their younger versions. "I'm Kurenai Yuuhi," the red-eyed beauty introduced herself. She was dressed in her usual bandaged dress. 'Kurenai-sensei is beautiful no matter what age!' Sakura cooed inwardly. "I'm Shizune," the dark-haired girl spoke. She was wearing her dark kimono which ended midthigh with knee-length fishnet tights and black wrappings across her chest which peeked through her kimono. 'Shizune-oneechan!' she squealed inwardly. "The name's Anko Mitarashi. 'Ah, still scary and crazy as ever,' the pinkette thought.

"Rin was telling us that you broke out of seven of Minato-sensei's genjutsus in a span of thirty seconds," Kurenai said, her eyes staring at her eagerly. "Yeah, my previous sensei told me I had a knack for genjutsu due to my chakra control. But I've never ventured much into genjutsu as my fighting style, I mostly break out of it," Sakura retorted. "I want to become a genjutsu specialist but I don't have anyone to teach me yet," the brunette confessed. Sakura pondered this for a moment. It was an invitation. "Well, if you want, I can help you train breaking out of genjutsus. I'll ask Minato-sensei if he can teach me a genjutsu or two to practise with," she offered with a smile. "Really?! Thank you," Kurenai beamed.

"You're wearing a medic skirt. Are you a medic?" Shizune asked curiously. "Well, I'm not at Lady Tsunade's level but I'm not too bad," Sakura replied, feigning a cough. "I want to become Lady Tsunade's apprentice but she turned down my offer. Can you teach me for awhile?" the girl said, her eyes pleading. "I'll teach you what I know," the kunoichi replied. Just then, Rin appeared looking frantic. "All female chunin are to report at the Hokage Tower now!" she said. "I'm sorry Sakura but we have to cut our meeting short. Perhaps we can talk later, just us girls?" she offered, her eyes wavering as if afraid she would refuse. "Go on, we'll talk later," she waved off the girls.

However, Anko remained behind. "Aren't you going with the others?" she queried. "I'm going. I'm just curious about you," the purple-haired chunin spoke as she rested her cheek on her hand, staring intently at her. "Something smells awfully wrong about you. Your chakra doesn't feel right, as if you don't belong here. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who noticed but considering the level of skill I heard from Rin, one would wonder why you'd want to train under Minato Namikaze, the next candidate for Hokage when you're clearly skilled on your own?" Anko said, her eyes cold and unwavering. "As a member of the Torture and Investigation department, I can't help but notice this stuff. Your hands are calloused, showing proper handling of kunai and shuriken. Your eyes are all over the place and calculating. You offered to train a bunch of chunin you barely know when you arrived not long ago. I know how you came to live in Konoha with your so-called twin which you look nothing alike. I had to take some DNA tests showing not even a single gene in agreement. Not that I'm accusing you of anything but I'm just curious," she added, her eyes glinting dangerously.

"But I guess I'll have to see for myself if you truly live up to Rin's expectations."

With that, the world around them shifted in a swirl. Sakura found herself in an all too familiar forest, one which haunted her all her genin years. Anko was nowhere in sight. Strangely, the sun had set and darkness was surrounding her.

She was in the Forest of Death

I hope you enjoy. This chapter is longer than usual. Don't forget to leave a comment. Thank you for supporting this story.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire