Boruto ran alongside Sarada, their arms trailing behind them. Running through the woods in their normal appearances... It almost felt like they were back in Konoha. Except.

Now he was trying to hide his feelings from her until she wouldn't punch him for confessing. And he was doing it rather unsuccessfully.

"You're telling me that Orochimaru wanted your hair? And when you gave it to him, he gave you the ability to use Jutsu, and sent you away?"

Boruto nodded. "I think Orochimaru might be the key to us getting out of here... But for some reason, he seems evil."

Shikadai squeaked his agreement from Boruto's shoulder.

"Hold on... Something doesn't make sense. Why would Orochimaru give you jutsu if he's evil? Shouldn't he have just stolen your hair?"

"That's the thing," said Boruto, leaping over a fallen tree and then realizing Sarada couldn't do the same. He jumped back on top of the tree and reached his hand down towards her, his eyes filled with concern. "I'm wondering if maybe he needs us to complete the story... Or maybe, by completing the story, we'd end up doing something for him... He threatened to kill you, Sarada."

She took his hand. Then registered what he said. "Kill me?"

"I don't really want to go back there," he said, heaving her up. "I've played enough games to know that all games have a relatively climactic ending." He jumped down and offered her his hand again. She blushed, looked away, and refused to take it. But when she stumbled the landing, he caught her before she could fall. "Usually, it ends with a boss battle... Maybe Orochimaru is the boss."

"If he's the boss," said Sarada, her face reddening at her mistake and the close proximity to his face, "shouldn't we fight him now? While you have jutsu?"

"Well," said Boruto, respectfully looking away, "He was the one that gave it to me. I have the feeling that he could take it away, and we would be at even more of a disadvantage..." Pretending like everything was normal, he let her go and continued to walk forward. "My clones just got taken out. We should find a place to hide."

Sarada nodded. "There was a town not too far from here... Although it seems like I'm a wanted criminal." Turning towards a tree, she picked up a poster with her face on it. Or at least, something that resembled her face.

Boruto snickered. "What kind of a nose is that?"

"The nose of an ogre," she laughed, crumpling up the poster and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Why don't we head further into the woods," suggested Boruto, eyeing a path in front of him. "Maybe this will lead to a different place where you're not wanted."

"Sounds like a plan."

. . .

Boruto and Sarada ran until they came to a wooden sign in the shape of a rubber duck.

"...The Snuggly Duckling?"

"Well... It can't hurt to check it out."

Changing from a run to a leisurely walk, they continued down the path until they came to a small pub. There weren't any noises coming from the inside which they both found to be strange. But after glancing at each other and shrugging, Boruto pushed open the door.

The second they opened it, they were greeted with seven pairs of eyes, staring them down. Boruto felt Shikadai crawl behind his head and burrow into his jacket.

"...Who are you, and how did you find this place?"

Boruto put his hands up. "We were just traveling through the area, nothing much. Sorry to get in your way!"

"Boruto, wait," said Sarada, recognizing the eyes on one of the strange men. "He has rinnegan."

Boruto looked over. Sure enough, there was a man with the former eye of his master: face coated in piercings, his orange hair sticking out of his slashed headband, purple eyes staring back at them. One of the other men looked enough like Sasuke to be his brother. And Boruto was certain he'd seen the sword on the back of the man with a face that resembled a shark.

"...How do you know about the rinnegan?"

Boruto looked at Sarada with a worried expression, but she only continued talking. "My name is Sarada. This is Boruto. We're looking for a way to get out of this dimension and back to Konoha Village."

"Konoha, you say..." The man with the shark face spoke. "Interesting. Itachi, isn't that where the nine tails and your little brother are?"

Itachi... Sarada had heard the name before. Or rather, she had read it in the book about her clan.

The man with rinnegan eyes stared down Sarada and Boruto. "Where are you from, and what do you know about us?"

Sarada inched behind Boruto, her index finger and thumb latching onto the back of his jacket sleeve. Despite her apparent confidence, the men were rather intimidating. Especially since she knew she couldn't put up a fight.

"We're from Konoha," started Boruto, putting one arm defensively in front of her, "and we're looking for a way to get back. We don't know anything about you, but if you have the rinnegan, you should be able to open a space-time portal, right?"

"...Itachi."

"Yes?"

"Get rid of these two brats."

The moment Itachi took a step forward, Boruto created three shadow clones. But without so much as blinking his eyes, Itachi skillfully chopped them all in the back of the neck, causing them to vanish into smoke.

"You... You can use jutsu?"

"Yeah." Boruto formed a swirling ball of Chakra in his hand. The rest of the Akatsuki members gritted their teeth and backed up. "What of it?"

"Boruto, wait." Sarada placed her hand on the arm that held the swirling ball of chakra. "I think that's... Uncle Itachi..."

The man with the long blonde hair burst out laughing. "Uncle? Uncle Itachi? Did you hear that, your little bro had kids! Let me guess, the brat next to you is Naruto's kid?"

"Huh? You know my old man?"

This caused the faces of everyone in the circle to darken. "...Who... on earth... are you?"

"Stop trying to kill us first, and maybe I'll explain."

Itachi rejoined the semi-circle of Akatsuki members, staring into Boruto's eyes as if he could barely see him.

Sarada stepped in front of Boruto, now more concerned at the member's sudden interest in his abilities. "I'm Uchiha Sarada. Sasuke is my papa... This is Boruto. His father is Uzumaki Naruto, the current hokage."

"Hokage..."

"They must be from the future," remarked the shark face. "There's no other explanation."

"We got trapped in this game, and we're trying to get back to our village. There are some weird guys chasing us, and we just need a place to hide to confuse them," said Sarada.

"Hmm... I suppose if they're from the future, we shouldn't kill them."

"They could be from an alternate dimension," remarked an old hunchbacked nearly bald man.

"They seem like good candidates for my ritual. What do you say, do you want to join me in my worship of Jashin-sama?"

"Be quiet, Hidan. If you don't shut up, I'll kill you myself."

"That again, Kakuzu?"

"Please," said Boruto, interrupting the duo, "just let us stay here for a few minutes. Then we'll be out of your way. We promise."

The rinnegan user eyed the rest. "On one condition... Tell us how you became able to use jutsu..."

Boruto looked at Sarada. She nodded her head.

"...Orochimaru gave it to me... I'm not too sure myself. But if you want to see him, he's up in a tower that's South-West of here."

"Orochimaru... Always getting in our way..."

"Although, if he possesses the secret to obtaining jutsu, perhaps we should pay him a visit after all."

Just then, Boruto heard the sound of hooves thundering outside. "They're here... We have to hide."

"This way," said Itachi, taking them behind the counter.

The shark faced man began to pull out his sword. "Itachi!"

"They fulfilled their end of the bargain... And disturbing the future isn't always a good idea."

Sarada turned towards her uncle and smiled as he pulled a lever for a secret passageway. Picking up two fingers, she tapped his forehead. "Thank you."

Itachi's eyes widened. Sarada was almost certain she saw tears begin to well up in them before they were suppressed.

"...You're welcome. Now go."