A Second Take
Summary: Boruto and Sarada are in for a few surprises, neither of them knowing the identity of their mothers, they decide to take a peek into the past,only to send their precious Nanadaime back into a time where he almost lost someone he truly cared for. Will things change with Naruto meeting the Sasuke of the past before he ran off to Orochimaru?
It was late afternoon when Boruto finally found Sarada atop the head of their current Hokage on the Hokage Mountain, looking out over the village of Konoha as silent tears streamed down the youngest Uchiha's face. It's been some hours since she woke up and she was told what happened. In the meantime, Itachi had went to the place Sasuke's trail ended and confirmed that he really had been sucked into the past after Naruto. These news had only made it ten times worse and she had ran away from them. Even from her beloved uncle. Boruto had given her a few hours to calm down before going to the one place he knew she would be.
Sarada wasn't wearing her glasses, an occurrence more and more regular since the awakening of her Sharingan. It had sharpened her sight as well as many of her reflexes and it had made her more confident, to the point his dad said she was a true Uchiha. She only took off her glasses when it was just the two of them, something that surprised Boruto greatly. She used her glasses as a shield against everyone else but she let Boruto in. Even more than she let Naruto and Sakura in.
He sat beside her and stayed silent, knowing that he should let his friend start up the conversation. He should let her do so at her own pace and not interrupt her when she started talking. It's something he learned from his Otou-san, as he often said that it's the only way to get an Uchiha talking about emotions. If ever. According to Sakura-chan, Uchiha's only talk about emotions with people they consider important, while Uzumakis only ever talked about sorrowful emotions with those they trust the most. She said that their dads filled each other's categories perfectly and that despite all the hardships they lived through and the distance that separated them today, that will never change. He wondered if he could be like that with Sarada. He already trusted her more than almost everyone. She was up there with his Otou-san and Himawari. Even if his father kept such an important secret from him.
"It was all our fault," He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the quiet words. The blond looked towards the red-dressed ravenette as she hugged her knees closer to her chest. "We should have just stopped asking and Nanadaime-sama would have told us as soon as Papa returned to the village. He would have dragged him straight from Konoha's gates back home and would have made us dinner and we would have had a nice family dinner with uncle Itachi. Maybe even Tsunade-obaa-sama... she is, after all, a sort of aunt for Nanadaime-sama. But because we were selfish and childish and impatient-"
"Sarada!" Boruto caught the crying girl in his arms and placed her head under his chin. He was half an inch taller than her but she suddenly seemed so small and fragile. He wanted to protect her, wanted to erase the pain in her face and in her heart. "It's not your fault. If anyone is to be blamed-"
"Don't you dare say it's our parents!"
"Is me!" He ignored the shocked expression he could feel against his neck. He tightened his hold on her, not allowing her to draw away, as she would then see the unshed tears of guilt and sadness and misery that were welling up in his eyes. Damn, if he didn't feel miserable. Because he was impatient about finding out about one parent, he had harmed the other. He had harmed his loving father that would tear out his heart for him in less then a second. The father he would never want to replace. And not only that, but in endangering his Otou-san, he had dragged his closest friend's Papa along. Sure, Sakura-chan said that those two work best together or for each other, but what if they don't know they are there or if they will manage to find each other? Or, even worse, what if they were in different times!?
"It is not your fault, Boruto!" Sarada freed herself and grabbed the collar of the boy's white shirt and shook him a little. Blue eyes locked on black, a stare old as three generations (Minato and Fugaku, Naruto and Sasuke and now them...) fixated on each other and the Namikaze-Uzumaki boy grew quiet to let the Uchiha speak. "If I am not the guilty one, than neither are you. We did it together but it was an accident. Accidents happen and no one is at fault. Nanadaime-sama saved us from a dangerous situation. If we feel sorry for ourselves, not only will we be useless in figuring out how to bring them both back but he will feel guilty for making us worry. I would rather not be the one to return the sad frown onto Nanadaime-sama's face. Every day, as I walk through the village, I hear people say how much they love their Hokage-sama and that they just want him to be happy. We are not going to be the ones to make him miserable for worrying us. Got that?"
A slow grin stretched across the unusually pale cheeks of Naruto's son. "Got it, dattebase."
Sarada nodded. "Good. Now, how's the situation at the office?"
"Since Kakashi will be helping out with getting them back to the present, Tsunade-obaa-san will take the temporary reigns of Konoha. Sakura-chan was sent along with Ero-jii-chan to retrieve Orochimuaru ahead of scheduel, as Mitsuki seems to think that he should know what to do about getting them back." Boruto scoffed. "In other words, they've got it all covered and won't let us help! That's not fair! They're our fathers before they are Hokage and Sasaukage of Konoha!"
"Do they even know what happened?" The kunoichi asked as she wiped away all traces of her earlier crying. The blond shrugged his shoulders, as if saying 'not really, since they won't listen to my explanations, what can you do?'. Sarada sighed as she looked at the glasses at her side. "Well, what are we going to do?"
"Yes. What are you going to do?" The two kids whirled around, gawking at the crouched ANBU at the top of a tree, his black hair being played with by the wind as caring but serious eyes regarded them.
"Uncle Itachi!?"
00000
When Sasuke managed to open his eyes two to three hours later, it was to the sight of the blond older man he managed to get to be his teacher hovering over him with a worried expression on his tanned, whiskered face. Those blue eyes closed in relief with a sigh before 'Kurama' smiled down at him and Sasuke's breath hitched. No matter how much he looked at this man and told himself it wasn't him, Kurama still looked like a spitting, if older, image of Naruto.
"Thank Kami! You slept twice as long as I thought you would. I was getting worried." Then he reached down and helped Sasuke sit up, the boy wincing at the twinges of pain shooting throughout his whole body. Naruto looked at him with understanding in his eyes before motioning for him to relax and stay still. Deciding both actions would be good for his aching muscles, Sasuke did as ordered and sighed in relief as suddenly, the pain started ebbing away when a big hand landed on his head. He looked up at the bandage covered right hand of his new sensei and then at the concentration filled face of the blond man. He found himself content to just observe him as that warmth filled him, although he received quite a shock when usually blue eyes opened to reveal cat-like red eyes.
Naruto watched as the black haired boy stared at him with something akin to wonderment, no fear touching his features. Come to think of it, Sasuke never held any fear of Kurama. He felt more like ... some sort of terrified glee at facing (and defeating) such a strong opponent. He always seemed to think of the demon fox more like some sort of ... annoying dark guardian he would have to go through in order to truly become stronger than Naruto. He stopped looking at Kurama in such a way when Naruto and Kurama became partners and started working together, since they synchronized their moves so that they were really like one. Kurama stopped being Naruto's shield and sword and became his armor instead. No, Sasuke would later realize, the Kyuubi had become a partner to him. That, however, did not deny the fact that Sasuke truly never feared Kurama. Not even when they first faced each other as the bearer of the Cursed Seal of Heaven and the vessel to the Kyuubi no Yoko, the demon fox feared by Konoha.
"Your eyes are red, yet it's not from the Sharingan." Sasuke said matter of factly, eyes now looking at the bandaged arm. There was a circle of light slowly fading there, soon becoming invisible under the white wrappings. He frowned at it before returning to the still red eyes. It made the blond look feral and something in the back of his mind whispered that he had seen something similar before. He couldn't place his finger on where, though.
''Oh, that.'' The blond said casually as he finished up. ''Well, it's something only a few people can do. Not like a Kekkei Genkai, but similar, I guess, as the person has to have a specific body type. There was once this village, Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, known for their remarkable fūinjutsu, but because they were so good at it, the village was destroyed in war for fear of them releasing the sealed powers they collected over the centuries on the rest of the shinobi world. Their people, who survived, scattered across other countries, seeking refuge where they could find it, among shinobi and ordinary folk. Because of the long life spans its people had, the village was nicknamed the Village of Longevity. My mother was from this village, so I would be, too, had it been left standing. We had strong ties to Konoha because the leading clan was in a distant blood relation with Konoha's Senju clan. We were really, really good at sealing, our bodies were strong and could store enormous amounts of foreign power. My Kaa-chan moved to Konoha a bit before Uzushiogakure was destroyed and she met my Otou-san. They both died on the day I was born in an attack on the village. Anyway, they sealed some great demon in me and now I have its powers. Don't worry. It can't possess or manipulate me." The blond needlessly reassured his companion and Sasuke just raised an eyebrow.
"I wasn't worried. You're too strong to be possessed by some demon."
"When I was younger and my emotions were out of control, it happened quite a few times." Naruto revealed, recalling the times he had relied on the Kyuubi to win fights. Then he trained with Jiraiya and became strong on his own. Strong enough to even subdue Kurama when he wanted to. "But I trained hard and got the hang of it. My mothers blood and the power sealed within me helped me a lot during my life."
Sasuke, who had stayed quiet as he was healed, nodded and tried to get up to his feet, only to blush when he heard his stomach growling. Naruto chuckled at the cute embarrassed expression that he had not seen for years on Sasuke's face as he handed him a fruit basket he had sent a Shadow Clone to prepare it. Sasuke eagerly ate some apples and was pealing an orange before he realized it. He looked over at his sensei, seeing the man staring at his right palm as though he was seeing it for the first time. Naruto saw him looking and smiled at him gently, making the Uchiha look away as another blush made its way onto his pale cheeks. Seriously, what is wrong with him? He's acting like one of his own fangirls! Naruto watched in amusement as the boy shivered in repulsion to whatever thought had been running through that head of his.
They sat like that until Sasuke ate his fill ... or rather, until the boy wolfed down everything in the fruit basket. Naruto wasn't surprised, though, as he knew that a lot of energy was stolen from the raven haired, black eyed boy because of the Cursed Seal. He had to replenish it in the only way possible: by sleeping and eating. He will be fine now and the first thing Naruto wanted to teach the 'little teme' as he jokingly called him in his head, will be better chakra control. Sasuke's chakra control will get better and better with years of training, as Naruto had witnessed, but it wouldn't cause any harm for him to teach him a few of the future-Sasuke's neat tricks that the raven will without a doubt like. But he will need to start small, all the same.
Naruto stretched when he got up after Sasuke finished eating and drank some water. Sasuke mirrored his movements, still surprised when he felt no pain at the circulation of his chakra through his body. He had almost forgotten what it feels like to have his chakra flowing freely through his young body. He was damn glad that the fucking seal was gone. He just wished he could have showed it to Itachi. He had told his sensei this and the whiskered blond had snickered, obviously imagining all the ways the older Uchiha would make the Snake Sannin pay for daring to lay a single pale finger on his precious little brother.
''Okay, so what will you teach me first?'' Sasuke asked after a good stretching and the warming up exercises. He was excited, he will admit, because while he may not have seen him in a worthy fight, he sure as hell had seen that this man was skilled. The number of Shadow Clones he could make and keep up and just now, removing the Cursed Seal ... His Kurama-sensei was obviously strong. Besides, if he had really fought his brother, then he must be strong.
Naruto thought for a moment before leading them off in a direction at first unknown to Sasuke. However, as they neared the hot springs, the Uchiha wondered if he would be getting any training at all and wondered if he should take a page out of the usuratonkachi's book and start whining at the older man but decided against it. When they arrived, Naruto looked around and sighed with fondness as he remembered his training with that closet pervert, Ebisu, and when he met his sensei, the super pervert, Jiraiya. Not long after that, he met Kurama inside his soul for the first time, he fought with Neji, fought Gaara and Shukaku... He shook his head before he started thinking about Sandaime Hokage-jii-chan. All of this is relatively new to this young Sasuke, but for Naruto, it has been around two decades since it had all happened. He cast a look at his younger companion and wondered if he had done the right thing by deciding to change the past, as he didn't know the extent of the consequences the changes will have on the future... He hoped that Sarada, Boruto and Himawari still exist, though. He doesn't care if he is no longer Hokage. He just wants them safe.
''So... what are we doing here? Are we going to take a soak or something? Because the Uchiha Compound has a private onsen, too, you know.'' The genin stated and the Nanadaime repressed a grin. Yes, he knew. He had been delighted when he first found it after he, Boruto and a two year old Himawari helped Sarada officially move in with her uncle Itachi. And it was even better than this one, too. But that's not why they were here...
''Although, we could get a nice soaking after we are done for the day,'' he mumbled to himself but the paler male heard him and fought down another blush. He was blaming it all on the removal of the seal. Yup, that was it. He was not, of course not, absolutely, he was not getting a second crush on a man that looks so much like his first crush. That would just be pathetic and very un-Uchiha-like. ''But, that's not what this little trip had been about!'' The blond informed him cheerfully before walking over to the edge of the water. Without further ado, he jumped over the railing and landed in the middle of the hot, slightly steaming body of water, standing on the surface as if it were solid ground. Sasuke stared at him as if he had grown a second head before remembering Kakasgi's first fight with Zabuza and how they had been standing on water after he and Naruto had released their sensei from the water prison Zabuza had put him in. He grew excited at the thought that he was about to learn something as cool and useful as that.
''We'll start with this, so you can learn better chakra control and build up your stamina.'' Naruto said and was soon explaining the mechanics, so to call it, to the technique he was using. Sasuke listened with rapt attention before he started training himself. Naruto watched on, refraining from laughing every time the ever cool Uchiha Sasuke made a blunder and fell into the hot water. This might not be the wisest course of action, but it sure was fun.
He'll enjoy his short time with this younger Sasuke before he has to return to his own time, where he sees Sasuke once a year, if he is lucky enough. Sometimes, life really, really wasn't fair.