Back before the petals fall

Chapter 1

Ok, I have to say it, don't I?

I do not own Naruto or the characters, only most of the plot in this fan fiction.

Sakura struggled to take the pain. Her stomach impaled by the truth seeking orb was unimaginably more dreadful than being stabbed with a kunai or sword. Sasuke and Naruto went on to attack him.

The godly Shinobi didn't even seem the least bit phased. He smirked and didn't even bother to lift a finger. Instead choosing to activate his eternal mangekyou Sharingan. She saw his frightful purple eyes develop his pattern. To Sakura, time slowed down as he closed his eyed preparing the chakra for his eye to use. This was her chance.

Madara in a split second opened his eyes to activate his power but Sakura threw a punch in the air to his direction. It was fully open now but his concentration retreated as soon as the "shinra tensei" like attack hit him. She smiled as he was pushed back 10cm, small but still great against someone like Madara. She was not expecting what would happen next however. Her body felt an unimaginable feeling.

It felt the sensation of being warped and stretched. The world around her was a blur, she felt pain in every molecule of her body. Dizziness took over her thoughts, the nausea was too great.

: :

Sakura suddenly got up from a nightmare. She must've fallen asleep at the hospital camp. Her chakra was already low from 2 days straight of healing hundreds, if not thousands of Shinobi.

That explanation would've made sense, if not for the itchy grass beneath her body. Strange, the battlefield was nothing but rock and dirt, where was she? She leapt up and felt a slight the sun baking her back. Weird, she was wearing long sleeved clothes.

After 5 seconds she realised that she was much shorter than her normal height. This could not have been as she was standing straight. That's when she looked down at her body and 2 things dawned on her.

The first was that she was in her 12 year old body. Her arms much thinner, her b cups were an even smaller a. Her legs so small they could've been mistaken for a stick. This was her 12 year old body.

The second thing was that every inch of her creamy skin was exposed. Her clothes lay on the floor, presumably from the bagginess since she was much shorter. She quickly scrambled to fetch her things and make them fit. Her sleeves were cut so her arms were exposed and the torso was tied at her hips. Her pants were cut into shorts and tied from the inside to fit.

She knew how much of a mess she looked but that didn't matter much, she had clothes and her hitai-ate. As long as she had it, it meant she had identification as someone of the Shinobi Alliance. She was rather well known anyway for her unique pink hair and being the slug princess' 2nd apprentice.

After getting herself sorted she walked a random direction. Whether it was North, South, East, West or something in between she couldn't tell but it didn't matter. If she found a village, she could as for a map and find her way back to help Naruto and Sasuke defeat Madara.

Her feet walked bare foot on the wet grass, occasionally stepping on the prickles that litered the area as her shoes were too big.

Sakura then stopped when she spotted something. A blue flanberry plant. It was something she had to find several times for ailments. The blue flanberry was something only native to Konoha's region as it struggled to grow elsewhere. There they were in the wild, this had to be near Konoha.

Her heart was pumping and she felt the adrenaline rush empower her very being. She could make it to Konoha.

She ran through the forest, ignoring the twigs and saw a wall of sunlight. The end of the forest was close. When she stopped it left in nothing but a state of confusion, this was Konoha but where was she?

: :

After a pang of confusion she walked up the cliff where the great stone faces were meant to be. It was exhausting and she had to stop at a caving in part to regain energy. Her 12 year old body struggled to keep up with her ambitions. She'd need to do a lot of training and explaining after she found Tsunade.

She eventually made it to the top, her clothes were stained dark in her dripping sweat and she was panting.

"Who are you?" a harsh but prepubescent voice asked.

Sakura looked up, she was not expecting someone else. He was the same age as her physically, and from the emotion in his eyes, mentally too.

"Tell me who you are first," she demanded in her booming voice. She had learned to be a leader at the hospital, being the head medical nin. She had the voice in the bag.

"...Madara, I won't say anything more."

His name echoed in her head. Madara... There had only ever been one Madara but here he was, 12 years old and stern but not evil. The only possible way of this happening was if she had travelled back in time. But how?

His mangeyou Sharingan ability. At the moment he yelled his power he called "Hachiman". He was meant to go back just enough to transport her to the past and confuse her, that was his ability: sending others back in time. He accidentally sent her a century back because of the wave of chakra she flung at him.

To Sakura it meant a chance in changing the past to change the future.

Kakashi had always taught her to rely on your teammates but this she'd have to do by herself.

No more Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Kakashi, Tsunade, Sai, Shizune, and everyone else she held dear. She didn't think there was a way back anyway, might as well save the Shinobi world. She just had to influence Madara and find out what went wrong. Easier said than done, after all, she was just the diversion, not the main attack.

All of the emotional stress and pressure, along with the physical exhaustion was taking a toll on her. She fell backwards down the cliff.

Her consciousness was fading and she was so low on chakra that she could not latch onto the side.

Is this it? Sakura thought grimly. Just as she made plans to save the cursed world, she'd be dying pathetically nearly 80 years before her birth.

1085 words

Okay guys, how was this chapter? I hope you enjoyed their "first" meeting. To tell the truth, I do not ship Madasaku. Sakura is shipped with so many people that I wouldn't be surprised to see Danzo x Sakura. If you enjoyed this story please share it with multisaku fans because I'd love to hear what y'all think!