Pray to all things that are holy because we're FINALLY getting some answers! It's been a long road and a lot of twists and turns up to this point, but some things will start to be revealed! It was a longer detour from Itachi and Sarada's relationship than I intended to take to give some answers to the "Why is this happening?", and then this ended up taking on a mind of its own honestly. But at least we're starting to weave back into more of the family themes as they get some answers. Thanks again for sticking with this!
I apologize for being away since August; I hate waiting this long to update, but I just started grad school and had to focus on some major assignments. I haven't abandoned this!
Also, thanks again to my beta Nap-Tyme! Check out her Naruto fic "Mona Lisa" and her newest one "Guns & Lollipops" for My Hero Academia!
"Ah, you're looking for those children?" Orochimaru didn't even try to fight against Naruto and Sasuke's weight pinning him down, but his smirk said he thought he already won. His cocky demeanor made Sasuke wonder what he had planned and he subconsciously pressed him further into the ground. "How do you know I even came across anyone?"
"We're not looking for a fight," Sasuke maintained, refusing to give into Orochimaru's tactics. "Just tell us where you think they went and we'll let you go."
"And if I don't tell you?" His eyes gleamed straight at the rinnegan, wanting, but Sasuke had a difficult time believing Orochimaru would be so careless as to try to fight someone with it; he had to have known the rumors of its power.
"We don't want to have to hurt you," he repeated.
"It looks like we both want the same things." His voice was smooth like butter. "Clearly those children are special or you wouldn't be wasting your time on them. So here's how this will work: you do something for me and then I'll help you."
"Absolutely not," Sasuke immediately blurted. He saw Naruto open his mouth as if to say something then close it again, deciding against it.
"Well, killing me wouldn't help you at all," Orochimaru replied, his lips splitting wider into a grin. "So if you want any information I have, you should listen to me."
Sasuke scoffed. "You're the one on the ground right now needing healing, not us. You listen to us."
For a moment Sasuke thought he had him; he could see the almost imperceptible widening of Orochimaru's eyes in realizing the rinnegan would defeat any power he had, but at that moment Sakura also finished with his wounds, and when she turned away to give her other two teammates room to work Orochimaru's eyes lasered in on her.
"Oh," he sneered, recognizing the crest blazened into the back of her dress. "An Uchiha, I see? Well, this keeps getting better and better now doesn't it?"
Sakura froze in place as she realized her mistake, while everyone around her tensed up. Her husband tried not to make a sudden movement that could show Orochimaru how hard his heart was pounding, not because he was scared of what he could do to them, but because he worried how the future might change. Shit. He knew he could take him- one sannin wasn't a match for the two strongest shinobi in the world sprinkled in with some of the other top ones- but if Orochimaru let slip that there may be other Uchihas, he didn't know what the ripple effect could be. Could his small self, miles away in the village, be in danger? Could this affect Sarada's existence someday?
"I thought Itachi had killed them all off," the snake man continued, "but I guess that wasn't true. He left the brat of a little brother alive and apparently you and a child. So who are you? What makes you so special?"
Sakura slowly began to turn around, an excuse on the edge of her lips, when Sasuke's hand shot from Orochimaru's chest to his neck, squeezing without thinking.
"Tell us where they are!"
"Sasuke!"He could hear Naruto's hissing beside him but it was drowned out by the loud rushing of blood in his ears surrounded by the nightmare of his daughter evaporating.
He squeezed harder. Orochimaru's face began to purple, but he couldn't move away from his grip as Naruto's sage mode kept him in place. His legs kicked outwards in an effort to find purchase in the dirt and Sasuke could see the light begin to drain from his eyes, yet he still couldn't pull himself off his former sensei, even as the others around him screamed and scrambled to knock him away.
"YOU'LL KILL HIM, STOP IT!" Itachi's face snapped in front of him, smaller hands pulling at his own, and in an instant the others' screams registered in his brain, poofing away the image of Sarada dying.
His clammy hands unwound from around Orochimaru's neck and the already pale man began gasping as color returned to his face.
"Are you going to tell us where they went now?" he growled, actively ignoring his brother's gaze boring into the side of him. "I can do worse to you, I assure you."
A testament to his power, Orochimaru caught his breath and slowed it quickly, glaring deeper at Sasuke. Sasuke returned it, unphased. "I was knocked out," he spat. "I don't know exactly where they headed."
"Do you know who they were with?" Naruto asked.
"Before I was knocked out, I was with…" Orochimaru began speaking, about to tell them about Itachi, but stopped as a glimmer passed over his eyes as a thought clearly turned over in his mind connecting him with the kids and the Uchiha matriarch.
"Whatever you Uchihas are hiding, you can't hide forever. You're wanted inside the village and out!"
"If you're lying I'll know," Sasuke growled again.
"I don't know anything," Orochimaru spat, "but whatever you're trying to do, it'll catch up to you. Now that I know who you-"
Sasuke was tired of listening to the man's rambles; he recognized Orochimaru's ego trying to threaten them, to wrangle the truth out of them, but if he had no further use at the moment then he needed to be silenced. In a fluid motion he brushed his hair out of his face to fully reveal the rinnegan and Orochimaru dropped back down, unconscious.
Sasuke sighed and stood nonchalantly, wiping the dirt from his knees and leaving Naruto on the ground to continue holding the man down while his brother stared wildly up at him.
"You could have killed him."
"I wouldn't have," Sasuke said, shrugging.
"But you could've. You could have changed history."
Sasuke shook his head and moved past his brother. "He's not an idiot. He probably has the wrong idea, but he knows Uchihas are involved. With everyone supposed to be dead, what else should I have done?"
"You need to be more careful, Sasuke," Itachi begged, turning to follow Sasuke's movements.
"Don't worry, I wiped his memory of this. He won't remember anything. Right now though we need to find out where they are so let's keep going. We're losing sunlight." He emerged at the tree line then turned back to face the rest of his team who were still silent.
Naruto immediately locked eyes with him, his eyebrows raised slightly in disbelief, and Sasuke felt a small shock of connection between them. Sasuke could tell he wanted to say something but was holding back, but he could also see that the burning in his eyes had lessened, as though watching his friend lashing out against Orochimaru for the sake of their children made him realize again they were on the same team.
"It sounds like whatever happened, they are most likely with Boruto. So we know he's safe," Sasuke spoke into the distance between them. "Feel out for any chakra."
Naruto nodded once, the only semblance of an olive branch offer he made in the last day, and Sasuke deflated in relief before he turned on his heel again toward the trees.
Sarada and Mitsuki followed Boruto deeper into the forest as he continued to explain his previous few weeks as Itachi and what he knew about the Akatsuki. He still was unsure about bringing them there in any capacity, and was trying to zig zag through the leaves for a while to buy time while talking.
"The last thing I can remember as Itachi was a few days prior, I think," he said. "To be fair I was a little hazy after I woke up, and I'm still missing a lot of my memory, but I can tell you what I know."
The other two tried to keep up with the flurry of names of Akatsuki members Boruto began listing, compartmentalizing them away and checking them against any they had banked in their memory. Some names were whispers of ghosts, something they had heard at some points in their lives but didn't find important enough to remember the specifics of when or where, just another in a long list of faceless dead shinobi who had met their demise in some impersonal manner, while other names were completely foreign.
"I need to assess the situation first," Boruto continued as he swerved in and out of trees, "so I'm going to hide you before we get there. It's rare that we're all together anyway. We were together right after I awoke, but it's really hard for me to remember what happened or why and then we were sent out again. What exactly do you need to know or who do you want to see?"
"I want to see this Zetsu," Sarada said firmly.
"That has to be a missing piece." Mitsuki ran up beside Boruto. "If a zetsu tried to kill us and one works directly with you, that has to count for something. That has to be the connection."
"And anything more about Itachi. If we know there's something with reanimation, maybe there was a reason it happened to him. So is there anyone else who's particularly close to him- er, you- in the group? Maybe that connection would help figure out what's happening too," Sarada pointed out.
Boruto paused, planting his feet firmly on the tree branch he was about to spring from, a thought forming in his mind. Should I? As he looked up at Sarada and Mitsuki backtracking at his sudden stop, he wondered if he should tell Sarada. Could it hurt? She already knew now about the existence of Itachi, so would it hurt if she began to discover more Uchihas?
"There's one more…" he stated slowly. "He's not in the group exactly… Another Uchiha."
He watched Sarada's face brighten and eyes widen in excitement. "Wait, there's more? Who?!" she asked hurriedly.
From his memories he wanted to deter her, to tell her not to get her hopes up too much, and bit his lip. "Uh, just one. Tobi. At least that's what others know him by. He's the one who gave Itachi refuge here. We haven't really talked… I just know him from Itachi's memories. He was there… Um. He helped Itachi with...with what happened to your clan." He hesitated for a moment and flinched as he watched Sarada's eyes widen even more.
"Who is this person?"
"He's actually, um…" Boruto reached up to rub the back of his head nervously as his brain suddenly screamed for him to retreat. "...Madara Uchiha."
The name flipped a trigger in Sarada's brain. "I know that name," she replied. She squeezed her eyes shut, her mind churning to remember anything she could about the war. "Wasn't he reanimated in the last war? He should be long dead even before the war."
Boruto shrugged and moved his hands to re-tie his black ponytail that he still couldn't get used to. "There's a lot of classified information about the war so who even knows. All I know is what I know through Itachi's memories. He may be someone important because he was so close to Itachi, but he's dangerous and I may be able to find out some things for you, but you need to stay far away," he tacked on at the end as a response to the scheming gleam he could see behind Sarada's eyes.
"Boruto," she tried to emphasize, "this could help me learn more about my family too. A killing two birds with one stone sort of thing, you know?" She leaned away from him and waved her hand dismissively. "We may be able to figure out why they're doing this and what they're doing, and I might be able to get some answers. Let me meet him too."
Boruto sighed. "This is what I was worried about: you pushing too hard. You do realize he helped kill your clan, right-" He cut off as he caught Sarada physically wince.
He then let out a deep breath in an attempt to rephrase and start over. "Just let me handle the conversation first, okay? We have to approach this slowly. If someone from the Akatsuki is spearheading this, they probably know of your existence and we can't put you in danger right away, so you have to lay low. Promise me," he added forcefully at the end when he didn't see Sarada's expression change.
"We promise, we promise," she huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Listen to me talk." He then shook his head, laughing lightly at the absurdity of their situation. "I sound just like you."
Sarada smirked in return. "Yeah, things must be pretty serious for you to have a plan," she teased.
"I just…" He swallowed the lump that had been hardening in his throat since they began their travels together. I just don't know what I'd do if I lost you two. "You made it all the way here…" he explained. "I can't just let you go again."
Boruto then punched a fist into his open palm, his eyes narrowing at his teammates before hissing, "We're getting out of here alive and we're making it back to our own time."
He turned to continue running through the leaves, and the other two followed closely at his heels. "Okay so the plan," he continued. "We'll hide you so that you're still in the vicinity but far enough that they won't notice you. You need to make your chakra as undetectable as possible, got it?"
"Got it," they echoed.
"I'll get you when it's clear. And if anyone comes upon us or you, you need to run as far away as you can. We'll find some way to find each other but I'd rather you be lost then end up in the hands of these people."
"What about our headsets?" Mitsuki then piped in.
"What?"
Mitsuki stopped running and turned to rustle through his backpack. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out a device and held it out to his teammate to take. "I have an extra one," he explained. "What if we use these to stay in touch in case something happens?"
Boruto reached out for it, feeling a grin split on his face. "Mitsuki, you're a genius!" he declared, putting the earpiece in and brushing hair over his ears to cover it. Sarada and Mitsuki placed their own headsets in, checked to make sure they were working, and continued behind Boruto.
"So we'll use these to stay in touch in case we get split up; these are the new ones so they should have a pretty long reach should you have to go far." As he talked, he began to recognize the land around him and his heart rate began to speed up in response. They were getting close. It was only a matter of time before they stepped into the landmine of powerful shinobi.
"We should stop here," Boruto called out to them and slowed. As the others came to a stop beside him, he began turning to face the surrounding territory to find anywhere for them to hide. "We're close to the border; it's just up ahead down the river. Hm." He could see the dip of the cliff that plunged down toward the river. A strip of land laid between the bottom of the cliff and where the water began, with some rocks in between that led safely down to it. Boruto knew the terrain wasn't too difficult for his partners, and also recognized that it gave extra padding between them and other members of the Akatsuki; it'd be harder for them to be spotted.
"Follow the river north if we're separated and I'll be able to follow you that way," he announced, pointing toward the edge of the cliff. "For right now hide there and suppress your chakra. If you feel you're in danger or suspect anything, run. If anything happens to me or I get caught up, leave me. Understand?"
"Understood…" his teammates parroted again then went silent. Team Seven stood in a triangle, staring out at each other, feeling the weight of their decisions. Sarada didn't usually feel nervous like this during missions when she had a plan in place, but seeing the serious line of Boruto's lips caused her stomach to tumble. Even with him in Itachi's body, she still recognized enough of herself in the man that she knew what his nervousness looked like and Boruto wore it well.
"We'll see you soon-" Sarada began to lean forward to throw her arms around him again but Boruto just stepped backwards out of reach.
"Don't. That feels too permanent," he stated to Sarada's confusion. He tried to smile to relieve her worry but it just came up lopsided and forced. "I'll see you guys soon."
They nodded and turned away to begin their descent down the cliff toward the river while Boruto watched them until he couldn't sense their chakra anymore. Then he turned back to continue toward the hideout.
He didn't know what he was looking for, that he could admit. He knew the hideout, he knew how to get in, but he didn't even know who he'd find. His first hope was Black and White Zetsu since the others had faced off against white ones during the chunin exams, but even then he didn't know what he'd say or how long it would take to get a confession. Then there was Madara. He half regretted mentioning his existence to Sarada, but he also was beginning to think that Sarada had a point when she asked who else was close to Itachi for the sake of examining them closer. Anyone could be a suspect, and with Sarada and Mitsuki now in the past with him, he needed to start making moves. No more laying low, Boruto.
But Madara was so hit or miss. Itachi's memory told Boruto that he stayed away for the most part, watching from the shadows, and didn't pop up all that often. How could he find him?
He was still in this process when he heard his name- Itachi's name- being called.
"Itachi! HEY! Itachi!"
That voice. His brain lit up in recognition and wonder. Could it be? Could he really be that lucky?
"Tobi," he breathed and spun around to see a bright orange mask bobbing toward him.
"What are you doing out here all by your lonesome?" Though his tone was goofy and lighthearted, Boruto felt ice slide through his veins as the man approached. Itachi's memory knew the truth. "Where's Mr. Orochimaru?"
"Er, we got separated for a little bit," he explained as nonchalantly as he could manage.
The masked man tilted his head. "So you're all alone right now?" he asked, aloof.
"Yes."
"That's disappointing." This time Boruto's veins completely froze over as the man's voice deepened to what he recognized in Itachi's memories as Madara's. "But no matter. I was about to go looking for you, so I am glad you are here."
Boruto fought to keep his voice steady as his mind strayed to Sarada and Mitsuki miles away. "Me?" He couldn't hear anything in his ear that indicated trouble and hoped they were listening.
"There are some things I need to tell you because I need your help."
"My help?" he echoed.
"Yes. And please don't be upset because I had to keep some things from you."
"Some things from-?" He started to parrot again, but felt stupid so he shut his mouth. "Um, I mean, it's not a big deal," he then finished instead. "What do you have to tell me?"
"So, I know why you lost your memory."
Boruto's stomach dropped. "Y-You do?!" He knows the real reason?! He knows I'm not-
"Yes. I was going to use you for something, but clearly it just ended up wiping part of your memory. I apologize that that happened, Itachi."
Confused, Boruto nodded, his brain backtracking; maybe he didn't really know. "I-It's okay… Um. What happened exactly…?"
The masked man began walking slowly toward Boruto, and Boruto found himself easing away to keep the same amount of distance between them. "I have some insider information that you aren't aware of yet, information that can change everything." He paused for Boruto to lean in and make a motion of understanding before continuing.
"I learned that our plan as the Akatsuki doesn't succeed as it is now and that none of us live through this experience- wipe that look off your face, I'll explain- But, as I now know, we can bypass that: by sending us forward into another body and continue our mission from there. I was going to send you forward in time and you'd be privy to information when you got there, but that plan is out the window since the reanimation jutsu as we have it now didn't work exactly; you were supposed to leave your body but that clearly didn't happen since you're still here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but you couldn't know until the right time."
"Wait, what?" Boruto's head swam with dizziness. Shit. He was getting answers. And he didn't even have to pry. "The future... ? How? And why? What is going on?"
"For the how: Orochimaru apparently has done some wonderful research in the coming years and we stole it to send it back in time so we can eventually leap forward to the future. My understanding is that since we don't survive, we have to send us forward to a new body, not as our own, and that somehow we can't go forward in our bodies. I wanted to use you first. But since you didn't go forward as you were supposed to, we abandoned that mission and decided to focus on who we have in the future so we finally can go. We were so close to having more on the reanimation jutsu to make it possible to get there, but I was just made aware that they betrayed us apparently.
"Wait. Slow down." Boruto's head continued to spin, leaving him wanting to sit on the root of a tree behind him to catch his thoughts. "Who is this 'we' and 'us' you keep talking about? And those who betrayed us...from the future?"
"Huh, I'm so sorry. I guess I did leave out a few pieces; I just always assume the Itachi Uchiha knows everything." From behind the mask, Boruto could hear the smirk.
"I was visited by someone," Madara continued, "and they promised to help us if we helped them. They call themselves the Otsutsukis. They apparently are aware of what happens and have promised to give us the peace we desire in the world. That is the 'why' you asked about; that's why we're doing this. They'll eliminate those who eliminated us, and they can help us with the peace we so want since that's what they desire as well. We have some others inside the Leaf Village who can help us on that end, too. This is not what life is supposed to be like, I'm sure you'd be the first to attest to that, and we can finally stop the senseless use of it all. We can attain peace in the way we apparently will fail in."
Boruto's heart pounded. But there is peace in the future, he wanted to say. Or, as much as there possibly could be… His feet shifted uncomfortably under him.
Does Madara not know anything about the future? The Otsutsukis would absolutely lie about something like this...
What does he think is really going to happen? Because he knew that whoever was talking to him did not want to help usher the shinobi world into peace, that he knew for certain.
...So does Madara not even know who the Otsutsukis really are?
"And as for who betrayed us?" Madara added. "We apparently had two little pawns in the future. Three, but one became too problematic. One of them actually is... Well. Nevermind. I'll keep that to myself for now." Once again Boruto could hear the sharp grin in his voice, a sneer that was clearly hiding a secret.
"So this is where you come in, Itachi. Once those two betrayed us and didn't give us what we needed for the reanimation jutsu we've been asking for to make this time jump possible, they were taken here to be used for research; that was always the plan, honestly, but we needed to change our plan a little. I'm a little disappointed Orochimaru wasn't with you because that would be a large help, but that's no matter. So here's your mission: I need you to go find them, meet back with Orochimaru, and bring them to me. Do you understand?"
"What do you plan on doing with them?" Boruto blurted. In this moment he didn't have the mind to keep his mouth shut and didn't care if he was acting out of line; he needed every bit of information he could.
"That's none of your concern right now, Itachi," he bluntly replied.
As he stopped talking though, Boruto could feel him peering at him intently through his mask. "...Don't you want to know who you are looking for?" he then tacked on.
"Y-Yes, I'm sorry. It's just a lot of new information to take in." His mind hurried to find an excuse. "Our plans are obviously changing."
"Oh, no, not in the long run. We just have to get to the future and they'll set everything in place for us."
Don't be so sure about that, Boruto wanted to snap. Instead he asked another question.
"But if we know about the future...why don't we just change it from here? Why do we have to go through all this trouble?"
"They have their reasons." He waved Boruto away and started to turn. "I can't give away too much right now. But if you do this for me, I'll give you more information and may be able to protect your personal interests. If not… Well, I'm afraid you'll become just as much an enemy as those we want to eliminate."
Boruto swallowed. "Why would I not do this for you…?" he asked slowly.
"Because-" Madara turned back around, once again causing a shiver to run down Boruto's body as he regarded him from behind the orange mask. "-one of the pawns you are looking for is an Uchiha girl." As he finished his sentence, he began to laugh loudly, a cold sound that pierced Boruto's ears and knocked him off kilter.
"I know how much you care for that brother of yours, but right now we need his child- yes, apparently your brother has a child- but don't worry, I won't hurt her. That's a promise I can make."
Boruto prayed that Sarada and Mitsuki could hear this through his earpiece, and the sudden small gasp he heard deep in his ear gave him his answer. "Run." He heard Mitsuki's whisper and pictured them begin to run the course of the river. I'll be there soon, guys, he wanted to say, but bit his tongue and hoped he could reach them in time.
"Oh, nothing to say now, Itachi?" he chuckled. "I know, this is a lot to take in. Take the time you need. But be happy- your brother clearly survives even if you do not."
The Uzumaki forced himself to swallow in an attempt to move his heavy tongue that sat dry in his mouth. "If you aren't going to hurt her, why do you need her then?"
"Ah, they were in our way at this point, like I said." He once again waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about what will happen. Not all of that is my decision, however."
Boruto's mind continued to work quickly, churning out pieces of plans to reach Mitsuki and Sarada quickly and move them to safety; he knew there wasn't much time before someone would come looking for him and Orochimaru. This was exactly why he didn't want to go to the Akatsuki headquarters in the first place: he shouldn't have left them. Though grateful for the new information, he felt the pressure mounting to shelter his teammates away and find a new way to get home.
Suddenly an idea dawned and it didn't take much to bring it to his lips. "If I bring them to you, would you try to get me into the future again? Can we try again? Since you tried before...without my knowledge…"
"In due time." There was finality in his voice. "There's more we need in order to do that, and since those children didn't help us exactly as we intended, we have more on the lookout inside the village allegedly. But you have to wait. I'm telling you this because I think you're the strongest who can help us, no other reason, so I expect you to work quickly."
"Of course," he replied quietly.
"Well then. I apologize for the onslaught of new information, but after helping you I feel it's only fair that you now do some work for me. I'll see you on your return."
Not giving Boruto another opportunity to ask any more questions, he turned and instantly whirled away, leaving the younger shinobi alone again. Wasting no time, he spun on his foot and ran, and waited until he was back in the tree line to begin to speak into his earpiece.
"Where are you?!" he hissed. "Did you hear any of that?!"
An electric crackle assaulted his eardrum. "-illage," he heard a warped voice on the other end, a tell-tale sign that the distance between them was stretching too far. Shit. They made some distance.
"Where?" he hurriedly yelled out again as though the rise in his voice would help the volume on the other end.
Another pop exploded in his ear a few moments later. "Isn't that- crest on the back- Sas-?" he heard a familiar voice on the other end; it was higher pitched, but something he knew even though he couldn't place where. Once again the voice melted into garble at the end.
"What?!"
"Leaf," another familiar voice came through and he thought he recognized it as Mitsuki's.
"If you're- Uchiha- Sas- Kashi-Sens-" As he pushed himself to run further in the hopes of closing some distance, a few more garbled words pushed their way through, but he once again failed to piece them together.
"-ord Sixth and Seventh- eaf village-"
"LEAF VILLAGE?!" he screamed. His brain lit up as he pieced together the limited words but before he could receive a confirmation, his earpiece exploded into static, temporarily deafening him. The static buzzed for a few seconds before shortening out to silence.
"FUCK!"
His heart threatened to burst as he hurriedly clamored down the cliff toward the river; he knew he was being reckless, tripping over rocks and threatening to plunge to the rocky ground, but he had no choice but to push himself to his limits. Were they in trouble? Why were they headed to the Leaf, if that's where they were going? If he could catch up to them before they reached the village, he could circumvent their captors and take them back to safety.
But if he didn't make it in time, there was no way. As Itachi, he knew he couldn't pass the village walls. And if that was the case, would they be in more danger than they were before?
By now Boruto narrowed on this goal and had long stopped feeling out for anyone else's chakra, the fear of Otsutsuki fueling him. As a result, he sputtered forward in shock, unable to stop his body as a group of people ran directly into his path. Without thinking, he could feel Itachi's sharingan activate in a response to evade their attack and glided to the left to miss the group's collective lunge toward him. However, the grass rose up to meet his back, and as he looked up to seek out the group's identity, his heart bottomed out in his stomach.
"Dad?" he choked.
Team Seven didn't know where they were going, that much was clear to Itachi, but he followed suit until he could acclimate to his surroundings better. He looked around him as the leaves whizzed past his ears to try to capture any familiar setting that might stand out; slowly, capturing glimpses of the setting whipping around him, puzzle pieces began to settle into place.
He was about to open his mouth to tell where he thought they were related to the Akatsuki when he saw the flash of a person: himself.
It was a blur, far off in the distance, the swish of his hair and the pop of red on his robe, but he'd recognize himself anywhere. What a concept, he thought vaguely to himself, and once again was about to make a comment but it was Kakashi who beat him to the punchline.
"Chakra," he growled.
Everyone's heads snapped to the side as they sensed it too; after a moment of focusing their eyes, Itachi heard Sasuke and Naruto gasp at the realization of what, or rather who, they were seeing. Itachi watched his own body-his real body- flash in between the trees and appeared unaware of the group of shinobi moving parallel to him. From where he was stationed, he could see his eyes narrowed as he shot ahead, mouth straightened into a fine line.
"He's alone," Sasuke noted as they all instantly changed pace and shot perpendicular to where Itachi's body kept running.
"Do you sense the others?" he heard Sakura ask behind him. "Any idea where they could be?"
"Well we're about to find out…" Sasuke replied, and at that moment the five of them crashed through the trees in front of Itachi's body, catching him off guard. It was clear to Itachi that he never even sensed him coming by the way his body jerked backwards when they blocked him from running. He watched the sharingan- his sharingan, he reminded himself- flash red, and he dodged as Sasuke jumped in front of Itachi's real body.
Instantly the ponytailed man fell backwards, disarmed by Sasuke's visual prowess.
The five gathered around him as his eyes circled above them, unseeing for a moment. Then his gaze flitted around at each of them as a way to catch his bearings, and Itachi hoped they would show some sort of recognition, anything to show if he was truly Boruto.
He only had to wait a moment for his answer as the now black eyes locked onto Naruto's.
"Dad?" he choked out.
Naruto dropped to his knees.
Manipulation. The word flashed red in front of Sarada's vision as they chased the flow of the river away from where Itachi talked to Madara. She and Mitsuki didn't want to speak just yet, still trying to listen to Boruto and Madara finish their conversation, but she was screaming in her head anyway.
So it was true: someone was after them, someone had used them, someone had orchestrated this. And now they were targets again.
"Should we wait for Boruto?" Mitsuki's voice cut through the air whizzing past her ears.
"No. He'll catch up with us when he's done. We have to put as much distance between us and them as possible."
They pushed forward to run faster, even though Sarada had no idea where they were headed. Clearly their goal was self-preservation by now, and it didn't matter where their feet took them, as long as it was away from here.
They ran in silence, and Sarada was just about to tell Mitsuki to stop when they heard it: The raspy, high pitched whine of someone yelling out "Kakashi-sensei!" in the trees up ahead.
The teens instantly paused and looked over at each other with wide eyes. Could it be? They only knew one Kakashi. Mitsuki jerked his head as a code to follow him, and they hauled themselves up into a tree to pull themselves out of sight as the voices moved closer.
"You're such an idiot, that's not what we're looking for," another voice scoffed. The pitch hit Sarada's ears the wrong way, like she was hearing a voice she knew but someone had warped it slightly, and it took her a moment to run it through the catalog of voices in her brain to try to find the right one that matched it.
"I didn't even want to do this anyway!" the first voice whined. "This is a stupid C rank mission anyway! The only reason it's not D is because it's outside the village!"
"Well, they had to get you out of the village because you annoy everyone there," a third person said with a hot streak of contempt.
That voice. Sarada gasped as the third voice wiggled itself into her brain and she had to keep herself from tumbling out of the tree branch she crouched on. It was squeakier but easier to recognize, she thought, as she realized that the other two voices she heard had deepened over the years into what she was used to now. She knew all three, and she knew now what was happening before her: she was listening to Team Seven.
She was listening to her parents.
They couldn't stay. That wasn't even a question, and they now needed a way to escape the voices that drew nearer to their cocoon without being spotted. As Sarada backed away, her heart rate rising higher in her chest, she suddenly felt the sharp jab of a kunai in her back.
"Like what you see?" another familiar voice asked, coolly. "You're staring at my kids."
Sarada swallowed hard and began to turn around toward the voice as Mitsuki did the same beside her. Lord Sixth.
A younger Kakashi stood before them, a hand jammed in his pocket, and wore the same bored expression that Sarada had seen him sport her whole life. But there was something a little different, a darker streak behind his eyes that Sarada locked onto.
"Who are you?" He looked between them but his eyes lingered longer on Sarada. It took her another hard beat in her chest to realize why as she heard her father's voice float up to them from below: "You're such a loser."
Her eyes must have widened, must have made a barely perceptible move, because Kakashi's face tightened deeper as he noticed the recognition flicker on her face.
"Why are you wearing the Uchiha crest?" he growled so the children now reaching the base of the tree didn't hear him. "Do you work for Itachi? Why are you here?"
Her tongue now dry and heavy in her mouth, she didn't know what to say to Kakashi's burning eyes; she knew she couldn't defeat him so there was no reason to run. "No, it's...it's not what you think…" she stammered, then cursed herself for her response.
"Then what is it? Why have I found you near Sasuke?"
He thinks I'm going to hurt my dad. As she tried to think of an excuse, she couldn't kick out the knowledge that there shouldn't be an Uchiha left alive. If any Uchiha showed up for whatever reason, of course he'd think they were there to hurt Sasuke.
So how could she explain herself? She couldn't.
Even Mitsuki stayed silent beside her. Kakashi's eyes flitted between the two one last time to give them an opportunity to speak, but when neither moved he sighed. "Here's the deal: I won't kill you if you don't try to run," he explained lowly. "You are coming with me to the village. I can't just let you leave, do you understand? But if you make a move for my kids on the way, you'll be dead in an instant. Do you understand?"
"Yes," they squeaked.
His gaze then floated to their headbands and Sarada could see his jaw tighten and she realized he probably had several questions for them about why they were wearing those if they were rogue shinobi- and questions as to how he didn't know of them in the first place.
"Stay away from where Sasuke can see your crest," he decided on instead.
"I can put him in a genjutsu-" Sarada began but Kakashi's grimace cut her off.
"Absolutely not. You try any jutsu and you're dead."
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto's voice whined down below. "Where did he go?!"
Kakashi gave Sarada and Mitsuki one last hard look to keep quiet before gesturing at them to jump down in front of him. Sarada swallowed, scared as to what she'd find even though she realistically knew she'd only see three innocent preteens. But laying eyes on them meant this was real. It was happening. And now they had more problems than the Otsutsukis after them.
She closed her eyes and jumped, trying to hold onto the wind in her hair, before landing on her feet. Her eyes opened and her stomach dropped at seeing three curious children staring confused at her and Mitsuki who landed gracefully next to her.
"You're not Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto accused, folding his arms over his chest. Sarada tried to stop her eyes from widening at his spiky, unkempt hair- he was so much shorter than she ever pictured- then forced herself to move her gaze to take in her parents before she gave the wrong impression. Sasuke's eyebrow was raised in confusion and Sakura frowned at her, but before she could introduce herself to clarify, Kakashi dropped beside them.
"Did you guys find the flower you were looking for?" he asked cheerfully, as though two teenagers with Leaf headbands didn't just drop down from a tree in front of them.
"Yes," Sakura replied and held out a clear container with purple flowers in it for Kakashi to take.
"Who are they?" Naruto said again, squinting his eyes accusingly at them.
"Ah, they're from the village, can't you tell?" Kakashi replied smoothly, pocketing the flowers. "I decided it'd be best if they'd join us on our trip home, so use your nice hospitality skills, yeah?"
Suddenly, Sarada heard her earpiece pop and come to life with Boruto's voice which was deep with distortion. "-where are- any of that?"
"Yes, we'll be coming to the Leaf Village with you," Sarada replied to Naruto and hoped that her teammate understood her.
A grin broke out on Naruto's face at the prospect of having new people to talk to and began rambling as the older shinobi tried to move away from the tree.
"You're from the village?! I've never seen you before. Are you genin? We're genin. We're going to be in the Chunin Exams soon. Are you going to be in the exams? Or are you already chu-"
"Do you ever shut up?!" Sasuke snapped, twisting his whole body to spat his words in Naruto's face. He was glaring at his teammate with a seething hatred Sarada was surprised to see and never recognized in the adults versions of them; when they said they were rivals, she never thought it'd look like this. She had to bite her cheek to keep herself from smirking at the immaturity laid out before her and drew immediate parallels between them and her and Boruto.
Naruto lunged behind Sarada to avoid Sasuke's spittle and started to yell back when he stopped. "Hey, that's the-" he began as he stopped to look at Sarada's back.
Kakashi recognized the look in his eye and dodged behind her to grip Naruto up by his shirt.
"Come on, Naruto, you're falling behind."
"Hey, isn't that the crest on the back of your shirt, Sasuke?!" Naruto blurted, trying to wiggle his way out of Kakashi's grip to get a closer look at Sarada again.
Sarada jumped backwards away from the group while Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto. He then whipped his attention around on her and tried to lunge behind her, but Sarada twisted her body quicker than he could move.
"Wait, what?"
Sarada's earpiece exploded again with static, and she heard Mitsuki whisper "Leaf" as she still turned in a circle to get away from Sasuke.
"If you're an Uchiha, don't you know Sasuke?" Naruto blurted out again but let out a yelp at the end as Kakashi gripped his body tighter in place over his shoulder. "Hey, Kakashi-Sensei, that hurts!"
"Lord Sixth and Seventh. Leaf Village," Mitsuki whispered into his ear piece next to her again while everyone's attention was turned on the two Uchiha twisting in circles.
Sasuke lunged again to try to get behind Sarada, but she was quicker than the twelve year old, side stepping every move he made; even with his sharingan she could still move away. "What is he saying?!" he cried.
"Sasuke. Stop it. We have to head back now," his sensei barked. Kakashi's tone was low as a warning. It made the young Uchiha stop for a second, but he must have considered there was a reason for a sudden shift in his tone, and he suddenly doubled down in trying to chase Sarada.
She wished she could use genjutsu to not only end the game of tag, but to end the pained expression that kept growing on Sasuke's face as he sought answers to Naruto's observation. His face screwed up in a way she had never seen, a desperation glowing in his eyes that he never allowed himself to show as an adult. An emotion that gave away his pain. His weakness. He was looking for an answer for his family.
After learning about what her uncle did, it dawned on her that she never once stopped to consider what it was like for her dad growing up. She had only thought about how it affected her relationship with him and agonized over why he would hide something like that from her. It was now, as she watched him chase her, that she wondered if maybe he didn't tell her because of the pain he was exuding right now: How did he feel once he lost his family? What did he do? How did he cope? Not well, she thought, since he was chasing a stranger to see if maybe he wasn't alone, that maybe his brother spared someone else.
It also was a reminder that at some point he wasn't alone, and she saw the wound he had desperately tried to make scar over reopen as he ran.
Seeing her dad like this caused her to falter for a quarter of a second, which gave Sasuke just enough time to overrun her. She tried to twist her body again but it was too late. Her father had seen the crest on her back.
"I-" she fumbled.
Sasuke's eyes softened for a moment as he stood in place and even Kakashi paused to watch him but didn't say anything. He held her eyes, a silent challenge, but after a moment his lip began to quiver. She thought he was going to cry until his eyes suddenly darkened and he opened his mouth.
"Who are you?!" he screeched before running full force at Sarada. She dodged him again. "How dare you wear that crest! You're not an Uchiha! They're dead! They're all dead!"
Birds in the trees next to them spooked at the sound and rose up into the distance, and that was the permission Kakashi needed to swoop down to grab Sasuke with his free arm. Even in the arms of his sensei, Sasuke continued to yell accusingly at Sarada, not once letting go of her stare.
"You can't be an Uchiha! You're not from the Leaf, you liar! I saw them all die!"
"Sasuke, please," Kakashi hissed, but when the twelve-year-old wouldn't calm in his arms and continued to scream, he dropped Naruto and flipped his band over his eye in one motion. His sharingan flashed into Sasuke's eyes, and that was all the preteen needed to drop heavily in his arms.
Sakura and Naruto were silent, eyes wide like saucers, too scared to say anything. They stood beside Kakashi who shifted Sasuke over his shoulder and didn't take their worried eyes off their teammate; he clearly did not react like that everyday.
"Let's go," Kakashi demanded, all traces of his laid back demeanor gone.
"I-I'm sorry," Sarada whispered. Her feet started to shuffle backwards to try to distance herself from them and the image of her father lying limp, but Kakashi fixed her with a hard gaze that made her stop.
"What did I say?" he barked. "Don't move away or I'll kill you. We're going back to the village. Let's go."
One more note: I tried everything I could to explain Itachi's new memories when he was sent forward, but there wasn't a good way. So the only explanation I have is that when he was sent forward, he collected memories he would have made as he traveled through time. I know, I know. Sounds like a cop out. Don't flame me for it, PLEASE, this story just changed direction slightly than some original thoughts.