The Long Way Home

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Hearing a slight rustle in the bushes, Kakashi's ninja sense on immediately on alert and he turns around, eyes scanning the clearing as he tries to feel out any enemy presences. However, his search gives him nothing, save for a stray cat, and so he turns back to the memorial statue, going back to his mental dialogue with fallen comrades. It was odd, his sense usually weren't wrong but it did happen sometimes.

With a shake of his head, his clears his suspicions; what he felt after wasn't possible, probably just some backlash nostalgia getting to him. Only his imagination.

Yet somehow, for the briefest of moments... No, it must have been nothing.

(After all, there was no way that he could have felt Rin's chakra right beside him just then.)

o0o

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Sakura is speeding away from the clearing, rushing as soon as possible, mind working overtime in a mix of confusion, hysteria and mostly just thoughts of how the hell is this possible. She was lucky that Kakashi hadn't seen her; how in the world could she have explained that? She wasn't even sure what was going on herself

Finally when she was convinced herself that she was far enough away, she stops, collapsing on some rock. Her heart thudding in her chest almost as if about to pop any second, she waits until she's caught her breath before she allows herself to think. She needs to review what happened, needs to figure things out.

Closing her eyes, she tries to recall what last happened. She remembers that mission, that stupid solo mission that she had taken, that other nin that was about to kill her and then... and then... She remembers waking up.

o0o

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"Hey... wait... Are you awake? Rin! Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

Tsunade's urgent, worried voice pierces through Sakura's sleep-addled mind. Groggily, she attempts to open her eyes, despite the throbbing headache that was killing. However, she only get as far as a flutter before the light floods in and makes the pain worsen tenfold. Letting out a groan, she grasps at her head as if it could make the pain go away.

Footsteps rush against hard wood floors and a cool hand in placed upon her forehead, warm chakra flowing from it, working its way through her temple and then... The pain's gone.

"There, is that better?"

"Yes thank you."

The ache gone, Sakura once again opens her eyes and this time, she's able to get them all the way open, blinking a few times before her vision clears the sleep from it. Looking up, she sees Tsunade hovering over her, and upon closer inspection, something seems wrong with woman, something off, yet Sakura can't seem to put her finger on it.

However, before she puts any more thought on it, she suddenly remembers—the mission. Panic takes over and she looks at Tsunade with distraught.

"The mission! I'm so sorry, I failed, the ninja, he—he--how am I still alive?" Sakura looks down at her body, marveling at the lack of blood and wounds. "I was about to be killed! What... what happened?"

An odd look flashes over Tsunade's face but the woman quickly covers it before Sakura can identify the emotion.

"Rin, the mission... was dealt with. You were found near the gate, barely alive," She stops, choking a bit and Sakura is confused wondering what's wrong when she sees the tears shimmering in the woman's intense gaze.

"Tsunade-sama, is everything alright? Did something happen...?"

"No, no it's nothing."

Yet the tears continue to stream down and Sakura starts to feel almost apprehensive, wondering if something had happened, if someone had died....? But then her thoughts stop, her eye catching something in the background. The object is familiar, a hat that she has seen before. A hat that she remembers from long ago, from the time of Team Seven and Naruto and...

It was a hat she hadn't seen since she had been Sakura.

"Hokage?"The world seems to stop as she barely gets the word through her mouth. She looks back at her teacher, mind suddenly frozen, suddenly not wanting to know the truth. "You're Hokage? Then... that would mean..."

Yet the truth hits her hard anyway.

She's back.

"Rin, you've been missing for seven years. And in that time... your father... and the Yondaime... have passed away."

But by now, Sakura's not even listening--she probably wouldn't be able to handle if she had been. Instead, her thoughts are of Sakura, that weak little thirteen year-old, the one who had chased after Sasuke for who knows how long, the girl that she used to be--and it somehow hurts her. She's back where Sakura belongs but she doesn't want to be Sakura ever again. She didn't want to go back to identity and life and...

"Who else knows I'm here?"

"Aside from the team that reported you appearance, only me. I healed you myself," Tsunade pauses, and as if attempting to break the tension, she puts on a small smile. "Hey, why don't we go out to Ichiraku's? I'm sure you must be hungry. And we have to figure out what happened."

Sakura only nods, all the while a plan forming in her mind. She immediately starts gathering up chakra as Tsunade turns around, and then, when the moment arrives... She attacks.

I'm sorry Tsunade-sama, but I can't let you remember seeing me.

And as the woman falls, Sakura drags her a desk and gently places her upon it. When she wakes up, she would just think that she fell asleep while doing paperwork.

And would never remember seeing Sakura.

o0o

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With a sigh, Sakura lets the guilt drown her as she goes over what she had done to her teacher just a half hour ago. But she knew she had to—she wasn't just Sarutobi Rin. No, she was also once Haruno Sakura, even if it had been nearly a decade since she had been that (weak-willled, average) girl. And that meant...

And that meant... what, exactly?

Letting out an angry groan, Sakura kicks the ground in frustration. She didn't know what that meant, she didn't know who she was now. Somehow, just seeing the name 'Sarutobi Rin' etched onto the memorial stone seemed so surreal and just wrong. And it just made her wonder, wonder if this was some sick trick of fate or something? Had that name had always been there? Had she always been meant to go back in time and become Kakashi and Obito's teammate, go through everything with them?

Just a week ago, she would have been able to ask for help, before this stupid mission, she would have been able to go the Hokage's office, and just spill her thoughts to the man who had somehow ended up becoming her adopted father. He was the one who knew everything about her, always willing to carry her secrets and burdens with her, but now...

But now, he was dead.

Yet how could it have even happened? Sakura buries her head in her hands in frustration as she goes over the conversations. Otou-sama... Sandaime-sama... he had told that the first time she did it was a fluke. Just some trick of nature, where in some moment of peril danger that her body had overreacted so much that her extraordinary chakra control had actually broken the laws of space and time—that she had run through time. Except that because the chance of that happening to anyone was so low, that it would probably never happen to her again. That she was stuck in that time.

Yet she had been happy. She liked that time period, she liked her teammates, the reputation she had earned, she liked her life, her family and now...

She hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye. To anyone.

And now, where could she go?

Who could she be?

o0o

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A knock interrupts Asuma's peaceful lunch, causing him to momentarily pause the shogi game he was playing against himself. Curiously, he sets down his cup of tea as he walks towards the door, wondering who would bother him before it was barely noon and also bother to knock? His team wouldn't bother with the formalities and would just break in, the same going for any nin coming to inform him of an assignment. He was pretty sure the other jounin teachers were busy with their teams or some assignment, so that left... who?

To say that he was surprised to see his supposed-to-be-dead long-long adopted little sister standing in the way was an understatement.

"When I was adopted, your welcoming gift was a toad that I killed upon first sight. I didn't like you very much at first."And then Sarutobi Rin looks up at him with red-rimmed eyes, as if she had been crying for the past hour. "I'm home, Onii-san."

For a moment, Asuma just stares in shock, wondering if he was hallucinating or perhaps even still sleeping. Maybe this was just terribly beautiful dream. Yet the apparition in front of him just seemed so very real. It had his little sister's face, her voice, and even that particular memory that no enemy nin could possibly know about. Yet it couldn't actually be her... could it? And so, before he even realizes he's moving, he's reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder, to hold onto it, just to feel that it's actually warm, with blood and life pumping through it.

"You're alive..."

She gives him a rueful smile. "Apparently. Can I come in?"

But he's already pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

o0o

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"The house seems so empty... without him." She remarks as she follows him in, looking about the house, noticing all the changes, the cracks and marks of old age. Seven years really had passed.

"So you've heard about his passing."

"Yeah. I never thought I'd see his name on the memorial stone... hell, I never thought I'd see mine."

They stop, reaching their destination: the study. Asuma stops at a bookcase and reaches, taking out a scroll.

"He left this for you... a few years after you disappeared."

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Rin, if you get this, I guess it means I never got to see you again, in your time. It was a one in a million chance that it would happen again, but after your most mysterious disappearance after that mission, I'm guessing you were able to time-travel again.

I never knew who your real self was, seeing how we agreed that you shouldn't tell me anything, but there's this particular pink-haired girl in the Academy that bears a certain resemblance... Or perhaps it is just an old man's hope clouding his sight.

Nonetheless, I know Asuma or whatever descendant of mine will take be able to take care of any problems you might have with identity. Whether you want to stay as Sarutobi Rin or perhaps take on a new life, the choice is yours.

Just know, that I love you and I hope you live a good life.

Your father

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By the time she is done reading, Sakura is once again shaking, trying to keep from letting her grief take her over. She looks up at Asuma, who had been watching as she read the letter.

"You know, I've always found it weird that when he wrote that scroll, he somehow seemed to know that you were going to come back. In fact, in the letter that he left for me after he died, he specifically told me to keep that scroll in case you ever come." He gives her a curious look. "How did he know? What are you not telling me?"

"So he never told you the real reason your family adopted me?" Sakura takes one last glance at the letter and then sighs, closing the scroll. "Here, let's sit down. My story is a bit... far-fetched."

"Right. Why don't I make some tea first?" Asuma suggests.

o0o

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Minutes later, when they're all seated and comfortable, Sakura tells him her story. She tells him of how she had traveled through time from the future, how unlikely it was to happen and that it wasn't supposed to have happened again, yet somehow, here she was. At first, he gives her this look of disbelief, as if not really sure of what to think.

"But I haven't seen any kids who liked they could have been you. Surely, someone would have recognized your younger self by now?" But then he pauses, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Oh... this isn't what you really look like."

Sakura smiles, nostalgically.

"No," She says, tracing her earring as she had grown to do over the past years. "When I had first arrived, Otou-sama had arranged for me to take lessons from Tsunade, not only so I could gain some useful skills but also so she could teach me her permanent transformation justu."

She tucks her hair behind her ear, showing the glittering jewel. "See the earring? It actually contains chakra so that even if I ever were to use my chakra or fall unconscious, the jutsu would remain in place."

"Hmm, that's really clever. Does that mean Tsunade also knows?"

"No, Otou-sama told her the same story that he told you:an old friend that had entrusted me to his care before he had died and that I needed to be hidden so as to convince the people 'pursuing' me that I had died as well."

Asuma is silent as he takes it all in and Sakura just knows that he has questions, practically able to see his mind just working through how to word it and get it all out.

"So... when did you came back? Is this even the time you came from?"

"I came back just today... It turns out some chuunin squad had found me unconscious near the gates and brought me directly to Tsunade," Sakura hesitates. "But I... erased their memories after waking up. Asuma, have any genins recently gone mysteriously missing?"

Asuma blinks, surprised by the seemingly random question, but answers the question nonetheless.

"Genins? Well, other than Uchiha Sasuke who defected to Orochimaru half a year ago, no... wait. You mean..."

And as he comes to the realization, Sakura lets the chakra in her earring go and releases her transformation. She feels her body change and becoming slightly less stocky and more stick-like, face becoming thinner, hair growing out, changing to their original pink colour... she lets out a deep breath. How long has it been since she's been in this body?

"That's right... I'm actually Haruno Sakura."

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A.N: So I've decided to attempt to re-write this story. And actually see if I actually go anywhere with it. But since I really like this idea, I do hope I get somehwere... But I hope I didn't make this chapter too confusing. I know I packed a lot of info, but now that's this is all done, I can get on with the fun stuff! Thanks for reading, and any comments and criticisms would be really appreciated. 8D