Reborn!

2: Peaceful Times, for Sasuke and Sakura At Least

Sakura woke up in her bed in her room, which had been destroyed, like the rest of Konoha, during the war. She smiled sadly at the thought. She went to her dresser, looking at her reflection. She frowned when she did not see a single scar. It just didn't feel right for her to have perfectly unmarred skin. She had worn her scars with pride during the war. It had been her way of declaring that she had not broken despite all that she had been through...

She shook the mildly depressing thought away. It worked! The time-reversal jutsu worked! She felt the urge to check if Sasuke and Naruto came back safely as well but shook her head. They can wait, she decided. First, she had to prove, at least to her shattered heart, that this was all real. That she really was back to change things for the better.

She ran to her parents' room, crying in relief when she saw them alive and well. She felt an invisible weight lift off her chest as she sobbed, leaning against the door frame as she stared at the slumbering silhouettes of her dear family.

This woke her parents up.

"Sakura-chan, sweetie, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Sakura's mother asked gently.

Sakura was crying too hard to answer.

"Come here, sweetheart," Sakura's father smiled at her and gestured for the girl to join them in the bed.

"It's okay now, sweetie. You are safe now," Sakura heard her mother tell her softly as she buried her face in her mother's chest.

Sakura barely managed to nod her head at her mother's words. She was almost scared to close her eyes in case it was just an illusion placed on her by Madara, however, she was unable to fight the urge to shut her eyes when she heard her father tell her to sleep in a soothing tone. She was simply just too worn. Mentally and emotionally.

Sasuke had also awoken at the same time in his room in the Uchiha compound. He felt around his body and nodded to himself in satisfaction when he noticed that there were no scars that he had to explain away. He checks to see if the seal that Naruto placed on them was still active after entering his new (or old, depending on how one looked at it) body by checking the small, almost unnoticeable tattoo at the base of his tongue.

He then stared at his eyes in the mirror, thinking about how he would go about hiding it. It suddenly occurred to him.

'If I stop unconsciously sending chakra to my eyes, it would stay inactive!'

Sasuke quickly stopped channelling chakra to his eyes and was relieved to see the red and black pattern fade away. How did it not occur to him at once? Perhaps it was because Nagato of the Akatsuki could not deactivate his...

'So if my Rinnesharingan also came back to the past with me, I must still have the rest of my abilities due to having the information on how to use it in my head! Though according to Naruto's words, I can assume that my physical abilities are that of my five-year-old self. I believe that that includes my chakra control...' Sasuke mused, mourning the last part silently.

Sasuke started to anime-cry, whining internally in frustration, 'But chakra control training is such a pain!'

Sasuke went to Itachi's room and was relieved to see him there, subconsciously sighing in relief that his brother was alive and well. Naturally, this woke the young Itachi up.

"What's wrong otōtō? Did you have a nightmare?" Itachi asked his little brother.

Sasuke shook his head hesitantly as tears began to well up in his eyes.

He knew that it was all real, but he so wished that his brother had been right. It would have been nice if the disaster that had happened had been but a bad dream. That would mean that he would not have to worry about the doom that steadily approached them with every second that ticked by.