Set Post Naruto Gaiden.

Previous Chapter Summary: After arguing with her parents over her family history, Sarada takes matters into her own hands and uses a time-travelling device to discover the truth on her own.

A/N: Much thanks to my new readers! I have to do bit more story planning for the next few chapters, so it might take longer than usual.

* guest: Thank you for pointing out the remodeling of the town! To be honest, I'm not sure if it was remodeled, so I just went for pretty-much-looked-the-same but slightly different as well. ^^'

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

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Journey Back In Time

Rewind I: Enter - Sarada Uchiha!

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I swear to god, if that has to happen every time...

Oh

Oh.

After opening her eyes, the Uchiha let out a little gasp when she realized she was standing right in the middle of an awfully familiar place.

It was a hot summer day and the streets of Konoha were packed as always. As she stood in awe, she watched as the store-owners gathered and roamed about, organizing their goods and interacting with the customers. The smell of fresh ramen and red bean taiyaki wafted itself through her nose and she took a brief moment to take in the wonderful scent that reminded her of the future Konoha that she lived in.

Her gaze was set on the moving people around her. Before she began to walk, she noticed something stabbing against her side when she took a step forward.

Looking down and reaching inside of the pocket of her pants, she grabbed hold of a tiny, small miniature scroll, similar to the one she had opened back in the storage room. Inside her pockets was also a bracelet-type of device, although it was very thin but thick on one side and seemed like a normal piece of jewelry.

It kind of reminded her of the time where Boruto got in trouble for using some kind of scientific device in the Chuunin exams.

The ninja weapons team in Konoha must have something to do with the development of the time travel technique. The bracelet and tiny scroll must be how she could change in between time-points.

Ah. She'll figure it out later. Sarada shoved the small scroll back into her pocket and quickly slipped on the small metal bracelet and began to walk, allured by the liveliness of her hometown.

It was to her understanding that after the fourth great ninja war, the Leaf Village had been rebuilt due to the severe repercussions. But she was surprised as to how much of it remained exactly the same as before. A few of the building designs have changed, and some of the shops have been shifted around. Nevertheless, it still had the usual Konoha vibe.

The Uchiha continued to pace herself around her town, smiling and giggling at the individual interactions she witnessed between the citizens.

She was about to make her way around the corner when all of a sudden, her forehead smacked right against someone else's. They impacted hard against eachother at the corner of the street, resulting in a heavy recoil.

It felt like she had just been hit by a boulder. "Hey!" Sarada yells, clutching her forehead in pain from the power of the contact. "What's with you!?"

"Ouch...Sorry Sorry! I'm on a very important mission right now."

Huh. This voice seemed rather familiar. The Uchiha slowly opened one of her eyes and recognizes a familiar blue-eyed face with blonde hair, wearing an orange jumpsuit. It was basically a mini version of Uncle Naruto.

A grin crept up on her face as she watched him shift his eyes from side to side suspiciously, as if he was searching for somebody.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed, greeting her Uncle- er, younger version of her Uncle in excitement.

"Eh?" Naruto was caught by surprise. He stared at Sarada suspiciously, leaning into her with narrowed eyes. "How do you know my name?"

"Um.." Sarada hesitated, shifting her gaze in panic. "I've heard your name around."

Almost immediately, Naruto's expression turned prideful. "Ehehe, no wonder! It's because I'm the greatest ninja of the Leaf Village and also the future Hokage!"

You are, Uncle Naruto. Ditzy, but an amazing Hokage. Sarada smiles at him.

"Hey Hey, where are you from?" The blonde inquires, looking her up and down in hopes to find a clue about her origins. "And what's your name?"

"Erm.." She thought about making up a fake name at first, but decided it was fine as long as they didn't know who she really was.

"I'm Sarada."

"Nice to meet you Sarada-chan!" Naruto grins. "But I can't chat with you much longer. My team and I are about to solve the most mysterious mystery of all time!"

Mom and Dad? Sarada thought, her heart pounding at the thought of meet her parents' younger selves.

"What's the mission?"

The blue-eyed boy gave a huge, silly grin and leaned in to whisper in Sarada's ear. "Revealing what's under Kakashi-sensei's mask!"

Sarada stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded, before trying to contain her laughter. She remembered her mom telling her stories about these gimmicks they would do when they were Genins. She decided this was a good chance to take part of it.

"Can I help too?"

"Sure, Sarada-chan! We could really use it."

"NARUTO!?"

All of a sudden, the blonde went from standing peacefully to being faceplanted right onto the dirt path below him after being struck in the head by a strong fist.

Sarada turned around and widened her eyes to see a girl with beautiful, long pink hair reaching the small of her back. She stood with her hands firmly against either side of her waist, glaring at the blockhead on the ground. Her skin was a creamy white tone, much like her own, and her face was relenting with annoyance and anger.

"Mama." The Uchiha whispers to herself, eyeing her mother up and down. She couldn't resist a huge smile.

"S-Sakura-chan.." Naruto whines, still on the ground wincing in pain.

"Eh?" Sakura's gaze focused on the dazed out Uchiha. "You are?"

Sarada continued to daze out into space, tranced by the appearance of her mother. She still had the same qualities as she did as a 12 year old Genin, minus the tiny wrinkles and all that. Sakura continued to stare at the Uchiha, annoyed that she wasn't getting a reply until a chastising voice broke out from above.

"What are you doing, dobe? You're holding the plan back!"

The three of them peered up to the voice coming from what seemed like the top of the building beside them. It was yet another familiar voice. In a second, the figure jumped from the building and landed smoothly on his feet in front of the commotion of their conversation.

Sarada nearly lost her breath. Her gaze immediately shifted from her mother to the sight of the younger Sasuke Uchiha, the father she dearly missed every single day of her life 20 years from now.

She noted his short, spiky hair that brushed away from his face and his firm jawline that was still present in the future. Uncle Naruto was right, she could see that Sasuke really had been one of the good-looking ones from their academy graduating class.

"I'm Sarada." The female Uchiha exclaims, walking closer to Sasuke almost robotically and observed him right in the face, inches apart. Sasuke leans back a little and shifts his look to the side awkwardly, avoiding contact with the stranger.

The pink-haired girl watched as Sarada continued to fawn over the Uchiha with an ever so obvious blush on her face. Sakura scowls, crossing her arms to contain her jealousy. "You have a weird name."

Sarada peered over at her mother, trying her best not to rebute the fact that she was the one who came up with her name. But she could tell that she didn't like how she was getting all giddy over her husband, which was both cute and hilarious.

"Where are you from?"

The Uchiha heiress froze at her father's sudden inquiry. She took a step back and fidgeted with her glasses, pushing them forward closer to her face. She hadn't really begun to prepare a story for herself yet, but she guessed it had to come out right now.

"Erm, I'm just travelling around town training, kind of like on a journey. Thought I'd stop by Konoha."

She received a look of suspicion from the onyx-eyed boy, followed by an eyeroll by her mother. Her parents sure were difficult people, at least that has never changed.

Immediately, Naruto jumped up onto his feet, and despite the swollen bump on the back of his head, he displayed a smile.

"Guys, Sarada-chan's going to help us with the plan!"

"This girl!?" Sakura pointed at the female Uchiha, whose eyes became bright at the thought of becoming apart of the Team 7 camaraderie.

"Fine." Sasuke closed his eyes and shifted himself around, starting his path forward.

"Come with us."

Sarada and Sakura crouched behind a bush facing a small open field where Naruto stood, eyes peering through a hole between the center of the branches. Sasuke was present on the other side of the field in a tree, watching down below.

She wasn't really sure what was going on in this ambush, but all she had to do was wait for Naruto's signal and charge ahead. Earlier on, Naruto had written a note to Kakashi, instructing him to meet him at this field half past 2. It would actually be hysterical if he fell for it.

Sakura watched intently through the bush, even though Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. Sarada observed the pink-haired girls gaze, only to realize that it traced towards Sasuke staring from the tree across them.

Sarada grinned. "Do you love Sasuke?"

The pink haired girl's face turned bright as a tomato before shifting in her spot, startled at the sudden question. "Of course!"

"Do you think you're going to marry him?" Obviously Sarada took this chance to poke fun at her mother. Fun and games.

"Marry him?" Sakura turned to look at the female Uchiha wide-eyed, her face even redder than before. "I hope so, that's my dream."

Her gaze shifted back to the raven-haired boy peering through the tree, her expression becoming softer as a benevolent smile displayed on her lips. "I'm confident that Sasuke-kun is the love of my life. It'd definitely be a dream to marry him one day."

Sarada could feel her own heart pounding at her mother's words.

Her mouth opened to tell her that her dream would come true. That 20 years from now, she would be complaining too much about him coming home late, making all of his favourite dishes on days where he would finally come home from his journeys, receiving his kisses on the forehead when she breaks down from having a rough day at the hospital...

And that 20 years from now, she'd have a baby girl with him who is currently crouching right beside her joining in on this ridiculous mission.

But she held herself together, closing her mouth and responding with a simple smile which corresponded to the warmth of her heart.

Sakura catches the stupid grin on the female Uchiha's face and scowled. "I know what you're thinking. Don't even think about trying to steal him away, Sarada!"

"He's coming." Sarada interrupts, noticing a silver-haired man from afar.

The two of them shifted their gaze towards the middle of the field, where they could see Kakashi approaching from the gravel path onto the grass until he saw the blue-eyed boy waiting in the center. He walked up to him, but remained at a considerable distance.

The blonde and silver-haired ninja stood face to face in silence, intently watching eachother for some kind of initiation.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, breaking the tension.

After a few moments, Naruto slowly raised his arm and quickly darted it forwards, pointing a single finger at his sensei.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" He yelled, causing his teacher to flinch at the sudden excitement in his voice. "We're going to figure out what's under that mask once and for all!"

"HAH!?" Sarada exclaimed, "He just straight up told him! Was there no actual strategy to this!?"

Sakura shrugged. "We did everything you could possibly imagine. Now just wait for Naruto's signal."

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

In a split second, copies of the blonde began appearing one by one, each of them surrounding Kakashi at every vicinity until it practically covered the entire field. Kakashi's eyes shifted side by side, taking into account each and every one of them in his vision.

"Alright!" Naruto spoke, "Let's get him!"

All of a sudden, the clones started moving in at once, charging towards the silver-haired ninja who was still standing at the same spot without moving a hair.

But as soon as the clones started to close in on him, he started to move. Within a flash, he began dissipating the clones one by one with just a movement of his hands and feet.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched his clones disappear just as quickly as they formed. As they were destroyed, large poofs of smoke surrounded the air for a bit. Once Kakashi was down to the last few clones, he decided it was time.

"NOW!"

Sakura and Sasuke jumped to their feet, and in an instant, they were charging themselves towards the center of the field.

As Kakashi destroyed the last clone, it only took half a second for Sakura to close in behind him and grab his arms, holding them close together behind his back. Sasuke, on the other hand, charged at him from the top, ready to pounce on him aerially. Naruto rushed over to the pink-haired girl, helping her restrain their sensei.

Sarada lagged behind the group by a few seconds, and by the time everyone had Kakashi in position, she was already more than halfway through the field closing in on him.

Maybe I should use my Sharin- no, that's no good, that would be troublesome to explain to Dad. Sarada looked over at her father, who was already wringing onto Kakashi's neck and upper body.

Oh, whatever. She opted for the simple way.

The next few seconds felt like time was slowing down in anticipation for this moment. Sarada reached her arm forward, hands ready to tear down the dark blue mask of her parents' sensei. Her eyebrows furrowed at the intensity of this moment, she could feel herself starting to sweat as she aimed for speed and accuracy.

But just as she was nearly an inch away from success, Naruto's voice broke out in a cry.

"GET AWAY EVERYONE! THERE'S AN EXPLOSIVE!"

Shit. Such a cheap trick. She was practically embarrassed that her mom and dad were the type of people who would fall for this.

In an instant, everybody withdrew from their positions, running back as far as they could. However, the pink-haired girl grunted as she stumbled onto the ground, tripping in her run. Her eyes immediately darted towards the explosive on her sensei's lower ankle, ready to explode any minute.

"SAKURA!" Naruto exclaimed. Just as he was about to pounce forward again, the raven-haired boy quickly made a run towards the viridian-eyed girl.

And just as the explosive tag went off in a large boom, he grabbed her shoulder and legs and the two of them went flying, rolling off onto the ground from the impact.

Sarada watched as her mother's face started to turn red after noticing the distance between her and Sasuke. Soon, she felt herself starting to blush as well. Her parents made a damn good couple.

"You guys are still onto this thing, huh?"

The four of them turned to a voice coming from behind a tree, and watched as the real Kakashi showed himself from his hiding. He casually walked out to the center of the field with his hands in his pockets, where his dupe previously stood. "I see you've got yourselves a helper this time." He said, casting a glance over at Sarada in acknowledgment.

"Better luck next time, though."

Sarada shuffled her feet as she walked beside Sasuke, neither of them making an effort to speak. He noticed her constantly shifting her eyes over to steal looks at him, which only contributed to his thoughts of her being weird.

After the failure of their plan, the four of them as well as Kakashi-sensei made their way back to the village center. Sakura was in the back, bickering with Naruto over something trivial. Kakashi remained neutral, reading his adult fiction in absolute silence.

I want to talk to him. Sarada thought, continuing to look over at her father every few seconds.

All of a sudden, she could feel something pressing against her skin, and it started to burn against her.

Trying hard not to react, she looked down at her wrist and realized the bracelet device she put on was starting to get hotter and hotter.

She figured maybe this was how it was telling her she had to leave this time-point.

Ugh. But that was only for a few hours.. Sarada thought in dismay. And she still had to figure out how to switch in between times.

Taking advantage of the few moments she had left, she decided to strike up a conversation with her father while she could.

"So what do you do for fun?" Sarada began, feeling a little bit shy over this interaction. It was strange, meeting his younger version who she has no idea how to connect to, or even anything about him. Not that it was really much different from his future self.

"Nothing in particular." The raven-haired boy replied, walking with his hands in either of his pockets while wearing a nonchalant expression.

"Haah? Don't you like hanging out with Sakura and Naruto everyday or anything?"

"They're okay."

Her dad really was a man of few words. Thank god he's gotten a lot better 20 years from now, but she'd hate to think that her mom had to deal with this every single day. It was hard to imagine how a guy like him would be interested in love and marriage, much less having a child.

She had sort of given up, seeing as he didn't bother making an effort to speak to her.

After walking for a few seconds in silence, Sasuke glances at her for a brief moment before finally initiating a topic.

"You look familiar."

The Uchiha heiress felt her heart skip a beat. That's because I'm half of you, Dad.

"I don't think I've met you before." She replies in denial. At least it was somewhat true. She decided to use this opportunity to ask him more questions.

"Do you have any dreams? Aspirations? Love interests, maybe?"

Sasuke paused, looking as if he was in the midst of deep thought. Eventually, he closed his eyes and responded. "I just want to become stronger."

Of course, that's my dad. Sarada thought, feeling a wave of confidence rush through her. She would've loved to see all the hard work he's put in as a Genin to make himself who he is in the future. Then again, she heard he was quite the natural prodigy.

She wasn't really content with his answer, though. However, by the time she was ready to bombard him with more questions, they had already reached the front of the Konoha gates.

Sarada paused in her tracks, and the rest of the group continued to walk ahead until they noticed her stopping. Sakura turned around, questioning her actions. "Sarada? Aren't you coming back to the village?"

"Uhm," The Uchiha heiress glanced at each and every one of them, staring at her in confusion waiting for an answer. "Actually, I have to go."

"What!? Already!?" Naruto exclaimed, running up to her and sticking his face right in front of hers. "You haven't even gotten the chance to try the best ramen in the world!"

"Ahah, I'll definitely come back to try it." Sarada said, scratching the back of her head. "I-I have to go on and see other places."

Sakura sighed, walking up to the Uchiha heiress and shooting her a smile. "Thanks for your help today, even though our plan failed."

Sarada felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She wished she could stay here longer. Then again, this was only the beginning of her adventures. There was still more to see.

Instinctively, she lunged forward, capturing the pink-haired girl in a tight hug with her hands thrown over her neck. Sakura gasped in surprise, but grinned and slowly returned her hug.

After staying like this for a few seconds, Sarada looked up and made eye contact with the raven-haired boy, who remained nonchalant but stared at her with a blank expression. She didn't really know how to go about bidding goodbye to him.

Still embracing her mother, she raised one hand from the pink-haired girls' neck and gave the male Uchiha a slow, sentimental wave. She really wished she could have stayed longer. A million thoughts were running through her head as she gave him a benevolent smile, one that was tinged with sadness in her eyes.

Sasuke returned her goodbye with a smirk that crept up on the corners of his lips, nodding his head in acknowledgment.

She released her hug from the pink-haired girl and turned to face everybody once again, letting her arms fall to her sides. "I'll be going now. Thanks for letting me join in on your mission!"

"So long, Sarada-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Will we see you again?" Sakura asked, maintaining a strong gaze with the female Uchiha.

Sarada gave her a huge grin in amusement, letting out a small chuckle.

"You definitely will."

The girl with the small red glasses paces herself along the forest pathway, walking further and further away from the village gates.

The bracelet on her wrist was getting even hotter than before. She winced as she held her hand up, observing the metal piece.

I wonder what I should do with this.

After taking a moment to think, she remembered she still had the tiny scroll. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled her hand back out with the small scroll inside of her palm.

Looking down, she noticed that the bracelet had a tiny hole on the side of it, on the area where the bracelet was significantly thicker than the rest of its parts. She figured the scroll would fit nicely inside of it.. maybe that would do something.

Instinctively, she took the small scroll inside of her hand and placed it between her fingers, giving it a tiny push inside the bracelet which made a soft clicking noise as it locked into place.

The bracelet started to cool down immensely, and in a split second, Sarada felt herself starting to be tugged again. This time, it was less strong, and she was starting to get used to it already from the last time. She closed her eyes and felt an irresistible smile starting to display on her face, letting the wind freely grasp at her body as she felt herself beginning to move back into the white space.

The Leaf Village almost didn't even change at all. She thought, reviewing the events that occurred in this time-point.

Uncle Naruto became Konoha's greatest ninja just like how he always wanted.

Mom fulfilled her dream of marrying dad.

And Dad...

Well,

I'm on my way to figuring it out.