She knew it was a huge mistake to do it.

They picked up the scroll lost on the old training grounds and promised to report it to Lord Seventh the following day.
But that damned Boruto made her curious, so they waited until Mitsuki fell asleep to try out the jutsu written in the scroll. The boy with golden eyes could be such a killjoy sometimes; Boruto knew he would stop them right away.
They were staying over at Mitsuki because they were celebrating their promotion to chuunin and because his father was only going to show up late. Sarada wasn't particularly fond of Orochimaru, but she knew he wouldn't try anything. Boruto was completely clueless regarding the male Sannin.

"For someone as sharp as him, he let his guard down by falling asleep so fast without giving us a warning about the scroll," remarked Boruto.
"That's because he trusts us. And besides, it's a bad idea! Who knows what could happen?"
"Sarada. We found this on the ground and it says time travel. It sounds a bit fake, don't you think? Might as well try out."
She had no objection to that. Silently, they walked to get the scroll from Mitsuki's purse. After that they carefully opened it. Not bothering to read the instructions very well, Boruto performed the hand seals quickly. The two of them closed their eyes, expecting something apocalyptical to happen. But one minute later, they were still in their teammate's apartment, and everything was untouched.
"Told ya, Sarada."

But next morning, Boruto seemed to be wrong about the scroll.
The jutsu worked very well, in fact.
And that really wasn't what they have planned.

When Sarada woke up, she found herself under a tree by a lake. When she became aware of her surroundings and missing teammates, the girl wanted to scream. She was technically caught off guard and couldn't make sense of anything, until she remembered about what happened the night before.
Oh, right.
She wanted to punch herself in the face. No matter how much she wanted to blame Boruto for everything, she knew it was also her fault.

Without wasting any moment, she climbed the tree to hide. Looking around, the 12 year old brunette old could notice that the place quite resembled Konoha, except that everything looked more… rural. Desperately, looking for any other sort of clues, something very important caught her attention; the people walking by. What she saw was shocking and unbelievable.
Uchiha?
There were not one, or two, but many people wearing the same crest as Sarada. Even more, there was, apparently, a Hokage stone. The fact that four faces missed from there, made the new chuunin terrified.

Before he fell asleep, Boruto was more than convinced that the scroll was indeed, just a fake. It all sounded pathetic and the concept of time travel seemed impossible to him.
But when he found himself falling from a wall with a flame-like symbol painted on it, his mind changed completely.
He wanted to call his mom out, but that was obviously not going to work. Where was he, anyway?
The crest was clearly of the Hyuuga. Boruto made the wise decision to make a run for it and blend among the ordinary villagers.
He glanced at the Hokage Mountain. When he first stumbled across the scroll, he thought that it could teleport them at most 10 years in the past. But the number of the faces in the mountain stood to differ. Boruto counted them over and over again, but each time he got three.
"What do I do… These people probably don't even know what a videogame is!" he whispered to himself, full of panic. He was lost and alone. Was he alone? Did anyone else get caught in the jutsu? The only way to find out was to get started on finding clues.

Tsunade was surprised that Orochimaru invited her for dinner after the chuunin exams. Not that she didn't feel flattered, but she expected him to celebrate with Mitsuki his success.
And not only that he invited her to dinner, but he was also careful to pick the most expensive restaurant in the village.
"With what occasion, Orochi?" she teased.
"I started missing you. And I thought you missed me as well."
Surprisingly enough, they really enjoyed themselves.

"I am really happy for Mitsuki. You must be proud of him."
Orochimaru smiled before he could say anything. It was true; that child, along with his brother, were his happiness. Not just because they were smart, powerful and beautiful, but because they were him family. The ultimate proof was when Mitsuki still came back home after the mission he completed by awakening the Sage Mode. The boy still came back to have a talk with his family about his emigration to Konoha, asking for advice and anything else he had to know. Mitsuki still loved his father.
Tsunade smiled back as she watched him; it was rare for him to do that. But whenever it happened, her soul turned warmer. She was glad that there was still something good left in him, after everything.
"I am, indeed."

The waiter arrived with their drinks.
"What are cheering for, Prince of the Snakes?"
"Maybe first it would be fair if I told you the other reason I came in Konoha."

Tsunade frowned. His words made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Don't worry, I am not wrecking anything in the near future. I thought that maybe I should take a break for an undetermined period of time."

The blonde widened her eyes. Was it real? He was actually thinking of that?

"What… made you-"
"Honestly, I'm tired."

Now that was unexpected. They let their glasses down, which they've been holding up until that point. It was his life-ambition to know every technique and to experiment on the human body and push its limits more and more. Hell, he even created life not once but twice. And that is being followed by a break?!

But she knew better not to question him; it was all in his eyes. It was true, he looked tired. They say eyes will betray your youthful looks and will always reveal your age; Orochimaru was no exception, and neither was she.

God, they were getting really old.

Tsunade didn't push the matter any further. There was plenty of time for questions for another time. After all this time, maybe, he was going to come back, and she would stop being alone.

"Then cheers to your break from being a mad scientist."

It was only obvious that his first reply would be one of his typical smirks.

"Cheers."

The rest of the night wasn't marked by any outstanding events; they had their tasty dinner which Orochimaru paid for, walked around Konoha and then he invited her over, even if technically speaking it wasn't his house but Mitsuki's. After all, she didn't get to congratulate them properly.

Orochimaru opened the front door. He saw the three pairs of shiobi sandals at the entrance. He was announced by Mitsuki of the sleepover, so it was all fine. Tsunade followed him until they entered the boy's bedrrom. There, they found the three chuunin playing cards.

"Good to see you enjoying yourselves." That was supposed to be Orochimaru greeting them. Tsunade rolled her eyes and then waved at the three kids.
"Dad! Aunt Tsuna! You're back early!"

The boy jumped out of the bed immediately to hug the both of them. To him, Tsunade was part of the family. Also, he respected her a lot for being the Fifth Hoakge and thought of her as the strongest kunoichi and the most skilled med-nin in the world.

To Tsunade, all three of them were precious. Sarada was her favourite student's daughter, Boruto was the son of the 'brat' who made her regain hope and Mitsuki was the child of her teammate that in the end proved himself to have some sense of humanity and not only.

"I am very proud of you, Mikki."
"You did as well as your old man over here," pointed out Tsunade.

She and Mitsuki went to the other two. The woman also started showing her appreciation for Sarada and Boruto. Orochimaru just leaned against the wall, watching them. It was a rather nice view.

He only approached them when Mitsuki signaled him to join them. He could be such a child sometimes, seeking his father's presence even when he was with his friends.
Sarada and Boruto were somehow intimidated by him. There was something about him that made them feel not so safe.

"You know, your fathers have always been strong," he started. He had everyone's attention; even Tsunade was curious to see how it was going to turn out.
"But they did terrible in the Chuunin Exams, despite holding power that many people would kill for," he paused, and then a smirk formed on his lips, "It's good to see that history finally stops repeating itself. You all did a great job."
Boruto and Sarada felt somehow proud, as their potential was acknowledged by a person that looked powerful and intelligent. With some doubt in their voices, they let out a "thank you".

The Sannin left the room shortly after that and lied in the garden, gazing at the starry sky. There was some distance between them, but they stood side by side and, vaguely discussed about their own Chuunin Exams. Tsunade and Orochimaru fell asleep on the grass…

…Just to wake up in beds.

The male Sannin shot his eyes open as soon as he realized that. There was something really odd. Orochimaru felt the presence of another person sleeping near him.

Mitsuki.

But how? He stood up, looking around.

As he looked around, he started taking notice of some details that weakened his knees. That was not Mitsuki's room. The other two were missing, the bed was so much smaller than his and everything looked old-fashioned and so damn familiar.

Then, it was the photo on the desk that got him sweating; a very tall man, with brown hair, fair skin and golden eyes, near him a very pale woman with purple hair markings around her green eyes. In the middle, there was a brunet toddler that happened to be none other than… him.

Just how in the world did he end up in his old house?