The final exam was here and Sakura was incredibly nervous.
She made Chūnin in her old life without having to take a final exam-- Tsunade passed all three teams and even gave Neji a double promotion. She didn't have to deal with an entire crowd placing bets on who would win and she almost wished she hadn't won her battle against Ino so she could hide from the attention.
She and Naruto stood with the rest of the participants, except for Dosu and Sasuke. Sakura knew Sasuke would eventually make a dramatic entrance, but it still caused unrest now.
"There's a lot of people here," Naruto whispered to her as the Sandaime made a quick speech.
Sakura's heart dropped as she processed what this day meant.
She knew that this was the day of the Suna Invasion. She had lived it and had been knocked out by a Junchūriki about halfway through the day.
And she had decided ages ago that this event was too important to alter. It solidified an alliance between Konoha and Suna, changed Gaara, and would probably result in a permanent alliance if things went well. Namely, she spoke for Shikamaru and Temari, who were horrible at hiding their feelings in her old life.
She wasn't friends with this Shikamaru yet nor Temari, but in her old life she cherished them both deeply. And, if things went to plan and they were all still alive in a decade, she could see her friends fall for each other again.
Sakura was a romantic, what could she say?
"Troublesome people," Shikamaru complained on the other side of Naruto. "I don't see the appeal in watching a bunch of kids fight with each other."
"We can trash talk the crowd later," Sakura chided in a low voice, nodding her head towards the Hokage. "We're representing Konoha now."
Both boys went silent and they focused on Sandaime. Sakura was still fond of their leader, even after hearing about the truth of the Uchiha Massacre. She largely blamed Danzo for that tragedy.
But in this life, the Sandaime didn't have to live with that choice. Instead, he was working to find whoever attacked the police station and had requested that both Shisui and Itachi be taken off the official mission list after he was informed of Orochimaru's attack on Sasuke.
It was even more upsetting that these were some of the last words Sakura would hear him say.
Soon, the time came for the first match. Shikamaru and Sakura left Naruto in the field, making their way to the participants box.
"Naruto's a funny guy but I don't know if he'll win against Neji," Shikamaru said as they climbed the stairs. "He's got a lot of clones but that's meaningless against Neji's fighting style."
"I think Naruto might just surprise us all," Sakura said with a shrug. "I've got faith in him."
Shikamaru sighed, placing his hands behind his head as they arrived at the participants box. He closed their eyes once they stopped moving. "You might luck out."
"Huh?"
Shikamaru opened a single one to glance at her. "Your opponent isn't even here."
"Maybe he's late?" She suggested, noticing how Temari and Kankuro both tensed at her words. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough. Let's watch Naruto, he'll be furious if we don't pay attention."
The fight between Naruto and Neji went down exactly as it had in her old life. When Naruto stood triumphantly, Sakura grinned at Shikamaru.
"I can't believe that idiot beat the Hyūga prodigy," Shikamaru said after the surprise wore off. "I guess he really is full of surprises, huh?"
"He's almost like the most unpredictable ninja," Sakura offered, watching Shikamaru nod.
"You're up, aren't you?"
Sakura looked around and sure enough, Dosu wasn't around. She gulped-- if Sasuke was even later by a few seconds in this life, they may end up pairing her and Gaara.
And Sakura was no fool. She was stronger in this life than in her last at this age. Her chakra control was slowly becoming as finely tuned as it was when she was 16. Her chakra-laden punches were about half as powerful as they once had been, and that was saying something.
She's managed to heal portions of her brain injury too. It wasn't totally fixed up but after she waited two weeks, she tackled that as opposed to doing anything else. Sakura could cast a pretty paralyzing genjutsu, if her scuffle with the sound-nin was any indicator. And that was with barely any chakra in her system.
But fighting Gaara? Sakura couldn't defeat him. Sasuke would probably last longer than he had in his old life but she knew that it was Naruto who needed to defeat Gaara. Otherwise, they'd lose Suna.
The announcer called her and Dosu's name and when he noticed it was only her, he sighed. He gave it a few more moments before the crowd became impatient and unruly, then he listed her as the winner by default.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he ran into the participants box. "Did you see that? I was awesome!"
"You did amazing, Naruto!" She greeted him with a large smile. He laughed sheepishly when Shikamaru agreed.
"Who knew you had it in you? Besides Sakura?"
Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. "Sakura-chan, you knew I'd win?"
"I just had faith that your annoying determination wouldn't fail you," She said, before the announcer called for Shino and Kankuro.
Kankuro forfeited and the crowd was not happy about it. Temari jumped down from the box, making her dramatic entrance and landed. The announcer called for Shikamaru.
"Tch, and I was going to give up too," He muttered, looking at Temari who had called for him to hurry up. "Troublesome woman getting them all riled up."
"You got this Shikamaru, ya know!" Naruto shouted, hitting their friend so hard that he fell into the arena.
So that's how it actually went down? Ino would be crushed to hear that her teammate was forced by Naruto of all people.
The next match went as it did in her past life, boring people in the beginning before unknowingly getting hooked. When Shikamaru gave up, Naruto freaked out, jumping down into the arena to yell at Shikamaru.
Gaara and Sasuke were called next.
"Hey, imouto," Someone hissed and she turned to see Shisui.
She wasn't really mad at Shisui anymore but she had given a rather long and complex explanation about how she was fine and that he had no right to steal her medical files. And then she made him take her out to dinner a few times so she could catch herself up on the investigation for the police force attack and how the clan stood.
"Shisui?" Sakura said in a questioning tone, walking back to the hallway. He pulled her out of earshot from the participants box and she found herself now accompanied by Itachi as well.
"Whenever I get pulled away by you two, it means something has happened or is about to," She commented once the two Uchiha's decided they were a safe distance away.
"How do you know this isn't just a social call?" Shisui asked and when she narrowed her eyes, he pointed a thumb at Itachi. "He's here because he suspects there's going to be an invasion. I'm here because I need to know what the military power had been like in your old timeline around this time."
Sakura gulped, shifting her weight and looked down at the ground.
"There had been six years for the police force to be reformed in my old life," She explained in a low voice. "Though, we didn't have either of you and Fugaku-san, who could easily make up a large percent of the power deficit. But the lack in bodies able to fight today was something I've been nervous about."
"There's your answer, Tachi," Shisui said in a grim tone. "We'll have our work cut out for us."
"Don't over exert yourself," Itachi warned, earning a supportive nod from Shisui. "I assume you're going to be just as busy as us today."
"You have no idea." She told them, forcing a smile on her features. "Be safe, you two."
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, skirting around the corner with Shikamaru in tow. "Sakura-chan, we have to find Kakashi-sensei! Oh," He skidded to a half in front of the trio. "Itachi-nii-chan and Shisui-nii-chan! What are you guys doing here?"
"Adult talk," Shisui responded seriously and Naruto's features scrunched in confusion.
"Sakura-chan isn't an adult," Her best friend pointed out.
"No, she's got an old soul, though," Shisui replied with a grin. He ruffled her hair and promptly vanished.
Itachi placed a hand on her shoulder and though he didn't say anything in front of Naruto and Shikamaru, she saw the concern in his eyes.
"I've got it covered on my end," She told him, earning a soft smile before he too disappeared.
"What do you have covered?" Shikamaru asked, eyes narrowing slightly when she frowned.
"I get why Sasuke broods whenever he sees you talking to them," Naruto complained. "I feel totally left out, ya know."
"It's clan stuff," Sakura said, giving Shikamaru an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
At the mention of 'clan', Shikamaru nodded seriously and seemed satisfied with the lackluster explanation.
"I stand by what I said back in the forest; your team is odd," He told her, rolling his eyes when Naruto didn't let it drop. "She can't tell you at the moment. It's an Uchiha issue, apparently. You guys can talk about it later, we need to find your sensei."
That drove Naruto back into his frantic state. "Oh! Yeah! I almost forgot! We have to get to Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan! That Gaara guy will kill Sasuke if he doesn't stop the fight!"
Sakura blanched, though she expected this. Sasuke fighting Gaara with a curse mark was one thing, but now he couldn't call upon it to give him an extra boost of power, if need be.
"Then let's go."
They hurried to the stands, finding Kakashi with Guy just like last time. When Naruto yelled out his concerns, Kakashi tried to calm him down and reassure him that Sasuke would be just fine.
The three of them stood by warily, glancing at one another, clearly doubtful despite Kakashi's reassurance.
That's when people started to slump over, feathers falling in front of them. She released the genjutsu immediately. Naruto and Shikamaru fell down, though she heard Shikamaru break it a few moments after he did.
She still could not believe him. And to think in her old life, he became the strategic leader of the entire shinobi force before he died too.
Kakashi glanced at her. "I guess it's natural for you to resist a genjutsu of this level."
"This is an invasion, isn't it Kaka-sensei?" She asked, pulling out a kunai and changing her stance.
"Appears so," Kakashi responded, his back to Guy.
Like last time, someone sailed towards her. Unlike last time, she was able to defend herself. She dropped to the ground, allowing the man to miss his attack. As soon as he was above her, she shot back up with her fist slamming into the man's stomach.
The force sent the man hurling into the ceiling, hitting the concrete and causing cracks to form from where his body collided it. He fell to the ground, unconscious from the blow.
Kakashi appeared next to her, as if expecting her to pass out. Though, based on the past two months, she couldn't actually blame him for his concern.
She's learned to keep chakra constantly flowing around the damaged portions of her brain. She didn't dare try to heal it fully, but it was there to soothe the agitated cells as soon as they began to spazz. She had to be careful, though. A single mistake on her end could end up harming her brain further. She trusted her chakra control and truly only needed it for today.
Then, when Naruto inevitably brought Tsunade to the village, she'd have her heal it in full. And then she could begin training with her old Master.
"Wake those two up," He ordered. "This is now an A-rank mission. It looks like Sasuke's pursuing Gaara. Find him and try to contain the problem. But don't get drawn out too far; we don't know what sort of numbers there are outside of the village."
He summoned Pakkun a moment later, and Sakura busied herself with waking Naruto up. When she did, he sat up straight and looked utterly confused.
"Sakura-chan?" He questioned, rubbing his head. "What's happening?"
"We have to strengthen your resistance to genjustu," She said seriously, then saw a kunai fly towards them from the corner of her eye. "Duck!"
She forced Naruto down; the kunai sailed above them and imbedded itself into the wall.
She then moved to Shikamaru, pulling on his ear and hissed, "I know you're awake."
"Troublesome woman," He muttered, but kept his eyes closed.
The scene played out quite similarly, with Pakkun forcing Shikamaru to wake up and then dragging him with them. Events repeated-- trying to chase after Sasuke, having numerous ninjas on their tail, and Shikamaru deciding he would be the one to stay behind and delay them.
Sakura wished him luck before they continued towards Sasuke.
What absolutely sucked about this time, was the fact that Sasuke was a lot faster than he was in her old life at this point. They were faster too, but Sasuke had a head start and his stupid cousin teaching him tricks.
They arrived just in time for Gaara to lunge at Sasuke and Naruto charged in. Things began to happen as they once did and Sakura busied herself with healing the minor injuries Sasuke sustained. She also poured in a little extra chakra, which, by Sasuke's growing frown, he felt and didn't approve of.
It's not her fault that, while he was stronger on his own and not weakened by the curse mark in this life, he was just as proud and got himself even more injured this time.
That's when she saw Gaara come for them.
In her old life, Sakura stood her ground with a single kunai against the half-transformed Gaara and was promptly swatted away, knocked out, and was apparently being suffocated the entire duration of the fight. She refused to let that happen again, especially because she knew getting knocked unconscious that forcefully would have some serious repercussions. And she didn't feel like falling into a coma was exactly prudent.
"Sasuke-kun, when I yell, use your Shunshin," She whispered.
Sasuke looked up at her, eyes wide when he understood what she was thinking. He nodded, watching Gaara's speeding figure, and she jumped up.
Gaara yelled out that he was going to kill Sasuke and then her, when she readied her fist.
"Shannaro!" She shouted, watching Sasuke disappear from the branch just as Gaara got to it. He appeared behind her, grabbing her arm and swung her in a downward arc.
Gaara looked up, absolutely murderous and he met her fierce gaze. She saw something change in them and he froze for a split second. She internally apologized to the Kazekage she had grown close with in her old life as her chakra-laden fist came into contact with his head.
The branch broke when he came into contact with it, sailing downwards and Sakura only had the chance to grin victoriously when sand wrapped around her ankle.
She yelped as she felt it tighten before she was thrown sideways.
Her fate probably would have been similar to her last life, if Sasuke didn't appear behind her and break the impact with his own body. They were fortunate enough that a branch was just below where they crashed into the tree, landing on it with ungraceful thuds.
Sakura's vision blurred and she immediately focused her chakra to shift itself into a healing energy. She had to trust her chakra control.
Sasuke grunted in pain, shifting himself onto the branch, laying there and looking up at the sky. "You managed to get a hit on him."
"And he proceeded to throw me like a rag doll two seconds later," She responded with a wince. Her vision righted itself after a few moments. "Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?"
"My chakra's almost out," He admitted, struggling to sit up.
She placed a hand on his back and stomach, helping him sit up straight when he started to cough violently.
"You two can't keep taking hits for me," She scolded, her hands beginning to glow with green chakra. It was a struggle to keep them both active, along with having her chakra heal her internally. "I can take care of myself."
"You just got out of the hospital, Sakura," He reminded her, flinching a bit when he tried to move.
Her hand moved to his shoulder, forcing him to stay down before she continued the little bits of healing she could manage.
"And I won't get stronger if I'm always being protected," She insisted, watching his gaze shift from the tree to her. "I know I'm not fully healed yet, Sasuke-kun. But I'll be furious if you end up in the hospital instead."
"Better me than you," He stated, his eyes softening when she shook her head stubbornly.
Sakura knew it wasn't supposed to be like this. She knew, deep down in her heart, that the absolute horror show that was their reality just wasn't right. Because there was no way life could be this cruel.
At this point in the war, there were few people left standing. Naruto didn't make rousing motivational speeches anymore because there was barely anyone left. They were all still fighting because the ones that were left were stubborn and refused to fall to the likes of Madara.
Sakura also made it her mission to ensure they didn't lose anyone else. She lost Ino and Sai. She lost Shikamaru. And she probably lost Kakashi since he never reappeared. She refused to lose anyone else.
It's why she had been so low on chakra. That and she hasn't had the time to properly rest since Madara began a barrage of attacks a few days prior.
She knew Sasuke and Naruto were keeping Madara busy as she tended to their wounded. She had to resort to her seal a day ago to ensure the body count didn't increase anymore.
Sakura heard a warning and she whipped around, channeling almost everything she had left into her fist, as it connected with Madara's gut.
He skidded back, as though it was a punch from a mere child rather than one that could break mountains.
Sasuke and Naruto appeared in front of her, the former barking that his fight was with them and the latter growling a warning about coming any closer to her.
Chains erupted from the ground, the force knocking her back. They pierced the two boys she loved most in the world-- her boys. Sakura looked down at the ground and saw marking on the erupted dirt; it was a sealing jutsu.
Madara came towards her to place a trap, knowing the boys would override any precaution to protect her. It was that protection that got them killed.
"You're the one that said we always have each other's backs," Sasuke continued, breaking her away from her memories and pulled her back to this life. He was frowning, his eyes roaming her face. His hand lifted up, but he seemed to rethink his actions as he put it on the hand healing his abdomen instead.
"That includes when you get tossed like a rag doll by whatever that guy is," Sasuke told her, the corner of his lips turning upwards.
"You weren't supposed to take it so literally," She muttered, looking down at where his hand rested over hers. "I refuse to lose either of you because you were dumb enough to protect me."
"Dying for someone precious to me doesn't sound dumb," Sasuke shrugged, slowly taking her hand off his stomach. She whispered his name as they helped each other stand up.
"Sakura-chan! Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, their attention snapping back towards the fight. He landed beside them, huffing a bit and pointed behind him. "I don't know what happened to him! He's like-- freaking out or something!"
Gaara was indeed having some sort of crisis and at this point, their guesses were as good as hers. She had been unconscious during this part and had no idea what was going through Gaara's mind. Suddenly, sand shot out from around Gaara and headed straight for them.
All three of them scattered, but it didn't stop as the sand separated and trailed all three of them. Unlike Sasuke, both Sakura and Naruto weren't fast enough to outrun Gaara's sand.
Both of them got caught quickly, being dangled for a few moments before the sand threw them at the same tree.
Sakura had enough time to brace herself this time, sticking to the trunk of a tree while Naruto slammed into it below her. Luckily, her best friend had the thickest skull around and got up quickly. Sasuke landed by Naruto, the two probably trying to think of a way to either run or defeat Gaara.
Sakura saw Gaara suddenly leap from his spot, aiming directly for her boys and jumped down in front of them.
"No!"
She took the hit meant for them and she distinctly remembered someone catching her as pain overwhelmed her body. She couldn't remember anything further.