The Red Thread of Fate

Chapter 2: Suffering

"I guess I just have to work on my stamina." She said, panting. Sakura looked around, proud of her monstrous strength that made all the craters and cracks in the training grounds. Her strength still existed, her speed as well. Except in order to be fast, she needed to gather chakra around her feet.

"My chakra reserve is so small compared to my older self." She had mint green chakra covering her hand and hovered over the graze on her knee. The redness quickly faded away in mere seconds, Sakura smiled at the reminder of her shishou.

Senju Tsunade

The brave Hokage died fighting against Madara with all the other kages. Sakura still remembered when she trembled at the sight of the dead honey eyes, the age jutsu she used on her appearance had already been dispelled due to her lack of chakra. This woman was like her second mother, her first one died in a mission in Kiri along with her dad. Tsunade lived as a Legendary Sannin, The Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure and died as an honourable shinobi.

Sakura clenched her teeth; she would not let any innocent people die again.

Today was the Genin Exams, divided into two parts. The first half was a one on one hand combat within a circle on the ground, the second half which was the test to make successful clones, which was what happened the first time around.

Sakura didn't remember much about the hand combat bit of the exam except for that she went against Ino in the first timeline. She recalled that she was cheering Sasuke on for his fight against Naruto.

Oh yes, Sasuke and Naruto.

The promise Naruto made to her was engraved deeply in her mind, each day she drowned in more and more guilt. If this time she can prevent Sasuke from getting the curse mark and leaving the village, Naruto can finally be relieved from this burden. Sakura hissed at the thought of Orochimaru. 

Curse mark. Akatsuki. Stopping Pein from attacking Konoha. The truth about Itachi. Danzo. Madara. Obito. Black Zetsu. Kaguya.

Sakura groaned. This was a hell lot of work for her now, if she wanted to change the course of the future. She didn't want to see her loved ones die in front of her again, she would definitely save them this time.

She ran her hand through her hair pastel pink locks, sighed and got ready for class.

Iruka-sensei already explained the rules for the first part. You win if you knock your opponent out of the circle, incapacitated your opponent or made them unable to move.

Sakura smirked, confidence building up in her system. In her previous timeline, spars like this were done often between Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and her since Sasuke left the village and became a rogue nin. She sometimes trained with Rock Lee and Neji for her Taijutsu and soon she was able to tie with Kakashi when they were fighting.

'Never said I can't infuse my fist with chakra. Just need to make sure I don't destroy the ground.' She giggled to herself, the damage caused would be too suspicious for a mere academy student like her. Sakura cursed at herself when Iruka-sensei's eyes lingered on her forehead longer than usual yesterday. The Byakugou seal was way too advanced for her and held too much chakra and she would have to prepare a believable explanation for him on that matter sooner or later.

"First up, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji!"

Sakura sharply turned her head towards the mention of the Nara heir.

"How troublesome."

Nara Shikamaru

Sakura chuckled at his famous catchphrase. Shikamaru was one of her best friends, the latter played shogi with her when she was free, sparred with her and him and Ino kept her company when she most needed comforting.

In the war, Shikamaru was a great leader and asset for the Shinobi Alliance. His intelligence was unrivalled throughout the nations, he was a calm headed young man with the will of fire. Sakura had to witness his crumbling when the tragic news of his father's death was passed on to him. Shikaku, along with Inoichi and other intel shinobis died in one of the Tailed Beast Bombs directed at Konoha. Sakura remembered how his whole body trembled and struggled to hold in his tears and insecurities, continued on to think of tactics to fight against Obito and Madara. The Shadow manipulator seized many enemies with his Shadow Sewing technique and performed efficiently in the Ino-Shika-Cho formation with Ino and Choji.

Sakura vaguely remembers his spar with Choji, the Nara outsmarted the Akimichi heir with his high-level strategic thinking and won.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru helped Choji up and they did the unison sign and grinned. Sakura smiled at the familiar sight.

"Next, Uchiha Sasuke and

Haruno Sakura."

Surprised? Hehe Sasuke vs Sakura

Sowwy, this chapter was a bit shorter than my last two,

but I will continue updating ;)

Peace out OwO