Changing the River of Time

Those Darn Bells

Sakura was among the last alive. Her death impacted him and Sasuke more than any before it...

But she was the first to go from Team 7.

It was about 3 years into the war, the year proving itself the worst in the entire war by the sheer number of deaths, injured, and sick. Their food was starting to run out thanks to the infertile land, lack of sunlight, and water. Their enemies were getting smarter, and they were at a huge information disadvantage.

Sakura was Head Medic, teaching everyone she could about medicinal everything. Even things she knew wouldn't happen again. Thanks to her, everyone knew what to do in a pinch and saved many lives several times over.

She was the last officially trained medic, so she had to make her knowledge count.

When she had time, she wrote everything she could about everything she remembered medically, which was basically everything with her amazing memory. She drew diagrams, explained processes, and explained what to do in every situation she could think of.

She barely finished when she fell.

She was in battle, fighting to reach an injured Sasuke with everything she had and more.

She reached him just as she was struck from behind fatally.

And she knew that only one of them would make it. Working quickly, she healed a little of her own wounds to give her time, summoned Katsuyu, and set to healing Sasuke. Within moments, he was conscious and she was dead, her last words whispered in his ear.

He later shared them to their spouse, as she asked him to.

"I love you. All of team 7 was my family, and I'm forever grateful for that. Don't get yourselves killed in this. Live, for me, for Lady Tsunade...

For the future."

.

.

.

"Where is he? He left before I did!"

From his perch in the tree, Aki watched the cute (naive) genin underneath him. He absent-mindedly fiddled with a loose feather, letting his mind wander back to that morning...

The red-head got up at 4, giving him time to set up some traps in the training grounds. He packed his breakfast and lunch and left Naruto's lunch on top of his shoes. Aki had to make sure that the kid saw it, after all.

The man smiled. He had a new seal to test out, but he needed someone else to help him. It was supposed to record a target's chakra and activate when someone not recorded came into contact with it. It was a large, complicated seal that didn't fit on any paper, so it had to be drawn from scratch. That wasn't much of a problem for the seal master, but it was tedious for anyone else. So, he approached Kakashi's chakra signature at 5 in the morning.

Unsurprisingly, the Hatake was wallowing in despair in front of the Memorial Stone.

"Hey Kashi, come help me out with this seal."

When the older man didn't respond, Aki sighed and took a jogging leap onto Kakashi's back, causing him to stumble forward. He just barely regained his balance before they both fell and looked over his shoulder to find the red-head clinging onto his back like a koala, limbs wrapped around him. "What was that for?"

Aki shrugged half-heartedly with a grin. "You ignored me. What else is an immature idiot supposed to do? Poke you?"

Kashi sighed, looking down to notice the other's hooked limbs. 'So no shaking him off..'. "Yes. Well, you have my attention. What is it?"