A Wary Meet-up
Sakura wasn’t sure how she ended up in the middle of the forest.
Yet there she was.
The heat was relentless and very unexpected as she had just been on her way back to the village in the middle of a cold winter day. She blinked once, twice and then looked at her surroundings.
Was this a genjutsu? Her hands automatically going through the signs before yelling ‘release’.
Nothing.
She tried it again. Still nothing changed.
She released a defeated breath and jumped on the tree branches, trying to find any type of landmark that would give her a clue of where she was. She needed to figure out her location, and possibly where her husband was too. He’s more than likely panicking and going through every portal to find her.
The kunoichi walked down the road, there was no use staying in one place. Even if Sasuke came to wherever she currently is, it would take him some time to find her. The summer heat, winter cape with the hood on, and pregnant belly made her way to uncomfortable to just wait wherever she landed.
Spotting a waterfall nearby she started to walk towards it, she could wait there under a tree and also refill the flask she was carrying. Still unsure of where in the world she had landed, she kept going, keeping an eye out for any type of recognizable landmark.
A laugh caught her attention.
It was Naruto’s laugh, except he sounded younger, his voice still raspy but not quite as low in tone. Sakura hid herself behind a tree, suppressing her chakra signature. She took out a pocket mirror she was carrying and pointed it towards where she had heard Naruto’s voice, then Kakashi’s, Sasuke’s and finally her own voice. In the mirror, she saw a very old memory of her genin days.
Naruto and Sasuke were having yet another contest, probably chakra control related, her younger self was watching from the shore, cheering on Sasuke as she usually did.
Sakura cringed, she knew she hadn’t been subtle but she didn’t realize how much of a fangirl she still was even after her vow in the forest of death.
One, two, three … where was Kakashi?
“Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t slit your throat.” The tip of his sharp kunai pressed against her carotid artery. She put her hands up and dropped her mirror, Sakura could feel his Sharingan on her. She wasn’t scared, but she was pregnant, and even if she knows she could give her old sensei a run for his money in a fight, she was still pregnant and she was not gonna risk her daughter’s life and her own.
Still, she wasn’t sure how to approach the situation, he wouldn’t believe her if she told him the truth and he would know if she was lying, so she had to compromise. Her back still to him, she answered “I was looking for a place to rest when I heard noise. I didn’t want to risk being attacked so I tried to check out the voices before approaching.”
His weapon never wavered. With the kunai still to her throat, he pushed her towards the lake, getting the attention of the genins, all immediately on high alert with their own weapons out. They ran to surround her, blocking her back and frontwards paths.
“Who are you” Sasuke demanded with his sharingan activated. “Just a traveler.” His scowl deepened, “Where are you from?”
“Can’t say.”
“Pretty suspicious answer from a traveler don’t you think?” Kakashi retorted, “Identify yourself before it gets ugly.”
Dimensional travel was still a new concept to analyze, she wasn’t sure if this was another world where everyone is younger or if maybe she was pushed back into her genin days.
One thing was clear in her mind, revealing too much might tamper with both this world and hers.
Naruto’s impatience makes him lounge at her before the rest of his team can react, “Time’s up lady!” Sasuke hot on his tail and her younger self hangs behind them like she always did.
At seven months pregnant Sakura couldn’t fight since they could hurt her daughter, plus her center of gravity was tilted and her stamina was frustratingly shorter. Thinking on her feet, she positions herself in a defensive stance, taking note of where Kakashi was while timing her distraction. Just as Naruto jumped to land a blow on her, Sakura shatters the terrain with her fist, leaves a substitute clone behind to buy herself some time and runs away in the smoke and mayhem.
She runs until she’s sure there is enough distance between them, only stopping when her breath begins to fail her.
Assuming that this team seven behaves like her own did back then, Sakura knows it’ll be a matter of time till they give up. She hadn’t attacked them and she also didn’t possess a threat to them. Or they go after her, because she’s suspicious and had spied on them and could try to come back and kill them.
“Katon: Grand Fireball jutsu” She guessed she had gotten her answer.
Sakura manages to jump away from the flames but the back of her hood gets pinned to a tree by genin Sasuke’s kunai. He’d always had good aim, and he was ready to throw his fatal shot already. Before that happens, Kakashi grips the hand with the weapon and signals him to stand down.
Sakura didn’t know why they had stopped, but she was glad they had done so. The two missing pairs of footsteps finally catching up, Naruto gasps “I didn’t know you had an older sister Sakura-chan!”
“I… don’t.”