Chapter Text
If I'm dead now, what does that make me?
A useless rotting corpse.
Maybe I was already one...
Get up, Sakura, you've been weak long enough.
Sakura felt her chakra explode.
Loop 1
Sakura awakened with a gasp-- she would have screamed if she hadn't been trying to hold everything in just a moment ago.
Otherwise that grass ninja would hear her.
She fisted her bed sheets and blankets. Her heart beat, painfully so, as she took sharp, quick breaths. But she was lying in her bed. She looked around.
Not in the Forest of Death. Nor being chased down by that grass nin. Sakura was in her own bed, in her own room, in her own.... house?
She sat up, holding her blanket close as she darted her gaze around the room. It was pink-- like it should be. The shelves were lined with the dolls she'd crocheted herself-- like it should be. Everything was just... like it should be. The birds were chirping, loud and clear because her window was kept open, just it's frame blocking any bugs from coming in.
Oh.
It was just a dream.
Sakura was super anxious about the Chunin Exams after all-- she barely had anything to protect herself or her teammates with! Why wouldn't her mind come up with a horrible nightmare about her head getting crushed while fighting an enemy ninja?
Though.. even if she usually remembered all of her dreams, this one was strangely vivid. She could remember every kanji she'd scratched onto the paper with a pencil during the written test, the speech Naruto gave during its 10th question, and that grass ninja showing Sakura her own death, a hundred times over, just by simply being in her presence.
Sakura very clearly remembered the vision of a kunai piercing her forehead.
And she remembered her actual death too! Getting slammed into a tree by that snake and getting her head cracked open and hearing Sasuke scream her name-- and she remembered thinking, he cares! and everything fading to black before--
Sakura took a deep breath.
It was just a dream!
She'd gotten chased down by giant snakes after all.
Sakura's eyes shifted over to her calendar; it had today's date as "CHUNIN EXAMS!!!!!!" in red. The Chunin Exams were today.
Move on, Sakura.
And so, she showered and hopped out and looked in the mirror. She brushed through her smooth strands of pink, long hair, the comb scratched her scalp and head satisfyingly and for some reason, she was hit with a wave of deja-vu. Maybe she was just feeling nostalgic, was all. She'd brushed her hair many times, freshly out of the shower. Some days, after doing things over and over again and getting used to it, she would randomly get hit with the sense of nostalgia.
But this was deja-vu, not nostalgia?
Ugh, stupid brain, just shut up and move on to the Academy already.
She stylized her hair, brushing off any fatigue or sickness she still had from that dream. She went downstairs and was hit with the smell of...
Beef, rice, and eggs.
Sakura paused mid staircase and bit her lip. In her dream, that was the exact meal her mom had cooked her, saying stuff like, "The Chunin Exams are dangerous! I can't have you going on with an empty stomach!" But Sakura refused because she was on a diet! She couldn't be some pig like Ino, not when she was around Sasuke.
Lingering by the stairs a moment longer, Sakura tried forgetting the dream for the last and final time.
She continued down the stairs, to the floor and went into the kitchen. "Good... morning, mom, dad," she greeted.
"Good morning, kiddo," her dad replied, not looking up from some papers he seemed to be working on.
Sakura had the urge to roll her eyes at the nickname-- she didn't like being treated like a kid! She was a big girl now-- but it quickly vanished when she saw her mother cooking that beef, rice, and eggs dish.
"Morning, Sakura," she greeted. "Are you ready for the Chunin Exams today?"
"...I guess so."
Her mother tsked. "Well now that's not a very enthusiastic response, is it? C'mon, you should be excited! Aren't you going to become a chunin? Isn't this what you always wanted?"
The sounds of food searing in the pan filled in for Sakura's silence.
She turned to look at her daughter, who's eyebrows were slightly furrowed. Sakura shifted her expression, as her parents didn't like it when she looked disgruntled-- it was always better to just keep a... neutral, pleasant face! But she couldn't really help it. This was getting all too similar to her dream.
When Sakura didn't say anything further, her mother sighed and turned off the stove.
"I still think you're not ready, you know. You're just a little girl-- being a shinobi is tough and dangerous. But I guess you're already in, so not point in trying to stop you, huh?"
She picked up the pan and went over to the table, where plates were already lined up, placing the beef, rice and eggs in.
"Well, come and eat now. I know this is a little more high calorie, but the Chunin Exams are dangerous from what I hear! I can't have you going in with an empty stomach."
Sakura's lips parted.
Noticing that she was making no move, her mother turned around to her again, with a raised eyebrow. "What are you gawking at?" she asked, pointing the spatula at her. "There's hot food on the table right now and you need to eat it before it goes cold."
X X X
So, Sakura quickly came to the conclusion that she time traveled.
What else could have happened? Her parents said the exact same thing in her "dream", Naruto did the exact same holler when she arrived at the Academy, and Sasuke said the same exact, "Hmph. Let's get going," as he turned his back and walked into the building.
What really nailed it all in though was Lee. He was there getting beat up by the two "genin" at the door and after stopping, approached Sakura. Firstly, there was no way her brain would be able to come up with something that was even remotely similar to Lee, and secondly, EVERYTHING WAS WORD FOR WORD. Movement for movement. Down to the fucking second--
Sakura didn't like swearing.
But this was too ridiculous to not get at least a little potty-mouthed.
"Sakura, I truly understand if my request has made you uncomfortable," Lee told, turning his now sorrowful gaze to the ground when Sakura didn't answer, but just stared at him. "I apologize! I will do my best next time to win yo--"
"Just buzz off," Sasuke called out, eyebrows turned downwards. "C'mon, Sakura, Naruto, we need to get a move on already."
"Yeah!" Naruto took a step in front of her. "Take that, bushy brows! Sakura ain't interested!"
If it had been any other day where Sakura didn't time travel, she would be blushing and twiddling her thumbs with a squeal at the fact that Sasuke went ahead and told off Lee himself. But today was not that day. Today, Sakura did time travel, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to focus on anything else.
Sakura took a sharp inhale and ambled past Lee. "Let's get going, Naruto."
And everything happened as before.
They got down to another floor before Lee approached them, challenging Sasuke to a fight. Naruto participated instead and got his ass kicked in less than 20 seconds, then Sasuke got into stance to battle Lee.
For a moment, the entire time travel thing faded and was overtaken by the fact of how just impressive Lee and Sasuke were. They moved around so elegantly-- especially Lee. Would Sakura ever be able to pull off moves like that? Lee seemed to come from no clan, so someone just like her, and he was only a year older yet doing miles better. He was beating Sasuke.
Oh.
Yeah, Sasuke was losing and getting hurt.
Sakura snapped out of it. Since she traveled back in time, or... whatever, shouldn't she try to fix these things? Sasuke getting injured like this was definitely on that list! There was no way she could let him get hurt. She looked around, to Naruto who was knocked out cold slumped upside down against the wall, to Sasuke and Lee who were still in the air, exchanging blows, and she briefly ran a hand through her hair.
Uh oh uh oh uh oh Sakura was never one to take charge. That was always up to Sasuke or Kakashi, or hell, even Naruto. But never her-- she was always the one just following orders.
Thankfully, a poof of smoke interrupted everything and someone-- that weird ass turtle-- roared, "LEE!!!!!"
Sasuke and Lee fell to the ground-- well, it was more like just Sasuke. Lee landed gracefully, while Sakura attempted catching Sasuke before his back hit the ground but failed miserably.
"Are you alright, Sasuke!?" she asked, helping him back up.
He grunted in pain.
Even if not very satisfied with the response, Sakura looked over at her other fallen teammate, Naruto, tuning out the turtle reprimanding Lee for his actions. Last time, she hadn't done anything to help him. Which... made her feel bad now-- hadn't she promised herself she was going to be nicer to him?
She turned to Sasuke, who was staring at the scene with Lee and the turtle, flabbergasted. "Uh, Sasuke? Should we go help Naruto?"
"Hm?" Sasuke broke his gaze away from the two others and turned to her, then to his left, where Naruto lay, fallen.
He turned on his heel and made his way to him, Sakura following.
"Guh.... what's going on guys?" Naruto slurred out. "Who's yelling?"
"Come on, Naruto," Sakura said, shaking his shoulder. "The Chunin Exams are soon."
"Wha... the Chunin.... OH! THE CHUNIN EXAMS!" Sakura jolted back as Naruto backflipped onto his feet, somehow getting his hyperactivity back in such a quick second. "Yeah-- yeah, the Chunin Exams! Come on, guys we uh...."
Here came that stupid question.
Sakura told him that no, turtles could not be senseis, and just then, yet another puff of smoke filled the room. That man-- Gai, who Lee was a mini version of, who had 51 wins against Kakashi's 49, stood on top of the turtle with a pose that gave Sakura a bit of second hand embarrassment.
"What's shaking, people? Life treating ya' good?"
...hm.
Maybe this was all actually just a dream. Maybe Sakura had just dreamed of having a dream where she died and then woke up from said dream but turned out that she actually time traveled.
She scratched her chin.
No, everything felt pretty real.
More like surreal.
Well, there were a lot of odd things in this world, Sakura guessed. Like time travel, apparently.
Sakura looked over her shoulder to the entrance that would lead to the Chunin Exams, then back at Gai. She put on a smile, eyebrows curled in an apologizing manner-- the face she made whenever she had to get out of situations like these, without wanting to hurt the others feelings-- to look regretful for having to leave. Always worked like a charm. "Sorry, Gai-sensei," she said. "But we have to go! It's the Chunin Exams right now and there's no time for conversation-- we can't be late."
"Oh yes, I completely understand." Gai put his hands on his hips. "Although, I didn't think you knew my name. Kakashi ever talk about me, hm?"
Uh oh.
She slipped up. Gai didn't seem suspicious though, so she didn't have to come up with some lie and tell him that yeah, Kakashi did indeed talk about him.
Which would then lead to Gai probably confronting Kakashi about it, then Kakashi would confront Sakura about it, because Kakashi had good memory and he'd know damn well that he NEVER brought up Gai with his students, and Sakura would have to lie to him, which would probably not work out because Kakashi could spot a lie a mile away.
But then that brought up the question... should she tell anyone about this time travel conundrum she was in?
Well... god, Sakura didn't really know.
She didn't even know if this was real! Time traveling and all.
1: they'd think she was crazy-- or at least Kakashi and Sasuke would. Naruto would probably believe her.
2: at the end of the day, considering that there was no benefit from telling them about the time travel thing anyway, since she didn't have very much knowledge of the future to hold valuable, paired with the fact that they might think her as insane, it was probably just not worth it.
And 3: this was her thing now. Her responsibility, chance-- everything. She had to handle this. She'd been leaning on the rest of Team 7's hard work for far too long-- it was time for her to carry some kind of burden.
The most she'd tell them was the information she knew, which was as she said, very minor, but that was IT.
Speaking of which, she'd probably inform Naruto and Sasuke about the two tests. They could come up with a plan ahead of time.
If they asked where she got it... well, she'd say she read it in a scroll.
"What... this guy knows Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto sputtered.
"Why yes! Him and I are eternal rivals."
Oh, she would have to listen to this entire thing again.
She watched as Naruto and Lee squabbled about Gai's coolness or whatever before Gai himself stepped in and punched Lee in the face.
It was kind of weird watching this whole thing all over again, honestly. Not necessarily bad, just kind of weird, since she knew what would happen. What would be annoying though was listening to the test's rules all over again and waiting out the Written Exam.
Well, not that any of that would last very long anyway. It was 30 minutes to an hour tops. If she went through the Land of Waves, she could survive.
After it finally was over, Sakura wasted no time in turning on her heel and gesturing her two boys to follow her. "Come on, guys," she said. How many times had she said "come on" at this point? "Its the Chunin Exams..."
"Ah, you made it," Kakashi spoke once the genin finally made it into the hallway. His eye shifted to Sakura. "You too, Sakura."
Sakura nodded.
Okay, so then, she would tell Naruto and Sasuke about the future tests, saying she got it from a scroll from a chunin, then, they would make a different plan in the forest-- avoid that grass ninja AT ALL COSTS. Giant snakes, the threatening aura that surrounded her; nobody in Team 7 was ready for that.
"Yeah, why wouldn't she, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Well, you see, in order to take the test, all three of you needed to show up."
"But didn't you say that it was an indivish-ual choice or whatever? Why'd you lie!?"
"Because if I had told you all the truth, you two would have pressured Sakura into taking the exam, and she would have given in, even if she didn't want to or wasn't ready. I couldn't let something like that happen."
How considerate... Sakura thought, half-tuning into the conversation she had already listened to.
"Now go, team." Kakashi sidestepped to lean against the wall instead, unblocking the doorway. "Good luck."
"WOO HOO!" Naruto exclaimed. "Chunin Exams, here we come! See you when we're chunin, sensei!"
Sakura wanted to stop him from being so brash, but he bolted through the doors before she could. Kakashi deadpanned, knowing that there was a sea of ninja in the other room and Naruto just alerted every single one of them. Sasuke gave him a nod as he entered as well and Sakura gave him a smile, to which Kakashi returned.
The seemingly endless amounts of other competitors still made Sakura grimace in fear. She briefly looked through the crowd. That grass nin was somewhere, and so were those rain nin. When the Forest of Death section came, everyone was enemy.
And while many of the genin in this room wouldn't make it past the first test, there would be about... if Sakura remembered correctly, Anko commented that there were, "78 snotty kids left and that Ibiki had grown soft," and 78 would be 26.
So, 26 teams would be left, all scattered around the forest with Team 7 in the middle of it all.
Sakura turned to her teammates. "Alright guys, so um..." As she said earlier, she was never one to take charge. Ever. So, when they turned to her, expectantly, she began fiddling with the skirt of her dress. "I read about this and we'll be having two tests: one is a written test, where--"
"W-wait-wait," Naruto interrupted. "Written test? We're going to do a WRITTEN TEST!? I can't do written tests! They--"
"SHUSH." Sakura pressed a finger to his lips, glancing at the crowd of other genin. "We should stay quiet and not attract attention."
"SASUKE! YOU MADE IT!"
God damn it.
Sakura should have walked to another area for this, so the rest of their ex-classmates wouldn't find them. Especially Ino.
Sakura's annoyed gaze turned into a full on glare as Ino jumped on Sasuke.
"I knew you'd come-- there's no way you'd miss out on something like this."
"Ino.... we're having a team meeting over here," Sakura growled. "Can you get off of Sasuke and I don't know, go back to your own team?"
"How about you guys just save yourself the embarrassment and flunk out of this exam," Shikamaru's voice called out as he walked forward with Choji.
"Oh wow, it's the three stooges huh," Naruto drawled, previous panic about the written test forgotten. "Wait-- yeah Sakura's right! Leave us alone, we're having a team meeting right now!"
Shikamaru stood beside Sasuke, tugging Ino off of him. "Well sorry, but this is the only corner not filled with mysterious genin who we don't know."
Sakura sighed.
Team 8 came over, Kiba bickering with both Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata barely being able to speak to Naruto, and Shino protected a bug from getting squashed by Choji. Sakura looked between the crowd of other genin then back at her fellow rookies. Everyone was starting to stare at them. They were being loud. REALLY loud. Why couldn't they understand that being loud as a ninja was a really bad decision in a room full of other ninjas that had come to fight other ninjas?
Was this why that grass ninja targeted them? Because they attracted so much attention to themselves, especially with that speech Naruto gave during the 10th question?
"Hey... hey, guys," Sakura spoke, moderately quiet but loud enough for all of them to hear. They turned to her and she gently pointed behind them, to all the other genin. "Can we be a little quieter?"
"Huh?" Shikamaru grimaced when he looked over his shoulder. "Ah geez, I guess all the attention's on us now."
"Yeah, clearly," Sakura scoffed under her breath. And she thought Shikamaru was smart. She gestured for Naruto and Sasuke to come closer. "Guys, we still need to have that... team meeting."
Naruto nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh, yeah!" He turned to the other rookies. "So go on! Get outta here! We're having a team meeting."
"Naruto, I said be quieter," Sakura hissed.
"Oops--"
"She's right, y'know," a new voice called out-- Kabuto. "Being loud is only gonna do you worse in the long run."
Ino said her line, questioning who he was and so began that entire thing again.
Sakura stayed faced to her team. "We don't have much time until this test starts, we need to hurry."
"Wait, but Kabuto seems like kind of a nice guy," Naruto said. "Can we stick aro--"
Sakura dragged her teammates by the wrists to another part of the room, ignoring a few of the other rookies' calls for them.
"Alright-- you don't have to drag us around," Sasuke said, trying to tug his hand away.
Sakura stopped and crouched down, gesturing them to do the same. "I'm sorry, but listen... I got some... um... information from a source about these chunin exams. There are two... levels, let's say, to this, maybe three, but I don't know yet. The first test is going to be a written one."
"Oh man, I forgot about that!" Naruto whisper-exclaimed.
"But don't worry!" she said. "The written test is actually... sort of a fake out."
Sasuke rose an eyebrow.
"While you're told to not cheat, the test is apparently so hard that you need to cheat, and that's one of the whole points of the test. Answering the questions don't actually matter-- the real test is how skillful and sneaky you are with your methods of cheating. But you could also leave the answers blank and still pass."
Sakura didn't have to cheat last time, though. She got through the test with just her brain. She inwardly preened.
"Wait... so you don't even have to answer anything?" Naruto asked.
"Nope. You can just leave the answers blank, Naruto."
He grinned. "Aw yeah! This'll be a piece of cake."
"But how do you know that?" Sasuke asked. "Who or what is this "source" that told you this?"
"A classified scroll..." Sakura lied. She dropped her gaze to the floor, faking a look of shame. "I got it from a chunin..."
Even then, Sasuke still seemed a little unconvinced. Sakura cringed slightly. Not that it mattered-- once the Written Test was finished, he would trust her words after her information was proven true.
Naruto waved his hand. "Pfft, don't worry about it, Sakura! We gotta do what we gotta do."
"Right-- so then comes the Forest of Death," Sakura continued.
Naruto snorted. "What kind of name is that?"
"I... I don't really know." Last time, secretly in the back of her mind, Sakura agreed with Naruto's mocking about the name. But she was never gonna let that slip out. "Basically, there's a tower in the middle of the forest that will lead to the third exam, and in order to get there, you need two scrolls-- Earth and Heaven. Each team will get one scroll of either and you have to take the other scroll from the opposing team to get the two of them."
"Wow... that sounds like... a lot of work," Naruto said.
"Well if you're not up for it, why are you taking the exam in the first place?" Sasuke scoffed.
"Never said I wasn't up for it-- and its the next step in becoming Hokage!"
"Alright, then listen," Sakura continued, "since we already know this stuff, we can plan ahead. What are we going to do?"
"I'm thinking we jump a team," Naruto suggested.
"No, dummy," Sasuke said firmly, "because if we jump a random team without any knowledge of their abilities, we could die. We need to be strategic."
"Man, that's no fun." Naruto crossed his arms. "I wanna fight somebody."
"Naruto, this isn't supposed to be fun-- it's life or death," Sakura said. "If we die, then... well, we die! That's not good, is it?"
Well... except she time traveled when she died.
She wasn't so sure about Naruto and Sasuke.
"ALRIGHT YOU BRATS!!" Ibiki boomed as he appeared in a puff of smoke. "SETTLE DOWN! THE FIRST TEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!"
Shoot. Well, Sakura told them enough for the time being anyway. She'd speak with them more later.
"It.... it doesn't matter, right, Sakura?" Naruto whispered to her. "That's what you said, right?"
Sakura nodded. "You'll be fine. Just sit there and don't panic. And also, don't say anything! We shouldn't attract any more attention to ourselves than we already have."
"Got it! You're the best! Let's go!" Naruto marched forward.
Sasuke nodded to her, which she gave a smile, nodding back.
Once everyone was seated, Ibiki explained the rules and some genin went into outrage, while some others went into quiet panic. Sakura looked over a few rows and to Naruto, who was thankfully staying completely quiet and even looking a bit smug because he knew information no one else knew. She glanced over to Sasuke, who just simply sat at his desk, chin resting on his hands, as calm and cool as could be.
X X X
The second test arrived. Naruto didn't give his speech, thankfully, so they didn't attract any more attention-- what was even better was that his speech last time had encouraged a lot of the other genin to stay, but this time, with no speech, they left! So instead of 26 teams, it was 18 this time.
Just less competition to deal with.
Sakura kept her team close as Anko explained the rules, pinching Naruto when he was about to make fun of the forest's name.
Team 7 came up with a plan-- they'd travel to a deeper part of the forest and would set up camp somewhere hidden and place traps around, specifically with Sasuke's ninja wire which was invisible when under shade. If any teams came by, they'd trigger the traps and while stunned, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto would attack.
It was a very basic plan, but it was better than last time which was nothing.
"Hey, Naruto," Sakura spoke. He looked to her expectantly. "Do you need to use the bathroom before we go in?"
Last time, he'd went into the bushes and got caught by those rain ninja. Sakura couldn't let either of her teammates get out of her sight again.
"Oh... well, now that you mention it, yeah kinda." Naruto nodded. "I'll be right back! Then we can go in and kick ass, believe it!"
Sakura sighed in relief and felt a stare. She turned cautiously and Sasuke was side-eyeing her with a raised eyebrow. She fiddled with her fingers, beginning to feel shy. "Is something wrong, Sasuke?"
"Not wrong, just..." Sasuke turned away. "I don't know. Forget it."
Sakura frowned.
Was she really that suspicious? What was it, her random knowledge of these exams or... had she really changed that drastically? All she did was be a little quieter and tell info.
She scratched the back of her head.
Well, whatever it was, she was changing things. For the better too.
They wouldn't get targeted for being too loud, Naruto didn't give his speech during the written exam, which lead to more teams quitting than last time, and now they were prepared, unlike last time, where they charged in blindly.
Sakura believed she was doing good so far.
She just had to not mess it up.
And they entered the forest. They walked around in silence, listening for any enemies. Sakura remembered the rain ninja that attacked them last time-- it'd be better to diverge into a different path.
"I think we should take a detour," Sakura said quietly. "I'm sure all the other teams are walking to this direction too, so maybe we should go a little differently."
"You're right," Sasuke agreed. "If we want to get to the tower, we'll have to play it safe."
"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto whisper-shouted. "How much more do you know about these chunin exams? Cause everything you said before was right."
"Uh... not much other than these two tests," Sakura answered, as they went down another path. "But if I had to guess... since the first one was an intelligence, and this is a survival one, then... there could be a third test with something to do with combat."
"Why would ya think that?"
"The Chunin exams are meant to test our skills, to see if we're good enough for Chunin. It'd make sense if they tested our intel, survival abilities, and combat skills, right?"
"If that's true, it's an extra reason to play it safe," Sasuke added. "It wouldn't be very good if we came into a fight injured, would it?"
"Yeah! So--"
"LOOK OUT GUYS!!!" Naruto exclaimed.
Team 7 collectively gasped as a kunai with an explosive tag attached came down at them. They leapt out of the way, diving into the bushes.
Not again! Taking a different route didn't help with a thing!!
Maybe she should have seen it coming since there were OBVIOUSLY plenty of other genin than just those rain and grass ninja that attacked them last time.
Sakura looked to her teammates as the tag exploded. They all scattered from each other, glancing around for the attacker.
She screamed to Sasuke, "BEHIND YOU!!"
His eyes widened and he froze up when a kunai was held against his throat. A ninja-- a grass ninja-- but not that scary ugly one from last time-- crouched behind him, holding him hostage. "If you don't hand over the scroll, he's gonna get it."
Shit shit shit what was she supposed to do? How could things go so south so quickly!? If she or Naruto made a move, Sasuke would get killed.
Sacrificing their scroll was better than their teammate dying.
Just as Sakura was reaching into her bag, the rain ninja was kicked in the head and knocked over, freeing Sasuke. Naruto's clone, who'd tackled the rain ninja, punched the enemy probably a dozen times until he got knocked out cold.
Sasuke got closer to his team, full guard on now. "We have to get out of here-- this guy's teammates are probably close--"
Two other of the grass ninja leaped down and immediately got into battle with Team 7.
Sakura braced herself as one of the ninja went after her. She was not going to be able to keep up with this. Last time, Sasuke had been there to defend her in a fight, but currently, he was busy fighting the other ninja--
Before she knew it, they clashed kunai. Sakura was barely able to keep up her hold against his. She backed away and nearly got slashed in the stomach.
"I GOT YOU SAKURA!!!!" Naruto announced, jumping in between her and the enemy.
Sakura watched Naruto battle against the grass ninja.
What was she going to do? How could she help? COULD she even help? She would be pretty useless if she tried helping-- would probably just mess something up. That was what happened last time. Sakura passed out and Sasuke had to carry her away from the enemy.
Should she just sit back and wait for her team to finish off the enemies? It'd be cowardly.
It'd be weak.
It'd be so so selfish-- how could she think of something like that?
Wasn't she supposed to be better this time?
"SAKURA!"
Only for a second, Sakura saw what her teammates were screaming her name for. A kunai was flying straight at her and she just stood there frozen.
She could never react quick enough and it pierced her throat--
Sakura felt her chakra explode.
Loop 2
Sakura shot up from her bed, reaching for her throat, the bile rising up as blood poured out of it, choking on her own scream, as only a strangle mix of sob and a gasp gurgled out and she couldn't breathe because there was a metal object stabbed into her lungs.
Before she could stop it, she was already crying.
No, stop it, shut up. Stop crying. You're fine. You're not dead.
She wasn't dead.
Again.
She was back.
Fine.
Okay.
Not dead, no enemies, just her bedroom. And blankets. And bed sheets. And pillows.
It should have been okay, because it was, but for some reason, like the little baby she always was, Sakura kept crying. She muffled her shuddering gasps for air by covering her mouth with a hand as her other held her perfectly fine throat.
Oh god she was gonna--
Sakura rushed out her blankets and went over to her trash can, throwing up into it.
Stop it, stop it, stop panicking.
Everything was fine! She was in her room. Far FAR away from the Forest of Death.
She just needed to... calm. down.
Okay, so. She went back. For some reason, she thought it would be a one time thing-- which, actually made her death kind of worse considering that if she only had one second chance, she completely wasted it-- but no, she was here again. So, not just time travel... Sort of a time loop.
Sakura couldn't die. And her teammates... well, technically they wouldn't be able to either! If they did, she could just loop back and they'd be there, completely fine.
So... a superpower?
Calling it a superpower was a bit silly, considering the amazing feats shinobi could achieve with chakra, but truly, Sakura had never heard of anything remotely similar to a time loop jutsu. There were time and space jutsus, but those were different.
Was she in a time and space jutsu right now? If so, how? And why? And when?
She was... invincible.
No matter how many slip ups, or how many problems they'd run into, it could all be restarted.
Despite the revelation, Sakura swallowed. How many more times was she going to have to die, though? How many more times was she going to have to go through the discomfort of getting stabbed in the throat or bleeding out or any other lethal fate? Was she going to have to watch her teammates be killed?
Mind finally cleared, the tears dried and the smell of vomit hit Sakura's nose. She grimaced at its stench and got up from the floor, stepping away from the trash can.
Sakura bit her fingernails, staring down at the floor.
No. She could not let that happen. And she wouldn't.
She couldn't freeze up again. She had to hold her kunai and use it right. There was simply no room at all for failure.
The most important goal now was to simply not die, nor let her teammates die, Sakura supposed. Even if it was easier said than done, there was no place for an argument. If she or her teammates died, she would have to go through everything all over again, and lose all her progress, and have to listen to EVERYBODY ALL over again. They had to make it through the chunin exams.
The idea that she would be trapping herself and the entire world inside of a time loop forever was a... terrifying one.
So if that was the case, Sakura had to get stronger.
Otherwise, the only thing she'd be doing with this power was uselessly turning into a corpse.