Stranger Things Have Happened

It Could Be Worse

When Sakura came to, she found herself in a familiar room. Too familiar in fact, given the fact that the green walls seemed to awaken something forgotten inside her chest. She dizzily scanned her surroundings again and again and again. If this was the Pure Lands then it was nice and she didn't care if she was dead. The Fourth Shinobi War had taken more than she could give, it took and swallowed everything in its path to conquer and destroy.

If this was a Genjustsu from an enemy then that too was a fortunate thing, at least she would die with the familiar walls that cocooned her. She just hoped that the enemy killed her fast, she did not want to die a painful death. She had had enough pain and heartaches. She was one of the few who were still alive, her death would be significant since they didn't have any better healers but the survivors would make do. She just wanted to meet her teammates again in the Pure Lands.

She jerked up from her bed pulling out her kunai that she always kept beside her whenever she slept only to find air in its place. Her arms looked weird too now that she actually looked closer, thin and without any muscle... where did all her hard-earned muscles go? And why was her Chakra so weak? Did dying reset her growth because she did not need it anymore in the Pure Lands?

But wait...

Sakura remembered what Naruto told them before when he met his mom, he said that Kushina-hime looked about the same age as when she died. Lord Fourth also did not give any indication of the lack of chakra—

'What is this...? Am I not in the Pure Lands? Am I not enough to go to Pure Lands?'

She looked around again, finding herself in her childhood room. The room that was destroyed during Pain's attack along with the house. The room that she never stepped foot in after her first Chunin exams when Orochimaru unleashed his summon.

Sakura wanted to cry, she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Cry until she exhausted herself and woke up from this dream. She refused to believe that everything in front of her was true, it couldn't be! She gave up so much for the future so how did she come back to the time when she was so weak and pathetic again?

She slowly got up from the bed. She did not want to waste any time in there, she did not know if this was real, if this was just a dream. But if this is real, then she has her work cut out for her because what if...?

What if this actually is the reality?

Her new reality, another chance? Another chance that she could use to help her precious people.

She did not have many regrets from the last time, she did what any typical hormonal teenage girl did. The only regret she did have was falling into the same hole of mockery for the village Jinchuriki. She was obsessed with Sasuke, but that was fine—most of everyone in their village was. She had some contempt towards Kakashi for not giving her the time of his day and enabling her behaviour but that too was forgiven. By the start of the war, she knew that he did not train the other boys either.

Kakashi was too apathetic from his time in ANBU to actually see any worth in training little kids. Hiruzen gave him the shorter end of the stick by throwing his supposed 'mistakes' to his face and demanding that he pass their team. Sakura was just the by-product, a canon fodder and she knew that now.

But Kakashi was forgiven, he even apologized for his failure in teaching Team 7. She told him to know better than to ask forgiveness for something that could have killed the whole team. Sakura did tell him that it did not matter anymore but she also told him to make it up to them by being better. Kakashi and her grew close during the war, he was the perfect mentor and a dear friend.