Chapter Text
Standing in the middle of the dusty storage room in her family's shop, Haruno Sakura couldn't help but think she should have definitely hired a genin team to deal with this. She'd been stuck in there the whole morning - gathering, throwing away and packing up anything and everything she came across, but at this point, she had to wonder just what possessed her to do this by herself.
It's been a long time coming, she knew. Her parents were gone for months now, attacked on their biannual trip to foreign lands. Rogue shinobi, she was told. Sakura didn't know what they were looking for amongst the wares her parents transported, but whatever it was, it cost them their lives.
Two people she loved above all - gone.
Just like that.
Sakura couldn't even remember what it was that she told them last. She'd been thinking about that for a long time when she first found out about their deaths. She raked her brain, trying and failing for hours on end to imagine the last memory she had of them, but her mind refused.
All Sakura remembered was a hazy goodbye followed by numerous harrowing shifts at the hospital. She couldn't even remember if she smiled at them when they left, if she told them she loved them.
It hurt. Too much.
So, it wasn't really surprising she was putting off cleaning up their shop as long as she could. Every time she entered the small colorful shop, she expected to hear her mother's greeting or her father's laughter. The clinking of the various new things they gathered from all over the nations, or to breathe in the comforting smell of sandalwood incense they loved to burn.
Ino was the one to make her see reason and urge her to clean up the place, and Sakura knew her best friend was right, but it didn't make it any less painful when all that greeted her upon entering the once lively, warm shop was silence and dust and air that has long lost its comforting scent.
"See, this place really does need your magic touch, Forehead. Don't let your parents' effort go to waste." Was what Ino said before she gave her a hug and left for her shift at the T&I.
Sakura was even optimistic at the beginning. Determined to respect her parents' legacy and handle their valuables with care.
Now? Now she was on the verge of just throwing everything away. What in the Kami's name even was all of this?
Sakura always appreciated the things her parents acquired for her but she never knew they were gathering this many useless things.
She reached for a scroll from the huge box in front of her - one that described "culinary delicacies during war time". The next one detailed the different ways of making blankets. And another one, talking about the pros and cons of socks during the years of warring clans.
Was anyone even interested in buying them or were they just gathering all of these scrolls for themselves? Knowing her parents, she couldn't confidently say it wasn't the latter.
"Kami..." she sighed, deciding to just finish this box and then she would go have lunch. Maybe some tempura would be good, she didn't get to eat it much lately. After all, she deserved a break - at least an hour. She'd give herself that much.
With that in mind, Sakura spent the next however long just going through the various scrolls and papers, coming across interesting topics every once in a while, but they were mostly just very old scrolls containing tips and tricks on how to survive a warring clans era if you were unfortunate enough to be born a civilian.
Or maybe they were the fortunate ones? Shinobi of that time were not kind to themselves, let alone each other. Sakura didn't think - no, in fact, she knew - the times before hidden villages existed were beyond brutal. For children most of all.
To be born a civilian, Sakura thought it was a blessing in disguise.
Reaching for the last scroll, she was about to just throw it in the garbage pile without much thought, when the familiar sigil made her pause.
The Uzumaki swirl sat embedded in the sealing wax on the scroll - untouched, unbroken.
Sakura blinked, a little bit surprised to see it in her civilian family's shop. She knew her parents gathered everything and anything, but to see the authentic Uzumaki scroll amongst the heaps of random paper was a little surreal. Konoha would've given a pretty ryo to have another piece of the ancient Uzushio knowledge in their hands, she was sure of that.
In any case, it ought have been one of the most valuable things this shop contained.
Biting her lip in thought, Sakura traced the wax seal with her thumb, itching to open it. She'd never seen an Uzumaki scroll with a blue strap.
She'd seen all the reds and greens and even blacks - Tsunade-sama made her organize and reorganize the Senju library enough times for her to remember all the Uzumaki scrolls collected there- but she'd never seen a blue one before.
She wanted to break the wax, but at the same time, it was never a smart thing to just open an Uzushio scroll. She didn't know if it was a seal - if it would activate immediately or if it would stay dormant. Maybe it was only a theory within or a prototype of some kind. Maybe a water technique, considering the color?
Sakura looked up, straight through her window towards the Hokage mountain. She wondered if she should just hand it over to be analysed and stored away safely. But then again, she was too curious. There was every chance she would not get to see the contents of it if she just gave it away, and besides, her parents did buy it - so, technically, the scroll was hers.
"Soo," Sakura said to the empty room. "Give me a sign if I shouldn't touch it."
She waited exactly a minute before shrugging and reaching to open it.
She didn't know what she expected. Actually, she did know - a flash of light, at least. An automatic activation. A catastrophe for sure.
What she didn't expect, was a summoning contract.
A contract with all the name slots blank.
Did no one ever sign it? Was that even possible? But why...wouldn't they?
Sakura frowned, reaching to flip the scroll once again, and look more closely at the wax seal. The pattern was a little faded, sure, but it was Uzumaki crest no doubt. It didn't make sense that a shinobi clan as powerful as they were would just sit on a summoning contract and never use it.
It begged the question...why?
What if... Sakura's bright eyes focused on the place where a name would have been written in blood.
Could she sign it?
She wanted to, honestly. The curiosity was eating at her but the obvious lack of use made her hesitate. It just didn't make sense to her.
Did they not know about it? Was no one ever accepted as the summoner? Or was it just too dangerous to even try?
She stared at it for a good few minutes before she noticed it - a faint, almost translucent script written at the very edge of the scroll.
Sakura has never seen such language before but she did understand the sentence just bellow. It said 'Tides shall be thy gift'.
Tides? So it was connected to some kind of water creature. She was right about that, at least.
"Well," she took a deep breath. "What's the harm in trying."
With a fast flick of her kunai, Sakura nicked her thumb and without overthinking it, wrote her name down.
She watched as letters changed colors - the crimson of the blood turning brown and then black, sealing her signature into the contract.
The room filled with stifling kind of silence as the last traces of color disappeared into the paper. Sakura's heartbeat thudded in her chest as she waited to see what sort of being would appear.
Nothing happened for a single moment.
Then, before she could even think to move, thick, dark sealing lines spread from the inked scroll taking her hands prisoner. Sakura watched bewildered as markings made their way up her arms, to her shoulders - spreading across her whole body like chains made of ink.
The thrum of vastly powerful chakra began to vibrate, its echo sounding the distant storm in her mind. Sakura froze from within, anxiety bubbling with the condensed pressure that appeared with every inch of her marked skin.
It almost felt like the very chakra of the summoning beast wanted to penetrate her pores and cells - envelop every organ inside her body and devour every ounce of her blood.
It should have made her feel stronger, but all Sakura could feel was the acute sense of drowning. Drowning in the unbearable seas of power and freezing from its ancient touch.
Sakura's breaths turned shallow, sweat going down her temple. She fought with the urge to scream, hoping for a semblance of a clear thought - but the hollow song of the thundering waves had long won that battle.
She wasn't sure if she could even move, the feeling had left her body awhile ago. Only her eyes roamed freely - panicked and regretful- and even they could only focus on where her hands, glued still to the summoning contract, remained bound in place by the damning shackles.
Black spots started to appear in the field of her vision as she frantically clung to the familiar scenery.
Sakura thought she could feel tears sliding down her face as she gazed upon the stone faces carved in the distance. As she looked at the monument in silent plea, while the darkness creeped into her vision.
She thought, with the last of her memory - as the thudding of her heart slowed and coldness took place- the sun truly was a magnificent thing.
Sakura only wished she could've enjoyed it a little longer.
And so, just as light turned to shadow, sound turned to silence, and at last - nothingness prevailed.
~
The dripping echoed like a million whispers swirling inside her mind.
She was cold, yes - but not like before.
This feeling felt more...natural. More ... wet?
Was she wet?
A gust of cold air made Sakura's whole body shudder and her eyes instinctively flew open. She sprung into a sitting position, momentarily remembering what had happened to her.
How long was she unconscious? It couldn't have been long, right? Naruto would've thrown a fit by now and Ino would've been right behind him. So, it probably wasn't too lo-
Sakura blinked once. Then twice.
What in the Kami's name...
She was in a forest.
Sleeping.
In the rain.
Why the hell was she sleeping in the middle of the forest in the cold rain? No wonder she felt like a popsicle.
Last she remembered, she'd found that cursed Uzumaki scroll and - instantly, Sakura looked down, tracking the now completely mark-free skin - falling unconscious.
Frowning, she returned her gaze to her surroundings. It didn't feel like Konoha forests. It felt too humid, despite the falling rain. The trees too sporadic and - Sakura's mind completely froze.
Wait, why were her arms so small just now? They were clear of seal lines but they were...tiny.
So tiny.
Impossibly tiny, in fact.
Closing her eyes, Sakura took a deep, shaky breath to try and calm herself down. She probably made a mistake. Her eyes must not have adjusted right away.
Right?
Biting down on her lip, Sakura didn't dare open her eyes. She did, however, run a diagnostic on herself just to be sure and the second she did, she stopped still for the second time.
Her chakra felt different. Her reserves were much smaller yet large at the same time. It felt sluggish - almost the-beginning-of-the-academy sluggish.
Dread quickly replaced the brief relief she felt upon waking. Sakura should've known the scroll's nightmare wasn't over.
She needed to think rationally.
So, she signed the summoning contract, almost suffocated and woke up in the middle of a forest with her chakra and body feeling all kinds of wrong.
The conclusion would be that she was in a summoning realm, but the thing was - it didn't feel like that. Sakura's been to Shikkotsu forest before, she knew to recognize the unmistakable flavour of dense, natural chakra in the air.
This place didn't have that.
However, the contract itself didn't react like others would. She didn't know what those black markings were, but they were bound to have done something.
With another deep breath, Sakura tried once again to circulate her chakra pool throughout her whole body and could tell something was definitely wrong.
It didn't feel like her chakra, and yet it did. Same with her body - she felt this foreign sensation that was so painfully familiar, Sakura didn't know what to think.
After a whole eternity, she finally gathered enough courage to open her eyes once again and examine herself closely. She already knew something was wrong, she just needed to see how big was the damage.
With a sharp exhale, she blinked her eyes open and paused. She didn't have a mirror but Sakura didn't need one to know she was fucked.
Her legs were small and scrawny, her scratched knees all but sticking out. Her arms, Sakura could only stare at the sight of thin, pathetic- looking limbs with absolutely none of the muscle and definition she knew she had not even a day ago.
She was afraid to stand up, knowing with certainty that if she did, she'd be no taller than mere three feet, if a little over.
For once, only silence lorded over her thoughts.
Either she travelled back in time, somehow got displaced in someone else's body or the summoning beast whose contract she signed leaned toward psychological torture.
If there was a logical explanation for this, Sakura couldn't think of one.
Why did she have to mess with Uzumaki scroll? She knew better than that. Hell, Tsunade told her numerous times to be very careful when handling them.
Who even knew what she did to herself, and what was worse, Sakura didn't have anyone to blame for it but herself.
"Haruno Kasumi! What in the Kami's name are you still doing here? I was looking for you for hours!"
Sakura's head snapped up to see borderline angry woman marching towards her. She was tall, with tresses of softest pink falling down her back in a neat braid and sharp, dark green eyes that flashed with restrained mix of concern and frustration. Her simple grey kimono leaned towards traditional, if not completely old-fashioned.
For some unexplainable reason, Sakura knew the particular way the woman's nose twitched meant very displeasing things were about to occur.
"How many times did I tell you to get inside if it starts to rain! You cannot keep doing this - I know you enjoy water, but sleeping in the rain is too much, Kasumi. You'll get sick, and you know the herb supply is low at the moment. What were you even thinking!"
What Sakura was thinking-or, more accurately, questioning-as she watched the young woman blankly, was why did she insist on calling her Kasumi.
Sakura swallowed as she tried to piece together this very confusing scenario. She was small again, lying in a forest, apparently had a habbit of sleeping in the rain and, maybe most jarring of all, had a completely different name.
Haruno Kasumi.
At least a part of her name was still the same. Granted, it didn't help her understand the situation in the slightest. She couldn't recall ever hearing about any Kasumi in their family from her father.
"Well?" mom arched an imperious brow.
...mom?
Mom!
Sakura shook her head, trying to sort her thoughts. She was definitely in someone else's body.
"...definitely." she muttered to herself.
"What is definite, is that you are not getting any treats for the next two days." Sakura's stomach dropped in unexplainable disappointment that bordered despair. She had a disturbing hunch about why that was, but really wasn't eager to think about it right then.
"Um," Sakura blinked. "Sorry? Won't happen again."
"Don't lie to me to my face, young lady. Now come on, it's almost dinner time. Your jii-san will be late tonight so it'll be just the two of us."
Mom - the woman, Sakura chided herself - raised her hand for her to take and smiled gently. "I'll make you your favorite."
Warmth enveloped Sakura and her eyes turned glassy. Her lip almost wobbled and she couldn't help but wonder if she would really be stuck in the body of a little emotional kid.
Sakura hoped and prayed this was all one big, bad dream as she trudged next to her mo- ....the woman.
She really hoped.
~
The village they lived in was small. From what Sakura could see from the area, she would say they were somewhere near coast, nearer to Wave country than the heart of the Fire.
That was the only positive thing she'd learned so far, really- she recognized the area. The implications of it were another matter.
Sakura could safely cross the option of the summoning realm she clung to, which left her with all the ones she didn't want to think about. Unfortunately for Sakura, that particular choice was not available to her.
The first thing that came to her was soul displacement, but summoning scrolls of any kind didn't work that way, she didn't think. Reverse summoning would transport the whole person into the summoning realm, not just their spirit.
So her being in another person's body was out, too.
Not to mention, Sakura still felt like herself, only younger with different set of memories. Almost like she was starting her own life over again and its base was rooted in a completely different circumstance.
That left her with least favourable option - the scroll was some kind of fucked up time related summoning. And not just any kind, but her instincts strongly screamed she was in the past.
"Kasu-chan? Can you go give this to Hinami-obaa while I prepare dinner. Kenji-kun isn't feeling well and he could use something to warm him up." Aya - her mother's name, she'd learned - peaked from behind the kitchen curtain.
Before Sakura could think of her actions, she was nodding. "Yes, okaa-san." A flash memory of a sickly blond boy appeared in her mind's eye and she allowed herself to add, "Do you think Kenji-kun will feel better soon?"
True sadness flashed behind Aya's eyes, but the woman masked it expertly and gave her daughter a too gentle smile. Instinct told her whatever she was about to say was a lie - whether that was just her shinobi sense and adult ability to understand people's motivations or a core knowledge this version of her possessed, Sakura was uncertain of.
"You'll be playing by the river in no time, Tama-chan. You'll see."
Sakura nodded, and walked to the kitchen to grab the small package, her sharp little eyes not once straying from Aya's form. The woman continued to cut the vegetables for dinner, humming a gentle melody under her breath - one that sounded almost wistful under the sounds of crackling wood in the hearth.
There was true sorrow there, but Sakura didn't have time right now to contemplate it.
Instead, she picked the parcel from the old, wooden counter and headed for the door. " I'll be back quickly!"
"And no stopping for an evening dip in the river, Kasumi! The northern winds are going to be strong tonight, I don't need you catching cold."
A mere cold wouldn't be a problem for her medical skills, but Sakura could understand Aya's concern. Especially in the village where the best medical advice would be to drink hot tea and hope for the best.
Speaking of colds and medical advice, she would use this chance to find out more about when she was, and if she helped a sick boy or two along the way, no one would be any wiser. She just needed to do it carefully.
As she stepped outside the small house she now called home, Sakura finally let herself relax even if a little bit. There was no scrutiny here, no one watching her every move or monitoring every word, expecting her to behave as a child should. It was honestly only a matter of time before Aya noticed her little daughter doesn't react quite the same anymore.
The instinctual memories and the nature of the child's body helped the act, but the difference would be visible in time.
Sakura walked the streets of the small village, greeting the residents as she passed them - each by their name and with a smile on her face. None of them noticed anything strange and she was thankful for it.
They, however, gave her far more information than she expected. It was all in the way they walked, the way they talked, the way they dressed.
The last one, she thinks, was the most telling. Sakura observed the rough, washed out materials - some were colored in that dark indigo blue, but most were just left gray as they were. Their robes were bound with rope, straw hats on their heads. Some, those who were just returning from their fishing boats up on the shores, even wore their straw capes as a protection from the earlier rain.
In fact, even she herself was wearing the same kind of simple robes wrapped at the waist with civilian sandals adorning her feet.
There was no quality or splendour of the modern times woven in it. Just the utter practicality of it all. It spoke of the people who worked all day for what little things they could get. Of people who didn't have time nor privilege to dress any other way.
Sakura passed a hut after hut, all rather similar to the other and clustered incredibly close. They either had raised floors or stone foundations, with thatched roofs that were in anything but their best shape.
Sakura liked to think she led a humble life in Konoha's civilian district and later in her own shinobi apartment - but she had never before experienced a place quite like this. The fishing villages of her own time were far more developed and comfortable, despite the smells and crowds.
It was truly a glaring difference. Although, those smells haven't changed much over the years.
It was either fish or sault, mixed with horrendous stench of catch gone bad, assaulting her senses no matter where the wind blew.
Her feet splashed across the muddied paths - there was an attempt of a proper stone trail at one point, but even that disintegrated back to mud.
Holding the food package closer to her chest, Sakura let out a faint pulse of chakra through her feet, mapping out her surroundings with difficulty she wasn't used to - searching for any possible threats.
Her control remained untouched, yet the chakra itself felt too slow, too thick. Sakura was used to the light, airy feel of it. Now, it was like it wanted to listen but its consistency prevented its speed. Where it once felt like directing the wisps of lightning-quick water, now it was like dragging ropes of high-viscosity lava that simply did not want to move.
It took a lot more energy from her than she expected, but Sakura didn't mind. She would rather be aware than caught unprepared.
For now, everything was in the clear.
Instinct led her down the main path, around the village's gathering hall and eastwards towards the docks.
Her chakra was still spread out, searching for any indication of a threat, although in a relatively small circle. Soon she'd have to stop it completely lest she wore herself out completely. Four year old bodies were definitely not made for extensive chakra usage. At least when untrained as she was now.
The chilly breeze was stronger in this part of the village, being so close and open to the water. The wooden boards of the docks creaked under its force, the boats around the shore clanged against the posts and Sakura only now realized how much quieter it was. It reminded her of that calm before a big storm, when the air grew heavy and the skies livid, while winds messed your hair and the silence echoed.
Maybe it was because she was hyper aware of her surroundings, or maybe it was exactly that kind of eerie calm that made the hushed voices nearby chime like bells before the evening prayer.
Sakura stopped in her tracks, closed her eyes and focused on the conversation from a nearby hut.
"...glad they didn't come here this time."
"You're too optimistic. Heard a squad of Uzumaki passed just to the north of here not two days ago."
"Aiding the Senju, no doubt. Heard there was some kind of clash between them and Uchiha once again." Third voice added.
"When is there not a clash between those two? If a person hires one clan, you know their enemy is taking the other. Let them slaughter each other, I say - as long as they don't come near us."
A bitter laugh sounded. "You know that won't happen. Shimura clan is circling us like vultures
from the west, Hyuuga don't care either way and Senju all too eagerly take our catch in exchange for their protection. We're just means to an end, and I don't see that changing any time soon."
"Well, at least those redheads are staying out of our business. Do you remember-"
Sakura heard enough by that point, tuning out the men's further discussions. Biting her lip in contemplation, Sakura took a deep breath to center herself.
On one hand, she expected it. On the other, it was bewildering to be proven right.
Somehow, she found herself being a four year old girl stuck in the bloodiest era known to a shinobi, and it seemed there would be no simple reversing jutsu this time.
After a few moments, Sakura looked to the horizon, wondering if she would actually mange to survive the mess she'd gotten herself into this time.
With her team's luck, she wasn't too confident about her chances.