Originally wrote this November of 2015 but decided I wasn't happy with the quality of writing so I rewrote it with much more detail. If you read the original version of this chapter, you might want to read this new version too. (An extra scene not in the previous version is added!) The major change would be the point of view, though. I decided to change the fic to be from Sarada's POV to a 3rd person narrator's. I feel like writing it from Sarada's POV would be restricting and a lot of the scenes I want to write would require a 3rd person narrator.

The entire fic has been planned out, all that's left is for me to actually write the chapters. It's not very long, I'd say about seven chapters at most? I'm not entirely sure yet but I'm guessing each chapter would roughly have 3,000 words. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! I would love to receive feedback as well :)

RETROSPECT

chapter one

With the academy graduation exams just around the corner, every genin hopefuls in Shino Aburame's class were naturally stressed out. In an attempt to help his students wind up, Shino-sensei decided to schedule the class a tour of the Konohagakure Museum, which had been renovated after the war. Unfortunately for Shino Aburame, his efforts earned little appreciation. Most students weren't so fond of the idea of looking through glass cases with 'stupid' dusty artifacts or 'lame' ancient shinobi weaponry, as Boruto Uzumaki had so eloquently put it. Although the trip had been 'boring' in a nutshell, it did effectively relieve their minds of stress.

All except for Sarada Uchiha.

But the exams were the last thing on her mind. When she'd asked an innocent question of whether her Papa wore glasses, a heated argument between her and her mother was the last thing Sarada would have expected. And her subsequent interrogation of her parents' marital status was certainly not on her list of expectations either. She might have been able to phrase 'are you really his wife' a little better, but at that time her mouth had just lost control. Her parents were apparently married but they didn't live together, her father was in who-knew-where-he-could-be, and her mother wasn't sure if her own husband wore glasses! What was she supposed to think? If marriage was based on love, it meant her parents were in love, right? But then why did it seem like they weren't in love at all? Could you be in love with someone who was a million miles away from your side? Could you love him knowing he wouldn't be climbing into the covers with you at night? Could you love him without hearing his voice proclaiming his love for you in the morning when you wake and he wouldn't even be by your side?

Sarada just couldn't comprehend it all. Love... her mother... her father... No matter how hard she tried she could never come to understand it. And to top it all off, Sakura got so angry over her little outburst that she completely wrecked their house down. Now she has to endure half a day in some museum while Shizune looked after her mother since she fell unconscious.

"Are you alright, Sarada?"

Realizing she'd been spacing out, Sarada broke out of thought as her head snapped up to find her eyes meeting Chōchō Akimichi's.

"You look a little pale," she observed, her dark-toned body and round physique leaning forward with her hands placed on her hips, eyeing the young Uchiha rather inconspicuously.

"Did you forget to eat breakfast or something?"

"I didn't," Sarada dully replied as she turned her head away. "It's nothing."

"Hey, you two!"

Sarada and Chōchō looked behind them to find Shino, his fist clutching Boruto's jacket firmly while the little blond continued to protest. Sarada was sure, he must have separated from the class on purpose… for who knew what. Probably to get away from the darn place. She couldn't really blame him with that.

"You two better not be trying to sneak off too," Shino warned.

"Of course not, Shino-sensei!" Chōchō exclaimed in all defense. "Sarada here was just feeling a little bit hungry is all!"

"Sure it was Sarada, Chōchō?" Boruto teased, wearing a playful smirk. He'd given up trying to break free from Shino's grip and had stopped paying it any more attention.

Chōchō placed her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know, I'm on a diet!"

Before any more bickering could ensue, Shino sighed and urged his students to follow the rest of the class ahead, lightly threatening to pull them by their collars like Boruto if they separated again.

They caught up with their class in the museum's science section, just as the tour guide explained an odd-looking contraption. It stood at about 4 feet and only contained a control panel with a whole bunch of different buttons and switches. The tour guide held on to her clipboard with one hand and proudly gestured toward the machine with the other.

"This is Konohagakure Museum's most prized possession," she explained. "And is perhaps the most important invention the shinobi world will have ever seen."

"What is it, exactly?" Boruto asked, ever so impatient.

"Why, it's a time machine, dearest son of the hokage-sama," the lady calmly replied with a big smile Sarada found quite unnerving. The young Uchiha got the impression that the smile was rehearsed, perhaps even forced.

The room erupted with ooh's and ah's, though the blond remained unimpressed, only muttering a nonchalant 'huh'.

"Naturally, the machine is still in its prototype stages, otherwise you all would've heard of it already. This here is the first prototype. As for its functionality, well..." She continued, "it has some success going for it but the issue is with its consistency. The prototype has been reported to malfunction multiple times. But the good news is, a second prototype is already being developed!"

The tour guide led the class to the next section enthusiastically with big, animated gestures… much to Boruto's annoyance.

Sarada was aware of her classmates shuffling, lazily dragging their feet and practically forcing themselves to go on with the tour. But for some odd reason, she could not bring herself to move. It was as if her feet had been glued to the floor.

Right in front of her eyes was a time machine. Sarada knew―in fact, it was all that ran in her mind at that moment―the contraption could very well be the answer to all of her questions. She could go back to the day of her birth and watch everything unfold from there. Her Papa would be there, she was sure. Or so she believed he would be. He was there, wasn't he?

The new question only fueled Sarada's need for answers. She had to know. She just had to! It was the only way. But…

… how did the thing even work?

"Hey, Sarada."

The girl jumped. She thought she'd been alone.

"Boruto?"

"You know I don't give a crap if it's me but with you I'm not so sure." Sarada makes a short sound of confusion. Boruto continued, "You heard sensei."

He said it so plainly, with bored eyes aimed at the machine towering in front of them, his hands lazily cradling the back of his neck. He was always so… weird. He could have just told her to 'get her butt moving' in his usual eloquent fashion, but instead he just had to make it sooo confusing.

She made a mental note to add Boruto to the puzzles she needed to figure out. But a little trip to the past probably wouldn't be the key to the answer. Just great, Sarada thought.

"Sarada-chan…"

She turned her head to face Shizune, her mother's caretaker for the day. Sarada had gone straight to Shizune's apartment home as soon as the field trip had concluded. It must have been hours since she settled on the couch in the living room and contemplated her plan for the evening.

"You should rest now. Your mama wouldn't want you staying up late." She said in a gentle voice, as if she was approaching an injured little puppy out on the streets.

My mama, she repeated to herself. Is she really my mama?

Shizune noticed the sadness the young Uchiha showed on her face. The medical-nin's own expression dropped to an apologetic stare before plastering a reassuring smile, albeit a forced one.

"No need to worry," she told the girl.

Sarada understood Shizune had been referring to her mother's condition. She had thought she was worrying about it. She supposed she was too, but Sarada knew all of her mother's adventures like the back of her hand. If she had survived those, she would survive anything. She was not concerning herself much with her mother's health. She would be fine, Sarada was sure of it. What bothered her―and what has been bothering her for a very long time now―was the mystery of her birth and her parents' love.

"Umm…" Sarada began hesitantly. "I have something to ask you, Shizune-san, but please don't tell Mama."

Shizune nodded carefully, wondering what the young Uchiha would want to keep a secret from her mother―and if she would indeed be able to keep it from Sakura. Sarada sensed her uncertainty. She doubted the Fifth Hokage's right-hand woman could actually keep a secret from her master's former apprentice. She bit her lip. Should I ask Shizune-san?

For a moment, Sarada contemplated whether she should trust the medical-nin or not. She looked into her dark ebony eyes, searching for a sparkle that would reassure her. Shizune returned her stare, and Sarada watched her expression shift from confusion to something that looked like sympathy. No. She would not pity her.

In that brief moment of silence, Sarada was a gun patiently waiting to be loaded―the bullets being everything that she wanted to know. And that look―the look of sympathy that she so despised being the recipient of―was her trigger.

Sarada, the gun, finally fired.

"Please tell me everything that happened when I was born! Who was there? Who helped with the birth!? Don't leave anything out!"

The use of the word 'please' did little to make Sarada's request sound like a plea. It was a demand. She was fed up, and although she tried to control it all these years, she finally snapped.

Shizune was stunned in shock. Sarada held her determined gaze for the seconds that passed, her breathing rapid and her heartbeat racing. The medical-nin opened and closed her mouth, her eyes searching for something to say. Sarada waited, but it didn't look like she was going to answer her after all.

Sarada scowled. "The medical-nin at the hospital… all of you are the same. I've done some digging myself, so I know there's nothing in any of the hospitals in Konoha about my birth!"

The young Uchiha's revelation upset Shizune. Medical-nin have reported hospital records being broken into. Nothing was stolen, but the file cabinets were left severely disorganized. She was disappointed to discover the culprit to have been Sarada all along.

"But that doesn't―" She began, intending to reprimand the girl for her misdeed but changed her mind. "What started all this!?"

Sarada looked startled, waters forming around her eyes, and Shizune becomes aware that she had raised her voice. She gasped, realizing this, before closing her eyes and calming herself.

She could understand Sarada's curiosity to some level. In her years in the field of medicine, she has ventured a little bit into human psychology as well. Sarada was likely having issues with her identity, Shizune concluded. An absent father and a mother constantly evading her inquiries regarding her birth must have given her the wrong impression. She felt sorry for the girl. She wished she could clarify everything with her but it was not her place to do so, nor did she know all the answers to her questions anyway. Instead, she could only sigh.

"I'm sorry I raised my voice, Sarada-chan," she began softly. "You should go get some rest."

Interrogating Shizune like that was probably not a good idea, Sarada realized. And the fact that she was letting her spend the night in her bedroom while she slept on the―rather uncomfortable, if Sarada may say so herself―sofa did nothing to lessen her guilt.

But she just had it! No one was telling her anything. She's searched everywhere, asked everyone she could, and yet absolutely nothing came of it. It was as if Rikudō Senin himself were hindering her from knowing the truth.

Or maybe not. After all, she could say it was also he who led her to perhaps the only plausible answer to all of her questions.

She really needed to do it. She had to. It was clearly the only way.

With her resolution strongly intact, Sarada slipped out of the comfort of Shizune's bed and jumped out of the window into the darkness of a Konohagakure spring night.

Getting past museum security certainly would have been a tougher job for the average kunoichi… but she was Sarada Uchiha, daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno: two of the greatest shinobi of their time. She was most definitely not average.

Her features hidden in a black robe she had found in Shizune's closet, Sarada stealthily made her way into the museum and to the location of the time machine with every bit of intention and determination to use the contraption.

But she is surprised to be welcomed by another youngster definitely above the word 'average'.

"Just as I thought," he said smugly, hands shoved in his pockets and leaning against the wall to the right of the machine. Being the son of the seventh hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuga of the prestigious Hyuga Clan definitely has its privileges too.

"Boruto?"

The young blond pushes himself off the wall and sends a smirk down the way of the brunette.

"Just as you thought, what, exactly?" She retorted cautiously, unsure of the Uzumaki's intentions.

"You're going to use the time machine." It wasn't even a question.

Sarada urged herself to remain calm and sound nonchalant. "Yeah... so?"

He only held her gaze for a brief moment before shrugging. "Nothing, really; just a fair warning," he says, bored.

"Warning?" She repeated, puzzled. "What for?"

"Are you going to see your dad?"

The question caught the young Uchiha off guard, and she couldn't help the surprise evidently painting her facial expression. How did he know?

"I don't know which way you're planning to go, but I do know that at least." He said, and she could only stare back, completely dumbfounded.

"If you're going to the future, then you should keep in mind that it's probably tentative," he explained lazily, even yawning for effect. "If you're going to the past though, you gotta be careful you won't change the continuity."

"How... how did you know?" She finally asked when she figured he had finished.

He merely shrugged, evading the question. "When your dad's the hokage, there isn't exactly much father-son time―" He cut himself off and rushed on, "―it isn't exactly fun. I was just bored."

But Sarada caught it, that momentary start when he realized he had said more than he wanted to. Boruto understood because he longed for the love and attention of his father too. She had first thought that Boruto had been there to catch her in the act, but she understood now that he was actually offering her a hand.

As for why, she wasn't sure. Was it only that he understood her sentiments? Either way, she was not about to shut him out on that.

So she painted a smile on her face.

"I'm counting on you then."

"So… which way?" Boruto asked as he tinkered with the buttons on the time machine's control panel. His head was dipped, staring down in concentration at numerous buttons of some sort, several blond strands obscuring his eyes.

"Past… a day before I was born." Sarada responded with a hint of nervousness, pausing to regard the deep concentration displayed by the young Uzumaki as she stood on the teleportation pad.

He knew her birthday? He said nothing in return so she supposed that he did, in fact, know. How would he know? Sarada came up with a mental list of reasons Boruto could know. In the academy, Shino-sensei made it a point to greet his students on their birthdays and would make the class sing them the birthday song. Maybe Boruto remembered one of those days because… maybe it happened the same day something important to him happened? Then it would explain why he would remember her birthday easily, wouldn't it?

"I know what I'm doing, okay? I'm not stupid. I stole the manual from that lady's office before you arrived so you don't need to look so worried. It's insulting, y'know."

Sarada broke out of thought, her eyes snapping to the young blond's direction at the sound of his voice… only to find that his attention was still set on the contraption. He had thought she was worried… but wait, did he really put that much thought into this? For her? But, why?

Sarada was startled to feel her right hand being lifted. She attempted to jerk the hand away instinctively, but it was too firm. Her heart raced, and even when she recognized the bright blue eyes gazing at her small, feminine hand, it did not slow down―it might have even gone faster. She found herself drifting back to the world inside her head, contemplating why, why was Boruto acting this way? Why was he helping her? Why was he holding her hand? Why was―

"The thing's called a lavaliere. You press the button in the middle to go back to our time. I already set the coordinates, so you don't need to do anything."

It took Sarada several seconds to comprehend what Boruto had said. It took even more seconds to realize he'd held her hand only to pry her fingers open and place a necklace of some sort in her palm. It came with a chain, but the pendant looked like a compass with a cover that you can open like a locket. She pressed the tiny button on its side with her thumb and it opened to reveal a watch with a ruby red hexagonal button at its center.

When she finally looked up, Boruto had gone back to man the controls. Was he moving too fast or was she zoning out too long?

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She jumped slightly. Dammit. She zoned out again. She met his gaze and found it gazing back with skepticism.

"If you want to quit, just tell me 'cause I've got better things to do than help Sarada Uchiha travel back in time." It isn't exactly fun. I was just bored. Yeah, right.

Sarada took a deep breath and flashed the young blond a grin. "Let's do it!"

He treated her with one of his signature dead pan stares, before sighing and pressing even more buttons. Sarada placed the lavaliere around her neck, watching as Boruto pressed one final button and sure enough, a white light started to illuminate, enveloping her from head to toe. Boruto did it!

The light brightened further, nearly blinding, and she strangely saw her body slowly vanishing piece by piece.

"Boruto!" She called out, hurrying to get the rest of her sentence through before the teleportation commenced. "Thanks a lot!"

"Yeah," She heard Boruto mumble just as she vanished completely. "No big deal."

She felt a total numbness overcome her the second that she vanished, as if she was turning into complete nothingness. She felt nothing, saw nothing… nothing but the pitch black darkness as she seemingly floated in outer space, no gravity to keep her feet on the ground.

And then there was light. And it felt like she was dropped from an airplane fifty feet in the air, skydiving with no parachute and no control of her fall. She screamed, fearing for her… death? What was to happen to her then? When this seemingly endless spiral of doom ended, what would become of her?

Before Sarada could decide, her body involuntarily jerked forward and at the feel of a surface underneath her buttocks, her heartbeat gradually began to stabilize. She blinked. Where was she? Upon scanning her eyes through a blur of what looked like an ordinary village, Sarada realized that she was not wearing her glasses. She hurriedly began to blindly feel around her for it… which turned out to be a bad idea as it caused her to dangle in midair covered in dozens of leaves.

She had been on a tree, Sarada realized. The pesky time machine teleported her on top of a tree branch. Just great, she thought, her cloak must have gotten caught on the branch. She carefully began to remove it, and took a deep breath before allowing herself to fall face-first to the ground.

It took her a moment to gather her strength. The ground felt harder than she anticipated and her body felt sore all over. Eventually, she forced herself to sit up at least to try to look for her glasses. She was practically blind without them, and she had to know where she was to be able to tell if the time machine had worked.

But before she could do anything at all, she found herself surprised―and then puzzled―about the raven-haired boy staring down at her with wide, shocked eyes. She returned his gaze, both confused and cautious. Who was this boy? And why was he watching her―rather blatantly, she might add.

It happened too fast.

The next thing she knew, the mysterious boy had his fingers grasping tightly around her neck. With fury evident in his features, he uttered low and dark, "who the hell are you?" And as Sarada felt fear surge deep in her bones, she hesitantly met the eyes of her assailant. Blind or not, it was unmistakable. She didn't need her glasses to tell…

She was looking into the exact same obsidian eyes that she possessed.