Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

With reference to my other fics, this story can be thought of as taking place after "Soon is Now".

Disclaimer: This story is written based purely on my interpretations and the concepts within the anime, movies, and novels. Sarada will be travelling through various time-points within the story, so she will not be in the same place the whole time. Please don't read if you don't like what's happening. Also contains some SasuSaku.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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Journey Back In Time

Ch.1: Entering Time

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"Welcome home, dad!"

The Uchiha heiress jumped to her feet once she detected the presence of her father at the front door. She dropped the book in her hands and raced towards the raven-haired man who had just managed to step inside his home, giving him a strong hug at the waist.

Sasuke recoiled back a little from the strength of her greeting, but displayed a small grin at the corner of his lips to acknowledge his daughter. "Sarada."

Just then, a pink blob poked through the corner of an open doorway down the hall at the sound of the commotion. "Welcome back, Anata!" Sakura greeted her husband with a benevolent smile before disappearing back into the kitchen. A wave of a strong smell broke through the house, and as he placed his bag down onto the couch, he knew he had made it back just in time for dinner.

It wasn't long before almost the entire table was covered with dishes from left to right. Sakura made sure to make all of Sasuke's favourite foods, most of which included several variations of tomato dishes. After all, it's not everyday he'd actually be home to have a nice meal as a family.

The three of them pulled their respective chairs out and gathered in their seats. Sarada lagged behind, but eventually settled into her spot beside the Uchiha patriarch, giving him a mischievous smile as she plopped onto the hard wooden seat. Sasuke stared at his daughter from the corner of his eyes in suspicion.

She had grown.

Her hair was a much longer length than before, reaching midway of her chest. Her bangs became longer too, but she kept it away from her face by tucking it into her ear. She had only grown a little bit in height, though.

Suddenly, Sarada leaned into her father's ear and cupped the side of her mouth in a whisper.

"Don't worry, no strange men came into our house lately looking for mom."

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion as she reached over the table and placed side plates beside the two of them.

"Nothing!" The Uchiha heiress displayed a wide grin, quickly grabbing her chopsticks to begin her meal. The pink-haired girl eyed her husband suspiciously as he shifted in his seat and nervously cleared his throat with a cough.

The family ate in silence for a few moments, but it was a good type of silence. A warm atmosphere surrounded them knowing that once again, everybody was under the same roof. Even though Sasuke would leave for long periods of time, he was definitely home more frequently, especially after the whole incident with Sarada accusing him of constantly being absent.

"So how did your mission go, Anata?" Sakura inquired after swallowing a piece of stir-fried chicken, breaking the silent air.

"Fine." The raven-haired man announced. Over the last few years, he had gone on intermittent journeys investigating Kaguya and the creation of the White Zetsu Army with the goal of further unravelling her history. "However, the scroll I found in the icy world has yet to be deciphered."

Sarada began following her parent's conversation, her eyes darting from her mother to her father and vice versa as they continued to speak.

".. Do you think the Akatsuki knew about it?" Sakura whispered, her eyes narrowing.

"Maybe." He took a pause from his last bite. "There's theories. They may or have may not known, but Itachi never said anything."

"Who's Itachi?"

Shit. The couple froze in the middle of chewing, forgetting that they had been discussing taboo topics in front of their daughter.

It wasn't that they didn't want to tell her about Itachi- about the massacre of the entire Uchiha clan. They knew she had to know at some point. It's just they weren't sure how to go about doing it, and most of all, it was uncertain as to how she would take it.

There was no way they were ready to have this kind of conversation with her right this second. How could they have let themselves slip like that?

Sakura glanced over at her husband, who was already giving her a telepathic stare to salvage the situation. She gulped the lump down her throat before she began to speak. "Just a Shinobi from the war, Sarada."

"Oh..." The Uchiha heiress' voice disappeared, but it wasn't long before it soon found excitement again. "Okay, tell me how you met eachother, then! I want to know every detail. What were your Genin and Jounin days like?"

"W-Well," Sakura looked at her husband again, almost like a cry for help. However, judging from the apathetic look on his face, it seemed like he was planning on leaving her out to dry. So, she clicked her tongue in annoyance and gazed back at her daughter, resuming a painful smile on her face.

"Your father and I were on the same team with Boruto's father." Her expression started to wander as she reminisced the times long ago before their marriage. "Our team didn't get along very well. But eventually we became closer, especially after our first mission at the Land of Waves."

"Heh.." Sarada chuckled slyly, "So, is that when you fell in love with dad?"

Almost instantaneously, Sakura felt her face become tinged with vermillion. "No.. I've loved him long before that."

Their daughter continued to grin in amusement. The girl with the red glasses turned towards her father this time, who had just been sitting in silence trying to finish his meal. "What about you, dad? When did you fall in love with mom?"

At this, a wave of silence broke out at the table. All eyes were on the Uchiha patriarch for an answer, and to be honest, Sakura was curious to know as well.

The onyx-eyed man eventually made eye contact with his daughter's excited face. He knew he had to amuse her somehow or she'd never put it to rest.

"When she confessed to me during the war."

"Serious?!" Sarada squealed and nearly spat the foot out of her mouth, earning a look of disgust from her mother. "That sounds so romantic, how come no ones ever told me that before?!"

Sakura stared at her husband in awe, but mostly with suspicion. She could tell he was refusing to make eye contact with her. Really?

"Tell me more." Sarada started again, "Do I have any cousins? Grandmas? Great-Grandmamas? Where are they?"

The pink-haired girl forced another smile. "You've met them awhile back, Sarada. They'll be coming to visit next-"

"I know, but what about Dad's side?"

It seemed like tonight was about jumping hurdles for Sasuke and Sakura. The two of them shifted in their seats uncomfortably and looked elsewhere. At this rate, even a newborn could tell that the two of them were hiding something.

At this, Sarada's brows furrowed. ".. Are there any other Uchihas besides dad, even?"

"Sarada." Sasuke said her name firmly, placing his empty bowl of rice down on the table in assertion. "You don't need to be concerned about this right now."

The Uchiha heiress clenched her hand, beginning to feel her anger rise. "What is that supposed to mean? Am I not entitled to know who my family is?"

"Your family is right here." The Uchiha patriarch rebutted in a sharp tone, causing his daughter to flinch back a little. Sakura felt her heart beginning to pound faster, knowing things weren't going in a good direction.

"That's not what I meant, dad." She whispered in a disappointed tone, her eyes becoming sullen and filled with remorse. "You two are always keeping secrets from me."

In a swift motion, Sarada pushed her chair back and stood up, shooting her parents a betrayed expression.

"This family is still fucked up as always."

"Sarada.." Sakura watched as her daughter turned and darted towards the door, making a quick exit before her parents could say anything else.

The couple sat in the lingering silence for a few seconds before Sakura decided to speak.

"Sarada's grown a lot since the last time." She stated in a defeated voice, "But it's still too soon."

"Of course it is." He agreed nonchalantly. He wasn't planning on having her know anytime soon, and neither of them knew when it would ever be a good time. She was still young, and with this kind of information.. Well, it was enough to go rogue. And he definitely isn't ready to see the possibility of his daughter live a repeat of his own life.

"She doesn't even know that you were absent for a long time before you came back to the Leaf." Sakura's eyes turned melancholic as she blankly stared down at the table. "I don't know what she would do if we poured all of this onto her. Everything would just be too much."

He remembered the time he had to tell his wife about all of it- the truth about Itachi and why he did what he did to the clan. Not many people in the village knew about it, even to this day. It wasn't something that would be intended for as light gossip.

"Sasuke." Sakura began again, remembering what her husband had said to their daughter. "Did you really fall in love with me at that time?"

The onyx-eyed man stared at his wife, at first wondering what she meant. But after a few seconds, he knew, and he eventually closed his eyes in defeat.

"I don't remember."

"Why did you lie?"

"Well," He started, pausing before he continued.

"I just knew I had feelings because it hurt to leave you on the bench that night."

The pink-haired girl nodded slowly in understanding. She was a bit touched as she realized how long ago that was, and that she had absolutely no idea about it.

It then became clear as to why he couldn't say that to Sarada.

"I hate them."

The Uchiha heiress cursed to herself as she stormed down the streets of the Leaf Village. She remembered the last time she felt this way, when she first met her father and was skeptical of who her mother was. Like that time, her family always snuck around when it came to family matters. This time it was no different.

She wasn't stupid. She knew there was obviously more to what they had actually told her, which in the first place wasn't very much at all.

"Fine. If they're not going to tell me, I'll just have to figure it out on my own." Sarada declared to herself in an overly confident tone. She managed to satisfy her curiosity the last time she took things into her own hands, and this time, she was sure she'd succeed as well.

Just.. How was she going to do it?

"Sarada-chan!"

The Uchiha heiress turned around to meet the voice of a tall blonde man that made his way towards her from afar. It was no one other than the Hokage and her parents' best friend.

"Sarada-chan, what're you doing out here alone when it's so dark out?" The blue-eyed boy inquired as he came to a stop in front of her. Contrary to popular belief, he had just managed finished most of his Hokage duties (early, at that) and decided to take a night stroll before heading home.

"Uncle Naruto." Sarada greeted him in a melancholic tone. Her expression was unable to hide a sullen look, which Naruto had no trouble detecting.

"What's wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Where's Sasuke and Sakura?"

Sarada grunted at the troubling thought of her secret-keeping parents. "At home. Where I don't want to be at the moment."

"What happened, Sarada-chan?"

She didn't respond, but instead turned her gaze to the side. Naruto stared at her for a few seconds in an attempt to read the situation, but sighed when he couldn't come up with anything.

"Alright. Do you want to take a walk?"

At this, the Uchiha heiress nodded.

As he had suggested, the two of them made their way around the corner of the street and started down a new path of stores. Although it was getting quite late, the Leaf Village remained as lively as ever. People were still busy roaming about, the chattering voices of the civilians filling up the silence between the two of them. The Hokage still had no idea how to get his best friends' daughter to talk to him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, Sarada-chan?" He inquired again. Leave it to his persistent nature to figure things out this way.

Sarada hesitated for a moment, but in the end let out a long sigh. "You're not going to tell me anything because Mom and Dad are your best friends."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed, his expression looking like she had just said the most absurd thing in the entire world. "Those two are always off without me! I can be best friends with you, Sarada-chan!"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. For a Hokage, Naruto was still a pretty lame person.

At the same time, she knew if anyone was going to help her, it had to be him. There's no doubt he definitely knew what she didn't.

I mean, I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The Uchiha heiress stopped in her tracks, earning an eyebrow raise from the confused blonde. Her eyes displayed all seriousness. "Promise me you won't tell them I asked you?"

"Sure, Sarada-chan!"

"Okay then. Who are my relatives?"

Naruto paused, blinking once before giving a toothy grin. "Well, there's Mebuki and Kizashi, Chie-obaa-san-"

"I'm not talking about my mom's parents." Sarada interrupted in a stern voice, maintaining the determined look on her face. "What I'm trying to ask is, where are all the other Uchihas? Who's Itachi?"

At this, the smile on the blue-eyed boy faded just as fast as it had appeared. Sarada took note of this reaction and scowled. It was just as she had expected. In the end, even Naruto kept secrets from her.

"I need you to tell me, Uncle Naruto." She urged, refusing to give up right here. "I have to know."

"It's not really my place to tell you, Sarada." The Hokage scratched the back of his head nervously, stumped as to how he should go about this situation.

"So there is something terribly wrong about it, then?"

"Uh..."

She watched as his face began to tense, his eyes looking in all sorts of directions. She then felt her heart drop deeper the more he continued to hesitate. His silence had already confirmed her question.

Taking a large gulp, though, she started again.

"Your father is Minato-san, right?"

Naruto's eyes reverted back to the tiny girl in front of him, and he adopted a confused look on his face before giving a small nod of affirmation.

"You were alone most of your life." She continued, speaking flatly. "And I'm sure you wanted to know where your family was too. Mine is here, but right now I feel just as lost as you might have been."

The blonde-haired boy narrowed his eyes, remembering the days where he had no recollection of anybody considered as family. If he was back in those shoes, just like how Sarada borderline is right now, he would definitely be asking the same questions as her.

"You wanted to know answers too, right?" Sarada continued, and he saw the fire burning in her eyes as he noted his own reflection inside her obsidian orbs. "If it really is as bad as I think it is right now.. then this isn't going to be something I can on without ever knowing."

Even so, he couldn't reveal everything to her right here, right now. And especially not without the consent of Sasuke and Sakura.

Hell, they should be the ones dealing with this. But Sarada had a point herself. If he couldn't tell her the truth himself, there had to be something he could do for her, for her to know how prestigious the Uchiha clan was.

"I'll take you somewhere, Sarada-chan."

The Uchiha heiress nodded, eager at this sudden revelation, and followed the Hokage closely behind his walk as he turned around with the swoosh of his cape.

The storehouse they entered was cold and dirty, racked up with thousands and thousands of old books and ancient scrolls. The light Naruto turned on barely came to their rescue as it was rather dim and continued to flicker like crazy.

However, somewhere in this mess was information about her family, Sarada thought.

"What're you going to show me, Uncle Naruto?" She questioned as she followed the Hokage through a tightly squeezed aisle of books, trying her best to ignore the eight-legged insects crawling over the shelves.

"I'll let you read about the Uchiha clan. It should help answer some of your questions." Naruto said aloud before finishing the rest of his sentence in his head. Although since you're this curious already, you'll have to ask your parents about the rest.

"Fine." Sarada cooperated, although a bit unsatisfied.

The two of them continued to scramble along the messy book of aisles, even though there was quite a bit of doubt in the Uchiha heiress' mind that Naruto knew exactly where he was going.

"It's somewhere around here.." He said, stopping abruptly with his eyes squinting in an attempt to scan several book titles at once.

Sarada awkwardly waited from behind for a few minutes, then sighed. "I'll look on the other side, Uncle Naruto."

The Hokage gave her a nod without making eye contact before waving her off. She proceeded to walk in the opposite direction as the two of them then became separated.

The Uchiha paced herself slowly amidst the dark path she chose to go through. The light failed to reach this side of the room, only allowing a small fraction of its help in guiding her way. It was beginning to creep her out.

"Ouch!" Sarada winced as her foot harshly came in contact with a solid object on the floor. People ought to learn how to put their things back, especially in a crowded and claustrophobic place like this.

She bent down and squinted her eyes in an attempt to adjust to the dim light. She pulled the unknown item closer and brushed off its dusty surface.

It was a box. It had no label or anything. It was grey and tattered, the canvas covering of the wood beginning to tear at the corners.

Skeptical of its contents, she lifted the lid and peered inside.

Inside, sitting on top of a stack of thick, heavy books was a scroll. Sarada cocked her head to the site in curiosity and proceeded to reach inside to take the item out.

Jikan o nyūryoku.

"It says 'Entering Time'." She read to herself aloud the little label on the front of the scroll. Whatever that means.

Automatically, her hand reached out and slowly began to uncover its contents in which contained small scribbled writing on the surface.

Upon usage of this technique, the user must not:

1. Try to prevent any past decisions.

2. Attempt to rewrite history.

3. Save others when their death is near.

4. Engage in a battle that results in the death of another.

5. Return to a place they themselves were present before.

6. Reveal their future identity to anyone of the past.

7. Get themselves killed.

If all of the above is fulfilled and the user subsequently transports into a different point in time, all that was done in the previous time-point will be forgotten by those who occupy it.

However, in the event that one of these rules are broken, the user will have significantly altered the future, and may not return back to their current time.

Sarada blinked after slowly finishing the last sentence, still trying to process the information. What the heck was this thing? All of these rules...they're-

"This... don't tell me I can travel back in time with this?" The Uchiha heiress whispered out loud, then proceeded to peer around herself in attempt to look for the sight of a tall blonde. She wondered if it was necessary to show this to Uncle Naruto. Maybe he would know something about it.

That or.. This was the perfect opportunity to have all of her questions answered.

She took a long, hard gulp before reverting her gaze back to the new discovery in her hands. A million thoughts raced inside her mind, every single possibility if something were to ever go wrong with this sketchy thing that could supposedly go back in time..

No.

With this, it was possible to find out everything that happened to her mom and dad in the past without them ever knowing. If no one was going to say anything to her, she'll just have to see it herself.

I'm doing it.

And with that, Sarada gave herself a strong, encouraging nod before gulping once more in nervousness.

Slowly, she began to uncover the rest of the scroll, past the small scribbled writing. She could see half of a black swirl being shown, with a red marking in the middle.

Clutching the paper tighter, she closed her eyes.

One..

Two..

She didn't even make it to three before her arm executed a single strong pull, a large wind beginning to take place when the rest of the scroll was revealed.

"W-What is-"

Suddenly, she could feel her body being pulled towards the ominous red circle in the middle of the scroll. As hard as she tried to resist, it was awfully strong, as if a huge enigma was grabbing all of her limbs at once.

Her heart started to pound faster and faster, and for a split second she regretted doing what she just did.

But it was too late to turn back. She made a commitment, and she was going to see through to it.

Sarada opened one of her eyes and held her hands up to block her face from the angry, alluring wind. She took one big breath before releasing the last of her strength and succumbing to the energetic force as it sucked her in.

This was it.

"Sarada-chan?"

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"..SARADA-CHAAN!"

The blonde rushed through each of the aisles of the dark storage room, panting as he desperately looked for his best friends' daughter.

A few seconds ago, he felt a strong force rising inside the room and he knew that something was wrong. Where did she go?

Hopefully nothing terrible had happened to her. He'd hate to have to tell Sasuke and Sakura about this. Naruto shuddered at the thought of his pink-haired friend beating him to a pulp.

His path came to a stop when he felt his foot stepping on a foreign object. He halted his breath and looked down, moving to the side as his foot uncovered an open scroll.

With a bad feeling welling up in his chest, he bent down and picked it up.

"Jikan o nyūryoku.."His eyes quickly gave the contents a scan, only to leave himself wide-eyed after seeing the open seal.

Well, shit.

He had a lot more to explain to his friends than he'd thought.