Work Text:
Chapter 1
Disclaimer : I own nothing
Authors note: First story revised hope you like it
Two twenty-four year olds were alone and alive together in the rain, one with short pink hair hanging over her face she was leaning over the other her hands on his chest, the other had spiky, dark-brown ponytail was lying underneath the girls glowing hands. Tears ran down her cheeks, mixing with the rain as it poured from the heavens. One only had to look a few meters away from the two, to see the reason for her despair.
On the ground bodies were scattered everywhere. In the middle was a blonde haired boy, lying on top of a dark haired boy; each of them had a hand through the other's hearts. Both of them were smiling, even though their bodies had grown cold and still.
They died together, as best friends, instead of as enemies. It was too bad they couldn't pull back their attacks before they had made contact.
Sasuke had said he was sorry. He just didn't have the will to live after he completed his mission in life. Naruto, happy he finally had his best friend back laid there, limp, as they both faded away, satisfied. It broke her heart, to see what had become of her teammates.
Bodies were littered everywhere around them; a blonde girl lay, red streaking through her hair unnaturally and pooling beneath her. Dried blood covered her torso and the bandages covering her midriff were no longer white, but a vivid red color.
Close by, two people were missing limbs it looked like it had been cleanly dismembered by a katana. The most tragic part was that the two had died trying to reach each other, from the blood trails beneath their bodies that showed they had been pulling themselves across the ground.
The girl had long, indigo hair that was tangled and caked with blood. The boy had red streaks running across his face, which were nearly obscured by the red liquid running down his face.
The poor girl was missing an arm making her almost perfect technique unusable. She was left there for dead you could see the boy had tried to go to help her but ended up dying to protect his precious teammate. The scene was horrid and tragic; it would have given nightmares to even the strongest of people. The pink-haired girl couldn't bear to look at the scene.
Almost all of the Konoha 11 were dead. Their enemies had fallen.
But it was a hollow victory.
"Come on don't leave me you lazy bastard! You're all I have left!'' Sakura screamed, her voice hoarse.
She currently had her hands on the chest of one Shikamaru Nara as they faintly glowed green, trying to heal the 4 broken ribs in his chest.
He suddenly grabbed her hands they shared a look, and then she looked away. She knew what he wanted to say.
"I know what happened. I-I'm ok with it… He's gone he's not the guy I was in love with but that doesn't mean anything to me. He killed everyone – everyone I loved. They're all gone; Naruto, Ino, Lee all of them gone because of him… Other than you and me, they're all dead. Everyone's gone, Shika… What are we going to do?" she asked, tears streaming freely down her face.
He lifted himself up onto his left elbow and kissed her for all he was worth, trying to calm her down tears started to go down his own face since after this war he was going to propose to her now none of their friends would be able to be there at the wedding.
"We need to get out of the open… I think I can walk over to the trees over there.'' He said tiredly. Sakura nodded shakily, and grabbed his arm to help him stand.
But as they started to get up a small figure started to rise out of one of the puddles formed on their left.
It was a young girl in a deep green robe with a golden crown made of leaves and twigs.
She quickly said, "Do not be afraid I am the spirit of this forest and I have seen the hardships and troubles you have faced, and I believe that you deserve a chance to make things right. I shall allow you both one wish each. What shall it be?"
Sakura bit her lip, and glanced at Shikamaru, who looked cautious despite his exhaustion. She looked thoughtful for a moment, before looking back to the girl with a look of guarded hope glinting in her jade colored eyes.
"To bring everyone back, I want to see all the ones we love alive again." Sakura finally said.
The figure looked to Shikamaru and saw him nodding. It said, "Making this Wish may bring anything; heartbreak, pain, and many others. Do you still wish for this?" it asked.
"Yes." Shikamaru and Sakura said in unison.
The figure started to do hand signs the touched each of their foreheads with her index finger and started to chant in a language they had never heard before, and then…
Everything went black.
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Shikamaru's house
Before him lay his friends, dead, blood pooling beneath them and strewn all across the field, so many of his friends had lost their lives in front of his very eyes. Well not everyone was dead; Sakura was still alive. Then I heard him "What are you looking for, Hn? Your little girlfriend? I just stuck my katana through her weak little heart. You're probably wondering, what if you had been faster? Would they still be alive? Well, the least I can do is end your 'troublesome" little life. Don't worry; I'll make it as painless as possible"
"NOOOOOO!" he screamed.
Shikamaru sat up quickly, panting to catch his breath, he hazily looked around expecting to see bloody corpses, but instead he was baffled to find himself in his old bedroom.
'Wait my old room? How did I get here? Did Sakura bring me back? I've got to see Hokage-sama and find out what's going on.' Shikamaru thought as he leapt out the window of his old bedroom.
He stumbled slightly, and looked at his arms and legs; they were shorter than he remembered. What was going on? Was this a genjutsu of some sort?
Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter at the moment. Now what's the fastest way to Hokage-sama's base? Wait, what's going on here? And the village is mostly intact. How long have I been out? he thought looking around
Shikamaru looked towards the Hokage monument, and was alarmed to find that Tsunade's face was missing. Something was defiantly wrong. Shikamaru knew it. He racked his brains trying to think what could be going on? His limbs were noticeably shorter, throwing off his balance. The village was as peaceful as it had been in his Genin days; something he'd prayed for many a time, but never expected to actually happen. And Tsunade apparently wasn't the Hokage yet. Anyone would think he'd been thrown back in time. A chance to fix all the mistakes they'd made in life perhaps? It was an idiots dream.
Then, Shikamaru remembered the supposed 'forest spirit'.
"Wait a second! That little girl she said she would grant our wish to see our friends alive again. Could she have actually sent us back to the past to change everything? Oh man, I've got to find Sakura and see if she remembers the future or not! "Shikamaru thought, as he ran in the direction he remembered Sakura's parents' house to be. Right now, if he remembered correctly, she'd still be living with them.
Sakura's house
"Come on, don't leave me you lazy bastard! You're all I have left!'' Sakura screamed her voice hoarse.
She currently had her hands on the chest of one Shikamaru Nara. Her hands glowed faintly green as she desperately tried to heal the four broken ribs in his chest.
But it wasn't working. What kind of medic-nin was she if she couldn't heal the last person that she had? They were all gone because she wasn't strong enough. Because she couldn't bring herself to thrust the poisoned kunai into Sasuke chest when she had the chance. Because she still had hope that the boy she once loved was still in there, and so she hesitated. That hesitation was what got Naruto, Hinata, Ino and Lee killed. It was all her fault she thought as she lay there crying.
"NOOOOOOO!'' she screamed.
She lifted her head expecting it to be lying on the chest of a dead Shikamaru, but instead, it was a pink pillow.
"Where am I?" she wondered, slowly sitting up and looking around. Her old room was as neat and tidy as she remembered it, but instead of her journals and scrolls on medical jutsu given to her by Lady Tsunade, there were hairbrushes, make-up and accessories. Exactly the way it had been when she was 12.
"This is my old room? How did I get here?" she wondered, and then, her eyes widened in panic. She remembered where she had been before, and where she was now; it just didn't add up. She was obviously back in Konoha, but she remembered specifically, being with Shikamaru before! Where was he!
Sakura got up from her bed, and going towards the window; "I need to goget to Lady Tsunade's base. Maybe she or Shizune can tell me what's going on!" Sakura thought as she jumped out the window of her little room.
She was alarmed to find the village in perfect condition, all buildings intact, and everyone seemed to be peacefully going about their daily business. Sakura couldn't figure it out, how did this happen? It was like a miracle or something. She wondered if everything else was fine, then were all her fallen comrades okay too? Naruto? Lee? Even Ino?
But as she approached base of the Hokage monument, looking up at the row of faces that watched over the village, she realized that her master's face was missing.
What's going on?
It was then that Ino rammed into her.
"Ugh! Watch where you're going forehead! Why did you stop in the middle of the road? Have you finally come to the realization that you can never compare to my beauty, and that Sasuke-kun will fall deeply in love with me? She said with hearts in her eyes
"Hello? Earth to forehead," Ino said, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Hey Ino, I was just wondering why do you like Sasuke?" Sakura whispered remembering the Sasuke in their future, the one that killed Ino and others without a second glance.
"He's smoking hot!" she said with an are -you -an -idiot look on her face
"What about his feelings? Has he ever smiled at you, or anyone else for that matter, or even given the vaguest hint that he cares for anyone other than himself?" her voice had grown from the faintest whisper to a scream, tears forming around her eyes.
"Sakura what's wrong, did something happen?" Ino asked a shock look on her face, she hadn't seen Sakura cry since they were seven, and they'd begun their rivalry.
"Never mind Ino, just never mind," Sakura said as she began to walk away.
Ino started to walk beside her, very confused, but also thinking about what Sakura said, realizing in the back of her head that everything she'd said was true. She just didn't want to believe it.
Then Shikamaru ran up, "I need to talk to you" he said slightly out of breath.
"What do you want Shika?" Ino said, rolling her eyes for effect
"Not you, I was talking to Sakura," he said, rolling his eyes right back at her just to annoy her.
Then he grabbed Sakura's hand and ran the other way, leaving a very confused Ino to walk to school by herself. She wasn't even aware that Shikamaru knew Sakura's name; this morning just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"Shika what happened?" Sakura asked, urgency ringing through her voice once they were far enough from Ino.
"I think that girl granted our wish by sending us back in time" he replied.
"So now we get a chance to change the future and make sure the war never breaks out?" she asked with hope gleaming in her jade eyes.
"I believe that's what it is, I wonder about the time paradox?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that we can't tell anyone we know about the future since it would be too much to handle since some would become paranoid and being a ninja we already have enough to deal with if you know that you are when you are going to die. Also we can't suddenly know jonin techniques, when we are only academy students that don't have any experience." He replied.
"So what can we do?" she asked
"For starters we need to keep our genin teams the same so that we know what will most likely happen and can change it if we need to. What is the nearest thing you can think of that we could change for the better?" he asked in his strategy voice.
"Remember that thing Naruto told us about the genin exams?" she asked
~FLASHFORWARD~
Three kids around sixteen sat around a fire in a swamp in Kiri, their female team mate had been injured when they were ambushed a half hour ago. They began to set camp for the night after everything was set they sat down to eat and talk.
"So Naruto how did a genin learn the troublesome technique Kage no Bunshin?" Shikamaru asked between bites of rations.
"It's kind of a long story," he replied, running his hand through his spiky, sun-kissed hair.
"Well we have all night until Sakura's injuries are healed enough to keep moving, since I don't know much medical jutsu," Shikamaru replied.
"Well remember the genin exams, and how I originally failed right?" the blonde started.
Both Sakura and Shikamaru nodded.
"After school I was sitting on my favorite swing all sad, and Mizuki-sensei came up to me, saying he was sorry that I didn't pass my exams, but if I really wanted to, there was another way for me to graduate, which was I had to go to the Hokage's office and get the scroll of sealing and learn a jutsu. Then I could become a genin," Naruto said, gesturing animatedly with his hands.
"You baka that's so stupid, there is only one way to graduate the academy!" Sakura exclaimed, as she bopped him on the head playfully.
"Hey! I was upset and willing to try anything to pass and be a ninja," he said with a fake pout.
"Continue please, and both of you stop being so troublesome, someone or something might hear you," he said with a shake of his head, which made them both quiet down immediately, not wanting to be caught off guard on their first mission without a jonin; that is, if you don't count the Sasuke retrieval mission.
"So I went to the Hokage's office to get the scroll, but Jiji was in there so I did my sexy-no-jutsu, and he passed out from blood loss, who knew the Jiji was such a pervert," he snickered, "then I found the scroll and ran to the training areas so I could learn one of the justus, but then Iruka-sensei found me and got really mad that I stole the scroll. Mizuki-sensei came and it turned out that he was a traitor and had me do his dirty work unwittingly. I had been sitting and trying to learn the jutsu for about an hour before they came, so I made 1,000 kage busins, and they all pummeled Mizuki-sensei until he was knocked out, dattebayo!" Naruto said jumping up and punching hi fist into the air.
"Oh yeah, and since I could do a bushin, Iruka-sensei gave me his forehead protector!" Naruto finished grinning.
Even though Shikamaru had a feeling Naruto had left something important out; he decided it was too troublesome to pry.
~End Flashback~
"So how do we stop that from happening?" Sakura asked.
"I think I've got a plan, so don't worry or say anything to Naruto." he replied,
"one last thing, I think that we should let everyone know that we are dating so it won't cause suspicion about why we are spending so much time together, and so that everyone knows you are mine," she said the last part with one of the sexiest smirks he'd ever seen as she placed her hand on his chest.
"O-ok let's head for the academy; don't want to get yelled out by Iruka-sensei," he said as he turned and began to run, but really Shikamaru only ran so he might have a viable excuse to hide the bright red blush across his face.
~At the academy~
It's good to be the first one here, no dobe, no fan girls, and no noise: it's wonderful," Sasuke thought as he laid his head on his arms.
Two minutes later
"Sasuke-teme, what are you doing?" Naruto yelled into Sasuke's ear.
"Stupid dobe," he growled as people began to shuffle in. I cracked my eyes open to observe my immature class mates.
"They'll never be strong ninja," he thought to himself as all the girls started to swarm toward him. He looked out the window into the hallway and saw a flash of long blonde hair.
"Great here comes the head banshee." He thought as he braced himself for the scream fest between the annoying pink headed one and the loud blonde girl of who would sit by him, but it never came.
He glanced around wondering why there was no screeching, not that he cared, he just wanted to be ready to close his ears when they started to scream over him.
"Wonder when they will get the hint that I'm not interested in anyone who cares so much about how they look, or how pretty they are. I want someone who is powerful and can keep up with me as a ninja and can help me restore my clan but that's for later."
Finally, he found the blonde girl but was surprised she was just sitting by the dobe with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Maybe she realized that I will never like her unless she can get a lot stronger."
Then he saw some pink hair in his peripheral vision, bracing himself again for screeching, but he was surprised again that nothing happened. Looking around to see where she went he found her talking to the dobe and Shikamaru, and actually being nice to them. As she started to make her way towards him, he looked up and saw her looking back at him with a mixture of hate, pity and small bit of caring. Which was strange, since all he usually saw was slight lust and love, and then she did something even more surprising than the whole morning combined; she passed him without a second glance, and sat with Shikamaru and Choji.
"Man this morning's weird."
"Wonder where Sakura-chan is. She usually comes in with Ino-san, but today Ino-san came in class alone, in a daze, then she didn't even sit by Sasuke-teme. She sat down by me which is even weirder, because she is the queen bee of the crazy fan girls."
"Man those stupid fan girls are loud! I mean what is so good about that stupid teme? He is so cold and always brooding" Naruto thought, then he saw someone with spiky, brown hair walking next to a person with bubblegum pink knew only one person with pink hair. As soon as he saw them come through the door, he yelled "good morning Sakura-chan!" with a dumb grin on his face.
"Good morning Naruto-kun," she replied with a sad smile, remembering the grin he wore as she watched him die. That one had been true and real, not the fake smile he wore now.
"That look in her eyes, I know that look, it was the same look as some of the shinobi I've seen before; so sad and full of loss, but Sakura-chan has never lost anyone in her family that I know about. What's even weirder is that, usually when I tell her good morning, she would either ignore me or shout 'BAKA' and bonk me on my head for getting in the way of her and Sasuke-teme." He thought
"Man, Shikamaru was right, girls are just troublesome," he muttered under his breath.
~After school~
"Hey Naruto, do you want to go get some ramen with me and Choji?" Shikamaru asked as they walked out of the academy.
"Yeah! I love ramen, Dattebayo!" he said as he threw his arms behind his head.
"Do you know why Sakura-chan was acting so weird this morning?" he Naruto asked.
"She decided to quit her little act," Shikamaru relied nonchalantly.
"What little act?" Choji asked between bites of barbeque-flavored potato chips.
"Oh you know, the one where she pretends to like Sasuke and be an obsessive fan girl," he replied hiding a smirk remembering whose days.
"Nani!" Naruto screeched, coming to an immediate halt.
"Yep me and her have been friends for years, but I've never really liked listening to Ino complain and whine so we just talked in private, as to not be bothered by troublesome people. So she wanted to work on her undercover skills for being a ninja so she just put on an act, but since we're graduating and you shouldn't put on an act in a team, she decided to drop it and show everyone who she really is and who she really likes," he said, the lie he had thought up earlier slipping off his tongue with ease.
"NANI!" Naruto screamed eyes bulging out of his head, as Choji started to choke on his chips.
But Shikamaru just kept walking, as though he talked about this kind of thing every day.
"Shikamaru why didn't you tell me, do you not trust me?" Choji asked looking sad.
"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just troublesome, so I didn't tell anyone, but the cats out of the bag now so it doesn't matter," he replied as they sat down on the bar stools at Ichiraku's.
"Three miso flavored ramen please," he told the chef.
"Look guys, this is becoming a drag and I haven't even told you what I asked you here for," he said with fake exasperation as he broke his chopsticks apart.
"Well what did you want to talk to me about?" Naruto asked as he began to shovel ramen into his mouth.
"Since my dad is a jonin, I thought he might be able to help you, so I asked him if there was any other way to create a Bunshin, since it seems so troublesome for you and he gave me this scroll," Shikamaru said as he grabbed something form his pocket. It was a small scroll, which he handed to Naruto.
"Thanks Shikamaru, this is the best, I'll get this jutsu down in no time so you can have your scroll back, dattebayo!" Naruto said as he pumped his fists threw the air, then began his third bowl of ramen.
"Well I have to get going before my mom becomes all troublesome for me being late," Shikamaru groaned as he placed money on the table for all three of them, knowing at this point in time Naruto barley had any money, since everyone over charged him. But instead of heading in the direction of his house, he made his way to the Hokage's building; he had some things to talk about.
"Hokage-sama, there is a boy here to see you. He says it's urgent," the chunnin guard said.
"Let him in," the third replied, grateful for a reason to stop doing the nightmare called paperwork.
"Good afternoon Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said as he bowed low to show his respect.
"Hello Mr. Nara, what brings you to me this beautiful afternoon?" Sarutobi replied, seeing the Nara crest on the shoulder on the boy's jacket.
"If I may, I have a request that concerns Naruto Uzumaki. I hope I do not anger you by asking, but I believe that it is time that you tell Naruto what resides within him," he asked respectfully.
"Who told you?" the hokage asked calmly, smoking his pipe without skipping a beat.
"No one, it is not hard to figure it out; I have known for a few years now. I mean he has charka capacity that surpasses even some jonin, he's hated by the villager for no obvious reason other than some pranks, he is often called demon brat, and lastly his birthday is the same as the Kyuubi attack. It was easy to put together with some logical evidence," his anger rising slightly with every point he made.
"Does this change your perspective of him in any way?" Sarutobi asked, scanning for any hints of hatred or dishonesty in the boy's body langue, chakra and answer.
"Of course not, Naruto would never harm anyone for the fun of it, just look at his dream: he wants to become a great ninja to protect the people that treat him harshly. Does that sound like a cold blooded killer to you?" he replied, unknowingly passing the Hokage's test to see if he would think over the boy's proposal.
"Well since you have put so much thought into this, I shall think about it, but I do have a question; why did you tell me this now if you have known about the Kyuubi for years?" he asked curiously.
"That's simple; he is going to graduate this year, becoming a genin. and going into battle without knowing his own strengths, weaknesses, and secrets would be suicide for anyone, especially a genin, with no real experience, they think they are invincible,." he replied with a shrug, as though it should be obvious.
Even though Shikamaru couldn't see it, the Hokage was very surprised to hear such wise words from an academy student.
"Is there anything else I should know about?" the Hokage asked playfully.
"Actually yes it's more of a riddle than anything: snail beats snake, snake beats toad, toad beats snail, monkey beats snail and toad, but the monkeys brute strength cannot compare to the snakes bite. The monkey can beat the snake with the help of the toad, or if they can get the snail to help these things happen, when many unite," when the boy had finished; the Hokage looked in his eyes for some kind of explanation, but saw something that scared his worse than the riddle; he saw what he called "anbu eyes". Those eyes are cold, empty, and full of hidden pain they have seen death over and over, and were used to it. Those eyes had seen loved ones die, yet still wanted to love. Those eyes are not supposed to be on an academy student. Maybe this was why his strange words were ringing true. Maybe he didn't give the next generation enough credit. He began to speak again only to look up and see there was no one listening, for the boy had left.
"Sakura, you awake?" Shikamaru whispered as he sat down on her bed and began to stroke her cheek, but pulled away when he made contact, for she was burning up. He tried to shake her awake, but to no avail. He knew a little about medical things, since his mom had been a medical ninja before she had him. He yanked back the cherry blossom comforter off his pale girlfriend to check her symptoms: shallow breathing, feverish, and her chakra was spiking, showing this was no common cold. He couldn't tell what it was, but he had never seen anything like it. Not willing to risk the hospital in case it had to do with time travel, he carefully placed his arms behind her head and under knees, carrying her bridal style; he quickly placed a small genjutsu so he could run rooftops undetected and jumped out of the window he came in.
"I hope mom knows what to-do," he thought as he made his way home knowing if this turned for the worse, this could turn it into quite a messy situation.