Sarada sighed, unsure of where to begin.
"Take your time," said Sakura patiently.
"Mama – no – Sakura, in this other world, Naruto Uzumaki is the Seventh Hokage," she started. "That and lasting peace had been achieved between the Gokage of the five villages. A Shinobi Union was created and sustained. In the last twenty years, we have seen unparalleled levels of development: trains, railroads, factories, Boruto's favourite game arcades, you name it."
"So, you're saying that in your world, Naruto… survived?" She enquired earnestly.
"With a lost arm," Sarada nodded. "Or at least that's what I've picked up from you there. My dad lost an arm too, but he did not get a replacement, for some reason. Until recently, he was never home because he was travelling between different worlds to protect Konoha from external threats. He's back at the village now and you there, well, you were very happy with how things are."
"So, you're saying that I not only forgave Sasuke Uchiha, but married and had a child with that bastard?" Sakura sighed and shook her head. "It's strange isn't it, how many possibilities exist out there?"
"Indeed," Sarada agreed. "Look, I know you really hate my dad in this world –"
"Hate is a rather mild terminology I would use to describe my feelings," Sakura snorted. "That man is utterly devoid of any capability of love and compassion. Just take a look at what he's done to the world. He represented everything, everything I've been fighting against. But go on." She pulled back, not wanting to start a rant on Sarada, her would-be child if things did not turn out they way they did.
"What I'm trying to say is that he is a different man in the other world. Sure, at the beginning, he was an absent father, but you would never doubt his responsibility and commitment to his loved ones. He's also Boruto's sensei-"
"Boruto?"
"Naruto's son – with Hinata Hyuuga."
"Ah," Sakura nodded. "Poor woman. She committed suicide not long after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Couldn't bear the death of Naruto. She truly loved him."
"What?!"
"You heard it," Sakura continued. "The rest of her clan though, they're nothing but a bunch of greedy cowards. They betrayed the location of our first base to the Hokage and have been his most obsequious lackeys ever since."
Sarada's eyes bulged, "really?"
"Just take a look at our collected data about the secret police – at least a quarter of them are Hyuugas! Even Hanabi, can you believe that she's working for Sasuke after her sister was practically drive to her death?" Sakura shook her head in digust.
"It is rather unfortunate," Sarada said.
"Too put it mildly," Sakura remarked sarcastically. "Anyways, you should get going. A good night's sleep will do the job after a day's confusion. I've had Shikamaru prepare your living quarters – it's right next to your teammates'."
"But Boruto isn't here," Sarada interjected. "He's headed off to Konoha-"
"What?!" Sakura did not expect that; she had known that one of the three companions had separated from the other two, but the part about him travelling to Konoha eluded Konohamaru's explanation. "Sarada, get me Konohamaru right now!"
Hinata Hyuuga's grave struck him by surprise. Boruto decided to foray into the cemetery, to come to better grips with this new reality by learning who lived and who died.
Hanabi's lack of a caged-bird sign was an ominous clue, but Boruto refused to believe it until he witnessed the cold, grey stone in front of him. His heart plummeted with a thud.
In some ways, this grave feeling fomenting within was rather inexplicable. The Hinata Hyuuga in this world was not his mother, not the gentle woman who would make him bento for lunch, who would patiently wait for his father every night, who would selflessly offer to fix his clothes without hesitation, who would comfort him when he felt the loneliness from his father's absence. But in other ways, they were still connected. Seeing her gone from this world instilled an odd sense of forlornness.
This is a crueler world, Boruto thought. And he would find a way out of it no matter what.
"Shannaro!" Sakura screamed as she punched Konohamaru into the wall. "What on earth were you thinking?! Doing nothing, nothing about Boruto at all when you knew he was Naruto's son!"
"I…" Konohamaru searched for words as he tried to peel himself away from the cracks created. "You know it's hopeless – there's no way we're heading into Konoha unnoticed."
"Do you know the grave consequences if the Hokage gets his hands on Boruto?" Sakura's voice quieted eerily. "Do you know what kind of man he is?"
"How could I not? I'll never forget the day our friends Ino and Sai perished in his flames," Konohamaru muttered bittery. "But you must be rational. If we go know, if we give any impression that we're retrieving anyone from Konoha, we will only endanger Boruto."
"What else do we do – wait until he is captured?"
"He… seems to have a plan, a plan to steal a certain scroll and return to his own dimension with Sarada and Mitsuki," Konohamaru explained as he handed her Boruto's note.
"One, his handwriting is even worse than Naruto's," Sakura squired, though the slight glimmer in her eyes betrayed her feelings of nostalgia. "Two, we can't let him do that," she added resolutely. "The fate of our whole world may lay in their hands. You know we can't let our only source of hope slip from our fingers."
"They sure won't be happy to learn about that," Konohamaru said.
"Of course they won't," Sakura nodded. "They live in a world that is much better than ours. But we have to get them to stay, or at least stay until this… this barbaric regime is destroyed."
"I'm assuming you want me to keep your words from them," Konohamaru suggested sheepishly.
"Of course I do."
Sarada stared at the blank, dull and pitiless ceiling, wondering just what she had gotten herself into, that one reckless night when she decided it would be fun to break into Nanadaime's office with Boruto. Within moments, she was swept away into this foreign world where her existence was never conceived, where many lived under a regime of fear that enforced a strained peace, where all her acquaintances and friends treated her as a curious stranger, where her mother and father were mortal enemies.
Chocho's gaze was engraved within the deepest depths of her memory; Sarada could not erase the look of bewilderment. Nor could she forget the hushed atmosphere in the tavern when she uttered her last-name, one that is so infamous in this world.
Just who am I in this world? She shook her head in confusion. No, she is Sarada Uchiha, daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, two war heroes, two of Nanadaime's closest companions. She is also a loyal shinobi of Konoha, her Konoha, not the Konoha in this world but hers. And one day she will become its Hokage.
But she is trapped in this world, with only Boruto and Mitsuki sharing her woes – no, now that Boruto is far away in Konoha, it's only Mitsuki.
She felt her heartstrings tug in desperation. A feeling of inexplicable loneliness overtook her and she buried her face into her pillow and wept.
Chocho, Inojin and Shikadai were situated around a table, each holding a stack of cards and all were engrossed within their game of poker.
Hence why Mitsuki's interruption seemed rather awkward.
"Hi everyone, I'm Mitsuki-" he tried to start a conversation.
"We know your name, we've heard it at least ten times today," Shikadai deadpanned.
"Ignore him – do you want to join us?" Chocho offered. "When we finish this round, of course."
"Sure!" Mitsuki replied. "Wait, I'll get Sarada first. I don't want to leave her alone in her room."
"Be quick!" Chocho called after him as he started to leave. "Damn!" She shouted as Inojin managed to pull a full house.
Sarada was mildly annoyed at Mitsuki's interruption, but did not make any indication of irritation.
"Want to play poker?" He asked. "Inojin, Chocho and Shikadai said we could join them."
"I… I think I need some time alone." When Sarada got up from her pillow, her eyes were red from all the crying.
"Look, I don't want to sound too pushy, but I think being alone at a time like this will only worsen your feelings of alienation. For tonight at least, lets try and enjoy ourselves with our alternate-dimension friends," Mitsuki said as he tried to give her a hand up from her bed. "Then tomorrow, after some sleep, we can decide just exactly how the hell we're getting back."
Sarada nodded as she dried her tear: "You're right; I'll come."
Mitsuki simply smiled in return.
It transpired to be a long night, one that featured Sarada winning five times in a row, Chocho losing all her snack allowances, Shikadai uttering "what a drag" after being out-ranked about a hundred times, Mitsuki giving pretentious, pseudo-intellectual analytics about the possibility of obtaining straight flushes and Inojin scarily effective poker-face.
Two Days Later
Sarada dodged an attack by Chocho on the training grounds of Mount Myoboku.
She had agreed to spar with Chocho out of boredom both yesterday and today. Lacking the access to the higher echelons of Hi no Ishi (and with neither Konohamaru nor Sakura being around), she found that she simply did not have anything better to do. She had no access to the library to do research, there was no way of travelling to the outside world and no one was wiling to reveal the latest details to her.
Mitsuki was playing Shogi with Shikadai on the fields and Inojin was practicing his drawings.
This could have been any day in her world, Sarada contemplated with a sigh.
"I got you!" Chocho warned, coming from behind with an expanded fist.
"Not so fast!" She replied as she concentrated all her chakra on her palm.
The earth splintered as she threw her fists down with a punch, creating momentum that sent Chocho flying in the other direction.
Heaving and panting, Chocho got up. The harm was drastically mitigated by her body expansion jutsu and not long after, she was up and running again.
"You're good!" The girl complimented Sarada. "I think you could be stronger than auntie Sakura in no time!"
Sarada blushed: "Maybe not. I've still got a long way to go when it comes to chakra control and medical ninjutsu."
She gracefully sidestepped a punch from Chocho's enlarged fists, maneuvering her way behind the girl with the help of her Sharingan.
"Plus," she added. "I still need to master my fire jutsus. They're rather substandard."
"Please," Chocho responded. "I know humble brag when I see it. Show me."
Sarada stopped and extended a hand: "Call it a truce?"
"Fine by me," Chocho shrugged. "I'll take you to the lake over there and you can show me just how bad you are."
When they got to the lake, Sarada took a deep breath. Weaving a series of hand signs, she congregated chakra in her lungs and bellowed: "Fire style: fireball jutsu!"
A moderately sized cloud of fire - searing, intense fire- glistened over the surface of the lake, causing whiskers of steam to peel off after its departure.
Not bad, Sarada concluded. But not good enough either.
"You're amazing!" Chocho gasped.
"Not really," Sarada gesticulated rather embarrassedly while smiling.
"Humble brag," Chocho rolled her eyes.
"Heh," Sarada grinned.
"You any good at shurikenjutsu?" Chocho looked as if she was about to change topic.
"I'm alright – it's a specialty of my clan after all –"
"Can you help me with it? My aim is pretty terrible and, well, given you are such a humble bragger 'alright' probably means off-the-charts brilliant."
"I-"
"Come!" Chocho dragged Sarada off before she could utter another sentence.
Twenty out of twenty.
Sarada smiled triumphantly as all her shurikens landed on target. Her accuracy had definitely improved since last time.
"Whoah! You're much better than me!" Chocho praised as she looked at her results rather self-deprecatingly.
They weren't bad, Sarada thought. Sure, a couple of them went awry and one flew way off and nearly knocked off Shikadai's shogi pieces, but other than that, everything else was on target.
"You're great at this too!" Sarada replied with a grin.
"Oh please," Chocho said as she sat down on the ground. "We both know the reality of my skills."
"Don't put yourself down like this," Sarada complained as she joined Chocho.
"No worries," Chocho waved her right hand. "I specialize in my clan's jutsus anyway. Dad said I've made great progress. He said mum would be proud if she was still around."
"Chocho…" Sarada was unsure of what to say. The news of Karui's death came so abruptly that she didn't know how to react; yet by now, Sarada noticed rather uneasily, the shock factor was beginning to erode when it came to news of people's deaths.
There was Naruto, aunt Ino, Sai, Hinata and now Karui.
"Don't worry, I've pretty much gotten over it," Chocho was a little taken aback by Sarada's stunned and confused complexion "You eventually learn how to cope – rebellion is serious business."
"I…"
"It's fine Sarada!" Chocho started patting her. "Or are you just a fresh fragile little soul?"
She then gave Sarada a hug.
"Now, why don't we go find the boys and take our minds off such serious stuff?" She changed topic and dragged Sarada off again.
"She's a kind person, you know," Konohamaru remarked while sipping his green tea. "Maybe she took it after you."
"Or maybe he just didn't turn out this way in her world," Sakura shrugged as she speculated, gazing at the laughing figures of Sarada and Chocho at a distance.
A/N: And... another chapter is done! Next chapter: Boruto's interview and Mitsuki snuffs around for information about Orochimaru.
Let me know how you felt about this chapter in the comments!