Beats me. Sometimes when Naruto does that transformation thing on the old Sakura I wake up here, and I can remember things from one loop to the next now. But he says sometimes he gets me, and sometimes he gets the old memory-jumbled version, and he’s been going nuts trying to figure out why. Do you have any idea why?
That was an interesting question, but before I could consider the implications some idiot threw a spread of kunai with explosive tags on them at me. I plucked the blades out of the air with chakra strings, defusing the tags with a deft twist of will and igniting them again as I threw them back. The roof the attack had come from went up with a gratifying bang. My attacker was body flickering away by then, of course, but one of my own shuriken reached his landing spot about a millisecond after he did. He went down in a fountain of blood as the supersonic projectile blew a hole through his armor, his chest and the building behind him.
That was when I noticed that my current body held far more chakra than I’d ever had at my disposal. Enough chakra to level cities, or move mountains. So much I was actually a little high on it, and anything I spent was instantly replaced.
Damn, you’re good. Um, the plan was for me to stop these guys and go help Naruto look for Orochimaru. Do you mind helping out?
“Heh. Watch this!”
I cast my awareness out over the battle raging around us, tasting the tiny sparks of life force darting among the remaining buildings. I couldn’t tell friend from foe without seeing them, but that wasn’t a problem. Usually I had to keep my earth techniques small to conserve energy, but with this surging geyser of what must be Naruto’s chakra keeping me filled to overflowing that would be silly.
My awareness merged with the heavy elemental chakra of earth and stone, and I brought down every building within six blocks with a gesture. Every living thing was sucked into the earth in its own little pocket of air, in a mass version of Earth Tomb I’d never been able to pull off on my own. Then I wove a Farsight genjutsu around myself, and used it to take a momentary peek into each tomb. A few held civilians, or ninja with Konoha forehead protectors, and those I returned to the surface. The rest, I collapsed.
You’ve got to show me how to do that, my local aspect pleaded. It would have taken me an hour to stop that attack.
“Sure,” I replied as I turned my attention to the clash of titans north of us. “So, where did the dragon come from?”
She giggled. Naruto’s been getting really good with those reality-warping transformations of his. He started out just making himself older and stronger, but then he figured out he doesn’t have to stay human. So he started growing claws and teeth, turning into fox-monsters and giant animals and stuff, and it turns out that using huge amounts of chakra at once is actually easier in a bigger body. So then he decided to find out what the biggest, toughest, nastiest thing a guy with a full tail of chakra can turn into is, and here we are.
The dragon chose that moment to unleash a bolt of fiery breath so hot it outshone the sun for an instant, and I might have been blinded if I hadn’t absently fixed the damage to my eyes. When I could see again there was nothing left of the Shukaku but a sizzling mound of glass.
“That’s Naruto?” I asked weakly.
You got it, she answered smugly.
“Good god,” I breathed. “I want that man’s babies!”
You and me both. It’s too bad you got here at the end of the loop, isn’t it?
“You’re right,” I suddenly realized. “The barrier technique at the arena is down, so Orochimaru’s fight with the Hokage is already over. We don’t have much time. Merge with me, will you? You need to know what I’ve been up to, and I need to know what’s going on.”
Sure, she agreed, and we flowed together as naturally as breathing. There was only a moment of disorientation, and then I was flitting across the rooftops towards my man. I reached him just as he reverted to human form, looking a little tired but still wreathed in enough chakra to fight a war. He could hardly miss my approach when he had me on a chakra link, so I dove straight through his aura and wrapped myself around him.
He kissed me, and for a timeless moment I knew nothing else.
“Hey, you’re done early,” he observed when he finally pulled away. “Did those Sand jounin end up with a different group this time?”
“No, I’m just that awesome,” I teased. “Sand’s jounin all suck at high-energy engagements, but it helps that I’ve got the original Sakura in my head right now. With your chakra feed backing up my full skill I could take their whole army apart single-handed.”
“Sakura?” He gazed searchingly into my eyes. “You’re serious? This isn’t some kind of joke?”
“It’s really me, partner,” I confirmed.
“But, how?” He asked, now completely befuddled. “It isn’t a loop start. Are you saying you found a way to travel between loops?”
“Looks that way,” I confirmed with a smug grin. “It was a long, surreal trip, and I’m not sure if I can make a habit of it. I didn’t even realize what I was doing, I was just trying to follow the connection between the original me and your perfect girlfriend version. You know, I think both versions of me might be able to summon each other with a bit of work.”
“Sakura, that’s great!” He kissed me again, and for a few moments it was all I could do not to tear his clothes off and show him how happy I was to see him. How did I ever get anything done around him with this supercharged libido he’d given me?
Oh, right. I just jumped him whenever the urge hit me, and made him be the one to exercise self-control when we needed to be productive. What a sybaritic existence. Maybe I could switch places, and let this version of me deal with demon girl for awhile?
“Does it have to be you, or do you think I could do it too?” He asked eagerly. “If my Sakura Transformation is already getting part of you somehow, maybe we could re-work it as a real summoning technique.”
That killed the mood. I winced, and pulled away.
“That might not be such a good idea,” I admitted reluctantly. “I’m, ah, not really myself on the outside right now.”
He looked so crestfallen I almost laughed. “Why not? Wait, what do you mean, not yourself?”
“Well, um, you see, it turns out that Sharingan eyes are actually some kind of demonic summoning contract. And, well, giving myself a pair wasn’t such a great idea. So, now there’s this demon version of me walking around in my body, and I’m stuck in the back of my head, and we’re arguing about good and evil and the meaning of life while we try to convince each other to give up and quit trying to take over.”
He stared at me. Blinked. Blinked again.
“Only you, Sakura.”
I swatted his shoulder. “Hey! I didn’t ask for this!”
“Right, of course not,” he sighed. “So, a demon version of you, huh? What’s she doing, trying to destroy the village or something?”
I suddenly found the glassy ground at our feet very interesting.
“No. She’s, um, trying to convince me that I’d be happier if I let her win. By, ah, corrupting our friends in fun and interesting ways. I think she wants to take me over, and turn all the kunoichi we like into her personal harem or something.”
“Ah. Not into guys, then?” He asked conversationally.
“No, she definitely wants you. But she’s, er, kinky. Dom her a little, and she’ll be following you around like a stray kitten.”
“I see. You know, this isn’t the way to convince me we should get rid of her,” Naruto said jokingly.